Summon (31 page)

Not yet ready to think the worst, I nodded,
searching for bared green skin or fiery spiked hair amongst the supposed enemy
lining the opposite bank.

“Hai!” Gunarr ran from behind Samuel with his palm
upheld.

The tension pulling my shoulder blades together
eased and the panicked inhalation that pumped the rarely inflated depths of my
lungs to the fringes of pain rushed past my lips in a sigh.

Reaching the edge of the stream, Gunarr leapt and
somersaulted over the garrulous water. Tumbling into a roll, he sprinted to my
side. He knelt. His fist thumped his chest in salute.

My gaze swept over the ranks of Clerics and their
weapons. I leaned over Gunarr. “Tell me this is not how it looks.”

Grimacing, he chanced a look up. “This is not how
it looks.”

“You were meant to warn me if the humans planned
anything this foolish.”

“They march to Rae, not against the Wyld.”

Straightening, I masked my shock with a snort of
disagreement. “If you were not sworn to me, and bound by magics to speak the
truth, I would call you a liar.”

“I
am
your man and I
do
speak the truth.”
Gunarr rose to look me in the eye. “They wish to help.”

Lochlann and I shared side-eyed looks of
incredulity.

“Alright,” I said. “But I do not understand how
they know she is in trouble. Alec knew Rae travelled into danger.”

“Can’t you feel Rae anymore?” Daphne asked. “You
used to be able to know exactly what she was feeling.” She glanced at Lochlann.
“It’s an irritating thing but useful.”

“The bond changed. I vaguely sensed something
happened days ago, but tonight it feels dire.” My gaze turned inward. “Her
presence in this world lessens.”

“When is Rae not in trouble?” Amelia muttered.

Baako grinned, and Wasp snorted.

Ana shushed them.

“Explain,” Lochlann ordered Gunarr. “Why have they
come?”

The fairy didn’t bother to look at him. A direct
cut. “I am not yours to command.” He paused. “Even if I were still in service
to the High Lord, I would not be
yours
to command.”

“Brother,” I said, giving Gunarr a warning look to
tread with care. “Leave him. We shall meet them in the middle to
discuss–”

Lochlann held up a hand. “You hold a grievance
against me.”

“Conall is to you what I was to Devlin.” Holding
his ground, Gunarr threw him a rude look, red eyes piercing. “You stole that
which is not rightfully yours. Using witchcraft. That is not our way. Worse,
you wish a vampire as High Lady.” Gunarr’s repugnance for my brother was unmistakable.
“I tolerate you. You are not
my
lord.”

“I shall remember that.” Lochlann turned to me.
“Well?” he promoted, impatient. “Shall we see why they are here?”

“Perhaps they come to fight the Loa?” said Conall.
“They may have discovered where the wretches hide.”

Gunnar made a noise at the back of his throat. He
gave me a measuring look. “You are not going to be pleased.”

“Leave your weapons,” Ana said, tone edgy. “This is
a meeting of peace.”

“I am the lord of this land.” Lochlann paused,
daring the brave to contradict the proclamation. “To go unarmed lowers me. I
shall not be seen as such in the presence of these savages.”

Ana gnawed her lips raw, eyes darting every which
way. They settled on Conall and narrowed. Threateningly. “You take your weapon
to a meeting of peace, uncle?”

Slumping, Conall stabbed his sword into the earth.
To Gunarr he said in passing, “Humans on a mission of peace you say? Why not?”

The fairy said nothing, but I noticed his hand
twitched over the dagger strapped to his thigh.

Gunarr’s edginess coupled with Ana’s increasingly
palpable anxiety made me wary.

And I sensed a vast well of power hiding behind the
Clerics.

Donning an expression of consummate boredom,
Lochlann strolled after his Warrior, shoulders thrown back, chin lifted so high
I wondered how his nose failed to bleed.

Samuel kicked his stallion into a trot. They waded
through the choppy water, and the horse emerged wet to the elbow on the other
side.

Dismounting with ease, Samuel gave the mount’s
flank a hearty slap.

