Old Dog, New Tricks (19 page)

“Thierry?” Mac, who stood several feet behind Daibhidh, twisted to face me.

I shot him two thumbs up. “I’m good.”

He nodded and fell into step with the consul, and I nudged Rook back into motion.

They crested the hill first, and when they did, the ground shook beneath my feet. Jogging the last several yards, I had to swallow a smile at the sight of the only ogre I had ever seen. He towered over us, taller than anyone or thing I had seen in Winter. Snow dusted his gray-green hide, and his beady black eyes landed on me. A jagged smile cut across his face, and he chuckled, the booming sound rolling like thunder.

His voice rang out, and this time Mac answered him in words that held no meaning to me.

Scratching his chin, the ogre studied our gathering, then lifted his shoulders and knelt with a thud. I caught my balance before he toppled me, and that amused him too. He was in a jolly mood, and my gut knotted at how eager he was to help us. Shouldn’t he be protecting the Halls?

Head up and shoulders back, I crossed to Mac. “Why is he so happy?”

“He heard you came to challenge the Morrigan.” Mac kept his eyes on the ogre. “He says he will help us if you set him free after she is dead.”

I swung my head toward him. “Why the faith in me?”

“You beat the odds once.” Mac gestured toward the giant. “You won the hunt, and he respects you for it.”

When the ogre extended his thickly muscled arm and flattened his curled fingers for me to climb aboard, I knelt in the crushed ice before him and touched the pad of his finger, which was wider than my entire hand. I called out to Mac, “Tell him he has my word. He will be free before the sun sets.”

Or I would die trying.

Mac lifted his voice, and the ogre’s lips parted, eyes widening as he understood what I had said. A long minute passed before he rumbled a response, and Mac came to my side and helped me to my feet.

“He says may all the old gods light your path, and though he is bound to this stretch of land and can’t help except to carry us up the hill, that he will guard the fortress and keep out reinforcements.”

Being the seat of Unseelie power in Faerie, I was betting the walls were packed to bursting with all the reinforcements the Morrigan would need to smear me across the cobbled pavers. But I smiled at the ogre and his stark hope that I might somehow survive this and that he might finally get to go home.

I prayed all of us were so lucky.

He made a grunt of sound, and we stepped into his palm. Daibhidh followed, sneering as usual, and Rook leapt as the ogre began lifting his hand. Apparently, he had no love for the Morrigan or her children. Who could blame him? Except for the novelty factor, or as a punishment, I couldn’t guess why she would want to keep an ogre magically chained here.

That same prickling sensation crept over my brain as we rose higher, like I almost remembered something important, but it vanished, and I couldn’t call it back.
What have I forgotten?

Watching the scenery blur as he brought us to his chest height, I viewed the rut around the Halls with fresh eyes. The rise where we had stood and the fortress were of a similar elevation. The trench around the Halls, which looked steeper than last time, was a track the ogre walked, his steps digging it deeper and deeper over time. This was all he had, and my heart hurt to see him doomed to this fate.

“Steady.” Mac put his arm around my waist before Rook got the chance.

The ogre’s drumbeat steps pounded the ground, carrying us closer to the frozen fortress, but my gaze kept tagging those thick, black cables. Something about them was important. Why couldn’t I...?

Oh. My. God.

Knees weak, I sank into the ogre’s palm, gaped up at the sky and
remembered
.

“Dragons,” I croaked.

Sleek lizards glided over our heads, metallic scales catching the light. Their heads were massive, their jewel-toned eyes faceted like gemstones. They flew in matching pairs. One set for each primary color. Enormous wings, filmy and delicate, supported bodies the size of school buses. A frilly spine made their tails flutter like streamers, and their massive heads sluiced through air currents.

Behind me Rook chuckled, and even Mac laughed as he sat beside me to steady me.

Head tilted back, he let his gaze soften. “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

“I can’t believe I forgot.” I shook my head. “I didn’t think I could.”

My first encounter with them came rushing back now that I was within the parameters of the forgetful spell cast over the dragons to protect the knowledge of their existence from those who might harm them.

Or free them...

