Sacrifice of Mercy

by Shannon Dermott

  I peered into evil when I glared at her. Out of her mouth came the most irritating tinkling laugh. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard and only sent spikes of despair in my heart.

  “Let him out. He’ll die in there.”

  They glanced at each other. Mab finally said, “You’ve already killed him. In your selfishness to take him from here, you’ve given him a death sentence.”

  Flynn’s eyes seemed to burn through the ice to glare at me. I stumbled back and tripped on a root. When I fell, everything went black.

  I opened my eyes to stare into vacant blue ones.

  “There you are.”

  I jackhammered up in the bed with a scream.

  There, startled awake, sat Flynn. I glanced around the room and tried to focus on where I was. Gray stone walls covered with tapestries, it took a moment for me to realize I wasn’t in the Winter Queen’s castle. My bare arms weren’t pricked with chill bumps. I was at Tom’s castle in Ireland.

  Flynn stood and the shirt he wore rose while he waited. A sliver of golden skin peeked at me, taunting me to reach out and touch him. I was grateful he wasn’t close enough.

  “Why are you here?”

  His eyes were like tiny blue icebergs, and a shiver rushed through me.

  “We took turns?”

  “How long have I been out?”

  His eyes flicked to my side. I followed his line of sight to a bowl of soup.

  “It’s cold by now,” he muttered.

  I swallowed because he stood at the foot of the bed. It took me a second to realize something.

  “I feel better,” I murmured.

  “Good, I should go and get ready.”

  He pointed to a dress draped over a chair.

  “There is a ball tonight. I don’t know what it is with the supernatural lot. Everyone wants to have a ball or some shit.”

  I didn’t want him to go and every time we were alone he bolted on a huff of anger.

  “There’s something I need to tell you.”

  He backed off, and I knew I spooked him.

  “There’s nothing left to say.”

  “There is,” I declared.

  His motion stopped as if I used the power of my voice on him like the last time. Only, his eyes remained pinpricks on me.

  “I’m in love with you,” I blurted.

  “Yeah,” he said not sounding at all excited my admission. “Prove it.”

  I gazed into his frosty eyes willing them to thaw. “How?”

  “Get naked.”

  My eyes widened. “What?”

  He shrugged. “Get naked.”

  Air became trapped in my lungs like dust in a vacuum cleaner. “Why?” I managed to say.

  “When girls tell me that, they’re usually naked or on the verge of getting naked.”

  My jaw dropped. “You’re lumping me in with all those other girls.”

  I hated the thought of him being with someone else. But he had to survive and did what he had to do.

  He rubbed at his chin before scrubbing a hand through his hair.

  “I guess you’re right. You are different. When they said it, I believed them.”

  It felt like he stabbed me with a dagger.

  “How can you say that?”

  “I would be a fool to think otherwise.”

  His expression remained impassive.

  “But I told you in Fairy how I felt.”

  “Yeah, that was when you thought you were out to rescue your dead prince. He’s not dead. And I’ve always come second in your eyes.”

  “That’s not true,” I said moving closer to the edge of the bed. I needed him to believe me.

  “Yeah?” He lifted my hand. The one that bore the ring Luke gave me. “This says otherwise. You married him in a secret ceremony. God only knows what happened after.”

  “Flynn.”

  “Don’t bother, Mercy. My fate is my own.”

  He let go of my hand and looked disgusted with himself for touching me that long. A tear slipped from my eye.

  “I’m in love with you. You have to believe me.”

  “I believe that you may want both of us. I also know if you had to choose, it wouldn’t be me.”

  “You’re wrong.”

  He pursed his lips. “Too bad, I’m sure I’m right.”

  He sighed. “Now that you’re up, my babysitting duties are over. I signed up for the night shift but nothing more. We should limit our contact. Maybe then, we won’t accidentally reinforce the unnatural bond between us.”

  “Flynn, please.”

