But Storm could stir a fever inside her with nothing more than a look.
His hand cupped the back of her head, carefully and gently. Probably still remembering how she’d reacted like a trapped animal when he’d stepped too close to her in an underground subway tunnel. She’d shoved him thirty feet across the tracks. He’d landed against a concrete wall.
Nothing like Sen had done to Storm, but a hit that would have seriously hurt a human.
And would have sent any other man backpedaling to get as far away from a freak as possible.
Not Storm. He’d dusted himself off and had come right back, refusing to let her retreat from him. Looking at her with too much understanding as if he could see past her fears, all the way to the emotional wasteland where her personal demons crouched in the corners of her mind, laughing at her.
She’d tried to warn Storm away more than once, but he could be beyond stubborn at times.
He moved his long fingers lightly over her face and hair, forcing her to think about him and only him. The last three weeks melted away. She ran her hands up into his hair, then folded her arms around his neck. He kissed her with a hunger that sent shivers of excitement fingering along her spine.
She’d never expected to feel that with a man.
The female voice haunting her mind lately said, To feel is to live. To live is to love.
Evalle hoped the woman could hear her when she silently replied, Go. Away.
Storm paused. He swept his lips softly across hers and murmured something in a language she didn’t understand. But she could feel the passion in his words.
He was telling her he cared.
Then his lips were gone and his breath coming hard as if he’d been battling for hours. He dropped a kiss on her forehead, then pulled back, raking a knuckle over her cheek.
Her eyes fluttered open to find him waiting patiently.
He had something to tell her.
She pulled her hands back to his chest and conceded the challenge. “You win. I was an idiot.”
Storm brushed his fingers over her hair and spoke in a deep whisper. “You’re not an idiot. You’re a woman who does everything with passion. Even being jealous.”
“I wasn’t …” The lie died in her throat. “Okay, I was jealous.”
“I know, and that’s why I need you to understand why you have no reason to ever be when it comes to me.” His chest moved under her hand as he took in a deep breath. “My guardian spirit, Kai, stayed with me the whole time I was injured. She said she doubted that I would come back to this world.”
Evalle’s fingers clenched his shirt, unable to stop the knee-jerk reaction. What if he hadn’t come back at all? She couldn’t bear the thought.
He kissed her again, a quick touch, as if not quite finished with her, then continued. “I told Kai I was not ready to leave. That I had to come back. She said I would have to fight a fierce battle to return to the human world, and even then she didn’t think I’d survive. But she believed that the will to live could be greater than the pull of death if my reason for fighting was powerful enough. She asked why I had to come back.”
“What did you tell her?” The question slipped out of Evalle on a strained breath.
“I had to hold you one more time.”
Evalle never, ever cried, but she came close when he said that. She dropped her head onto his chest, so glad that his guardian spirit had been with him. “Thank you for coming back.”
“There was never a question of my returning. Not in my mind. I owe Adrianna a debt for her help that I plan to repay, but only as a friend. I’m not interested in seeing her again for any other reason.”
“Okay.” Evalle lifted her head. She still had some work to do on her lack of confidence as a woman, but she believed Storm.
His gaze searched beyond her. “I don’t want you to go, but you’re running out of dark, sweetheart. Horizon’s getting lighter all the time.”
Sweetheart? She reached up and placed her palm on his face, reminding herself that he had come back to her. Alive.
He turned to kiss her skin. “If you keep that up, I’m going to have to kiss you again,” he teased, then wrapped his fingers around her wrists to pull her arms down.
She hissed at the contact.
He pulled her wrists up into the light. “What the hell happened to you this time?”
“It’s a long story and I can’t really talk about it.”
“Why not?” Now he was angry.
Why couldn’t they both end this on a happy note?
“Because I’m doing something for … my tribe and I’m not supposed to say anything about it.” She hoped Storm didn’t read a lie in that because she’d been doing Macha’s business when she went to see Tristan, so in a warped way that was technically for the Beladors. Pulling one hand free, she reached toward her bike to grab her helmet.
