Whether it was or not, he needed to protect his other ships. They were far too important. He chanted and prayed his magic didn’t falter when he tossed enough seawater at his ship to fight the flames without sinking the boat. In the meantime, he sensed rather than saw Declán using magic to shield both the dock and his other ships that were too close.
A mixture of fury and heartbreak filled Liam as he threw everything he had at the flames, but Declán was right. This fire wasn’t natural. So he fought a losing battle despite the rain falling in heavy sheets now. Thunder roared across the sky, and the ship lolled heavily in waves that only seemed to grow higher.
“Nay,” he roared when his ship’s great mast snapped in half and flames shot skyward. Sizzling sparks diseased with familiar magic.
Siobhán’s magic.
It was the first time he finally felt her filthy essence for what it truly was. Shocked that he hadn’t sensed it sooner. That he hadn’t felt her evil grip on him.
Understanding he had no choice but to send his ship to its watery death, he chanted away the ropes that bound it to the dock and pushed it out the best he could. He crouched and did it the honor of not looking away when he wanted to hang his head. The loss was overwhelming. Too much. More than seemed natural.
As though he wasn’t just losing a ship but so much more.
A piece of him he barely understood.
Almost as if she compelled him, he glanced over his shoulder to find Shannon standing there in her druidess dress. Her sad but determined gaze was fixated on the ship, and oddly enough, her gown billowed in the wind despite the drenching rain. He was about to call out to her but froze when he saw Siobhán standing behind her with a look of fury on her face so intense a chill ran down his spine.
A rage he felt down to the deepest, darkest part of him.
“Nay,” he roared, only to find himself rooted in place instead of racing toward them. Before he could manage to move, Shannon and Siobhán vanished. Fear like he’d never felt before coursed through his veins when Declán suddenly stood in front of him, shaking his shoulders with Riona right beside him.
“Brother,” Declán roared loud enough to snap him back from wherever he had been. “Ye have to go after her.” He shook his head. “Because we cannot. Something holds us back.”
“Please, Liam.” Tears streamed down Riona’s cheeks as she pleaded with him. “I can’t push past her magic. She won’t let me. But maybe you can.” She clenched her jaw, trying to stay strong. “She’s been terrified of water for years, so I have no idea what she’s doing.”
He blinked, trying to make sense of the strange time lapse he’d just experienced. Because his ship no longer burned on the water but had vanished beneath it. More alarming still, Shannon and Siobhán hadn't fled the dock but had seemingly disappeared into thin air.
“Where did she go?” Unaccustomed terror shot through him. He shook his head in denial that Siobhán could have gotten to her that fast. Right from underneath his nose. “Where is Shannon?”
“There.” Riona pointed beneath the water a ways out where embers still burned in the darkness. “I have no idea why she dove after it. You’ve got to go get—”
He didn’t wait to hear the rest but chanted away everything but his pants and dove into the frigid water. What was Shannon thinking? Had Siobhán possessed her and already drowned her somehow?
“Shannon,”he roared into her mind, trying to remain calm and level-headed when he felt anything but. When a horrible pain filled him that felt familiar and unfamiliar all at once. He wasn’t sure what to make of it other than it had everything to do with Shannon. Time and time again, he roared her name as he swam downward, calling on magic to save his breath.
He was about to call to her again when he spied something below. A flash of peach highlighted by flames. A flicker of soft crimson hair. He swam harder. Pushed himself to his limit until he got close enough to see her lifeless body floating near the bottom part of the mast
“Shannon,”he roared again, willing her awake. To be alive. But she was lifeless when he got to her. Yet still, she grasped a dagger that looked so similar to Madison’s and Riona’s there could be no mistaking it.
It was her Unnamed One druidess blade.
When he spied a slot inside the broken mast of his ship, he realized the blade had been hidden inside it. Making sense of how it got there became impossible as he focused on Shannon. How far gone she already seemed. He pried the blade from her frigid grasp, tucked it away, and, whether it was undignified or not, chanted away her druidess gown so it wouldn’t weigh her down.
It felt like an eternity as he pulled her upward and kept talking to her telepathically. He didn’t feel her within his mind, but he did it anyway, just in case she was there somewhere.
Just in case she could hear him.
He talked about anything that came to mind that wouldn’t lend stress to wherever she might be. The renovations he’d been making to the castle over the years. How stone withstood the sea air better than wood. He talked about what a good father figure Dúghlas had been. How he had instilled a sense of humor in Liam.
Then he did something he rarely did and spoke of his birth parents, who had lived on his land for decades. He shared the pleasure he felt when he’d visited them as time went on. How much his mother loved animals. How his father taught him everything he could during their brief visits. Encounters he wasn’t supposed to have had but couldn’t help himself.
By the time he staggered onto the shore with Shannon in his arms, crowds waited despite the weather. Her wolf stalked the shore impatiently, and Riona and Declán were there. Thankfully his brother wrapped a blanket over her because Liam wasn’t thinking straight. Might not have thought to cover her nudity otherwise.
“There’s no time, Liam.” Riona’s voice was shaky with emotion. “Lay her down here.”
“Nay, I need to get her to—”
“Lay her here,” Riona ordered. Her magic cut to his core. “Now.” She fell to her knees and gestured at the rocky mud-slicked ground in front of her. “If you don’t, there’s no hope.” Her voice dropped to a tortured whisper as she manifested a fur on which to lay Shannon. “If there’s any left, to begin with.”
