The Darkness of Glengowyn

by Isabo Kelly

  He turned to the guards holding her, his eyes blacker than she’d ever seen, and he shouted another denial. The two elves holding her catapulted backward, ripped from her side by invisible hands to be flattened to the ground at the edge of the clearing, their bodies unmoving.

  Nuala barely had time to register what had happened before Einar closed the space between them and swung her behind his back as he faced the royal couple.

  “You will not send Nuala to the Unseen Plain,” he ground out, his voice so deep it was almost unrecognizable.

  He barely sounded like a man anymore, something so vicious and deadly crawled through his tone. The sound raised the hairs on Nuala’s arms and made her shiver despite herself. She couldn’t see his face well, but the all-consuming rage in his expression before he stepped in front of her had been one of the most awesome and terrifying things she’d ever witnessed. And she’d seen Einar at his battle-crazed worst. Without a weapon in hand, the man before her seemed more deadly even than the dargem she would face when banished.

  The king raised his brows, his only outward reaction to the sudden and explosive chaos. But the queen… Nuala would have sworn she was seeing things. The queen smiled. A very slight lifting of the corners of her mouth, true, but it was, nonetheless, a smile. Her eyes narrowed and sparked. Nuala got the distinct and disconcerting feeling the queen was…pleased.

  “I wondered what it would take, Darkness. You are so difficult to push to this state. I should have guessed earlier the answer would be so simple. You’ve only ever had but one weakness.”

  “I don’t understand.” Nuala dug her fingers into Einar’s arm, fear for what he’d done, what he’d become, a tight band around her chest.

  “What I am in battle,” he said, his voice sounding more normal, his attention still on the queen, “apparently it is part of my magic.”

  “So much a part of him, even he couldn’t tell,” the queen affirmed. “And now… Now, my Darkness, you are a killing machine.”

  “What does she mean?” Nuala asked, looking up at the side of his face. His jaw was stiff, his expression unmoving.

  “I could have killed the guards,” he explained. “I did not. But I could have. Without using a weapon other than my own rage.”

  She looked at the fallen guards then back up at him. “You can…explode your rage now, like my shrapnel arrows? Because of the bonding?”

  He jerked his head in a single nod.

  “But…”

  “The melding of your magics,” the queen said. “His ability to communicate with the owls is not the only thing that was strengthened.” She stared at Einar, again with that pleased, small smile. “He can now level armies without having to remove his sword from its scabbard.”

  “Very useful,” the king said, finally commenting aloud. “Very useful, I should think.”

  The queen leaned back in her throne, looking for all the world as if she was quite satisfied with this outcome.

  “I still don’t understand,” Nuala said. “What does this mean?”

  Even as she asked, the Court began to fill. Not with elves but with owls. They perched on the surrounding trees, flittering but silent witnesses. As Nuala looked around at the descending birds, she realized that, outside of the king, queen, herself, Einar and the unconscious bodies of the guards Einar had attacked, there were no other elves in the Court. The remaining guards had vanished.

  She looked back to the queen, who was fully smirking now as she considered the owls.

  “Silly girl,” she said to Nuala. “Do you think we would have placed you and Einar in such close proximity, after all this time, if we did not have a plan?”

  Einar straightened and some of the defensiveness went out of his body. “You intended for us to bond. Why?”

  “Beyond growing tired of watching you two mope around this city for the last two centuries?” She snorted, an unusual show of irritated humor. “Let’s just say that the possibilities of your bonding were revealed to me. And the time for the change was now.”

  The queen had mysterious ways of gathering information, sometimes even gaining knowledge of things that had not yet happened. She didn’t exercise the skill often, or so Nuala had thought, and the way in which she gathered the information was a mystery. Nuala wasn’t even sure if the king knew what the queen did to gain this future sight. But it wasn’t a flawless skill.

  “You took a great risk,” she said as Einar finally allowed her to step out from behind the protection of his body.

  “Yes, she did,” the king growled. “But the gamble has been well worth the risk, I think.”

  “Just so, my love,” the queen said. “Just so.”

  “You knew I would create a new arrow?”

  “That part was more…nebulous. We knew something powerful would come through you in the bonding.”

  Suddenly Nuala understood. “But you knew the bonding would affect Einar’s fighting ability. That it was part of his magic, even though he didn’t realize it. And the blending of our two magics would strengthen his deadliness. You knew what he would become.”

  The queen could read magic in others, detect spells and see through to the core of an elf. These were traits well known throughout Glengowyn and skills she utilized often. Nuala should have guessed her ability to see the magic inside them all would also affect the knowledge she gained through her future sight.

  “And because of my gamble,” the queen said, “you have been allowed your love. But there are conditions.” Suddenly her satisfied expression fell away and was replaced by the terrifying seriousness she’d worn earlier.

  “You have both become more valuable to us,” the queen continued. “At the same time have brought with you skills that are so dangerous, they cannot be allowed free rein.”

  “You will pledge your loyalty and these new skills to us and Glengowyn,” the king said. “For our use alone. On pain of forever death by public and painful means if you should disobey.”

