“So am I now. There are innocents inside. The child in the cage, slaves. You have to get them out.”
“The chains are off the slaves and the bespelled with Yseult’s death. They’ll all get out and away.”
Trusting him as he trusted her, she leaped off, and Bollocks jumped after her. With a last curse, Keegan did the same.
“Ah, the taoiseach and the faithful hound. You’ve brought me gifts.”
“You’ve no business with them. Your witch is a puddle of ooze.”
“So I see. I chose Mairghread for a reason. The power, the light, so delicious when turned. I will make her my slave, one more powerful than Yseult or any supplicant. And one willing if I promise to spare your life.”
“You’ll never touch her again. Or anyone I love.”
“No?” Amused, he pointed a finger at the dog.
Breen held out a hand, pushed against the power until it shattered.
“No.” It rose and spread, around her, through her. And what she pushed at him held him in place as the pendant around her neck burned like a red sun.
And the heart of it beat strong against hers. The key found the lock, she thought, at last.
“I am Odran.” He roared it. “God of all. You will bow to me or all burns, all dies, all curse your name.”
“No,” she repeated, and took a step toward him.
“I am Breen Siobhan O’Ceallaigh.” As she called out, her eyes went dark, dark and deep.
“I am the Daughter of the Fey, Daughter of man, of gods, Child of demon. I call to her, this innocent.”
“She’s mine.”
He broke the hold, pushed forward. She shoved him back, and glowed.
“She is not yours. Only what you corrupted is yours. Her mark is on you, Odran the Damned. Not the mark of the gods who cast you out, but the mark of the demon, of her light, her innocence. I call to her on this longest day, on this day of light. I am the key, I open your lock, bright demon, I release your chains, and bring an end.”
“I will devour you, burn all you love.” When Odran bared his teeth, fangs formed. He slapped at the air, the power between them, so dark and light crashed. And that air flamed with it until the castle walls shimmered red.
Hold, Keegan had ordered on the battlefield, and she held now until he was nearly on her.
“No,” she said a third time.
The heat and the dark, the cries of the demon, the innocent and the corrupted, all of it surrounded her, rose inside her.
In that moment, all inside her awakened. She became more. And made the final choice.
“I am the granddaughter of the taoiseach, the daughter of the taoiseach, the lover of the taoiseach. And with their staff, with their justice, I end you for all time.”
She jammed the dragon’s heart against his chest, against the mark he bore.
She swore she heard it snap, like a key in a lock.
And as his eyes widened in shock, she turned it.
His cry was a thousand and a thousand cries, the screams of all he’d consumed.
He didn’t bleed, but opened like a broken, empty vessel where the dragon’s heart struck.
The golden hair went black as it fell away from a charred skull.His skin cracked like bits of glass, and through the cracks, something dark crawled. A roar rolled and rolled, overhead, under the ground and rock that quaked.