57. Clash of Stone and Steel
Clash of Stone and Steel
Samhail
Samhail felt at least two of his fingers break as he smashed his hand clean through the wall in the great room at Tide’s End. Had he still been in his gargoyle form, the whole thing would’ve collapsed, but he and the twins had shifted back earlier before they’d returned.
Luckily, all three of them had still been in their stone forms when Magdalene’s portal closed behind Talyn and Bressen. Samhail’s roar and Cyra’s scream had rung out simultaneously, and then the entire area began to shake as Cyra released her rage in a wave of power.
Samhail had been instantly wary of a repeat of the temple, and he’d acted without thinking. He’d seen Maziren close by and lunged for her. She’d cried out in shock as he grabbed her and shot into the sky, but he’d been just in time.
Flames had engulfed the clearing just as he got into the air, the fire so hot that everything within two hundred yards was charred to a crisp.
The trees, grass, and bodies were nothing but embers and ash when Cyra’s scream finally faded off, along with the flames she’d conjured.
Only Surgeon and Serise, safe in their stone forms, had survived the inferno.
Samhail had landed in time to see Cyra collapse, and all three gargoyles rushed for her.
Serise reached her first, and they’d all shifted back to their human forms as Serise checked Cyra.
The lady was just unconscious, thank the gods, and Samhail envied her that blissful oblivion.
His own mind and body roiled with a rage the likes of which he’d never felt before.
It had taken him several seconds to grasp what was going on back in the clearing when he’d seen Talyn port.
The first time she’d jumped, he thought she was trying to get to a weapon, but she’d picked up the caronium cuff he’d discarded.
He was confused when her next port took her to Bressen, and she’d slapped the cuff on his wrist. His mind started to catch up when both of them had disappeared, but full understanding only hit him when her next two ports took both her and Bressen through Magdalene’s just-closing portal.
She hadn’t looked back as the portal closed behind her, and he’d roared his fury, even as something deep in his core refused to believe she’d betrayed them.
Betrayed him. He’d worked hard the last few days to get her to trust him, only to have her turn around and prove his own trust was sorely misplaced.
And Bressen would now pay the price for his stupidity.
“Samhail.” Surgeon’s voice held a warning as Samhail pulled his hand back through the wall and debated putting it through again.
“What should we do with the lady?” Serise asked. She still held Cyra’s unconscious form cradled in her arms.
Samhail looked at his siblings. Both were still naked, having just shifted back, but it didn’t phase him.
Gargoyles learned early on to ignore casual nudity because they always lost their clothes when shifting.
In truth, Samhail probably would’ve been fine walking around naked all the time, but he already drew too much attention wherever he went.
“I’d suggest putting her to bed, and I’ll get a healer from the Priory,” another voice answered.
Samhail’s eyes swung to Phaedrus. He’d almost forgotten the priest was there.
With Cyra unconscious, they’d needed to find another way to get home.
Luckily Surgeon had found a crumpled message leaf in the pocket of his pants, and they’d sent a message to Phaedrus at the Priory.
After sending Maziren back to Seatherny to report to Jasper, Phaedrus had portaled the rest of them back to Solandis.
Samhail nodded. “Do it.”
Phaedrus immediately turned and opened a portal. A woman looked up from where she sat at a table reading a book on the other side.
“Emelyn, I thought you might be here. The Lady of Hiraeth needs your assistance,” Phaedrus called through to her.
The woman took in the scene through the portal and immediately shut her book. She rose and stepped through.
“What in the name of the Trinity happened?” Another alarmed voice rang out through the room as Phaedrus closed his portal.
Everyone turned to see Axenus standing in the doorway staring at them. The merman’s eyes dipped briefly as he took in the three naked gargoyles, but his gaze snapped back up a second later.
The room was silent as everyone looked to Samhail to answer, and he realized that without Bressen or Cyra there, he was in charge.
