Caelihn

by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

  Devlin stepped up behind me, so quietly I jumped when his hands came to rest gently upon my shoulders.

  “What’s bothering you?” he asked, pulling me close to him.

  I took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. Everything, I wanted to say. Instead, I shrugged and told him as much as I thought wouldn’t make him worry as well.

  “All of this is so new and strange and slightly terrifying to me.”

  “Only slightly?” he asked, the amusement clear in the tone of his voice.

  Against my better judgment, I grinned and released a small giggle. That’s right. Tough, sarcastic Robyn Dunbarre does giggle from time to time. But, only when she’s on the verge of losing her sanity.

  “Okay, maybe more than slightly,” I admitted.

  Devlin turned me around gently and used his fingers to tilt my chin up. His blue eyes, their shade closer to cobalt in the darkness of the evening light, looked into mine, and I almost shivered. They were far too intense, and I knew that whatever he was about to say, I would agree simply because those eyes compelled me to do so. Oh, man. I didn’t stand a chance.

  “You don’t have to fear anything, Robyn. We will go see the Amsihria because you deserve to know if you have any family among them. But, if they should reject you, you are not without family here. You have Meghan and Cade. And you have me. You will always have me.”

  I bit my lower lip to keep from smiling like an idiot.

  “Promise?” I asked, reaching up and lacing my fingers behind his neck, pulling his head down.

  He leaned in close, brushing my lips with his.

  “Promise,” he whispered against my mouth before turning the gesture into a deep, lingering kiss.

  -Chapter Fifteen-

  Respite

  As Cade promised, the weather was much more pleasant the next morning. Since the sun was shining brightly, the four of us spent the day lounging around the castle. Spring was well underway, and the life of the Otherworld was bursting forth from the earth. I soaked it all in, feeling the magic Meghan, Cade and Devlin always talked about tingling pleasantly against my skin. The four of us spent some time in the garden, pulling weeds, preparing spare vegetable beds and learning the names of all the flowers and herbs not found in the mortal world. Later, we left the courtyard and strolled along the edge of the creek, looking for tadpoles and other aquatic creatures, both familiar and exotic.

  The stable master, Cormac, had deemed it a wonderful day to let the horses out and enjoy some sunshine. There were no fenced pastures that I could see, so I turned to Meghan.

  “Aren’t you worried they’ll run away?” I asked.

  She shrugged and smiled. “If they do, they are simply going back to Epona. If they decide one day to return to the wild herd, we won’t stop them. Some of them have ventured off for a few days, but none of them have left us for more than a week.”

  I glanced back to the wide open fields that spread out before the castle like a great, green blanket. I spotted Cade’s black stallion, Speirling, and Meghan’s horse, Lasair, like a brilliant red blaze against the emerald hills. Behind them were the handful of other horses, including Spiora, the dark bay mare with blond hair who had carried me through that ghastly storm to Devlin’s side. I was glad to see them all unharmed from our recent brush with death.

  Spiora turned her head and spotted me, her ears pricking forward. She let out a cheery whinny and started running straight toward me. I froze, my eyes growing wide. A hundred yards separated us, then seventy-five, fifty, twenty ... Just as I was about to leap to the side, she pulled up short and turned her head, so she could see me better. Her pale eyes blazed with a brilliant intelligence, and I smiled, my heart rate slowing.

  I reached out and scratched behind her ear. “Very funny,” I murmured. “You scared me half to death.”

  She whickered and tossed her head.

  “Looks like you’ve earned someone’s loyalty,” Meghan said with a laugh. “I think you ought to take her with you when you leave for the Amsihr Mountains.”

  Immediately, my smile vanished and I tore my hand back to my side. I looked at Meghan, my face full of surprise.

  “I couldn’t take your horse!”

  Meghan arched an eyebrow and planted her fists on her hips. “I told you, Robyn, she isn’t mine. She’s Epona’s. And I have a feeling if you leave without her, she might just break her stall door and follow after you. She’s clearly trying to tell us she’s ready for an adventure. And, it wouldn’t hurt for you to take a couple of horses. They’ll get you there faster.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but Spiora knocked me off balance by bumping me with her nose. I tripped over one of the many mounds of grass in the field and went down.

