Echoes from the Veil (Aisling Chronicles)

by Colleen Halverson

An emerald ring fell into my hand, and I lifted my other hand up to my cheek, letting out a sob.

  Finn fell on one knee, and I could barely make out his searing gray eyes, his beautiful face looking up at me with such hope.

  “Elizabeth. I cannot bear to live one more day without you. Please be mine forever. Be my wife. I beg of you. I—”

  “Yes!” I was a mess of tears and snot and hopeless joy, but none of it mattered. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

  A raucous cheer echoed up to the rafters, rattling the windows.

  Finn stood up and called over his shoulder. “Máirtin!”

  The Fianna warrior priest came forward, his brown robes, tattered from the battle, trailing behind him.

  “My Commander.” He gave a low bow.

  “Would you fancy performing a marriage ceremony this night?”

  “Tonight?” I blurted out.

  Finn winked. “Not another day, Elizabeth.” He pressed a soft kiss against my forehead. “Not another day.”

  I stood through the ceremony in a daze, barely listening to the sermon Máirtin gave. Grainne and Una were my maids of honor, and Eamonn and Seamus stood as Finn’s best men. Before I knew it, Finn held my face in his hands, planting the most divine kiss on my lips. The whole assembly cheered, and the servants of Teamhair rolled out a great banquet. Before we could blink, a band started playing, the tune sweet and lively.

  Finn and I shook hands with so many people. Loren and several Fianna inquired about Amergin, but I merely shook my head, too exhausted to tell the tale. The Fianna would need a new leader, but they didn’t need to decide that tonight. And I didn’t even want to begin to talk about how I (oops) destroyed the Veil. That would have to wait for another day, for sure.

  Finn turned to me. “You need to rest.” He pulled me toward the stairs in search of a room, but I stilled, tugging at his arm.

  “Wait,” I said. “I have another idea.”

  He gave me a sly smile, and I closed my eyes, sending us traveling through space until we landed in the Forresters’ living room. Dust filled the air, and I raced to turn on the heat. It wasn’t like the vision I had in the Veil, clean and inviting, but for me, it felt like home. Or at least, something like home.

  “We’ll have to clean this place up if we’re going to use this as a little love hideaway,” Finn said, reading my mind.

  “Not just a love hideaway,” I said. “We have a lot to do in Tír na nÓg and in the mortal world with the Veil gone, but once things are settled, I think I might like to go back to school eventually. And also…” I swallowed hard. “I think it would be good for our daughter to know a little of this world, too.”

  Finn whirled around, his eyes growing wide. “Daughter?”

  I rubbed my belly.

  “Are you sure?”

  I nodded, fresh tears stinging my eyes.

  Finn’s face lit up, and he threw his head back and howled, dancing around. Dancing. I couldn’t help but laugh, too. He lifted me up and spun me in the air.

  “This is brilliant.” He peppered my face with kisses and then set me down, falling to his knees and putting his ear to my stomach. “There’s a baby in there,” he whispered. “Hello, baby…”

  I giggled, his breath tickling my skin. “I’ll have to go to the doctor. Get vitamins and all that, but yeah. We’re having a baby.”

  The words felt so final, but so right, like a puzzle fitting into place.

  Finn’s fingers slid beneath my dress, and he kissed my belly, just the smallest bump, really. “We’re having a baby.”

  His hands wandered until he cupped my breasts, slightly tender and swollen. Rising to his feet, he drew me closer, caressing my spine up and down.

  “Is the Morrígan really gone?” I whispered.

  Finn shook his head. “I don’t know if gods really can die. I know Bel and Danu trapped her once more, but she could come back.”

  I let out a long exhale, running my hands through Finn’s silky hair. “I’m sorry I left you behind. I had no choice.”

  He leaned back and locked eyes with me. “Elizabeth, it was the only choice. You saved so many lives. Whatever we have between us, it’s nothing if we can’t live in a world where we are safe and accepted. I would happily sacrifice myself a thousand times for that chance.”

  I clutched at the back of his neck. “For love?”

