by Claudy Conn
“And then what?” She was anxious and playing with her fingers.
“Then I am going to enact the Féth Fiada so that we can approach cloaked in invisibility and hope she cannot see past it.”
“You can do that?” Maxie was impressed.
“Yes, but now, Maxie, you are going to have to do something you haven’t yet done.”
“What?”
“Breslyn told me that your shield when you find it will be even stronger than mine. You have to go into that wonderful Druid compartment in your brain. It is all yours, and you have to find it.”
“I don’t know how!” she wailed.
“You have to do it Max … for Uncle Kennet … for us … find it, Max.”
She closed her eyes and dove right in. She went right into her Druid place. Okay, she told herself, shield—show yourself.
Nothing. She tried again. Nothing.
“Julian … it isn’t happening … I can’t do it.” She was frantic.
“Think of Uncle Kennet, Max … how does it make you feel to know she is touching him, right this minute?”
Okay, that was brutal, but it did the trick. It got her into the mode. She heard the required words pop into her brain and whispered them. It came to her like the dawn, open and slow and suddenly bright and beautiful. Oh yeah, there was light! She called on her shield, and not only did it envelop her, she felt its warmth reach out and enfold Julian as well.
A moment later she was smiling at him and feeling very proud of herself. He laughed out loud and tweaked her nose. “Good girl.”
Just a few moments later he pulled onto a stretch of clean woods that lined the road and brought the jeep to a stop. He parked it and looked at her.
Uncle Kennet was her priority. If it hadn’t been for her, he wouldn’t be in his present predicament. Again she wished Breslyn were there to help them. A little Fairy backup would be nice!
Julian started whispering some ancient Gaelic words. She understood them, and then he said, “Right then. We are cloaked in invisibility.”
“Yes, but I can see you.”
“You are a Seer, but, Max … I can’t see you.”
Okay, now that was over the top. “How do you know how to do the Féth Fiada anyway?”
“The queen gave me the ability when I was on Tir.”
He was already moving into high speed, and Maxie had to really run to keep up with him. He turned and whispered, “Take my hand, love … at least then I will feel you.”
“This is only going to help for the first few minutes, Jules. As soon as she realizes we are there, she will use her Dark Magic. She will be able to see past the Féth Fiada.”
“I know. But hopefully, by then, we will have gotten into position.”
“Into position? That sounds like a plan you haven’t shared.”
“Into position to use the dagger, and it won’t be pretty, Max. If you are able, I would prefer you look away when it happens.”
“Jules, I have a bad feeling about this.”
“Can you be more specific?”
He was still moving along at a speed that was difficult for her. She tugged on his hand and demanded, “Just a bit slower, big boy.”
“Sorry, love.” And then, he said, “Well, what exactly do you mean … you have a bad feeling?”
“The best I can come up with is we should expect the unexpected, which of course makes no sense. I have never understood that saying, because if you expect it then it is not really unexpected.”
A short laugh escaped his lips. “That about sums it up.”
Maxie was frazzled. She almost lost Julian’s hand because she could see Uncle Kennet in her mind’s view. Lamia was sitting beside him, and she was pure evil. She radiated wicked intent. She was purring as she stroked his face. It was as though he didn’t know where he was. His face was blank, and she had seen Lamia’s hungry eyes.
* * *
“Lamia … we need him—don’t hurt him. You will need him to get Julian and Maxine … here.” Shamon’s hand had swept his gray white hair.
She eyed Shamon irritably. “You should have told me about her.”
“I didn’t know. How could I?” Shamon lied.
“Yes, well … when I am done with this descendent of Maxine’s, I will have her uncle’s blood, and then tomorrow … I will have your little employee, Mary!”
Shamon said nothing to this. She eyed him doubtfully. “And there will be no pouting and moodiness, Shamon.”
“Yes, beloved … but you must not kill this Maxine, otherwise the Realm will return for you.”
“No, I mean to give her a fate worse than death.”
