Yes?
No.
No fucking way.
They hadn’t done all of this to be bested. Nicole and her family hadn’t figured out these clues, fought through memories and countries, creatures and fears, just to have it taken away from them now. And neither had Kyan. He’d learned he had a godsdamnsisterwho had fought to get to him and protect this secret. That he had divine heritage slumbering inside him.
He just about resisted rubbing the painful new heat in his chest which turned hotter than when Logan had found them in the Druid site.
Heartbreak? Overwhelm?
‘What exactly do you want to do with whatever information she might have?’ Kyan asked, keeping his voice level. ‘If you got it, would you let them go?’
‘Of course. We’re notmonsters, Kyan, despite what the stories would have you believe. This is all just …éraic.’
An ancient form of compensation.
A debt paid.
And this was a game that had been played since gods walked the sacred ground of Ireland, with a set of rules and magic he had no true comprehension of.
‘Why don’t I speak with her when she’s returned, then?’ Kyan said, rising.
Every cell in his body needed him to check on her. As long as he could see she was all right, they could sort this out. He’d fight through a wall of Empyreals to get her out of this damn building. They could lie. Say they were going to collect what the Wake wanted, then find a way to track the Druid, and—
The god clicked his tongue, head tilted as if someone had whispered to him.
‘Oh dear. It seems Miss Palmer has returned clean-handed from her test mission.’
Kyan froze.
Elatha rose. ‘I must go. I have an oath swearing to attend.’
‘No.’
He hadn’t realised the word would come out quite as low, as threatening. As if his body had returned to the awareness of the fact that he was the nephew to a legendary Irish king and – and the son of a god.
The heat in his chest increased and his bracelet-less arm tingled.
Elatha chuckled. ‘I shall return after, and we can continue our conversation.’
‘No,’ Kyan repeated. ‘She won’t be swearing the oath.’
‘I’m afraid shewill. As will her newly transformed brother. Oh, yes, we’ve got the whole family. I’m sure we can find some way to punish the smallest one. Not to mention their father.’
The glimpse of the demonic god beneath fractured through, then. Eyes that turned for a moment into pure, pale fire; power that lanced through Elatha’s form like a lightning bolt. There and gone in a moment.
‘You’ll let them go. You have me,’ Kyan snarled.
‘Do I? Because you have not been a good soldier, lately, Kyan. And unfortunately, they’re of more use to me now than you are.’
Kyan’s scar seared with pain as the oath activated, as if sensing his desire to physically harm the Fomóir before him. ‘You’re going to tell me where she is right-fucking-now, or you’re not leaving this room with your head.’
He hated that it was amusement that flickered through Elatha’s eyes.
Not fear, not respect.
Not even a little bit.
