by Angel Lawson
I don’t know what to expect from the Legion. They’re legends—close to a myth--that Dylan would read about in his musty books, but they’re here. Standing in our foyer looking decidedly…normal.
“Does anyone need a drink?” I ask suddenly, feeling the urge. “Because I need a fucking drink.”
Sam perks up, as well as Clinton, who’s already headed to the library. I pat one of the warriors, Agis I believe, on the shoulder and nod for him to follow.
Clinton pours drinks and passes them around. Dylan comes in the room and shuts the door behind him. I swallow the fiery liquid in a quick gulp and wait for what comes next.
“First,” Dylan says, holding his drink in his hand. “We’re not looking to keep you as slaves. That has never been our interest but you how the Shaman operates. Contracts and manipulation. It was the only way.”
My brother looks over the room. It’s packed between the four of us, Hildi, and the six Immortals. “The Morrigan is making her move tomorrow. Her intention is to bring the Darkness from her world to this one, kicking off the apocalypse.”
“The sickness,” Miya says. “I’ve seen it before, during other times. It was made from her dark energy.”
“We’ve managed to stop that for now,” Sam says. Hildi scoffs bitterly under her breath and takes a big gulp of alcohol. Clinton refills her glass.
“That was the closest she’s come to getting through in a long time. But other forces have aligned. Both of her sisters are alive right now, Macha and Nemian. Although we tried to split them using our own dark magic, it didn’t work as anticipated. The Morrigan must be destroyed.”
“And you need our help,” says Rupert. He leans against the leather sofa as though the fight earlier didn’t happen and that his freedom doesn’t hang in the balance.
“Yes, we need your fighting power,” I say. “We must get to our mate before the binding ceremony starts, but the Morrigan will be armed to the teeth. Her soldiers are strong and deadly.”
“And after this battle is over?” Roland asks.
“You’re free to go,” Dylan says. He does not add that there will be conditions.
“And if we fail?” Armin asks. He’s huge, even more so in human clothes where his muscles bulge against the fabric of his shirt.
Clinton places his glass on the bar. “We won’t fail.”
We study one another—ten men and one Valkyrie, and that much is understood. Failure is not an option.
22
Morgan
The morning of the ceremony dawns gray like every other I’ve experienced on the Otherside. Nevis opens the curtains wide, blasting white light into the room, and I shield my eyes.
“Are we in a rush?”
“Preparations will last all day, starting with a dip in the royal springs and a blessing by the court priest.”
“This kingdom has a priest?”
“Yes, and you’re due to join the Morrigan and Anita soon. Eat your breakfast.” She points to the small plate of food next to the bed.
Less than a day before the ceremony happens. I wanted to bide my time until this day, until my guardians arrived, but I feel off kilter. Like I should have done more. The harsh frown tugging at Nevis’ mouth implies the same.
“What have I done wrong?” I ask her. “Where have I failed?”
“You’re here, Morgan, and you’re treading lightly. It’s the best we can hope for.”
But her disappointment is evident as she combs through my hair, working out the tangles from the night before. “Bunny and I have made up,” I say. “Or at least I think we have.”
“You’ve forgiven him?”
“As much as I can,” I say, but doubt lingers. I haven’t told him all of the plans. And I certainly haven’t let myself truly go with him. “We’re watched constantly. Even with the rune of protection he gave me, Casteel kept an eye on us both last night.”
Nevis twists my hair into a tight bun and wraps my naked body in a thick robe. “Uh, no clothes?”
“I told you, bathing in the springs.”
Gods, what have I gotten myself into. “And these springs? Are they the same as yours below?”
“Not exactly. They’re natural but not from the same well that has the healing properties, but to keep the queen calm some water is added daily to the pools. Her vanity knows no bounds, Morgan. She feeds on her beauty and control over others. Be careful when you’re with her today. You’ll need all your strength as she’ll be testing you, weakening you before the ceremony tonight. She can’t allow anything to interfere with her plans.”
“How do I fight back?” We’re at the door, about to leave my room. I’m in the robe and have on felt slippers.
She turns and takes my hands. “You’re powerful in your own right, Morgan. You have the tools and strength it takes to do this. Dig deep. The real challenge for you is pretending like you haven’t succumbed to her will.”
We’re quiet in the hallway, the entire kingdom seemingly still asleep. Nevis leads me to a bathhouse. Stained glass windows line the wall and the bath itself is large and square. Steam rises from the water and just as I arrive, Anita turns the corner in a matching robe.
“Morgan,” she says. “Have fun last night?”
“Sure,” I reply, remembering what Nevis just said. Fake it. Pretend. Stop being such a judgy bitch and get through the day. “I’ve never been to anything like that before.”
“Well, Mother and Daddy prepared me with cotillion and etiquette classes in high school. I loathed it at the time, but now I understand that they were grooming me for this very moment.” She gives me a sympathetic grin.
Grooming. It’s a strange word but obviously exactly the right one for the circumstances. “Yeah, no such luck. Somehow my parents didn’t get the memo.”
