Stop her! he mentally screamed, even though he knew that Sebastian had already severed the connection between them.
It is too late, mortal, Moira’s insidious voice replied instead. You did not stop her, and now it is the time for Judgment. The time for my release!
A new Tarot card appeared in front of his face, and Ryan gave a frantic shake of his head. At the top of the card, the sun and moon seemed to be colliding and sparks were flying off them, filling the sky with burning balls of fire. Superimposed over those celestial bodies was the black sword that had been on the Lovers card. He could see the image of himself caught within the gleaming steel, and he was looking down at Shana, who, naked and vulnerable, was rising up from an earthen grave. Her arms were raised toward the sword—him—as though in joyous welcome. Then the sword dropped toward her so swiftly that she had no time to move. As the sword struck her, she fell back into the grave. A moment later, Moira arose in her place.
Stunned, Ryan stared down at the card and shook his head, refusing to believe what he’d just seen. However, no amount of denial could wipe the images from his mind. Shana was going to die, and Moira was going to take her place.
Instinctively, he raised his hand to the witch’s vow around his neck. As he curled his fingers around it, he felt the jade stone grow as cold as death. Panic erupted inside him but it was the lancing pain that shot through him that made him almost double over. It wasn’t a physical pain. It was a soul-wrenching pain so terrible that he wanted to scream at the agony it caused him.
At that moment he knew Shana was right. As impossible as it seemed, he loved her—was born to love her—mind, body, and soul. Just the thought that Moira might destroy her was more than he could endure, and if anything happened to her . . .
“No!” he yelled, as he ran out the door and toward the woods. He had to find her. He had to save her. “Oh, God, please. You can’t let Shana die. If anyone has to die, let it be me. Please, God, let it be me!”
Chapter Twenty
The World Card (Reversed)
Partial Success
THE FUTURE IS mine, and now yours will be mine!
At the taunt, Shana slid to a stop on the path and looked around warily. “The future is not yours, Moira,” she stated with more bravado than she felt, her gaze darting from shadow to shadow. Something was wrong with this scene, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. “I know your limitations, and Ryan and I are going to destroy you forever.”
Now is the time for judgment. The time for my release!
Shana’s heart began to pound. Judgment and release. Moira had to be talking about the judgment card. That’s what was wrong here! Moira had made the taunt, but she hadn’t delivered the card.
“Where’s the card, Moira?” she demanded, again searching the shadows. The sense of Moira’s presence was stronger than it had ever been. “I know you are compelled to deliver it, and I want to have it. Now!”
Fool! The card is not yours. It is the mortal’s.
Shana’s throat went dry. Moira must have given the Judgment card to Ryan. If it was supposed to be release, then it had to have been in the upright position. But whose face had been depicted on it? Who was to be released?
The future is mine, and now yours will be mine!
As Moira crowed the refrain in triumph, there was a blinding flash of light. Shana instinctively closed her eyes against it. When she opened them, she gaped in astonishment. The path was no longer ahead of her. It had been replaced by a huge, kaleidoscopic circle. The circle’s colors were so brilliant and were swirling so fast that Shana pressed her hands to her temples to avoid dizziness.
Realizing what she was looking at, Shana began to tremble uncontrollably. She knew she had to squelch the terror stirring inside her. Fear was her worst enemy, but how could she be brave when she finally understood the meaning behind Moira’s taunt: The future is mine, and now yours will be mine.
Shana had assumed that Moira meant she was planning on taking over Shana’s future and making it her own. Now, she understood that Moira had been telling her that Ryan was Shana’s future, and Moira was going to take him away from her. That she was going to take him back into the past to her own future, because that’s what the circle was—a psychic time portal.
Shana shook her head in numb disbelief. Moira hadn’t been drawing Aric out because she feared Ryan’s love for Shana. Moira had been drawing him out in preparation for this moment. Once Ryan stepped through the portal, he would automatically become Aric, and Shana knew that Moira couldn’t have chosen a safer battle plan. Since Moira already knew Aric would kill her when he first found out about Terza, she would merely stay away from him until he had some time to calm down. Then she would begin to work her magic on him until he chose her over his revenge for Terza’s death. She would trick him into choosing profane love over sacred love, just as she’d tricked him into mating with her in the first place.
But if that is her plan, why did she open a portal for me? Shana wondered in confusion. She should want to keep me out, so I can’t interfere with her plans. It doesn’t make sense.
But there has to be a reason, she told herself, quickly reviewing what she had discussed with Sebastian.
Then the answer hit her. Moira was required to deliver the cards to give Ryan and Shana equal footing. It made sense that she would have to do the same thing with the portal. But she probably thought Shana wouldn’t enter it. After all, she was powerless, which, in Moira’s mind, would make her no better than a mortal. Also, there was the fact that every time Aric looked at her, he saw Moira. How could she possibly persuade him to choose her over Moira, when he thought she was the witch he hated? The witch who had killed the woman he loved?
“There has to be a way for me to get past Aric and reach Ryan!” she said, running to the portal.
