Dangerous Magic Read online

  He couldn’t take his eyes from Cade. His blades moved so quickly and proved so deadly that they were a blur. Nigel’s men surrounded Cade, pinning him in a tight circle, but he continued to slice and thrust his knives, spinning about as if he weren’t quite human.

  “You said you sensed darkness,” he murmured to his wife.

  “Aye,” she said. “There is something evil, dark, inside him.”

  “He had control over it when he got into camp.”

  Drina blew out a soft breath. “It’s like he’s on the edge of a blade, Grayson. One slip, and the darkness will claim him.”

  Grayson glanced at his wife. Her voice held a note of sadness he hadn’t expected. He turned back to Cade and watched him. “He let go of the control, didn’t he?”

  “Aye.” Adrianna’s reply was barely above a whisper.

  Grayson didn’t like the idea of leaving such a great warrior alone, but Cade had sacrificed his very soul to protect Adrianna. He turned his back on the battle and adjusted the reins in his hand.

  “Ready?” he asked.

  Adrianna nodded. “Absolutely.”

  “I’ll get you to Wolfglynn, my love.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” she said and flashed him a grin. “Now come, we have another storm to ride through.”

  Chapter Nine

  Francesca stared out of the tower window, hoping for a sign of Cade. After Serena had confessed that Cade wouldn’t die in this battle, they had tried to get her to eat, but Francesca couldn’t stomach the thought of food.

  It wasn’t just the idea of Cade fighting against Nigel’s men—it was the dream. The dream where fear and evil had clawed at her, tearing her skin.

  “I thought I might find you up here.”

  She glanced over her shoulder to see Serena walk towards her. “Did you see how Cade will die?”

  Serena came to stand beside her, their hands side by side on the cool stones of the castle as they gazed out the window. “Why do you want to know?”

  How could Francesca explain it? Cade’s predicament was something she shouldn’t dabble in, yet she found she couldn’t help herself. She was drawn to him like a moth to flame.

  “Fran?”

  She sighed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I can’t explain it, really. If you could look into his eyes and see his pain, his loneliness, then you might understand.”

  “I think I know what you mean. It’s the darkness, isn’t it? Do you feel it when you’re around him?”

  She nodded. “Did you feel Drogan’s?”

  “A little, but then again, the darkness wasn’t as strong with Drogan as it is with Cade. I’m glad you got him to speak with you. Cade needs a friend.”

  Francesca faced Serena. “He’s risking everything to save us.”

  “I know. It’s driving Drogan daft. He won’t stop pacing the battlements.”

  “You aren’t going to tell me how Cade is going to die, are you?”

  Serena smiled sadly. “I lied in your chamber. I haven’t touched Cade, so I cannot look into his future to see his death.”

  How could Francesca have forgotten such a tiny detail? She dug her fingers into the stone and tried to calm her racing heart. “Cade could die.”

  “He most likely will, and I’m sorry for that. What I did, I did for selfish reasons, Fran. If Drogan suspected Cade wouldn’t come out of this battle, promise or not, he would go out there to help him.”

  “I understand. You have a family. You’re looking out for the interests of your future.”

  “But you don’t agree with me.”

  “It isn’t for me to agree or disagree.” She turned back to the window, the need to see Cade growing with each beat of her heart.

  “I’m sorry.”

  So was Francesca. After a few moments, Serena left the tower. Normally Francesca loved her company, but there was too much on her mind and in her heart that she couldn’t share. She needed time to think, to consider the awful dream that had come to her the night before.

  And how it was tied to Cade.

  She couldn’t quite identify the connection, but she knew that somehow it involved Cade. Always before, she had seen the battle with Nigel, seen how she would triumph over the evil. Always it ended at the same moment as her life would.

  Her death was something she had known of since she was ten summers. She had never feared it or regretted anything. Though her dreams had never shown her how she would come to battle Nigel, or even how he came into such evil, she knew she could end it all.

  And she would.

