by Keri Arthur
The black hole of unconsciousness roared toward me. I twisted and bucked, hitting him with my free hand, trying to gouge his eyes with my nails. He swore and ducked away from each blow, his grip unfaltering even though I clawed his cheeks and mouth and neck. My lungs burned for air, and my heart raced so hard it felt like one long scream. I had no idea if it was the drug or his strangulation, and in truth it didn’t matter, because I was dead if I didn’t do something in the next few seconds. Punching and bucking wasn’t working, which left me with only one choice.
To use what had already flamed out.
I stopped fighting, stopped sucking in air. Reached beyond the pain, beyond the fire, and past the depleted reserves of strength. For several, agonizing seconds, there was nothing but a curtain a gray.
Death, I thought.
Then the curtain moved, and I stepped onto the edges of another plane. It was a place beyond flesh—a place that was this world, and yet not. A place in which there were no demons or death or a halfling bastard trying to kill me. There was simply the earth and the air, and all the energies moved and existed between them.
In this place, Nex and Vita blazed, one gold, one a cold white. Life and death. I reached for death, saw Nex respond both within this otherworld and without. She shifted, rose, and cut through time and space, her blade comet bright, leaving a trail of sparks behind her.
Winter must have sensed something was off, because at the very last moment, he turned to face the cavern.
Nex plunged into his left eye, deep into his brain. He was dead between one breath and another.
As his body began to fall sideways, I reached up and withdrew Nex from his eye socket. Her blade still pulsed, but that shadowed world had retreated, and I was once again in a body wracked with pain and holding no strength.
And the demons who’d escaped the rockfall were coming straight at me.
I tried to move, tried to get to my feet or at least raise either Nex or the stone knife to defend myself. My limbs were leaden and refused to obey. The fucking drug, I thought distantly. He’d won after all.
Damn him. Damn him to hell.
I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what was coming. If I’d been capable of taking my own life, I probably would have; better a death by my own hand than being torn apart by demons.
Seconds became minutes, and life went on.
I opened my eyes. The demons had gone. Disappeared. I blinked, wondering if somehow this was merely the peace that came after death.
Then a familiar figure stepped into view and clicked her tongue. “Well, you’re a right old mess then, aren’t you?”
I smiled. Or at least tried to. My lips weren’t responding too well at the moment.
Mo touched my cheek, a caress that was warm and healing. “Go to sleep, my girl. We’re safe, and the ley line is free. You did good here today.”
So did you. But the words never made it to my lips as the darkness finally swept away the last vestiges of awareness.
I woke in a cocoon of warmth and to the awareness of being watched. For several seconds, I neither moved nor spoke but simply enjoyed the heat of awareness and caring.
Luc.
Once more watching over me as I slept.
I flipped the blankets away from my face. “Me waking from a healing coma to find you lounging nearby with your feet propped up on the end of my bed is becoming something of a habit.”
“Yes,” he drawled, his green eyes bright with an emotion he wasn’t quite ready yet to voice. “And it’s one I seriously hope you’ll consider breaking. I really don’t think my heart could take another episode like this.”
Which was as close to an admission of his feelings I was likely to get at the moment. I smiled and pushed upright. The blankets slid down my body, and his gaze followed them. It felt like a caress. Felt like heaven.
“I do hope,” he said, his voice deepening fractionally, “that you’ll be just as uncaring as to whether you’re clothed or not when we are finally dating.”
“Our deal involved more than just dating,” I said evenly. “I do believe there was mention of mad passionate sex several times a day. At least.”
“A commitment I’m not likely to forget—especially at a moment like this.” He sighed and removed his feet from the end of the bed. “I better go get Mo—she wanted to be notified the minute you woke.”
My gaze flickered to his hands. “Barney said you’d been burned—how bad was it?”
“Bad enough.” He flexed his fingers. “I’ve still full use of my sword hand, thanks to Mo.”
Thank god for that, because we were going to need both him and Hecate before this was all over. “How long was I out this time?”
“Only twenty-four hours.”
“Which is far less than when I killed the winged red demon and his witchling.” And I couldn’t help but wonder why, given I’d done far more—pushed myself to the utter limit and then some—this time.
“A fact I’m very thankful for.” Luc climbed to his feet. “Would you like some breakfast?”
I nodded. “Pancakes, bacon, and poached eggs, all smothered in maple syrup would be brilliant.”
He shuddered. “I think your dietary habits are going to take some time to get used to.”
“Don’t knock the combination until you actually try it.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
He moved to my end of the bed, then leaned over and kissed me. Not sweetly, not teasingly, but with hunger, passion, and intent. It was a both a promise and a declaration of what he couldn’t—or wouldn’t—put into words. It made my heart soar and my body sing, and it was over all too soon even if it went on for ages and ages.
“I look forward to the day when you’re a permanent fixture in my life.” His breath brushed my lips with heat, and his eyes were afire with desire. “Until that point, however, please consider the well-being of my heart and stop taking horrendous risks.”