Nevis walks over at the same time as Anita’s servant. They both reach for our robes. Anita dutifully unties her belt and I do the same, feeling incredibly awkward.
“Don’t worry,” Anita says, flinging her hair over her shoulder. Her body is perfection. Except for the one blemish at the base of her neck. I narrow my eyes. It looks like a hickey. “This is all just part of the ritual. The Morrigan wants to make sure we’re ’pure’ before the ceremony tonight.”
I pretend not to care about being stark naked in front of Anita. That I’m as confident as she is. I follow her down the steps into the steaming water and quickly submerge. “What do you mean pure?”
“Pure. This water is enchanted. It will rid us of any disease or lingering energy from past lovers.” She laughs and adds, “Not that your Guardians were diseased or anything, but the Morrigan doesn’t want anything left of them.”
I frown and glance up at Nevis. She’s focused elsewhere, on purpose I assume. “Why does it matter?”
“We’re binding as one, Morgan, but the Morrigan needs us to be as pure as possible to channel all of our energies together.” She bobs in the water and that’s when I notice the love mark on her neck fading away. Subconsciously I reach for the place Bunny marked me and gave me his rune and wonder if it’s still there. I’m not sure it matters anymore. “I saw you sneak off with Bunny last night—don’t tell me you didn’t kiss and make up.”
I shake my head. “No. We didn’t.”
She rolls her eyes. “Too bad. I know I spent my last night in physical gluttony.” She leans forward and mock whispers. “Three men. At once. It was pretty epic.”
A strange feeling blooms in my belly.
“You’d know all about that wouldn’t you, though?” she says.
Feeling the urge to disappear, I submerge fully under water, pushing out the sound of Anita’s voice. Even when I emerge it’s like she’s a mile away, blathering on about whatever she finds so important. For me it’s like a bell rang, my mind clearing and reality coming into focus for the first time in days.
I guess I always assumed Bunny and I would have a chance.
I figured there would be time to fix this. To resolve our problems and
repair what went wrong. But if the Morrigan succeeds tonight and one of us doesn’t make it out alive, I’ve given up any chance of mating with him for good.
Three days ago I didn’t think I would care. But now? I’m consumed with devastation and loss.
The priest stands at the end of a small garden. Roses with thorny vines climb the walls surrounding the area. The petals are a deep blood red.
Anita and I wear long white dresses, and the priest watches us carefully as we kneel before him. As usual, I’m lost and follow Anita’s lead. Bowing when appropriate, nodding when necessary. I don’t understand the language the priest speaks, but the sense of dread in my belly only grows when he touches my head with an oily thumb and sends me on my way.
“What’s next?” I ask Nevis in a harsh tone on the way back to my rooms. “A parade?”
I’m tugging at the collar of the ridiculous gown, desperate to rip it off. Barely in the door, I yank it over my head and toss it toward the fireplace, cursing when the fabric falls short of the flames.
In nothing but the simple white bra and panties I was given after my bath, I walk to the closet and grab another outfit. That too brings about a fury of anger and I pull each and every dress from its hanger and toss them on the floor. “I’m sick of this place, the way it makes me feel. The Darkness ebbing in me even after the cleansing.” I grab my arms and squeeze, trying to feel something other than the hollowness of the castle. “Everything about this world is wrong. I need my guardians. I need to get out of here.”
I’m mostly ranting to myself but Nevis has closed the door quickly to make sure no one hears my tirade. The door knob jiggles and we glance at one another. I had one job. Fake it.
My heart sinks even further when the door pushes open and Casteel walks in the room.
23
Dylan
The light flips on over my study and I stride in with Armin close behind. I’d asked who wanted to be a representative of the group—a leader for the upcoming battle. The massive warrior stepped forward.
He was silent on his way up the stairs, but now that we’re in my study some of the hard expression fades as he takes in my books and maps.
“This is all yours?” he asks. I’m surprised by his grasp of the English language. I’m not sure why, he’s no more American than I am. Time and magic have brought us a both a long way from who we were originally.
“This house and property has belonged to the Guardians for a long time. With the help of others that believe in our mission, we’ve amassed quite a collection of history and documents about the past and future.”
“And your goal is to bring down the Goddess of War? The Queen of Ravens?” he asks, looking over a stack of books. “Your queen?”
“We were created by the gods to watch over her—keep her in line. She is precariously close to crossing it.” I nod to a painting leaning next to the fireplace. It’s one of Bunny’s that depicts the castle in explicit detail. “We are not bound to the Morrigan. Our actual queen is in that castle fighting for her life as well as the freedom of those in two realms. She left us with instructions to bring an army back.”
“And we’re that army,” he says.
“Yes.”
“And your queen. You think she’s still alive?”
“Absolutely. For one, the Morrigan needs her. The other? I can feel her.”
Armin frowns. “How is that?”
“She’s our mate.” I say it clearly so there is no misunderstanding.
“More than you?”
“All of ours.” The hair on the back of my neck pricks with possessiveness.
“The Valkyrie. Who does she belong to?”
“Freya,” I reply. “She’s here on her own mission. A willing and capable soldier.”