* * *
Maxie and Julian arrived at Lamia’s leased cottage. Julian still could not see Maxie or his own hand for that matter, but he took the front oak door’s brass handle and opened it wide as he pulled her along. Maxie caught DuLaine’s scent. She knew that DuLaine had caught hers.
Maxie felt Lamia’s anger, her elation, and her will to control. Lamia took a position in the next room, between the wide arched opening and Uncle Kennet. Julian and Maxie slowly moved towards her.
Maxie was glad they had not underestimated her. She was a Druid but not a priestess. She had given herself over to the most forbidden and blackest magic, and she had many powers to draw upon. She knew at once that they were there, although at first she had not been able to see through their cloaking.
She repaired the problem for herself almost at once. However, their audacity made her furious. Maxie felt the bitterness well up inside of DuLaine. She even felt DuLaine shoot a bolt of anger towards Julian.
Lamia wanted him to love her. She was satisfied with the illusion that one day he would love her. Stark reality hit her in the face as she saw through the invisibility, and she screamed, “Tricks! You dare trick me?”
Maxie felt the cloak ease away as Julian released them from its protection.
DuLaine stared at Julian and moved slightly towards him, breathing his name. “Oh, darling Julian … beloved.”
Julian’s presence filled the room. His blue eyes were glittering with hatred, but all she could see was the way they sparkled, all she could feel was her longing and her dire need to have him. His black hair fell in a mess around his handsome face. His shadow beard gave him a look of mystery and power. Lamia was fixated on him as Maxie tried to move closer to Uncle Kennet.
Julian took two hard strides into the small, dark study. He was moving to the right. Uncle Kennet sat on the left side of the room. Shamon stood only a foot behind Lamia, and he wore a mask of misery.
Maxie realized in that moment that Shamon Moore had been punished nearly all his life, but now perhaps more than ever. Why could he not break from her hold? He had the ability given to him from the Realm. Why was he still doing her bidding?
At any rate, it appeared that momentarily they were at an impasse.
“My love,” Julian said to Maxie in a tone she realized was meant to taunt Lamia. He wanted her to lose control. Maxie did it up good and smiled dotingly at him. Lamia shook her fists at them. A howl of anguish escaped her throat, and she started ranting like a madwoman.
“Now … your uncle,” Julian whispered as he moved quickly into position.
Maxie stepped closer to her uncle and said his name. He did not respond but continued to stare blankly. Maxie went closer still to him. He was in a deep trance.
Everything seemed to be happening all at once. Maxie tried to keep her eyes on everything, but there was a swirl of action making everything she saw haze over. An incantation in the voice of myriad lost souls burst from DuLaine’s lips, and Uncle Kennet seemed to snap to attention.
Maxie saw Julian take the dagger in hand. Lamia saw the dagger for the first time, and she made a guttural sound before saying, “You dare to hold the Pontivey Dagger? You think to … to use it against me?”
“It should have been used against you all those years ago when you were first created! You are an abomination!” Julian spat
at her and got what he wanted.
Lamia exploded out of control, and she lunged. He positioned the dagger, and she stopped in mid-stride as she turned to Uncle Kennet. With a finger and a whisper she directed him. Kennet tackled Julian, who was not expecting an onslaught from him and did not want to cause him harm. In the struggle the dagger went flying. Lamia came for Maxie, who instinctively put up her hands, and there it was, another thing she did not know she had: a body shield! She had called on a mind shield to keep Lamia from discovering their progress towards the cottage, but this—this was amazing!
Maxie was flabbergasted. She couldn’t believe that she stood unharmed. It actually worked. This took her a minute to assimilate. No one was more surprised than Maxie, correction—Lamia was. She bounced off of Maxie’s body shield like a racquetball.
During the fray Shamon picked up the dagger. Everything after that seemed to warp into zero speed for Maxie as she watched it all unfold before her eyes.
Lamia fell backwards, and Shamon was there to catch her. He steadied her for a moment and held her from behind. He held her lovingly, tightly—as though he could go on holding her forever.
