"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I didn't mean any insult to you, only to him."
Her eyes were luminous pools when she raised her head to look at them, the light reflecting off the water behind the two men shimmered over the blue irises as if they glowed from within; the shadows painted across the chiseled planes of her face lent an unusual flavor to her features, making her look very much the pixie; like the fairy queen shown in Micah's drawings. But no... they'd, both, already decided that what had happened so far could not have been real. It was easier to grasp at the threads of denial; a choice each had made, had mutually agreed to do, as they made their way through the forest to find the girl and bring her back to where theybelieved she belonged. As if in defense of their choice, the dark eyes took on a slightly glazed look when they settled on Ailill's fiery head, the strangeness of it lost on her as her mind wandered.
Thoughts of her earlier interlude with Micah filled her head; she attributed it to the fact that every time she looked up she saw him double. The two looked so alike that it was difficult to tell them apart; she found herself wondering if they were as alike in other ways. The only difference she had noticed thus far was that while Micah was shy and sensitive, Jacob was outspoken and a little bit mean; it was an act, she knew, but he'd honed it to perfection. Her eyes sought Micah's and she realized with a start that her body, so newly awakened to the promise of what desire could give, was responding to them both, her fingers moving of their own accord to explore the smooth, taut skin beneath them, sliding closer to the heat emanating from under twin whorls of dark curls. Taking a deep breath, letting it out slowly, Ailill decided on a new tactic for bringing the two more willingly to her side; the heat of them was immense, the growing shafts filling her small hands, the echoed pulsebeat in perfect rhythm under her sensitive fingertips.
"I ken a many things about both o' you," she whispered, flexing the muscles in her forearms with strength and surprising dexterity. "Things which you'd not say. But I'd like very much to ken...mmm...well, everything. Do you understand?"
Taking hold of her hand to correct the movement, Jacob smiled wickedly down into her upturned face. "The real question here," he answered through his teeth, his voice sharp, cunning, "is do youunderstand, darlin'? Do you even know what you've gotten yourself into?"
Eyes widening in sudden realization, Ailill knew instantly that she had fallen into a perfectly laid trap set by not one, but both of the brothers. She turned her gaze on Micah and saw that his expression mirrored his twin's exactly; the look of a man who knows exactly what he wants, a dark intensity that made her gasp, try to pull away. She found her hands locked into place, bound by long work-callused fingers; the hands engulfing her own moved with purpose, intent on forcing her to finish what she had started; a punishment, of sorts, because she'd nearly left them for another.
"Y'all are outnumbered, Abby darlin'. Will you fight, when we take you, or will you cry?" Micah's voice was stony, his eyes gleamed with ferocity and something else which Ailill could not put a name to. He reached over and pinched her nipple, harder than was necessary, making her yelp in painful surprise.
Jacob laughed and followed his twin's lead. "Don't play games with us, little girl," he commanded, pinching her again. "You think you can flaunt your hot little body in our faces, touch us as you please, and weget nothin' from you? Or were y'all plannin' on leavin' me hangin' again, while Micah gets it all? Well guess what..." Yanking her roughly towards him, Jacob kissed her hard, probing deep with his tongue until she nearly choked.
Coughing and sputtering, Ailill barely had time to catch her breath as Micah gave her similar treatment. "I gave you mine," he murmured, pulling away at last. Gazing blankly into her eyes, he added, "and you gave me yours, but Jacob ain't never had such sweetness, never tasted such bliss, and we share everything, darlin'; always have, always will. It's two to one, beautiful, and we aim to love ya as one man. Think of it as a goodbye, for when you actually doleave us behind." His grip was like steel, fingers digging deep into her shoulder momentarily before releasing her with a jerk.
"No. I don't want to lie with you right now," she whispered, appalled. "I ca...can't, be shared like you say. It is... quite disgustin', what you say, and I will not." Her chin came up, defiant. "I refuse."
"Then we'll make you. Both of us, together... leoday," Jacob growled into her ear.
Feeling long fingers snake their way over her thighs, Ailill clamped her legs together tightly, shaking her head in disbelief, vaguely wondering where he had learned thatword. "Don't call me that, Jacob! I don't tease anything! I am only one," she hissed, becoming angry. "It isn't possible."
