Page 22 of What Sleeps Within the Cove

Notmyfucking murder puppy.

I ran over his body, tucking one of my blades back in its sheath. Standing on top of his chest for a brief moment, I watched the creature’s flaming eyes go wide as he tossed Fenrir to the side to focus on the new, impending threat. I dropped, placing both hands on the hilt of my remaining sword as I drove it down toward the ground, catching the creature directly in the center of his throat.

The blade pierced his flesh quickly, sinking into the dirt beneath him. The flames in his eyes flickered as his hand grasped me by the waist, tearing me free from my sword as he threw me sideways.

I brushed against Fenrir’s back as I flew through the air, his resounding whimper letting me know he was still breathing as I tumbled over him. I crashed into something cool and hard, my head pounding for a brief moment.

Reprieve from the pain came with the return of darkness.

FOURTEEN

ESTRELLA

A wet, rough tongue dragged over my face. I raised a hand, swatting it away and peeling my eyes open slowly. The motion was too much, forcing me to acknowledge the pain on the right side of my face. I raised a hand to touch it, wincing when my fingers connected with the swollen flesh.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Brann said, shoving his back against the stone as he fought to push it up the hill all over again.

The fires had returned for the day, illuminating the valley and the way the Morrigan and the Cwn Annwn watched me warily, waiting to see if I’d be able to function. I pushed to sit up, shoving Fenrir and his wet tongue away as I gently wiped the slobber from my swollen face.

“Dogs lick their wounds. He thinks he’s taking care of you,” Macha said, pressing her lips together to contain her amused chuckle.

“How sweet,” I said, smiling saccharinely at Fenrir when he dropped to lay at my side. He draped his enormous head over mylap, the weight of it pinning me to the ground as I sat and stared down at him. There was little sign of any injury on him, just a few scratches and some claw marks where the creature had gripped his jaws and fought to crush them. I ran a hand over his snout gently, soothing him as much as he soothed me with his presence.

“Why are you in Tartarus?” I asked, leveling Brann with a glare. He paused, planting his feet so that the stone couldn’t roll back over him.

“I came here intentionally to find someone and convince him to help you,” he paused, seeming to contemplate how much I might already know about the truth of his involvement in my life.

“You mean the same person who appointed you as my guardian within the Lunar Coven? My father?” I asked, wishing Fenrir would move so I could get to my feet.

Now that Brann wasn’t in danger, I needed to smack the shit out of him for his secrets and deception.

Brann blinked, swallowing as it became obvious I wasn’t as ignorant as I’d once been. “My mate and I have had a number of revelations since youdied,” I snapped.

“You do not need to accept the mate bond as fact. You can choose to reject it,” he said, clearly hating what had come of Caldris and I in the time since he’d vanished from my life. “And I’m not dead,” he said, sighing. His chest sagged with it, leaving me to fully realize the level of his exhaustion. “I was pulled out to sea. I’m not human, so the fall wasn’t enough to kill me. There’s a secret entrance to Tartarus, and I was able to perform a ritual to separate my soul from my body so that I could enter. It was the only thing I could think to do to help you.Reallyhelp you.”

“Separate your soul from your body,” I said, considering those words. “I walked into Tartarus body and all. Why wouldn’t you have just done the same?”

“Only the main gates will allow a living person to enter in their physical form,” Macha answered, and I glanced over to find Nemain nodding silently. She smiled slightly, seeming to reassure me about the fact that she couldn’t speak.

Reassuringme.When it was my fault she’d lost the ability.

“So you just let me believe you were dead,” I said. Fenrir raised his head as he sensed my growing frustration, dropping it onto the ground beside me. He clearly wasn’t happy about it, the dirt much harder and less comfortable than my thighs.

“I could do nothing to protect you against the Wild Hunt. Thiswas the only way. I never expected to get trapped here in eternal punishment. I didn’t think Khaos would hate me quite that much,” Brann said, the chains that kept him strapped to his stone clanking together. “The only way I can escape it is if I manage to get this stone to the top of the hill by the time the fires fade at night. I’ve tried, every single day.”

“You kept his daughter from him for years longer than agreed upon. Of course he’s furious with you,” Badb snapped, striding up to Brann and only stopping when I got to my feet. “You were supposed to return her when she was reborn into her final life cycle. There’s no telling what kind of damage you have caused by not allowing her to grow in the Cradle of Creation.”

“If Mab ever discovered she existed, she would have killed her. I made sure to get her away from the rest of the coven before the Veil fell. I protected her. I made it so she would never have to know the truth of her purpose and the suffering it would bring,” Brann explained as I strode up to his side.

“At the cost of everyone else!” Macha yelled, her rage palpable in the air. It was something I’d never thought to experience from the Morrigan, who seemed so detached from all things resembling human emotion most of the time. “She would have been safe in the Cradle.”

“If that was the case, they’d have allowed her to stay there in the first place. Theychoseto send her away. I raised her. Nothim,” Brann snapped, the words filled with a rage I hadn’t ever seen from him. He took a moment to compose himself, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. “I can get her out now,” he said, his voice going desolate at the thought of me being in this place after all he’d given to try to keep me away. “Out the same way I came in. You don’t have to be here.”

“How is it that you think I came to be here?” I asked, tilting my head to the side as I studied the man I’d believed to be my brother. “I just happened to wander into the cove?”

He swallowed as I approached, his eyes shuddering against the judgment I cast upon him. Imelda had spoken of Brander with respect whenever she was willing to speak of him at all, unable to believe the crime he’d committed against his own people and the vows they’d made to return Fallon and me when the time came. “You escaped Mab. The Fates guided you here to serve their agenda.”

“Mab sent me here herself. She doesn’t have the slightest clue who I am aside from the fact that I somehow have the power of thePrimordials at my disposal. I’m to collect a snake from the crown of Medusa and return it to her, or she will kill my mate as punishment,” I answered, watching as he winced.

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