by Scott, Helen
“Trusting Merlin and believing his intentions are pure is foolhardy. Marcella has the means of holding him. She has the means of trapping the Lady too. She must tap into both sources of power if she wishes to be anything other than Merlin’s tool, but she must draw on her greatest power of all—you. All her mates. All the gifts you have been granted through your heritage. She is a Descendant, but she is more. She is your mate.”
Her last words fizzled out, almost like a roaring fire that had been drenched in rain. The silence was deafening, and I realized that was the last time I’d probably hear from the Mother ever again. She wasn’t imparting information on me that I didn’t already know, and it didn’t feel as life-altering as I thought she believed it was. Had she really told me anything new?
We’d never got into this expecting to trust Merlin. To us, he’d been the kinder of two evils. But what she’d said about Marcella, though, about her tapping into our powers was something our woman had been exploring from the early days of our connection.
Not only that, but Morgause seemed to be indicating that she had to tap into the shadows and the light, or so it seemed, to control both the Lady and Merlin…
The thought had me trying to force open my eyes, and this time, it worked. I realized the Mother had, yet again, messed with my body. From what she’d said, that would be our last conversation, and even though I didn’t like how she took over my autonomy, I had to admit to being saddened. It wasn’t often a dirty Stained was graced with such power. In its own way, it had been a bizarre privilege, and even if she was evil, even if I hadn’t understood or trusted her motives, Morgause seemed to have been the kindest of her siblings.
I had to hope I hadn’t misread her, that I wasn’t choosing to believe in her because she seemed genuine. Because the information I was about to impart to my mate could change everything. For good or ill.
I just hoped it was to our advantage. Now, I had to figure out why I had a twig stuck in my ass and wasn’t in our cozy bed. Priorities.
❖
Marcella
Realizing that Merlin had dumped my mates in the forest by the Reapers’ land had pissed me off. Finding them still sleeping? Had he knocked them out with some kind of magic potion, or had he just fucked with their heads? Either way, I was outraged. He’d literally fly-tipped my men, discarding them like so much trash, and him pinging me in while he pinged out of the woodland didn’t ease my temper any.
I’d been dumped in Limbo. Had to converse with my enemy. Been forced to create some kind of magical anchor, slaved over it for twelve hours apparently, all while he’d put my mates into some kind of fucking coma.
To say I was unhappy with Merlin was an understatement.
And as I explained what had happened that morning while they had been in a forced slumber, Merlin was on all of our shitlists.
Like a tsunami pulling the wave from the shore, however, mine was only the first piece of the information. The wave came crashing back as Barclay explained what the Mother of Shifters had told him.
“Merlin told me they’re somehow ‘charging’ the second moon,” I reasoned, staring up at the giant orb that was being fueled by Merlin’s naughty children. “So, I have no idea how she got through to you.”
Gid clapped him on the back. “He’s a powerful shifter.”
Barc’s grin was dopey. “Could be that, or maybe she was just desperate.”
I reached up and kissed him on the lips. “Don’t pull yourself down. She might have helped us with her reaching out that way.”
He stared up at the moon too. “Doubt we’ll be dealing with any of the Sires again.”
Shuddering, I grumbled, “Hope so. Unless they’ve got something else to share with us all.”
Raven’s nose crinkled. “It’s kind of like when someone dies and you have a voicemail waiting from them.”
My eyes widened. “Maker, it’s exactly like that. But creepier. And in Barc’s head.”
Barclay snorted. “Now, you’ve both just made it weirder than it already was.”
I winked. “Job done, then.”
Laughing, he hauled me into his side and curved his arm around my shoulder. I sank into him with a sigh. Knowing what I did now, I had to admit to feeling a bit more powerful than before.
There were four fewer enemies targeting us since Merlin had destroyed his children, and, with the Lady’s soul-shard’s unexpected aid, we had an anchor that we could somehow call on to aid us when the time came. It all fit and made me feel like we were on the right track, only now I was left wondering how to lure the Lady to a good battle spot so I could act on this information.
