The Morrigan's Curse

by Dianne K. Salerni

  Madoc released Addie. She scrambled up and ran across the room, flinging her arms around Evangeline as her sister rose shakily to her feet. “Why’d you do that?” Addie gasped.

  “Addie,” Evangeline whispered. Her shoulders shook as she hugged Addie back. And suddenly who was prettier and who was taller and even the fact that they didn’t know each other after five years didn’t matter.

  Griffyn picked up the broken honor blade. “I’ll hang on to this,” he said, slipping the two halves into his leather vest with a nasty grin. “Maybe I’ll return it to its owner. Personally.”

  When Addie felt Evangeline shudder at his words, anger bubbled up inside her. Griffyn has total control over my sister. Addie pulled out of Evangeline’s embrace. “You shouldn’t have come here after me, and you shouldn’t have sworn yourself to that barbarian! They can’t kill us. They need us. You know that!”

  “Addie, they were torturing you.” Evangeline wiped away the blood on Addie’s face.

  “It’s just pain. It doesn’t mean anything. Watch!” Addie put her hands to her face, and when Evangeline gasped, Addie knew the scratches had vanished. She brushed her fingers against the red mark on Evangeline’s cheek, where Bran had hit her, and watched that fade to nothing.

  “How’d you do that?” Evangeline asked in astonishment.

  “Get away, little beast.” Griffyn shoved Addie aside and surveyed his newly sworn handmaiden, swaggering with his power over her. “You will not try to escape or vanish into brownie holes, do you understand me? And you’ll prevent your sister from doing so.” Evangeline nodded. “You won’t let your vassals act against me, either, if you have any more besides that runt of a boy.”

  Tears were running down Evangeline’s face now. “How do they know about Jax?” she asked Addie in a hoarse whisper.

  Jax. That was his name. Addie felt her cheeks flush. “I’m sorry, Evangeline.”

  “I put a knife in his back,” Griffyn bragged. “He’s dead.”

  Evangeline made a wheezing, gagging sound, like she was choking.

  “Who’s dead?” a voice called out. “Me? Think again.”

  Addie whipped around, her mouth falling open.

  The Transitioner boy climbed out of an opalescent hole in the air right before their eyes. He wasn’t dead, but he looked ticked off. A large brownie was clinging to his shoulder, and he was wearing—of all things—a sword strapped across his back.

  27

  EVANGELINE GASPED AND COVERED her mouth in relief. Addie gaped at Jax before breaking into a grin, like she was happy to see him. Guess she doesn’t think I’m a Dulac anymore. After assuring himself that both girls were unharmed, Jax turned his attention to the enemies.

  One of the men Jax had seen at the island house shouted for someone to lower the warehouse’s loading dock door. “It’s like having a missing wall. The wards aren’t complete with it up!” he yelled. “Condor, take your people outside to look for others.”

  Men with tattooed faces scrambled to follow his directions. One began rolling down the giant warehouse door. Jax knew that when it closed no one else could arrive using the brownie tunnels or observe him through scrying. He was tempted to wave good-bye, but he didn’t want to give away that someone was watching. So he kept his hands at his side and surveyed the rest of the group. Was there anybody else here he recognized?

  Yup, there was the old man with the Spear, and Kel, the teen with the boy-band haircut. There were more tattooed people, and—

  When Jax’s gaze landed on Griffyn, it was as if a veil of red fury fell over the room. The shouting and the sound of the metal door crashing shut vanished behind a buzz of rage. Griffyn grabbed Evangeline to keep her away from Jax, and the sight of that brute digging his fingers into her arm made Jax reach for the hilt of the Sword sticking up over his right shoulder.

  “Jax, don’t!” Evangeline’s voice, full of distress and fear, snapped his attention from his enemy to his liege. With a surge of willpower, Jax forced his hand away from the Sword and down to his honor blade, calling upon the most recent oath he’d made on it.

  No matter how he and Riley had tried, it had proved impossible for Jax to swear not to draw the Sword. The best he’d been able to do was to swear to keep the safety of his lieges foremost in his mind, an oath that enhanced and renewed his original vassal bond. Because it did not serve the girls to draw the Sword now, their need superseded the compulsion of the Kin weapon, which dwindled to a throbbing in the back of his mind, like a persistent headache.

