She might not understand Katie’s body language, but she could tell that both Maddoc and Gavin were distracted, that they wanted to be anywhere but sitting there talking. But why would Duggan lie to me?
“There you are, my sparkling little fairy, but you’re not so sparkly now.”
Dani turned from the window, and her breath caught in her throat. Images from the night in the cemetery flooded her thoughts, the red eyes and pale porcelain skin, his putrid breath and icy touch.
“I was so happy to be asked to come and get you. Having you slip through my fingers at the cemetery didn’t please me at all. It’s so rare that I find someone that arouses my interest like you do.”
“You’re Rahovart?”
“You’ve learned my name. How sweet.” He stalked her from across the room, matching her step for step as she tried to move away from him. “I’m looking forward to hearing you scream it.”
“You don’t look like you did in the cemetery.” She remembered the red eyes and demonic look to him. This guy looked like a GQ model—perfect cheekbones and piercing green eyes—the type of man who’d never noticed her existence on the planet. The sound of laughter drifted from outside, and Dani did what she’d always thought women in the horror movies should do. She darted toward the door, but in a blink he moved into her path, blocking her only means of escape.
“Help! Fire!” Dani screamed at the top of her lungs, taking pleasure in the wince that crossed Rahovart’s expression. “Gavin! Maddoc!”
“Where are your bodyguards now, little fairy?” He stopped the cat-and-mouse game and stepped closer to her. “You’re all mine, and I get to do whatever I want with you.”
“No.” Dani backed up against the table. Without taking her gaze away from Rahovart, she felt around, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon, but the only familiar thing her hand touched was her astrolabe. “Maddoc! Gavin! Help!” Dani was certain to shriek loud enough this time to strain her vocal cords and make her throat hurt.
“Would you stop that screeching?” Rahovart pressed his palm to his forehead. “You’re giving me a hell of a headache. I’m not stupid. This room has been spelled to prevent a single sound from escaping. All you’re doing is pissing me off and making me want to cut your tongue out while you cry for mercy.”
It only took a few breaths for Dani to realize that he was right. She could still hear the music and laughter of everyone outside. They didn’t hear me. She felt herself emotionally detach from the situation, recognizing the flash of candlelight against metal. Rahovart had what looked to be a fancy snake-shaped knife in his hand.
“You and I are going to have a little fun before I take you with me. It’s the least I can do to pay back your lovers for the binding they put on me.” Rahovart’s beauty twisted, revealing the evil hidden behind his smile. “I’ll leave your heart on their bed. Unbroken and pristine. That should end this bargaining between their people and my Master.”
Self-preservation, the most basic of human instincts, kicked in, slamming Dani with a rush of adrenaline. Most of the men she’d met in her life assumed her quiet, introverted personality meant weakness. As it turned out, hell-spawned assassins suffered from the same misconception.
She feinted to the right, avoiding his first assault. Rolling across the bed allowed her to put some space between them, but Rahovart retained the ability to move faster than she could. Her feet hadn’t hit the floor when he was over the bed in a leap. She dropped to her knees, missing another strike, and threw herself behind one of the solid wood posts at the corner of the mattress. Rahovart’s next swing shattered the solid wood of the bed frame like it was papier-mâché. Fueled by desperation, she whipped her body around, holding her arm out to gain momentum. The astrolabe in her hand moved like a slingshot. Her fingers gripped the ring at the top as the plate arced around.
From one breath to the next, it was over. She stood there, her astrolabe half buried in Rahovart’s chest. Dani couldn’t define the look he gave her. It almost looked like he was impressed, but that couldn’t be right. A splintering crash sounded behind her, and she looked back to see what it was. Fear slammed into her when she realized that she’d allowed herself to be distracted from Rahovart. But a hot breeze whipped past her face as she turned in time to see the knife a breath from her chest, and then as quickly, it vanished, along with Rahovart.
“Shhhhhhh. It’s okay. We’ve got you.”
