Chapter Forty
I couldn’t stop staring at the other Beast. It was bigger than mine, and its fur was peat brown instead of black. But its gaze was the same stygian color as the Beast inside me, and I felt mine inwardly roar at the energy crackling between us when we locked eyes.
Dammit, I’d felt the other Beast as soon as I got here! And I’d dismissed it as stress because of this duel, not to mention the ghostly limb bridge over sea-monster-infested waters between here and the frigging place called Blood Island.
“At least I was smart enough to chain this beithíoch to my will, after some trial and error with other hosts,” Daegal went on in that same gleeful tone. “You, however, must leave yours trapped in some cage where only its blood is useful to you.”
That’s right. From the video, Daegal thought Remy had “his” Beast locked up. He had no idea he was looking right at her.
Remy only smiled. “Now I know how you fueled the spell that raised those Vengers. I’d wondered how they were strong enough to pierce my shielding. You must have called them forth with blood from your newly summoned beithíoch.”
“Yes.” Daegal drew out the word, to an affirming-sounding snarl from the hideous creature.
My God, did it understand Daegal? The Beast also seemed to be obeying him, too.
It stood at Daegal’s side instead of tearing into him and everyone else around him.
Good lord, the dragon really had chained it to his will.
“I’m only surprised you were able to summon the Ravenous to defeat my Vengers,” Daegal went on. “That was unexpected.”
Remy’s icy smile widened. “You’ll soon see how.”
Why didn’t I pay more attention to those weird sensations when I arrived? If I had, I could have warned Remy about this Beast! Now he was facing two creatures that could kill Wardens.
And he didn’t seem to care. If anything, his gaze was even more savagely expectant.
Sure, his Flay spell might have worked on dragons, but Remy had said that Beasts were immune to most magic, as mine breaking out of Remy’s super-spelled cage had proved.
So why didn’t Remy look the slightest bit worried?
Setreg did. His expression became grimly resigned.
Malina also looked anguished as she glanced between Daegal, his Beast, and her husband. She must not think the Flay spell would be enough now, either.
Setreg let go of Malina and moved toward Remy, who had the knife that was supposed to go to his “second.”
Remy hesitated before holding out the blade to him.
That hesitation told me Remy knew Setreg was going to die. Remy’s plan wouldn’t work. Not now. The other Beast growled in a hungry way, as if already tasting Setreg’s flesh.
The new ones feed on fear and pain … that’s why they rip people asunder before they kill them.…
I snatched the outstretched knife from Remy’s hand before Setreg could take that final step to reach it.
“Raine!” Remy yanked it back so quickly, the blade cut my hand. “She is not my second,” he announced. “Setreg is—”
“Not now, he isn’t!” Daegal shouted before bursting into loud laughter.
“Whoever accepts the challenger’s knife is their second, and that stupid human just accepted yours!
” Daegal actually had to wipe away tears as his mirth increased.
“Ah, this will be too easy,” he gasped out.
“Say goodbye to her now, Remington. You’re both already dead. ”
Rage replaced my fear, fueled by Daegal’s admittance of every brutal thing he’d done.
Those poor campers. Brendan’s near murder.
Ellie’s kidnapping. The stampeded and mutilated theater patrons.
Travis’s attempt to sell me. And, oh yeah, my own Beast going wild with bloodlust at the proximity of the other Beast.
Daegal might be right. I might die today, but I’d make damn sure he’d regret laughing in my face about it.
Claws, I thought. They shot from my hands faster than bullets.
Daegal’s shocked expression was priceless
“That’s right,” I ground out. “Remy’s got a beithíoch here, too, fucker.”
Daegal’s laughter clogged in his throat.
I flexed my clawed hands, letting the razor-like nails clink against each other for effect.
“No,” Daegal said in a whisper. Then he drew himself up to his full height. “You can’t be,” he said firmly, as if his insistence would make my new claws disappear.
I let the Beast’s snarl out of my throat. It must have been even more pissed than I was. The force of the fearsome sound blew back the hair of everyone in its path.
