Jaylon’s room was crowded. And silent—except for beeping monitors and the labored sound of a breathing machine. Although flowers decorated the room, it had the overclean smell of bleached sheets, medicines, and antiseptics.
Jaylon’s mother looked up as they entered the room. Sonelle’s eyes were swollen and red-rimmed, but she wasn’t crying now. Lucan suspected she had no tears left. Still and silent, she held the little boy’s hand tightly clenched in her own.
Jaylon’s skin was pale, his eyes closed, and his breathing shallow. Depuck, mostly recovered from the beating he’d suffered at the residence, stood beside Nisco.
Several solemn healers moved around the room, monitoring instruments. A nurse fluffed a pillow. But clearly, they were all helpless as Jaylon struggled to breathe.
When the sisters spied Cael, they didn’t utter a greeting. They didn’t smile. Their gazes slowly moved to the Grail she held in her hands. Sonelle released her son’s hand and gestured for Cael to take her place at his side. “You came.”
“With the Grail?” Nisco’s voice rose in hope. “Is that the Grail?”
Cael nodded. “Are you all right?”
Nisco shrugged. “I sent a copy of those specs to the press. Since it hit the airwaves and the secret’s out, there’s no longer a reason for the military to come after me.”
“And you, Depuck?” Cael asked.
“He’s healing.” Nisco stepped away from Jaylon and gestured Cael forward.
Cael leaned over her nephew and kissed his forehead.
One of the physicians gasped.
“I’m allowed to touch the boy to heal him,” Cael said with quiet dignity. Jaylon’s eyes didn’t flutter, and she took his hand and squeezed. “Is he conscious?”
Sonelle shook her head. “Do something. Anything. Please.”
Cael wrapped the boy’s fingers on the Grail’s handle. Unlike when Cael had touched the Grail, the coppery shimmer didn’t turn to scarlet. Lucan didn’t know if this was because the child didn’t have dragonblood or because the life in him was too weak to register. Cael waited a full minute.
No one spoke. Tension escalated.
The monitors didn’t change. Jaylon didn’t open his eyes. His color remained pale.
Cael looked at Lucan, her gaze frustrated and filled with haunting pain.
Lucan picked up a glass and poured water into the Grail. Cael tilted the cup to the child, and water trickled between his bluish lips. Most of the liquid dribbled onto the pillow. But a few drops entered his mouth.
Jaylon coughed and opened his eyes. Cael smiled, a smile that lit up her entire face. “Jaylon, I brought you the Grail like I promised. Sweetie, can you drink a little more for me?”
When Jaylon didn’t answer, Sonelle climbed onto the bed, sat behind her son, and propped him upright. “You can do this, baby, after all you’ve been through. Just do one more thing. Drink.”
Again Cael held the cup to his mouth. And Jaylon sipped. He swallowed once. Twice. Then his head lolled to the side. The buzzers and alarms on the medical equipment shrieked in shrill beeps.
“By the Goddess.” Sonelle, her face racked with grief, scowled at Cael. “What have you done?”
Lucan didn’t understand how Sonelle could be so cruel. Couldn’t Sonelle see how badly Cael wanted to cure Jaylon? Didn’t she comprehend that Cael was risking her own life to come here?
At her sister’s question, Cael’s lips tightened and pain thundered in her eyes. But she kept her silence with a strength that astounded him.
Still, he ached to comfort her. Leaning over the bed and Jaylon, Lucan squeezed Cael’s hand. “You did what you could.”
“Is he… gone?” Nisco whimpered, her gaze also turning on Cael in horror.
More pain filled Cael’s eyes, but she held her chin high. How much could her sisters expect her to take? Clenching the Grail tightly to her chest, Cael again let the insult go. She smoothed Jaylon’s hair from his face. “Come on, little guy. Fight.”
Healers clustered around Jaylon. They shook their heads and stepped back. “He still has a pulse,” one observed. “He still breathes.”
Everyone knew from the healer’s tone that he didn’t expect Jaylon to live much longer.
Sonelle shuddered and pointed at Cael. “You’ve weakened him.”
