Earth's Hope (31 page)

Fionn shut his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he had to unclench his jaws before he could talk. “How do we do that?”

“Carefully,” Nidhogg said into his mind. “Let us get close to each, and I will try to sense its specific purpose.”

Fionn chafed at the time dribbling by as Nidhogg moved them to the nearest glass and sent magic cautiously into it, but if they screwed this up, Aislinn had no chance at all. He reminded himself Dewi was with her, but were they a match for the dark gods? He and Arawn had nearly been lost forever, would have been if Arawn hadn’t led them into the halls of the dead through an obscure, hidden route.

I have to believe this will turn out. I’ll drive myself mad otherwise.

Nidhogg dragged their shared body to the next mirror. Fionn wanted to ask what he’d found at the first one, but kept quiet. If the dragon had anything to tell them, he would have.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Dewi’s restless energy set Aislinn’s teeth on edge and made her want to scream. “There’s room for you to take your own form.”

“Not really.” Dewi jerked Aislinn’s neck around as she scanned the room.

“How long do you think D’Chel will leave us alone?”

The dragon snorted, and steam rolled through Aislinn’s nostrils. “The crystal ball’s a bit cloudy today.”

“Goddammit.” Aislinn pounded her fist into a nearby wall. “I am not a dragon. No smoke, fire, steam, or anything else.”

“So, have you ever actually fucked him?” Dewi asked, with an undernote in her voice that Aislinn recognized all too well.

“No. And I don’t plan to. Can we teleport out of here?”

“Doubtful. Let me work on it.”

Aislinn doubted it too. It would have been stupid for D’Chel to nab her if she could spell her way to freedom. Her crotch was damp from his idea at courtship, and a mixture of fury and fear twisted her stomach into a knot of apprehension. Adrenaline gave her a boost to fight or flee. When all she could do was twiddle her thumbs, it left a sour taste in her mouth and made her legs shaky.

“Well?” she asked Dewi as the walls of the bedchamber shimmered, but reformed again and again.

“Do you even have to ask?” the dragon retorted. “If I could have freed us, I would have.” She paused for a beat. “I don’t understand. We get to where the spell should develop its own momentum, but then it just fritters through my talons.”

Aislinn thought she understood just fine. “Doesn’t that mean we have to find whatever casting he has around this room and blast through it?”

“I tried that first. There isn’t any shielding around this particular room. Whatever’s holding us is coming from elsewhere.”

Aislinn switched to mind speech and took care to shield it. It might not keep D’Chel or Adva out, but it was the best she could do. “If we can’t escape, we have to fight them. I still think that would go better if you were in your own form.”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Pour fire down their throats like you did with Tokhots.”

“You think they’ll just lay themselves at our feet and let me do that?”

“Of course not. We’d have to knock them out somehow first, which is another reason we’re better off with you in dragon form.”

Aislinn felt a wrenching sensation in her belly as Dewi exited. Her insides felt raw, exposed. Despite that, being queen of her own body again was worth it. The dragon took up half the floor space in the bedchamber and her head reached the ceiling. Smoke and steam curled from her jaws, and scales clanked as she stretched.

“When they come back in here,” Aislinn said, “we give them everything we have. No talking, no bargaining, nothing. We fight, plain and simple.”

“D’Chel controls illusion. He can shape shift, and he will once he sees me.” A tongue of flame joined the smoke. “It will get a bit close in here with two dragons, or something else that’s the same size I am.”

“I’ll try not to get underfoot.”

“You do that.” Dewi chucked softly. “I do love you, child. We’ll find our way back to the men somehow.”

Aislinn swallowed hard, but her throat was dust dry. She couldn’t think about Fionn now; it would just get in the way. Once she’d started down that road, though, she wondered why no one had shown up in their prison. She sent magic auguring out and found Rune easily, but when she tried to talk with him, the Hunter bond reared back and slapped her magical center.

“What the fuck?” she shook herself, not believing the electrical sensation that had just scalded her.

“What happened?” the dragon narrowed her eyes.

“I used the Hunter bond to find Rune.”

“And?”

“Found him fine, but then something odd happened. The bond blew up around me and bit back.”

Dewi nodded. “Pretty much the same thing that happened when I tried to teleport us out of here.”