“Beithíoch,” Zenobia said in disbelief, her gaze swinging from me to Remy and back again.
Daegal’s Beast snarled, too. Putrid air flowed over me. I grimaced at the stench, but my Beast reacted like fire to gasoline. It hammered against my control, trying to get out.
Back! I thought.
My claws retreated, though the Beast roared in frustration. That new sound burst from my throat, sending another blast of concentrated wind into the group in front of me.
Daegal stared at me as if he’d never seen me before. He probably hadn’t, not really. Every other time, he’d dismissed me as Remy’s new plaything. Now his gaze raked over me.
“I will burn you to ash and take your beithíoch as my own.”
It wasn’t his threat that made me angrier. It was the certainty with which he said it. I had an original fucking Beast inside me, dammit! I wasn’t going down without a fight.
“And I’m going to find out if dragon tastes like chicken!”
Daegal bristled in outrage. “You insolent little—”
“Silence.” Cormac stood at the entrance to the grisly bridge. “Challenges have been reaffirmed and seconds designated. You and your witnesses must now proceed to the island.”
Daegal jerked his finger at his Beast. It followed him as Daegal went over to where Cormac stood. Zenobia gave me an unreadable look before following after Daegal, too.
Cormac pressed his thumb against Daegal’s forehead.
Its tip came back red. Cormac then raised his arm all the way up to press his index finger against Daegal’s Beast’s forehead.
Surprisingly, the Beast didn’t chomp Cormac’s hand off.
When Cormac drew his finger back, its tip was black.
He repeated the gesture with Zenobia, drawing back another red-tipped finger.
“Now go,” Cormac said.
The three crossed onto the ghost-limb bridge. I knew they wouldn’t fall through it despite it looking diaphanous, but I was still surprised when it seemed as solid as concrete beneath them. They began walking toward the island.
Remy went over to Cormac, but his eyes locked with mine as the other man pressed his finger to Remy’s forehead. Its tip came back smudged with blue and gold. Cormac’s brow rose.
“Did you intend this all along?” Remy asked me in a hoarse tone. “Is that why you insisted on coming?”
A short laugh left me. “It never crossed my mind until the knife was in my hand. I swear it.”
The faintest smile curled Remy’s lips. “I believe you. I never intended to violate my own treaty until I found myself in Orion searching for you.”
Daegal’s head whipped around. “I knew you broke truce!”
Remy didn’t look at him. He kept his gaze on mine as he moved aside so Cormac could do his odd forehead thing on me. I got Cormac’s pinkie finger, and its tip came back black.
“We only have a few moments before we’re on the island, and there are things you need to know,” Remy stated.
Mandal stepped up. Guess he was Remy’s witness now after all. Cormac was out of fingers, so he used his other thumb. It came back silver after touching Mandal’s forehead.
“As soon as you get on that island, you need to run,” Remy said. “And hide. Daegal and that other Beast aren’t the only dangers to you.”
“You can’t be serious,” I snapped.
“And if something finds you after you hide, let your Beast take full control,” Remy went on, shocking me. “You’re too vulnerable otherwise.”
“My ‘vulnerable’ self killed a dragon,” I reminded him.
Zenobia’s head whipped around to stare at me.
“You would have let that dragon live, had I not intervened,” Remy countered. “Hide, Raine. And if you’re found, free the Beast. You won’t survive otherwise.”
“Go,” Cormac said, standing aside.
Remy gave a single nod to Setreg and Malina before walking onto the bridge. I took a deep breath and followed after him.
Don’t look down.
I repeated it to myself as I walked onto the mass of spectral limbs. Almost at once, the ledge behind us vanished into a wall of impenetrable fog. The only thing I could now see was the way forward, where Daegal, his Beast, and Zenobia were about thirty paces ahead of us.
“And if I let the Beast out, it might go after you,” I reminded him. “It already tried to kill you twice. I don’t think I can get control before it plays ‘third time’s the charm.’”
“You’re not killing him, I am,” Daegal called back.
“Fuck you!” I shouted.
