“Light and laughter can get you killed, it appears.” Sasha shrugged her comment away.
“Light and laughter is what we fight for,” Declan said softly and Sasha found herself feeling oddly betrayed.
“What are you trying to say? That I’m ruining the mission?” Sasha asked, turning to move out from under his arm, which no longer felt very protecting.
“I’m saying that darkness will always be there. We fight for the light. That’s the way of things. You can shrug it off or stuff it away or whatever you’re doing – but we’ve all known pain and loss. You have to look for the light. In the everyday, in the hardest moments, in the darkest of paths – you must find the light. It is, quite simply, the only reason to keep forging ahead.”
Sasha’s pulse picked up as his words seemed to chip away at the pit of anxiety in her stomach, making her clench both fists, her nails digging deeply into her palms.
“What do you know of loss, Declan? What do you know of sadness? You’re living out what apparently is the highest honor of your people. You can’t possibly know what it is to drop from nowhere and have to forge your own way. Always being the odd one out, never fully fitting in,” Sasha all but spat out, her eyes leveled on Declan’s.
“Can’t I?” Declan said softly, his eyes holding hers. “I’ve been a protector for ages. This role meant I left my family, my future, everything so I could honor the Goddess by protecting you on this most sacred of quests. How is that not loss? How is that not loneliness? And yet I look for the light. Every day. And I see it in you, especially when you are unguarded, when your walls are down. When I catch you laughing at something silly when nobody is watching and your face glows from within. Aye, the light is there. You’ve but to let it out.”
“I didn’t realize I was going to be psychoanalyzed tonight,” Sasha said stiffly, rising and nodding to Clodagh. “I’m for bed. Thank you kindly for dinner.”
“But what about the clue?” Bianca’s voice trailed off as Sasha stalked into the darkness, her stomach rolling in angst and unhappiness. Why couldn’t anyone understand that she didn’t want this role?
All she wanted was to be left alone.
Chapter Twenty
“You can’t just run away every time something scares you,” Declan growled from behind her.
Sasha whirled, almost stumbling when she bumped against his chest. “Excuse me? Who said I was scared?” Sasha demanded, slamming her fist into his chest to try and get him to step back. It was like hitting stone.
“It’s obvious you are. Warriors aren’t supposed to retreat when things get uncomfortable,” Declan said, his face unreadable as he watched her.
“What makes you think you can talk to me this way? Just because you’ve stalked me for years doesn’t mean you know me,” Sasha hissed, jamming her finger into his chest now as her temper heated.
“Stalked you?! I protected you. You’d have been dead long ago if it weren’t for me,” Declan sneered, his honor offended.
“I protect myself, buddy. Nobody else has. Where were you with all the fae I’ve been killing for months? Some protector,” Sasha scoffed.
Storm clouds washed over Declan’s face. “Oh? Did you think there was just one at a time coming after you, then? While you killed one, I was busy with the twenty behind him. It seems you think you know everything, princess, when you’ve barely scratched the surface. I’d advise you to get your head out of your arse and start confronting things head-on.”
“I do confront things head-on,” Sasha hissed, temper making her blood heat. “I just don’t see how we need to dissect my childhood. It has nothing to do with the quest.”
“Doesn’t it? Everything matters. It’s all part and parcel of it. You need to realize that this has been a journey in the making. You can’t leave any stone unturned. Even if that means examining things that make you uncomfortable.”
Sasha hated how reasonable he sounded. But what did he know? Sure, he had to leave family behind, but they’d probably all had good relationships and he could talk to them whenever. It was far different than having grown up like she had.
“Let’s see what makes you uncomfortable, then,” Sasha said, surprising herself before she stopped thinking altogether and reached up to press her lips to his.
For one moment, stillness hung in the air as neither moved, their lips pressed together, energy coursing between them.
Declan broke the kiss before it became more heated between them and cursed before turning on his heel and striding into the darkness.
