Beguiled (40 page)

He gritted his teeth; then he nodded.

Maggie gave him a fierce smile. “Good. Now let’s get this party started.”

Chapter Nineteen

By the next afternoon, the warriors were all flying and training with the female guards. Maggie was itching to go free Eileen herself. Immediately. But the two she’d sent to do the rescue were already moving on Casia. And once Eileen was safe, the battle with Mab would get started.

While Maggie watched her warriors at the training field, she tried to keep from looking at Culhane.

But how could she?

He was the fiercest, the strongest, the most amazing man she’d ever known and she loved him desperately.

He must have felt her gaze on him, because he turned in midair to look at her. From a distance, his expression was unreadable, but she felt the power of his stare right down to her bones.

So, she thought, still angry.

Well, couldn’t really blame him. But in spite of his fury, he was uniting two fighting forces into a team that Maggie sincerely hoped was unbeatable.

Now all she needed was for the rest of her plan to work.

Eileen held on to the wall to keep from floating to the ceiling. She’d been telling Aunt Maggie for weeks that she wanted to be all Fae, but she hadn’t really understood before how hard having powers was going to be. It took a lot of concentration just to stand still.

Of course, it was hard to concentrate when you were so scared, your throat kept closing up. She’d been in that tiny room for like
forever
. Why hadn’t they found her yet? Why weren’t they coming for her?

Maybe they were looking and just
couldn’t
find her.

“Oh, wow . . .” Her stomach twisted into tiny little knots and she swallowed back the urge to cry. She hadn’t cried since that first night. She’d been tough and strong, and now she’d had enough and she really wanted to go home.

Floating again.

This time, though, Eileen didn’t fight it. She allowed herself to rise slowly to the window so she could look outside at least. It was really dark out there. And with the woods so close and the trees so tall, she almost couldn’t see the stars.

“Where are you guys?” she whispered.

An explosion of sound rocked the tavern and the night sky lit up like a million lamps were all turned on at once. Eileen squeezed her eyes shut and covered her ears. On the other side of the locked door, she heard people shouting, screaming, and then more explosions happened and the walls of her room shuddered and shook like they were about to fall down.

What if the building was on fire? What if no one let her out? What if—

The door to her room swung open and slammed into the wall behind it with a crack of noise that was covered up beneath all of the booming outside. Eileen spun around in midair, terrified of who might be coming. But an instant later, she shouted, “Bezel!”

The pixie hurried into the room, and Devon was right behind him, a huge grin on his face. She’d never been so happy to see anybody before in her whole life.

“Get down here, kid,” Bezel ordered. “We gotta get outta here.”

“I can’t,” Eileen said, floating helplessly and so happy she could hardly see straight. They’d found her. They’d come for her.

Bezel shot a look at the boy. “Well, go on. Get her down!”

Devon flew to her and Eileen shrieked, “You can fly!”

“I can and I can show you how, too!”

“Not
now
!” Bezel commanded as the young warrior dragged Eileen to the floor. Once she was on her own two feet again, she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around the pixie.

“You came. You came for me. Thank you, Bezel.”

“Course we came,” he muttered gruffly, giving her an awkward pat on the back. “And we got about a hundred pixies running around in the forest like trolls with the trots.”

“Really?” Okay, Eileen thought, she just might cry again.

Bezel gave her one last pat and let her go. “Yep, my cousins are blowing things up and making things crazy so we can get you out. Which is why you should shut up now and keep low. Maggie sent us to get you while she and the others fight Mab.”

“They’re fighting now?”

“About to and you gotta be safe before it starts.” He led the way, one small pixie in a torn, dirty, green velvet suit.

And none of Eileen’s imaginary heroes had ever looked as brave.

The battle was horrific.

Maggie had thought she was prepared, but there was no way she could have been. The Warriors and the female guard were working together, which was good. They were flying in and out of the tumult, raining destruction down on the rogue Fae who’d chosen to bet their lives and freedom on Mab’s promises.

Many of their enemies had broken ranks and run at the first sight of flying warriors. Their terror and sense of self-preservation had won out over their greed, which cut down on the numbers substantially.

But there were still the Dullahan, terrifying creatures, to deal with, not to mention the shape-shifting Pooka and the Sluagh, those gorgeous soul-eaters riding the shifters into battle. And there was Mab.

The sounds of war were overwhelming. She had a whole new respect for the military in her home world. They faced the threat of such battles every day. And voluntarily put themselves in harm’s way all the time.

And the shouting—the shrieks of fear and the screams of pain—was terrifying. The scent of blood and sweat hung heavy in the air and Maggie fought to breathe it all in, anyway. She swung her iron sword like an avenging angel, cleaving her way through the Fae that stood between her and the former queen at the center of the melee.