Maxie watched this with disbelief. She saw DuLaine’s eyes close a moment and realized that, in her way, she cared for Shamon, and there was no doubt how deeply he adored her. He whispered her name. He told her how he was naught without her. He called her ‘beloved’.
And then he slit her throat.
Shamon was fast and he was thorough; he cut and opened the gland that had been residing within her throat these twelve hundred years, and when it was exposed and damaged, that gland disintegrated.
They stood stunned as she slumped to the floor. Then, without hesitation, Shamon plunged the dagger into his own heart.
They all stood frozen in the moment, well except for Uncle Kennet, who dropped to the ground, and then attempted to make sense of where, when, who, and how.
A glow came from a spatial distortion in the room, and out stepped the prince of Dagda, who stood in the center of the horrific scene.
~ Twenty-six ~
IT WASN’T HIS usual ‘poof’, one minute he wasn’t there, and the next he was. He was just there in the center of a glowing white light. It was then that Maxie realized the prince was in High Fae Glamour. At least that was what it looked like to her.
Maxie had seen the prince in his human Glamour, and she had seen him look less human when they were together in Faery, but this … this was who he was!
Apparently he had come straight from his Court Council, which was devising military strategy, and the prince was in full warrior regalia. This was eye-opening and made her fold her arms and take a good look. It was easy to fall into the habit of thinking the Fae were just a bit more than human. They were so not anything human. That was not to say they weren’t stunning. They were, and they were intoxicatingly, engagingly beautiful, but although they had similar human form, they were an alien race.
Maxie looked at her prince, who stood there proud and majestic, and saw a race with Herculean powers and undreamed of magic. He was awesome. The point? If she had been in love with the prince, it wouldn’t have mattered—the alien in him wouldn’t have mattered. It was important to point it out to herself all the same.
Breslyn’s skin seemed to glisten with sparkling gold dust. His eyes were more almond-shaped than usual, and their color was unknown to her, but the silver that sparkled still said, I am Breslyn, and the smile he offered was as sincere as ever, so Maxie relaxed. He wore an unusual tartan of many colors across his naked torso. He wore tight, well-aged, dark brown leather pants and sandals. His dark blond hair was slicked back and tied at the nape of his neck, and his expression was grim.
“Lia! Ete saw and told me that the DuLaine had captured your Uncle Kennet. I dropped everything to come to you.”
“Breslyn?” Maxie managed to breathe. “Where have you been?”
“In a battle of sorts. We will speak of it later. For now, I see we are finally rid of the beast.” Fae were pragmatic. They dealt with what was.
It was a moment Maxie should have wanted to celebrate. However, here was also a tragedy. Lamia DuLaine had been altered when she was still in her teens. She had not been born a beast. She had been made one by her own father.
And Shamon? Shamon had done the impossible. He had taken the life of his dear beloved. He adored Lamia. He had always felt he owed her his life. He had always obeyed her. What could have made him capable of putting an end to her, and then himself?
“Why? Why did he kill her …? Why now? Do you know, Bres?”
The prince studied Shamon’s inert body and sighed. “Apparently he left us something.” He walked over, and without touching Shamon’s body he retrieved three letters from Shamon’s inner silk vest pocket. Maxie noticed that the prince’s human Glamour kicked in as he turned towards them. The glow was gone. The golden Faery dust was gone. He once again looked ‘mostly’ human.
One of the envelopes was addressed to them. Breslyn held it towards Julian, who said without smiling, “Why don’t you read it, Prince.”
“If you like.” Breslyn inclined his head regally, and started.
Dear Lord Talbot,
This was the only way. I have left a note for the authorities explaining that Lamia and I had entered a murder, suicide pact. A pact between lovers. It explains that we could not go on as my lady was suffering an incurable, rare disease. Perhaps that will help to explain the anomalies they will find in her blood.
