“Tell me then,” he sneered. “If you know so much, then what is it that I plan to do with you, Moira? I certainly can’t let you go, not after you followed mehere.”
“You cantryto do whatever you like.” I shrugged. “I’m not backing down, and I’m not running away. If I have to stand here on this lawn for a year, Iwill.”
“I won’t be here in a year, and you know it. I’m taking the wraiths back into the mortal realm where they will feast foryears.”
That was what he said, but I didn’t truly believe him. If he wanted to rush the mortals, then why hadn’t he already? He’d hung around Edinburgh until we’d caught on to his hiding place, and now he was hiding out here. Nothing about the way he held himself suggested that he was in any hurry. In fact, he almost lookedrelaxed.
“We’ll see,” was all Isaid.
Lugh narrowed his eyes. He stalked across the lawn, coming to a stop only inches from my chest. With flickering dark eyes, he stared down at me. A strange light shone in one, but it was quickly doused by that impenetrable darkness. Power pulsed from his body, curling against my skin. It almost made me shudder in response, so familiar was the magic eking from his nightmareform.
“You think you can get to me like this,” he whispered. “You think your words and your presence here can warp my mind, make me forget mymission.”
Those were odd words. Why would Wraith Lugh be distracted by my presence.Unless...
“But you are forgetting who and what I truly am. A nightmare.” He hissed the last word into my face, turned, and then stalked away, his cloak flapping in a sudden wind. “Be gone from here, Moira. I will give you sixty seconds to begin your flee from this place. After that point...” He stopped to shoot a sharp glare over his shoulder. “I will send my nightmare wraiths to end you once and forall.”
Lugh whirled and continued toward the castle. All I could do was stare after him, heartbeat racing. Surely he didn’t mean that. He couldn’t be serious. Even Wraith Lugh wouldn’t sic his nightmares on me...right?
But he would. Because as much as I sought out signs that my Lugh was still lurking inside that body, I knew he was gone. And I now had less than sixty seconds to get the hell out ofdodge.
Gasping, I twisted toward the tree-line. My feet sunk into the soft ground as I threw myself forward. I didn’t know how many wraiths Lugh had managed to round up here, but I had no intention of sticking around to findout.
I dodged the trees, my feet throwing up dirt as I sped into the forest. My enhanced ears flicked on, and I listened as the sound of a hundred footsteps charged through the forest behind me. Memories flooded my mind of a time so long ago. Decades had passed, but the memories felt as fresh as the day they hadhappened.
Wraiths stalking me. Wraiths pinning me to theground.
I couldn’t let that happenagain.
Tears burned my eyes, blurring my vision. A stick rose out of the ground, seemingly from nowhere. It flew up and hit me square in the face. Pain lanced through my nose, blood spurting onto mylips.
I risked a glance over my shoulder. There were dozens of them. Black figures curved over, stalking through the darkness of the forest. They all wore identical black cloaks and hoods that obscured their faces from view. Monstrous creatures. Soulless.Hungry.
Hungry forme.
Fear was leaking out of me. I couldn’t contain it, even though it was like candy for these creatures. I had to keeprunning.
Sucking in a deep breath, I pushed aside the pain and continued on. No matter how close they got, I just kept running. Arms pounding. Feet brushing the leaf-strewn ground. Eyes blurring from the tears pouring out of myeyes.
Eventually, I reached the next tree-line. But when I pushed through the bushes, I didn’t see the Lake of the Dragon’s Mouth rippling beneath thesun.
I saw...thecastle.
Horror churning through my gut, I shook my head and stumbled back. Somehow, I had ended up exactly where I’d been. I’d gone in a circle. I hadn’t escaped the wraiths. I’d run straight back into theirpath.
The wraiths flew out of the woods while even more formed a line blocking me from running toward the castle. I tried to count their number, but it was impossible. Fifty? A hundred? More? Enough to destroy the world, that much wascertain.
And enough to kill me withinseconds.
I held up my hands, scanning the crowd of hooded nightmares for Lugh. My heart still yearned for him, even after all of this. Maybe if he saw me, trapped like this, I could convince him to let me go. I had to believe that deep down inside, he did not wish to see me killed likethis.
But he was nowhere to be seen. He’d ordered the wraiths to take me down and then had vanished into the castle. He didn’t even care enough to watch. I was nothing tohim.
He was right. My Lugh wasgone.
Closing my eyes, I pictured his face in my mind. Soon, the nightmares would begin, and his face would transform into the beast who wanted nothing more than to see me destroyed. I wanted to remember him one last time, as the male he had been, the two of us against theworld.
His face flickered in my mind. Wicked smile. Glint in his dark eyes. Warm hands caressing mybody.