  “Has Spiora made a friend?” Cade asked, walking over with Speirling in tow.

  “Yes, she has,” Meghan answered with a smile, offering me a hand up.

  I took my friend’s offered hand and proceeded to grumble as I brushed mud and grass blades from my jeans.

  On our final day at Luathara, Cade, Devlin, Meghan and I packed a picnic lunch and saddled the horses. Cade led us with Speirling, followed by Meghan on Lasair, Devlin on the gentle giant Adhair and me on Spiora. She was much calmer than the last time I’d ridden her, but then I could understand why. No lightning and roiling clouds to spook her. We took a trail which led through the fields and up into the wooded hills to the west of the castle.

  Just before midday, the path crested the highest hill, and a great open meadow came into sight. A ring of standing stones, all of them stretching higher than our heads, stood at the highest point. On the southern end of the hilltop stood one solitary, ancient oak, its curved branches framing a scene that made me catch my breath. Far below us there spread a colorful, verdant quilt; a vast tapestry woven of green, gold, blue and violet.

  Across the wide valley, we could see Luathara Castle, small and grey and solid, the windows glinting in the sunlight like the facets on a diamond. The white froth of the waterfall danced down the hillside, sending its water through the canyon just on the other side of the fortress. A pale dirt road wound like a snake around the low hills, leading to a small lake in the distance. Several stone and thatch-roofed buildings clustered together on the lake’s shore, a few thready wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys. Kellston.

  I narrowed my eyes and made out an open field about a mile or two from the town. The very spot where the faelah had attacked Cade and Devlin, and where I had discovered I could channel Eile’s lightning. A large splotch of blackened, dead grass spread out from a high point to the east, like a drop of ink splattered onto a piece of paper. The sight sent a shiver of horror through my body. No wonder everyone was surprised I had survived the lightning strike. Wanting to cast that memory from my mind, I trailed my eyes back over the valley of Luathara. Patches of shimmering sapphire pockets denoted small ponds scattered throughout the green, and tiny spots of yellow, white, violet, blue and red indicated great pools of flowers in full bloom.

  I climbed down from Spiora’s back, letting her reins drop, so she could graze on the new grass, and took a deep breath. The air was spiked with the scent of fresh flowers, burbling springs and unfurling leaves. And, something else. Something that thrummed through my blood and made me feel more alive than ever: magic. It had to be the glamour of the Otherworld.

  I turned and looked at my friends. Meghan was helping Cade spread out a blanket upon a wide, grassy ledge on the hillside, our picnic baskets set off to the side. The old oak stretched above them, blocking the area from the brightness of the sun. Fifty feet past them, the hill dropped suddenly, giving us an unobstructed view of the valley below.

  I hadn’t realized Devlin was right behind me until he spoke. “What are you thinking?” he asked me.

  I turned and blinked up at him. His eyes were calm, all traces of worry and fear gone for the time being. I smiled and leaned into him.

  “I’m thinking that this is the most wonderful place I’ve
ever been. Not just Luathara, but the Otherworld. Eile.”

  He put one arm around me, his fingers splaying gently over my abdomen.

  “You know,” I continued, “when I was younger, when I was in high school with Meghan, I used to imagine I was one of the Tuatha De, living in the Otherworld and taking part in all the epic battles. It was all just for fun, of course, but some days, especially when my foster parents made an extra effort to ignore me or chide me on my way of life, I would lock myself in my room and become lost in those stories. I wanted so desperately to be somewhere else. Someplace I felt I belonged. I finally feel like I belong.”

  And, it was the truth. I may be only half Faelorehn, but that half was probably the part of me that bossed the other half around.

  “You do belong here, Robyn. I’m just sorry you had to grow up away from Eile.”

  I pulled away from Devlin and placed my hands in the crooks of his elbows. My eyes met his, and I made sure I was wearing my stern Robyn look.

