Killian looked at the serious, beautiful, yet frightening female before him as he continued to comprehend her warnings.
“He would never hurt me, Aine! His love for me is indisputably great.”
“Aye, perhaps not intentionally, but the very love you share allows him power over you and permits him to sear you to the depths of your heart and soul.”
Alainn appeared most distressed at Aine’s ominous words and the fairy goddess responded. “Don’t allow my harbingering warnings to cloud this cherished time you have together. This is to be your time of joy and private union. No harm will befall you within the boundaries of this realm. I and all of my legions will see to your safety. You may enter all portals of time, space, distance, and location, but use wisdom and caution for the return journey is not always possible.”
“We’ll not be crossing any of these portals. Our place is here, our time is now!” Killian firmly declared.
“You display great wisdom in that decision, O’Brien.”
“Why is it you appear little older than Alainn, if you are apparently generations her elder?”
“Fairies never age. I have lived for numerous centuries, in truth, millennia, gods and fairies are oft immortal beings!”
Killian glanced down at Alainn, a new concern evident on his face.
“You needn’t worry; although your new bride is of fairy blood, she is predominantly human. She’ll grow old with you should fate allow it.”
Killian breathed a deep sigh of relief, and Alainn smiled, thinking it ironic at how pleased they were that she would one day grow old.
A large group of tiny, lovely fairies approached and they flitted about the armored woman and she smiled for the first time since she’d been in the presence of the young couple.
“Your marriage bed is now prepared for you. The creatures here have made it most appealing, I’m certain, for fairies are great lovers of romance and long for lovers to be happy and content always. I wish you well, my youngest kin. I see in your eyes and hear in your thoughts you have great uncertainty and many questions. One day they will be answered, I’m confident in that truth, but now is not the time for queries, now is the time for love and pleasure!” she added as she appraisingly glanced one more time with a long and lascivious gaze at Killian. Alainn caught the look and sent a nasty glare at the goddess.
“Mind your jealousy and keep it in check, Alainn, for you have powers even you are not yet aware of and for your quick temper and your unhidden jealousy you may pay for dearly, but not this day.”
With that, she smiled fondly at Alainn and touched her shoulder, the spark that arose was loud and Aine quickly pulled back her hand. This time Killian noted there was an unmistakable fear that surely seldom presented itself in the eyes of the female warrior. She glanced at Killian this time as if longing to say more, but instead she nodded to them and slowly vanished in an ethereally hazy glow.
Killian looked down at Alainn and his eyes held a distinct seriousness she wanted to see entirely gone. The many tiny creatures waved to the happy couple and appeared to be sending them off with well wishes, but the fairies pulled at Alainn and she started off with them. Killian followed and he was entirely bedazzled by where they led them, and the enchanting sight before them. It was the location by the magical spring where they’d once made love, but it was far lovelier than before. It was lush and verdant, and the flowers were all abloom. The colors were beautiful and many. And an elaborate bower had been formed into a soft canopy. It was draped with a silky material also consisting of many lovely pastel colors.
Alainn pulled back the filmy fabric and she beamed appreciatively. Inside the chamber was an immense bed covered with softly perfumed flower petals. The abundant pillows were large and the quilts appeared invitingly soft and comfortable. Within the canopied chamber were surely hundreds of candles not yet lit, but arranged in a beautiful manner. They all looked toward Alainn and urged her to do her magic.
Killian wondered aloud. “Why are they so eager for you to light the candles?”
“Fairies are inexplicably drawn to fire; they adore it, are even mesmerized by it, but unable to create fire themselves and are also unable to tolerate it. If it so much as touches their skin or most especially their wings, they are sure to perish!”
“By Christ, Alainn! Because you possess fairy blood within you that is why you said you don’t want to be set afire at the end of your life, and why you reacted so adversely to the flames that caught your skirts in your bedchamber those weeks ago.”
“Aye, and ’tis why I have not healed entirely from the burns when I typically heal at an unusual rate from other maladies.” She pulled back her skirts to show light scars where the fire had grazed her ankles. She also glanced down at the pale lines upon her arm where she’d been burned by Lugh’s fireball while in the realm of the gods. Each and every fairy gasped or screeched in horror at the frightful sight.
“I am a contradictory creature, I think,” Alainn continued, “for the witch and druid in me can create fire, the fairy in me is drawn to it yet cannot tolerate it, and the woman is in a constant state of torrid fire within me whenever I think of my strikingly virile husband.” She looked at him seductively and indicated to the others she desired to be left alone with her new husband. They apparently had other intentions. They tugged on her sleeve and pulled her toward the other side of the bed.
Killian was uncertain. “I thought you said they wouldn’t try to steal you away.”
Alainn giggled, “They aren’t trying to steal me away; they are preparing to ready me for our lovemaking.”
“Ready you, is it? Well, you can tell them straightaway the only readying you’ll be needin’ will be done sufficiently by your husband, for ’tis clear to me not all the fairies are female,” he said, as he only then seemed to notice there were definite gender distinctions.
