Lorehnin: A Novel of the Otherworld

by Johnson, Jenna Elizabeth

  “Tell me more about your parents,” I whispered, glad that I had my back to him.

  Devlin sighed, and I felt the heavy weight of his arm settle around me. When he spoke, his warm breath brushed against the top of my head.

  “She was a free spirit who was fascinated by the mortal world. But she wasn’t like the Morrigan, focused on taking advantage of a place that stood no chance against her magic. She loved growing, living things and she was interested in how they managed to thrive here in this world without the stronger glamour of Eile. She discovered that the trees of the mortal world had their own kind of magic, a power most of humanity couldn’t sense. She would spend days in the great forests of the north, just listening to what the trees had to say. She learned that people had lost the ability to hear them.”

  His voice had turned sad, but I yearned to hear this story. My heart needed this.

  “It was in those times she met my father. He was a naturalist, a scientist who studied the old forests and from what I remember, he fell almost instantly in love with my mother, and she with him. If things had turned out differently, I think she would have stayed by his side until he died.”

  Devlin remained quiet for a small while.

  “What happened?” I whispered, dreading to hear the end of what must have been a sad tale.

  He sighed. “I never got to meet my father, but my mother continued to visit him. After my brother was born, she…”

  He paused and I murmured, “It’s okay. You don’t have to go on.”

  I felt Devlin’s lips press against the spot beneath my ear, and I shivered.

  “No,” he said, “I just need a moment.” He released a heavy breath and continued, “She was one of the Morrigan’s many victims. I was barely ten when she died, my brother was eight. The Morrigan’s faelah and the other Faelorehn she had warped to her will had discovered her and chased her from our home. They were right on her heels when my mother found a small cave on a wooded hillside. I remember her giving us one last forlorn look before she ran out to greet them, sacrificing herself for us. Somehow, my brother and I managed to escape their notice. I have a feeling my mother used her glamour to disguise us; put a geis on us.”

  “Geis?” I prompted. “I remember reading about those in some of my Celtic mythology books, and Meghan and Cade have mentioned them before.”

  “A geis can either be a curse or a blessing, depending on how it is applied and on the intention of the one providing it. Sometimes I wonder if my mother managed to use up the last of her reserves to form that geis of protection for my brother and me. I hope she didn’t.”

  Devlin’s voice had grown quiet and I shifted in his comfortable embrace.

  “Why do you hope that?” I asked.

  “Because if her glamour was all used up, the Morrigan would have kept her longer. Held her as a slave until her glamour grew strong again before stealing it from her.”

  Carefully, so as not to fall off the narrow bed or break free of his welcome embrace, I wiggled around to face Devlin. A deep sadness lingered in his eyes, as if a hollow space had grown inside his heart. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be the one to fill it.

  No Robyn, stop thinking like that. He has to leave and return to the Otherworld. Just because you slept with him last night doesn’t mean he’s head over heels in love with you. Too bad that wasn’t the case for me.

  Devlin’s gentle touch drew my attention back to the here and now. He was running his fingers over the small tattoo on my forearm, just below the elbow.

  “This looks oddly familiar,” he said softly.

  I looked down at the patch of skin he was caressing then gave a light shrug.

  “That’s the first tattoo I ever got. A friend of mine was studying to become a tattoo artist, and he needed someone to practice on. I’d always had that image in my mind and it was a simple design, so I drew it on with a pen and he tattooed a permanent image over it.”

  He continued to trail his fingers over the black, swirling cloud shape and the tiny lightning bolts beneath it. The image had always been lodged in the corner of my mind, almost like a memory, and I’d often found myself doodling it in my notebook in high school when I should have been listening to the teacher.

  I released a small laugh. “It does look rather Celtic,” I commented, glad the conversation had turned to a happier topic, “maybe that’s why it seems familiar.”

  Devlin shook his head. “There is something unique about it. Celtic in suggestion, yes, but not quite. I wonder why I never noticed it before.”

  I shrugged and pulled a little farther away from him so I could examine him the way he was studying me. His own tattoos were larger and far more intricate than mine. I ran my fingers over the one that covered his shoulder and upper arm, sighing in wonder when the ink shimmered, changing from blue to green to violet and back again.

  Devlin’s roguish grin nearly knocked the wind out of my lungs.

  “Otherworldly tattoos hold their own magic,” he murmured as he leaned in to press his lips to mine again.

  I forgot my curiosity and gave in to his affection, yet before things could get out of hand, Devlin pulled away and cupped my face with his hand.

  “As much as I’d like to spend the day with you, I have to get back to Eile. Danua will want a report, and then I’ll need to gather those willing to help me confront the Daramorr.”

  That snapped me right out of my bubble of euphoria. I shot up into a sitting position, bringing half the sheet with me.

  “What do you mean?”

  Devlin smiled again, this time more smugly as he reclined with his hands tucked behind his head.

  “As much as I loathe the idea of you spending any time with Mikael, your curiosity did lead me straight to his lair.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Noctaine? Really? Isn’t that a bit too obvious? I mean, considering it has been linked to the Noctyrnum forever. Shouldn’t his hideout be tucked away under some random freeway bridge or something?”