Cael shook with anger. “I risked my life to bring the Grail here. Jaylon’s illness… is not my fault.”
Sonelle and Nisco didn’t look the least bit ashamed. In fact, Cael’s words didn’t even seem to register.
Lucan placed an arm over Cael’s shoulders. “You’ve done everything you could.”
“Not everything.” Cael removed Jaylon’s blanket and sheet, then raised his gown to reveal his chest. Next she picked up a sharp instrument from a suturing kit.
“What are you doing?” Sonelle screamed and lunged at Cael.
Lucan stepped between Sonelle and Cael, giving her room to proceed.
“No.” Nisco lunged to grab Cael’s hand. “Let him go in peace.”
“Let the High Priestess do her work.” Rion wrapped his arms around Nisco, pulling her back.
Cael’s mouth tightened in determination. She clenched the sharp instrument. Then she pierced Jaylon between his ribs.
“Are you mad?” Sonelle screamed, struggling, tears streaming down her face, but Lucan held her back. “You’ve stabbed him in the heart.”
“No,” Cael corrected her. “His lung.”
Whatever she’d hit, blood spurted, covering Cael’s hands, her neck, her clothing. The monitors shrieked. Her sisters cursed and sobbed. More healers rushed in, but when they saw the High Priestess, they shuffled back from the bed.
Cael paid them no attention. As if in a queenly trance, she poured the rest of the Grail’s water over Jaylon’s wound. Beside her, Lucan saw the agony in her eyes, the tremble in her hands.
Was this a mercy killing?
“Why?” he asked, still stunned, his heart aching for her. She’d gone through so much. To fail Jaylon would haunt her the rest of her days.
“Legend says whoever possesses the Grail, their armies won’t die in battle,” Cael intoned.
“But Jaylon isn’t a soldier. He’s ill,” Rion said.
“Exactly.” Cael nodded. “So I gave him a battle wound.”
Sonelle’s face crumpled with grief, and tears ravaged her cheeks. “I will never, ever forgive you. I don’t care if you are the High Priestess. You’ve killed my son.”
“Sonelle, Jaylon was dying. I may have robbed him of his last painful breaths, but…” Cael wiped the boy’s blood from her hands, and then she froze.
Lucan followed her gaze. Jaylon’s bloody chest wound had stopped bleeding. The wound was closing. Healing.
“Oh… my… God.” Lucan squeezed her hand. “The Grail—”
“Is closing his wound. But will it heal his illness?” Cael peered at the monitors, and then she raised teary eyes to Lucan’s. “He’s growing stronger.” Her voice broke with relief. “His white cell count’s approaching normal. His cells are repairing themselves.”
Her words sent his thoughts spinning. “If the Grail can repair cell damage—”
“What are you saying? Tell me,” Sonelle demanded.
Lucan caught the woman’s gaze, had to stop himself from shaking her. Keeping his temper, he said with careful deliberation, “Cael has cured your son. He’s going to live. And you, my lady, owe your sister an apology.”
Sonelle ignored him and lunged toward Jaylon. This time, Lucan let her go. “Jaylon. Jaylon, baby. Mom’s here. You’re going to be well.”
Jaylon opened his eyes and peered over his mother’s shoulder. His gaze went from the Grail to Cael, still covered in his blood. “Thank you.” He reached out to Cael, and they hugged. When she straightened, tears of happiness streamed from her eyes.
Jaylon took his mother’s hands. “Mom, you need to thank her, too.”
Sonelle shook her head and broke down into heart-wrenchi
ng sobs, but she wouldn’t look at Cael. “She stabbed you.”
Cael smiled at Jaylon over his mother’s shoulder. “It’s all right.”
“But—”
“Remember what I told you when you first got sick and the other children made fun of you?”
“That some people can’t see beyond their own past.”
“Exactly.” She nodded approval. “That doesn’t mean we love them any less.”
