The blood roared in his ears, howling for recompense. He would be satisfied with nothing less than the immortal’s death. Circenn belatedly understood that he should never have left her alone, even for a moment, no matter how safe he’d thought she was at Brodie. Although Adam had sworn never to come there without an invitation, apparently he thought as little of breaking vows as Circenn did.
Perhaps they truly were two of a kind, he thought bitterly. He berated himself endlessly on the ride back to Brodie. He should have stayed to comfort her, then this never would have happened. He should have slipped the immortality potion into her wine months ago, then this never would have happened. He should have explained to her that he could make her immortal. He should never have left her side, not even for a moment. Fighting in a battle now seemed as trivial as it truly was, measured against the loss of his love. He should have sent his Templars ahead without him—they would have won anyway.
He slammed his packs to the floor and stalked into the Greathall. He would die inside later, after he’d taken action to ensure that the sin siriche du would never again manipulate another mortal.
Now he understood why his vision had shown him that he would soon be mad, for once he finished with Adam, his rage would dissipate and he would be consumed by bottomless grief. He would unravel and embrace insanity.
As Adam turned to greet him, Circenn raised a hand. “Stay right there. Doona move. Doona even speak to me,” he gritted through clenched teeth, and loped up the stairs.
He snorted as he traversed the corridor. Adam was so arrogant that he failed to foresee what Circenn was about to do. Throwing back the door to his chambers, he kicked open the hidden room and swiftly unearthed the Sword of Light.
When he stalked back down to the Greathall, the sword swinging in his grip, Adam flinched.
“What do you plan to do with that, Circenn Brodie?” the fairy asked stiffly.
Circenn’s gaze held no mercy. “Do you recall the vow I took over five hundred years ago?”
“Of course I do,” Adam said irritably. “Now put that thing down.”
Circenn continued as if Adam hadn’t spoken. “I said: ‘I will protect the hallows. I will never permit them to be used for mortal gain. I will never use them for my or Scotland’s gain.’ But most important to you, I swore that I would never permit the hallowed weapons to be used to destroy an immortal Tuatha de Danaan. He hefted the shimmering sword in one swift stroke. “I no longer believe in oaths, Adam. And I hold the means of your destruction. An oathless man could destroy your entire race, one by one.”
“And then what would you have?” Adam countered. “You would be left alone. Besides, you don’t know how to find the rest of my kind.”
“I will find them. And once I have slain them all, I will impale myself upon your damned sword.”
“It won’t work. An immortal cannot kill himself, not even with the sacred hallows.”
“How do you know? Has one ever tried?”
“She is not dead,” Adam snapped. “Quit being so melodramatic.”
Circenn went very still. “I cannot feel her. She is dead to me.”
“I assure you she is alive. I give you my word upon myself, since you think that is all I hold sacred. She is safe. She wished upon the mound, and it amused Aoibheal to appear and confer a boon upon her.”
“Where is she?” he demanded. She was alive. Relief coursed through his body so strongly that he shuddered with the intensity of it. “And what did she wish?”
“She wished to go home,” Adam said, more gently. “But she didn’t really mean it, I was there. I’ve been stuck to Aoibheal’s side for quite some time now, ever since she took my powers.”
“Why did she take your powers?” Circenn was so stunned that Adam had been so harshly punished, that he was briefly sidetracked.
Adam looked abashed. “For interfering with you.”
“Ah, there is some small justice in your world, after all,” Circenn said dryly. “So, Lisa has returned to the twenty-first century?” He could endure seven hundred years of solitude to be with her again.
“No.”
“What do you mean no? You said she wished to go back.”
“She did. Sort of. She was very unresolved on that point. I could feel her indecision. So I neither complied nor failed to comply. Aoibheal gave me the order to ‘send her.’ I obeyed the gist of her command by sending her to a safe place, out of time, until you returned. That’s why you cannot feel her. She is not … quite in this world.”