  Nigel was a scourge on the earth, and he needed to be wiped away. Because of what the future held for her, she had never let herself get close to anyone other than Phineas. The old man had been her rock, holding her in the middle of the night when her dreams had shown her horrors she couldn’t speak about.

  Phineas never asked about her dreams, just held her, soothing her until she was able to sleep once more. As she had gotten older, she had learned to cope with the dreams herself, but always he knew when they came to her.

  Francesca leaned her forehead against the stones. Why had the dream changed? The only explanation she could come up with was that something else had changed, too. And that something had to be Cade.

  Cade made an effort to keep away from anyone and everyone. Yet, somehow, she had managed to find him and speak to him. Could that small gesture have been enough to change the course of the future?

  She would know when she dreamed again. It had been a long time since she had been afraid to sleep, but the thought of repeating the dream left her in a cold sweat.

  A shudder racked her body as she recalled the feel of the evil ripping the flesh from her body, her silent screams into the inky gloom. Despair, terror and hopelessness had consumed her. She had never felt such stark emotions before. And she never wanted to again.

  Lightening zigzagged across the sky a heartbeat before thunder boomed. Almost instantly, the rain began.

  Just like yesterday.

  Nigel must have a hand in it. To be able to call the weather meant he was much more powerful than any of them had realized.

  “Cade, where are you?” she whispered.

  The wind drove the rain into the window, but still she didn’t move. She squinted through the rain in hopes of catching Cade moving through the woods. She knew it was futile, but she couldn’t give up.

  “Riders,” a knight shouted from the gatehouse.

  Francesca turned her head to the road that lead to the gates of Wolfglynn. She could just make out two horses, their riders hanging low over the animals’ necks as they raced toward the gates.

  “Raise the gates,” Drogan’s voice boomed over the rain.

  Francesca saw a long blonde braid as the horses galloped into the bailey. She turned and, with her skirts in her hands, flew down the stairs.

  By the time she rushed into the great hall, the couple was being whisked away to find dry clothes. Francesca would have to wait for news of Cade. She resisted the urge to call to them, to ask about Cade. They had ridden in a terrible storm, and they needed to get dry. She could wait. She would have to.

  Of a sudden, the blonde stopped on the stairs and turned to her. Their eyes met, and she knew this woman must be Adrianna. Another bana‐bhuidseach. Francesca should be overjoyed at having another witch so near, but she couldn’t get past her worry for Cade.

  “Adrianna,” Grayson said.

  Francesca took a step toward them.

  “When we left, he was still alive,” Adrianna said to her.

  Francesca nodded her thanks. It didn’t mean Cade was alive now, but he had been. He still could be.

  She met the silver gaze of Grayson and saw the questions in his eyes. She would answer what she could, but she had questions of her own.

  Francesca turned to the hearth and took one of the chairs in front of the blazing fire. It seemed wrong that she was warm and dry while Cade was in the thick of battle with a storm raging around him.

/>   “Are you sure nothing happened between you and Cade?”

  She jumped at the sound of Drogan’s voice. She turned her head to find him standing next to her, watching her intently. “When was the last time you saw him?”

  “The day we battled Nigel and Serena almost died. He helped me pick the herbs you sent me to find. My hands were too bloody and swollen to pluck the delicate flowers.”

  “Did you look into his eyes?”

  Drogan’s brow furrowed. “I...I don’t remember. Why?”

  “I have. There is such loneliness in his eyes. He keeps to himself to prevent anyone from coming in contact with the darkness, but in doing so, he is losing himself.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He needs a friend.”

  Drogan’s face darkened. “I am his friend.”

  “I know. He knows. I’m talking about someone who doesn’t care about the evil that surrounds him. You do care because you’ve fought your own.”

  Drogan paced in front of her. “I don’t fear being near him, Fran. I’ve begged him to come in the castle, or to talk to me.”

  “I know you would welcome him, but in the back of your mind, you would wonder if the darkness would claim you once again. And you would have every right to wonder. The darkness that is with him is much stronger than what you carried. It has nearly taken Cade.”

