Merlin merely gave Lochlan a knowing smile and otherwise ignored the question. “Once Morgan arrives here, she can open a portal to Earth or Faery from here—the queen’s wards are only effective against opening portals between Faery and Earth. The Twilight Realm is a loophole in the magic.”
“What I don’t understand is why she’s opening portals to Earth instead of Faery. If she hates Guin so much and wants to end her reign, why not just send the Unseelie and Shadow Fae to the Seelie kingdom?” I wondered aloud.
“The reason is twofold: first, she wants humans to learn of the Fae so that Guin can no longer keep them a secret. Second, she knows that Guin is arrogant and without direct evidence of Unseelie entering her kingdom, she will not believe the threat is real until too late.”
“If that’s the case, her plans are unfolding nicely,” I groused.
Merlin’s lips thinned at the reminder of Guin’s reticence to acknowledge Morgan as a threat. “On that note, let’s see if you can get us back from where we came,” he suggested a bit wearily.
I raised my hands and closed my eyes, summoning the power within me and visualizing the grassy clearing. The magic swelled and then ebbed but no portal appeared. “How much of each magic am I supposed to use?”
“That is something you will have to discover for yourself. My methods are not the same as yours and I have no experience as a Twilight Fae from which to guide you.”
“How do you know I can even open one of these portals then?”
“I don’t,” he said casually as I stared at him wide-eyed.
“Well, super,” I muttered.
My forehead beaded with sweat as I tried repeatedly to open a portal with no success. I had no idea how much time we had actually spent there, or how the time there compared to time in Faery or on Earth. Eventually Merlin held open a portal as each of us stepped back through to the Shadow Lands. However, once his turn came, Merlin simply smiled at me affectionately from the other side of the portal.
“Don’t get discouraged, you will master this ability as you have done all the others. I have other matters to attend to, but I will see you again soon.” With that said, he dropped his hands and the portal opening collapsed.
We walked back to camp and had lunch in silence. I was mentally drained from my numerous failed attempts at opening a portal so I was not up for more magic lessons, but I had missed my morning training session with Lochlan and my body was buzzing with unused energy. It seemed he had his own frustrations to work out as he was happy to oblige my request to train so we spent the next hour sparring until my body was limp with exhaustion.
When I sat down for our evening meal, I realized that Knight had left along with Merlin. I hadn’t particularly missed him while I’d been gone, but having a visit from my companion made the loss of him that much more evident.
18
That evening as I sat by our humble cooking fire I thought about Ashley. Was she adjusting to her new life? Was she having sex with Michael to feed her magic, and if so, was that a good thing? Now that I had an idea what was bothering her, I desperately wanted to know how she was doing. Days earlier I had tried to reach her by dream walking but had been unsuccessful. With nothing better to do, I decided to try again—if I learned anything at all during my time in the Shadow Lands, it was the importance of not giving up.
I closed my eyes and drew my powers to the surface. Dream walking was a predominantly dark magic tool and required me to pull those powers from deep inside me. I visualized Ashley with her long straight blond hair and vibrant blue eyes staring at me expectantly. In my mind’s eye she wore one of her standard summer dresses, tiny waist emphasized by the cut of the floral dress. As I concentrated on every tiny detail about my best friend, the small mole on her left cheek and the coral color she loved to paint her nails, the image in my mind became the image before me. I was standing with Ashley in the living room of our apartment in the Huntsman building.
Her eyes narrowed at me and she crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not happy with you.”
“What did I do?” I asked, taken aback.
“You left me here while you went gallivanting in Faery. I’m stuck dealing with Fred Flintstone going all caveman on me.”
My brows drew together in confusion. “Are you talking about Michael?”
“Of course I’m talking about Michael.” She dropped down onto the couch with exasperation. “You’re pretty slow for a figment of my imagination.”
“I’m not a figment of your imagination, I’m dream walking. It’s one of my powers and I came to check on you, make sure you were okay.”
