“How the hell did she find you?” Leinth demanded as Thom and Marin drew back within earshot. “I couldn’t even find you.”
“She knew where to look,” Seamus answered, his voice even and grim. “I suppose it was only a matter of time if she’s been tracking the Wild Hunt, and I suspect she’s been doing just that.”
“We should have waited for Cam,” Marin said. “My brother, the others. We should have waited.”
“There’s no time,” Seamus growled. “The six of us will have to be enough.”
And the Hunt, maybe, Thom thought darkly, grimacing. He glanced sidelong toward Thordin and Sif, who’d caught up quickly after he and Marin had crossed the ward line and headed for the bridge. The snow-covered concrete was slick under their boots but Seamus didn’t seem at all inclined to slow down.
“I’ll need your help,” Seamus said, glancing over his shoulder toward Thom. “You know the lay of the land. I don’t.”
Marin looked at her husband. “Where was she headed?”
“What’s left of Au Sable,” Thom said. “She was empty-handed, so I don’t…how does this even work? Does she have his…his anima in some kind of orb or something?”
“We won’t know until she starts to gloat,” Seamus murmured. “Until she tells me what she’s really after.”
“I would think it’s obvious what she’s after,” Leinth snapped. “She’s looking for you, Seamus. She wants the same thing everyone wants.”
Seamus snorted. “You mean the thing that I’m not anymore?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Leinth said, her tone gentling fractionally even as bitterness leaked into it. “Did they tell you that the Hecate came after him? She couldn’t have you and now she wants your successor.”
“She would have wanted him whether he was the Taliesin or not,” Seamus muttered.
A chill shot down Thom’s spine.
That’s a lovely thought, isn’t it?
Marin’s fingers spasmed around his and Thom gave her hand a squeeze, glancing sidelong as they made it to the far end of the bridge. “Come on,” he murmured. “We’ll need to lead the way.”
Her lips thinned and she nodded, carefully unshouldering her bow.
“Seamus,” she asked softly, “will we need her alive?”
“It’d be best,” he said.
“All right,” Marin said, taking a deep breath and exhaling it slowly. “I’ll shoot to wound, then.”
She jogged up the sidewalk, Thom at her side.
They sure better get Phelan put back in one piece. They sure have a long winter there. Brrrr!
Thanks yet again.