Page 34

Sasha

Sasha stood at the north end of the palace and looked up at the sky in the distance. The mountains were likely a day’s hike away, but he feared Myrddin hadn’t needed to jog.

“We didn’t find anything in Aunt Zoey’s rooms.”

Cassie had both Neil and Brendan in wolf form on either side of her. Sasha could see her claws were out, too, though the smart, brave girl had never managed a complete change. Not even on full moons. “Dad seems to think she’s not in the palace at all. He found a trail leading out to one of the gardens. Her maid says she went to have a picnic with the king.”

“I know the spot.”

Lee joined them, Rhys following.

Ostara sat near Daniel on a bench. Despite the energy she’d given him, it was clear the king was still in a bad way.

That must have been one hell of a spell. He didn’t want to think about what Myrddin could do if he was standing in the same space as Daniel. If they survived this encounter, he was going to have to rethink his battle plans. Sometimes he thought Daniel Donovan was invincible, but he wasn’t, and the wizard knew exactly how to hurt him.

“We should follow Neil and Brendan,”

Sasha ordered.

Rhys stepped forward. “No. My mother isn’t at some picnic. He’s already taken her. I noticed the guard isn’t here, and Bibi told me the king took only a nominal party with him. They should be here. They are not on assignment. At least not one from the king. I believe they are working for Myrddin and they have my mother. He wouldn’t have taken Shy if it wasn’t time for him to do whatever he is going to do at that mountain.”

“You don’t want to check the site to see if your mother is still there?”

Sasha posed the question, though he knew the answer.

“I don’t have to.”

Rhys’s eyes were on that mountain. “I know.”

“I agree with the Green Man.”

Lee looked so much like his counterpart it was hard to remember this wasn’t the young man he’d raised. He stood beside Rhys, looking every bit like his twin. “We should go to the mountain. I’ll find us some horses.”

Sasha shook his head. “It would still take half a day. Can we find a witch who knows transportation spells?”

It was the only way he could think that they might have a shot. If Myrddin was implementing his plan, he would do it quickly and without hesitation. Every second they weren’t there brought them closer to losing Dev, the queen, and Shy.

He couldn’t stand the thought of losing any of them.

“Or I can take us there.”

Meadow stood, smoothing out her skirts. “I can catch an eddy wind and have us there quickly.”

“We don’t have those kinds of winds this far south,”

Lee explained. “Or else I would have offered as well. The winds to the north are the only place to find an eddy.”

Meadow looked slightly arrogant for the first time. It was a look that threatened to send Sasha’s libido into overdrive. If they weren’t about to go into battle. “We do not need some north wind. While I cannot both make and catch a wind at the same time, lucky for me, Walking Spring is here. Rhys, would you do the honors? Make it a fast one and large enough to carry us all.”

Rhys stepped forward, his eyes glowing green. He turned slightly toward Daniel. “I don’t suppose I can talk you into sitting this one out, Dad?”

Daniel growled and stood, forcing his shoulders back. His fangs were out now, and his eyes a deep sapphire. “They are mine.”

“Well, at least I know where I get it from. All right, then.”

Rhys tilted his head back and closed his eyes, and the world seemed to shake with thunder and lightning.

Sasha looked to Meadow, who helped Daniel stand. “When we get there…”

Her chin turned up, eyes flashing, and he was damn near transported back to another life. Shortly after their wedding he thought he heard something moving in the night and told her to hide in the closet and she’d given him that look. Right before grabbing his backup pistol and following him.

I watch your back always, husband.

The rain was starting to fall, but that wasn’t why the world was watery. Tears. Sweet and cleansing tears fell from his eyes as he remembered.

If she died in this battle, he would go with her. No matter what. He would not allow them to be separated again.

“When we get there, what?”

She asked the question with no small amount of challenge.

He moved into her space, towering over her, but with the firm knowledge that his physical strength was no match for her. She was the strongest woman he ever met in all of his lives. She was the best part of him. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “When we get there, watch my back, love.”

Her eyes closed, and she leaned into him. “Always.”

There was the sound of wind whooshing overhead, violent and threatening. Like he suspected a hurricane would sound, but he held his ground. The group moved in, surrounding Rhys and Meadow.

She reached out a hand, the other lifting toward that wind above them. She yelled over the cacophony of storm Rhys was creating. “Hold on.”

In an instant, he was in the storm.

He forgot what it was like to want to empty the contents of his stomach on the ground and hold his head after a long night of drinking. That’s what it felt like being tossed and turned inside the eddy wind. The ground below flashed by, and he caught glimpses of lightning and felt his body shake with the cracking of thunder.

And then he was falling. Right on his ass.

Daniel managed to catch Neil first, and Lee landed on his feet, turning so he could catch Brendan’s wolf, who seemed to be trying desperately to find the ground, all four legs spinning.

