Maybe he was right. Maybe we didn’t belong together in the end and my vision was nothing but a fleeting wish of what I wanted our lives to be. Maybe I was just as alone in his world as I was in my own, wherever that might be—if it existed at all.
I didn’t have time to think about it. All I wanted was out of this damned ethereal dream world. Away from the guy I loved, and quite possibly straight toward the one who wanted me dead. But that dangerous reality was merely a fleeting thought. I had to find my way out. I had to escape while the Sidhe were still away. As much as I hated to admit it, Dayne was such a stranger to me now I wasn’t entirely sure he wouldn’t hand me over to his mother himself.
“Faye…” My name carried on the wind again, soft as a sigh, but ticking up in the middle in an eerie way. I released a cold breath that turned to a cloud before me.
“Faye…” Again my name reached my ears in a voice I knew to fear.
The vibrations of their movement rumbled under my feet before I saw them. A familiar sensation took hold of my senses, rippling down the length of me like an angry dog’s hair standing on end. My muscles swelled against skin that suddenly felt too human to hold them. The tingling sensation of my magic radiated up my spine, and when I exhaled, smoke curled from my throat.
Each footfall they made radiated through my body, tingling from my toes, along the back of my legs, up my spine and breaking cold over my scalp. From the echoing sound of their whispered approach, I could tell there were a lot of them. How many, I wasn’t sure.
My eyes burned with the molten intensity of red-flecked fire, and the tiniest tree on the furthest horizon in my line of vision came into focus with microscopic detail.
I spun around to face them with all the unconfined rage of a charging bull, muscles tensed to the point of pain, stance spread wide, and an evil smirk on my face that all but begged them to try me.
“Faye.”
Garyn led the mob’s approach, huge and menacing like a black storm cloud ready to unleash a tornado. His lips opened and moved with the sound of my name. The realization of who had called me into LisTirna crashed against my brain. Behind him, Daoine and Finvanna rose proud and erect from the waves of swaying grass, her face tinted with a smirk every bit as evil as my own. They sat astride dazzling white horses, as strong and magical as LeSheen had once been.
An army of Sidhe swelled behind them, all with death in their stoney eyes, and staring with ravenous hunger at me. An iridescent army of gauzy, white moths ghosted silently through hip-high grass. Some were mounted on horses, flags flying in the breeze. Others strode forward with the confident gate of foot soldiers trained for hand to hand combat.
I swallowed a guttural scream of pure terror that welled up inside me, refusing to let my fear take over. Instead, I took a step forward, tossing my hair behind my shoulders and punching my chin into the air. I hadn’t come here for a fight, but looking at them, I realized I wasn’t leaving without one. They wanted me, and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to know what they would do to me if they got me. I couldn’t let that happen.
If they wanted a fight, they would get a fight. At that moment, I had enough anger in me to decimate a hundred Sidhe armies. It was only a matter of how much Daoine was willing to lose.
I tucked a finger into my back pocket reaching for the coal I had tucked there, needing to feel its reassuring fire. My chest hollowed into an empty chasm when my fingertips brushed against a hard surface that was cold as ice, no longer bearing the fire that woke my magic. Yet, I kept my face composed in contempt, refusing to show any weakness in the face of such great danger.
Daoine rode forward, her long flowing robes falling away from the boney fingers she steepled at her chest. Deep in thought as she approached, her placid brow was cool as an arctic pool. Her white horse tossed its head excitedly, as if responding to its master’s mood. Garyn placed a hand on the horse’s neck to stop it and offered his queen his other hand. Daoine slid easily from its back, arranging her robes in neat order before turning to me.
“I had a feeling we would meet again. Come for my son?” Her voice dripped with the conceited lilt of victory, the tone gnawing at my stomach like a flea infested rat.
I refused to answer her question, refused to give her the satisfaction my failure obviously would. Instead, I punched my chin defiantly in the air and narrowed my eyes like a king cobra readying to strike.