“Go,” Samhail said to Phaedrus and Serise. “Take care of Cyra. I’ll fill Axenus in.”
“Sir, your hand…,” the priestess, Emelyn, said hesitantly as Phaedrus opened a portal to Cyra’s bedroom.
Samhail looked down and saw his hand was dripping blood onto the floor. “Later,” he told her. “Take care of the lady first.”
Emelyn nodded and hurried through the portal after Serise and Phaedrus before the priest closed it behind them.
Samhail flexed his hand, and pain shot through it. He’d definitely broken something, but he was too angry to feel much at the moment.
“Samhail, what the fuck happened?” Axenus asked again, striding into the room.
Samhail was momentarily thrown by the merman’s language. Axenus rarely swore, but he’d apparently made an exception for this situation.
Samhail launched into the short version of finding the Rown regiment in Derridan, of calling Bressen, and of the plan they’d hatched to lure Sandrian out of hiding.
He explained how Aidan had turned on them, and how Sandrian and Magdalene had snuck dozens of symbionts through the portal under an obfuscation glamour.
Finally, he gave a brief summary of the battle as he’d seen it, with Surgeon interjecting his own observations.
“Where’s Bressen?” Axenus asked warily when Samhail paused at the part he’d been dreading.
“Sandrian and Magdalene have him,” Samhail admitted. His hands shook with fury at his sides.
“What? How?” Axenus asked, his voice rising in panic.
Samhail glanced at Surgeon, but his brother – for once – didn’t seem inclined to interrupt with his own version of events. He was probably enjoying the thought of Samhail having to admit Talyn betrayed them.
“The assassin,” Samhail said, the words like acid on his tongue.
“As Sandrian and the rest were escaping, she took the caronium cuff I’d been wearing and put it on Bressen.
She ported with him through Magdalene’s portal just as it closed.
” He paused. “Cyra went mad, set the entire clearing on fire, then collapsed. We just got back.”
The room was dead silent as Axenus stared at him in horror. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, Samhail couldn’t stand it any longer.
“Go ahead and say it,” he snapped at Axenus as his eyes met the merman’s. “Gloat that I let her fool me. I know you want to.”
Axenus closed his mouth, which had been hanging open in disbelief, and his face went serious.
He shook his head. “That’s the last thing I want to do,” he said.
“Despite what you may think, I’ve always trusted your instincts because most of the time they’re right.
That you were wrong this one time doesn’t make you worthy of ridicule.
It makes you human…or demi-human, in any case. ”
Samhail closed his eyes. It was the worst thing Axenus could’ve said because he knew somewhere deep down, he wouldn’t have been so forgiving if Axenus had made the same mistake.
He would’ve laid into the merman for being an idiot, for letting his dick do all the thinking.
Now he’d have to admit Axenus was the bigger man, figuratively speaking, and that only made him angrier.
Axenus must have sensed the direction of his thoughts because he added, “If it helps, I’ve always known you weren’t perfect.”
The attempt at easing the tension snapped something in Samhail. He grabbed a glass decanter someone had left out and hurled it at the wall with his good hand. The vessel shattered and left a dent in the wall before it crashed to the floor and broke into more pieces.
“Samhail,” Axenus said, stepping forward.
“Don’t!” Samhail said, holding up a hand to ward him off. “Don’t forgive me so easily. I don’t deserve it. You don’t understand.”
Axenus cocked his head in question. “What don’t I understand?”
Samhail looked at Surgeon, but his brother seemed only curious.
“It’s my fault Talyn took Bressen,” he said. “She went over the chasm Cyra created, and I saved her. If I hadn’t saved her, she wouldn’t have been able to take him. Worse yet…” He glanced again at Surgeon. “I defied the divine imperative to do it.”
Surgeon’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“Talyn attacked Magdalene to help Cyra, and Magdalene hit her with a forcefield,” Samhail explained.
