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cannot help wishing you trusted me more, enough to tell me this … long before now.”
    “Ah am ah secretive man,” I said, and she laughed snidely.
    “That is putting it mildly.” She was quiet for a few seconds as she studied me before telling me to continue.
    “As part o’ mah poonishment,” I started before taking a deep breath. This was the part of my story I liked the least. “Those souls o’ mah kin whom Ah either killed meself, or allowed tae be killed, were nae allowed tae pass through the pearly gates o’ the Kingdom oop high; boot neither were they forced tae enter the gates o’ the Oonderground. Nae. Those poor, lost souls were doomed tae spendin’ eternity in the middle lands.”
    “The middle lands?” she repeated dubiously.
    “Aye, the Dark Wood,” I finished. I had to take another deep breath in order to finish the story. “An’ more specifically, their bodies were interred beneath ah large hill, at the base oove ah tree. The verra same tree outlined oan mah back.” I stared at the seams of my kilt as old, familiar feelings of self-hatred, remorse and guilt flooded over me. They were the same feelings I experienced whenever I remembered my history, whenever the cruel past came back to haunt me. “Ah bleed mahself nae only tae release Donnchadh’s contaminants, boot also tae release the poison o’ the truth. Ah bleed mahself in offerin’ tae the souls o’ mah tribesmen. Lives that Ah took out o’ greed an’ avarice.”

 
    FIVE
    Persephone studied me for another moment or two, and her eyes narrowed as if she were trying to decipher whether or not I was being honest in my explanation. Then she inhaled deeply and her expression softened as she exhaled.
    “I am certain you are well aware that in order for me to reach your back, I would need to loosen your chains,” she announced. She stood up and stared down at me in an obvious ill humor, which I attributed to that same fact.
    “Aye, Ah am aware,” I answered. I eyed the pulley system in the corner of my cell which dictated whether I should be chained closer or farther from the wall, depending upon my captor’s desire.
    “There is a reason you are lashed against the wall,” she began to explain. “The less you are allowed to move about, the easier it is to control you.”
    “Ye dinnae need tae explain the nature o’ mah incarceration tae meh. Ah am quite familiar with the system,” I started. The pain of the two wounds she had inflicted on my chest continued to erode me from the inside out, even though my blood now ran red. That truth brought little relief though. The essence of Donnchadh’s poison still contaminated me.
    “My point is that if I loosen the pulley to give you more freedom, what assurance have I that you would not attempt to attack me and free yourself?”
    I shook my head. “Ah willnae attempt tae attack ye; nor will Ah free mahself.”
    She scoffed at my reply, although I was not surprised. “Please forgive me if your word alone fails to convince me.”
    “Then send oot for yer circus monkey!” I fired back at her, my previous good humor now completely absent. “Ah dinnae care whit ye dae! Jist git oan with it, woman!”
    “By my circus monkey, shall I assume you are referring to Saxon?” she asked with a barely concealed smile. Clearly, she thought of him in the same manner.
    “Aye, yer circus monkey.”
    She studied me for another few moments before nodding and starting for the cell door. She locked it behind her and disappeared through the large, iron door to the prison. She was gone less than five minutes, but when she returned, she was accompanied not only by Saxon, but the angel, who certainly looked the worse for wear.
    His habitually jocular persona was completely missing. In its place, I saw a creature far too solemn to even represent the angel. His face was pale, and judging by the lacerations that were visible on his arms and legs, I guessed he had been flogged. Doomed an immortal, he