Powerful Magic (56 page)

          
“I’ll make you pay,” Roger said. “Both of you.”

          
Now Kenric stepped forward, so that he stood at her side.
 
Still silent, he handed her the huge diamond ring that she'd given him so long ago as a token of her debt to him.
 

          
Finally.
 
They’d come full circle.
 
Now, once she’d wrapped up all loose ends, they could go back and complete their life together.

          
"Here’s your ring back, Roger."
 
She held it out, pleased that her hand didn’t shake as she prayed he’d simply take it and leave.
 
"Please go."

          
Eying the ring, Roger hesitated.
 
His austere features grim, his jaw worked as he contemplated his options.
 
The way he clenched and unclenched his fists told Megan how much he'd like to hurt her, to hit her and make her pay.
 

          
Once she would have cringed - bracing herself for the blow.
 
But not now, no longer.
 
Never again.
 

          
With Kenric solid behind her, she tossed the ring to Roger.
 
He caught it easily, closing his hand around it tightly.
           

          
"Go."
 
Kenric spoke for the first time, sounding controlled, full of unshakable authority.
 
"Leave peacefully while you can."

          
Roger drew himself up, looking even more like a close shaven Myrddin than ever.
 
"And if I don't?"
 
His voice, though smooth as silk, contained a vague threat, a hint of violence.

          
Kenric sighed.
 
"Megan and I belong to each other now.
 
You have no further claim over her.
 
I have no wish to fight you for something that can never be."

          
"Fight me?"
 
Roger laughed.
 
From his suit coat pocket he pulled out a small black gun.
 
"It won't be much of a fight, since I have this.
 
It's no contest, buddy.
 
No contest at all."

          
A chill snaking up her spine, Megan took a step forward, moving slowly, careful not to attract Roger's attention.
 
Once again, she was reminded of Myrddin and his evil magic.

          
Now Roger radiated the same darkness, though he held a pistol rather than magic.

          
There would be another final battle.
 
She had the eerie feeling of reliving the same event over, in a different time against a different opponent.
 
In both dimensions, this issue had to be resolved.

          
There in Rune, she'd merely been a small part of it.
 
This time, she would stand alone.
 
This time,
she
would have to fight.
 
Kenric and his magic would be no match against a weapon of which he had no knowledge, no match against the deadly killing accuracy of a pistol.
 

          
She took a deep breath, drawing strength from the memory of the love that had filled her when they had fought Myrddin.
 
She was ready.

          
"Don't do it, Roger."
 
Voice steady, she banished the quick jab of fear she felt as Roger turned his head to glare at her.
  
"It will ruin you, destroy everything - your business, your reputation, your life.
 
Do you really want to throw it all away?
 
For nothing?"
 

          
"Nothing?"
 
His laugh chilled her blood.
 
"Without your money, it's all gone anyway.
 
You are mine, Megan.
 
Mine, understand?"

          
Once again, it was all about the money.
 
Not about love.
 
Roger had never loved her.
 
She wondered if he was even capable of feeling the emotion.

          
Bravely, she took another step forward.
 
If she could put herself in front of Kenric, she might be able to stop Roger, to make him go away.
 
"I never changed my will."

          
At her softly voiced comment, Roger's eyes narrowed.
 
"I know.
 
That's why I've taken steps to have you declared incompetent.
 
As your fiancé, I have that right."

          
Then he would control her money.
 
It was a brilliant plan.

          
"Enough."
 
Kenric growled.
 
"You no longer have any rights to Megan.
 
Now take your toy and go."

          
"My toy?" Momentary confusion darkened Roger's expression, but it cleared as Kenric again moved to Megan's side, making it easy for him to keep them both covered by his gun.
 
"You're as crazy as she is.
 
Good riddance to both of you .
 
Now, you both have to die."

          
"You'll never get away with it."
  
Megan lifted her chin.
 
“We’re in the hospital.
 
They’ll either surround you or shoot you down before you make it to the lobby.
 
