Kerdik stilled, and then his chest seemed to swell, his lifetimes of insecurities falling to the wayside. When his voice came out, there was a tremulous wonder of unshed tears just barely held back from spilling over. “You want our children to look like me?”
“I do. Can we build a little treehouse for our kids to have adventures in? I always wanted one of those.”
I felt Kerdik’s smile lift my cheek. “We can have anything you like. A treehouse for every day of the week.”
The mood shifted as the wind whipped at my clothes. “And you’ll let me go until then? You’ll let me be happy with Bastien until it’s our time?”
Kerdik’s hand balled into a fist as his body stiffened. “I can do that for you. Only promise you’ll come back to me.”
“My very best promise.”
Cailleach and Brìghde were arguing, now that Brìghde was revived enough with Cailleach’s help. “It has to be gathered back!”
Cailleach shrugged, as if she couldn’t care less about Brìghde’s fear. “Does it? After what they did to ye? I think they should contend with real darkness, so they can see what a fight should truly look like. Look at what happened here with no dark magic at all. Idle hands look for mischief. I want to see what happens when they’re so turned around, capturing us is the last thing on their minds.”
“You’re unleashing Vampires in Avalon!”
Cailleach raised an eyebrow. “Tha ye think I care what happens to Avalon amuses me.” She pointed to the black snakes that were skittering from the fog across the sky and heading east. “I want to see Éireland restored to her former days of more magic than anyone knew what to do with. They can’t even turn invisible anymore! Let the children have their fun. Let the madness come.”
Kerdik turned his face from mine to shout through the wind at Cailleach. “We agreed years ago that neither of our lands could handle that much magic!”
Cailleach didn’t bother to look at him as she spoke, but watched the tumult of the oversized hail as it cracked down on the injured and dying below. “Yes, but times have changed. They’re so desperate to get their hands on power tha they’ll kidnap two immortals to get at it. Let them have what they want.” Her eyes narrowed at the people in the throes of a war brought down on their heads by nature herself. “Let them burn for it.”
20
Convincing Cailleach
Brìghde kept trying to wrangle the dark magic with her cloud vortex, ignoring her sister who didn’t think the world was worth saving.
Bastien braved the storm and hefted Kerdik up to take him inside to safety, motioning with a jerk of his chin for me to follow him inside. The cold made my joints inflexible and my jaw tight, but it had been worth it to make sure Kerdik was alright. Bastien’s arms went around my torso to warm me and steady my uncertain footsteps.
Lane crawled her way to Kerdik, her movements stiff and careful. “You saved my life,” she remarked quietly, leaning him forward to check his back. “I can’t believe how seamless that looks. Like it never even happened.”
He met her eyes, showing her the rare flash of vulnerability he usually only revealed to me. “But it did happen. Over and over.”
Her eyes closed, as if feeling his pain. “I know. Why did you do it? Why did you save me?”
“Because I love your daughter, and she loves you.”
Lane lowered her chin, letting the words sizzle in the air. I knew Bastien had heard, but it was no secret anymore. Still, Bastien remained in place with his arms around me, treacherous though I was to give my heart to two men.
Cailleach moved inside, while Brìghde contented herself with her angry cloud tornado from the balcony. She pointed her staff at Kerdik with a stern arch in her eyebrow. “Ye went after my Brìghde to save her. I’ll not forget tha.”
Kerdik’s reply came back distraught as he struggled with the simple act of breathing. “My curse, Cailleach. I need you to remove my curse! I’ve paid for my sins long enough.”
Cailleach’s gaze flicked to me, and a smile played on her wrinkled, sultry lips. No doubt they looked wrinkly to everyone else, but to me she was a beauty queen. I’m not sure why that made her smile that much more terrifying, but I shrank back from the vindictive nature of her happiness. “Oh, but what fun is a curse tha can be undone?”
“Undo my curse!” Kerdik bellowed, and the castle walls shook with his temper.
Lane scurried away, crashing into Bastien’s arm that welcomed her into our huddle. The three of us were vanished with our robes, on the periphery of an immortals’ quarrel.
