“What are you doing to her?” I protested, the fear pulsing through my voice.
“Banishing her!” answered a ferocious growl.
Tallis and I weren’t strong enough to do it ourselves, but I had a feeling Donnchadh could finally put an end to this meddlesome spirit. Donnchadh pushed her head into the mud, face first. Then he stood on her, placing a foot at the back of her neck to ensure she couldn’t move.
Donnchadh was going to be an uglier problem altogether. And one that intimidated me far more than Persephone ever could. With that thought, a tidal wave of memories washed over me. I recalled seeing Tallis’s black eyes when we trained for the first time. And the night in the tavern when Donnchadh took control of a drunken Tallis and he tried to force himself on me. And the frightening confrontation in Tallis’s cabin, where Donnchadh nearly finished what he started at the tavern. And Jill, that poor girl. I looked down at my hands and was not surprised to find her blood still on them.
From her downward dog position on the ground, Persephone managed to raise her face and she started laughing. I didn’t like anything about that laughter. It sounded heavy and breathless, the kind of guffaw that only left me with more anxiety.
“I should have known,” Persephone called out between her peals of laughter. “All my plans, all my designs, all my machinations… all of them pointless, every single one. A complete waste of my time.”
I approached her, my eyes darting between her sprawled-out form and the monstrous Donnchadh now standing over her. His chest heaved with barely suppressed fury. Again, the old memories sent a chilling tingle down my back but he made no move against me. I finally found myself standing over Persephone.
“You have no one to blame here but yourself,” I said, going onto a knee. “I buried you once before but I guess that wasn’t enough.” I looked up at Donnchadh, his eyes glowing with unbridled rage. I wasn’t sure why I trusted him not to attack me but I did. At least for now. His goal here was clear and it wore the name Persephone. “Still, I think this time, it might actually work.”
She screamed at me before the foot on her neck smashed her face back into the ground. “You know,” I added as I got onto my feet, “I could say a long soliloquy about how time eventually runs out, even for immortals like you. But really, at this point, what does it matter? You’re done.”
I locked eyes with Donnchadh. We nodded at each other and I turned around. I don’t know what Donnchadh did to Persephone’s essence—and like Alaire’s recording, I didn’t want to know. A bloodcurdling scream was followed by a blinding light that flared around me. And then there was only silence once again.
Turning around, I found Donnchadh standing alone. His face was filled with primal fury. He began to walk toward me. The smirk I didn’t realize I had changed into a deep, but very concerned frown.
He’s coming right toward me.
For the first and hopefully last time in my new life, I wished for Alaire’s help.
He’s coming for me now.
Donnchadh broke into a run, his feet tearing up the grass as he charged me with his arms stretched out wide. Just as the spirit warrior was prepared to wrap those massive arms around me, I saw a dazzling blue light and then… nothing.
Chapter Fifteen
Lily
“Lily?”
A voice called my name in the dark before I saw a light. It began as a tiny spark that grew in size, eventually outlining the interior of my, or rather Persephone’s, bedroom.
I blinked a few times, trying to recall how I could have gotten back here. Where was Donnchadh? Was Persephone gone from my body for good? I looked at my left and was immediately greeted by Alaire’s smiling, smug, and very punchable face.
“Lily, is that you?” he asked, studying me like a specimen under a microscope.
I could finally drop the Persephone act. Now was definitely the time. It was more than a huge relief to do that at last.
“Y-ye-yes,” I said in a shaky voice as I glanced around the room again, playing up my shock, though not too much. But as far as Alaire knew, this was the first time I’d been restored to myself in a very long time. “Where am I?” I asked, making my eyes suddenly appearing more frantic. “How did I get here?”
“Shhhh,” Alaire hissed, putting a finger to my mouth, “All you need to know right now is that I’m here with you, in what is technically your bed. And you are safe.”
Safe? I nearly choked on my own acidic laughter over that thought. But I responded meekly by gulping down the bitterness that began climbing up my throat. Like it or not, I was still playing a part. But this role required different responses from me. “How did I get here?” I asked, keeping my voice soft and feminine.
“All in good time, my dear, all in good time,” Alaire answered with his secretive smile. “However, I must admit that it pleases me greatly to see you back in control of your own body.”
I glared at him. “You were the reason I wasn’t in control of my body during this entire time,” I said, my words seething with genuine outrage. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten who put Persephone inside me in the first place!”
I figured now was a good a time for this conversation to happen. Alaire must have been expecting it and I’d kept it bottled up inside me for far too long.
“Yes, and now I fully realize the extent of my mistake.”
“Your mistake?” I asked, legitimately surprised. “I imagined the Master of the Underground City could never admit wrongdoing.”
“Lily, Lily,” he chided me as he ran one index finger down the side of my face. “One does not rise to my position by turning a blind eye to one’s missteps. I am fully willing to accept the blame for my gambit with the crown. I admit it was a major misstep.” His finger glided its way to my lips, then to my neck, and finally to my chest where he traced one of my nipples. I glanced down and felt myself blushing. In the rush of the moment, I forgot I was naked.