Alainn spoke in the fairy language and Killian noticed the male fairies stayed behind with him as the females led her to a concealed area beyond the canopy. He could hear much excited giggling and merriment, and when they finally presented her to him, he felt himself grow hard at the very look of her.
She wore a garment, that surely might as well have been invisible so sheer was the fabric, it barely covered her lovely bottom and it left half of her breasts bared, and her nipples were almost entirely visible and obviously peaked beneath the transparent cloth. He thought it fortunate her hair was so lengthy for it covered her far more adequately than the sheer garment. She still wore the flowered wreath in her hair as she walked toward him, which made her appear most angelic and beguiling. He heard the strange sounds coming from the other fairies that were closest to him and saw their eyes were bulging at the sight of her. He did not care for the fact that any males even of the fairy variety were seeing her like this. He quickly pulled a quilt from the bed and covered her with it.
“Alainn you are donned or rather partially donned in a manner only fitting for your husband’s eyes. Tell the wee impish creatures they’re to leave us alone now. Be off with you, then, the lot of you!” he tried to shoo the fairies away as they whimsically flew and darted around him dizzyingly.
Alainn remembered they remained waiting for her to light the candles. She raised her hands and slowly moved them in methodical, circular movements before her and soon the many tiny flames flickered in a romantic fashion. She looked toward the sky and the brightness of midday immediately turned to twilight. The candles softly illuminated the bedchamber and the enchantingly lovely woman who stood there. Once more Killian moved his hand toward the fairies and gestured to them to be off. The males of the species did as instructed and flew off out of sight, but the females remained.
“What are they waitin’ for?” Killian asked.
“Perhaps they wish to steal a glance at what impressive manly attributes my new husband is blessed with?” She jested.
“And would you glare at them in jealously if they dared to look at me with lust in their eyes?” He returned th
e mischievous banter.
“Coupling with these females would be clearly impossible....with Aine it would not!”
“Aye, well, I’ve no desire to couple with your great grandmother! Although, sure, she looks like no grandmother I’ve ever seen, ’tis nearly unbelievable even here in the fairy realm. But, Lainna, I’ve no plans to couple with anyone other than my new bride for the next century or so, and it feels as though it’s takin’ a century to get to it!”
Chapter Ten
Alainn laughed at his growing impatience, and made a gesture of her own for the fairies to leave them to their privacy. Before they left, they pulled a frayed ribbon from the canopy cover and wrapped it several times around Alainn’s wrist. They tugged on it until she moved close enough to Killian that they could wrap it around his wrist as well. With that, the fairies hummed happily and finally flitted off, leaving them alone.
“A fairy version of handfasting, I’d suggest!” Alainn explained.
Killian stared down at her and whispered, “You are truly a vision, Alainn, surely the loveliest woman ever born in the human world or any other.” He reached out to touch her cheek with his hand and let it slowly, sensually slide down her throat and to her breasts. He noticed the two small distinct openings in the back of the garment and questioned her with his eyes.
“To allow for fairy wings, I believe!”
She glanced up at the grove of trees surrounding them and the magical spring. She moved her hands before her as she turned around several times in a circle and chanted a mystical charm.
“What is it you’re doin’, Alainn?” he questioned for he could see no reason for or results from her actions.
“I am creating a barrier to surround this area so no prying eyes will be capable of looking within. I am making certain we will, indeed, have privacy, for I tell you plain, fairies are most curious and I’d be inclined to believe they might long to watch us.”
“But we have the curtained canopy to form a chamber around the bed.” He reminded her.
“Aye, but do you suppose when we’re in the throes of passion during our lovemaking that we would notice if a dozen wee fairies decided to pull back the curtains and look within?”
Killian looked at her with doubtfulness at the oddly perverse consideration, but he was certain Alainn knew much of fairies and their ways.
“In truth, I doubt I’d notice if a herd of giant Irish elk stomped through the entire chamber when I’m in the act of lovin’ you, Lainna!” He beamed at her and she knowing returned the smile.
“I also desire for us to walk about freely and swim in the spring without benefit of garments during our time in the glade.” She spun around three more time and then she smiled proudly. “ ’Tis done!”
She gazed at him with a sultry expression and then stood on her tiptoes and kissed his lips, a kiss of promise, then she moved from him as far as the ribbon would allow.
“Hold on awhile will you, now? Where do you think you are off to?”
“I thought I might take a rejuvenating swim in the spring, it looks most inviting?”
“By God, Lainna, have you truly no notion how badly I want you, then?”
“Oh, but did you not once tell me the anticipation is half the pleasure of it?”
She glanced toward the ribbon and it slowly unfurled without her touching it, then as she’d suggested she swiftly moved toward the spring and dove in the inviting warm water. She left him standing there his mouth agape.
“You wee tease, get yourself back here and service your husband.”
“Get yourself in here and service your wife!”
He could barely make his fingers move as he hastened to unfasten his tunic and his trews. She stood watching him and reveled in every taut muscular part of him and when he removed the trews entirely she witnessed the great need he had been speaking of.
“You are a most impressive man, Killian O’Brien!”
He glanced down at himself and then at her in the water.
“If the water’s cold at all, you know it’ll ruin this perfectly good condition necessary for lovin’ you.”