  “We will make it plain to the city that your bonding was intended. That we saw the magics that would be created.” The queen took up the telling. “You will not contradict us. You will, in fact, say that you were given permission to renew your relationship. No one will disagree with you.”

  Nuala looked up as the owls fluttered their wings in the treetops. She’d almost forgotten them in her shock.

  “We will direct the use of your new skills,” the king said, yanking Nuala’s attention back down to him. “You will obey us in our orders going forward.”

  “In exchange,” the queen said, “you have your lives, your bonding and your futures. A fair exchange, I think.”

  This last she murmured, and Nuala heard the warning just beneath the simple statement.

  “Your Majesties,” she said, dropping to one knee and bowing her head. “I will give you everything you ask and pledge my loyalty forward, in exchange for the prize of being able to keep Einar.”

  For a long moment, Einar remained standing, staring at his king and queen. Finally, he too knelt down, though he didn’t bow his head. “For the love of Nuala, I will continue to serve you faithfully as my sovereigns. From now until I move to the next plane.”

  The king nodded in satisfaction. The queen merely blinked her approval.

  “Now,” the king said after the formalities had been seen to. “Nuala. I would like to discuss this new arrow of yours. And how it might best be used to rid our region of the Sorcerers.”

  The sun threw specks of pink and orange light across the forest floor as Einar escorted Nuala back to her small home at the very center of the city. He kept his arm around her, holding her close as they strolled down the quiet stone paths leading to her front door.

  “I’m not entirely sure how I feel now,” she said, her voice low in deference to the quiet time of day. The beauty of it, the fact that they were alive and together was almost more than her heart could take. But how they’d gotten here…

  “If you feel the same annoyance and anger I
do, I would not blame you,” Einar said.

  “Yet it’s all come out for the best.”

  “After much torment and two centuries of waste.”

  She couldn’t blame him for the low growl in his voice. She was torn between her own gratitude and anger. “Will you be able to serve them with the same loyalty as before?”

  “My loyalty is to you now, and only you. That hasn’t changed. For you, I will serve them to the best of my ability, with all my strength and honor. They know this.”

  A tiny thrill of pleasure warred with an even tinier worry that his changed allegiance might not sit well with the sovereigns. But if they knew…

  She let the worry go for now. She was too tired to contemplate disasters that weren’t currently a problem. Instead, she asked two of the many questions she had about the previous night. “If the queen knew what would become of our bonding, why did she make us wait so long? Why make us suffer for so many years?”

  With his free hand, Einar lifted one of her hands and placed a kiss on her palm. The feel of his mouth on her skin sent tingles up her arm.

  “I asked the queen those very questions when you and the king were discussing the details of your new arrows.”

  “What did she say?”

  “I quote: ‘Your bonding was required at this point in time, my Darkness.’”

  Nuala waited a few steps but when he didn’t continue, she said, “That’s all? Our bonding was required now? Does that mean she knew all along? That she only gained the knowledge of how our bonding would change our magic recently? Was this all hope and presumption on her part? Have they allowed us to remain brokenhearted all this time at a whim or because the movements of the universe required it? I don’t understand.”

  “She said no more on the subject and refused to explain further. I have no clue if she knew all along or if she only realized recently what our bonding would mean. And that it was as important to them as it was to us.”

  They stopped just outside her front door, and Einar turned her to face him. “I do know that I’m unhappy about being kept from you for so long. But grateful to have you now. Freely. Without any threats hanging over our heads.”

  “Unless we break our new vow of fealty to the sovereigns,” she pointed out.

  “Do you intend to? Would you want to?”

  Her first response was sharp and sarcastic, but she held that reaction back while she really thought about her feelings on the matter.

  “No,” she said after a few moments. “No. I’m still loyal to them, despite what’s happened. I do want my skills to benefit Glengowyn always. Though I could do without the label of being ‘too valuable’, I recognize my value to the city and would continue to serve.”

  “So long as you serve them, I will without restraint. You were my only point of contention with the sovereigns, ever. I will continue to protect them with all I have.” He cupped her cheeks. “But they come second to you. I made that clear to them before we left this morning.”

  She gripped his wrists as a tingle of fear tickled her nap. Perhaps this disaster was more imminent than she’d thought. “How did they react?” The queen was notorious for taking the elevation of others above her…poorly.

  “The king said nothing, only raised his brows.”

  “As he does,” she commented with a sideways dip of her head.

  “The queen smiled.”

  “Smiled?”

  “Then said, and again I will quote, ‘Why do you believe this is information new to us, Darkness? What has changed to make this different?’”

  Nuala gasped. Then she laughed. “She’s always known? That you would choose me over them?”

  He kissed her lightly. “Apparently, you are my only vulnerability. She used that knowledge willfully.”

  Nuala rose up to kiss him this time, letting her mouth slide across his in comfort and love. “I won’t take advantage of being your only vulnerability,” she promised with her lips close enough to brush his as she spoke. “Just remember, you’re mine as well. Take care with my heart.”

  “Your heart will never be safer than with me,” he vowed. “Through all our lifetimes. You’re mine, Nuala. My only love. And I’ll hold our bonding sacred into the end times.”

