Earth's Blood (Earth Reclaimed) Read Free Page A

true. He hadn’t loved Tara, and he’d known she didn’t even like him, yet he’d insisted on pressing forward with marriage. Of course, there was the niggling problem that he already had a wife, so he’d been finagling a divorce. That had been when Tara, finally eighteen, took matters into her own hands and left Ireland.
    “I really am sorry. I should have been more considerate—of both of you.”
    “Och, aye.” A thread of magic forced his gaze to meet the master enchanter’s. “I forgive you.”
    A corner of Fionn’s mouth turned downward. “The question is whether I can forgive myself.”
    Gwydion held out a hand for the mead. Fionn passed it to him. Eyeing what was left of the bottle’s contents, Gwydion said, “There never was a drink that offered enough oblivion to purge Tara from my thoughts.”
    “Wasna working for me, either.” Fionn snorted. “I should know this. Ye told me, but I wasna paying attention. Where did you and the animals go?”
    “We did the same outside as ye were supposed to be doing within. That would be hunting for clues Travis may have dropped while he was here.”
    Fionn waited. Instead of talking, Gwydion tipped the bottle and drank until it was empty. “Did ye find aught?” he asked after it appeared the other mage wasn’t going to say anything else.
    Gwydion’s forehead creased. He shoved blond hair over his shoulders, pulled a leather thong out of his robes, and bound it out of the way. “It was odd,” he murmured. “At first we all”—he gestured toward Rune and Bella—“thought we sensed Old Ones—ah, I meant to say Lemurians. When I looked more closely, though, whatever had been there was gone.” He shrugged.
    Something tugged at Fionn’s internal alarm system. Attuned to danger, it rarely failed him. “Do ye suppose they were after Marta’s parents?”
    For a moment, Gwydion looked confused. His features smoothed. “Och, ye mean the Lemurian-human hybrids ensorcelled in yon chamber.” He waved a hand over one shoulder. “Mayhap. There is little else here to draw the Old Ones.”
    Fionn thought about the genetic manipulation that must have gone into hybridizing the couple in the attic and shuddered. Did the Old Ones want Marta’s parents’ blood so they could do the same thing to Aislinn?
    “At least Aislinn is likely still on this side of the veil,” Gwydion muttered.
    Fionn looked sharply at him, realizing the other mage must have read his thoughts. He dragged a hand down his face. “Aye, we all hope that.”
    Something sharp closed over his calf. Rune had bitten him. “It is time. We should go into Taltos. I must see for myself whether my bond mate still lives.”
    “Can ye feel her?” Fionn asked.
    The wolf’s amber eyes gleamed in the dim kitchen. “No, but if she is in Taltos, I will know it once we open the gateway and I cross over.”
    “They might have her shielded in some way—” Fionn cautioned.
    “Enough words.” Rune nipped Fionn again. As if to support her fellow bond animal, Bella landed on Fionn’s shoulder and dug her talons deep.
    A wry smile split Gwydion’s face. “It would appear the animals have spoken.”
    “We did tell the others we’d do a reconnaissance.” Fionn stood.
    Gwydion followed suit. Both men went to the corner of the kitchen with the hidden trap door. Fionn kicked the rug aside and tugged the door upward. When he looked back, he saw Gwydion’s staff glowing with a blue-white light.
    Fionn worked his way down the ladder, helping the wolf. It was awkward. When Aislinn had gone into Taltos without him, she’d used magic to transport the wolf to the gateway. The thought of her seared his soul. His throat felt thick. A pulse pounded behind one eye, promising a mother of a headache if he didn’t focus magic to soothe the inflamed blood vessels.
    At the bottom of the ladder, he strode to the section of wall holding the gateway and began the incantation from Marta’s journals. Gwydion’s energy