  “Luke is the best of the best Mercy. You couldn’t have chosen better.”

  “Don’t leave. Please don’t leave me.”

  With the door open, he turned sad eyes on me.

  “And what Mercy? You want to make me your second husband.” He shook his head. “This shifter thing is rubbing off on you. Sorry, Cambions relationships don’t work that way.”

  I clamped a hand over my mouth to stifle a sob. I had nothing to say to that. He closed the door, and I beat my fist on the bed to let out all my clouded feelings.

  Where was Luke? Why wasn’t he here? I needed to talk to him. I needed to make things right.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Luke didn’t answer my call. I was truly beginning to believe that maybe he was a specter of my imagination.

  I paced the room wondering what my next move would be when the pocket door near the bed slid open. Tom stepped in.

  “Mercy, we have trouble.”

  When didn’t we?

  “What’s going on?”

  He scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Maggie’s locked herself in the cage with Brent. He’s not stable. I need you to convince her to come out while I keep Brent’s wolf from attacking her.”

  “What?” I yelped.

  Had she lost her mind?

  “Look, we have to go.”

  “Tom,” I said when he grabbed my arm to lead me out the door. He didn’t stop. He held on while dragging me to a stairwell.

  When we reached an archway landing somewhere below, a woman flagged Tom down. “My Lord, My Lord. Do you have a moment?”

  Tom led me through the doorway to meet her halfway. We stepped into the Great Hall where we’d eaten the night before.

  “What it is it?”

  His words sound kingly as he spoke them. He may not think he was made for this life, but he sure sounded commanding.

  “You were apprised of the situation with the wolf downstairs,” the servant said.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m afraid the worst has happened.”

  “It shifted into human form?” he asked.

  She nodded. “I’m afraid so. She is disoriented as expected.”

  I had a bad feeling. “What’s wrong?”

  Tom turned to me. “On rare occasions, a natural-born animal, not a shifter, is attacked by a shifted gone lupe and survives. When this happens, they have the potential to shift into human form. This is bad because they have no frame of reference for being human. If we find such creatures, we watch them until they face the first full moon after they were bitten. Most will not change. If they do not, we will set them free, crisis adverted. If they do, they have to be put down.”

  My mouth gaped. “Where is Brent being held?”

  “Brent is in the special area where shifters go to be caged during their first transition. Why?”

  “And the woman, the wolf?”

  “She’s in an isolated cage in the dungeons below the kitchen.”

  The servant watched us with a keen eye. I tugged Tom halfway across the room. Knowing shifters had good hearing, I barely said the words in his ear knowing he could hear me.

  “I think I forced the shift.” He pulled back and glared at me with wide eyes. “Maggie thought it was Brent, and she begged me to try to persuade him.” I gave him a meaningful look because couldn’t think of another way to explain it without saying too much that could be overheard.

 
He marched over to the woman. “Keep her locked in the dungeon.”

  “The men are leering at her, My Lord.”

  Tom shook his head. “Have her clothed and fed. No one is to touch her. I have another matter to attend to first.”

  She bowed and headed off through another archway.

  “We have to get to Maggie before it’s too late.”

  Tom took off. In order to keep up with him, I had to chase him at a dead run. The castle was large. So far, I’d seen the Great Hall and kitchen. On the way, we passed a library, an indoor garden, and other closed doors.

  We turned a corner that led towards the back of the castle. We descended another coiling set of stairs. What was up with spiraling staircases?

  “Who was the architect of this place?” I muttered more to myself. The Fairy Queen also had stairwells in corners.

  The growls got louder the lower we went. Chaos was everywhere once we came into the room. Two steps in, the words the King is here, spread through the crowd. Suddenly, everyone was on their knees giving me a clear view of cages, a wolf, Maggie, Flynn and Tristrom and how massive the space was.

  Cages lined the back wall. The difference between there and the dungeon was the place was brightly lit. Also chains in each were attached to the stone walls and floors and hung loose. Only one cage was currently occupied.

