An Immortal Descent (34 page)

“Hold your tongue,” Henry growled. “Or I’ll remove it with your head.” Rage permeated the air around him. Rolling his large shoulders, he appeared a lion preparing to pounce.

“Try it, Englishman, and the lass is dead.”

The temptation for battle warred over Henry’s face. A muscle twitched in his cheek as his knuckles strained around the sword pommel.

Tom intervened, his steady voice slicing between them. “The witch didn’t put up much of a fight, otherwise you’d never have gotten a knife in her heart while she was sitting still.” He held up Brigid’s blade and slowly turned the handle between his fingers. “She knew you well.” Another turn of the knife. “And she trusted you, much like a woman would trust a lover. I’ll wager when you killed her, she was trying to breed to replace one more of her lost sons.”

Julian laughed again, louder and more abrupt, and for a split second his eyes flicked over Henry. “Oh, she was looking to breed, but not with me.” He shook his head. “The love we shared was different than you think.”

I darted a swift look at Carmen, my eyes narrowing on the raven locks that fell to her waist. “Because she was your mother,” I said, near breathless from the revelation.

Julian gave me an appreciative look. “Well done, Selah. How did you guess it?”

“Your hair. It turned black when we were in Brigid’s garden.”

“Ah, yes, I got my mother’s coloring. But it’s my father I favor most.”

“And who might that be?” Cate asked. “A goddess born, I suppose, in order for you to fool Lord Stroud.”

“He’s no stranger to you,” Julian agreed.

Tom grunted his growing annoyance. “Time’s come to pay for your tales, lad. If what you claim is true, then show us your real self.”

Amusement glittered in Julian’s dark eyes. “I thought you would never ask.” His gaze settled on me, shrewd and deliberate beneath what I now understood to be a living mask. My heart skipped a beat when the air rippled around him, and his face began to waver. It lasted but a moment before the lines took new form, and the once-delicate features gave way to a broader forehead, squared chin and wider cheekbones. His hair darkened to raven black.

The torches flickered through his alteration, their power momentarily disturbed. Reality seemed to flicker around me in a similar manner until my head felt near to bursting. One of the men cursed, or perhaps both.

“Saints above,” Cate whispered. “It can’t be.”

Julian smirked at her. “See something interesting, my lady?” His voice sounded deeper, with the hint of an Irish lilt. Marin’s mouth popped open, and she twisted around to steal a glimpse at his face.

“Luthais,” she hissed.

“Aye, Marin, you know me now.”

“We thought you’d gone for good after you disappeared last spring.”

He chuckled. “Were you sad, lass?”

“Not a wee bit,” she ground out. “I wish it even more with what you did to me Sean.”

Tightening his grip, he yanked her head back against his chest. “Don’t be rude, Marin. It’s not good for Sean’s health.”

She winced from the pain, her hands fisted and her mouth clamped tight against what appeared to be an onslaught of angry words.

“Luthais...” The name fell unknown from my lips.

Julian waved it off. “Just an alias I used while living amongst the goddess born.”

Another lie.
“Who are you really?”

A spark flared in his eyes, and I realized this one part remained familiar despite the transformation. “My mother named me
Díoltas
.”

The throbbing increased at my temples. “Vengeance,” I said, my voice cracking over the translation.

The man looked at me with something close to kindness. “Only the coverings have changed.” He circled a hand over his face. “This is the man you cared for, not Lord Stroud. It was me that you gave assurances to in Brigid’s garden.”

I shook my head, a slow side to side.
What assurances?
We had spoken of the moon and my reasons for loving an Englishman...

My breath caught on a memory.
Chase the English away, and then we’ll talk.
Had I really been so careless? It felt like years ago when he’d pressured me to consider his proposals. And like an idiot, I had agreed solely to put an end to his pestering.

“Think of me as Julian, if it pleases you.” He pressed a finger to his forehead. “His essence will always be a part of me.”

Julian—Luthais—Díoltas—Julian—

The names spun a circle through my mind.

Cate remained silent during our exchange. Even in the green light, I could see the color had drained from her face, and she stared at the man as though he were a ghost.

