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“Took you bloody long enough,” was the greeting Duff received when he made his presence known to Seona after visiting Danu in her dream. “For a man wanting to wed one lass, you’re spending a fair amount of time with another.”
Earlier, he’d explained what he knew about her and Danu swapping bodies, a fact she’d accepted with the predictability of a woman who had known precious little luxury in her life.
“I’m a goddess,” she said, running her hands over her body. “How powerful am I?”
“You have no power whatsoever,” he said honestly, because Hyrk’s bars made it so. Though technically, if she were free, she would be quite powerful indeed. Certainly more powerful than him. But he was a trickster, after all, and tangling the truth came as easily to him as breathing. “Long ago, Danu created a relic to hide her power from Hyrk.” He did not specify the relic contained only the portion of her power that sustained the wolfkind people. “She gave it to me, and I saw it safely to the mortal realm, where Hyrk will never find it.”
“So the power that is rightfully mine is in a—a relic? What is a bloody relic?”
He clucked his tongue at his power-hungry bride-to-be. “A relic is an embodiment of an immortal’s power. You’ve touched one. Remember the red gemstone?”
The dungeon’s shadows did not prevent him from seeing her face grow deathly pale. “Aye. I remember.”
“That, love, is Hyrk’s relic. Danu’s relic is what allowed your sister to communicate with Riggs when she arrived in the wolfkind realm. It is what allows King Magnus to communicate with you and the other women from your realm.”
“I thought you said Danu gave the relic to you. How did my sister get her hands on it?”
“I gave it to her. I sensed she would need it, and I was correct. I’m often correct, you’ll find. And you can trust me on this: the power within Danu’s relic belongs to Danu. What ‘rightfully’ belongs to you is death, my dear, since Hyrk threw you from a cliff.” She sucked in a breath, but he did not temper his rebuke. This woman needed a man with a strong hand to lead her on the right path. He was that man. “You’ll remember what’s rightfully yours when you speak of the goddess in whose body you dwell. But—” He softened his voice. “Once we are wed, you’ll have all that is mine, and I will have all that is yours. What power we find ourselves with, we will use together. For our good and for the good of others.” That was every bit the truth, and he meant it with all his heart.
Seona had grumbled but eventually agreed that if she was suddenly granted a goddess’s power, she wouldn’t know the first thing to do with it. That was when Duff had sensed his magic calling him to his friend’s dream. Heeding the summons, he’d told Danu about the blond boy who’d helped Seona and Bilkes escape. Now he had returned to Seona and was eager to resume their conversation.
Reclining in a shadow as comfortably as the sharp rocks would allow, he said, “Tell me, love. Why do you hate wolfkind so much? There has to be more than what you suffered at the hands of that shite-bastard Bantus.”
“More than that? Are you mad?” Her furious screech echoed off the dungeon walls. “Was that nay enough?”
He regretted the implication of what he’d said. He hadn’t meant it like that. “My apologies. What you suffered was horrible. Despicable. Unforgivable. What I meant was that you are a smart woman. You know that one evil man does not make an entire race of people evil.”
She was quiet for so long he thought she wouldn’t answer, but at last, she spoke. “’Twas more than one man.” Her voice slid over the stones, sad and wet with tears. “I was shared.” She sniffed.
Duff was glad Bantus was dead. He only wished his death had been more painful. An eternity of agony wouldn’t be punishment enough for what he’d done to this woman—and the others. “You’ll never be harmed like that again. I vow it.” His vision pulsed red with fury. He almost forgot the question that had started this line of conversation.
Until Seona said, “You are correct. ’Twas more than the violence in Larna that makes me hate them all.” She wiped her tears away, and her gaze turned hard as ice. “You think I dinnae understand there are groups of those wolfmen? Two opposing clans. Anya has explained it to me more times than I can bear to recall. The Larnians are the ones who held us. Who—who abused us. But she acts like the Maranners wear robes of white and bloody halos atop their shaggy heads.”
She scoffed. “That moldering bastard Ari was a Maranner. A sweet-talking, finely-dressed Maranner who lied as smoothly as the devil when he put on a snakeskin. And like that simpering idiot Eve, I bit right into his apple. Promised I’d be consort to a king if I came with him. Promised me riches, power. And I was fool enough to believe it.
“And then there is Magnus.” She bit out the king’s name as if it were a thorn in her tongue. “He had in his possession the very magical gem Ari used to bring us women over. Used the bloody thing to send us across leagues of mountains and lakes and forests as easily as a lass steps from one cobblestone to another. But does he use it to send us home, where we long to be most of all? No.” Her fists clenched. “He locks it in his bloody temple and says no one can use it. That was why I went along with that prisoner. I wanted to go home.” A tinge of sadness softened her ire.
