Sword Song: The Isle of Destiny Series

by Tricia O'Malley

  “I just love all the flash-bang dramatics you Seekers get,” Bianca gushed, throwing her arm around Sasha’s shoulders for a quick squeeze before squealing when Seamus swept her up for a kiss. “Seamus, stop, you’ll drop me. I’m too heavy.”

  “You’re light as a feather, my love, and pretty as roses,” Seamus said, his face alight with love as he planted a heavy kiss on Bianca. Sasha smiled, but turned away to search the horizon for Declan once again.

  “He’s fine,” Maddox said, coming to stand at her side and working at a spot of silver that still clung to his shirt.

  “I know. I’m just looking for any other Domnua,” Sasha said in irritation.

  “Lie to him all you want, honey, but you can’t lie to me. You’ve got a thing for that man – and for that, I do not blame you. If he played for my team, I’d be all over him myself.”

  “Enough of that. We need to go. My parents are in trouble.”

  If only Sasha could figure out what her favorite place was.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Declan paced the hill, looking for any warning – any sign of lingering Domnua – but none came. Instead, the sun struggled to peek through the clouds and the birds had begun to sing their morning song, which told Declan that the magick had left the region for now.

  It had been nothing but a search party – to test their strength. And here Sasha had leveled them all instead of allowing Declan to do what he’d trained his whole life to do. He swore and kicked at a loose rock on the ground, sending it tumbling down the side of the hill.

  Not that she hadn’t looked every inch the fierce warrior as she’d done so, Declan thought, feeling a small clutch in his chest as pride swelled. His fierce pint-sized warrior coming into her own. She had a ways to go before she realized just what she was capable of – and he planned to be by her every step of the way as she did, Declan thought with a smile. She was, quite simply, magnificent.

  A thought slipped through his head about her determination to pretend they weren’t meant for each other. He scoffed and looked off at the horizon. He could feel the current of energy that ran between them when they touched. It was everything he could do not to throw her over his shoulder and take her away – anywhere but here. He wanted to spend days – no, weeks – showing her just how right they would be together.

  Not yet. Declan promised himself he would retain his decorum and his promise until the sword was found. But after that? All bets were off.

  And Sasha Flanagan would realize they were meant for each other.

  He glanced up as the car crested the hill, Seamus at the wheel. Bianca rolled the window down and hung her head out, two blonde pigtails bouncing in the wind. Declan almost grinned at how much like a pert schoolgirl she looked.

  “Not to interrupt your sulk or anything, but we’ve got to move,” Bianca said.

  Declan found himself almost laughing as a wide grin split his face. “I’m most certainly not sulking. I was just making sure there was nothing else over the hill for us to battle. Let’s go,” he said. He climbed into the back of the car, where Sasha still sat in the middle seat, her nose as high in the air as it could get.

  “Nice shooting, beautiful,” Declan said easily.

  Sasha jerked to look at him in surprise. “I thought you’d be angry,” she exclaimed.

  “Why? We’re all on the same team here. I love watching a woman own her own power,” Declan said, allowing the double meaning to hang in the air. Sasha looked away, but a faint tinge of pink clung to her cheeks. Declan bit back a smile as he imagined that same color heating her face when he finally took her to bed.

  “Oh my,” Maddox whispered, fanning his face, and Bianca burst out in laughter.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Here she’d thought he would be mad that she’d gone and stolen his thunder, but instead he’d complimented her. The man remained an enigma to Sasha, and one that she found herself increasingly interested in figuring out. It seemed she needed to suspend some of her long-held assumptions about most men in her life, and instead sit back and study him.

  “Honey, tell us what the Domnua said again.” Maddox patted her thigh gently, bringing Sasha back into the moment.

  “Basically he said they have my parents – and in my favorite place. I’m not sure what or where that is, though,” Sasha said, feeling a sense of helplessness seep through her. It could be anywhere, really. Or from what time in her life?

  “Well, if it’s your parents, perhaps it was from when you were growing up? Like, did you have a favorite place as a child? Or someplace that always made you happy?”

  “The Nest,” Sasha said automatically, then paused.

  “The Nest?” Bianca looked over her shoulder in question.

  “It’s just this darling little tea shop-pub-bookstore type place. It has mismatched furniture, and sort of a relaxed everyone-is-welcome type of vibe. I always liked going there and reading a book in the corner. In all honesty, it felt more like home than home did.” Sasha shrugged that last comment away, but Maddox patted her leg gently.

  “To The Nest we go then,” Bianca said.

  “Why do you think they went after my parents? I mean, they aren’t really my parents. Not by blood. Not anything that would be linked to this quest, is what I mean,” Sasha shrugged, running her finger over the pendant at her neck, feeling the smooth contours of the stone.

  “There must be a link there or something that you have to overcome,” Bianca suggested. “Typically in a quest, there are three hurdles you have to pass in order to get to the treasure. Maybe this is the first?”

  “And that little showing of Domnua wasn’t?” Sasha asked. “And why did Clodagh disappear?”

  “She gave you your pendant. It’s part of your power. Her job was done. She was smart to clear out and protect her family. This is a war. As a leader of a clan, I would have done the same,” Declan said.

