asked as he placed the tray on the table between Kelsey and myself. “I thought you were in training.”
“I’m not really into the healing arts,” Dean admitted. “My magic is more about battle than anything else. Who is Myrddin? His name has been mentioned several times, and he occupies some space in the Green Man’s head.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “What do you mean he occupies space?”
“Not going to explain until you start talking.” Dean uncovered the tray. There were sandwiches there. They were illuminated from the glow in the kitchen window. “Sorry it’s pretty plain. Ham and cheese with butter. Erna makes the bread herself. It’s good.”
“At least they have ham.” Kelsey fell on that sandwich like the starving predator she was.
I wasn’t the least bit hungry. I was far more interested in Dean. “Myrddin is a wizard. He’s attached to a sword. On the Earth plane it’s called Excalibur, and the king who wields it is known as the King of the Sword. Myrddin is always the mentor to that king.” It was time to put some of my cards on the table. “I also believe he’s the one who sent your mother off the plane.”
Dean sat back. “I knew it was beginning. I felt it deep in my bones.”
“You have to keep quiet about it,” Kelsey said around a mouthful of ham sandwich. “Because Myrddin is Daniel’s mentor, and he’s got this weird influence over the king and Dev. They act like fan boys around the guy.”
“Huh,” Dean said.
“The wizard has some sort of power over my husbands. I can’t get them to understand that he’s dangerous,” I said. “He’s the reason we’re here. He brought that painting into our home. It’s been sitting there the entire time.”
“I’m sure this is where Dan would say yes, it’s been sitting there and it didn’t do anything.” Kelsey polished off her sandwich and looked longingly at mine. I nodded and she sighed. “No. You need your strength.”
I wasn’t the one with a wolf to feed. “Please eat it. I’m not hungry and we need you strong and stable.” Kelsey could go crazy when she didn’t get the things she needed. And then there was the fact that she was pregnant. I had to think about that before I sent her off into battle. She took the sandwich without another argument. “I would point out to my husband that patience is something Myrddin has shown time and time again. He stayed away for an entire decade, after all. I’m sure he was making deals with demons. There’s a reason he’s known as Satanspawn. He’ll pull something when the Council has its meetings with demonkind.”
Dean had gone stiff. “She mentioned the spawn. The witch who read my fortune that day. I might not remember all of it, but she said those words. Beware the spawn.”
“It’s a theme,” Kelsey said. “Gray mentioned it, too. Do you think Myrddin meant to get rid of all of us? Or was that painting there for a specific reason? Gray called it a trick and a trap. I thought he’d been talking about something else, but now I can see what he meant. Did he mean for Donovan to fall through?”
Myrddin’s reasoning was something I’d been trying to tackle for hours. “I don’t know. I wonder if he didn’t mean to cause a problem and then rush in to save the day. It would give him even more leverage when it came to Danny and Dev. I think he wants to make sure I don’t have any influence.”
“He wouldn’t have to do that,” Dean said. “After all, he planted that spell inside the Green Man. How did he do it? I wasn’t sure what it was when I saw it the first time, but listening to you now I get it. It’s subtle, but he couldn’t have done it without the Green Man knowing what was going on. I mean, the god thing is pretty powerful.”
“What are you talking about?”
Dean stared at me for a moment like he couldn’t quite believe I didn’t understand. “Uh, the thrall stone in the Green Man. When he said he was the partner to a king, I figured it was like a bonding mechanism. Kings do some weird shit to ensure loyalty. But like I said, he would have known when it was inserted. You can’t exactly shove a stone into someone and not have them know. The way the thrall stone works, it’s not like you wouldn’t