by Meara Platt
“Cadeyrn! You take my breath away.” Afterward, she lay nestled in his arms, her heart still pounding and the little pulse at the base of her neck still thrumming. Even after her body quieted, she was consumed by the depth of his passion and the strength of his taut, damp body entwined with hers.
He smiled and drew her atop him, his arms a muscled band across her body. “I’m sorry I couldn’t take you with me after Brihann’s defeat,” he said, his smile fading as he brushed several unruly curls behind her ear. “By the Stone of Draloch! It sounds so good … Brihann defeated … but at such a cost. I feel a vast hole in my heart for the loss of Ygraine. She was so important to us all, a mother, counselor, protector … that is why I had to leave you earlier, to take her spirit where you could not follow.”
“I know how much you cared for Ygraine. She cared deeply for you, too. Where did you set her to rest?”
“At Dragon’s Hearth. I set her ashes free to spread across the dank earth so that her spirit may protect us from the Dragon Lords. Their evil was forged there at the start of our Dark Time, and there it will be extinguished.” He paused and swallowed hard before continuing. “Most Fae are unfeeling creatures, but we all felt a tremor ripple through our hearts upon her death. We all sensed the moment her spirit left her Fae body and entered mine.”
Melody propped on one elbow and gazed at him. “Yours? Why?”
“It was the only way to keep her with us until I could spread her ashes. I thought my heart would burst from the overwhelming pain and sadness, her pain. Her sadness. But I knew it was the right thing to do. She always wanted to be laid to rest there and only now do I understand why. She was mother and protector to us all in life and shall remain so in death.”
Melody put a trembling hand to his cheek. “Cadeyrn, I’m so sorry.”
“She was the one who made you forget what you saw when we traveled back in time. She feared that you, with your understanding of matters of the heart, would guess her true purpose the moment you saw where she had hidden me.”
Melody gasped. “Where did she hide you?”
“Within the Stone of Draloch. It allowed her to put me inside its walls and take me out to feed and change me. She did this for months until Brihann was finally defeated and forced to flee into the underworld. I should have realized that she was the one meant to die, not you or me, for the stone accepted her. Her.”
He sighed and shook his head. “Yet, the stone also allowed you to enter. We couldn’t have traveled back in time through it otherwise. I think that it would have accepted either of you, and that despite appearances, the Prophecy was not set in stone, so to speak. It always knew that love could change its course of destiny.”
“Do you think Ygraine was the one who kept me from breaking free of my bonds?”
“No doubt. She couldn’t let you ruin her plans by saving us all.” He kissed her tenderly on the palm. “It is done. Ygraine is at peace, and the rest of us will recover from her loss in time. She does not wish us to lament her death, but to rejoice in our newly found peace.”
“Fae king shall reign glorious in the Garden of Light,” Melody murmured.
“With his beloved queen by his side. Beloved and admired by all who set eyes upon her.”
Melody snorted.
He sat up and drew her up with him, his arms still warm and gentle as they cradled her body. “It’s true. Why do you laugh at me?”
“Not at you, but at your words. I hope they will admire me in time, but I still have so much to learn about the Fae. I don’t know if I will ever measure up, certainly not to Ygraine’s greatness.”
“But you already have. Fiergrin, Edain, Beogrin, and Lothair saw what you did in Brihann’s hall. You diminished your golden light, purposely lowered your defenses so that Necros could kill you with his fire. You did that for us. You were prepared to sacrifice your life for us. All Fae will soon know it. The others are spreading the word as we speak.” He arched an eyebrow and cast her a wickedly appealing grin, made all the more appealing by the bittersweet poignancy of the moment. “What you did was incredibly brave, but don’t ever do it again. I think you took a thousand years off my life in that moment. I thought I’d lost you.”
“Only a thousand?” she teased, feeling warm and loved and looking forward to her new life with Cadeyrn. But there was still one important matter to resolve.
Cadeyrn immediately sensed her thoughts. “Melody, I asked Beogrin to bring you here and not to my castle for a purpose. I know what troubles you, but I can’t bring your mother with us. She gave you life, but she isn’t like you. She will not survive a crossing into the Fae world.”
