Lightness Falling (Lightness Saga Book 2)

by Stacey Marie Brown

  Lars sat at the table, reading a newspaper, drinking coffee, Goran beside him.

  “Good morning.” I forced a smile, but it came out as a grimace.

  Lars looked up, his gaze trailing over me. “Good morning, Ms. Johnson. Did you not sleep well?”

  Great. I looked like crap too. “Not really,” I responded. “And please, call me Kennedy.”

  “Well, Kennedy, please help yourself to the coffee and breakfast on the counter.”

  “How is Travil?” I moved to the kitchen island, filled with fruit, croissants, cheese, meats, and coffee. It looked great, but what a difference from Marguerite. That woman would shriek at not having breakfast made from scratch and loaded with calories and love.

  “He is healing. Might be a few more days till he is back to normal,” Lars responded.

  “I will go look in on him, then check in with the security on duty. See if the jet is ready.” Goran stood, the chair grating over the gorgeous dark wood floors, and he walked out.

  I poured coffee into a cup, the smell already lifting away some of my indignation. It didn’t last long.

  Lorcan stepped into the room looking like he just came from working out. Dressed in gym shorts and shoes, rubbing a towel over the back of his neck, his unclothed sweaty chest invoking lewd thoughts. My eyes wandered down the deep V-line at his hips damp with perspiration.

  “Enjoy your workout, Mr. Dragen?” Lars folded his paper, standing up, strolling to the counter. “Hope you found the gym up to standard after your run.”

  Lorcan snorted. I didn’t have to see this gym to know it was probably fully outfitted with the latest and greatest equipment. Probably better than any private health club in the world.

  “Yeah. Thanks.” Lorcan’s gaze darted from Lars to me, then to the window.

  “Mr. Dragen also had trouble sleeping last night.” Lars poured himself another coffee, a hint of a smile on his mouth. “Needed to burn off some excess energy.”

  It always felt like Lars knew everything, as though his demon scurried into your soul for truths you didn’t want anyone to know. Who knows? He probably was capable of doing just that. Not a pleasant thought, especially after last night.

  “Is there a safe phone line? I’d like to call Torin and let him know I’m okay.” I kept my head toward Lars but saw Lorcan’s snap in my direction, the feel of his eyes burning into me.

  I had stayed up almost all night. Thinking. Going over what happened. My conclusion: Lorcan probably did me a favor. We were all wrong, if not for each other, then our lives were. He would never be able to fit into mine, nor would I in his. Too many obstacles and objections. We had a powerful attraction, but it would have always ended badly.

  I needed to move on, from Jared’s memory and from any connection to him, especially Lorcan. Torin was smart, kind, and extremely good looking. He really was “perfect” for me, and our personalities were quite similar. He clearly wanted to progress our relationship. I liked he wasn’t connected to my history. Before, I hadn’t been ready…not sure how I truly felt about him. But now I felt more secure. I would at least give it a chance.

  “Yes. You can call him from my office. There is a secure line there.” Lars took a sip of coffee, then set the cup back down. “The jet will be taking you guys to Belfast in thirty minutes. You each have a backpack on board with clothes, walkie-talkies, and weapons. Information I could gather last night is also in a packet. It is up to you two to do some digging, locate the headquarters for this group.”

  Lorcan and I nodded, our glares crossing.

  “Somehow you will have to find a way to contact me, without any suspicion.” Lars tugged at his cuffs. “I wish I could go. However, my presence is a lot harder to keep a secret; too many people know who I am, and I am needed at home.”

  As Queen I had a lot of noticeability, but not like Lars, who had been King for decades. Centuries. After the fall of barrier between worlds, it took a while for Lars to get things like TVs, communications devices, and radios to function in this new world. My image was not embedded in people’s brains like Lars’s was.

  I grabbed two croissants, cheese, and coffee and headed for the office, taking a breath once I got away from Lorcan’s barely dressed physique.

  Torin picked up after two rings. “My liege?”

