Tattered Thorns Page 2

  The son of the Great Coyote? Though I didn’t know much about him, the Great Coyote was a god. Which meant Yutani was a demigod. Time to backtrack fast. “Um, I’m sorry?”

  His eyes never leaving my face, Yutani snorted, then outright laughed. “You really are something, you know that?” He moved to the living room, where he sat in a chair near Talia’s desk, which was set in a corner. “So, tell us more about yourself while we’re waiting. You might as well because once Morgana gets here, it’s going to come out.”

  There was a sudden shift in the energy of the room—I could feel it in my bones. The tension drained and both of them relaxed. I let out a long breath, my inner alarms quieting. I could trust them, regardless of whether I liked them.

  “My name is Lyrical Muirín. Lyrical Willow Muirín. I was named after my great-great-grandmother, who is Queen of the Limerick Leannan Sidhe.” Before I could say anything else, the door opened and in walked Morgana, goddess of the Sea, followed by a man and a woman, and I knew without being told that all three were gods.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Morgana made a beeline for me. “Lyrical, what the hell did you get yourself into? I thought I told you to keep your nose out of trouble.” The goddess was tall, far taller than me, and she had black hair bound into a chignon that was held in place by cloisonne hair combs. Her eyes sparkled like frost, and she was incredibly beautiful. She was wearing a linen pantsuit and carrying a Louis Vuitton handbag.

  The man behind her had hair down to his elbows the color of wheat, and he smelled musky, like the deep woods and apples and cinnamon bark. He was gorgeous, with long lashes over bedroom eyes. The woman beside him reminded me a bit of Morgana, with raven-colored curly hair down to her mid-back. She wasn’t as tall, though, and she looked well-muscled.

  I started to answer, but she held up her hand. “Meet my son, Herne, Lord of the Hunt, and his wife, Ember, another goddess of Fae. She’s half Leannan Sidhe, by the way.”

  I stared at the woman, curious. If she had been mortal, I would have instantly known her as a tralaeth—half blood. But the nimbus of power surrounded her, too. She seemed new to it, though I couldn’t have said why I got that impression. But she also seemed at home with Morgana and Herne.

  Morgana cut into my thoughts. “Ember used to be my priestess before she went through the Gadawnoin ritual that transformed her into a goddess.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say, but once again, was spared the awkward attempt when Morgana continued.

  “So, you got yourself in deep, didn’t you?” She narrowed her eyes, her gaze piercing right through me. One thing I had learned about her—I couldn’t lie to Morgana.

  “They were asking for it,” I mumbled, straightening.

  “What did you do? I could hear your distress all the way in Annwn.” The goddess folded her arms and leaned against the wall. “Spill it.”

  I worried my lip then finally burst out, “They were running a krystaleth lab and hooking kids in my neighborhood. I might have just wiped out their equipment, after alleviating their safe of some of that dirty money.” I tried to keep my face straight but couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. “You should have seen them run when they heard their setup get destroyed. And before you say anything, I called the cops on them, too. Anonymously, of course.”

  “But they found out who did it,” Herne said. He was wearing a sideways smile and his eyes glittered as he turned to Ember. “Sounds like something you might do.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Well, since they were going after kids, they had it coming.” She looked around, then headed toward a chair. I noticed she had a slightly rounded bump on her belly. Somebody was preggers.

  “That’s right,” I said. “She understands.”

  “That doesn’t mean you should have taken on a whole pack of coyote shifters on your own,” she added, shaking her finger at me. “But you did a good thing.”

  “Where’s the money?” Morgana asked, holding out her hand.

  I bristled. “Hey, I earned that,” I started to say, but her look told me arguing was useless. With a sigh, I said, “It’s locked in a bus station locker.” I slid my hand down my corset and found the key where I’d dropped it between my boobs. They were big enough to provide a safe shelter for various objects. I pulled the key out and reluctantly tossed it to Morgana. “Here.”

