Son of No One (20 page)

Unwilling to let the others know how much their words and actions cut him, Cadegan had washed the armor as best he could, and patched it with leather straps he'd cut from the top of his shoes.

On their first day of battle, he'd donned the armor and ignored their ridicule and disdain, and was grateful he could only ascertain their biting tones and not their actual words. One was bad enough. He definitely didn't need the other.

Since he had no horse, they'd left him to fight on foot, with only the damaged sword and no shield.

None of them had allowed him to be part of the army group. One by one, they'd pushed and jostled him until he'd been relegated to the side of their forces, to fight alone. No one at his side.

No one at his back.

It was the worst moment of his life. Because all the soldiers had refused to train him, he'd known nothing of war. He'd barely known how to properly hold his sword. But the moment the Mercians had attacked and blood had flowed thick on the field at their feet, Cadegan had held his own with everything he had. Determined only not to die that day.

However, his opponents had mercilessly sought to lop his head off and knock him to the ground.

He'd refused to give them their desire. He had no intention of going down. Not this day or any other.

As he fought, he'd seen one of the mounted Powys knights fall from his mount. The Mercians had set upon him like a pack of starving wolves. Ferocious. Merciless. They had hacked until they knocked his helm free.

It was the same man who had cast the soiled armor at Cadegan and laughed while he did so.

For the merest heartbeat, Cadegan had gloated at seeing the man's fate.

Until his mind flashed on Brother Eurig, who'd used his hands to lovingly and patiently instruct him on decency and mercy.
“Honor is what separates man from beast. The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to actually be what we pretend to be. Let others laugh and mock those of us they perceive beneath them, but remember, good Cadegan, honor lies inside our hearts and it is that which makes us act with mercy and compassion against those who have most wronged us. Even if the jackal wounds your pride, do not reward such knavery by surrendering your honor to him. Only then have you truly lost all. Never let anyone take your soul, for they are not worth your eternity or your heart.”

Instead of walking away and leaving the knight to die as cruelly as he'd lived, Cadegan had charged forward and bravely sought to protect him from their enemies.

Though the knight had survived that encounter and Cadegan—wounded himself—had carried him to the physicians to be tended, the knight's injuries had been such that he'd died the next day. But an hour before his death, he'd summoned Cadegan to his bed.

His gaze warm, he'd offered his hand to Cadegan and had given him his own sword, armor, and helm, and told the soldiers with him that he wanted his horse to be Cadegan's as well.

It was that knight's sword that Cadegan carried to this day. A reminder to himself that even those who appeared the cruelest and most evil in the world were never above salvation. That, by the right actions, anyone's heart could be changed. And a reminder to Cadegan that
all
people deserved the utmost respect. To remind himself that he never wanted to be the one who brought such pain to another living creature's misery.

As Brother Eurig so often said … “
No one ever gets over great pain, of any sort. It merely carves the soul into a stronger, better person.”

He would never dishonor Brother Eurig or his teachings.

“Would you give your honor for your love?”

Cadegan froze at the queen's disembodied voice. “Pardon?”

“What do you value most?” she asked him.

“Me lady. Always.”

“Then prove it. Remove your clothes.”

Cadegan shook his head. “I am in her body, and I will not dishonor her. You asked if I would sacrifice me honor and so I would. But what you ask of me now is to sacrifice hers, and that I will not do.”

“Not even to save your life?”

“Nay. My life holds no value to me. I will never dishonor me lady.”

Cordelia grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. “I will rip out your heart!”

“You promised me that you would not harm Josette. Win, lose, or draw, me lady goes home alive and intact. Your word to me.” A strange fissure went through his body.

The queen narrowed her gaze on him with rancor. “And now?”

“Now what?”

“You have your body back, Lord Cadegan. Will you give me your honor for your lady?”

Cadegan looked down to see that she was correct. He was him again. “I will give anything for her freedom.”

She inclined her head to him. “You will have three passes at my champion. If you are unhorsed, you will surrender yourself to Morgen. No questions asked. No escape. If you lose, you belong to me as my slave. Forever.”

Cadegan would rather they kill him. But he had no doubt that he would win. He'd never once lost in a joust. “Done. But are we going to actually complete the match this time?”

She clapped her hands.

Cadegan was again on his horse. It was the moment right before they would have crossed lances, when his opponent had vanished. This time, his opponent's lance slammed into his shoulder, sending a piercing pain throughout his entire body.

He fell back on the horse, and almost came free of the saddle. It was sheer force of will that kept him in place.

But awww … it hurt. The pain of that single blow was searing, and while her champion's lance had been snapped in twain, Cadegan's remained perfectly intact.

The urge to cry foul overwhelmed him. Yet he knew better than to utter those words.

Cordelia wouldn't care. This wasn't about fairness. It was about winning.

Unlike her and the dark forces she served, there was no victory he wanted badly enough that he'd cheat for it. He rolled his shoulder, trying to ignore the pain of it, as he turned his destrier back toward the list.

The pixie appeared again with her flag.

She looked at the giant he'd tilted against, then him. With a quick nod to the queen, she lowered her banner.

Cadegan spurred his mount forward. This time, he took aim for the giant's heart, and again leaned into the blow. He struck his opponent straight and true. The giant reeled back, but caught himself before he fell from the horse.

Leucious and Josette cried out in happiness at Cadegan's clear victory.

Cordelia's eyes darkened, warning that she wasn't through with them, nor would she take loss lightly.

Cadegan tossed the remains of his broken lance to the ground.

Jo bit her lip as she watched Cadegan take another magical lance from the air and prepare for their final pass. He was incredible. She could just imagine how terrifying it would be to face him in battle with those skills.

He lifted his helm's visor to smile and wink at her.