Indecision shot through Storm’s gaze, but he didn’t press her for more when he released her other wrist. He asked, “What are you doing tonight when you come back out after dark?”
Going to find Isak and ask for a weapon that can kill trolls. But telling Storm that would not go well and hesitating to answer wasn’t helping.
Shaking his head, he muttered, “Still can’t trust me, huh?”
“That’s not true.” She would tell him if not for having to then explain Isak and hearing Storm rant about her meeting a man whose goal in life was to kill all Alterants. “I just have to do something for Quinn and Tzader, then I’ll be in touch.”
“That sounds like VIPER business.”
“It is.”
“Then why can’t you tell me what you’re doing?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you—”
“Right.” Frustration fueled his glare. “Let me get this straight. You don’t trust me enough to share what you’re up to, and you question me on something when I tell you the truth, but just accept it when Quinn lies to you?”
“What lie?” She shoved her helmet back over the bike mirror.
Storm dropped his chin, staring at the sidewalk. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Did you hear my conversation with Quinn?”
“Not intentionally. I was focused on tracking the Svart when I saw your bike and had just walked up when you two stopped to talk. I backed away but I can’t help that I have exceptional hearing. Forget that I said anything. I know he’s a good friend of yours.”
“What. Lie.”
He lifted a face teeming with regret. “When you asked him about seeing Kizira or if he’d told her that you could be found with Tristan back when you were in the Maze of Death, Quinn lied. On both accounts.”
THIRTEEN
Cathbad?”
He smiled at the sound of Flaevynn’s voice fillin’ his dungeon chamber, but kept his head bent over an ancient tome he was readin’ for the third time.
This had to be the one.
“Do not ignore me, druid,” she warned.
Liftin’ his head, Cathbad searched his cell, his gaze runnin’ over the wall of books, single bed and few amenities … but no Medb queen present. “Hello, Flaevynn. Why do ya no come to see me in person?”
“And risk you trapping me down there?” Her voice swirled around him. A tempting, seductive cadence that men succumbed to all the time. After more than six hundred years with this woman, Cathbad knew better. Would seem only fair to lure the witch into his dungeon an’ lock her here for a few years since that was what she ha done to him. But he could no indulge in fantasies of payback until he got what he wanted of her.
He’d waited patiently for this moment when Flaevynn had to admit she needed him or face her death. He poked at her, sayin’, “Why would I do somethin’ so foolish as trap ya down here? Does no you nor me any good for us to no work together.”
The lack of immediate response meant she probably tapped one of those long, black fingernails against the arm of her throne and fumed over the fact that she ha run out of options, an’ w
ay out of time.
When she finally spoke again, her words were carefully chosen. “I will bring you back up into the tower if you swear to help me fulfill the curse … on my time frame.”
He’d given up explainin’ that the prophecy was no a curse, but to argue that point would only waste time an’ breath. He’d taken to callin’ it a curse just to quiet her yapping.
Acceptin’ her offer without bein’ clear on one point would be foolish. “Whether I agree to that or no, ya canna fulfill the curse without my help.” He gave her a moment to swallow that medicine before adding, “But in a show of good faith, I will tell ya what ya need to know about the Alterants if ya lift the ward on the cell and free me. ’Tis somethin’ only I know.”
Silence hushed across the cool stone walls and floor for several long seconds before she said, “Agreed. Don’t make me regret this or Kizira will pay.”
“Understood.” He had no doubt Flaevynn would sacrifice their only child for her own goals. She’d used Kizira to trap him down here an’ believed he would forfeit his daughter just as quickly in pursuit of his goals.
How little Flaevynn knew of him, even after six centuries.
Power flushed through the dungeon as Flaevynn destroyed the ward that had prevented him from teleporting out before now.
