Thirteen
THIRTEEN
L orne got us across town very quickly, and then we were out by a narrow part of the river, driving alongside it and then over a small bridge toward Haskell Manor. There was a long brick drive, under the canopy of tall elms, that I’d always thought was beautiful.
I could see where Allard Pace had begun work on the property. The circular parking area in the front had been cleared, and more red brick was visible again.
Lorne turned off the Jeep and twisted in his seat to face me. “Whatever happens, remember I love you.”
I shook my head at him. “You think you’re saying something comforting, but you’re really not.”
Flashing grin then, sudden and beautiful.
“You’re absolute shit at pep talks. James told me.”
“Don’t listen to my brother. He’s a liar.”
I grunted and looked around, hoping and not hoping to see the demon. It would materialize as someone; the question was who.
“Kiss me now for luck.”
I rushed him, taking his mouth and making him open for my tongue. The kiss was mauling, and I didn’t stop feasting on him until I got the moan I was after.
“I knew you two would drive out here if you knew the priest had come first.”
Breaking the kiss, we both looked toward the Greek-Revival-style mansion, where Tanner Murphy stood on the portico of the second story, looking down at us. Between the Corinthian columns and cast-iron balconies, it was an impressive structure. At the moment, however, knowing that there was a demon inside the man was disconcerting.
“When Father Dennis told me he hadn’t talked to you, I was worried I would have to call, so I’m pleased I didn’t have to.”
Lorne got right to the point. “Where is Father Dennis?”
“In here with me.”
Lorne got out of the Jeep, walked around to the front, and leaned on the hood. “Is he safe?”
“For the time being,” the demon answered.
Lorne nodded. “Why don’t you let him go? Xander and I will stay whether he’s here or not. He doesn’t have to be part of our conversation.”
“I think he does,” the demon replied, his voice cold and flat.
“A different question, then, if I may?”
The demon lifted his hand for Lorne to go ahead.
“Why choose this man? Why of everyone in town did you pick Tanner Murphy to possess after you killed the nymph?”
The demon chuckled, and it was not a good sound. “The nymph was hard to kill. Afterward, I was drained and had to rest.”
Lorne and I remained quiet, letting him talk.
“This one,” it said, putting its hand over his heart, “was so very weak, there was no fight left in him. He’s a murderer, and without sleep, with nightmares plaguing him, relentlessly reminded of his sins, he unraveled fast. He was going to jump off that bridge in the middle of town when I slithered up and gave him a way out.”
“How is being possessed a way out?”
It smiled at Lorne. “He’s not alone anymore. At least not at the moment.”
Lorne nodded. “So he invited you in.”
“He did, and as I said, I needed to rest.”
Just as we’d suspected.
It cleared its throat then. “Now tell me, Chief MacBain, what is it you wish to discuss with me?”
“First, give me your name so I know whom I’m addressing.”
It stared at Lorne, sizing him up, thinking back, I was sure, on what it had seen of the chief of police over the last two weeks. Lorne had been faced with extraordinary events, and yet here he was, leaning on a car like he didn’t have a care in the world. I would think a demon would at least be curious about the man.
It took long minutes, but finally, the demon masquerading as Tanner Murphy shrugged. “Why not. I am Kamosh, and I’m older than the concept of time. Crossing me will send you swiftly to your grave.”
I had wondered how quickly the threats would come, and if they’d be original. Turned out, the answer was no. All evil had the same lines. When they spoke about themselves, it was always crossing me brings death . Fae, god, and now demon. Nearly identical. As though we, as humans, would simply lie down and let them take over the world without a fight. We weren’t made that way.
“I don’t want to cross you,” Lorne told him jovially. “I want to make a deal.”
“A deal for what?”
“No, I need to see Father Dennis first and to know what you’ve done to Allard Pace.”
“What makes you think I did anything to Pace?”
Lorne grinned. “You’re standing on his property, aren’t you? A property he decided to give to you, as I understand it. I highly doubt the man is alive and well.”
“You’re very clever,” the demon praised Lorne.
“Will you show me?”
Its eyes narrowed, but then he smiled before going back inside.
Lorne looked at me over his shoulder and then back at the mansion, just as the demon returned to the portico, carrying the lifeless body of Allard Pace.