  When people glared at the few of us still standing, I knelt down. Flynn and Tristrom followed suit. Maggie was excluded as she was crouched in a corner of the cage.

  Tom took my hand and brought me to my feet. He walked his way through the kneeling bodies until we stood next where Brent was held captive.

  “Clear the room,” Tom called out.

  Immediately, the crowd got to their feet and disbursed. Tom waited until we were alone. Even then, he maintained a kingly air. “Report.”

  His word was directed at Flynn.

  “I went looking for Maggie and heard that a woman had been stupid enough to crawl into the cage of the American shifter in wolf form. I knew it had to be Maggie and found her here. There were a few others in the room. They weren’t happy that a non-shifter was in their sacred place. Then you came in.”

  Flynn’s eyes briefly met mine.

  As Tom sighed, I noticed there was no more growling.

  “Wait,” I said and spun around.

  Brent or wolfy Brent stood sentry over Maggie.

  “He isn’t trying to harm her. He’s trying to protect her.”

  Everyone turned to stare at the cage. When they did, Brent started to growl.

  “Maggs, what are you doing?” I directed to where she cowered in the back of the cage.

  “I didn’t think. He whimpered when I saw him, and I had to make sure he’s okay.”

  “Did you have to do that from inside the cage?”

  “At the time, he was curled up back here. I wanted to check on him.”

  I shook my head. “Can you come out?”

  Her reply was quick, and I heard a bit of fear in it. “He won’t let me out.”

  I turned to Tom. “What can you do?”

  “Why don’t you try your mind meld thing?” He placed two fingers on the side of his head.

  Flynn stepped forward. “I thought you said my dad and her mom tried, and it didn’t work.”

  “It didn’t. But Mercy might have forced the change with another wolf we were holding in the dungeons.”

  “That wasn’t Brent?” Maggie asked.

  “No, it wasn’t. Long story.”

  I moved in front of the cage, and Brent began to snarl at me.

  Flynn moved to block me. “This isn’t a good idea.”

  Little did he know I’d already been marked by Huck. If I could add to my weirdness, it wouldn’t be by Brent’s teeth or claws.

  I wrapped my hand around the bars.

  “Mercy,” Flynn warned.

  “Brent, it’s me,” I said, ignoring Flynn.

  Brent’s sharp canines snapped in my direction. But I’d gotten his attention.

  “Brent, you must change back into your human form.”

  His eyes went liquid gold. “Brent, change forms,” I barked, trying to sound confident in my command.

  He leaped forward, and I moved back in time as he barreled into the bars.

  “I told you it wasn’t a good idea,” Flynn chided.

  “It happened like that the last time. After I'd made the order, she leaped at me,” I said.

  Tom stepped to me. “She didn’t shift right away?” I shook my head. “I guess it’s my turn.”

  I moved back. Tom locked eyes with Brent and stepped forward. Brent’s muzzle immediately dipped towards the ground in submission.

  “Heel,” Tom commanded. Brent kneeled down. “Stay.”

  The power in Tom’s voice caused goosebumps to rise on my skin.

  “Maggie, come,” Tom said.

  Maggie inched forward. Brent lifted his head.

  “Stay!” Tom demanded. “Maggie, come now.”

  Tom unlatched the cage as Maggie scrambled forward. He let her out and locked the cage again. Doug took that time to make an appearance with Mia by his side.

  Brent didn’t move. I could barely tell he was breathing. Tom glanced over at Doug.

  “We have another situation.”

  Tom explained about the wolf and what I’d done. When he finished, everyone looked at me.

  “There isn’t solid proof that Mercy caused the wolf to shift. If Brent does, then odds are she forced the change. That isn’t information that should be shared. It could put Mercy in a lot of danger.”

  “What’s new,” I murmured.

  “Doug, you are my Alpha wolf. I want to see if you can help calm our newest pack member. If you can’t, she’ll have to be put down.”