“Why am I naked?” I demanded as I tugged against the bonds that fastened me to the bed. “And restrained?”
“Because I willed it that way,” Alaire answered, dropping his finger. “And as I am the King of my castle, my will is everyone’s command.”
I decided to ignore his self-impressed flattery for the time being and focused instead on his mysterious change of heart. “I don’t understand. After all the effort it required to implant Persephone inside me, why banish her again?”
“Persephone…” he started with a deep sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. “I am certain you have heard the old adage ‘be careful what you wish for because you just might get it’?”
“Of course I have heard it…”
His smiling face became a frown. “Let us return to the matter at hand, because this instance is a perfect example of that idiom and how it works in actual practice. I once believed myself to be, for lack of a better word, in love with Persephone. Alas, once she entered your delectable body, I found myself growing increasingly bored with her. Frustrated, even, to the point of severe aggravation.”
He looked down at me again and inhaled deeply. His eyes appeared more sincere than I’d ever seen them before. “Furthermore, I also found myself grieving over the loss of your charming company. Yes, she was inside your body and I certainly enjoyed all the pleasures that body could give to me. But sadly, she lacked your temperament and vivacious personality.”
“Well, we are two different people,” I mentioned, pointing out the obvious with an arched eyebrow.
“Yes, yes, and quite different!” he answered with another little laugh. “How it pained me to realize I was no longer content with Persephone, to the point of it feeling quite the opposite. I suppose it is true that time changes everyone, even immortals such as myself. I always dreamt of the day when I could be reunited with my queen and yet when that day actually arrived, it was much less thrilling than I hoped or expected it would be.”
“Sorry, not sorry,” I muttered.
Alaire laughed long and hard, shaking hi
s head while seeming more than amused at my clear disinterest over his plight. “Yes, I imagined you would shed very few tears over her fall from grace and subsequent rapid departure. Statements like that remind me why you were the one I thirsted for, Lily.”
I released an exasperated sigh of my own. “And that’s the part of this that makes absolutely no sense to me. I could access all Persephone’s memories while she was still in control of my body so I know all about the history between the two of you. You and Persephone went way, way back, though not as far as she wanted everyone to think with a name from Greek mythology.”
“Yes, you may recall that she and I first met each other two centuries ago. But a shared history does not promise a happy reunion. While I changed and was changed by time, Persephone herself did not. Spending all that time trapped inside the crown, how could it be otherwise? I believe that single difference was critical enough to doom what I attempted from the very start. Not to mention that I believe all that time in the crown affected her sanity.”
“You mean she wasn’t always a crazy bitch?” I asked facetiously.
Alaire chuckled. “Perhaps not as crazy as she turned out to be.”
“Whatever,” I answered, wishing I weren’t naked. But Alaire wasn’t staring at my body anymore. His gaze was now riveted on my eyes, something I found more than a little bizarre, given his usual behavior.
“So why exactly did you miss me?” I longed for conversation if only to delay the inevitable however I could. “All this heartfelt pining for me seems very strange, considering we have virtually no history and we’re more like enemies than friends.”
“Well, to restate the obvious, you are something very special,” he began with a sigh. “And I have never considered us enemies, my dear.”
“Potato, po-taut-o.”
He raised an eyebrow but didn’t seem too offended. “It’s just that innocence is so hard a virtue to encounter in the Underground City and it always has been. Truth be told, it’s like a drug to me. A lifelong necessity denied me, day in and day out, for thousands of years.”
“Innocence?” I repeated incredulously. I didn’t exactly think of myself as being that innocent. Especially after what Persephone put my body through. Of course, I knew that Alaire’s argument would be the same as Tallis’s—those were Persephone’s decisions, not mine. As far as Alaire was concerned, I was just as innocent as before. What could he and my bladesmith see that I couldn’t?
Alaire looked away, his eyes glazing a bit with fond remembrance as he turned. “Of course, there have been others. The Y2K fiasco did a fine job in making it easier for me to get what I crave than in centuries past.” I swore I saw him licking his lips before he faced me again. “But none of them have ever been as pure as you.” He looked at me salaciously and it made my knees shake. “Do you understand why I had to restore you to your former self now?”
This guy was nuts! “I only understand that you’re a psychopath!” I screamed, pulling at the ropes while wishing Donnchadh would show up. I ached to bust through the restraints and fuck the room up again, and Alaire along with it. In fact, that was a curious subject. Just where was Donnchadh and his blasted infernal temper while we were having this little chat?
Infuriatingly, Alaire remained unoffended and shrugged at my answer. “I’ve never denied what I am. Bastard, psycho, maniac, betrayer… really, it’s just a matter of picking an apt moniker for me. But at least I am honest about myself.”
Another non-inspirational quote popped into my head. “I would rather be a canker in a hedge than a rose in his grace. And it better fits my blood to be disdained of all than to fashion a carriage to rob love of any. In this, though I cannot be said to be a flatteringly honest man, it must not be denied that but I am a plain-dealing villain.”
Alaire’s smile grew so wide, I feared his face could split. “Much Ado About Nothing, Act 1, Scene 3…” He paused for a few moments. “Consider me impressed, Lily.”
