Ann Gimpel (27 page)

“She hasn’t learned a damned thing.” Dewi spat back. “Doesn’t have any more sense than she did when you started pawing at her when she was only fourteen. I tried to protect her—”

“Stop. Both of you,” Aislinn shrieked. “Mother’s dead. She doesn’t need your attention. Doesn’t even want it, from the looks of things. Fionn’s the one who needs you.” She sank to her knees next to his body and laid full length atop him, covering his lips with hers. She tried to push into his mind, but the same shielding repelled her.

“Appears it will take more than a kiss from a princess to bring him back,” Dewi noted dryly.

Aislinn curled her body into a sitting position right next to Fionn. “What will it take, dragon? The way things stand, I figure you owe me one.”

Gwydion, still looking shell-shocked, dropped to the floor next to her and Fionn, robes puddling around him. He took one of Fionn’s hands, grabbed his staff with the other, and began to chant. The staff glowed blue-white; Aislinn felt the spell he wove. It dripped power so ancient that she could only guess at its origins.

The scent of lavender and jasmine filled the air. Gwydion’s voice increased in volume and cadence. Aislinn wanted to watch, to understand the magic, but it made her dizzy. When she tried to look, the air was thick with multi-colored runes morphing into one another, forming new runes like an aerial ballet. The staff blazed so bright, she even saw it through her closed lids.

“Now would be the time for ye to kiss him and call to him.” Gwydion nudged her with the staff. It burned where it touched her. “I find I am needing help.”

Aislinn glued her lips to Fionn’s and added her magic to the mix. After a heart-stopping few moments when she was afraid he was lost to her forever, his body stirred beneath her touch. She lifted her mouth from his and cried, “Fionn. Beloved.” Arranging her body half on top of him, she kissed him again. When his lips moved beneath hers, she kissed him harder, slid her hands into his hair and her tongue into his mouth. As if from a great distance, she heard the raven caw.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“M
o croi, mo croi
,” Fionn whispered against her lips. His arms came around her and tightened. “How did ye find me?”

“She didn’t,” Gwydion spat. “’Twas I who brought you back, though I had many second thoughts. Aislinn helped a bit, but she couldna have reached you without me.” The master enchanter hesitated. “Tara was here. She reminded me of…many things.”

“Where were you?” Aislinn asked Fionn. “Why couldn’t I reach you?”

“Slototh was after me. I secured myself in the one place he couldna follow: the
Dreaming
.”

“And a good thing I know your mind,” Gwydion muttered. “Saved a great deal of trouble tracking you down.” Using his staff for a lever, he pushed heavily to his feet.

Bella flapped over and settled next to Fionn. She pecked gently at him as he moved Aislinn to one side and worked his way to a sit. He rubbed his face with his hands and gazed blearily at everyone. “What are we doing here? We shouldna be unwarded with Slototh about. Hell, we shouldna be here at all. The wicked one caught me in the midst of my strength. Now I’m weak as a newborn colt. We must leave.”

Aislinn felt him summon magic. Bella attempted to fly to his shoulder. It took her two tries. “Ssssh.” Aislinn laid a hand on his arm. “I don’t think he’s a threat for the moment.”

“Why not? What happened? I have to get up. Find my men. Get ye to safety.” His head thrashed from side to side, eyes rolling wildly. He gripped her hand so hard, it hurt.

“Hopefully, the humans are on their way out of here. They were wandering about like zombies, but it didn’t take much to bring them round.” Aislinn hesitated. “Nothing like you. No matter what I did, it wouldn’t penetrate the wall you’d slapped up—or hidden behind.”

She couldn’t stop touching him, even though warning gongs echoed inside her head. All the things she didn’t know mocked her. Had she just been a prophecy substitute when her mother became unavailable? Gwydion had intimated as much. Was it like it was with Dewi? He only wanted her because she was a MacLochlainn? Her head hurt. She was so tired that she could sleep for a hundred years.
Maybe it would be okay if I never woke up.

Not here. Got to get myself outside. Now.

She shook her head to force order into her thoughts.
I can’t leave until we find everyone
.

“Aislinn.” Fionn tapped her arm. “Ye dinna answer me.”

She met his gaze, golden eyes locking onto blue ones. “Sorry. I need food and sleep. And we still need to find Arawn and Bran and their companies.”

“I could take care of that,” Dewi snorted, “but if you are not going to make use of my talents, I may as well go back and entertain myself.”

Aislinn lurched to her feet and walked to the dragon. “That is the best idea you’ve had in a while,” she snarked. “Why don’t you do that?”

“Aye, strong thinking, lass.” Gwydion glared at the dragon. “Be gone.” He shook his staff.

Dewi blew smoke out her nostrils, made a very annoyed-sounding grunt, and vanished.

“Thank fucking God,” Aislinn muttered. “I want to tell Mother goodbye before we hunt down everyone else.”