  “If I had grown up here, I might never have appreciated it,” I insisted. “Besides, you might have stumbled upon some other girl in the mortal world instead of me, and then, I never would have known you.”

  I leaned back into him, shivering at the thought. Gods and goddesses of Eile, I had fallen way too hard for him.

  “Hmmm, I guess you are right. I wonder what kind of girl she would have been. Maybe tall with a sweet disposition. The perfect damsel in distress, who followed all of my instructions.”

  Oh, he thought he was so hilarious, did he? I drew my hand back and punched him in the stomach. Devlin grunted and jerked away from me, laughing.

  When he regained his composure and moved far enough away from me to avoid bodily harm, he gave me that wicked grin of his that always brought my good senses to a screeching halt.

  “I’ll tell you what would have happened if that were the case,” he said. “I would have helped the girl, because no one deserves the wrath of the Daramorr and his sister. Once she was settled back into her mundane, ordinary life, I would have returned to Eile and never thought of her again.”

  I quirked an eyebrow and crossed my arms, wondering where he was going with this.

  “And then, sometime in the future, I would have stumbled upon you. Some act of fate, or the will of Eile herself, would have crossed our paths.”

  He had slowly moved closer to me, the way one approaches a feral kitten: wary about the claws, but wanting to provide reassurance.

  “I would have met you, Robyn Dunbarre,” he stepped in close, gently pulling me against him once again. I didn’t resist this time. I wanted to know what he meant to say. “And, just as I had in the mortal world, I would not have been able to resist you.”

  He leaned down and kissed me and curse it, he set my blood on fire. I kissed him back, wishing we weren’t on a hilltop with Meghan and Cade only a few feet away. Devlin broke the kiss before I was ready and grinned at me.

  “My prickly, stubborn, feisty little storm cloud.”

  I moved to smack him once again, but this time, he was ready for it. He dodged out of my way and I was prepared to chase him down and show him just how prickly I could be when Meghan yelled at us.

  “Are you two done mooning over one another?”

  My muscles went rigid, and I turned to glance down at the ledge. Both she and Cade stood watching us. I got the horrible feeling they’d been watching for quite a while, because the both of them had a look of amusement on their faces. Fabulous.

  “What my dear wife is trying to say,” Cade spoke up, his voice light and brimming with laughter, “is that everything is set out and ready to go, and if we don’t eat soon, the ants will help themselves.”

  Devlin reached out and grabbed my hand.

  “Shall we?” he asked.

  I tossed aside my desire to capture and punish him, and instead, headed down the slight slope. I could always seek my revenge later, when he least expected it.

  For the rest of the afternoon, the four of us talked and laughed and told stories. We forgot about the evil glamour infecting the Otherworld, we forgot about the deadly thunderstorms and we forgot we all had strange glamour brewing in our blood, ready to stir up as much trouble as possible if we allowed it free rein. For those few, precious hours, we were just two young couples enjoying one another’s company and catching up the way old friends do.

  When the sun began dipping low on the horizon, we packed up and climbed back onto the horses. Luathara Castle was steeped in deep twilight by the time we arrived, and torches and lanterns had been lit to guide us. Dinner that evening was late and elaborate. The kitchen staff had decided to make us a feast, complete with an entire roast pig. If not for Devlin’s insistence that we get some rest, the dinner might have evolved into a full-fledged party. Too bad. An Otherworldly party would have been fun to experience.

  “When you get done with your business in the mountains,” Cade said, as we all made our way upstairs, “I’ll take you to the Dagda’s during one of our festivals.”

  I arched a brow at Meghan. Her face lit up with a wide smile.

  “Oh, Robyn, you are going to love the Dagda. He’s even better than the Celtic tales portray him.”

  This time, both my eyebrows lifted. “In that case, I can’t wait to meet him.”

  Despite my desire to take part in a grand party, it turned out I was pretty drained from the activities of the day. I didn’t realize how tired I was until I stepped into our room and saw the bed. Oooo, nice, big, soft, warm bed ...

