I needed answers, and I needed them now. “Why Brady?”
He looked sharply at me. “You wish to speak to me after what I did?”
No, I wanted to throttle him, but, “I need answers.”
He nodded. “Very well, I suppose it is the least I can do. I will tell you what I know.”
“I need to know everything. Why you took Brady and why you put that … that thing in his body.”
Abram sucked in a quick breath. “Hush, you must not speak of our liege in that tone. He is not a man to be trifled with. We must tread carefully.”
He sounded … scared. “You’re afraid of him.”
His throat bobbed. “And so should you be. Lugh was a warrior and a hero, a moral man known for his ruthlessness in later life. He kills with no qualms. He would have slain me if you had not spoken up. I thank you for that.”
“I don’t understand. Why did you bring him back? Why put him in Brady’s body?”
“Because he is the strongest connection to the eye. You see, the eye of Balor was an artifact that belonged to Balor, king of the fomorians, but we were unable to summon his spirit. I fear it has passed far out of our reach. Lugh is his grandson, part Tuatha on his father’s side. We summoned, and he answered. He is the closest connection we had to Balor’s bloodline.”
Bloodlines and summons, what the hell was he talking about? “I’m sorry, I’m confused.”
“Let me start from the beginning,” Abram said. “Legend says the eye was a talisman wielded by Balor. The power inside the eye answered to him and would sweep over his enemies, wiping them out. It was passed down Balor’s royal bloodline but was lost a long time ago, hidden they say. We know not by whom. The league has been searching for the eye for years. We know it could end the war. That we could use it to end Laramir’s reign for good, but until a few months ago, we’d had no luck. And then we stumbled across an ancient journal. It detailed the properties of the eye and revealed that it would be a beacon to Balor’s blood.”
“To his descendants?”
“Yes. Unfortunately, all the royals are long gone … or so we believed. The writer of the journal penned the events of the last war when the fir bolg fought your shadow knights. He tells of the fall of the last king, Mithra. The last descendant of Balor, but it also tells of Mithra’s liaison with a feyblood in the mortal realm. It intimates that the last king left an heir, left a bloodline on the other side of the mist.”
Oh, shit, it was clicking into place now. “Brady…”
“Yes. We found him. We knew a feyblood who carried a royal fomorian gene would eventually find his way into the mist. At first, we simply scouted, watching and gathering information, but the goal was always to capture a shadow knight. We needed fomori-touched blood for the enchantment that would lead us to our salvation.”
“You used Harmon.”
“Yes.”
“What about Venrick, the other knight you took. What happened to him?”
He looked at me blankly.
It hit me. “You didn’t take him, did you?”
He shook his head. “No. I assume the fir bolg did. It would explain their sudden spike in information about the shadow knights’ activities.”
It would explain how they knew about the hobbloods. They used Venrick for intel and then used that intel to infiltrate us. If what I’d seen of the fir bolg was anything to go by, the poor bastard was probably already dead.
“Explain what you did to Harmon. Why alter him?”
“The side effects of the alchemy were unfortunate. The work was performed by Gusta, our most powerful alchemist. He used your friend’s blood to create a beacon that would lead us to the shadow knight who carried the royal blood. Brady is Balor’s descendant, however diluted that blood may be. He has it. He is our salvation.”
“So, why not just use him to find the damn eye? Why infect him with this … this Lugh.”
“Because the blood was too diluted. You may not believe me, but this was Brady’s idea. He understood the risks, and he agreed to host the spirit. He understands what’s at stake. He knew that finding the eye could save us all and end the threat forever.”
Yeah, that sounded like Brady. The hero, the fucking protector. If he was here, I’d punch him and then kiss him.
“And when we find this eye, Lugh leaves?”
“Yes. The binding Gusta applied keeps Lugh here until he completes the quest and leads us to the eye. He wasn’t pleased to be summoned. He killed three of my men before he calmed. But he understands his purpose here now, and his connection to the talisman is strong. He feels its presence.”
