Treoir Dragon Chronicles of the Belador World: Book 2 Page 13

  Even then, it had been more strange than painful.

  Ruadh finally broke free into dragon form and trembled from the exhausting action.

  Daegan asked, Please do not roar, Ruadh. I know ya want to and by all that is holy ya deserve to, but it will expose us when I much prefer keepin’ ya secret. Can ya burn these bodies?

  In answer, Ruadh pushed short blasts of fire at each body, then stepped on flames trying to spread.

  When Ruadh had finished, Daegan allowed his dragon to just sit there and breathe.

  That had been hell on both of them.

  What would happen if they had to shift and battle something stronger than what Daegan could defeat in human form?

  Ruadh’s words came into his mind. We will defeat all enemies.

  Daegan believed his dragon would do so or die trying. He had been gifted with a dragon that did not know the meaning of quit.

  Ruadh murmured, The woman is strong.

  She is, Daegan agreed, but what had his dragon meant by that? Ruadh rarely commented unless it was to offer advice in a battle, but his dragon respected strength almost as much as loyalty.

  Quinn’s voice came into his mind. What’s taking so long, Daegan? Are you being attacked?

  The venom oozing through his body felt like a physical attack. Daegan replied, I shall be there soon.

  Then he told Ruadh, I am sorry for another change, but I need the human body.

  Ruadh murmured, You will be vulnerable in that form if I fail to shift next time.

  Ya will not fail, Daegan sent back, reminding his dragon he had full faith in Ruadh.

  They had always healed more quickly in dragon form. Perhaps the time Daegan allowed Ruadh to sit and rest had helped. Though still slow, his dragon made the change back to human form more quickly.

  Recalling how he’d been dressed when they found Luigsech, Daegan covered his legs in jeans, his feet in boots, and his upper body in a long-sleeved burgundy T-shirt.

  Striding through the woods, Daegan entered the spot where Quinn had the woman turned with her back to Daegan.

  She waved her hands as she talked. “You keep askin’ the same thing in different ways. I’ve told you what I know. What makes you and that other idiot think I have any reason to answer your questions?”

  Quinn’s irritation dissolved his pleasant tone. “I have no idea how you’re mixed up in all of this, Miss Luigsech, but you are. That is not our fault just as Cavan capturing our friend is not yours, but you have a chance to prove your innocence in all of this by giving us aid we desperately need.”

  “I don’t have to prove anythin’,” she balked.

  Aching from that harsh change, Daegan would not lighten up on her. She was no faint-of-heart female, but a trained warrior. “Yes, ya do. ’Tis time to be straight with us, Luigsech. To do otherwise will not go well for ya.”

  Chapter 18

  Luigsech jumped around, fire churning her eyes bright blue. “Stop sneakin’ up on me, Drake.”

  Daegan gritted his teeth at the venom shooting through him. “Only the guilty react with such surprise.”

  “Says the man who—”

  “Entered your home uninvited,” Daegan finished, grinding out each word. One minute, pain surged in his leg. The next, muscles in his back felt as if they flexed on their own. “I have allowed ya plenty of time to tell what know. I tire of askin’ the same questions only to be put off or givin’ half answers. Did ya think I was jokin’ when I warned ya not to push me any harder or would go to a place far from here where I can get those answers?”

  She spit out a Gaelic curse. “Threatenin’ me is not the way to gain my aid. If you kidnap me and leave Fenella in trouble, you have no idea what hell will come to your door.”

  Just when Daegan thought he had her attention, the feisty woman threatened him?

  Quinn even arched an eyebrow at their exchange.

  Daegan took a breath, trying to calm his words. “That was instructin’ ya, not threatenin’ ya.”

  “Where did you get your vocabulary?” she chided him as no one had done since before he became a man. “Because you don’t have the same definition for those words the rest of the world does.”

  Quinn’s gaze had moved from her to Daegan, then to survey the area around them. He sent a telepathic message. If we stay here, we may be attacked. If we keep moving we may be attacked. What do you want to do?

  Exhaustion from the difficult shift and lack of rest decided for Daegan. I will cloak us, but we must be still for a bit.