  Without warning, Devlin bent down and scooped me up. I squeaked in surprise and looked up at him.

  “What was that for?”

  He only smiled. “I’ve always wanted to do that.”

  I snorted and shoved at his shoulder. He deposited me on the bed and lay down with me. I yawned, my jaw cracking.

  “I’m going to go get ready for bed before I fall asleep,” I managed through another yawn.

  I made my way into the bathroom and brushed my teeth and changed into a pair of boxers and a T-shirt I’d brought with me. Nothing better than wearing modern clothing in an ancient, Otherworldly castle.

  Devlin was exactly where I’d left him, sprawled out on the bed, one arm thrown behind his head, the other resting across his stomach. And he was fast asleep. I bit my bottom lip and tiptoed across the floor. I carefully climbed onto the bed and snuggled up next to him, his deep breathing remaining steady and even. I placed my ear against his chest, and once I could hear his heartbeat, I sighed, allowing myself to drift off as well. Never had I thought I could be this happy, and all it took was hearing the heartbeat of someone I loved. I only hoped that whatever the future might hold, it meant to hold us together.

  * * *

  Morning dawned bright and clear, the rays of the sun pouring in through the windows and painting the room in golden yellow. I came awake gradually, relishing the warmth and comfort of the bed. However, as I stretched, I realized something was missing. Devlin. A slight rustling in the direction of the bathroom drew my attention. I turned over in bed and glanced up, my breath catching in my throat. Devlin stood in the stone archway wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. His hair was still wet from the shower, but the sun splayed over his golden skin, making the colorful tattoos painted across one half of his body glimmer. Gods of Eile, he was gorgeous.

  Devlin caught sight of me, lying there and staring at him. He grinned, a smug, self-satisfied tug on the corners of his mouth. Curse him. No girl stood a chance against that look. I melted deeper into the sheets, a goofy smile of my own playing across my lips.

  “If I’d known you were awake,” he said in a low voice, as he crossed the room, “I would have invited you to join me.”

  Snippets of the first night we’d arrived at Luathara danced across my mind. Heat welled up in my body, and when Devlin sat on the bed, leaning in to kiss me, I wanted to revisit that scene in person. Unfortunately, the sun was already up, and we needed to begin our journey north.<
br />
  Devlin pulled away from me with a sigh and said, “The water should stay warm for at least fifteen more minutes.”

  I nodded and climbed out of the bed, heading for the bathroom. Too bad I hadn’t woken up with Devlin, then my shower could have been much more interesting.

  After I was clean and dressed, the two of us packed up our belongings. It didn’t take too long, considering we hadn’t brought much with us to begin with. Once my pack was full, I sought out Venom resting in the corner of the room where she’d been before the incident with the lightning. Wondering who had taken the care to fetch her from the field outside of Kellston, I picked her up gently and ran a hand along the smooth stock. Something told me Meghan had made sure to grab the crossbow, or to direct whomever had helped her transport us all back to Luathara to fetch it. Either way, I was grateful. Not only would I need the bow and bolts in the coming days and weeks, but I would be devastated if Venom got left behind.

  Our hosts were already in the dining room by the time we made it downstairs, Cade reading what looked like a newspaper and Meghan focusing hard on a small book. Both of them glanced up when Devlin and I stepped through the door.

  “Oh, good!” Meghan exclaimed, setting the book down on the table, “I was beginning to worry you two would never wake up.”

  “What are you reading?” I asked, before she had the chance to accuse us of anything scandalous.

  She groaned and leaned back into her chair. As usual, she was wearing Otherworldly clothes today: a simple skirt and bodice ensemble, complete with a blouse sporting sleeves that ended at her elbows. The outfit looked good on her. I glanced down at my jeans and hooded sweatshirt and wondered if I’d ever get used to the wardrobe of Eile.

  Meghan got over her small display of dramatics and sat up, rubbing her hands over her face.

  “It’s a lesson book on the language of Eile, and it’s trying to kill me. I’ve been making a sincere effort to get a better grasp of the language for the past few years, but one thing after another has kept me away from being a consistent student.”