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“That wasn’t harmless! That was…an abomination, Clancy, and you caused it!”
“I’m so sorry! I would do anything—!”
“Anything?” Nox threw out a hand, hurling Clancy back and against the wall. “There isn’t anything—no magick or medicine—that can undo the evil and the suffering you have unleashed.”
“I know.” Clancy nodded jerkily. “I have never regretted anything more in my long years, but I did it to save you. You have to see that,” he said, causing Nox’s fury to erupt like a hot tide.
“No!” The cry rose within Nox as heat and light rolled through him and he felt himself lifting, the incandescence taking him. He called to the wind, summoning it as he raised his arms and felt the vibrations in his hands as the air around Clancy whipped at his hair and pulled at his sleeves.
“Nox, no!” Nelson screamed as he tackled Nox and shook him hard. “Du thabairt dorais du glé, for mu muid céin am messe,” he chanted, patting Nox’s cheeks. “Stay with us. Don’t leave me!”
“I’m here!” Nox blinked through the blurry brightness until he could make out Nelson’s face and waited for the prickling heat and dizziness to pass. Once he could stand on his own, Nox regarded Merlin, unable to look at Clancy. “How could someone who professed to love me do such a thing?” he wondered out loud. “How could someone who loved me betray my dad like that? And to lie and lie and lie about why and how he died…”
For a moment, Nox’s anger was eclipsed by his grief and bitterness as he longed for his father.
“Don’t you dare tell me that was meant to save me because I have been lost without him!” Nox choked back a sob as he smeared tears from his face, shaking his head at Merlin. “You said you loved me and I trusted you!” he cried, his voice rising into a trembling howl again.
“I do! I swear!” Merlin reached for Nox, but he swatted him away.
“Don’t touch me!” He was seething as he backed away from Merlin. “The two of you lied to me and made me believe that I could be an anthropologist and a professor, that I could find love and that I might—if I listened to the two of you—beat the odds and see tenure and old age. But you were always planning to hand me over to Him when the time was right.”
Nox laughed in disgust, tears pooling in his eyes as he yanked at the collar of his robe, ripping it open so it gaped. He scraped his nails through the sacred geometry and sigils on his sternum, all tattooed by Merlin’s wicked hands.
“You made me for Him. You taught me to love your god after—” Nox was staggered when he realized the breadth of Merlin’s betrayal. “Clancy could never get over the shame or forgive himself, but you…” He stared at Merlin, Nox’s own sense of self distorting as he suddenly loathed someone who had been dear to him since his birth.
“You have to understand!” Merlin whispered as he mopped tears from his face, but Nox was not moved. Or fooled.
“Dad wouldn’t stand for it if he were here so you let nature—the Dagda—take its course. Then, you went to work and created the perfect vessel for your god. You covered me in His symbols and recited His prophecies and you even taught me to think like Him. You took my father from me so you could replace him with your god.”
A terrified “No!” squeaked from Merlin as he shook his head. “It was the only way to save you. I swear!”
“No!” Nox refused. “I won’t listen to any more of your lies.” He turned from Merlin, seeking Nelson—the only safe thing left in the room. “At least you tried to protect me. From them, the Dagda, myself… You loved me and you tried so hard to hold onto a human while fighting off a god.”
Even Nelson had been manipulated and abused and their love tainted by Merlin and Clancy’s schemes.
“What do we do now?” Nox asked shakily, but he already knew Nelson’s answer. There was only one thing they could do. “Hunt,” Nox whispered, earning a tight nod from Nelson before turning back to Merlin. “Bring me the Badb.”
A startled gasp slipped from Clancy. “The Badb?” he echoed, but Nox held up a hand blocking Clancy from his sight and keeping his hatred fixed on Merlin.
“I don’t want to see either of you again, don’t show your faces here or come near me, until you bring me the Badb or tell me where I can find him.”
Merlin nodded quickly, reaching for Clancy and towing him toward the door. “I’ll do my best, but what if we can’t—?” he started, but stopped at Nox’s furious snarl.
“One of you has brought this liar upon us,” he stated with utter certainty as he pointed at Merlin and Clancy. “This was born from your deceit and dysfunction, mark my words. I want nothing else from you but the Badb and you will not rest and you will not find peace until he is dealt with.”
“Nox!” Merlin cried out, knowing that they had been cursed.
Nox shook his head, allowing his desolation to transform into intent and damned Merlin’s and Clancy’s souls with all his will. “You will burn for every moment the Badb walks free and you will not stop until he is dead. Or in prison for the rest of his wretched life,” he added, for Nelson’s sake.
“As you wish,” Clancy said, bowing as he pulled Merlin from the study.
Nox waited until they were gone to risk a glance at Nelson. “I’m so sorry,” he said, receiving a startled snort from Nelson.
“You’re sorry?” He scrubbed his brow in confused frustration. “You’ve been trying to shut all of this down since…before New Castle. I’ve known since the night of the rave, since Samhain, that He was using me. But I couldn’t stop and I convinced myself that I could control it and keep Him away from you. I was such a fool and I’m so sorry.”
“Because you couldn’t keep away from me, Nelson!” Nox objected. “You did exactly what you were fated to do. It was literally encoded in your spirit and your genealogy to guard me and reunite me with the Dagda.”
“But I knew that wasn’t what you wanted. Every time I told you I loved you, I was giving Him a piece of us and I was giving you to Him.” He looked so stricken and ashamed, it infuriated Nox all over again. But he was furious with himself now.
