a wizard who will rise and try to rule the plane.”
His eyes flared. “Myrddin?”
I had to hope he would believe me. This Myrddin seemed to be a powerful magician. “I don’t know. That’s why I was stealing the book of prophecy. Erna and I decided the best way to help Dean was to know as much about the prophecy concerning him as possible.”
“Kelsey will never stop telling me I told you so,” he said with a sigh. “At least the queen will be happy. Dean’s mother is from the Earth plane, I take it?”
“Yes, she was kidnapped while she was pregnant. She found her way to the Vampire plane and he was raised here.”
Marcus groaned and fell back on the bed. “If Myrddin is bad, we have much trouble coming our way. At least the queen is at Council headquarters. She’ll make sure he can’t do too much damage until we can return. You will come with us and we will take the boy to Venice. Kelsey can train him there far from Myrddin’s influence.”
At least he believed me about Dean. And that was a little confusing. “Just like that?”
“Of course. I told you. I am yours, bella. That means I will aid you in any way I can.”
I couldn’t quite believe he was real. “I just told you I killed all the people I loved.”
He sighed, a deeply content sound. “Well, I’ve likely killed far more than you. I murdered many at my turn. It took Louis hours to get to me. I ate everyone who came into contact with me. It was a bloodbath. I wasn’t neat back then. Trust me. Your ashes were far cleaner than my piles of bodies. I killed three lions as well. Tore them apart. So, no I’m not shocked. We don’t live in the human world. Our world can be brutal. Did you intend to kill them?”
“Of course not.”
“Then lie back down with me. I still have some questions.”
I settled back in, cuddling against his body. The minute I touched him, I felt better. Calmer. Settled. I let my hand roam across his chest and felt him sigh. “What kind of questions? I told you I don’t remember a lot.”
“Yes, I find that interesting,” he remarked. “Your mentor could not tell you what happened? I assume she was there at the time. Did you keep your experiments from her as well?”
“No.” I’d needed Erna and she’d believed in me. The fact that she was still standing by me meant something. She wasn’t the kindest of souls. She could be harsh, but she was loyal. I could count on her. I’d clung to her those first few months when I’d taken the collar and cut myself off from the magic I’d relied on all of my life. “She helped me. She thought Haweigh was being too cautious and that I needed more time to get better. I showed great promise in being able to travel across planes without using a doorway. It’s a rare talent and highly prized.”
“So she betrayed Haweigh’s trust.”
He didn’t understand. “She was trying to help me. She couldn’t have known what would happen. I’d never shown signs of being violent. I’d lost control from time to time, but the worst that would happen is I would break the dishes when I tried to float them.”
Marcus was quiet for a moment. “I’m surprised she was able to save herself.”
“She realized what was going on quickly. Apparently it happens sometimes with witches. Witches who have power but not control. They can burn out. Literally.”
“Was she the one who suggested binding your powers and taking a permanent human form?”
I hated to think about that time. “Yes, she came up with the idea of the charm. We needed something physical to hold the spell. It’s difficult magic, but it only failed once. The barbarian king who keeps coming after me caught me a year ago. I’m not sure how it happened, but the charm came off. I suspect he used magic. He won’t do it again since I killed two hundred of his men without even thinking about it.”
“But not him?”
“He wasn’t close enough to me. When I get like that I don’t think logically. I had Erna make a more powerful charm and it’s worked ever since.”
He toyed with the collar around my neck. “It simply dropped off?”
I didn’t like to think about that day. “Yes. They had come to take me to Turi. All I remember is they were pulling me