He took his time, freshenin’ up at his small sink and mirror, trimmin’ his beard and smoothin’ back his wavy, black hair. He smiled into the mirror at the handsome image that dinna look a day over thirty-five. Then he stepped to the center of the room and waved his hand up and down once in front of his body. His black robe disappeared, replaced by a fresh suit, the first he’d worn in two years.
Nice to have access to all of his powers again.
He’d been surprised when Flaevynn ha allowed Kizira to bring him robes to wear when he’d first been imprisoned, but realized later that Flaevynn ha done so to make a point. She wanted Kizira to see Cathbad brought low, provin’ to Kizira that if Flaevynn could trap a powerful druid, she could do anythin’.
But she can no rush the curse timeline without my help.
“Cathbad!”
“I know ya miss me, woman, but be patient. I’m on my way.”
Sharp lightnin’ bolts shot about the room, forcin’ him ta duck his head as he chuckled. She cared for no man beyond what swung between his legs and, in Cathbad’s case, only for what he could do ta save her from dyin’ accordin’ ta the prophecy.
The Curse, as she called it.
Amused by the woman’s temper, he took a moment to close the heavy book he’d been readin’. The swirlin’ purple material coverin’ the book had a raised silver image. Two snakes entwined in a vertical mirror image. Each asp ate its own tail … an ouroboros, which represented the cycle of life to death to life. The snakes circled a Medb sword.
Cathbad passed his hand over the cover, changing the exterior to a worn leather finish with the colorful image of a bard playin’ a flute. The spell he’d used would alter the contents visually, shroudin’ everythin’ real in a glamour that hid the true information to all but him.
Druids were no known for keepin’ written records, but bards scribbled stories all the time, and this one told a fascinatin’ tale about beasts.
A tale that explained missin’ pieces about the Alterants.
He chuckled again.
Ha the original Cathbad intended to keep this bard’s tale secret or ha this been given to the bard to write down for a future Cathbad descendant wise enough to decipher the connection between this tale an’ the prophecy?
It does no matter either way so long as I am the last Cathbad the Druid, the one ta find immortality.
He hummed as he tidied the cell. The time had come for the prophecy to be fulfilled, and no just because Flaevynn wanted it to be so.
He believed the original Cathbad the Druid must ha intended that the curse should come ta fruition now since the Alterants were bein’ revealed. Hard ta know what the original Medb queen an’ Cathbad the Druid ha planned, but he was sure the book he’d just bespelled held the key to unlockin’ the curse.
When Flaevynn snooped through his chamber, an’ she would, she’d take one look at the bawdy poems and bypass that book as frivolous entertainment for a man left alone.
She would likely no figure out what he ha discerned from studyin’ the words over and over for months. Odd poetry with cryptic messages, which supplied the missin’ key to the curse, words struck as a pact between the original Cathbad the Druid and first Medb queen from which today’s Medb Coven arose.
They’d been a wily pair, those two. Leavin’ enough hints for each of the future queens of the Medb, such as Flaevynn, ta try outsmartin’ the curse and gain immortality. But all the queens, except Flaevynn, ha been lulled into a false security by no knowin’ their true birth dates and they’d died, leavin’ the throne to their daughters as decreed in the curse.
But when Flaevynn discovered she’d been lied to about her birth date, she refused to uphold her vow and give the sacred words to Kizira on the day Kizira was accepted as a priestess. If Flaevynn ha, Kizira would become the next Medb queen upon Flaevynn’s death.
If Flaevynn died, she wanted no other to rule after her.
But if she did no figure out how to reach the final step of the curse before her 666th birthday in less than two weeks, she would die.
And he would die one day later.
He sighed and rubbed his forehead. That ha been his one mistake. Flaevynn would no have learned her true birth date if no for usin’ sex to catch him at a weak moment when all the blood in his brain went to the wee head between his legs.
But he would share no detail about the curse with Flaevynn a minute too soon … and only then if he could no find a way to take Treoir Castle from the Beladors without her help.
Smilin’, Cathbad prepared to teleport and blinked once. When he opened his eyes, he found Flaevynn standin’ with arms crossed near her waterfall built of precious stones.
