Heir to the Underworld

by Walker, E. D.

  Polydegmon wrinkled his nose in distaste, glaring at Badb as hot anger exploded in his gut. He did not appreciate being spied on. "What girl?"

  "The redhead you took up on your horse this afternoon." She shifted on her feet, uneasy. He could tell she yearned to draw her blade every instant spent talking with him. Badb, a goddess of action, hated to waste time trading words. Especially with Polydegmon.

  He decided he would not make this delightful little chat easy for her. "Why, Badb, you followed me?"

  Her dark brows drew together so they almost touched, and her mouth puckered with contempt. "The Morrígan told me to keep an eye on you, Death-son."

  "She is concerned for my safety?"

  "She is concerned you will botch what she sent you here to do."

  Polydegmon advanced on her, using every inch of his extra height to intimidate her, to communicate to her that he would not be toyed with. She did not tremble, but her eyes widened as she looked up at him.

  He flashed his teeth at her, preserving the illusion this was a friendly chat even as he let her see the vicious glint in his eye. "You must forgive me. My memory is so poor. I thought my father sent me for Kore. The Morrígan merely suggested I look for her with the Lord of the Hunt. I thanked her for the information, but how I go about rescuing my sister from the Wild Hunt is of no concern to you. Or the Morrígan."

  Badb retreated. "You are a harvest god. All you do is frolic in the spring grass and tumble foolish maidens. Tell me what you know of dealing death. Tell me how a whelp like you plans to stand against the power of the Hunt--"

  His patience a brittle thing these days, her words snapped it. Polydegmon grabbed her arm and shook her. "You forget yourself again. Did you not call me 'Death-son'? And you ask me what I know of chaos and killing? Never fear. If the Lord of the Hunt brings my sister to this place, I will get her back, even if I must meet all of the Hunt in combat."

  Badb did not bother to hide her contemptuous laugh. "A dandified farm god like you?"

  He twisted his mouth into a mocking grin. "Milady, you touch my heart. Do you mean to stand with me against the Wild Hunt?"

  Her face paled, and she held her hands up as if to ward off his words. "Never say it. I am here only to tell you when their Revels will begin. I've no quarrel with the Hunt. This work is yours alone."

  With a smile of satisfaction, he released her, pleased to have rattled Badb. "Yes, it is. So waste no more words telling me how to do it."

  "I will tell you what you wish to know if you will give me the redhead's name."

  "Why do you want to know?"

  She laughed and shrugged, her gestures at odds with her brusque manner. "A pretty child. I thought the fairies might want her for their fun. Red is such a lovely color."

  He narrowed his eyes in a glare, imitating his dour father. "Alas for you that I have seen her first." He waved his hand in an airy, dismissive gesture. "She is merely a comely mortal, but things will go ill if you tangle her in your toils."

  "We shall see, won't we?" Badb laughed, her fingers turning white where she gripped her weapon. "The Hunt's Revels begin tomorrow at the moon's rising. Good luck, Death-son. I hope your pretty mortal leads you a merry chase." She spun on her heel. There was only a flash of dark feathers in the night and off she went, a small shadow falling into the moon.

  Now that he was alone, Polydegmon hissed out a quick, vile oath. Another day still to kick his heels and wait. What might happen to poor Kore in that time? Anything. He raked his fingers through his hair then sighed. Nothing to be done. Throwing a tantrum would aid him not at all, and so he returned to his cave.

  As he stretched out on his rough pallet, the arms of Morpheus did not open for him. Sleep remained a long way off. He lay back on his bedroll in the cold, hard cave and thought of the pretty mortal Freddy. He grinned to himself. His dear "Jane Jones."

  But her image did not comfort him.

  Instead, he found himself thrashing back and forth on the ground, tossing until his coverings were twisted tight around his body. His sudden worry for Freddy made him a restless thing.

  Badb and her Celtic ilk were not so bad, but war gods of any type tended toward the bloodthirsty and cruel. And Freddy had been brought to their notice by his doings.

  A churning discomfort stirred in his chest, a tightness plugged his throat. Strange feelings. They might be kin to guilt.