By the Goddess. That she could forgive her sister floored Lucan. But no one else seemed surprised, as if they expected this kind of sacrifice, nobility, and honor from her. But she was human. She had feelings. And after she’d saved Jaylon’s life, the least her sister could do was—
The woman whose baby Cael had blessed earlier barged into the room. “My lady, soldiers are in the lobby, demanding that you give yourself up to them. A Sir Quentin is with them.”
Lucan suppressed a curse. Coming to the medical center had been a too-predictable move. But they’d saved Jaylon’s life. He couldn’t regret their decision.
“Thank you.” Cael turned from the young mother to Jaylon and again kissed him on the forehead. “We must go, sweetie.”
“Is there anything we can do?” Depuck asked.
“Trade clothes with us,” Lucan said. “Rion, find us some weapons. We need to get up to the roof.”
Sometimes only a good heart can save the world.
—ARTHUR PENDRAGON
23
Forget the weapons.” Cael turned from the window, picked up the Grail, and thrust it at Lucan. Hundreds of soldiers were converging on the medical center. Armored skimmers had lifted into the air from hidden positions behind warehouses, hovered around the building, and were landing on the rooftop. Even more reinforcements poured in by air and ground. The three were clearly outnumbered. Cael had to shout to make herself heard over the skimmer engines. “We can’t get away.”
“They were waiting for us,” Lucan said.
They couldn’t all get away, but perhaps Cael could help Lucan and Rion escape. She knew in her hearts that Lucan would never agree to leave her behind. Not if he was conscious.
While Lucan was distracted by the sight outside the window, Cael handed Rion a syringe, jerked her thumb at Lucan, and lowered her voice to a whisper so only Rion could hear. “You might have to use this on him.”
Rion palmed the syringe and kept his voice low.
“What’s it do?”
“It’ll put him to sleep.”
Rion nodded and didn’t ask questions, bless him.
With a nod good-bye to her family, she led the men from Jaylon’s bedroom. She didn’t want her sisters privy to their plans or blamed for their actions.
Before she changed her mind, she spoke with all the authority she could muster, “You two should hide while I go talk to Quentin.”
“No.” Lucan’s gaze pierced hers. “I’m not letting you—”
“You’re not in charge.” Cael drew her High Priestess aura around her like armor. Later she would allow herself to feel the pain of losing him, but not now. “You and Rion must escape with the Grail while I draw their attention to me.”
Rion remained silent.
Lucan scowled and blocked her from leaving. “You aren’t sacrificing yourself for us. Splitting up is not an option.”
“We don’t have time to argue.”
He didn’t move. Eyes hard, arms crossed over his chest, hip cocked, he radiated a charged dominance. “And what happens when they discover you don’t have the Grail?”
“By then, you’ll be long gone.” She forced herself to meet Lucan’s eyes with a serenity she was far from feeling. This was good-bye. She swallowed hard. For Cael and Lucan, there would be no tomorrow. “You have the Grail. Go save your people so they can save us all from the Tribes.”
“I can’t let you do this.” Lucan placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.
She wanted to lean into him. Instead, already feeling an acute sense of loss, she stepped back. “Most of my people are decent, and I may yet clear my name of the murder charges. Even if I can’t, I got what I wanted. Jaylon’s well.”
“So now you’re throwing your life away?”
Pulse pounding, she knew what she had to do. She threw a pleading glance at Rion. “You have a world to save, and I might buy you the time to escape.”
Rion placed his hand in his pocket.
There was no hesitation in Lucan. “We’ll all escape together.” His eyes burned with determination. “I won’t let you martyr yourself for us.”
“Either they get all of us, or they just get me. Either way, I’m caught. So go.” She spun on her heel, dismissing his concerns, but she didn’t have to be an empath to feel Lucan’s resolve harden.
She glanced over her shoulder at Rion. Good man. He was fingering the syringe.
Lucan’s sadness blasted her, and he stepped forward, again blocking her escape. “What about us?”
“We don’t have a future together. You’ve always known that. I’ve finally accepted what must be.” She sounded cool, composed. Yet inside, her hearts were shattering into tiny pieces. But she held herself together and forced back the pain. She couldn’t let him know exactly how much she cared, or she might falter. And faltering would cost his life. “You and I, and Rion,” she swallowed roughly, “we have no choice.”