  Quinn didn’t question why Daegan had to sit even though he’d been with Daegan when a group of them had moved around with the cloaking. In an unquestioned show of support for Daegan, Quinn suggested, “Until we know more about where you were headed, Miss Luigsech, I suggest we stay here a bit.”

  Luigsech wheeled around to him. “I thought you said we should keep movin’?”

  “I did, but I have no idea if moving draws attention to us more so than being still. If we remain in one place, I can use my gifts to search for any unnatural being approaching this area. That would reserve our energies.”

  “Oh.”

  Nodding his thanks at Quinn, Daegan sat at the base of a tree he could lean against. Once Luigsech chose a small boulder to use as a seat and Quinn settled on the ground against another tree, Daegan created the cloaking.

  Luigsech looked around sharply. “What just changed?”

  Quinn said, “We are cloaked for a short period.”

  Daegan’s Maistir had not indicated who had cloaked them, allowing Daegan to keep his ability to do so hidden for now.

  Daegan lifted a finger in Luigsech’s direction, but did not point it. Many supernaturals would react badly as some wielded majik with a finger. “If ya do not know how to locate Cavan, then tell us everythin’ ya do know.”

  He’d try Quinn’s tactic and see if he could befriend the annoying woman.

  Luigsech’s eyes flashed daggers at him, but she huffed a breath and relented. “Cavan left a book for me to translate. I reviewed a few pages only. He was to show up this mornin’ for me to translate a specific passage. He did not show at the centre, nor did Fenella and she’s not answerin’ her phone.”

  Once again with a pertinent question, Quinn asked, “Does your friend carry a mobile phone? Is she good about replying to calls?”

  “Sometimes and sometimes.” Luigsech rubbed her arm where she’d been scratched running through the woods. “But I lost my mobile phone in the cottage when I had to fight those Imortiks last night.” She shot a glare at Daegan, silently accusing him of being responsible for that attack. “Without my mobile phone, I have no idea if Fenella has tried to call me.”

  Daegan sent a message to Quinn. Do not tell her we have her phone.

  Understood. Just so you know, there was no alert of a prior incoming call when I first found the phone and none have come in since then.

  Daegan lifted his chin slightly to let Quinn know he understood.

  She watched them intently as if she sensed they were communicating silently. “Don’t you two feel guilty terrorizin’ an innocent woman?”

  Daegan scowled at her. “Ya are not innocent.”

  He must have hit a nerve with that. She had no reply. He pushed her again. “Where exactly were ya headin’ today?”

  Her lips drooped in a mulish set. “I was goin’ to see friends who would help me find Fenella.” She lifted a hand. “Don’t even ask me about them. I’m not givin’ you their names or addresses, because they have no idea I was on my way to see them. They also don’t know who Cavan is or that Fenella is missin’.”

  “What about Cavan?” Daegan asked.

  Her eyes slid away from his face in a guilty manner. “What about him?”

  “He threatened ya outside the grocery.”

  That startled her. “How do you know that? Cavan said he cloaked us while we talked.”

  Daegan hadn’t known for sure, but Luigsech just confirmed his guess. His wor
ds had been based upon what Reese thought when she’d observed those two during a remote viewing. Reese had sensed some conflict between Luigsech and Cavan.

  “How I know anythin’ is not the issue.” Daegan bent his leg that wanted to cramp and stretched it back out. “What I do not understand is ya runnin’ from Cavan with no idea if he has Fenella.”

  She had that caught-in-a-lie look all over her face. “Okay, here’s the deal. Cavan did threaten Fenella if I was not at the centre this mornin’ to meet him. I was there ... for a bit.”

  “When did you leave the centre?” Quinn prodded.

  “When I showed up,” said Daegan. He would not allow her the chance to lie. He’d just figured out the “click” sound he’d heard upon teleporting into the building. “Ya left the ancestral centre through a secret doorway.”

  She crossed her arms, sending an angry look down her nose at him from her perch. “Yes. How is it you keep enterin’ a buildin’ without makin’ a sound?” Her eyebrows lowered over thick-lashed slits for eyes.

