Page 84 of A Dark and Lovely Devastation

Dagda raised his chin. “You are wrong.”

Her gaze jerked to Dagda.What in the name of the Mother Goddess?

Murmurs passed through those present as they leaned into one another to express their surprise. The crowd didn’t know either. Badb gripped the armrests of her chair, wary.

Dagda looked at Badb and a warmth pressed into her so strongly, she gasped. What was happening?

“It is time, Morrigan,” he said. “Time to rise.”

At those words, Morrigan responded. She spiraled into life, leaving the darkness behind and rising like a phoenix from the ashes, giving Badb only enough time to realize that she had been tricked before Morrigan took over.

Chapter 28

Icameintoconsciousnessafter what felt like a lifetime of waiting. Dagda’s call, the feelings he’d poured into me, our bond connecting us, the only thing that could reach me in the deepest recesses of myself where’d I’d shut everyone and everything, even reality, out. Relief slid through me. A part of me had worried about being buried in that eternal abyss with no sense of time. That not even our bond would call me out. But no, the emotions had been a shout in my mind, ringing through me. I underestimated its power.

Dagda smiled at me. Seeing the relief in his gaze caused a tingling in my chest.

I stared out over the people gathered. “Roisin was acting on my orders.”

The announcement elicited gasps from those in attendance.

“Morrigan sent me messages, through memories, inside the heartstone,” Dagda said. “We passed it back and forth, like a game, but she was really plotting… plotting to expose her sister’s plans.”

It’d been difficult to communicate everything, and I’d drawn on Nellie’s love of espionage movies for some of it. My lips turned upwards at the thought of Dagda trying to decipher the message from a 1980s James Bond movie.

But to his credit, he had.

Badb stirred. A hot anger melting my core and for a moment I worried she’d rise, that she’d make the floors of this hall run red. I wrapped my hand around my hearthstone, focusing on my feelings from Dagda to keep me grounded. No, not this time.

“In order to get Badb to reveal her plans, we made her feel complacent,” I said to the surprised stares in the room. “I suggested a triggering event that gave Badb the confidence to scheme without my constant awareness.”

I just hadn’t known it would be giving me a poison that almost killed me.

“Roisin was merely acting according to the plan,” Dagda said, “administering a common poison to which Morrigan already had an antidote on hand.”

“At Roisin’s seeming betrayal,” I said. “I was able to… withdraw inside myself.”

I’d hidden in the darkness, diving into the same cage that had held my sisters for nineteen years.

“Badb then acted,” Daga continued. He looked across the throne room. “Niall of the Honorable Ones, come forward.”

Murmurs rose from the crowd. Everyone stood motionless. Then people shifted out of the way, revealing Niall, standing in his tunic with the hammer and ax depicted on it. He glanced around and then set his jaw before approaching and bowing. “Your Majesties.”

Dagda motioned to Keelin, who brought out several small parchments.

“Do you recognize these messages?”

Niall straightened, and his face went crimson. “Your Majesty, you dared search the quarters of a member of this court?”

“Only after a stymphalian bird was seen carrying messages between you and the queen’s window, when I knew Badb was in control,” Dagda said with no remorse in his voice. “They were found within your chambers. Shall we read them?”

Keelin peeled open the first parchment. He read the original note that Badb had sent aloud. Then opened the second. “Niall of the Honorable Ones. It pleases me that we have an accord. Wait until after Samhain, and we shall be free to make our move. Badb.”

“You were conspiring against the crown with Morrigan’s sister, were you not?” Dagda’s expression challenged Niall to deny it.

“Your Majesty, I am offended that you dare accuse—”

“Answer the question. Yes or no,” I snapped.

---