by Sandy James
“I swear it,” he said, saluting the goddess to show his sincerity. “I’ll do exactly as you demand. Now help her. Please.”
“So be it.” The Lady of the Lake knelt down beside Megan.
Freya gaped at her with eyes full of tears. “You would do this?”
Rhiannon didn’t answer.
Johann hurried to Megan, dropped to the grass and cradled her head in his lap. “Hang on, baby. Just hang on a few more minutes.” Her gaze caught his, but she was clearly too weak to respond. He was losing her. “Help her, damn it!”
Rhiannon shot him a nasty glare, but she still worked over Megan. The first thing the goddess did was pull the knife from Megan’s belly and fling it behind her. Megan shuddered and drew in one, long ragged breath that tore through Johann’s heart. Spreading her palms over the wound, Rhiannon began to chant. After a few moments, her hands glowed orange. Megan gasped, and then her breaths came in pants and moans.
Naked fear broadsided Johann. What if Rhiannon had lied? What if all she was really doing was hastening Megan’s death? Could she be that angry at them just because he and Megan had fallen in love?
No.
The goddess wouldn’t have lied to him. Rhiannon might be capricious and petty, but she always honored a pledge. She would save Megan, and he didn’t care what price he’d have to pay to for Rhiannon’s help. Megan would survive. That was all that truly mattered.
Rhiannon’s hand glowed a brighter orange before the light suddenly extinguished. She nodded and sat back on her heels just as Megan arched her back and took a big, gulping breath.
“Megan?” Johann finally dared to hope. “Baby?”
She slowly sat up and turned to him, a tear sliding down her cheek. “I’m okay.”
He dragged her into his lap and hugged her against his chest, planning never to let go.
Freya crouched next to them, stroking Megan’s hair. “My daughter, you are well?”
“Very well.”
Freya smiled at Rhiannon. “Thank you.”
Rhiannon gave Freya a curt nod.
The goddesses stood, and Rhiannon pointed her bejeweled finger at Johann. “Now, Sentinel, you will learn the price you paid to restore her.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Johann took a deep breath to try to steady himself. This was going to be hardest ordeal of his entire life—probably for all the years he had yet to live.
Misery washed over him. Those years to come would be barren and lonely without the woman who’d become the light in his dark life.
Standing there with her arms folded over her chest, Rhiannon was apparently still pissed that he and Megan were a couple. After all she’d asked before she healed Megan, the goddess no doubt would plow right ahead and exact her steep price for saving Megan.
Rhiannon would part them. Permanently.
Yes, that made perfect sense because there was no other way to keep them apart, and Rhiannon would know that.
Megan was an Amazon. She would be needed. All Johann could claim to be was a superfluous Sentinel.
The choice was clear. Rhiannon would send him back.
God, he wanted to stop this, to make Rhiannon understand. The fierce glower on her face told him she would never bend. He couldn’t escape this fate.
Johann had given his word, and he would end his Sentinel days the way he’d begun them—with honor.
He kissed Megan’s forehead, helped her to her feet and then stood to face the goddess. He had no choice but to face what was coming.
Megan, however, wasn’t nearly as stoic. She threw herself into his arms and clung to him like a second skin. “I love him. Please don’t do this, Rhiannon,” she begged.
“She has already decided your fates,” Freya said. Her gaze shifted between the couple and Rhiannon, but Johann could read nothing in her expression.
Megan pressed her face against Johann’s neck. Her lips brushed warm over his skin. Her arms wrapped around his waist, and she squeezed him tight.
Everything about her filled his senses, and he breathed her in, hoping to make a memory that could span time and space—perhaps even the interference of whimsical Ancients.
One small comfort reached him. As much as he loved Megan, if Rhiannon wiped his memory, an element of Fire would always remain with him. Megan would be a part of him. Always. If he couldn’t remember everything, she’d still be there.
But there would also be a gaping hole in his life—like an open wound in his heart that no one else could ever heal, and he would never know why.
Saving her life had been worth any cost. He would do as Rhiannon asked, and he would do it with his head held high.
“May I have a few moments alone with Megan? Please, m’ladies?” He would have saluted the goddesses with a fist against his chest if Megan hadn’t still been pressed against him.
He reached for her upper arms to put a little distance between them, forgetting his injuries until the agony of his movements shot through him. Sucking in air, he tried to block the pain. He didn’t have time for it to intrude.
“I’ll go without a fight,” he said. His gaze settled on Megan. “I just want to tell her goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” Rhiannon cocked her head. “You promised to do as I demanded.”
Freya studied Rhiannon for a moment before her features softened. “Aye, he did promise.”
“I know he promised!” Megan whipped her head around to stare at Rhiannon. “Please, Rhiannon. Please don’t send him back.” She pulled her arms back and reached for his hand, then she cradled it against her chest. “I love him. I need him. Please let him stay.”
Setting her hands against her slim hips, the goddess frowned. “This is the gratitude I get for saving your life?”
Megan looked contrite, but a frown was still fixed on her lips. “I’m sorry, m’lady. I do thank you. I’m grateful you came to help me. But I love Johann, and I can’t think about anything except how I don’t want to live without him.”