  She sighed and relaxed fully against him, absorbing his kiss like oxygen, like the very essence of her existence. A part of her still couldn’t believe they were free, to love, to be together, to live. But the larger part of her rejoiced. Two centuries of pain and loss dribbled away as she led Einar into her home, into her bed, and gave over fully to the perfect sense of their love.

  As morning sun spilled across her bed and Einar slid gently inside her, Nuala embraced the man others called Darkness, knowing, to her, he would always be her light.

  About the Author

  Award winning author Isabo Kelly has a gypsy soul, which she’s indulged wholeheartedly over the years, living in Las Vegas, Hawaii, Germany, Ireland and New York. There’s no telling were she might end up next (though Italy keeps coming up in conversation). After finishing her Ph.D. in Zoology in Ireland, she buckled down to concentrate on writing. She’s published numerous science fiction, fantasy and paranormal romance novels, short stories and novellas. Her work has been short-listed for many awards, and reviewers have used words such as fast-paced, passionate, emotion-filled, adventurous, and page-turning to describe her stories.

  Isabo currently lives in New York City with her brilliant Irish husband, her two sons and her mad dog. You can visit Isabo at her website www.isabokelly.com or email her at isabo@isabokelly.com. She loves hearing from readers. You can also find Isabo on Facebook www.facebook.com/IsaboKelly and Twitter @isabokelly.

  Look for these titles by Isabo Kelly

  Now Available:

  The Heron’s Call

  In The Gloaming (print collection)

  Tales from Lachmuirghan (print collection)

  The Promise of Kierna’Rhoan

  Fire and Tears

  Brightarrow Burning

  The Darkness of Glengowyn

  Coming Soon:

  Fire and Tears

  Warrior’s Dawn

  War tore them apart. Betrayal could bring them together…

  Brightarrow Burning

  © 2011 Isabo Kelly

  Layla Brightarrow’s world fell apart the day the Sorcerers invaded her city, intent on using her fellow humans’ pain to augment their spells. Worse, the neighboring elven kingdom declared neutrality, effectively abandoning her people to struggle for survival.

  Then some of the elves break neutrality to trade with the Sorcerers, and Layla is ordered to assassinate Althir, brother of the elf lord she has secretly loved all her life.

  When Ulric of Glengowyn uncovers his brother’s plot—and that Layla is one of the assassins sent to stop him—his first instinct is to protect her from all possible harm. He’ll even use seduction, if necessary, to get her into a position to talk some sense into her.

  Years of pent-up desire is too much for Layla to resist…and one touch unleashes an unquenchable fire that changes everything. Leaving Layla caught between duty and a love that could be her destruction. Or her salvation.

  Warning: This book contains evil sorcerers, a scarred heroine, a sexy elf hero, naughty language, and an intoxicating and addicting pheromone that leads to wildly hot sex. Plus traitors, deadly magic, bespelled baddies, and a really, really rotten brother.

  Enjoy the following excerpt for Brightarrow Burning:

  She sucked in a deep breath as she listened. The air was sharp and humid in her mouth, tasting faintly of ash and mist. “So most of the elves would still leave us humans to die.”

  He was silent for long enough she knew she’d hit a soft spot.

  “I’m not one of them, Layla,” he murmured. “I believe we should be involved.”

  “But on which side?”

  His hands clamped down on her shoulders and she was whipped around so fast her feet twisted beneath her, costing her balance. H
e brought her up flush against his body before she could regain her footing.

  “How can you ask me that? I’m betraying my own brother to protect you.”

  The feel of his hard muscles pressed against the length of her body made her stomach tighten. Blood pumped faster through her veins. Swallowing to rewet her throat, she opened her mouth to speak, closed it, swallowed again, then forced a few words out. “You expect me to trust you?”

  “Yes,” he hissed.

  “Yet you still talk to Althir.”

  He brought his face closer, his breath brushing hot against her mouth. Her lips parted without her permission and need welled up to flow through her. His scent was impossible to ignore now. Something about it called to her, and she found it harder to resist the longer they stood this close.

  “I talk to my brother to keep you safe.”

  “And that’s the part that makes no sense,” she said, her voice low and harsh from a lust she could barely control. “Why would you work so hard to protect me?”

  “Because I care about you, damn it.”

  Her head spun as tension tightened in her gut. She blinked to force back the dizziness. “But only after I nearly killed Althir,” she pointed out, as much a reminder to herself as to him. “Before that, you weren’t here keeping me safe.”

  “I was forbidden by my king and queen.”

  She frowned, trying to see the lies around the haze of want fuzzing her brain.

  His voice softened. “I tried to leave Glengowyn. To help you. King Varim forbade it. Until the other elves defected, I was stuck by their ruling.”

  His grip relaxed and he cupped her face in his palms. A shiver raced along her arms and up the back of her neck. Step back, she thought. Get away while you can. Instead, she dipped a breath closer. She barely felt in control of her body. So easy to just let go, to allow him to seduce her, to give in to what she’d wanted for more years than she could bear to think about.