  Ruadh stirred, taking note.

  A staring match ensued.

  She blinked after a minute. “Whatever. I have no idea if Cavan has Fenella or if somethin’ happened to Cavan to prevent him from showin’ up. Doubtful since his energy feels as powerful as yours.” Her light-blue gaze struck Daegan like a dagger thrown at a target. “You screwed up my chance at protectin’ Fenella.”

  Guilt found a place to slide inside and join the pain stabbing Daegan. Had he put Fenella in danger? Not in the best of moods already, he countered, “If ya had not vanished last night from your cottage, that might have been avoided.”

  “Deny it all you want, Drake, but Cavan may have both of our friends. If so, I’ve got as much at stake as you do.”

  “’Tis a good start. Keep goin’.”

  “Hold it. You’re not even goin’ to apologize for interferin’ this morning?” Her jaw flexed with angry muscles.

  “Why would I?” he asked. “If not for a deal you made with Cavan, I would have had no reason to be at the centre. Ya told me to go there to meet him.”

  “You two are a pair,” she grumbled.

  “Cavan is nothin’ like me,” he muttered, not sure how this slip of a woman twisted him around.

  She spread her arms out. “How can you know that if you don’t know who he is?”

  The mouthy tart had a logical question, but Daegan wanted more on what she was about. “What exactly is goin’ on with ya and Cavan?”

  “Nothin’! Just like nothin’ is goin’ on between you and me. I said you two were a pair because, like you, he’s a pain in my backside and wants that stupid grimoire.”

  Daegan leaned forward and roared, “Ya will not give him that book!”

  “Stop orderin’ me around!” She jumped up and shoved a finger at him, clearly unconcerned about any negative reaction. “Stop actin’ like you’re the only person with problems.”

  Tension smoldered under the silence.

  “You feel you can find the grimoire?” Quinn asked in a calmer tone with a glance at Daegan that said yelling at her would not help.

  Daegan dropped back and thunked his head back against the tree. None of this was helping.

  Ruadh rumbled softly. Strong and stands her ground.

  Do be quiet, Ruadh, Daegan snarled silently. What had gotten into his dragon?

  Luigsech lowered her hand, but stood in a ready position, still seething. Looking up into the trees, she replied, “Maybe ... I don’t know.” She lowered her chin. “I grabbed a couple resource books, but I have no idea if they’ll give me any lead or insight on how to find that book or not. I’m used to havin’ all my resources at my fingertips.”

  She started pacing back and forth.

  Before Daegan could ask her to sit again, Luigsech stopped abruptly in the middle of their area. “This whole situation makes no sense. Why would any supernatural bein’ want to open that death wall?”

  “Power,” Daegan and Quinn said at the same time.

  Then Quinn explained, “The Imortiks have a leader, who claims to be willing to work with any powerful being who delivers the missing volumes. That’s why Cavan could be a deadly player.”

  “Neither of you have convinced me you’re any better than Cavan,” she charged.

  Daegan’s head pounded and a burning sensation rippled through his arms and shoulders. “We could save a lot of time right now by clearin’ up Cavan’s true identity.”

  “I told you I have no idea who he is other than who he claims to be.” She had her own short fuse.

  Quinn bent his knees to his chest and propped his arms there. “We have a vast knowledge of supernatural beings between the two of us. Let’s start with you describing Cavan in as much detail as you can.”

  Daegan gave his Maistir a nod of acknowledgement. In Tristan’s last telepathic call to Daegan, he had started to say who Cavan was as if Tristan expected Daegan to know the face Cavan had hidden with a glamour.

  For once, Luigsech didn’t snarl a reply. Probably because Quinn had a soothing demeanor when he didn’t need to kill something.

  She stared off into the dense forest. “Cavan is not as tall as either of you. He could be Irish descent. Fenella found him fine lookin’, which I guess he is with wavy black hair and green eyes.” She lifted her shoulders. “Can’t say as I was impressed, but he pissed me off from the minute he grabbed my arm. That rarely leaves me with a favorable assessment of any man.”