Without warning, the ogre’s hand began its final descent, and I tottered, falling onto my butt. His knuckles smacked the dirt with a thump that jarred my teeth. Mac hooked his arm under mine and hefted me onto my feet.
My kingdom for a Dramamine
. We leapt onto the icy pavers leading up to the main gate. Daibhidh and Rook hit the stones with synchronized thuds, jogging away from the ogre when he lifted his hands to dust them together. Folding his meaty arms over his massive chest, he indicated the enormous set of double doors with a jerk of his chin. I raised a hand in thanks and squinted ahead.

The way was clear. No alarms sounded. Guards on the walls continued ignoring us.

Not good.

“This is too easy,” I mumbled within Mac’s hearing.

“She’s had time to plan,” he agreed. “This will all play out as she imagined it.”

Time? Try life
times
. Centuries of planning was about to rise up and smack us in the face.

The dragons earned one last glance before I tore my gaze from them.

Rook stepped beside me, swinging his arm out in a formal bow. “After you.”

“Thanks,” I groused.

And they say chivalry is dead.

“Rook, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but stick close. Daibhidh, you stay with Mac.” I smiled at Mac as realization dawned and his expression turned black and fierce. “You get to watch the show.”

Green light burst from Mac’s pores in a furious rush. “I am
not
staying behind.”

“Yes, you are.” I squared off against him. “You’re the one she wants. I’m the one she’ll settle for. I won’t give her both of us.”

His hands clenched at his sides. “The Morrigan wants—”

“Nope. Not happening.” I went to him and stiffly embraced him. His arms rose to lock me against his chest. “She only needs one of us. Hang back. Please. I need you safe. You have to get Shaw home if...” My throat worked. “She won’t kill me outright.”
Probably
. “She needs me alive to bleed for her.” I breathed in the scent of tobacco and parchment off his skin. “I can do this.
We
can.”

“I am your father.” Jaw tight, he kissed my hair. “It is my duty to protect you.”

“Protect me by staying put,” I begged. “As long as you’re safe, I won’t have to worry—about either of you.”

His voice broke. “I would fight her for you.”

Tears blurred my vision. “I know.”

But if he picked this fight, she might end him permanently.

Breaking his hold, I stepped back and straightened my shoulders. The fortress loomed ahead, and a manic giggle caught in my throat as my boot heels crunched through ice on frozen pavers angled in a crosshatch pattern.

I tensed when Rook touched my shoulder and sang softly,
“Follow the ice brick road.”

Who did that make me? The tin man? The scarecrow? The lion? Ruby slipper girl? Her dog?

Keep it together, Thierry. Don’t freak out now.

A pair of guards with dark eyes and black hair met us at the door wearing bland expressions. I scanned their faces, wary that Daire or Odhran might put in an appearance, but they were unfamiliar. Neither paid me any mind as they stepped aside and allowed us entrance.

The Morrigan was this confident she had me beat? We hadn’t even started.

Anger warmed my belly, and I welcomed the burn. Mad worked. Pissed worked better. Anything beat the twitching in my fingers, the quiver in my thigh muscles.
No
. I would not run away from this.

I used to think fleeing Faerie into the mortal realm would save me, that I could duck my head and pretend I hadn’t made promises to these people. Because of me, Faerie had been left without her ruler, and the worst possible candidate had seized control in that moment of weakness. I owed them freedom from the Morrigan, a chance to make their own decisions...without Mac. It was time for me to woman up.

“Are you ready for this?” Rook’s smooth voice didn’t falter.

“Are you?” I shot back.

“I’m tired of being afraid.” His voice rasped, hand rising to touch a pocket on his sleeve. “I want to return with you, find my sister and...” He rolled his shoulders. “I don’t know what comes next.”

Prepared for his request to cross realms, I nodded. “There will be limitations placed on you.”

He chuckled softly. “There have been all my life.”

Ignoring the guards, I tugged on the thick iron ring used for pulling the door open and cracked it wide enough for us to slide through. Inside, the Halls remained unchanged. Arched doors. Black accents. Death as art. Flames licked charred logs in wide-mouthed hearths in each room we passed, thawing the mantles above them and melting the carved fireplaces. Puddles of water seeped over the polished ice floor, and no one seemed to care. Why they didn’t use elementals or spells to prevent dripping was beyond me.