  He longed to see Freddy again with an ache that was almost physical, but he couldn't deny she would be better served if he stayed away from her. To pursue her would draw more attention.

  With Badb haunting the area and the Wild Hunt riding through for their sport any day, Freddy did not need to be noticed by that ruthless pack. They would take her for their sport and crush every last bit of beauty and brightness from her spirit. The idea alone constricted Polydegmon's lungs until he could not catch his breath.

  After a moment, he shook the inconvenient reaction off in frustration. He admired the girl and enjoyed her company. Nothing more.

  But she did deserve better than to become the plaything of the Wild Hunt, or of Badb and her bloodthirsty sisters.

  He sighed in disappointment as he decided what he would do, and so surprised himself that her safety should weigh more highly to him than his own pleasure.

  He supposed the novelty of doing the right thing for once contained an appeal all its own, not to be resisted.

  ~~~

  Freddy kept an eye out for Deg the next day. Impatient to see him, she restlessly paced back and forth where he usually caught up to her on the walk home. A clump of crows riding the power cable above her eyed her movements. Freddy kept an eye on their hindquarters, not wishing for an unpleasant accessory for her hair.

  The boulder where she took her rest breaks had been bare, surrounded by a ring of barren gravel for as long as she could remember. But today flowers engulfed the rock, bright blooms bursting open with a sweet, stimulating scent. They hadn't been there yesterday. Someone's gardener had been working overtime.

  Freddy picked a yellow flower, then gently plucked the petals off one by one. "He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not…" She gave an amused snort at her own childishness as she pinched the final one between her thumb and forefinger. Plucking it free, she stared at the yellow petal in triumph. "He loves me."

  She could have been home by now, but, having spent a listless day looking forward to this rendezvous, she was reluctant to finish her walk without meeting Deg. Although, if she stayed too much longer, she'd be receiving another irate phone call from her dad.

  She glanced upward as the line of crows unleashed a chorus of scathing caws.

  "Good day, Freddy."

  She whirled around, pale petals scattering from her fingers. "Hi, Deg." Her voice had gone all breathy at sight of him. Get a grip, Fred.

  Deg walked toward her in long strides, then paused to eye the crows above with dislike. Jeans again today for Deg, and a blue-striped polo. He remained very hot no matter what he wore, but she missed the way he'd looked in the Roman costume. Not every boy can pull off a leather breastplate, after all. Deg clasped Freddy by the hand and led her under the shadow of a tree. Cooler now in the shade, Deg's hand in hers seemed even warmer, a hot point of contact that spread up her arm to heat the rest of her body.

  "I am glad you came." He traced his thumb over her hand, causing a shiver along her spine.

  The urge to say something cool bubbled up, but she seemed to be tongue-tied, words circling round in her head before slinking away, rejected. "I'm glad you asked me." Okay, now or never, Fred. She swallowed as nervousness sucked all the moisture from her mouth, but forced herself to leap off the symbolical cliff she'd been contemplating all afternoon. "My birthday's on Sunday. A few of my friends are coming over. You could, too. If you wanted." She stared at her feet as warmth fanned over her face. "You don't have to. It won't hurt my feelings. I'm not--I mean, I don't--"

  "Frederica…" His voice
was low, urgent, pained somehow. He cradled her elbow, his fingers digging into the bone there.

  She let her eyes flutter up to his face. His mouth had turned down, his brows pinched together with tension. The desire to step closer to him, touch him, hold him, was nearly a physical compulsion, a phantom ache in her arms. She wished he would hold her close like yesterday. Or else release her elbow from his uncomfortable grip.

  He did neither, just stared downward, where the only thing to look at was a crack in the sidewalk where a weed poked through. "I have made a mistake. I have put you in danger."

  Her stomach clenched into a knot of alarm. First Dad. Now Deg? "Danger?"

  His fingers loosened on her elbow and made tickling circles against her skin, so that she squirmed closer to him, seeking comfort. "I can't explain, but, please, please do all I ask." He placed his hands on her shoulders and stared at her face, his eyes swimming with worry and fear. "My actions have drawn attention to you of very much the wrong sort. I hope to remedy that. In the meantime, promise me you will not venture out after dark."