“Well...where is he?” Daoine made a grand production of looking all around, peering through the grass and shielding her eyes to stare off to the far horizon as if she were searching high and low for him.
“You know exactly where he is!” I spit the words at her, and she immediately straightened, stopping her imaginary search. “You’ve managed to brainwash him into accepting a world we both know he hates!” I screamed, because the burn in my throat gave a physical outlet for the emotional torment raging in my depths. Something about that felt really good, and I was able to breathe deeper after freeing some of my rage.
Daoine caught a small laugh in her boney fingers as she continued toward me, her body swaying as elegantly as the slender blades of grass as she moved.
“You know, Faye, you’ve made this too easy for me.” She tilted her head, eyes roving over every inch of me. As she passed Garyn’s taught body she rested a reassuring hand on his cement block of a shoulder, calling off her attack dog. His body loosened the moment her fingers made contact as if she had broken some spell. “I was sort of looking forward to the challenge of destroying a fire goddess. But you’ve walked right into my hands,” she continued, stopping when she was only a few feet from me.
I was so distracted with the change in Garyn’s demeanor—from bristling hound to playful pup at her heels—that I almost missed what she said.
But at the mention of fire, my mind snapped to attention. I gasped inwardly, watching her face curl up in satisfaction as she sensed the fear I was forcing to stay inside me. Daoine was the deadliest kind of hunter. One who could smell fear on the wind as a shark can smell blood in the water.
“How do you know about that?” I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes, feeling the hot, molten flames claim my eyes.
Daoine tapped a boney finger to her temple, playfully smiling at me and shaking her head as if it were obvious.
“We share the gift of visions, Faye, remember? I’ve seen what your powers will do to the world, and I can’t sit by and let that happen. Chassan may have failed to destroy you, but I will not.” Daoine pushed her long, flowing red hair over the folds of her robe, sending the strands of lava washing over her shoulders and back.
I laughed out loud, right in her face, not even caring that she had an entire army at her back and I had no one. With my earlier fear suddenly feeling a million miles away, I braved a step in her direction.
“You honestly think your diluted power is in any way capable of destroying me?” Now it was my turn to laugh and I didn’t bother to hide my devious smile behind my hand as she had.
“You may have unrivaled powers beyond these walls, but you’re in my world now. And in LisTirna, my powers rule.” Daoine matched my step, coming to rest inches from me, our faces so close I could hear the sound of her teeth grinding in frustration as she stared at me with utter contempt.
“Yeah, right!” I scoffed, placing my hands on my hips and delighting in the way my brazen behavior made her temper flare. “Your powers didn’t even rule enough to change my clothes into those stupid, costume ball get-ups you wear! Do you really think it’s strong enough to kill me?”
Daoine’s brow creased as she studied my clothes for the first time. Carefully looking at the blue jeans and striped top I still wore, my scuffed brown boots marring her beautiful grass. But her doubt was only momentary.
“In LisTirna, my will is the law!” Daoine raised her voice for the first time ever, strong and clear, not wavering a bit. Only from the shallowness of her gaze, I could tell a crack was forming in her steely confidence.
“Your wi
ll may rule LisTirna, but it does not rule me. Not anymore. So, tell me. Who’s going to stop me from burning this realm to ashes before your eyes?” Something deep in my chest began to ache like I had a hole ripped right through me, and I brought my palm up to soothe the burn.
This move wasn’t lost on Daoine, and she knew exactly what I was thinking.
If I destroyed LisTirna, I destroyed Dayne too. He wasn’t leaving this god-awful place. If it burned, he burned with it.
My words were nothing more than an empty threat, and Daoine was smart enough to see that.
“Oh, we’ll manage just fine. Do you really think you’re the only fire goddess to ever need snuffing out?”
“I didn’t come here for a fight, Daoine. Let me go in peace and I will never bother your precious LisTirna again. You have my word on that.” I offered with all the enthusiasm of a corpse.