  Morgana caught it midair. “Well then, we’ll just make sure this money goes to charity, won’t we?”

  “Charity begins at home,” I grumbled. I needed the money. I didn’t have a job and I was living on the forced goodwill of others. I didn’t like making my money that way, but right now I had no clue what I could do. I was still too shell-shocked from my time spent with Kilnakarn, the King of the Colkerny Kelpie Pod to figure out what I could do in a city like Seattle. It wasn’t that there weren’t any of my kind here—there were—but I really didn’t want word to filter back home about where I was. If it reached my people, Kilnakarn might pick up on it as well.

  “You don’t need charity—you need a job,” Herne said. He scratched his head. “Mother, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Morgana nodded. “We’re on the same track.”

  Yutani snorted. “Okay, this is all very amusing, but why send us to save her, other than we were in the area?”

  Morgana turned to him. “Don’t tell me you can’t see what Herne and I can?”

  Ember snickered. “Yutani, you’re about to have your hands full.” She had no sooner spoken when Morgana laughed.

  “Don’t think you’re in the clear on this,” she said to her.

  “You do know I’m right here,” I interrupted. I hated being talked over.

  But none of them paid any attention to me.

  Ember cleared her throat. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Lyrical needs guidance in both her spiritual and her daily life. And what better place to give her guidance than the Wild Hunt? And who better to guard her questionable ethics than someone who understands what it means to be Leannan Sidhe, than you?” Morgana crossed her arms, looking all too satisfied for my tastes.

  “Hey, as I said, I’m right here and what do you mean by all that?” I stood, tapping my foot. On one hand, I was all too aware that I was on thin ice. You just didn’t talk to the gods like this. But I also knew that I’d never again wait for others to advocate for me. Life in the clutches of that scum Kilnakarn had taught me the value of acting on my own behalf.

  “What I mean by all that,” Morgana said, still staring at Ember and Yutani, “is that you’re about to become a priestess of Ember, and you’re about to sign on to work with the Wild Hunt. Maybe that will help arm you for life in the bigger world.”

  I groaned. “Priestess? Oh no, no disrespect to you, Lady Ember, but I don’t kneel before anybody. And as for the job—well, what if I don’t want to work for him?” I pointed toward Yutani, frowning. He might very well be a nice guy but I didn’t like the sarcastic way he was looking at me, and I knew—right to my bones—that we’d butt heads, and in a big way. “I’m a princess in my kingdom. I don’t take orders, I give them.”

  “You may be a princess, but you have a lot to learn about manners,” Yutani said.

  “Hush,” Morgana interrupted him. “Here’s the thing, Princess Lyrical. I can send you back to your own kingdom but you know what will happen if I do. And what’s likely to occur. Here, you stand a good chance of making a new life for yourself, and of surviving. You might as well face it, your days of hobnobbing among the royalty are over. I know that sounds harsh, given what happened to you, but you might as well start facing reality. And you can’t go on stealing from groups likely to kill you.” She paused, then softly added, “Or was that a suicide attempt?”

  At that, I paused, staring at her. “Of course it wasn’t,” I said, but even in my protest, I realized that she wasn’t that far off. My breath became ragged. “I was a princess. My great-great-grandmother is a queen. I lived in a beautiful home, and everything
was set until he came along. Kilnakarn ruined my life. He destroyed everything that was good. He destroyed my future. What’s left for me now?”

  “You still have options—” Herne started to say, but I cut him off.

  “How dare you tell me how to feel? Anything I do from now on will never make up for what I lost. What’s left for me now? My family won’t take me back—I’m used goods. The Dark Fae sullied my name. Do you know how strict my great-great-grandmother is? I could have taken ten lovers as long as they were Light Fae, but the day that monster kidnapped me and defiled me, he turned me into garbage in my family’s eyes!”

  I didn’t realize I was screaming, but the anger poured through me like an ocean surging into a cove, and I drank it in, felt it charge my body and soul. The anger was all I had left—it alone buoyed me up. When I was angry, I didn’t stop to think about everything I’d endured under Kilnakarn.

