Finn settled beside me, his hand folding in mine. Squeezing my fingers tight, he brought our fists to his lips and pressed a hard kiss against the seam of our palms as if to seal them. I smiled, resting my head against his shoulder.
“Maybe that’s one more thing, then,” I whispered.
“What is?” Finn’s low voice echoed across the stones like the distant roll of thunder.
“Aodhan and Una. One more thing worth fighting for.”
Finn turned to me, his eyes shining in the moonlight. “Love is always worth fighting for.”
He kissed my forehead while his hands pulled at the hem of my tunic, throwing it to the side until I sat naked before him. “Get in that water. I want to watch you for a moment.”
I quirked an eyebrow. “Expecting a synchronized swimming routine?”
“Go,” he demanded, his eyes doing that perfume-model smoldering thing that made my inner muscles clench.
“Okay, bossy…” I muttered, but I loved it. I did. After the chaos of the day, the stress of the ambush, I fell into the release of submission like a warm blanket, wrapping it around me until I forgot myself completely. With a slight sway of my hips, I glanced over my shoulder before I walked into the water with long, seductive strides.
“It’s so warm,” I called to him.
He sprawled out on the grass, his eyes glued to me. “Is it?”
I closed my eyes and submerged completely, twisting and turning beneath the depths before breaking the surface and pulling a Little Mermaid, ropes of hair slapping against my bare back. I pushed the loose strands out of my face, my hands wandering down to my breasts. I put on my best Marilyn Monroe pout, and Finn smiled, his eyes slits in the darkness.
“Do you want to join me?” I said.
His eyes glanced down to my chest. “Do that again.”
“What?” I said in a husky voice, crossing my arms and palming my breasts. “This?”
“Yes.” He leaned forward. “Touch your nipples.”
I smiled, heat rushing down between my legs. With shaking hands, I pressed my thumb against the small beads, peaked and hard from the cool air sweeping down over the ridge. I didn’t know if it was my own touch or his lusty gaze, but the sensation sent me shivering with longing. I arched my back, giving in to the pleasure and letting the moonlight bathe me as it reflected across the still water. I closed my eyes and let out something between a purr and a moan, and I nearly laughed at the sound of it.
“Touch yourself,” Finn said in a low, firm voice. “Give yourself pleasure.”
I bit my lip and stared straight into his eyes as I slipped my hand down my waist and to my mound, seeking out the throbbing nub buried in my folds. As soon as my index finger sought that tiny circle of pleasure between my legs, I hitched my breath, another wave of desire enveloping me.
“Good.” Finn leaned back on his elbow, his hand resting on his solid chin. “You found that sweet clit of yours.”
“I did.” My voice emerged with a gasp, scandalized by Finn’s uncharacteristic dirty talk, but loving it all the same. I didn’t move, my hand lingering beneath the water.
“I want you to keep touching yourself there,” he demanded. “Do that until I tell you to stop.”
I let out a long exhale, drawing my two fingers closer to the swollen spot, turning and turning in the warm water. He couldn’t see me beneath the surface, but I knew my face was flushed, and my chest rose and fell in quickening pants. With every twist of my fingers, my body shook and trembled until I floated, my face lifted toward the sky. The water splashed against my cheeks, and I closed my eyes, giving into the weightlessness, the never-ending expanse of pleasure. My orgasm rushed through my body, and I let out a high-pitched cry as it gripped me.
“Enough.” Finn’s voice pierced through my bliss, and I slipped beneath the surface, cooling my hot cheeks. I emerged spluttering and gasping for breath.
He made a low sound in the back of his throat and stood up, his shadow stretching across the water. With one swift motion, he dropped his pants, and his erection sprang from beneath the rough material, swollen and magnificent. My throat tightened, and my insides fluttered at the sight of him, the chiseled planes of his body, his muscles firm as a mountainside. I wanted to touch every inch of his skin, fall into him and never emerge. He stepped into the pool, concentric circles radiating from his body in loops of bright blue and silver.