It was then that the remnants of the soldiers decided it would be a fine idea to try their hands at avenging their queen. Six men barged in, armed and wide-eyed with a death wish. Bastien moved us to the corner and drew his knife, ready to fight his former brothers-in-arms.
Cailleach rolled her eyes at the intrusion, and flicked her wrist to raise up a thick wall of ice to separate us from the fray. Bastien howled, though it didn’t seem to be from pain, but more anger that he’d been cut off from us. My pulse climbed, but Bastien turned with a sudden calmness, as if ready for a fight that could be all his.
The immortals were unperturbed, and carried on their heated conversation as if there had been no interruption. Cailleach’s voice was sharp as she barked at Kerdik. “How many women would ye ruin if I were to lift your curse? How many would trust ye, only to be left feeling foolish after ye showed your true colors?”
“One woman would know me, and I would never leave her.” Kerdik’s furious promise made my heart ache.
The black in the sky was slipping through Brìghde’s fingers as she shrieked, but it seemed the world and all of its problems were fading from my focus. I could see only Kerdik, and hear his pledge that existed only for me.
Cailleach’s eyes cut to me, giving me a knowing look that had a smirk of mischief to it. “Very well. If ye want your curse lifted so ye can be with this girl, then that’s what ye shall have.”
Kerdik stiffened, and then scrambled to his feet to stand, swaying with the weight of everything he’d endured. His movements were janky and unfocused as he fought with gravity. He didn’t seem to feel the cold, but only the possibility that his isolation might not be permanent. He gripped Cailleach’s gray robes with an unhinged craze in his eyes. “Are you truly going to set me free?”
Cailleach nodded, but I could almost feel the catch coming before she opened her mouth. “Ye can make love to one woman only until her life ends; the others will turn into dragons, to remind ye of the beast ye were to Brìghde. Choose wisely. One woman is all you’ll get. Then I know ye won’t use her and cast her aside.”
Kerdik’s mouth fell open in time with mine and Lane’s. He cleared the space between us, feeling around for me and then jerking me to his chest. He laid one on me that was passionate enough to make my knees buckle. Too many emotions flooded through me – relief, longing and finally, chagrin. It happened so fast that I didn’t have the wherewithal to protest. His hunger for me was heady, and I felt powerless to sort out any kind of higher brain function.
Worse than that, I didn’t want to stop him. I wanted more, and still more.
So I took what didn’t belong to me yet, and what might always be mine. I took Kerdik’s affections and locked them tight in my heart, swooning for the love that was always bigger than I could wrap my mind around.
When my morals finally caught up with my libido, I gently extracted myself from the kiss I hadn’t meant to land myself in. I stumbled back, touching my forehead in concern as I whirled to face Cailleach. “But I’m engaged to Bastien! You know that, and you’re still limiting him like this?”
Cailleach’s snark mutated to a full-blown smile. “He doesn’t have to choose ye.”
“Rosie. I want only Rosie.” His gaze was firm as it locked in on mine. “I can wait for you. I don’t care how long it takes.”
I ignored Lane’s moan of frustration when I moved forward to land myself in Kerdik’s arms. I kept my h
ead on straight this time, and didn’t kiss him. “I’ll understand if you can’t wait. I want you to be happy.”
“I know, but I’ll always and only want you.”
“Very well, then.” Cailleach reached her hand out and touched Kerdik’s elbow, sending a chill through him that had a spark of magic to it. His body seemed to pulse against mine, alerting me to the fact that I was a woman, and immortal though he was, Kerdik was very much a man.
His arms tightened around me as his lips found my forehead. The weather swirled, making my body tremble against his. Though he was shirtless, he covered me, as if I was the one who needed the shelter from the storm. His lips pressed to my ear and whispered a breathless, “I will give you as many green children as you want. Say the word, and I will come for you.”
The kiss I gave him was my choice. It was only one kiss, but it was tender, laced with promises and assurances for the future. Then I pressed my cheek to his chest as my hand searched for his heart.
I could always find Kerdik’s heart, though many swore it didn’t exist.