  A second later, he was surrounded by Kin—surrounded, but untouched. Stink chattered nervously, clinging to Jax’s shoulder. “Is that the Sword of Nuadu?” one of the men demanded.

  Jax looked at the circle of tattooed faces. Some were decorated with spirals and geometric designs. Others resembled animals. It was like being captured by a tribe of cannibals. “Go ahead and take it,” Jax suggested. “If you can.” Now that Griffyn was blocked from his sight, the plan returned to him: what he was supposed to say and what he was supposed to do.

  But holy crap . . . I didn’t realize how it was going to affect me when I saw him . . .

  One of the Kin grabbed the strap crossing Jax’s chest. The man’s lips peeled back from his teeth in a grimace of pain even though he wasn’t touching the actual weapon. He didn’t hang on as long as Riley had—just fumbled at the buckle, then stumbled backward with a wordless snarl, staring at his burned hands.

  “Sorry,” said Jax, “but it seems to think it belongs to me.”

  “Jax!” Evangeline gasped.

  There was a thumping sound, like wood striking concrete, and the circle of tattooed men parted to make way for the old man with the Spear. Jax guessed he was the head Llyr. Oddly, Jax felt less worried about him than about Griffyn. This old man can’t hurt me, even if he is the Llyr leader, no more than I can take that Spear away from him. But Griffyn . . . the Sword wants me to kill Griffyn . . .

  “Do you have any idea what sort of power you’ve invoked, boy?” the old man asked. Jax thought he’d sampled a taste of it a few seconds ago, but he didn’t say so. The man continued, “Your liege lady was allied with the Pendragons. I assume you stole the Sword from them? It’s hard to imagine them giving it to a boy.”

  His use of the plural didn’t escape Jax’s notice. The Llyrs didn’t know the Pendragons were reduced to one person, and they weren’t going to find out from Jax. “The Pendragons never drew it,” he said, “so it didn’t really belong to them. It was pretty easy to claim it.”

  “Against whom did you draw it?” the Llyr leader asked.

  Jax’s answer had been carefully thought out and analyzed for flaws before he came here. He stated it precisely as he’d been told to. “I drew the Sword of Nuadu against all enemies of my liege lady and her family. Anyone and everyone who threatens to harm an Emrys is targeted.” He felt the lie thrum through his body as the Sword tempted him to look at Griffyn. Instead, he finished his scripted lines. “Considering how many people have tried to hurt them so far, the job should keep me busy till I die of old age. You guys are stuck with me.”

  “Can he do that?” someone asked. “Invoke the Sword of Nuadu against an unnamed enemy? Multiple enemies?”

  The Llyr leader turned to the man who’d ordered the warehouse door closed, the one Jax thought might be a Mathonwy, the Kin with all the money. “Madoc?”

  Madoc shook his head. “I don’t think—”

  “It’s happened before!” Jax said before they could start doubting him. “Malcolm the Long-Lived did the same thing in the seventeen hundreds. I looked it up on the internet to make sure before I drew the Sword and named my enemy that way.”

  Madoc looked less certain now. He might have been rich and well connected, but he could only access the internet through remote employees. “You want the Sword of Nuadu,” Jax repeated, “you’ve got to have me along with it.”

  The old guy turned toward Griffyn. He raised his eyebrows in a wordless question, ges
turing toward the dagger held in the young man’s hand.

  Griffyn stared at Jax with a mixed expression of disgust and anger. He still had Evangeline by the arm, but he put his dagger away. “I can’t touch him,” he admitted grudgingly. “I can’t even think about it.”

  That was ironic, because killing Griffyn was all Jax could think about. His muscles coiled, and his hand twitched involuntarily.

  “I wouldn’t handle my sister so roughly if I were you, Griffyn,” Addie said loudly. “Or Jax will take you for one of our enemies and run you through.”

  Run him through. Jax’s stomach turned over. He blinked and drew in quick breaths to clear his head. I don’t want to kill anyone—not even him. And a stupid sword can’t make me!

  Maybe Griffyn sensed danger because he let go of Evangeline’s arm. “Tell your vassal he’s forbidden to leave by brownie holes,” he snapped. “Tell him to obey our orders.”