I have arranged for her vast cash wealth, estate, and holdings to go to various charities. Perhaps this will make up in part for all the horror she has caused so many. Perhaps not. At any rate, it was the only thing I thought ‘right’ to do with her wealth.
You will find an envelope for Mary Newton. You will please make certain she gets this note. Mary is not to know what I am about to tell you. I trust you to keep my secret, and I tell you as your life was so badly damaged by my Lamia’s obsession. I feel you have a right to know everything there is to know that is relative to this moment.
Two hundred years ago, just before Lamia was taken by the Realm, Lamia had taken a young woman named Nell and sadly used her. She was near death. All Nell had ever wanted to do was open a sweet shop in London. Lamia interrupted her life. I managed to take Nell away in time before Lamia killed her. The details really don’t matter. What matters was that the Realm allowed me to find and then live a life with Nell. She became my wife, and we had children. Through Breslyn’s kindness, I was allowed annual visits to my children. At any rate, Mary is the last of my line that started two hundred years ago. Mary is the last of what was the only normal time in my life. Lamia took it into her head to summon Mary here, and she will arrive in Inverness tomorrow. Lamia would have killed her. Mary need not know this for obvious reasons. That was my breaking point.
The prince stopped a moment and then read on.
Mary looks so much like my Nell. I have written my will so that she will inherit whatever I have, including my legal offices that I have enjoyed (with the prince’s aid) making a success. I trust in you, my Lord Talbot, and I thank you for your kindness in advance for while you had reason not to trust me, I have every reason to trust you.
It was signed Shamon Moore.
“Humans have a tremendous capacity for love. It is something I have always found one of their most attractive features.” Breslyn’s head was down, his eyebrows drawn together.
Julian studied the prince for a long moment, and then offered his hand. “I believe all those years ago, I misread you. You have been a friend to us, Breslyn. I would like to call you so.”
If the prince could have blushed, he would have. Maxie could see he was greatly moved. He took Julian’s hand, and they crossed arms as well in a bond she was certain would last a human lifetime.
Then the prince was taking a look around the room and exclaiming, “By Danu! We must tend to things here.” He looked at Julian. “How did you get here?”
&nbs
p; “We have the jeep parked about half a mile off, and Kennet’s car was left by the roadside near Tally’s home.”
“Then you take Lia and fetch Kennet’s car. Each of you take a vehicle back to MacTalbot. I will tend to things here and shift to the castle with Kennet.”
“How will you take care of things here … What are you going to do?” Maxie always needed details. The devil might be in the details, but so was the truth.
He smiled warmly at her. “Well, Lia, we do not want your authorities to find evidence of either you or Julian here, do we?”
“Oh my gosh, no.”
“Therefore I shall tend to the matter. All trace of you, Kennet, and Talbot must be erased … disintegrated if you will.” He looked about himself and then smiled wickedly at her, “As bloodthirsty as my Lia has said she is, I think perhaps you are ready to leave, are you not?”
Maxie realized that she was oh so ready to leave. “Yes, very ready … damn ready in fact!”
At that point they all glanced towards Uncle Kennet, who had gotten up from the hardwood floor and had a finger to his nose as he walked towards the front entrance and tried to make sense of where he was.
Julian caught Kennet’s arm and said in a low and assuaging tone, “Never mind, Kennet. You will be home soon.”
“Yes, but where the devil am I? Where is my Tally?” He turned and saw the two bodies on the floor in a pool of blood, and his eyes opened wide. “Shit!”
“Precisely. And your Tally is fine.” Julian smiled, turned back to Breslyn, and said softly, “Then I leave things to you, my friend.” So saying he took Maxie’s arm and led her out of the cottage.
* * *
They were in the library. Julian had just finished building a fire and turned to take Maxie into his arms. She sank into his hold and burst into tears.
Things had been so intense for so long, and now all at once, it was over … or so she thought at that moment. She was wrong of course. Things would settle for a while, but they were not over, oh no—not by any means! A war had already started, and soon they would be a part of it.
