Dark Isle (Celtic Legacy Book 2) (4 page)

But it was t
he truth of
Cora’s
words
that
settled into my bones, my heart thumping with the whisper of fear
as it
brushed along my spine.
“I don’t have time to be trained, do I?” I asked, deliberately not looking at Luke.

Cora shook her head.
“
No, you don’t. If Balor is searching out Chaos, we have very little time indeed.
”

Chills
swept
through me. So many stories, and they were all starting to
spin together. “Where is Chaos hidden
?” I asked.
Luke snorted again, got up and walked away muttering under his breath.

Cora shook her head. “Only one person knew where the box
we trapped her in
was hidden. In order to keep the secret safe.

“Who?” I asked.

The tip of her tail wrapped around my arm, tightening her grip. “Your father, Lir.”

We were h
alfway up the small hill
, passing a bed and breakfast, when
Luke stopped us. “
Look,
w
e need to stop, get
ou
r
bearings, and figure out what
we are going to do. We can’t just assume that Cora has the facts straight
;
it wouldn’t be the first time she’d messed up
.
”
I glared at him, my hands tensing at my sides. He lifted his palms up to me
.
“I won’t dismiss her either, but
we need to stop and think
.
And you need some sleep.
”

I let him lead
us to the house
.
M
y gut
was
telling me to move
, but I
was
exhausted.
Luke
was right
about that
.
And t
here was no point in rushing
about
without a plan
.

Luke
used a hefty dose of his undeniable
C
harm to get us a
free
room for the night
, seeing as none of us had any money
.
The couple was older, but lively, and excited to have company. They tried to engage us in small talk as they showed us to the room, but Luke managed to brush them off claiming fatigue from something or other, and shut the door on them. I barely listened.

Luke scrubbed his hands through his hair. “I’ve got to reach the Council. I’m going to go up to the gas station to use the pay phone.”

“Can’t you reach them with your mind or something?” I asked between yawns.

“Only those who are bound by blood or love can speak mind to mind
,
”
Luke said, his voice softening as he looked at me. I yawned again
,
and used the movement to break eye contact. It was too awkward knowing that he had feelings for me when I had feelings for someone else.

He slipped back out of the bedroom, the door clicking behind him. I listened to his footsteps recede down the hallway before I took in the room.

It
was small
;
I believe
“
quaint
”
would be the accurate term.
Cora slithered down my body to the floor.
You need to sleep.
Pulling that much power through you
in order
to control the water
is
a huge task for one so young and untrained
,
Cora said, her words echoing through my mind.

Yawning I mumbled, “
Thanks, I never would have guessed that on my own.
”

She snickered as she slid onto the homemade quilt that covered the twin bed. “
If you think being sassy with me will work, I’ll tell you now it won’t.
”

“Fine. Whatever.
”
I half grunted. Irritation flickered through me.

She shook her head
;
her tongue flicked in and out.
For
a snake, she was
actually
very beautiful. Her scarlet head blended into a deep neon blue body that shimmered as she moved. My eyelids grew heavy as I watched her settle on a pillow. Stripping out of my wet clothes
,
I rinsed them then
hung them to dry in the bathroom
before
slipp
ing
on a white robe that was hanging on the door.

Almost stumbling, I made it back to the bed, exhaustion dragging me down under its spell.
My last thoughts were not of Ashling
, n
or my mother
,
or even Luke, but of Bres.

So it should have come as no surprise that
I opened my eyes to find Bres standing in front of me
;
his
violet eyes half narrowed.

“You be dreaming
,
”
He said
.
“And you pulled me into ta dream. What do you want, Quinn?”
I smiled a
nd reached for him, my heart pounding so hard I didn’t notice the ice in his voice.

“Bres, please, just hold me a minute
,
”
I whispered to him. He knocked away my hands
;
frowned at me.

“You brought me here. What do you want?” He repeated
,
and this time I felt the cold of his words settle over me. It had been less than
twenty
-
four hours since I’d last seen him
;
what had happened?

“What’s wrong?” I wanted to feel his skin against mine, even if just for a moment, to feel the reassuring beat of his heart against my ear.

“You really don’t get it, do you?” He almost growled the words at me. Taking a step towards me, his power pulsed out over my skin, the weight of it just as heavy and dark as his father’s.

It took everything I had to hold my ground, to remind myself that this was just a dream
, and
that even if wasn’t, Bres would never hurt me. Would he? Uncertainty flickered through me for the first time.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Bres. I th
ought you cared for me
,
”
I said, confused by this change in him.

He snorted. “
Do you know what you are destined for? Do you understand what you’re asking of me?”

I shook my head totally confused. “I thought you didn’t believe in destiny.”

