"Nay. Both me parents are still alive, and they have other children aplenty."
"Can't they get you out of here?"
He laughed bitterly. "Lass, as soon as me mother squeezed me from her body, she tossed me to the monks and never looked back. Me father sired me only to use me against her, which is why she wants nothing to do with me. I can't fault her there. Me siblings have their own lives that have never been a part of mine. And after what Leucious did, I realized I'm better off without any of them. Truth be told, I'd much rather be with meself than those who can't be trusted."
How could someone have so large a family and not a single member of it defend them? Love them? She couldn't fathom his circumstances any more than he could fathom hers.
"I refuse to believe you're stuck here."
He smiled sadly. "It matters naught."
"Cade! Stop saying that! Of course it matters. How can it not?"
He paused to give her an intense, sincere stare. "I've been here for a thousand years, lass. What do you propose I do in your world? Where would I live? How could I work? I barely understand half of what you say. You speak of things that are far beyond my ken."
Indignant and furious, she raked him with a scathing glare. "Oh fine, throw logic and sense at me, why don't you? What kind of asshole are you to argue with reason, huh?"
"And the taste to the pudding is that ... what are you saying, lass? It makes no sense to me."
Honestly, she didn't know what her point was, either. She could barely take care of herself. She'd been a failure in everything she'd ever tried to do.
But there was one truth she couldn't deny. She pulled him to a stop and placed her hand to his cheek. "You break my heart, sweetie. It hurts me to see you banished here in this glum, forsaken hell."
He held her hand to his face as if trying to burn the sensation of being touched into his memory. "I am relegated."
"You shouldn't have to be relegated to this! No one should."
He cupped her hand in his before he kissed the back of her knuckles. "Nothing changes, love. Ever. Hope is a fickle vixen sent to torment us with discontent. And I am done with her, and her empty promises, and wishes unfulfilled."
His anguished gaze tore her apart. "A thousand years." He enunciated each word with harsh bitterness. "I would rather you flay me skin from me bones, than flog me heart with things that cannot be. Take your useless hope back to your world with you. I only pray she's far kinder to you than she's ever been to me."
Suddenly, a loud screech sounded.
Cringing at the nerve-shattering decibel level, Jo covered her ears.
Cadegan scanned the drab gray sky over their heads. "Time's passed, love. You've got to go." There was a panicked undertone to his voice.
"What is that?"
He pressed his forehead against hers. "Enemies who want what I will never give to them. I took an oath to Brother Eurig, and I will not break it." His brow furrowed, he placed the backs of his fingers to her cheekbone. "They've taken everything from me, lass. I won't let them take you, too."
He teleported them from the brook to someplace deep in a gnarled forest. While it was lighter now than it'd been last night, it was still dark gray and colorless. But there was something strangely shiny between two small trees to her right. It reminded her of a sideways pond that reflected light back at them.
Cadegan nudged her toward it. "You needs go through. You'll be with yours, then."
An intense pain racked her at the thought of abandoning him here. In spite of what he said, she knew he was lonely in his isolation. He'd been too grateful for her touch for it to be otherwise.
"Come with me! We'll figure everything out together."
Agony darkened his gaze as he cupped her cheek in his gloved hand. "I can't, lass. No matter how much I wish it."
The screeching came closer.
"You have to go, Josette."
Tears filled her eyes. She couldn't make herself go through the gate. Not without him. "Cade--"
He silenced her protest with a kiss. "On with you, now. Live for us both."
Jo heard Selena and Karma calling frantically for her from the other side of the shimmering image. She looked back at Cadegan. "Are you sure you can't follow me?"
He placed his hand on the shimmering portal to show her that for him, it was a solid, impenetrable wall. "Nay, lass. I am damned here. Now go while you're able. And break the glass once you're clear of it."
The screeching was almost on top of them now. He unsheathed his sword and moved to protect her.
"Can I come back to visit you?"
Cadegan clenched his teeth at a question that tore him asunder. There was nothing that would give him greater pleasure. But alas, it couldn't be. "'Tis too dangerous. For us both."
