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A circle of six: himself, the witch, the warrior, the scholar, the one of many forms and the one he’s lost.
“It is not life. It is without breath, without soul, without heart. It has a name that is not spoken yet in this world. It is vampyre. It feeds on blood,” she said, moving toward him. “It hunts the human, takes life, or worse, much worse, turns that which it hunts and kills into itself. It breeds, Hoyt, like a pestilence. It has no face, and must hide from the sun. It is this you must fight, this and other demons that are gathering. You must meet this force in battle on the feast of Samhain. And you must be victorious or the world you know, the worlds you have yet to know, will be overcome.”
“You must leave this place and go to another, and another still. Some will come to you, and some you will seek. The witch, the warrior, the scholar, the one of many forms, and the one you’ve lost.”
“Should a man go into battle without fear? Isn’t fear something that helps keep him alive?”
“Worlds wait,” he translated. “Time flows. Gods watch.”
when you’re young you think you’ll live forever, so you take all manner of foolish risks. But when you’ve lived as long as I, you’re more careful. Because existence is imperative.
“You expect me to wear—what are those?” “They’re called pants,”
“What is technology?” Cian pulled his brother inside, pushed the button for the next floor. “It’s another god.”
Hoyt’s come to enlist me in the army he hopes to raise to fight the big evil.” “The IRS?”
She didn’t speak, but a man who has sisters knows women often use silence as a weapon.
“Is it the fashion for women of this time to be aggressive and sharp-tongued, or is it only you?” She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “I’m the only one you have to worry about right now.”
“In the event there is turbulence. Pockets of air.” “You’re not the least bit nervous.” “I came through a time portal,” he reminded her.
But mortals are fools when it comes to love.”
if you can’t love when you’re facing death, then death’s not worth fighting.
Moira
“I’m Glenna. Nice to meet you.” “It’s the pure truth I can’t think of anyone in my life it’s been nicer to meet.”
“In the world of Geall,” Moira said, “in the Valley of Silence, in the Mountains of Mist. On the sabbot of Samhain.” Avoiding Cian’s eyes she looked at Hoyt. “Morrigan showed me.”
“You give me problems, but no solutions.” “Maybe.” She sighed. “Maybe. But you can’t find solutions until you outline the problems.
Women, he thought, were powerful and mystical creatures even without witchcraft. Add that dose of power and a man was at a serious sort of disadvantage.
“More science than sorcery.” “They’re not exclusive, but joined.”
“If you don’t know how to use a sword, you’re just as likely to cut off your own hand as someone else’s.”
“Words are a woman’s sharpest weapon. From the looks of you, you could use some of that whiskey.”
I’ll try sweetness and charm with the ladies. They’ll either fall for it, or kick me in the balls.”
“Music might be nice,” Larkin said into the silence. “The sort you hear at funeral pyres and the like.”
“You sure got a way of cutting a man down to size.” “It would take a chain saw to cut you down to size.
It’s hard not to be understood.”
Death is inevitable. None of us get out of that one. And you hope—or I have—that when the time comes you’ll have courage and curiosity, and so face it well.”
It was enough to feel; she’d always believed that. And only doubted it now because she felt so much.
“Why are women always after fiddling with a man?” “It’s our nature. Indulge me.”
A woman’s magic always aimed first for the heart.
Time was fluid, he thought, and those who passed through it so fragile.
Most women just worried about their man getting mugged or run over by a bus. But oh no, she had to get herself tangled up with a guy at war with blood-sucking fiends. Why couldn’t she have fallen for a nice accountant or stockbroker?
Small things, everyday things could cause the most pain.
“Remind me not to piss you off, Red,” Cian said easily. “You might aim for my heart and shoot me in the balls.”
“That’s what I love about women.” Cian slapped his brother’s shoulder. “They damn near kill you, but in the end it’s your own fault.
What was it about men that made them decide to be pals after they’d smashed their fists into each other’s faces?
Wiser to say: ‘Ah, my love, we’re sorry we worried you. We were selfish and inconsiderate, should likely be flogged for it. We hope you’ll forgive us.’ Thicken the brogue a bit as well. Women are fools for brogues.” “Then kiss her feet, I suppose.” “Actually, you aim for the ass. Ass kissing is a tradition that never goes out of style.
“I think, perhaps, all living creatures crave love and pleasure. And this physical act that represents life.” “And guys want to get off.”
“Sometimes healing hurts,” she managed. “Sometimes it has to.
“Well, let me slap some bars on you and call you Colonel.”
“Let me clue you in to mine, Merlin. Women are equals. We work, we go into combat, we vote, and above all, we make our own decisions regarding our own lives, our own bodies, our own minds. Men don’t rule here.”
His single light? he thought. Sometimes she was a beam searing straight into his eyes. “You are a contrary and exasperating woman.” “Yes.”
“There are so many worlds, and so many ways. I don’t think we could ever lose each other now. What I have now is more than I’ve ever had before. I think it makes us better than we were. Maybe that’s part of why we’re here. To find each other.”
“I would give you all I have, and still it wouldn’t be enough.” “You’re wrong. It’s everything.”
“You have to keep up your speed. It can be as dangerous to go too slow as too fast. Which applies, now that I think about it, to pretty much anything.”
Wives require time and attention.” “They do. Theoretically, they also give it.”
Even love couldn’t span a thousand years.
“Because all I see is you, all I want is you. I think if I have to live five minutes in a world without you in it, it would be eternity. I can’t face eternity without seeing your face.” He brushed his fingers over her cheek. “Without hearing your voice, without touching you. I think if I was sent here to fight this war, I was sent here to find you as well. Not just to fight with me. To open me. Glenna.”
When we were called for this, I thought it would be the hardest thing I’d ever done. But I was wrong. Loving you is harder, loving you and knowing I could lose you.”
“How can I rule when I’m surrounded by incompetence? I want what’s due me. I want blood and death and beautiful chaos. Is it too much to ask that those who serve me be accurate on the details?”
