11

Cadegan turned on Leucious with a furious growl. “You’d best be glad, you goat dick, that I’m too much of a lady to slap you.”

The bastard had the nerve to laugh.

Shoving him out of his way, Cadegan started to leave, then turned back. “I want two of your Adar Llwch Gwin,” he demanded of the king.

Gwyn laughed at him, too. “You’re in no position to make any demands on me. You’ve nothing to barter or threaten with now.”

Before Cadegan could punch the impudent louse, Leucious stepped forward. “That’s completely untrue.”

“How so?”

Leucious threw his arm out and used his powers to bring Gwyn into his massive paw of a hand. “He has a perpetually pissed older brother who has no compunctions about ripping off body parts you will miss … and often. Now give him whatever it is he wants, or I’m going to ruin the rest of your life. Might even shorten it to three minutes. Maybe less.”

Cadegan snorted. “Trust me, he’s good at ruining lives and shedding no tears for it. At all.”

Leucious scowled at him over his shoulder.

“Well, you are. Just agreeing with you.”

Leucious slung the sharoc away. “Fetch the blah-blah-blue-bluch whatever for him.”

“Adar Llwch Gwin,” Cadegan repeated.

Thorn rolled his eyes. “Easy for you to say.”

“I never understood your reluctance to learn Cymraeg given that shite you speak, that no one else knows.”

“Not true. Acheron, Simi, and Savitar all speak it. As does our grandfather.”

“Talk to him much, do you?”

“Avoid it like leaking crotch-pox.” Leucious frowned even more as he watched Gwyn slam his hand against the stone wall of his castle. Instantly, two of the muscled gryphons broke away from their perches on the parapets and took corporeal form.

“Happy?” Gwyn asked Leucious.

“Delirious. An emotion I usually celebrate by sautéing the entrails of any paranormal annoyance around me.” Leucious raked a meaningful glare over Gwyn, but spoke to Cadegan. “And behold, little brother, the gods have gifted me with dinner.”

Cadegan had never seen the king beat a hastier retreat.

Trying not to be amused or impressed, Cadegan approached the Adar Llwch Gwin nearest him, and held his hand out so that the beast could catch his scent. “We’ll be needing saddles to ride.”

The Adar Llwch Gwin he chose raked a most salacious smile over him as the saddle instantly appeared on his back. “Hello, beautiful. Just wrap those long, sexy legs around me and I’ll ride you anywhere, any time you want.”

Cadegan grimaced at a double entendre that disgusted him. “I’ll be using the other one.” He slapped Leucious on the arm. “This one’s all yours. Go ahead, brother, wrap your long, sexy legs right around his waist and ride him all night long.”

Leucious screwed his face up in repugnance.

The Adar Llwch Gwin Cadegan had spurned followed after him. “Wait! Bring that sassy walk back over here. I’m the stronger of the two of us. I can protect you a lot better, baby. C’mon, don’t be that way. I can carry you in my arms, on my back. Take me any way you want me, sexy. I am all yours.”

“Oh, shut it, Talfryn,” the other Adar Llwch Gwin grumbled. “Can’t you see she has no use for you.” He bowed low. “I’m Ioan, my lady.”

Leucious burst out laughing.

Cadegan had never wanted to commit murder so badly in all his long existence. “I swear, Leucious, when I have me body back, I’m going to kick your ass until me boots are oiled with your blood.”

And still the bastard laughed.

Ioan scowled. “What’s this?”

Cadegan took the reins before he mounted the winged beast. “I’m not really female. This is me lady’s body. We’re off to save her.” He glared at Talfryn. “And you should be saying a prayer of thanks that it’s me you’re speaking to. Had you taken that tone to her, I’d be strangling the sharoc king over your bleeding corpse for a new Adar Llwch Gwin.”

Talfryn sobered instantly.

Until Leucious took the saddle, then he acted as if he were dying. “Och! What are you made of, stone? One word for you, man … diet. Lay off the brisket and brewskis. Have you missed the e-mail? Steroids are really bad for your equipment.”

Ioan sighed heavily. “Forgive him. He spends way too many nights watching the Lifetime Network and WWE. Weird combination, I know, but it keeps him occupied and semi quiet.”

Leucious passed an irritated smirk to Cadegan. “I commend your choice of travel. You should work as an airline booking agent.”

Cadegan growled low in his throat. “It’s worse than trying to have a conversation with Josette. I only understand every other word with her. The three of you, it’s every ninth or so.”

“He doesn’t get out much,” Leucious said to their mounts. Then he changed the subject. “All right, brother. Where are we off to?”

“Camelot.”

“No.” Talfryn froze. “Oh, hell no. Uh-uh. Ain’t ever going to happen!”