  Yutani’s smug look faded away. Ember took a step toward me. The room was bathed in silence.

  “You can rebound,” Ember said after a moment. “You can come back stronger than ever and you can make your life brilliant. I can help you.” And this time, there was no irony in her voice. “I know what it’s like to be cast out, to walk in no-man’s land. I know what it’s like to be hunted. For me, it was different, but no less painful. I do understand.”

  Her tone told me she was telling the truth. I didn’t know anything about her other than what I’d been told, but I recognized the look in her eyes.

  Anyone who’s ever been a victim has a certain look behind their smile. And those who’ve been there can recognize it in others. It’s that mutual understanding of what it’s like to be the underdog, to be a survivor. And if I was correct, Ember had seen her own fair share of trauma.

  “I spent two years under his control,” I said. “I spent two years caged as an unwilling concubine. Do you think I can ever forget that?”

  She crossed to stand before me. We were close to the same height. “May I?” she asked, holding up her hands.

  I nodded.

  She placed them on my shoulders and a cooling energy began to surround me. The fire inside started to back off as a calming wave rolled through the fire, dampening it. “You can be whole again,” she said softly. “You’ll never forget and you don’t have to forgive, but you can become a warrior. You can take back your power.”

  A small chip in the dam inside flaked off, then another, and another. I tried to repress the tears and the fury that I’d locked away in order to survive life under Kilnakarn’s control. But the chip became a chunk, became a series of cracks in my internal armor, and the surge of emotions threatened to break it all down—to shatter the wall.

  Like paint splashed on a wall, her energy surged through me, illuminating everything it touched. And then, in one corner of my mind’s eye, I saw a door, locked with heavy chains across it. I could hear whimpering behind it, and I knew that if I approached it, if I opened that door, I’d have to face the darkest moments of my life again. Right now, they were locked away but the moment that door opened, I’d be swept into the flood and I was terrified I would drown.

  You don’t have to open it yet—you’re not ready. But you need to acknowledge that this side of you is still trapped by the fear and the shame. The side of you he claimed is still caught in the nightmare, and to fully emerge from his power, you have to rescue her and embrace her.

  The words echoed in my mind as I looked into the goddess’s eyes. There, I saw understanding and acceptance—of every part of me. Of the self who remembered days as a child, running free through the woodland and along the shore. Of the self who was going to marry the prince of another Leannan Sidhe clan, and then—of the self who had been dragged off in chains, who had been used and beaten, who had been ready to face death rather than continue on.

  Ember embraced me, pulling me into her arms. “It’s all right,” she said. “You’ll get through this in your own time. And I will walk beside you and help. Pledge to me, Lyrical. Become my priestess so I might help you.”

  I knew I could trust her. My alarm bells were silent, and in her eyes I could see the light of truth, the light of strength, the light of love.

  “I don’t want to disappoint you,” I murmured, not sure I could live up to what might be in store for me. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

  “You can, even if it takes awhile. Even if the struggle takes two steps forward, one step back.” She brushed my hair back. “Will you accept the quest?”

  I nodded, unable to do anything else. There was nothing else I could say to her.

  “Good then, but I need you to say it aloud. Say ‘Yes’—but only if you mean it.” Ember’s gaze pierced through me, and I realized that I could say no. She wouldn’t destroy me if I refused, she wouldn’t hunt me down.

  And that last realization decided me.

  “I say yes. Morgana saved me, so there must be some reason I’m still alive,” I said. “Whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do—as long as it feels right.”

  “We’ll formalize it later, but as of now, you are under my protection. And now, you will be working with our friends.” Ember motioned to Yutani and Talia. “But first, you need food.”

  Talia jumped up. “Let me heat up the pizza and make some coffee.”

  As Ember turned to talk to Morgana, I noticed that Yutani was staring at me. His look had shifted from disdain, but I couldn’t read the emotions behind his look. It wasn’t pity, thank the gods. It felt more curious than anything else. But he didn’t approach me.

