He shook his head. “You don’t know, do you? How rare you are.”
“Not where I come from.” She tried to laugh his words off, almost afraid of what might come next. “I’m a dime a dozen back home. No human likes to witness injustice.”
“There is no one else like you, Sheridan Kelly. Not in any dimension. Not on any world. And, as much as you resist it, you are not human.”
“So they keep telling me.”
They turned the corner as Finn stopped speaking and Sheridan gasped. “Ceri! What happened?”
The fearless Fae exile was huddled in a corner of a small, naturally formed room. She was crying. “He won’t come back. He’s gone and he won’t come back to me.”
Finn knelt down beside her. “My friend, how badly are you hurt? Who did this to you?”
A flickering light in the corner of her eye made Sheridan turn her head. The pool from her dreams. Exactly like the one she’d seen Danu staring up at her from. Dian was kneeling beside it, staring unblinking into the water. “Dian?”
Ceri’s laugh was watery with a touch of hysteria. “He can’t hear you, Druid. He’s lost. Dian is gone.”
Chapter Eight
“This isn’t like her,” Finn told Sheridan in a hushed tone. He’d tried to talk to Ceri, but now she was ignoring him. Blocking him. “There isn’t a scratch on her. She isn’t wounded. Ceri is a battle-tested warrior. She’s lost family and friends and she has been exiled for centuries. She has known suffering, but I have never seen her like this.”
The answer was simple. “She loves him.” Sheridan shrugged. “And warriors aren’t perfect. Everyone has bad days, even the flawless Fae. I’m assuming neither of you can hear him, since Ceri is reacting so strongly?”
He might have answered, but she didn’t hear him. She couldn’t look away from Dian. What had he seen? Why was he so still? And why had she been so focused on finding him since the queen finished the protection ceremony? She’d followed that feeling without question, the way she usually tracked her hunches. The way Meru lived her life.
But now what?
She moved closer to the kneeling Dweller, so still in his contemplation of the small, iridescent blue-green pool of water that he could have been a marble statue. “Ceri, I’m going to need you to snap out of it enough to answer me. Has he been here before? To this exact place?”
“No.” Ceri seemed to be forcing herself to speak. Her words came out hard and hollow. “He was called, he told me. When he saw it, he said it hadn’t been here before. That this place didn’t exist. That Danu had willed it here.”
When Sheridan knelt beside Dian, Finn’s body tensed. “Sheridan, what do you think you’re doing?”
She studied the Dweller’s frozen, smiling profile. “Getting answers. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? Embracing my gifts, like the prophecy said. Finding the key in shadows or some woo-woo shit like that.”
She felt his hands on her shoulders. “Don’t do this, Sher. Wherever Dian is, you’re right, I can’t see it or feel it. I can’t follow. I’m here to protect you, but I can’t if you won’t trust me.”
Sheridan reached up to cover his hands with her own. “And I can’t follow my destiny if you don’t trust me. I’m not helpless.”
His fingers tightened. “What if you lose yourself? Become what he is? Know him too deeply?”
She shook her head, knowing her mind was made up. Willing him to accept. “What if I save him, bring him back and find out where the spear is?”
His forehead pressed against her shoulder. “You drive me crazy, woman. You know that, right?”
“I know.” She lowered her hands and watched herself reach for Dian. Was she really doing this? “Just…don’t go anywhere until I get back.”
His “Never” was the last thing she heard as her hands connected with the smooth skin of Dian’s arm. He was frozen. Lifeless. No wonder Ceri was so thrown. It felt as if his spirit had left his body. As if all that was left was a shell that looked like Dian.
Dian, who had made her face herself and her desires. Who had delighted in butting his nose in where it didn’t belong. Dian, who had voluntarily protected her best friend from harm by sharing in his claiming.
Something sparked to life inside her. An echo that sounded like him. Felt like him. She focused and pushed harder. Know him, she whispered to herself. I know him.
