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But I was there now. This all would stop. I wouldmakeit stop.
Behind me, Draven lay Orcades down very gently on the floor as I turned to pass the baby to him.
At the altar, the priest turned, noticing us for the first time.
At first, he was unrecognizable to me. He had the face of no one I knew. This must be the High Priest Cavan who Merlin had mentioned.
Then the man passed a hand over his face and suddenly he was no longer a stranger at all.
Tyre’s portly face looked back at me with a genial smile.
Then the smile shifted, becoming something that was no longer warm or genial by any stretch of imagination.
I stepped towards him. Strapped to the belt at my hip, Excalibur began to emit a humming sound, as if calling out to the grail as it spun its dance of blood high in the air over the altar.
“You won’t wish to come any closer,” Tyre warned, holding up his hands calmly. “To do so would be truly fatal.”
“Get the fuck out of my way, traitor.” Pulling Excalibur from its sheath, I held the blade aloft as it gleamed golden.
But Tyre only studied the blade with appreciation. “You’ve brought the sword. Excellent.”
My heart sank.
“Your brother will be pleased.” The priest looked past me. “And the child, too. If you had arrived a little earlier, we might not have had to resort to your brother, no matter what the king said.” Tyre raised his brows. “And Fenyx?”
“I believe the term is liquified,” Draven offered from behind me.
“As you’ll soon be,” I snarled, not taking my eyes off the priest.
“If the god so wills it, certainly. But he has blessed me before now.” Tyre’s expression was disturbingly beatific.
“Who are you really?” I demanded. “Cavan or Tyre?”
The priest smiled and passed his hand over his face again, erasing Tyre’s portly features and replacing them with a thin-faced man with hard dark eyes.
“There was a Tyre once. I’m told he was a charming fellow. I can only hope I did him credit.”
“You killed him,” I said flatly.
The priest who was not Tyre nodded. “It was easier that way. Your brother needed someone in the temple. Someone he could trust.”
“And this?” I gestured at Kaye. As Cavan momentarily glanced back at the altar, I sidled closer.
“Ah, yes. We feed the grail to feed the sword. Once the grail has drunk its fill, we’ll bathe Excalibur in its glory.”
I ground my teeth. “In Kaye’s blood, you mean.”
“He is an offering. Nothing more. The babe would have been better.” He looked longingly at the child cradled securely in my mate’s arms then glanced at Draven’s horns and shook his head as if realizing it was useless. “Blood of the king. Blood of his kin. There is a deep and ancient power in it. I suppose it is too late now.”
“You aren’t laying a hand on that baby. Kaye isn’t dead and he’s not your fucking offering. Neither is the child.”
“You touch your brother at your peril,” Cavan warned, his dark eyes narrowing as he saw how close to the altar I’d approached. “Anyone who interrupts the ritual now that it has begun will not live to see its final glory.”
“I don’t care about glory, I care about my brother.” I took another step towards the altar.
And then everything seemed to happen all at once.
I lifted Excalibur. As I did so, I realized the blade and the grail were not the same. The red light from the chalice and the golden light from the sword danced towards one another and where they met, there was a blinding flash.
