dark-haired witch chuckled at the action.
“What are you doing here?” Torin demanded.
Shea sensed the tension in him. Every muscle in his body tightened, coiled, as if he were preparing to spring into attack. Shea stared at their adversary and had to admit she didn’t look dangerous. But there was an air of darkness surrounding her that sent warning bells ringing in Shea’s mind.
Torin kept his gaze fixed on the other woman. “What do you want here?”
Kellyn laughed dismissively and one eyebrow winged up.
Shea watched her. “Mairi told me that you weren’t supposed to have come into the Awakening yet.”
“Not everything moves to the schedule of the grand dear High Priestess,” Kellyn mused, her eyes sliding toward the stone staircase behind her that led to the chapel.
Shea followed the woman’s gaze, half expecting to see her aunt Mairi step through the open doorway. The last time Shea and Torin were here at the castle, they’d had to avoid the ambushers and race through the great hall to the back wall of the chapel to gain entrance. Had Kellyn arranged that trap? Probably. She had been working against them from the beginning, Shea realized.
“No men with guns today?” she asked.
“I don’t need guns.” Kellyn sneered and shook her head. “That ambush was not my doing.”
“And we’re to believe you?” Torin taunted.
Shea touched him briefly and felt his anger pumping through him. “What do you want, Kellyn? Why are you here? Now?”
“What do I want? Where should I begin?” She laughed, then changed the subject entirely. “How is Mairi?” she asked, her tone clearly indicating that she didn’t give a damn. “Still pontificating? Still warning all and sundry about the evils of too much power? Don’t suppose she bothers to recall that she too gave in?” Kellyn laughed again. “Remember, Shea? How she sent all of us out into the world, hiding shards of the Artifact?”
“Of course I—”
“But not her,” Kellyn mused, moving closer. “Not the great High Priestess. She didn’t have to go tromping off on an adventure. No, she just sat back and gave orders.” Her features tightened and her pale blue eyes flashed with temper. “Well, I don’t take orders anymore and neither should you.”
Shea’s mind tumbled with broken bits and pieces of the past. The days after that last battle with the demons had been filled with pain and torment and regrets. When together, they broke the Artifact, they had decided, all of them, to cast the spell of atonement and go out into the world, hiding the shards of black silver. Mairi hadn’t given any orders. Not that Shea remembered anyway.
“You’re not here to talk about the past, Kellyn,” Shea said. “So why not get down to what’s really brought you here?”
“You’ve no business here,” Torin thundered, gaze fixed on the woman. “Leave now and there’ll be no trouble.”
“I’m here to talk, Eternal,” she said smiling, lifting both hands as if in surrender.
Shea shouted a warning, convinced the dark-haired witch was going to use magic against them. “Torin!”
“Oh, relax!”
Torin didn’t move. He was a pillar of strength. Coiled power. “What are you doing, Kellyn? If you think to harm Shea, know that I will kill you, Awakening be damned.”
Shea’s heart swelled with pride in him. Strong, relentless, and more powerful than ever thanks to the mating, Torin would be a much more formidable opponent than Kellyn realized.
Shea rested one hand on his back, covering the branding tattoo so that he would feel the burn of her magic sliding into him.
“If I wanted her dead, Eternal,” Kellyn said with a shrug, “she’d be writhing on the ground at your feet.”
The easy, casual way she said it did more to convince Shea than any demonstration of power would have. There was something evil about this witch. Something deadly. Dangerous. Magic flared in her eyes and shimmered around her in a dark red haze as if it were all too much for her body to contain.
Torin speared the woman with a hard glare and spoke quietly. “Shea. Go to Haven. Take the Artifact to safety.”
“That would be a mistake,” Kellyn said.
“And why’s that?”
“I’m sorry.” Kellyn glared at Torin. “Did you assume I was talking to you?”
“Fine, then,” Shea said, stepping out from behind her lover before he had a chance to let his anger explode. “Talk to me.”
“Shea—”
“No, Torin. It’s fine,” she assured him, keeping her gaze fixed on Kellyn. “She won’t hurt me.”
“You know this how?” he demanded.
“Because she needs something from me,” Shea told him, tipping her head to