It was rare that he had a real fight on his hands.
Empyreals didn’t get as much fight training in the Wake as he had with Scáthach, because they relied so much on their ability to transform. It was sloppy.
Logan recovered long enough for Kyan to glimpse the Empyreal’s wild, furious gaze as he dived.
Kyan’s right arm was still extended from the last punch, so he drew back enough to slam his elbow into Logan’s temple, knocking him into the bar. Kyan grabbed his shirt and dragged Logan along the wood, throwing him in an arc so he lined up with the thinner wall of the other drinking rooms.
Then Kyan ran, tackling Logan at the waist with a force that splintered the rich, dark panelling and had them crashing into the next room, glass shattering, paintings cracking.
As they slammed to the ground Kyan distantly realised how horrified Nicole would be at the destruction of historic property. Dust and adrenaline swirled in the room like a drug as he pinned Logan and drove his fist into his face.
Brutally, thoroughly.
Once.
Twice.
A third time, until the bone was little but splinters. Until the spray of blood could only eke out past the matted wreck.
Until he was dragged off by the other two Empyreals.
Kyan looked up to see the arched stained-glass window where Saint Cecilia, patron saint of musicians, held a citole. Either side of her were two items: a scroll and a harp, with the inscription: MUSIC IS THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE OF ALL MANKIND.
He thought of everything at stake, everything Nicole and her family, Remi and the Druids had fought for.
So, he launched into the other Empyreals.
They hadn’t learned not to rile up a hound?
They’d learn today.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Nicole
NICOLE AND HER FAMILY DIDN’T WANT TO RISKUSING THEmain entrance of Kyan’s townhouse, so for added caution he’d told them of an address several streets away from the row of handsome, red-brick buildings on Rodney Street, which hid a secondary entrance. After splitting up from Kyan and Callum to travel separately to Liverpool and parking their car full of cases and books, her family approached the location.
Nicole was glad Kyan had disobeyed the Wake’s rule that Empyreals couldn’t have their ownproperties. The anticipation of seeing it helped her tackle the sheer overwhelm of being in a city after she had spent all her post-transformation time in a secluded country manor. Car horns, traffic, laughter, music.
The gasp of air after the long drive helped to clear her head, even if it was laced with new scents.
Nicole scanned the quiet streets for anyone watching as her father knocked on a glossy black door.
An old woman opened the townhouse’s secret entrance.
Nicole got a glimpse of her silver hair – tied back in a neat chignon – and the tidy apron around her waist. But her most notable features were her eyes: lit with a conspiratorial light that charmed Nicole immediately. Biróg, Kyan said, had been his housekeeper since he bought the place.
‘Come through,’ she said in a strong Ulster Irish accent before letting them inside the unfurnished shell of a house and closing thedoor. It cut out the din of the city and Nicole’s ears rang in the sudden calm as her eyes adjusted to the dark hallway.
Biróg took them in momentarily, seeming intrigued to have guests, and turned to head to a door under the stairs that led to tunnels connecting this house to Kyan’s.
Soon enough, they were through the musty, but lit, passageway and coming up into Kyan’s townhouse.
It shouldn’t have surprised Nicole that the atmosphere was slightly historic, but stepping into the dark entrance hall felt almost hallowed.
‘You make yourself at home,’ Biróg encouraged, gesturing to the rooms from the hallway: the living room on the left and the dining room in the middle. ‘I’ll get the tea,’ she said, before hurrying off to a third room at the end of the hallway on the right: a kitchen done in plum and dark grey, its walls lined with copper pots and vintage tins.
As the family settled in the dining room, Nicole discovered the rooms had a subdued, earthy palette that kept the atmosphere intimate. It was elevated with luxurious accents like marble fireplaces streaked with dark purple veins, dark tones of olive greens and umbers, and polished woods and copper accents.