"Jo! Where are you! Don't make me call your mama! I mean it, girl! I will do it!"
She ignored Karma's angry tone on the other side of the mirror. "Cadegan..."
He said something in Welsh before he pushed her forward.
Like he'd done a moment ago, she slammed into a wall. "Stop!" she snarled as he continued to push her. "I can't go through it, either!"
Cadegan froze as he realized that she was trapped here, too. Nay. It wasn't possible!
Rage gripped him as he assaulted the portal with every bit of the fury he kept bottled inside himself.
Jo gasped as she saw a side of Cadegan that terrified her. He was out of control as he beat against the portal and shouted in Welsh. At least, that's what she assumed it was.
All of a sudden, the screeching was on them. And as she saw what made that sound, her stomach slid to her feet. Dark and twisted, they definitely weren't human.
"Cadegan?" She reached out to pat his shoulder. "What are those?"
He turned and let loose another string of curses. "Stay behind me." With the same skill he'd used the night before, he fought them until they were dead or fleeing.
By the time it was over, he was covered in bright red blood--the only color that was evident in whatever possessed this land.
He wiped at his face. "Come, lass." He held his hand out to her.
No longer sure if she should be with him, she placed her hand in his and allowed him to return them to his hobbit hole.
He flung his sword down before he teleported to the washstand to clean himself. He'd barely left her side before the banging returned to his door.
Terrified that they might yet get inside, she climbed the ladder as fast as she could. "I'm so confused. Why did you fight them when you could have just brought us back here with your powers?"
He let out the bitterest laugh she'd ever heard. "Fancy that being the same as milking a bull, love. Bring you nothing save pain." He toweled himself off before he faced her. "If I open the ether to travel, they can follow. The door would then be useless. I have to have a certain range before it's safe to use those powers."
Oh ... that made sense.
"What were those things, anyway?"
"Graylings." He ran the towel through his short hair. "They were once fey creatures who ran afoul of Morgen and she cursed them to those twisted forms."
He scowled fiercely at her. "I don't understand why you couldn't go. It should have been no problem for you to leave." Pulling her against his chest, he held her there. "I promise I'll see you home, Josette."
"I know you will."
He stepped away from her. "I'll be back. Now, in a minute."
"Where are you going?"
"To see about freeing you."
Even though she knew it was useless if he chose to use his powers, she blocked his way. "I'm not letting you go alone."
"Josette," he said in a chiding tone. "You've no idea the dangers waiting to devour your soul. You, with where I'm headed, might as well be a bleeding, three-legged stag in a kennel of ravenous hounds."
"Very descriptive and probably apropos. But--"
"No buts. Please. Let me do this."
A horrible feeling settled in her gut.
Stepping back, she nodded. "Godspeed you."
*
Karma paused as she heard Jo's voice off in the distance. "Josie Jo!"
There was still no answer.
"Hey, Karma!" Selena called from downstairs. "I need you."
She ran down the stairs as fast as she could, to find her sister in the dining room. Alone. "What is it?"
Selena handed her Jo's phone. "It was by the door."
How weird was that? Jo never let go of her phone voluntarily. "Did she go out the back?"
Selena shook her head slowly before she motioned for Karma to follow her out, into the small courtyard. "We have a problem."
"Yeah, no shit. We've lost Jo, and our mothers will kill us if we don't find her in one happy piece."
"Well, there is that. But no. Listen to me ... I saw her."
"Where?"
Selena glanced to the house before she spoke in a whisper. "In the mirrors. She was with a man dressed like a medieval crusader."
The blood washed from her face. "What?"
"She's in another dimension, K."
Karma cursed. "What do we do?"
Selena wasn't really sure. But they couldn't leave their cousin trapped in some mirror realm. "I don't know. You call Zeke and tell him to meet us here and I'll call Ash. Maybe one of them will know where she is and how to get her out."
"I'm on it." She entered the house, and started for the stairs until she realized Selena wasn't following her. Rather, she was standing just inside the mirrored doorway. "What are you doing?"