  Instead, Herne motioned toward the dining table and held out his arm to me. “May I escort you to the table?”

  Startled, I hesitantly slipped my arm through his. “Thank you.”

  As he walked me over to the dining room, he said, “I know this must all be unsettling for you. Trust me, when I first recruited Ember, she was confused and uncertain as well. But you couldn’t have a better protector if she has your back, and she won’t hesitate to back you up. Of course, if you keep running around stealing from questionable groups like those drug-dealing coyote shifters, she might have a thing or two to say.”

  I sat in one of the corner chairs at the end of the table. So far, I had discerned that Herne was Morgana’s son, Ember was his wife, and she had once been mortal.

  “When you met Lady Ember—”

  “Among employees of the Wild Hunt, you can use our names without the title,” Herne interrupted. “In public you’ll need to apply the honorifics, but here, in private, it’s just Herne and Ember and Morgana.”

  “Very well.” I paused, then asked, “What did your mother think of you marrying a mortal?”

  He laughed. “My mother was also a mortal at the beginning when Cernunnos, Lord of the Forest, met her. She was Ember’s goddess before we got involved.”

  I nodded, trying to sort out the relationships. “So you and Ember run the Wild Hunt Agency?”

  “Until the dragons came, we were over here, running it from downtown Seattle. But when they attacked…when the Mother and Father of all dragons went up against each other and destroyed our office building in the chaos, we had to move. There will be several rules you’ll be held to by oath, and…” He paused. “You’ll need to wear our mark. Most all who are drawn into the agency are required to get a tattoo that marks you as forever belonging to us.”

  I shifted, realizing that this was no penny-ante job I was being drawn into. “Are you like a secret society or something?”

  He shook his head. “Not so much, though more so than we used to be. We are also affiliated with other similar agencies scattered around the world. And we have close ties with LOCK—the Library of Cryptic Knowledge. In fact, right across the street—the neighbors work for the paramilitary branch of LOCK. But this is vital: the Dragonni must not know we’ve returned to Earth. You know who they are, don’t you?”

  “Who doesn’t know who they are?” I murmured.

  The Dragonni—the dragons—had burst into the
scene a couple years before, coming in when the force field that had prevented them from coming into the world had broken down. Typhon, their father—the son of a Titan—had managed to escape the stasis that had imprisoned him, and had been bent on enslaving the world of mortals. The gods had found Echidna, the Mother of all Dragons, and she had gone up against Typhon, driving him back into stasis even though doing so also imprisoned her. But some of the Dragonni had refused to leave, and they were still raising havoc over here.

  “We’re still at war with them, though it’s on the silent side now. You may have some dangerous assignments when it comes to it, but you’ll be trained for them.” Herne regarded me for a moment. “The Wild Hunt, as it stands today, has Yutani at the helm. He’s my right-hand man—and regardless of what you think of him, he won’t lead you astray. Talia acts as the face to the public, the receptionist, and is one of our investigators. There are two more members who currently work here—Wager Chance, a private detective turned investigator for us, and Wendy Fierce-Womyn. She used to be a bartender/bouncer at Ginty’s Waystation Bar & Grill.”

  My head was starting to spin with information and names. I must have looked confused because Ember approached the table. “Not all at once, Herne. Don’t bombard her with information. She’ll learn soon enough.”

  She sat down on one side of me, at the end of the table, and Herne sat across from me. Morgana sat at the head of the table and Yutani sat next to Ember. Talia returned with the stack of pizzas, all piping hot, and set them on the table, along with a stack of paper plates and silverware.

  “The coffee’s brewing. There’s milk and soda in the fridge, if you prefer it,” she said, sitting next to me. “Just tell me and I’ll get it when I bring in the coffee.”

  “Do you have a place to live?” Yutani asked.

  I shook my head. “I did, but if I go back there, the coyote shifters will find me again.”