As she stepped into the whirling colors, she reminded herself that she was Strength. She could lie down with the lion, and she’d come through unscathed. It would have been easier to believe that was true if she hadn’t known that the lion she’d be lying down with was Aric.
“SHANA’S OKAY. I know she’s okay.” Ryan told himself as he raced along the path toward the ravine. “I’m her mate. If anything had happened to her, I’d know it in my heart. I’d feel it in my soul. She is okay!”
Unfortunately, that didn’t curb the desperation clutching at his insides. Even if Shana was okay, it didn’t remove Moira from their lives. And as long as Moira was around, he knew that Shana’s life was at risk. There was only one thing he could do to save her. He had to find Moira and make a bargain with her. If she’d agree to leave Shana alone, he would forfeit the battle and give her his soul.
Your soul already belongs to me. It always has. It always will!
“Moira!” he gasped, skidding to a stop and glancing around frantically. “Where is Shana? I swear to God, if you have harmed her in any way, I’ll make you pay!”
Make me pay? And how will you do that, mortal? Condemn my soul to eternal unrest?
She let out a laugh so malicious, so evil, that Ryan shuddered. “All right, Moira. You’ve made your point. My threats are worthless, but I can give you what you want.”
He paused and glanced around again. Moira’s presence was stronger than it had ever been, and he couldn’t believe she hadn’t materialized. “Promise me that you’ll leave Shana alone, and you can have my soul without a fight. You’ll be free again. You can live again. And that’s what you want, isn’t it? To regain existence?”
Fool!
Before Ryan could respond, there was a blinding flash of light. He instinctively brought his forearm up to shield his eyes. When he dropped his arm a moment later, his jaw dropped open in disbelief. He was staring at a huge, swirling circle about six feet in diameter that resembled a brightly colored pinwheel.
Suddenly, a dark form be
gan to materialize in front of it. As the black, robed figure took shape, the hair on the back of Ryan’s neck stood on end. He knew this was Moira, but she didn’t resemble the beautiful woman who’d been haunting his nightmares. She was the spitting image of that old bastard, Father Death.
She’s in there, mortal. The battle can begin! she said, pointing a shrouded arm at the circle. Then she stepped through it.
Ryan hesitated only a moment before running after her. He figured the worst that could happen was that he’d die. With any luck, he might be able to save Shana before he did.
With that thought in mind, he plunged through the circle.
“TERZA! WHERE ARE you?” Aric yelled frantically, as he raced up the steep, mountainous path to the cliff where Moira said she had . . .
He cut off the thought, refusing to finish it. Terza was all right. She had to be all right. He loved her with all his heart. With all his soul. It wasn’t Moira in his bed this morning. He had married Terza last night, and now Moira had to leave him alone! But it was Moira in his bed. She said they were now mated forever.
“No! It is not true! It is not! It is just a dream,” he told himself as he increased his speed. “Nothing more than a horrible nightmare. In a few minutes I will wake up and find myself in bed with Terza. Moira must have found out about our marriage, and this is her way of punishing me.”
When he reached the top of the cliff, he stopped and nervously stared at the horizon. Though dawn was only a short time away, it would still be several minutes before the sun rose. That fact reassured him that this was nothing more than a dream.
“So do not even look over the edge,” he told himself firmly. “Close your eyes. When you open them, you will be in your bed, and Terza will be beside you.”
But even as he said the words, he couldn’t stop himself from walking to the ledge. Slowly, fearfully, he lowered his gaze. It was so dark in the ravine that even with the powers Moira had given him, he had trouble seeing. Frustrated, he raked a hand through his hair. All he had to do was use one of the spells Moira had taught him and it would fill the ravine with light. But he had promised Terza that he would never again use the powers.
But this is only a dream, so you will not be breaking your vow by using the powers, he told himself. Cast the spell, so you can wake up!
Uneasily, he raised his hand and chanted the spell. When he circled his wrist and flicked his fingers, a small, golden ball appeared in the sky. As it grew larger, chasing away the shadows, Aric held his breath and stared down into the ravine. When it had lit all but the narrowest strip at the bottom, he smiled. Terza wasn’t there.
He started to turn away, but then a small swatch of white appeared from the last of the shadows. Fear surged through him, and his heart began to thump so wildly that he feared he might die. Then, as the remainder of the shadows disappeared, he wanted to die. Lying at the bottom of the ravine was Terza, her long, red hair framing her head like a fiery halo, and her body as broken as the kindling sticks he placed on his fire.
“Nooo! It is not true! It cannot be true!” Aric screamed as he threw back his head and looked up at the sky. “Terza, I love you! Where are you? Come back to me!”
WHEN SHANA HEARD Ryan’s anguished scream, she started running up an unfamiliar path that led to the top of an equally unfamiliar cliff. His words alone assured her she’d been right. When he’d entered the portal, he’d become Aric. Worse, if she was interpreting what she was hearing correctly, Moira must have brought them back at the time of Terza’s death. So not only would he see her as Moira, but all his hatred toward Moira would be fresh. She couldn’t think of a more volatile or dangerous situation to be in when trying to deal with him. Unfortunately, she didn’t have a choice, because the longer she waited, the more time Moira would have to work her magic on him.