“The forcefield pushed Talyn over the chasm, then Magdalene turned back to attack Cyra again. I had to make a split-second choice to either save Talyn from falling or help Cyra against Magdalene.” He let out a deep breath. “I chose to save Talyn.”
He remembered that moment with crystal clarity.
It had all happened in the span of seconds, but in his mind, it had felt like minutes.
He’d seen Talyn get knocked toward the chasm and knew she’d fall over it before she knew it herself.
On his other side, Cyra had been on the ground with Magdalene looming over her, and he’d had to decide.
Did he heed the divine imperative and his own concern for Cyra…
Or give in to the surge of raw panic he’d felt when Talyn rolled over that edge.
He’d done the latter and saved Talyn. He’d listened to the voice in his head that told him he’d go mad if something happened to her.
He’d ignored the force in his very core that tried to drag him toward Cyra, the ancient, divinely-imbued force that insisted she was his responsibility.
He’d fought back the pain in his head that tried to punish him for his failure to aid Cyra, and he’d launched himself desperately toward the chasm, prepared to dive into it after Talyn if he had to.
Talyn had tried to port, but she’d lost her hold on the chasm edge.
He didn’t get to her in time to grab her, but his summoning power latched onto her almost automatically, and then his hand had closed around her wrist, and he’d hauled her to safety.
Something unspoken had passed between them as they’d looked at each other in shared relief, and Talyn had promised to help Cyra.
Then she’d betrayed them and taken Bressen.
One of the glasses on the table followed the decanter into the wall as Samhail released more of his rage. The high-pitched crash it made as it hit wasn’t nearly satisfying enough, and Samhail ached to pick up the whole damned table and smash it against the wall. He needed to destroy things.
“You couldn’t have known,” Axenus said softly, but Samhail only growled at him.
“Stop trying to coddle me!” he snapped. “This is just one of the many ways I’ve fucked up recently.”
Axenus tried to interject, but Samhail didn’t give him the chance.
“Aramis is dead because of me,” he cut in. “I should’ve protected him after he healed me, but I was too eager to get into the battle back at the temple. I should’ve gotten him to safety first.”
“That’s not your-,” Axenus tried.
“The assassin escaped because of me in the first place,” Samhail went on. “She goaded me into getting in that cell with her, and that allowed her to get the key away from me. It was beyond foolish.”
Samhail looked at Surgeon, waiting to see the gloating smile, but his brother’s face was strangely stoic.
“Then, when I caught up to her, instead of bringing her right back here as I should’ve, I let her talk me into making a deal. I let her worm her way under my skin and onto my cock, and now our enemies have Bressen. The gods only know if he’s still alive.”
The last glass hit the wall, and Samhail’s chest heaved as he tried to bring his breathing back under control. There was a knot in his throat that threatened to choke him. How could he be so stupid?
Samhail surveyed the pile of glass shards below the wall. He should get something to clean up the mess. Or maybe he should walk over the shards barefoot to let the pain drive home how badly he’d fucked up.
Axenus frowned. “You said Talyn attacked Magdalene to help Cyra and that Magdalene sent Talyn over the edge of the chasm.”
Samhail looked up at him. “So?”
“So why would Talyn attack Magdalene if they were working together, and why would Magdalene nearly kill Talyn?”
Samhail blinked at him. “I…don’t know. To keep her cover?”
“Why bother? If they wanted to win the battle, it would’ve been a perfect time for Talyn to turn.”
“What are you trying to say?” Samhail asked.
“He’s suggesting something made the assassin turn on us toward the end of the battle,” Surgeon said, breaking his silence. He looked at Axenus for confirmation.
Axenus gave a quick nod of acknowledgement. “It’s possible.”
Hope surged in Samhail’s chest, but it died a second later. No, he’d already given Talyn too many chances. It was time to stop letting her make a fool of him.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, hardening his heart. “The fact is that she turned, and if we get her and Bressen back…I’ll kill her for it.”