“Ready?” he said.
“Ready,” she whispered. She kept her eyes fixed on his, and reached into her core.
Once again, white light the color of moonlight welled up between her fingers, and a glow the blue of a summer sky poured out of Aidan’s. But this time, Gwen’s light was fluid and moved like water over her knuckles and onto the pedestal. She didn’t watch the light, but stared into Aidan’s eyes, connected with him. When their lights joined she felt it—her core grew warmer, and a flow of magic from her center to her hands connected her with the outside world. Aidan was at the end of that link, and her magic traveled from her core through her hands straight to him. Tendrils of white and blue light twined around each other. When the first two tendrils joined in a glistening spark of pale blue, Gwen gasped. Aidan was there, right there, so close. She almost shied away from the contact, but his steady green eyes reassured her and she allowed the link to remain. More and more tendrils connected in bursts of pale sparks and left behind a hemisphere of light that covered their joined hands.
Gwen’s mouth opened in an irrepressible smile when their hands stopped sparking and the connection was fully complete. Aidan’s face mirrored hers. Vaguely, Gwen sensed movement around them. It was hard to care, really—all she could think about was the joy of being with Aidan. But when Aidan looked to the side with an expression of amazement, she followed his gaze.
The garden around them was alive. Every single plant in every bed was growing, twisting and reaching for the sky, blossoms bursting forth in a dazzling display of colors from every season. Brilliant reds and rich violets mingled with sprays of frothy yellows and delicate whites. Vines twisted and curled over every surface, and roses on the high stone wall bloomed with a profusion of pale pink flowers just visible through the foliage. The light surrounding their hands glowed brightly.
“I think it’s working,” Aidan said. He turned back to Gwen. “It’s really working.”
Gwen laughed then, for sheer joy and relief.
“Yes, I think it is.”
The quality of light above their clasped hands changed, and images began to appear within the translucency of their magic. A moving picture of Tristan appeared first. Gwen watched him sit up and rip limp vines off his torso, which healed before her eyes. The magic rippled, and Rhiannon appeared. The blond girl looked at her legs in astonishment as the torn edges of her flesh knit themselves together. She wiggled her ankles, then jumped to her feet, laughing. The next picture showed a pale Bran in a circular room lined with carved wood, his face flooded with color. He sat up on the table next to his kneeling father, whose astonishment was no less than his joy.
The last image rippled to show Isolde on her throne. A ringed hand swept away cobwebs from a face filled with fullness and life. Isolde stood up, unwavering, and held out her hands. The fires behind her instantly died and she gave a triumphant smile.
The images faded into the milky blue of their combined magic.
“It’s done.” Aidan looked at Gwen. “We did it.”
“Does this mean we have to stop?”
Aidan smiled.
“For now.”
With regret, Gwen pulled the magic back to her core. It felt lonely without Aidan’s connection, and the living, growing world around them slowed to a stop. Huge bushes towered above them and crowded into the clearing around the pedestal. The spell was complete.
“I can’t believe we did it,” Gwen said. She released Aidan’s hands and stepped back from the pedestal. “That’s incredible.”
“Mission impossible, completely possible.” Aidan stepped around the pedestal until he stood before her. His eyes were alive with the same joyous light Gwen felt in her own. She didn’t want to be apart from him for one more moment, and flung her arms around his neck. Her lips pressed into his with fervent abandon.
They stayed entwined until a voice interrupted them.
“All right, that’s enough, lovebirds. You can do that sort of nonsense when you get home.”
“Tristan!” Gwen broke away from Aidan to look at a grinning Tristan. “You’re free! Feeling better?”
“All healed.” He lifted his torn and bloody shirt. Only one faint red line on his torso indicated where the strangling vine had wrapped around him. “Still a little dizzy. There wasn’t a lot of air there for a while.”
Aidan strode up to Tristan.
“I’m glad you’re all right.” Aidan wavered for a moment while Tristan looked at him curiously, then he hugged him briefly. Tristan grinned and returned the embrace.