Hands clenched at his sides, the fine muscles in his arms quivered with suppressed emotion. What had happened?

“You ask me to protect Ashling, which I would have done anyway. But you want me in your life too? You can’t have both, Quinn. Because I can’t give you both. If I protect Ashling, it will be protecting her against you too. If I let myself love you, I can’t protect her, because it will mean that I would have to fight you.” The pain in his eyes rocked me. Opening his hands he held them up to me. “
I’ve seen
. . .” he snapped
his mouth shut; his
lips thinned and his jaw twitched
. He
visibly gather
ed
himself
before
he went on.
“
I’ve seen
what you would do
, how you would kill Ashling
.
There is no denying what I saw.
You will kill her if I step aside. As long as I am with her, you won’t be able to kill her. That is the way of it.
”

With my arms wrapped around my body
;
I tried to stop the shaking. “You have to believe me that I would never hurt her.” My voice caught on the words, cracking at the end.

Bres took a step towards me with his hands outstretched and froze. “I can’t be with you, Quinn. I can’t. You are meant for Luke
;
he knows it too
. As
much as it hurts me to admit it
,
I see it now, more clearly than ever. We can’t be anything but on opposite sides of the war that is coming. It is the only way to keep her safe, it’s the only way she might survive.”

My throat closed on me, filling with the pain of holding back sobs that were welling up in my chest. Why couldn’t he believe me? Why didn’t he understand that there wasn’t anything in this world that would make me hurt my baby sister?

“Bres
,
”
I whispered. “Are you saying that you would face me in battle?” The very thought that I would face him, not as friends or lovers but as enemies
,
was almost as bad as knowing that he thought I would kill Ashling.

“
Yes
,
”
h
e
said
.
T
hough
there was no malice
in his voice that single
word cut straight through me. “We are done, this is done. It has to be this way.” His eyes pleaded with me while his words sliced into my heart. “Don’t call on me again, Qui . . .Tuatha.”

He turned his back to me
;
faded from
si
ght
as I crumpled to the ground. A low keening sound filled my ears, and though I knew it was me making the noise, I couldn’t stop it.

Wake up, Quinn, you are dreaming.
Cora’s voice roused me a split second before Luke’s.

“Quinn?”
His
voice came to me across the dark room.
In the
dim light from
outside I could see that h
e’d slept on the couch to give me privacy.

“Nothing
,
”
I said, my voice soft. “Just a bad dream.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked.

“No
.
” I paused, wiped my eyes. “Just go back to sleep.”

T
he shuffle of blankets told me he’d settled back down
, taking my words at face value
. I lay there, the pale light from the moon filtering in past the lacy curtains, my heart aching. Sleep eluded me
,
and the rest of the night dragged as I tried to find
a way to
deny what Bres had said.
But I had to believe that if we met again, he would face me as any Fomorii would, a
nd
fight
to the death. My whole body revolted at the idea and I slipped from my bed, stumbling to the bathroom.

Sitting next to the tub
on
the cold linoleum floor, my mind wouldn’t let go of Bres’ words. What had Balor shown him that had turned him against me? He said that he’d witnessed me killing Ashling, that
he believed it would come
true.
Lies, everything a
round me was lies and deception, and that pissed me off.

Anger fuelled
me and I stood
. Gripping the edge of the sink, I knew that the fire inside me would help me through
;
that it would help me survive.

The face I stared at in the mirror was my own, but there was an edge to it. I was no longer the soft twenty six year old that I’d been just a few short days ago.

“Okay Bres, you’ve got it
,
”
I said softly. “
We
are done. But don’t think for one instant that you’re going to keep me away from my sister.”

The air around me crackled, the hairs rising on the back of my neck. There was no one behind me, no one in the mirror. But I heard his words as clearly as if he stood with his mouth pressed against my ear.

“Don’t be pushing this, Quinn. We both know who would survive an encounter between ta two of us.”

My eyes narrowed
;
I flipped off the light and went back to my bed. The sheets had
cooled
,
and Cora lifted her head in a silent query.

“I’m fine
,
”
I whispered, though my heart pounded with anger, drumming hard enough to keep
my eyes wide open, sleep so far away I knew there was no chance of rest.
Bres
thought the outcome between the two of us was a sure thing, that I would have no chance.

Maybe he was right
, I knew I couldn’t stand against him in a physical battle, but that didn’t mean I was going down without a fight. I thought about the blue flame Bres had shown me
how
to create, and my heart gave one final twinge of loss.
I’d thought then that maybe the prophecy was wrong . . . but now I could see how very right it was. A single tear tracked down my cheek, trailing down my neck.