He says nothing else on the subject, just walks over and studies the castle. “When do we leave?”
“At dusk.”
He pushes his hands in his pockets. Shoulders at ease. “And you have a plan?”
“That’s why I brought you up here.” I spread a map across the table. Davis gave it to me when we returned from the Otherside. “We’ll make one together.”
24
Morgan
Nevis instantly sinks into the wall, trying to vanish in Casteel’s presence. That move worked for her last time, but Casteel isn’t the Queen’s commander because he’s an idiot. He shuts the door and glances over at her with dark eyes. “Don’t move.”
She slowly nods.
I can’t take my eyes off his arm—the tied shirt covering the stump at the bottom, given to him by Dylan. There’s no doubt he’ll take out his anger on me. I’d narrowly escaped before, but no one is coming to save me this time.
“You have a habit of coming into my room uninvited, Commander,” I say, reaching for a dress on the floor. I quickly slip it over my head. “We’ve just come from the blessing ceremony and my cleansing bath. You know about that, don’t you?”
“Of course.”
“Then you’re aware of how excited the Queen is about the ceremony tonight—I’m sure you don’t want to interfere with her plans.” Last time, he came in looking to rape me. I ease near the fireplace, reaching for a poker. I grip the iron rod in my hand and hold it in front of me.
His good hand lingers near the sword on his belt and I’m not prepared for what he says next. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“What if I told you I don’t want the ceremony to happen tonight?”
I let his words sink in but they do nothing to allay my fears. “It would say you didn’t give a rat’s ass about the cleansing or blessing. It would mean my life is in danger.” I swing the poker around in my hand.
“I told you, I don’t want to hurt you.”
Casteel is a beast of a man. Everything about him is imposing. He’s the perfect foe for my Guardians and it’s no surprise they’ve clashed more than once, and by the end of the day, I suspect they’ll battle it out again. But I don’t doubt his loyalty to this kingdom and the look on his face is honest—sincere.
“Then what do you want?”
“To end the binding ceremony and Anand’s quest for destruction.”
I glance at Nevis, who looks as confused as I must. The use of her first name, the familiarity is the most disconcerting.
“You want to stop all of that.”
“Yes.” He lowers his hand, no longer threatening to pull his sword. “I’ve been by her side since the beginning. Since she used the name Anand. Before she was the Morrigan. I fought with her after Cu’s betrayal. I felt her anger and regret and I would do anything to ease her pain, even if it meant destroying the world we lived in. And together, we burned this land to the ground. She did it out of rage. I did it out of the desire to please her.”
I frown. “You love her.”
He nods. “Always.”
“Does she know?”
“She’s been unable to see anything but war since that day.” He walks across the room and looks out the window. Completely vulnerable. “I want the gates closed. Forever. I want Anand to live a full life—a real one. Not this power-hungry quest that never ends.” He turns to look at me. The pain and desperation in his eyes is unmistakable. “I need her to fail tonight. And I need you to win, to close the gate and never return.”
“And what about the Morrigan?”
“Leave her alive, that’s all I ask and I promise we will never meet again.”
I’m stunned by Casteel’s revelation and as much as I believe him, I do not trust him. “How am I to do all of this? Stop the ceremony and get the gates closed. I could barely get here in the first place.” I don’t mention the Ravens and the warriors I know they’re bringing to me now. Players are in motion—there’s no going back.
“I tried to hurt you when you first came. My plan wasn’t to actually harm you—but to scare you. Get you out of here for good.” He raises his disfigured arm. “I paid for that—although to be fair, the Raven a
nd I had a score to settle. There’s a way to turn all of this around, but it has to be done by you. You’re the only one strong enough to do it.”
“I’m not sure I am. Her darkness? It’s consuming—I’m no match for her.”
Nevis makes a small sound and we both look over. In a soft voice she says, “There’s one way to get you to the Morrigan’s level.”
“How is that?” I ask.
The resolution in her eyes says it all, and the way Casteel nods at me makes me know he’s aware as well. There’s one way for me to become stronger than the Morrigan—a way to beat the Darkness—and change the fate of all of our worlds.
They want me to close the circle with Bunny.
25
Bunny
The star in the far right corner of the sky needs a little more shimmer. Using the end of my paintbrush, not the side with the hair, I dab a little silver and the feeling of completion settles in my bones.
I’ve spent the last three days, other than the time with Morgan, working on the mural. The content came to me as I worked—more muse than anything else. But now that it’s laid before me, the full story of why I’m here and what I’m to be used for clicks into place.
I need to go to the underground and then…
My eyes wander over the painting. It’s the entire story, from the Morrigan’s creation to the death of Cu. Then the gods forming the ravens, plagues, death and war. All of that comes to the current day. Morgan as a child. The ravens in the treetops. The cat, the prince, even the loss of my arm. That, I realize now, was intentional. They’d never wanted to kill me. I was weakened physically and mentally. To get her here. To set things in motion. But another player is on the board. A shadow from the past that now pushes the pieces.
I tear off my smock and grab my things.
