Dark Fae(8)

“He doesn’t love me. He Charmed me,” I said. The words sounded hollow even to my own ears.

Fianna laughed. “Bres is many things: warrior, guide, teacher, Fomorii and Tuatha. But even I know he is not a Charmer. It is the one thing that wasn’t passed on to him by his father. Bres can’t Charm It isn’t one of his abilities.”

I tried to tell you.

The water dripped off the tip of my nose and chin; I was too stunned to even try to wipe it away. My brain couldn’t handle this new information. No, I wasn’t being honest. It was my heart that was struggling with it, not my mind.

“Come, let us stand on higher ground while we wait.” Fianna led the way to a tree that was downed in some long ago windstorm, but it was not submerged as so many of the others were. Climbing up, I stood with one hand braced on a branch that jutted up to the sky.

“The Cauldron will test him, to see if he is worthy to bring it back to the realm of the humans. It has not ventured out for many, many years,” she said.

I glanced over at her, the white dress dry and unmarked as if we hadn’t just sloshed through miles of swamp. “You say that like it’s alive.”

Fianna didn’t look over at me, but continued to stare at the two gateways.“It is. Like all objects of power, it lives and has a will of its own. Even Excalibur carried with it consciousness. It is how Arthur did so well in battle.” She said this as if everyone knew what she was talking about.

“How will we know if Bres . . .” I wanted to say lived or died, but I couldn’t. I had a hard enough time thinking about Luke dying. I wasn’t sure I could handle the thought of losing them both.

“One hour. If at the end of that time he has not emerged, it will then be your choice. I would ask you for the sake of our world to not go through with this.” Now she did look at me, her brown eyes wide with her pleading. “You are our one chance at ending Chaos’ reign before it begins in earnest. In that, Bres was correct. You must believe me when I say that these two men of yours, no matter their love for you, are not worth throwing the world away for.”

“I need Luke, I need him at my side if I’m to face down Chaos. It says so in the prophecy, and more than that, I feel it. Here.” I put my hand over my heart. “I will do whatever it takes to save him, even if that means putting my own life in danger.”

“And if you put the world at risk?”

I gripped a branch, the flaking bark crunching under my fingers. “If I need Luke to save the world, then I need to save him first. Period.”

Silence reigned between us for some time after that.

A thought had been rolling around inside my brain, ever since I’d faced down Aednat, and I broke the uneasy silence by changing the subject. “How could you face your sister knowing that you’d have to kill her?”

She let out a sigh.

“We were not always enemies. I loved her more than anyone —would have died for her even.”

The words were so like my own when I spoke of Ashling I wanted to put my hands to my ears and tell her to stop, but I had to hear this. I needed to if I was going to face Ashling, even if it was just her body and no longer her heart and soul.

Fianna swirled her hand over the swampy water and a foggy image rose up: a miniature picture of Aednat and Fianna. They were holding hands, walking along, smiling at one another.

“Aednat was seduced long ago by Chaos. Long before Balor ever came to her with a plan to release the demon. Chaos will always seek out those who are afraid, those who seek to control the world around them. Aednat was one of those. I begged her not to listen.”

The foggy image shifted and the two girls broke apart; Aednat lashed out at Fianna and then disappeared. Waving her hand over the picture, the queen wiped it away in a swirl of mist.

“I couldn’t save her, Quinn. Chaos poisoned Aednat’s mind, and I couldn’t stop it.” Her voice dropped low, a tear slipped from her eye. “If I could have changed things, I would have, but Aednat . . .”

The screech of an owl broke through Fianna’s remembrances. We both turned towards the huge bird that sat across from us on a large deadfall.

“Bres does not have much more time,” Fianna said.

I shivered, my skin rising in goose bumps all over my arms. “What happens if I go in now?”

“I do not know,” she said, her face not giving me even a flicker of emotion. “I doubt anything good.”

Fantastic.

I rubbed my arms. “I can’t wait any longer.”

She bowed her head, her shoulders slumping. “I will not stop you. I believe you are the Chosen one, and as such, you must be free to do as you see fit.”