  “No, it’s me.” I resettled in the wingback chair, suddenly feeling anxious.

  “My lady?” Torin’s voice breathed out in a husky tone. “Thank the gods you are all right. I almost lost my mind with worry.”

  “I’m fine. Bruised and sore, but alive.” My fingers peeled at the top layer of the croissant, my nerves taking out their energy on the poor pastry. Why was I so nervous? This was Torin. Someone who had become a very good friend. On numerous occasions we had been alone for hours, talking and at ease with each other.

  Because never before did you think of him as a “possibility.”

  Now it was all I could think, and I kept trying to gauge my reaction to hearing his voice. It was nice to hear, and I had missed him...

  Shit squared.

  As my friend…my gut filled in the rest. It reminded me of how I felt about Jared at the end. I cared about him so much, confusing it for love, but deep down I knew it no longer was.

  I bent over my lap, palming my face into my hands. Damn that dark dweller. He messed everything up... he messed me up.

  “The thought of anything happening to you… I went insane thinking you might be hurt, and I couldn’t do anything about it. All I wanted was to be by your side…” Torin trailed off, the airwaves crackling with anticipation, words he was building up to say. My throat clogged, wanting to stop him from saying more, to leave the unspoken in its box. “I don’t want to be separated from you anymore.”

  My lids squeezed together. Thinking there was a high probability I would throw up on Lars’s antique rugs.

  “I was serious before. I want nothing more than to protect you forever. Be the man at your side, in and out of your bedroom.”

  Oh god, he said it.

  Butterflies zoomed around my stomach, but these weren’t the fluttery kind. They were petrified and trying to break out, or batter themselves against the lining until they killed themselves.

  My eyes scanned the windows in front of me, contemplating using them as my escape hatch. This morning I had been sure I wanted this; now that it was being offered, all I wanted to do was run for my life.

  “Uh...” My brain couldn’t come up with one good response.

  “Think about it, my lady. I know you are going through a lot right now. But I want to be clear how I feel about you. And when you return, I want to be the one you run to.”

  My fingers dug into my scalp before I raised my head, taking a deep breath. “I’ll think about it,” I responded. I was being honest. I would be thinking about his proposal, but I wasn’t convinced my heart would alter. It would be so much easier if it would. We made sense. It would be so easy.

  Easy and so incredibly boring.

  I shoved the thought away. “I need to go, Torin. I will talk with you soon.”

  We said goodbye, and I clicked off the walkie-talkie with a stab of my finger. I groaned, folding over my lap, my forehead against my legs.

  The flutter in my stomach tapped the back of my spine, broadcasting a warm tingle at the nape of my neck. My fists balled up, knowing without looking exactly why my skin sizzled with awareness. “It’s rude to eavesdrop on another’s conversation.” I sat up, staring out at the manicured lawn. What appeared to be a maze designed with hedges lay beyond the large spouting fountain.

  “Your thirty minutes are up, Majesty,” Lorcan spat from the doorway. “Sorry, phone sex with your boyfriend is going to have to wait.”

  I rose to my feet, swiveling around to face him. He leaned against the doorjamb, dressed in jeans, T-shirt, boots, and jacket, fresh from the shower with water glistening off the scruff lining his jaw and the tips of his hair.

  I did not swear much… But fuc
k Lorcan Dragen. Damn him for looking the way he did. For making me feel the way I did. For pushing me to be more... to want more. Anger had never threatened my sanity like it did until I met him. He took my serene personality and flipped her over till I wanted to claw and bite.

  “Darn, because morning phone sex is always the best,” I volleyed back at him. See what he did to me? The old Kennedy would have never said anything like that, never would have even thought of it.

  Lorcan inhaled, his jaw crunching together.

  I strolled past him, feeling quite proud I could silence the great Dragen. Take that, almighty beast, my thoughts shot at him.

