“We know it’s Semper and his family behind all this,” Dylan said. “What we don’t know is how to join everything up.”
“I do.” Blaine and Atalanta spoke up together. The look that passed between them could have set paper alight.
“Tally and Blaine?” Meryl murmured in Marloth’s ear. “I’d sort of got the idea you sent her to me. She let slip you’d been at uni together.”
“I did, but no idea what this is.”
Dylan frowned at them, and Meryl and Marloth exchanged glances. Marloth felt like a naughty kid found with his hands in the sweetie jar. He half expected his knuckles to be rapped with a ruler. It was unnerving, and he forced himself not to squirm.
“Go on, then.” Dylan looked at his cousin. Blaine walked over to Tally and helped her to her feet. Dylan moved to Mia and lifted her to sit on his lap. “Over to you,” he said to Blaine.
Blaine cleared his throat. “Well. Years ago, my dad had a fling with a woman called Dorothy. Understand this was before he met mum. Once he did, there was no one else for him. Anyway, to get back to the story, unbeknownst to him, Dorothy had a child—and didn’t contact dad to tell him. This all came out very recently, and to say we were gobsmacked is an understatement. That child was Semper. Dorothy was from a powerful shifter family, and her powers passed to her son. But he’s older than me, and our people don’t insist on legitimate children of males to inherit. He’s next in line if Dylan choses not to take on the mantle. Therefore, he was determined to do his best to get the power if he could. You need to combine that with the fact that, if his family aligned with Marloth’s, then they would become all-powerful. Okay, Faran’s family is absolute, but there are rules forbidding marriage between groups only one step away from each other. Hence, Marloth was the ideal choice. So when Marloth met Meryl and seemed serious, Semper stepped in to destroy the relationship. Marloth was called away on a spurious pretext, and then told lies about Meryl’s behavior.”
Meryl gasped and leaned into Marloth. Even though Marloth had told her the basics, it sounded harsh and ugly coming form someone else. He was certain she muttered something about rusty shears and balls.
“Emails were intercepted, and it wasn’t until this holiday was arranged that things came to a head,” Faran continued, and scowled at Meryl. As far as Marloth could see without turning his head, the look she gave Faran in return was enough to freeze hot water.
“But however much we searched, I couldn’t find out who Semper wanted to marry to Marloth.”
“Me.” Atalanta swayed, and Blaine put his arm around her shoulder. She smiled at him, and as Meryl said later, it was like the sun had come out.
“Semper’s mum married my dad when I was three.” Atalanta explained. “And I was told all along; I was destiny for the family. I was not impressed. The shitebag always creeped me out. At one point, I had an awful suspicion he thought I was the one for him, but thank god he didn’t.”
“Amen.” Blaine said soberly. “Because you’re the one for me.”
Atalanta burst into tears. Marloth glanced at Meryl out of the corner of his eye and spoke between half closed lips. “And on that note, I reckon this meeting will be reconvened later. So I think we need to find something to pass the time. Look.” He nudged her to look in the direction of her friend.
Blaine had Atalanta in his arms, and Dylan held the door open for him. As they left the room, and Faran followed them, Marloth turned to Meryl. She stood up and pulled him to his feet.
“Any suggestions?” Marloth asked her.
She tugged him in the direction of the door. “Plenty, stop rushing, smell the daisies—”
He stopped her by putting his mouth over hers and thrusting his tongue between her parted lips.
“Oh lordy, not again.” Dylan’s humorous voice filtered into Marloth’s brain. “Get a room.”
He lifted his head and grinned. Mia stood beside Dylan and to his surprise, she gave her sister a discreet thumbs up. Meryl giggled and teased the back of his neck with shiver inducing swirls of her fingers.
“We’re smelling the daisies,” she said, and Mia snorted.
“Like that?” Dylan sniggered. “Well, I guess it’s better than looking at his etchings.”
“Don’t worry, we intend to get a room,” Marloth assured Dylan. “Don’t we, love? After the daisy-scenting expedition. Er, where are they?”
“Not on your tonsils, anyway.”
“How do you know that?” Meryl said with a laugh. “He might have hidden depths and all that in with his shiftering abilities. I’m happy to find out, whether its flowers or etchings . . . or . . . oh my.”
Marloth slipped the ring he’d bought with hope and intention so long before onto her free hand. He gave a sigh of relief when she’d tickled him with her right hand. Mia glanced down and her eyes widened. He held his breath. To his joy, she nodded with approval.
“Oh, I’m going to cry. I love you.” She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her hand. “Definitely a room, for a day or two, or a month or a year.” She wriggled her fingers to show the diamond solitaire. “I need asking now, and I reckon it might take a lot of practice. The down on one knee declaration and stuff. Oh, and a poem by Wordsworth, or a Shakespeare sonnet or two, and well . . . ooft.” Marloth shut her up by the simple expedition of a kiss. When he drew back she laughed out loud. “Yes, well, anyway . . . Mind you” —she made a show of cupping her mouth so Marloth couldn’t see it— “I do intend to say yes.”
Raven lives in Scotland, along with her husband and their two cats—their children having flown the nest—surrounded by beautiful scenery, which inspires a lot of the settings in her books.
She is used to sharing her life with the occasional deer, red squirrel, and lost tourist, to say nothing of the scourge of Scotland—the midge.
A lover of reading, she appreciates the history inside a book, and the chance to peek into the lives of those from years ago. Raven admits that she enjoys the research for her books almost as much as the writing; so much so, that sometimes she realizes she's strayed way past the information she needs to know, and not a paragraph has been added to her WIP.
Her lovely long-suffering husband is learning to love the dust bunnies, work the Aga, and be on stand-by with a glass of wine.
You can find out more about Raven at the following links:
Website | Blog | Facebook Fanpage | Facebook Profile | Twitter
To Leona, Doris, and Jinxie for all their hard work. And the staff of a very special island in the Indian Ocean. It might not be Isola Dei Sogni, but it was fantastic!
Other Books from Just Ink Press
Anthologies
Into the Darkness
R.C. Murphy
Enslaved
N.L. Gervasio
Nemesis
The Dracove
Gods & Vampyres
Raven McAllan
Impulse
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Temptation Page 8