by Talia Vance
The next thing I’m aware of is a prickly numbness, like my entire body has fallen asleep. The pins and needles jab at the surface, pain cutting through as my nerves come back to life.
“Brianna.” Austin’s voice sounds far away. A damp cloth presses against my forehead.
I blink. The flash of daylight is enough to trigger a throbbing pain in my head. I grit my teeth against the metallic taste in my mouth, biting back a scream. I try opening my eyes again. I’m still on the floor of the office, propped up against Austin, who sits on the floor behind me.
“What happened?”
I try to remember. At first it’s all a blurry dream. Liam. Lightening. Why I came here in the first place. “You used to go by Aaron.”
“There have been many Lord Lorcans.”
“But Aaron was the last one. Before you were banished.”
“True enough.”
“You were with Gwyn.”
His whole body tenses beside me.
“I saw you with her.”
“Ah.” Austin leans his head back against the wall so hard it makes a loud smack that makes my head hurt even more. “A thousand years ago.”
“She was Danu’s daughter. A first generation, right? She had no power.” Which means Austin didn’t need her to fight the Sons. He wasn’t using her. I know I shouldn’t care about something that happened so long ago, but I do. And then a sick thought pops into my head that I can’t quite shake. What if he married her? What if they had children?
“She was my grandmother. To the hundredth power, but still.” I can’t hide the panic in my voice.
He shakes his head. “We weren’t together, Brianna. We never even—” He stops himself. “Why am I telling you this?”
“This is what people do. We tell each other about our pasts. It’s how we get to know each other.”
He wraps his arms around me. “You want to know about Gwyn?”
I nod.
“A harmless flirtation. Nothing to speak of really. I kissed her once.”
“That’s it?”
He sighs. “I met someone else.”
Oh God. It’s not just Gwyn. I shouldn’t care. I shouldn’t need to know about girls he was with a thousand years ago. I shouldn’t care period. “Oh.”
“Are you jealous?”
“A little.” The admission scares me. The bandia in me is alive and well, powers or none.
He laughs.
“It’s not funny.”
Austin kisses my hair. “If you saw me with Gwyn, then you already know what happened.”
I shake my head.
“The girl I met was you.”
TWENTY-NINE
I can’t stop thinking about what Austin said. We met a thousand years ago. I know it happened. I was there, twice, and we talked for a few minutes before I came back. Why would that change things between Austin and Gwyn? And why didn’t Austin tell me this before?
I take the car keys without asking. The Sons are in Cath now, so I keep to the outskirts of town. I pass an old Church with blackened stones then make a u-turn and park across the street.
I stare at the dark wall.
In seven generations the town has recovered, the fire that nearly destroyed it nothing more than a scar that is so old, it’s woven into the fabric of the town. Still, the evidence is there. The rectory next door boasts charred stones along the entire east wall. I get out of my car and walk up to it, running my hands along the stones, the remnants of my seventh generation grandmother’s revenge.
I don’t need the proof that my power is dangerous, but it’s sobering to see the lingering effects of a moment’s rage from so long ago. The world is safe from me now that my powers are gone. But what of the other bandia? And what if Liam succeeds in bringing the gods back from the underworld? Austin has already said that they aren’t happy. That they plan to put the humans in their place. How many people will suffer if we don’t stop them?
“Brianna?” I turn to see Shannon standing just behind me. Her blonde hair is plaited in two French braids that meet in the back, but she’s dressed casually, in jeans and a fisherman’s sweater that hangs on her thin frame.
“Hey.” I drop my hand from the wall. “Just doing a little sight-seeing.”
“Interesting choice of sights. Most people go into town.” Shannon places her hand in the front pocket of her jeans. “Are you what my mum says?”
“A witch?” I shake my head. “No.” Not anymore.
“I don’t care if you are. I’m not afraid of witches.”
I glance back at the charred stone. “Maybe you should be.”
“You sound like my mum.”
“I’m sorry I haven’t stopped by your shop. I don’t get into town much.”
She shrugs. “It’s okay. I heard that Lord Lorcan’s in residence for a change. Is he as much of a bob as they claim?”
“A bob?”
“Is he hot?”
I smile and maybe blush. “He’s cute.”
“Is he now? No wonder you’re not spending much time in Cath.” She walks up next to me, running her hand along the charred wall. “You’ve heard the story?”
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
“Unless it’s a man.”
I laugh. “Are there more? Stories, I mean.”
“We have many.”
I try not to get too excited, but it occurs to me that Shannon might know everything that my family failed to preserve. My stories. My history. I run my hand along the wall. “What happened to the woman who did it?”
“She fled. She had to. They would’ve killed her otherwise. But justice was done a few years later. Her body was found in a field near Dunfield Abbey. Knife to the heart.”
“Did they know who killed her?” A Son, of course, but I needed to know if she knew her killer. If she was bonded to him.
Shannon shakes her head. “Never did catch him. Not that anyone tried too hard.”
“Have you heard of a god called Pwil?”
“Friend to Arawn.”
“What’s his story?”
“He was Arawn’s second, lording over the underworld in Arawn’s place when Arawn passed between the worlds. Arawn gave him a special place when he learned that Pwil protected Arawn’s lover in his absence.”
