Into the Fire (30 page)

“Here, I’ll help,” Eden said, grabbing on to one end. The stone became lighter at Eden’s touch, and together the two of them carried it to the entrance, where the last rays of sunlight were dying, and where their friends were waiting for them in the darkness.

CHAPTER 14

W
e found it!” Eden cried as she and Cedar emerged from the mound. Cedar looked around in surprise. They were alone. Her heart constricted. Had some sudden danger caused the others to flee? She took another step forward, still grasping the stone with Eden. And then she saw them. It was as though a veil had suddenly been lifted from her eyes. She gasped at the same time as Eden screamed, and both of them dropped the stone.

Jane was lying facedown on the ground several feet away, and Felix was sprawled beside her, his arms stretched out toward her. Neither of them were moving. A circle of a dozen cloaked figures surrounded them, silent and unmoving, holding flaming torches that illuminated the scene. Liam stood in the center of them, and at his feet lay Finn, who was staring up at Cedar through pain-filled eyes.

“Cedar… go…,” Finn croaked. Liam silenced him by putting a foot on his throat.

“Our succubus did her job well,” Liam said, as Cedar stared on with horror, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. He looked her directly in the eye without a trace of affection, no crinkling around his eyes, no warm smile. “And so did you, I see.” He nodded toward the stone on the ground.

“What are you talking about?” she asked. “What are you doing?” She knew what her eyes were telling her, but her heart was unwilling to believe it. Not this.

“I am reversing centuries—no, millennia—of history,” he said, reaching down and hauling Finn to his feet. Huddled behind her,
Eden started to cry. “I am freeing my fellow druids from their lives of servitude or exile. We will return to Tír na nÓg as equals with the Tuatha Dé Danann.”

Cedar tried to shake off the shock that was clouding her mind. “
You’re
working for Nuala?”

“Not
for
her, no. We have an arrangement. My role is to find the Lia Fáil and prevent you from claiming it. And then, when she’s queen, the druids will return to Tír na nÓg as victors, with as much power and status as the Tuatha Dé Danann have always enjoyed.”

“Is that what you think? Liam, don’t do this,” Cedar pleaded. “Nuala is a liar and a psychopath. She’s just using you to get what she wants. Can’t you see that?”

“I have my guarantees,” Liam said calmly. “It
will
happen.”

“So all this time, you’ve just been pretending to help us?” Cedar asked. “None of it was real?”

“I’ve been keeping tabs on you,” he corrected. “How else do you think the druids knew you were going to Scotland? Or coming here? Who do you think opened Eden’s mind to Nuala? I was always close, even when you didn’t know it.”

“And what about my mother? I thought you loved her. She would hate you for what you’ve done.” The depth of his betrayal was beginning to sink in, and she felt sick.

“She wasn’t your mother, as you well know. She was nothing but a pawn in one of the many games the Tuatha Dé Danann like to play with mortals. Your father used her like a cheap whore, and then tossed her out like rubbish when he was done with her. She’d be glad that I’m finally putting the Tuatha Dé Danann in their place.”

“Liam, Nuala killed Maeve. She’s going to
destroy the world
. And you’re okay with that?”

“This world can take care of itself,” he said, ignoring her first statement. “Or not. Our place is in Tír na nÓg, the land of the gods.”

“You’re mad,” Cedar spat at him. “How did I ever wish you were my father? My father
died
protecting humans, and you don’t even care if they’re all slaughtered. All you care about is your precious status.”

“Let’s not be melodramatic, shall we?” His composure infuriated Cedar, but she felt helpless to do anything. If the druids had been able to overcome Felix, what chance did
she
have of fighting them? And she had Eden to protect. There were no nearby doors that they could use for escape, and even if they could, she would never leave Finn and the others behind. She looked down at the stone at her feet. Perhaps…

She froze mid-step as Finn gave a scream of pain. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Liam said. He was pressing a small dagger made of a blue crystal to Finn’s throat. Cedar could see no blood, but Finn was in such agony that his whole body convulsed, and Liam had to hold him in place. She took a step back.

