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“Whatever this is between us, whatever it becomes, I do not wish to lose it. I do not wish to loseyou.Not to the demon. Not to a new Iron Crystal. And not to myself either.” He kissed the top of her head.
They stayed like that for minutes. She lost track of time. She just basked in the feeling of him—the security of it. The strength in his frame. Finally, though, she broke the silence. “Does this mean I get to walk around the keep again?”
“No.”
She snickered. “Damn.”
“Nice try.”
Lifting her head, she kissed him, loving the feel of his lips against hers. He was addictive—not nearly as stern or unflinching as she would have expected him to be. He reacted to her every touch like a starving man might react to the taste of food.
She didn’t know how she was going to make things right. She didn’t know how they were going to get out on the other side of this in one piece. But damn it all, she knew she didn’t have a choice.
She justhadto.
Or else there wouldn’t be anything of her on the other side of it at all.
TWENTY
Lancelot fought the urge to scream. He kept a smile on his face, and prayed to God that his irritation with the four elementals in front of him was not visible. They were four that had been known to travel in a pack—and also had been known to lay waste to whole towns when angered.
Isha, Mirnin, Niva and Olgon. Olgon was the most visually intimidating, as he had long since given up his human form and instead preferred to roam the countrysideasthe countryside. The giant collection of boulders was unpredictable, but at least slow-moving. He was currently serving as a perch for Isha, a lava elemental who had long since claimed Olgon as hers.
While she was less impressive in size, she was the one that truly worried Lancelot. He had once seen what she was capable of, long ago.
Niva and Mirnin were both air elementals and tended to stay close to Olgon and Isha for protection. That said, he would not discount anyone who commanded wind and lightning. Both were exceedingly dangerous—especially when one was, as Isha was always quick to point out, a lightning rod.
All four were watching him with wary suspicion at best, and in Isha’s case—molten violence. He knew the only reason he wasn’t a smoldering smear on the grass or buried under a boulder was because Zoe was floating beside him.
“And why would we helpyou?”Isha sneered. “Once a traitor, always a traitor. If you would betray Mordred now, why would you not betray us later? How can you prove this isn’t a trap?”
“Simple. Because I have hated that bastard far longer than you.” He held his head high. “I have been his prisoner for sixteen hundred years; you have only been so for three hundred. And while you were trapped in thatmisery,I was forced to lick his boots.” Grimacing, he let his hatred for Mordred show plainly on his features. “I wish to free my brethren. I wish to make sure he pays for his crimes.”
Olgon grunted, a sound that resembled more of an avalanche of rocks than anything a human might make. He had long since given up the ability to speak. It seemed Isha had no problem understanding him, however. “Why have you come to us?”
Mirnin flickered into existence, his crackling, static-like form disappearing a moment later and reappearing on the other side of the clearing. “Yes—speak—” He was an impatient sort. “Now!”
Lancelot let out a breath. Zoe might be able to keep the other elementals from killing him if things went poorly.Might.“I seek to lay siege to the keep. Drag Mordred out and put him on trial for what he has done. If he refuses to yield, then I seek to part his head from his shoulders and be done with it. I need an army for that. Enin the Green has already joined our cause, as have ten others.”
Isha let out a thoughtful hum. “And do we get to reduce that castle of his to molten ore when we are done?”
“I would love nothing more than to see that place wiped from the face of Avalon.” Lancelot smirked. “Along with all his iron abominations.”
That seemed to convince Mirnin, who blinked out and reappeared standing by Niva. Niva looked for all the world like a ghost, made only of translucent wisps of air and whatever leaves and bits of grass were caught up in the whirling wind that was her body. Mirnin leaned over and whispered to Niva, who was intently listening.
“And what of you when all is said and done?” Isha sniffed. “Do you seek to rule in his stead?”
“I seek to live out the rest of my years in peace. I am done with soldiering—for myself or for others.” Perhaps Gwendolyn might join him if she survived the fray. But deep down, he knew her heart belonged to Mordred, however tragic that might be.He shook his head. “I seek my own road, far away from all this nonsense.”
Olgon let out a long sound that might have been a hum or just a vibration of stone on stone.
Isha watched him for a moment, and for the life of Lancelot he could not understand how the two communicated. Olgon’s face was a collection of unmoving rock, and it seemed that any expression he tried to make would crack the surface and harm him. It was not uncommon for the Lord in Stone to simply choose not to move foryears,moss and wildlife growing atop him as though he were nothing more than any other outcropping of rocks.
But Isha seemed to know what he was trying to say without fail. “If you are certain, love.”
Lancelot tried not to ponder the details of how the two might consummate their relationship. He was happier not knowing.
Isha turned to him and flicked a lock of her chin-length hair out of her face, sending a bit of lava falling to Olgon’s enormous shoulder. It hissed and turned cool and became part of the Lord in Stone, as if it had always been there. “As you wish, Knight in Silver. Olgon and I shall join your cause.”
