Talaith nodded, holding onto Morfyd’s mane as they took to the skies.
* * *
Briec caught the spear in his hands seconds before it would have slammed into his shoulder. He glared down upon the soldiers who fired it at him. They used a similar device Annwyl used to throw boulders at castles. He saw the men stare up at him and, with a snarl, he headed toward them. The spear still tight in his grasp. As he got close, he threw it, impaling the closest one to the device, then he sprayed row after row of the enemy soldiers with white flame.
When an entire battalion was no more than ashes, he landed on solid ground and Fearghus landed next to him. His older brother surveyed the damage he wrought and turned to him.
“Subtle.”
“They almost wounded me,” he growled.
“Don’t be weak, Briec. I’m sure if you’d been hurt Talaith would have kissed it and made it better.”
Gwenvael landed in front of them. He spat out a pair of soldier’s boots—actually several pairs—and burped.
“I love a good meal.”
Fearghus rolled his eyes. “You’ll be hacking all that up later tonight.”
“No, I won’t. Because I cooked them. I only get ill when Morfyd cooks. Speaking of which…” Gwenvael’s gaze traveled up and he frowned. “If I didn’t know better I’d swear that was Talaith riding on our sister’s back.”
Briec’s head snapped up. Gwenvael saw true. Talaith, who’d rather eat nails than ride a dragon anywhere, clung to his sister’s back as they headed off away from battle.
More of Hamish’s troops took that moment to attack, but Fearghus motioned him away. “Go. Find out what’s wrong. We’ll take care of them.” He sneered at the soldiers before letting loose a stream of flame. Briec wasted no more time. He took to the skies and followed his sister to one of the many lakes that dotted the lands of Dark Plains.
He landed as Talaith slipped from Morfyd’s back.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Talaith glanced at Morfyd. “Get started,” she ordered. Then she walked over to Briec. “I have to go,” she said to him, so calmly it made his blood run cold.
Behind them, Morfyd began chanting, calling on the most powerful of Magicks. He didn’t want to know why. He wanted to grab Talaith and take her home. Back to his den where he could keep her safe.
“Go? Go where?”
“She’s taken Izzy, Briec.”
He knew Talaith meant that bitch goddess, Arzhela. Briec shifted and, as human, grabbed Talaith by the shoulders. “You can’t face her alone.”
“I can. And I will. You can’t protect me from this, Briec. No one can.”
“Just listen—”
“Shhh.” She placed her hand gently against his mouth. “There’s nothing to discuss. Not when it comes to my Izzy. We both know that.”
Gods, he was going to lose her. Again. “Talaith, please…please don’t do this.”
She smiled and he felt his heart rip apart in his chest. “I want you to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Take care of Izzy for me. No matter what happens, protect her.”
He cupped her cheek in his hand. “She’s my daughter as you are my mate, little witch. She’ll always be protected by me and my kin. You’ll never have to worry about that.”
She nodded. “I know.” She removed the necklace he’d given her, unable to take it with her, and pressed it into his palm. Then she said the words he never thought he’d hear from her. “I trust you, Briec.”
He kissed her, pouring every ounce of feeling he had for this difficult woman into that one kiss, hoping she’d understand how much she meant to him. How much she’d always mean to him. Her kiss back was just as strong, her hands desperately clinging to him.
He held on until she abruptly pulled back, taking several shaky steps away from him. “I love you, Briec,” she choked out. “I’ll always love you. Never forget that.”
She turned and walked away from him, into the middle of a circle his sister had drawn in the wet, lake-side dirt with the tip of her tail. Talaith quickly removed her clothes, tossing them out of the circle.
She stopped briefly to take her dagger from its sheath. Then she kicked her boots and the sheath away from the circle as well.
Naked, Talaith knelt in the sand and raised her arms above her head. Morfyd walked around her three times, chanting. When she stopped, the circle roared to life with flame.
Ignoring the fire surrounding her, she cried, “I give you my life’s blood!” The winds suddenly whipped up, pushing Briec’s hair across his face as he watched his woman slash her forearm. Her life’s blood poured down her brown skin, pooling in the sand.
“Take me!” she screamed to the howling wind.
And then she was gone.
Briec sat hard on the ground, his head in his hands. But he could hear his sister’s soft words through the dying wind…
“Peace go with you, my sister.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Izzy pushed herself as close to the tree as she could manage as Arzhela walked closer to her.
She was beautiful, Izzy’d give her that. Especially here in Arzhela’s natural home. If she weren’t terrified, Izzy would roll in the tall grass or climb the enormous trees with the thick branches overloaded with green, gold and red leaves. She’d swim in the rushing river or lie under this place’s one sun and sleep like her old dog Gruffy used to—belly up and snoring.