Tossing its head, the horse’s forelegs pranced. It
neighed, well-groomed crest and tail flicking madly, burnished sides heaving as
it protested the strange-looking newcomers it was trained to distrust.

“Easy, boy. Settle. Quiet now.” Keeping the reins
wound in his fist, Samuel whispered soothing things to the noble beast, and it
calmed under his firm handling.

Lochlann held out an arm in a gesture of peace, but
when his head turned to take in the figure sidestepping a Lady Cleric’s
agitated gelding, he cursed, and drew the sword on his back. In a controlled
rotation of the wrist the blade distorted into a silver falcate. Lochlann spun.
Extending his arm at the end of the turn the sword tip rested at Samuel’s
throat.

Alec snarled, and his ears flattened.

The tinny clicks of rifle safeties being disengaged
sounded through the clearing. The ringing of swords pulled from sheaths and
bowstrings pulled taut echoed as loud.

The goblin’s muscles swelled, doubling in size, and
the pinprick pupils dilated into black holes as he bared his blunted teeth.

“Speak,” Lochlann said. “The words are your last.”

“Wait.” Cael strode forward. He stepped into water
and it rushed away from his boots until he crossed a dry bed of pebbles. When
he climbed the bank the other side the water reverted to its natural flow. “I
wish–”

“To die.” Lochlann seethed. “You have no other
reason for returning.” He hesitated then. His sword tip wavered. “Have you
hexed them to do your bidding?”

Cael reached Samuel, pushed him aside then cupped
the tip of Lochlann’s sword. “Here’s how it goes. You and I fight. You lose.
Your brother strikes me down. Malice destroys Breandan. Rae feels his demise
and awakens to retaliate. She’s obliterated.” Cael’s eyes darken. “Marinette
reigns supreme. Life ends.” Without breaking eye contact with Lochlann, he
yelled, “Isn’t that right, daughter?”

Lochlann revealed Rae’s suspicion Cael was bound by
his fairy blood to speak the truth, and though his words rang true in my heart
I looked a question at Ana, my precarious acceptance of Rae leaving without me
crumbling into nothingness.

Lips pressed into a white line, the Seer’s hands
tried to burrow into her stomach. Ana’s colour matched that of bleached bone.

Eyes on her father, she tilted her head in my
direction and nodded agreement to the dire prediction. “This future becomes
more likely.” She sounded strained. “How do you know of it?”

“Gwendolyn. I muddled through her mad ramblings and
filled in the blanks. I know enough. Her visions aren’t clear as is your
Sight.” Cael flashed a nasty smile. “I’ve missed your coherency.”

Rubbing my jaw with one hand and clenching the
other, uncertain, weak-kneed, I tried to breathe through my panic but couldn’t
draw a full breath. Terror ripped into me and razed my insides. I shuddered.
Too many emotions fought for primacy. In a low aside over my shoulder, I
rasped, “You never told me they were there. I sensed their direction, but you
never
said–”

“If I told you the whole point of Rae leaving in
secret, alone, was rendered meaningless. Conall, Baako,
everyone
would’ve run after her. You wouldn’t have stayed to mend
ties with Lochlann. Or help Maeve make the crucial decision that ensured the
Sect, Pride, Pack, Horde, and Tribe unite.”

“You saw this?”

“I told you my father
and
Rae returned. Together. The Loa followed. Something changed. I
just don’t know.” She sounded stressed. “It could have been anything.”

“Which is why conspiring in secret with my life
mate was a foolish,
cruel
misuse of
Sight I never thought you would be idiotic enough to succumb to.”

“I can’t tell you everything. If I did you’d be too
afraid to move let alone walk into situations that might harm someone you care
about. It’s why I didn’t warn Rae about your fight. I knew that it would freak
her out and that she’d end up taking you with her.”

“
Meddlesome
.”
Anger scorched any semblance of civility in my biting tone. “I should have gone
with her.”

“Then you wouldn’t have been here to rally us. I
glimpsed a future where Rae gave up once then dismissed it. Why wouldn’t I? The
unlikelihood of it is unfathomable considering how wilful she is.” The look Ana
levelled me was cutting. “I get you’re pissed, but don’t doubt me. Not now.”