“Arawn’s lover?” I can’t ignore the dark feeling that starts in the pit of my stomach and spreads in a black wave. Austin never mentioned that he had a lover in the underworld. A goddess?
“Little is known about her. There are rumors that it was Callieach, but I like to think it was Danu herself.”
My stomach clenches. Austin has been holding back on me.
She touches a dark stone. “If you believe my mother, we still live history, every day. We are tomorrow’s past.”
“Can we change it? Tomorrow’s history?”
Shannon doesn’t take her hand off the wall. “It is already written. We’re just the players.”
“Yes, but do we win?”
Shannon smiles. “Of course. Why else are we here?”
We can’t all win. I think of my ancestor, bleeding to death, alone in a field. Some of us are here to lose.
THIRTY
I don’t go back to Lorcan. I’m not about to sit around the lunch table with Sherri Milliken and Liam after what he did to me this morning. And I’m not ready to talk to Austin about his girlfriend in the underworld.
I head for the pub where Braden is staying, not wanting to chance running into Blake at the Cath Pub. Braden is there, seated with the same group of guys, downing pints and laughing. He glances at me and winks before turning his attention back to the giolla at his left.
“Hey Braden.” I need to see what else I can learn about the Gathering.
He looks past me, like he’s expecting someone else. When he sees I’m alone, he breaks into a huge grin. “Finally ditched the excess baggage, I see.”
“Something like that.”
He scoots into the booth until there�
��s only a small spot next to him. “By all means, join us.” I spent most of my teens being invisible to guys, so I don’t miss the way Braden’s eyes stay with mine as I sit down next to him. It’s so much more meaningless than I expected it to be. It turns out I don’t necessarily want guys to see me like a present to be unwrapped.
Braden slides a full pint to me, and I take a long sip. It’s warm and heavy and dark. It fits my mood perfectly. I drink it faster than I should. Braden watches me drink, but his eyes keep darting to the bracelet around my wrist. As soon as my pint is empty, he orders me another.
The giolla goes by Sam. He raises his glass in a toast. “To the drinking age in Ireland!”
Other than the Greenpeace tattoo on his left forearm, Sam looks surprisingly modern for a giolla. Joe still dresses like a fifties retro greaser, and Mikel’s mutton chops make him look at least one hundred years behind the times, but Sam’s spiky hair is more current, even if his guyliner is a decade or so off. He could easily pass for a modern teen.
Braden sips his drink and watches me. “You are too pretty for your own good.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I’m tempted to take you to the bottom of the sea and keep you there forever.”
I laugh, even though I know he’s only partly joking. “Well there’s a fuath for you,” I blurt.
The table goes deathly silent.
Sam looks from me to Braden and back again.
“What?” My voice comes out too loud. “They don’t know?”
Braden leans into my ear. “They know. But we don’t want the whole pub hearing. These people are superstitious enough as it is.”
I lower my voice. “Sorry. It’s not like they like me either.”
“Their loss.”
The hair on the back of my neck raises. I look toward the door instinctively. Jonah walks into the pub, his arm slung around Sierra. No one pays them any attention as they talk to the guy behind the bar. They’re just a couple of tourists.
A couple of tourists who want me dead.
“What’s the matter?” Braden looks around the room.
“I need to get out of here,” I say, keeping my eyes on Jonah’s back.
Braden follows my gaze. “Him? Is he a Son?” Braden whispers something to Sam, and Sam heads for the bar.
“We should be able to get out through the kitchen.” Braden stands in front of me.
I hesitate. Austin doesn’t trust the fuath, and there has to be a reason for that. But Jonah is one hundred percent bad news. I have to play the odds and go with Braden.
Jonah turns his head just as I stand up. His eyes widen when he sees me, then a sick smile lights up his face. He abandons Sierra and Sam, crossing the room in a few smooth steps. He looks from Braden to me and back again. “Who’s the new boyfriend?”
Braden’s nostrils flare as he takes a deep breath. “Seriously? You think this is the time or place?”
“Sorry, Buddy. I hate to break up your little party, but Brianna and I have some unfinished business.” Jonah grabs my elbow and jerks me away from Braden.
“Don’t touch me.” I wrench my arm away and shrink back against the wall.
“Sucks for you that we can’t be friends.” Jonah tilts his head to the side, and a dark look crosses his face.
Braden steps in between us. “Go.”
I run toward the kitchen, ducking behind the door just as the pub lights up with silver. Crap. I nearly knock over a petite woman chopping celery at the counter, but I don’t stop. I hear footsteps chasing from behind. I get to the back door and glance over my shoulder.
“Get outside!” Braden runs up beside me and pushes the door open, ignoring the alarm that blares as we duck out into an alley, just as silver lights up the room behind us.
“This way.” Braden points to the left and grabs my wrist, pulling me as he runs around another corner.
The rain is back, coming down in a cold drizzle. Braden pulls me down another alley, and then another, stopping only when we’re confident that we’ve put enough walls and darkness between us and Jonah.
“That guy is an idiot. He didn’t care about revealing himself. He just wanted you dead.”