“Then I’ll warm it most assuredly,” she said in a voice laced with her own arousal. She closed her eyes, willed the water to grow warmer still and when he tested it, he pulled his foot back out.”
“Well, now you’re liable to scald me, Alainn!”
“You’re a wee bit demanding, milord; you haven’t changed much since you were a boy.” She said as she magically caused beautifully formed snowflakes to land upon the water where they created a light mist on the water.
He made his way deeper into the warm, inviting water. She swam near him, grazed his chest and then playfully moved out of the water, her garment pasted firmly to her skin and now entirely transparent. He followed her, entranced by her beauty and seductive behavior. She shook her hair so that the droplets landed on him and she stood close enough to him so her nipples brushed his chest. He crushed her to him, no longer capable of even pretending to stem his insurmountable need. She returned the passion as they shared a dizzyingly fervent kiss. He slowly removed the wet garment and it fell to the ground and then he caressed her skin as they kissed once more. He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed, making certain to close the many finely curtained layers around them. When he lay beside her, she was quick to fondle him and to set his body afire further still. His hands roved up and down her body as well, caressing every part of her and making her heart race and her skin tingle.
“Perhaps you’ve changed a wee bit at that!” she said as she caressed his manhood.
“And when would you have seen me such as this when I was a boy?” he questioned, his voice raspy as his arousal heightened further.
“Once when you were swimming with Rory and Riley, I watched from behind the concealment of a grove.”
“You were a wanton young women even then, were you now? And you saw your cousins without clothing, as well?”
“Well I didn’t know at the time they were my cousins, and I would say I was more curious than wanton, though even then I was intrigued by the look of you unclothed and I did not find them to be appealing!”
By this time he found it difficult to hear what she was saying for she had not stopped caressing his manhood and he had to move her hand away. He gently turned her so she lay on her back as he looked deeply into her mesmerizingly blue eyes.
“My god, I love you, Alainn. More than I can ever tell you or show you, and I’ve a need for you that often disturbs me; it is ever constant and all-consuming!”
She felt him hastily and fully enter her as he spoke and she gasped aloud.
“Have I hurt you?” He worried and began to move from her.
“Hurt me? Killian, are you mad? You’re on the verge of pleasuring me greatly, but I swear if you even think of discontinuing this when we have waited so long to finally consummate our marriage, there’ll be hell to pay!”
He heard a distant thunder begin to rumble lowly above them, but not as loudly as his heart beat at this moment, he wagered. Feeling reassured, he began to move above her and she cooed and moaned in appreciative response to his movements. Her hips arched to meet his thrusts and she cried out as her body quivered and tingled with pleasure. His breath became more ragged and his thrusts quickened and when they’d simultaneously reached their glorious crests, he began to move from her, but she held tight to him.
“Need you be leaving so soon, my love? I adore bein’ here like this, still joined, still as one.”
He allowed himself to relax, but shifted his position so he would not rest his considerable weight upon her small frame. She caressed his hair and he nuzzled her neck softly and brushed his lips along her throat.
“Refrain from that, Killian, or you’ll be made to love me again, sooner than later!”
She felt his body growing steadily firmer within her and she smiled as she looked deeply into his familiar green eyes.
“What power you have over me, Lainna? Do yo
u purposely bewitch me or does it just come so easily and naturally to you?”
“I have never used my powers to attract you, Killian, only my womanly wiles, not my abilities as a witch.”
“Aye, well whatever powers you hold over me, you wield them well,” He spoke in an aroused tone and soon they were impassioned once more.
When they had slept for a time, Alainn glanced up at Killian and found him curiously wide awake. She heard his stomach grumble its protest and realized they had not broken fast, and that Killian surely would have had little opportunity to eat the day previous. He typically possessed a hearty appetite even when he’d not expended as much energy as he had this day.
“Sure you must be nearly famished, Killian?”
“Aye, I could eat a horse, I’d wager!” They heard a loud insulted snort from outside the enclosure and when Alainn pulled back the coverings she saw Storm nosing his way toward them. She softly nudged his snout and he affectionately rubbed her hand in response.
“We are disallowed to eat meat of any variety within the glade, for fairies are great lovers of all of nature’s creatures. They believe in eating nothing that once breathed or had a heartbeat.”
“Shite, I’ll starve for certain!” Killian complained.
“Well, I’ll see what I can manage but, for now, I see they’ve set out a tray of nuts, berries and fruit, ah, and some enticing breads and cheeses. They must know you have worked up a fierce appetite, Killian.”
“And that you are needin’ food to nourish our son!”
“Aye!” Alainn beamed at the proud tone Killian used when referring to the child they had conceived.
She stepped out of their enclosure and retrieved the tray without stopping to locate her garments. Killian watched her every move and thought he must be in heaven to be wed to a woman so lovely and graceful and with an appetite for lovemaking that matched his own. Her golden, tousled hair fell softly to her prettily formed round bottom and he felt his body responding to the sight of her appealing nakedness. He reasoned he was going to be exhausted if they kept up this pace and frequency.
The Chieftain's Daughter Page 7
