A Strange Hymn
Page 69

The fairy reappears in front of me, brandishing a dagger.
“Shit.” I jerk back just as he slashes it across my chest. Silk rips as his blade cuts through my dress, and a line of blood blooms in its wake, seeping into the frayed material.
The sting of pain and the thick rush of adrenaline is enough to call out my siren. My skin illuminates, and yessss, I can feel my own viciousness rising.
The man backs away, his eyes drinking me in. “A shame to kill you when I could keep you as a pet.”
His words are the very thing I need to push me over the edge.
I come at him, feeling the wild, chaotic power I was born with.
Men like him die by my hand.
I swing at him. Left, right, my own instincts now bolstered by my training.
He dodges the hits, his eyes brightening like Des’s so often do when he gets excited.
The fairy vanishes.
I spin just as he appears at my back, lunging at me with his knife.
Oh God, he doesn’t just look like Des, he fights like him too, disappearing and manifesting at will.
I bring up my arm, blocking the swing, and then I grab his wrist, twisting with all my strength.
He winks out of existence, but not before he releases his weapon.
I swipe it off the ground as he forms at my back. I just barely miss his fist, but I’m unable to avoid the booted kick to my back.
I grunt, sprawling across the grass. Dagger still in hand, I scramble to get back on my feet, unable to roll away because of my unwieldy wings.
Before I can, I feel my attacker’s fist thread into my hair. He yanks my head back. With a shriek, I turn into the motion, twisting and swiping out with my stolen blade. The knife cuts through the air, slicing into my attacker’s side.
Hissing in air, he releases my hair and steps back.
I rotate to face him, my lungs heaving.
Almost in a daze, he touches his side. He stares at his bloody fingers, shocked.
Bloodlust surges in me.
I rise to my feet, my wings billowing out in a show of power.
The fairy’s face morphs, turning sinister. “You cut me.”
I smile at his anger and his words.
I’ll take and take and take until this fairy is nothing but pulp and bones.
My surroundings darken.
“Cherub,” Des says, appearing at my side and dragging the darkness along with him, “what are you doing out … ?”
His words die away when he catches sight of my attacker. “You.”
Across from us, the fairy’s cruel mouth curves.
“Hello, my son.”
Chapter 49
Son?
But Des’s father was supposed to be …
“You died on my sword, Galleghar,” Des says. He stares at the fairy like one would a ghost. By all rights, he is a ghost.
His father—Galleghar—tilts his head. “Did I?”
My eyes dart between the two men. The similarities between them are uncanny. No wonder there were so many rumors of Des being the last person seen with the missing soldiers. His father has been haunting these woods.
“Desmond!” Mara shrieks from somewhere in the distance. “Coward! Come back and finish the fight.” She sounds like a broken woman.
Galleghar uses the momentary distraction to disappear. A second later the air behind me stirs. That’s all the warning I get.
The fairy’s arms wrap around me. A second later I’m jerked off my feet and into the sky. He propels the two of us high into the night air.
“What do you think your mate desires more—love or life?” he whispers into my ear as my mate charges after us.
I struggle against him. Higher and higher the two of us shoot into the sky.
“Why don’t we find out?” Des’s father says.
His arms open, and abruptly I slip from them.
I hear Des shout as I pinwheel in the sky.
At the moment my wings might as well be useless. I can’t get my bearings, and the oak grove is growing bigger and bigger beneath me.
All at once I’m scooped out of the air and into Des’s arms.
“I’ve got you,” he says.
No sooner does he speak than Galleghar appears at the Bargainer’s back, his hands braced against Des’s wings. He jerks sharply on them, and I hear the snapping of bones.
He broke my mate’s wings!
Des roars in agony and anger, those massive wings folding at an unnatural angle. And his father, his damnable father, laughs, disappearing just as quickly as he appeared.
The Bargainer tucks his broken wings around me as the two of us tumble, trying to shield me from harm despite him being the injured one.
Several seconds later, we slam into the treetops, and Des grunts as he takes the brunt of the force. The two of us tumble from branch to branch until we finally hit the earth below.
I moan as I stare up at Des. His eyes are unfocused with pain, but he rises to his feet without hesitation, pulling me with him.
“Going so soon?” Galleghar appears on a branch before us.
Even battered and broken, I feel Des’s fury. My normally contained mate is losing his long practiced control.
The shadows gather and spill over the forest.
The man above us may have sired my mate, he may even know a few tricks that Des doesn’t, but right now the darkness is bending to the Bargainer’s will, not his father’s.
Des’s entire body hums with pent up rage. I can feel that unnatural wrath churning beneath his skin.
“How did you escape death?” Des demands.
Galleghar gives his son an indulgent look. “As the Lord of Secrets, you should know better than to ask.” He hops off the branch, and I get my first good look at the wings spread out behind him.
They could be carbon copies of Des’s own wings except Galleghar’s talons look a little bigger, his wingspan might be a little narrower, and the skin of his wings is soot black, not silver. They fold behind him as his feet hit the ground and he begins to stride towards us.
“How I have longed for this reunion,” he says. “How I will savor killing you.” His eyes land on me. “Maybe I’ll be merciful and keep your mate for my new harem—I’ll save her for only my most unspeakable acts. Kings have their needs.”
Okay, this fucker needs to go down.
Des releases me slowly, stepping forward. Darkness pours off him in waves.
Galleghar disappears in the next instant, reappearing right in front of Des, his arm cocked.
The Bargainer dodges the hit, then, grabbing the collar of Galleghar’s shirt, thrusts his own fist into Galleghar’s face. Before he lands the blow, both men disappear. They materialize in the sky above me, grappling as they fall. And then they vanish once more, winking into and out of existence over and over again.
My already trembling heart lodges itself in my throat. My mate is mighty, but he’s fighting the one man who might be his match. And unlike his father, Des’s wings are broken.
I hear the two leviathans roaring as they fight, the world shaking with claps of their power as their magic meets.
Never have I felt so useless as I stare up into the sky.
“He’ll be fine.”
I jolt as the Green Man steps out from the dark woods, his green skin glowing softly in the moonlight.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, edging back a little.
I came into the forest looking for answers. So far, I’ve only been met with questions.
He comes right up to me, reaching out to stroke my dimming skin.
“You are utterly singular,” he says, his finger moving over the scales that dust my arms. His eyes flick to mine. “I find I’ve become quite … enthralled by you.”