"Staying here in the dining room, in case she finds her way home." Selena glanced about as an awful chill went down her spine. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Karma nodded. "Me, too. There's something truly evil here. And honestly, I'm not sure we'll ever see our Jo-Jo again."
6
"Well, well. Has someone awakened the dragon? Put a dagger through Morgen le Fey's blackened chest cavity? Surely some kind of unnatural event must have occurred for the son of Paimon, an infernal prince, to be standing so foolishly before me."
His arms folded across his chest as he stood defiantly in front of the shadow king's throne, Cadegan arched a brow at Brenin Gwyn ap Nudd's sarcasm.
"I know naught of what you speak, me liege. There's no infernal prince here. I am simply Cadegan Maboddimun."
A name that had been given to him on his birth by Father Bryce and recorded in the monastery's roll. A name that proclaimed to the world that he was Cadegan Son of No One--a bastard child, as motherless as he was fatherless.
But the shadow fey king gave him no reprieve. "So you say. Your father, however, has such a price upon your head that I can't imagine what madness has brought you to my door."
"I have need of your services."
The nebulous sharoc king passed an incredulous look to one of the sycophants who stood to his right. Shadowy and cold, light passed easily through sharoc bodies. Most were so transparent, they were virtually invisible and easily overlooked by the unwary or those ignorant of their existence.
These were the slimiest of the fey folk. Miscreants, with a foul cruel streak in them, most served Morgen directly as spies who hoped to curry her favor. In truth, he'd rather deal with an Adoni or grayling than Gwyn's people.
But desperation rode its victim with spurs. And the bastard had them dug deep into Cadegan's haunches this day.
"Hell has indeed frozen over." Gwyn rose from his throne and floated down his dais until he hovered before Cadegan. Cocking his shadowy head, he narrowed his black eyes. "Name this service you seek, prince of perdition."
Cadegan forced himself not to react to the insult, or to show any emotion whatsoever. "A dragon key to the world of man."
"You wish to leave our pleasant company so soon?"
He'd hardly call a thousand years soon. But why quibble over a few centuries, one way or another. "What can I say, me liege? The constant sunshine here is blinding. Surely more than me weak eyes can take."
Gwyn laughed. "You're a cheeky one. Especially since you're here to beg favor...." He tsked. "A dragon key. Now that, indeed, requires a special payment."
All dear things did. "Your price?"
Stroking his bearded chin, the king clicked his tongue in thought. "Before I name it, I must know why now."
Cadegan remained completely stoic before him. "Why now, what?"
"Why would you, son of Paimon, seek release from our hallowed realm after all this time?"
"Does it matter?"
"If you want a key, it does. Especially since I know you can't use it."
Damn him for that. Cadegan had hoped to keep that tidbit out of their negotiation.
His sycophant slithered up to the king to whisper in his ear. Gwyn listened quietly.
Laughing, he narrowed his gaze on Cadegan as the other sharoc slinked back to the shadows. "So it's a woman, then, is it?"
"I know naught what you speak."
Gwyn laughed even harder. "Of course you don't. Ergo, you crave a key to open a doorway you can't use. I think you can see why your logic baffles me?"
Cadegan sighed in feigned resignation. "I'd hoped to avoid visiting my uncle and ingratiating myself to him." For multitudinous reasons. "But as you leave me no choice..." He started to leave.
"Wait!"
He turned to look back at Gwyn. "Aye, me liege?"
"We don't have a key. Being shadowborn, we don't need them to pass in and out of the realms. And as you know, those who own them have a very nasty tendency to keep them well guarded, and to rip the wings and skin off anyone dumb enough to try and take them."
"Then why are you wasting me time here?"
"Because I can make you one, but it will require you to gather certain things that will benefit us both."
"Such as?"
"Short list, really. A dragon's claw. A stone from Emrys Merlin. The lion's heart. A bit of hair from the White Stag. Some of Arthur's blood ... lastly, we'll need the blood and sweat of a waremerlin."