Melody had known this moment would arrive. However, knowing didn’t make the parting any easier. Tears welled in her eyes. “Is there any way …”
“No, love. Her heart is too weak, and has always been so, no doubt made worse by the tainted tea she’s been ingesting for months now. Nor will she ever sense your presence if you visit her. She’ll never be able to see you once you cross into the Fae world and are crowned as my queen. That won’t change, even though you’re her daughter and she loves you.”
“She’ll be all alone.” Only four hours had elapsed since she’d overheard the vicar and Lord Babcock making their villainous plans. Only four hours, which meant her mother was still asleep and dreaming of a wedding that would never be, asleep and unaware that Vicar Axwell and Lord Babcock were dead, or that her daughter was about to leave her forever.
“Say the word and Fiergrin will take her to your father’s family in Portsmouth. She will be loved and well cared for over there. Remember Squire Denton?”
She nodded. “He’s one of their neighbors. He has a beautiful estate nearby. He and my father were childhood friends. Why mention him?”
“He will love your mother. I meant it when I said she’d be well cared for. You have only to tell me whether you want her to remember you … or forget you ever existed.”
Melody drew in a breath and let it out slowly. Tears began to stream down her face. “She won’t be sad if she doesn’t know I ever existed.” Yet to cast a spell of forgetfulness? Have your own mother not remember you?
“If this were my choice,” Cadeyrn started softly, “I would want to remember. You are precious to her, as you are precious to me. I would not want to lose a moment of the joy, even if it were mingled with recollection of the grief.”
Melody took a long moment to consider his words, though she knew he was right. Were she given the choice to forget her mother, she would refuse. More tears rolled down her cheeks, for the thought of never touching her mother again, never again feeling her warm, loving arms around her, was hard to bear. She would have Cadeyrn’s arms to hold her now … in time, they’d have children of their own. She would hold these precious innocents in her arms, protect them with all the love and strength inside of her, as Ygraine had protected Cadeyrn, and as her mother had protected her. “You’re awfully clever for a faerie.”
His eyebrow shot up again in that wickedly charming way. “Of course I am. I fell in love with you, didn’t I?”
She nodded. “Can’t argue with that.” Then she donned her robe and walked into her mother’s bedchamber, watching her in her contented sleep. In the sweet silence of approaching dawn, in that perfect moment when the breeze felt cool upon one’s skin, when morning dew gathered upon the grass and lush, green leaves, she bent down and kissed her mother’s cheek. “I love you,” she whispered.
“Melody, song of my heart. I love you too, child.” She took her hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Go back to sleep, dear.”
“Not yet,” she said and began to relate her tale, trying her best to hold back tears as she explained why her mother would never see her again. “But I’ll always be able to see you.”
Her mother sat up and wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Oh, Melody. What are you saying?”
“It’s all true, Mother. The bluebell garden, the faerie king, the evil dragons.”
“Y
ou’ve been listening to those local tales or seen the drawings left by the young boy who lived here before we arrived.”
“No, I’ve lived it. Survived it. Vicar Axwell and Lord Babcock … they meant to kill us. They were working for Brihann, the High Dragon Lord. But Ygraine and Cadeyrn and the other Fae defeated him. I had a part to play in saving their realm. King Cadeyrn wishes me to be his queen and I’ve accepted. I love him with all my heart. I belong with him.” She raised her hands and cast a golden glow about the room.
Her mother paled at the sight of the golden aura filling her bedchamber and then suddenly a resigned look crossed her face. “I know, child,” she said, gently grasping Melody’s hand, seemingly unafraid to touch the power emanating from her fingers. “You’ve had this ability since birth. At first, I thought I had gone mad, for I would see this same, beautiful light emanate from your cradle at each full moon. It stopped upon your first birthday.”
Melody glanced at Cadeyrn in surprise and then looked back at her mother. “You never told me.”