“Who’s retreating now?” Sasha called, delighted with having the last word, though her insides burned with a heat she couldn’t quite tamp down.
Talk about running away from things that made you uncomfortable, Sasha thought, and pulled back the flap to her tent feeling oddly comforted. Maybe she’d sleep tonight after all.
Chapter Twenty-one
She should have known sleep wouldn’t come easy. Still, she’d expected more than the few hours she finally did get – after lying awake doing her best not to think about the one thing her body seemed to want her to think about.
Declan’s touch. His nearness. His everything. Being around him seemed to scatter her brain and she decidedly disliked it. If she was distracted, someone could die.
Sasha sighed and pushed herself up from the cot, wondering where Declan had slept, or if he had slept at all. She knew she should apologize to Clodagh. The woman had saved her, for goodness sake, and here she had a fit? She scrubbed her eyes as she groggily crossed the tent and pushed the flap back.
Was she still dreaming?
The huts were gone, as was the fire pit. The only thing that remained were the three tents clustered together and the car. Sasha scratched her head and wondered what kind of weird fae magick this was. Perhaps she’d dreamed the entire episode?
Until Bianca poked her head out of her own tent and gasped.
“So it’s not just me then?” Sasha asked, rubbing a palm across her sleepy eyes.
“How could they have disappeared so quickly? There isn’t even a spot where the fire was!” Bianca pulled her head back into the tent and called to Seamus. “Seamus, Clodagh is gone. Are you sure you don’t know what kind of magick she is made of?”
Seamus poked his head out of the tent and looked around, his red hair sticking up in all directions, giving Sasha a pretty good idea of what they’d been doing the night before.
“I’m not sure what magick she was, but she certainly had strong wards protecting this place. I wonder why they left,” Seamus said.
“I’m sure it was because of me,” Sasha said, and looked them both in the eyes. “I’m sorry for that. I should’ve come back out by the fire and set things right.”
“Clodagh didn’t seem overly fussed about it. I think we all know the incredible amount of stress on your shoulders.” Seamus shrugged, and Bianca nodded her agreement.
“Is that the clue then? The package by your foot?” Bianca pointed to a small package that lay at the front of Sasha’s tent, something she had missed entirely. She wondered what else she’d missed, and scanned the horizon, seeking anything amiss, before bending over to retrieve the package.
“Why do you think it’s a clue? What if it’s just a gift?” Sasha wondered, tugging at the twine that wrapped the package.
“Wait – don’t you want Declan here to open it with you?”
“What does Declan have to do with this?” Sasha wondered.
“I’m a part of this whether you like it or not,” Declan said, stepping around the corner of the tent. Sasha could’ve stamped her foot in frustration. The man had serious skills when it came to sneaking around.
“I just meant that I don’t know what you’d have to do with a gift that was left for me,” Sasha said, feeling annoyed by his nearness. The man made her itchy.
“Destiny is destiny,” Declan said, raising an eyebrow at her.
It was all Sasha could do not to roll her eyes. She was beginning to get distin
ctly annoyed with the concept that her life had been preordained for her and everything she’d been working toward was irrelevant.
“So that’s it then? You’ll just blindly do what the Goddess says – follow me everywhere through life because of destiny? What about free will? What do you want with your life?” Sasha asked, her finger pulling at the twine as she faced him.
“I want what is best for you,” Declan said, his eyes serious.
“But what about your needs and wants?”
“My needs are met if your wants are met.”
“You aren’t some spineless blob, though,” Sasha argued, for some reason feeling the need to stick on this point. “You must have dreams or wants outside of this... job of yours.”
“I do. But those are for after. For now, I’m solely concerned with your safety and happiness.”
“See how he said ‘her happiness,’ too. That’s not required of a protector,” Bianca said to Seamus, poking him in the ribs with her elbow, a delighted smile on her face.
“Oh, would you stop looking for something that isn’t there?” Sasha grumbled, but Bianca only chuckled.