“Is she gone?” Tara oozed back through the wall. Her gaze shifted from side to side. “Och, I was certain that one was goin’ to follow me. She spent years chasin’ me once I moved to Salt Lake. Had to build wards to keep her out.”

Gwydion’s arms closed around her again. He murmured to her in Gaelic, and she murmured endearments back. Bella cawed stridently. Apparently having recovered somewhat, she flew to them and pecked Tara’s hair.

Fionn stood. He took two strides, snatched the bird in both hands, and chided her. Aislinn didn’t catch all the Gaelic, but the bird was complaining that Tara should have been Fionn’s.

With an arm twined around Tara’s waist, Gwydion turned to face them. “I am going to send her to her rest in the halls of the dead,” he said solemnly. “There is aught here for her. She would bid you farewell.” He gave Tara a gentle shove toward Aislinn.

“Mom, oh Mom.” Aislinn was crying, unable to control the emotions flooding her. “I love you. It’s like losing you all over again.”

Tara pulled her close and held her against her half-decayed body. She crooned in Gaelic like she’d done when Aislinn was small. “Never forget ye are my baby girl. And ’tis proud I am of how ye’ve turned out.” She took Aislinn aside then, whispering low. “Fionn loves you. I see in his eyes what was never there for me. I know ye’ve heard things here today that might make ye doubt him, but doona make that mistake. He is a good man.” She kept an arm around Aislinn as they walked back to Gwydion.

“I am ready,” she said simply, “after one last piece of motherly advice. Watch out for the dragon. She’s on no one’s side but her own.”

Fionn, who’d kept a tight rein on Bella, tipped his chin at Aislinn. “Let’s give them some privacy.”

Aislinn’s throat was so tight that she couldn’t force words past the lump in it. Tears burned just behind her eyes.

She looked at her mother, who smiled at her. “There’s nothing more to say,
mo leannán
. We will meet again in the Summerlands, the kingdom of the dead.”

Fionn transferred Bella to a shoulder and hooked his arm into hers. “Come,” he said gently. “Where’s Rune?”

“Hunting for Arawn and Bran.” She snuffled, feeling perfectly wretched.

“Why don’t you call him? Maybe we can help.”

Fionn led her away from Gwydion and her mother, keeping hold of her, much as he was doing with the raven. It was as if he knew she’d run back to Tara, given half a chance.

Aislinn’s heart screamed in protest. All the pain she’d buried when Tara walked into the vortex hadn’t really gone anywhere. It was still inside her, waiting to chew her up and spit her out in little, jagged pieces. Being so exhausted that she was worn to a nubbin didn’t help.

At least this time, I got to tell her goodbye…

So what? I’m still an orphan.

Only children are orphans. I haven’t been one of them for a long time.

“Call Rune.” Compulsion ran beneath Fionn’s words.

Once, she would have been angry, but she understood the wisdom behind his action. She was dangerously close to falling apart, and he knew it.

“Rune. Rune. Did you find them?”

“Yes, both. All are on their way outside. The humans who were awake found them about the same time I did. I was just on my way back to you.”
The wolf hesitated a beat.
“I tried to tell you that, but you didn’t answer.”

“I’m sorry. No excuses. Where are you?”

Rune shot an image into her mind. She didn’t recognize it.
“Tell me how you got there—”

“I will find you.”

Fionn had obviously been listening. He jumped into their conversation.
“Good. We’ll wait here.”

Aislinn pushed her mother’s face out of the center of her mind’s eye. There’d be time to grieve when it didn’t hurt so much. She dribbled power into her mage light to crank it up a notch and then turned to face Fionn. “It appears Slototh targeted you. Is he the one you tangled with? The one who ripped you up the middle like a slab of meat.”

“Aye, lass. He hated me.”

“Why? What did you do to him?”

“What else?” A crooked smile lit his eyes. “I stole a maid he valued and made her love me, not him.”

“What happened to her?”

“She was a Selkie. She returned to the sea.” Fionn spread his hands wide. “Doona be looking at me like that. Slototh had stolen her skin. He forced her to remain in human form. I freed her, returned the skin, and gave her a choice.”

“How long was she with you?”

“And why does that matter?” He tipped her chin so her gaze met his. “’Tis you I love.”

His words warmed her soul. Tired as she was, Aislinn vibrated with longing for him. She wanted to believe him, had never wanted anything quite so badly, but they needed to talk. She had a lot of questions that needed answers before she could fall into his arms. He reached for her, but she shook her head and retreated a few steps.

Rune slipped out of a shadowed hallway, looking very pleased.

“We’re all present, then.” Fionn smiled, but it held a sad edge. “Let us leave this place.” He eyed Aislinn. “Ye’ve been quite the question girl. I’ve a few of my own once ye’ve had a bit of a rest.”

“I don’t know if I have enough magic left to get us out of here.”

“I do.” He settled the wolf between them and put an arm around her.

Power zinged through the air when he called it. She wondered why he couldn’t have rescued himself.