“I never knew what it meant. I thought you had been blessed by the angels and would lead a charmed life. You mentioned the name of Brihann. Mr. Axwell spoke of this foul creature in his sleep, this demon king who’d promised him riches. I thought it was merely a bad dream. And then I began to feel ill.”
“He’d poisoned your tea. But you’re safe now. And you will stay safe and happy in Portsmouth … to the end of your days.”
“But without you.” She shook her head and cast Melody a sad smile. “I’ve lived my life and have known true love with your father. I wish to see you happy, child. I must know that you are content and in love. If I’m never to see you again … oh, Melody! I don’t think I can bear it, but I will, so long as I know you’re well.”
“I will be. I love Cadeyrn with all my heart. I love you, too. I’ll come to you each evening with the moonlight. I’ll come to you upon the evening breeze that brushes your cheek. The breeze against your cheek shall be my kiss goodnight.”
She and her mother exchanged one last embrace and then Melody backed away, cherishing these last glimpses. Fiergrin and Cadeyrn stood in wait on the other side of the door. “I’ll protect your mother,” Fiergrin assured, and there was something in his earnest gaze and the determined cut of his jaw that Melody found comforting.
“I know you will.”
*
The formal wedding and coronation ceremony took place beside the Stone of Draloch one week later, and it was even more splendid than Melody imagined possible. The ladies and gentlemen of Cadeyrn’s court had donned their finest clothes, the ladies in shimmering gowns and necklaces of finest gemstones, the men in silk uniforms and polished black boots.
Cadeyrn was handsomest of all, tall and regal, his black hair curling softly about the nape of his neck, his eyes the deep, sparkling blue of a summer sky, no longer cold as crystal. His uniform was a darker blue, a midnight blue trimmed with gold at his shoulders and sleeve cuffs. He wore a jeweled crown on his head and carried a jeweled sword at his hip. Behind him stood two thrones, his and what would soon be hers, each with dragons intricately carved into their dark wood backs.
She was no longer afraid of those dragons, but hadn’t embraced them either. Cadeyrn had though. He’d signed a formal truce with three of the Dragon Lords—Bloodaxe, Mordain, and Python—within days after Brihann’s defeat, effectively bringing an end to the hostilities. In a gesture of good will, he had invited them to her coronation. They now stood in the shadows and did not mingle with the Fae.
She cast them a warning glance, in the event they doubted that she’d toss them across the universe if they so much as lifted a finger against any Fae. Edain stood in the shadows as well, a troubling sign. Melody would talk to Cadeyrn about her soon, but not today.
Cadeyrn smiled and held out his hand as she approached. “You’ll have everyone quaking and on their knees if you continue to scowl. By the way, you look beautiful in that gown,” he whispered, “but even better with it off.”
The forest green fabric fell across her body in soft, shimmering waves as though spun from starlight. Heat rose in her cheeks. “You’re a fiend.”
His smile broadened. “No, sweetheart. I’m a man in love.”
Well, she couldn’t be angry with that. “Me, too. Just not the man part.” Though she was in love with his manly parts. Couldn’t wait to fall into bed with all his parts.
She did just that much later that evening, after he’d set her crown upon her head—a simple, utterly magnificent smaller version of his own—and after she’d danced and feasted the night away beneath the silver moon and a canopy of glistening stars.
She’d made no protest when Cadeyrn took her hand and they’d quietly slipped away from the celebration. He now led her into his bedchamber, which was theirs to share now, and closed the door with a soft click of the lock. The magical strains of a Fae harp filtered into the room, its tones soft and gentle to her ears.
Melody’s heart was thrumming.
Cadeyrn crossed the room in three strides, swept her into his arms, and spun her around, twirling and laughing. By the time they were done running their hands all over each other, their clothes lay in pools on the floor. She still felt giddy, whether from the flowing wine or the spinning, she didn’t know or really care, for in the next moment, Cadeyrn had her on the bed, his body settled over hers and her hands in his warm grasp.
“Wait.” She tried to slip out of his grasp. “I’ve forgotten to take off my crown.”
He cast her a sensual grin. “Keep it on. I like how it looks on you, how naturally it winds among your glorious curls. You were meant to wear it.”