“Care to share what’s on your mind, my lady?” he asked her. “I can tell from your face you’ve figured it out, and it’s only fair that everyone share in our secret.”

“What secret?” Tom asked, his voice sharp. “What games are you playing now?”

Julian turned to him, his shoulders back and appearing several inches taller than before the transformation. “I’ll not hold it against you, blacksmith, since most men are oblivious to such matters. Even when we rode together, no one but Marin saw the likeness. I’ll wager she’d have made something of it if our ages didn’t appear so close.”

Tom shifted his weight with marked impatience. “Stop talking riddles, lad. If you’ve something to say, spit it out, or get on with why you’re holding that woman against her will.”

“Tired of riddles, are you? Then name my sire, and we’ll be done with them.” Julian returned his gaze to Cate. “Speak up, my lady. We can’t hear you.”

Cate remained silent. I waited like a spectator, nerves itching beneath my skin for the next move. Following their banter was like staring into a puzzle box: the pieces were there, some even connected, but not enough to discern the full image.
Julian is Carmen’s offspring...he killed his own mother...he wants to break the curse.

“Still unwilling to admit it?” Julian gave Cate a hard smile. “I’ll give you a hint then... Grandmamma.”

My mouth fell open at the title and the link that would make us second cousins.
It can’t be...

“What do you mean by that?” Tom snarled.

Julian squared his whole body at Tom this time, dragging Marin the necessary half step. “That Ronan is my father.”

The name hit me smack between the eyes.
Ronan... Justine’s brother... Cate’s and Tom’s only living son...my great-uncle.

A loud din echoed through the cavern from the clank of Tom’s sword tip against the stone floor. The knife he’d pulled from Carmen also fell limp to his side, forgotten as he stared in dismay at Julian—his grandson.

Cate recovered first from the shock, or at least gave a good show of it. “I fear Ronan neglected to tell us about you.”

What went unsaid hung like thunder claps in the still air.
Our son failed to tell us that he’d lain with a witch.

“I imagine because he never knew. Ronan and Carmen were lovers for a spell years back when he happened upon her prison. He left before I was born and never returned.”

Ailish rocked onto her toes, then back again, and I felt her eyes pass over each one of us. Henry watched and waited as well, the small bones in his hand straining beneath the skin from his grip on the sword hilt.

“Who raised you then?” Tom asked, near hoarse from the effort to speak.

“Who do you think, blacksmith?” Julian gestured his free hand at the space around us. “Carmen raised me in these caverns.”

My gaze darted impulsively around the pocket of light.
Underground...with a witch.
How could a child survive such an ordeal?

Cate held out her hands, palms up in a sign of supplication. “If we are family, then let Marin go. We’ve no quarrel between us.”

Julian sighed. “That’s where you’re wrong, my lady.”

“You don’t really believe that,” Cate pressed. “We can even find Ronan and make matters right. He would want to know that he has a son.” She took a small step forward.

“I know my father well enough without your help.” He frowned from what appeared to be an unpleasant memory. “We rode together for a year when he came back to Ireland and sought out our little band of goddess born. Isn’t that right, Marin?”

Marin didn’t answer. Puzzlement filled her eyes as she looked from Cate to Tom, no doubt in search of answers for how they could be grandparents to anyone, let alone a grown man.

“Where is Ronan now?” Tom asked, some of the strength restored to his voice.

“He was pursuing a lass, but when things didn’t turn out, I heard he sailed for the Colonies two months past to see the land where his sister Sarah once lived.” Julian looked at me. “Sean told us about your mother being murdered. He even hinted once or twice about having more family, but never anything outright. My guess is that Ronan got the truth from him and went to see you for himself.”

Two months...
Our ships must have passed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

“But you didn’t tell him of your relation.” Cate took another small step, so subtle I would have missed it if I wasn’t now looking at the back of her cloak.

Julian shook his head. “I almost did on several occasions, but then held my tongue for good once I learned his thoughts about our kind.”

“What do you mean by that?” Tom asked.

“You know well what I mean. Always to serve,
never to rule
.” Julian spat the last words, flecking Marin’s cheek with saliva. She cringed, and attempted to turn her face away when her head snapped back to attention.