This was a temporary measure. Once we got to our location, once Brady was holding the eye, this Lugh would be gone. Still, I needed to be sure.
“Lugh will just be released, right? As soon as Brady has the talisman?”
“Yes, as soon as we find the eye, Lugh’s spirit will be ejected from Brady’s body.”
Relief flooded me. I’d have Brady back.
Up ahead, Lugh turned his head to look back at me. His lips curved in a smug smile and a chill gripped my nape.
“Abram?”
“Yes?”
“What if he doesn’t want to leave?”
“What?” Abram blinked across at me, confused.
“What if being alive is better than wherever he was before?”
Abram was silent.
Was he thinking what I was thinking? “What if he’s taking us in the wrong direction?”
Eighteen
My mind was filled with doubt, and agitation was a band around my throat as we approached the rocky terrain. The grasslands we’d been traveling through were behind us now, and the sky had lightened to predawn. It was getting late, or early, depending on which way you chose to look at it.
We’d been on horseback for three hours. I’d given myself two days for this excursion. Two days. I had Brady but didn’t have him. I couldn’t leave now, but I’d have to if we didn’t get to our location soon. The shadow cadets needed me. They needed every able-bodied fighter.
“Do you trust them?” Hyde asked softly. “The league,” he clarified.
Did I? They’d killed Carlo, they’d taken Brady, but we had a common goal. “I trust that they believe in their cause.”
Abram had ridden up ahead to join Lugh an hour ago. I’d set the seed of doubt about Lugh, and neither of us could shake it. Hyde had taken Abram’s place, riding Athos abreast of me, and Harmon flanked me to the right.
“Yes, they believe in their cause,” Hyde agreed. “But what about Lugh? Does he believe?”
Was Lugh merely killing time until the fir bolg attacked? Did he even care what happened to us as long as he got to live again? I mean, he could simply run off and use Brady’s body to start afresh somewhere in this vast world. All it would take would be for us to take our eyes off him for a minute too long.
“Do you trust Lugh,” Hyde asked.
Smells wrong, Athos said.
“Don’t trust him,” Harmon added.
Oh, great, the seed of doubt just popped a shoot. Fuck.
Up ahead, the league was slowing down. Fomorians dismounted, and packs were pulled from horses.
What the fuck? I urged my ride forward with a clip of my heels until I was abreast of Lugh. “Why are we stopping?”
He climbed off his horse and looked up at me with my lover’s face. “The horses need to rest for a while. An hour and then we continue. The location is in the rocky terrain up ahead. It’s close. I can feel it.”
Can you now?
“Your expression suggests doubt.” He held out his hands. “Let me help you down.”
I stared at the hands that had loved my body, hands that knew me intimately. “No, thanks. I got this.”
I climbed off the horse and stood facing him, hating how much I wanted to hug him, to pretend that it was Brady I was holding, not some imposter. Instead, I lifted my chin to glare at him.
“I swear, if you’re fucking us abo
ut, I will make you pay.”
The corner of his mouth twitched as he suppressed a smile. “Oh? And how do you intend to do that?”
Good point. I allowed my shark smile to come out and play. “Oh, I’ll find a way. I’ll find a way to target your spirit and leave Brady unharmed. Trust me, Lugh, I have skills.”
The shadow of doubt that crossed his face was enough to satisfy me.
My smile fell. “Go rest. We leave in an hour.”
I strode away from him. Yeah, I’d just given their liege an order, and from the looks of it, he was following it.
* * *
The rocky terrain proved impossible for the hooved horses to navigate. We ended up abandoning them and continuing on foot. Athos, with his padded paws, managed to keep up just fine.
Hyde had climbed off Athos and insisted on walking. I didn’t argue. He looked better now. His movements were smooth and his stride strong.
Lugh and Abram made up the lead again. The rest of the league was behind us. I climbed, using my hands and my feet to move forward. We were in a rocky pass with walls rising on either side of us, and it was getting narrower by the minute.
