Chapter 20
20
D efeat was a bitter taste at the best of times, but it was far worse when it meant you’d lost the love of your life. Your soulmate, the one fae in the world bound to you by powerful magic. There was nothing quite like a mating bond. It was terrifying and wonderful all at once, so all-encompassing that it was impossible to remember a time when it didn’t exist.
But beyond that, the loss of Lugh hit deeper than a mere bond. I’d never met anyone quite like him, someone who cared for the lost souls of the world, enough to start his own secret court to take care of them. I knew how he would feel if he could see himself now, hunting humans. And yet I couldn’t give him the one thing he’d begged me to do: end the nightmares.
The rest of the crew had given up. Uisnech returned to the castle to alert Saoirse of the developments. She would plan a speech now, prepare herself for the news that she had to give the rest of the Court. They would be devastated.
Not as devastated as me.
But even after everything that had happened, I hadn’t given up on Lugh. I never would. Not as long as I was still breathing. While the others crawled into their beds, I climbed into a car and sped out of Edinburgh, watching the city vanish into a small dot in the rearview mirror.
Terror tripped through my veins as I thought about what I was about to do. My biggest worry had always been that I would kill my mate, but the prophecy wasn’t the only thing that scared me. Being attacked by nightmare wraiths as a child…I’d never been able to rid those monsters from my dreams. And now I was going to head straight into a den of them.
A den of very hungry wraiths, who hadn’t fed in years.
It was the only way to save my mate.
T he Lake of the Dragon’s Mouth was hidden deep within the Devon forests, through a maze of twisting branches covered in deep green moss. Scents enveloped me as I made my trek up the hillside. Lilacs and wisteria. Moss and dirt. In the past, Caer had lived here in these dense woods, hiding the portal into Faerie from any wandering passersby. But she’d left, and now the portal was unprotected. Anyone could enter, so long as they knew how to find it.
Including Lugh.
I came to a tree-line and pushed through. Instantly, the landscape transformed before my very eyes. The damp chill was swept away by a bright, warm sun. Flowers danced in the light breeze, a kaleidoscope of bright, happy colours, the total opposite to how I felt deep down inside. Right now, I could use some bulging clouds and slashing rain, just so I could feel as miserable as possible.
I jogged down the slope of the hillside, aiming my feet toward the water. The ground looked disturbed, the grass flattened, as if something had passed by here very recently.
Lugh.
I picked up the pace and launched into the lake before my fear could talk me out of my plan. Not that I had much of a plan, if I were being honest. At the moment, all I knew was that I had to get to Lugh. Somehow, I had to stop him from bringing the wraiths through the portal. Bonus if I could use the cauldron to get him back.
I swam through the dark waters, ignoring the dark pulsing that surrounded my body, warning me to turn back. Bright sparkling lights drifted by me, and strange swirls lit up the deep. Still, I pressed on, swimming until I was certain I could not go another moment longer without a breath. Until finally my face crested the waters .
With a deep breath, I climbed onto the bank of the lake. This side of the portal looked identical to the mortal realm. The only thing that gave it away was the light pulse in the air, the magic that caressed my skin.
The nightmare wraiths were rumoured to reside in a southern castle along a clifftop, not far from the portal. With the sun drying my hair and my clothes, I trekked through the forest, my feet smooshing in my boots from the damp.
It didn’t take long for me to find it. Faerie was big, but the nightmare wraiths had chosen a home not too far from mortals. I came to a stop when I spotted the black spires scratching against the darkening sky. A few windows were lit from within, casting orange glows onto the ground outside. My heart twisted, along with my stomach. How many wraiths would I find inside that castle? And how long would I be able to hold my own against them?
If they decided to attack, I was done for. One wraith was bad enough, but a dozen? A hundred? More?
I shuddered just thinking about it.
But I had to save Lugh.
My feet slowed to a stop as I crossed the tree-line. The castle loomed large before me, blotting out the brilliant sky behind. A shiver went down my spine at the sight of it. The dark spires, the glittering steel windows. It looked like the home of terror. No wonder Lugh had chosen this as his home.
Lugh stood on the grassy courtyard, his long dark cloak rippling behind him in the wind. His gaze was hard; his body was tense. Behind him stood at least ten other wraiths, all bowed toward him.
“Moira.” His strong voice drifted toward me, harsh and cold. “I suspect I should have seen this coming, but I admit, you have surprised me.”
“I’m here for Lugh,” I said, my own voice as clear and sharp as his.
He laughed. “Lugh is gone. He no longer resides in this body. You will never again see the king you love.”
I fisted my hands, trembling. “Then prove it.”
He cocked his head, regarding me carefully. “You wish for me to prove that I am not who I say I am?”
“No,” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “I know you aren’t Lugh right now. But you insist there’s nothing left of him. I don’t believe you. And I’m going to hound your steps for the rest of our very long lives unless you prove it. You want to be rid of me? Show me Lugh is gone.”
A scowl rippled across his sharply cut face. “Or I could simply kill you and be done with it all. That sounds much easier, don’t you think?”
Ice slipped down my spine, but I stood my ground. “I’m not the only stubborn one out there. You could kill me, sure. But someone else will come along to stop you.”
“I’ll kill them, too.”
Instead of answering, I merely stared.
