Rise of the Gryphon (Belador #4)(36)

In three days, he’d be free of this place forever.

And free of Queen Flaevynn if things went his way.

But the time had come to save his child.

He silently ordered the tall gold-and-silver doors carved with images of sexual acts to swing open ahead of him before he entered Flaevynn’s chamber.

Inside, two virile males dressed only with belts of gold medallions draped around their waists lounged on thick white fur rugs that floated near the arms of her throne. A dragon-shaped throne that curved around her protectively. Positioned right above her, green eyes in the dragon’s head stirred with menace when it stared at Cathbad.

He ignored the throne and her boy toys.

After six hundred years of Flaevynn’s antics, Cathbad couldn’t muster the energy to care what his wife did to amuse herself, but with mere days left to fulfill the prophecy, it was time she got down to business. “Get rid of them, Flaevynn.”

She stroked her long nails over the back of one male and sighed. “They’re soothing me. Don’t be a bore, Cathbad.”

“Take your time. All three days of it.”

With a look of loathing, she snapped her fingers and both men disappeared. Midnight-black, waist-length hair coiled around her shoulders, slithering like asps searching for a victim. No siren of the deep had ever drawn a man the way Flaevynn’s beauty had sucked in hundreds of foolish men.

Maybe a thousand, considering how often she indulged.

All within these walls.

Cathbad had been cured of her seductive draw a long time ago. He was plenty attractive to gain all the women he wanted. “We agreed upon releasin’ Kizira.”

“We discussed that.”

“?’Tis no the time ta let your anger rule ya, woman.”

“She betrayed me.”

He sighed. “I’ll no spend my time arguin’. We either work together or lose this battle.” If he could take control of T?μr Medb from her, he would not need this witch, but any attempt to overpower her would result in a deadly battle that she might just win.

After all, she’d trapped him in the dungeon until recently.

Flaevynn’s lips twisted with a pout. “How can I trust her when she tried to invade Treoir without my knowledge last time?”

Pointing out that Kizira was also Flaevynn’s daughter would not work in Kizira’s favor. “I told ya she had your best interest at heart. If ya do no live, Kizira does no either.” Unless his cunning daughter had figured out how to reach the river beneath Treoir Castle and knew the spell needed to draw immortality from it.

Flaevynn should have passed that spell along to her daughter with the words that allowed Kizira to take the throne upon Flaevynn’s death. But the queen bitch, er, witch refused to allow anyone to live unless she did. She cared not if all of T?μr Medb crashed down with her demise.

Fortunately for the rest of the Medb, Cathbad had unlocked much about the prophecy, or the curse, as Flaevynn called it, and quite possibly the spell that would ensure that he live forever once he swam in Treoir’s hidden river.

Oh, yes, he would do that. If all went as he planned, he would teleport away before Flaevynn realized she was free of T?μr Medb.

But he had not told her any of this. She still believed neither one of them could leave T?μr Medb physically until the curse was broken.

Cathbad was sure he had found a loophole, no thanks to the original Medb queen, known as Maeve, and the original Cathbad the Druid. That pair had put the entire Medb race in this situation over two thousand years ago. Every queen after Maeve lived six hundred and sixty-six years. A druid of Cathbad descent was chosen as the mate for each subsequent queen and was the only person privy to that queen’s actual birth date. He’d received Flaevynn’s during a dream the night of his eighteenth birthday.

The idea had been to prevent anyone from altering the destiny of the curse.

But each new queen had proven far more powerful than the one before, just as each Cathbad grew in power. Unfortunately, men would always be men when it came to women.

Flaevynn had manipulated him in the throes of passion, learning her real birth date, which was in three days.

That would be the date of her death as well if she did not gain immortality from the water beneath Treoir Castle, a place currently ruled by the Beladors.

Cathbad was not sure what would come of altering the prophecy, er . . . curse . . . time line, but he had an investment, too, since his death would follow shortly after Flaevynn’s if he did not become immortal.

Flaevynn levitated from her throne and floated over to a two-story wall of red candles, where she descended to stand in front of her scrying wall. The tower of red candles burst to life, sending a shower of light across her gown that shimmered pale blue and yellow. The dress managed to appear ethereal and electrical at the same time.

Power fed her words. “We don’t need Kizira’s help now that we have a brilliant plan for capturing the Alterants.”

We? That would be the queen’s “we,” since he had come up with the idea of the Achilles Beast Championship. A plan to fix another mess Flaevynn created. His voice rumbled with anger. “Had you no sent word out ta witches ta capture Alterants, we could ha’ waited for the Alterants ta find Evalle, then captured the whole lot of them at one time. Did I no tell ya the beasts would be drawn ta her?”

“Yes, but did you consider what would happen if those beasts just started showing up in an area protected by VIPER? The coalition agents would kill any they thought were a threat to humans. Then where would we be?” Flaevynn lifted her smug chin at him. “You can thank me now.”