He didn’t reach for me but simply stood there, locks of black hair brushing against his jawline, his shoulders rippling with incredible power. I breathed in the nearness of him, great waves of desire emanating from his form in shades of lust. His gaze traced the crown of my head, the slope of my neck, the curve of my breasts. The space between my thighs throbbed, and I wanted to turn away, crawl out of my skin, escape the tension between us. But I knew this was a test, a game of wills. A game I wanted to lose.
Through the water, he clasped my hand, not gently, but with a commanding grip, leading my palm back between my legs.
He locked on my fingers. “Touch yourself inside now.”
He pushed my hand between my thighs until I found my opening, and I had to grind my teeth to keep myself from coming again right then and there.
“Open yourself for me.” He leaned forward, his lips brushing against my earlobe. “I want you aching for me to fill you.”
I moved my fingers in and out, the warm water allowing me to glide back and forth in a smooth rhythm. I rested my head against his hard chest, but he didn’t enfold me in his arms, didn’t even kiss me although his breath branded my skin with each exhale. Through blurred vision, I watched as he gripped himself and began to pump his cock beneath the water. Tiny waves cut his motions like a choppy strip of film, and I stared, mesmerized as my own fingers massaged my inner sex. It was like a show, erotic and almost impersonal. But at the same time close and intimate, the steam of the hot spring swirling around our skin in soft tendrils.
“I want you,” I whispered, my gaze locked at his erection beneath the iridescent water.
“Where do you want me, Elizabeth?” he breathed into my ear, and I let out a small whimper.
“Inside me,” I said. “Now.”
In a flash of movement, his hands gripped my hips and pulled me up with effortless strength. My legs locked around the small of his back, and I cried out as he penetrated me finally, thrusting deep. Joined together, he pressed me up against the cliff face, his palms cupping my ass as he glided into me again. I dug my fingernails in his shoulders, a sharp cry erupting from my lips each time our bodies came together, the water lending us a buoyancy that sent my mind whirling into space, the heat from the pools, from his body, melting my spine and making me boneless.
“Do you want to come?” His teeth brushed the strained tendons of my neck, sending a bolt of hot pleasure directly to my core. My orgasm rushed through me like a stampede of wild horses I couldn’t hold back any longer.
“Yes!” I cried out breathlessly. “Yes…yes, please…”
“Come, Elizabeth,” he demanded as he pushed into me. So deep. So hard. “Come all over me.”
My body shook and shattered. Reassembled and broke again. Every part of my anatomy displaced by an impossible wave of energy that blew through me and then put me back together. It was rebirth. Reincarnation. The end and the beginning. And as I clung to him, my sex milking him for every ounce of his essence as he released into me, I pressed the softest kiss against his shoulder, my mouth cracking into what I knew must have been the most ridiculous grin. My chest shook with laughter, the purest feeling of joy taking hold of me.
“Are you laughing or crying?” Finn panted, brushing my hair from my face and crushing me against him.
“No, I’m… I’m…” I blinked back tears. I guessed I was crying. “I’m just so happy.”
He kissed me with a desperate hunger, squeezing the air from my
lungs with his biceps.
I broke the kiss, squirming in his embrace. “I can’t breathe. I love you so much, and I can’t breathe.”
His hold on me softened and he swept me up beneath my knees, carrying me from the pool and setting me down on the cool grass. I inhaled deeply and stared up at the stars swirling above us. I wanted to throw the ground over me like a blanket and stay there with Finn, safe and sound and one with the earth.
He nudged me, rubbing my limbs with a clean towel and then throwing a fresh tunic over my head. He pulled on a loose pair of trousers, his eyes locking on mine.
He dressed himself and then sat down beside me with a gentle sigh. “What are you thinking about?”
I exhaled. I hadn’t realized I had been holding my breath, watching him, his perfect body shrouded in moonlight. He could make putting on a shirt look like ballet, each movement as graceful as a dancer.