He—she—they had heard a voice. It was a voice they had spent a lifetime dreaming of hearing as they prayed with the others in the holy caverns. It was the song they’d given up on until they saw the wounded Fae with the tangle of red curls lying at the edge of their people’s home. They’d known in that instant that she was their new path. Their reason for being. They delved into her mind, experiencing so much life. So much passion. So much pain.
Ceri. They knew as they carried her up and out into the Realm they had felt pulsing with chaotic thoughts above them that they would never be the same. That they would never return to their people or their own personal quest for Danu. But they had no regrets. How could anyone, even their glorious goddess, regret this much love?
And then the voice. It called to them as they prepared to protect their human claim. After they’d heard the thoughts of those who had wandered into the territory of the exiles for secrecy’s sake. Those thoughts had known things. Known the queen would claim a Fianna champion. Known that champion had to die from an unfortunate “accidental” blow. That it was just the distraction needed to throw the Fianna off the scent of the sect.
The voice had come to them then. Telling them to take Ceri to the deep below. To find Her there. Danu. To help fulfill the prophecy. To save their love and the Realm.
“Sheridan, I am here.”
That was the voice. It belonged to Her. The one who had brought them here.
The feminine voice, patient and understanding, issued a gentle command. “Remember who you are. You have control. You’ve sipped from the waters of coire, from the waters of the cauldron. You are Sheridan Kelly, daughter of Lily and cousin of Meru. Dian is the conduit, but you are still yourself.”
She knew that now. Sheridan could still feel Dian, knew he was with her, that he too heard the voice. But she had no real concept of where they were. All she could see around her was mist. “Danu?”
“Yes, Sheridan. I’m here.” The sound of her words were like water. Sunlight. “This was the only way I had to ensure you would be safe. To speak to you through a trusted soul, a soul that could only be retrieved from this place through true knowing. None of my people will be able to read this memory. And Dian will never speak of it to anyone, not even his beloved, without your permission.”
Sheridan had so many questions. Where was the spear? Why couldn’t Danu see the members of the sect who aided the Dark? Why hadn’t they become Horde? And why on Earth would anyone think Sheridan could find what a higher being couldn’t? Why her?
Where no one else could, Danu seemed to hear her thoughts. “You are right to question. It is a monumental task. Without the proper provocation, it may be an impossible one. As to the why, you are Áine’s descendant. But you know you are more than that. I can tell you that even were Enlil not a threat to all our worlds, you would have found your way to my Realm. You may think you are the least prepared, but your destiny was written in time long before you were born.”
Now she sounded like Myrddin. “We make our destiny where I come from, Danu. We choose it.”
“An admirable, though misguided, human belief,” Danu demurred. “But if you believe it, then choose. Do you wish to abandon your family to the dangers of Enlil and his followers? Do you wish to leave the spear lost so it cannot protect people like Dian and Ceri? Young Crystal and the loyal Vikings who will protect her to their dying breath? Meru’s unborn child? Do you wish to forget what you feel for Finn and return to the life you had before?”
“No.” She’d thought about it. She’d mourned the loss of the simpler life she’d known for months. She’d wished she’d never known anythi
ng about gateways and portals and egotistical aliens and Fae. But when given an actual choice, Sheridan knew she wouldn’t want to forget her family. Forget Finn. She couldn’t forget him or what he made her feel. It had changed her, though she was fighting it every step of the way.
Badger was right. She was stubborn. “So you brought Dian here, held him captive just to speak to me. Can you at least tell me why those in collusion with the bad guys haven’t become Horde?”
“Dian chose this for himself. His wish was to commune with me. Now he knows he has my blessing to spend his days in love instead of prayer. I would never hold him against his will.” Danu sounded insulted…and concerned. “Thoughts are things, but deeds are what ensures the change. These Fae must have an understanding of the magic that few others do. They can aid the Horde and Enlil with information, but without committing violence or stealing a life force with intent, they remain hidden in shadows.”
So that was the loophole. “You must know what Dian heard. That they are planning to kill the Fianna champion.”
