Death's Redemption (The Eternal Lovers Series) (25 page)

Lise’s laughter rippled like a gentle wave around them. “They weren’t sent to kill you, dear, merely to take you forcibly away from your protector. Though if you ask me, the queen forgot just who Frenzy is, what he is capable of when fighting for a thing he loves.”

Uncomfortable, and not sure he was ready to talk about things like feelings with Mila, he cleared his throat, quickly switching the subject.

“Taking Mila onto fae soil is too dangerous. She knows that. She’d have every breed of fae banging down her gates to get at her.”

“Again, true.” Lise twirled the tasseled end of her belt. “But she is desperate, and desperation makes one do strange things. However”—her smile was full of sharp teeth—“we now have the upper hand, as well she knows it.”

“Then what do we do about it?” Mila wrapped her arms around his waist again, and Frenzy could no longer deny that the feel of her in his arms felt right in a way that nothing had before.

“We call her to us.”

He scoffed. “We can’t just call the queen of darkness. She is not one to be commanded.”

A mischievous twinkle sparkled in the depths of Lise’s shimmering white eyes. “Ah, you just leave that part up to me, death.”

Staring at the faces peering around the edge of the doorway, the hungry, lecherous looks on their hauntingly beautiful fae faces, Frenzy realized just how close Mila had come. If The Morrigan had gotten her hands on his woman, he would never have seen her again. The queen would have taken her to a hidden realm that only she knew how to find. He’d have lost her forever.

It was like a fist to the gut thinking it. Made him furious. She’d double-crossed them, it didn’t matter what Lise said. The Morrigan was petty to resort to such trickery, regardless if she thought they weren’t planning to keep to their end of
her
deal. He gripped Mila’s waist tighter, clinging to her as if by will alone he could make it so that the queen never attempted to take her from him.

In the time they’d spent together he’d learned one ridiculously simple truth. She was his and he’d be damned if he lost her again.

As if sensing his disquiet, Mila ran her fingers along the scruff of his jaw. “I’m right here, Frenzy. I’m right here.”

In that moment he didn’t think about Lise being in the room, or the nearly dead body frozen in stasis beside them, or even the suspended bodies attempting to rush through the door to get their hands on her, because there were truths that needed to be spoken.

Brushing his knuckles along her cheekbones, he gazed into her eyes and smiled.

“You make my life better, woman,” he said, voice gruffer than he’d intended.

Her nostrils flared, but she didn’t turn aside or blink.

“I could not stand to lose you. Do you understand?”

“I think I do,” she admitted in a near whisper.

Lise sighed. “Isn’t love grand?”

When they looked up, startled, Lise winked and then clapped her hands. The land, which was still very much suspended in time, rumbled, shook so violently for a second, Frenzy feared Dagda might be making an appearance.

Outside the rattling windows, twin forks of lightning struck the ground, filling the room with the electric stench of ozone. Then his skin was crawling with the sensation of eyes watching. A second later Mila gasped, but rather than cower, she walked out from Frenzy’s arms and lifted her chin high.

“You tried to kidnap me!” she accused the queen.

The Morrigan wasn’t standing; she floated several inches off the ground, causing her silken dress of shadow and moonbeams to undulate like a wave beneath her feet. She’d left her inky black hair down to swirl around her head like a charmed cobra. Coming in all her pomp and glory, it was all a show. Glorious and beautiful, but this time Frenzy saw right through it and sneered in her direction.

Her eyes immediately latched on to his, ignoring Mila as she said to him, “And yet another death defies me.” The husky quality of her voice shivered with contempt and the faint strains of fury.

“I did not defy you. You came to my woman, glamoured me so that I’d remain in the cabin, unaware of your true intentions.”

Her aquiline nose curled. “True intentions? You speak to me so. How dare you!”

The lifting of her voice caused the rafters above their heads to tremor.

Rolling her eyes, Lise clapped her hands. “Queen, I’ve told you time and again that death belongs to me.”

The way the queen’s hair waved and the hissing sound that emanated from between her lips, she was Medusa incarnate. “Death is mine.” She lifted her fist. “Since the moment of its creation—”

“Goddess sakes.” Lise held her hand up. Frenzy saw no magic but he felt it quicken raw and powerful around them, making the air feel ten times denser. “Enough with the theatrics.”

