Home > Dark Fae (Celtic Legacy #3)

Dark Fae (Celtic Legacy #3)
Author: Shannon Mayer

1

“I’m sorry. Quinn, please believe me that I thought I was doing what was best for Ashling. What you asked of me!”

I kept my back to Bres, unwilling to look him in the eye. How could he think he could possibly know what was best for Ashling? She was my sister first. I’d been the one to chase away her nightmares, to sit at the table after school, and help her with her homework, and to comfort her on Darcy’s bad days. He’d only just found out she was his half sister; there was no way he could possibly care for her as much as I did.

We were waiting on the edge of the Banshee Queen’s bower while Fianna attended to Luke. My hands clenched, along with my stomach. It seemed that everyone around me was doomed to some horrible death or suffering, and the guilt sat heavy on me making me feel as though I was a plague on those I loved. The worst part was that I couldn’t save either Ashling or Luke, and there was nothing I could do to heal the wounds I was causing by being the “Chosen” one. I didn’t have the ability that Ashling did. Glancing at the entry way to the bower, I was grabbed by another twist of fear. The last view I’d had of Luke was one that left little doubt as to the deadliness of the poison coursing through his system. His blue eyes were dull, barely grey now, cheeks sunken, and he had skin the shade of bread dough.

I wished that Lir was with us. But he had gone, left me alone with Bres, and all those feelings swirling between us. I understood that Lir had a job to do, responsibilities that required his attention. Making an attempt to wake the old gods to face Chaos was no small task; it was one that had to be done. That didn’t mean I wasn’t still wishing Lir was at my side instead of Bres. At the very least, his presence would take the strain off me in trying to ignore Bres while secretly wanting to throttle him. Not to mention that I felt safe with Lir; for the first time in my life, I had a parent who cared for me. I snapped off a branch of huckleberries, the tiny red fruit vibrant against the all-green bush. Plucking them off one at a time, I popped them in my mouth, as if I had nothing better in the world to do

“I’m busy, leave me alone,” I said between bites of the tart, red fruit.

“Quinn, look at me.” His Irish brogue was more than a little tempting, my body swaying towards his voice, and I hated that it drew me in. I glanced over my shoulder.

“You made yourself very clear before.” I couldn’t stop the flush that lit up my face. No doubt I was bright red. Without knowing what I’d been doing, I had Called Bres in a dream, and all but thrown myself at him. To be fair, I thought he had feelings for me, but after what he’d said, I knew that I’d only been fooling myself.

His words reverberated through my head.

I can’t save you both.

It’s Ashling or you.

You’ll kill her.

Bres’ lips tightened and he looked straight up into the treetops, the muscles in his neck flexing. As he spoke, he looked away from the trees and back to me. “I said those things because of what I saw, what Chaos showed me. I saw ta battle between you and Ashling. I saw you take her head. I know it was in ta future, but I didn’t want to believe. That’s why I said what I said. How could I protect her from you if I . . .” He shook his head.

Anger, hurt, and more anger flared up. “If you what?” I stalked towards him, feeling my power rise up under my skin. “You thought you’d treat me like crap and that would make it easier for you? You thought that if you beat me down with your words I wouldn’t be able to stand against you?” He started to speak, but I went on, not giving him a chance. “You thought that I would be able to kill her? Yeah, awesome. Goes to show how well you know me, and her. Ashling knows I won’t hurt her. It’s the rest of the world that’s trying to kill us, not each other.”

Bres didn’t back up as I’d advanced on him, and I was toe to toe with him. “You know, you had a lot to say before.” I said, “What’s the matter now?”

“I was wrong. Chaos has fooled us all, and me. I’ve lost my chance with ta one person I wanted ta most.” His voice lowered, and with it, his head as if he was going to kiss me.

The slap seemed to surprise us both. His head snapped to the side, a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth spraying out. My hand stung, tingling all over.

You have to remember that you are stronger now, Quinn. Cora whispered to me from the back of my mind. My grandmother had been a five-foot-long snake when we’d met, because of a curse. She’d died protecting me; then I’d almost died, and when I’d come back from the other side it was with her as my guide. The whole relationship was weird, but it worked.

He probably is sorry.

“He probably should be,” I said under my breath. The whisper of bushes parted and the low hum of voices pulled my attention around.

Fianna, the Banshee Queen, stood across from me, her long white hair floating on some unseen breeze, as her deep soulful brown eyes, as wide as any deer’s, looked us up and down. I pulled myself together and walked away from Bres.

“How is he?” I asked.