Dani wasn’t completely aware of what was going on around her. Her thoughts spun wildly through what had and could have happened. The sight of the terrifying knife so close to her chest repeatedly slammed into her memories, overlaid with the image of Erin’s sharp teeth and the sight of her leaping over the table.
“Dani, listen to me. Rigel, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Alnilam, Alnitak, Mintaka, Saiph, Hatsya, Tabit.” Gavin’s voice pierced the fog of her panicked thoughts.
“Are you sure it’s not Bellatrix, Albus, McGonagall, Snape?” Maddoc’s voice joined Gavin’s, pulling her back from the abyss of her own head. “Dannika, you have to tell us. Which is it? I’m sure I’m right.”
Ever so slowly, her awareness of her surroundings came back to her—the feeling of her arms being rubbed, a hand in her hair, another at her hip. The icy frozen grip of fear melted away from the warmth of their touch.
“Dani, it’s Rigel, Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, right? What comes next?”
Understanding what Gavin was trying to do, she whispered, “Alnilam, Alnitak, Mintaka, Saiph, Hatsya, Tabit.”
“Thank god.” She felt herself being lifted up into Gavin’s embrace and hugged against him with her ear pressed against his chest. She could hear the wild beating of his heart over her own.
“How?” She wasn’t certain how she’d managed to survive what she’d been sure were her last moments on this planet.
“Symbols are merely a way for us to focus our energies. You have used your astrolabe as a source of security and safety. It’s no different than a Christian wearing a cross or a traveller wearing a St. Christopher’s medal. In your hands, the astrolabe became a weapon.”
“What I want to know is how he got to her.” Maddoc was pacing back and forth like a caged animal at the end of the bed. When he reached for her, she flinched away from his touch. The image of standing in the courtyard with his arm around Katie stabbed her straight in the heart.
“What’s wrong, Dannika?”
“Nothing.” Her gaze flicked to the woman standing in the corner of the room. “If what you’re saying is correct, then I’m not in any danger anymore.” She could hear the robotic tone to her voice, but to protect herself, her emotions had shut down completely. It was the only way she could survive this.
Gavin followed her gaze across the room. “Katie, did you have something to do with this?”
“No!” Katie crossed her arms over her chest. “Why would you think that?”
“Because, you have the right to stand between the brothers, and they don’t see it.”
Dani recognized Duggan’s voice but didn’t look at him. She might not have understood the expression on his face when he spoke to her, but she wasn’t stupid. She understood exactly what he was saying.
“The human has poisoned their sight. They’ve been thinking with the wrong heads.”
“Duggan!” Katie’s mouth dropped. Even Dani recognized the look of surprise on the young woman’s face. “I’m not the one for them.”
“Yes, you are.” The old man’s cheeks were red and his skin looked blotchy, as if he was about to have a heart attack. “They’ve used their magic on you like they did the ice queen there. That cold, heartless woman could never truly warm their bed.”
“Enough!” Maddoc and Gavin’s combined demand echoed in the room, sending out a vibration that Dani could feel in her chest. The air in the room virtually quivered with their combined anger.
“Don’t you take those tones with me, you stupid boys. I’ve studied the scrolls. I see what you’ve ignored. You will dest
roy this family, making the wrong decision by choosing a cold human woman.”
Dani used their yelling and arguing as a distraction to leave. She didn’t want to hear this or be humiliated any more. Duggan was only saying what she’d been told before. She wasn’t good for much other than sex. If Maddoc or Gavin looked at her with pity or sympathy, she would be sick.
“Where are you going, Dani?” Jilly blocked her path to the door much like Rahovart had. “Are you going to allow him to talk about you like that?”
“I can’t argue about things I know nothing about. I’m not part of your world, and I gave up trying to make people accept me.”
“You could be.” Jilly nodded to the group behind Dani. “Those men love you with every part of their being, but no one has ever stood up for them before. They aren’t perfect and they’ve made mistakes, but someone needs to tell them when they have paid enough.”