“Here he is,” Kamosh told Lorne, tossing Pace off the balcony. The body fell hard onto the ground below, making a horrible crunching sound, blood seeping onto the bricks.
“Yeah, see,” Lorne said, gesturing at Pace, “that’s what I figured. He didn’t want to give up this property, but you gave him no choice.”
I was horrified. Seeing death was not normal for me. And though it had been for Lorne when he was a homicide detective, I knew because of the kind of man he was that it hurt every time. How he was with Kathy Hayes told me so. The fact that he didn’t react at all now meant he was committed to this facade.
“Absolutely right,” Kamosh agreed, dropping the forty feet to the ground onto stiff legs. Not a man at all, only a demon in a meat suit.
“Where is the priest?”
Kamosh turned toward the mansion, holding out his hand as though presenting, and said, “Here is your man,” as Father Dennis opened the front door and came striding out.
“Lorne,” he said shakily, jogging over to him.
“Are you all right, Father?”
“Yes, yes, I—” He cleared his throat quickly. “There was screaming before, but I—I wasn’t hurt.”
He was, I could see it all over his face, but not physically.
“Good,” Lorne told him. “Go get in your car and stay there, all right? Don’t leave. I’m counting on you to remain here.”
Lorne wanted the priest safe, which I was happy about, and for his part, Father Dennis didn’t question him, simply moved. On his way by me, still in the Jeep, he stopped, reached in, put his hand on my cheek, and tried to smile. He didn’t quite make it, but I appreciated the effort. “We’re going to be all right, Xander,” he promised.
“Why would you say that to him?” Kamosh called over to the priest. “Especially to him, the witch I need dead.”
“Go on now, Father,” I prodded him gently, and when he was walking away, only then did I meet the gaze of the demon.
“I saw you cleanse the Fornell house, watched you turn my servants back to mud, and have felt the weight of your talismans all over this town as I hid inside Tanner Murphy. I have taken some, to see, to feel the magic in them, and it’s there, pulsing and powerful.”
I wasn’t scared for me, I just didn’t want the demon near Lorne, and as it began a slow walk forward, I could feel my pulse quicken and the dread knotting my stomach.
“Tell me about your land, witch. What lies there?”
“That’s the deal I want to make,” Lorne interrupted, and Kamosh looked at him. “You can keep sucking the life out of the town, that’s fine, keep doing what you’re doing, but leave me, Xander, and Father Dennis alone. That’s all I ask.”
Kamosh nodded. “Am I to understand that you will allow me to live here uncontested as long as I follow these rules?”
“Yes. Absolutely.”
“There are children in this town.”
“Not my children,” Lorne apprised him.
It laughed, but thankfully stopped walking. “You must think I’m an idiot.”
“No, I?—”
“I’ve watched you, Chief MacBain!” it yelled at Lorne. “You care about every wasteful, disgusting, insignificant life in this forgettable little town. Every word out of your mouth that says different is a lie, and the fact that you think I can’t smell the mendacity on you means you take me for a fool.”
Lorne took a deep breath. “I want you to stay away from Xander and?—”
“Because he’s not a witch like the others. He’s different, and more importantly, I know what I’ve sensed on his land. Even from a distance, I can guess.”
The gasp that came out of Lorne was pretty good. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it real.
“There’s a passage there, like the one I ran through to be here, and I can’t have that.”
“I don’t—what do you mean?”
Kamosh moved fast, too fast, and Lorne couldn’t even brace for the attack. One moment the demon was several yards away, the next he had a hand wrapped around Lorne’s throat. I didn’t even think, reacting before my brain caught up with my body. I scrambled out of the front seat, slipping around the side, on my way to Lorne. The only thing that stopped me was Lorne’s gaze. He wasn’t scared, and that froze me in my tracks.
“You know what I mean,” Kamosh roared into Lorne’s face. “The vast passage on Corvus—and yes, I’ve learned the name from all the people who speak of it. The passage that is far larger than the one I burned. If I could travel here through one so small, then those who are more powerful than me, those who could kill me, can come through that which lies on the witch’s land.”
“What do you want?” Lorne asked, and his voice was breathy, sounding desperate.