Orange sparks shot from her purple gaze. Black hair coiled and moved down the back of a queen as beautiful as she was deadly. Dark purple lips snarled, “What took you so long?”
“Packin’, cleanin’ up behind the movers, fillin’ out a forwardin’ address card for—”
“Oh, shut up, would you?”
“Then no ask me a question.” He took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air of freedom in Tŵr Medb, the coven’s tower hidden away on a dimension parallel to the human world. “Is Kizira no here?”
“She’s on her way, but there’s no reason to wait for her.” Flaevynn floated away from the massive wall where water rolled down a dazzlin’ array of diamonds, emeralds, rubies … every precious stone imaginable piled high an’ catchin’ the light of hundreds of candles flickerin’ in her private quarters.
He asked, “What happened with the myst ya released?”
Flaevynn settled on her elaborate throne carved in the shape of a gold dragon with its head curved over the top of hers, protective an’ forbidding. Green dragon eyes glowed and shifted to face Cathbad when Flaeyvnn scowled. “That female Alterant with the Beladors destroyed the myst. Wiped it off the face of the earth.”
That surprised him. “Evalle? How could she ha done so?”
“Kizira said the VIPER Tribunal gave her three gifts for hunting Tristan and his cohorts. Evalle used one of the gifts to destroy the myst forever.”
“Ah. Quite the wise one.” He tapped his chin.
“Don’t be impressed. She got lucky, and luck will only take you so far.”
He would disagree that it ha been mere luck, but appeasin’ Flaevynn suited his purpose more at the moment than antagonizin’ her. “You did no ha to release the fog so early.”
Turnin’ a furious gaze on him, she snarled, “It would have worked if that Alterant hadn’t been given the power of three deities. The sentient fog was flush with violence, making Rías change, so Alterants would have, too. With a little more time, we’d have found all five green-e
yed Alterants.”
“’Tis no what I mean when I said you no ha to release it yet. Those Alterants will be drawn to the home of this Evalle.”
“Why?” Flaevynn sat up, face alert with curiosity, remindin’ him of the gorgeous creature he’d been enthralled by as a young fool.
But her eyes turned deep violet with smug knowledge. He’d bet she already knew Alterants were bein’ drawn to Evalle.
“I ha unwoven a twist in the … curse,” he explained. “’Twas written that the green-eyed Alterants will be drawn ta the home of a female Alterant who stands alone with the Beladors. Some will join her an’ some will fight her.”
“I had an idea that might be the case.”
This time, he pretended surprise. “Why would you be knowin’ that?”
“Don’t like it when someone else is a step ahead of you?” She laughed, and the sound echoed with the sharp caw of a crow. “We observed two Alterants who have fought the urge to go to Atlanta when they weren’t conscious of their actions.”
Cathbad gave an admirin’ nod, maskin’ his pleasure at confirmin’ how little she really knew. Time ta gain Flaevynn’s respect so she’ll keep her word an’ work with me.
“’Tis good, Flaevynn. This female Alterant Evalle is evolvin’ faster than the other Alterants even though she may no realize it until her gifts are tested. When the other Alterants shift into beasts, they may challenge her at first before they end up followin’ her … if she does no ha ta kill them. You may no want ta hear this, but we must be patient ta find all five.”
Flaevynn smiled, her face aglow with arrogant pleasure. “While you sat around reading, I have been productive. Those two I mentioned that feel drawn to Atlanta? I captured those Alterants and Evalle.”
He remained calm to keep his power from shakin’ the room. The fool ha captured the female Alterant? The magnet needed ta draw the other four? “Holdin’ Evalle will no help us.”
“I know that. Kizira set up a ruse to convince Evalle that she had to find the other Alterants before we did, then had our warlocks attack so that Evalle thinks she escaped. She is now back in Atlanta overseeing the hunt for the Alterants.”
The Curse (Beladors) Page 13