  Drogan sank into a chair and sighed. “Is there anything we can do?”

  “There is something I can do. I can be there for him.”

  “If he allows you, you mean,” Drogan said.

  “I don’t mean to give him a choice.”

  Chapter Ten

  Cade stood ready, waiting for the next attack. Only there wasn’t one. He looked around at the bodies lying in the soil, the rain washing the blood to mingle with the dirt on the ground.

  “We’re just getting started,” the darkness said.

  Cade’s body ached, but the need, the thirst for more blood sent him searching the bodies for anyone left alive. As soon as he found one, he sunk his sword into the flesh.

  The darkness laughed. “More, more. More!”

  Cade wanted to ignore the prodding. He wanted to retreat to his cave, to try and push the darkness away. But he feared it was too late.

  “It is too late.”

  He lifted his face to the rain and bellowed as the darkness consumed him. He was powerless to fight it, helpless to do anything other than listen to the bloodlust pumping in his veins.

  His gaze turned toward Wolfglynn.

  “Yes,” the darkness hissed. “Kill them. Kill them all!”

  Chapter Eleven

  Francesca jumped as the lightning struck again and again. The storm hadn’t lessened as she’d hoped, but instead grew stronger. The men on the battlements couldn’t fight the wind and had retreated to the gatehouse.

  After her declaration, Drogan had simply stared at her, as if trying to determine whether she was worthy of Cade. She hoped she was.

  A shiver raced down her spine of a sudden.

  “Fran?” Drogan asked.

  She shrugged. “Only in my dreams do I see the future.”

  “Have you seen Cade’s?”

  She looked into Drogan’s golden eyes and shook her head. “I wish I could call up the future as easily as Serena does, but I cannot.”

  Drogan sighed. “Serena sees only death. I don’t think you would enjoy that gift.”

  “I’m not sure anyone truly enjoys their gift, unless they are a healer.”

  As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the hall began to vibrate with magic—new magic. Francesca rose and turned to the stairs to see Adrianna descending the steps followed by Grayson and Serena.

  “I’m a healer,” Adrianna said.

  Grayson took his wife’s hand as they walked towards Francesca and Drogan. “That isn’t all she can do.”

  Adrianna smiled at Grayson. “I can see the future, though only in bits. I sense trouble more than anything else. Trouble that I can help me and mine avoid.”

  “Did you avoid Nigel’s army?” Francesca asked.

  Grayson sighed and walked Adrianna to a chair. Once she was seated, he rested his arm on the back. “Nay. Drina predicted the storm, which was why we had stopped to make camp. There was no way we could reach the castle before the storm hit.”

  “And Cade?” Drogan asked. “He got through the army?”

  “Aye,” Adrianna said. “He was....” She glanced at Grayson.

  “Not himself,” Grayson finished for her.

  Francesca sank into her chair and gazed into the fire. Cade couldn’t have succumbed so soon. He had been strong enough to fight the darkness, to keep it under control.

  “Cade let the darkness take him,” Francesca said. “It was the only way he could get Adrianna and Grayson to the castle safely.”

  Drogan swore and entwined his fingers with Serena’s. “Are you sure, Fran? You’ve seen it?”

  “Nay, but I don’t need to. I warned him that he couldn’t battle Nigel’s army himself, but he told me he could. The only way that he stood a chance at winning—”

  “Was letting the darkness out,” Serena said. “Drogan, I’m so sorry.”

  “What will happen to him now?” Adrianna asked. “Will he return to the castle?”

  Drogan raked his free hand down his face. “Cade has never stepped foot inside the castle. I doubt he ever will.”

  “But he is out there,” Grayson said.

  Drogan nodded. “He’s out there.”

  Francesca lifted her gaze to Drogan. “You can’t hunt him.”

  “If I don’t, he’ll kill anyone he comes across.”

  “Wait,” Adrianna said. “I don’t understand. The evil I sensed in Cade, are you telling me it has taken over?”