“So, do we just decide where and when to do this?” I asked aloud, hoping my mates would have answers for me, and that it wasn’t just a big question mark in everyone’s minds.
“It’s a good thing we’ve shown up if you don’t even have the beginnings of a plan,” a voice came from behind me. I had to turn to look before I could believe my ears, but as soon as my eyes connected with the speaker, I felt like snapping—the desire to protect my mates was a red wave of rage in my head.
Rhys.
Not just him, but Drake and Jasper as well.
“I won’t let you take her,” I snarled, the words barely audible through my clenched jaw, but I knew they heard me. I didn’t have a clue where Elizabeth currently was—either somewhere in the Reapers’ stronghold or out wandering in the woods with us in la la land—but I meant every word. They weren’t about to take her back until we’d all served out our destiny.
“Well, it’s a good thing we don’t want to take her then, isn’t it? We are here to help. Clearly, this is a cause our mate has devoted herself to and we want to support that,” Rhys defended, sounding just as charming as ever—the slime bucket.
“You’d betray your goddess, the one you’ve followed for centuries, to support your mate? Sure. Now, let’s hear the real reason you’re here,” Darius countered with a sneer, as he stepped forward, ever the spokesman for our little group.
“Astute as always, Darius. No, we are not ones to betray our goddess, but we have information we cannot ignore, and as much as it pains us to act on it, we must. Even if it means staying true to the underlying cause of our ties to the Lady rather than the Lady herself.”
“Care to share with the class?” Cade retorted, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against a tree.
“No, unfortunately that information is for us only. However, know that we are also here to protect our mate, whether she likes it or not.” Rhys released a tired sigh and scrubbed a hand over his face, before scraping it down over his hair. When he cupped the back of his neck, looking decidedly edgy as he did so, I found I was taken aback at the change in him.
Before, he’d been the slime bucket I’d called him earlier. While his charm might work on some, it didn’t work on me because hell, I had enough men to deal with without being enticed by another.
So, what was different?
Was it this ‘information’ they’d gathered? Or were they feeling the pull of the mate bond and missing their mate?
For Elizabeth’s sake, I hoped it was the latter.
For our cause? Hell, I wasn’t sure which worked better for us. So, rather than shouting him down, I stared at him for a second, and while he hadn’t exactly given me much to work with, there was something about his exhaustion that spoke true. I understood that kind of bone-deep fatigue. I wasn’t saying that it made for trustworthy or loyal allies, but in this instance… fuck. “I trust them.” Call me crazy, but I did.
Call it instinct, or call it me being absolutely fucking stupid, but I trusted what Rhys was saying.
And yeah, that might make me the biggest fool in the world, but I couldn’t hide from what my gut was telling me, and that gut had gotten me this far, hadn’t it?
“What?” Raven demanded, finally showing some interest in the conversation. His bluster almost had me smiling.
“I said I trust them. I think I un
derstand what they want or are hoping to accomplish, and so long as they don’t get in our way, then I’m fine with them staying if they don’t try to take Elizabeth away.”
Jasper’s lips tightened before he spoke for his brothers. “We agree.”
“Where is Elizabeth?” Rhys queried, peering around the clearing where we were standing.
I shrugged. “No idea. Back at the Reapers’ compound, I assume.”
“She isn’t here?” Jasper snapped, his arms bunching as he stepped forward, closer to me.
The aggressive move had all my mates coming to stand around me, but I waved them down. This wasn’t the time for a pissing contest.
“No. Merlin transported us here.” I rubbed my temple. “He took me to Limbo.” Those words felt trite. They made it sound like I’d gone on a trip to the fucking beach, not reflecting the torment of those endless hours I spent there.
“Chella, I’m not sure that allowing them to stay is a good idea,” Keiran murmured quietly from the position he’d taken up next to me when Rhys and his cohorts had appeared out of nowhere.
