The seer, p.24
The Seer, page 24
“Seren,” Domhnall said, motioning to me, “I must ask that you hand over the ring of Blaidd and stand down. There is no need for unnecessary bloodshed.”
“You give the title of Ri to him and you hand this clan right over to Fianna,” I retorted, bolting to my feet as I stared them all down with rage. “Have you all lost your minds as well as your good sense?”
Their betrayal hurt so deeply, it left my chest tight and my body shaking, but it had also fueled a rage inside me beyond anything I had ever felt before. They could not do this. They could not destroy our people and our land this way.
“I assure you,” Aengus said, flashing me a cold smile, “the last thing I wish to do is to destroy Blaidd. I only wish to bring about the peace the people, and the land, have longed for. A peace that has been absent for far too long, despite your failing efforts.”
“My efforts have been thwarted by Fianna,” I snapped. “They are hardly for lack of trying. And can you swear to this council that you are no servant of the Stag Spirit’s darkness?”
“I do think it prudent that the council be assured that this man does not seek this clan’s destruction, considering the rumors of late,” Mair said, narrowing her eyes at Aengus.
“Again,” Domhnall said, rapping his knuckles on the table, “as a temporary member of this council, one who should have been well replaced by now, your opinion on this matter carries no weight.” His turned back to me. “Hand over the clan ring, Seren.”
“I have not fought to save this clan from Fianna to simply hand it over to its servant!” I unsheathed the dagger at my waist, silently thanking Lewella’s insistence that I always carry it with me since the incident in Traeth.
The warriors moved quickly, surrounding me on all sides. Though it pained me to strike against those who had sworn to protect me, many of whom I had grown up with inside these walls, I wouldn’t go quietly. I clearly felt the darkness rolling off Aengus, even if the others in the room were blind to it. He was Fianna’s servant. There was no doubt of it.
Two warriors grabbed me by the upper arms. I fought them, striking one of them in the shoulder with my blade, but I was outnumbered. The dagger was ripped from me and a punch to the gut sent me doubling over, gasping for breath. My arms were wrenched behind me, my wrists swiftly bound, before I was yanked back up. Despite the burning pain that had settled in my middle, I resisted those who held me.
Aengus stepped forward and Domhnall got up to join him. Laoise and Arwel watched in stone cold silence. Laoise stared at me with a smug expression and I wanted nothing more than to free myself and wipe it off her face. Aengus and Domhnall strode over to me as I continued to strain against those who held me, breathing hard.
To my surprise, Aengus ignored me, instead going to the warrior I’d wounded. Blood soaked through the warrior’s shirt and Aengus covered it with his hand. He closed his eyes, the power of his gift healing the injury as if it had never happened. Yet even as he healed, I could feel Fianna’s darkness.
When he released the warrior’s shoulder, she smiled tentatively at him. It unnerved me, the glimpses of the man I’d once known, the compassionate healer who had once saved my life, somehow mixed with the usurper who had given himself to darkness. Leaving the warrior, he came to stand before me.
“The ring,” he said, motioning to the warriors.
I flinched as a warrior grabbed my hand. I tried to clench it into a fist, but the warrior pried it open, ripping the ring from my finger. Everything within me screamed, a pain in my throat as I stared at the man in front of me, the kin who had betrayed me in the worst of ways. My vision blurred, moisture filling my eyes as Aengus slipped the ring onto his finger. There was a gut-wrenching, crushing wrongness to seeing the gold ring with its glimmering blue gemstone on his right hand.
“I’m afraid that with Seren’s aggression,” Aengus said, speaking to the warriors holding me, “we cannot risk letting her roam free. I’m afraid the only place for her right now is the dungeons. And though I regret to say it, I think it wise if her loyalist companions join her there as well for the time being.”
