Dragonmark (21 page)

Selena grinned. “Your sessions with Grace must be going well.”

Styxx nodded. “She's helped a lot, and we can get Cadegan the same counseling. Plus…” He glanced over to his brother. “We could set him up in one of our temples to live. There are still plenty that sit vacant on the hill.”

Ash arched a brow at Styxx's suggestion. “You want him that close to your wife and toddler?”

A slow smile spread across Styxx's face. “I'm pretty sure Bethany can handle it. I have no fear for them. From this, anyway.” He glanced over to Jo. “If we can save him, I think we should try. I stand with Acheron and Jo on this matter. We unleashed him. We police him.”

Talon nodded in agreement. “If he really is the grandson of the Mórrígan and the Dagda, that makes him the first cousin to my wife. Family is family. We protect that always.”

Karma sighed. “Normally, I'd agree with you all. But do we protect him at the expense of the rest of the world? Is there not any way to bind his powers?”

“Duct tape?”

They all cast a droll stare to Fang.

“Oh, don't give me that look. Like none of you have never wondered why a witch doesn't use that in a binding spell. Nothing gets away from duct tape without losing half their skin and all their hair.”

Thorn snorted. “Really don't want to know about your kinky sex life, wolf. Your wife handles my food, and now I'm grossed out.”

They laughed.

Acheron turned back toward Talon. “So, Celt, does anyone in your camp know Cordelia personally?”

“My mother-in-law probably does. She's a member of the Tuath Dé. Technically so am I, and my wife. But Starla lived among them in her youth. She knows everyone who's still living in their pantheon.”

“Tuath Dé
…”
Acheron repeated that under his breath as he narrowed his gaze on Jo.

“Does that ring a bell?” Kyrian asked.

Acheron pulled out his cell phone and dialed it. “Yeah, it does, and not for the obvious reasons.” He held his hand up to let them know the person he was calling had picked up. “Hey baby, how's my girl?” He paused to listen before he laughed. “Give them both a big kiss from Grandpa and tell them that I'll be by later to tuck them in.” With his inhuman, swirling silver eyes, he stared at Jo in a way that was really making her uncomfortable. “Yeah, actually I could use you for a minute. Can you pop over for just a few minutes?” He nodded. “I'm at Sanctuary. Back room. You can ask Dev when you get here and he'll show you in. Thanks, precious. Love you.” He hung up.

“Kat?” Styxx asked.

Acheron nodded again. “She'll be…” The door opened to show an insanely tall, gorgeous blonde woman who appeared even older than Acheron. “Walking in the door, right now.”

Wide-eyed at the number of people inside, Kat cast her gaze around the room. “Hi, Daddy.” She moved to kiss Acheron on the cheek before she hugged Simi and Styxx. When she went to steal one of Simi's french fries, the demon gasped in horror.

“You won't share fries with your sissy?” Kat asked the demon.

Simi eyed her with mock ire. “Good thing I love my baby sissy. But … Daddy Akri, Akra-Kat stealing your Simi's fries! Make her stop!”

Laughing, Acheron shook his head. “Don't make me put you two in separate corners. Play nice.”

“Yes, sir.” Kat stepped to the side.

Simi handed Kat another fry before she laughed and returned to her barbecue.

Acheron jerked his chin toward Jo. “Does she remind you of someone?”

Screwing her face up, Kat licked the ketchup from her fingers. Suddenly, recognition lit her green eyes and she gasped. “Are you thinking Brit?”

“Yeah.”

Kat nodded. “Spitting image of her. But I haven't seen her in centuries. It's why it took me a while to realize it.”

Jo frowned at their discussion. “Who's Brit?”

“Britomartis,” Acheron answered. “She was a cousin of the goddess Artemis. They played together when they were girls on Olympus.”

Kat nodded. “She's the one who gave my mother her famous nets that no one can escape from. As a thank-you for them, my mother gave her an enchanted mirror that had once belonged to Apollo. The mirror could show events of the past, present, and future. But most of all, it showed Britomartis the true heart of those around her.”

