They might be next on Cadegan’s menu, but Illarion intended to fight.
With a string of profanity that left Jo blushing, Thorn stepped back from the bars of his cell. “Jo? Look at me. I’m about to do something really fucking stupid. When I do this, I need you to remember three words for me. Omni rosae spina.”
She scowled at him. “Every rose has its thorn?”
“Good, you understand Latin. Yes. Commit them to memory in the event I lose control. Okay?”
“Lose control of what?”
Yeah … Illarion would like to know that answer, too.
He had it a moment later when Thorn’s eyes turned a vibrant green, laced with red, and his face became that of a demon’s. Then his body followed suit, complete with wings and gold armor.
Talfryn went wild in his cage. “Help us! Someone! Rambo! We’ve got to get out of here!”
“Why?” Jo asked.
Before he could answer, Thorn channeled his powers and blasted them from their cages. Illarion rushed to her side to protect her as Thorn and Cadegan attempted to murder each other.
Laughing, Cordelia turned on Jo’s group with a smug smile. “Thank you for allowing me to own the one weapon neither Morgen nor Merlin can stop. He’s mine now!”
One moment they were in the cavern and the next, all of them, including Thorn—who was still a demon—were thrown into some house in another dimension, on the other side of a mirrored door.
What the hell was this?
Stunned, Illarion gaped as he glanced around at the unfamiliar place he’d never seen before and a group of people he’d never met. How Thorn had managed to get him through the portal without shifting into his dragon form … he had no idea. And that said it all about Thorn’s incredible powers. Still in his demon’s body, Thorn turned on them all and let out a fierce howl. He moved in to attack them.
Say the words! Illarion warned her.
“Omni rosae spina!”
The moment she spoke them, Thorn threw his head back and cried out in agony. He froze as if he were fighting himself even harder than he’d fought Cadegan.
His demonic body slowly melted back to his human one. Tears streamed down his face. He visibly shook and gasped for breath.
Damn …
Without a word to them, Thorn wiped the back of his hand over his face and left through a side door.
One of the unknown women followed after him.
Another one, with long curly brown hair, grabbed Jo up into a fierce hug. “This is you? Right?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“After that crazy guy who was here in your body, I just wanted to make sure.”
“Cadegan,” Jo said, irritated at the way the woman talked about him.
But Illarion didn’t really hear them. His gaze had locked onto the one person in the room he did know.
Intimately.
Unable to believe his eyes, he stared at his brother. Maxis. Tears filled his eyes.
“Illarion? Is it really you, little brother?”
Nodding, he rushed to gather Max into a tight hug. With his blond hair cut short, he barely resembled the fierce beast Illarion was used to, but it didn’t matter.
This was his beloved brother he hadn’t seen in centuries.
He clutched at him, so grateful to finally have family again. To be safe and away from that hell realm.
I can’t believe it’s you! Max’s voice filled his head.
Nor I you! I’ve missed you so. He clenched his hand in Max’s hair, then stepped back to meet Jo’s curious gaze. Josette, this is my brother Maxis.
She inclined her head to him. “Nice to meet you.”
“And you. Thank you for helping my brother.” He gaped at Illarion. “I still can’t believe you’re here. I thought you’d died with the others.”
Jo returned to the other woman. “I have to go back for Cadegan.”
When she started toward the mirror, three Thorns appeared to block her way. “You cannot release him now. It’s too late to save him.”
Jo glared at them. “I will not leave him in there. Alone. If I have to go back by myself, I will.”
Thorn returned to the room with the woman who’d gone after him as the three images blocking Jo’s way vanished. He cast his glance around the people gathered there. “For the love of God, will someone please talk sense into Queen Hard Head?” He glared at Jo. “You can’t go into Terre Derrière le Voile and release a banished demon into the world of man.”
To Illarion’s complete shock, Jo rushed Thorn and shoved him back. “You should never have banished him there! This is all your fault!”
“I had no choice,” Thorn growled at her. “He was slipping from us every day, turning slowly more bitter and angrier. I saw it in his eyes. I did everything I could to keep him grounded and anchored, and then when he came to me that night to tell me that he’d killed innocent people, I saw that he was just about to blossom into the Addanc you saw earlier.”
“So you abandoned him to it?”
He winced before he met her gaze again. “We have to leave him where he is.”
She shook her head in denial of his solution. It wasn’t that simple and she knew it. “We can’t. We’ve awakened the Addanc within him. He is the very weapon you once feared unleashing. What if your enemies find him now? Are you any more able to kill him today?”
Thorn looked away.
“That’s what I thought. Before all this started, Cadegan was dormant in his cave. Alone and safe. You and I have awakened his demon side, and it’s up to us to do what you should have done a thousand years ago.”
“Kill him?”
“No, Thorn. Save him.”