“You can’t do this! You are fools, all of you, if you think for a moment that what you have not done is handed this clan to Fianna with welcoming arms!” I dug my heels in, fighting every step of the way as the warriors dragged me toward the door. But my protests were ignored, Aengus and Domhnall both putting their backs to me as they began to address Laoise and Arwel. Mair was seized by warriors as well, loudly protesting. My head was shoved forward and I was forced out into the hallway, my heart beating so hard, it throbbed in my neck. I still fought my captors, fear coursing through me with every step I took: fear for Bran, for my mother, for my people, for the very land I had sworn to protect. All of it was now in the Stag Spirit’s hands.
Chapter 41
Blinded
Bran
I wished I could have been with Seren at the council meeting to offer her support, but my presence wouldn’t have been welcome there. Not yet. Eventually, I would resume my full role of Tiarna, but that was another battle to fight, and Fianna’s most recent threat was more pressing. I’d consoled myself that at least I’d had last night with her and I would seek her out at the midday meal once the meeting was over. In the meantime, despite slight protest from Cian, I’d ventured from the infirmary back to the warriors’ wing of the castle.
While Lewella had told me it would be another day before she let me go out with warriors to hunt for the creatures, she didn’t completely prevent me from contributing to the matter at hand. A map of the castle and the surrounding areas was laid out on the table in Lewella’s study, the two of us poring over it as we looked for any and all possible hideouts for Alannah, the creatures, and quite possibly Aengus. Having grown up at Clogwyn, I knew the tract of wilderness surrounding the castle better than most, and I appreciated that Lewella was willing to consider my input.
I was just mulling over an area by the river that had a few small, narrow caves when the door behind us burst open. Lewella and I both started, turning around as five warriors stormed into the room, Seachnall leading them. Everything from the warrior’s stances and the way they gripped the hilt of their blades screamed aggression and my heart immediately began to race, my stomach growing hard.
“What exactly is going on?” Lewella asked, frowning at the warriors as they marched toward us.
“I’m afraid that your days as warrior chief are over. You are under arrest,” Seachnall said. “You and the shifter.”
I jerked my head back. That couldn’t be. Only Seren would be able to order such a thing, and she would never.
Lewella blinked rapidly before she shook her head. “By whose orders?”
“By the orders of Ri Aengus,” Seachnall replied.
“Seren is Ri of Blaidd,” Lewella retorted. “You will stand down. All of you!”
The warriors didn’t heed her, surrounding us instead. The clang of blades rang out as Lewella struck against the warriors who had so utterly turned against us. I went to shift, but three warriors wrestled me to the ground, binding me with a thin cord that would hobble me even in my wolf form. I was yanked back to my feet, only to find that Lewella had been restrained as well, blood dripping from the side of her mouth and bruises already starting to form on her face and neck.
“What has become of Seren?” I snapped.
“I’m afraid the council has stripped Ri Seren of her title,” Seachnall answered. “You will find there is a new Ri of Blaidd now. And he is not foolish enough to take chances with those who have shown Seren such blind loyalty.”
We had missed something, something important. Because how in the blazes had Aengus stolen Seren’s title? And with no great attack or battle or bloodshed, catching us all unawares. My stomach clenched as Lewella’s hands were bound before we were forced out of the room. Fianna had gotten the upper hand on us all.
Lewella and I were brusquely shoved out into the hallway and before too long, I was able to discern exactly where we were going: the dungeons. Fear engulfed me, my heart hammering and my mouth dry. If Aengus had become Ri, what had become of Seren?
Chapter 42
No Way Out
Aengus
It wasn’t supposed to feel like this. I rubbed my chest as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I had done it. I had become Ri of Blaidd and taken control of the clan from Seren. Fianna was pleased—I could sense its elation—and yet I felt hollow, uncertain about the future that lay before me. As if there were some weight that refused to be lifted from my shoulders.
It had taken everything in me to show the bravery I had the day the council had named me Ri, and now I felt like I was drowning. Everything here haunted me, made me feel like an intruder in this place. The castle with its reminders of the Wolf Spirit everywhere I turned. This very room in the Ri’s chambers that had hints of Seren everywhere I looked, despite all of my attempts at purging the space.