“Why have you come here, Moira?” he asked .
“I said that already” I replied. “I came here for my mate.”
Wraith Lugh let out a low chuckle, shaking his head. “You truly believe you can save him. He’s gone. He no longer exists. He was destroyed when I retook this form.”
“Can you really destroy a soul?”
Wraith Lugh tsked. “What do you think it is that happens when one dies?”
“Well, that’s easy.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “The body dies. The soul lives on. Or are you forgetting that it’s possible to bring life back from the dead? That’s why you want the cauldron, isn’t it? You’re going to bring someone back.”
A strange expression flickered across his face. “You know nothing.”
“I know more than you think.”
“Tell me then,” he sneered. “If you know so much, then what is it that I plan to do with you, Moira? I certainly can’t let you go, not after you followed me here.”
“You can try to do whatever you like.” I shrugged. “I’m not backing down, and I’m not running away. If I have to stand here on this lawn for a year, I will.”
“I won’t be here in a year, and you know it. I’m taking the wraiths back into the mortal realm, where they will feast for years.”
That was what he said, but I didn’t truly believe him. If he wanted to rush the mortals, then why hadn’t he done that already? He’d hung around Edinburgh until we’d caught on to his hiding place, and now he was hiding out here. Nothing about the way he held himself suggested that he was in any hurry. In fact, he almost looked relaxed.
“We’ll see,” was all I said.
Lugh narrowed his eyes. He stalked across the lawn, coming to a stop only inches from my chest. With flickering dark eyes, he stared down at me. A strange light shone in one, but it was quickly doused by that impenetrable darkness. Power pulsed from his body, curling against my skin. It almost made me shudder in response, so familiar was the magic eking from his nightmare form.
“You think you can get to me like this,” he whispered. “You think your words and your presence here can warp my mind, make me forget my mission.”
Those were odd words. Why would Wraith Lugh be distracted by my presence. Unless...
“But you are forgetting who and what I truly am. A nightmare.” He hissed the last word into my face, turned, and then stalked away, his cloak flapping in a sudden wind. “Be gone from here, Moira. I will give you sixty seconds to begin your flee from this place. After that point...” He stopped to shoot a sharp glare over his shoulder. “I will send my nightmare wraiths to end you once and for all.”
Lugh whirled and continued toward the castle. All I could do was stare after him, my heartbeat racing. Surely he didn’t mean that. He couldn’t be serious. Even Wraith Lugh wouldn’t sic his nightmares on me...right?
But he would. Because as much as I sought out signs that my Lugh was still lurking inside that body, I knew he was gone. And now I had less than sixty seconds to get the hell out of here.
Clenching my jaw, I twisted toward the tree-line. My feet sank into the soft ground as I threw myself forward. I didn’t know how many wraiths Lugh had managed to round up here, but I had no intention of sticking around to find out.
I dodged the trees, my feet throwing up dirt as I sped into the forest. My enhanced ears flicked on, and I listened as the sound of a hundred footsteps charged through the forest behind me. Memories flooded my mind of a time so long ago. Decades had passed, but it felt as fresh as the day it had happened.
Wraiths stalking me. Wraiths pinning me to the ground.
I couldn’t let that happen again.
Tears burned my eyes, blurring my vision. A stick rose out of the ground, seemingly from nowhere. It flew up and hit me square in the face. Pain lanced through my nose, blood spurting onto my lips.
I risked a glance over my shoulder. There were dozens of them. Black figures curved over, stalking through the darkness of the forest. They all wore identical black cloaks and hoods that obscured their faces from view. Monstrous creatures. Soulless. Hungry .
Hungry for me.
Fear was leaking out of me. I couldn’t contain it, even though it was like candy for these creatures. I had to keep running.
Sucking in a deep breath, I pushed aside the pain and continued on. No matter how close they got, I just kept running. Arms pounding. Feet brushing the leaf-strewn ground. Eyes blurring from the tears pouring out of my eyes.
Eventually, I reached the next tree-line. But when I pushed through the bushes, I didn’t see the Lake of the Dragon’s Mouth rippling beneath the sun.
I saw...the castle.
Horror churning through my gut, I shook my head and stumbled back. Somehow, I had ended up exactly where I’d been. I’d gone in a circle. I hadn’t escaped the wraiths. I’d run straight back into their path.
The wraiths flew out of the woods while even more formed a line blocking me from running toward the castle. I tried to count their number, but it was impossible. Fifty? A hundred? More? Enough to destroy the world, that much was certain.
And enough to kill me within seconds.
I held up my hands, scanning the crowd of hooded nightmares for Lugh. My heart still yearned for him, even after all of this. Maybe if he saw me, trapped like this, I could convince him to let me go. I had to believe that deep down inside, he did not wish to see me killed like this.
But he was nowhere to be seen. He’d ordered the wraiths to take me down and then had vanished into the castle. He didn’t even care enough to watch. I was nothing to him.
He was right. My Lugh was gone.
Closing my eyes, I pictured his face in my mind. Soon, the nightmares would begin, and his face would transform into the beast who wanted nothing more than to see me destroyed. I wanted to remember him one last time, as the male he had been, the two of us against the world.
His face flickered in my mind. Wicked smile. Glint in his dark eyes. Warm hands caressing my body.
And then the nightmares began.