Ashley paused and her head tipped to the side assessing me. “How would I know you were really you and not just a dream? If I give you a question to answer, I’ll know the answer so you would too—it would have to be a question I don’t know the answer to but then I could just make up the answer and feed it to you if you’re a dream.”
“Good Lord, Ashley, I have no idea. Can you just talk to me regardless of whether I’m real or not?” I sat down on the couch next to her and looked at her pleadingly.
“Whatever, it’s not like there’s anything to say anyway.”
“You sure had plenty to say when I first got here. Ash, why didn’t you tell me about having to learn to feed your magic?”
She lay her head back on the couch cushions, eyes drawn up to the ceiling. “Everything’s just been so complicated. At first I tried to convince myself that it was no big deal, and for a couple months it wasn’t. Then it became a big deal and I thought about telling you, but then you talked about Lochlan like he was horrible for messing around—I didn’t feel like talking to you about having to do the exact same thing. Plus, Michael has been so confusing and then he had to leave and there was Liam and now everything is a mess.”
“Wait, Liam?”
“It’s a long story.” She muttered.
“I’ve got time.”
Suddenly she shot upright and then she was gone. Poof.
I was alone in the room as it faded to black and then I was back by our small campfire in the chilly evening air. I started when a throat cleared beside me. Lochlan sat just inches away, staring into the dying flames.
“Dream walking?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, I wanted to check on Ashley and use the opportunity to test my skills. We didn’t get to talk long though, I guess something pulled her away from me.”
Instead of looking at the fire, my eyes were drawn up to the clear sky. Three moons, all in some phase of waxing or waning, glowed softly on the landscape below. The etching on my necklace bore the three crescent moons representative of the Shadow Lands and its dark magic. As bleak and frightening as that place could be, it was also beautiful, and my magic was a product of that land—entrenched in mystery and deceit but also glorious in its own right. The magic itself was not intrinsically evil, just as light magic was not necessarily benevolent. A knife could be used to kill, but that didn’t make it evil. I wouldn’t let the stereotypes of the Fae world color my perspective of myself simply because I could wield dark magic.
Lochlan’s magic was solely light based, but he was not without his own element of darkness. He was broody and kept his own confidence, not to mention he could be unbelievably stubborn and even vicious if needed. His dynamic complexity just made my desire for him burn brighter rather than dwindle.
“Lochlan?” I said hesitantly.
He simply raised a brow in reply.
“Did you know that Fen lost his magic because he can’t feed here?” I asked quietly, not wanting Fen to overhear me talking about him.
“I hadn’t discussed it with him, but I knew that was likely what had happened.”
I looked at the proud Fae warrior who sat beside me. We had been there for two long weeks and he had told me previously that he needed to feed every two to four weeks depending on how much magic he used. Was his magic growing weak? How quickly did Fae powers fade? The thought of Lochlan rendered powerles
s to perform the simplest of his natural Fae abilities tore agonizingly at my heart.
“Do you need to feed?” I asked him, avoiding looking in his direction.
His head slowly turned toward me and when I met his eyes they were frighteningly intense. “Is that an offer?” His guttural voice vibrated straight to my belly and my lips parted as I held his gaze.
“You said you could feed from the release and that you didn’t have to have sex, is that right?”
A single nod.
I licked my lips and his eyes followed the movement. Knowing he was as affected by me as I was by him was a heady feeling. “Is there a way for us to have privacy?”
His long legs unfolded and he towered over me. In one swift motion he lifted me to my feet and tugged me behind the nearest tree. The light from our dwindling campfire glittered in his eyes as they searched me for any hint of doubt. “Fen was already snoring, he won’t budge until morning,” he said before leaning in to suck on my bottom lip.
I could feel the tug of desire wanting me to lose myself in the sensation but my reluctance to put on a show had me pulling back. “Lochlan, what if he hears us?”
