I couldn’t breathe. Going after Matt? “Why?” I asked, my voice strangled. “Why does she care?”
“Gods only know,” Seamus said with a slight shudder. “Was he the Ridden Druid?”
“Phelan seemed to think so,” Thordin said quietly.
“Enough.” My throat was tight, heart starting to beat too fast. “There are more than enough people to take care of Matt if she can even get past the wards to get to him.” Oh shit, what the hell did I just bring down on my brother’s head? Me and my—her?—big mouth.
Thom’s arm tightened around me. I tried to shrug free of the embrace and straighten. We had to find Phelan—no one else could—and we couldn’t trust Thesan to hold to any bargain she made.
The woman was nuttier than a jar of peanut butter.
I sucked in a breath, feeling strangled. “You and Sif go back,” I told Thordin. “Make sure Matt and Cameron and everyone else is safe. Something tells me that the only thing that would be worse than her getting her hands on Matt would be finding out about Cam.”
Leinth made a pained sound. “She can’t,” she whispered. “We can’t let that happen.”
Seamus stared at her for a moment and she shook her head. “Never mind. Don’t ask.” Leinth swallowed hard and headed for the rubble, her step firm and her stride purposeful. “Marin’s right. We need to find the vessel she’s keeping Phelan’s spirit in—and pray she’s not carrying it right now instead.”
I swallowed hard and nodded to Thordin and Sif. “Go. Please, just go and make sure they’re safe.”
Thordin hesitated a moment before he nodded. “Right. Neve wouldn’t forgive me anyway if something happened to Cam.” He glanced at Sif, whose lips thinned even as her eyes narrowed.
“I don’t like it,” she said softly. “There’s too much going on here, too much strangeness. It doesn’t feel right.”
Welcome to our world. “It never does.”
I turned and followed Leinth into the rubble.
