She slapped her head. Stop dwelling on things out of her control.
Once she’d fought her way back through the low-hanging branches again and scooted around until she had a place to sit against an uneven rock wall, she dug out her tiny LED light on a keychain.
She stuck her hand in the backpack. Her fingers landed on the scepter, a twenty-two-inch staff from the French Crown Jewels of the seventh century. She ran her finger over the enameled gold and pulled the staff halfway out to study the fat bird on top holding a man. Someone had stolen this from the tomb of King Dagobert I in Saint Denis Basilica.
Not a human thief, as many suspected, but a supernatural.
Leaning back, Casidhe pulled the scepter against her chest and held it close like a comfort stick. Could she wish on this like a majik wand and end up at home in Galway? That might be her best hope with only a driver’s license in hand, no passport, and a rare artifact in her possession. Not to mention her powerful sword.
She might find someone in the coastal village below to help her, but she’d likely draw unwanted attention from law enforcement.
The sounds of the woods drew tension from her shoulders. Her eyelids drooped. She shook her head and blinked fast. What if the satyrs showed up and she didn’t hear them?
What if Daegan returned?
She had to be vigilant. A soft breeze rustled the leaves. But it felt so nice to relax for just a moment. Her eyelids weighed a pound each. They fluttered closed. She shook herself awake again and lost her balance, falling sideways against her backpack.
Opening her eyes really wide, she tried to force herself to sit up.
Her body didn’t cooperate.
She blinked again, murmurring, “Don’t fall asleep. Don’t ... close ... eyes.”
Sleep pulled her under.
“Where are you, Daegan? Casidhe called out in the dark fog surrounding her. She heard a noise like someone groaning and walked in that direction. The fog billowed and shifted away from her until she saw a shadowy figure. She couldn’t see his face, but the figure had broad shoulders like Daegan’s.
She kept walking. The distance seemed endless. The figure turned to her.
Light touched his face. It was Daegan. His lips moved, but no words came out.
Her heart beat with the power of a war drum. “What, Daegan? I can’t hear you.” She took a step closer, thrilled to see him, but concerned. Something wasn’t right. She tried to read his lips. Why couldn’t he talk?
Panic pushed her to take another step.
He struggled to move toward her as if his muscles weren’t obeying him. He was only ten feet away.
Her body slowed down. No. Keep going. She could barely move her legs. They felt wooden and heavy.
Darkness clouded her vision of Daegan again. She panicked and slashed her hands in slow motion to clear away the dark fog.
All at once, his face and body came into view again.
She could feel him close to her and started forward. Power hit her, like an explosion had suddenly detonated in her stomach, rocking her. What was happening?
“Where are you, Daegan?” she cried out.
He groaned a sound that stopped her. So much pain! Her stomach squeezed into a tight ball. She screamed, “Daegan!”
He moved forward from the shadows.
She reached for him.
His face twisted in agony. His entire body glowed bright yellow, the sickening color of the monsters.
She yanked back.
He shoved his face right up to hers with wild eyes a brilliant yellow. The pupils elongated and fangs dropped into sight. He screamed, “Ruunnnn!”
Chapter 2
The drone of large helicopter blades whined as the craft picked up speed, flying Daegan to some unknown location. Humans in black military-like uniforms surrounded him.
The cabin stank of sweat and fear.
No matter the weapons they carried, mortals feared the unknown.
He held his body still, no different than he had when they’d secured his wrists behind his back and shoved him inside the helicopter after the pilot had found a place to land near the cliffs.
He’d left the Luigsech woman behind, hidden high above, too far to have seen what happened to him.
Not the Luigsech woman, but Casidhe. He could no longer see her only as a Luigsech female, keeper of the Treoir history. She’d become important to him. He had to return to her. He’d accept his unknown fate if he knew she would be safe.
Had the satyrs returned to the hidden world they’d chased him from once he dropped the grimoire box at the cliffs? Or had they gone after her?
No, the satyrs had chased him because he’d taken the bronze box. He only recalled shifting into his dragon as he fell from the dropoff. Ruadh had been ready to battle, but his dragon had never faced a human weapon capable of destroying the earth, as Daegan had been told. Had Ruadh not shifted to save them on the way down, then landed on the cliff and immediately handed Daegan back the human body again, they might not have survived.
He’d had no hope for escape after the satyrs had spewed slime over the back of his body, which currently dried tough as a turtle shell and continued to spread.
Casidhe waited for him.
His chest ached with knowing she sat there watching for him.
She’d trusted him to come back for her. Every minute and mile of flying away from her gutted him. He should have had a plan to protect her no matter what happened.
He shouldn’t have kissed her, but he would not take back that kiss for anything. He’d been driven to kiss her and now he felt her deep inside him where he’d never felt anyone else. Why would fate send him this woman now when he had no right to want more from her?
He didn’t care about his needs. He wanted her off that mountain. He wanted her away from dangerous beings. He ... wanted her.
How could he survive letting her down? He’d fought alongside Beladors against powerful enemies over many generations, always there to keep them safe.
But he could not protect one wee lass right now.
His skin pulled tight across his back from the coating as it hardened. Before these humans had shoved a black sack over his head, he’d seen the coating on his arm taking on the same color as his skin. Tiny fibers crisscrossed, weaving into a rigid bond.
If they uncuffed him now, his arms would not bend.
At the rate the coating crept around his body, it would cover him in a day. Maybe less. Once the coating circled his neck and tightened as if shrinking, he’d have no way to survive even if these humans turned him loose.
Ruadh rumbled dangerously inside him.
Daegan had failed his dragon, too. Captured again.
One of the men sitting nearby whispered to someone, but Daegan’s supernatural hearing allowed him to hear the words over the helicopter noise. “Think that guy knows how to call up the dragon?”
“I don’t know. Did you see that damn thing?”
“Hell, yes. Scary monster. I wouldn’t want to be out there in the ship with a dragon in the water.”
Fools thought his dragon went underwater when they couldn’t find Ruadh. They had been ready to kill his dragon, but they were someone’s men following orders who believed they were doing their duty.
What about the Beladors? They had no one to protect them if he died.
The deadline to save Devon, a Belador facing execution from the Tribunal, had to be coming down to minutes. Daegan had no hope of escaping in time. He was gut-sick over the people he would let down. Beladors locked up in VIPER would be executed all because Daegan had not returned in time to meet with arrogant deities demanding he attend a Tribunal.