The military had the medical center surrounded. She’d much rather go on, or die if need be, without Lucan, knowing he was safe on his world, a hero to his people, than try to keep him here, where the military would use the Grail for their own devious reasons, possibly even hand it over to the Tribes.
“We always have a choice.” Lucan’s voice turned to ice. A muscle ticked in his jaw, and the veins on his neck and forehead looked ready to explode. “I won’t run away while you give yourself over to them.”
She’d never seen him so furious, but she refused to back down. “You aren’t thinking straight. How will getting yourself killed help your world?” Again she stepped around him.
Lucan grabbed her arm. “The last time they caught you, they tortured you. You aren’t going out there.”
She pulled back and to one side, drawing Lucan’s eyes toward her, away from Rion.
With a quick thrust, Rion shoved the needle into Lucan’s neck and depressed the plunger. Startled, Lucan flailed once, then collapsed, the Grail still in his hands. Rion caught him and eased Lucan to the floor.
“When he wakes up, he won’t thank you,” Cael muttered, but she recalled Rion fighting with his hands tied behind his back and thought if any man could match Lucan’s strength and determination, it would be Rion.
Rion nodded, his eyes bleak. “I’ll be fine, my lady. But what about you?”
She ignored his concern. “Find an attendant and take his uniform. Place Lucan in a casket and take him out through the morgue’s back doors.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll see to him. But what will you tell Sir Quentin?” Rion asked.
“I’ll think of something. I can be very convincing.” Especially with Lucan and Rion’s lives at stake. “By the time I’m through with them, you and Lucan will be long gone.”
“You’re very brave, my lady.”
She wasn’t. Her stomach had turned into a hard knot. And she couldn’t draw enough air into her lungs. Faint, queasy, she stepped around Lucan. “I must go. When he wakes up, tell him… tell him that I did what I had to do.”
“I will.”
She kneeled and kissed Lucan’s warm lips, then stood. “And Rion?”
“Yes, my lady.”
“Tell him that I will always miss him.” Cael fled before her eyes filled.
Trying to breathe normally, Cael strode outside the medical center toward General Brennon and Sir Quentin and a bustling group of military men, their weapons at the ready. She kept her face composed, her head high, and refused to think about how she’d never see Lucan again. If she did, she’d fall apart. And to save him, she had to keep calm. What she sai
d next might make the difference between Lucan and Rion’s survival and their deaths.
She had to stall. Use her status to make these men listen. Because if they searched the medical center from top to bottom, Lucan and Rion would never escape.
“Where’s the Grail?” Sir Quentin asked. From the smirk on his face, he believed he held the upper hand. She intended for him to continue to think that way.
“Don’t worry.” She made her voice happy, as if they were on the same side and she was glad to see him. “I hid the Grail.”
“In the medical center?” Quentin peered at the building behind her.
“Of course not.” She kept her back straight, her shoulders squared, and ignored the weapons aimed at her chest. “After we left Avalon—”
“You mean after you stole the Grail and helped Rion get away—”
“You twist my words and misunderstand my actions, Sir Quentin.” She paused, hoping he’d believe her performance as she placed resentment into her tone. “Rion and Lucan planned to keep the Grail for themselves. I stayed with them to make sure Avalon’s prize would be put to the highest use.”
Brennon nodded to a man who slipped a metal chain around Cael’s waist. She could no longer dragonshape. The steel chilled her, but she would not let them see her cower, and she tossed her head with disdain. “As High Priestess, my duty is to do what’s best for Pendragon.”
“You’re a traitor.” Quentin scowled. “Where’s the Grail?”
“I told you, I did what’s best for Pendragon.” Giving the Grail to Earth so Lucan’s people could live was the right thing to do. Their need was great. But she hadn’t betrayed her responsibilities. According to Rion, helping Earth would help her people. She’d believed in Rion’s flashes of the future. She believed the Tribes would come to Pendragon, if they weren’t already here.
“We won’t ask again. Where’s the Grail?” Quentin demanded.
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