The new warrior chief I had appointed at the Stag Spirit’s instructions had proven adept at making it clear to those inside and outside Clogwyn that any lingering loyalty to Seren would not be tolerated. The council seemed amenable enough to my new role. I had no reason for this continued unease. Three days had passed and no one had challenged me.
Is it because of her? The thought brought with it a sharp ache in my chest, one that had me rubbing it again. My mother was within these walls—now in a dungeon cell below me. I hadn’t wanted to face her. Hadn’t wanted to relive her rejection all over again. If she had wanted to, she could have kept me. At the very least, she could have searched for me after Cadfael died. She could have told Seren that she had a half-brother and let her reach out to me. But Esyllt had done none of those things. No, I didn’t want to see her. I didn’t owe her that.
The door opened and I started, half-turning to see Alannah glide into our new bedroom in the Ri’s chamber. In just three days, it was like she had transformed. She was as breathtaking and grand as this opulent room and the castle we now called home, dressed in a flowing green gown with an air of happiness about her that I’d never seen before. She’d thrived inside these walls, even if the shadow of her ruthlessness still lingered. You would have never gotten this far without her, I reminded myself as she came to a stop in front of me. She pulled me down for a kiss, the flowery scent she now wore every day tickling my nostrils.
“You’re sure you don’t want to me to go with you?” she asked. “I’m not needed anywhere else today. I’ve made the arrangements I needed to make for the handfasting.”
We were to be wed in a week, Alannah getting the extravagant ceremony she had dreamed of. At Fianna’s command, we hadn’t announced our union to the clan, not with the suspicion still surrounding Alannah and her former ties with Lorcan. But Alannah had been more than happy to throw herself into the planning, even if most of it was done in relative secrecy.
“No,” I told her with a slight shake of my head. “I’ll manage. I need to show them that I’m strong.”
She kissed me again, giving me a sultry smile as she eased away. “I’ll be waiting, then. And when you get back…”
The not-so-subtle suggestion should have had desire streaking through me. It would have even just days ago. But something had changed. Something I didn’t want to admit even to myself. Almost as if the spell she’d woven around me was starting to fade. I made myself lean down and kiss her cheek, murmuring to her that I’d be back as soon as I could before leaving the room, trying not to seem in too much of a hurry.
Once out in the hallway, I rolled my shoulders, letting out a few low breaths as I sought to brace myself for what was ahead. I was to meet with the council again this afternoon, to decide what was to be done with Seren, though I already had the answer, even if it made me sick to my stomach. But Fianna had made its command clear: Seren was to be executed, publicly, her death at the hands of Fianna’s creatures. It would be a show of strength for me and one of humiliation and suffering for her. And Bran, Esyllt, and the rest of Seren’s loyalists would follow her to their deaths.
It had to be done this way, I knew that, but I couldn’t stomach it. My wrist tingled and I gritted my teeth. I had no choice. There was no other path before me. But it had brought doubt after doubt, keeping me awake until dawn had broken over the mountains, taunting me with questions and fears that I was doing the wrong thing, following the wrong path away from the healer I’d been to the murderer I’d become.
I furiously rubbed my burning wrist, setting my jaw. There was no way out of this. I’d seen to that the moment I’d sworn my soul to Fianna. I would have to see this through, even if it broke me. By the time I reached the study, I’d quelled some of my persistent fear. Drawing my shoulders back, I pushed past the warriors standing guard, grasping the cold steel door handle and letting myself in.
I’d arrived a touch early and only Domhnall was present, mulling over some piece of parchment laying in front of him on the table. He looked up when I entered, greeting me with a respectful nod. He’d been true to his word thus far, even if I still didn’t entirely trust him.
“Ri Aengus,” he said as I took a seat. “I expect Laoise and Arwel to be along shortly.”
I nodded in acknowledgement. The place that Mair had occupied on the council would need to be filled soon. Though at least with a little persuasive coercing, Mair had sworn her loyalty to me. I couldn’t say the same for the rest of Seren’s supporters, all of whom I had locked away in the dungeons to keep them from retaliating against me. I’d kept Mair out of a cell for now, but I was still having her watched.
