Page 58 of Kings and Monsters

"You stay away from what belongs to me, you witch," Gwyn growled, looking the eagle in its golden eyes, and then with a sickening crack, he crushed its head between his hands.

"Thank you, Gwyn," Rosa said.

Bleddyn hurried to her side, bringing her close in a quick hug. "The queen is going to know you have sided with us now," he said to Gwyn.

"Good. I want Aeronwen afraid." His silver eyes looked Rosa over, and she gave him a curt nod, an unspoken message passing between them. Bleddyn's arm tightened around her a little more.

"Get her inside and pull everyone back. My Hunt will deal with this flock and will meet you on the Seelie borders at the fullmoon," Gwyn said, a large ax appearing in his hand. He pulled off one of his bronze arm rings and slipped it over Rosa's hand. "This is my token. Use it to summon me when you are ready to bring the warding down, and we will be there."

"I promise," she said, and Bleddyn pulled her away.

Gwyn started to call to his Hunt in a language so old even Bleddyn didn't recognize it. It was a song of death and fear, and he lifted Rosa into his arms and ran. Unseelie soldiers swarmed around him as they pulled back into the Courts and closed the thickly warded gates.

In the corner of his eye, Bleddyn saw the glamour fall from the Hunt that Gwyn had so carefully constructed. They were a seething mass of dead warriors, monsters made of horn and claw, and were every reason ever to fear the darkness.

"Don't look back, Rosa. Don't look back," Bleddyn warned, cradling her head to his chest. A horrible, nightmarish scream came behind them as the warriors of the dead and their god unleashed their power.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

It took hours to tend to the wounded and organize the warriors guarding every entranceway, laying new wards as they went.

Merlin had helped tend to the wounded, and Arthur gave warriors orders, all the while carrying a lost, frightened child on his hip that he'd saved from an eagle's claws.

Bleddyn did his best to reassure his people, sending them home with promises that nothing could enter their city. Rosa stood with her hand on the closed doors to the Court, her forehead resting against the wood as if she was praying.

"Are you actually concerned for Gwyn?" Bleddyn demanded. "Rosa, he is a god! He can handle a few birds."

Rosa looked up at him, her eyes lost and glazed with darkness as if they were looking at something else.

"Merlin!" he called.

His son appeared, took one look at Rosa's lost expression, and gave her a shake hard enough to rattle her.

"Snap out of it! My claim on you is stronger than his, Wylt."

Her eyes refocused, and she hit him, hard enough to knock his head sideways.

"You shook me!" she snarled before she clutched at her head. "Oh, why am I so dizzy."

"You were caught up in the Hunt's magic again, you stupid girl," Merlin said, his golden eyes full of fear and fury. The anger on Rosa's face melted. She started to cry and collapsed into him.

"God, I'm sorry, Merlin. I'm sorry. It called to me, and I couldn't help it."

Merlin let out a long stream of Welsh curses before squeezing her close. "We are going back to the palace where I can keep an eye on you. We'll have no more mixing magic with the Hunt, do you hear?"

Bleddyn found Arthur, and together they all went back into the palace, leaving what remained of the crowds in the capable hands of Daesyn and Aidan.

Bleddyn opened his chamber door and felt the pulse of Eirianwen's magic. He had looked for her after the battle but thought she must have gone back to her own mansion. He had no protective claim on her as he did his family, even if she did drink from him. He wouldn't push her away by acting like an overbearing lover no matter how much he wanted to.

"Eirianwen?" Bleddyn called, moving through his rooms and into the restored Night Gardens. He felt something stalking him through the trees before she pounced into his arms.

Eirianwen was still in her ruined gown and smelled of blood, battle, and sex, her eyes shining with a vicious hunger as her legs locked around his waist.

Without warning Eirianwen sank her teeth into his neck, making him cry out and stagger in surprise. He had never felt desire in feeding except with her. Her sharp teeth and hot body had unraveled him completely.

He'd woken in the morning alone in her bed and didn't get to see her until the Hunt had arrived. He had a thousand things hewanted to tell her, and all of them vanished as the feeling of her bite went straight to his groin.

His pleasure intensified as Eirianwen branded him. It wasn't just a bite; it was the staking of a claim.

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