“Sorry for dragging you into it.”
“You think I’m not in this already?” Braden laughs.
“I don’t know anything about you. You were kidding about dragging me to the bottom of the ocean, right?”
“It’s tempting, but we need you for the Gathering.” His face is hidden by the shadows, so it’s impossible to tell if he’s being serious. He pulls me under an awning. “What about you? What kind of game are you playing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Lose the innocent act. You show up with your boyfriend and ask me a bunch of questions about the Gathering. I know you’re not interested in me. And you’re a lot smarter than you pretended to be.”
“How do you know I’m not interested?” My brain is still fuzzy from the beer. I’m having a hard time following his logic.
“I absorb other people’s emotions. I know what you’re feeling.”
“Negative ones, right?”
“All of them. Negative ones are just the easiest to find.”
“So what am I feeling now?”
Braden raises his eyebrows. “Don’t you know?”
“Of course. I just want to see if you do.”
“Fear. Relief. But those are the obvious ones. You’re more complicated than that. When you came in there was confusion, disappointment and jealousy.”
“Not bad.” I felt all of those things. Austin and Danu? It’s sick in so many ways I can’t even begin to process it.
“And you were afraid even before that bastard showed up.”
“I’m not afraid of you.” I probably should be. But I’m not.
“I didn’t say you were afraid of me.”
“What am I afraid of then?”
“I only get the emotions, not necessarily the reasons behind them. But if I had to guess I’d say you’re afraid of falling in love.”
“Not even close. You’re not as good as I thought.”
“And that, right there is denial.” He sniffs the air. “Tastes like chicken.”
I laugh with him. “You know for an evil killer, you’re kind of fun to hang out with.”
“I could say the same thing about you.”
“Why would you think I’m afraid of falling in love?”
“When you were here with your friend, you kept pushing your feelings away.”
“Maybe I don’t want a relationship right now. That doesn’t mean I’m afraid.”
“Tell yourself whatever you need to.” Braden shakes some water out of his hair. His eyes flit back to my wrist.
“Stop staring at my bracelet.”
He looks up quickly. “Sorry. It’s a fuath thing. I’m drawn to shiny, pretty things. They’re like magnets for people’s emotions. Yours seems particularly potent, which means it’s probably very old, and maybe even magic.”
“Do you want to see it?” I lift my wrist toward him.
He backs up. “Don’t tempt me. I might be able to stop myself from taking you to the bottom of the sea, but I make no promises where that thing is concerned.” “You want to steal it?”
He smiles. “You really have no idea what I am, do you?”
The sky lights up with silver behind us. Braden looks over his shoulder. “Wait here.” He darts around the corner. I blink toward where the light came from, searching the ground for something I can use as a weapon.
A clacking sound, hoof beats on stone, comes from where Braden disappeared. I peer around the corner. A horse emerges from the shadows in the alley, shaking its mane at me. Calling it a horse is not exactly right. It’s an unearthly white, almost glowing, with black eyes that blink under white lashes. Long feathers of fur flow from its fetlocks. It’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.
I step toward him. “Braden?”
The horse shakes his mane again and lowers his head to the ground.
I reach for his neck, stroking the soft fur. His coat is gorgeous, more mink than horse hair. I want to bury my hands in it.
Jonah appears a few feet away in a bright blast. I don’t have time to think.
The horse drops to his knees, and I put my hands on his withers and swing my leg over his back, grabbing a handful of the thick mane.
Jonah lunges at me with his knife, but Braden is faster. He takes off in a canter down the street, rounding a corner and then another before Jonah can dematerialize. Braden’s hooves clop along the stone as we emerge onto the main road, out in the open. The flash of silver light behind us is the only warning I have that we haven’t lost Jonah. Braden turns toward the harbor, racing for the pier. As we gallop onto the wood Jonah appears directly in front of us. Braden’s pace doesn’t slow. If anything, he speeds up, lengthening his stride.
Jonah raises his knife just as Braden leaps into the air. All I can do is lean forward and stay with Braden as we sail over Jonah, jumping high into the night sky, barely missing the blade in Jonah’s outstretched hand. At first it feels like we’re flying and I’m sure I must be smiling from ear to ear. Then Braden drops his head and we dive straight into the black sea.
Oh my God.
I try to push off his back, as we go deeper into the freezing water, but it’s like my legs are glued there. I can’t get away. I hold my breath, desperately searching for some connection to the water as Braden swims. But the water is silent. It does nothing but close in on me as I struggle to keep from trying to breathe in.
I feel a swish behind me and we’re rising again. We break the surface and I gulp in a breath. Braden tilts his head to check on me and then glances back at the pier, far in the distance. There is no sign of Jonah’s glowing demigod form.
Braden moves along the surface of the water, making no move to take me under again, and I let myself relax.
I’m drenched, but somehow warm and comfortable as we swim along the shoreline. The rain stops, and from here, I can see the lights of the small town flicker. It’s beautiful. Peaceful. Perfect.
We swim to the other side of the harbor, before Braden turns for shore and walks us in. I slide off easily when we reach the beach, grateful to be on solid ground. I turn to pat the animal’s neck.