Galen shifted his weight, propping himself up on his elbow to gaze down at her. She blinked back up at him, utterly sated, utterly bewitched by the soft smile in his eyes, his tousled, sweat-damp hair. Maybe she didn't need a refund, she thought, reaching up with one hand to trace the line of his smiling lips in wordless wonder. Maybe the universe had given her everything she needed already – the universe, with a little help from the Sidhe.
She just wished she'd gotten him into bed with her earlier. After all – the two of them had a lot of catching up to do.
Chapter 48
Galen's legendary stamina, it turned out, was not simply limited to taking on more guard shifts than anyone else on the Watch. Julia took great delight in learning that, over and over, for the rest of that long, delightful evening… almost until dawn, in fact. The dark sky outside their window was beginning to gray when they fell back into bed together, sweaty and exhausted. Julia's hair felt like a bird's nest – she probably looked ridiculous, she knew that, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Not with the gorgeous naked man lying casually across her body. Impossible to think that they'd been strangers weeks ago. He already felt as close to her as her own skin.
"We should really get some sleep," she murmured, her voice hoarse. How had that happened? she wondered. She'd been doing her best to hydrate in between bouts of lovemaking… then again, she'd been making rather unaccustomed use of her voice. Nobody else had ever made her groan and whimper and scream so much.
"You said that four hours ago," Galen pointed out in an equally hoarse rumble, amusement dancing in those cool gray eyes of his.
"Mm. Then I got distracted," she said, shaking her head in mock dismay. "Such a shame."
"Such a shame," he agreed, drawing her close, pressing a kiss to the place where her shoulder joined her neck and sending tingles running straight down her spine… she hummed pleasure and pressed herself closer to him, turning to claim his lips in a kiss, her hips shifting against his —
"Galen, I'm serious," she complained, realizing belatedly that he'd tricked her again. Grinning, he released her, an innocent look on his face.
"So am I."
"You're the one who's got to defend us all from evil faeries," she grumbled, giving him a pointed look. "I can sleep all day if I want with no consequences. You can't."
"I'll manage," he promised, kissing her again. "I'm very strong. I can sleep with my eyes open on patrol."
"Oh, sure. And come riding back to the Keep full of elf shot. Then you'll be paralyzed and we won't be able to do this for a week. Is that really what you want?"
He threw back his head and laughed, and she couldn't help but giggle, too. Obediently, he lay back in bed, gathering her close to his chest… and though her body was complaining a little at her decision to put an end to their lovemaking for the night, she knew the pair of them needed some sleep. Before long, she could hear his breathing even out, and she knew he'd fallen into a deep sleep. Well, good. He needed it. And so did she.
Still, as she turned over, she found herself oddly restless. Her eyes shifted around the room, taking in the almost-out fire, his neatly organized possessions… and the rather messier piles of clothing they'd left on the rug in their haste to get into bed together. And her mind strayed, as it so often did late at night, to Glimmerbright. To her feelings for him, to the dreams she'd had about being in his arms, dancing with him through the magical world of the Fae….
And to her surprise, those images stirred absolutely no feeling in her. Surprised, and a little taken aback, she probed at the memories, revisiting her dreams… and found, again and again, that she felt nothing for him but a lingering unease about what he'd done to the farms in the area. How dangerous he was, how unpredictable. The glimpses she'd seen, through all his beauty, of the cold, calculating, ancient creature beneath. But there was no warmth left in her for him, no interest, none of that heart-pounding, stomach-fluttering emotion she'd felt whenever she'd looked into those enchanting green eyes.
Enchanting… was that truly it? Had everything she'd felt for him simply been an enchantment, an illusion, the product of the same kind of magic that had brought her here? The Sidhe were powerful, she knew that for a certainty… how else had they saved her life and brought her here intact? It only made sense that they were powerful enough to delude her. After all, weren't the senses reasonably easy to ensnare? Humans did it to themselves all the time… they got drunk, or high, or kidded themselves that someone they loved actually loved them back… hadn't she spent the last year or so of her life doing exactly that for Joseph, that useless, uncaring jerk who she'd honestly believed felt something for her when he didn't?
No wonder Glimmerbright had manipulated her so easily. And all the while, Galen had been right here under her nose, truly caring for her. Caring for her in a way that was real, and concrete… protecting her, keeping her safe. Sure, he'd gone about it in a terrible condescending way at first… but then he'd listened to her, changed his ways, taught her to fight instead of keeping her trapped in the castle, shared his knowledge and experience with her instead of simply ordering her to trust him. And what had Glimmerbright given her? Pretty words and pretty promises… and empty illusions.
She was free of all that now, she thought with wonder. She could finally see him clearly. And it was Galen who'd helped her see through him – it was thanks to Galen that she'd finally been able to break the spell for herself. She fell asleep not long after that, and this time her dreams were full only of the man who slept beside her. And when the two of them woke sometime after breakfast, she knew she was free of whatever hold that Glimmerbright had over her. She only hoped that she was free for good.