“I do,” Danu confirmed. “I also know that Finn will insist on being that champion. He will claim his blood right to do so and Damon will comply. He is Fae, and no one without the blood has ever participated in the games. I’m sure that is what Morrigan, the current queen, is expecting. He will fight and they will wait for the opportunity to kill him.”
“No!” The violent rejection of that idea jarred her. “Help me find the spear so I can stop them. Help me save Finn and fulfill Áine’s prophecy.”
“If you listen, you will understand I am doing exactly that. I’m here to tell you three truths. The first is that with the gift of true knowing, you and your predecessors have often forgotten that knowing yourself is just as essential as understanding others.”
“Know thyself?” Sheridan muttered. “I was hoping for something a bit less vague.”
“The second truth,” Danu continued, though her words were more strident, “is about the spear of Lugh. He will return it to his inheritor when there is accord on all sides and the circle is complete.”
If Sheridan could have seen anything but mist, she might have grabbed that anything and shaken it in frustration. “You and Áine must have taken the same class on how to confuse people. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. I’m very good at taking directions. And while we’re at it, tell me why they call that ball of light a spear.”
“Do not be flip.” Danu’s repetition of Meru’s admonition silenced Sheridan. “The answers are there if you will just listen. And try not to see the world so simply. Everything is not black and white. The spear has many forms, depending on the need. Inert, it will appear as a harmless orb.”
She would pretend she hadn’t just been called simple. “What is the third truth?”
Danu’s voice changed, serene once more. “The third truth is about the past and it will guarantee you a place in the games in Finn’s stead, if that is the path you choose. You see? I do know you, my fearless Sheridan. You remind me so much of my old friend that on occasion I worry.” She paused as if refocusing. “I can tell you, but I believe it is more important for you to contact Lily.”
“My mother? The third truth is I need to talk to my mother?” But why? What could her mother possibly know about what was going on here? Her mind raced as she went over everything Danu had said. Something was there, right on the edge of her consciousness. In the corner of her eye. But what?
“You must go back now. Finn will tear holes in space and time to find you if you don’t.” Danu’s voice held traces of a smile. “I am happy for him. So many of my children will never find what he has. Not even I was that fortunate. Be patient with him. Regardless of his own beliefs or his shame, he has always been worthy.”
Sheridan didn’t want to think about Finn right now. Didn’t want to share what she was feeling. It was too new. Too intimate. Instead she asked a question she didn’t know she’d wanted the answer to. “Why would I have always come here?”
Dian’s voice, sounding awed and far away, answered for his goddess. “Your inheritance, Sheridan Kelly. Your inheritance…from Lugh.”
She came back to her body with a short shout of shock, pulling away from Dian and falling straight into Finn’s powerful embrace. “Holy—that was—Dian? Is he okay?”
“I’m here.” Dian’s voice sounded raw, as if he were just as affected as she was by the vision. Ceri collapsed beside him and he wrapped his arms around her soothingly, rocking back and forth. “I’m here, my darling one.”
Finn sounded shaky. Unsteady. “Sher, love, talk to me. What happened? You’ve been still as a stone for hours.”
Hours? “Ceri and Dian should go home so he can recover. And so Kyle knows we’re safe.”
“I’ll take him.” Ceri stood Dian up, allowing him to lean on her for support, though he seemed to be coming back to himself much faster than she was.
Sheridan reached out and grabbed at the fabric of Dian’s silk pants. “Dian?”
He looked down at her, his pale eyes wide with awe and sincerity. “You can trust this child of Danu as well, Sheridan Kelly. With everything. I owe you more than my life, for that is what you have given to me. More than my life.”
He owed her nothing. She shook her head, but he was too entangled in Ceri’s hair as they flashed away in a brilliant burst of light for him to see. Her heart was racing, her mind moving at a thousand miles an hour. She needed something to ground her. Something to stop her from falling apart.
She looked at Finn. “I need you.”
The pulse at Finn’s temple twitched at her words. After a moment, he closed his eyes and pulled her closer. “I’m yours.”