You won’t stand a chance.”

          
Unfazed, Roger chuckled.
 
"Ah, but there you're wrong, Megan my dear.
 
"Especially when I get injured trying to keep my crazy fiancée from killing her new boyfriend with the weird clothes and long hair."

          
Then she knew what he meant to do.
 
Shoot Kenric and make it look like she had done it.
 
Because his name carried a lot of weight in prominent Dallas circles, no doubt the authorities would believe him.
 

          
She couldn't let him do it.
 

          
Roger brought the gun up to bear on Kenric.

          
Kenric muttered a string of unintelligible words.

          
Megan threw herself forward.

          
Lightening flashed.
 
Thunder boomed.

          
Mist swirled up to fill the room.

          
The gun went off.

          
And Kenric and Megan vanished.

CHAPTER TWENTY

          
"Megan.
 
My love."
  

          
As if from a long way off, Megan heard Kenric calling her name.
 
She shivered at the emotion she heard in his deep voice, oddly hoarse, fearful and tender all at the same time.

          
There should have been more pain.
 
Instead, she felt as if she were floating.
 
None of it made sense.
 
When she'd thrown herself in front of Kenric, she’d felt the bullet graze her shoulder.
 
She'd heard Roger's shout of triumph change to shock, heard Kenric's cry as the spell he'd uttered took effect too late to save her from being hit.

          
"I love you."
 

          
Those
words had her opening her eyes.
 
"Kenric?"

          
His grin was lopsided, full of more sorrow than joy.

"Aye, my Megan.”
 
With hands that visibly shook, he touched her, his fingers coming away red.
 
“Tell me what manner of magic did he use on you, so that Rhiannon and her council may say a spell to counteract it?"

          
"Spell?"
 
Confused, she tried to peer through the haze that seemed to be clouding her eyes, trying to make out his beloved features.
 
For the first time she became aware that his tunic was blood-stained.

          
"Did it hit you?"
 
She gasped, horribly aware that her last ditch effort to protect him might have failed.

          
"No."
 
Rhiannon appeared, her expression worried.
 
"The blood you see is your own.
 
We have found a scrape on your shoulder, but nothing to show what caused it.
 
I cleaned it and it bleeds very little now."

          
Megan sat up, her dizziness lessening.
 
"The bullet only grazed me, I think."
  
She looked up at Kenric, startled to see a single, silver tear travel slowly down one rugged cheek.

          
"Kenric..."
 
With a trembling hand, she reached up and wiped it away.
 
"What's wrong?
 
What happened?"

          
Cradling her in his arms, Kenric swallowed, visibly composing himself before he spoke.
 
"I spoke a spell to bring us back here, but I feared it was too late.
 
Your Roger fired his strange weapon and hit you instead of me."

          
Relieved that he was not hurt, Megan nodded.
 

          
"You put your body in front of mine." He sounded suddenly fierce, though his voice still came out rusty. "Why would you do such a thing?"
 

          
She winced as pain hit her.
 
           
“Because I love you,” she whispered.
 
“And I couldn’t let him hurt you.”

          
"I love you too, my Megan."
 
Again he said the words that she’d waited to long to hear, though this time Megan saw no sorrow or fear in his handsome face. Instead she saw the dawning of joy, and pride, and the sensual beginnings of the powerful heat the two of them felt when they were together.

          
She smiled.
 
"I knew that you did, Kenric.”

          
"Are you not surprised to hear me say it?"

          
Her heart sang.
 
"No."
 
With difficulty she kept from laughing aloud as her brave warrior cocked his shaggy head and frowned in puzzlement.
 

          
"You are not?"

          
"Nope.
 
I've always known you loved me.
 
It just took time for you to admit it to yourself."
 
Well satisfied, she gave a sigh of blissful contentment.

          
Her happiness must have been infectious, for Kenric threw back his head and laughed.
 

          
"If I would not have been so thick-headed, I would have been able to find you much sooner."