Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series) (55 page)

“
Limits?” he yelled, bounding up from the ground in one smooth motion. “Yeah, Ailill, you have limits. It’s called
don’t touch me, I’ll touch you
. You’re a goddamn tease, and what’s worse is you know it. You’ll kiss a man any ole time you feel, keep it goin’ ‘til he’s got a blue-balled hard-on, but hell if it’s ever more than
that
! Never even a little touching, or anything that might turn
you
on. You’re just plain frigid!”

“
Oh, aye, I’m frigid!” She gave a decisively unladylike snort, lifted her chin, eyes dark with defiance. “Ye ken aught of me,
Micah Morna
, or ye would never say such a thing! I am so far from frigidity, you’d be shocked. Born and raised for fucking,
that
is who I am, and yet you blame
me
for waiting ‘til I am a wee bit aulder ere I become a
slave
to my own deliberately inborn carnality? A slave to your own lustful whims! You blame
me
because I have been well guarded for all o’ my life, by people who truly care about me, ‘til now. No, now I must fend for myself, here, amongst my father’s handpicked followers, his wee clan of mortality, unschooled and vulgar in their adopted ways; they know not why they wear the colors of the clans, nor do they understand, even for a moment, why they have been called forth, sustained in a world that has gone down the road it has earned. I must defend my own honor in a land where no one kens such prideful ways! I must defend my principals to you, of all people!
You
, who has lain with me more than once already. Do ye get it, or are ye too daft to ken aught?” Her tone was demanding, eyes blazing with more heat than even she had expected. Micah stared back at her coldly, his face as still as if it were frozen.

“
I was forced to come back
!” she thundered. “Ye ignorant
bastard
, the sole reason to be opened by you, to be used by you and Jacob to your own hearts’ desire. Well fuck you! The thought of even having you near me after you’ve spewed your seed in that nasty, overworked mouth makes me sick!” Furious, she shoved him again, nearly knocking him down a second time. His eyes flashed a warning, darkened to a black fury.

“
What the hell, woman?” Micah roared, righting himself. “You’re spittin’ a load of bullshit. If the thought of bein’ near us makes you sick, you sure as hell spent alot of time near both of us on the dance floor! And what’s more, y’all never kiss Jacob, you hardly ever kiss me anymore, so what was that back there, going from one to the other? You feelin’ jealous ‘cause we got a little somethin’ that you won’t give? Huh, that’s it, ain’t it? Can’t stand the thought that we might have interests other than goin’ home with achin’ balls all the time, then y’all get bitchy when we seek relief where both of us knows we’ll get it. You’re jealous and you know it!”

“
Nay, Micah, I have no reason to be jealous of a floozy... a pale-faced
hoor
!” Ailill fairly screamed up into his face. “Suckin’
your
cock was a prize for that loose bitch! And you’re stupid enough to believe that dancin’ about would make me as radjy as the others there. That gettin’ a wee bit pissed with whiskey might get you the only thing you
ever
want from me- a nice tight fuck! Both of you and don’t even try to deny it,” she added, including Jacob with a furious glare.  Spinning on her heel, she stomped into the cabin, shedding the warmth of coat and boots, the comfort of a warm blouse and woolen skirt, until she stood in no more than the silk slip, an almost sheer pale rose that revealed more than enough of what she had to offer. Standing in the open doorway, Micah and Jacob both stared at her with wide eyes, unmoving, sharp retorts frozen in their throats at the unexpected sight.

“
Well, shut the damn door, ye selfish bastards,” she commanded, her voice husky, a light tremor audible. “You want me to be like those other women, a wee bit more
hoorish
, so here I am. I saw the way ye looked at me, the way you wanted me when we danced, like you would eat me alive amongst the masses if I so much as lifted the hem o’ my skirt. If it is
sex
you want, then just take it, it isn't worth the effort to guard myself
anymore
!” She flopped down on the couch, feeling as if she might just cry, and stared back at the twins, half wishing they would just claim their prize, so she could get on with her life; so she could finally go home, to her Highland love. To her heart's fire.

Slamming the door with a deafening force, Micah crossed the room in two long strides, almost angry enough to take her offer, sober enough, after his trek through a blizzard, to know better. There was fear in her eyes, well hidden but easily recognized; he had known such fear for most of his life. Meanly, he decided to play with that fear a bit, to test it. Shoving her back with unnecessary roughness, he yanked her knees flat and straddled her. His kiss was painful, drawing blood where he bit her lip, making her struggle to move away. When she could not, Ailill slapped him, the force making his left eye feel as if it might burst. It took all his strength not to slap her back. Wishing he had a bit of rope, he moved just enough to get her arms beneath his knees, leaning on them hard to subdue her.

“
Get
off
me, Micah.” She wriggled again violently, trying to knee him in the crotch. “
Aireamh na h-aoine ort
!”

He laughed without humor and tore the front of her silky dress open. Doing his best to maul her without giving over to an insistent demand within his own body, his head fogged with the rush of handling her so, Micah refused. “Cuss all you want,” he growled, and nipped her hard, just above one wine colored nipple. “The Gaelic turns me on.”