The urge to ask are we there yet was a scratch at the back of my brain.
Harmon stomped behind me, grumbling under his breath. “Fucking rocks.”
My foot slipped, and Hyde grabbed my elbow to steady me. Our gazes tangled, and our breath mingled, reminding me of our night together. The only night we’d ever get because once we returned …
“You okay?” he asked softly.
“Yeah. I’m fine.” I gave him a quick smile.
“Here!” Brady’s voice drifted back to us, and my heart leaped before my brain reminded me that it wasn’t Brady speaking. It was the thing inside him.
Urgh. We picked up the pace. Up an incline and over the rocks until we were climbing into an aperture that opened out into a cave.
Abram lit a sconce and held it aloft. Several other league members did the same. The darkness retreated as we moved forward into the cave. It was wide enough for us to walk in threes, but we settled into pairs. Hyde beside me, Harmon and Athos behind me.
The cave smelled earthy, and my lungs swelled with fresh air. I’d learned enough during my studies to know what that meant. This cave had running water, a stream somewhere to account for the rich air. A rumbling sound drifted to my ears.
My suspicions were confirmed a moment later when the tunnel opened out into a vast chamber, home to a large body of water. A waterfall crashed into the pool from the wall to the left, and a stream meandered out of sight to the far right. Set in the middle of the lake was an island housing a pedestal.
It was impossible to see what was on the pedestal from our vantage and distance, but it had to be the eye.
Lugh confirmed it a moment later. “There!” he said triumphantly, sliding a smug glance my way. “The eye, for all who doubted me.”
Abram looked horrified. “No, my liege. We would not doubt you.”
Lugh snorted. “Now, we must find a way across.”
“You could just swim,” Hyde suggested.
Lugh looked at the water and then took a step back. “I do not swim.”
“You mean, you can’t?” Hyde pressed. From the look on his face, he was enjoying seeing Lugh being brought down a peg by an inadequacy. Hyde shook his head and walked forward. “I’ll get it.”
“No!” Abram said again. “Only the royal blood may retrieve the talisman from its resting place.”
I looked at him. “Did the journal tell you that too?”
He nodded. “The talisman is warded. It will kill all who touch it except those with royal blood.”
Shit.
What now?
I will take him, Athos said.
I nodded, but no one else seemed to care. Wait … They were fomorian, surely they understood him? Didn’t they?
“Abram … didn’t you hear what Athos said?”
Abram frowned. “What he said?” He looked at the hound. “He growled, if that’s what you mean.”
“You can’t understand him?”
“You can?” Abram looked perplexed.
The league was staring at me now.
I held out my arm and pulled up my feytech skin to reveal the mark Abram had etched into my skin all those weeks ago. “You did this. You allowed me to understand you.”
He stared at the mark. “The glyph allows you to understand fomorian, nothing more.”
Then how could I communicate with Athos? “Harmon can understand him, too, mostly.”
“Gusta used a variety of materials when experimenting on your friend. He may have employed hound blood.”
Hound DNA?
Harmon’s lip curled, and his chest rumbled.
“And what about me?” Hyde asked. “I can gauge a hound’s intentions and communicate mine.”
Abram smiled. “Ah, your shadow gene must have come from the royal guard—fomorians chosen for their ability to bond with the battle hounds. Back in the day, the guard and his hound were one, working as a team. They were connected, able to feel each other’s emotions and respond accordingly. If I recall my history correctly, the guard were mostly instructed to sow their seed amongst the purest feybloods.”
Orion’s bloodlines … The royal guard gene, mingled with Orion’s bloodline, must have created a potent combination. No wonder Hyde and Bourne males usually ended up carrying the shadow gene. But not all of them manifested the ability of the guard like Hyde.
Abram’s eyes widened and locked on me. “Wait, this could explain your ability to speak directly to the hounds. If your shadow gene came from a royal guard, the mark I gave you could have somehow enhanced your ability to communicate with the hounds.”
