Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series) (42 page)

A Bit of Honesty

It was not hard to follow her. In her urgency, Ailill had left a clear trail through the wood, the surroundings familiar to Micah as soon as he stepped up to a stand of pines grown tall and thick around a tiny spring-fed pool. No more than five feet away a massive xenolithic formation, almost perfectly camouflaged beneath the varying greens of epilithic mosses, shown dark, broodingly ominous, under the shadows of the evergreen giants. Micah stopped at the edge of the pines, his twin silently drawing up behind to peer over his shoulder. The place was downright eerie; the entire area felt as if it were alive, humming with a rush much like the beating of a million hearts. The last time that he was there, spurred on by curiosity to follow soundlessly on the trail of Ailill's own kin who had taken to frequently disappearing right after she'd shown up, the memory suddenly sprang up, vivid behind Micah's eyes, the same near-paralyzing fear gluing his long feet to the spot for a few heartbeats, until Jacob gave him a nudge in the small of his back, drawing his dark-eyed gaze to where Ailill was standing, impatience in her stance, in the look on her face as she stared at them through the dim. Micah's feet moved of their own volition, drawing him to her from under the cover of fragrant pine boughs; Jacob followed close on his heels though he, too, felt as if his hair were beginning to stand on end.

"S'about time," Ailill muttered under her breath, a gleam in her eyes as she watched the two emerge from the trees. Her expression was set; a look of inscrutability long practiced until it was perfection. It hid the pounding of her own heart, the feelings coursing through her at the thought of what she was about to do. "Come closer," she commanded when both men stopped just inside the tree line. "You must wash in the burn before anything else. It is a part of the ritual, the test."

Stepping forward, they followed her lead, pouring handfuls of icy water over their own stony faces, over their bare arms. Neither could help but wonder just what the hell she meant by
test
. When she drank the crystal clear water from cupped hands, Micah and Jacob did as well, both wondering if the lightening within was simply relaxation from the surprisingly normal lavation or if there was something in the water which had a sedating effect. It seemed as if a relaxing wave had washed over them both with the ritualistic cleansing; when they looked at Ailill, she seemed much more at ease, as well, though her steady gaze still  held a spark of irascibility within the frame of dark lashes. The smooth tips of her fingers drummed in agitation against the worn stone well-casing of the tiny ancient pool until she noticed that the two men were watching the telltale motion. She stopped instantly and leaned forward.

"Do you know whom you are, deep down inside?" Her gaze flicked from one to the other, searching, watching the expression in each man's eyes rather than his face. Micah stared back, hard.

"We ain't exactly what
you
think we are," he drawled quietly, inwardly pleased that his voice seemed to be coming back already. "But, we
are
closer than any normal brothers should be."

Blinking solemnly, Ailill nodded slightly in agreement. "I can see that, and it does bring a great many questions to my mind." Glancing between them, her eyes took on the light of intense curiosity for the briefest instant, but, instead of questioning them as she wished to do, Ailill looked away. "However, that was not what I meant," she added softly. "What has Kiah told you of yourselves? Has he said that you are different from all others you've known? Or did you figure that much for yourselves?" She looked back, sighing inwardly at the blank look in the eyes before her. Denial. And she was getting damn sick of seeing it, too.

"He said we are his sons by right, and that our destiny is to die young, as great warriors." Jacob's tone held a touch of irony which Ailill easily grasped.

"Aye, and if you are to be so very great, as he has said, then why would you die young?" She grimaced, not liking the thought of them dying, no matter how mean either one could be. "And did he tell you why?" she added casually, meeting Jacob's eye. She could see Micah's head sway in unison with his twin's from the corner of her eye. "Alright. Is it true that he never said one word about me before, while you were growing up?"

"No, never."

Sighing heavily, Ailill muttered softly under her breath, cursing the man over and over for what he had denied them. Her face flashed with anger, then cleared. Seeing it, Jacob leaned toward her.

"Micah dreamed of you, even though he didn't know you were real; that's why he waited to have sex, 'cause he knew it would be with y'all."

He had said it quietly, watching her face for some sign of recognition on hearing the words. Ailill blinked back at him with that same inscrutable mask. "And did you ever dream of me, Jacob?" she asked in the same low tones. Her eyes held a touch of something he did not understand, and he shook his head, intending to say no though his voice betrayed him with a whispered
'yes'
. Micah started in surprise, eying his twin curiously. Ailill watched them both for a long moment.

"Y'all never said so before," he stated hoarsely, almost in accusation.

"I didn't think much of it, man. I believe I was a little stoned at the time, anyway." Running a hand through his long hair, Jacob glanced at Ailill, embarrassed by the admission. He had been quite stoned, in reality, and lying with another; it had been a waking dream, the short blond hair above him had suddenly become long, fiery curls, the pale blue eyes suddenly changed to glittering sapphire framed with black. The shock of it, of such a realistic dreamscape, had given him a most humiliating case of flaccidity, which he had tried very hard to overcome in the month between then and meeting the woman who had shown herself so vividly to his drug hazed mind.

Noting his obvious abasement, Ailill respectfully averted her gaze away from Jacob's flushed cheeks. "Who do
you
believe you are?" she asked, attempting to keep the two on more important matters. She met Micah's eye with a look of open curiosity.

