The raspy weakness of her reply spurred him to his feet.Holding onto the bars, he tried to make his way around the cage in search of a gate and almost lost his footing.The unholy thing was perched too close to the abyss.He went back the other way, but the space between it and the wall was too narrow.He daren’t attempt to squeeze through.Feckin’ Morrigan would probably release the cage so that he would shove it off into the darkness and be responsible for his dear one’s death.The roof of the enclosure felt like the same crumbly limestone as the wall.If he attempted to hoist himself up onto the slab, he risked bringing it down on Jessa’s head.
“Quite the puzzle.Isn’t it, warrior?”Morrigan said with a taunting laugh.“It took quite a few soakings to teach yer lady love some proper manners and to quiet her tongue.Now that her clothes are frozen as hard as the rocks that imprison her, she has become quite docile.”
“How do our deaths benefit ye?Ye should realize by now that neither the Defenders nor the Weavers are coming.They are nay so stupid as to take yer bait.”He wasn’t about to die, but it served him to keep the hag distracted as he worked out the puzzle of the cage.He crouched and reached through the bars again to touch Jessa’s hand.“Awake, my love?”
“I am awake,” she whispered, but the glow that appeared when they touched was not nearly as bright.
“Ye nay answered me, Morrigan!”he shouted into the darkness.“Ye ken as well as I that if we die, ye have gained nothing.”
“That is not true!”
“Name a benefit, then,” he dared the hag as he tried to shove the roof off the cage.
“The Highland Veil is not yet strengthened by yer bond.”
“Our bond already strengthened it,” he argued, straining to push the thick stone slab up and off into the abyss.“Have ye forgotten the rules, old one?As soon as the mate bond connects, the energy joins the weave of the Veil.”
Silence followed, but it wouldn’t last.The suffocating darkness vibrated with the Morrigan’s anger, pounding like an enraged heart.
“Grant,” Jessa whispered.
He crouched again and reached through the bars, elated when he found she had moved closer.But when he touched her cheek, his heart fell, and he nearly roared in agony.No warmth at all remained in her flesh.His precious Jessa felt lifeless.He hurried to remove his great kilt and shoved it through the bars.“Cover yerself, love.Soak in my warmth.”
“Grant?”
“Aye?”He could barely see her sweet face illuminated by the golden glow.
“Don’t die.”
He tightened the wrap around her and tried to warm her face between his hands.“Neither of us will die this day, m’love.”
“Ye will both die!”the Morrigan thundered.“Mairwen took what was mine.I shall take what was hers.”
“We dinna belong to Mairwen, ye bloody demoness,” Grant bellowed.“Jessa and I belong to each other—no one else.”
“Mairwen favors the two of ye.I have seen it!”Lightning splintered the darkness, forcing Grant to shield his eyes.“She especially likes ye, Earl of Suddie, because ye remind her of her son!”
“And yet I am human, and she knows I shall die long before she moves on from Seven Cairns.If she loved me as much as ye say, why would she not offer me immortality?”
“No one can offer immortality other than Bride and Cerridwen.”
Grant allowed himself a smile.The doubt had returned to Morrigan’s voice.“And who is Mairwen the daughter of, foolish one?Who are her mothers?”He prayed the rumors were true because, if they were, Morrigan would know them as well.She would not, however, expect him to be aware of them.
Silence fell again.The wind ceased to blow, and the crash of the waves disappeared.For the first time since entering the unholy bowels, Grant felt as if the evil writhing through the darkness had somehow lessened.Maybe even disappeared.
“She’s gone,” Jessa said, her voice breathy as though the mere act of speaking exhausted her.“I can’t feel her anymore.”
“Neither can I.”He didn’t add that he knew she would return.The legends sang of the Morrigan’s vindictiveness and jealousy.She never relinquished a battle without a fight.“Stay close.The roof of this feckin’ birdcage is a brittle rock.’Tis my hope to shatter it so I can move the bars and free ye.”
“I’ll rest while you work on that.”
“No.Ye must stay awake.Do ye hear me, woman?”
“Just let me close my eyes for a minute.”
He crouched and reached for her with both arms, silently cursing the damnable bars that separated them.“Jessa, my love.Please stay awake.If ye give in to the weariness, ye may never open yer eyes again, and I canna bear the thought of that.”
When she worked her arms through the bars and tried to hug him, his heart soared.