“I want entry to the land, I want dominion over the passage, and I want you gone from this place, Chief MacBain.”
Lorne took a ragged breath. “Fine, I’ll take Xander and?—”
“No. No, no, no. I will keep Xander here, with me. I will live in the house, on the land, and you will run far away.”
Lorne gripped the demon’s wrist and grabbed hold of his throat, squeezing tight. “Fuck you, I’m not leaving Xan. I’m never leaving Xan. He’s mine and?—”
“Oh, human, what power do you think you possess?”
As we watched, the demon stepped free of Tanner Murphy’s body. One moment Tanner was standing there, the next he was on his knees, howling in pain. I had no idea if he was crying and raging because the demon had left him to all the pain and horror in his mind, or if it was that he was alone again in his body. Either way, he didn’t have much time to adjust to his new reality as the demon wrenched him to his feet and snapped his neck. Tanner was dead before he hit the ground.
As for the demon, he was now a large, dark, living shadow.
Lorne’s hands fell to his sides as he went limp in the demon’s grip.
“No, don’t hurt him,” I begged.
The head turned to me, but I was looking at nothing but darkness. “You will lower the wards, witch. You will allow me entrance onto the land, or your mate will die.”
“Whatever you want, just don’t hurt?—”
“No,” Lorne yelled, and Kamosh refocused on him.
“You have no power here, human,” it said, cackling, then shoved its shadow fist into Lorne’s sternum. Hard.
The man I loved screamed, and it was horrible. It wasn’t a fake sound; it was torn out of his soul, and the pain had to be excruciating.
“Stop!” I roared.
The head swiveled to me, and for a moment the demon enlarged, as though my terror and Lorne’s anguish were feeding it, giving it energy, increasing its power.
“You will go to Corvus now!” Kamosh demanded, its voice hollow and icy. “You will open a path for me and show me the passage, or what I place in the very heart of your mate will eat him from the inside out!”
I started stripping out of my clothes fast, but Lorne’s howl made me turn to him. The demon released him, and Lorne took several steps back, gripping his chest in pain, shrieking the whole time, his body vibrating, his eyes filling with blood, then overflowing, blood running down his cheeks, dripping off the sides of his face.
Hesitating, not wanting to leave him, I took a step toward him.
“No!” Lorne cried out, gathering enough strength even through his soul-rending anguish to demand I fly home.
I bolted forward, and as soon as I moved, the demon crowed in triumph.
As I always did, I thought flight and was up, high, soaring over Osprey, an entire flock of ravens, racing for home, for safety, to save Lorne.
He was doing exactly as Elen had told him.
Blind the demon with all it seeks.
And that meant safety—if the demon lived with me on Corvus, nothing could hurt it.
Now it needed me to lower the wards, and create, as she’d said, a small path to enter .
I had to make Corvus understand, to convince it to let something unclean through every boundary the Corey line had ever created.
Lorne was using his power as the one , as Elen bid him, because he was the man I loved. The only man I loved, and therefore the singular being the demon would believe I would give up everything for.
This was Lorne’s trap, and he’d put the demon, literally, on the road to Corvus, but now came the hard part, and I was terrified. Because yes, the only way we could hope to kill the demon was on Corvus, but what if that wasn’t enough? What if me and my land, the two of us together, weren’t enough?
It was a horrifying plan, and I hoped I could do my part as well as Lorne had done his. And more than anything, I needed Lorne returned to me.
Landing outside the greenhouse, I retook my form and ran inside. I greeted my home, promised that all would be well, and put on jeans and Lorne’s sleep shirt—because smelling him would help ground me. Then I went back outside, trying to breathe.
I had to stay calm. This was my part to play now.
I was waiting on the porch so Kamosh could see me. As I expected, Lorne was driving, and under the demon’s direction, he stopped on the side of the road. Once they got out, I realized the demon had reprised wearing Tanner Murphy as a meat suit, the body appearing sickly now, as dead as it was. Gripping Lorne’s bicep tightly, Kamosh walked him around the side of the Jeep to the end of the cobblestone drive. Lorne looked ashen, staring at me with dead eyes.
I rushed down the stairs, sank to my knees in the grass, and shoved my hands into the dirt.