Cadegan frowned at his protestations. “I thought all Adar Llwch Gwin had to obey their riders?”

Talfryn snorted a hefty denial. “Let me put this into words you can understand.… Them be morons what said that tomfoolery about us, my lord. Morons Morgen hasn’t threatened to pull the testicles off of should ever they, perchance, darken her presence again with theirs.”

Ioan snorted. “Obviously, Talfryn won her over on their last meeting, and made quite the impression with his most charming personality. I’m sure you can understand her rabid distemper with him.”

“Indeed.”

Leucious reached down and patted Talfryn in an exaggerated manner. “Now allow me to explain in words you can understand. You will obey my brother, now, or I’m going to make you wish Morgen had ripped off your balls, fried them up, and hand-fed them to you. Trust me. Much kinder than what I will do to you if you continue lipping off.”

“To the north, it is.” Talfryn took flight immediately.

As Ioan followed him, Cadegan held his breath and prayed that Josette was still safe and unharmed. Over and over in his mind, he relived all the things that Morgen had done to try and beat or pry the information out of him over the centuries. His heart bled at the thought of Josette being put through such hazards.

And as his mind replayed it, a thought occurred to him. “Ioan? How long have you served the sharoc?”

“Longer than I care to recall. Centuries, my lord. Why?”

“I’m thinking they used the same spell to swap me and Josette as they use with changelings. What do you think?”

“Most likely. It would be the easiest and quickest thing for the king to accomplish.”

And though they didn’t use that magick on adults often, they had been known to do so in the past to swap out an elder fairy whose family no longer wanted to tend to them. “Do you know how they do it? How they put the spell into place?”

“Usually a gift is given to the child they intend to swap, and then they use it to administer the spell.”

Cadegan considered that. “Gift? Like a bracelet?”

“Could be.”

Cadegan cursed himself for his stupidity. He should never have allowed Gwyn to give anything to Josette.

Why hadn’t he realized the significance of that earlier? You’ve been a bit distracted.

Still …

“Take me to the ground.”

Ioan headed down.

Leucious followed after them. “What’s going on?”

“I think I know how to save Josette. I need a cluster of purple foxglove and three eggshells from a raven. As fast as you can gather them.”

“Can they be conjured?”

“So long as they’re real and not made of something else. I think so.”

Leucious quickly summoned them and handed it all to Cadegan. “What do we do with these?”

“I need a pot of boiling water, set over a fire.”

It appeared instantly. “Are you planning to explain this?”

Cadegan ignored his brother as he quickly broke the eggs and cast out the whites and yolks, so that all he had were the shells. After crushing them in his hands, he threw them into the water first, then added the foxglove and boiled it until it became a thick syrup. “Cool the mixture, please.”

Leucious obeyed. “Cadegan—”

“I’m undoing what was done to her. Once I complete this, and if it works, you need to get her out of here immediately. If she’s still in Terre Derrière le Voile on the equinox, she will be stuck here forever. Do you understand?”

“Yeah. I get it.”

“Swear it to me, Leucious. You will take her from this place, without fail.”

“All right, calm down. I swear.”

“You will not tarry. You will not allow her to seek me. She is to be taken from here as quickly as you can do so. Understood?”

“Yes. For a hundred thousand times. Yes.”

Inclining his head, Cadegan began rubbing the solution all over his body. Once he was fully coated, he lay down on the ground and closed his eyes before he drank what was left of it. He breathed in and out slowly, forcing himself into a meditative state.

And as his thoughts wandered, he conjured an image of Josette in his mind. He saw her teasing eyes as she made love to him, and imagined the sound of her sweet voice in his ear. There was nothing in his life he wanted more than to see her warm and happy.

Forever.

Just as he began to relax fully, he heard an angry, menacing snarl.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t Josette. It was Talfryn and Ioan fighting over nonsense again. And it snatched him right back to where he’d started.

Opening his eyes, he glared at them.

“Are you Jo or Cadegan?” Leucious asked.

“I’m the one who hates you most.”

Leucious sighed. “Welcome back, little brother.”

But the problem was, he didn’t want to be back with Leucious. He wanted to be where he was desired.

With Josette.

Most of all he should be where he was needed.

Protecting the only woman he’d ever loved.

Tears choked him as he imagined all manner of ill befalling her. While Morgen’s tongue was sharp, it was nothing compared to her physical cruelty. Something Cadegan was used to.

And while Josette, with her courage and grace, could stand every bit as strong against Morgen and her beasts, he didn’t want her to suffer. Not for any reason.

And most especially not for the likes of him.

Not to mention the small fact that she carried his memories now. Which meant she knew exactly where the shield was hidden. Something, that in the wrong hands, could end the world as they knew it.