Cassie dropped down in a perfect imitation of Black Widow, one knee on the ground, fist balancing her, head down. She grinned as she looked up. “That was so fucking cool.”

Rhys managed to stay on his feet, brushing his clothes off like nothing happened.

Meadow was last, but she eased down out of the cloud like she could ride the very air around her. She sighed as she hit the ground, straightening her skirts. “You did not enjoy the journey, husband?”

Oh, he had not, but he loved the sound of her voice calling him that name. He hopped up, each movement easy and graceful. Even his eyesight seemed better since he fed from her the night before. His companion. His love. His wife. “Any journey with you is a wonderful one.”

She grinned his way even as the rain began to fall again. “I promise next time will be easier. It’s obvious the king has done this before.”

Daniel nodded. “I have, and I can safely say you are a much better driver than my partner. Who is here.”

He closed his eyes and took a long breath. “I can smell him and my wife.”

Rhys’s irises filled his eyes. He was more god than man now and seemed larger than he was before. As though his magic broadened his physical form. Sasha noted that the grass around him had grown and the tall aspens seemed to bend, trying to get close to the Green Man. “My mate is here. She is frightened.”

Neil and Brendan moved toward a path that seemed to lead out of the woods. Neil barked and his head came up, letting Sasha know he had the scent.

“Son, be careful.”

Daniel stood in front of Rhys. “Myrddin is dangerous. We need to rescue them before we take out our rage on him. Do you understand?”

Rhys nodded and began to follow his uncle.

“I’m letting Ossie take over for now. Know that we are so eager to continue whatever path this leads us to as long as we share it with you,”

Meadow said, looking up at Sasha. “Whatever happens. I think we were meant to find each other in this fashion. I think she was meant to complete us, to be with us forever.”

He reached for her hand, bringing it to his lips and letting the feeling of peace wash over him. “We will be together. You and I and Ostara. Come what may.”

It was in their wedding vows. They said the normal things. Sickness and health—though apparently they should have added in something about a crazy woman taking his memory and experimenting on him for years—but they added the words come what may.

She went on her toes and kissed him, and when she lowered herself down again, Ostara’s eyes were staring at him. “You mean this? You can love me?”

He followed his instincts and pulled her close. This was what Zoey had always known. Bris was a part of Devinshea. Ostara was a part of his wife. They had not always been together, but they found each other in this life. This time it was right.

Even if it might not be for long.

He hugged her tight. “I already love you, dushka.”

She shuddered as though a sense of deep relief passed through her. When she tilted her head up, there was alarm there. “I can feel something. We have to move. There is dark magic at work here.”

What began as rain rapidly became snow given the high altitude they found themselves in. All around them was winter, with patches of green where Rhys and Ostara walked. Sasha followed them up the trail. Now he could smell the high priest and the queen. He could smell blood and fear and desperation.

“Is that who I think it is?”

Daniel asked, standing beside Lee. If he felt the cold, he didn’t show it. He stood tall, his claws out. Whatever the king was feeling from the spell Myrddin had sent out, he wasn’t going to allow it to stop him.

Up ahead, Sasha could see a dark-haired man, his hands in shackles. He wore nothing that would tell Sasha he meant to come into the mountains this day. His tall body shivered in the wind.

“Is that Dev or the other one?”

Cassie asked.

“It’s the other one,”

Sasha replied.

“How can you tell?”

Cassie held her machete like it was a lifeline.

“Because he still has his hands,”

Lee said with a long sigh. “That is my father, and he’s about to open the mountain. Do you see the stone?”

There was a large white stone sitting at the base of the mountain which soared up into the clouds above them. The stone looked almost like an altar, and even from this distance Sasha could see there was some kind of writing on it. “Is it ceremonial?”

They began walking again, trying to stay out of sight of the wizard, who could use the distance between them to his advantage. He didn’t need to be close to kill them all.

“It is basically a key,”

Lee explained as they started down the path. Meadow had deposited them on another mountain, the one closest to where the wizard stood. She’d found a space a thousand or so feet up, Sasha estimated. Now they had to carefully make their way to the valley. “The royal family keeps both treasures and their darker secrets in that mountain. It is considered sacred and cursed.”

“Making it the perfect place to lure in several million sluagh from across the planes,”

Daniel continued. “He found a way to bring them in but not let them leave. It’s a trap for souls, and now he’s going to have the king open the door so he can send them through whatever spell he’s planning.”

“Something to drain their energy,”

Sasha surmised. “We need to stop him. We have no idea how it will affect other timelines.”

“No, we do,”

Daniel argued. “If Myrddin is doing this, then he’s figured out how to send it across space and time. He wouldn’t bother if he only thought it affected one timeline, and not even the one he’s invested in. We should have brought a bow.”