Allow the unclean passage, all will be made clear , I said.
The unclean cannot pass , the land replied.
Have faith in your guardian , I pleaded.
Remain and there shall be judgment , the land said.
It walks with the man , I said.
There was no answer, but I hadn’t expected one. Corvus was waiting, and so was I. It was smart of the demon to keep a hand on Lorne, the land far less likely to attack while that connection remained.
As they moved forward, stepping onto the grass that ran alongside the path, Kamosh proceeded slowly, stopping, then walking again.
Wailing outrage and anger from the ground tore through me, shaking me to my core, the icy blast running through my blood causing me to physically tremble.
Lead only one path , the land said. A small one.
Precisely as Elen had guided us, which made sense. She was the goddess of the pathways, after all.
Rising fast, I stood and watched as the Tanner glamour, for the second time that day, fell away. Kamosh continued walking, fully a shadow now, leading Lorne toward me.
“Show me the passage—the rift, as the chief calls it,” Kamosh demanded.
I began the walk toward the rift, moving as I never did, in a straight line, not diverting at all, with only one purpose in mind: reaching it as quickly as possible.
“Run now, witch, or I’ll put this man in his grave. You move too slowly for my taste.”
I had been checking on them over my shoulder every few feet, but now I sprinted around the cottage, rushing by the back door. I bolted by what Lorne was right in saying had become a vegetable garden for my forest friends.
“Faster, witch!” Kamosh goaded me, but that was fine. As long as it kept coming, following me, engaged, I would have my moment. I just needed it to let go of Lorne.
The scream startled me, and when I turned, there was only Lorne there, staring at me with unfamiliar red eyes.
“No,” I whispered.
“This way you won’t be tempted to do something rash,” Kamosh informed me with a smile that normally charmed me.
We were closing in on the rift now, four steps more, three, and I saw an elder shrub, much like the one my lady Elen had stood near when she graced Corvus with her presence.
I pretended to fall, rolling in the grass, gasping before I sat up, holding my arm, a bird with a broken wing.
“Xander Corey,” Kamosh called to me, charging forward. “You and I will be bound together from now until the end of your days, and you will have the land bury the rift deep while I take you here in this place.”
I was to submit to Kamosh and drown the rift in the land so nothing could cross through ever again. Neither of those things could be allowed to happen.
I shoved my hands into the earth and called on Corvus again.
Sift the man from the unclean , I said.
This is your love , the land declared.
I was shaking as Kamosh closed in.
The unclean is inside the man , I said.
That cannot be , the land replied. The unclean is gone.
It had never once occurred to me that my magic, that lived in Lorne, could camouflage the demon. Corvus had perceived a man and a demon, and now, as far as it could tell, the demon was gone. What I was saying made no sense because all Corvus saw in him, was the magic.
Take him in, make him whole , I pleaded.
There was no answer. It didn’t understand. Earlier it had, discerning the demon from Lorne. But now, the essence of the man was unchanged.
And then I remembered what I’d learned, what my lord Arawn knew the first time he saw Lorne, the same thing Elen saw in a flash of complete understanding.
A piece of my magic lived in Lorne.
It didn’t live in his body, his blood, or his bones. It wasn’t anywhere that the demon would touch. It lived in his soul. And the soul belonged to the man.
Lorne’s hand, now the demon’s, filled my vision as he reached for my throat.
I knew in those seconds that there was more than the land that could aid me.
Because I wasn’t alone. I was never alone.
Yes, on my land I was strongest, but within me, in my blood, in my soul, I carried centuries of those who would come when called, who would give anything, make any sacrifice to protect me, because we were one. They loved me, and their love was the greatest gift of all.
My family.
“Please!” I called on my ancestors to strengthen my connection to the land. “Help me convince Corvus of the truth, to claim what is mine!”
It was like time stopped.
The sudden roar was like a sonic boom . Dirt and leaves, flowers and branches, as well as the demon, all rose into the air at once, holding, suspended.
“This cannot be!” the demon shrieked.
Lorne’s eyes began to bleed again as he continued to rise, and then…everything dropped. My whole world fell hard, like it was weighted, and then Kamosh was sucked underground as if by a violent, ravenous sinkhole.