Acheron nodded. “She was gazing in that same mirror one day when she fell in love with a Welsh prince and demigod named Arthegall ap Tyr, whose face she saw while he was jousting against another knight.”

Jo gaped. “I saw Cadegan in the mirror before we met. It was how I ended up falling through it and into Glastonbury Tor.”

Thorn rose slowly to his feet. “That's one hell of a coincidence, isn't it?”

Acheron nodded. “And I don't believe in them.”

Kat moved closer to Jo. “Brit had a son and daughter and both she and Arthegall gave up their godhoods so that they could live out their lives in peace with their children.”

Karma folded her arms over her chest as she jerked her chin toward her cousin. “Jo could always see things in mirrors. She used to accuse us of planting it in her mind, but she's a born scryer.”

“I have no powers.”

“Would you let us test your blood?” Kat asked.

Jo hesitated. “Test it how, Draculina?”

“A little prick?”

Talfryn snorted. “Little prick's what got her into trouble.”

Ioan shoved at him. “Shut it.”

“It's true. Just saying.”

Kat ignored them. “Can we?”

Jo held her hand out toward the woman. “Sure.”

Kat pulled out a small knife and lightly pricked the edge of Jo's finger. She pooled the blood on the knife's blade before she took it to her father and handed it to him.

Acheron dipped his finger into the blood then tasted it.

Jo screwed her face up in absolute repugnance. Nasty!

After a second, he nodded. “It's the same bloodline as Artemis.”

“You sure?” Thorn asked.

He gave Thorn a droll stare. “Yeah. Pretty sure. I've tasted it before. Jo is from Zeus's bloodline.”

Jo scowled at all of them. “What does that mean?”

Kat winked at her. “We're very distant cousins.”

“For another,” Acheron continued, “there's something much larger at play here. Your ancestor was pulled into Terre Derrière le Voile by a mirror to meet her future husband, who was a Welsh prince and demigod.”

“You think the two of them are reincarnated?” Selena asked.

Talon passed a knowing look to Acheron. “It happens, and you don't want to get in the way when it does. Two lovers will not be denied.”

Except for him and Edilyn. Illarion choked on that thought as he forced down his own pain.

“Then how do we get him out?” Jo asked.

Talon stood. “I'm part of the Tuath Dé, so I'll lead us in.”

Styxx nodded in agreement. “Since we're trespassing into another pantheon's realm, I think we should keep the group small. Jo has to go, because we'll need her to deal with Cadegan. Thorn's Frick and Frack, since they'll follow us in, anyway.” He grinned at Talfryn's disapproving growl over their nickname. “Thorn and me.”

Simi looked up from her food. “No Simi?”

Styxx kissed her on the forehead. “Not this time. I don't want to risk you and I know your father agrees with me. We need you here to protect our small sons and Kat's son and daughter.”

That placated her. “Okies. But you have to let me put hornays on Baby Ari.”

“Sure, as long as they're detachable.”

She blew him a raspberry.

Their stupid solidarity pissed Illarion off. But more than that, it touched him.

Damn him for it. And before he could stop himself, he made a decision he'd sworn he never would.

I will come, too
.

For Edilyn. If she were here, she'd be among the first to volunteer to help them. The romantic in her wouldn't rest until the two lovers were reunited. So for her, he would act against his own nature.

If he couldn't have her, he could at least do this in remembrance of her.

Max sighed. “Then I will go, too.”

Illarion glared at him for volunteering for such a suicidal task.

But Max refused to back down. “You've been too long alone. I won't let you do this without a
wing
man.”

Styxx nodded. “That actually works. It leaves a mount for each of us.”

Jo stepped forward. “Then we're going after Cadegan?”

Thorn inclined his head to her. “May the gods have mercy on us all. The last thing we need is to face an even stronger creature.”

 

20

Cadegan dove beneath the blackened waves as he sought some sort of refuge from the hell that had become his world. Hatred and bloodlust pounded through him without letup. He wanted to taste the entrails of every creature dumb enough to approach him. While he'd never been friendly, this was completely different.

He had lost all ability to feel for anyone or anything.