Her words felt like a knife imbedded in Johann’s heart.
Damn, how he loved her.
And she loved him in return.
She gently touched his blood-soaked shoulder. Between the pain and the amount of blood he’d lost, he was getting light-headed. He steeled himself, vowing not to pass out. These few moments had to last.
Johann wrapped his good arm around her waist and pulled her tighter against him. The tears in her eyes glistened in the moonlight. He rested his forehead against hers, savoring what precious time they had left. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he tried to find the right words to tell her how much he loved her, how much she meant to him. But they wouldn’t come. Words simply weren’t enough. He finally chose a different tack and covered her mouth with his.
Her lips were salty from her weeping. Her soft body fit perfectly against his. She smelled like cherry tobacco. He burned every sensation of having her in his arms into his brain.
* * *
Megan couldn’t make herself face reality—even knowing what Rhiannon wanted in return for her help. Johann clearly believed the same thing, that Rhiannon would send him back.
As long as she was in his arms, she couldn’t lose him. He had to be the one to end the kiss. She would never find the strength. When he pulled away, she sobbed before she could stop herself.
Damn, she was being pathetic, but she couldn’t help it.
Megan wanted to scream at how unfair it was that she and Johann had to part. She’d stoically accepted every other miserable roadblock life had thrown in her path. Tasha’s abandonment. The loss of her law enforcement career. Sparks’s death. Megan had calmly courted death—on more than one occasion. Her life had been slipping away when she’d been lying on the grass, and that she’d accepted without lamenting what she’d lose. Ins
tead, she’d worried about what would happen to Johann when she died—about how he would grieve for her.
But now she felt like a child, wanting to stomp her foot and throw a kicking, screaming tantrum. This was unfair. Devastatingly unfair. What good was it to have so many powers and be helpless to stop this injustice?
How many times had she laid her life on the line in service of mankind? How much had Johann sacrificed since becoming Sentinel? Just looking at the dried blood on his sleeve and hand was enough to get her anger heated to the boiling point. Had she not been exhausted, she would have been going up in flames.
They didn’t deserve this, damn it! They’d earned the right to be together!
The goddess’s face showed no emotion. Neither did her mother’s.
“M’lady, I love him—more than I’ve ever loved anyone or anything. Please don’t send him back. I’ll beg if I have to, but please let him stay.” She started to drop to her knees—just as she said she would.
Johann grabbed her arm with a grip as tight as a vice. “Don’t. Not for me.”
“Yes, for you.” She laid her palm on his cheek. “Anything for you.”
Rhiannon gave her head a disgusted shake. “I find it dismaying that my Sentinel and Freya’s Fire have so little faith in my benevolence.”
Megan had to fight the urge to remind the fickle goddess she’d withdrawn her fucking benevolence. It was a better tactic to bite her tongue and maintain a shred of unrealistic hope Rhiannon wouldn’t do this.
Narrowing her eyes at Johann, Rhiannon asked, “Did I not receive your vow to do anything I demanded in return for saving Megan’s life?”
“Yes. And I meant it.”
“Have I said anything about restoring your former life or taking you away from the Amazons’ service?”
“Well, no… But—”
“You jump to the wrong conclusions, Sentinel.” Rhiannon looked back at Megan. “As do you, Megan Feurer.”
The goddess’s enigmatic grin—one mirrored on Freya’s face—came as a surprise, and Megan had to hold her breath for what would come next.
“What I demand, Sentinel, is that you stay and be a father to your child.”
Megan was sure her heart had stopped beating until it started slamming in her chest. “Child?” she squeaked. “What child?”
“The daughter whom you carry in your womb. I felt the life that grows inside you when I healed your injury. That new life needs a father. You must remember to thank my Earth for restoring your ability to bear children.”
Megan dropped her hands to her stomach, but she was a beat behind Johann. Her hands covered his as it rested against her. When she realized he was trembling, she felt tears pool in her eyes. “A baby.”
His smile reached all the way to her soul. “A daughter.”
“My soul mate,” she whispered. She knew he had no idea what she was talking about, but she was so happy now, she didn’t care. She’d find the time to explain it all later.
“Aye, a daughter,” Rhiannon said. “What I have decided to demand is that you ensure this child is born in a wedded union. Aye, I do. I demand you state your vows right now.”
“Now?” Megan could hardly keep the break out of her voice. Not that she’d ever had girlish notions about what her wedding would be like. Hell, she’d been too busy just trying to survive to think about white taffeta, flowers or cake. As though any of those things appealed to her.
But so suddenly? No plans at all?
“Aye, now,” the goddess replied with a firm nod.
“I wish we could, but I think we need to get back to the other Amazons,” Johann said. “They might need us.”
Megan beamed at the regret she heard in his voice. He really wanted to marry her. God help the man. He had no idea what he would be getting into—but she’d never let the foolish guy slip away. Then she saw him move and grimace in pain, although he was undoubtedly trying to hide that reaction.
