Or, the guilty party had been selected to participate in the games.
Without answering the wraith, she began the downhill trek. Though they moved closer to the valley and the trees grew denser, the chill in the air deepened. She shivered under the cold breeze but didn’t let it slow her down. There was no way of knowing who else had figured out the map and might be ahead of them.
“I don’t protect him.”
Briana nearly tripped at the unexpected sound of the wraith’s voice, his words rough, unpracticed. Afraid that if she stopped to talk, he’d change his mind, she kept walking. “Isn’t that what you’re doing now?”
“No.”
She picked her way down a particularly steep section of the trail, waiting for him to continue.
“I’m protecting you.”
“He wouldn’t hurt me.” Although she’d been shaken by what happened, she knew the wraith was telling the truth about someone else pulling the strings when Lucan had attacked her.
“He doesn’t believe that.”
That didn’t make him right, and she said as much, adding, “And what are you protecting me from exactly?” She didn’t point out the irony of a creature known for death and destruction playing bodyguard.
The question fell on deaf ears, fraying the already taut threads holding her together. More confused than ever, she pulled the map out of her pocket to distract herself, matching up her current surroundings.
The code at the bottom continued to stump her. No matter how long she studied the scrambled letters, she couldn’t spot a pattern.
The ground shifted under her feet, and she stumbled sideways.
Her hand shot out to grab the nearest tree, the thin branches snapping like dead twigs in her grip. Nothing but air slipped through her fingers, and the world emptied around her.
Her claws snagged a tree stump, stopping her from teetering on the edge of a sheer rock face that fell away from the trail. A thin wall of trees had masked the drop-off that would have shattered every bone in her body.
Pulse firing at the overdose of adrenaline in her system, she sucked in a sharp breath, the air freezing in her lungs. The cat snarled in warning before a heavy arm dragged her away from the edge.
The wraith tipped her chin up, his eyes narrowed as he looked her over.
Lucan was in there somewhere, trapped by a bond that Rhiannon had condemned him to centuries ago. Powerless, isolated, punished, demoralized—over and over and over again.
And for what?
Because Arthur had fallen in battle after giving his life to a cause that he not only believed in, but inspired others to believe in? Lucan had done nothing wrong. He’d supported Arthur, broken his betrothal and ignored his family’s wishes so Gwen and Arthur could be together, had ridden in battle with Arthur, trained with him, laughed with him. There wasn’t a doubt in Briana’s mind that Lucan would have changed places with Arthur that day on the fields of Camlann.
How could that kind of friendship and loyalty count for nothing? He deserved so much more than what Rhiannon had done to him. He deserved a chance at a real future, free and happy. It no longer mattered if that future was with her or not.
How would she ever be able to live with herself if she won and used the sword’s magic to undo the mate bond? Maybe Rhiannon could so heartlessly punish Lucan, but Briana would never forgive herself if she didn’t do everything to free him. She couldn’t stand the thought of him spending another year or week, or even another day living a nightmare.
She loved him too much.
Holding the wraith’s gaze, Briana lifted her hand to his face. “You can be saved.”
With eyes so black and cold they could have frozen over an entire village, the wraith grabbed her hand. She waited for the crushing grip that would push her away.
Instead, gentle fingers closed over hers. “You will not sacrifice yourself.”
So the wraith knew she risked becoming one of the Forgotten if she used Excalibur to free Lucan and they still couldn’t be together.
“You’ve suffered enough.” She wasn’t sure she was just talking about Lucan anymore. The wraith had been created to destroy, to ensure Lucan followed orders whether he wanted to or not, but there was nothing destructive about the way the wraith held her hand now.
“You will not risk your life for us.”
She could have smiled at the commanding tone that both sides of Lucan had mastered. “You can’t stop me.” The wraith took a step back and walked away from her.
She rushed to keep up with him. “Wait, damn it.”
The bastard didn’t so much as reconsider a single step he took. Growling, she snatched the dagger from the sheath strapped to her calf and fired it at him.
A moment before the blade would have lodged between his shoulder blades, he turned phantom and it wedged harmlessly into the ground in front of him. She cursed under her breath.
A menacing slash of teeth followed her act of desperation, and then he threw the dagger back, the blade embedding in the tree only inches from her head.
Frustration gnawed through the last of her patience, and when she caught up with him, she shoved him from behind. “He needs to know that I love him.” Lucan was hers more than he would ever be the wraith’s or Rhiannon’s or anyone else bent on making a claim on him.
It seemed so stupid that she’d once believed that turning away from him would save her from heartbreak. She knew now that the only way to really save herself—to save them both—meant loving him more fiercely than ever.
She shoved the wraith again, needing to take action, to fight for what she wanted until there wasn’t any fight left in her.
Pivoting and grabbing her arms, the wraith shook her. “Are you done?”
“No.” She drove her palms into his chest, vaguely satisfied when he stumbled back a step. “I’m not done.” Her back slammed into a tree, her body pinned by the wraith’s.
“Stop.”
“He needs to know the truth.” She didn’t know how much longer she could be the only one fighting for them. Briana jammed her arms up and out, breaking free long enough to smash a fist into his jaw. “He needs to know that he’s my mate.”
