Page 29 of Cathmoir’s Sons (Bad Boys of Bevington #5)

Chapter 29

Homage to the Shark God

LUCA

I curl next to Caileán and watch Rho pace. His hair’s standing up on end from running his hands through it.

“Yan didn’t drown. He’s a fucking Water mage. He’s a damn god in the water. There’s no fucking way he drowned.”

Caileán tips her head onto my shoulder. I slide my arm around her back, gathering the quilt she’s wrapped in around her bare shoulders. She offers me her steaming cup. I take a sip of the lemon tea.

We’re sitting together on a small balcony Law discovered when he opened the bedroom’s big windows to give Rho some air after he passed out, still gripping his phone. I’ve never seen someone faint before. Caileán managed to blow a cushion of Air under Rho as he fell so he didn’t whack his head. He came to quickly and has been pacing ever since.

Law, who is sprawled across Caileán’s feet, wearing just his boxers despite the cold night, snags the cup before I pass it back to Caileán and takes a sip.

“Who’s Yan?” he whispers to me.

Rhodes whirls on him. “Who is Yan? You ass. I’ve mentioned him often enough.”

I try not to listen to him, you know , Law says into my mind.

I’m glad he didn’t say that aloud. Rho was Yan’s team captain, even if they weren’t close personal friends. I understand why Rho would be ripped up over Yan’s death.

“When was the last time you talked to Yan?” I ask. “I know you were trying to reach him over the break.”

Rho nods. “I saw him at practice the other day, but I didn’t really get to talk to him other than to say I was glad he was back on the team. He looked a lot better, like he’d really gotten a chance to rest over the holidays. I don’t understand this. He couldn’t have drowned. He couldn’t.”

“We believe you, Rho,” I say. Caileán nods. “We’ll find out what happened to him.”

“I should go back to Bevvy. Baby, I’m sorry?—”

“It’s okay,” Caileán says before Rhodes has even finished his apology. “The Straits will be here when you get back. Law, will you go with him? Keep watch over him and bring him back through the Fae Ways when he’s ready?”

Law sits up, his mouth working. Then he slumps. “Of course, my queen.”

She nudges him with her toes. “It’s not an order, my love. My team arrives in a few hours. I want them to meet Luca so he’s part of everything from the start.” I squeeze her shoulders in appreciation. “And I want Rhodes to be safe. I don’t think it’s a good idea for any of us to go anywhere alone at present. Maybe Bevington is safe. It’s well-warded. But the wards have been breached before. Better safe than sorry.”

My brother grumbles but nods.

“Rho, please come back as soon as you can,” Caileán says, her tone soft. “Once the shock has worn off, you’ll need to grieve. We’ll be here for you.”

Rho turns and looks at her, his expression crumbling into heartbreak. He shuffles the few steps around Law and sits beside Caileán, wrapping his arms around both of us. “Thank you.”

“Whatever happened, whatever happens, you’re not alone,” she says, burying her face in his collar. “We’re with you.”

He kisses her forehead. “I know.”

The meeting with Kellan’s team a few hours later is anything but academic. Everyone has an opinion. None of them are shy about sharing them. Lots of the opinions concern Kellan’s glowing blue eyes.

I can’t imagine what they’d make of her crow mantle.

Rho’s observation that it’s harder and harder to tell between Kellan and Caileán is right. The boundary in her mind must be paper thin now. I call her Kellan in the meeting because that’s the name her teammates use. She doesn’t correct me. But I wonder if I’m using the right name as she watches everyone with those glowing blue eyes. She sits regally straight in her chair, her shoulders back, chin up. It’s not that Kellan slouches; she just doesn’t carry herself like a queen. Caileán does.

“How long will it take to get these beacon things in place?” asks Arch, who calls himself the team leader, even though Kellan seems to be in charge.

“Just call them transponders, would you?” Danny, the team’s tech-mage, replies. “Let’s say three days. Less if Kells’ Water mage comes back tomorrow.”

“With Viv’s gills and my Element as backup, we won’t need Rhodes to help place them,” Kellan says. “Two days. We’ll be ready.”

“Viv, how long can you hold the gills?” Arch asks.

“The more I’m transforming, the shorter I’ll be able to hold it. Two of you, an hour at a time. Three of you? Twenty minutes. It’s a drain.”

“Teams of two, then,” Arch says.

Kellan shakes her head. “Three for the first descent. I want Val with us in case Charybdis’ caves are warded. We’ll do three trips of twenty minutes each the first day then let Viv rest. Two trips of two for an hour the second day. That’ll do it.”

The ink mage nods gratefully.

“Other than strong currents, what will we face down there?” Arch asks. “No more shark gods at least.”

Kellan lifts her eyebrows at him. “No shark gods but there are plenty of sharks in the Med. Once the transponders are in place, I’ll create a vibration that will deter most sea creatures from entering our target zone. But something really angry, or really determined, will get through. Danny will keep watch for anything large enough to pose a hazard, but we all need to be on our toes, particularly during the first few dives before the magar’s up. Everyone get plenty of rest. If you’re struggling with the time change, let me know. Luca and I can sing you to sleep.”

