“You are Moira. You are the mate of the male who once called himself Lugh, the fae who once resided in this body. Now, stepaside.”
My heart pulsed. His words hurt far more than I cared to admit. It wasn’t as if I’d expected his eyes to clear or for him to tweak my chin with his thumb before pulling me close to his chest. But I’d wanted it. Desperately. With every single bone in my tiredbody.
“So, you’re saying that Lugh is no longer with you,” I said, more to stall than anything else. While we’d been talking, I’d pressed a tiny GPS device in my pocket, alerting the others that I’d found Lugh. They’d be here within moments. Together, we could trap Lugh and take him to the vaults beneath thecastle.
A win-win situation as far as I was concerned. Down in the dark tunnels, he wouldn’t have the reach to cast his nightmarish powers on anyone, and he could take care of all those Sluagh in hisboredom.
And we’d have in him our grasp when we finally found thecauldron.
It was the only hope we had, and I was clinging to the plan like it was my onlylifeline.
To my surprise, the Wraith Lugh tipped his head back and laughed. But the sound was nothing at all like the real Lugh’s laugh. When he really let down his walls, it was a booming, soothing sort of sound that felt like cosy winter nights by a roaringfire.
This, however, was pure ice down myspine.
“I remember everything that has happened, Moira Talmhach. Who you are, what we have done together, and what the male fae Lugh thought, said, did. All of it.” Wraith Lugh sneered. “He wanted you to kill me, did he not? Why are you standing there speaking to me instead of fighting me as you should? Do you not wish to fulfil your prophecy? Do you not wish to rid yourself and this world of me? Or have you forgotten what I shall do now that I am free? The nightmare wraiths are coming, and I will make certain they will come for youfirst.”
Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. His words felt like a sharp stab to the gut, and the look on his face—one of revulsion—was one I was certain I would never forget. Lugh—my Lugh—would never look at me that way. Not even when I’d pretended to be a solitary fae when really I’d been in his Court as a spy. There had always been a wicked glint in his eye, a sparkle, a flash of his real self beneath themask.
This Lugh though…he was pure darkness. It was as if the very core of him had been cut out, only to be replaced by the shadowsthemselves.
His grin stretched wide. “Perhaps Lugh’s time in my body was a gift. I don’t even need to use my powers on you. All I need to do is speak a few words, and the horror is flickering in your eyes, the pain is written all over yourface.”
“Shut up.” A tear fell from my eyes then, betraying me. Not that it mattered. This Lugh, even though he did not possess a soul, seemed capable of peering right into mine. Where the hell was my backup? They should have been there bynow.
“Shall we fight then?” He took a step toward me, shadows rippling across his skin. “They say you are one of the very best sword wielders and that no fae can stand against you. But can you hold your own against a nightmarewraith?”
I swallowed hard, staring up at him. The last thing I wanted to do was fight Lugh. The wraith had done his level best to convince me that the male I knew had been a parasite, lurking inside his body until he’d been kicked out. But I couldn’t believe it. Those pit black eyes were soulless, yes, but they were still Lugh. I had to believe that he was still in there,somewhere.
“I’m not going to fight you,” I finally whispered, though I still kept my sword raised before me. Footsteps pounded on the ground behind me. “I’m going to trapyou.”
Lugh glanced behind me, his expression growing hard. When he spotted Boudica, Warin, and Nero charging into the close, he tipped back his head and roared. The sound thundered against the building walls that surrounded us, and tremors shook the ground. I stumbled back, eyes wide at the intensity of his power. I’d been attacked by nightmare wraiths as a child, but I’d never seen them quite likethis.
He was a hell of a lot more powerful than I’dthought.
“Idiots.” He laughed, that eerie sound that scratched at my ears. “You think you can trap me? I am a nightmare wraith. Do you truly know nothing about what Iam?”
“I know that we can’t let you roam the Edinburgh streets, attacking innocent mortals.” Boudica strode up to my side, her own sword in her hands. I hoped she didn’t truly plan on usingit.
“Where will you put me then?” Wraith Lugh twisted his gaze toward me and smiled. “In the castle? You think that hideous place could truly containme?”
I glanced at Boudica. “Why wouldn’tit?”
He let out that booming, terrifying laugh and shot his hands out by his sides. Instantly, shadows engulfed him, pulsing around his tall, muscular body like a shield. It reminded me of something I’d seen before—Quentin’s power, his ability to vanish from one place and appear inanother.
“Shit!” I dropped my sword and rushed forward, diving deep into the very shadows themselves, no longer fearing for my ownsafety.
My arms made contact with absolutely nothing. Instead, I tumbled forward, knees slamming hard into the stoneground.
Wraith Lugh had been right. We’d gone up against him while having no knowledge of his abilities, what his powers were. And, as it turned out, they were far greater than we’d thought. Just like Quentin, he could vanish into thenight.
15
“He won’t go far.”Warin charged forward to help me stand from where I’d splatted onto the cobblestones. My knees ached, but my whirling adrenaline helped dull the pain. “He’s stalking the streets of Edinburgh for areason.”
“He’ll want some energy.” Saoirse stepped out of the shadows, joining the rest of us in a huddled circle at the end of the close. “It will be a long time since he has fed. He’shungry.”
“Fed on fear you mean?” Iasked.