That was one hell of a list. The only thing missing was a body part, rolling naked over flaming coals, and having a hot poker shoved into an uncomfortable exit-only orifice.
"Anything else?" Cadegan asked.
"To assemble the medallion? Nay. But there's still the payment to discuss."
"I'm listening."
"You and your woman's to stay here, in Castle Galar, while you gather the items and bring them to me. If you fail to return by fey vespers, with at least one item for the day, your woman spends the night with me ... in my bed."
He felt his temper break at the mere thought. "She's not a trophy to be bartered."
"So, you admit to having a woman, eh? Fascinating."
Cadegan cursed himself for the slip. He'd alerted the bastard to much more than just confirming Jo's presence in their realm. His enemy now knew Cadegan's weakness.
Lamb's bullocks, not one of his more intelligent moves.
Sadly, not one of his least intelligent, either.
And now that Gwyn knew, Cadegan had a much bigger concern. "How do I know she'll be unmolested whilst she's here?"
"Word upon my crown. If any touch her during the light hours, I'll cede my throne to you, and the bullocks of the offender."
Cadegan snorted. "They touch her and I'll be taking more than just their bullocks. Aye, to the farm on that." Still not sure if he should do this, he tried to think of a better way.
Honestly, there wasn't one. Gwyn was the least of the devils in this place, and the only one who could provide a key for Josette, without immense bloodshed.
"So what's it to be, demonspawn?" Gwyn asked.
"Is that all you'll be taking from me?"
"Aye and nay. When this is done and the key is proven to work, I'll be handing you over to your father for payment. And you won't fight me or mine on it. You'll go peacefully to his loving arms."
For a full minute, Cadegan couldn't breathe at the severity of the price. Did Gwyn have any idea what he was asking?
"When next I see your face, dog, you'll learn well why every hellborn demon fears me! And you'll pay for every ounce of demon blood you've spilled in service to that bastard I should have drowned at birth. I will dine on your worthless entrails!"
It was a promise he knew his father would well deliver on. Cadegan's death wouldn't be easy and it wouldn't be soon. His father would take his time, making sure Cadegan regretted every breath that kept him alive.
What difference does it make? Really? Compared to how he lived, it was just a change in scenery and wardrobe.
Keep lying to yourself, lad.
There's a big difference. But as he saw an image in his mind of Josette asleep in his arms, and heard the memory of her laughter, he knew he was more than willing to see this done.
For her.
She was worth his wretched life.
Cadegan slid his gaze to the shadow that was watching them in silence. "Agreed."
As he started to leave, Gwyn called out to him. "There's one more thing you should know."
Cadegan cursed silently. He should have known it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded. "That is?"
"The autumnal equinox occurs in three days. After that, the key will be useless to her. She'll be trapped here, forever."
A human in a land that preyed upon them, with predators who would tear each other apart to get to her. Never mind what they'd do to her.
Closing his eyes, he winced. There was no way to back out now.
He knew from experience that no one in Avalon would allow him entry or speak to him in any way.
Not even Varian duFey.
Because of the taint and stench of his father's blood, they refused to trust him.
He was the only chance Josette had. And Gwyn was the only possible exit available to them.
If he failed in this, he would make sure to kill her himself.
It would be the kindest thing he could do.
7
"So that's Castle Galar." Jo repeated the name Cadegan had said to her earlier, wishing she could roll her rs the same effortless way he did. His medieval Welsh accent was the sexiest thing she'd ever heard. And she had a sneaking suspicion that he could give her an orgasm by simply whispering nonsense in her ear. She would kill to hear him in an actual conversation with it.
It had to be incredible.
As they neared the castle, she slowed, partly in admiration ... partly in stark, cold terror. While it was beautiful, the entire castle floated in the air. That would be scary enough, but while it had a stone bridge leading to it, there were two rickety hanging wooden bridges at the beginning and end of the stone one. Was he serious? No one in their right mind would walk over that thing that swung so high above a ground she couldn't even see.
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