  “Could Fenella have left with him?” Daegan had a momentary image of the woman falling for Cavan and running away.

  Luigsech made a loud derogatory scoffing noise. “No. Not a chance. You would have to know ... Fenella. She only commented on his looks, because she’s sly enough to realize when a man is tryin’ to play her. I don’t care what he has for power, he would not woo Fenella and she would not leave with him. She would not leave me voluntarily.”

  Quinn tapped his fingers on his arms. “You were to meet with Cavan this morning, then what? Go somewhere with him?”

  Daegan had come to know the way Quinn’s mind worked. The man had a reason for every word and question he spoke.

  Daegan didn’t interrupt.

  “Sort of,” Luigsech replied. “Cavan said he would join me in my search for the grimoire, which sounded like he expected me to leave with him to physically hunt for it and not just provide him with where to search. I mentioned he was to meet with me to translate somethin’ in the book he brought by while I was out. Fenella and I believed he used the book as an excuse to meet me, which might be true. I don’t know. Outside the grocery, he told me how to find the passage he wanted translated, then warned me not to read it until he arrived.”

  “Did ya read it or not?” Daegan wanted to see if she had been cautious or not.

  “I did not, but only because you showed up right as I made up my mind to read it while I remained a bit longer for Cavan.” She made that statement and cocked her chin at him.

  Daegan pushed up to his feet, wiping his hands more to gather his thoughts than any concern of dirt. “Do not read that passage.”

  Quinn slapped his hand over his eyes.

  Luigsech shook her fist at him. “What is wrong with you?”

  Daegan crossed his arms and said nothing.

  “How many times do I have to tell you that You. Are. Not. In. Charge!”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Quinn made a noise that sounded like, “Bad move.” Then he stood and announced, “We’re not making headway.”

  Luigsech looked from Daegan to Quinn. “I’m not makin’ any headway either.” She swung her fiery gaze back to Daegan. “All you had to do was stay the hell out of my life so I could read one freakin’ passage from Cavan’s book and Fenella might be safe.” She grabbed a fast gulp of air and her next words came out shaky quiet. “Fenella is family to me. She may now be sufferin’ because I made a mistake somewhere in all this, but so did you.”

  Guilt squirmed under Daegan’s s
kin, but he had not created this mess either. “’Tis simple. Help us find Cavan. We may be able to get both of our friends back. Ya must also find the grimoire.”

  Luigsech shook her head, mouth in a bitter flat line. “Then we are at an impasse. I will not risk Fenella’s safety. You huntin’ me down and harassin’ me has solved nothin’. Here’s my suggestion. Why don’t you two go away and give me some space? Then Cavan might come to see me.”

  Her fingers stretched and curled in the same motion Daegan had seen on warriors about to pull a sword out to do battle.

  Chapter 19

  After teleporting from Ireland, Cathbad appeared in a wide and soaring hallway in TÅμr Medb realm. Tall warlocks, broad with muscle and eyes dark as death, stood guard outside the massive doors to Queen Maeve’s private area.

  Their faces were placid.

  But fear rolled off them in sickening waves.

  A hideous yell erupted on the other side of the doors. The realm shuddered hard.

  Cathbad walked forward, taking his time to survey the landscape.

  The guards stiffened and clamped their swords in white-knuckled grips as he approached.

  “Mor-oooons!” screamed from within the queen’s quarters. The only one who dared to speak at that volume would be her.

  Cathbad’s hope of a calm meeting sank.

  The guards watched him with wary eyes.

  He understood their concern. With the queen out of control, would Cathbad’s presence make it worse?

  Truth be told, the same question crossed his mind.

  A guard moved to assist Cathbad when the doors did not open on their own.

  Cathbad waved him off. He teleported in, remaining above the ground and immediately cloaked himself where he floated fifteen feet in the air.

  The queen had her back to him. She stood in the midst of twenty-four warlocks and witches, twelve of each. They waited in pairs.

  Cathbad thought back over specific groups he’d created to insert into the human world the one time VIPER had allowed Medb warlocks and witches in. He’d been the one to encourage pairings to appear as human couples so their people would more easily blend.