  “You may not leave by brownie holes,” Evangeline repeated to Jax in a strained voice. “Obey their orders.” Then she glanced at Griffyn for permission, and when he grunted, she dashed across the intervening space and hugged Jax tightly. Stink scrambled to the floor, out of her way. He was no longer under orders to avoid her, but he knew when he wasn’t wanted.

  Evangeline pressed her cheek against Jax’s. “I’m Griffyn Llyr’s bound handmaiden,” she whispered in his ear. “Don’t tell me anything you don’t want him to know.”

  Bound handmaiden? What the heck was that? But Jax got the last bit loud and clear. Evangeline guessed he’d come here as part of a plan and wanted him to keep it secret. That threw a monkey wrench into things—as did her direct order not to leave by brownie holes. Not that he could do that while they were warded, but it was definitely on his to-do list.

  “Bran, we should leave,” Madoc said to the Llyr leader. “We’re at risk of attack here.” He glared darkly at Jax. “This boy has cost me most of my safe houses.”

  The tattooed man named Condor returned with a report. “There’s no sign of anyone in the vicinity, but I’ve sent men further afield to make sure we don’t get cut off. There must be other Transitioners coming behind him.”

  “There aren’t,” Jax insisted. “The brownie magic took me to my liege, but I didn’t know where I was going ahead of time. I still don’t know where I am. This warehouse could be in Timbuktu for all I know.”

  “Make him tell you the truth.” Griffyn glowered at Evangeline.

  Evangeline looked at Jax miserably. “Are you alone?”

  Why is she doing everything he says? “Yes. No one is with me.”

  “Is someone watching us?” Griffyn pressed. “From the brownie holes? Or scrying?”

  “No one is watching,” Jax said through clenched teeth, keeping his eyes averted from the big, ugly Llyr. But Griffyn’s voice set his nerves on fire, and he had to grip his honor blade again for strength. “The wards are complete now, aren’t they? We’re shielded from scrying, and brownie holes can’t transport anybody in from the outside.” Uncle Finn had wanted to come with Jax, backed up by members of the Dulac clan security force. But the Llyrs had defeated the Dulacs on their home ground once already, and Sloane had chosen not to risk her men’s lives by sending them blindly into an unknown situation. They needed to face the Llyrs with a combined Transitioner force in a place of their choosing—during a battle that would attract the Morrigan.

  That was the plan.

  Jax turned back to the Llyr leader. “I came to serve my liege lady, and if she wants me to, I’ll tell you where to find the last of those Treasures you’re looking for.”

  Bran Llyr stared at him through narrowed eyes. “The Bediveres have the Stone of Fal.”

  Jax sagged a little. “Oh, you know that already?”

  “It’s a trap,” Madoc proclaimed.

  “Of course, it’s a trap,” said Bran. “Isn’t it, boy?”

  “Uh.” What was he supposed to say? “Yeah. But what do you care? You’re like a weather god, aren’t you?”

  Bran turned his back on Jax and faced Madoc. “We will assault the Bedivere house. The Transitioners’ plans do not concern me.”

  “The house is protected,” Madoc said. “A direct assault will be fruitless. It would be better to go into hiding until they’ve lowered their guard. The Aerons have one or two hiding places we can reach before midnight if we leave at once, and I know of abandoned properties out west where we can . . .”

  “Madoc Mathonwy, I have not asked you to take a vow of loyalty,” Bran interrupted him, “out of recognition for your service in freeing us from Oeth-Anoeth. However, as we head into battle against our ancient enemies, there can be only one leader of the Kin.”

  Madoc stiffened. Across the room, Kel looked shocked. Into this hesitation jumped Condor. “I’ll swear my allegiance to you, Lord Llyr,” he proclaimed loudly, dropping to his knees.

  Way to suck up, thought Jax, and make Madoc look bad at the same time. All the tattooed men started clamoring to swear themselves, but Bran held Madoc pinned in his gaze. “Yes, of course,” Madoc said belatedly. “You had only to ask.”

  “But you were not willing to offer,” Bran finished. “I have wondered why it took five years after Elwyn Emrys’s death for you to assault Oeth-Anoeth. Perhaps it was because you were looking for a way to accomplish your goals without freeing me?”

  Madoc didn’t try to make lame excuses. He got down on his knees, looking sick. “I, Madoc Mathonwy, do swear my allegiance . . .”

