I answered simply. “Yes. But I think I understand why. I don’t know what I’d be like if you forced me away from the man I loved and made me bear another’s child, not once, but twice.”
Cora shifted again inside of me, and the wash of shame I felt was not my own.
“It was for the prophecy. I knew it had to be done. I just couldn’t love you two girls like you should have been, not knowing what was coming,” she whispered.
I shrugged. “It’s made both of us stronger. Which is what we need now.”
We stepped inside the Council’s tent to see Nuadha chained to a chair in the middle. He was just starting to come around, his head lolling from side to side.
The Council of twelve, six men and six women, were huddled in the far back of the tent. Surprisingly, my mother strode to the front of the room and raised her hand for silence. “I will speak, and you will listen. I have shirked my duties as oracle for far too long. Nuadha has been spelled by Chaos.”
She crouched down in front of Nuadha and beckoned me closer. He was blinking up at her and she tipped his head backwards, her fingers trembling, a bead of sweat sliding down the side of her face. “Do you see that there, Quinn?” A dark spot was growing on the corner of his eye, not unlike the blackness I’d seen in Ashling’s eyes, and I said so.
“Yes, it is the mark of Chaos. Search the troops. There can be none with this mark left to roam free. They should not be harmed, but they cannot be allowed to cause harm,” she said.
The Council leapt to her command, again surprising me. They filed out, almost running to do her bidding. “They used to listen to my mother like that,” Darcy whispered. She swallowed hard and wiped her hand over her face, brushing away the sweat on her skin. “Until she no longer gave them the visions.”
We stood, Darcy, Bres, Luke and I, alone in the tent with Nuadha, who was fully recovered. There was shouting outside, the clash of men and metal. How many had already been taken by Chaos?
“Should we make a Barrier?” I asked.
Both boys went to the door and stepped outside. I could hear them discussing the situation and trusted they would make a good call. I crouched down in front of Nuadha. “Do you know why you are tied up? Do you understand that Chaos is making you do these things to split apart the Tuatha?”
He snorted and spit at my feet. “There is no such thing as Chaos, a boogeyman of the old gods. Your sister has spoken to me, in a dream. She told me that she has taken the throne of the Fomorii from her father and she wants to join with the Tuatha, just as the prophecy has foretold.”
Darcy asked. “And what of the great evil that must be overcome, hmm? How did she explain that?”
His head bobbed, “She told me that a woman claiming to be the Chosen One would ride into camp on the back of an Aughisky, and so you did.” He glared at me.
“What has that got to do with anything?” I asked, before I realized what he was implying. “You think I’m the evil that needs to be destroyed?” He nodded, his eyes glittering with hatred.
Darcy put her hand on my arm. “You will not be able to convince him of anything, not while Chaos holds him in sway. But there may be a way to save Ashling, Quinn.”
“Tell me.”
“You have to offer yourself to Chaos, make a trade. She will take it believing that you have the better power for her to use.”
I nodded, that made sense. “But how will I fend her off? I saw how she devoured Ashling, and she’s as strong as I am.”
Darcy shook her head. “No, she’s not. She was always the weaker one.” She shuddered and her body crumpled to the floor. Laying there, she sobbed out, “I am sorry, I’ve tried to fight this.”
“Mom, what’s wrong?” I bent to help her, wrapping my arms around her.
Her eyes rolled in her head and she let out a short gasp. “Don’t listen to me, she’s so strong, I can’t keep her at bay any longer.”
Luke and Bres rushed back into the room.
“What happened?” Luke asked.
“I don’t know. She was telling me how I might be able to stop Chaos and save Ashling and then she just started to shudder,” I said, smoothing her hair back. Her eyelids fluttered and I pulled my hand away, then pressed it to her face, opening her left eyelid.
There, next to the center of her eye, was a dark spot.
The Mark of Chaos.
14
She started to scream and I held her down at the shoulders, then flipped her over onto her stomach. “Bres, help me tie her; she’s got the mark.”
“Ironic that she showed it to us, don’t you think?” Luke asked, he crouched down beside her and held her shoulders to the ground. His voice got soft and I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me, or if he was speaking his thoughts out loud. “She looks so much like Ashling, even her eyes.”