Page 8 of Through the Veil (Endangered Fae #2)
Thick, russet hair tumbled in waves to his waist. Sparkling eyes the color of new leaves swept the gathering with ironic confidence.
His beauty was undeniable and would have set him apart, but that wasn’t the half of it.
Russet fur covered him from the waist down, behind him waved a luxurious, white-tipped tail, and where his feet should have been were delicate, black-nailed paws.
He swaggered toward the throne, giving cheerful greetings as he went, even though the sidhe watched him with suspicion.
“Who’s that?” Diego whispered.
“My cousin, Sionnach,” Lugh answered. “He is the Fomorian king’s herald, and most likely does not bring good news.”
In a practiced, fluid motion, the herald knelt and laid his head on Danu’s foot.
“You may speak, little fox,” she prompted in a clear voice that reached the far edges of the grove.
Sionnach sat back, his tail curled around his knees. “Light of the World, King Balor Bane-Eye, He of the Hundred Spears, the Heart of the Earth, sends greetings.” His melodic tenor paused. Whether for dramatic effect or to gather his courage, Diego was uncertain.
“Speak freely, little fox. The messenger is not the message. What would Balor Bane-Eye have of me?” Danu leaned her head on her palm.
“He states it is his final asking of that which must be asked.” Sionnach shifted restlessly, raised his head, and closed his eyes. When he spoke again, another voice so unlike his own rumbled from his throat, the strangeness of it made Diego’s heart pound.
In a gravelly bass as deep as the roots of thousand-year-old trees, he said, “What’s it to be, Danu? Will you find a way to open the Veil for me? Something tore through it, so you can no longer tell me it’s impossible. Or do I gather my warriors and meet you on the Field of Brón?”
Sionnach slumped, panting. One of the sidhe women brought him a wooden goblet and helped him drink, since he trembled from head to foot.
“Brusque and to the point, as always.” Danu’s voice remained even and calm, but Diego recognized the slight chill that signaled her displeasure. She sat motionless on her throne for several minutes, every being’s attention riveted on her. Finally, she asked, “Are you recovered, Sionnach?”
The herald’s smile could have melted glaciers. “Enough for your tender attentions, Light of the World.”
Holy shit, he’s flirting with her. Diego held his breath, suddenly afraid for him as Danu leaned forward and wrapped her hand around Sionnach’s throat.
A soft white glow enveloped them both as Sionnach brought his hand up to cup Danu’s and she began to speak.
“Here is my answer, then. I will not willingly open the Veil for you, Balor of the Hundred Spears, for you only wish to bathe the outer world in blood. I will not meet you on the Field of Brón, for both our people have wept enough. I call challenge, a Champions’ Match at Cian’s Ford, five days hence.
You must prevail there to have what you wish. ”
“Glorious Light,” Sionnach murmured when the glow faded. “I hope you do not send me to my death with such a message.”
Danu placed a soft kiss on his lips. “You are given a sacred trust, Sionnach Silver-Tongue. He will bellow and snarl, but he will not harm you.”
“I will deliver your message faithfully, your voice to his ear.”
“Go, little fox, and may you grace our glade again in happier days.”
Sionnach rose and loped off, much less cheerful than when he’d arrived. Murmuring peppered the grove as all heads turned to Lugh.
“Grandmother, I am yours to command, as always.” Lugh stood up, pale and unsteady. “But if this does not pass—”
Danu waved a hand to cut him off. “Not you, my brave Lugh. You are ill, and can hardly keep your feet.”
“Who will take my place at the ford, then? You have no other champion and no one who can stand against Faolchú. And if you have no champion to field, there will be war the likes of which we have not seen in five thousand years.”
Her laugh had a brittle edge. “Ah, but we do have one now. Diego Sandoval will take your place.”
“What? Majestad, está bromeando ? Are you crazy? I’ve never fought before!
I wouldn’t know which end of a spear is which, and I’m only half the size of most of the fae!
I don’t stand an ice cube’s chance in hell!
” Diego choked off when he realized he had surged to his feet, shouting. Everyone stared at him.
“Little one, a Champions’ match is not fought with weapons,” Danu explained in a patient, amused tone.
