Chapter 23
Iwoke to wonderful warmth and the sounds of lots of people talking. I was in a small bed I didn’t recognize. I saw Coyle first. He was in the bed next to mine, propped up, watching me, and trying to wrap his magic around me.
I smiled at him. He tried to do the same but one of the newer wounds on his face prevented his lips from moving that far.
I clambered into his bed, kissed his head, and brushed what was left of his gray hair from his face.
He was home. I was happy to lie next to him and feel his energy mingle with mine.
Bevin appeared, pulling back the sheet hanging around our beds.
She touched Coyle’s forehead. “It’s a miracle he survived at all.
” I watched her as she put some healing herbs on his face and tucked the shimmering blanket in around his sides.
I looked at her and didn’t have to ask out loud before she started talking.
“It’s healing his insides. He’ll get stronger.
His mind is strong, though I don’t know how.
They split his tongue, years ago it looks like.
But I think we can get that back with some time.
” As she talked, I felt the push of tears behind my eyes.
“His legs are going to need a modern healer though, so I’ve called for a Witch in Florida who’s an orthopedic surgeon.
She’ll be here in a week or so.” Bevin smiled.
“Manus?” I asked.
“Fine. Those Shifters heal amazingly fast. He’s prowling around somewhere.
” She was in her element, whizzing around, making Coyle comfortable.
My leg was miraculously healed and my ribs felt sore, but otherwise fine.
I stood once more to test my steadiness.
The amulets around my neck swayed and took care of any remaining pain.
I looked down at Coyle again and felt grounded, though weak.
I had managed the impossible and gotten them all back alive. Cliona strode into the small healing room. “May I see you?”
“I figured Tynan would be here,” I said.
“I put him to sleep this morning.” Her face was pinched. “After two nights and days of pacing and worrying, I thought he needed to sleep.”
“Two days? We were only gone one night,” I responded, confused.
“No,” Bevin said. “This morning began the third day of your absence. Doran and Tynan and the rest of us have been going out of our minds with worry. Time moves differently on Thule, Keena.”
I thought about how slow things seemed when we’d first arrived. It made sense. I looked back to Cliona. Her displeasure was written across her perfect, angular face. “I would have touched base with him sooner if I’d known that.”
Her anger didn’t seem to lessen with my explanation. “I had to put him to sleep, Keena. It wasn’t pretty. I usually can only do that if he’s hurt. He fought me. He’ll probably kill me when he wakes.”
I was surprised she could do it all. Tynan had eased me to sleep before. I knew he could do it to someone else. I couldn’t imagine what it would take for her to put him to sleep against his will. “I’ll bet. I’ll take the blame, Cliona,” I said, but she didn’t look any happier.
I walked past her and started down the hall toward my chambers.
Bevin stopped me and handed me an extra pain amulet.
I was still in my torn jeans and tattered tank top, but I didn’t have any of my weapons.
Doran must have taken them. Hogan met me in the hall and started to scold me.
His big eyes were wide and I could tell he had been worried sick.
I bent down, took his shoulders in my hands, and pressed my forehead to his.
“I’m okay, Hogan. I’m okay. Bran is dead and Nessum took off.
I’m okay.” I kissed his nose. The touch of others is soothing to Gnomes when they’re upset.
My hands on his shoulders assured him and his tension eased.
Cliona made a noise as she backed against the wall, her face whiter than usual, as were her eyes—not a bit of color to them at all.
“What is it?” I asked, straightening.
“You saw…him?” Her voice almost didn’t hold.
She looked terrified. I didn’t think that big, bad Cliona could be terrified by anything. “Yeah, I saw him. I almost killed him.”
The color came back to her as she scoffed at me.
“No one can kill him.” She was so matter-of-fact.
I opened my mouth to argue and then closed it.
I decided not to tell her about my mother’s sword.
The fewer people with that particular piece of information, the better.
Maybe she would go after Nessum herself.
Tynan would never recover if something happened to her.
They had been together for centuries, and he would need her when the time came that I would leave him.
I hurt for him again at the thought of it. If I told her my mother’s sword could kill Nessum, she would surely try. If she failed…I couldn’t bear for him to lose both of us. I kept my mouth shut.
I started toward my room again, Hogan babbling after me. Cliona was following behind him, also asking about Nessum. I just wanted out of the dirty clothes and to fall into the bed next to Tynan.