I shrugged, not wanting him to be impressed with me at all. That was the reason I was in this debacle in the first place. “I like to memorize everything Keanu Reeves ever said,” I explained, realizing Alaire would see the humor in my comment.
The Master of the Underground City guffawed heartily. “Reeves aside, I still find it impressive that you knew the quote in its entirety. And it does suit me and the occasion, does it not?”
“Getting back to where we were,” I interjected, loath to discuss the prose of Shakespeare without something to cover up my body. “How is it that I’m even here? I mean, as myself, Lily Harper—how am I talking to you right now? Wasn’t I just possessed by Donnchadh only a little while ago?”
Alaire’s smile settled back down to a smug level as he nodded. “And you still are, my dear. Surely, watching the Yeti has educated you on Donnchadh’s recalcitrance in relinquishing any body, despite its flaws.” Then he corrected himself. “Not that your body is flawed but in Donnchadh’s estimation it would be, owing to you being female.”
I frowned. “How did you restore me back to myself?”
“Were you not restrained, I would ask you to lift and then rotate your arm. Once you did that, you would undoubtedly notice the runes freshly tattooed into the skin on your inner forearm.”
“Runes?” I repeated.
Alaire nodded again. “Yes, the lettering binds Donnchadh to the lowest levels of your soul, which, in turn, gives you complete control over your own body.”
I thought it over. “Then Donnchadh can’t make another appearance?”
“Not without the consent of you or me,” Alaire answered evasively.
“And what does that mean? How do I or you give him our consent?”
“That, my dear, is extremely unimportant at this stage.”
Hmm, it sounded supremely important to me. But other questions were begging for answers too.
“And Persephone?” I asked as I studied him. “Is she bound by these runes too?”
Alaire shook his head, curling his lips into a sick and twisted smile that made my guts invert. “We are both well aware that Persephone is no longer in our attendance.” I felt my eyebrows arch at the realization that he knew Persephone was long gone. I imagined Alaire only thought her spirit was being subjugated by mine at the moment, not forever.
“But how?” I started.
“The possession ritual that thrust Donnchadh into your body also decimated any other souls that were taking up residence prior to his arrival.”
I shook my head in frustration. “But what about my soul? I’m still here and undecimated.”
“Ah, yes, but only because I protected you, my dear. After all, Persephone was the one that I no longer wanted.”
“Then you knew you were getting rid of her for good with Donnchadh from the very start?” I asked, just to make sure I was following along correctly.
“Of course. Or did you think your little charade over the last two days could fool me?”
Before I could ask another question, he jerked his hand up to my neck and wrapped his bony fingers around it, squeezing just enough to make me gag a little. Meanwhile, my surprise over his announcement that he knew I’d been playing a part all along bothered me.
“I have to give you credit for mostly staying in character,” he declared, his calm voice at odds with the wild look on his face. “But it’s just as you said. You and Persephone are vastly different people, far too different for you to imitate her effectively. Just because your hair remained dark until this very moment did not blind me from all the other signs. I knew that it was you all along.”
“Then why?” I started.
“Did I allow you to believe I didn’t know?” he asked and then sighed. “I quite enjoyed watching your charade, my dear.”
Two things occurred to me as he said that. First, I noticed that my hair had indeed returned to its original red. Second, he probably knew about all my plans to escape. As he squeezed me tighter, the third thing that hit me was I needed to persuade him to b
ack off.
“What do you want from me?” I demanded, frightened by the look I glimpsed in his eyes.
“I want you,” he answered blankly. “All of you.”
“What do you mean by that?”
The anger on his face looked like a blood-red sunrise. “It means, I want you to look at me the way you gaze at that Celtic bastard rotting in the cell below us. And what I want, I intend to get.”
I started to shake my head but he gripped my cheeks to hold my head immobile. “Don’t think that it would be unilateral. I could give you everything he never could. He is tainted, rotten, and only a ruin of a man.”
“And what kind of man do you think you are?” I scoffed. “Yes, Tallis has an ugly past. But he’s been seeking absolution for a long, long time. He’s making amends for the sins he committed. Could you ever say the same for yourself?”
Alaire flattened himself on top of me, his hand clamping down on my larnyx. I could only stare at him while the ropes held me fast. He had a weird look in his eyes I couldn’t decipher... Was it anger? Lust? Regret? Pain? I didn’t think he intended to kill me. He’d gone through so much already to reinstate me back into my body. And furthermore, he knew he couldn’t kill me because Donnchadh was inside me. Donnchadh infused his immortality to whatever host he occupied. Or so I thought.
I wondered if there was a way I could release the previous bane of Tallis’s existence. How did the runes he tattooed on my forearm work? And if I did release Donnchadh, what would he do? Would he mess Alaire up? Was that even possible? After all, Tallis mentioned that Alaire was possessed in the same way that Tallis was possessed with Donnchadh.
“You will someday feel for me what you do for the Bladesmith,” Alaire predicted. “I am prepared to do whatever it takes to make that a reality.” He released my throat, presumably so I could reply.
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