Like a powerful hand had shoved the queen to the ground, she fell to the floor, eyes bugging in her head as she stared at the Ancient One with undisguised venom.

Lise shook her head. “I did not want to believe that we’d been forgotten, did not want to step in, be forced to flex my will against my own creation, but you’ve left me no choice.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” The Morrigan’s upper lip curled back.

“You’ve grown too old, too full of yourself, Queen.” The last came out as a sarcastic inflection. “Have you forgotten fate so easily?”

Fate.

Lise
was
one of the fates. Frenzy had already suspected it, but hadn’t been sure.

“We create the strands of time, creation, destruction; it is all ours, Your Highness.” She paused, walking a tight circle around the suddenly still queen.

“Ah yes.” Lise smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, each step causing the bells tied to her sash to toll. “Have you begun to remember now?”

Mila’s hand gripped onto his, but Frenzy couldn’t turn his eyes away from the petite woman circling his queen like a predator coming in for the kill.

The Morrigan bristled, and it was obvious by the strain in her neck and shoulders that what she really wanted to do was not stand still under the fate’s scrutiny, but rather rip the vocal box out of Lise’s throat.

Tapping an elegant finger against the corner of her mouth, Lise laughed. “This just kills you, doesn’t it?”

“You bi—”

“Uh-uh.” Lise waved her finger, tsking. “Not in front of the baby hybrid.”

Frenzy had never seen Lise so viscous, nor his queen so helpless. It was a disturbing, but still somewhat fascinating, experience.

He wasn’t fooled into thinking his queen weak, though. He’d not laugh at her predicament, because while she may not be able to hurt Lise, she was still more than powerful enough to hurt him, or worse, Mila.

She hissed, turning her eyes on Frenzy. Her gaze was full of hate and contempt and he knew if he ever found himself alone with the queen he’d live to regret it. Her capacity to bear a grudge was legendary.

He stroked Mila’s back, not sure if it was more for her or him.

“So this is what we’re gonna do.” Lise smiled sharply. “We will help rid you of the shadow problem.”

Narrowing flinty, dark eyes, the queen quirked her left brow. “I do not need your assistance, Lise. I’m fully capable—”

The Ancient One made a sound between a scoff and a chuckle, then ran her palm down the queen’s bare arm.

For a moment Frenzy held his breath, expecting an all-out war to brew between the two of them. But she merely glanced down at the hand resting on hers and sighed.

“Nothing that gets spoken of in this room will
ever
leave this room,” Lise said, but Frenzy knew the words were for more his and Mila’s benefit; the Ancient One was telling
them
to never speak of this.

He nodded his head, as did Mila. “You have our word,” Mila replied solemnly.

The heart in his chest beat a little faster, a little harder. She was amazing in so many ways. He ran his fingers along the base of her spine, just to touch her, just to let her somehow know what he felt. Words were sometimes hard, but the truth of a person, he was convinced, could be seen in the actions they took.

She leaned into his touch, turning a sweet but tempting smile on him.

Lifting her chin, looking as regal as any queen should, The Morrigan spoke. “When I created the shadow, it was with the hope of acquiring a seer. I knew the lines were rare and delicate thanks to all the wars and skirmishes fought. She was simply supposed to find you. But she became greedy, and at first, it was of no concern to me.”

Mila tensed beneath his hand. “So you say the shadow became greedy, which can only lead me to believe she was killing us off. How was that an effective method of tracking us?”

“Because, little hybrid,” The Morrigan sneered, “the shadow developed your powers. For each soul she took, she became a little stronger. A little better at deciphering the secrets of the universe.”

Figuring that Mila was seconds away from throwing a punch at her face, Frenzy wrapped his arm around her trembling shoulder, hauling her tight to his side. “So why hadn’t she seen the kiss I’d given her?” he asked.

Clenching her fists and jaw tight, it seemed the queen wouldn’t answer.

“Morrigan.” Lise licked her lips. “Tell them.”

As if she’d been asked to choke down her own bile, the queen turned her face to the side with a furious grimace. “Because the powers do not last.”

“So you didn’t care how you gained the power, then—all those things you’d told me in the woods, all lies?” Mila spat. “My gran and mum must have seen right through you.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Is that why you had them killed?”