  She shook her head, not in denial but simple confusion. Attention from who? Was his family mob-connected or something? Did they not want Deg messing around with a poor girl?

  Or was Deg just lying?

  He gripped her shoulders hard and pulled her to him, his arms around her strong and comforting. She clung to him, leaning her head down on his shoulder so the heat of his skin warmed hers. "Bide close to your guardian. Day and night, keep him with you. Do not slip the leash again--no matter how it chafes."

  She looked at him, drawing her brows down in a confused frown. "What are you talking about?"

  Deg shook his head, his eyes roaming over her face as he drew a deep breath in. "Freddy love, I…" He sighed then shook his head. "Ah, I had so much rather kiss you than utter dire warnings and make you frown at me so."

  Suiting words to action, he kissed her. His kiss carried a thoroughness that left Freddy breathless with joy, but the finality of his embrace worried her.

  He pulled away, but she clung to his shoulders. "Am I going to see you again?"

  He tilted her chin up gently and stared into her eyes, his own squinting with pain as he looked at her. "If I am successful, be sure I will seek you out. If not…" His hands tensed on her shoulders, hurting her. She flinched, and he relaxed his hands at once. But the surge of nervous pressure told her that--under his cool certainty--Deg was scared.

  Yet he maintained his calm front, as if he weren't trembling with fear. "If I do not come to you, it would be better for you to forget you ever knew me, ever knew the kisses of a rogue named Polydegmon."

  She gave a small laugh at his word choice, so melodramatic, but somehow, totally a Deg thing to say. "Is that what you are? A rogue?"

  "The worst kind to have involved a sweet maiden like you in my dangerous games." Sincere disgust dripped from every syllable. When he met her gaze again his own softened, glittering as he looked at her.

  Her skin heated, and her heart flopped in a flustered stagger, but she was happy, too. So happy that she had a boy in her life who looked at her with such delight in his eyes.

  But he's leaving me.

  "Come, kiss your knight errant farewell and bid him good luck on his quest." He wrapped his arms around her, and she pressed tight to him, her throat tight with emotion.

  He tilted his head down to hers. "I hope for your sake I do not come back and find you."

  She tightened her arms around him. "Why shouldn't I want you to come back?" she whispered.

  "Because I am not a good person." He kissed her and a powerful joy coursed through her belly, her veins, her head, her heart. He smelled like heaven, spicy and calming as incense burning all through her system. All of her skin and body tingled where he touched her, rings of pleasure and happiness spread and magnified from the epicenter of her lips where they touched his.

  What would she do if she never kissed him again? Wetness prickled at her eyes, and when Deg looked up she turned away, so he wouldn't see how close she was to crying.

  The sight of a beat-up old Honda Civic pulling over made her limbs freeze with horror. "You need to go." Planting one hand firmly on his chest, she pushed Deg away as hard as she could.

  He held on to her upper arms, which only made her more frantic to shake him off. "What is wrong?"

  She put her hands on his shoulders and shoved him again, so hard he stumbled. "It's my dad. Run fast, okay?"

  Chapter Five

  Freddy thrust Deg away, but he dodged her hands and held his ground until she was almost ready to tackle him in her fear and frustration.

  Eyes lit with amusement, Deg glanced over his shoulder to look where her dad was climbing out of the old Honda. Deg did a double-take, his eyes fastened on her dad and slowly widening as his mouth fell open in shock.

  Her dad had looked angry before, but when he saw Deg's face something changed for the worse. A vein throbbed on her dad's temple, and a murderous light stole into his usually placid eyes. Freddy stiffened, staring at him. She'd never seen him look like that. So angry.

  Deg finally got the hint and tried to run, but her dad moved too quickly, his legs eating up the ground as he barreled toward Deg. Freddy's dad grabbed Deg's shoulder and yanked him off balance, whipping the boy around. A tearing sound filled the air as Deg's sleeve ripped. Her dad growled and grabbed the nape of Deg's neck.