“You’ll just have to be quiet so he won’t hear you.” He pressed my back against the tree trunk and even the scratchy bark wasn’t enough to dim my lust-drunk haze as his hand massaged my aching breast. His other hand deftly opened my jeans and slid down inside my panties to cup my sex.
I gasped at the warm touch of his strong hands and his lips pulled back in a devious smile.
“Remember…quiet,” he teased as he gently rolled his talented finger around and around my throbbing clit. He lowered his mouth to the base of my neck, licking and nibbling at my sensitive flesh. Then as I was distracted with his sensual mouth, his hand dipped lower and two fingers delved inside of my slick entrance.
My mouth dropped open on a silent cry at the intense pleasure flooding my body. I rocked my hips to the rhythm of his hand pushing in an out of me while he rubbed my sensitive bud with his palm.
“I would never tire of watching you fuck my fingers,” he rumbled in my ear before nipping at my lobe. His other hand lifted up under my shirt and when he twisted my pebbled nipple a tsunami of pleasure exploded inside of me. His mouth crashed down on mine to muffle my scream as wave after wave of bliss careened through me.
As my addled brain emerged from its post-orgasmic fog he slowly withdrew his hands and righted my clothing.
“Did you feed? I never felt anything.”
“You didn’t feel anything?" he teased coyly.
“Well, you know what I mean, I couldn’t feel you feed.”
“I did. What exactly did you think you would feel?”
“I don’t know, just figured I’d be able to tell.”
“Perhaps when a Fae is just learning, but this was not my first time to feed.”
My stomach rose in my throat at his words. “Okay, I’m pretty tired so I’m going to head to bed.” I turned and began to walk the short distance toward the cabin until his firm grip took hold of my wrist.
“You know that wasn’t just a feeding for me, right?” he asked with his brows pinched.
I couldn’t meet his eyes. “I don’t know anything, Lochlan. You were interested in me, yeah, but how am supposed to know when your interest is because of me, rather than just a need to boost your magic?”
His fingers came to my chin and lifted my head just enough for our eyes to meet. “Do I seem like the type of man who would let a woman confuse the two?”
I chewed on my lip and gently shook my head. If he was between my legs simply to feed, I would know it. Not a full-blown confession of his undying love for me, but it was his way of saying he cared. For a man like Lochlan, such an admission was highly unusual.
I didn’t want to put too much weight in his comment, but I could feel my heart begging to latch itself onto this rock of a man. A girl could die happy knowing she was the center of Lochlan’s world. He was the type of man who would cherish, support, and be brutally honest with whoever captured his heart. I had no delusions that I was that girl, but the more I learned of him, the more I realized I wanted to be that girl.
19
It took me three long, frustrating days of failed attempts before I was finally able to figure out how to open a portal to the Twilight Realm. Granted, it was another two full days until I actually opened one successfully, but I learned the balance of power needed and had been able to create the start of a swirling portal door before I lost concentration and it dissipated.
The first time I opened a portal large enough to walk through, I lost my head and began screaming ecstatically. Lochlan came tearing through the trees, bow aimed for possible threats and found me jumping up and down clapping. After I had received a thorough chastising, I reopened a portal and we were both able to walk through.
Throughout those days I continued to work tirelessly training with Lochlan in the mornings and evenings. During the middle of the day I would rotate practice on various magic skills, with a focus on opening portals. If I couldn’t open a portal to the Twilight Realm, none of the other stuff mattered.
On the morning of the twenty-eighth day in the Shadow Lands, Fenodree and Lochlan informed me that it was time for a test. As much as I was terrified of what kind of test I would face, our time was running out and I was growing more anxious each day to get back to Earth. Unless Lochlan had some type of telepathy or secret carrier pigeons that I was unaware of, we had no way of communicating with anyone. The only person outside of Lochlan and Fen that I had been able to dream walk with was Ashley, and I had been unable to duplicate my visit with her. There was no telling what had transpired in our absence, not to mention I was ready to get home and take the longest, hottest shower on record.
