Dreams of a Dark Warrior (54 page)

Regin jerked her head around. Through the rain, she spotted the soothsayer strol ing along the beach

toward them. Nïx?
She
was the one Regin had sensed?

The soothsayer had white sunblock on her nose, high-heeled flops, a wide-brimmed hat—and Bertil

perched on her shoulder. Her T-shirt read: I Lost My Heart on Immortal Island.

“Nïx!” she cried. “Is Chase going to live?”

“Dearling, it’s up to fate now.”

“Back in New Orleans, you asked me what I would do to break the curse. I said just about anything

then. Now I’m saying
anything
! Tel me what to do, Nïx!”

“Al that could be done has been. Now as soon as everyone gets here, Malkom wil be a dear and trace

us off the island.” She turned to Carrow. “Until then, good witch, a round of freedom for Regin’s friends!

And for … him.” She pointed to Lothaire.

He intoned, “Valkyrie.”

“Vampire,” she said in greeting. The bat unfurled its wings aggressively.

Regin gathered Chase’s head into her lap, frantical y smoothing the hair from his cool forehead. When

Brandr’s hand covered her shoulder, her tears fel , splatting against Chase’s cheek. “Wh-what are you

doing here, Nïx?”

“You know how it goes, had some miles about to expire. And it’s just like you said. A little vacay was al I needed!”

Her voice thick, Regin asked, “Is Lucia safe? Did she face Cruach without me?”

“Cruach is no more! She and Garreth MacRieve took him out forever.”

Cruach’s dead.
Regin’s mind could hardly wrap around the idea.

“The two lovebirds are here on the island,” Nïx continued, “hoofing it to get to you.”

Lothaire stalked toward Carrow. “Free me, and be quick about it.”

“That’s right,” Nïx said. “You’l want to be at ful power before the wolf arrives. Since you broke his

female’s neck down in the Amazon. Directly after you woke La Dorada.”

Regin gaped. “He did
what
?”

“Witch,
now,
” he grated.

“Don’t get pissy with me, leech.” With a glare, Carrow pressed her print to his torque. “Even tapped out,

I can stil do a love spel to make you fal in love—with the sun.”

When the col ar dropped to the ground, Lothaire rol ed his head on his neck. But instead of

disappearing immediately, he traced to stand mere feet from Nïx.

A towering vampire with skin like marble and chil ingly flawless features was staring down a petite

Valkyrie with crazed eyes and a cryptic smile.

The tension between the two was palpable. Even on the verge of flipping the fuck out, Regin couldn’t

look away.

“The Accession grinds on, does it not?” Lothaire said.

“Just like old times.” Nïx winked. “Alas, Dorada wil come for you once she rises again.”

“I’l be ready.” He narrowed his red eyes. “You’ve likely foreseen this moment. Tel me, are we to fight

now? As in the past?”

“You defy foresight, Lothaire.”

“That’s only fair, Phenïx, since you’ve long defied insight.”
Phenïx?

Nïx canted her head. “What does your Endgame tel you?”

“That white queen wil never take black king.” He gave her a formal bow. “Until our next match.”

“There won’t be a next match, vampire.”

His brow creased into a frown, the Enemy of Old disappeared.

With a lackadaisical air—as if she just hadn’t been toe-to-toe with the Lore’s most-feared fiend—Nïx

strol ed over to Regin. “Tsk, tsk.” She gazed down at Chase. “He was such a cute boy. He gave me a

hug good-bye that day at the fair, even though he thought I was a fortune-tel er crone.”

Regin swung her head up. “You
saw
him?”

“Saw who?”

“Nïx!”

“Regin!”

Inhale. Exhale. Pet Chase’s forehead. Don’t go crazy like her.

Lucia arrived then, hand in hand with Garreth MacRieve. “Regin, thank gods, you’re al— who are you

holding?”

Out of the corner of her lips, Carrow said, “That’s the guy I was tel ing you about.”

Lucia’s eyes went wide. “This isn’t the man who … tortured you?”