  Francesca refused to answer. Until she saw Cade herself, until she saw that the darkness had truly beat him, she would defend him.

  “Aye,” Drogan said. “Cade...he’s been fighting the darkness for many years. To finally give in to it, or to let it win, would mean that his soul is well and truly lost. He’s nothing but evil now.”

  “You don’t know that for sure,” Francesca argued as she gained her feet. “You can’t say that, can’t order men to hunt him when you haven’t seen him.”

  Drogan’s eyes held pity. “I don’t need to see him, Fran. I lived with the darkness myself.”

  “And you beat it. So can Cade.”

  “I beat it with Serena. Cade is alone, just as you said. You just told me he was losing himself. That makes it easier for the darkness to take over. There is no hope for Cade.”

  Francesca hated the helplessness she felt, the utter lack of control over the situation. Silence gripped the hall as the five of them stared at each other. She wanted to argue with Drogan to prove that he was wrong. But she couldn’t, not until she found Cade.

  “The storm,” Adrianna said. “It’s getting worse. Something has happened.”

  Francesca looked at Adrianna to find the blonde witch staring into the distance with a faraway look in her eyes.

  Grayson went down on his haunches in front of her. “Drina, what do you see?”

  “Anger. The storm is meant to kill.”

  “Cade,” Drogan said softly. “Cade must have destroyed Nigel’s army.”

  Grayson nodded. “It would explain the storm and his anger.”

  Hope blossomed in Francesca’s chest. If Cade had beaten Nigel’s army, that meant he was still alive. There was still a chance for him.

  A chance for us.

  She wasn’t sure where that thought had come from, but she couldn’t deny it. Though it went against everything she had believed in for so many years, she wanted Cade with a desperation that frightened her.

  Adrianna blinked and took a deep breath. When she opened her blue eyes, they were trained on Francesca.

  “After all Cade did for us, we need to keep the women safe,” Grayson said.

  Drogan nodded. “I don’t un
derstand why Nigel wants them dead.”

  “Look what happened when he tried to battle me,” Serena said. “I gave you the amulet that saved your life. I had no way of knowing it at the time, but Nigel doesn’t know that.”

  “True,” Drogan agreed. “So he fears you three.”

  Adrianna folded her hands in her lap. “It has been many centuries since any bana‐bhuidseach have lived together. At one time, the power of all witches could have combined to kill such evil, but I don’t know that the three of us could do it.”

  “I’ve never used my powers in such a way,” Serena admitted.

  Francesca shook her head. “Neither have I. I wouldn’t know the first thing to do.”

  “Just as I expected,” Adrianna said. “I, also, have never used my power that way. I don’t think it’s possible. With each death of one of us, our powers have diminished.”

  “That might be true, my love,” Grayson said. “Yet there is no doubt Nigel fears you. We may never know the reason, but I would feel much better knowing you are alive.”

  Francesca watched the exchange between Grayson and Adrianna with the same envy that she watched Serena and Drogan. There wasn’t a future for her, least of all one that included a man who looked at her with such love in his eyes.

  “Tell them,” Francesca said to Drogan.

  Grayson looked from her to Drogan. “Tell us what?”

  “Francesca had a dream vision.”

  She licked her lips. “The only way for Serena and her son to survive Nigel’s attack is to hide somewhere. Somewhere Nigel would never be able to find them. I told Drogan he needed to be with them also, but he won’t listen to me.”

  “I need to fight Nigel,” Drogan argued.

  Francesca faced the man who had grown up more her brother than anything. “You’ll end up dead if you aren’t with your wife and child.”

  “Drogan,” Serena said. “Listen to Fran. Her powers won’t lead her wrong.”

  “I won’t hide while my men fight Nigel.”

  Francesca knew it was an argument that could go on for days. She looked to Grayson and Adrianna. “The chamber is hidden and protected by my and Serena’s magic. It is a good place for Adrianna to hide as well.”