When she reached the top of the cliff, she came to a stop and stared at the scene in horror. Ryan, who looked like Aric, stood precariously on a ledge. Even though she was several feet away from him, she could see the devastation on his face. She also sensed that he was getting ready to jump. It was the same scene she’d seen in his mind following his motorcycle accident. And following that scene, he’d thrown her off the cliff.
Suddenly, he took a tentative step forward. She tried to cry out to him, to tell him to stop, but as had happened in the vision, no sound came out. With a frustrated sob, she ran toward him. If he heard her coming, he didn’t acknowledge it, so when she drew near, she stopped and said, “Aric?”
He started and spun around to face her. His foot slipped on loose rock. As he teetered on the ledge, Shana let out a gasp of fear.
Before she could leap to his assistance, he righted himself and bellowed, “You dare follow me after what you have done? I will kill you!”
He lunged for her, but she darted out of his way, saying, “Aric, please. I am not Moira! My name is Shana. Shana Morland, and I am here to help you destroy Moira forever. You must listen to me. You must!”
“You killed Terza!” he repeated, lunging for her again.
This time, she wasn’t fast enough to escape his reach. As he grabbed her upper arms, she said, “Please Aric. You have to listen to me. I am not Moira. If you just touch my mind, you’ll know that I’m telling you the truth!”
Even as the words left her mouth, Shana wanted to snatch them back. She had forgotten about the shielding spell Ryan had put over her. As Aric stared into her face and his eyes began to glow, she knew she was doomed. The moment he touched her mind and realized he couldn’t get through, he’d be more convinced than ever that she was Moira.
“You lie!” he yelled a moment later as he dragged her toward the cliff. “You lie, and now you will die!”
“Ryan, please! I know you’re in there. I know you can take control,” Shana gasped while struggling frantically against his iron hold. “You love me, Ryan. I am your mate. You can’t let Aric do this to me. Please, Ryan. Please!”
She screamed at him again once he had her dangerously perched on the ledge. “Why won’t you come out, Ryan? I love you!”
Instead of answering, he released his hold on her and pushed. As she felt herself falling into space, her eyes locked with his. She could have sworn she saw a flicker of triumph flash through them, and then there was nothing reflected in their depths. She was falling to her death, but she recognized that he was already dead, and she’d been the one to kill him. She should have never left him alone at the house. She should have made him come with her to see Sebastian. She should have . . .
She let out a gasp of surprise when spell-lightning suddenly flashed around her and she stopped falling. Cautiously, she glanced down and let out another gasp. She was sitting in midair on what appeared to be a huge hand. Only, it didn’t have corporeal substance. It appeared to be some type of mist.
Stunned, she glanced up to find herself looking at Ryan. Aric’s image was gone. Where in the world had he learned this spell? The answer, of course, was obvious—in the journals in the repository. Fear shot through her. He was using the dark forces, and no one knew how to counteract them. Then it occurred to her that they weren’t in Sanctuary. They were in the past, and here the dark forces were used frequently. If a spell got out of hand, someone would know how to control it.
With a relieved sigh, she opened her mouth to thank him for saving her. But before she could speak, she saw the dark figure materializing behind him.
“Ryan! Behind you,” she screamed.
AT SHANA’S WARNING, Ryan spun around just in time to see Moira take full form. He narrowed his eyes and said, “It’s over, Moira. I offered you the chance to take my soul, but you turned it down. Now, you have to go back into the cards, because I will not leave Shana. She’s my mate, and I love her. I plan on living a long and happy life with her. You killed Terza, but you are not going to take Shana away from me.”
“Yo
u’re both fools!” she hissed, and Ryan determined that was exactly what her voice sounded like—a hiss. “The battle is over. You lost.”
“That is not true!” Shana yelled from behind him. “If it was over, you would have delivered the card. Where is the card, Moira?”
“Silence!” Moira ordered imperiously, pointing her finger at her. “The battle is over. He claims to love you, but he threw you off the cliff. That is not love!”
“He threw me off the cliff because you turned him into Aric. Then you made me look like you at a time when he was consumed by grief,” Shana argued. “But even as I fell, he saw through your trick and recognized his love for me. That’s why he saved me. He chose me over you!”
“That is not true! He threw you off the cliff. The battle is over, and I have won!”
“Then where’s the card, Moira?” Ryan asked, picking up on Shana’s original premise.
She jerked her head toward him and smiled maliciously. Then she flicked her wrist, and a card appeared in her hand. “The card is here, mortal. Do you wish me to deliver it now, or would you like to make a bargain with me?”
“Ryan, don’t make any bargains with her!” Shana cried frantically. “She’s trying to trick you.”
“Is Shana right, Moira? Is this another one of your tricks?” Ryan asked, surveying the distance between them. If he could catch her by surprise, he might be able to throw her off the cliff. Then all of this would truly be over.
“Ah, mortal, you disappoint me,” she stated derisively as she took several steps back. “I gave you the powers, but you do not even bother to shield your thoughts from me. The battle is over, and you cannot kill me. Now, do you wish to bargain with me? Or should I deliver the card?”
Touch of Magic Page 31