  Freddy stared stupidly at the two of them, numb, paralyzed by the sudden violence. For all she often sparred with her dad, he had never hit anybody in anger.

  She winced as her dad pushed Deg against the tree, pounding him into the knobby trunk with a loud thud. Deg's breath left him in a whoosh. Freddy's lungs throbbed in sympathy. "Dad, stop it!" she yelled.

  Her dad ground Deg's face into the tree with one hand and cranked his arm back with the other.

  Deg bit his lip, half-muffling a cry of pain even as he gave a breathless laugh. "Do I know you?"

  "You know you do." Her dad's voice had roughened to a low growl that grated along Freddy's nerves, pricking them to frightened attention. "I know you for certain, and I want you to stay away from my daughter."

  As her dad twisted Deg's arm even farther back, the fear that he might really hurt Deg snapped Freddy out of her shock. Darting forward, she snaked one arm over her dad's right shoulder, and the other under his left armpit. She knit her hands like a seatbelt across his chest and popped her hip in to knock him off-balance. Throwing her own weight into it, she rocked backward to hinder her dad's momentum. "Are you done, Dad?" Her voice sounded shrill, frantic, and she swallowed, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

  Anger pulsed off of her dad with every heartbeat. But then he tapped her hands--the sparring signal from one fighter to another that the match was over. "I'm done."

  "Good." She released him and rushed to Deg, running her hand over his arm, his shoulder, looking for damage. The fight had hollowed her out inside, and she shook as she touched him. Why did Dad do this?

  Deg gulped in a few breaths and clung to the tree, his hands digging into the bark. He darted a half-smile her way over his shoulder. "I am sorry he interrupted our goodbye."

  Freddy shot a nervous glance at her dad. His eyes narrowed, and she'd swear one of them twitched in time with the vein pounding on his forehead. "Well, I'll see you around." She held her hand out to Deg.

  Turning, Deg caught her hand and gently squeezed her fingers. Then, a gleam in his eye, he tugged her forward so she over-balanced into his arms. She was too startled to stop him. He wrapped himself around her and deeply dipped her backward, his mouth just as deeply dipping into hers as he kissed her.

  Is he suicidal? She pushed at his chest, but he straightened quickly, and spun her away toward her dad. Deg disappeared then at what might be called a flat-out run.

  Dad does scary really well, apparently. She sighed in weary frustration.

  Before Deg was even out of sight, Freddy grabbed her dad's arm and dragged him t
o the car. "Thanks for coming to get me."

  Dad slid into the driver's seat and shot her a Look. "Who was that boy?"

  "You said you knew him." Freddy shook her head, still shocked and disbelieving her dad had actually attacked someone. "I hope you know him, I'd hate to be the girl with the dad who chokes out strangers."

  He didn't answer her at once. When he did, he only said, "I worry about you."

  What? Freddy's control snapped, wild, fierce emotion swirling in her body, clotting in her throat, making her eyes prickle. "You body-checked my friend. I'm the one who should be worried. He's a teenager. Why would you do that?"

  Dad's lips thinned to a tight line, his silence more infuriating than yelling would have been.

  She clenched her hands, trying to channel and release some of the flurry of her emotions. "What are you so worried about? I go to school. I have friends. I don't do drugs. I'm not having sex. I get good grades--"

  "Not in geometry."

  "Dammit, I'm an ideal teenager. What am I doing to make you not trust me--"

  "It's not that--"

  "And why are you on FreddyWatch all the time now? Don't pretend you're not. You never used to call my cell or comb the neighborhood for me when I got home a little late."

  He shifted in the driver's seat. "You're my baby girl, and I love you."

  "Most parents love their kids, but they don't stalk them."

  "Why didn't you tell me about the guy? You've never hidden something like this from me or Mom before."

  I never had anything to hide. Guilt scuttled across her stomach. She'd been lying too much these past two days, and Karma--such an impatient bitch--had already caught up with her. She glared out the car window to avoid her dad's gaze. "Nothing to tell. I just met him."

  "You just met him, and he kissed you like that?"

  "Da-ad." Embarrassed heat fanned Freddy's cheeks as she realized just how much of her encounter with Deg her dad had seen. "Can we talk about something else?"

  "Sure. So…your party."

  "Yes?" She eyed Dad with wary attention.