Succubus Ascendant: An Urban Fantasy (The Telepathic Clans Saga Book 4) by BR Kingsolver Read Free Book Online Page A

them. The line on Brenna’s right was led by Morrighan. Brenna realized that all the women walking toward the front were Druids.
    Morrighan and the other women formed a half circle at the front of the room, standing in front of Brenna, and turned to face the hall. All of them had their Glamor turned up full, to that Goddess-like glow the Druids used when they presided over the Clans’ holy rituals.
    Morrighan raised her arms into the air.
    “Hear me, Clans of Ireland! This woman is the blessed of the Goddess! The Druids declare their support for Brenna O’Donnell and support her claim to the Seats of the Irish Clans. Once, the Tuatha de Danaan were one people. Under Lady Brenna, we shall be one people again. Hear me, Clans of Ireland! The Druids bless this woman’s claim!”
    *What the hell?* Brenna sent to Rebecca and Rhiannon.
    *Is that the only question you’re capable of asking this evening? Didn’t you know?* Rhiannon sent back. *Morrighan is the High Priestess, the head Druid. Don’t you Americans know anything? Brenna, reach into Corwin’s memories.*
    Brenna looked for Morrighan in Corwin’s memories. The woman she found there was nothing like the fun-loving succubus that Brenna knew. A flash of her own memory surfaced. Morrighan conducting the ceremonies of Beltane at the O’Byrne estate.
    * That’s a helluva lot of firepower standing in front of you.* Rebecca sent.
    Brenna counted twenty-seven Druids standing there. Rebecca was right. It was enough firepower to take out a Roman legion.
    ~~~
    It was more than an hour later when Brenna was able to break free. People wanted to talk to her. Some seemed only to want to touch her. Parents brought their children to meet her. Surrounded by Druids, she made her way out to the quadrangle, and the scene inside was duplicated for another hour and a half. Brenna had never been comfortable in crowds and at times, she felt as though she was on the verge of being crushed.
    Not everyone was welcoming, and using Corwin’s memories, she was able to match the negative auras with identities. She marked those whose auras showed the most hostility and sent their names to Rebecca, Jeremy and Thomas.
    But finally, tired and emotionally drained, she and her security team made their way through the manor back to the room she shared with Rebecca. Over the following week, she would be working with the household staff to convert Corwin’s suite to her own. But for tonight, she wanted only the room she had always occupied at the O’Neill manor and a bed that felt somewhat familiar.
    “What are you doing here?” Brenna asked Morrighan.
    “When Rebecca contacted us and told us Corwin had died, I started contacting Druids across Ireland. I knew things up here might get nasty. We still have influence in this country, and I hoped we’d be able to calm things. We couldn’t all come, but I think we had enough here to make an impression.”
    “You were certainly a welcome sight,” Brenna said. “Thank you.”
    Reaching the room, one of her Protectors opened the door and stood aside so she could enter. She was startled when Rhiannon jumped in front of her.
    “Has this room been vetted since she was last here?” Rhiannon asked.
    “No,” Donny said. “It should be all right. We were here just a couple of hours ago.”
    “Did you leave a guard here?” Rhiannon pressed.
    “No, we didn’t.” He shot Brenna a guilty look. “You’re right.” Donny waved toward the door, and three Protectors swept into the room, electronic scans in their hands. A couple of minutes later, an O’Neill Protector came down the hall with a dog, and they also entered the room.
    Donny stood in the doorway overseeing their search. Rhiannon stood behind him, craning her neck to look around him.
    “You’re going to have to treat this as a hostile setting,” Jeremy told Donny. “You can’t relax here like you do at O’Donnell.”
    Red-faced, Donny nodded.
    The dog stopped in the middle of the bedroom