Again and again, Maggie’s iron sword clashed with the sterling-silver blades of the rogues and she saw them react in panic to the dull gleam of her own weapon. They knew it was iron. Knew they could be poisoned, taking centuries to recover, and so they ducked when they should have fought and she was making actual headway.

She was grateful. Through the din of battle, a wild, stray thought scuttled through her mind. She was an artist, not a warrior queen. She hadn’t been built for this. Her arms ached, her shoulders screamed in quiet agony and her heart thundered in her chest like a runaway horse. She was so far out of her element, it wasn’t funny. How in the heck had destiny ever decided to choose
her
for this gig?

Fear and fury clogged her throat. There was no time to think. No time to worry. She had to trust that Bezel and Devon had succeeded in getting Eileen away safely. She had to trust that her Warriors and guard would stand together, forgetting their former enmity as they faced a common foe.

And she had to trust Culhane.

Strange, but all of her worries now meant nothing. When it really mattered, when everything was on the line and she was fighting for her life—of
course
she trusted Culhane.

He was near her throughout the battle and she was aware of him on a soul-deep level that didn’t even require
seeing
him. She felt him. Felt their connection and it steadied her even in the middle of this horror.

Maggie ducked, parried a blow and came back up screaming at the Sluagh attacking her. She swung her sword blade to slice into her enemy and was both sickened and gratified at the sensation.

“Maggie!” Culhane shouted her name.

She whirled around and watched him fly at her, skimming over her head to impale an attacker she hadn’t noticed; then Culhane landed in front of her, planting his own body between hers and danger, and Maggie knew without a doubt just how important he was to her.

When this was over, when they were back safely in the palace, she was going to tell him that she loved him and that she
did
trust him. Did believe he loved her. And then she was going to hold on to him and not let go for at least a hundred years.

“How touching!” Mab’s voice carried over the clashing battle raging around them and Maggie turned to face her.

Cold raced through her veins as she looked at the female who had brought them all to this because of her own thirst for power. Fury pumped anew as Maggie remembered that this bitch had changed Eileen into a full-Fae, taking all choice from her. And rage settled into a seething brew in the pit of her stomach with the recollection of all the pain Mab had caused.

Was
causing.

“Flying warriors,” Mab said over the tumult. “A nice trick.”

“I don’t need tricks, bitch,” Maggie told her, and enjoyed the flare of insult in Mab’s eyes.

“Just your own private bodyguard?” Mab’s gaze slid to Culhane. “I told you once he couldn’t be trusted.”

Yes, she had. And Mab’s words had fed Maggie’s own doubts and fears until she’d turned from Culhane when every instinct she possessed had screamed at her to cling to him. Maggie smiled. She’d trusted Culhane all along, really. It was only her own fears that made her doubt him. Her hesitation at accepting her new life. Her worry over the destiny that had claimed her. When she doubted herself, she doubted what she felt and she felt the most, for him.

God, she was an idiot.

Looking at Mab, Maggie said, “Let it go, Mab. You can’t come between Culhane and me. You’ve already lost and I think you know it.”

Astonished, the other woman said, “You believe in Culhane? You are a fool.”

“Nope. I’m the Queen. You’re the fool.”

Mab screeched, throwing her head back to howl at the sky in frustration. Maggie could almost sympathize.

“I don’t need Culhane to take you, either,” Maggie said, and really hoped that was true.

“Prove it.” Mab swung her sword and the blood-drenched weapon hummed as it whipped through the air.

Maggie lifted her own blade, countered Mab’s thrust and swung one of her own.

Vaguely, she was aware that Culhane had stepped to one side, allowing her to fight her own battles despite the fact that he no doubt wanted to jump in and take care of it for her. And Maggie felt a swell of courage rise in her, born of his belief in her abilities.

Again and again, her blade crashed against Mab’s. The power of those blows sang up Maggie’s arms and into her shoulders. Their swords collided over and over as the battle around them was slowly won by Maggie’s forces.

The two women were oblivious to anything but their own private war, though. The rest of Otherworld could have slipped into another dimension entirely and they wouldn’t have noticed. All that existed was the two of them. This fight. This clash of two wills.

The sounds of the battle died away. Maggie thought of nothing but Mab. All she could focus on was the feeling that this was it. The moment of truth. The powers, the strength, inside her were fierce, but would it be enough to defeat the bitch Queen of this dimension? Was she fast enough, strong enough to end this here and now? And did she really have it in her to cut off the woman’s
head
?

Mab charged, forcing Maggie back, step by step, parry by parry. She couldn’t look away from Mab. Couldn’t see where she was walking, because to take her eyes off her opponent would mean her own death.

So she didn’t see the fallen Fae behind her. Didn’t know that she would fall, until she hit the ground with a thump hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs. Didn’t know this was the end until she looked up into Mab’s fierce face and saw triumph written in her silvery stare.