“Where?” Talan asked.
“To see the family. Time to talk this out.”
Talwyn grunted. Never a good sign. “I have nothing to say to my mother.”
“I don’t care. Get your ass down here.”
Lips pursed, Talwyn looked off. Talan knew that meant his sister had dismissed Izzy and that she had no intention of going anywhere. But Izzy was a top general in Annwyl’s army and she was used to very large men following all her orders without question. So for Talwyn to think her cousin would tolerate this for even one second . . .
Really, she should never have taken her eyes off Izzy.
Without a word, Izzy walked around Éibhear and grabbed the axe he had strapped to his back. She hefted it, spun, and threw it. Talan quickly raised his arms and grabbed onto the tree limb just above him, but Talwyn was still looking off, so she didn’t realize the axe had hit the tree limb they were on until she was falling.
She hit the ground hard, ass first.
Hands on her hips, Izzy asked, “Ready now, cousin?”
Talan released his grip on the limb and dropped to the ground. He landed on his feet and smiled at Izzy. “We’re ready.” He took hold of his sister’s arm and yanked her to her feet, ignoring her snarl of pain because of her now-sore ass. “More than ready,” he insisted. “Bring on the kin!”
Chapter 23
Dagmar was busy slapping Gwenvael’s hand off her thigh for a fifth time when Izzy walked through the Great Hall doors with Éibhear, the twins, and Rhi behind her.
“Oh, good. You’re all here,” Izzy said.
“Everything all right?” Dagmar asked.
“No. Rhi believes herself to be pure evil and Talwyn is under the impression she doesn’t have to follow orders anymore.”
“Oh,” Annwyl announced to the room as well as her daughter, “you can take orders from the bloody Kyvich but not a general in my army?”
“She’s my cousin.”
“And a general in my army!”
“And I’m a princess!” Talwyn yelled back.
“Not if I rip that title from your hide!”
“All of you,” Talaith bellowed, “shut up!”
Mother and daughter stopped yelling, but they were clearly not happy about it as arms were crossed over chests and feet began to tap impatiently against the floor.
Talaith leaned forward, studied her youngest daughter. “You think you’re evil?”
“Pure evil,” Izzy clarified, which got her a rather vicious glare from Rhi. An expression Dagmar had never thought the young, perpetually smiling or sobbing girl was capable of.
“Why would you think you’re evil?”
“It’s a feeling I have.”
“No. Someone told her.”
Rhi glowered at her sister. “I never said that.”
“You didn’t have to,” Izzy shot back. “I know you.”
“Well, who told her that?” Talaith demanded.
And, as one, they all turned and looked at Gwenvael.
He blinked, sat up straight. “I would never say such a thing to my dear sweet niece!”
“You said it to me,” Talwyn snapped.
“That’s because you’re not my dear sweet niece. You’re the rude little cow who threw a knife at my head.”
“I wasn’t aiming for you. I was aiming for Mum.”
“She’s right,” Annwyl admitted. “I just ducked behind you.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
“It wasn’t Uncle Gwenvael.”
“Then who?” Talaith pushed. “And you might as well tell me now because I’ll just badger you until you do. Ask Izzy.”
“She really will,” Izzy said on a sigh.
Rhi looked down at her feet and finally whispered, “It was our great grandmother.”
“My mother said that to you?” Bercelak asked. “Because she’s been gone from this world for some time, luv.”
“No.” Rhi cleared her throat. “Adienna.”
Rhiannon got to her feet so fast that her chair scraped the floor and slammed into the wall. “You spoke to my mother? My mother?” She looked at Bercelak. “I did kill her, didn’t I? I know she tried to use you to murder me first, Bercelak, but then I clearly remember the life draining from her body while I snapped her neck with that chain and my bare hands. I didn’t dream that, did I?”
Dagmar leaned over and whispered to Gwenvael, “Have I mentioned that I adore your kin?”
“More than your own?”
“Do you really have to ask me that?”
Briec walked up to his youngest daughter and placed his hand against her cheek. “You’ve seen your ancestors. You’ve been to the other side.”
“Why?” Talaith asked. “Were you called?”
“No.” Rhi nervously combed her hair behind her ears. “I just thought it would be nice to meet them. They’re kin.”
Using the tips of his fingers, Briec lifted his daughter’s chin until he could look into her eyes. Eyes like his own. “You traveled to the lands of the dead?”
She nodded.
“Where did you learn to travel to the other side?”
Rhi shrugged. “I just knew.”
The same answer his daughter had been giving him for more than a decade now. One not given to avoid answering the question but instead proving that her power far exceeded most of theirs. Even his mother, as far as Briec knew, had never traveled to the land of the dead. It was rumored Annwyl had been there, but she’d been dead at the time, so it made sense.