We walked until the main hall ended and we stood before a familiar set of doors. I raised my hand but hesitated.

“Thierry, dear, do come in,” a throaty voice called. “I’ve been expecting you.”

That’s what I was afraid of.

Chapter Fourteen

––––––––

T
he Morrigan lounged on a white chaise in the center of the massive room. Furs the color of the first snow in winter covered the floor, and her bare feet dug into the strands. Her upswept hair was as black as pitch, her eyes wide and colder than the edge of the universe. Despite the lavish setting, she opted for a simple ivory pantsuit with the jacket unbuttoned, similar to the black one she favored when cleaning up bodies for marshals in the mortal realm. The rest of the room was empty and bare.

Her beauty tugged something low in my gut that made me shift uncomfortably from foot to foot. This was where Rook got his killer looks. Her ageless beauty made them siblings instead of a mother and her grown son. When she crossed to greet us with a broad smile painted on her red lips, her eyes were level with mine. Dismissing Rook with a brief scowl, she clasped my hand, pumping my arm with all the enthusiasm of a politician lining up an unregistered voter on Election Day.

Not the greeting I expected. Somehow this one was worse.

She was playing human. Her speech pattern, her appearance, all fake. Stolen from observations made while in the mortal realm.

Looping her arm through mine, the Morrigan spun me back toward the door and lugged me into the hall. “I assume Macsen told you where to find the tether?” Her laughter tinkled like rain chimes. “Well, no more sneaking around for you. I will take you there myself. This way saves us both time.”

“Mother,” Rook said quietly. “Release her.”

She pretended not to hear, her eagerness making me queasy as she kept me stumbling along.

Rook caught my opposite arm.
“Mother.”

“I warned you.” Her sigh blew carrion breath against my cheek. “Goodbye, son.”

She flicked a delicate wrist, and crimson motes left her fingertips, flinging Rook headfirst into the opposite wall, the one that was a football field’s length away from us. He hit with a sickening crunch of bone and slid to the floor. The tang of Rook’s blood hit the air, and I breathed in his fear and pain.

“What have you done?” I dug in my heels. “He’s your
son
.”

“Never mind him.” She tugged on my arm. “We have pressing matters to attend to.”

Numbness tingled over my skin. She had attempted to kill her last remaining son without a hint of remorse. She was a monster. No. She was death personified. The final gasping breaths of life didn’t scare her. The blackness, the terror, it was simply a part of her identity. Too bad the rest of us weren’t so lucky.

“Honestly, Thierry.” She ushered me forward. “You didn’t even like him.”

“I—” I had liked him. Once. I just hadn’t loved him.

“See there?” She patted my cheek. “You should be thanking me, really.”

I take it back. All the times I wished I was a widow—I take them all back.

“You are too human for your own good.” She tsked. “Come on. The tether is this way.”

“Why are we...?” I shut my eyes. It didn’t help. I still saw Rook’s crumpled body painted on the backs of my eyelids. The Morrigan didn’t seem to notice, that or she didn’t care. “Why take me to the tether?”

“Why, so you can cut it, silly. It is the last one, after all.” She sounded far too reasonable. “Well, except for Autumn, of course, but we’ll have another use for that one soon enough, now won’t we?”

Struggling got me nowhere with her iron strength. “You
want
me to sever Winter’s tether?”

“Dear child, if I didn’t want the tethers cut, I would never have allowed you to make it this far.”

Stunned, I let her drag me. “You want Faerie cut off from the mortal realm?”

Cherry lips curved. “It solves so many problems, don’t you think?”

Yes, it did. For us. Not for her. “I don’t get it.”

“I want what you want. Faerie cut off from the mortal realm.
Permanently
. Just think, with your blood at my disposal—” she squeezed me in a one-armed hug as we walked, “—I can finally make it happen. I can reinforce the threshold from the mortal realm, and no one will be able to cross.” Mouth pursing, she shrugged. “Except for your father, of course, but Macsen ought to be dead by now.”

“What do you mean?” I yanked my arm out of her grip with a force that stunned both of us. “What have you done?”

“I had to kill him.” She justified her crazy. “I only needed one of you. I chose
you
. Aren’t you lucky?”