Dani could understand that feeling. Aside from her mom and friends, she’d been on her own, as well. How many times have I wished for Orion to come down and fight for me?
“Yes, they’ve made mistakes, Dani, and they may have hurt you in the process, but I know it wasn’t intentional. Don’t let them make another one. If you leave it will destroy them.”
“According to Duggan’s scrolls, if I stay it will destroy the family.”
“Scrolls are open to interpretation and usually taken wrong. Duggan isn’t the first to blindly follow ancient writings. There have been hundreds of religions based the same way.”
“What about Rahovart?”
“One thing at a time, dear. You turn around and show them they’re right about you. I’m going to go put on the kettle.”
Jilly reminded Dani of her mom with her everything can be remedied with a cup of tea mentality. She took a deep breath and turned around.
There was so much yelling going on that Dani couldn’t make out the conversation or even understand everything that was being said. But unlike any other time in her life, she wasn’t feeling completely overwhelmed. The panic that normally would have overridden her senses by now was absent, allowing her to think clearly. If her mom was here, she’d ask her two simple questions. What does your heart tell you? Do you really want to leave them?
The answer was easy. “No.”
Katie looked over, and Dani repeated herself. “I said no.”
“What are you talking about, Dani? We have more important things to figure out here.”
“You can’t have them, Katie. They’re mine.” Dani crossed her arms in front of herself. “I don’t give a damn what some moldy old scrolls say or the markings on some ancient star chart. Maddoc and Gavin are mine. I love them, and you can’t have them.”
The pinched look to Katie’s face smoothed out as her lips curled up into a smile. Dani wasn’t certain if she was really happy or about to deliver a sarcastic blow. What really surprised her was when Dani realized the room had gone completely silent. Her gaze went to Gavin and Maddoc, who both were standing there staring at her as if she’d gone crazy. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not kidding.”
“I swear to you, Dani, I’m not interested in those two arrogant idiots—”
“Oye! We’re right here, Katie.” Gavin spoke as Maddoc nodded in agreement. Dani looked back to Katie, wondering if the young woman was telling the truth. “If you have been raised to think of them as your future husbands, then I could understand if you were angry.”
“Ew, no.” Katie’s face looked like she’d just sucked on a lemon, and Dani fought the crazy urge to laugh. “I’ve always thought of them as older irritating brothers. Besides, I’m in love with Rene of the Marécages les Chatts.”
“What!” Both Gavin and Maddoc shouted at the same time. Dani jumped at the sudden outburst but realized a moment later that the panic that usually followed something like this was missing.
“Sorry, Dannika.” Maddoc reached out and grabbed one of her hands and lifted the back of it to his lips. “I swear we’ll work on our yelling.”
“It’s okay. I guess I can try to get used to it.” Dani knew that both of them tended to get loud when they were passionate about something. Family was very important to them both, and she could understand that this announcement was obviously a shock to them both and why Katie hadn’t said anything sooner.
“Seriously, Katie, what were you thinking getting involved with one of the Swamp Cats? Do you know how dangerous they are? They live in the bayou, for god’s sake, eating gator and snakes and god knows what else.”
“Gavin, you are a snob.” Katie crossed her arms over her chest. “Rene is a wonderful man.”
Dani slipped her hand into Gavin’s, giving it a squeeze. Gavin glanced down at her and winked before turning back to Katie.
“Are they a gang of some kind?” Dani wasn’t entirely certain what the big deal was unless these Swamp Cats were a dangerous outlaw group of some sort.
“They are shape shifters, panthers to be exact. Katie, do you understand what you’re getting into? They’re dangerous.”
“Not to me. Rene and I were trying to think of a way to tell everyone, but he had a family crisis to deal with so we haven’t had a chance.” Dani couldn’t miss the happiness and love in Katie’s smile as she looked back and forth between Gavin and Maddoc. “I love him with every fiber of my being, and I can’t stand being separated from him. We’re going to start our own family.”