Lee moved down the trail, stopping briefly to point toward the wizard. “Wouldn’t work. Do you see the faint sheen around him?”

Ostara nodded. “Yes, he’s in a protective bubble. He has a shield. Such a coward. I don’t like the king, but I feel sorry for him in this moment. We should hurry.”

“Where is Shy?”

Rhys asked. “He has to be holding Shy and Mom and Papa somewhere close.”

Neil raised his snout as though answering the question. He pointed a paw to his left, signaling he meant to go that way.

They were almost to the ground when Sasha saw two guards were moving the King of the Seelie Fae into position, near the sacred rock. One of them had a long blade.

Ostara raised a hand, and Sasha felt the earth beneath his feet tremble slightly.

Daniel moved in beside her. “I’m going to ask you for patience. I know you want to save whoever you can, but if Myrddin knows we’re here he might kill his hostages. We need to get to wherever he’s holding our people.”

Ostara nodded. “All right. I will wait.”

She gasped as the king was stabbed through the gut and placed on the altar. His blood soaked the stone, and it felt like the heavens above them quaked.

“We have to move.”

Sasha nodded the wolves’ way. “Get us there and fast. Find the queen.”

He glanced behind him and noted that Myrddin wasn’t walking. He smashed a sphere and was gone in a puff of dark smoke, leaving the guards behind.

The king lay on the altar, but Sasha could see him still breathing. His blood had opened the door, and now he was a useless husk.

He had to make sure Devinshea didn’t suffer a similar fate.

“I can’t fly here,”

Daniel said, running to keep up with the wolves. “The winds are even worse than the ones in our timeline.”

And he was still weak.

“I see a tent up ahead,”

Lee shouted. The winds were picking up, and now that they were lower, it was raining again. It started to come down in hard pelts, a sure sign Rhys was panicking.

But in this case, if a storm held up the wizard, Sasha would live with it.

A hard wind whipped past him and then a softer one that warmed him. Ostara caught up, running beside him. Warmth spread over his skin as her gentle winds surrounded him.

There was a cracking sound as they made it to the tent, Neil leading the charge. A guard stepped out but Neil ran past him, leaving the man to his son, who immediately went for his throat. The guard went down in a gurgle of blood while Cassie took out the one beside him, gutting him with an ease he wasn’t sure he should be comfortable with. And yet Sasha felt a paternal pride in the young woman as she handled the guard and moved to her brother’s side, talking to him and seeming to ease his natural blood lust.

“Come on, buddy,”

she was saying. “Time for snacks later. Save our auntie now.”

“Where is she?”

Rhys asked the question as the winds picked up.

Sasha made it to the tent with Ostara and saw Daniel already had Zoey in his arms.

Neil growled at the wizard but every time he got close, some invisible barrier pushed him back.

The queen was sobbing in her husband’s arms, and that was the moment Sasha saw the body on the floor.

Devinshea’s body. Unlike his timeline twin, he was not breathing.

From the queen’s reaction, there was no life left in the priest.

“You are too late, Daniel.”

Myrddin practically glowed. “You cannot take me down. You know it. Everyone knows it. That version of Lee is useless here. Shall I kill him? Or let him witness the new world rising?”

Myrddin snapped his fingers, and suddenly they were all back at the altar.

“I can’t reach him,”

Ostara said, desperation in her eyes. “I cannot pierce the armor he wears. I don’t understand it. It feels…wrong.”

Likely because whatever spell he wore was from the Hell plane, and Ostara’s magic would be useless there. Myrddin had brought a piece of Hell to protect him.

“Rhys.”

Zoey was on her feet, shoving aside her grief to get to her son. “Shy disappeared, but I don’t think Myrddin did it. I think she did. I didn’t hear what she said. I was…”

Rhys’s eyes were the deepest green as he turned to Myrddin. “Where is my mate?”

“What do you mean she’s gone?”

Myrddin suddenly didn’t look so sure of himself. “Guards, find the seer.”

“Where would she go?”

Ostara asked.

“To find help,”

the queen insisted.

“There is no help to be found,”

Myrddin countered. “I made a deal for safe passage for you and your family, but I can defend myself, and I never said I wouldn’t pull more energy off the vampires. I don’t think this one was outside the wards.”

He reached into his pocket and brought out an obsidian sphere.

Sasha immediately felt the effects. His heart rate slowed, and he could feel his strength waning.

Daniel hit his knees, Zoey falling with him.

“You cannot touch me, Green Man,”

Myrddin said from behind his protection. “I am filled with demonic energy. I am whole with it. I renounce my angelic side. I am a true demon lord, and I will use your power to aid me. The king has given his blood to open the mountain. Now witness as I close the door on our oppressors.”

The mountain screamed and shook as a good chunk was blasted through and the door to Hell opened.

Sasha felt his vision begin to go and prayed he could survive the wizard’s assault.