There are nods from everyone seated around the villa’s polished wood table.

“Danny, Cami, any luck with the puzzle box?” Kellan asks.

The team’s Seer nods. “We’ve broken about half of the code?—”

“Brute force attack,” Danny interjects. “This code is a beast. No one without a dedicated cracker is going to break it.”

“Rowan’s team has impressive resources; don’t count on them not breaking it. What does it say? Is it coordinates?”

The Seer shakes her head. “It’s a poem. There are some repeated words, which has helped with the hacking. She who weeps. She who sleeps. She who controls the deepest deeps .”

“Just sounds like a description of Charybdis,” Arch grumbles.

“Not the weeping part,” Kellan says. “Charybdis is a creature of rage, not tears. But it suggests what we’re looking for is deep. Viv, how deep can we go with the gills?”

“Your dive to recover Sagoru’s statue is the deepest anyone’s gone that I know of.”

Kellan chews on her lower lip. “Four hundred feet at most.”

Danny shakes his head. “The Straits are almost twice that deep. Caves could go even deeper.”

“While we’re placing the transponders, Luca can research spells that will allow us to dive deep without getting the bends,” Kellan says. “Rach and I trained for a month before we did the dive to recover Sagoru’s statue. We don’t have that kind of time here.”

I nod. I haven’t studied pressurization spells, but all Air mages learn basic charms for flying which include blood oxygenation. That seems like a good place to start.

“Maybe we should include a real healer on the team if depressurization is a risk,” Arch says.

“We have real healers,” Kellan responds, reaching under the table and squeezing my hand. “We’ll have even more when Rhodes gets back from Bevington. But an ounce of prevention and all that. I’d rather none of us have a gas embolism. Cami, if you’d help Luca with that research while we place the transponders, that would be great.”

The Seer nods. “No problem. One more thing.” She spins her tea mug between her hands. “I know my visions of Jakob Maher and his Wepwawet are clouded by my fears, but I’ve been Seeing shadows and hearing howling again.”

I grind my teeth. Law was right. We should have killed that asshole and dumped his body in his own well.

“When my brother gets back, he’ll patrol with some of our Cait,” I say. “They’ll find any jackals long before they find us.”

Arch nods. “I’ll do a few laps with them, get the lay of the land. I’ll also keep an eye out for rival teams. Other than Madavar’s team, any ideas on who we might expect?”

“Well, we know Carter won’t be here,” Cami says with a note of glee.

“Even with his contacts, it’s going to take him a while to get released,” Danny adds. “The Brits are extremely pissy about unregistered firearms. He’ll be lucky if all they do is deport him. I think he might actually spend some time at His Majesty’s pleasure.”

“Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy,” the Ink Mage chortles.

There are nods all around the table.

“Rhodes mentioned that the Capricorn Guild is fielding a team,” Kells says once the collective gloating settles down. “I think we should expect five to seven rival teams, including the one from Madavar. Van Wyke won’t be able to stay away, either, the peacock.”

“Without a team, van Wyke is going to struggle,” Arch says dismissively. “He’s not a Water mage. It occurs to me that our only real competition is likely to be from someone whose Element is Water.”

He’s surprisingly short-sighted for a team leader. Any Element could be useful in recovering Ulune’s Daughter; it just depends on the mage and how they use their magic.

I tip my head toward Kellan. “I’m not familiar with van Wyke.”

“Loosely affiliated with Amherst?—”

“So, of course, we hate him.”

Kellan chuckles. “Of course. Solo treasure hunter. He pulls in experts as needed, but he always works alone. Flamboyant but, particularly for a one-man band, very successful. Master illusionist.”

I file the information away and make a mental note to look up van Wyke while I’m researching pressurization spells.

“Who do you see as our biggest competition?” I ask.

“Probably Rowan’s team,” she admits. “Madavar’s resources are extensive. They can call on experts from any discipline. And Rowan always has a steady stream of undergrads who are willing to do research for him.”

“Even though he’s a dick,” I say.

“Even though he’s a dick,” Kellan agrees.

“Well, maybe the local Cait can tip the odds in our favor.”

Kellan grins at me.

When Rho returns, Kellan and I are in a back room of Ty Olewydd that was probably a family playroom until we started transforming it into a library and study. Kellan levitates bookshelves I’ve summoned from Cait House, fitting them against the walls, while I create a reading nook near the big back windows where the natural light is the best. The people who sold Law the house left a large, wooden desk in one of the upstairs bedrooms; I reposition it in front of the bookcases before stacking reference materials on the leather blotter.

Law leads Rhodes into the library. We break off what we’re doing to circle him. His eyes are red, and his hands are trembling. Whatever he found in Bevington wasn’t good.

Evan Lords follows Law and Rho into the library. I have nothing against the Capricorn, but I feel like I’ve seen enough of him recently. Olive House is our place. Having Lords in it raises my hackles.