She shook her head. “He has a very short time. The poison is different than the Banshee poison you were infected with. Aednat was very old, very powerful. The toxin from her bite is beyond fierce.”

“Can’t we Call someone? Someone who can Heal? Ashling Healed me through the mirror, we could do the same for Luke,” I said, already wondering where the closest mirror might be.

“It is not so simple, Quinn.” She spread her hands out in front of her, the spider web woven skirt she wore billowing with the slight movement. “This poison that he carries within him, you cannot heal. We can only make him comfortable until the end.”

Her words didn’t really register. Not right away. Because it wasn’t possible that Luke wouldn’t get better. He was my friend and maybe even something more, something I was only just beginning to appreciate. He loved me more than I loved him, but I had been trying to catch up, had thought I would have time to, not to mention that I needed his help. Without him, how would we convince Nuadha and the Tuatha to help me? There was no way they’d trust Bres, and I was an interloper. Luke was the key to making that happen.

Bres’ hands rested on my shoulders from behind. I wanted to fling them off, but I suddenly had no strength in me.

“Fianna, I don’t understand. What do you mean we just make him comfortable until the end?” My mind refused to see what she was saying, balked at the truth they were trying to show me.

You know what she is saying, Luke is – I blocked Cora out, shut her down before those words slipped through my mind.

Fianna stepped forward. “You should go see him, before it is too late.”

Like in a dream, I stepped forward, the words settling on me like weights, wrapping around my neck, squeezing the air out of me. Everything around me slowed down: my movements, even the air.

My eyes focused on Luke, laying prone, his eyes closed. I waited for him to breathe, and counted the seconds. I started to panic when I got to thirty, then forty. I dropped to my knees, and it was as if the impact of my body hitting the ground reminded him to draw breath, a deep rattling, wet breath that smelled sour, like poorly fermented wine, and vomit.

I took his hands in mine, shocked at how cold they were. “Blankets, don’t you have any blankets for him?” I asked, looking up to see Fianna and Bres staring down at me.

She shook her head. “Feel his face.”

Laying his hands on his stomach, I slipped my hands up to his face, and quickly snatched them back. He was literally burning up, though he showed no signs of it anywhere else. His face was paler than before, without a hint of colour.

“There is nothing we can do now,” Fianna said. “Soon his ancestors will come and guide him home.”

“That’s not true,” Bres said. “What about ta Cauldron?”

Fianna spun to face him, her skirt swirling outwards, skimming across Luke’s face. I wondered if he could feel or hear anything, if he knew he was dying. This was all my fault.

I doubt it. Likely he floats as you did between old memories.

Fianna’s voice was sharp. “Do not fill her with false hope. It has been hidden away. No one has found it in years. Searching for it would be a waste of her time.”

Bres’ voice was tight, clipped. “I say that you are wrong. Ta Cauldron was always kept within the bounds of the Enchanted Forest. Mayhap you don’t want to be helping us, maybe you be on ta side of Chaos.”

Fianna and the Banshees around us gasped and, in the silence that followed, Luke drew another rattling breath, the sound filling the tense air. Looking over my shoulder, I eyed Bres as he locked eyes with the Banshee queen.

Standing there, Bres faced Fianna down. “Quinn needs Luke. He’s her future. We have to save him before we go after Chaos. There’s no telling what will happen if Quinn tries to face her alone, without Luke.” He paused. “Not to mention he’s ta only one that Nuadha will trust enough to follow into a battle with Chaos.” His words settled over me. Bres was fighting for me, though that meant I was going to be with someone else. A dull aching throb started deep in my heart, but I ignored it, doing my best to push it away. His words echoed my earlier thoughts. We needed Luke more than just my aching heart.

Fianna put her hands on her hips; she let out an exaggerated sigh. After several seconds of staring at Bres, her eyes narrowed, she finally shrugged. “Fine, but if she fails, and the world falls, it will be on your head. I can take you to the place that crosses over, but it will mean your death and hers. I do not want to be the one to end our singular hope against Chaos.”

Luke’s fingers were icy, as if he’d been dunked in water and then set in our freezer back home that kept the ice cream so hard we couldn’t scoop it out. I shook my head knowing that the tangent my brain was running off to was an attempt to escape the truth. Luke was dying.

“I can’t just let him die, not if there’s a chance we could save him,” I said. Guilt clawed at my guts. It was my fault that Luke was dying, just like it was my fault that Ashling had been taken by the Fomorii in the first place. I couldn’t save Ashling, but maybe I could save Luke. Bres nodded his agreement.

   
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