“’Twas a tradeoff,” he said, eying her as he held onto his spell easily. “I couldna leave even the slightest chink, or Slototh would have followed me through. Once one like me winds himself into our special place in the
Dreaming
, only another can unravel the magic. I was working on finding a way round that, though.”

“If that’s the only place you are truly safe,” she said with a frown, “it seems like a flawed system. You put yourself there, but can’t get yourself out.”

He favored her with half a grin. “I was verra near to blowing a hole in my shelter, especially after I heard you calling me.”

“Do you mean to tell me I could have gotten you out of there?” She looked askance at him. “It sure didn’t feel like it. That magic Gwydion used...” She blew out a weary breath. “No matter how many years I practiced, I could never, never—”

“Ye doona know what ye’ll be able to do. Your magic is still growing, lass. If I’d trained you, ye might have been able to free me.”

“Yes, too bad you couldn’t have foreseen every single thing I might have needed to know.” Her sarcasm left a bitter taste. “Don’t mind me,” she muttered. “I just felt so fucking helpless. Didn’t like it much.”

“No one does.” He had such a tender look on his face that a part inside her melted. “Are ye wanting to use the magic I called up for us? Or would ye rather stand here trying to sort things out?”

“I want out of here.”

“Then let’s go.”

Aislinn staggered into a waning day. Fionn had jumped them to where they’d started, a mile or so from the prison. Humans milled about, leaving in groups of twos, threes, and fives, presumably going home. Arawn and Bran gestured from where they sat, sheltered by the same rock walls they’d chosen earlier. When Aislinn got there, she noted they were checking each human soldier out, much as they’d checked them in.

“How many did we lose?” she asked.

Arawn looked up. “So far, one hundred fifty-three have not passed through here.” He glanced at the line queuing behind her. “We will see. My estimate is not more than fifty or sixty.”

“Excellent.” Bran smiled. “I had thought we would suffer far more losses.”

Aislinn lowered her gaze. She wanted to share their enthusiasm, but to her, the loss of even one more human life, on top of all those forced through the vortex, was too many.

Movement caught her attention out of the corner of one eye. Aislinn groaned as Dewi settled to earth, folding blood red wings behind her.

“Daughter.”

Aislinn ignored her.

Fionn grabbed one of her hands. “Dewi is calling you. Ye canna ignore her.”

“Oh yes, I can.”

His forehead creased. For a minute, she thought he was going to censure her and girded herself to ignore him, too. “What happened, lass? Did she injure you?”

The gentleness in his voice was almost more than she could bear. She didn’t trust herself to talk, so she just nodded. Fionn’s face darkened. His brows drew together into a thick, furious line. With Bella on his shoulder, he strode toward Dewi, planted himself in front of her, and crossed his arms over his chest. “What did ye do to her?” he demanded.

“Included her in an adventure,” Dewi trumpeted defiantly.

“What kind of adventure?” Suspicion thrummed beneath his words, but apparently Dewi didn’t hear it.

“Well...” The dragon lowered her head conspiratorially. “After we’d done an astral search and not found anything, we linked minds when she went inside looking for you. It was terribly exciting. She came across an old friend of mine—”

Fionn held up a hand. “Ye can stop right there. This tale has a familiar ring to it. ’Twas the Minotaur, was it not? I havena seen that particular gleam in those ancient eyes for any other creature, except perhaps my kinsman, Uther Pendragon. Or your mate, Nidhogg, when he still walked the Earth.”

“Yes,” Dewi gushed. “Smart of you to guess. Of course it was the Minotaur. And he was just as powerful as ever. Why, do you know…?” The dragon must have seen a warning flash from Fionn’s eyes, because her voice ran down.

“You didn’t force her, did you?” he ground out.

“I thought she’d like it.” Dewi’s jaws parted in a lascivious grin. “What woman wouldn’t? A cock of steel that can go almost forever.”

Fionn dropped his arms to his sides and balled his hands into fists. Aislinn saw his jaw clench. “She is my woman.” He spat the words through gritted teeth. “Ye will never force her into another sexual encounter without her express permission—and mine. Do ye understand me?”

Dewi bared her teeth in a snarl. Apparently, being chastised wasn’t an experience she’d had often. Fire belched from her mouth. It came close to Fionn, missing by scant inches. The dragon turned away.

Relief swept through Aislinn. Fionn had defended her. Against a creature he’d told her was sacred.
He does love me. He really does.

“Of course I do,” he muttered and made his way back to her side. “And doona get all pissy because I was inside your head.” He still looked angry enough to spit nails. “Why dinna ye tell me what she’d done to you? I’m going down there to get rid of that damned atrocity once and for all. He’s been nothing but a nuisance ever since Pasiphaë fell in love with her husband’s Cretan bull, fucked it, and created him.” Fionn rolled his eyes. “All those children he ate. I doona understand why someone else dinna kill him long since.”

The air crackled as Fionn summoned magic.