  “That seems unfair,” I blurted.

  “If she acts like an animal while in human form, she could infect anyone she comes in contact with.”

  I didn’t want to, but I begrudgingly nodded with the others.

  Tom continued to command as he’d been born to do. “I thought I could trust certain people within these walls. Mercy has me questioning whether that’s the case. I need someone to stay with Brent. It can’t be Mercy or Doug. I need them with me.”

  “I’ll stay,” Tristrom offered.

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Maggie said.

  “I’ll stay too,” Flynn said.

  When I glanced in his direction, he looked away.

  “Okay, Mia, are you staying or coming?”

  “She can come with us. We might need another girl to help,” Doug suggested.

  I looked over to Flynn, but he offered no protest. He didn’t even glance up.

  “There is still the party tonight. We’ll have to take shifts of two to watch over Brent. Flynn, I’ll need your help later to confront an old friend of mine. If Brent has shifted by then, we’ll all go together.”

  Tristrom stared at me. I knew he thought I should tell the rest of them what happened with Huck. I touched the scarf still around my neck.

  “Eme, you’re still in that dress. And what’s up with the scarf?”

  All eyes turned on me. I felt my cheeks heat. I could tell by their expressions, they assumed something totally different than truth.

  “Making up lost time with Luke,” Doug snickered.

  I opened my mouth to dispel that notion when I realized, I had no other excuse. It was better to let them believe that Luke and I had been fooling around. Having them in danger because they would want to protect me tonight was worse than them believing I had hickeys on my neck.

  Eyes burned on me. When I met them, I saw the blankness in Flynn’s stare. I swallowed. He wasn’t happy. Better for him to be mad and safe, I thought.

  “We should deal with the wolf,” Tom announced.

  I started to walk with Tom and Doug when Maggie snagged my arm.

  “Mercy, Flynn doesn’t look so good.”

  I closed my eyes. I thought she was referring to
how cold his gaze had gone when Luke was mentioned in relation to me.

  “He doesn’t look better. He looks tired. I’m not sure what’s going on with him and Mia. But I have a feeling, she isn’t helping him.”

  I lifted my eyes and stared at Flynn, who was talking to Tristrom. Darker smudges under his eyes had me worried.

  “I’ll try to talk to Mia while she’s with us dealing with the wolf. Then I’ll talk to Flynn. But I don’t think he wants to hear anything I have to say.”

  She nodded. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

  I hugged her. “Please stay out of Brent’s cage. Tom isn’t going to let anything bad happen to him.”

  “I hope what you did works. I heard he doesn’t have much more time to be in animal form before he’s lost.”

  I squeezed her and watched her eyes fill with tears. Then, I ran to catch up with Tom, Doug and Mia as they headed up the stairs. We made it through the castle to the Great Hall before descending into the depths of the dungeon to deal with a wolf I’d forced to become human. And guilt that she might be put to death because of my careless actions added to weighty problems that already plagued me.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The room was familiar, but the sounds were different. No longer did growls fill the room. Instead, the sounds a human makes when panicked and cornered added with a dash of frustration took up residence in the dungeon.

  Light from torches burned, casting an eerie golden color to eclipse the shadows. A young woman who looked to be college aged sat on a pile of shredded clothing huddled into a ball. She wore a leather dress that was tied at the waste. Based on the thick pile of ripped fabric, I had to assume whoever dressed her concluded leather would be harder for the woman to tear off with her human hands.

  Tom nodded to Doug, who stepped forward as the servant from earlier waddled back.

  “You may leave us,” Tom commanded.

  The woman scampered away leaving the four of us alone with the wolf turned human.

  The closer Doug got, the further the girl tried to burrow into the corner.

  “Easy,” Doug said creeping forward with hands raised in a human gesture of peace.

  “I don’t think that will work. She has no idea what it means to be human. Try approaching her as a wolf,” I suggested.

  “She’s right,” Tom agreed.