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Oh.Oh.The dead daughter. The one who almost killed me.
I leapt up from the chair, nearly knocking it over in my haste to move. I settled into the seat at the table’s head, determined never to look at that spot, or remember that ghost, again.
He finished gathering the food and dropped into the chair to my left. “Forgive me. I was… caught off guard.”
I merely nodded and studied my meal. Most of it looked recognizable. Bread and eggs, even bacon though the fruit that appeared similar to grapes, was an odd yellow color.
“You look lovely.” A gentle warmth accompanied the words.
Reaching for my fork, I avoided looking at him and mumbled something about Roisin.
“Have you considered more about what I told you last night?” he asked.
“Yeah. I believe you.”I think.
He relaxed back into his chair.
“But that doesn’t excuse kidnapping me,” I said.
“I will do whatever I must to keep you alive.” He grabbed his fork and stabbed a piece of bacon.
“So if I get my sisters under control at this Samhain, then I can go home to the human realm?”
The muscles in his jaw bulged, the impaled bacon remained on his plate. “No. The power to hold your sisters within you stems directly from the bog witch herself. If you were to leave the Otherworld, where the witch resides, the magic may not be enough to keep your sisters bound.”
He didn’t look the least bit apologetic. Little did he know that I’d get the chance to go home, anyway. I glanced away. “My sisters… They are a threat to the Otherworld?”
He set down his fork. “In her time, Badb was a veritable force all her own. A skilled warrior and a master strategist, she started wars and reveled in killing and bloodshed. She is ruthless, and Macha has allied with her.”
Leaving the Otherworld to war and ruin.
The catch to going home.
The bog witch’s smile, her stringy hair, played in my mind. The shimmering portal I’d walk through, leaving thousands to die as I failed to control my sisters. My fingers trembled, and I dropped my fork, settling my hands in my lap. Dagda had no idea that I was destined to unleash Badb and Macha upon the Otherworld. Upon his people.
A sickness gripped my stomach. Perhaps I could change it somehow? But would it be worth it to risk my life for this world of faeries that had sought my death?
If I possessed any honor, I’d explain everything to Dagda right now. My vision of the bog witch, of my decision, of the fate of the Otherworld. And yet, if I did that, what alternative would Dagda have?
I’d figured it out last night as I laid in bed. The only way to stop Macha and Badb from taking over, and the only way to save the Otherworld from carnage and ruin, would be to make me fall and restart life as a baby. I shuddered at the idea of letting someone decapitate me, or cutting my heart out of my chest. And since I was unable to release my faerie guardian, destroying it wasn’t an option. There were no other means of making a faerie restart their life.
I swallowed. If I fell, Chelsea Herrington would cease to exist. I‘d continue on as Morrigan reborn, but it wouldn’t be me. I’d be gone forever, replaced by some other version of myself. In all but the one essential way, it would be the same as dying.
So I said nothing.
Dagda ran a hand over a soft layer of black stubble shadowing his jaw and studied me with those brooding eyes. “We have a bit of a delicate situation,” he said. “There are three weeks until Samhain, the day you must meet with the bog witch. Badb and Macha will continue to grow in power. However, word of your arrival is already circulating. Faster than I would have hoped, and as queen, you have certain expectations—”
“I don’t want to be queen.”
He stilled. “One cannot stop being queen.”
“Why not?” I challenged. “You’ve been running things here just fine without me—”
“You have no idea how things have been in your absence.” His voice came low and dangerous.
I pressed back in my chair, but then squared my shoulders, refusing to be intimidated. “So what? You keep me here against my will, forcing me to play some role I despise?”
“I hold no authority over you. However, your safety can only be guaranteed within these walls. While we need to take some precautions until the whole reunifying issue is over, you are not a prisoner here, Morrigan. Far from it.”