Wrapping her hands around the gold bars, she prayed that he won this last round so that they could get out of here. But as he headed into the next match, a bad feeling went through her.

This was too easy.

Something that proved to be all too true as the giant rose up during the last pass to kill Cadegan. When it did so, she saw something even more frightening.

Cadegan's armor went flying in all directions. He emerged out of it like a demonic butterfly from a cocoon. His eyes glowing yellow, he now had long blond hair, and claws. Huge fangs. His skin turned an unholy mixture of yellow and orange. Large, black wings sprang out of his back.

Leucious cursed as he saw Cadegan's sudden and extreme transformation.

“What is it?” she asked breathlessly.

“We're in deep, serious shit. They've just awakened the addanc.”

“The what?”

He met her gaze through the bars, and by the paleness of his features, she saw his real panic. “It's why I trapped Cadegan here.” He jerked his chin toward the monster. “It was to keep
that
from being unleashed. Each demonkyn holds in his heart his true form. The soulless bloodthirsty beast that is virtually invincible. One that cannot be stopped.” Wincing, he cursed again as deep sadness marred his handsome features. “The addanc has swallowed him whole and we're next on the menu.”

 

14

With a string of profanity that left Jo blushing, Leucious stepped back from the bars of his cell. “Jo? Look at me. I'm about to do something really fucking stupid. When I do this, I need you to remember three words for me.
Omni rosae spina
.”

She scowled at him. “Every rose has its thorn?”

“Good, you understand Latin. Yes. Commit those words to memory in the event I lose control. Okay?”

She didn't like the sound of that. In any way. “Lose control of what?” She hoped it was just his bladder.

Until his eyes turned a vibrant green, laced with red. Then, she almost lost control of hers as she looked into the face of his true demonic form.

“This.” One moment Leucious was human, the next, he, too, was a demon. Complete with wings and gold armor that reminded her of a Roman general's.

Talfryn went wild in his cage. “Help us! Someone! Rambo! We've got to get out of here!”

“Why?” Jo asked.

Before he could answer, Leucious channeled his powers and blasted them from their cages. Illarion rushed to her side to protect her as Leucious and Cadegan attempted to murder each other.

Laughing, Cordelia turned on Jo's group with a smug smile. “Thank you for allowing me to own the one weapon neither Morgen nor Merlin can stop. He's mine now!”

One moment they were in the cavern, and the next, all of them, including Leucious—who was still a demon—were back in the house, on the other side of the mirrored door.

To her shock, four of her cousins were there, too, with a small group of people she'd never met before.

Still in his demon's body, Leucious turned on them all and let out a fierce howl. He moved in to attack them.

Say the words!
Illarion warned her.

“Omni rosae spina!”

The moment she said them, Leucious threw his head back and cried out as if he were in pain. He froze as if he were fighting himself even harder than he'd fought Cadegan.

His demonic body slowly melted back to his human one. Tears streamed down his face as he visibly shook and gasped for breath.

Without a word to them, he wiped the back of his hand over his face and left through a side door.

Karma followed after him.

Selena grabbed Jo up into a fierce hug. “This is you? Right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“After that crazy guy who was here in your body, I just wanted to make sure.”

“Cadegan,” Jo said, irritated at the way Selena talked about him. She looked at Illarion and paused at the sight of the mighty weredragon, standing there. He was here, in this realm. In human form. Somehow the fey queen had finally freed him from Glastonbury. But that being said, he wasn't as happy about it as she would have thought. Rather, he seemed very confused and disoriented.

He stared at one of the blond strangers as if he was seeing a ghost. Likewise, the blond gaped at him.

“Illarion? Is it really you, little brother?”

Tears gathered in Illarion's eyes before he nodded and pulled the other man into a tight hug.

By the way they looked at each other, she knew they were talking with their minds and the rest of them weren't invited to the conversation.

Not until Illarion looked past his brother to meet Jo's curious gaze.

Josette, this is my brother, Maxis.

She inclined her head to him. “Nice to meet you.”

“And you. Thank you for helping my brother.” He gaped at Illarion. “I still can't believe you're here. I thought you'd died with the others.”

While they stepped aside to talk, Jo returned to Selena. “I have to go back for Cadegan.”

When she started toward the mirror, three Leuciouses appeared to block her way. “You cannot release him now.”

Jo glared at the being, who was about to meet the bad Cajun side of her. One thing about Southern women, they were tough. No one said no and got away with it. Especially not when it came to a loved one. “I will not leave him in there. Alone. If I have to go back by myself, I will.”

Leucious returned to the room with Karma, as the three images blocking her way vanished. He cast his glance around the people gathered there. “For the love of God, will someone
please
talk sense into Queen Hard Head?” He glared at Jo. “You can't go into Terre Derrière le Voile and release a banished demon into the world of man.”

Anger tore through her. Before she could think better of it, Jo rushed Thorn and shoved him back. “You should never have banished him there! This is all your fault!”

“I had no choice,” Leucious growled at her. “He was slipping from us every day, turning slowly more bitter and angry. I saw it in his eyes. I did everything I could to keep him grounded and anchored, and then when he came to me that night to tell me what he'd done, I saw that he was just about to blossom into the addanc you saw earlier.”

Jo couldn't believe what he was telling her. How could he do something so cold? “So you abandoned him to it?”

He winced before he met her gaze again. “You really want the truth, Jo?”

Yes, she did.

Leucious held his hand out to her. “Take it and I'll show you
exactly
what it is you're dealing with.”

In that moment, she hesitated as a bad feeling went through her. She didn't really trust Leucious, and there was something very peculiar about all of this. Something she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Reaching up, she fingered the medallion Cadegan had given her.

For protection.