“Cailleach sent her to us,” she said.
Julian moved his lantern closer to Ailish, illuminating every crease and dirt smudge on her face. “Death can keep her whelp. She’s got my skin crawling with cold.”
Cate pinned him with a hard stare that would have had me squirming if pointed in my direction. She appeared on the verge of speaking, but then her mouth pursed at the corners as though she’d decided otherwise. Grumbling under his breath, Julian hunched into his coat and turned away from her.
Tom addressed Ailish. “Miss O’Bearra, did Cailleach tell you how to get inside?”
Ailish nodded, and a rivulet of rain spilled from her hood. “We’re to walk through the stones, and the blood’s to tell.”
Just as Deidre had told us to do. “Did she happen to mention why the Tuatha Dé aren’t here instead of us,” I muttered, for no other reason than to voice the misgiving that had come with Lugh’s presence earlier. Logic stood that if they had been more diligent with sealing the dolmen, Roddy Byrne would never have had the opportunity to copulate with the witch in the first place. By extension, Deri would not have existed, and Nora would be safe and sound back in London.
“She did just,” Ailish said. “King Bres feared that one o’ the Tuatha Dé would eventually take pity on Carmen and try to set her free, so he sealed the dolmen against every last one o’ them. Till the curse be broken, only the descendants can get to the witch.”
Tom whistled under his breath. “So it’s our human blood that lets us pass. Is that what you’re saying, Miss O’Bearra?”
“It’s both,” Cate answered in her stead.
Ailish nodded. “‘Tis true, milady. No one can pass into the mounds without some o’ the Tuatha Dé or one of the other ancient races in their veins. But it’s our human blood that tricks the curse.” She withdrew a hand from the pocket of her cloak and popped a deadly nightshade berry into her mouth.
Confusion plucked at my brows. “Then where is Nora? Why would Deri take her if she can’t use the dolmen?”
Cate shook her head. “I don’t know. Either she has a Tuatha Dé ancestor or she was used as bait to lure the rest of us here.”
Dread seeped like mist through my skin. Since leaving London, I had imagined Nora in the oak grove. Now I didn’t know what to think, nor where to look next if Deri had hidden her somewhere else.
“Do you think that’s the witch’s plan?” Marin asked. “To trick us into breaking the curse?”
“The thought has crossed my mind,” Cate confessed.
Sean folded his arms over his chest. “If that’s the case, then why go in at all?”
Cate sighed. “Because we’ve no other choice.”
Justine twined a copper curl around one finger. “Most of us came to Ireland for the sole purpose to get Nora away from the wretch.” With a sympathetic glance to James, she released the curl, and it returned to its usual shape. “But truth be told, we’ve no idea if she’s even in there. What if the druids are mistaken? Or we’re the ones responsible for releasing evil from Wexford? Once we’ve breached her prison, there’ll be no turning back.”
Cate shook her head. “Her prison was breached the day Roddy Byrne went inside. Carmen learned of our existence at that moment and somehow figured a means of escape.”
Ailish bobbed her head in agreement. “Cailleach be thinking the same, milady.”
“In the last battle,” Cate continued, “the bulk of Carmen’s strength resided in her children, Darkness, Evil and Death. Only after they fell were the Tuatha Dé able to defeat her. But this past fall, she released a daughter into the mortal world who will one day be the equal to her late brothers. I ask you, how many more can we risk?”
“None,” Marin said without pause.
Julian grunted his assent. Sean remained silent, arms crossed over his chest in brooding defiance.
Tom nodded toward the stone entrance. “Which is why we must attack before she can breed again and grow even stronger.”
“Exactly,” Cate confirmed. “Carmen must be defeated unto death this time. Just standing in her shadow has put us at odds with each other. Her poison cannot move beyond this grove.”
Henry stirred behind me, tucking my head beneath his chin and tightening his hold around my waist. Julian considered us for a brief moment, his expression blank, before turning his attention to the dolmen.
“Miss O’Bearra,” Henry asked. “Do you know what we should expect once we enter the witch’s lair?”
“No, milord. Only immortal ever been inside be King Bres, and he’ll have naught to do with humans anymore.” She shuffled her feet. “Most o’ the Tuatha Dé don’t care if’n we live or die. They left our world long ago with no thought to be looking back.”
Henry inhaled and his chest expanded against my back. “Did the goddess say anything else?”