“Stop. Please, stop. What are you doing to him?” she demanded.

“I’m torturing him,” he said matter-of-factly, lowering the knife. Finn stopped screaming, though shudders continued to run through his body. “The bite of the leannán sí not only drained him of his power, it increased his sensitivity to pain.” He pressed the knife to Finn’s flesh again.

“Stop!” Cedar cried out, Finn’s screams tearing through her as if the knife were pressed to her skin rather than his. “He’s done nothing to you!”

Liam lowered the knife again. “This isn’t about him, Cedar. It’s about you.”

“What do you want from me?”

“They call this the Mound of Hostages for a reason, my dear. Give us the Lia Fáil and abandon your claim to the throne, and I will spare his life.”

“No,” Finn said, struggling to raise his head. “Don’t do it, Cedar.”

Liam laughed and pushed Finn to the ground, where he landed in a heap on the dirt. “Always so noble, aren’t you Fionnbharr?”

Finn ignored him, his eyes pleading with Cedar’s. “Why are you waiting?” he asked. “Eden, listen to me. You have to escape. You don’t
need
a door, you just need to believe you can do it without one. I know you can. Cedar… I’m just one person. Think of all of the millions who will die.
Go.
You
must
do this.”

Cedar stared at him in anguish as he lay in the dirt, barely able to lift his own head. She could feel Eden inching away from her, back to the entrance to the mound. They
could
do it, Cedar realized. They could still take the Lia Fáil back to Tír na nÓg. She could stop Nuala by becoming queen.

“Cedar, move away from the stone,” Liam said, his voice heavy with hatred. Cedar felt like she was being punched in the stomach every time he spoke. “Eden, I would stop whatever you’re doing if I were you. Your grandmother is dead… you wouldn’t want to be responsible for killing your father too, would you?”

“Eden, don’t listen to him,” Finn begged. “It’s okay! Just go! Cedar, take the stone!”

Cedar looked down at the stone, and then back at Finn, his gold-flecked eyes imploring her to leave him. She remembered the first day they met, when he had saved all of her paintings from the fire at the gallery. She remembered the first joyful years they’d spent together and then the years of pain that had followed. He had only just returned to her life, but she had never stopped loving him. And he had never stopped loving her, even though she’d done her best to push him away after his return. She gazed down at him now, lying helpless at the feet of their enemy, and realized that her noble goal of saving the world paled in comparison to her love for Finn.

She took another step away from the stone.

“You can have it,” she told Liam. “Give me Finn, and you can have the stone. He’s worth more to me, something I’m sure you
could never understand. We
will
stop Nuala, don’t doubt that for a minute. But not this way.”

Liam shot a look at the two druids who were standing closest to Cedar, and they ran forward and picked up the stone, struggling beneath its weight. Finn groaned, and Cedar started to run to his side, but Liam held out his hand in her direction. She felt herself freeze in her tracks. She tried to move, but was paralyzed. “Not so fast,” he said.

“What now?” she snarled. “I gave you what you wanted. Please. Just leave us alone.”

A slow smile spread over one side of Liam’s face, a smile that sent chills down Cedar’s spine. “You could never give me what I want, Cedar,” he said. “Can you go back in time and stop yourself from being born? Can you bring back the dead?”

Cedar felt something start to smolder deep inside her. “You want to turn back time? It wouldn’t matter. Maeve—my
mother
—would never have loved you, even if I hadn’t been born,” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m sure she saw you for the snake you are—she wasn’t as blind as I was. It’s your own fault that she didn’t love you. Not mine, not Brogan’s. And certainly not Finn’s. Now let him go.”

Liam had gone pale, and his face was trembling. “You will regret saying that,” he said, his hand gripped the blue crystal dagger tightly. He reached down and slashed Finn’s chest, making him howl in agony.

