by Lila Dubois
Though she trusted Aed, Isabel would keep the woman’s secret until she understood who the human was and why she was in Tara when it seemed impossible.
Aed stopped again. They were three-quarters of the way down a long corridor with an arched roof. Windows in the right-hand wall let in the moonlight and gave a panoramic view of the dark sea, the inky surface speckled with starlight. Though there were hours before dawn Isabel didn’t like being here—she was too exposed.
“What’s wrong?” she asked Aed.
“The castle has changed.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is a living place. The…rumblings…must have triggered something. The corridors lead different places than they did before.”
“It’s like Hogwarts?”
“What is Hogwarts?”
“Never mind.” Isabel motioned to the end of the corridor. “Do we go forward or back?”
“I think forward is the quickest route to your chamber, but I fear we’ll have to pass…”
“Pass what?”
“The High Queen’s courtyard.”
“The white one? We were there before.”
“But tonight I doubt it will be empty.”
Isabel took Aed’s arm. “Do I have reason to fear the High Queen?”
His face was grim. “We all have reason to fear the High Queen.” Looking over his shoulder as if considering turning around, Aed sighed. “I will protect you.”
Arm in arm with her guard, Isabel started walking. Though she was sure Aed was sincere, Isabel wondered how he could protect her if, as she suspected, there were forces at play that he knew nothing about.
Chapter Eight
Go back, dead thing.
Isabel heard the words inside her mind. Dropping her skirt, she took a step away from Aed, looking around for the source of the unspoken words. There were those among the Vampire who could speak into the minds of humans, but Isabel hadn’t ever had it happen to her.
“Who is speaking?” She raised her voice, scanning the shadows.
“Isabel?” Aed drew his sword. “What do you hear?”
“Someone is threatening me.”
I am warning you.
“I heard it again. It said ‘I am warning you.’”
Aed examined her, his jaw clenched. The bandage on his face was startlingly white in the moonlight that filled the corridor.
He threw out his free hand. Isabel saw the shadows ripple as he cast some unseen force into the air.
There was a scream—like that of a woman, but deeper. A massive leopard appeared ten feet in front of them, shaking off the magic Aed had used. Isabel’s muscles tightened with the need to flee—an instinctive reaction when faced with a predator.
“Cat Sith.” Aed dropped his hand. “Well met, my friend.”
The creature’s shoulders reached as high as Isabel’s breasts. The body was muscled and lean like a jaguar, the fur black except for a patch of silvery-white on the chest.
Isabel peeled her lips back from her teeth, letting the creature see that she too was a predator.
“Will you introduce me, Aed?” The words were polite, even if her tone was not.
“Lady Isabel, this is Cat Sith. I told you about the aos sí, the creatures the humans now call fairy. Cat Sith is one of them, the king of his kind. Cat, this is Lady Isabel of the Vampire.”
“I know what she is.” Cat Sith’s tail twitched slightly. The words were strangely formed, coming from his feline mouth, but understandable. “A dead human.”
“I am not dead, nor am I human.”
“She is an ambassador here, and our guest.” Aed lowered his sword.
Cat Sith jumped into one of the openings in the seaside wall. He was so large he almost filled the space.
“There is darkness in her.” The creature’s eyes seemed to glow gold. “She will seduce you, Aed son of Goll.”
“Why are you here, Cat?” Aed sheathed his sword. Isabel would have felt better if he hadn’t.
“To make her go away, before she ruins everything.”
“What would I ruin?” Isabel steeled herself then walked right up to the big cat, close enough that she could speak without Aed hearing her. “I’m here to ensure peace between the Vampire, the Tuatha de Danaan and the humans.”
Gold eyes with slitted pupils focused on her. “Pawns do not play—they are played.”
“You think me a pawn?”
“Dead humans are pawns. Live humans are nothing but fodder.”
Isabel licked the tip of her fang, using the hint of pain to keep herself from lashing out.
“Strong words from a creature that is hiding under the skirts of the Tuatha de Danaan.”
Cat Sith yowled, lashing out. Isabel threw herself back, hoping she’d escape the exposed ivory-white claws. It wasn’t enough—the cat’s reach was longer than Isabel had expected. Behind her Aed yelled, metal clanking as he moved, but Isabel would not escape the mauling.
Cat Sith disappeared.
Isabel tumbled into Aed’s arms, shocked that she wasn’t on the ground and writhing in pain. Something moved to her right and she turned her head just in time to see a figure silhouetted in the light at the end of the corridor. A woman wearing a full-skirted dress stood there. She held a slim stick in her right hand. Before Isabel could call out to the figure, it disappeared.
“Isabel? Isabel.” Aed lowered her to the floor. He hadn’t seen the woman, and when Isabel looked again there was nothing there. Perhaps she’d imagined it. “How badly are you hurt?” His gloved hands rubbed over her breasts and shoulders, searching for injury.
“I’m okay.” Isabel took a deep breath, willing herself to calm down. “I’m okay.”
He ripped off his glove with his teeth and repeated the exam. There was something savage and desperate in his face. No one had ever looked at her like that. As if the world would end if she were in pain. He stopped his frantic search when he found no blood or wounds.