“No! This is your fault, you stupid human. Pianbàs!”
In that moment, it was like the world slowed down to a crawl. Dani didn’t understand what the language was but there was no doubt by Duggan’s tone it was a curse. She turned in time to see what looked like a crackling ball of energy fly from Duggan’s hand. Frozen to the spot, she had no choice but to watch it arc toward her.
Chapter Ten
The moment Duggan opened his mouth, both Maddoc and Gavin reached for Dani. White-hot fury and spite radiated around the energy ball Duggan had created while he and Maddoc had been distracted by Katie’s announcement. Instinct had them both moving to protect her before anyone had realized it.
Gavin sensed, more than felt, the bond between the three of them snap and crackle like a frayed electrical wire. In that moment, which was as long as eternity and as quick as light, he understood what the prophecy meant. Time will mean nothing to that which was meant to be.
Dani was as much an integral part of him as his brother, giving them the power to bend space and time.
He and Maddoc slowed time to a crawl, both of them reaching out their free hand toward the deadly attack. The negative energy twisted toward them like a snake. At this minute speed they could see the aura of the energy Duggan had used—putrid shades of green and yellow intertwined with streaks of black and red. This was no regular spell thrown out of passion or anger. This was an intricate mix of negativity Duggan must have been working on before this moment. Their oldest advisor had been planning on killing their love. He must have been the one to contract Rahovart to come for her soul.
“Don’t kill him.”
Dani’s words hung in the air. The stillness of time made a vacuum out of sound, and Dani’s voice didn’t sound right. Gavin looked down at her before over to his brother. One nod let him know that he and Maddoc were in full agreement to reverse the spell and let Duggan feel the full brunt of his own spell. But it was the panicked look on Dani’s face that made them pause.
“Why not?”
“He’s a part of your family and you both love him. He obviously wanted you two to claim Katie. Sometimes family makes crazy decisions based on what they believe at the time.”
“Like talking someone out of wearing a talisman and the choice turned out the wrong way?” Maddoc asked exactly what Gavin had been thinking.
Dani nodded. He could feel the agony that tinged her natural energy at the thought of them killing Duggan. “Or welcoming a woman into your family with no knowledge of her ulterior motives.”
“How did you know?” Gavin
looked at Maddoc, wondering if he was the one to tell Dani about Morgana.
“Jilly told me earlier.” Dani shrugged. “She said not to say anything until you told me, but I don’t see the point in pretending I don’t know anything.”
“It doesn’t make you less correct. You’re right, we all have past mistakes we need to forgive ourselves for.” Maddoc nodded at Dani. “We would do anything you asked.”
“I’m asking you to spare his life.”
“All right,” they both responded in unison. Since the spell had been meant for Dani and they both respected her and her feelings, they would do as she asked. Instead of destroying Duggan with his own negative magic, he and Maddoc lifted their free hands and the hands gripping Dani’s. The negative spell flickered and then exploded into a waterfall of glittering stars.
Time snapped back into place. The natural sounds were almost deafening after being in a soundless vacuum.
“No!” Katie wrapped her arms around Duggan, trapping his arms. “What have you done?”
“We’re okay,” Maddoc replied as both Katie and Duggan look at the three of them in shock.
“But, I saw the energy ball.” Katie looked back at Duggan. “Did you?”
“No, lass.” The old man’s shoulders dropped in defeat. “They stopped me from doing something truly unforgiveable. I’m not sure why I did it. I wanted you to be the one standing between them so bad, that way our traditions would be followed.” He pointed at Dani. “She’s a cold one and isn’t one of us.”
“That’s enough,” Gavin snapped. “You will not say another word about our wife. If you truly had the ability to feel the energies surrounding you, you would know the depth of her emotions. It’s by her choice that you’re alive at all.”
“That prophecy, the one about time not mattering—” Katie looked as though she’d just solved the meaning of life. “I remember reading it once a long time ago. It sounded so romantic at the time, and it was right.”
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