by KB Anne
“Why?” His sister glanced up at the wizard in alarm. As much as she pretended not to care about anything, she cared about everything.
Gallean flopped down in his chair and sighed. “That storm your grandfather and Clarissa have warned you about?”
“Yes,” they said together.
“It’s coming here too.”
He really wasn’t giving them much to work with.
“And what’s the cause of it?”
Gallean pulled back the two maps to reveal another map, a bottom layer of the ancient one. “Look again.”
Scott peered over at it with Gigi. The Isle of Man was there, along with the Land of Shadows. The mainland was also intact with the mountains, grassy knolls, forests, and what appeared to be magical boundaries—like around Newgrange. That must be why they couldn’t cross the barrier there. He’d ask Gallean about that later, but there was a more pressing issue. On this map the lakes—well, loughs—were filled with terrible monsters and sea creatures spilling out of them. “What does this mean?”
“It means the Fomorians have found a way out, and they are planning to take back Ireland for their own.”
Boots scraped across the windowsill. All three turned. Scott had discovered many surprising things so far this morning, but this was the biggest surprise of all.
21
Ace of Cups
Caer hopped down from the open window. “It also means the old wizard has known the battle was approaching for all this time, and yet he’s done nothing but teach you to move balls of energy around.”
The sister turned to her and smiled. “Finally, someone who speaks my language.”
Caer approached the table. After killing the man in the alley, her incident with the crocodiles, and then her shapeshifting, along with still being pissed off at Gallean for choosing the siblings over her, she was in no mood for niceties. She whipped her sword from behind her back and held it to the sister’s throat. “Do not mistake my cordial greeting as a sign of friendship.”
The sister swallowed. Good. She should quake in Caer’s presence.
“Actually, you’ve just sealed her friendship. If you had passed her a note or thrown her a warm greeting, she’d hate you for it. Violent acts elicit her respect.”
Caer yanked her sword from the sister’s neck and swung it to the brother’s. “And what does this greeting say to you?”
He swallowed. Good. She wanted to unnerve him for all he’d put her through.
“I meant no harm when I suggested you and Gigi were now friends. I just wanted you to be aware that she’s a twisted soul.”
“Hey,” the sister said. “That hurt. And I am not twisted.”
His green eyes sparkled at Caer, speaking of mischief and longing. He was entirely too comfortable with a sword to his throat. She poked a little harder.
“Perhaps I should introduce myself. I’m Scott.”
He offered her his hand. She stared at it. She’d longed to feel his touch for many weeks, and now, in person, she wanted nothing more than to slice his head off. He made her feel weak.
“Love does not weaken,” Gallean said, as he gently gripped the handle and pulled the sword from Scott’s neck. “It only strengthens.”
“What do you know of love?” she growled, reaching for one of the throwing knives on her belt. She rarely used them, preferring the one in her boot, but she’d make an exception for the wizard.
The sister gasped. Caer suspected she was a mind reader. Good. It would make them get along much better—the sister would know what she wanted and would follow her command.
The wizard, however, laughed at her. His disregard infuriated her even more. “You think you’re going to skewer me with your toys?”
She pulled one of her knives out. The sunlight glinted off the blade. “They’re not toys,” she said through gritted teeth.
“In my keep they are toys. Search within yourself. You do not have the will to kill me.”
“I had the will to kill the man in the alley. Did you see that, or were you too distracted with your new students to keep an eye on me?”
His eyes softened. “You were provoked. You did what you needed to do in order to protect yourself.”
“I am provoked right now, so would that mean killing you was necessary to protect myself?”
The brother approached her. He didn’t hesitate and he didn’t waver.
“Scott!” the sister warned.
He stopped in front of her, putting himself at great risk.
“Caer,” he whispered, drawing up his hands and tracing the lines of her face. “I cannot believe it’s really you.”
She swallowed. She didn’t expect him to leave his midsection unguarded. She could run her knife straight through him, shift into a swan, and fly out the window.
“Don’t fly away from me this time,” he said in a husky undertone that only she could hear. His voice did something to her own midsection. It was the same tingly sensation she had wanted the man at the pub to quench. Before her stood the cause of it. Her mind fluttered through a variety of next steps, but really, there was only one thing she wanted to do.
The knife clattered to the stone floor as she wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled his lips to hers.
Thunder rumbled outside as a shot of lightning hit the floor beside them.
“Well, you don’t see that every day,” the sister said. “And I’d appreciate you calling me Gigi rather than labeling me ‘the sister’ in your head. It’s really emotionally removed.”
Scott backed away from Caer’s lips, but his hand wrapped around hers. “Says the epitome of emotionally removed.”
Gigi’s lips twitched. “Well, I suppose perhaps I am again. What with my boyfriend being brainwashed by my best friend.”
Scott leaned into Caer’s ear. “Don’t mind her.”
His voice tickled her neck. Her head wanted to fold into him, but it would not do to reveal the way her body reacted to him.
“Too late,” Gigi said. “He is well aware of his effect on you.”