“Aed.” Isabel wrapped her hand around his neck. Their gazes met. She drew his head down.
“Isabel.” His eyes closed the moment before their lips touched.
The first time had been fire and passion. This was connection and need.
Isabel deepened the kiss, tasting him. She was struck by the strange feeling that she was the only one who knew Aed, that of all the beings existing in all the worlds only she could reach his soul.
Aed broke the kiss, licking his lower lip. Isabel pulled the bandage from his cheek, then reached up and rubbed her wet lips across the cut. Aed’s eyes were wide when she lay back. His blood was on her lips, and she was tempted, so tempted, to taste him, but taking his blood without his express permission, and without explaining the consequences, wasn’t something she’d do.
Carefully wiping her lips on her sleeve, Isabel then touched the almost fully healed cut. “My dear Aed.”
“Isabel.”
The world tipped and tilted, the moonlight flaring silvery bright. But this wasn’t the castle shifting under them—this was a different kind of magic. Something very dangerous for a warrior of the Fianna and a Vampire Sage to be toying with.
“I’ll check the room.” Aed paused, hand on the door. “Do you remember what I said, about how to guard your mind?”
“Yes.”
Aed nodded in satisfaction when Isabel closed her eyes, her brow furrowed in concentration.
They were in far more danger than Isabel knew. It had taken them nearly two hours reach her rooms, a journey that should have taken no more than fifteen minutes. Unlike yesterday, Aed had chosen the most direct path, which meant using the biggest public corridors. Their path had not been what he’d expected due to the palace’s movement, and the trembling of the stones would have driven many into the security of their family hearths, but it was strange
that they hadn’t seen anyone besides Cat Sith. The shaking seemed to have stopped, which Aed could only assume meant that Prince Cairbe had been successful in calming whatever restlessness lurked in the heart of the sídhe.
Aed checked Isabel’s chamber, running his hands along the doorway, the frame of the sealed window and all the drains in the bathrooms. He couldn’t detect any spells that might have used the openings to sneak past the blanket of protection that had been laid over the room. Aed drew light from the stone walls, filling the room with a pleasant mellow glow, only then letting Isabel in.
“Is it safe?” She looked around, the quartz’s light painting stripes of silver in her dark hair.
“As safe as I can make it, my lady.”
“My lady?” She smiled. Her lips were deep pink now, instead of blood red.
“Isabel,” he corrected. The creature who stood before him now was not the same one he’d brought in to Tara. Or perhaps she was and it was his perception that had changed. He’d seen her in verbal battle with the royal family, holding her own in the face of the cruelty and machinations of members of the high houses, and facing down Cat Sith. He’d witnessed exactly how dangerous she was when she took her turn torturing Evon, but even then she’d tried to undo the full extent of Deocha’s cruelty.
Isabel was like the wind or the night sky—a wild, dangerous thing.
Her dress was rumpled, the black lace pulled askew in places. Would she ask for help undoing the garment? Would she let him touch her again?
And should he risk it?
Aed now had no doubt that being with Isabel was a mistake. The skill with which she’d handled herself made it clear to him that if she were using him he might not be able to detect it. Though, as far as he knew, the Vampire did not have magic the way his people did, she could be manipulating him using only words and emotion.
His duty was to the Tuatha de Danaan, and for their protection he should keep Isabel at arm’s length, be wary.
But when she turned her back to him, pulling her hair over her shoulder, Aed didn’t care. He stripped off his gloves, dropping them to the ground. His fingers felt thick as he lowered the dress’s zipper, exposing her pale skin.
Aed took a knee, easing the fabric down over her waist and ass. She put a hand on his shoulder as she stepped out of the puddled garment and faced him. She was naked except for her shoes.
Aed knelt before her, still in his armor, his hands cradling her hips.
Isabel took the tie from his hair, brushing her fingers through it. Aed kissed her wrist, overcome with the desire to protect her, cherish her.
He could smell her sex, knew she was aroused. She swayed toward him and Aed kissed her belly, hipbones and finally the top of the trimmed hair covering her mound.
“Stand up, I’ll help you undress.” Isabel’s fangs were down, which he now knew was a sign that she was aroused—by either desire or fear.
He doubted it was fear that fueled her now.
“Let me,” Aed pleaded. “Let me…” He lowered his mouth, kissing the seam of her sex.
Isabel moaned and arched her back, tangling her fingers in his hair.
She tasted like moonlight and night. Wanting more, Aed parted her labia with his lips, stroking her clit with the flat of his tongue.
Her legs were still pressed together, limiting his access. Aed hooked her left knee over his shoulder. She hissed.
“Did I hurt you?” He kissed the inside of her thigh.
“Your armor’s cold.”
“I should not have—” Aed tried to pull back, but Isabel’s leg tensed, drawing him tighter against her. His nose bumped her mound. “Or I could keep pleasuring you.” He couldn’t stop the smile that curled his lips. Clearly she didn’t want him to stop what he’d just started.
“An excellent idea,” Isabel breathed.
Aed settled his mouth against her sex, giving himself over to the task of pleasuring her. With his left hand cradling her ass, his right was free and he took advantage of that, slipping one finger into her as his tongue worked her clit.