“Be still!” he barked at her. She went stiff, her eyes enormous against her deathly pallor.

Ailish hissed through her teeth. “Stupid bollix,” she muttered for just me to hear.

Cate sidled another inch forward. “You disagree with Brigid’s laws?”

“How can I not?” Julian’s nostrils flared with indignation. “Ireland is swarming with redcoats and poverty, and we’re to sit idle, using our gifts to passively serve humankind.” He shot a fierce glare at Henry. “Well, I ask you, what better way to help the Irish than to drive the English from our shores.”

“We all want them gone,” Tom said without the least inflection.

Julian smirked at him. “So you say, except you’ve no mind to do anything about it. But the redcoats are wee babes compared to what my mother had planned.” He glanced over my shoulder at the shriveled corpse seated on the throne. “You were right about her wanting to destroy Ireland for what happened to her first children. And for most of my life I thought to help her.”

Vengeance.
His mother had named him well.

Another few inches and Cate stood a full foot ahead of me. “What changed your mind?” Her tone remained conversational as inch by inch she crept closer.

Julian relaxed his hold on Marin. “It happened when I reached an age to enter the mortal world on my own. It didn’t take long before I met up with other goddess born and learned just how much had changed from the time King Bres imprisoned my mother. Since then, the Tuatha Dé had returned to the Otherworld, leaving humans to rule in their stead.”

He dipped his head, and the black lock fell over his forehead, covering one eye. “I tried to explain this to Carmen when I returned home, how it would be better to rule the people than destroy them for something they had no hand in doing.” He blew out a heavy breath. “She could have been their queen had she been willing to see reason.”

“Yet your words fell on deaf ears,” Cate said.

“Not just my words.” Julian pushed the hair from his eye. “Once I thought it over, I realized Ronan and Roddy had probably shared the same stories. But nothing could dissuade her from a course of complete destruction. She told me then how she’d started plotting her escape the day I was born, and she first felt the curse weaken.”

Tom readjusted his stance, lifting his sword tip from the ground without moving any closer. “How did your birth affect it?”

“When the Tuatha Dé defeated Carmen, King Bres used their blood to seal the passageway. By chance alone Ronan and Roddy entered the dolmen and found her. There’s nothing more powerful than birth blood, and when she delivered their offspring, both Brigid’s and Cailleach’s blood flowed from her womb onto the stones of her prison.”

Cate sidled a few more inches forward. “It wasn’t enough though.”

“Not by half,” Julian confirmed. “A year back, she ordered me to search for descendants from the remaining Tuatha Dé involved in her defeat, the sun god Lugh and the war god Nuada.”

Henry stiffened visibly with this revelation.

“It took months of digging to find the Lughnanes,” Julian continued. “And another month to connect them to the Lundlams in northern England. I arrived in their village last summer to follow the lead, but by the time I traced the family to the Duke of Norland, I learned his lordship had vanished.” He darted a look at Henry. “I planned to take the father in place of the son, but the duke was not one to trust strangers, and rarely traveled from home without armed escorts.”

“So you killed Lord Stroud and assumed his identity,” Henry said.

“What better disguise to get close to a noble? But by that time you had returned home, and I had no more need of the duke. Still the problem remained of getting you to Ireland.” His mouth curved upward. “Until rumors of Miss Kilbrid swept through London, and I knew how best to strike. Truth be told, I would have stalled as long as possible if Deri hadn’t arrived unexpectedly with orders to muddle the wits of any descendants I had discovered and compel them to Wexford.”

Ailish grumbled gruffly next to me. “Cailleach’s power don’t cause madness, you nitwit.”

Abrupt laughter broke from Julian. Marin started at the noise, but refrained from any other motion. “Have you met my sister, Miss O’Bearra? Deri had twisted the gifts she received from Cailleach and Carmen before she was out of nappies. She only needed a good solid touch to have the duke or his lordship jumping from London Bridge.”

Nora’s face flashed through my mind from our last moments together, the fear and confusion in her eyes as she struggled against Deri’s sadistic touch. “But she didn’t take either of them.” The memory pressed on my heart. “She took Nora instead.”