“Thesan,” Seamus suddenly barked. “I know you’re about, girl. Show yourself and be braver than your mother ever dared to be.”
Mocking laughter rang out from all sides as the group paused, slowly backing into a cluster, backs together. Marin slowly drew an arrow from her quiver and readied her bow. Thom’s sword rasped quietly from its scabbard and he touched his wife’s arm briefly.
“Braver than her?” a woman’s voice asked. Try as they might, it was impossible for them to tell where the sound was actually coming from. “She was hardly a coward, Father. The only thing she feared was my grandfather—and my temper. Rightfully so, I should think, for a woman who consistently deprived her only child of anyone who might have loved her.”
Seamus stiffened. Leinth grasped his free hand and squeezed hard.
“Don’t let her bait you,” Leinth whispered. “Her being the way she is isn’t your fault.”
“I beg to differ, Auntie.” A slender, blonde figure melted out of the rubble. A dark gown garbed her, the hem of her velvet cloak pooled around her feet as she slowly approached them. Her eyes were bright and blue even in the dim of predawn. “Maybe if he’d had the godsdamned balls to stand up to her, I wouldn’t be the way I am.”
“Give him back, Thesan,” Seamus said softly. “You have no quarrel with my cousin.”
“On the contrary, if you don’t agree to my terms, he’s my only hope of winning you over. Either way, he’s a means to an end.” She smiled and it shot shivers down Thom’s spine even though the expression wasn’t directed at him.
“You see,” she continued, “the Hecate wants him. She wants him bad enough that she’ll give just about anything to claim him. If you refuse me, all I have to do is give him to her and I get her help in getting what I want.”
“And what is it you want?” Seamus asked in a whisper.
“I should think it’s obvious, Father. I want my revenge.
“I want my revenge.”