We skipped my morning hand-to-hand session and instead followed Fenodree to a clearing several miles from the cabin. The farther we strayed from the safety of our little homestead, the more on edge I became. By the time we reached the grassy stretch about fifty meters across, I was jumping at every sound and had chewed the inside of my cheeks raw.
It was still early and a low-level fog blanketed the dry grasses. When we reached the middle of the clearing I started to notice a foul odor and scanned the area for its source. “What the hell is that smell?”
Lochlan froze mid-stride and his head drew back to search the skies beyond the tops of the paltry trees surrounding us. “Fenodree, this is too much,” he said in a hushed tone.
“It is not too much, it is a test, and she will succeed.” Fen replied harshly.
“You guys are freaking me out, what is this test?”
Fen turned his attention to me, his face a mask. “What you smell is the Sluagh. They are the Unforgiving Dead, a swarm of malevolent souls of evil Fae. They seek to slaughter and destroy all they come into contact with. You will need to think quickly and use all your resources.”
“Jesus, a swarm?” I shot at him in horror. “One evil Fae soul isn’t enough, you want to sic a swarm of them on me? I can’t do this, Fen. We need to get out of here now.” I looked frantically back at the tree line searching for the host of Sluagh, and while I couldn’t see anything, the smell became more putrid by the second. When I turned back to Fen and Lochlan, they were gone. I spun around in a circle and found myself alone.
I was going to fucking kill them when this was over, but first, I had to get a grip on myself. Taking a cleansing breath, I pulled out my knife and stood in a defensive posture. From a distance I could just make out a horrible whining sound—almost like pinching the neck of a balloon and letting the air out slowly. The shrieking noise was painful to my ears the louder it became and my breaths came out in shallow puffs, struggling to keep pace with my racing heart.
I thought I’d experienced terror before when I’d defended myself against the Red Caps, Ronan, and the Lambton Worm—they had all been frightening experiences. But the lengthy anticipation of knowing something horrible was coming was infinitely worse
than a sudden assault when you have no time to dwell on your assailant. As I stood in the clearing waiting for the arrival of the host of undead Fae, crippling panic gripped my mind. Instead of strategizing my defense, I stood rooted to the ground, paralyzed with fear.
Not moving particularly fast, a mob of amorphous beings with a grey cloudy aura around them floated over the treetops just before me. They were packed together tightly in a group of about thirty opaque spirits wailing as they drifted through the sky. There were still some distance away but I could just make out their contorted malformed faces.
While they were definitely terrifying, seeing them helped pull me out of my fear-induced lock-down. My mind raced for ways to combat the nebulous cloud of angry souls. I summoned my power and became invisible, looking at my hands to make certain I couldn’t be seen.
The Sluagh continued in my direction. As a further precaution, I pulled the misty fog from the clearing and formed a protective shield between me and the mob. The closer the ghosts came, the faster they moved in my direction. They hadn’t been fooled, somehow they could see me despite my invisibility.
Rage and fury roiled off the mob in waves and I thought that maybe if they weren’t so angry, they wouldn’t feel the need to come after me. I attempted to calm them, pulling the negative energy toward me as best I could from a distance. Unfortunately, that only seemed to enrage them further as the wailing grew more intense and they started to vibrate with energy.
There was no way I could put darkness into them since I needed touch to perform that trick and the Sluagh wasn’t corporeal—not that I was willing to get close enough to try anyway. My breathing became ragged as the screeching ghosts closed in on me. I had no idea how to stop them and terror was impeding any rational plan I might have concocted.
“Stop!” I yelled harshly. I wasn’t sure what had compelled me to yell at them—had someone told me when approached by a hoard of insanely angry ghosts I should scream at them, I would have said that was nuts. But to my surprise, they pulled up short and stopped for a moment. I realized that when I had spoken, I had infused my voice with magic, like issuing a magical command.
Twilight Siege: A Dark Fantasy Novel (The Fae Games Book 2) Page 19