Brìghde cried out, begging Kerdik for help, since her sister wanted nothing to do with wrangling up the dark magic. Kerdik cast me one more look of longing before he stumbled to Brìghde’s side, recalling where his focus should be.
“Alright, then.” Cailleach turned to me and gripped my chin hard. “Ye risked much by summoning me. Thank ye for saving my Brìghde.”
I nodded, and then melted into her, hugging the blue-haired woman who tugged at my heartstrings and still had the hutzpah to make me furious on a dime. “Thank you for helping me. And thank you for setting Kerdik free.”
Cailleach chuckled as she patted my back. “If you’re still thanking me after fifty years of Kerdik’s affections, then I’ll know I made the right call.” She pulled back and lifted my hand to thumb at my ring. She closed her eyes and murmured something that was lost in the howling wind. I gasped when the stone turned green as it heated up, and then when she released it, it cooled and faded back to its usual light blue. “See tha this ring stays on your finger.”
21
Fighting for Faîte
Kerdik grumbled, looking over his shoulder at Cailleach and me. “I already put my protection on her. You didn’t need to do that. I can look after what’s mine.”
“None of this matters! Focus on the lost magic, Kerdik!” I shouted, reminding him of the greater problems we’d been ignoring to regroup. “That’s the only thing we should be working on!”
Cailleach didn’t pay attention to Kerdik and her sister, but turned to Lane. “Did ye help free my sister?”
“I was of less help than I wanted to be, but yes, that was the plan.”
Cailleach nodded, and then palmed her face. Lane screamed, but the terror lasted the span of two seconds. When Cailleach pulled her hand away, Lane’s lacerations were repaired, leaving a long, shiny, pink line to remind the world of this harrowing day.
The ice wall crumbled, revealing Bastien surrounded by yet more dead bodies. His chest heaved as he blinked at us, the bloodlust clear in his eyes.
“Untouchable,” Cailleach said, moving toward him. “Ye helped to save my Brìghde, too. What is it ye wish from me as a gift of my gratitude?”
Bastien was stunned, looking from Cailleach to my face with shrugged shoulders. “I’m just glad it all worked out. Thanks for the cloaks, and the help getting over here.”
Cailleach eyed him, walked over, reached up and gripped his collar. She yanked him down and pressed her thin lips to his, kissing the crap out of my fiancé, who was wide-eyed as his arms flailed out to the sides. I’m sure I should’ve said something, but the sight was so strange, I couldn’t find a single word. To me, she was a smoking hot woman kissing my dude, but to Bastien, an old hag was laying one on him. It was actually pretty funny.
When she released him, she patted his cheek with a snigger. “My gift will come in handy when you’re in need.”
Bastien patted his chest, as if to feel where she’d snuck him an extra canteen or something. “Thank you, your majesty.”
“No, no. Thank you. It’s been a while since I kissed a warrior.” Then the blue-haired woman walked out to the balcony and wrapped her arm around Brìghde. “Come, now. It’s time to go home. Kerdik can clean up the mess.”
“No, he can’t! He’s kept the higher magic hidden for far too long. It’s our turn to help!”
Cailleach’s jaw tightened. “At what cost to ye?”
Wild rage welled up in Brìghde, and then spewed onto her sister. “At any cost! I’ll not see Faîte so twisted by the darkness. This is our world, Callie! Ye forget your role, sister. Without us, they have no one! If we leave them to whither under the higher magic, we’re no better than Carman and the Brothers of Destruction!”
Cailleach’s nostrils flared with anger, but with a labored sigh, finally added her weight to the mix. She stretched out her hand and seemed to grab at the purple streaks, yanking them back and whipping them across the sky to gather up the rest like a lasso. So many threads were still escaping, but an immortal at full strength was exactly the cavalry we needed. “Rosie!” she called, and then jerked her chin for me to come out into the storm next to Kerdik. “Give me your hand!”
I extended my right hand to her, trembling as it was. She smacked my palm down on the balcony, ignoring my wince from the torrential weather that whipped at me. I shrieked as the purple and black began to jerk toward us. Callieach pulled the strands harder, straining against the invisible bucking bronco that didn’t want to be tamed any longer.