  He grabbed my arm, twisting me to face him, then pushed me back against the door, his form looming over mine. “You think this is a game?” He sneered, pressing closer to me; his fingers wrapped tightly around my biceps. “Fuck with this almighty beast…and he fucks back. Last warning, little Druid.” He shoved off me and strode down the hall, leaving my heart pounding in my throat.

  Confusion and fright kept me pinned against the door. What the hell…? How did he know I called him that?

  It wasn’t possible or logical. Only fae in the same species were able to link, and only some were powerful enough to do it. Ember and Eli had been a freak case, but now that she was part dark dweller herself, she could link to all of them.

  Ember and Torin could because they were both noble fairies and had once been betrothed to each other. I knew they still could, but since she fell in love with Eli, Torin tried to sever the link as much as he could.

  I was human. Okay, human plus. But still, there was no way—none—I should be able to link. Except I recalled the times in the past I felt we had to just look at each other and understand what the other one was thinking.

  A coincidence, Ken. That’s all it was.

  Even my brain laughed at me.

  Like so many other things, I filed it away. We had more pressing matters to deal with.

  Like keeping a kingdom afloat.

  FOURTEEN

  The flight to Ireland was a little over an hour on Lars’s private jet. Despite clouds and heavy rain, the plane landed smoothly on the tarmac in Belfast.

  Lorcan and I had stayed on opposite sides of the jet. I tried to read over the material Lars left us, but all I heard were the giggles from the two obscenely hot stewardesses Lars employed. I recognized them from our flight to Greece. What a difference a year and half makes. Last time I’d flown in this jet, I’d been lying in Jared’s lap on the seats across from me. Hands interlaced, kissing, laughing and talking the whole trip, our innocent love bubbling around protecting us in our own little world. Now, looking back, I saw the problems between us were already beginning, but I was far too enamored to see it then.

  Tears sprang to my eyes, picturing his smile, his hand swiping back my hair, the love in his face as he looked down at me. Little did I know then what was to come.

  God, I miss you, Jared. He was my first love. A best friend. No matter what that would never change. I would forever love him, and I now realized love comes in all different shapes and sizes.

  Lorcan’s laugh came from the back. Subtly, I looked between the seats.

  “Whoa, there.” He lifted the brunette’s hand from the crotch of his pants. “Be careful there. That’s not the beast you want to mess with right now.”

  “Oh I think I do,” the other said. Both girls seemed eager to provide Lorcan with all the perks of riding this airline.

  They had addressed me formally as Queen, made sure I was comfortable, then proceeded to fall over themselves to serve Lorcan. And it was not coffee they wanted to deliver.

  My breakfast threatened to resurface at just the idea of him going to the back room with them. Every time I heard his jeans rub against the leather chair, my eyes darted over, making sure he hadn’t gotten up to follow them.

  “Be careful what you ask for, sweetheart.” He winked at the girl.

  Lightning zapped through my bones, crackling with fury. I understood fae thought of sex differently than humans did. There were no sluts or manwhores. Sex to them was as natural as breathing. And they did it often, with many lovers. No judgment or shaming.

  But I wanted to shove those girls out of the hatch... without parachutes.

  Lorcan’s gaze somehow found mine between the gap in the chairs, a smirk growing on his face.

  Let’s see if beasts can fly too. I growled to myself. He was converting me into a vindictive monster. I swiveled around, staring out the side window at the thick mist rolling over the wings of the plane.

  He didn’t move from his seat but ate up their attention like it was raw venison. Laughing louder than I had ever heard him, smiling bigger than his natural smile.

  An hour flight felt longer than the entire nine hours to Greece.

  I was so happy to get off the plane and away from the swimsuit models, I almost knocked them over in my rush to get off. Too bad I couldn’t leave him behind too. Then they could go at it like rabbits, and I wouldn’t have to see or hear it.

  “Hey, what’s gotten up your ass this morning?” Lorcan caught up with me, tugging the pack Lars had provided us onto his back. “Phone sex with fairy boy had to be subpar... still far too tense there, li’l Druid.”