I laughed softly and touched his bristly cheeks. “It’s not like I’m going out there looking for trouble—”
“A statement not even you believe.” His voice was wry. He kissed me again, all too briefly, and then quickly left the room—before temptation got the better of him, no doubt.
I sighed and glanced around. We were back at the mock Tudor mansion in Southport from the look of things. I flung off the blankets and padded into the bathroom. Mo might have healed me, but grit and grime felt lodged into every pore. I needed to get clean. Needed to wash away the feel of Winter’s fingers on my neck and the taint of his breath across my face.
Needed to not think about how Max was going to react to the news that I’d killed his consort.
I switched on the water, waited for it to reach the right temperature, then stepped under and raised my face. It washed away the grime, but not the fear of the heartbreak that was yet to come.
It was several minutes before I realized I was no longer alone in the room. I turned around. Mo was sitting on the edge of the ginormous bath, watching me.
“You okay?”
I smiled, though it held very little in the way of amusement. “As well as I can be, given I killed my brother’s lover.”
She blinked. “I had no idea that Winter—” She paused and sucked in a breath. “It explains so many things.”
“Yes.” I grabbed the shampoo and started washing my hair. “Where do we go from here, Mo?”
“We find the ring, though in truth it’s little more than a perfunctory action now.”
“I meant with Max.”
“I know.” She drew a deep breath and released it slowly. “And there’s only ever been one option once the truth was revealed.”
I briefly closed my eyes against the sting of tears. It didn’t help. Nothing would. And there was nothing I could do or say to avoid the coming confrontation.
I swallowed back the bitter rise of bile and said, “What actually happened in that cavern? What did I do?”
“The impossible.”
“Helpful.”
She smiled. “Remember what I said about Elysian forging a connection between this world and the unseen in which all energies move and exist?”
I nodded. “But I wasn’t holding Elysian. We don’t even know where she is at this point, let alone if I’m the true heir.”
“Do you truly believe you’re not, given what you did and achieved in that cavern?”
I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. “That doesn’t negate the fact that I didn’t have her, so how the hell did I manage to step onto the edge of the gray?”
“The ability to see the unseen is one that runs through the Aquitaine line, and it’s why many females of the line were revered seers.”
“Seeing what may be is a little different to stepping into the gray, though,” I said. “And it certainly doesn’t explain how I did.”
“Nex and Vita were created by the same hand that made Elysian; it’s natural they could tap into fields in a similar manner if so directed.”
I frowned. “But I didn’t—”
“Perhaps not consciously. Perhaps it was a by-product of desperation and need.”
“Possibly.” I rinsed out my hair, then turned off the taps and reached for a towel. “I take it the dark altar is no longer a problem?”
“It’s destroyed, as are the tunnels that led into that cavern.”
“I daresay they’ll try to reopen them.”
“I daresay they will—and they’ll find a lovely little surprise for them if they succeed.”
“You spelled?”
“Yes and no.”
“An enlightening answer, as usual.” I wrapped the towel around me and stepped out of the shower. “Are we heading across to King’s Island today?”
She nodded. “I think the sooner we get there and find the real coronation ring, the better.”
“You don’t think Max knows it’s there, do you?”
“No, but it did occur to me that, rather than attempting to breach our protections, he might simply destroy it.”
“Why would he do that?”
“To ensure the sword cannot be returned to it.”
“But why?”
“Because he plans for his heir to wield it after him.”
“Then Reign and Riona are his?”
She nodded. “Ginny got the confirmation back this morning.”
I drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. While the results were no surprise, it was still a reminder of the chasm that now separated us. “Only trouble is, neither Elysian nor the sword in the stone work that way.”
“We know that, but I’m not entirely sure he does,” she said. “For all that he’s studied our line, for all that he’s researched history, for all that he’s planned and schemed, he doesn’t appear aware that the sword he holds is a Mryddin-created replica. I have no doubt he would have contacted us for information if he had suspected.”
He’d certainly shown no qualms about doing so to date. Pain rose yet again, but there was nothing I could do except ignore it. Nothing I could do but accept that the ache was going to be with me for the rest of my life.
“I’ll grab some breakfast, then we can head out.” I hesitated. “I take it you retrieved Nex and Vita?”
“And the stone knife. It saved you once. I think it’ll do so a few more times before this whole thing is resolved.”
“Well, that’s good to know.”
My voice was dry, and her smile flashed. “Magic cannot solve all problems. Sometimes, the old-fashioned methods of dealing out death are the best.”
“Perhaps when it comes to a gun. But a short knife that requires you to get far too close to your assailant? Not so much.”
She laughed. “Get a move on, darling girl. I’d like to get to the King’s Stone by midday if possible.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Maximum daylight protection.” She rose. “I’ll meet you downstairs.”
I quickly dressed, then strapped on the wrist sheath, grabbed Nex, Vita, and my coat, and headed out.
Breakfast was waiting for me in the small morning room. Luc was absent, as were Barney, Mia, and Ginny. I glanced around as Mo walked in, a cup of tea in hand. “Where is everyone?”
