Page 81 of The Seer

“To whom? No one living or dead will mourn your loss.”

“My sisters, my brother, and my parents are all here.” She pointed behind him, and he didn’t need to look. The weight of the deaths she’d caused was heavy in the air.

Taryn among them.

“They’re here to see justice, Odessa. Not to mourn your passing or guide you to the next life. There will be none for you.”

From the corner of his eye, he spotted Taryn hovering beside Fintan, who was bent over her bloody, broken body, sobbing. Ardghal’s rage at Taryn’s senseless murder boiled to the surface. His arm flashed out, and he gripped Odessa by the neck.

“Jaysus!” Eoin gasped from beside Brenna. “Did ya see how feckin’ fast the fucker moved?”

She and Narissa were once more in their human forms, looking worse for wear.

“Return to the house,” Ardghal ordered them, not unkindly. “You shouldn’t be here for this.”

“I’m stayin’,” Fintan said dully. “And I’d be thankin’ ya to let me be the one to dismember Odessa.”

“It’ll take more than your anger, boy. Go.”

Creed wasted no time lifting Narissa and teleporting away, and after a tearful look at Taryn, Brenna allowed Eoin to do the same. As he waited for his order to be obeyed, Ardghal sensed the struggle within Fintan. He allowed him the time he needed.

“Taryn’s here with ya, boyo,” Peter said gently. “You’ve the ability to see her spirit if you’re of the mind.”

Fintan lifted his head, his gaze disbelieving as it landed on her beside him. “Why were ya so foolish, Taryn-Taryn?” he cried. “I told ya you couldn’t fight a Succubus, not as a mere witch.”

Tears shimmered in her mournful eyes, and her loving smile was heartbreaking in its intensity. Ardghal’s vision blurred, and grief nearly cleaved him in two. He forcefully shifted Odessa to view the tragedy she’d rendered.

“Was it worth it?” he snarled. “All the lives you’ve taken in your endless quest for more… was it fucking worth it?”

“I—”

He snapped her neck before she could utter another word.

It wasn’t, and nothing she could say would right this wrong.

With a deep inhale, he said, “Fintan, I need to finish this, and you need to go now or die here.”

“I’ll die here. With her.”

Frustration at the foolish romantic drivel made him fling Odessa’s body harder than he needed, and her skull cracked open on the stones at his feet. Stalking to Taryn’s body, he picked her up and carried her into the water. He’d braced himself for the impact of Fintan’s expected attack, but still, he staggered under the weight.

“What the fuck are ya doin’?” Fintan shouted.

Ardghal faced him, Taryn locked in his arms. “Think, boy! The waters are enchanted, as are the boulders she helped me spell.”

Hope, that ever elusive bitch, flashed in Fintan’s pain-darkened eyes. “You can save her?”

“I can try, but you need to go.”

“And if I don’t?”

A disbelieving laugh escaped him, and Ardghal stared at him in wonder. “Did you get your arrogance from me, then?”

“Aye. Seems likely.”

“Remember what I said about ya dying?” He waited for Fintan to nod. “My Siren song is the strongest of our line. It will burn up your DNA as I intend it to Odessa’s. You can’t survive it, Fintan, not now that we’ve split in two.”

“What about Taryn?”

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