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The dragons shimmered before his eyes as the vision dissipated. He fell to his knees and sent magic to repair the wounds in his arms. Arianrhod came near; her scent surrounded him, and she wrapped him in an embrace from behind. He leaned into her as he secured his spirit inside his body. It ranged free while he was in trance, which was why it took time to recover.
“Here.” She handed him a flask. “’Tis mead. I always carry some tucked into my quiver.”
“Resourceful woman.” He took the silvery flagon and drank deep, feeling the fragrant liquor revive him.
She drew him to a sit on the hearth in front of the fire. The stones were pleasantly warm. “Tell me,” she said. “Everything.”
She knit her brow into angry lines as the tale unfolded. “We must warn her,” she said when he’d finished.
“I agree.” He shook off the last of the malaise from his vision state. “It’s curious. She didn’t say anything about another dark mage being there when she lured Mitha off to kill her.”
“Mayhap Danne changed his mind. Ye said he seemed mildly upset by Cavet’s cavalier treatment of his egg-mate.” Arianrhod closed her teeth over her lower lip. “I’m almost sorry I did away with him.”
“Don’t be.” Angus placed an arm around her shoulders and pulled her against him. “He could’ve stayed out of sight on the upper floors of Rhukon’s manor or in the back of that huge room. He joined the fight of his own free will. For that matter, he could’ve freed Eletea while Rhukon and Connor were flying around outside in dragon form. He didn’t.”
Arianrhod leaned into him, and they passed her flask back and forth in silence until she said, “We doona know if Cavet met the other dark mage who offered to bond with him.”
“True. We also have no idea what the Fire Mountain dragons have in mind for Eletea.”
“Do ye suppose Cavet had an opportunity to spread lies about her? It might be why her kin whisked her off once we arrived.”
“One of the problems with dream states,” Angus spoke slowly, “is it’s hard to place them in time.”
“Mayhap not so hard.” Arianrhod straightened and leaned toward the fire. “Danne said ten days until the full moon.”
“We don’t know which full moon, though.”
“Let’s presume ’tis the one that just passed two nights since.”
Angus recreated when Eletea had come to him and worked forward from there. “If it is, that might mean Mitha never brought the other dark mage to the Highlands.”
“Aye, but it doesna mean Cavet dinna seek her out himself after Mitha’s death.”
Angus narrowed his eyes. “I’ll bet Rhukon and Connor have answers. Dark mages hold court with one another.”
A menacing light shone from Arianrhod’s features, turning her beauty into something harsh and terrible. “Mayhap we can pay them a visit on our way back. ’Twill give us ammunition for another visit to Fire Mountain.”
“Why do we need ammunition?”
“They all but booted us out of there. They’re furious with me because of Danne and Malik. Do ye believe they’ll welcome us waltzing back into their home world without a good reason?”
“I assumed you’d tell Ceridwen what we found, and she’d take it from there.”
“Aye, and she’d verra much like to, but I want to keep the Morrigan out of things.” Arianrhod laid a hand on the side of his face and turned him to face her. “Nothing we canna handle ourselves.”
Light blazed from her eyes and drew him in. He felt his body respond to her power. Desire for him spilled from her in shimmering, incandescent waves. He threaded his hands into her hair above and below her braids and held her head just gazing at her. She was so beautiful, breath clotted in his throat. Silvery brows cut across her high forehead like birds’ wings. Well-formed cheekbones led to a perfect jaw. He traced the lines of her face with his fingertips before moving to her broad shoulders. Then lower, cupping her breasts through her soft leather top. Her nipples were already hard, and they grew even more rigid beneath his touch.
Her full lips parted in an inviting smile. “We have time. Not only that. So long as we’ve come this far, we’ll hold to our plan to seek out Cathbad after we leave here. I took advantage of the span of minutes ye spent in trance and used your fire to locate him.”
Angus barely heard her. The nearness of her body and her heady scent drove everything from his head but desire for the woman curved into his arms. Maybe because he’d done it before, the laces of her clothing yielded much faster this time.
