Chapter 37

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

S he was lying on the damp ground and the sky was grey and cold, but the rain had stopped. Someone was gently wiping something from her face, but she reached out in the darkness for Cadell.

Cadell?

You can speak to me in your mind now.

Am I?

Yes. You haven't woken from the shock yet.

How?

How anything, Nêrys? You don't seem content to follow any rules.

She tried to think about that, but her mind was too tired.

Is Lachlan alive?

Yes. Dafydd already had you out the door, so I went back for him.

Duncan?

Not even a house falling on him could kill that one.

And Seren's journals?

Buried very safely in the rubble. You secured them under the table, so we can dig them out when the cottage is secure.

Is Regan dead?

Very dead, Nêrys.

She let out a relieved sigh, and she felt Duncan's hand on her cheek.

"Wake up, Carys." His voice was urgent and low. "For the love of God, wake up."

She felt his lips touch her forehead.

Cadell?

Yes, Nêrys.

I'm really… confused.

Understandable, my lady.

She knew she needed to open her eyes, but the thought of returning to fire, rubble, death, and two quarreling brothers made her keep them closed for just a moment longer.

But she wasn't alone.

You'll never be alone again, Cadell said in her mind.

Carys opened her eyes and Duncan grabbed her, clutching her to his chest. His shoulders shook, and he rocked her back and forth.

"Thank God. Thank God," he whispered fervently.

"I'm okay." She dug her fingers into his massive shoulder. It was a little like trying to comfort a brick wall. "I'm fine, Duncan."

"You scared us, girl."

Dafydd's voice made Carys look to the side. The old man's face was creased with worry and covered in dust and blood. He had a cut over his right eyebrow, and blood ran into one of his bright blue eyes.

"Aunt Eamer is going to be pissed at me for cutting up your pretty face," she whispered.

Dafydd threw his head back and laughed.

"Trust a Welsh woman to make a joke five minutes after she almost died," Duncan muttered. He lifted Carys and carried her to a grassy spot that wasn't covered in rubble. "I'm going to set you down here," he said. "Are you okay?"

She nodded.

"I'm going to look for Mags." He glanced at the ruins of the cottage. "She's going to be in a full-on rage for what we've done to her house. "

Carys looked up to see Cadell and Mared flying overhead.

"What are they doing?"

"Waiting to take us back. Mared says there's a fight brewing at the loch."

"Fuck." Carys's eyes searched for Lachlan, who was kneeling by the smoking ruins, Duncan's steel sword in his hand. "He left an army on the edge of unicorn territory."

"That he did."

Carys forced herself to her feet and limped over to Lachlan, who was staring at the ruins with silver and red blood spattered on his face, blood dripping from his eyes, and dust and rubble in his russet-brown hair.

"Lachlan?" She knelt and put a hand on his shoulder.

He looked up and frowned. "She killed my wife."

"Yes. And you killed her."

"It's not…" His jaw tensed and his face crumpled. "It doesn't make it hurt any less."

"No." She blinked back tears and knelt beside him. "I don't think it can."

Lachlan let out something halfway between a groan and a cry. His shoulders curled in, and he leaned on the steel sword in his right hand, which was dug into the earth.

"Carys, I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?"

"For everything." His eyes were hollow. "Duncan was right. I never should have gone looking for you. I never should have drawn you into…" He looked at the smoke and stone. "All of this. You had a good life."

"Yeah." She sat back on her heels and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "I did."

Carys thought about her life. Her friends and her job. The family she'd lost and the one she'd patched together for herself. All that was important. It was precious.

But it wasn't everything .

"Because you came to find me, I have you. And I have Duncan. I found out that I had a sister who was really amazing." She smiled a little and looked over her shoulder to where Dafydd waited. "I have an uncle. And an aunt. I have family again."

Lachlan nodded.

"And I have a dragon." She looked up at Cadell, who was circling slowly overhead. Watching. Waiting for her.

Always, Nêrys.

Lachlan laughed a little. "Admit it—the dragon is your favorite."

She gripped his shoulder in her hand. "I can't answer that right now because we need to get back to Aisling and stop your army from going to battle with the unicorns."

"Oh fuck." He hoisted himself up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand just as Duncan came running up the hill.

His eyes scanned the rubble. "Is she here?"

"Who?"

"Mags."

"Not here." Lachlan handed his brother the sword. "That thing is too heavy."

