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Ella wanted to throw herself into the sea.
“Talisman. Now. Before I give up and go and hide in my lighthouse,” she said stubbornly.
“Very well.” Mananan laughed softly, the sound warming her to her bones. He didn’t push her, only held out the onyx box to her with the talisman inside.
The aura coming off it was like a bucket of cold water over Ella’s head. She only needed the briefest touch, and the clawing, sticky sensation of the Formorian magic seeped through her. She let it overwhelm her and then began to collect what she needed off the shore. Mananan didn’t speak or interrupt her, just gave her space to work and made the others do the same.
Ella walked back to the circle that she’d drawn in the sand. The map in the center was a blur of black lines as her magic dragged her down.
There were more bodies in the darkness of the ocean’s depths. Souls that had been lost over the past thousand years. The mage’s power had been at work for a long time, and many had died at his hands. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack. She dug deeper into the well of magic inside of her, pulling up more and more.
Ella pushed her way through the cries of the sacrificed to the ones who were drawing power. Her magic homed in on them, and the flotsam fell from her palm.
Ella gasped, her vision going completely black. She was deeper than she had ever been before. Something grabbed hold of her, dragging her through the sea of ghosts. Yellow eyes opened in front of her, and a wave of evil so deep rolled over her. Her mind tried to make sense of the primordial horror that looked back at her. She screamed high and long and terrified. In the depths of the North Sea, the horror called back.
“Ella! Wake up!” Mananan’s voice cracked through her thunder. The darkness cleared, and his blue eyes hovered in front of her.
“M-Manan…it saw me. It saw me!” she cried. She climbed up into his arms, her whole body shaking in terror as she wrapped herself around him. Her panicked brain knew he made her feel safe, and she clung to him with all the strength in her body.
Mananan’s arms clamped around her, holding her to his chest. “I have you. It’s okay. Breathe, Ella.”
“It saw me. It saw me,” she chanted, unable to stop.
Taranis stepped forward, and Mananan growled so deep and threatening that he faltered. “Manan. Cut it out. I can help. Let me touch her, and I’ll find the answer.”
Ella sobbed. “Make it stop looking at me.”
“Do it,” Mananan said, and Taranis placed his hand on Ella’s head. He barely caressed her for a second before he yanked his hand back like she had burned him.
“Fuck. We have a problem, and you all need to see it, so I’m going to push it to you telepathically,” Taranis warned them.
Bayn was the first to break the silence. “What in the fucking fuck is that?”
“It’s not going to get anywhere near you, Marella. I promise,” Mananan whispered to her, holding her tighter. She nodded but didn’t move from where her face was buried into his neck. She was still frozen, unable and unwilling to let him go even for a moment. She didn’t care if it made her look like a weak, hysterical woman.
“It must have been summoned here. That is not of this world. Neither is it one of Morrigan’s creatures. It’s too ancient,” Kian said thoughtfully. “We need to find a way to kill it or banish it back where it came from.”
“I know how to kill it,” Mananan replied, his voice a rumble. “I need to go and get Fragarach.”
Ella’s surprise cut through her lingering fear. She lifted her head so she could look up at him. “Fragarach isreal?”
16
Mananan refused to let Ella go.Couldn’tlet her go. Not after seeing the creature that had put her into such a terrified state.
“Fragarach is very real. I’m going to prove it by carving out the eyes of that fucking abomination who dared to look at you and thought you belonged to it,” Mananan said. He was keeping his voice as steady as he was able. He mustn’t have been doing a very good job because Ella’s gray eyes went wide as saucers.
There had been no mistaking the horrible beast’s intention. It found Ella and considered her its next meal. Like fuck he was going to let that happen.
“Where is the sword now? I haven’t seen it since you’ve been back,” Kian asked.
“It is safe in the vault in Tír fo Thuinn.”
Ella shifted in his arms. “Why didn’t you bring it with you?”
“Because there is a cost to wielding a magical sword, and Fragarach’s is that if you pull it, it wants blood and it will get it,” Mananan explained. “I’ve only ever used it in the death battles. Which is exactly what that fucking beast declared when it decided to swim into my seas.”
And look at what belongs to me,his mind added unhelpfully. He wanted to punch something. Tear apart a horde creature with his bare hands. He was furious and irrational. He had encouraged Ella to find the altars, and now she had a primordial horror after her.
