Page 78 of Shadow Master
Daytime.
Lugh.
I shoved him away and scrambled back. “What the fuck?”
He blinked slowly at me from Brady’s eyes. “As I recall, it was you who was attempting to kiss me.”
I wiped at my mouth, even though, technically, it was Brady’s skin I’d just kissed. “Just get out.”
“Very well.” He pulled on his boots.
Thank God, Brady had slept clothed. At least he’d thought that through. Still, maybe I’d speak to him tonight and ask him to bunk elsewhere. Waking up next to Lugh was not on my to-do list.
Lugh crawled toward the door and paused. “I feel it would be remiss of me not to mention that I feel what this body feels, even when I am not in control.”
Ice trickled through my veins as I realized what he was intimating.
“If you don’t mind,” he said tightly, “I’d appreciate it if you kept your intimacy to a minimum until I’m free.”
He ducked out of the tent, leaving me with burning cheeks and a feeling of nausea.
* * *
Harmon and Athosjoined me as I made my way to the ruins. Figures were already gathered, silhouetted by the rising sun. I recognized Kash’s slender frame and Hyde’s bulky one, and as I drew closer, Orion came into view, standing beside a large man dressed in burgundy armor. The same man he’d been speaking to last night. The fomorian had a plaited and groomed dark beard and wicked dark brows over piercing blue eyes. Those eyes latched on to me as I approached.
Abram was there too, standing off to the side.
“Mind if I join.” Lugh slipped into place to my right, and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
“You may not like me,” Lugh said. “But I can be of use in these matters.”
“Fine.”
We joined the others.
“So, this is the female shadow knight who leads your army,” the bearded man said coolly.
“You got a problem with that?” Harmon asked. His tone was so full of menace, it mademyhackles rise.
If the fomorian was fazed, he didn’t show it. He kept his eyes on me. “Orion tells me you’re the Shadow Master. My question is, what did you do to deserve the title?”
It was a good question, and one I’d thought about a lot over the past week. “What did I do?” I met his glare with one of my own. “I survived. I got knocked down, and I got back up, and I wasn’t afraid to ask questions. I wasn’t afraid to seek out the truth. I survived in a world where men rule. What did you do, huh?” My gaze flicked to the hilt of his sword. “Wield the largest sword?”
His eyes crinkled slightly, but his expression remained serious. “I have taken a hundred enemy heads. I am the strongest and most skilled warrior amongst my men.”
“And I’ve seen this tiny female strike a fir bolg’s head clean from his torso,” Lugh said. His eyes were hard chips of flint. “You’d do well not to underestimate her.”
Bearded guy lifted his chin. “And who might you be?”
“A long-dead king who knows enough about war to teach you a thing or two.”
The bearded guy snorted and looked at Orion with an amused smile.
Orion sighed. “This is Lugh. The fomorian king, back in the flesh, so to speak.”
There was stunned silence, and then two of the militia leaders fell to their knees. Balan merely inclined his head in acknowledgment of the king. Bearded guy wasn’t so easily cowed, though.
“The time of kings is over. There are no longer any kingdoms to rule. Just the desperate, the hungry, and the militia who feeds and protects them.”