“What’s wrong?” Aislinn fought terror. It was one thing not having her magic work at all, but quite another for it to turn into something unrecognizable and unpredictable.

“They held you here before, didn’t they?”

“I think so, unless there are two places like this here. I never saw the outside of the building then, only the one room they kept me in.”

“I’m guessing it wasn’t this one.” At Aislinn’s curt nod, Dewi went on, “There’s some sort of vortex here that perverts our magic. Likely it doesn’t affect the dark bastards, or they’d never tolerate it. If I reach deep, I can almost wrap my mind around the source, but it’s a very ancient magic, maybe even older than me, and it stymies me every time.”

“Well, it wasn’t here last time. There were tapestries on the walls that muted my power. Once I took them down, I was able to escape.”

The door snicked open, and D’Chel strolled through, flanked by Perrikus. “Surely you didn’t think we’d be so sloppy as to leave you the same exit route you used last time?” D’Chel inquired and furled his perfect, dark brows.

Perrikus’s long auburn hair flowed around him, and his green eyes danced merrily. He wore a long, pale green robe, and a golden torc circled his neck.

“Welcome to my castle.” He mock bowed, his gaze never leaving her.

Dewi pushed between Aislinn and the dark gods. “Address yourselves to me,” she trumpeted and blasted them with smoke mixed with fire. A small wooden wall hanging smoldered before catching fire.

D’Chel made a sound between a snort and a grunt. “I was trying to ignore you, dragon. I liked it better when you were catching a ride inside Aislinn.”

Perrikus shrugged. “I’m not so sure about that. Dragons are quite useful. I’ve missed that one we kept here. Handy fellow, and brimming with power.”

“That you siphoned off to keep this world alive,” Dewi cut in. “I don’t plan to be your next patsy.”

“He didn’t plan on it, either,” Perrikus pointed out smugly. “Look where it got him.”

“Best laid plans and all that,” D’Chel agreed with a shit-eating grin that made Aislinn’s blood boil with fury.

“This isn’t what we agreed on,” Aislinn reminded Dewi.

D’Chel rolled his eyes. “Save your magic. I can hear every word. What exactly did you agree on? I’d love to know.”

“If you can hear every word”—Aislinn squared her shoulders—“then I shouldn’t have to tell you.” She tried to move past Dewi’s bulk, but the dragon blocked her.

She peered around Dewi and eyed the two dark gods warily, wanting to attack, but not wanting to be foolhardy. Something about this world sapped her magic, and her anger, which had always been her ace in the hole.

“Stay behind me,” the dragon instructed. “Don’t let them close enough to get their hands on you.”

Neither Perrikus nor D’Chel flinched, so maybe D’Chel’s boast about cutting through their warding like a hot knife through clay was empty rhetoric.

Fire blasted from Dewi, along with strong jolts of magic. Perrikus and D’Chel staggered backward, batting at their burning clothing. Both mages spewed a language she’d never heard, probably profanities from the inflection. She wanted to help, lend her power to the fight, but the dragon took up the entire room between the wall and the bed.

The bed.

Aislinn skittered along the back wall, dove into the bed curtains, and rolled off the other side of what felt like a straw-filled mattress. If Dewi turned fire on it, it would incinerate like a bonfire, and then the room would fill with smoke and… Not a good idea. She hated to siphon off any power, but she strengthened her wards before calling attention to herself.

She landed light on her feet on the narrow strip of floor between the bed and the far wall and moved cautiously forward. Dewi cursed her, but Aislinn didn’t bother to answer. She had to concentrate to draw power, focus it, and launch it at Perrikus, who was closest to her.

He turned to face her, his perfect face drawn into a snarl. “You’ve always been more trouble than you’re worth.”

“So?” She shrugged and sent more power his way. Once she warmed to the defensive magic, it got easier, even here. “By the way, what happened to Adva?”

“He’s doing what he does best. Manipulating gateways.” Perrikus blasted magic her way, but she sidestepped him and wished she had more room to maneuver.

Dewi had pushed so much fire, smoke, and raw power toward D’Chel that he was backed into a corner, but no matter what she bombarded him with, his warding held.

“What does manipulating gateways mean?” Aislinn danced from foot to foot, looking for an opening where she might break through Perrikus’s magical perimeter.