Remy caught my hand to slow me. Mandal kept going, giving us the illusion of privacy.
“Juli did extensive research on beithíochs.” Fog now swirled around the entire bridge, cutting off everyone from my view except Remy. “I found that research. It’s how I knew what magic to use when I built the traps that contained all but the Beast inside you, Raine.”
“You can’t build a trap out here,” I hissed, trying to keep my voice down so Daegal didn’t hear us again. “And unless you know the same spell that Daegal used to force his Beast to obey him, you can’t will my Beast into not killing you, either.”
“I don’t need a trap or a spell with you anymore.” Remy’s fingers brushed my cheek. “A Beast won’t kill whoever their host loves. That’s why your Beast won’t harm me now.”
I was so shocked it took a moment to speak. Yes, my feelings for him were scary strong, but did he just declare that I loved him without asking me if I did? And he was going to risk his life with my Beast based on this assumption?
“Wait a minute. I care about you, Remy, but it’s too soon to know if it’s love. That means my Beast will still try to kill you.”
He grabbed me in a kiss that stole the air from my lungs.
“I don’t fear your Beast,” he muttered against my lips.
“I fear hurting you. That’s why you need to hide, but if you’re found, let your Beast loose.
You’ll need it to protect you, both from them and from me.
What I become will harm anyone, friend or foe. ”
“What do you mean, what you become?” I whispered.
Remy shivered. I’d never seen him do that before. His face was suddenly paler, too. Was he getting sick now, of all times?
“Juli didn’t only will her Warden power into me.
” Remy’s voice was like stones grinding together.
“Nothing she’d tried had healed Brendan, and she was desperate.
So, she made her deal with Daegal and put that clause in the contract so she could kill him before he could enforce it.
But she needed more power than she had as a Warden.
That’s why she called to something ancient from the darkness, and it answered her. ”
“If you’re trying to scare me, it won’t work,” Daegal sang out. “There’s no turning back now. The bridge is disappearing, and it won’t return until one of us is dead.”
I went behind Remy, stopping short when the fog parted and I saw empty air where the rest of the bridge had been.
Talk about making sure no one could leave!
With the rest of the ghostly bridge now gone, the only way back to land would be trying to swim, where you’d last ten seconds before getting eaten by one of the huge creatures churning up the waves.
When I turned around, Remy was actually shaking as if he had a raging fever. Shocked, I tried to touch his forehead. He leapt back with a sound I’d never heard him make before.
Was that … a snarl?
“Juli never intended that power for me.” Remy’s teeth were grinding together so hard, the words were barely discernible.
“But Daegal betrayed her. The Beast’s host wasn’t unconscious when Daegal delivered him to Juli, and the cage he was in was unlocked.
Daegal already said he didn’t think the Beast’s blood could heal Brendan.
He must have figured that killing Juli and overthrowing her young, inexperienced Warden replacement was his best chance to claim her lands. ”
“You can’t prove that!” Daegal called out.
Damn dragon. I couldn’t see him, but from the sound of his voice, he couldn’t be too far ahead. We had to be more than halfway to the island now.
“I was there,” Remy all but spat. “I arrived right as the Beast cut Juli nearly in two. I chased it off, but Juli knew she was dying. She also knew Daegal would do anything to get what he wants on her lands. So Juli used magic to force me to stab her, making me the last person to draw her blood.”
My gasp nearly choked me. Juli didn’t only will her Warden power into me.… “Do you have a Beast inside you?”
“Not that.” Now Remy’s voice was barely intelligible, and I thought I saw claws start to grow from his fingers. Then fog obscured him entirely. When it cleared, he looked … bigger. His face was also darker, as if he hadn’t shaved in days.
“It’s coming, Raine. When it’s here, you need to run.”
He pushed past me, too fast for me to stop him. The fog swallowed him back up again.
I chased after him. In the next few moments, that grisly bridge vanished, replaced by dark rocks on the ground and gray stone rising up like towering walls around me. The fog was gone, too, showing that I was now on the island.
Blood Island.