  “Yes,” he replied, grasping my waist and hitching me up against him. I locked my ankles against the small of his back, and he pressed me against the wall. “For love,” he whispered, rolling into me. He kissed me until I gasped for breath, liquid heat burning through my limbs. With dizzying quickness, he placed me gently on the couch, untying the laces of the wedding dress I had found for the ceremony, and, with gentle movements, pulled the soft white silk from my body. The sweet smell of the bath salts Una had insisted on before the wedding permeated the room, but it didn’t compare to the building need between us, the scent of pure lust overcoming all reason. Finally, he grabbed at my undergarments, tugging them down and over my knees, then burying his face into my sex. His tongue flickered against my sensitive flesh, and I moaned, lifting my hips to meet him, to slake the growing desire taking hold of me. His thumbs dug hard into my thighs, forcing me closer, his mouth feeding on me, his tongue pressing against my opening, falling away, and then teasing me once more.

  I sat up, clutching at his ceremonial armor, tugging at the endless belts. “Get this shit off,” I said in a hoarse voice.

  He let out a deep, rumbling laugh, and together we tore through the restraints until the armor clanked to the floor. And then it was just us. The only people in the world, it seemed like, Fianna and Fae. Leaders. Lovers. He stretched over me, his body heavy, his erection hard against my hip. He positioned himself at my opening, one hand grasping my wrist, while the other hand settled on my abdomen.

  “You’re going to make an incredible mother,” he whispered.

  I blinked hard, glancing away. “I’m so scared.”

  “I am, too,” he replied.

  I looked back at him, lifting my hips ever so slightly in invitation. “I thought nothing scared you.”

  “I am always scared, but that’s not why I fight.” He loosened his hand on my wrist and brushed a lock of hair away from my face. “I fight for you. For this. And now for this child.”

  “Our baby…” I said, a smile creeping across my face.

  “Aye.”

  I dug my fingernails into his hips and forced him inside me. He entered with a groan, my body slick with need for him. I closed my eyes and took in his deep thrust, his fingers clutching at my hair, exposing my neck. He kissed me, biting my skin and breathing hard into my ear. My mind was a whirl of color, like the nebula in the sky in Tír na nÓg, my thoughts nothing but bright, shimmering clouds of carbon, the most essential element of my being. Finn grabbed my knee and brought it over his shoulder, his hips bearing down on me with intensity even as I rose to meet him with an even darker violence made sweet by his gentle kisses, his thumb circling my right nipple. A wave of sensation caught me, and I cried out. A scream. It echoed through the house. Our home. Wherever we went now, we would carry it with us. Finn. Me. Our little girl.

  Finn drove into me one last time, and I came with him, my body trembling in his strong arms. He held me so tight, smothering me against his chest as my orgasm trailed away, releasing me into a well of warmth.

  “Have you thought of names yet?” Finn asked.

  I rolled over and gave him a pointed stare. “All I’ve thought about is winning a rebellion and keeping a goddess from destroying the universe and stealing my boyfriend.”

  “Husband.” Finn pointed with an arched eyebrow.

  I nodded. “Husband.” I leaned back on the pillows. “But no, I haven’t had time to think of names. Not at all.”

  “What about Agnes?” he o
ffered.

  I made a puking sound.

  “That was my sister’s name!” Finn said in mock offense.

  “It’s not her fault she had an unfortunate name.”

  “And what do you suggest?”

  “I don’t know. Beyoncé?”

  “What?” His face contorted with confusion.

  “Beyoncé Ruth Bader Hillary Rodham Tanner-O’Connell.”

  “Och, aye…”

  I glanced down, playing with a loose string on the couch. “Or maybe I’ll name her after my mother.”

  Finn smiled, tucking a lock of hair behind my hair. “Little Niamh.”

  “I like that,” I whispered.

  “But a hyphenated name?” He shook his head. “Seriously?”

  I threw a pillow at him. “Don’t you start in with that patriarchal bullshit.”

  He took hold of my arms and wrenched me close to his chest. “I wouldn’t dream of it, Elizabeth Tanner-O’Connell.”

  “Maybe I will take your name,” I said with a shrug. “I’m not particularly attached to Tanner.”

  “I would like that,” Finn said. “But it’s your choice.”