“What did he look like?” Cliona asked. I stopped and studied her. “Not many have faced Nessum and lived to tell of it.” She was so tall and beautiful.
“He’s as beautiful as the rest of you, only not.
He was pure alabaster. He was marbled with the life of others running in his veins instead of blood, making him appear black under his skin.
His eyes were dark like yours, but completely dead.
” She took in every word, as if to memorize it.
“You’d know him by sight if you saw him. You won’t need my description.”
She shivered. “I hope I never see him.” I nodded and started walking again. Cliona stumbled over Hogan, his shorter legs moving much slower.
I opened the door to my chambers, chuckling as Cliona chided Hogan about his pace.
I turned away from the pair—only to find Feldema straddling Tynan’s thighs.
Her skinny, naked body was bent over his, her wet hair dangling around them like a cape. A thin trail of blood was running off his hip.
Our necklace was wrapped around her hand, Feldema pressing it against a cut on Tynan’s lower stomach. The twisted silver and gold of the chain was covered in blood. Tynan’s arms were spread wide and Feldema was chanting.
The Witch had recovered my necklace from the sea and was using it to spell him.
Reacting to the rage and hate in my heart, I lunged at her, knocking her off the far side of the bed as she finished her chant.
Cliona was there instantly and she grabbed Feldema by the throat, lifting her to the wall.
Feldema’s head made a satisfying crunching sound as it bounced from the force, sending her white hair across her face.
“What did you do to him?” Cliona roared. Feldema tried to speak but couldn’t. Cliona’s hold on her throat was too strong. Feldema tried to cast, but Cliona just tightened her grip. Feldema’s feet started kicking out at the Vamp.
“Hogan, go get Bevin! Now!” I shouted at the stunned Gnome, sending him running out of the room. I turned to Tynan. In the center of his mark, bisecting the sun, was what looked to be an insignificant cut. From it trickled the precious blood that kept him alive.
I watched as the mark started to fade before my eyes…
“What have you done?” Cliona demanded, but Feldema’s face was red from lack of oxygen. Cliona’s fingers easily tightened on her neck, digging in, cutting at her flesh. Blood trickled down Feldema’s pale skin.
I felt a tightening on my own neck. Breathing started to become harder. I tried to take a breath, only to find my throat tight and pain enveloping me. Blackness started to dance at the periphery of my vision.
I felt the world slipping away. Shadows crossed my vision.
I was a baby again and Mother appeared in the dingy cave, chanting over the two of us, Feldema and me.
I was focused on the blood dripping from the point of her blade into the cauldron between us.
Her voice was musical, soothing, sending waves of her magic over us.
I remembered the feeling of warmth and love spreading over me, over my sister, binding our lives together…
“Cliona!” Doran’s shrill voice barely pierced the vision. I was watching my mother’s tender face as she chanted, head tilted to the heavens…
“Cliona, you’re killing them both!” Doran’s panic pulled me from the vision. I struggled to breathe, writhing on the floor, holding my neck, digging and scratching at the invisible hand that held my throat.
I felt the hand loosen on my neck, Feldema’s neck, and air rushed into my burning lungs. I was coughing, gagging. Feldema was doing the same, still held to the wall.
Cliona didn’t let go of her or let her down. She just held her less tightly so we could take in breaths. The pain eased from my throat. I tried to get up but could only make it to my knees, dizzy and weak from the lack of air, tired beyond belief from the time spent on Thule.
Through her gasps, Feldema actually started to laugh.
Bevin was unloading a bag of stuff onto the table. Doran moved closer, kneeling at my side. “You felt Feldema’s pain as her death was coming?” she asked as her hand stroked my back. I nodded.
I tied to clear my thoughts, none of them making any sense. “I saw another vision of Trevina. She was binding us together.”
Bevin let out a small gasp. Doran’s face held cold fear. I was still dizzy and confused.
Feldema’s laugh got more cynical as she cried, “You can’t kill me!” She kicked again, trying to get loose from the grip Cliona still had on her. “You have no power over me! I have taken the strongest to my bed and I have his strength in me!”
The memory of the brush with strands of her white, silky hair danced through my mind.
“Nessum is going to ensure that you never take Doran’s place! He will not allow it. And through me, he will be able to rule the Kith. Through me, he will!”