She stiffened as she looked at Gigi. “It’s rude to invade other people’s minds.”
Gigi waved at her. “I try not to, but sometimes a person’s thoughts scream at me. I can’t help but interrupt. Now, before our happy trio joined together, Gallean was about to reveal something to us.”
The old wizard stood watching the three of them with his mouth wide open.
“Gallean?” Gigi said again. “We’re waiting . . .”
He blinked, bringing himself to the present. He was clearly unnerved. “First, Caer, how is it you were able to arrive here?”
Scott squeezed her hand. It warmed her cheeks. He was familiar to her, but that didn’t take the shyness away. She had interacted so little with people, aside from Mathair Mhór and Gallean, that she hardly knew how to act or what to say.
Gigi elbowed her. “Don’t worry. I’ll show you.”
“I still have my sword, you know.”
Gigi touched the red mark on her neck. “Oh, I am well aware of your sword skills. Maybe you shouldn’t think so loudly.”
“Gi, be nice to her,” Scott warned.
“I am being nice. Maybe if you gave her some room, she wouldn’t be so uncomfortable.”
Scott turned to her. “Am I making you uncomfortable?”
She didn’t want to lie to him, but the truth was, if she had any chance of remembering what Gallean was about to tell them, she needed to be able to get air into her brain. “A little,” she admitted.
He withdrew his hand from hers. “As long as you don’t leave, take all the time you need.”
Caer pursed her lips as she glared at the wizard. Anger did help her think more clearly. “The same way Gigi and Scott arrived early.”
He pulled his fingers to his chin. “You made a portal.”
“You knew I could. I’ve done it before, haven’t I? It’s how I got here after Balor burned down Mathair Mhór’s hut. It’s how I was able to go bac
k to my father’s castle after you kicked me out. I didn’t understand it when I first arrived on the banks of the lake, but I eventually realized my abilities. Good thing too, because I made a startling discovery.”
A heavy wind swept into the room and swirled around Gallean. “And what is that?”
She slammed her fist into the map table. She really wanted to slam it into his face, but she didn’t want to anger the wizard more than he appeared to be. The wizard she could take. The bear? Well, she wasn’t half as confident.
“You knew Balor wasn’t at my father’s castle. That’s why you sent me away. You knew I’d go there. You wanted to distract me while they were here so you could train them without worrying about me.”
Gallean said nothing. He did nothing.
She stomped over to him. He was still seated, but they stood eye to eye. “I almost got killed in the royal washroom.”
“What?” Scott said approaching her.
She threw up her hand to stop him. He backed away.
Gallean stared at her. “But you didn’t.”
“Did you know about the crocodiles that attacked me? I only got away because . . .”
“Because you embraced your shapeshifting nature.”
“I didn’t embrace it so much as—”
“If you hadn’t shifted into the swan, you would have become crocodile soup?” Gigi offered.
“Something like that. Why, Gallean? Why do you subject me to these ‘lessons’? You show them how to move energy around, but you plunge me into life-threatening situations in which I need to fight in order to survive.”
Gallean pushed himself up from the chair. She backpedaled away from him as he approached his full height and towered over her. “You’ve lived in denial long enough. I tried to force it out of you, but you resisted. You needed to either embrace your shapeshifting nature or perish.”
“At Lake of the Dragon Mouth, under the Shadow Moon, understanding came to me. I am not just a swan shapeshifter. I am a goddess. That’s why I can create portals.”
“That ability is one small aspect of it.”
Can you make one now? Gigi dropped the question in her head.
“You cannot make a portal here,” Gallean warned her. “Do not even try.”
Please. I need to get home. I need to find Alaric.
Caer felt Gigi’s need. She knew it well, and she would not make her suffer any longer if she could help it.
If the wizard sensed what she was about to do, he’d stop her immediately. Caer yanked out her sword, arced it through the air, and sliced open a portal. Gigi didn’t move as quickly as she’d have liked. She shoved her through and jerked the sword out to shut it.
“What have you done?” Gallean whispered.
“What I would have done from the beginning if I had known the truth of my true natures,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
“Gigi,” Scott cried, dropping to his knees in front of the space where his sister had disappeared.
She remembered how it felt to lose someone she loved, but unlike her story endings, he’d be rejoined with his sister someday, and together they’d form the trí cumhacht.
“It’s time for you to train us, wizard.”
Something feral replaced the sadness in Scott’s eyes as he stood up and lunged in her direction. He stopped just inches from her. “How could you send her away? She’s all alone. The werewolves will kill her.”
Caer stumbled back from him. “Werewolves?”
“Balor isn’t the only monster out there,” he growled, storming past her.
“No, he isn’t,” Gallean said beside her, “and without Gigi and her abilities, I don’t know if you and Scott can take Balor before he frees his armies.”
Her anger returned with a vengeance. “My father’s death will be avenged. I’ll make sure of it.”
