Summon (32 page)

Conall moved, and the line of fairy Knights parted
to let him pass, faces averted in respect for his rank and public disgrace.

“You hate me, but you love her.” Cael stood, his
face fierce. “You’ll walk away knowing she needs you? You failed me. That is
truth, but it’s in the past, and can’t be changed. This you can change. You can
help me save our sister.”

Abruptly turning, Conall darted back to Cael. He
held his bother’s head in both hands and looked him in the eye. “I am ashamed
of you.” Conall’s eyes were red-rimmed, but his expression remained stony. “I
will go to our sister. You have my thanks for coming. That took courage.” He
pressed their foreheads together. “But understand, I cannot bear the sight of
you. I cannot.” Releasing his hold, Conall looked at Lochlann. “I will begin
the defensive spells.”

“Conall may be unable to face you, but I can.” I
waited until Cael composed himself. “What did you mean by Rae will awaken?”

He turned. “She sleeps.”

I searched his withdrawn features for clues to help
me discover his underlying message. Not for the first time, I missed the
simpler connection the old incarnation of the bond between my life mate and I.
“An enchantment?”

Enchantments were easy to break opposed to spells
and hexes. A kiss may revive Rae, or a whispered word of power at sunrise. A
spell would require more finesse, an incantation, and a hex must be countered
with stronger magics augmented by blood.

“Something darker?” Lochlann suggested. “A hex?”

Cael’s hand swatted the air. “She closed her eyes
as if pained and when they opened she was
gone
.
Lost so deeply inside nothing reaches her.” Cael raked his teeth over his
bottom lip then shrugged, at a loss. “I don’t know what happened before she
arrived at my city, but she looked broken. The fire I expected was missing.
Marinette spoke twisted words in her ear, and Rae shattered.” Cael’s gaze
shifted to mine, accusing. “What happened?”

The gazes of my friends and family turned on me.
Some sympathetic, condemning, and the rest confused.

The currents of energy flowing towards me
fluctuated.

Pained, I turned my face away. The breathtaking
fear that haunted me since Rae left roughened my voice. “How soon can we
leave?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Breandan

Clucking
his tongue at my frantic pacing, Lochlann reached for me. “Be calm.”

“It has been eight days.” I jerked to avoid his
touch. “
Eight days
.” I fisted a hand
then dropped it helplessly. “I will be calm when I hold her again.” For the
millionth time, I sucked in the menacing pall that spilled from me in waves of
aggression. I knew it made Lochlann uncomfortable. “We move too slow. Wasting
time with talk. If I carry on alone, I can be there in moments. Cael has shown
me how to skim on air using magics.”

We left the majority of our forces at the border of
the forest and scouted ahead to the outer streets of the Northern City. We
hoped to deduce a solid plan of attack whilst we determined where best to enter
unseen.

Things progressed bit by bit.

Agonizingly
slow.

My brother put his hands on his hips. Head dipping,
he shook it. The warrior braids plaited into his hair swung. “Go in there
unprepared and you lose the advantage of surprise.”

“They know I am here. They
feel
me. As I do them. Their power is a beacon. I could find them
with my eyes closed.” My lids did press closed tightly, and my throat worked.
“I cannot feel Rae, her power is banked.
Lessening
.”
My eyes opened then narrowed. “I will not sneak.”

“You cannot defeat three of them.” Lochlann studied
me. Whatever he saw lurking in my expression made him pale. “Perhaps two, but
not three.”

“Whatever the Loa did to Rae you can bet they won’t
let you take her.” Daphne slapped a hand to her forehead. “You’re going to do
what? Stride in, pick her up then stroll back out?”

“Oh yes.” I pierced her with a look. “I will walk
right up to them and tell them she’s mine.”

Lochlann eased onto his back leg. “There is Cael to
consider.”

I dismissed his concern with a cut of the hand. “He
is different.”

“Do not be fooled.” He aimed a suspicious look over
his shoulder. “He is aligned with the Loa. This is a game to him.”