“Isn’t it, though?” Declan asked.
Sasha paused for a moment as her eyes met his.
“Ohhhhhhh,” Bianca breathed, and Seamus nudged her to be quiet.
“You didn’t seem so interested last night,” Sasha spat, her hands at her hips now as she leveled a look at him.
“Last night? What happened last night?” Bianca said in a stage whisper, and Seamus shushed her again. Maddox stepped from his tent but stopped immediately as he noticed the missing huts and the stand-off between Declan and Sasha.
“It has nothing to do with whether I am interested or not,” Declan said, the tenor of his voice seeming to hum with a sexuality that warmed Sasha’s very insides.
“Then what, pray tell, does it have to do with?” Sasha demanded.
“I’m a warrior on a mission. The mission comes first. Sex with you would be a distraction,” Declan said with ease, almost as if he was speaking to a child. Don’t throw petrol on the fire, small one, you see? It only causes an explosion.
“I don’t recall offering sex,” Sasha said, narrowing her eyes at Declan.
He shrugged one ridiculously broad shoulder and looked off to the horizon for a moment before pinning her with his gaze again.
“It was understood.”
“A kiss doesn’t mean sex. I don’t know what century you’re from, but that kind of assumption can land you in jail,” Sasha argued, feeling a flush of embarrassment wash through her as her friends listened in rapt attention.
A flash of anger crossed Declan’s devastatingly handsome face, and he stepped forward until he stood but inches away, towering over her. She’d clearly offended his honor.
“I would never take what you weren’t offering,” Declan bit out, his eyes never leaving hers. “But it is understood that we will be together. I will decide the time and the place – and I will not allow it to distract from the mission. But understand this, Sasha Flanagan. You are meant for me.”
A sliver of light bloomed in Sasha’s chest, even as the spark of anger lit in her gut. The conflicting emotions of excitement and frustration at being told what would happen with her future made her want to stamp her foot like a child having a tantrum.
Declan left her no chance to respond. In nothing more than half a second, he’d disappeared, moving at his preternatural speed, and Sasha let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in.
“Darling, that man is deliciousness on a stick. I’d just lap him up the first second you get,” Maddox declared, fanning his face dramatically.
Bianca laughed in agreement. “This is awesome. You guys are stunning together.”
“There is no ‘together.’ It’s not happening. He doesn’t get to order me around like that,” Sasha said, her words like a bucket of ice over her friends’ excitement.
“Methinks you don’t have much of a say in it,” Maddox said, and Sasha glared at him.
“Can we just open this gift and move on? There is no time for such nonsense.” Sasha tore at the twine, distinctly annoyed at Declan for having said those things in front of everyone. Meant for him? Please. The nerve of that man.
They barely knew each other.
Fiercely shoving those thoughts away, she unwrapped the package to find a small wooden box with a quaternary knot – mirroring the one on her scalp – intricately carved into the lid. The age of the box was evident to Sasha and she handled it gently as she lifted the lid to reveal a necklace snuggled gently against lush black velvet.
“Oh, I’m dying over here. What is it?” Bianca exclaimed, all but wringing her hands in excitement.
“It’s a pendant. Cat’s-eye, probably eighteenth century judging from the metalwork here,” Sasha said, holding the necklace up so that the stone gleamed in the early morning sunshine, the light of the cat’s-eye flashing almost white.
“What an unusual choice for a stone,” Bianca mused, coming over to trace a finger gently over the pendant. Sasha almost jerked it back, surprised to find how protective she felt of the stone. That odd reaction was something to note, she thought to herself as she allowed Bianca to examine it.
“Cat’s-eye is known to help with building your intuition, aiding you in trusting your instincts, and helping you let go of the past,” Bianca continued. “But I also wonder if there is something to do with the light. See how the light catches it? The other clue had something to do with light as well. And we are looking for the Sword of Light, or Sword of Truth, depending on which legends you subscribe to. All in all, I’d say this is a very intriguing stone to be used.”
