must be Sean she saw in her vision. If Mahon and Keegan aren’t back, stay for supper.”
“Cook it, you mean.”
“Well, of course,” he agreed in his cheerful way. “But I enjoy the company and the children as well as the food.”
She gave him a swat as he walked to the door. “And when will you finally ask Morena to wed you so she’ll cook your supper?”
“She’s a terrible cook, as you know very well. And I’ll be asking her when she is ready to say yes, and not before.”
“Why not give her a bit of a push?” Aisling wondered when he shut the door. Then she sighed, said, “Blessed be, brother,” and walked back to the window to look out on her children.
She’d kill for them. She’d die for them, she thought as she folded her hands over the life growing inside her. Now she could only hope Breen would fight for them, and all the children in all the worlds.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
She worked and practiced until moonsrise. She ate, and gratefully, the roast beef and vegetables Sedric prepared. Though Marg urged her to stay, Breen insisted on going back to her cottage.
She wanted the space, the quiet, and she wanted to sit down and write out every detail about what had happened.
Writing it down would help her remember those details so, hopefully, she wouldn’t make the same mistakes again.
When she settled into bed with Bollocks curled in front of the fire she could now light with a thought—progress!—she started to put rosemary under her pillow.
Then, thinking of the vision in the farmhouse kitchen, she set it aside. Maybe it was time to welcome dreams, whatever they might hold.
So she dreamed again of the black castle with its walls like glass, of the stony island on which it rose, and the raging sea below the sheer cliffs.
The god stood on a wide balcony on the topmost tower. His black cloak swirled as he threw dark bolts of light at the sky and sent it to boiling.
His eyes gleamed with rage, his face a mask of fury.
From that boiling sky rain, sharp as arrow tips, fell. On the ground below and on the cliffs, those who served him screamed and scattered and sought cover from the lethal storm.
Some the arrows pierced and burned through like acid. Some the whirling wind lifted up and tossed into the thrashing sea.
Buildings that had begun to rise again from the rubble on the cliffs toppled and crashed.
And still, Odran’s wrath did not abate.
Yseult stepped out. The gale whipped at her bloodred hair, at the gown of the same color. In the dream, Breen could read the fear in her eyes no matter how she tried to hide it.
“My king, my liege, my all.”
He spun around, clamped his hand around her throat, and lifted her off her feet. She didn’t resist. Though the fear spiked, she didn’t resist.
“You failed! You were to bring her to me. Why should I not hurl you into the sea? Why should I not see your body break on the rocks?”
Instead, he threw her onto the floor of the balcony. Breen saw pain mix with the fear, but Yseult gathered herself to kneel at Odran’s feet.
“All the power I own is yours to command. I would hurl myself onto the rocks if you command it. She has more than we believed, more rising up in her than we knew. But my king, my lord, this knowledge is to your benefit.”
“It would benefit if you fulfilled your duty.”
“More has awakened in her. When you have her, you won’t have to wait, not long, to drink her powers. She will become much sooner than we believed. And when you drink her dry, on that glorious day, no door will be locked to you, no world will be barred against you.”
She bowed her head. “My king, my liege, my all, I am loyal only to you. I have forsaken all oaths but my oath to you. With the black magicks, I joined with you, with the blood of seven virgins, I helped you restore your castle. And I will fulfill my oath to help you rebuild your glorious city, to help you take your throne above all gods, above all worlds, and crush to dust any who go against you.”
She lifted her head. “I beg you, Odran the Incomparable, not to take my life in anger. If you must have my death, let it be taken in cold blood, with cold mind, and on the