A Mermaid's Ransom (Daughters of Arianne 3)

She didn't know that part because Mina had told her. She knew it because she felt it, in the binding that was so strong its unbreakable energy coursed through her now, a conduit, as David and Mina stood on either side of her.

Alexis lifted her head, let the power of that thought ripple through her wings, giving her an additional lift from the ground so she stood taller before them, on an even level with the angels around her. She met Seneth's gaze and said the terrible words.

"He sacrificed most of them to build power for a blood ritual," she said quietly. "It was to escape his world and gain entry into ours. He also used some of them to bind me in his world and slow the fatal effects on my body there."

"And how were they killed? What did they suffer?"

Alexis met the Bentigo's eyes after flicking her gaze over the Fen. "It serves no purpose to hurt them this way."

"This hearing is to determine if his crime matches his punishment. You will answer."

Swallowing, refusing to look toward Jonah, she briefly sketched the details of how the one Fen she'd seen had been treated, the efficient sacrifice after the Dark Ones were allowed to torment her for what she estimated was a couple hours.

"Why did he not just come into our world, if he sought escape from his own?" Seneth's voice remained even, though she rocked at the wave of emotional response from the Fen. Thankfully, Mina answered, giving her a pause to sort through it.

"He couldn't come to your world. That's why the Dark Ones who served him came in his stead. He was bound into his world by a magic that said he couldn't leave until someone spoke his true name outside of it. But he was never named."

Never named. Alexis looked toward Dante again. His body was quivering, from rage or pain, or some combination of both, she didn't know. He was all reaction now, every sense honed for an opportunity. If she was the one to loosen his bindings, he would as likely kill her to get free as anyone else. Or would he?

"Circumstances do not excuse a crime of this magnitude," Seneth returned.

"No, they don't. But they do help to determine what the proper consequences are." Straightening her spine, Alexis moved forward until she stood beside her father, facing Seneth. Jonah tensed, yet allowed it, perhaps because he trusted Seneth. It still surprised her though, because she knew he wouldn't like her in this less defensible position, even with an honorable adversary.

Pivoting now, she looked toward the Fen. "I can feel your grief and pain. Your anger." She addressed the leader directly, meeting his eyes. She'd never been more glad for the angel-inherited boon of not only being able to understand all languages, but of being understood in them. "I have a mother. A best friend I consider a sister in all ways. If anything happened to them . . . If someone took my mother against her will, frightened her, tormented her, killed her, I would have the same grief and rage in my heart as you have in yours." The words were difficult to push out, because they weren't empty. She felt every one of them, as well as the reaction around her to the place her thoughts were taking all of them, including her father. "But I have a magic. My gift is to feel what another feels, understand the root of all of his emotions. I know your feelings and his both. They are two points on a web, a connection where destroying the one doesn't bring balance to the other. A life for a life doesn't change anything. It does not mend the broken strands. In some cases, it breaks more."

She paused, because her courage tried to fail her. Turning her gaze to Dante, she focused on the man behind the creature of hatred and flame, whose fury was hammering against her filters, wanting to douse her in the same killing fire. Alexis firmed her chin, turned her attention to Seneth. "Mina, the seawitch, has a way to kill him without killing me. If you permit her to perform the magic, then our fates are no longer linked. I am no longer a consideration."

Shock hit her from all sides, particularly from Jonah. There was sharpened curiosity from the Bentigo, vague comprehension from the Fen. Their heightened anticipation was a taste like bitter blood on her tongue.

"Yes. If she performs the magic, I won't die. Not physically. But I have a hope inside of me, a belief that it's possible to save the darkest soul. Destroy him, and I lose that hope. Hope is what fuels the gift given to me by the Goddess. Destroying the gift of a Goddess has far greater consequences than this moment."

She turned back to Jonah then. Though Dante's pain was tangible, tearing at her heart, she said the words, knowing that, like the web she'd just referenced, her words were a tapestry. One dropped thread would make it all unravel. She could feel the power of it spinning out with every word, a spell without manipulative intent, a spell with truth as its magic. She just had to hope they were receptive to it.

Jonah's dark gaze was riveted on her face, ancient wisdom reflected in the lines of his handsome countenance. He understood truth above all things, even when it was difficult to face. She prayed he had that courage now, though she'd never known him to lack it.

"Pyel, when I was little, you were right to try and protect me from those who carried evil in their hearts. I was a child, and I had no way of protecting myself, no awareness of how they could hurt me. But it's not right any longer. Dante is the gateway to the destiny I was meant to serve."

So many things those filters had blocked when she was growing up, things that had been too difficult for a child to process. His desire to protect her, the depth of his love, so deep, vast, incomprehensible. Unconditional. Even as those memories overwhelmed her heart, Alexis knew she had to speak not as his daughter, but as a woman who knew her path. He stood unmoving, his wings and the hem of his tunic ruffling a little in a breeze coming up the knoll. A late afternoon sun gleamed on the pommel of the short sword handle visible over his left shoulder.

"Everyone had a vision of what my gift would become, how much it would expand, how powerful it would be. But I don't think any of you realized that what I kept trying to do as a child was fulfill its purpose before I was mature enough to handle it. This gift isn't meant to shine light on those who have a moment's pain, those who aren't lost. Things that anyone with exceptional intuition could figure out. It was meant to take me as deep into the darkness of a terribly lost soul as I need to go and give him a way out, a hand to hold. One of the first things you taught me, Pyel, was that I didn't need to be afraid of the dark."

She steadied the tremor that had gripped her voice, because she couldn't block the reaction from his heart. Without thought, she reached out, placed her palm on his chest, felt it beat there and raised her gaze back to his face. "Dante is one of those. His potential is limitless, I can feel that. You've already seen his capabilities. What he will become if he can find that path will far eclipse whatever I do to help him find it."

"And yet," Mina murmured, "without her guidance, none of that is possible."

Alexis glanced at the witch, but Mina wasn't looking at her. She was looking at David.

"This is who I am," Alexis continued, putting her resolve in her voice. "What I'm meant to be. I know it every time I look at him."

Turning back to Seneth, she looked into the inscrutable face. "I would like to show you what I mean. Will you release him for one moment, if I promise he will not cause you or the Fen harm? I've no intention of taking him without your permission."

Seneth met her father's gaze over her head. Whatever he received there caused a flex to his jaw, a rustle of his leathery wings. "One violent move, and we will take him down," he said. "If you are caught in the middle, that will not be our concern."

"Allow me to cast a protective circle, then," Mina spoke.

"We already have a magical binding in place," one of Seneth's males responded.

"I'm certain you do," David said smoothly, before Mina's caustic look and tongue could slice out whatever remark her expression indicated she intended. "But Mina shares the same blood as your captive. The casting will therefore be that much more impenetrable. No chance of harm to the Fen outside of it."

No. As she met Mina's look, Lex knew what kind of circle

Mina was casting. It would have two purposes, and one of them was unthinkable. Before she could protest, the witch's mind cut into hers like a knife blade in truth, causing her to wince. I understand what you are trying to accomplish, but if he does not have a few minutes to orient himself, your chance of success goes from slim to none. This gives him time to calm down, unless he kills you.

Alexis pressed her lips together hard. He would not hurt her. She knew it. Somewhere in the storm of his mind, Dante was there.

Seneth nodded. "We will permit the witch to do this."

As Mina moved forward, Jonah touched Alexis's arm. She looked up into his face. "I need to do this, Pyel."

Jonah's mouth tightened. "It is my hope that one day your children will teach you how it feels to allow them to place themselves in harm's way."