Page 110 of The Rebel Seer

“Don’t know. Don’t care. It won’t affect us here, so that sounds like an Earth plane problem,” Eoin says with a smirk. “We’ll be fine on this plane. I’ll take over as king, put down that son of yours and his rebels, and we’ll live like kings. Because we’ll be kings. At least I will.”

“It won’t work that way,” I argue. “If he closes the door, it won’t simply be for one timeline. That door to Heaven is not ruled by time. It will affect everyone.”

Eoin shrugs. “Not how he explained it to me, and honestly, I don’t care. I’m tired of watching a man I once admired humble himself for a woman. He could have been great, was great. When he slaughtered the creatures he thought murdered his beloved, he had a backbone. He took out his competition, and it was a magnificent thing to see. I had some small hope when he announced his betrothal to Ostara that he might let go of this ridiculous dream that he could get you back. But it was all another plot. You are the only thing he thinks of, and if the wizard didn’t point out that we need you, I would kill you here.”

Well, of course he needs me. I’m sure he wants to kill me himself, but I’m stuck on a couple of words. “Thought killed me? What does that mean?”

Devilshea holds my hand, trying to get me behind him, but it doesn’t matter since we’re surrounded. He’s not thinking straight, likely because of the arrow in his chest. “He is talking about the creatures my brother sent to assassinate Zandra when I refused to marry. He thought to make it look like a random assault by goblins and trolls, but I knew he sent those monsters after her. I knew they had to be taken out. Animals. They aren’t like us. Some can be managed, are necessary, but the wicked had to be removed from our society.”

Ah, but that wasn’t what Eoin said. I’ve found the villain always wants credit in the end. Sometimes it’s their downfall. “It was you.”

Eoin’s smirk widens. “It was me. But I made sure to make it look like goblins tore her apart. It was fun. Such a dumb bitch. All I had to do was pretend I was taking her to you and she followed me. She cried, you know. She called out your name, Devinshea. She truly believed you would come and save her. She believed right up until the moment I slit her throat.”

The king practically vibrates with rage and starts toward Eoin, but he doesn’t get far. He groans as another arrow hits his back, the thud a sickening sound to hear.

“Don’t fucking kill him,” Eoin complains. “We get nothing if we don’t deliver him.” He stalks up to us, completely unafraid. “You’re going to do everything the wizard tells you to or we’ll kill her. Am I understood? If you do what he asks, you’ll be allowed to take your bitch to the Earth plane and eek out whatever existence you can find there.”

He’s lying. There’s zero chance Myrddin lets any of us live. Oh, he might have as long as he was certain none of us could get back to the right timeline, but it’s clear to me he wants more than to leave us in prison. He’ll kill me simply to take out the threat Harriet poses, but I’m not about to point that out. I need to stay alive as long as I can because my Devinshea is going to be in trouble, too. Daniel will find a way to come for us. He always does.

I put up a hand to stop Eoin from coming too close. If they kill this Dev, they might not need me. “He’s going to do everything you ask.”

“Is he now?” Eoin asks, a challenge in his tone.

The king nods. “As long as you don’t harm her. But Eoin, you should know I will be a good boy until I get off this plane and ensure her safety. And then I will find a way to make you pay.”

If that dire threat concerns the guard, he doesn’t show it. “I’m sure you will try. I think I’ll close the doors to this plane for a while. Until I’ve taken power and turned this place around.”

“You won’t be able to do it without a Green Man,” the king says with a bitter bite. “I should know. I lost this place the day my temple decided I was unworthy. The temple will not open again.”

“It already has.” Eoin looks like this is a problem he has already solved. “Your bitch here brought along a fully Fae Green Man. A fucking elemental. All we have to do is capture him. We’ll cage him in the temple and his magic will feed our lands. The wizard is going to help us. He says he has a spell that will keep the Green Man in stasis, and he won’t give us any trouble.”

“The temple doesn’t work that way,” the king argues. “It’s not merely looking for power. It wants a partner. It wants…companionship.”

Oh, I was going to be way nicer to our temple when we finally return to it. I’m going to say hi and everything. And talk to it because it’s a very good temple. Eoin is also being extremely optimistic. “Myrddin is out of here the minute he has what he wants. He won’t bother to track down my son. By the way, he’s going to be harder to deal with than you think. He’s not merely a Green Man or an elemental. He’s a warrior, and he will fight.”

“Then he will lose,” Eoin concludes. He points his sword. “Get in close. We’re going to meet the wizard and finish this. Tonight we dine in the palace, and it will all belong to us.”

A grand cheer goes up, and I know there will be no talking this man out of his foolish plan. I will have to figure it out once we get to the wizard, though I can try to delay as long as possible. When Danny realizes he can’t find me, he’ll send Neil, and we’re not so far he can’t find us. Neil can track me almost anywhere.

I need time. I need to buy my son time to get Shy somewhere safe, time for Danny to save Dev and then me.

I always need time, and it’s almost always the one thing I don’t get.

“He can’t travel like this.” I gesture to the king and his wounded torso. “I assume that’s cold iron. If it stays too long in his body, it will kill him, and then Myrddin won’t get what he needs.”

Eoin sighs as though all of this drama is extremely boring. “I suppose you’re right, though I can’t have him healing too soon.” He nods to one of his guards. “Secure the king.”

One of his men rushes forward with shackles I’m sure are made of cold iron as well. They will make his wrists ache and send pain through his body, but they won’t kill him. Those arrows will. I start forward to try to find the gentlest way to remove them, but his men are at work on that as well.

The king shouts out as one of the men pushes at the arrow. He falls to his knees, the arrow still lodged in his shoulder, but now it’s sticking out the back. The man takes a knife and slices through until he can pull it out the other side.

The king is in a heap on the ground, the contents of his stomach on the grass next to him after they’re done and both arrows are removed in the most savage way imaginable.

I drop to my knees beside him, trying to help him up. He’s covered in blood and pale. I hope my Devinshea is only half as bad.

I hate. I hate that I hate. I hate what Myrddin has done to me because I hate that man. If I were a witch, I would forsake myself to ensure his demise. I would hex and hex and hex him. I would pour my soul into each spell, giving away pieces so the world is safe from him.

I am the worse version of myself because that male exists and thrives.

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