Page 59 of Shadow Master
* * *
Abram backedup as I approached with murder in my eyes. “Get him out of my mate’s body. Now.”
Abram held his hands up to ward me off. “I can’t. The quest must be completed.”
I was on him, hands locked around his throat. “But it can’t. It can’t be fucking completed, so get him out.”
Harmon pulled me off Abram. “Killing him won’t help. You know that.”
Gah. I backed up and spun to face Lugh. “Get out. Just get out of his body.”
Lugh’s eyes flashed with anger. “Do you think I want to be here? Do you think I relish being in this unfamiliar form, in a world that is not mine?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I think. I think you’re enjoying this. You get to live again, you wanker.”
His lip curled. “Live? Living is overrated. I was in bliss, and then I was here, surrounded by devastation and pain. This is not my time. Your problems are not my problems.” He dismissed me and focused on Abram. “I’ve done what you’ve asked of me, now set me free.”
“I can’t …” Abram’s voice trembled. “The talisman must be located, and you’ve located only half.”
Lugh let out a warning growl before advancing toward Abram, his lethal intention clear in his eyes, but he’d need to get in line.
Hyde intercepted him. “We don’t have time for this. We need to get back to the mist. The league will join the militia as first defense, and you’ll come back to the Academy with us.”
Lugh snorted. “I belong on this side of the mist.”
Bitterness stung the back of my throat. “Yes,youdo, but that body you’re in doesn’t. Brady belongs on my side. He belongs with me. And like fuck am I leaving him behind.”
Would Brady’s body be able to withstand sector three of the mist? Maybe if Athos carried him through…We’d figure it out. We’d do what we had to, and once we got home, I’d use the weavers to find a way to get my mate back.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here.” I headed toward the tunnel. “We have a war to win.”
* * *
Lugh was sullenand silent the whole way back to the mist. We rode solidly, stopping only for short breaks. The sky had darkened an hour ago, but we rode on. There was no time to waste.
Fuck the league and their waste-of-time mission.
Fuck them for taking my mate.
But if they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have known the truth about the fomorians or about Laramir.
Urgh!
The land had become barren a while back, signaling our entrance into the cusp. Hyde and two league men rode ahead to scope out the terrain. My gut was tight with anxiety for him. What if there were fir bolg about? What if they attacked Hyde?
“Maybe he really doesn’t want to be here,” Harmon suggested from beside me.
“Huh?”
“Lugh,” Harmon said. “I believe him when he said he didn’t want to be here.”
“Yeah, well, he’s going to get his wish.”
“The weavers?”
“They’re bound to have a solution.”
“Like they did for me?” There was no bitterness in Harmon’s tone, just weary resignation.