“Luc’s been summoned back to Covent Garden.”
“That was sudden, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, he got the call a few minutes after your little tête-à-tête upstairs. From what I heard, it had something to do with the protections around the current queen and the need to boost them.”
“Fair enough, but he left without saying goodbye. I’m affronted.”
A wicked twinkle gleamed in her eyes. “And he was all front. Such a very well-built young man.”
I just about choked on my bacon. “Mo!”
“I can’t help noticing what is very obvious,” she said mildly. “And I daresay the extent of that hard-on is the reason he didn’t risk another encounter.”
I shook my head. I’d basically lived with her all my life, and she still had the power to shock me. And long may it continue. “What about the others?”
“Barney and Ginny are still dealing with the mess in Manchester—”
“I thought that had already been taken care of?”
“The tunnels, yes. The witches who were working with Darkside, not so much.” She grimaced. “I believe the preternatural team has been called in to help interview and process them all.”
“There must have been a few.”
“They were determined to protect their asset.”
I grunted and tucked into my meal. “And Mia?”
“Had to go back to Ainslyn—it’s her mother’s seventieth, and there’s a family party.”
“I hope you told her to be careful.”
“Of course. Not that she needed the warning.”
Maybe not, but it nevertheless needed to be said. Max would want revenge for the murder of his lover, and he might just start by taking out everyone I cared about.
Once I’d finished my breakfast, we headed out. The day was bright and sunny, the skies blue. It was still winter, so a chill remained in the air, but all in all, it was a perfect day for flying.
We shifted shape and, after I’d scooped up my knives, followed the coastline until we reached King’s Island. We landed on the open ground just before the ring of stone monoliths that surrounded the King’s Stone. I swung around, studying the area. Nothing moved, and nothing seemed out of place. The sky was clear, and all of Ainslyn was on view, from the old docks at the far end of the walled section to the many high-rises in the business sector.
Mo was already moving toward the stone circle. I hastily followed, my gaze on the stone that had once held the sword. Physically, it looked no different and yet … and yet, something was different. The feel of the place was different.
“Mo—”
Her pace didn’t slow. “I know.”
“What is it?”
“Someone’s tried to shatter the blessing.”
I frowned. “How? Only you and I—” I stopped. “Max.”
“I would guess so. The blessing might be the province of De Montfort women, but he’s witnessed me performing it often enough to have a keen understanding of it.”
“But he’s not capable of magic. Not the blessing sort, anyway.”
She glanced over her shoulder, her eyebrows raised. “Technically, neither were you.”
“Yes, but—” I stopped. The lines between what should and shouldn’t be possible had definitely blurred over the last week or so. “Is there any visible damage?”
“Nothing that’s immediately obvious.”
I stopped at the base of the knob and stared up at the hump of rock that had once held the sword. Its sides were smooth, worn down by time and weather. The soft shimmer that briefly ran around its base told me the blessing remained in place, but it certainly wasn’t as strong as it should have been. I placed a hand into a hollow smoothed by countless others doing the exact same thing and stepped up.
There was no slot at the top of the stone to indicate a sword had ever been sheathed within it.
“Any idea where the ring might be hidden?” I asked.
“Afraid not. Mryddin simply said it was in the stone.”
“In? Like the sword was in?”
“Possibly. He didn’t actually clarify exactly what he meant.” She stopped near the step-up point and shoved her hands on her hips. “Can you see anything? Feel anything?”
“No.” I ran my fingers across the top of the stone, and just for a second, energy stirred. It was a distant echo of the electricity that had caressed my fingers when I’d gripped the sword in the stone. “Yes.”
“What?” Her voice was sharp.
“There is something here.” I narrowed my gaze and, after a moment, saw a slight indentation. It was the soft shimmer in the air above it that said it was something more. I hadn’t noticed it before now simply because the sword had always dominated my attention. It had been the reason we’d climbed up here every year, after all, and it wasn’t as if any of us had been aware that the stone held a secondary treasure deep in its stony heart.
I hesitated, then pressed my thumb into the dent. For a second, there was no response. Then, with a soft click, a slot appeared in the stone. From deep within came a bloodred gleam.
My breath caught in my throat, and for several seconds, all I could do was stare. This was it. This was the point of no return. This was where I found out if I was the true heir or not.
This was the moment where my life would forever change.
Mo didn’t say anything. In truth, there was nothing she could say. This decision, this action, was mine and mine alone. I could accept destiny or I could walk away and watch as everything I knew, everything I loved, was destroyed.
As decisions went, it was far harder than it should have been.
But in the end, I reached in and retrieved the ring.
Like the one the Blackbirds had held safe for centuries, this ring was dominated by a huge red ruby onto which a cross and a rose had been carved. But its band was simple silver rather than gold, and there were absolutely no diamonds encrusting it.
At my touch, a bloody fire flared to life deep in the heart of the ruby and began to pulse, quickly falling into a rhythm that matched the rapid beating of my heart.