“It’s good to see you too, brother.”
“Oh, come here,” Gwen said, and she threw her arms around Tristan, who squeezed her back. When they parted, he grabbed her wrist with a frown.
“Why hasn’t the bracelet stopped?”
Gwen looked down at the deadly bracelet. She had forgotten about it in the excitement and jubilation of their triumph. Now, however, it was all too clear that the bracelet had not given up on its quest to kill her. It thrummed and buzzed on her wrist. She looked at Aidan, her gut writhing, and he stared at her in dismay.
“No,” Gwen whispered. “No, no, no.”
“Faolan must not have deactivated it yet,” Aidan said, horror in his voice. He whirled on Tristan. “What can we do? Is there anything we can do?”
Tristan shook his head.
“Faolan’s magic is too strong. Anything I try will almost certainly backfire.” His eyes were grief-stricken. “I’m sorry, Gwen.”
Gwen stared at the bracelet. After all this—travels through her mother’s tortured realm, the long journey to the sea, monsters and birds and everything they had to do to get to this point, even after completing the restoration spell—Gwen would still die. A pulse of hatred for Faolan coursed through her. She had given him back his son—was it too much to spare her life? Anger quickly fizzled out in the wake of her overwhelming fear.
“I’m scared,” she said to Aidan. She didn’t want to die. She wanted to see her father again, laugh with Ellie again. She wanted to start another chapter in her life with Aidan and all the new experiences and adventures that it would bring. She didn’t want her life to end here, on this island, all because of someone else’s selfishness and incompetence.
She only caught a glimpse of Aidan’s distraught face before he enveloped her in his arms.
“It’s all right. I’m here. Everything will be all right.”
She nestled into his shoulder, comforted despite the thrumming bracelet on her wrist. If she had to go, at least Aidan was here with her. She could think of worse ways. Aidan’s tears dripped onto her forehead.
Buzzing from the bracelet grew louder, almost piercing. She buried her head deeper into Aidan’s shirt and he squeezed her so tightly that she wouldn’t have been able to breathe, if she hadn’t already been holding her breath. They hung there, waiting, waiting for the end, the vibrations taking over Gwen’s head until she couldn’t hear or think of anything else.
Then, silence. The buzzing abruptly stopped, and into the vacuum the living sound of the garden gently filled Gwen’s ears. Gwen shifted and raised her head.
“What happened?”
She broke away from Aidan and held up her wrist between them. The bracelet was quiet and still at last. Was this when the magic would leach out from the metal? How long would it take to overcome her? Would it hurt, dying?
“Look,” Tristan said. “The bracelet—it’s crumbling.”
The fine filigree of the bracelet disintegrated before their eyes, crumbling as if made of sand. It blew away in the breeze and dissipated into thin air. Before long, Gwen’s wrist was bare.
Gwen’s heart hammered in her chest.
“Is that it? Is it—gone? Am I going to be okay?”
Tristan beamed at her.
“Faolan must have deactivated it in time. You’ll be fine.”
Gwen gasped for breath, her chest suddenly far too small for her lungs. Tears of relief sprang to her eyes. Aidan threw
his arms around her again and she clung to him. They rocked together.
“Let’s go home,” Gwen said after some time had passed. Aidan gave a shaky laugh.
“Yes, please. We’ve had enough Breenan madness for one week.”
Chapter 14
Gwen’s feet felt lighter than air during their walk back, through the now-overgrown garden and up the waving grasses of the meadow. The storm was passing without incident—rumbles of thunder grew most distant and the western sky lightened with an afternoon sun. She kept her hand firmly in Aidan’s while they walked. Tristan swung his arms in the air repeatedly.
“It feels so good to be free of that ridiculous plant. I can move again, breathe again.”
“We had visions of everyone we healed, and Rhiannon was walking by the end of hers,” Aidan said.
“That’s good news. I don’t know how she would have handled not being able to walk. She’s used to taking care of herself. She likes being independent, Rhiannon does.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Aidan grinned at Gwen and squeezed her hand.