Opening his eyes, he breathed in the water and scent of blood that still clung to him. The giant had been his first victim.

Too bad Cordelia had run screaming before he had a chance to finish the giant off and add her to his menu. Since then, he'd flown over the countryside, looking for more food. How he loved the musical cadence of screams echoing in his ears.

Truly, there was no better sound.

Drunk on the panic he'd induced, he dove deeper into the water. This was what he'd needed. The water's caress. The sound of his heartbeat echoing in his ears.

He froze his muscles as his instincts picked up on the sound of creatures approaching.

Curious, he tucked his legs and floated to the surface. With only his eyes out of the water, he scanned the banks until he saw Morgen's men. Fey Adoni armor glistened in the grim, gray light. Armed with crossbows and spears, they sent out lures to flush him to the top.

Did they think him as mindless as he was soulless?

Hah! They were about to learn the truth of his kind.

“Cadegan?” Morgen called. “We are here to free you.”

Her gown was the only color in the dreary landscape. Bright bloodred, it clung to the voluptuous curves of her body. Something that brought out a new hunger inside him as she stirred his lust.

“Come to us, love. We will care for you in ways you cannot imagine.”

Tempted, he moved his gaze to the MOD on Morgen's left-hand side.

Bracken. His uncle, who'd once tortured him at Morgen's behest. He wanted to spear the bastard through his missing heart. But he refused to give them his location.

Especially since half her army carried nets he knew were there to capture him.

“Cadegan? Come, child. Let me care for you.”

He went perfectly still at the sound of a voice that was identical to his mother's. For the merest instant, he was a boy again, sitting on the edge of the tower window as he counted down to the bell toll. As he looked out upon the endless land and wondered if his mother was out there, somewhere.

If she ever gave a passing thought to the child she'd left behind.

Furious, he started forward, wanting more blood.

But as he moved, the water caressed his demonkyn skin like the hand of a lover.

It caressed him like …

He struggled to remember. It was important that he recall the sensation.

'Tis nothing. Devour them!

He pulled back. Placing his hand upon his cheek, he heard the faint memory of laughter.

Gentle teasing.

Like a wombat in a cornfield.

“Josette,” he breathed as he remembered feeling something other than burning hatred and the stinging hunger for death and blood.

I will never leave you.

But she had left him. Just like everyone else.

His rage built even higher. It was true. She'd betrayed him. Abandoned him the first chance she'd had to go home.

And here he stayed. With no one and nothing.

Morgen wants you.

Nay, she did not. He was not so stupid as to be that easily fooled. She wanted to use him.

No one ever wanted to keep him.

“Cade?”

At first, he thought himself dreaming. Imagining the sound of a voice that was forever gone.

“Sweetie? Where are you?”

It was Josette. His heart pounded as a hope he despised filled his entire being.

'Tis a dodge from the Queen Bitchtress herself.

Suddenly, two dragons and two Adar Llwch Gwin swooped down to attack Morgen and her army. Exploding into action, Morgen's forces flew to engage them.

But the moment he was alone, a slight movement on his right caught his attention. Crouched low in the shrubs was the last person he'd ever expected to see.

Josette.

She stretched her hand out toward him. “I'm here to take you home with me. Come, my lord. I won't let anyone harm you.”

Cadegan started forward instinctively. Until he saw that she wasn't alone. Two men were with her. His bastard brother and one he knew was related to him. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he'd always been able to feel any member of the Tuath Dé what came near.

Josette glared at them. “Do you mind? He doesn't trust any of you.”

“Why should I trust you?” he growled low in his demonic voice.

Josette met his gaze without flinching. “Because I love you. I promised I wouldn't let them have you and I meant it. Come home with me, Cade. Let me give you the love you deserve.”

She's lying. 'Tis the worst sort of dodge ever handed you, lad. Don't be an imbecile.

But he saw no deceit in her eyes. Heard no tremble in her voice.

Before he could stop himself, he was on his way to her. He expected her to scream when she saw what he looked like. Horned, winged, and foul. Even he'd glimpsed himself and thought,
That can't be right
.