  Devlin continued to smirk, his eyes studying me very closely. “I agree with your reasoning, however, he has been using magic to disguise it from other Faelorehn. Remember how I told you his own glamour had diminished and seemed hidden from my view? The empty magic around that building last night had the same feel to it, and then I realized that although I’d been by that area many times, I’d never really noticed the place.”

  I furrowed my brow and Devlin laughed. “I know it sounds odd; it feels even stranger when I experience it, but that is the best way I can describe it.”

  “If that’s the case, then how did you find it in the first place? And how did you get in? When I arrived there were two bouncers even bigger than you ready to turn me away. If it hadn’t been for Mikael’s invitation, I would have been shunned too.”

  Devlin’s look suddenly grew dark, and I regretted bringing it up.

  “Is that how you nearly ended up under his spell?” he asked quietly.

  I bit my cheek and looked away. Yes, I had almost been ensorcelled, hadn’t I?

  The gentle brush of Devlin’s fingers against my cheek brought my attention back to him. He no longer looked angry, but calm.

  “I was very angry last night when I saw you there, Robyn, but it is not for the reason you are thinking. I was terrified he had finally gotten to you, and I had no idea how to break you free of his hold. Fortunately,” he added with a wry grin, “you are far more tenacious than I have given you credit for.”

  I smiled at that, my pride stretching and purring contentedly at his compliment.

  “I wanted to help you,” I murmured. “And I thought if I showed interest in Mikael he might be willing to share some of his secrets. I thought I’d failed at securing any of them last night, but it looks like I distracted him long enough for you to sneak in.”

  Devlin’s smile was pure delight and he said, “Ah yes, I never answered your question about that. First, I stumbled upon the building while tracking your trail of magic. Imagine my surpr
ise when I got to the end of that trail and, out of nowhere, this building stands looming over me. As to how I got in, well, Enorah has a wealth of handy spells meant to cause a distraction.”

  I didn’t ask him which particular spell he used, because at that moment he reached up and pulled me against him, our bare skin heating between us.

  “Have you changed your mind about leaving?” I managed once I had a chance to catch my breath.

  Devlin trailed calloused fingers down my back, and I arched against him. He sighed and nuzzled my neck.

  “I have no choice,” he said gruffly. “Danua expects me to report later today, and I don’t want to risk angering her into revoking the deal we made.”

  “But what about all the work you’ve put in? Surely that counts for something.”

  Devlin pulled away from me but left his arms loosely wrapped around my waist.

  “I only get my reward if I deliver the Daramorr or evidence of his destruction.”

  That didn’t seem fair, but it made sense. After all, when a cash prize was up for grabs, the contestant didn’t get a portion of it for almost winning.

  I reached up and stroked his cheek, brushing his hair back gently with my fingers.

  “I don’t want you to lose your castle, Devlin, but do you really have to go this morning?” It was still dark outside, and I was guessing it was sometime after five in the morning.

  “Yes,” was his answer. “The sooner I leave, the sooner I can request more help from Danua. There is still a chance Mikael saw me last night despite my efforts to remain unseen, so I need to act fast.”

  We both tried to put off the inevitable, but eventually we had to leave the warm comfort of the bed. I offered him the shower, but he insisted I go first. As I headed for the bathroom I made him promise not to leave until I was out.

  “I’ll give you a ride to the dolmarehn,” I said before closing the door behind me. “It’s the least I can do.”

  To my relief, he nodded without arguing.

  Forty minutes later, we were chugging along in my old car, heading north for Reservoir Canyon Road. White sheets of frost decorated rooftops, and the sun seemed like a distant light in the east. Devlin and I remained silent, unable to come up with anything to talk about. Eventually, we reached our exit, and I found myself pulling off to the side of the road. Up ahead, a sign marked the start of a trail.

  “The dolmarehn is just a short walk from here,” Devlin murmured.

  I snapped out of my melancholic daze and glanced at him, nodding my head.

  A dirt trail meandered away from the road and we took it slowly, moving through the patch of mist that had settled in the area. Mixed oaks and other shrubs stood on the edge of a small clearing, and up ahead I could hear the telltale rush of water. We skirted a small hill, and then the source of the water made itself clear. A broad stream tumbled down the side of the hill, some of the falling water blocking a portion of the entrance to a dark cave. The stream continued over a pile of rocks before disappearing into the distance. I merely stood there gaping.

  “That cave leads to the Otherworld?” I asked, glancing up at Devlin.

  He nodded, his eyes glued to the spot.

  The silence began to grow again, but before it could continue too long, and before I lost my nerve, I whispered, “When everything with Mikael is taken care of, will you ever come back again?”

  Devlin took a long time to answer, and when he did his voice had softened even further.

  “I will try.”

  The corner of my mouth tugged up into a small smile, despite my morose state of mind. “That’s no guarantee,” I teased.

  Devlin turned to face me and used his hand to tilt my face toward his. He planted a gentle kiss at the corner of my eye and whispered against my skin, “Nothing in life ever is. You can only ever find what hope you can and hang on to it for as long as possible. It may be like trying to keep hold of a Dotarbh with a single strand of thread, but you must never let it get free of you.”