She dressed and slipped away to her own room – Galen had to report for duty reasonably soon, and she didn't want to risk a curious guard coming to visit and discovering the two of them there. No doubt gossip would already be spreading if the bed in her room was discovered to be unslept in… and for the time being, she wanted to keep their blossoming relationship a secret. Not from her friends, of course – the other time-stranded women had all more or less concluded that she and Galen were an item as it was. But she didn't want to be the subject of castle gossip just yet.
In the end, it took three days before word had spread to all reaches of the castle. According to an amused Maeve that was a pretty good effort – news of new love affairs usually only took a day to reach absolutely everybody. She caught more than a few cheeky grins from other members of the Watch, and when she had dinner with Galen that night, the rueful grin on his face told her all she needed to know. Everyone knew.
"Sorry," he said, shaking his head as he tore a bread roll in half. "I swear I didn't breathe a word, but –"
"But this castle is a den of gossips," Julia agreed, unable to keep the grin from her face. "I don't mind, honestly."
"You don't?" He grinned. "Your reputation's going to take a hit, I'm afraid. Spending time with an ornery old sod like me…"
She grinned, reaching out to squeeze his hand. "My reputation can take it."
Julia spent that night in Galen's bed, too… and the next night, and the night after that. Everyone knew, right? So, what was the point of secrecy? He was still patrolling a great deal more than usual, though, and they couldn't spend every waking moment together… though they did try their best as the days turned into weeks. And what time they did find to spend together, they certainly made the best of. Galen was shocked and appalled by her revelation that her former lovers hadn't had the knack of bringing her to climax the way he managed so effortlessly – often multiple times in an evening – and he seemed determined to single-handedly restore what he saw as a terrible imbalance, on behalf of mankind in general.
She'd been very wrong about medieval men, it turned out. She'd thought they'd be greedy and selfish, using women for their own selfish pleasure and casting them aside… but if anything, that description had more in common with the contemporary men she was beginning to realize she'd wasted
so much time on. And the other time-lost women confirmed her suspicions, when she raised the subject over a bottle of wine one evening. The conversation was rather explicit, and she came away from it blushing to the roots of her hair. No wonder her friends had such happy marriages, that was all she could say about the matter… and no wonder so many of them had set about building families so quickly.
And as the days wore on, she thought less and less about Glimmerbright and his proposition. Why would she want the illusion, when she had the real thing in the palm of her hand?
Chapter 49
But to her dismay, just because she'd stopped thinking about Glimmerbright, that didn't mean he wasn't still out there causing trouble. The crop failures were getting worse and worse, with blight being discovered in new fields almost every night. The farmers were doing their best, with the help of the overworked Watch, to cull the affected plants to keep the rest of the crop safe… but they were fighting a losing battle. Cattle, too, kept sickening and dying… Kay and her husband were at their wit's end trying to keep the animals alive, coaxing them to eat by any means possible, fighting against the inevitable wasting away of young and old animals alike.
And elf shot injuries kept being reported. It seemed that every time an injured man healed up enough to go back on patrol, two more were sent limping home with unusable limbs and terror on their faces. It wasn't just Galen, now, working far more shifts than his fair share – the whole Watch was on double duty, and some able-bodied servants and even academics, scholars and herbalists had volunteered to take some of the easier shifts on the walls and the like to lighten some of the unbearable load. Things were getting dire in the Keep and in the village, and the mood was low. But Julia didn't realize how low until a fortnight after she and Galen had made love for the first time.
"I don't want to alarm you," he told her over dinner. "But I was stationed in the village today, and I overheard some… worrisome talk."
She frowned. "Is it Glimmerbright? Has he been sighted again?" Sightings of the Sidhe never boded well – villagers who reported seeing him in the woods would frequently fall ill not long after, or see their crops or animals hit particularly hard by disease.
But Galen shook his head. "No, he's been keeping his distance. This – this concerns you, specifically."
She frowned. "The villagers were talking about me? How? I've never been there. Unless you count that time we rode through in the middle of the night."
He sighed. "No, they haven't met you. But they know you're here. And I'm afraid… some of them have made a connection between the timing of your arrival and the timing of these attacks and crop failures."
She blinked. "Do they think I brought Glimmerbright here, or something?"
Galen shook his head, looking aggrieved. "They don't think anything particularly coherent, I'm afraid. They're frightened and lashing out. It's their habit. Every time there's a problem with the Unseelie Fae, the villagers are quick to assume witchcraft."
"Witchcraft?" Her eyes widened a little. Some of the other women had told her stories about their arrival here, about villagers misunderstanding their strange accents and attire and assuming that they, too, were Unseelie creatures… Elena in particular had been subjected to some serious accusations from the villagers, something that made her still reluctant to visit even now. Julia had assumed she'd be safe from such accusations, given that she'd never visited the village… but it seemed they didn't need to see her to know they didn't like her.
"It's foolishness, mostly, and Father Caleb is doing his best to handle it," Galen reassured her. "But I wanted you to know. You've a right to."