“What then? Do they play chess?”
Several of the fae laughed, and Diego’s face flushed hot. At least some of the tension had drained from the air.
“It is a contest of magic,” Lugh said as he sank back down onto his rock. “Of raw power, wit and skill. You do have the strength, Diego. More than any other here.”
“But unless you plan on inducing a seizure and bonding with me to guide the magic, I can’t do anything with it.” Waffling between frustration and anger, Diego fought against telling Danu what she could do with her brilliant plan.
Lugh took his hand, his grip gentle and comforting. “Away from the poisons of the outer world, you have already healed so much, learned so much. I will teach you.”
“Lugh’s Five-Day Formula for Beginner Sorcerers?” What the hell was he supposed to do? Agree to this madness, or sit back and watch the fae slaughter each other… “She doesn’t leave me a lot of choice, does she?”
“She rarely does,” Lugh said with a rueful chuckle.
“Heart of the Earth, it is a grand jest.” Finn tried to laugh, but it caught in his suddenly dry throat.
“I have never been more serious,” Balor growled. He seized Finn by the hair and dragged him into the corridor. “You will fight for me.”
“You forget, Balor, I’m not yours to command.” Finn shifted to water moccasin and sank his fangs into the King’s hairy arm.
Balor roared and flung him against the far wall, where Finn shifted back to his own form and lay dazed.
“You are not mine, pooka, but you will fight for me.” Balor raised a clawed hand, and a fist-sized rock flew across the corridor at Finn’s head.
Finn jerked aside, and the rock landed a glancing blow on his shoulder.
“Wrack and storm, Balor! I’m not one of you!
I hide when the battles begin. I hate the whole valor and honor mess.
I’ll most likely shift to mudskipper and burrow into the riverbed with the first bolt of lightning Lugh sends at me. ”
“There is more to you than you pretend, Fionnachd.” Balor’s voice dropped to an ominous rumble as he raised both hands.
“You will do this because you do not wish to see friends and lovers lying dead and dying. You have been apart from us all these centuries and have returned changed, or you would have already run away.”
Another rock whizzed past Finn’s ear and another struck his thigh with bone-bruising force. “Balor, please! Stop this!”
The barrage intensified until Finn found he could no longer dodge all the missiles.
Larger and larger stones smashed into him.
With a frustrated cry, he flung up his hands, wind whipping his hair into wild serpents as he hurled a wall of air at the boulder heading for his chest. It stopped mid-flight and fell harmless to the floor.
More hurtled toward him. He blocked them in rapid succession.
Distantly, he was shocked at his own actions, unable to recall having done such a thing before.
It felt like something Diego would have done.
“Father, stop! How can he fight for you if you maim him?” Eithne shouted, but the attack only doubled in intensity.
Some of the smaller rocks got through, striking Finn’s shoulder and side.
Desperate, knowing he could keep shielding himself for only so long, he thought of Diego and drew on the memory of his beloved’s magic flowing around him, through him.
The air around him crackled, his hair stood on end, and he closed his eyes as lightning flew from his fingers.
A thunderclap rattled the caverns, followed by a heavy thud. Finn opened his eyes to see Balor sprawled on his back a hundred feet down the corridor. He stared at his hands, unable to believe what he had done, then sank to his knees to curl into a ball and whimper.
“Hush, Fionnachd, don’t fret.” Nathair wrapped cool, green-scaled arms around him.
“I didn’t want to hurt him,” Finn whispered, feeling absurdly close to tears.
“He pushed you to show you what you could do.”
“I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to hurt Lugh.”
Nathair pulled Finn’s head to his shoulder. “I know, I know. But you need not harm him. Only best him. And you hear what will happen if you refuse.”
“And what if I do this, and I lose?”
“Perhaps they will begin to talk again. Perhaps there will be war, after all.”
“And if I win?”
Balor’s deep bass rumbled down the corridor where he sat, dusting rock slivers from his arms. “If you win, my brave Champion, then you may claim any boon you please of me. And Herself will be honor-bond to open the Veil.”
So I can go through and find Diego. Then I must, for him.
“Just this once, Heart of the Earth, I will fight for you.”