Chapter 3 Not Him #2
“Aye,” Lara replied, her voice roughening. “Our conversation ended badly. But before she melted into the mist, Mor made it clear, she’d seek me out again … in a couple of days … to see if I’ve changed my mind.”
“And this time, you’ll torch her,” Gregor growled, unable to hold his tongue.
“I think you should heed Mor,” Bree said then, as if Gregor hadn’t spoken.
Silence fell like a cleaver in the tent. The five senior druids Lara took everywhere with her, as well as her captain, all fell silent. They all stared at Bree.
Lara folded her arms across her chest. “Really?” Heat pulsed under her ribs. She didn’t want to heed Mor. She wanted to gather her army, march north, and make all her enemies pay.
Bree raised her chin. “She’s telling the truth.”
The chief-sacrificer made a disgusted sound. “Of course, you’d say that … you’re one of them.”
“Gregor,” Cailean rumbled. “Watch yourself.”
The chief-sacrificer’s heavy jaw bunched, high spots of color flushing across his angular cheeks. “You’re a weak-minded fool, mac Brochan. Your wife has you in the palm of her hand, doesn’t she?”
Cailean’s gaze narrowed. “Just keep talking.”
Trying to ignore the ratcheting tension between the two men, Lara met Bree’s eye. “But haven’t you always warned me never to trust her?”
“And I stand by that. However, she’s never reached out a hand to a Marav ruler like this … or made herself so vulnerable before. Things clearly haven’t been going her way of late. She’s worried. Humbled.”
“The threat she speaks of is real,” Cailean agreed reluctantly. “We all know it.”
“But can’t we find a way to solve it ourselves?” Lara cut her attention to her chief-counselor. “Surely, the druids have enough knowledge?”
Annis’s lips pursed. “I’m flattered by your faith in us, My Queen … but earth magic can’t mend what fire magic broke.” She grimaced then. “Only your power can do that?”
Lara’s stomach clenched. “So, you believe Mor’s story too?”
Annis nodded.
“If that’s the case, why does she need the three of you?” Gregor interrupted once more. A vein pulsed on his temple now. “And what’s this crap about needing that half-breed bastard as a ‘bridge’ and her weaving moonlight? It all reeks like shit to me.”
Lara’s gut clenched. Did it? Flustered, she swept her gaze back to Cailean. “Tell me more about your last visit to The Shattered Crown.”
“It was five years ago,” Cailean replied, still eyeing the chief-sacrificer.
“A group of us were in Darkmere hunting Shee who were fleeing toward their barrow.” Bree shifted uncomfortably beside him as he continued, “They were too quick for us, and reached safety … but that night we camped on the shore of the Darkmere, under the shadow of the stone circle. None of us got any sleep. Boggarts crawled into our tents and tried to smother us. I woke up to find four of them on me.” He paused, his lip curling.
“When I fought them off, they turned the air blue with their insults. Nothing has a fouler mouth than a boggart.”
“Had you offended broonies?” Annis asked.
Cailean shrugged. “Not to my knowledge … but boggarts weren’t our only problem. When I left my tent, a cluster of Loch-Bhàn were drifting across the loch toward our camp, their hair flowing like water.”
Lara tensed. ‘Lake women’ were rarely sighted in The Wolds. The wraiths were said only to appear upon a full moon. Their song was haunting, and if one touched you, you’d lose your memory.
“We didn’t linger near the loch after that,” Cailean concluded.
“So, spirits were guarding The Shattered Crown … even five years ago?” Roth asked, alarm flaring in his eyes.
“Aye.”
“That would indicate that this has been building for a while.” The captain scowled. “Which means Mor was telling the truth … about that, at least.”
“It would seem so.”
“You don’t want to work with the Half-blood … I understand that,” Bree spoke up once more, meeting Lara’s eye squarely. “I too want to see him dead … but don’t let your emotions blinker you. If you must form a temporary alliance with him, do it.”
Lara’s belly cramped. Bree might want to drive a blade into Alar’s throat, but her hate for him was a pale shadow in comparison to what Lara felt.
All she thought about these days was killing him.
It was the first thought that appeared in her mind upon waking, and the fantasy she played in her head each night as she struggled to get off to sleep.
She couldn’t work with him.
“Mor should never be trusted,” Bree went on. “But right now, she’s not the greatest threat to Albia.”
“In your eyes, maybe.” Gregor erupted once more.
Disgust twisted his face. He’d clearly had enough.
Over the past years, he’d suffered Bree’s presence at Lara’s side, but this evening, his anger at the High Queen for letting Mor live unleashed his deep-seated resentment.
“You were Mor’s spy once … what’s to say you haven’t turned again?
Let’s face it … you’re nothing but a Shee bitch wearing Marav skin. ”
A blur of movement followed the chief-sacrificer’s insult.
Cailean’s fist smashed into Gregor’s face with a sickening crunch. The chief-sacrificer staggered back. Blood gushed from his nose, but Cailean wasn’t yet done. Another punch followed, and this one felled the big man like a tree.