Mists of Velvet

as big as saucers, and Cailleach was now standing. Only Rowan and Mairi looked alarmed. Bronwnn, he noted, was smiling. He had a way with animals—always had. Like with the snake, and now his wolf as well.
    “The snake is a representative of sin and evil throughout the mortal realm. It is a symbol of the fallen angel Lucifer.”
    Rhys nodded, acknowledging Cailleach’s claim. “I thought so, too. The mage even called him Lucifer.”
    “There are two worlds here,” Cailleach reminded them all. “Two very different doctrines. The mortal is fortunate this particular snake was an ally.”
    “Or an agent of the mage,” Sayer stated from his spot in the corner of the room. Rhys had barely noted the Selkie’s presence. But as always, Sayer lurked in the corners, observing.
    “How did you escape?” Bran asked quietly.
    “The mage fed me a drug and tied me to a slab. I was hallucinating, and he was performing some rite on me. Behind him, there was a woman tied up. And beyond her, in the darkness, was another—a man—although I never saw him. But the mage spoke with him, and he answered back.”
    “And the woman?” Bran asked. “What did she look like?”
    “Blond. Mortal, I believe. I can’t tell you more. By this time, I was nearly unconscious, and I was losing blood.” Rhys swallowed hard. “He gave me too much of the drug, and I remember that he left me. He wanted me awake. Wanted my screams. When he left me, he went to her.”
    Bronwnn pressed into his side, and he took comfort in her embrace. While he wasn’t a suck ass, he was haunted by that woman’s scream and his inability to help her. “He . . . ah . . .”
    “Performed sex magick,” Keir supplied, “and you heard it.”
    “Yeah.”
    “And she was killed.”
    Rhys pressed his eyes shut. “Yes.”
    Cailleach’s gaze flickered to the snake, then to him. “What significance does this animal have for you?”
    “It released me from my bonds and showed me the way out of the cave. When I went through the veil, it was the adder that led me to the pool.”
    Cailleach glanced at Bran, then back to him. “An animal ally.”
    “There is no denying the snake saved my life.”
    “You are a shaman,” Keir said to him, “as am I.”
    Rhys shook his head. “No. I merely knew from Daegan’s stories that animals could befriend a person.”
    “The adder has seen something in you,” Bran provided. “And to be chosen by the most sacred of animals is something to be revered. It cannot be ignored.”
    Rhys gazed down at the adder wrapped around his arm. It was now sleeping. Never in his life had he dreamed that he’d have a reptile twined around his arm, but there it was.
    Suddenly, the scales began glistening an iridescent pink, then gold, then finally silver. When the glistening was gone, a silver amulet in the shape of the snake was wrapped around his arm.
    Cailleach walked to him then. “You have shed something in favor of something greater. The adder is yours now. Your guide. Your protector.”
    Rhys looked deep into her pale green eyes. “He doesn’t do me any good in the mortal realm.”
    She refused to look at him. “Raven, you will keep the mortal here, in your castle.”
    “A prisoner?” Rhys challenged.
    “Yes,” she murmured as she looked up at him. “For now.”
    The goddess evaporated, and Rhys was left with all eyes directed at him.
    “What I don’t understand,” Bran said, “is why only you were targeted. All of us have walked through that cave and have never seen or heard anything. Certainly we have never been attacked.”
    “He wanted me.”
    Keir’s gaze met his, and instant understanding lit up his eyes. “ He knew you would ignore Suriel and my warning. He sent Suriel to provoke you. It was your destiny all along.”
    Rhys nodded. He had much time to think of things while he had waited for Bronwnn to return to him. In that time, he reflected on everything that had happened and had reluctantly come to the conclusion that God wanted him in this fight, even though he was only a lowly mortal.
    “Suriel asked me if I had faith, and I told him I did. I believed that I was intended to go. And I did. The mage was waiting for me, because he wanted my soul for his magick, but, more importantly, he wanted my body. He was going to use it to infiltrate the nine warriors. You would believe it was me, and the mage would have access to all your plans. That is why I escaped and could not save the woman. I was close to death