“No!” Cedar screamed, trying to break free of the spell that had immobilized her. “You said you’d let him go if I gave you the stone!”

“And I’m having a change of heart,” Liam said, slashing at Finn again. “You need to feel what it’s like to lose the one person you’ve ever loved.”

Suddenly, Cedar could move again. Liam had stopped slashing Finn with the knife and was staring behind Cedar, at the top of the
Mound of Hostages, his face twisted with rage. All of the other druids were focused on the same thing, their mouths gaping in shock and confusion. Cedar turned and nearly fainted with relief. Abhartach was standing on top of the mound, dressed in clean clothes and washed from head to toe. His black eyes glinted in the sun and the tattoos covering his skin seemed to shimmer. Standing next to him, her chin raised and her eyes flashing in the light of the druids’ torches, was Brighid. Eden was huddled inside the entrance of the passage, her eyes wide with terror.

Liam cried out a command, and the druids raised wooden staffs from beneath their cloaks, pointing them at the top of the hill. But Abhartach was faster. He threw up his arms, and the druids all stumbled backward, some of them falling as if they’d been hit by a sudden gust of wind. Their torches snuffed out, and only the moon and stars were left to illuminate the sacred hilltop. Brighid glided down the hill, her long black hair flowing behind her like a cape. Cedar felt someone slam into her, and when she looked down, Eden had wrapped herself around her waist. Together, they ran down to join Brighid, who was kneeling over Finn. Chaos erupted all around them as Abhartach battled the druids.

“I’ll be okay,” Finn murmured to Brighid, “Felix… and Jane… they need you.” Brighid nodded, her face stoic, and rushed over to where Jane and Felix lay sprawled on the ground. In a show of her incredible strength, she picked them up, one under each arm, and carried them into the mound, delivering a kick to a druid who tried to stop her that sent him soaring several feet in the air.

Cedar felt the wind pick up around them, as though a tornado had suddenly landed on top of the hill. The stars were blocked by dark clouds that rumbled and raged with thunder. Cedar put her hands under Finn’s arms and tried to pull him toward the mound.

“I’ll help, Mummy!” Eden said, grabbing one of his arms.

“No,” Finn said, protesting as loudly as he could manage. He pointed behind Cedar. “Now! Before it’s too late!” The Lia Fáil
was lying unprotected in the grass. It had been abandoned after Abhartach commenced his attack. Cedar jumped up and ran to it, crouching to avoid the rocks and branches that were flying through the air. She didn’t see Liam anywhere, but the darkness made it hard to see anything. She reached the stone, and then looked back at Finn and Eden, who were huddled together on the ground. “Do it!” Finn yelled. Cedar lifted one foot and then the other and stood on top of the stone.

And then the world split apart.

The roar that issued from the stone beneath her feet was far louder than the storm raging all around them. It was a roar of victory that had been contained for millennia. It ripped through the air, above the howling wind, and shook the ground beneath them. And then something happened inside of Cedar that was even more incredible. She had felt it before, on an infinitesimal scale. It was that burning feeling that she felt in the pit of her stomach whenever she felt incensed. She could feel it there now, like a hot coal glowing at the core of her being. But this time, it didn’t stay there. It spread throughout her body, down into her legs and up through her lungs and into her throat. She felt as though flames would shoot out if she opened her mouth. The sensation was almost unbearable, but she willed herself to keep standing on the stone, to let whatever was happening to her run its course. Every nerve and fiber in her body felt like it was on fire, but it was strangely painless. She felt stronger, more energized than she had ever felt in her life. She felt like she could do anything.

She felt like a goddess.

She raised her head and took in the scene around her with new eyes. The storm had stopped raging, and the sky was once again an inky black pierced through with bright stars and the glowing
moon. Brighid was gaping at her in open-mouthed amazement from the entrance to the passage, Felix and Jane leaning against the entrance stones. Finn and Eden were clutching each other where she had left them. Finn’s eyes were filled with tears.