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Verily, everything about Brigid was adorable and lovely to Sai. He couldn’t help leaning down to nuzzle her apple cheeks and plump, red mouth.
Immediately, her breath hitched at the contact. And his groin tightened in response. A deep-throated purr began to rumble from his chest.
“All right, love birds, not so fast,” Annie interjected with an indulgent grin.
“We need to clarify a few things before we get to Inverness. Like, what do we know about the Master and their powers? What can we expect when we reach Castle Mar? I keep anticipating someone to attack us again, but thus far, it’s been smooth sailing, so to speak.”
Sai frowned at that. The journey was not as smooth as the humans supposed.
“They may not have attacked, but we are being followed. Of this I am certain.”
Brigid swiveled around again.
“But you never said anything. Why?”
“Ben and I will handle it,” Sai said, sharing a solemn look with the young man.
“It is no use to worry for things that haven’t come to pass.”
“We are definitely being followed,” Ben concurred. “But whoever or whatever they are, they’ve stayed to the shadows. I can sense an ominous presence spreading around us like a shroud, but it hasn’t touched us yet.”
“What is it waiting for?” Brigid asked.
Sai had no answer. Except for the feeling that it was waiting for the right moment to pounce. Almost as if it was herding them toward Castle Mar. As if it wanted them to go there all along.
Was this the Master’s plan? And if so, should they change their destination?
“I can only speculate what the Master is plotting,” he said. “They are devious and all-knowing.”
“Which brings me back to my query,” Annie inserted.
“What can you tell us about this Master and their minions?”
Sai set his jaw to brace himself for the unpleasant thoughts.
But the human was right. He had to share what he knew. Perhaps something would be useful to them later. Knowledge was power, and they must arm themselves with as much of it as they could.
“The Master is formless and vast. They are a pervasive darkness that binds to the souls of living beings. I do not know who created them, or if they have always been upon this earth. They are the opposite of everything good.”
“How did they imprison you all those millennia ago?” Brigid asked softly.
Within the shelter and privacy of their blanket, she wrapped both hands around one of his, entwining their fingers into one joined fist.
Sai shook his head, both at the memory and the fact that he didn’t want to remember.
“I had been weak and trapped for thousands of years already. Buried beneath a mountain under the ocean. They…they simply took over my senses. I was no longer myself. I was athingto be tortured at their leisure. A monster to be used.”
“How so?” she asked in that same quiet voice.
It seemed that Sai was only here with Brigid. As if they were entirely alone. It made him brave enough to delve into his long-held pain. To open those wounds anew and inspect them.
So, he spoke only to her, not caring or noticing that the young humans listened in.
“You hear of terrifying monsters in the deep. Sea dragons and serpents are almost always evil in human myths. Don’t you wonder why?”
“Because we do not understand what we can’t touch and see?” Brigid murmured.
“How many of us have really traveled the seas? And when we do, it’s on ships or boats. Water is frightening if we are submerged in it for any length of time. The threat of drowning is enough to terrify, never mind sea monsters.”
