Velvet Haven

brother.”
    “A brother I cannot find. A brother you allowed Morgan to curse.”
    Cailleach held his gaze. “And you have never forgiven me.”
    No, he hadn’t. Nor would he ever. “I begged you most humbly to sever the marriage contract my father made with Morgan. Yet you did nothing.”
    “There are some things that even I cannot interfere with.”
    He snorted, feeling his hate and anger swell. “You had the power. But you sat back and refused to intervene. You allowed her to ruin my life and that of my brother.”
    “Have you no feelings for anyone other than Carden?”
    He stilled, wondering at the soft tone of Cailleach’s voice. Did she want his love? She knew he had no heart to give, nor love to share.
    “Cailleach—”
    “I speak of love not for me, Raven, but for your people. For all people of Annwyn. Have you no love for them and for what they hold dear?”
    His head suddenly hung in shame. “I did. Once. Now I live only for two things, to feed the Legacy Curse that hungers within me, and to find Carden.”
    When she faced him once again, her eyes were saddened. “Will you allow the Dark Times to destroy our world? Or will you become the warrior you once were? Will you not fight this darkness with me? I cannot do it alone.”
    “Will you lift the Legacy Curse?”
    “You know I cannot. It was your Adbertos, not a punishment.”
    Yes. He had offered her a sacrifice, his happiness for that of another’s. He had sacrificed himself for his uncle, Daegan, then Cailleach’s consort; had offered the goddess an Adbertos so that Daegan could spend his life with the mortal woman he loved. Cailleach had taken that sacrifice and given him his Legacy Curse. She had robbed him of a soul mate, stolen the sacred rites of his kind from him, for he could never have a Sidhe bride. No Sidhe female would share him with another. And there would be others. She had made him need the one thing he hated most. Humans. Female humans .
    To keep his magic alive and strong, Bran needed to mate with human females. Their sexual energy was what made his magic so powerful. And he hated it. Despised having to pleasure them, touch them, to gain power, a power that had rightfully been his by birth.
    “How many more of your people will you allow to be carved up? How many more need die before we act to vanquish this darkness that plagues us?”
    He thought of what had been done to his brother, cursed to live as stone. He thought of the youngling whose body had been mutilated. She could have been his child. Could even have been his mate. “None,” he said. “I promise, no more.”
    “So you will do it?”
    “I will.”
    “You know where you will have to begin?”
    “In the mortal realm,” he spat. “’Tis where all evil begins.”
    “Be careful, Raven. For I cannot help you in that world. I am bound to Annwyn. I cannot leave.”
    And that grated his nerves. While Cailleach could do whatever she damned well pleased, he was bound by his curse to visit the mortal realm regularly. The prospect of staying there for any length of time made him feel violent. Away from Annwyn his magic was weak; he would need to mate with many human females to survive. He would find all he needed at Velvet Haven, but he despised the place, and the things he would have to do inside its walls.
    “I will go to Velvet Haven and begin the search.”
    “I think I know what you must do first.”
    Bran looked at her expectantly, but she averted her gaze. “Amongst my kind, there is a scribe. A chronicler whose grimoire has gone missing. We must find this book, Raven.”
    “And how is this book connected to the killings?”
    “You know that once, long ago, there was a goddess who betrayed her order to lie with an angel,” Cailleach said, garnering his attention. “Their forbidden passion cost them both their powers. When you mentioned the angelic mark the youngling’s body bore, it made me recall the prophecy the grimoire contains.”
    “What prophecy?” He knew the story of the fallen angel and the goddess, but he had never heard of a prophecy. When Cailleach spoke, her gaze remained on the ground.
    “The tale of the amulet and the flame, and how to find them. The prophecy says that whoever possesses these will have the power to rule both Annwyn and the mortal realm. The angel swore retribution against Annwyn; perhaps he has found the book and is using it against us.”
    Bran eyed her skeptically. “An angel performing death