* * *
Maliar scowled and slammed a fist into the wall. Terod jumped and stared at her with wide eyes, but what did she care? The bastard used her to retrieve the Teagair artifact, so he could return behind the Veil. Never thought about what she wished to accomplish with it.
She closed her eyes and attempted to regain control of herself. Her expression faded to careful blankness and she lowered her fist. She shouldn't lose her temper like that. Not now, not so close to the height of her power.
She hissed in frustration and stalked away. Power. She had chosen power when she became an enchanter so long ago. She had chosen power when she had stepped through the portal to the Grove of Domnann those many months ago.
She had chosen power when she had pushed Brigit into letting her visit the extraordinary find of Atlantis.
She scowled at the stableman as he fetched her a horse. The push had seemed worth it at the time, even if it had shown Lugh's champion something of how deep the siabra's hooks went.
Maliar offered the mare a bit of sugar. Atlantis had been worth the revelation, though not in the way she expected. The ancient knowledge of the Atlanteans would benefit her when she proved herself worthy of it. She had already refined her skill in Glamour a great deal in her efforts to find and slay Cetus.
She smirked slightly as she mounted the horse and urged it to trot away from Droighaid. She found the trial planes infinitely more useful in the long run. The peoples there knew nothing of Hibernia, and so her sly words changed their view of the others.
She chuckled. They trusted her, too, because she helped them fight their enemies. They thanked her, as well, with items with magics beyond what her lady spellcrafter friend could make.
Let the siabra at court mock her for the way she dirtied her hands with the mortals. Let the elves at Brigit's court whisper about her barbaric siabrian ways. Let the mortals hate her for her immortality and her Glamour. Let them all do what they would, because they could not stop her steps.
She smiled ever so slightly. And when she reached the pinnacle of her powers-
They would know fear.
The End