Law picks up on my mood. As we circle Rhodes, Kellan rubbing his back and me leaning against him with my arm around his waist, Law positions himself on Kellan’s far side, crosses his arms over his chest. He glares at Lords.

Give my brother his due, he can look imposing when he wants.

“I won’t take up much of your time,” Lords says, his expression sheepish. “I have the beginnings of a theory I want to run by you.”

Kellan nods and Law drops his arms, sliding one around Kellan’s shoulders.

“I couldn’t understand the connection to Hell,” Lords says as he examines the titles of the books I’ve stacked on the desk. “On one side of the alliance, we have a group of higher plane powers. Their focus is global. They don’t care about mortals except as mortals now have the ability to influence the world’s weather. On the other side of the alliance, we have demonic powers who are solely concerned with mortals as their source of nourishment. There didn’t seem to be any intersection of interests.”

My brother gets there first. “Unless the demons were manipulating Bromios and his cabal to create human misery to feed off.”

Lords clears his throat. “That’s my theory.”

“And they want to make sure you’re out of their way because as the Capricorn you have the ability to change the weather and a calling to protect mankind,” Rhodes muses.

Lords nods. “I think it might have been opportunistic, at least at first. But the demons were surely aware of what the Hale family was doing, even before Baron Ash became involved?—”

“Licyssa and the other demon lords of the Dransbych and Olt most particularly,” Kellan says. “They’re closest to our plane. They’re the most likely to have sensed the use of the gates. No wonder Nimanes came snooping.”

Lords nods. “And there have been hellhounds involved from the beginning. I doubt the demon lords keep tabs on every barghest, but between the Wild Hunt that Pertcha called and the army at Jedburgh Abbey, they’d surely have noticed the number that have gone missing.”

“I despise this alliance,” Kellan says, tipping her head against Rhodes’ shoulder. “If the enemy of our enemy is our friend, maybe it’s time to approach Mordeh.”

Lords groans. “Do we have to involve yet another demon lord?”

“I’m open to suggestions but I think we should at least know why she went against her mother and an alliance that could have brought her more souls and more power,” Kellan responds. “She must have had strong reasons. If we can use those reasons to our advantage, it might level the playing field. There are three greater powers and at least one but probably two demon lords stacked against us. I don’t like these odds.”

I pat the hand she has resting on Rho’s back. “C’mon, five Crow Queens can take three greater powers and two demon lords any day.”

Kellan smiles wryly at me and shakes her head. “I appreciate your faith but I’m not so sure. Didrane will not take sides. She’s famously neutral, even among the five of us. Kathu and Brangwy said they’ll rise with me against the Oak King, but this is a different matter. I trust Hraena with our lives, but two Crow Queens and one demon lord against those who stand against us ...” She shakes her head.

“Two Crow Queens, one demon lord, and the Cait, my queen,” Law says.

“Of course.” She kisses his cheek. “Still, I’d prefer to divide our enemies.”

“Let me take up that cause for you after I’ve secured the town and the site where you’ll be working,” Law says. “While I don’t relish trips to Hell, I see eye to eye with Baron Ash. He’s a good hunting companion.”

“High praise,” Kellan teases gently. “Gabe and Darwin might be good additions to the party. It can’t hurt to show that we have allies in many places.”

Law nods. “When are you planning on making the first dive?”

“Low tide. Four hours. Viv’s meditating and then we’ll head across the Straits to Torre Faro.”

Lords clears his throat. “Have you mentioned it to Teddy?”

“No, and you won’t, either,” Kellan says. “I’m not letting my pregnant Earth-witch friend into an area rife with sharks, rival teams, and a legendary monster.”

I can feel Law restrain himself. I give him a reassuring mental bump. Kellan’s an expert. She’s not going to endanger herself any more than she would her friend.

“She’ll be disappointed,” Lords warns.

“Better disappointed and safe,” Kellan responds. “I know Teddy’s chafing. That she’d even consider relocating to Bevington to cover my classes tells me she’s feeling cooped up at Thistlemist.”

“It should also tell you that Teddy’s an excellent friend.”

“I don’t need to be told that,” Kellan says. “This is me being a good friend to her. I know the risks of initial exploration of a recovery site. Let me do my thing, Evan.”

Lords dips his head. “My apologies. You’re right. I shouldn’t indulge Teddy as much as I do.”

“Don’t indulge Rach, either,” Kellan warns. “She’s going to want to dive with us. She’s a good diver; a strong swimmer. I’m not saying she isn’t. But she’s almost three months along. Half-fae or not, Air-witch or not, she shouldn’t be diving.”

“No argument from me,” Lords says. “Honestly, I’m not sure she will want to dive. She’s nesting. I haven’t been able to lure her out of the Ember Palace in days.”

“Good.” Kellan nods. “If you can keep Rachel at Thistlemist during this hunt, do.”

Lords snorts. “I’ll try.”