Catch & Hold-Legend (Legend series) (23 page)

“Show me how to shift there.” I tried another tactic.

“I cannot.”

In that moment it occurred to me that Rolo, who always had a remark to make, had been strangely silent for hours. He had not said a word while I was with Queen Mab or my mother. I frowned and called him to order. “Hey, Rolo, what about you? Anything you can tell us”

“About what, my beloved Princess?”

He sounded not himself—in fact, he sounded teary? I tried again. “Where do you think it is—the world of green and yellow with two moons?”

“I am not aware of what you speak. I have been elsewhere, as I have been sick for you and the sorrow you feel in regards to your mother. We are bonded, you and I, and I find unexpectedly that your sorrows are mine. The essence that is I has been elsewhere trying to scan my abilities for something that would help your mother. I have not been aware of our surroundings while I worked.”

I stroked the bronze disc lovingly. “Aw … Rolo.”

“For pity’s sake,” interjected Danté, “the queen—may we get back to the queen?”

“Rolo, where is the dimension that is green and yellow with two moons?”

“Ah, that would be Monlow—long forgotten.”

“Will you shift us there?”

“I cannot, as you would walk into a trap. I cannot knowingly put you in immediate danger. Gaiscioch has set a trap for all who try to enter his castle on Monlow. You would be instantly burned with Danu dust and then beheaded with his death sword.”

“Can’t you shift us past the trap he has set?”

“I could shift you into the room in which our queen is imprisoned, but then you would be as trapped as she is.”

“Then find a way to break the Golden Net’s magic thread.”

“A task indeed, since it was put in place by the Dark King,” he scoffed.

“Work on it, Rolo. You are our only hope to get to her safely.”

“I shall try, beloved Princess, I shall try.”

I looked at Danté, and he took my hand to his lips. We returned the Orb to its magic room for safekeeping, and then he shifted us to MacDaun. We took that shower we both felt we needed, and maybe we lingered there a bit longer than we intended.

Or maybe lingering there was just what we both had, indeed, intended. The world was falling down around our ears, but it felt so good to be in his arms where he took me away from it all … even if it was just for a little while.

When we were dressed and had checked in on Sally, we heard someone at the front door. Danté put his head in his hands and said, “Deliver me from youngsters. It is Trevor.”

We went together, and Danté opened the front door to find his young brother, now in human Glamour, styled to the nines in Armani jeans and a dark blue sweater, beaming up at him and exploding onto the scene. “Council is finished with me, said I should report to you, so here I am. What’s next?”

He walked in past us and asked, “Are we going to go and save our queen? Have you found out where she is? I am going to kill Gaiscioch with my own two hands, and then shall we go after this Pestale Unseelie thing?”

“Trevor,” Danté cut in to stem the flow.

“Huh?”

“Report to Breslyn and Ete … I think they have their hands full, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they send you to protect Daremont Carrick and BJ near Swords, Ireland. The Carricks’ Dolmen is in danger. They are both mortal, and they are sure to need your help defending it.”

His face fell, and I almost giggled. “But Danté,” he said, “I want to go with you and Radzia.” He turned and grinned at me. “She is going to be my sister, isn’t she? Damn glad of it.”

Danté playfully slapped him across the side of his head and sighed. “Trev, we are off for Dravo. I need to consult with Chancemont about an idea I have, and then we have to find a way of locating our queen.”

“I’ll go with you,” Trevor said, and I caught something in the glint of his eyes that made me think of Lana. Sure, Danté’s brother’s interest had been piqued. Any opportunity to connect with Chance’s sister.

“Let him join us, Danté,” I said softly. “It will be a good experience for him.”

Trevor threw me a grateful glance, and I watched as Danté looked him over. He looked like a young blood, and I could see a light of approval in Danté’s eyes. Of course, Danté didn’t have a clue that Trevor’s main interest in joining us on our visit to Dravo was because of Lana. I smiled to myself as I imagined what Danté would think about his brother and a Milesian.

We arrived in Dravo just outside Chance’s family retreat, a beautifully styled medieval castle totally incongruous with some of the modern habitats in the nearby village. I am always struck by Dravo, which is such a complete wonder, a place with ancient and modern coming together and cohabiting in perfect harmony. It is so very charming.

We didn’t need to bang the huge doorknocker, as Chance’s voice at our backs came loud and clear. “What the devil are ye doing here again?” He was smiling as he took long, hard strides across his cobbled courtyard and added, “No, don’t tell me—I know, ye just coona do without me.”

I went towards him first, felt Danté take hold of my elbow and squeeze, and slowed my progress. No need to set them at each other, so I took a backseat and allowed Danté to go forward, hand outstretched. I was surprised when Chance took it and they actually seemed to appreciate one another. It was amazing what fighting on the same side could do.

“Well then, lovey,” he said, winking at me, “what can I be doing fer ye?”

“Turn it off, Milesian. We have to get to work,” Danté answered impatiently.

However, another matter attracted Chance’s attention, and he groaned as he heard his sister call out, “Trevor!”

We watched Lana rush up to Danté’s young and grinning brother, and then we watched for a moment as the two lapsed into another world—their very own.

Chance shook his head and returned his attention to Danté. “That young’un of yours needs some curbing.”

“Ugh, aye,” moaned Danté. Having watched the two, he’d obviously become all too aware that something was going on between Chancemont’s sister and his brother—something that was sure to complicate his life.

“Better keep an eye on him lest he fall into m’black book, if ye catch m’meaning.”

“If it were to come to that, which it won’t, she couldn’t do better than my Trevor.”