“It’s complicated, Luce. J-just help me get him back to Val Hal .”

“Help
him
?” Garreth growled. “After he tortured my cousin Uil eam? Who, incidental y, is seconds

behind us and bent on mauling this mortal.”

Freed of his col ar, Brandr stepped up. “He’l have to go through me.” His eyes glowed, his muscles

burgeoning.

Natalya flared her poisonous claws. “And me.”

Thad bowed up his chest. “Me, too.”

Garreth looked ready to tangle. Lucia plucked her bowstring, her loyalties torn. A howl sounded in the

near distance, footfal s crashing closer. …

It was Malkom who broke up the tension. “The magister tortured me, as wel .”

Great, another hater.
“You got your revenge, demon! You want more?”

“I have Carrow because of him,” Malkom said. “I want no revenge. I seek to repay.”

Carrow gazed up at Malkom like a sap. “Let’s start by tracing him the hel out of Dodge.”

FIFTY-SIX

F
or two days, Chase lay in her bed at Val Hal , pale, stil , his heartbeat so sporadic that at times she thought he’d … died.

Brandr had paced a hole in the rug, while Regin struggled to hold on to hope.

No one had any idea what would happen, not even Nïx, who’d only absently said, “Such a sweet little

boy.”

Now, as another morning broke, Regin rechecked the curtains, ensuring that no light reached him. “Wil

you stay with him, Brandr? I need to go downstairs for a bit.”
To go on a fool’s errand.

“Of course.”

She leaned down and kissed Chase’s damp forehead. Strapping on her borrowed sword, she marched

from her bedroom, down the stairs, and out the front door of Val Hal .

Thad and Natalya were on the porch swing, drinking coffee and holding vigil with Nïx.

Regin’s sisters had initial y taken issue with a half vamp like Thad and a dark fey like Natalya gaining

entry past the wraiths, but Regin had been adamant about their staying.

Thad asked her, “Is DC going to be okay?”

“He’s
totally
gonna pul through,” Regin said, but even she recognized that she sounded half-hysterical, her words tinged with that out-of-place confidence people had when staring down a gun barrel.

“Don’t be long, Regin!” Nïx cal ed. “And if you see Bertil, tel that little scal ywag that it’s past his

bedtime!”

Huh. Nïx is
literal y
batshit cray-cray.

Regin tossed her hair tol to the wraiths in order to cross their guard. With their forbidding presence

and brute strength, those flying, spectral creatures kept anything out of—or in—the Valkyrie’s manor.

But the yard was another matter. Regin cast a murderous look at the crowd gathered along Val Hal ’s

drive. They were like vultures, waiting there either to celebrate Chase’s death—or to kil him.

The only thing that kept them from advancing? The recently repaired driveway gate, imbued with

Carrow’s protection spel .

Regin flipped the crowd off with both hands, bobbling her birds up and down for good measure while

mouthing,
Suck it.
Then she headed to the swamp on Val Hal ’s property.

Near the water’s edge she stopped beside a monument, one that looked total y out of place in the

bayou: a Norse rune stone, draped with swamp moss, on “indefinite loan” from a Scandinavian museum

of natural history.

Taking a deep breath, she knelt in front of it. Clearing her throat, she muttered, “Are you there, Wóden,

it’s me Regin.” She gave a nervous laugh.

“I know you and Freya sleep, and that praying to you is probably just a big fat waste of time. But I have

to try. Seems I’l try anything.” Another steadying breath. “So, Wóden, I need you to do me a solid and

save the life of Declan Chase, a.k.a. Aidan the Fierce. …”

She trailed off.
This is stupid.
She needed to be by Chase’s side, not talking to inanimate objects.

What if he … dies while I’m gone?
She swal owed. Then he’d stil be
gone
. Attention back on the rock, she said, “Look, I know I’m not your favorite daughter, never have been. But I’m stil your daughter! If

you’re punishing Aidan for his hubris, then know that you’re punishing me too. No, you’re
destroying
me.”

