room.”
Somehow she knew his “few things” was probably an understatement. “How did you get past the guards?” If he’d liberated anything from Morgana’s armies this deep inside Camelot, he must have had help.
“A goddess may have been involved.”
Briana stopped. “Rhiannon?” Since when had she taken an interest in the rebellion? She couldn’t imagine Vaughn risking his neck for anything else.
Nodding, her friend paused before choosing the corridor that went left. “Any excuse to make trouble for Morgana.”
Not for the first time Briana wondered why Rhiannon, far more powerful than Morgana, hadn’t taken care of the power-hungry sorceress herself. What was Morgana holding over the goddess’s head?
The corridor slanted downward, the lighting dimming as they moved into what she could only assume was one of Camelot’s dungeons. She’d heard the original dungeon had been expanded to satisfy Morgana’s desire to imprison and torture anyone who still admitted loyalty to Arthur.
The first row of cells they passed sat empty, but the further into the area they moved, the more cells showed signs of humans and immortals huddling in the farthest corners.
“Where are all the guards?” She lowered her voice as much as possible.
“Waiting to jump out and yell surprise?” Vaughn ventured.
This was one of the few times she didn’t quite appreciate her friend’s sense of humor. Increasingly wary, she half expected some of the more coherent prisoners to raise the alarm, bringing half of Morgana’s army down on their heads.
The enchantress hadn’t been that far off the mark with her earlier comment. The vines would be far more merciful than the sorceress who’d encouraged her son to kill her own brother.
Vaughn frowned. “The population’s grown since I was here last.” Something in his tone warned her that he wasn’t talking about the time he’d raided the place for weapons.
Briana kept her attention fixed straight ahead, trying to ignore the pull to free those of her race she could hear growling in their cells. The odds of an unplanned jail break having any chance of success was slim to none when she didn’t even know the way out. “Is this where she keeps them?”
“Anyone affiliated with the rebellion, yeah,” Vaughn finished.
It crossed her mind to ask if his imprisonment had anything to do with his nightmare the other day, but her attention fell to the shadow on the floor to her right. The crescent vanished as someone’s body blocked the candlelight—the only cell to have any—projecting the shape on the floor.
Vaughn walked ahead a few steps before noticing she’d stopped. “What is it?”
Red eyes gleamed from inside the cell. A Korrigan.
She edged closer, careful to keep from making direct eye contact as the candle was extinguished. Something moved in the cell.
Two hands gripped the bars inches from Briana’s face, and she found herself staring at Lucan.
“What are you doing—” The question died on her lips when she noticed the cell door was slightly ajar and he wasn’t alone inside with the Korrigan. Nessa stood just past Lucan’s shoulder, her face as blank as Lucan’s.
They’d been entranced.
Chapter Fourteen
The roar of Briana’s blood pounding through her veins nearly deafened her. She thought they’d been sent to retrieve some kind of moon-shaped mystical object or relic, not a person.
“Kill her,” the Korrigan hissed at Lucan, stepping from the protection of the shadows to reveal the crescent- shaped glyph on the immortal’s left cheek.
Apparently they’d found Treasach’s Moon—and she wanted them dead.
Lucan frowned, his knuckles turning white where he gripped the bars. “No.”
“Do it,” the Korrigan snarled, edging toward the door. She gestured to Nessa. “No one follows me.”
Vaughn grabbed Briana’s arm. “We need to go.”
On instinct she jerked free of his hold. “Lucan—”
“We can’t help him if we’re in pieces. Even if he can’t kill us yet, he can make it hurt like hell.”
The cell rattled as Lucan shook the bars, looking ready to tear right through them. Black pooled in his eyes. “Run,” he snapped. “Now. Can’t…fight…it.”
Pushing past Vaughn, she locked her fingers over Lucan’s. “You have to try. Do you know when I fell in love with you? Hey,” she cupped his cheek, forcing him to meet her gaze, knowing it was too late. She was losing him. “It was the moment you took my hand, after the lake, when you didn’t laugh at me for wanting to join the Guard.”
“Briana,” the pained growl bordered on feral.
“That’s the moment you stole my heart.” He needed to know that, needed something to hold onto as he spiraled into a place she knew she couldn’t reach him.
“Back away from the door.” Each word became less human sounding.
Helplessness radiated through her, and she forced herself to retreat. “It’s okay. I’m going to be okay.” She needed him to believe that. Both of them needed to believe that.
The cell door flew off its hinges, coming close enough Briana felt the breeze of it just missing her and Vaughn’s head. Nessa stepped into the corridor, her sword drawn. She made no move to attack them.
Briana couldn’t say the same about the wraith. He launched himself out of the cell, his murderous gaze locked on her. By accident or intentionally, Vaughn ended up between them. The few seconds it took the wraith to throw Vaughn away from him, allowed the Korrigan to burst past them and vanish around the corner.
The wraith bared his teeth at Briana, his lower half completely phantom. He stalked her in a circle, and she kept both the cat and her fear locked down. She knew if she moved or betrayed the damning emotion, he’d be on her and she wouldn’t have a chance.
Vaughn hauled himself to his feet. “I’m sorry, B. I have to go. If I don’t win…” He winced, holding a hand to his side where the wraith had clawed him. “He has my sister, Briana, and I’m the only chance she’s got. I’m sorry.”
She didn’t even get the opportunity to ask who in the hell Vaughn was talking about. Eyeing Nessa, her friend bolted after the Korrigan, leaving her to deal with the wraith on her own.
Lucan had warned her not to count on her friends.
Not the time, she reminded herself, watching Nessa take off after Vaughn. For his sake, he needed to catch up with the Korrigan before the huntress caught up with him.
Between one beat and the next, the wraith lunged forward. Using the door Nessa had thrown, she pivoted and jammed it up between them. Shoving it at him, she spun around to run—and slammed right into Kel.
The dragon’s hands came up to grab her. She was too distracted by the sight of the wraith’s phantom form bleeding through the cell door to fight Kel off. Now he’d have his chance to see her torn apart.
Murderous claws emerged from the shadow bearing down on her.
“Go.” Kel shoved her behind him. “I’ll slow him down.”
She wanted to tell him to stay out of the wraith’s way, but the very real possibility that Kel running interference might be the only thing standing between her and the wraith fulfilling the Korrigan’s command changed her mind.
Sprinting in the opposite direction, she focused on sifting through the scents, isolating the smell of rotting oranges to track the Korrigan. She refused to consider what would happen if her signed death warrant didn’t expire when someone—even Vaughn—caught up with Korrigan and ended the round.
An unholy roar rocked the walls somewhere behind her, but she didn’t dare look back. Didn’t even slow down until a curvy blonde dressed in a leather pants and a long dark jacket, lips stained blood-red, stepped into Briana’s path, stopping her cold.
