Page 68 of To Break a Dark Cage

“Y—yeah. I think it does.” Her voice sounded as small as she felt.

Mordred laughed.

It wasn’t a joyful laugh.

Leaning forward, he kissed her forehead. “Then perhaps there is a way out of this for us, yet. Come. Show me where the monster is hiding.” He turned from her, storming off into the woods.

It left her standing there with only one question?—

What have I done?

SIXTEEN

Grinn despised waiting.

He despised it more than almost anything else he was ever tasked with doing—part and parcel, he supposed, because he was asked to do it so damn much.

Three hundred years in the Iron Crystal, give or take.

Ten years stuck as a cat on Earth with the child.

And now?

Now he was waiting for his work to be complete with the volcano. Soon, it would be corrupted beyond repair—his demonic influence turning it to hellfire. Finally, finally, Avalon would be destroyed and all the sniveling idiots that filled it would be wiped from existence.

If the universe were kind, the act would draw the attention of those in hell, and perhaps they would come bring him home. He snorted, a curl of smoke rising from his nostrils as he lay on the stone floor of the cave. No. There was no going home. Avalon had sunk its claws too deep into him to part with him now.

This was not about freedom.

This was about revenge.

They would all pay for what they had done to him. And more than that, he planned to make the island itself pay. Once this place was nothing but ash and bone, he would ensure no one would ever set foot upon Avalon ever again. Whatever sentience lay behind the magic would suffer along with everyone else.

Mordred would be dead.

Thorn would be dead.

Gwendolyn.

He sighed. He found the girl irritating, but not insufferable. Perhaps that was simply a sign he had spent too much time in her presence over the past ten years. Her insistence that she cared would feel more legitimate if she did not care about every living thing she came across. Every stray animal had to be fed. Every insect trapped indoors had to be saved. It was sickening.

And now she was a damnable witch.

The thought made him laugh. He folded his paws under his head and rested his chin on them. The spells had been woven but, like an acid, they took time to leach their way into the stone. Until then, there was nothing he could do but sit. And wait.

And that was something he was very well accustomed to doing.

He would have stayed there until it was all finished, except for the distinct crackle of powerful magic that washed over him. Someone had released a spell—and a large one at that. It wasn’t Gwendolyn, he was damn sure of it. She was too new to wield something like that.

So who?

And what were they up to?

He couldn’t risk someone meddling in his plans. Growling, he pushed himself up to his feet and padded through the cave, tail flicking angrily behind him as he went to find the source of the disturbance.

Whoever it was would pay a heavy price for the interruption.

He crept to the edge of the opening as he heard voices. Voices he recognized. Voices he loathed.

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