"Oh, it's possible," Jacob drawled, mocking her. "You've delivered babies, darlin'. Y'all know full well it's possible." He clamped his fingers into the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, laughed darkly at sight of her clenched teeth. "A woman's ability to stretch is... astounding. Don't y'all agree, Brother?"
Micah answered by acting in kind. Together they parted her legs, proof of their own strength, too easy despite her efforts to struggle away; as if she were a weakling, a mere lass. "After all," he breathed. "You are the one that says we can't divide our blood. But we candivide yours, if that's what it takes...mmm, well."
Still weak, feeling unaccustomedly vulnerable, her arms beginning to shake from the constant up and down motion each still managed to force upon her, Ailill stiffened her spine; her fingers gripped the hot shafts tighter and, using rapid movements, finished what she had so innocently started, the feeling of power that had filled her earlier gone completely as each young man shuddered with his release; together, as one.
Relaxing their hold, Micah and Jacob had to literally remove her fingers before she would stop; once they did, she sat with her head bowed low, forehead resting on her knees, completely silent as she tried to control the shaking in her limbs from exertion, a weakness caused by days of deep slumber, her own great strength given so that these two men would be hale. Perplexity was mirrored on the faces of both when their eyes met over her head; laying a large, tentative hand on Ailill's sweat dampened shoulder, the gentle touch caused a breathy sob to escape from behind her lips that made Micah feel instantly contrite. He looked at Jacob with wide eyes but his twin only shrugged, shocked and not a little disconcerted by her reaction. They had only been teasing; neither had any intention of acting on their threats. It was not in either man's nature to force himself on anyone, especially a tiny, helpless woman, no matter how attractive she happened to be. The satisfaction of Ailill's handiwork fell away like the shedding of a plaid, leaving him suddenly chilled; flashing his twin a look that very clearly said dosomething, Jacob got up and stalked away. Reaching out, full of compassion and love, to gather Ailill onto his lap, the soft words of apology died on Micah's lips when she knocked him back with a violent slap across the high arch of his left cheekbone; surprise flitted across his handsome features, followed quickly by anger; his eyes filled with painful tears, her aim right on target.
"Don't touch me again, Micah, not ever!" Ailill's voice rang out in the clearing, hoarsened with fury. "Ye fuckin' prick, are ye happy now? Are ye pleased wi' yourself, ye radjy bastard?" Jumping to her feet, she drew back, kicked him hard in the thigh. He slapped a large hand round her ankle, yanking her easily to her knees; she jumped right back up, fists resting on her hips, nostrils flaring, the gem there glittering like a tiny icy flame beneath eyes of fire.
"Don't strike me again, Ailill," he warned, suddenly furious. "I put up with beating's from one man far too long. I ain't gonna take anymore, especially not from some flirt who can't sort out her own desires."
"Och, nay, toll-toine, ye think ye can just do as ye please to meto make up for all yer troubles, whether it be striking with fists, or an o'ersized cock, or drainin' my body o' its own lifeforce with wolf fangs! I trusted you, I gave myself to you, allof me, and then ye sit here makin' vile threats to my person! How dare ye use me so!"
"Aw, come on," Micah said, a vain a
ttempt to calm her, to calm himself. "It ain't like that and you know it. We were playin' is all, we didn't mean nothin' by it. Hell, Ailill, for being so smart, you sure as hell are naive; you definitelytake everything too goddamned literal. You can't just go touching people, especially without any clothes on... it makes a man crazy. Not good for such an innocent little girl, I can tell ya! You're lucky it was us; no other man would be as nice, you'd have easily been raped by now. Did ya ever stop to think of that?" He glared at her, furious, wanting to get back at her for almost leaving tonight; she glared right back.
"For thinkin' me a little girl, Micah, ye certainly don't have any problem at all with takin' what you want, anytime ye want it; that's as close to rape as any would ever come with me. What's next then, a bit o' gammy? Ceann la? Because I have been raised to accept it all, aye, a druisealachd... perhaps I should be on my knees, Micah, so you might prove your virility a wee bit more tonight... ye ungrateful shit; and you, ye minging hoor!" She spun around, eyes ablaze as they settled on Jacob's freshly clad form five feet away; his eyes were widened with shock at her reaction, the color visible through the shadows.