“We can’t get married right now. Johann’s hurt. He needs to get to Avalon so Beagan and Dolan can fix his injuries. And Rebs and the others might need us.”
Rhiannon shook her head. “The Amazons have won the day—as usual—and no longer need your assistance. You destroyed Chernabog’s right hand, so your job is done as well.” Looking at Johann’s shoulder, she said, “There is no reason to travel to Avalon.” She took the last few steps to him and laid her hand on his injury.
The orange glow of her palm moved over the bite and stab wounds gaping through his torn shirt. After a few moments, her hand traveled to his elbow. The pain that had registered on his face ebbed.
Megan breathed a sigh of relief.
As the glow from her palm dimmed, a smug smile lit Rhiannon’s face. “Now he need not return to the changelings. Will you now state your vows as I have asked?”
“Demanded,” Johann corrected before he winked at Megan.
“Aye, demanded.”
“I’m ready,” he said.
Megan hedged. “Can you bring Rebecca here? I’d like her to stand with me.”
“And Artair,” Johann added. “Can’t they be witnesses?”
Rhiannon rolled her eyes. The action seemed entirely too human and way out of character for the arrogant Lady of the Lake. With a sigh, she snapped her fingers and they were engulfed in light.
* * *
It took Megan a couple of blinks to realize they were back at the battle scene. When she saw her sisters gathered together, she ran to their side.
“Megan!” Rebecca pulled her into a hug. “We were worried sick, especially when Freya popped out so fast.”
Gina gave Megan a hard slap on the back. Air was every bit as rough around the edges as Fire—more tomboy than anything. “Good to see you both safe and sound.”
“We’re done here.” Sarita’s gaze combed the field. “The kids are gone. Freyjr juiced them with some magicks. They’re all wandering home right now, thinking they should stop drinking or taking drugs.”
Megan hugged Rebecca back then stepped out of the embrace. “What about their families?”
Gina grinned. “Freyjr said when they see the kids, they’ll just…forget. Like a lost weekend or something. He’s got some neat tricks up his sleeve.”
“And Gina’s going to try to work up enough strength to whip up a small tornado when we’re done here,” Rebecca added. “Should account for the revenants—that and some magicks to smooth over the media. Freyjr’s been a big help. Never would have expected it from him.”
“Yeah, well, it’s probably not that easy,” Megan said, more reticent to accept her uncle’s help as if it came without strings attached. “Beware a god who lends a hand. He’ll want something in return. Just wait. What about the kids we lost?” Lord, how she wished there hadn’t been any more like Ashley Douglass who had suffered for Chernabog’s quest for revenge or Helen’s thirst for power.
It was Sarita’s turn to grin. “We didn’t lose any. Just a few revenant bites and a broken bone or two. Gina’s tornado will take care of explaining those injuries, too.”
Megan sighed in relief. Then she remembered why they were there. “How would you all like to be my bridesmaids?”
Three Amazons squealed like little girls on a playground.
“When?” Rebecca asked.
Rhiannon stepped up to the women. “Now.” A command, not a request.
Megan smiled at the Lady of the Lake.
For a brief moment, she could have sworn Rhiannon was actually going to smile in return. Her lips never did, but those blue eyes were shining with amusement.
“Of course, m’lady,” Megan replied.
Freya came to join them. “This is too garish a place to celebrate my daughter’s wedding vows. Might we adjourn to Avalon instead?”
Freya was actual
ly asking Rhiannon instead of ordering her around, so Megan held her breath. Perhaps the rift between the two goddesses could begin to heal.
But would Rhiannon recognize the small step toward reconciliation Freya was taking by asking instead of telling?
“Aye,” Rhiannon said. “’Tis a full moon tonight. Should we arrive soon, they can speak their vows and then we will break our fast in celebration as the sun rises. Perhaps the other patron goddesses will wish to attend as well. Very well, my friend. Heigh us to Avalon.”
Freya linked her arm through Rhiannon’s. “We must make plans. ’Tis not every day my daughter marries. We shall need flowers and music and—”
“Aye, Freya. Your daughter will have a beautiful wedding.”
The two goddesses disappeared, their voices ringing for a brief moment in the air before they faded.
“I think they’ll patch things up now,” Rebecca said. “Hopefully, everything will get back to normal.”
“There’s no normal in our lives,” Gina said.
“And I like it that way,” Megan added. “Normal is boring.” She glanced over her shoulder and saw Johann shaking Artair’s hand.
As though he felt her gaze on him, Johann looked over at her. She grinned, finally feeling that all was right in the world. His responding smile reached her heart.
“With Helen still on the loose, nothing will be normal for a good long while,” Rebecca said, her voice tinged with regret. “None of us will be bored until I tie up that loose end.”
“We,” Megan corrected. “Until we tie up that loose end.”
Rebecca nodded. “You’re right. We.”
“So,” Sarita chimed in, “what do we wear to the wedding?”
“Anything you want,” Megan replied. “As long as you’re all there by my side.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“It’ll be okay.” Megan gave Johann’s hand a reassuring squeeze as they gazed at the playground.
The blonde they were watching pushed a toddler on a swing.