"Thanks," she said, meaning it. "You've come a long way from the grumpy jailer," she added, tilting her head with a smile.
"Aye, well, don't think I didn't consider the option of locking you safely away in the castle dungeons," he joked, eyes glimmering with amusement. "But I thought better of it. You're getting far too good with those knives."
She smiled modestly. It was true. They'd been finding time to practice here and there, and he was pleased with her progress. It was a little worrisome, knowing that the villagers bore her such a strange grudge… she only hoped she'd get the opportunity to correct their misconceptions sometime. But probably not any time soon, if Galen was to be believed… it was far too dangerous on the roads outside the castle, even during the day.
And more and more often, she was hearing the music – as though Glimmerbright was singing to her specifically, trying to draw her back out of the castle. It was the strangest thing. Whenever it was playing, she found herself full of doubts and hesitations… worried that the right thing to do was actually to go back and talk to Glimmerbright, to help him see reason, to argue on behalf of the villagers and their animals that he ought to do what was right and leave them alone. He was kind enough, wasn't he? He'd see reason… if she could just talk to him face to face… but those thoughts always faded with the last dying strains of the music, leaving her feeling shocked and more than a little annoyed at how far her thoughts had strayed while the music played. She hated not having control of her own mind, her own reason.
And that night, the music started up again, louder than before. Galen had been forcibly assigned the night off, something that quietly pleased Julia… as much as she knew he was dedicated to his work, she was worrying more and more when he went off into the forest. What if Glimmerbright knew about their relationship? she often worried. What if he took vengeance against Galen? After all, she'd turned down his proposal… and not long afterwards, had taken up in earnest with Galen. He'd already proven himself to be the kind of man – or the kind of creature – who'd take a life without thinking about it. What if the life he took was Galen's? She'd never be able to forgive herself if her dalliance with the Sidhe was what caused Galen to lose his life… as much as he reassured her that he knew how to handle himself.
Still, she felt a lot better about having him at her side over dinner, knowing that they'd likely spend the rest of the night in Galen's quarters, getting far less sleep than they should. She grinned to herself a little… and that was when the first strains of the music began to echo through the dining hall. Not everyone in the room could hear it, she suspected – she saw a few heads turn but not many. The other time-lost women always heard it when it played – she'd made a point of asking them. Was it a kind of sensitivity to the Fae that had been engendered by their travel through the Burgh? Or was Glimmerbright simply targeting women?
At any rate, it was distracting. Galen tilted his head at her as they left the hall together.
"You seem distracted."
"That music," she admitted, biting her lip. She didn't like talking about Glimmerbright with Galen. She was always worried about making him jealous, for all that she'd done her best to explain that she wasn't nursing any leftover feelings for the Sidhe. "It's… I don't know. It's distracting. It gets in my head."
She wasn't expecting Galen to grin at her like that, to cast a glance around the hallways and then draw her close to his side with one strong arm. He kissed her then, unexpectedly passionate, and as the kiss deepened she felt her pulse skyrocket and her body thrill to his touch. A minute later – maybe more, it was hard to say – he pulled back and she blinked at him, dizzy, overcome.
"What was that for?"
"Well?" he asked, tilting his head curiously.
"Well what?"
"Do you hear it?"
Her eyes widened. "Oh! I completely forgot about – " She grinned up at him, surprised and pleased by his clever thinking. "I see what you did there. Very clever, Galen Grant."
They slipped through the door to his chambers and found themselves alone in his neat room, the covers on the bed folded back invitingly. And though the music was a distant refrain in the back of her mind, Julia still heaved a dramatic sigh, looking up at him from beneath her lashes. "Oh, no."
"What?"
"I think I hear it again," she said, her lips curving into a wicked smile. "I guess
you'd better –"
And before she could continue, she laughed breathlessly as he scooped her into his arms again, lifting her effortlessly off the floor as he kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist, holding herself up as he carried her across the room to the bed, her body already thrilling to his touch and demanding more. It wasn't long before their clothes were discarded, strewn across the floor, and the neatly made bed was definitely not so neat anymore… the two of them spent the night making sure that no thought outside of their lovemaking was able to permeate the room.
As anti-Faerie magic went, Julia thought, it was pretty damn good.
Chapter 50
But unfortunately, lovemaking wasn't an antidote to every problem that was currently besieging the castle.
It was the next morning that it happened. Julia and Galen had been training in the courtyard – he was teaching her a new stance, focusing now on fighting with her shorter blade now that she was beginning to master the basics with the dirk. Their attention was first drawn by shouting on the top of the Wall – Galen was immediately attentive, his head swiveling toward the gate, and Julia triumphantly overcame his guard and put her wooden blade to his throat before she realized that he wasn't paying any attention at all to their sparring match.
"What's going on?"
"Not sure," Galen said, lowering his blade and beginning to head toward the gate. She followed, curious and a little worried.
Woken By The Highlander: A Scottish Time Travel Romance-Highlander Forever Book 7 Page 22