“I can’t let you go. Even if I wanted to, the elements of earth, air and water are bound by a pact older than all the worlds to destroy fire when it’s found walking among us.”
“Right,” I sighed, and looked over her shoulder where her army waited. Turning my back to them, I stared once more at the open air at the end of the valley and the horizons in the distance. I didn’t have a clue where that valley went, but it had become my only option. “Well, if you want to destroy me,” I paused, turning back to Daoine, shrugging my shoulders in a mockingly helpless way. “You’ll have to catch me first!” I gave her the most disgustingly sardonic smile I could manage and took off running. My body spreading out like a flying squirrel when I leapt into the air. I was so fast they didn’t have a prayer at catching me.
As I glided through the air I could hear Garyn barking orders to his army of moths as they ran forward, the grass swishing at their thighs.
I considered slowing down, toying with them by making them think they had a chance at catching me. But the truth was, I was so over LisTirna I just wanted to get out. Only problem was I didn’t have a clue where the portal was. Nothing looked familiar as I fell to the lower level of the valley and began running again.
I was almost to another clump of trees when I was blindsided from out of nowhere.
With the force of a nuclear missile he crashed into me. The blow rattled my teeth and pushed me to the edge of consciousness. My brain battered the inside of my skull in shockwaves so brutal I couldn’t think.
When I opened my eyes and looked into warm emerald pools, I knew I had to be in some unconscious dream. Because those eyes weren’t supposed to look at me like they loved me anymore.
Chapter Thirty
Splinter
Breath was hard to come by. Whether it was from the squeeze of his massive arms encircling me or that my heart was so battered and confused it was struggling for every beat it made, I wasn’t sure.
There was little room for things like breathing between the disco-ball-barked tree at my back and the rock hard slab of his body pinning me against it. But Chassan had already shown me that breathing wasn’t necessary anymore, so I didn’t protest.
Looking into his warm emerald eyes—eyes that were filled with as much duty as they were desire—I could see the old Dayne fighting with what he had become in my absence. His body leaned into mine, wanting me the way it always had before, but he had enough restraint left in him not to close the deal. Not to lean forward and place his pillow soft lips against mine, even though my body hung so limply in his arms I was all but begging him to.
When he didn’t give into temptation, my hopeful heart shattered and fell to my toes. His decision was final, and anguish stuck in my stomach like a dagger. He had chosen duty over me, and I couldn’t look at him anymore. I couldn’t be so close to him, so close to the only thing I wanted and suddenly couldn’t have.
I pushed away from him, raising my arms between us and trying to pry his body from mine. He didn’t budge. I doubled my efforts, summoning all of my fire-goddess rage and punching at his stupid marble boulder of a chest. He half smirked as he looked down at me, securely fastened in his hulking arms.
“It’s no use. Faye. Your magic grows weaker every second you stay in LisTirna.” His words sounded louder than they actually were since we were surrounded by a thick tangle of forest on all sides, so dense LisTirna’s ethereal light couldn’t reach us. The space was grey and hazy, but with my magic eyes illuminated, I could see just like it was high noon.
“Why don’t you just leave me alone!” I shouted, struggling viciously against his arms. His hand shot around my side to cover my mouth. He looked expectantly into the shadows of the trees, searching each shadow in turn.
“Shhhh!” He hissed, shooting a murderous look at me and then refocusing his glowing eyes into the distance, searching for the army that was chasing me. “Do you want them to find you?”
“Why do you care if they find me?” I seethed as viciously as I could through clenched teeth. “You’re one of them now, remember?” I stilled my body, going ram rod straight—my own silent protest to being in his arms.
“Faye…” he dragged my name out like he was disappointed in me. Still, I refused to look at him, refused to let him see the effect his proximity had on me. His warm emerald eyes cast a faint glow over my face when they turned back to me, yet I still refused to look at him. With a sigh, he ducked his head into my line of vision and turned me skillfully in his arms so that I had no choice but to stare into his deep green eyes. He searched my face with a lost look that confused me. Why was he so burdened by the thought of me hating him? Why would he care? He was letting me go—had already replaced me with my twin, even—and now he was upset that I was upset? Apparently his ego had grown to match Ara’s while I was away as well.