Well, that made sense. A royal guard who’d decided to procreate with a nightblood instead. It was the only time in history that the nightbloods had allowed an outside influence into their gene pool. They’d done it to protect the mortal world but then pretended that it had been a mistake—an invasion of the enemy, when, in fact, they’d been complicit to the plan.
I rubbed the mark through the feytech skin covering my arm.
Harmon was vibrating with indignation. “So, Hyde and Justice get a royal guard gene, and I get sown with hound DNA.”
I placed a hand on his arm to calm him. “I’m sorry, babe.”
He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. We need to get the talisman, get Brady back, and make our way home. That’s all that matters. There’s a war coming.”
There he was, the pragmatic man who’d found a place in my heart as a friend and then blossomed into more. Harmon knew how to focus to get shit done, and right now, he was controlling his urge to smash something.
Way to put it into perspective. “Athos will carry Lugh across.” Lugh arched a brow at my use of his name. “What? You’re not my liege.”
Athos padded toward Lugh and waited patiently while the king climbed onto his back.
Hold on, the hound said.
Lugh looked at me.
I crossed my arms. “He says to hold on.”
Athos sank into the water with Lugh clinging to his back. Fear tightened the lines of Brady’s face, and then Athos was swimming across the water toward the pedestal. He was a strong swimmer. Fast. They were halfway across when my eye caught movement in the water to their left. A ripple rushing toward them.
Something else was in the water with them.
The water rippled in a streamline toward Lugh and Athos. Something was moving fast beneath the surface of the lake.
I took a step forward. “Watch out! To your left.”
Lugh turned his head to see the ripple a moment before it hit. He let out a bellow, and then they were gone.
The surface of the water stared back at us, smooth as glass.
“What the fuck?” Harmon said.
But I was already running toward the lake.
“Justice!” Hyde called out in
alarm.
I blurred, and then the water was closing around me. Clear on top, murky below. I dove, scanning the depths. Where were they? A flash of shadow beneath me. I kicked out, swimming into darkness. My vision took a moment to adjust, and then the underwater world was shades of gray. Grappling shapes emerged—Athos’s massive form and Brady’s large frame, but they weren’t alone. Two other forms were with them, hanging on to them—slender, gray, skeletal, and bald. Their upper bodies were humanoid, but their lower halves were fish-like, and their arms were wrapped around Athos and Brady.
They were trying to drag them farther down. To drown them. My head whipped round as a figure appeared to my right.
Hyde.
He was here.
We attacked the humanoid creatures together.
I went for the creature attached to Brady’s form, while Hyde helped Athos. Punching and kicking wouldn’t work here. Instead, I grabbed the creature’s head and yanked it back hard enough to crack its neck.
The creature went limp, and Lugh was free, but he was sinking. His eyes had fluttered closed. I needed to get him back to the surface. I made a grab for him, grappling to get a purchase on him before kicking for the surface. Athos swam up beside us. He was free. Where was Hyde? There to my left.
The rising panic shattered as we broke the surface together. We made it to the island, but Lugh wasn’t breathing.
He lay still and pale, his lips tinged blue.
Fuck! “No.”
Hyde pushed me aside and began CPR, alternating between compressions and mouth-to-mouth. Long seconds ticked by, and then Lugh rolled onto his side, spluttering and coughing up water.
Oh, thank God.
Hyde grimaced and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “He’ll live.”
I gripped Hyde’s free hand and squeezed, relief rushing through me.
Lugh sat up and ran a hand over his face. “Well, that was … interesting.”
“You call almost drowning interesting?” Hyde snapped. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Not the drowning part, the ceasg.”
We stared at him blankly.
“The creatures in the water,” he explained. “They used to look much better in my day. Beautiful, in fact. Those things were not.” He stood and looked down at his wet clothes. “I have not missed the sensation of wet clothing.” He turned to the pedestal, composed and regal despite the fact he’d almost drowned.
Shadow Master: The Nightwatch Academy book 4 Page 11