  Jax felt Evangeline’s hand on his arm, pulling him away. A moment later, Addie was on his other side, and the three of them huddled together, watching Madoc swear himself to Bran Llyr. “How’d you end up with the Sword of Nuadu?” Evangeline whispered.

  “Same as usual,” Jax replied in an undertone. “I did something stupid while Riley wasn’t looking. What about you? What’s this handmaiden stuff?”

  “I’m magically bound to marry Griffyn Llyr,” Evangeline said hoarsely.

  “What?” A blinding rage overcame Jax, and if the girls hadn’t each had one of his arms, he would’ve reached for the Sword again. Their touch grounded him, enabling him to protest with his voice instead. “You can’t be engaged to him!”

  “Worse than engaged,” Addie hissed. “The handmaiden oath is for captured brides from enemy clans. The point is to humiliate her and break her spirit. It’s an oath more binding than vassalhood; she’s practically his slave.” Addie leaned across Jax to whisper fiercely into Evangeline’s face. “I can’t believe you did it!”

  “Was I supposed to watch them break your bones one by one?” Evangeline shot back.

  Geez. The sisters couldn’t have been reunited more than a few minutes, and they were already arguing? “How do we get her out of this?” Jax asked Addie. He needed to focus on what to do next, not on what had already happened. Because this was a huge kink in his plans.

  “You could take your big old sword and kill Griffyn,” Addie suggested snarkily. “That would do it.” Then the sarcasm drained from her expression, and her eyes got wide. “He’s supposed to die by an innocent hand. That was the oracle Aine Corra gave him. It’s why he killed her.” Addie looked at her hands. “Maybe I’m supposed to do it,” she muttered.

  Jax tried to swallow, but his throat had gone dry. No, it’s me. To free Evangeline, I’m really going to have to kill Griffyn Llyr.

  28

  COULD I DO IT? Addie asked herself. Of all the magical talents she’d imitated during her practice sessions with Bran, the one she’d never attempted was lightning. It was the most lethal spell she knew, and she was afraid of accidentally striking someone dead. But what if I wanted to do it on purpose?

  “Neither of you is going to kill Griffyn,” Evangeline whispered. “And not just because I’d be compelled to stop you if you tried. You’re both children. You aren’t going to plot to murder anyone. Do you hear me? I took the oath. I’ll find a way out of it.”

  Evangeline hadn’t changed much. She was a
s bossy as ever. If Jax had been Elliot’s age, this would’ve been like old times at the Emrys house. “The Dulacs told me you were dead,” Addie said. “You and Elliot both. But you’re alive, so could Elliot be . . . ?” She saw the answer on her sister’s face even before she finished the question.

  “He’s gone,” Evangeline confirmed sadly. “A long time ago. Wylit tried to make him break the Eighth Day Spell, and it killed him.”

  Addie’s eyes stung but she blinked the tears back stubbornly. Nothing’s different from what I thought before. Hearing it from Evangeline doesn’t change anything. “That’s what they said happened to you,” she said, stuffing the memory of her little brother way, way down inside. “That you and Wylit tried to break the spell and failed.”

  “What?” Evangeline exclaimed. “No! Wylit was crazy. I almost got killed preserving the eighth day!”

  “You had the chance to end the spell and you preserved it instead?” Addie gaped at her sister.

  “Of course I did!” Evangeline stared right back at Addie. “These people can’t be unleashed on the Normal world. What if they were free to create hurricanes every day?”

  “What are you whispering about?” Griffyn growled. “Get over here.” Evangeline shot a worried look at Addie, then went to stand where Griffyn told her to. “Keep your mouth shut and don’t move,” he ordered. Obediently, Evangeline pressed her lips together, but her eyes blazed with fury. Addie doubted Griffyn was going to break her sister’s spirit no matter how he humiliated her.

  Addie turned to say this to Jax and found him staring across the warehouse at Griffyn and Evangeline with a glazed expression, breathing heavily. He twitched as if he was having a fit. The Sword on his back pulsed with an ugly red glow, like it had been doing on and off since he’d arrived, and his hand was clenched around his honor blade. “What’s wrong with you?” Addie asked. When Jax didn’t respond, she grabbed his arm. “Hey!”