"You have got no right to meunless I invite you into me; you burn for all lasses in general, as well a couple lads, from what I have learned, and yet you want me, the most accomplished woman you will ever know, aye, the best fuck in the mortal world! Och, didn't think I kent all about that, did ye?" she fairly spat. Her face split into a maniacal grin as she took a step toward him. "Ye believe I am buidseach, after all, Jacob, you arrogant, slutty man! What you don't want to believe is that I am far more than some piddly wee witch. Imbas Forasniis naught in comparison with all that I am, all that I know, and you insult my intelligence simply by callin' me a witch! Why should I want for either of you in my bed? In mo piseag? Why? So you can sully me with your filthy minds, using my body as a piece o' meat, or better yet, bloodypie? So you can drain away my lifeforce with yon hidden canines whilst ye fill me with your perverted seed, tear me asunder with two wicked stonners? Hell! No!" she all but bellowed. "I didn't ask for this! I didn't want you, neither one. I only ever wanted Tiernan, and I can't lie with him 'til I've lain at least once with both of you, and even then I must take you again, all of you in a day, produce from your seed as proof that I carried out yon fucked-uprequirement laid upon my by my own kin, my own people! The seed of the tierce, the reborn triple aspect, the bairns o' three different men growin' to term as one in my own belly so that youmay live everafter! It is sick, I tell you, and I would never ask for such punishment in a million cursed lifetimes. Ye may as well force me now, Jacob Morna, take me right here on this unhallowed ground because I can tell you, you'll not win my heart, not with the way ye treat the lasses. I am not just some little girl." The words came out in a hateful sneer, her cobalt eyes gleaming with an ageless quality that was evident, the darkness of night, the whites no longer visible.
"I am aulder than ye'd e'er believe, laddie; far too intelligent to waste anymore time wi' daft little boys as yourselves," she went on, her voice thick with a plethora of emotions, eyes dry, gleaming hatefully. "I am goin' home, back to the Highlands, where I am treated with more respect by every single person there than youcould come up with in a lifetime. 'Tis worth the risks I will take in doin' it, worth losing everything, if it means gettin' the hell away from you. Ye can both just... just, focailleat!" Yanking her discarded nightgown up from the grassy bank, Ailill stalked away, more furious than she had ever been, hurt enough by their actions, by Micah's, to take a chance at losing all she had worked so hard, for so long, to earn. Both men watched her go; beautiful, vibrant, enchanting even in her rage; their eyes following when their feet could not, meeting with twin looks of consternation when Ailill Bascna-Morna, Princess of Sidhe, suddenly vanished into the shadows.
Ailill
In the dusky blue basin of the twilight sky, a half moon rose slowly, the pale, luminescent disk slit down the center with a perfect precision that could be seen through the deep green leaves along the tops of a stand of oak trees, the trunks each as big around as two fully grown men. Uncluttered by cloud cover, the path of starshine shimmered brightly across the night sky, twinkling here and there with the last breaths of planets long dead before their light burned all the way through the galaxy; satellites, no longer of use to the nearly decimated population of the earth, orbited silently through the heavens, winking intermittently as if they were in on the last cruel joke played on a shattered world even as they roamed through space on a never ending watch, awaiting mankind's signal that they would once again be useful.
The licking flames of a small, nearly smokeless fire burned through the bottom layer of deadfall stacked in the shape of a cube, sending a shower of vermilion sparks up through the lower branches of the tree that Ailill reclined against. Her eyes followed the trail automatically, noting where the few that did not fizzle out in the still air landed in the mouldering leaves along the ground, watching to be sure that nothing ignited before turning her attention back to the highly polished wood in her hand.
The feel of the steel strings under the toughened pads of her fingertips was a familiar one, the vibration through the hollow, effeminate hourglass shaped body comforting as she plucked out a tune, humming along under her breath; one tiny, leather clad foot tapped soundlessly upon the soft bracken beneath her, keeping time to the rhythm with a natural ability, her mind full of the melody, her feet playing imaginary drums even as her fingers stroked the notes from her guitar.