This ability to poof in and out at will was something I really wanted to learn. Talk about saving on travel times.
“Raven, a word?” I requested, tapping my temple.
What is it, love? my mind walker asked.
My plan is to take down Merlin and the Lady. From what Rhys said, I think they are willing to take the Lady down if it means taking Merlin down as well.
I could practically see Raven nodding and thinking in my mind’s eye, even though to my real eyes he was impassive, not letting a single blip of our conversation show on his face.
I can see why you would think that. What I’m worried about is whether or not this is an elaborate trap or a way to send us off on a wild goose chase.
Understood, but can we try it my way and dispense with them if it doesn’t work? I would rather have them where I can see them than out and about causing havoc. Friends close and enemies closer and all that.
“I agree with Marcella,” Raven replied, making me think he’d looped my mates in on our conversation. “We need all the help we can get.”
Though there were some huffs and puffs, I figured it was more posturing than anything else. I could deal with dick measuring so long as it wasn’t on my time.
“So, without telling us what you don’t want to tell us, is there anything we should know about drawing the Lady out or fighting her?” I inquired, folding my arms across my chest as I stared Rhys and his brothers down. I trusted his intentions, just not his motives. And this BS about caring where Elizabeth was? Yeah, where had that care been before?
Elizabeth had been suffering with withdrawals for a long time, and by the looks of her dreamscape, she’d been doing that without the aid of any of her mates—who, undoubtedly, would have been able to ease her suffering.
The bastards had either had a sudden change of heart, or there was BS in the air.
I was leaning more toward the latter…
“If you leave it up to her, she will come for you when she’s strongest at the equinox, but if you challenge her, or draw her out, as you said, then she will be weaker and more easily defeated. Not that it will be easy, but I’m assuming you’re smart enough to understand my meaning.”
Pursing my lips at his words, I peered up at the sky. “Did the twin moons come as a surprise?” Considering my mates and I had been out for the count all day, we hadn’t exactly experienced the chaos that must have ensued in the fallout from another satellite having popped into being.
Jasper snorted. “To who? Us or the Lady? Or, how about the rest of the bloody world?”
I shot him a look, but hid my smirk. “It wouldn’t serve you well to underestimate me, Jasper. I created the twin moon. While besting the Lady might not be easy, if I can do that, I figure I have something to bring to the fight.” Cocking a brow at him as I dared him to argue, I carried on, “So we draw her out, pick a day and go for it. Any thoughts on a battlefield?”
“Honestly, this land that the Reapers have is great,” Rhys reasoned. “There isn’t much around, it’s easily defendable, and we don’t have to worry about property destruction if any happens.”
The sound of rustling had us all tensing, and we twisted around to follow the path of the interloper. When two faces peered out at us from between a craggy copse of trees, I cocked a brow at the sight of Elizabeth and Lily who’d wandered in like Hansel and Gretel in search of candy.
That they’d teamed up was evident from their bridged hands. A sight that almost had me rearing back in astonishment because Lily? Holding a girl’s hand? Talk about another parallel fucking universe—those bastards were just doubling in number every day.
Clearing my throat, I introduced, “Gentlemen, this is Lily, the Reapers’ mate. Treat her with an ounce of disrespect and I’ll make you pay. Lily, these are the Cavalry.” I completed the introductions with a flourish of my hand that earned strange looks from most of them except my mates. They were used to me being weird at this point.
Though the Cavalry remained tight-lipped, their disdain for their enemies’ woman was evident. Not that she seemed to care. Lily tossed her hair over her shoulder and, grabbing Elizabeth, hauled her along to the clearing where we stood.
“Where are your mates?” I asked Lily, finding the difference in her incredible, yet again. Maker, I was relying on my gut instincts in too many ways. I hoped it didn’t let me down, not where she or these fuckers were concerned.