“No,” the dark-haired queen snapped, then, taking a deep breath, said in a softer tone, “I did not want either one killed. To get my hands on all three of you, there was much I would have given up to acquire you. I wanted you whole. The shadow could not retain the skill for long, which is why her cravings are so fierce. It’s like a drug for her. She will always need more and when she’s finished you off, there will be none left.”

At that statement, Mila seemed honestly shocked. Her mouth parted and she inhaled a sharp breath. “What…there’s…it cannot be…”

Lise nodded slowly. “Aye, dear. In this the queen speaks truth. You are the last of the seers and what the queen won’t say is that once the shadow takes you, she will then turn her dark power against the queen herself.”

The tendons in The Morrigan’s neck were strained and taut. “It is not just me she’ll come after, but all of faedom. Her thirst for power will not stop.”

Mila’s smile was anything but kind. “So that’s the real reason why you came to me, and yet you still tried to blackmail me, even knowing your back was against the wall.”

A dark glint glowed in the queen’s eyes. “My back is never against the wall.”

“Then why don’t you take the shadow out yourself?” Frenzy growled, forcing the queen’s ire to shift from Mila to himself. “Open the box and destroy it.”

“Because she can’t. She is not strong enough.” Lise’s words were soft, but running with an undercurrent of irony.

Curling her lip, The Morrigan jerked her chin in the direction of the Ancient One. “Then why don’t you do it?”

“Because a fate’s duty is to make the strands of time align as they should have always been. It is not my destiny to destroy the shadow.” She turned to Mila. “It is yours.”

“And when we kill the shadow, what happens to the souls trapped within?” he asked. Hadn’t Mila told him her mother and grandmother had been devoured by the creature?

A beatific expression crossed Lise’s face. “They are to be harvested.”

Mila sucked in a sharp breath, because to her it must have felt like watching them die all over again.

“If I do this,” she spoke slowly, but surely, “will it end?”

The queen shrugged. “For you.” She clenched her jaw, and a hot feeling spread through Frenzy’s gut.

“What does that mean?” Mila asked quickly, glancing first at the queen then at Lise.

“It means,” The Morrigan sniffed, “that
he
is still mine.”

“Lise?” Mila pleaded with the Ancient One, who was now strangely silent, looking at none of them.

Heart sinking to his knees, he knew what he had to do. “It’s okay, O’Fallen. At least you’ll be safe.” He petted her shoulder, biting down on his tongue because the thought of never seeing her again made his head reel.

The queen would never allow him within her presence again. It would be her form of punishment to him, taking away that which he most wanted. It would be the only way for her to feel like she’d regained her power.

Wringing her hands, Mila stepped forward. “Give him to me,” she spoke directly to The Morrigan, and it made his chest warm.

He was crazy about this fierce, tiny, shrewish woman. Proud to have known her, proud to realize he’d been so very wrong. Because if she was the face of humanity, then humanity was well worth saving. Mila may never know it, but she’d healed his soul and restored his faith. He wanted to hug her, to whisper his adoration in her ear as he slipped within the slick folds of her luscious body. Just one more time.

“And in return, I’ll give you ten years of service.”

Realizing what she was doing, Frenzy shook his head. “Don’t do this, Mila. You do not have to do this. You’re free; stay away from civilization and you’ll never be found again. You’re strong, you won’t have to run again. I’m not worth this.”

Turning, she pulled his hands to her chest, laying them against her heart. “You’re so worth this, reaper. You’re worth every sacrifice.”

“Fifteen and you live in my court.” The queen’s excitement was palpable, like the flutters of a moth’s wings.

Wrapping his arm around her waist, she turned back to the queen. “Fifteen, I do not live in your court, and he remains with me in a place of my choosing.”

Nostrils flaring, The Morrigan looked from death to his madcap woman. Heart pounding, Frenzy couldn’t even speak.

Why was she fighting so hard to keep him? He’d been cruel to her, called her names, mocked and laughed at her. It was humbling and made him feel the full weight of his shame for treating her so cruelly in the beginning.

Mila cocked her head. “Do we have a deal, Queen? Fifteen, my choice, you can reach me at any time?” She held out her hand.