But she wasn’t with her Protectors, safe and cared for. Or torturing the blue dragon she thought so adorable. And she definitely wasn’t safe with her mother and her dragon love, Briec.
Izzy was very much alone with a very angry goddess who hated her mother beyond reason.
I could definitely be in a better place at the moment.
Still, she reminded herself to be thankful for the little things…at least she was fully dressed since she came to this beautiful world with the goddess herself. Being nak*d now could be quite awkward.
Especially with Arzhela kneeling in front of her. Her gold waist-length hair hung in thick ringlets and she wore a garland of yellow and white flowers. Izzy didn’t think she was evil, simply a god who existed in fear. And that’s why she ruled with fear. It was all she knew.
“Tell me, little one, all these years I could not find you. Why?”
Did she really expect her to answer that question? Lying. Yes, at the moment, lying was her best friend.
“I don’t know, my…my goddess.” She stammered over the words because Arzhela would never be a goddess she worshiped. Not ever.
The goddess’ Crystal blue eyes narrowed on Izzy’s face. “Lie to me if you’d like, little one. It won’t stop me from destroying your mother.”
“Why do you hate her so much?”
A small white hand reached out to stroke Iseabail’s cheek. Somehow she managed not to cringe away from that touch. Instead she focused on something else. She thought of Briec and his brother Gwenvael. Yesterday, they’d caught her trying to mount one of the warhorses. After warning her how dangerous it was—especially with dragons around, which often led to unsteady horses rearing—Briec grabbed her under the arms and swung her around. Then he tossed her to his brother, and Gwenvael threw her in the air. She laughed and screamed until her mother came and almost took off poor Gwenvael’s head. Even funnier was how Briec lied and said he was just telling Gwenvael to put her down.
There she was safe. There she would be again. She had no doubt about that. She would believe it until the Old Ones of Alsandair called her home. As long as she believed it, Arzhela couldn’t touch her.
“She’s coming for you. Nothing you can do about it,” Arzhela gloated.
Izzy already knew that. She knew it like she knew the depth and dimensions of the scar on her leg she obtained when she found herself nearly impaled on a fence when she was ten.
Her mother would come for her. And when she did, Izzy would hide until the battle was over and her mother took her home.
* * *
“You are bleeding to death.”
Slowly, Talaith rolled on her back. “I know.”
“Why would you cut yourself like that?”
“I had to get your attention.”
A black talon passed over her body. A black talon as big as her. Normally something she’d cringe about and at, but nothing scared her at the moment. Nothing but the thought of losing her daughter.
“You can get up now.”
Talaith pushed herself up. The weakness she’d been feeling when she cut the vein in her arm was gone. She felt strong. Powerful. She stood and raised her eyes to the awesome being before her.
“My Lord,” she greeted while bowing her head in respect.
He snorted. “You couldn’t make that sound right if you tried.”
Damn. Even worse…she had been trying.
“Please. My daughter…”
“I know, Talaith. I know. I always know where my Izzy is.”
She lost her ability to look contrite and fearful in front of a god. Her eyes snapped up to Rhydderch Hael’s and she no longer bothered to hide her anger.
“Then why the hell did you let her go? Why did you let Arzhela take her?”
Rhydderch Hael revealed rows and rows and rows of fangs. A smile, she now knew. “Now where did my scared little god-fearing mouse go?”
“She trusts you.”
“She trusts you more.” She wondered if that upset him, but he didn’t seem upset.
“What do you want from me?”
Rhydderch Hael sat his black dragon body back on his haunches. She’d thought Briec and his brothers were enormous. Not even close. She couldn’t even see where his body ended. She’d glimpsed the tip of his tail, which resembled a spiked broadsword created for a giant. She also noticed that unlike the dragons she now knew, he didn’t have two horns, but twelve. His hair, although primarily black, had every shade she’d ever seen in nature rippling through it. But his eyes…his eyes were thoughtful and wise beyond the ages. They were also a bright violet. Just like her Briec’s.
“You’ve wondered something since Izzy came back into your life. Ask me now.”
She controlled her urge to tell the beast to stop testing her and help her get her daughter back, but she’d dealt with Arzhela long enough to know when to push a god and when not.
Taking a deep breath, she asked honestly, “Why didn’t you just kill me when you knew what Arzhela was up to? Why did you protect Izzy when you could have killed me and just ended it? And killed Izzy for that matter.”
“Because that wouldn’t have ended it. By having you, she didn’t bother with other attempts. If I’d killed you it would have gone on and on until she killed Annwyl. And when Annwyl and Fearghus found each other, I knew…knew they were the ones.”
“The ones to breed your…” She shrugged. “What exactly are you having them breed?”
“Nothing she can’t handle the birth of,” he vaguely answered. “That woman won’t let anyone or anything hurt what she loves. And she loves like she hates—passionately and until the end of her days.”