“Rae believes because of his fairy blood he cannot
lie.
You
told me this.”

Lochlann snapped his fingers. “Verily. Rae has
never
made a mistake before, oh, no.”

“If he betrays us I will destroy him.” I raised my
voice. “I hadn’t the power before, but I do now.”

“He attacked the Wyld.” Lochlann angered himself at
the reminder. “He killed my Knights. Violated the home of our people. Tried to
kill
me
. Forgive me if a few pretty
words to his Elder don’t persuade me to gift him my faith. Even if it is for a
short time.”

“Where
is
Conall,” Daphne asked.

“Coordinating our Knights with Alec’s Pride,” Kian
replied. “Maeve is helping too. We thought it best Conall be busy considering
the present company we keep.”

“I should be with them,” Samuel said, making an
effort to stand from his perch on a boulder. Pausing, his face twisted funny.
He slumped, burying his hands into the funnelled sleeves of his blemished
cloak. “Maybe in a minute.” He flushed when Daphne snickered at his
not-so-subtle shifting from butt cheek to butt cheek. “Quit it, vampire. I’m
dealing with saddle sores.”

The Clerics displayed the strain of the long
journey the demons shook off. I’d pushed relentlessly to get us here in two
days rather than three.

“If Cael helps me get Rae back he’ll have earned my
trust,” I said.

“Does he have to be involved with Rae’s rescue?”
Kian asked.

“He knows the city,” Samuel said. “I have no desire
to run blind through the streets waiting to be picked off. He can take us right
where we need to be.”

Lochlann looked intrigued. “I have been here
before. I know the way.”

“So do I.” Daphne peered at the fog-shrouded
buildings. “This is my home. We can find the Wyld without him. Enough of us
know the location we could even split into smaller groups and better our
chances of avoiding the Nest.”

“Cael’s Coven is warded.” My leg bounced in
impatience. “I do not want to waste time or power breaking down magical doors.”

Daphne rubbed her lips together then flicked an
uneasy look in the he-witch’s direction.

Hearing his name, Cael turned and blatantly stared.
His sleeveless tunic flapped on his lanky body. Dark hair altered shade in the
dim moonlight and fluttered around a handsome face eerily familiar. Cael’s gold
eyes burned – Rae’s eyes. Save Alec, Samuel and myself, he was avoided,
but preferred his outsider reputation; he did nothing to amend it.

His gaze clashed with mine. I saw my impatience
reflected there.

“Creepy,” Samuel muttered. “He doesn’t give a damn.”

Kian shifted, uneasy. “Neither would you if you
possessed his power.”

Arching a sleek brow, Cael smirked.

“Well, I’d rather face the flesh-eating critters
that haunt the Wyld woodlands than trust him.” Daphne shuddered. Strangely, so
did Kian. Lochlann hid a smile behind his palm. “Witches are the lowest of the
low. No honour. But! I happen to think Cael’s sincere. He’s never been a liar.”
She jerked a shoulder “That’s my opinion.”

Samuel gawked.

Daphne eyeballed him. “What?”

“A vampire giving a lecture on honour.” When he
realised he offended her, he hooked an arm around her waist, tugged her head
down and nosily bussed her cheek. “You know it’s true.”

Pretending to rub off spit, she grinned. “Yeah,
still, you’re lucky you’re my favourite donor.”

Lochlann scowled at his boots. “Daphne’s opinion is
valid. If she can overcome her hatred of Cael, that is enough for me. For now.”
He glanced anxiously at the sprawling city. “I did not bring my Knights to be
slaughtered at the whim of some mad creature.”

“He’s my father,” Ana murmured. She approached
cloaked, the cowl pulled low over her face. She pushed it back, pearlescent
eyes guarded. Her irises hadn’t returned to their normal blue since the
resurrection. “Please remember that.”

Stressed, I battled a hiss of annoyance. I felt
triumphant when all that eked past my lips was a sharp puff of air. Talk was a
waste of time.
How they perceive Cael is
irrelevant.
“Can the future Rae nurtured come to pass?”