I called to Corvus, felt its anger and fury rolling through me, burning, biting, ripping. The land was betrayed, deceived, and now horrified it had allowed such evil to defile our sacred space, to trespass near the rift of the divine, and worse, the greatest sin of all, to be so near the guardian.
Corvus had listened to me, allowed the creature to walk with me, but the creature had betrayed my trust, and corrupted that which I loved, and the land could no longer find Lorne. I knew Lorne was still there, but Corvus did not.
This creature will end , the land said.
End the demon, keep the man , I said.
Both will die , the land answered.
You love the man , I reminded Corvus.
He was underground, far below, moving quickly, and even with some air pockets, there wouldn’t be enough oxygen for a human. The magic of the land was the only reason he could breathe. But also, he wasn’t in a mudslide or quicksand, he wasn’t buried alive by tons of earth. He was in a torrent of soil, sifting through, while the land determined his fate. If the ground stopped shaking, rolling, vibrating, if it decided he was guilty, he’d be dead. If everything settled, he’d be crushed to death.
I love the man , I told Corvus. The man loves me.
Nothing.
The man is a guardian , I said.
Still no answer.
The pomegranates are his. That was my last hope.
Seconds felt like hours, and the silence broke me open.
I would not be the same without him…
The pomegranates are his , the land agreed.
And finally, I could breathe.
There was a sound like a thunderclap, and up from the depths of Corvus, from the mortar of bone and blood, came a screaming Lorne. The demon remained behind, torn from his body, the winnowing brutal but complete.
Lorne was gasping, shivering, sobbing, but whole. I called through the wards and felt them lock into place, a vault once more, allowing nothing that was not for its highest and best. Nothing tainted, the demon purified to feed the land.
“Blessed be,” I whispered, my breathing rough as I crawled over to Lorne.
He recoiled, scrambling back.
“Love,” I soothed him, my voice soft, cajoling. “Honey, come here.”
Brushing away dirt and tears, snot and spit, he came toward me, only to have a claw, a hand—my brain couldn’t put together what I was seeing as it was pitch-black smoke—tear out of the earth and reach for him.
“No!” he yelled, moving fast, struggling to stand, failing, falling in front of me, arm shielding me as the demon, all shadow now, came from the ground, no longer scrabbling for purchase, but looming strong as it came toward us.
Lorne tried valiantly to move, flailing to stand between me and the demon, but it grasped his neck and flung him away.
Shoving my hands in the earth, I felt the land shift around us, under us, and I knew it would envelop the demon and drag it to its core before it let him near us. The unclean thing was poison, and the wards needed to be strengthened, but it would swallow the filth a second time to save me and Lorne.
But the land was weakened from tearing Lorne from the demon, and even now, as it reached for that which was made of shadow, it couldn’t hold it, which was how Kamosh had been able to crawl out of the earth to begin with.
“You shall watch your love die,” Kamosh roared at me.
“No!” I yelled.
But the demon clenched its shadowy fist, and I heard Lorne scream.
And scream.
When he stopped suddenly, I knew he was dead.
Instantly, my chest hurt, my vision blurred with tears, my skin washed cold. I let my head drop to my chest as a sob tore out of me. But then Lorne wailed, and I looked up, over to where he was, flat on his back in the grass where the demon had flung him.
The demon clenched both fists, and Lorne choked out a yelp of pain, his voice going, more a rasping cry, the pain, I was certain, utterly searing. But he endured it, I knew he did, because in moments he went quiet, panting heavily, trying to catch his breath.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew it was Corvus suppressing whatever it was the demon had put inside Lorne, keeping him safe, not allowing him to be taken from me.
With a roar of frustration, the demon rounded on me, and my hands were ripped from the earth as it took hold, hand around my throat, tightening fast, flooding my body with cold.
A thought flashed through my brain, my lord’s words to me from the last time I saw him. If I was in danger, to call for his dogs, the ones that roamed Corvus in the fall.
“Dar!” I barely got out.
It was hard to breathe, and it was smart of Kamosh not to let me touch the ground.
“Dar!” Lorne’s cry was ragged. “Osko! Gwyn!”
Kamosh flung me down hard. I was winded, and it felt like my back was broken. I put both hands in the dirt.