  I gritted my teeth, not responding to his jabs. Actually a part of me wanted to laugh. The brothers were so similar in ways. Eli had called Torin the same thing when he was pursuing Ember. Probably still did.

  “Do I detect some jealousy?” He prodded at my temper.

  “No.”

  “Really? Because you’re looking awfully green.”

  “Because you make me ill.”

  Lorcan snorted and let it drop as we walked out to the front of the airport.

  “Keep your head down.” Lorcan flipped up my hood when we got near other people. “And stop touching your face like you have Tourette’s. It pulls focus.” He grabbed my hand from reaching to my nose, pushing at my imaginary glasses.

  I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. I had worn glasses from the time I was four; the habit to push them up my nose was ingrained in me. I hated not having them. Even if my vision had improved, I felt naked without them.

  We caught a taxi to town. Lars didn’t want to risk using any of his connections, just in case. They were people he employed and trusted with his life, but he was still afraid something might leak. Lorcan told the driver to drop us off at the train station. From there we weaved through the area like we were trying to lose a tail and came out the other side.

  Lorcan found a hostel, which was the perfect place to get lost in a sea of young adults too drunk or busy to notice anything around them. We got the last private room with a sink but still had to share the bathroom with others.

  “Head to the room. I’ll be right back.” Lorcan handed me the key.

  “Where are you going?” I stopped my hand from rising to my face, not able to hide the slight concern in my voice.

  “Go upstairs and stay there. I’ll be back.” He wagged his head, making for the door.

  Yep, I should have tossed him out of the plane.

  I proceeded to our room, opening the door on a single bed, nightstand, and sink in the corner. Simple. Small. And trouble. I glared at the bed like it was taunting me. Guess a beast was going to get friendly with the floor tonight.

  I took two steps into the room when my sight blanked out, my awareness ripped from the present, hurtling me to a different time and place.

  Flash.

  My body swayed to the beat of the music, the stickiness of a lot of bodies crammed into a small space all dancing around me. Only dim lights outlined the forms on the crowded dance floor. Lifting my head, I stared into a pair of brown eyes, glasses rimming the cute mysterious face of the guy I was dancing with. He smiled nervously down at me, his hands clenching my hips. He leaned in like he wanted to kiss me, but stopped, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

  I only hesitated a second before I raised on my toes, my mouth finding his
.

  Flash.

  A jail cell surrounded me. I looked down feeling heaviness tugging at my wrists. Thick chains wrapped around my wrists.

  “Ken...” I glanced to the left. Sitting against the same wall, another prisoner was shackled by the neck, ankles, and wrists.

  “West!” I tried to yell his name, but nothing came out, something holding back my words.

  He stared straight ahead, his hands rolled in fists, body vibrating with tension, like he was ready to jump up.

  “Whatever happens, I’ve got you,” he whispered. “And I’m sorry. I had no choice.”

  Flash.

  “Shit, Kennedy!” My name flung me out of the vision, opening my eyes to a pair of emerald ones, so deep and beautiful I wanted to go swimming in them, bask in their brilliance.

  “Fuck.” The man’s hand went to my forehead, holding it against my skin. A sharp sting raced across my head and I sucked in. “I’m here. You’re safe…I’ve got you.” Worry creased his face, and I couldn’t help but reach up, my fingers trying to smooth out the lines.

  In my core, I knew I was safe. He felt like home.

  At my touch, he swallowed.

  “What do you hear?” he asked me. The sentence was like a trigger, slamming me fully back into my body.

  Lorcan.

  Hostel.

  “Tell me,” he coaxed. “What do you smell? Feel?”

  “I hear the buzz of fluorescent lights.” My limbs shook as I tried to sit up. “I smell moldy, dirty carpet.”

  “Go slow.” Lorcan’s hand stayed at my forehead, his other hand helping me sit back against the bed. A trickle of liquid slid past my eye down my face. “You’re bleeding pretty good.” He leaned up, grabbed one of the towels left for us on the bed, and replaced his hold with the cloth, his hand drenched in blood. “What do you feel?”