She looked toward his shadow. He longed for her to be able to see him, the real him. If she could, she would see that he felt for her. He cared about her trials. He hated that she’d been deceived and abused, tortured.
Face resolute, she said, “The Larnians arena the only wicked ones. They’re all wicked no matter what side of their bloody island they live on. And dinnae suppose I think the men of my kind are good and pure. They’re wicked too. Every last one of them. Men. Are. Wicked. You’re wicked, too.” Her pointing finger was slightly off from aiming directly at him, and it made him smile sadly. “But at least you pretend to want goodness.” Her shoulders slumped. “All I wanted was to go home, where I understand the wickedness. Where I ken how to live with it.”
His heart cracked for this broken beauty. “Sweet darling,” he said, but he did not have a chance to continue. His spine straightened with the unmistakable knowledge that Hyrk had entered his residence. “Shite. He’s coming.”
He stood as tall as his shadow would allow. “You must pretend to be Danu,” he whispered. “Do not speak no matter what, or he’ll know something is amiss. Act furious, act proud, but do not speak. I must hide, but I will be close. I swear I will not leave you.”
“Why should I protect the goddess who created that awful race of beasts?” She had no love for wolfkind or Danu, but at least she followed his example and kept her voice low.
“Because I’m begging you to. Because I want the chance to show you goodness.” He wanted to say more, but they were out of time. Hyrk was nearly upon them. “Please,” he said before melting into the smallest shadow at the back of the dungeon.
Hyrk pivoted at the foot of the stairs, cape flashing its blood-red lining, and strode to the cell. He wore a gruesome grin and carried himself with the air of a conquering king. “Have you missed me?” he asked in his slimy, haughty voice.
Duff held his breath. Say nothing, love. For the love of all the realms, say nothing.
His prickly beauty folded her arms over her chest, lifted her chin and looked away, as if Hyrk’s presence was inconsequential.
That’s my brave girl.
“Are you certain you wish to ignore me? After all, this will be your last chance to speak with anyone.” He studied his fingernails, looking as though he had not a care in the world. “You see, I’m on the cusp of victory. These bars are about to close around you. Once that happens, there will be no escape. Ever. You’ll be mine for all eternity.”
Seona kept her gaze averted, but her flaring nostrils showed her fear. He prayed Hyrk didn’t catch on that she was someone other than Danu.
“Your precious Maranners are even greater fools than I thought,” Hyrk went on. “You see, they have ignored their most precious asset. Their children. So that is where I have focused my efforts. And wouldn’t you know? It’s working.” The demigod sounded slightly unhinged.
“It wasn’t even difficult. All I needed was to convince one of them, and give him my relic. The boy took care of the rest!” He clapped his hands with delight. “Would you like to know how I convinced him?”
Shite. Hyrk had once again given his relic to a mortal. Which boy had he singled out? Duff ought to warn Danu that another of Hyrk’s plots was afoot.
Seona remained silent while Hyrk continued to crow.
“I sympathized with him. That’s always step one. Step two is to dangle a carrot.”
The maniac sounded like he was reciting from the Handbook of Evil. If Duff weren’t so worried, he would give the haughty, little slug a piece of his mind. At least Seona was playing her part perfectly.
“Do you know what carrot I dangled, love?”
Duff cringed. Seona was his to call love, not Hyrk’s.
“You see, the children are all under the age at which their society considers them fully-mature. But do you know when one of your mongrels can begin breeding? At age sixteen.”
Duff’s blood ran cold. He had a sickening feeling he knew where this was going.
“And do you know what young men talk about when they’re old enough to have a cockstand but too young to join the breeding lottery? They talk about fucking. Some of them even fuck each other. You can imagine their eagerness when my Alexander told them there were females ripe for breeding in Larna.”
Seona’s hands curled into fists. He could only imagine what images these words were calling up in her memory.
“No, no, it’s not what you think.” Hyrk rushed to answer a question no one had asked. “I’m through bringing humans over. Those bitches served their purpose well, but the females I have in mind this time are even better. Wilder. You see, the females I intend the children to breed with are the mutts living in the mountains and caves since Jilken’s experiments.” He laughed, and the sound was too high-pitched. “They’re the rejects from the magic I gave the Larnian king all those years ago! But you know what they say: one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It so happens that the deformities these beings were rejected for make them so much more than Jilken ever imagined. More than I imagined. And I have them in my pocket.
“See how perfect it is? How it all comes together? The new wolfkind will be more vicious and powerful than you ever intended them to be. And that’s not even the best part.” He bounced on his toes like a delighted toddler. “The best part is that I am gaining power every minute. Didn’t you know, love? There is no force in all the realms as powerful as the faith of a child. Soon, I will be strong enough to raze Chroina to the ground, beginning with Glendall. The world will be repopulated with our new wolfkind, and they will be all mine. Unless.”