She was completely relaxed; at ease in a way that did not come easily to her. Being alone in the forest was nothing new; much of her free time had been spent out of doors, exploring for miles around whatever area of Scotland she happened to find herself in. In twelve years her child sized feet had tread a path along every mile of the isle; as she had done in this same forest as a very little girl. She feared nothing of nature in either of the lands in which she had lived during her short lifetime. She had not been raised a weakling; so many young women often were. If she was afraid of anything at all, it would have to be something made by mankind, such as the ravaging, desolate sickness which had killed off so many of the weaker people whom she had known. The fact that the disease had spread to her own kind two years ago, to her own love, the healthy, vibrant, abnormally strong Tiernan MacDuff, filled her with dread. She knew in her heart that she would see the likes of the never clinically named illness again, someday. He had been in her mind often; every time she felt that urgent desire to forget him and threw herself into getting to know the two men left to her, even temporarily, it was usually because of him. Her knowledge of a secret visit he had made to all but herself, kindly disregarded but still a fact which her cousin had felt she needed to know, had only managed to reopen a still raw wound. He had not wished for her to see him, though it would have been as simple as a walk through the wood; the man could find her in the midst of a raging blizzard, if he had so desired. The knowledge of it made her wonder if there was something wrong with him still; something, perhaps a physical disability, which he did not want her to see? Her imagination clung to that question; the lack of any real answer, and the seeming loss of her own ability to connect with him that she had always taken for granted, filled her with self-doubt; woke her in the night, drenched with sweat, trembling with the desire to cross over into that other realm just to see for herself. She had to know, to see for herself that he was truly healthy, as he had said; as he had seemed. But the thought of leaving without Micah and Jacob was enough to stop her from going anywhere, because she had fallen in love with them both, almost as deeply as she loved Tiernan.
Deliberately, Ailill pushed thoughts of the man aside, easing her numbing backside against the softness of her bedding, knowing that she would not be able to sleep if she tried. Instead, she drew on thoughts of animals at random in an attempt to put a stop to the thoughts of anything, or anyone, at all. Wild animals were a natural part of life these days. Without enough people to hunt them, the beasts were once
again beginning to roam plains and forests alike in vast numbers, the animal population growing exponentially in the last thirty-odd years, outstripping humans by the thousands.
Wolfsong rang out in the distance, a counterpoint to the rhythm in her body; her fingers clamped hard across the frets, stilling the vibration of the strings so that she could listen to the beautiful music of the beasts echoing down the canyon that ran for miles through the center of the mountain range.
They stood on the rocky outcrops of the mount opposite, eyes glittering golden in the moonlight, coats shimmering silver, as if they were ghost-wolves. Ailill could see them clearly from her vantage point, watching her with intelligent curiosity in their gleaming eyes. Her head tipped back, exposing the pale column of her throat, her hands raised, palms up as if in surrender even as she stared boldly into the eyes of the handsome leader of the pack. A few yips led up to a full rolling howl in answer to her gaze and she called back with a throaty song of her own. As suddenly as they had appeared, the pack turned as one, fading back into the densely packed pines behind, out of sight.
Never one to chance the possible return of a wolf with less scrupulous curiosity, Ailill carefully laid the guitar back in the case at her feet, closing the lid with a soft thump, and lay down, stretching until her joints popped, sounding very like shots in the quiet of the forest.
The night air was cool under the thick cover of trees, chilled by the evaporation of water continually siphoned from the earth by the roots, sucking the mineral laden lifeblood up into thick trunks and sturdy branches. The coolness did not bother Ailill; her body was still, and would likely always be, accustomed to the often bitter cold climate of the Scottish Highlands. She was comfortably clad in old blue jeans and a tank-top that covered her slim waist; the sweater in her pack was unnecessary, but she had brought it at her mother's urging. It had been considerably warmer nearer to the house since her return. She wondered how Jacob and Micah fared; she was over being angry, though she had been furious to return home only to find her cousins already gone. Except Declan. Her giant cousin had frightened the living daylights out of her, hiding out in the darkness of her room as he had, his musical voice heralding a wee messagethat had forced the tears whether she liked it or no. His orders, he'd said, were to "take a verra guid look at our wee lass, to see if aught was amiss". Orders, aye. From the mouth of the first born of the dark princes, who had crossed o'er the barrier himself only to chicken out ere she appeared. Hiding the melancholy aura she knew had begun to swathe her in shadows, Ailill had reluctantly sent the green-eyed lad away, an angry message sent back with him that had momentarily stolen the light from his iridescent gaze.
Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series) Page 22