  Sasha looked at him in surprise. “Basically deliver the package, task complete, clear out?”

  “Her purpose was served. It would be foolhardy to stay and put her family in harm.”

  “But­–” Sasha bit off her words. A part of her thought she was Clodagh’s family – and wasn’t that just a kick in the pants?

  “You thought of her as family?” Declan asked softly.

  Sasha saw a look of sympathy cross Bianca’s face, which immediately made her put her walls up. “No, I just thought she’d feel a bit of responsibility for me as she was the one who saved my life as a babe. No matter, though. She did her job, I have my pendant, and we have a clue as to where to go next.” Sasha shrugged it away and saw Bianca press her lips together to hold back whatever she had been about to say.

  “Are you worried about your parents? When is the last time you spoke to them?” Seamus asked instead, and Sasha turned to the task at hand.

  “It’s been quite a while. I didn’t really feel like I fit in all that well with the family.” Sasha shrugged again, uncomfortable with bringing up family stuff.

  “Yeah, but you can not fit in and they still love you,” Bianca pointed out. “Do you not feel that’s the case?”

  “As I said before, I feel like the love is conditional. If I fit in and do the right things, then I’m loved. If I go my own way and live an oddball life, then maybe not so much,” Sasha said, biting her lip as she stared out the window.

  “But how is running your own business and being a successful antiques dealer an ‘oddball life’?” Bianca asked.

  “I think it’s just because I’m a strong woman and they don’t necessarily understand me. I don’t have a craving to have children and be a stay-at-home mum, so I’ve fallen outside the norm of what they understand. I’m not even certain it’s malicious. I’m just not sure that they’ll ever accept me for who I am.”

  Silence filled the car at her words, as there was really nothing much else that could be said. Some things were the untenable truth and there was no sugarcoating it. It wasn’t bad or good – it simply was.


  “We’ll find out soon enough why we’re being sent on this path. Rest your head for now,” Declan said, putting his arm around Sasha and pulling her tight against him, though she kept her arms crossed and shoulders stiff.

  It took her less than a minute to drift off.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Sasha awoke with a start, surprised to find herself snuggled into the crook of Declan’s arm, her hand resting on the washboard muscles of his stomach. Dear lord, this is not how you keep your cool, she thought, as she slowly extricated herself from his grip without making eye contact with him.

  They’d entered a small village near the town where Sasha had grown up. She remembered furiously pedaling her bike to the village each day – anything to get out of town and away to something new, where she could be herself without the questioning eyes of her family.

  Sasha pressed her eyes closed against the memories that swamped her as they wound their way through the colorful downtown of the teeny village. The old feelings of insecurity that had made her stick her head in a book in the corner of The Nest day after day, the feeling of anger that nobody seemed to understand her, her frustration at having no control over her life other than being able to bike to the next village. She remembered reading books on swordplay and antique weapons until the pages were falling out. Having found a manual on fencing, she’d begun her first cautious steps into the martial arts with a thin branch that she’d poke and parry behind the stone walls of the pastures lining the village roads.

  She’d been the oddball in her family and in school. She was the smallest in her level so she was never picked for sports, and the quiet one in class who scored well on exams. It had been a fairly solitary existence growing up, and she’d longed for more friends, perhaps even a boyfriend. It wasn’t until she finally went out on her own that she promised she would shed that skin and come into her own. Sasha had worked diligently through the years to escape the awkwardness and insecurity of her youth, and felt like she’d done a good job of coming into her own.

  Up until Aaron had cheated on her, anyway. It had been more of a blow to her confidence than she’d expected. Though she’d picked up and carried on, Sasha had seriously struggled with trusting her instincts – in fact, with trusting anyone – for a while after.

  She paused for a moment. Hadn’t Bianca brought up trusting her instincts twice earlier today? It was something to mull over. If anything, her job was to identify patterns or tug on any threads that seemed to be woven together in this fantastical quest she found herself on. She decided to shelve that thought for later, though, as Seamus turned down the street that held The Nest.

  “This is charming,” Bianca murmured and Sasha found a smile creeping across her face. It was eclectic, and warm, and one of the few places that truly brought warm memories for her. Tucked along a small side street, The Nest was a charming grey stone building with mismatched windows – some oval-shaped, some large and paned, others tiny diamond-shaped stained glass. Little pots that would hold flowers in the summer, statues of gnomes and fairies, and other odds and ends lined the walkway and wall of the garden behind it.

  “It’s one of my favorite spots. It’s quite cozy inside, especially in the winter with the fire going. You can tuck yourself away in a corner with a book and relax for hours,” Sasha murmured, but her eyes were scanning the empty street. She noticed that Declan was doing the same.

  “Is it usually this empty?” Seamus asked, and Sasha shook her head, her hand tightening around the hilt of her dagger.

  “They want us to come here. But why even give us a heads up that this is a trap? I don’t understand,” Bianca asked.

  “I don’t know. The fae are a tricky lot. There’s always more than meets the eye,” Declan said, and both Seamus and Maddox nodded in agreement.

  “I’ll remember that,” Sasha said, her tone stiff as she ran her eyes over Declan for a second.