Aidan led them through the forest to the burbling stream where they had left Rhiannon. She waited for them on the path, satchel on her back and her face serene.
“Rhiannon!” Tristan bounded to her side and gave her a swift hug, which she returned with a calm smile.
“Hello, brother. Miss me?”
“You’re standing.”
“The spell worked.” She waved at her legs, healed underneath her shredded leggings. “Thank you, you two.”
“It’s so good to see you healed.” Gwen stepped up and hugged the other girl, who returned the hug stiffly but sincerely.
“Thanks for your advice,” Aidan said to Rhiannon, who nodded with a knowing smile. “I needed it.”
“What advice?” Gwen asked.
“Oh, Rhiannon had some insight—on the spell.”
“Let’s go, get off this island.” Tristan rubbed Rhiannon’s shoulder. “I’m so glad to see you on your feet.”
“Worried about me, were you?”
“I was mostly worried about who my hunting partner would be in the future.”
“Of course you were.” Rhiannon rolled her eyes with a smile, and pushed Tristan’s shoulder. “You’d never catch anything without me.” She turned to Gwen and Aidan who walked on the path behind the two siblings. “So? Do you plan to ever tell me how you managed to finish the quest, alive?”
“Oh, a bit of magic, a bit of creative thinking.” Gwen outlined the events leading to the moment of restoration—the inscription, the tokens, the meadowsweet and its growth, the combined magic, the dissolution of the bracelet. When she finished the tale, Rhiannon and Tristan exchanged a glance.
“I don’t think in a million years we’d have figured out the inscription, even if we could have read it,” Rhiannon said. “And coming up with the growth spell on your own, without a spell transfer? I’m impressed. This was definitely a job for you two.”
“The queens knew what they were doing when they set up the spell,” Gwen said. “There’s no way just a Breenan or just a human could have managed.”
“Clever, really.” Aidan looked around. “I wonder what other interesting spells are on this island. You and I seem to have a free pass here.”
Gwen shoved her shoulder into his playfully.
“No. We’re going home. The island can keep its secrets.”
The trail back to the beach was uneventful. Gwen was hesitant when they reached the region with the blinding fog, but the air remained clear and no creatures attacked. The rope bridge took some careful navigating, but since Gwen had done it before, she knew she could do it again. She breathed easier once she had crossed, though. Hanging that high above a chasm was still highly unnerving.
Once at the beach, Aidan poked at the sad shell of their coracle with his foot.
“Do you reckon it will hold water long enough to row to the mainland?”
Rhiannon examined the coracle with a knowledgeable eye.
“Now that we’re not hampered by an attacking sea serpent, we can spend time shoring up the holes. The putty was only a temporary fix, but we can do better. Tristan, fetch me some of that seaweed.”
Tristan brought an armful of slimy brown kelp fronds from the tideline and dumped them at Rhiannon’s feet. She nodded briskly and began to lay a piece of frond over each hole in the coracle.
“Anyone up for a melding spell? These holes won’t mend themselves.”
“If someone shows me how,” Gwen said.
Tristan walked around the boat and placed two fingers of each hand on her temples. Gwen had a fleeting vision of a very young Tristan holding two pieces of frayed rope. She felt the sensation of the magic needed, deep in her core, as she watched the boy push the ends of the rope together. They merged into one solid cord. Tristan removed his hands.
“Got it?”
“I think so,” Gwen said. She wiggled her fingers. “Let’s find out.”
Tristan moved to Aidan, and Gwen knelt next to Rhiannon. She touched one hand to a slippery piece of seaweed, and the other to the coracle’s hide. The warmth of her core pulsed, and she drew up a small piece for the melding spell. The seaweed wriggled before her eyes and the edges melted to form a seamless bond with the animal skin beneath.
“It worked!”
Rhiannon looked at Gwen’s handiwork.
“A bit rumpled, but it should hold.”
Gwen gave her an exasperated glance and Rhiannon laughed.
“Good work, half-blood. We’ll bring out the Breenan in you yet.”