“There have been some concerns,” Domhnall said, rolling the parchment up before setting it aside. “About the creatures… and about your choice of Banrion.”
My spine stiffened. I was aware of the concerns he spoke of; there were no secrets in a place like this one. But I would not be swayed in my choice of Banrion. I couldn’t be, really. Alannah fulfilling that role was part of Fianna’s plan. And as far as the creatures went, the people of Blaidd would have to learn to accept them. They were doing Fianna’s work, cleansing the land of Blaidd.
“I will address such concerns with the council,” I replied with a wave of my hand.
Domhnall made a noise in the back of his throat but didn’t press me further. Moments later, Laoise and Arwel strode in. Arwel looked particularly troubled, judging by his stiff strides and pinched brow. Did I already have division starting to set in?
It does not matter, Fianna said. Today they will learn who controls the Clan of Blaidd. And they will learn not to challenge you as my servant.
I swallowed hard, not entirely certain what the Stag Spirit had in mind. I supposed I would find out soon enough. Domhnall called the meeting to order, but before he could speak further, Laoise interrupted him.
“Three fires have ravaged the villages of Gefell, Cnoc, and Traeth. Fires that were started by shadow creatures. What, exactly, do you plan to do about that, Ri Aengus?” she said, narrowing her eyes at me.
“I’m afraid there is nothing to be done,” I replied.
“Nothing to be done?” Laoise’s face reddened and she slammed her palm down on the table. “People are losing their homes, their livelihoods, even their very lives! Not to mention your choice to wed a shifter who is said to be one of Fianna’s own. You promised us peace! And all you bring is destruction.”
I sat taller in my chair, feeling Fianna’s darkness swirling in the air as the Spirit’s anger deepened, matching my own. “I would not expect one such as you to understand a being such as Fianna. As far as my Banrion is concerned, that is my choice, not the council’s. There will be no actions taken against the shadow creatures. This land must be cleansed before it can be rebuilt.”
Laoise sputtered, striking the table a second time.
“So,” Arwel said, his lips curling into a sneer, “you have lied to us. You are its servant, just like the woman you brought into this castle and intend to wed. You’ve stolen the title of Ri only to bring us all to ruin.”
Laoise’s gaze darted to Domhnall, the pitch of her voice rising. “Did you know of this, Domhnall? Were you in on this elaborate scheme?”
He cleared his throat, his chin dipping as his face flushed.
“Enough of your wicked tongues!” I snapped. “I stole nothing. What I have taken was rightfully mine by blood. And I will bring peace to this clan. Even if you do not agree with the means by which I obtain it.”
“Peace?” Laoise snorted in disgust. “What peace will there be when this land lays in ruin? I will not stand for this! Not for one moment longer!”
She shoved back her chair and a fiery pain erupted in my wrist.
Kill her, Fianna yelled. Kill her now!
My chest tightened and my stomach lurched. The act it wanted me to commit was the very one I had sworn I would never do.
I own your soul, Fianna growled, pain traveling up my arm and inching toward my chest. Refuse me and I will destroy you and everything you hold dear. Kill her now!
I made myself bolt to my feet, not allowing myself to think about what would come next. If I did, I would never follow through. Darting around the table, I grabbed onto Laoise’s wrist, yanking her to me before she could flee. It took no more than seconds to connect to Laoise’s life force and only a few seconds more to pull it from her body into mine. A euphoria, one I’d never felt with the animals that I’d killed, filled me, and for a brief few moments it almost outweighed my self-loathing. But then Laoise’s body went limp and she dropped to the ground with a loud thud, crumpling at my feet.
Bile rose in my throat but I pushed it down, slowly turning. Arwel wore a look of horror, his mouth dropped open and his eyes wide as he stared at Laoise’s dead body, while Domhnall had sprung to his feet, his face deathly pale as he gripped the back of his chair.