His mouth closed over hers, hot and gently demanding. He kissed her again, his tongue warm on her lips. He moved lower to kiss the throbbing pulse point on her neck. She sighed as he moved lower still and his mouth closed over her breast. His tongue found its hardened pink bud.
She groaned as his fingers slid to the heat between her thighs.
Only Cadeyrn could work this hot magic.
In the morning, as the golden sun burst upon the day, Cadeyrn drew her close against his body. She hardly thought it possible for they were already so closely entwined.
“Melody,” he said, drawing a soft, raspy breath.
She opened her eyes and smiled up at him.
“I never fully understood the Prophecy until now. Perhaps I still don’t have it right, but there is one thing of which I’m sure. The Garden of Light … it isn’t my kingdom … it isn’t a piece of land at all. It never was. The truth was there, staring at me all along, but I was too stupid to realize it.”
She started to laugh, and then realized he was serious. “What is it then?”
“You. I love you, Melody. You’re my home. My happiness. You’re my Garden of Light.”
THE END
Dear Readers,
I hope you enjoyed the journey undertaken by Cadeyrn and Melody. Cadeyrn struggled for five thousand years to find Melody, his true love. But he got it all wrong the first time around, his bad boy, demon side failing to work his considerable Fae magic on Julia Marsden, the vicar’s daughter who resided at St. Lodore’s shortly before Melody arrived. Read on for a sneak peek at the prequel to Garden of Light, which is called Garden of Shadows. As always, love conquers all, so please join me on Julia’s journey to find true love with the very mortal, very sexy Douglas Hawke, the Earl of Eastbourne.
I’ve also included a sneak peek at Garden of Dragons, Book 3 in the Dark Gardens series. The demonic Dragon Lord Brihann, still stinging from his defeat at the hands of the Fae, gathers his demon army, his evil intent to conquer the world of mortals. It is left to Saron Blakefield, the powerful Duke of Draloch, a man whose soul is connected to both the demon and mortal worlds, to stop Brihann. But with every encounter, Saron feels the darkness stirring in his soul. Can Anabelle Harleigh, the duke’s beautiful and fiery ward, save him?
SNEAK PEEK AT
GARDEN OF SHADOWS
by
Meara Platt
Danger lurks in the Garden of Shadows for Julia Marsden, the daughter of the late vicar of St. Lodore’s in the quiet village of Borrowdale. Julia doesn’t believe in faeries or magic or dreams coming true, but odd things have been happening at the vicarage lately that cannot be explained. As Julia begins to fall under the spell of the powerful faerie king Cadeyrn, she realizes that only her love for Douglas Hawke, the Earl of Eastbourne, a man she considers an enemy, can save her. Is Douglas capable of loving Julia, even at the cost of his own life?
Chapter One
Lake District
Borrowdale, England
October 1816
Douglas Hawke, sixth Earl of Eastbourne, reined his mount at the crest of a gently rolling hill and peered into the distance to survey the quiet village of Borrowdale. The tiny enclave of golden thatched roofs and white stone walls blended serenely with the dark fells and high crags soaring above it, creating the illusion of a place lost in time, hidden from the outside world for the past six hundred years. “At last,” he said softly, turning to his companion. “We’ll steal the boy tonight.”
“Tonight?” Homer Barrow, the Bow Street runner he’d retained to search for his lost nephew, cast him an uncertain glance. “Ain’t that a bit quick, m’lord?”
“Miss Marsden had to know this day would come. As did you when you accepted the assignment, Mr. Barrow. Having second thoughts?”
Homer, reputed to be one of the finest runners in London, wiggled his bulbous red nose and grumbled. “No, but I gained her trust. We became friendly, she and I.”
That Homer had developed a soft spot for the Marsden girl was of some concern to Douglas, but the old man wasn’t needed to complete the hardest and most unpleasant part of the task, which Douglas knew could only fall to himself. “You’ve done your job and shall receive a hefty fee. You’ve earned it and I have no intention of cheating you out of it.”