“There’s a bit of paper in the box,” Sasha said, tugging the corner of the velvet to reveal a small scroll, tied with a red ribbon and yellowed with age.
Your mind’s eye knows the truth.
“Hmm. The first talked about knowing the dark to know the light, and this one is about trusting your instincts,” Bianca mused.
Sasha turned to look at her. “That’s the second time you’ve said to trust my instincts.”
“It is?” Bianca shrugged. “I’m just rambling. Speaking what pops in my head.”
But it was more than that. Sasha felt it to her very core as she scanned the empty landscape in front of them.
“We need to move. And now.”
The ambush began before the words were out of her mouth.
Chapter Twenty-two
They reacted instantly, and the swiftness of their response surprised Sasha, Maddox’s most of all. She’d only known him in the capacity of outrageous gay best friend – not as a magick-wielding fae warrior.
“I thought we were safe here,” Sasha shouted as she ran to stand back-to-back with her friends, the dagger raised in front of her chest.
“The protection left with Clodagh,” Seamus said as they pirouetted, waiting for the first of the Domnua that had snuck over the hills to make their move.
“I’d put that necklace on,” Bianca suggested, and Sasha realized with a surprise that it was still dangling from her hand. Slipping it over her neck, she felt it warm against her skin as it slid beneath her shirt, the pendant nestling just above her heart.
Where was Declan? Would they be able to warn him without alerting the Domnua? Sasha’s gaze darted right and left as she struggled to catch a glimpse of him. The hills were silent so early in the morning. Not even a bird bothered to sing its morning song, as if even they knew that the magick sneaking across those hills was dangerous.
“Now!” Maddox exclaimed as the Domnua all exploded in a frenzy at once, their silver glow only betraying their movements slightly as they surged in a wave of impending doom toward where Sasha and the others stood.
Sasha lashed out with her dagger, the training as instinctive to her as her next breath, dipping and slashing as she worked her way through Domnua after Domnua, their silvery blood splashing across her before disappearing in a flash of
magick. She barely caught a flash of Bianca, a rounded whirling dervish doing the same, and found herself almost laughing at her stalwart fierceness. It was a reminder to not let a perky face and guileless blue eyes mislead her.
“Finally, we’ll take you. Just like we took your parents. Just wait until you watch them being tortured.” A Domnua danced in front of her, his face wreathed in delight as he swung a dagger back and forth.
“What? My parents? Where?” Sasha demanded, her eyes tracking the fae’s every movement.
“Your favorite place.” The Domnua grinned right before Seamus’s dagger sliced through his throat, causing him to disappear in a splatter of silver. Sasha gaped down at the puddle, trying to understand what the fae had said.
A Domnua’s blade almost slipped past her guard as Sasha was distracted by a movement up on the ridge – Declan, his shout loud and clear in the morning quiet – which made the Domnua turn as one and look at him.
“I have the sword, not her,” Declan shouted again and Sasha’s stomach flipped over as the entire group of Domnua, fifty or so of them, turned at once and raced for where Declan stood, his shoulders back, his sword at the ready.
“Now might be a good time to try out that nifty fireball thing you’ve got going on,” Bianca said.
Sasha would have slapped herself in the forehead if she wasn’t holding a deadly weapon. “On it,” she said, shaking her head a bit in disbelief that she’d forgotten, then leveling the dagger at the crowd of Domnua and working to summon the anger deep within her core. She allowed the fire to swirl, creeping its way up before it shot its way from the dagger, a blinding flash of heat that leveled the Domnua in one fell swoop. Declan stood there, his sword still at the ready, his head swiveling as he looked for any last Domnua. Finding none, he inclined his head in a nod toward Sasha before disappearing over the ridge. Presumably to kill more Domnua, or to lick his wounded pride after Sasha had saved him.
Sword Song: The Isle of Destiny Series Page 7