“Nothing,” I replied, staring up at the stars, but really, I felt as though the entire universe were racing through my brain. Planets, stars, people, and Fae. An endless parade of everything. I took a deep breath and let my gaze return to Finn, staring at the length of his neck, his presence steadying, quieting the chaos in my mind. “Do you remember the first night I spent in Trinity, in Chicago? Do you remember what you told me about Thornton?”
“Vaguely,” Finn said, placing his arm over my shoulder. “Why?”
“You told me he wanted control of the Tree of Life, that he would do anything to get to it. But what is it, really?” I snuggled deeper into his chest. “Where is it?”
The muscles in Finn’s biceps tensed, and his hand slipped down my back, stroking my spine for a brief second before retreating to his lap. “I’m not sure what else there is to tell. There are legends, and Eamonn has explained a few things to me.”
I sat up, seeking his gaze in the darkness. “Like what?”
“Well, for one, the Tree of Life isn’t exactly a tree.”
I snorted. “I wasn’t expecting Groot.”
He shook his head, not bothering to ask. “The Tree of Life is the axis mundi. It’s what holds together heaven, Earth, and the underworld. But according to Eamonn, it is what connects all our parallel dimensions. Earth, yes, but also Tír na nÓg. And of course, there are other worlds…”
I folded my knees close to my chest. “Other worlds?”
“Sure. Tír Tairngire, Tír fo Thuinn, Ildathach, Mag Mell—”
“Mag Mell!” I exclaimed, my memory sparking to life. “Thornton mentioned that in the church. That’s where he was trying to get to with the—”
I almost said demon, but after what happened the last time I mentioned that horrible being, I didn’t even want to think about it. I had destroyed that evil creature after it killed my mother, but who knew if demons could actually die? It wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to mess with anymore. At all.
“That makes sense.” Finn nodded, squeezing my arm. “Mag Mell is sort of like the Fae version of heaven. A luscious and endless garden. It’s supposedly where the goddess Danu dwells, and there she pines for her consort, the sun god, Bel.”
“What happened to her…uh…consort?”
Finn shrugged. “There are so many stories. Some say he was exiled for giving magic to the Druids, but others say he was exiled as part of a sacrifice to end a great war between the goddesses Danu and…the Morrígan.” He whispered the name of the goddess, and I tensed, almost expecting her to appear in front of us. After a moment, I sighed, my thoughts wandering to Danu, sad and beautiful and lonely within her infinite paradise, waiting for her lover. She had sacrificed Bel for peace. Could I do the same? I snuggled closer to Finn, tucking my head into the hollow of his shoulder.
“In any case, one can only enter Mag Mell through death or if the gods deliver you there.”
“Thornton seemed sure he could get there through dark magic.” I sat up and ran my hands through my hair, trying to recall everything that had happened that night in the church. I had been so preoccupied with saving Finn at the time, I hadn’t paid much attention to details.
“Perhaps.” Finn shrugged. “Anything is possible.”
I nodded, tension crawling back into my stomach and gnawing at my insides. “We need to take him out. I don’t know how the Fir Bolgs are using him or what sort of bargain they made with him, but none of this looks good.”
“No, but we have their device, and that buys us time.” Finn stroked my hair, sighing into the crown of my head.
“But who knows how long?” I said softly.
“It’s better than nothing,” he countered, pausing for a moment. “Have you thought about what I proposed before? About meeting the Fir Bolgs on the battlefield?”
I tensed, sitting up and drawing my knees up to my chest. “We’ve already talked about this.”
He raised his hand defensively before running it through his damp hair. “I know. But these guerilla tactics will only take us so far.”
“We’re outgunned, Finn,” I said, my voice shaking with the heat of anger welling up in my chest.
“But we have you,” he said after a lengthy pause.
I turned away and sighed.
“Elizabeth, I’ve seen you crush an army. I’ve seen you destroy a man with your mind.”