  “What’s a Dotarbh?”

  Devlin smiled so brightly his eyes crinkled. “One of Donn’s magical bulls.”

  Ah. Some massive Otherworldly creature then.

  Devlin continued talking, “But eventually, something will come along to strengthen that hope; to transform that fine thread into a steel cable.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I asked. I had held out hope for many things throughout my life, and most of the time it had amounted to nothing but bitter heartache.

  “Because it has happened to me.”

  “And what has turned your thread into a steel cable?” I said flippantly, pulling away from him and crossing my arms.

  Devlin’s pale blue eyes met mine, their coolness unusually warm. In a low, harsh voice he said with conviction, “You.”

  Before I could take another breath, he moved in, taking my face in his hands so that he could tilt my mouth up to meet his. The kiss was no less passionate than all the others he had given me, but this one held urgency and promise, as if he was giving me something to hold on to while he was away. That thread that would transform itself into a steel cable perhaps. Too soon, there was distance between us once again.

  “Goodbye, Robyn,” he murmured. “I will return again when I can.”

  I reached up and pulled him down for one last kiss before turning on my heel and walking briskly back up the trail. The fog was making it hard for me to breathe, and the light mist unfurling from the waterfall clung to my hair, leaving me damp and cold.

  Up ahead, I spotted my car resting on the other side of the fence, a dark blotch of metal standing out in the mist. Now I could only wait and hope that Devlin did return and that everything with the Daramorr went as planned. He’ll be fine, my conscience told me. He’s getting help from the high queen’s soldiers, and then you’ll see him again. I just needed to keep telling myself that.

  Stepping through the gap in the fence, I stuck my hand in my pocket, looking for my car keys. When I glanced up again, I noticed an odd lump on the hood of my car. Furrowing my brow, I moved closer. Folded neatly beneath a familiar purse was an equally familiar black leather jacket. For about a second, I was completely confused; then recognition set in.

  A sharp yip distracted me, pulling my attention to the top of the slope on the opposite side of the road. A pale wolf with rust-colored ears stood gazing at me from between two oak trees, its tongue lolling from a mouth full of long teeth. Then another wolf, a mirror image of the first one, joined it. As the blood began to drain from my face, a sharp pain bloomed in my skull, quickly followed by a sickening wave of blackness that completely overwhelmed me.

  -Twenty-Three-

  Caught

  Cold. The first thing I noticed was the cold, swiftly followed by an overwhelming ache in my head. It hurt so bad I wanted to moan my protest, but the harsh whisper of voices made me reconsider. My heart quickened its pace, and adrenalin born of fear raced through me. Was someone in my apartment with me?

  As I lay there trying to make out what was being said, I realized something else: the reason I was so cold. My clothes were missing, well, everything but my bra and underwear. What the heck? And I was lying on something rough and icy. I tried to move my arm slowly to get a sense of what it was, but then another harsh reality hit me. Cruel metal bit into my wrist. I tested the other hand. That one was secured as well. Doing my best not to panic, I took several deep breaths and rolled my head to the side. That frosty roughness met my hot cheek and I finally recognized it. I was lying, mostly naked, chained to a stone slab. This was one hell of a bad dream, and I was ready to wake up.

  The voices drew closer, as if drifting from one room to another. I risked cracking open one eye and caught a glimpse of several metal sconces attached to a rock wall fit with blazing torches. Was I in a cave? How had I gotten here? My mind whirred, despite the headache, and I tried desperately to remember what had happened before this moment. I recalled going to the nightclub to meet Mikael, dancing with him and
becoming intoxicated with his glamour. Somehow I’d managed to break free of it before it went too far and had escaped through the back of the club, making it home to my apartment unscathed.

  Devlin had been there waiting for me, the memory of his cold accusations and my harsh anger adding extra pain to my headache. And I recalled the argument that boiled up until it spilled over, finally giving that strange, building attraction between us room to work. The recollection of his intense kiss and my eager reaction flooded my mind … and then what had happened afterward.

  Heat unrelated to the fever in my body burned through me. Devlin. Where was Devlin? I had driven him to the dolmarehn he used to cross between our two worlds, but that’s the last thing I could remember before waking up here.

  Those voices from earlier were nearly upon me now, harsh and quiet, grating against this strange cavernous space I was in and echoing between the walls.

  “She’s been here nearly two days. That’s long enough,” a familiar, masculine voice growled.

  “Just keep drugging her! The last one we captured only had enough glamour for one of us, and I’m not going to let you hog it all this time. Besides, why else did you have me sacrifice our slaves if not to give us a little extra glamour to remain protected while we wait for hers to manifest?”

  My spinning thoughts screeched to a halt. I knew that pouty voice: Moira. And the other one was Mikael. Two days, he’d said. They’d held me captive for that long? Had anyone bothered to look for me? Instantly my mind rushed to Devlin, but then I remembered he had left for the Otherworld for who knew how long. He would not think to look for me because he would have no clue I was gone.

  “The last one was not Taeriehl,” Mikael hissed. “And there were other reasons to do away with the Noctyrnum. They had become a liability.”