She blinked away the brightness of the light he’d encased her in, looking around to see where they’d traveled. “Do I know this place?”
“Danu’s Joy.” Finn lifted her to her feet, not letting her go as he turned to show her the view. “The site of our first kiss. Followed by the first of many rejections.”
“Danu’s Joy,” she echoed softly. It was a beautiful place, though she wasn’t overly fond of being reminded of Finn’s goddess at the moment. Too many questions. Too many fears swirling around in her head. She didn’t want to think about it now. Didn’t want to know anything else but this place, anyone else but Finn, existed. Nothing else seemed to matter.
She trembled against him, the desire to lose herself in passion too strong to ignore. “I’m releasing you from your promise. I know it’s one you made to yourself about waiting until I was ready, but I’m ready now. I trust you and I need you and I’m ready.”
His muscles tensed. “Why?”
Sheridan pulled back to study his expression. “‘Why’ is not the correct response. ‘Yippee’ was more what I had in mind.”
His violet eyes were dark with yearning. Need. With worry. “You saw Danu.”
Damn the man. “How do you know what I saw? If I saw anything?”
“Dian owes you more than his life. Danu would be the only reason. He saw her with you. Spoke to her.” Finn’s jaw clenched. “Was it worth it, Sheridan? Was it worth leaving me alone to wait, helpless to protect you yet again while you took your little journey through Dian’s soul?”
She shook her head, struggling out of his embrace until she was facing him, a few feet away. “I don’t know, Finn. I do know that I’m not the only one who has a hard time listening.”
Sheridan glanced down at her outfit, surprised to see she was still in her torn, sheer dress. It felt like days since dinner. Longer since Finn had touched her. She reached for her homemade slit and tore to her neckline, letting the wispy fabric drop around her, leaving her in nothing but a strapless bra and emerald panties. She stepped out of her heels and placed her hands at her sides. “Are you listening now?”
He was. She could tell by the flush climbing his neck. By the hard pulse at his temple and the way he licked his lips as he studied her. By the hard outline of his arousal, straining against his pants. But
still he resisted. “You don’t know what you’re asking for.”
“Trust me,” she murmured, pushing down her panties and reaching behind her to unclasp her bra, baring her flesh to the cool air. “This is the one thing I definitely know. You want me. I want you. I’m naked and you should be. How complicated does this have to get?”
There was a boulder behind her the color of brushed copper. She leaned against it, cupping her full breasts in her hands as he stood, still frozen. Unmoving. She sighed. “Are there magic Fae words? Something I have to say in Tuatha-ese to make it official? I release you from the sacred pact you made, etcetera, etcetera. No rules. No hidden agendas. Take me. Do me. Ravish me before I find somebody else who—”
Those were the magic words, Sheridan thought with a gasp as Finn was beside her a heartbeat later. He could move as fast as a Dweller if he wanted. Good to know. He lifted her against the smooth, cool boulder until her legs were wrapped around his waist, and then lowered his mouth onto hers in a carnal kiss that curled her toes.
This was nothing like that first kiss.
Oh it still drove her instantly wild, still scared her how quickly she could become a slave to his taste. But this time, Sheridan didn’t want to fight it. This time she was kissing him back. Opening her mouth to let him in, sucking his lower lip until he groaned. Giving as good as she got.
Wanting him.
She tugged impatiently at his shirt and he lifted his lips and stopped touching her just long enough to pull it over his head, pressing his bare chest against her breasts. She moaned in pleasure when her hardened nipples scraped his, immediately reaching down between their bodies, desperate to undo the buttons at his waistband.
Finn lifted his head, gripping her wrist to pull her hand away. “Wait.” He ground his hips against her. “We need to get a few things straight.”
Now? “Anything.” She huffed out a harsh breath. “Just hurry.”
Finn smiled, lowering his hand between them and pressing his knuckles against her clit as he fondled the first button on his pants. She shuddered with need. Why was he teasing her?
Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled) Page 16