“I’m going to get you out of here.” He finally said, releasing me to my feet, but still holding onto my arms so I couldn’t run. “It’s my fault you came back here. I won’t let my mother kill you because you were stupid enough to love me.”
Hearing him say that, hearing him acknowledge our love, yet treat it with such flippant indifference, stabbed a dull knife straight into my struggling heart.
I lost my fragile grip on the anger that was holding me together. What else could I do at that point? My insides splintered into a million shards of shiny glass and rained down to the soft grass at our feet. Again breathing became difficult and I was on the verge of hyperventilating.
I had nothing left. I had no one to go home to. I had no one who really even cared about me. I had an army of Sidhe chasing me in his world and I had an angel of death hunting me in mine. Which was the lesser of two evils? I didn’t have a clue.
What I did know was that I was in the only arms I ever wanted to be in, and the thought of losing them made me want to die on the spot. Who needed armies and death angels to do the job when a broken heart would suffice? Not to mention it was far less messier, far less blood.
I dropped my head, not wanting him to see my tears, and began to sob uncontrollably into the soft folds of his annoyingly white shirt. It was soft as a feather against my cheek, soaking up the tears as they fell from my eyes. In no time, I was a blubbering mess with wet cheeks, a snotty nose, and red rimmed eyes.
Still, he didn’t let me go. He pulled me into his solid chest, tucking me into the familiar nook at the base of his neck, rubbing my back and trying to soothe me like he always had. I hated to let him do it. I hated to need any part of him if I couldn't have all of him. Only, I didn’t try to pull away. As sad as it was to admit, he was all I had and all I wanted. So I clung to him until I could quell the tears enough to make them stop.
“One day, Faye, you will see that the only way I could’ve possibly loved you was to let you go.” He whispered as he planted a hard kiss against the crown of my head. His breath was hot one minute, tickling my scalp in a delicious way, and then cool the next as he inhaled the scent of me in a deep, needy way.
He didn’t want to let me go. I could feel it in the way he held me.
“What is that supposed to mean? You
only love me if you let me go?” I pulled away from him and this time he let me. I shrugged out of his grasp, crossing my arms and fixing him with a hard glare. “I could save us both from this horrid place and you know it!” I hissed.
“I know you could, and a month ago I would’ve let you.”
“So, what? I’m a month late so I get nothing?” I threw my hands wildly into the air, frustrated with the cryptic way he was talking to me.
The wheels were obviously turning in his head as he tried to decide how he could explain himself to me. All the while, carefully looking into the distance and stopping to listen every few seconds to be sure the army wasn’t upon us just yet.
He strode around the little opening we were in, listening as he went with his ear turned to the forest.
“I was selfish before, Faye. If you saved me.” He rolled his eyes and smirked, clearly letting me know how he felt about a girl saving him. “What life do we have to go back to?”
“Ennishlough. America. Who cares? As long as you’re with me it doesn’t matter.” I pleaded with him, reaching out for his forearms and pulling myself to him, hoping I was giving him answers that would change his mind.
“It can’t work, Faye. You could take me from this world a million times, but the moment the queen calls me, I’m helpless to resist.” His voice was gentle as he looked at my arms circling his.
“When you become king she can’t tell you what to do anymore. You can leave with me.” I fisted the fabric of his shirt in my hands, pulling him to me. The neck of his tunic gaped open as I did, revealing a few more inches of the softly glowing skin stretched over his broad chest.
“If mother was gone and I was an absent king, who would be sure my kind was kept in order? Who would they have to answer to?” He traced one of my fingers, then sighed and dislodged my grip from his arm.
Son of Sun (Forgotten Gods (Book 2)) Page 28