Pain flared along Lucan’s jaw and he staggered back as much from the blow as the words that thundered in his head.
Briana took another swing at him, and he barely got out of the way, struggling to separate the foggy details of awareness from an earlier dream.
“What did you say?”
“That he needs to know he’s my mate,” she snapped like she was talking to someone else.
He blocked the next fist she threw at him, jerking her around, trapping her arm against her stomach as he yanked her back to his chest. Her breaths came fast and hard, but she relaxed against him—and then slammed her head back into his.
Sweet Avalon. Nausea swirled in his gut, but he wasn’t sure if it was from the white spots exploding across his vision, or Briana’s revelation.
Not that she left him time to process either. A sharp kick caught him in the thigh, and he grabbed her ankle, hauling her toward him. She raked her claws across his chest.
He hissed out a breath. “Easy, kitten.”
She hesitated. “Luc?” She didn’t wait for him to acknowledge her. She threw herself at him—hard—and they hit the ground. She half straddled him, her palms trapping his face in her hands. “You’re back.”
He slid his fingers over hers, her warmth banishing the cold forever making him feel empty inside. “Is it true?” Caught in a vicious place between denial and hope, he forced himself to meet her gaze.
She nodded.
“You never said anything.” At her raised brow, he clarified, “Aside from after what happened at Pendragon’s.”
“You said you didn’t want to be with me. And I stupidly believed you.” She sounded unsure about which one of them she was most annoyed with.
“You’re not going to hit me again, are you?” He found himself grinning even though the new
s shook him to the core.
The stunning woman sitting in his lap wasn’t meant for anyone but him. He didn’t know how fate had conspired to make it happen, and now that he knew, he couldn’t imagine not being with her.
He smoothed her hair back from her face, drinking in every inch of her like he hadn’t done it a thousand times already. “How long have you known?”
“Right before what happened with Tristan and Kennedy. I wasn’t fully immortal before…before everything changed,” she added, guessing he was thinking that far back. “If I had known then, I doubt I would be sane or alive by now.”
He frowned. “The Forgotten?” He’d crossed paths with gargoyles trapped in their beast form, all traces of their humanity gone. Everything inside him went still as the next thought sank in. “That’s what you meant at the start of the competition, when you said your family couldn’t save you.”
He understood now why she’d felt compelled to stay. Winning Excalibur could give her a shot at undoing the mate bond.
“It would never have worked,” she said, seeming to read his mind. Her thumb swept across his bottom lip. “I was crazy to think I could ever choose to let you go. I love you too much.”
His eyes slid shut, his heart thumping so hard he could feel the rapid-fire pulse of it at the back of his throat. He shook his head as though it could undo what had been said. “I hurt you.”
She tugged his hand until it spanned the throat he’d been unable to let go of before the wraith had taken over. “I’m fine.”
“I could have—”
Her mouth closed over his, cutting him off. Fast and hot and wild, she kissed him as though he might be snatched away at any moment. “You didn’t,” she breathed against his lips.
He buried his hands in her hair, taking another drugging taste of her. He couldn’t have pushed her away if he tried. She was in his blood, a part of him for better or worse. “The wraith,” he began, compelled to give her one more chance to change her mind, although the darkness inside him was the least of the obstacles facing them.
“Has always known.” Her eyes widened. “That’s why he takes control. To keep you from pulling away. Because he’s always known what you’ve refused to admit.”
Lucan held his breath, afraid he knew what she was going to say, afraid he might never voice the words if she didn’t.
The same tentative smile as the night by the lake curved her lips. “That you love me as much as I love you.”
He buried his face against her throat, holding onto her. Rhiannon had never possessed the ability to destroy him, but Briana could tear him down and he would never be able to come back from that.
She stroked the back of his head. “I don’t care what you are now or that your homicidal other half has the sparkling personality of a pet rock. It’s you and me.”
He would have laughed if not for the growl that rose up inside him.
“We’ll find a way.” She touched her forehead to his. “Say it,” she coaxed. “We’ll find a way.”
He felt the words rise to his lips, but how could he promise her what still seemed impossible? Even winning Excalibur didn’t guarantee his freedom. It was easy to believe Rhiannon would give anything for a chance to awaken her son, even release a wraith from service, but the goddess had proven over and over how fickle and cruel she could be.
What if she released Lucan and lashed out at Briana instead, a final reminder of the power Rhiannon had held over him? Could he take that chance? The thought of losing her to Rhiannon’s wrath was nearly as crippling as losing her to the animal that would take over if Briana couldn’t be with her mate.
He wouldn’t allow either to happen to her.
“Luc?”
He cupped Briana’s cheek. Over and over she’d trusted him when he was sure he hadn’t deserved it, put her faith in him when he’d tried so hard to push her away, and he refused to let her down again. “I’ll do everything in my power to keep us together.”
The vow didn’t feel like enough, but nothing would until they were free of both the Gauntlet and Rhiannon.
Then, if they were lucky, there would only be her brothers to contend with.