  “You could always call me Elizabeth Her Holiness in Faerie Badassery.”

  “Not a chance.”

  “How about ‘Elizabeth the Goddess Slayer’?”

  Finn squinted. “Just doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, you know?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “Elizabeth O’Connell it is, then.”

  He grinned. “Now that rolls right off the tongue.”

  I shoved him on the shoulder. “I have something else I wouldn’t mind rolling off my tongue.”

  Finn caged me with his arms, kissing me deeply.

  “Elizabeth O’Connell, first of her name. Ruler of Blowjobs,” I snorted.

  He caressed my face. “Ruler of my heart. Of all I am and ever will be.”

  “Now that’s a name.”

  “I love you,” he said.

  “I love you, too.” I kissed him, staring up into his eyes. “Always.”

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  Acknowledgments

  Firstly, I want to thank my amazing editor Robin Haseltine for picking up this sprawling, convoluted, murder-map of a novel draft and helping me turn it into a real book. The world of The Aisling Chronicles is big, and sometimes I didn’t even know where the boundaries ended, but she dove in undaunted. She helped me get to the heart of Elizabeth’s journey, and I appreciate her painstaking feedback more than words can say.

  I am also grateful to everyone at Entangled for not giving up on these characters and this story. I’m so grateful to Liz Pelletier for picking up this manuscript and ensuring readers get this final installment. Thank you to the Entangled marketing team, especially Riki Cleveland, for making sure this book gets in the hands of eager readers.

  Thank you to Suzanne Evans for picking up this manuscript in the first place. You have been an incredible friend and confidante over the years.

  I am grateful to my agent Rachel Brooks for supporting me through this process and for all her encouragement along the way. Her commitment and attention to detail are unparalleled, and I’m so happy to have her in my corner.

  To my kind and patient readers, thank you for all the support, the words of encouragement, the kind comments, the reviews, and the recommendations to friends. I hope this book was worth the wait. Thank you for coming on this journey with me.

  It’s been several years now since I sat down and drummed out the first words of what would later become The Aisling Chronicles, and in that time, so many people have supported me and cheered me on along the way. I must thank my original writing workshop crew, the BBC Feb. 2010 mamas, especially Lashana Jefferson, Rachel Caine, and Jenna Goldstein. I am also grateful to Jessica Bloczynski and Barney Gedero for plowing through those first few drafts. Michael Mammay—thank you so much for your dedication, friendship, guidance, and alllllll the tough critique-partner love. You’re always there for me, and it has meant everything. Thank you to Kim Cohen, especially for that one “wild night” in Vegas where we stayed up with a box of rosé and a stack of Post-it notes and replotted this novel together. I wanted to give up so many times, but you always had a plan to get me back on track.

  I am so thankful for my family. To my parents, you have been unwavering in your support and have been my biggest fans. I love you so much, and I am so grateful for all of your help. Thank you to my in-laws for all the babysitting and words of encouragement. It has taken a village to raise these children while their mother was off in her own little writing world, and I’m so grateful for all that you have done to help raise these kids while mom was trying to make deadlines.

  To Skye and Colin—I love you with all my heart. I know you have had to sometimes live adjacent to this world inside my head, and it has come with sacrifice. Your smiles, hugs, imagination, and wonder have been the inspiration that has kept me going through many hard times along this journey.

  Finally, to Aaron—the love of my life. You made a secret garden for me to escape to, a place of quiet and peace where I could finally thrive. You have given me the greatest gift of all—the gift of myself. Thank you for taking me for who I am, every day and always. I love you.

  About the Author

  Colleen Halverson also writes erotic romance as C.B. Halverson. As a child, she used to play in the woods imagining worlds and telling stories to herself. Growing up on military bases, she found solace in her local library and later decided to make a living sharing the wonders of literature to poor, unsuspecting college freshmen. After backpacking through Ireland and singing in a traditional Irish music band, she earned a PhD in English with a specialization in Irish literature. When she’s not making up stories or teaching, she can be found hiking the rolling hills of the Driftless area of Wisconsin with her husband and two children.

  Discover more about her and her books at www.colleenhalverson.com

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