The coracle had so many holes that Gwen wondered how they had managed to land on the island at all. But with the four of them patching the gashes, it wasn’t long before Rhiannon declared the little vessel seaworthy.
“It will take us to the shore, at least.”
“That’s all we need.” Aidan peered toward the mainland. “Oh, look. We have an audience.”
Gwen followed his gaze. A small crowd had gathered on the opposite shore. It was difficult to tell from this distance, but Gwen thought she recognized the fisherman they had bartered the boat from yesterday.
“So, who wants to paddle with the experts watching?” Aidan held out the paddle.
“But you’re so good at it now.” Tristan slapped Aidan on the back. “I wouldn’t want to deprive you of a chance to show off your skills.”
“Come on, you three.” Rhiannon dragged the coracle into the water. The waves lapped at her calves, and loose tendrils of her leggings floated in the foam. “Stop jabbering.”
Aidan muttered under his breath, but maneuvered to the front of the coracle. Gwen followed carefully, still sure they would tip at any moment.
“What a ridiculous design,” she said to Aidan. “It’s way too small and tipsy.”
“Would you like a sailboat instead, with a nice deep keel?”
“That would do. Or maybe a ferry. Or a cruise ship.”
“Or we could get to the mainland and not worry about the water anymore.”
Rhiannon pushed off the shore and leaped into the coracle with light feet. Gwen leaned over the side to peer into the water.
“Are we sure there was only one sea serpent?”
“Not to worry,” Tristan said. “We’re expert sea serpent tamers now.”
Gwen shuddered.
“I’m never going swimming again, after this.”
When they drew close to the beach, the fisherman they had met yesterday called out to them.
“Welcome, travelers, serpent conquerors.”
“I like the sound of that,” Aidan said to Gwen. “I might have that printed on my business card.”
Aidan paddled them to the beach, where the coracle scraped over rocky pebbles. Rhiannon leaped out and pulled the coracle ashore. The fisherman stepped up to speak with them, and his fellow villagers stared avidly.
“Never in my lifetime have I seen anyone conquer the serpent. The last time was in my father’
s grandfather’s day. You fought bravely—we were watching.”
“Everyone loves a train wreck,” Aidan whispered to Gwen.
“Thank you for your kind words,” Tristan said formally. “I hope that you may now travel these waters with greater safety than before.”
The fisherman shook his head.
“I see you do not know the ways of a sea serpent. This one has undoubtedly laid an egg deep in the bay. When the blood of the mother sinks to touch the egg, it will hatch. Within a week, we will have to be wary once more. No matter. The serpent is contained between the rocks, and we stay out of its way.”
He turned and beckoned to a villager who came forward with a bundle of fish wrapped in fresh green seaweed.
“A token of our respect, to help you enjoy your success tonight.”
“We thank you,” Rhiannon said. She gestured to the coracle. “She’s in poor condition, but I know you have the skill to fix her. May we leave her with you, with our thanks? We have no need of a boat where we’re going.”
The fisherman’s eyes raked over the coracle appraisingly, and he nodded.
“It would be our pleasure.”
The villagers watched them walk up the beach. Gwen looked back and caught the eye of a small child, who waved tentatively at her. She grinned and waved back.
“It’s kind of fun being a minor celebrity,” she said to Aidan.
“Mmm, especially when they provide dinner.” Aidan looked longingly at the fishy bundle under Tristan’s arm. “I’m starving.”
Tristan turned back to them with amusement.
“We’ll camp on the beach and leave in the morning. The fish will be ready as soon as you collect enough firewood.”
“And what will you be doing, might I ask?”
“Watching you work, as befits the eldest.”
“You’re taking your brotherly duties a little too seriously,” Aidan said. Tristan laughed and turned around. Quicker than blinking, Aidan snapped his fingers and flicked a ball of blue light forward. It hit the back of Tristan’s head with a loud pop and a flurry of sparks. Tristan yelped and Rhiannon burst out laughing.
“He’s definitely one of us.”
Breenan Series Box Set Page 43