"Not for me." Duncan took the sword, hastily slid a cloth over the blade, and secured it in the scabbard. "You didn't even clean it."

"Not the time." Carys tried not to yell. "Wounded friend. Unicorns. Remember?"

Dafydd raised his arms and sent a sharp whistle into the sky. Seconds later, Mared swept down and grabbed Dafydd and Lachlan in her claws.

"Cadell!"

I am coming.

Her dragon flew down with a roar, opened his claws, and grabbed Carys and Duncan in a single dive. She felt the cold security of Cadell's grip around her and the warm radiance of the fire in his belly.

Duncan was clutching Cadell's leg, his eyes closed and his mouth muttering something she couldn't hear.

"Are you praying?" she shouted .

"This is mad!" He looked up, then back at Carys. He started to smile. Then to laugh. "Absolutely mad!"

"Where was Mags?" Carys shouted. "She wasn't there?"

"I couldn't find her," he shouted back, "but I'll get Angus looking when I can." He looked at the ground. "Is Aisling still alive?"

"Cadell?"

She's alive, the dragon's voice said in her mind. But she's very, very weak.

When they landed, Lachlan was already kneeling in the meadow at Aisling's side, and Naida's hands were on her. The army of Sgàin waited a short distance away, standing down as their leader knelt by the dying healer and the small fae woman.

The unicorns stood among the trees, watching the soldiers with cautious eyes while their chief knelt beside the dying human.

She's still alive. But barely.

Darius and Naida were speaking softly and urgently in a language Carys didn't recognize.

"I need to talk to her." Carys walked over, leaving Duncan with Lachlan's men.

Lachlan was holding Aisling's hand. "Let them heal you," he said. "They say you're blocking their magic. Why?"

Aisling shook her head. "Where is Carys?"

"I'm here." Carys knelt in the grass.

The corner of Aisling's mouth turned up. "You're safe."

Naida looked at Carys. "Convince your friend. Darius and I can heal her, but she won't let us through. She's lost blood and she won't survive long."

"Aisling," Carys said, "you need to let Naida heal you. You can trust her and Darius."

Naida bent down to Aisling's ear. "You will owe me nothing, mage. I do not tally favors as other fae do."

Aisling shook her head and coughed a little, a smear of blood visible on her berry-red lips. "No."

"Who did this?" Lachlan gripped Aisling's hand and looked at the vicious, bleeding wound. "Was it Regan?"

"I did this to myself." Aisling looked at Carys. "Is she dead?"

"Yes." Carys didn't say who had killed Regan, and Lachlan didn't either.

"Good." Aisling stared into the sky, her eyes resolute. "Lachlan, please."

"I'm here."

"Leave."

"What?"

"Please. Just for a moment." She blinked back tears. "I want to speak with Carys."

Lachlan stood, and a blank expression fell over his face. He stepped back to give them privacy.

"Aisling, don't do this." Carys scooted closer and took her hand, speaking urgently to the dying woman. "I didn't tell them."

"But you will. You should ."

Carys said nothing. Regan's spell or not, Aisling had killed Seren. And she'd refused to heal Seren to cover her own crime. "But you can live."

"Lachlan will blame me." Aisling started crying. "When he thinks about it. When the battle rush wears off and Lachlan thinks about what's happened, he will blame me." She shook her head slowly. "This is better."

"No, it's not." Carys's eyes filled with tears. "None of this is better. Life is better."

Aisling was a killer. She was also a victim of a family who had only used her. She was Seren's closest friend and her murderer.

"I loved them both." Aisling's voice was barely a whisper. "She never should have come back to Alba. I can't…" She sucked in a shallow breath. "You have to listen to me."

"Aisling— "

"Shadowkin, Brightkin," she whispered. "The two of you are different. You always were. Regan and I both saw it." She seemed to have trouble breathing. "You already know it."

…some hybrid creature that belongs nowhere. Sound familiar…? Regan's whispered accusation came back to her.

"I'm human," Carys said. "I'm like you."

"More than you know." Aisling smiled, her lips fading to blue.

"What are you talking about?" Carys could barely see for the tears streaming down her face. "I don't understand."

Aisling motioned for Carys to come closer. She put her ear to Aisling's lips.

" Nêrys ddraig ," Aisling whispered. "You are creatures of the Annwn. Find a way there, Carys, and you might find them both."

"Aisling?" Carys pulled back. "Aisling!"

"There is a way." She closed her eyes. "Enough."

"Aisling?"