Hesitating only for a few beats, Micah smiled, rather unkindly, and said, "We are the sons of a man that y'all obviously can't stand. And we are mirror twins whom y'all obviously believe would rather be screwin' our own image than you." His eyes gleamed ferally, his desire to clear up more basic things right now clearly at the forefront of his mind. "We are Micah and Jacob
Black
a strong name, strong stock, though y'all don't give us much credit for our own accomplishments, or for the fact that we ain't one bit like our bastard father, despite our looks. You'd rather believe what you want about us, so why don't you quit askin' us questions, since you so obviously know all the answers anyways, and we'll interrogate you instead because, as you are always pointing out, we know nothing of you
or
ourselves." The expression on his face was unquestionably commanding. He expected her to answer him, even if he had to become nasty to get what he wanted. Ailill rolled her eyes knowingly and resettled herself, stretching her muscular legs out before her, eying the dirty spots on her knees with disdain; they hadn't been like that until Jacob shoved her into the dirt like a naughty dog. Micah studied her closely. "Who are you?" he said softly. "
What
are you?"

Ailill's eyes gleamed with pride, her back stiffening of it's own accord as she prepared to introduce herself fully to the brothers she was destined to be with. She smiled, allowing them a very small glimpse of what she really was in the darkness of her eyes, the pronounced point of her pierced ears. Both watched her closely, not believing that anything had really happened to her, their minds still stuck in the denial stage. It would obviously take something more drastic to bring them to the reality of their own situation. She smiled in anticipation at the thought, her mind working to connive a plan even as she began to speak.

"I am Ailill Fallon Brid Ciannait Sidhe Scota Aislinn Caoimhe Aithne Grear Etain Cliodhna Edana Kaie Skye Keegan Duffy Bascna-Morna. The daughter o'
all
the clans. The first few being Shaw, Kyllachy, MacNachton, Chattan, Wallace, MacLeod, Fraser, MacCrimmon, Farquharson, Cameron, MacIntyre, Urquhart, Mackay, MacAdie, Carmichael, Dhai, MacCallum, MacTavish, Mackenzie, MacDuff, and Mackintosh." With the barest gleam of amusement in her eyes, Ailill took a theatrical breath. "There are yet a great many more clans counted in my blood; far too many to say, but no matter. My tribes are what count most. As the last true and living daughter of the unified tribes of  DeDannan and Dal Riada , the two branches, Red and Black, respectively, I am one of the highest ranking pure-blood kin to the
Ciannait Ard Righ of Dal Riada and Banrigh of the Realm of Sidhe
. I am meant to be the lover of yourselves, as well as Tiernan, the three of you comprising the ancient
Tierce
, reborn, and I am meant to carry on the next generation of my own people, so that we may grow once more to our former glory, as was written in our own lost histories and in the spilled lifeblood of man, our kin." Her expression changed to one of dark brooding momentarily as she met each man's eyes.
Blank, blank, blank! Damn them!
silently cursed. Taking another deep breath, Ailill went on, her face more impassive with each word, memorized at the wee age of four, added to in the dozen or so years since. "I am the Arch Druid, High Priestess if you will, of the highest order of the ancient Druidic line; I am the Guardian of the Knowledge of the Celtic Trust. I have the Sight, a curse of the women, as well as a few of the men, in my closest bloodlines and the subsequent branches; I am a Master Seer, you see, which accounts for the dreams, and ever after I am forced to worry that my own children will be cursed with the Sight as well." Pausing momentarily, Ailill glanced between the two silent men, wondering why she could not bring herself to tell them the full truth; wondering why she felt she needed to tell them more, although she had known the answer to that question even before she had begun speaking. Micah had already proven as much, for all the good that did. The shared denial would do no good. They would find out the full truth soon enough.

"I have a great many responsibilities which neither of you could even begin to understand," she added cautiously. "I don not have the freedoms in
this
life that I once had, nor that others, such as yourselves, still do have. I have no true choices, except where my heart sets and whom I may lie with, after I have fulfilled my obligations to you and to Tiernan according to the customs of my own people. I was forced to come back here, to fulfill two of the orders of my
geise
, in lying with each of you; that was supposed to happen when I first completed the change, but I was simply not ready that soon, in any aspect, as I wasn't quite yet twelve years old. I fought against that for two years and two years more before agreeing to the demands of my clan, and I must go back, to the land of my heart, to carry out the other half of my fate, with Tiernan and my own kindred." She stopped, flashing them a highly significant look, her eyes full of secrets. Micah eyed her in speculation, no longer able to feel surprise at whatever might come out of her mouth next. Jacob watched her with open curiosity, unable to believe a word she said. This was no more than a child's story, a well planned fairy tale. 

Her gaze held each for a long while, her feelings unseen behind an odd gleam in her eyes. It was obvious that neither knew what to say, not clear that they had even understood any of her meaning; that both believed she lied. Though Micah's brain was rapidly filling up with questions, almost to the point of making his head throb, Jacob was the first to speak.

“
Two and two still only add up to sixteen. You claim to be eighteen.”

“
I am,” she agreed quietly. “I took a two year... hiatus, you could say. Too much was going on in the world. I felt it necessary to try and help my people when the sickness passed over to our kind. And then, as well, I felt a need to fight some much needed battles, until my grandmother insisted I come here to fulfill my vows.” She smirked, still irritated with all that had transpired to bring her back.