* * *
That night, she lay in Gigi’s bed, but she couldn’t sleep. The mattress was entirely too soft and the room too warm. She longed for her cave or for a restful night on the lake with her flock, but she didn’t want to leave Gallean’s keep. Truth be told, she didn’t want to put more distance between her and Scott than the giant ravine she had already created after she’d ripped open the portal and shoved Gigi into it. She knew that, from his point of view, it looked like she wanted to get rid of his sister. But Gigi had begged her, and something about her pleading voice triggered sympathy in Caer. She too had been alone, wanting someone to help her so many times she had lost count. She had tried to explain it to Scott that afternoon, but he had ignored her knocks and refused to return to the courtyard even when Gallean called him for a training session.
She had thought about shifting into a swan and flying into his room, but it was wrong to invade his privacy, especially in the daytime when he was awake. And now that they had met, visiting his room at night felt far too intimate for her liking, especially after their kiss.
She traced her fingers along her lips, remembering the way it felt when she’d kissed him. She had dreamt of him many nights since she first saw him in the seomra de rúin. They’d shared a history together when they were first upon the earthly plane and had continued their love into the Otherworld. Her restful sleep with her flock had triggered many memories for her.
She crawled out of the bed and made a nest on the floor. She began drifting off to sleep when she heard a creak outside her door. Her hearing along with the rest of her senses was attuned to discover even the slightest of movements. She hadn’t survived in the wild for years on her own without the ability to protect herself. Her ears perked as she listened for who might be outside her door. She doubted it was Gallean. Although he’d begun their knife-throwing session annoyed at Caer for sending Gigi away, by the end he seemed to enjoy the rigorous nature of their training. He probably hadn’t used certain muscles since Scott and Gigi had arrived. His body savored the movement of them.
Could it be Scott? Her heart raced as she remembered their kiss from the afternoon. She was glad she had initiated it, but she didn’t know if she was brave enough to try it again. Especially now that he was upset with her for sending his sister away.
The floor creaked again. It must be him. She sucked in a breath and tiptoed over to the door. Resting her ear against the wood, she listened for a heartbeat or his breath or maybe a whisper calling for her like he’d done when she’d come to the keep and visited him in his sleep. He thought it had been a dream. She still wasn’t sure, but together, the moment was real.
She rested her hand on the door handle. Should she open it and come face to face with him or wait for him to come to her? She could hear his quiet breaths outside the door and imagined them each resting a hand on the very same spot, their cheeks touching as they listened to each other’s heartbeat.
* * *
Eventually she must have fallen asleep. When she woke, she found herself curled up in a ball, her hand and cheek still pressing against the door. She wasn’t sure what would come of their training sessions today, but she hoped that the anger and resentment he felt for her had disappeared with the morning dew.
She ducked her head as she approached the table where Gallean and Scott sat talking as they broke their fast together.
“Good morning, Caer,” Gallean said, “I presume you slept well.”
Her cheeks flushed hotly. She suspected the wizard knew where she had slept. She nodded, afraid her voice would betray her.
“And you, Scott? Did you sleep well?”
She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. He swallowed hard, then cleared his throat as he fidgeted with the berries on his plate. He finally glanced over at her before answering the wizard.
“I did.”
A small smile crept across her face. She tried to hide it as she reached for some dried meat, but if either one of them were looking at her, they’d know the cause of it.
“Splendid. Today I thought we’d continue where Caer and I left off yesterday. Caer, your aim is good, but one always needs pra
ctice. I’d like you to work on throwing a spear as well.”
She nodded, pleased that the wizard had decided to continue with her weaponry training rather than making her master his rhythmic dance.
“Scott, you will work on throwing knives into a target, and depending on your skill, we will progress from there.”
Scott pushed away from the table. “I had assumed we’d open a portal and fetch Gigi.”
Gallean stood up and wiped the crumbs off his shirt. “You assumed incorrectly. With the skills your sister acquired during her stay, she is more than ready to continue on her journey.”
Caer watched as the air swirled around Scott. It was as if his emotions were causing an energy shift, but it wasn’t like when she pulled the energy to become invisible.
“You call learning how to move energy balls a preparation for battle?” he asked.
Gallean stalked over to him. Though the wizard towered over Scott, Scott didn’t appear concerned, and the swirling air continued to build.
“As you know, your sister is not capable of causing harm to humans with her magic or a weapon. She will play a part in the upcoming battle, but it won’t be with a sword, knife, or spear. If she had remained in the Land of Shadows much longer, she would have faded. Humanity gives her life. She needs to touch and savor them.”
“What about the werewolves that want to kill her?”
“They are part human too. Your sister is powerful. She has other means to protect herself that I can no longer teach her. She will either discover them by instinct and necessity or perish trying.”
Scott collapsed to his knees. “Perish? As in die?”
Gallean rested his hands on Scott’s shoulders. “Brigit takes that risk each time she reincarnates. She knows the potential ramifications, but she chooses to do it anyway. If she survives, she will be more powerful than all the gods once again.”
“But what about the Fomorians?”
“They are of an ancient line of gods. Her magic, if she chooses to use it, will work against them.”