Turned away, Jacob listened to the sounds of Ailill’s struggle, his outlook on the entire situation grim, his twin’s flaring temper only making matters far worse for them both. He quickly built up a fire, just for something to do, and sat before it, idly watching the clash of wills as he warmed his chilled backside. Their plan had been to show Ailill a good time, to introduce her to a few of the nicer girls about the tiny hamlet; she had seemed a little sad lately, they wanted her to be happy, thought maybe a few new friends might help. After smoking a couple joints, the freedom they always felt in the fiery young woman’s presence grew, became a separate part of them both. Jade’s flirtation brought out a side of Ailill neither had yet seen, an open jealousy, the pretty blond’s offer, to play games with their date by disappearing for awhile, had seemed too good to refuse. It was not meant to be more than a bit of hide and seek on their part, but it was; Jade’s seeking hands found just the right places to touch, as always, her actions carried half-through before either one was fully aware.

How the hell had Ailill known? he wondered suddenly, coming back to himself. Micah was kissing the girl with surprising ferocity, his hands trailing over her body with unaccustomed possessiveness, rough in the way he grasped at her; the stillness of the girl beneath him made Jacob wonder if she had passed out until he saw the deep flush on her skin, her bared chest a rosy red, nipples taut with growing desire. He grimaced, not wanting to see two give themselves to each other while he was forced to be alone, stuck in a one room cabin in a snowstorm, but was unable figure out a way to cut them off.

Ailill did it for him; her newly freed hands pushed Micah with a sudden force that sent him sprawling from the end of the couch; he eyed her in bewilderment, breathless with desire. She sat up quickly, peering down the torn front of the thin dress with a closed expression.

Apparently
Micah came far too close to his goal and she’s chosen to back out while she still can
, Jacob mused.

“
As you can clearly see, Micah,” she muttered quietly. “I am far from frigid.” Turning to Jacob, she blinked, obviously also far from happy. “Did you wish to be trying your hand, as well, Jacob? You might get as far, but I will not be giving myself up to either of you this night.” Shaking his head in answer, Jacob frowned over at his brother, uneasy with the very idea of staying the night in this place, in the middle of a fight between two people he cared so much for. “Good,” Ailill said, obviously relieved, “because I can't remember the key to lock the door and I really don't wish to be pricked whilst I am sufferin’ the whirlypits.” Leaving the two with those puzzling last words, Ailill pulled the quilt from the back of the couch and curled into a tiny ball, instantly asleep.

It snowed long into the next day, the wind howling beneath the eaves with an eerily human sound that set the nerves of all three on edge, communication soon becoming little more than grunts and mutterings. Ailill had awoken in the night, a fierce nightmare setting her tiny feet to flying about the room, checking the windows, barring the door, gathering the few weapons stored in a hidy-hole beneath the floorboards. She had seemed to move like a sleepwalker though her eyes were clear, disconcertingly alert. She did not answer either man’s questions even when shaken until her teeth clacked together, instead sitting still and silent through the night, eyes on the door as if waiting for it to burst suddenly inward. By daylight she was sound asleep, as if the flights of the nightmare had been physically exhausting, a blankness in her eyes when the brothers attempted once again to question her. It was enough to leave them both uneasy; snappy. The tempers of all three came clearly to the fore for the first time. When the storm at last began to blow itself out it was a relief to make the long trek toward Hidden Jewel, even with the knowledge that they would be stuck there with the tiny, obviously still furious, woman for another night; when she holed up in her room with only baby McKell for company, neither man could have possibly expected what the morning would bring.

“
Lemme see it.” Jacob’s voice was rough with sleep, his eyes still half-closed even as his hand drew the lightweight sheaf over to his stomach, the note that had been attached to the top showing a strange seal broken only moments before by his twin. Blinking to clear the dregs of sleep from tired eyes, he folded the page, wondering at the symbol in the wax, a coat of arms he’d seen only once before inlaid on a saltire cross in Ailill's drawing book. Micah paced the floor nearby, uncertain whether he should feel angered or hurt by the package Ailill had left them, as yet unopened. He felt rather diminished by the honesty in the letter, confused by the fact that she seemed to have taken her leave of them
again
, though, where she might go with three feet of fresh snow outside, he could not even hazard a guess. Opening the page once more, Jacob’s eyes scanned the lines of handwritten script, the words flowing beautifully across the heavy paper; Micah’s mind read once again, the note already burnt into his memory.

                                                                                                
December 25, B.E.F.116

Micah and Jacob,

Words cannot express what I am feeling at this very moment in time. You have made me see my fate in a new light. I fear that if I stay near you I will be changed everafter into no more than a wanton fool, that I will give up my honor and my heart as one. My heart is taken by one man already, your own blood. I believe that I've come to love you both, as well. Is it possible that I have the capacity to love three, the great triple aspect- reborn as three separate beings? I cannot tell. You hurt me, though I cannot answer how, nor why. Jealousy is not in my nature, nor is it acceptable amongst our own kind for it breeds disharmony within the tribe; and yet, you brought such an unnatural characteristic out in me. How? I honestly have no idea... I realize that I have never made a claim on either of you, I assumed that each of you felt more for me than you apparently do. Being wrong infuriates me, all the more when I am forced to admit my own failings.

I have chosen to tread a new path, to sort my jumbled feelings, my scattered thoughts; to find us. Don’t worry, I will not be tempted to lie elsewhere. I am not allowed. I will not see my own heart, neither here nor there. I am not off to the Highlands as you likely believe, though I wish it were so. Absence makes the heart grow fonder but familiarity breeds contempt, lessons I have learned with much difficulty.