Naida shook her head. "She's dying."

Aisling's eyes flickered open again, but there was a blankness behind them. "Lachlan?"

He ran over and dropped to his knees to take her hand. "Stop this. Stop this now, Aisling." He looked at Naida. "Is it too late?"

Naida said nothing, but she took her hands from Aisling's body.

The dying woman blinked, staring into the sky. "I'm so sorry, my love." Tears dripped from the corner of her eyes. "I loved you. Please believe me."

"I know. I…" Lachlan swallowed back whatever he'd been about to say. "My friend, what would you have me do?"

Aisling smiled a little. "Take me to the loch. Don't let me die on the earth."

"But the kelpie."

Her voice was barely a breath on her lips. "I do not fear him."

Lachlan fixed his expression into a mask of resolve, reached down, and lifted Aisling in his arms. He walked with long strides through the trees, past the unicorns, and toward the water. Carys, Duncan, and his men walked behind him.

She heard the soft sound of hooves padding through the forest as they broke through the trees and the dull, heavy beat of wings overhead.

Cadell flew down over the loch, breathing a stream of fire that touched the surface of the water, turning it to steam.

"What's happening?" Carys reached for Duncan's hand. "Why does she want to go to the loch?"

Duncan said nothing but folded her cold hand in his warm palm and held it to his chest as he watched his brother carry the girl who had grown up at his side and the woman who had loved him all her life.

When Lachlan reached the edge of the water, the surface stirred in a great whirlpool along the edge. A moment later, the kelpie rose out of the water, screaming in rage at the humans and unicorns violating his territory.

"No." Lachlan stepped back. "Not like this."

"Hold." Aisling held out her hand and spoke in a soft voice. "I see you."

The kelpie stopped screaming and dropped to its black hooves, the water still swirling around it. He stared at Aisling, snorting out steam.

"I see you," she said again.

A second later, the otherworldly horse disappeared and a darkly beautiful man rose from the loch. He wore grey clothes drawn from the water itself, and his coal-black hair was woven with long grass and weeds. His eyes were storm grey, the color of a mirror reflecting the winter sky, and his skin was as pale as the dead.

"Aisling?" Lachlan held her to his chest even as her blood started dripping down the front of his clothes. He backed away from the kelpie. "Please don't?—"

"Leave me." Her voice was clear and strong. "Let me go."

"I've seen him." Carys pulled away from Duncan's hand and walked forward, drawn to the water's edge. "I've seen you. "

He was the pale man she'd seen on the shoreline talking with the woman. He turned to Carys, and his lips curled back; she saw the fearsome pointed teeth that filled his mouth. Dread curled in Carys's stomach as the air along the edge of the loch seemed to still.

The dark man stepped from the water and onto the rocky shore.

Time froze. There was no sound. No birdsong. No whinnying of worried unicorns or creak of leather armor and bronze blade. The world around her slowed to a crawl, and even Cadell's voice felt murky and distant as the man walked across the smooth grey rocks toward Aisling.

Carys breathed in and out, caught in the liminal space between water and sky, life and death.

"I see you, son of Lir." Aisling's voice was a clear bell in the preternaturally still air. "If you take me back to éire, I will grant you a favor."

The man spoke, but his lips didn't move. "What favor does Orla's blood have to offer me?"

"My willing life."

The dark man angled his head. "You come to me willingly?"

"I am a murderer and a betrayer. I do not want to die on land," Aisling said. "Take my life and deliver my soul to Bríg that I may ask for her mercy."

"If you come to me willingly, your wish is granted." The man reached for Aisling, and Lachlan was still as the dark man took the dying woman from the prince's arms.

Aisling and the kelpie's eyes met for a moment, and then she closed her eyes, let out a breath, and allowed her head to fall against his chest. Her face turned white, and her lips were blue.

The air was still as the water horse turned back to Carys with Aisling in his arms. "I see you too, blood of Rhiannon." The man's lips didn't move, and his voice came as a whisper in her ear. "The goddess's daughters walk between worlds."

Carys blinked. "What?"

The dark man turned to the loch. The second he stepped back into the water, the air around Carys released, sound filled the air again, and Aisling and the man were gone.

"What happened?" Lachlan spun around, hand on his sword hilt. "Where is she? The monster took her!"

"Calm yourself, son of Robb." Darius stood in human form in front of his people and stared out across the water. "The mage woman asked the kelpie to take her. There is nothing here to avenge."