Heal , the land said.
You heal , I answered as the demon closed in on Lorne.
“Osko, Dar, Gwyn,” I yelled, and the demon stopped and turned back to me.
I had a moment to think as it came toward me again, and Lorne rasped my name, that the land could not keep us both alive for long, and given a choice, it would save me and allow Lorne to be killed. The land couldn’t understand that his death would leave me broken and unable to be the guardian I was.
Rolling to my stomach, I pushed up, and with the strength and adrenaline I had left, I rose, got my legs under me, and bolted over to Lorne, passing the demon, and fell down on top of the man I loved.
“Xan,” he murmured, and there were tears in his eyes before he clutched me to him as he looked up.
Turning, I saw the demon lunge for me, but was instead caught in the jaws of Gwyn, the largest of the C?n Annwn, the three dogs that belonged to my lord Arawn.
The demon shrieked as Gwyn dragged it back by its arm, and even as I thought how , I understood. Kamosh was made of shadow now. Corvus could not imprison him, it couldn’t even touch him. It had tried, for me, and would try again, but it was useless. But Gwyn, in normal form, as she was now, was not corporeal. She was made of the ether, no more solid than Kamosh was.
As we watched, the demon tore free of her hold, striking at Gwyn, and she snarled and slashed at him, finally returning to stand between me and Lorne and the demon.
Lorne reached for her, and the moment his hand grazed her, she became solid, his hand sliding through her glossy fur. She always liked it when he petted her, and she would change so he could.
The demon bellowed, Lorne instinctively put a hand up to protect Gwyn, and I put myself between them and Kamosh as I roared no .
Something moved past me, and whatever it was, there was heat rolling off of it in waves. It felt like that blast that hit you when you opened the oven door.
It took me a moment to see it was a trident made of blackened iron, the prongs now red-hot like a brand. Instantly, it speared that which was suddenly corporeal, a wasted gore-covered skeleton. The tines drove through the demon’s head, shoulder, and chest all at once. Kamosh wailed as it was engulfed in blue flame, screaming and burning, pinned to the ground, first turning solid black and then in moments to ash before evaporating.
The fire went from blue to green, and the flames spread, engulfing everything, running in all directions as Gwyn licked Lorne’s face, then mine, and bolted across the grass toward the trees, where she disappeared.
The gratitude rose from the land in waves, and the intensity of the happiness made my jaw clench tight as it rolled through me. Lorne struggled to sit up, and I helped him before slumping sideways against him. When I turned to look at him, only then did I notice that his head was tipped back, all his focus above him. Lifting my eyes, I found my lord Arawn glowering down at me.
I gasped, and then couldn’t breathe and started choking.
Lorne tried to breathe too, and he must’ve swallowed some spit in the process, his body just now remembering how to work, and he started choking as well.
Both of us were trying to get to our knees as fast as we could.
“Peace,” my lord demanded, sounding really annoyed, and we both froze.
When he released the trident, it blurred from sight, disappearing as though it were never there, before Arawn knelt in the grass. I could only imagine how terrible we looked, both of us flushed and sticky with sweat, covered in dirt, with debris in our hair.
Arawn’s brows furrowed, and I had a moment to realize that Gwyn could have never come on her own, that he had to be right behind her. The tears were no surprise.
I wanted to say, Please forgive me, my lord , but nothing came out. It felt like my throat was scorched.
“Demons— all demons—are my dominion.”
We both nodded.
“Never are you,” he rumbled, “to stand against a demon. Hear me?”
“Yes, my lord.”
Pushing his hand into the ground, he spoke in Old Norse to Corvus, and when he lifted it from the dirt, he had made a fist. Relaxing his hand, opening it slowly, there was an enormous bloody, wet, dirt-covered heart there.
“The demon put its own tainted blood in you,” he told Lorne. “Corvus protected you, and in so doing took this putrescence from you and ingested it, poisoning all.”
There could never be a doubt that the land loved Lorne.
“Put your hands there and give thanks.”
Lorne moved brokenly to his hands and knees and gently pushed his fingers into the ground. “Thank you, my land,” he husked, and like me, there were tears.