“No.” Her head veered in my direction. “Too much
has changed. Many die now.”

Lochlann’s voice was reed thin when he asked, “They
would not before?”

“We walked many futures and found a solution. It
was imperative no one but she and I knew. I made her promise not to tell.” Ana
smiled, sad. “Rae was unusually focused and precise. She wanted a solution
where all life was preserved.”

“She found one.” Daphne spoke with conviction.
“That girl is as stubborn as a brick.”

Ana’s nose wrinkled. “Yes, but that’s immaterial
now.”

“Why?” Samuel asked. “Can’t you look again?”

Ana threw him a peevish glare. “Don’t you think I
would if I could? I can’t catch
everything
.
There’s too much, and my father lifted the dampening spell placed on my power.
My Sight evolves, and it’s a struggle to focus on the present.”

He frowned. “Then how–”

“When I look at you–
some of you
,”
she
corrected, “the future ceases to be.”

Kian looked spooked. “Why?”

“Because I’m dead,” she replied, serene. “I will
avoid some of you during the fight. Nothing personal.”

“Have any non-creepy shit to say?” Baako slung an
arm around her shoulder. He hugged her close to his broad chest. “How do we get
Twitch out of that scary pile of rocks so I can paddle her ass.”

I managed a bleak smile. “Wait your turn.”

He nodded in respect, sympathetic.

The goblin giving me a wide birth since the Horde’s
arrival at the Wyld hovered outside the group.

His bald skull and long ears weren’t strange, but
his pinprick pupils fascinated me. It was difficult to determine what he
focused on when they shifted so erratically.

“Lorken,” Samuel greeted. Plucking a long blade of
grass then chewing the end of it, he motioned Kian aside, so the goblin had
room to stand and join the discussion.

“Hai, human male I do not want to crush.”

Samuel chuckled.

Lorken’s odd pupils slid from side to side. “We
divvy opponents?” The goblin’s brawny neck and shoulders swelled until it
seemed his anger would burst through his flesh. His voice deepened to a
cavernous rumble. “The Horde asks for highest rights to the vampire Queen.”

“Get in line,” Wasp spat in passing, Gunarr yapping
irately at her back. She spun to him. “I don’t want or need your help.”

“Devlin would not have wanted this for you. We ran
for a reason.” Gunarr noticed us. Wiping the emotion from his face, he glared
at our lack of discretion then stalked off strong-arming a ranting Wasp with
him.

Baako watched them leave with jealous eyes. His
desire to follow was tangible, yet he restrained himself.

Gritting his teeth, he focused on the discussion.

“Allow personal vendettas to decide who goes where,
and we’ll end up fighting each other,” Daphne said, pragmatic. “I suggest we
divide the city into north and south using the river as a marker. The shifters,
humans and goblins blend well enough, so they should focus on whittling the
zombie presence in the north.” Daphne wound a braid around her finger as she
spoke. “The Nest is located on the south side not too far from the Coven Wyld.
Considering the magical traps the witches scatter around their home, I think
the fairy Knights have the best chance of survival.” She glanced at Kian. “And
fairies stand the best chance against vampires.”

“And the wolves?” Kalicfer strode up to us. He
looked haggard, yellowed eyes devoid of emotion save resentment.

Daphne shot him a look of respect. “I’d guess your
missing shifters are on the south side since that’s probably where the Loa
are.”

He nodded grimly. “Then that is where I will go.”

“A good plan,” Kian said, eyes lit with praise.

“We all have moments of untouchable genius.” Daphne
studied her nails. “I experience them more than most.”

“Modest,” Samuel said. “Isn’t she?”

Lochlann stared. “You have commanded forces
before?”

She slanted him a look under her lashes. “Curious?”

“Undeniably.”

As the group drifted towards the encampment talking
spiritedly, I swallowed a bellow of frustration and slowed my step.