“Yes, when I was angry.” I whipped my head around to face him. “What if we meet the Fir Bolgs on the battlefield, and I can’t muster that kind of power? What if a Fir Bolg sniper shoots a bullet through my brain, and all my friends and all the people I love are left there with their swords and bows and arrows to face heavy artillery, alone and defenseless?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“You don’t know what’s going to happen,” I cried. “None of us do. Besides… I have another idea.”
“Excellent.” Finn smiled, leaning back on his elbows. “What is your beautiful mind cooking up?”
I snorted, but the smile faltered as I ticked through my half-baked plan in my head. It was risky. “We gather our forces and we take Teamhair from the inside. I can teleport our forces strategically and we strike.”
“We’ll need a diversion,” Finn said.
“Right. We’ll need…” I let out a long sigh. “…a lot of things.”
Silence stretched between us, but our minds cranked with ideas, contingencies, tactics, strategies. I glanced up at the stars, the unnamed constellations turning above as the seconds ticked on, spiraling into midnight. How much time did we have? My thoughts wandered back to the caves where Eamonn crouched over his microscope studying the small device with the power to destroy us all. At least we had it in our possession, and as long as it didn’t reduce us to ash, I guessed we would be all right.
“We need to find a way to destroy that bomb,” Finn said, reading my thoughts.
“I know. Eamonn has bought us some time, but for how long? The Fir Bolgs will want it back, and that makes us vulnerable.” I swallowed hard, squeezing his hand as if I could syphon his strength and courage. “We’ll see Morven tomorrow to make sure the device is stable, and then we’ll start planning for our attack.”
He leaned over and kissed my hair, smoothing the wet strands behind my ears. “We’ll be ready. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Ready or not,” I whispered, “it’s what has to happen.” A yawn escaped my lips, and I entangled my fingers with his, leading him away from the pool. “We can go over your assessments of the mission tomorrow.”
His hand popped across my bottom, and I let out an involuntary squeal. “I have some other assessments you can go over.”
I rolled my eyes. “God, you’re insatiable.”
“You have no idea.”
That was a lie. Because I did know, and even if I had forgotten, Finn made sure to remind me long into the night.
Chapter Four
I walked through a long hall. No, a
tunnel, the scent of damp earth heavy in the humid air. I grazed my hand against the wall, kernels of dirt crumbling against my fingers, cold, rough roots tangled together. I passed by small wooden doors, each one of them so different. Bright red lacquer, old weathered oak, a bright white farmhouse gate. Endless doors. Each one beckoned to me to open it, but some unseen force propelled me forward to a bright light shining at the end of the tunnel, a perfect yellow rectangle streaming through the darkness. A strange sensation overtook me, and I knew the light was me, the doorway belonging to the deep well of power that existed somewhere deep in my mind, deep in my spirit. I smiled, reaching for the light.
“Help me,” a male voice spoke beside me.
I turned, not startled, a heavy sense of warmth engulfing me. A man stood at my side, tall with white hair and wearing an impeccable gray suit.
“How?” I asked without opening my mouth.
He pointed to the light. “I need you to open it.”
“But I already have.”
“Not yet,” he replied, “But you will.”
He raised his hand, and a strange symbol shone through the skin of his palm, charring the edge of his flesh. Three dots and three lines streaming from it. I peered closer, the bright light burning my vision.
“You will find me in time,” he continued. “You will have to.”
“Where?” I replied.
“When you are lost. When there is no way to return, ask the queen,” he said. “She will know how to find me.”
“Who are you?”
“You will know me as Bel.” He stepped into the light, facing the open door, his palms open wide. “She walks the earth. The darkness has penetrated the light. The fate of all of us is in your hands.”
A surge of light blew through the doorway, and the man, Bel, burst into flames, bright white and blue. The heat burned my eyes, and I stepped back, but when I did so, a great black hole opened up beneath my feet, a great, all-encompassing void widening beyond my vision. I screamed, but the darkness swallowed me.
Echoes from the Veil (Aisling Chronicles) Page 5