Though she tried to bite back the words, out they came: “I’ve
hated
you for this! How can you do this to me? For a thousand years, I’ve lived with this curse, when I should have been living with him.”

Her voice broke, and embarrassing tears streamed down her face. “P-please … please just let me

have him this time.”

Nothing. Only the sounds of the swamp waking from the night. She hadn’t expected lightning to hurl

down or anything, but she’d hoped for a glimmer of a sign, anything to give her hope.

Instead, she’d just become deeply aware of how insignificant she was, of how her prayers meant

nothing.

Which pissed her off.

She shot to her feet and kicked the stone. That felt good. So she shoved her braids out of her tear-

streaked face and kicked it again. “I’ve never asked you for
anything
!” She drew her borrowed sword, slamming it against the rock so hard her blade and arm vibrated. “Wake—the—hel —up!” Another swing.

“I can’t lose him again!” She dropped the sword, launching her fist against the rock. Just as Aidan had in ages past.

As sobs racked her body, she pummeled her forearms against the stone.
“L-let me have him.”

A hand rested on her shoulder, and she stil ed. Lucia, as silent as ever. “Sister, calm yourself.”

Regin turned, unsteady, sucking in a lungful of air.

Lucia’s eyes widened at her appearance. “My gods, Regin. You real y want him this much? I stil don’t

understand. Carrow said he’d tortured you.”

She squared her shoulders. “So our courtship was rocky. When have I ever done anything normal y?”

Lucia inclined her head, conceding the point.

“Besides, you’re with a
werewolf,
Luce. I don’t want to hear it.”

“Engaged to him, actual y. We were just waiting to find you before we have a grand-scale royal

ceremony.” For secretive Lucia to be the center of attention that big …? She must truly want MacRieve.

“The wolf was okay with you waiting for me?”

“I explained that I could never do something that important without my wingman.”

Regin tried for a smile and failed. “Yeah, wel , that’s the least you can do since you two ganked Cruach

without me.” After al these centuries, Lucia was final y freed of her worst nightmare.

“I didn’t have a choice, Regin. Since you were tied up with your … courtship.”

“Did Lothaire real y break your neck?”

“Oh, yeah.” Lucia unconsciously rubbed her nape. “Garreth went bal istic.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to sacrifice your archery mojo for MacRieve.” Lucia would forfeit her

fantastical skil with a bow if she was unchaste. “Who am I gonna hang out with when you’re a talentless

nobody?”

Lucia quirked a brow at that. “I don’t have to sacrifice it. Turns out, it’s been my own skil for some

time.”

“Wow. That’s great, Luce.” Everything was working out for her. “You deserve this happiness after

you’ve waited so long.”
But so do I!

“Now, come on.” Lucia reached forward to sweep her thumbs under Regin’s eyes. “Things are getting

tense around the manor. Even more beings are lining up to take out your man.”

“I’l kil them al .”

“Though Garreth’s cousin Uil eam isn’t among that mob, he wil seek revenge in the future. Apparently,

Chase had him … vivisected. What would you do to my fiancé’s cousin then?”

Regin tapped her ear. “Hel ooo, you got something in your ears? I said, I’l —kil —them—al . Including

anyone in your wolf pack, if you don’t make with the royal decree and declare my man off-limits.”

“Huh.” Lucia tilted her head. “I could do that, couldn’t I?”

“Yep.” As Regin picked up her sword, she gazed at the stone one more time, laying her palm against it.

She silently cried,
Please!

Lucia put her arm around her shoulders. “You know Wóden can’t hear you.”

“Didn’t figure it could hurt.”

“Lothaire’s blood is strong,” Lucia said. “It might stil work. But don’t depend on our father for this.”

Yet as they walked back to Val Hal , a warm breeze blew against Regin’s face, almost like a caress.

Declan’s eyes flashed open, and he sucked in a deep breath.
Where am I? Where’s Regin?
Gaze

darting, he shot upright in bed.

Brandr was there. “Easy, friend. You’re safe—your woman’s safe. She’l return directly.” As thunder