Each flick of his tongue over the tight bundle of nerves made Isabel’s body tighten around his finger, while rubbing it with either lips or tongue made her grind and thrust. He wanted to know what brought her the most pleasure, wanted to know each sigh and groan.
When his tongue was tired he leaned back, pinching her labia together with his fingers, then rubbing the closed lips over her clit. Isabel’s mouth was open, her fangs glittering in the light. She was a revelation—savage and worthy of worship.
“Isabel.”
She dropped her chin, looking down at where he knelt before her. Holding her gaze, he brought his mouth to her sex. He sucked her clit, gently abrading it with his teeth as he added a second finger inside her.
His scalp tingled with pain when she tightened her hold on his hair. In response, Aed curled his fingers and started to thrust, manipulating her core as he rubbed his closed lips over her clit.
“Aed, please. Enough. Fuck me.”
Enough? He would never have enough of her.
Denying her pleas, Aed adjusted his head, burying his nose against her while his tongue cupped and rubbed her clit. His upper teeth were pressed against the top of her slit, where the ridge of her clit disappeared into her body. He stimulated her there too, bumping his teeth over the root of her pleasure.
Isabel’s whole body tensed, her leg like iron on his shoulder and back, her body vising around his fingers in a rhythmic pattern as she came.
When the first wave passed, Aed leapt to his feet. Grabbing her around the waist, he hauled her to the bed, laying her back before dropping to his knees beside it. He spread her legs, opening them wide so he could see her wet, pink core.
“I want you in me.” Isabel’s lifted her head, dark eyes wide and needy.
Aed considered her, examining her lovely body, spread and ready for him. “Not yet. Play with your breasts while I use my mouth on you.”
This time he was more precise, the pointed tip of his tongue tracing every delicate fold of her sex. When he got to her clit he used the lightest possible touch, tormenting her as she thrashed on the bed. With her on her back, Aed could watch as she toyed with her breasts. She was rough, grabbing them with strong fingers, pinching and pulling her nipples.
She begged, pleaded, but this time he did not use his fingers. He wanted her to come from his tongue alone.
When she did come it was with his lips wrapped around her clit, his tongue flicking the tip in the smallest motion.
Isabel screamed in pleasure, body arched in a taut curve. The moment went on and on, Isabel’s moment of climax a study in beauty and power.
She relaxed, back dropping to the mattress. The only sound was Aed’s ragged breathing. His body was throbbing with need, but he would not interrupt her peace.
“I will have you.” Isabel growled the words a moment before she jumped off the bed, moving so fast she took Aed by surprise.
He was shocked by her strength when she hauled him to his feet and shoved him back against the wall.
“You are mine.” Her gaze flicked over his face, as if memorizing him. “My knight.”
“Yours,” he agreed quietly.
But it was not the time for tender pledges. Isabel tore at the fastenings of his armor. Aed could have vanished it, but he didn’t want to expend the energy. Even as he sank into the pleasure of touching her he kept his mental and magical barriers up.
He shouldn’t have worried about undressing—Isabel had him stripped down to his chain mail in a matter of minutes. She took his sword from its scabbard, the metal glinting in the light. Aed opened his mouth to caution her that the sword was heavy and very sharp, but in the end he said nothing. She stepped back, her heels clacking quietly against the stone floor, his sword held confidently in her right hand.
“Strip.”
Aed’s belt dropped to the floor. He undid the buckle at his side then lifted the heavy chain mail hauberk over his head. It fell with a thump and clatter. Under Isabel’s possessive gaze he shed his clothing.
His cock was as hard as his sword, the tip already wet.
“Kneel.”
Aed dropped to one knee, gaze on Isabel.
She raised the sword. Aed tensed and for one horrible moment was sure that he’d made a terrible mistake and would pay dearly for letting himself be seduced.
Isabel lowered the sword, touching the flat of it to first his right shoulder, then his left. She didn’t say anything, but Aed was sure the unfamiliar ritual meant something important to her—perhaps it was Vampire custom.
“Rise, my knight.”
Aed stood, maintaining eye contact with her, hoping that though he didn’t understand what her actions meant, she’d know he could feel the solemnity of the moment.
Aed’s sword clattered to the floor as he lifted Isabel in his arms to carry her to the bed, where he laid her down in the center of the silk duvet.
Her hair spread around her, the contrast between it and her pale skin making him think of snow-covered fields on the darkest night of winter.
Isabel parted her legs, urging him into the cradle of her body. Aed went willingly, gratefully. His cock pressed against her sex, rubbing over her clit as he shifted his hips. Then he was surging into her, shuddering in pleasure. Isabel’s body clamped down on him, and when she raked his back with her nails Aed slammed into her. Isabel’s lips were hot on his neck and shoulder, and when she whispered his name he could not hold himself back any longer.
Aed drove into her, hips pumping as need and joy and some emotion he couldn’t name rolled through him.
When he was spent, he collapsed on top of her.
Isabel stroked his head and shoulders. Aed told himself he had to get up, get dressed and take his position outside her door. He was her guard and did not have the right to rest beside her.