Acquiesce to the he-witch would not be taken well,
but he brought news of my love. Everything he’d done became irrelevant. I
needed him. “Lochlann.” My voice was hollow. “Please.”

“No.” The shout made more than one demon jump. “I
do not care. Nothing you say will sway me. This half-breed begs a swift death.”

“Oh?” Cael drawled. “Aren’t you meant to give me
the benefit of the doubt? Doesn’t your lofty concept of honour demand you at
least listen to me?”

“Honour?” Lochlann snarled the word. “You have none
and have given none. Deserve
none
.”

“This coming from the demon who stabbed an
unsuspecting male in the back?” Cael sneered. “Dreadfully honourable,
my lord
.”

Crossing the distance between myself, and the
verbally sparring twosome, I considered my brother. I hovered my hand above
his, which clutched the sword hilt in a white-knuckled grip.

Samuel cleared his throat. “We haven’t come to
fight. I swear we’re here on good terms.” He paused. “For once.”

After a beat of staid defiance, Lochlann sheathed
his sword and eased back to give me room, grim. “I pray we will not regret
this.”

Eyeing the heavily armed procession of Clerics
beyond the stream, I forced my attention on the male before me. “I’m
listening.”

“You are not my….” Cael’s eyes closed. He shook his
head, disbelieving. When they opened his golden orbs were focused. “You’re not
my Elder.”

Lochlann arched a fair brow.

Maddened, I scrubbed a hand over my head.

“No.” Conall’s harsh whisper was an explosion of
emotion. “Leave.”

Feeling the depth of pain in the word as an ache in
my own heart, I winced, and noticed Lochlann rubbed his chest with the heel of
his palm.

Gesturing us aside, Cael approached Conall with
caution.

The resemblance between the males was striking.
Conall was taller, but it was unmistakable from their darkly handsome features,
similar builds and gold eyes they were kin.

The silence stretched until Cael said, “You must
listen.”

It was subtle, but to those who knew him Conall’s
upper lip spasm was telling. Motionless, he stared at the middle distance.

“I’ll put aside what happened between us if you
listen.”

Still silent, Conall’s lower eyelid twitched.

The strength seemed to leave Cael’s legs, and he
hit the dirt on his knees. “See me. Why do you refuse to acknowledge who I am?”
His sounded tortured. “
See me
.”

Conall turned to Lochlann, manner vacant. “I
cannot.”

“I understand. See to reinforcing the enchantments
protecting the Wyld. I have a feeling we march to war on the hour.”

Dipping his head in respect, Conall spun and strode
away from his youngest sibling kneeling at his feet.

Cael’s chin touched his chest. His shoulders
hunched, and his hands rested limply between his knees. “Rae’s dying.”

Conall froze.

“The he-witch genuinely seems sad,” Amelia
muttered, eyes wide with disbelief. She flinched when Ana glared at her. “What?
He tried to kill Rae.” She lifted two fingers and her eyes bugged. “Twice.”

Speaking softly, Cael kept his head bowed. “You
think I kneel here because I desire forgiveness. I hold fast to my beliefs. I
renounce nothing. I’m the most powerful demon in existence. I–”

“Breandan could best you,” Lochlann said.

My heart swelled at the hint of smugness colouring
his tone.
My Elder is truly proud of me.

“Your bother is a minor deity,” Cael replied. “Not
a demon. It’s time you accepted that.” Shooting a sympathetic look at a now
dour Lochlann, Cael smirked. “I get how you feel. I found the revelation of
Rae’s divinity hard to swallow.”

Face red with anger, Lochlann opened his mouth, but
Daphne made a lip shutting gesture with her hand. He grumbled, frowning, but
held his tongue.

“What you let happen to me was a crime.” Cael spoke
to Conall’s straightened back. “It was. I know you’re proud. It’s a trait the
three of us share, but you have to embrace what I am because you helped to make
me this way. I make no apologies for what I’ve done to survive. I refuse to
feel shame for lashing out in anger.”