He paused and scented the air. A wicked smile curved his lips.
Duff inhaled. A sweet, metallic smell tickled his nose. Drops of blood dripped from Seona’s shaking fist. She had cut her palms with her fingernails, but she remained silent, likely as frozen with horror as Duff was, hearing this evil spew forth.
“Unless—” Hyrk sounded pleased with himself, as if the victory had already been won. “You fulfill your obligation and marry me.”
Seona made a choked noise.
Duff’s body coiled with the need to rush to her, to tell her it was just words. Hyrk was trying to get a reaction from her. He was painting Danu’s worst nightmare in bold strokes of lie upon lie. At least, Duff hoped they were lies.
He should go to Danu and inform her and Magnus of these ravings, but he did not know if he could bring himself to leave Seona here alone.
“I’m wai-ting,” Hyrk sang out. “Give me your answer, love. This is your last chance. And I do mean last.”
Wide eyed and trembling, his brave beauty shook her head from side to side.
“Have it your way,” Hyrk sneered. “You are dead to me now, and your people are now my people.” With a whirl of his cape, he stormed from the dungeon. At the top of the stone steps, the heavy door thudded shut.
They were alone again.
Duff waited until he could no longer feel Hyrk’s presence before sliding as close as he could to Seona’s cell. “By the immortal realms, love, you were magnificent.” Seona jumped at his voice. “You did wonderfully. I would kiss you if I could pass through the bars.” Her posture softened. She searched his shadow with tear-filled eyes.
“That thing is pure wickedness,” she said, wiping at the wetness on her cheeks. “He’s the one who took us all to be—to be—” She took a shuddering inhale, as if she was just understanding that Ari had been manipulated by Hyrk.
“Easy, love. He can’t harm you.” How he wanted to reach through the bars and comfort her, cold-iron be damned! But the space between the bars was so narrow, he would be lucky to fit a hand through.
“He said I would be locked in here for all time,” She said on a hiccup. “Can he accomplish such a thing?”
“I won’t allow it,” he vowed.
“Can he do what he said—about the children?” Her eyes focused inward, as if she were deep in thought. Perhaps she was remembering the children she’d encountered in Glendall. Perhaps she thought of Alexander wielding the same gemstone his father, Ari, had, making way for Hyrk’s evil. Did she regret playing into Hyrk’s hands, giving him the opportunity to steal back his relic?
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “He may have been saying those things because they would enrage Danu. She loves her creation. If anything would get her to crack, it would be the threat of perverting her wolfkind.”
Seona was quiet a long time. Finally, she said, “You must go to them.”
“To whom, my brave beauty?”
She snorted. “I’m no’ brave. You must go to them. To your goddess and to Magnus. You must warn them. If what that vile thing said is true, they need to ken it all.”
He shook his head, even though she wouldn’t be able to see. “I won’t leave you.” He couldn’t. Not after the taunting she’d just endured.
“You must. My sister is in danger. You heard what he said. He plans to destroy Chroina.” Her shoulders rounded, but her voice was steel when she said, “You’ll go, and you willna fash over me. I deserve to be alone. The blame is mine. That bloody lunatic would never have laid hands on his relic if I hadn’t believed his lies. You must see him stopped.”
He sighed. She was right. “All right, love. I’ll go.”
She nodded, even as her chin trembled. She was in Danu’s body, but her expressions, her movements, her speech was all Seona. And he was falling in love with her.
He slid into a large shadow at the base of a jagged boulder. Putting his shoulder into it, he shoved the boulder toward the cell.
Seona screamed. “What’s happening?”
“It’s just me,” Duff said as the boulder met the cold-iron bars, casting a swath of shadow into the cell. “I’ll go. But not without leaving you with the only gift I can.” Keeping to the shadow, he angled his hand and slid it between the bars. “Come to me, love. Feel me. I’m here.” As his skin met the cold-iron, he hissed with pain. The substance was potentially lethal to the Fae if wielded against them as a weapon. A wound caused by cold-iron was the one thing they could not heal from with ease. He gritted his teeth against the pain. “Let me touch you.”
She stepped into the shadow and lifted her hand. When her fingers met his, she gasped. “You’re warm.”
He chuckled. “As warm as you are.” Turning his hand, he grasped hers gently. The cold-iron branded his wrist, but he ignored it.
She closed her hand around his, leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to his fingertips.
He sucked in a breath. “I wanted to leave you with a warm touch in this cold place, but you have given me a gift instead.”
She released his hand and took a step back. “Save your pretty words for those shores of Faerie you told me of.”
He would prove to her that a man could be good, and that a woman who trusted a man could know happiness. Or he would die trying.