“I sensed their arrival,” Elizabeth whispered, ducking her head so that her gaze was trained on her feet and the loam we were standing in.
“And I was with her. So we came to investigate. I’m sure they’ll figure out I’m not where they last left me.” Lily didn’t sound agitated by that prospect. If anything, I heard her amusement.
Maker, this really was like Lily had been alien-probed or something. She’d gone from manic bitch to someone who was genuinely happy.
It was pretty fucking weird.
“Is there a lake on the property?” Rhys questioned abruptly, his mouth curled in a sneer.
“Three,” Lily replied, her tone just as curt. Not that I blamed her. Rhys was borderline rude.
“Then pick which one is your least favorite and we will begin everything there,” he stated. “That way, the damage won’t be too distressing after the battle.”
“When you say begin ‘everything,’ what exactly do you mean?” I inquired.
“Summoning the Lady, of course.” He paused, before his tone changed to one of regret when he added, “She does not yet know of our betrayal and will come if she thinks we are leading her to you.” He nodded his head toward me, and it made the cold dread in my stomach double in intensity.
“I don’t like this, he could be betraying us to her,” Gideon insisted, his tone like gravel.
“Never trust a traitor,” Barclay agreed, his arms flexing as he spoke.
Shitty thing was, I totally concurred, but fuck, what could I say? I was already rolling over for Lily and wanted to do the same with Rhys and his brothers. But something, and I could only believe it was the power behind my shadow weaving, made me want to bring them into the fold.
Traitor or not, my gift, the power of my heritage, was speaking to me and telling me otherwise.
This was the easiest way to bring the Lady to us on our terms. Merlin was working away behind the scenes, preparing for a battle, but he hadn’t said when or where. Not with words. But dumping my mates here? And he’d evidently given the Cavalry our location, because how else would they have found us?
No, we were on a fucking treasure hunt, and Merlin hadn’t even given us a shitty map.
The sound of a sharp whistle had me tensing, but Lily waved a hand. “That’s Henrick.”
“How do you know?” I countered with a frown.
“That’s how he gathers all the brothers,” she replied with a shrug.
Expecting the sounds of half a dozen booted feet stom
ping through the underbrush, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when they made a silent appearance in the clearing. Like ghosts, they moved toward us, not stopping until they were congregating around their mate, just as mine had with me when the Cavalry had turned up.
The testosterone levels instantly shot up, and my pursang growled with distaste at all the discordant scents.
Feeling edgy, I snapped at the Reapers, “We’ve called a truce.”
“There’s no such thing as a truce with these fuckers,” Henrick retorted, his jaw like stone.
“Who’s the Descendant here?” I snarled, and pointing up at the moon, I used that as a means of driving my power home.
Henrick’s nostrils flared but, thankfully, he tipped his head. I could sense that he and his brothers weren’t happy about my power grab though, and I couldn’t blame them. Not when they were having to join forces with men who’d proved they were untrustworthy, and with whom they’d been enemies since before the Dark Ages.
“Now, for things that actually matter, we need a battlefield location,” I said, trying to kick off the conversation. “Rhys has suggested one of the lakes you guys don’t like. What do you think?” I asked, looking at Henrick and then the other Reapers.
I had expected resistance, even if it was just because the request or idea came from a member of the Cavalry, so when Henrick nodded, I was momentarily stunned.
“Okay,” I forged on, trying to ignore my surprise. “What do we need to do to summon the Lady, Rhys? And which lake would you prefer us to use, Reapers?” Rhys had always been the spokesman for the Cavalry. The other guys in the group, while they would chat, wouldn’t discuss anything of importance. The Reapers, on the other hand, seemed like they were all on a level playing field, which was why I didn’t address one of them specifically. Henrick had a tendency to take charge, but I thought that was by mutual agreement rather than his just being the de facto leader.
“I think the lake by the farm fields,” Henrick answered, while the others nodded their approval after he shot them a questioning glance.