  Seamus pulled up next to the building and let the car idle as they waited to make a decision on what they should do next. Tom Petty’s “Free Falling” played low through the speakers and Sasha felt like she could identify with that – it was as though she had fallen into an alternate universe. For the first time, she identified with Alice in Wonderland.

  “I’m going in,” Sasha decided. She nudged Maddox to move, since she was certain Declan wouldn’t let her out.

  “Wait a minute. If you go in – we all go in,” Bianca declared, and Seamus nodded his head.

  “Sorry, sparky, but you don’t get to be all warrior badass on your own. We’re a team,” Seamus said.

  Sasha rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Fine, whatever. But they clearly brought us here for a reason, and we aren’t going to figure out what that reason is if we just sit in the car. So we might as well just get to it.”

  “Impatient, are we?” Maddox murmured.

  “I feel like a sitting duck in this car. At least if we are out we can move around,” Sasha said, anxiety skittering through her stomach. It was more than that, though. She knew her foster parents were inside and she wasn’t certain what condition she was going to find them in – or if she was fully prepared to deal with the emotions that would come with whatever she did find.

  “If the lady wants to get it over with, then we get it over with. Look alive, everyone. Don’t forget to look up either. Those buggers like to be sneaky,” Seamus said cheerfully, and everyone moved to leave the car. Sasha was about to exit on Maddox’s side when Declan snagged her arm and dragged her unceremoniously with him, much to her chagrin.

  “You don’t need to tug me around like I’m a small child,” Sasha snapped as he kept her close as they rounded the car.

  “It’s easier than arguing with you,” Declan said simply, shielding her with his body as they walked toward the front door. The stillness of the street made Sasha’s neck shiver and she continued to scan their surroundings, looking for anything that struck her as out of the ordinary, besides the silence.

  “I should go in first...” Sasha’s voice trailed off, because Seamus had already opened the door. He poked his head in and then looked back at them, a look of confusion on his face.

  “It’s oddly normal in here. But I can feel the magick,” Seamus murmured and they all crowded around him to peek into the door.

  It was just as Sasha had remembered it – warm, with several people reading or drinking a pint around the open room while a lilting Celtic melody hung suspended in the air. She quickly spotted her parents in the corner, smiling and looking relaxed.

  Which immediately put her even more on guard. Her parents had rarely been relaxed when she was with them. They were either angry, tense, or worried about money. The only joy she’d really seen in them was when they conversed with their daughter – their real daughter, that is. She’d often tried to understand why they’d even taken her in if they hadn’t wanted another daughter.

  Her mum, blonde curls tumbling over her back, laughed at something her dad said and sipped from her tea. Her father, also blond, with a thick beard that made him look like a bewildered lion, smiled back at her. For a moment, the years fell away and they seemed to look just like a young couple enjoying themselves. Sasha’s heart tugged a bit as she framed them in a new light – as just people living their lives and dealing with the day-to-day as best they knew how.

  “Can they see us?” Bianca asked, and Sasha realized that nobody in the room had turned to look at the open door.

  “No. I think we are walking into a staged scene. Arm yourselves. Let’s accomplish whatever we need to accomplish here and get out,” Declan growled in her ear, the tension all but vibrating off of him and through Sasha as she pressed herself to his back.

  Even though she was used to going it alone, Sasha wasn’t going to lie – his warmth was comforting.

  Sasha stepped through the door, and even she could feel the thin membrane of magick that wrapped The Nest. As soon as she stepped through, everything disappeared except for her parents.

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nbsp; It was as though someone had thrown a switch and turned the lights off, except for one flickering beam shining down on where her parents sat, their eyes darting every which way as they tried to figure out what was going on. Everything else fell away to darkness.

  Sasha crossed the room and stood in front of them, wondering if they could see her, trying to figure out what clues she was supposed to take away from this oddly orchestrated moment.

  “Sasha?” her mother asked, pushing her hair away from her face and looking at her in confusion. Neither of her parents rose to hug her.

  “What are you guys doing here?” Sasha said, carefully watching them, looking for signs of a silver glow or any sort of trickery. Though she hadn’t had the best upbringing with them, she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she killed one of them thinking they were Domnua masquerading as her parents.

  “Having a cup of tea. What are you doing here?” her mother said, looking around in bewilderment. Sasha glanced over her shoulder but all she saw was darkness.

  “I was in the area. I thought I’d stop in. This was my favorite place growing up – did you know that?” Sasha asked, watching them carefully for any clue.

  “Was it?” Her dad furrowed his brow as he thought about it. “I knew you were always riding off somewhere or the other, but wasn’t sure where.”

  “I think I knew that you came here. You mentioned it a few times,” her mom said.

  “You didn’t really know much about me at all, did you?” Sasha asked, narrowing her eyes at them.

  “You never let us in. We didn’t really know what to do with you. You were just so different than us,” her mom said, shrugging helplessly. Sasha’s mouth dropped open a bit. All the old angst wanted to pour through and she forced herself to breathe for a moment, her eyes still darting around the table. Why couldn’t she hear her friends behind her? What kind of bubble of magick was being cast around them?