“Good,” Arawn said before he blew on the tainted heart in his hand, and the still-pulsing organ turned to dust and disappeared on the breeze. He turned to me then, his gaze meeting mine. “A demon cannot be killed on the land. Corvus is powerful, but your gifts, those of your kin, are not enough to cleanse the land of that which is putrid and godless. Do you hear me, Xander Corey?”
“Yes, my lord,” I answered shakily.
Lorne’s plan had been a good one. Together we had managed the seemingly impossible, and the one part I’d been completely certain of was that Corvus could purify itself after taking in the demon. My faith had been absolute, but I hadn’t truly understood what I was asking.
“You will be mine now,” he told Lorne. “As your chosen place is to stand with my servant, you have no choice.”
Lorne was quiet, staring into his face.
“Say yes, my lord ,” Arawn demanded, because that was his way.
“Yes, my lord,” he whispered, and Arawn slapped his hand over Lorne’s heart.
It hurt. I knew it did. Being branded was not pleasant. Your blood boiled, your skin burned, your bones felt like they were breaking one at a time. To me, it was like roasting from the inside out. And just when you thought you would literally combust…it stopped.
“You have taken in the blood of a demon, as well as had one take all from you but your soul. You held up well, bravely, and as that was done for the sake of my servant, I thank you.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“As you are mine now, neither is allowed again.” His eyes narrowed as he stared at Lorne. “You will do only my bidding and heed only my words.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“I was far afield; thus my lady came to offer words of solace and direction.”
“Which we heeded,” I apprised him.
“More importantly, you were reminded of that which I hunt, and still you did not call,” he told Lorne but glanced at me, since it was my lesson. “Corvus is mine, as is the guardian.”
“We thought,” I began, and then stopped because I was the one who should have known better. None of this was on Lorne. “ I thought the best choice was made. I thought not to call unless things were dire and… I was wrong. Please forgive me.”
Slowly, he turned to me. “He knew not. You knew better.”
“Forgive me, my lord,” I rasped.
He raised a finger. “You know of a demon, you call to me.”
I nodded as my eyes filled.
“Do you imagine there is such as Corvus in every realm?”
“No, my lord,” I croaked.
“Do you imagine there is a witch, or his mate, that I would take as mine in every realm?”
“No, my lord.” The tears were running down my face.
“I kill the unholy, the unclean. You dare not. Hear me, child?”
I really tried to answer him. I gave it my best, but nothing came out.
After a moment, he put his massive hand on top of my head and patted gently. It was as close to a hug as I was going to get. He then turned to Lorne. “Help your mate to always keep his covenant with me.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“And a demon?”
“Is your dominion alone,” Lorne affirmed, because I couldn’t.
“Good.” He rose to his feet. “I heard your cries of anguish, and then those of the land. That should never be,” he said, and the husky, gravelly sound of his voice soothed every part of me.
“And will never be again, my lord,” I promised. “I am your servant. Always.”
He grunted like I was tedious. “The land is sanctified; the body of that man is no more. Be well until I return.”
“And you, my lord Arawn.”
As he walked away, edelweiss bloomed everywhere he stepped. I watched him leave, not planning to look away until he was out of sight because every visit was a gift.
When I saw Elen in the distance, I thought it looked like she was waiting for him, and when she lifted her staff, Lorne waved.
They were gone from sight seconds later.
After a moment, I slid over and climbed into his lap. Immediately, he wrapped me in his arms. Lifting my hands to his face, I gently brushed away dirt, and then kissed him. I was careful, and it was quick, but I had to.
“I’m filthy,” he whispered. “You sure you should be kissing me?”
“Don’t be stupid,” I scolded him. “I love you no matter what. Forever.”
Soft sigh from him. “You were amazing, Xan. Powerful and scary. But when the demon was with me, to not be in control…it was terrifying.”
I nodded. “It’s okay now. You heard our lord Arawn,” I emphasized to him. “You’re branded now, the first mate in the Corey line to be so blessed, so what happened won’t ever again. It can’t. Arawn will not allow his servant to ever be taken by another.”
“He’s possessive, like me.”
“I find that to be a lovely quality.”
“Me too,” he murmured, wrapping me in his arms and holding me tight. “I am seriously not getting off the couch tomorrow.”
It sounded like the perfect plan to me.