“Is that so? I will ’ave ye know that—”

“Enough. We have real problems to solve,” I stuck in. Taking a backseat didn’t work at all. I would remember that in the future when it came to these two males. Just way too much male thing going on. “Our queen is stuck in a place called Monlow of the green and yellow with two moons. Do you have any idea where we might find that dimension?”

“No, I doona think I ’ave ever heard of it. I’ll be asking m’da when he returns. We have to get your queen back, as she is the only one that can close the largest of the portals. She is the only one that can drive the darkest of the black magic back on Samhain. We canna have these monsters running amok.”

“Do you think your father will know where the dimension is?” Danté asked.

“If he doesn’t, he knows someone who will.”

“Who?” I asked curiously.

“The Wizard Rysdale. They be old friends, and I know m’da can enlist his help.” He turned and stared at his pretty sister a moment before saying sharply, “Eh there, lass, we have to go find Da. Are ye with me?”

She smiled at him and turned reluctantly towards Trevor, and I felt all warm for her. First and young love is adorable. I sighed and saw that both Danté and Chance did not find it adorable at all.

“Later then, Royal buck,” Lana said to Trevor as she flicked his chin and gave him a come hither look that was sure to make him remember her. “Ye and me and that music ye promised.”

* * *

I stopped the tears that fell against my cheek—they were for myself, and I would not pity myself. I had lost my favorite, most amusing and youngest brother. It was difficult to imagine the future without his youthful ways. However, I was Pestale, highest-ranking Dark Royal, and I wouldn’t allow myself to wallow in grief.

I had thought the last time I would ever cry was on the day my father abandoned me—would not listen to my explanation …

I had convinced myself that the emotions my father taught me to feel during my ‘training and learning’ time were useless things—harmful things—and yet … I grieved for my loss.

He was my most loyal and favorite brother. My remaining two were helpless to understand their loss—they were not taught true emotions. By the time my father had created them he was no longer was interested in instilling them with empathy.

They looked disoriented and confused, and I supposed that was their form of grief and loss.

We put his body in a tomb and set it in the tower at the top of the Castle. Morrigu stood with us, and she cried.

I stayed on, after the others left, and lost myself for a moment and fell against the cold stone tomb, but I stilled my tears and turned them into desire—desire for revenge. Ah, but I vowed vengeance as I hugged his tomb.

First, I would kill the little Milesian female who had murdered my brother. Then I would go after all the rest of them, all of them that had stood and watched his pain and done nothing …

A twit of a girl had dared to kill a Royal … my brother, who had been under my protection. I would have her head.

I had a plan, and I meant to begin its machinations within the hour. Now, if only Gais would kill their Queen Aaibhe; it would be the first in a list of horrors the Seelie Fae would have to endure, and that was what I want for them: horror—raw and bloody.

* * *

As it turned out, before Chance left with his sister in search of his father, that gentleman arrived on the scene. Father and son exchanged a few words, and then Chance’s father (who by the way was a slightly older version of Chance and therefore a hunk, as Milesian don’t age either) nodded to us. He said he was on his way to meet Prince Breslyn and round up a few Dark Fae roaming through the streets of Dublin.

“Then, Da … you think Rysdale won’t mind receiving us unannounced?” Chance asked, still evidently uncertain.

His father laughed. “He will be pleased—well pleased to help. You had better hurry though, lad. We are running out of time.”

Chance glanced at us and said, “Ready then … it won’t be like anything you’ve ever encountered before.”

“Where to? Another dimension?” I asked.

He laughed. “In a manner of speaking. We are going to the Wizard’s Lair, outside of Dublin.” He turned to his sister. “
You—stay
.”

“No, I’m coming with you, Chance. I’m safer with you than alone,” she pleaded.

His face scrunched up, and he sighed heavily before he said, “Right then … let’s go, because like Da said, we have so little time left.”

A moment later, we stood in the middle of a forest and I thought I had stepped out onto the pages of a Grimm’s fairytale. It reminded me of Hansel and Gretel; I half expected a witch to appear and rub her hands together.

A stone footpath took us to the front door of what appeared to be an absolutely charming small cottage. Flowers bloomed in pots and window boxes, and the smoke from a fire floated above the chimney. However, oddly enough, the place did
not
set me at ease, because when I glanced over the outside of the cottage, I realized it seemed hazy and out of focus.
Oooh, deep, strong magic at work here—
not necessarily Dark Magic, but different … potent
.

The door opened wide on its own. No one was there, but it seemed to be an invitation. Still not feeling easy about this, I took Danté’s hand. I noticed Lana take Trevor’s, but that was short lived; her brother immediately separated them, held her hand himself, and glared across at young Trevor, who moved respectfully to one side If the world weren’t about to fall apart, this would have been entertaining, but at the moment I didn’t feel much like laughing.

Danté led me forward, Chance followed with Lana, and Trevor brought up the rear. As we stepped inside I got the full essence of this wizard’s power.

The outside looked like a small cottage, but the inside, whoa … the inside was a huge medieval castle whose stone flooring and stone walls were decorated in the style of the thirteen hundreds. The central hall displayed the heart of a castle that was huge and stretched out before us—nothing like the charming cottage we saw outside.

I felt my mouth drop. Nothing was as it seemed. I saw ahead in the large great room furniture that was medieval in design and weapons that, while they looked like ancient swords, gave off vibes that felt like something else altogether. What I couldn’t figure out, because they were clothed in a magic that was not of this world.

And then we saw him—the wizard.

He was tall and lean. He wore a pointed blue hat that sparkled with luminous glitter shaped like stars over a head of luxurious white hair. His eyebrows were made of the same thick, white hair, as was his long, pointed beard.

His blue eyes flashed with immediate understanding as he scanned us one by one. He stepped forward to extend his hand to Chance first, and heartily greeted him. “Hello, my boy … how goes your father?”