“Did your grasp of English slip?” White, jagged lightning shot from his fingertips, and she rolled beneath it, shocked by how the floor shook when it landed where she’d been standing seconds before. Maybe Dewi had been right, and she should have remained behind her. She could retreat, but it wasn’t her style. The last thing she wanted to do was let these bastards know how rattled she was.

“I figure it has something to do with why we can’t teleport out of here,” Aislinn panted and lobbed power back his way. Never mind it did nothing but roll off his warding.

“Smart girl. Too bad you’re not a shade more cooperative.”

“Isn’t it?”

The next lightning bolt came at her from the front and forked to both sides, cutting off her escape. She clenched her jaws and hoped to hell her wards held. They did. Sort of, but a stinging burn flared up one arm. She was afraid to look away long enough to assess the damage, but hot liquid dripped, so he must have drawn blood. Fury boiled hot, and she drove power along the floor, telling it to creep beneath his robe and singe his dick off.

Dewi showered Perrikus with flames at the same time, but he just laughed and shrugged his burning garment off, displaying his amazing body. He pointed a finger at her ground strike, and it skittered to one side, not touching him at all.

Aislinn’s breath clotted in her throat, and arousal tightened her belly. She tried to look away from his golden skin and perfect form, but couldn’t even manage to close her eyes. Incredulity cut deep. It was unthinkable he’d divert her with sex. Unthinkable she could be diverted.

Why? He’s the original one trick pony.

Heat built in her loins until she couldn’t think, and a climax tore through her. Like it always went with the dark gods, her arousal didn’t recede much with release. “Stop it,” she screamed. “Just stop it.”

“Why should I?” Perrikus stroked his growing erection. Like the rest of his body, it was masculine perfection. Huge and beautiful.

Aislinn spun away so she might have a prayer of reestablishing her mind as the leader of the pack, but even when she wasn’t facing him, the dark god’s amazing physique still mocked her. Because it was a small task, something she couldn’t fail at, she sent Healing energy to the jagged cut running down her left arm.

“Playing hard to get?” Perrikus taunted.

“Just trying to get through the day.” She turned and faced him. “What do you want with me?”

“The same thing D’Chel and I have always wanted. Children from your bloodline. We made a mistake when we killed your father that night in Bolivia.” He shrugged. “How were we to know? We’d just arrived, and the key to all successful campaigns is decisive action. One expects collateral damage, but those stupid Lemurians made incredibly poor choices. We’re living with the fallout.”

His words cut through the sexual haze her brain had become. “It was hard to lose my father when I was eighteen, but why’d you say it was a mistake?” She wanted to know, and maybe if she could get him talking, he’d dial down the libido juice.

“According to Adva, the Harmonic Convergence exerts a significant effect on gateways, both on Earth and the borderworlds. Your father was almost the only person knowledgeable about the Convergence. There was one other, but the Old Ones killed him.”

“You were looking pretty chummy with them in Inishownen.” Aislinn took a few steps back to get more distance between her and Perrikus.

“If they trust us, it will be easier to annihilate them.”

“What are you doing?” Dewi shot a look her way. She still had D’Chel pinned in the corner, but beyond that, whatever was happening looked like a stalemate.

“It doesn’t matter.” Aislinn fought weariness, inertia exacerbated by the borderworld. “We have to get out of here.”

“That’s not going to happen,” D’Chel smirked. “Your rescue party is lost in a labyrinth. Or they will be once Adva works his magic.”

“Besides wanting to use me as a broodmare, what else do you have in mind?” Aislinn asked, still parleying for time to think. There had to be a way out of this, but probably not with Perrikus and D’Chel breathing down their necks. Blood still dripped down her arm, but the flow had slowed and the sting of the injury had lessened.

“That depends on your level of cooperation,” Perrikus replied.

“If you’re a total bitch about this, or keep trying to escape, we’ll have to kill you.” D’Chel spread his hands in front of him as if to indicate it was unfortunate, but what choice would they have?

“You missed your calling,” Dewi said, her tone acerbic. “You should have been on stage.”

“Many have told me that.” D’Chel smiled prettily. “Of course, we hadn’t bargained on you.”

“I’ll bet you didn’t.” Dewi puffed flame his way. “You trapped Nidhogg because you caught him unaware.”