I screamed when the black tentacle touched my ring. It burned as the fog started to recede back into the prison it had been trapped in since before I’d come to Avalon. Bastien and Lane were at my sides in the next breath, holding me upright and making sure my hand didn’t move through the agony that rippled through my body. On and on the torrents of searing agony went, making me lose my grip on toughing it out as a scream ripped from my throat. So many things were compounding to tear the fury from me. Too many months of fighting to keep Avalon from splintering apart finally built into an explosion of agony I’d been pretending I didn’t feel, couldn’t see and didn’t understand.
But I understood every ounce of Avalon’s agony, for it had become my own.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take another second, the tail of the black and purple mass vanished into my ring. The burning finally stopped, leaving me breathless. I sagged against Lane and Bastien, letting them support me as my knees buckled and my head flopped back.
“There’s still more!” Brìghde nearly fell under the weight of too much that life was expecting from her. “The higher magic is airborne! It might travel to our land. I don’t want that for our people!”
Cailleach caught her sister before Brìghde fell. “Brìghde has done all she can, and she’ll not be expected to do more. I’ve trapped most of the lost magic; Kerdik can do the rest.”
“No, Callie!” Brìghde’s protest sounded drunken and slurred.
Kerdik’s voice was calm. “I’ll do all I can,” he assured them. “Go to Éireland and reinforce your wards. The darkness is coming, and as much as Avalon will be infected, it will find its way home to your land.”
Cailleach nodded, taking Kerdik’s warning seriously. “We will. Good luck, Kerdik.”
Then the two sisters vanished from Avalon, leaving us to the mess.
22
The Darkness Inside of Me
“I waited too long,” Kerdik said as he glared at the sky. His arms were raised to the forbidding clouds as if he was conducting an orchestra. “Cailleach distracted me by drawing out talk of my curse. Too much higher magic is tumbling through the sky now. I’ll never be able to get it all back! There’s all these little threads I can’t quite grip.”
I stood at Kerdik’s side on the edge of the balcony, grateful that the sleet, snow, rain and hail had come to a halt. Now it was just the wind that whipped at us, chilling me to the bone. “What can I
do to help?”
Kerdik shot me a quick smirk. “Just stand here by my side.” He moved my hand from Bastien’s and placed it back on the stone railing of the balcony, not bothering to address Bastien at all in the exchange. “Hold your hand here again, darling. Whatever you do, keep your ring still. It might get hot again when I put more of the darkness back inside.”
“This is still the plan? Are you sure that’s such a great idea? I mean, if Morgan found a way around it, someone else will soon enough.”
“But you’ll be in Common with your husband. No one from Avalon will venture there.” He shot me a firm look that told me he was dealing with the inevitable. “Either the darkness goes into this ring, or it goes into Faîte. Your choice.”
I closed my eyes and nodded. “Alright. Do it to it.”
Kerdik moved to make space for Lane, and motioned her to stand on my other side. “You two will need to make sure her hand stays still. If Cailleach said not to take off the ring, under no circumstances will she take it off for the rest of her life. Understood?”
Bastien and I both nodded with the grave acceptance of all we were being entrusted to watch over.
“Very well. Brace yourselves now. This is going to hurt.” Kerdik turned to the sky, his jaw tight.
I kept my whimpering to an internal bleat, to save Kerdik from any guilt that might dissuade him from making the right call for Avalon. Bastien was on my right and Lane was on my left. Each of them put an arm around my back to brace me, and secured my wrist to the balcony to keep me in place. Lane nodded to Kerdik. “Alright. We’ve got her.”
Kerdik closed his eyes and gripped the balcony, leaning on it and hunching his shoulders as he geared up for some major magic wrangling. There were no spells that spilled from his lips, but when he raised his hands to the massive swirling cloud overhead, we all braced for the blow. Brìghde had set the sky in motion, and left the dark clouds whirling in the air like a spinning top. The tiny threads of black and purple began to inch together, squeaking toward the center of the vortex. Kerdik let out a cry, and the tiny snakes began to dip down, like taffy being pulled toward us. I inhaled sharply when the snakes neared, and the invisible tether was coerced into my ring.
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