“It’ll come to you.” Over an hour later Lucan watched her stuff the map back in her pocket. He’d lost track of the number of times she studied the image and encrypted code as they made their way across the valley and into the trees so thick it would have taken a dozen men to circle the towering trunks.
“And if it doesn’t?”
He took the map away from her, stuffing it in his own pocket. “You’re going to make yourself cross-eyed.” If anything was going to mystify her, it should be him. He was pretty sure two minutes of his mouth on hers, and he could have both their minds spinning.
“We’re almost there and we still have no idea what we’ll have to face.” She stopped. “You’re thinking about kissing me again.”
“Maybe.” Admitting it was the fastest way to talk himself into reaching for her, and as much as he wanted that—badly—they didn’t have time for it now.
She shot him a shy smile over her shoulder, and he took three steps in her direction. One more and he’d be close enough to pull her into his arms. Knowing that he still wasn’t free to be with her did nothing to stop him from wanting to be with her, and this time the latter was winning.
And he had never felt more at home in his own skin.
Her lips parted, and he knew she was thinking about kissing him too. Kissing, touching—
She dropped into a crouch, her fingers hovering over marks in the earth. “Someone’s been here recently. “Seva or Elena. If it was Nessa the tracks would be deeper. Her weapons,” she explained.
Neither of them spoke as Briana rose, scouting the area before confirming the tracks were headed in the same direction. Another hour passed, maybe two as they closed in on the center of the map.
Briana occasionally glanced at his pocket, but didn’t ask to look at the paper and the scrambled letters at the bottom of the page. He knew she would have already memorized them by now, just as he knew she continued to puzzle it out when she wasn’t watching for more tracks and pausing to listen for anyone coming along behind them.
Having tracked countless immortals over the centuries, although not by foot the way Briana did, he admired her skills and knew that it gave them an advantage.
The ground shook beneath their feet. The first sounds of a fight rose above the wind that howled with arctic intensity, rattling the branches above them. He moved with Briana in the direction of the confrontation.
Trees to the right shook, a booming crack as loud as thunder rent the air. Through the foliage, sparks of blue flame burst toward the sky. Definitely Elena.
An angry roar followed, the trees ahead bending as something large brushed against them. Kel.
“I don’t think they’re getting along,” Briana said under her breath, edging close enough they could glimpse Kel’s dragon form, glossy black scales appearing almost to change color with the angle of light.
Knowing she wanted to judge how close they were to the center of the map, he pulled it from his pocket and handed it to her. She moved to the left, staying out of the other two immortals’ path. She pointed to a rock formation on the other side of Kel.
The dragon shot a burst of fire at Elena.
Holding up a hand, the sorceress deflected the fire, but staggered under the force of flames. “I was here first.”
Kel answered with a slash of his tail, taking out every tree and plant between him and the sorceress. The side of a destroyed trunk clipped her side and she hit the ground. Kel pounced, but Elena was already back on her feet, some kind of glowing barrier keeping the black dragon from crushing her.
Lucan crouched, pulling Briana down with him.
“Are we just supposed to wait them out?” Her gaze went back to the map, snapping up moments later. She scanned the clearing for something.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.” She
glanced back and forth between the trees opposite them, the rock formation and something on the ground between Kel and Elena. He thought it was only a scorch mark at first glance, but the mark seemed too perfect.
“What do you see in the middle of the rock formation, near the bottom?” She scribbled something into the ground near her feet.
He spotted the letter “m” carved into the rock. He opened his mouth to answer her, changed his mind. “A three. A sideways three.”
Her fingers moved across the earth. Was she writing the alphabet? “And in the ground and the tree at an eighty degree angle from here?”
It took him a minute to find the three in the trees, but it matched the mark in the center of the clearing. “They’re all the same.”
“Which letter is the key?” She studied two lines of the alphabet she’d written in the dirt, glancing back at the code at the bottom of the letter.
Even if he knew what she was talking about, he didn’t have the chance to answer her. The ground in the middle of the clearing split open, tossing Elena and Kel apart on opposite sides of the divide.
“Briana!” She needed to see the fountain of water spouting from the crack and rushing toward them.
She crossed something out in the dirt and scribbled faster. “I need more time.”
“We don’t have it.” The water was only a few feet away.
Briana’s response was cut off by a screeching howl. White and blinding, something erupted from the divide, streaking over the top of Kel and Elena.
“Who foolishly disturbs me?”
The voice, a whisper that came from everywhere and nowhere, sent a chill ripping up Lucan’s spine. Water rushed over his feet, rapidly climbing as high as his knees. The frigid temperature cut into his bloodstream.
Briana stood next to him with her eyes closed. Kel and Elena retreated from the opening that continued to flood the clearing, the water waist-high on the other two immortals all but pointing the finger at each other.
“I summoned you.” Briana took a step forward from the trees hiding them from immediate sight.
What the fuck?
He reached out to stop Briana. A wall of water knocked him away from her. He regained his footing easily, but letting go of his human form didn’t allow the next six-foot wave to pass right through him. Once more he was on his ass and Briana even further away from him.
Primal Temptation pg-4 Page 22