Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series)

by Strong, Jennifer

  “This is the stupidest thing y’all ever did, Ailill,” Micah barked angrily. “Stepping out in a blizzard like this... Do you wanna die?”

  “Oh, aye, Micah. I wanted to kill myself over your lack of self-control! This was the best way I could think to accomplish it. And you should talk about steppin’ out, ye fucking fool.” Her eyes blazed furiously and she turned away, trudging through the now knee-deep snow with an effort that made tiny beads of perspiration pop out on her forehead, trying once again to remember the word that would sober her up instantly, her mind coming up blank, as blank as the landscape. They kept pace with her as she moved, both men yanking her forcibly up the path that led not to the ranch, a good hour-long hike away in this weather, but toward the small cabin in the wood.

  “We’ll shelter here for the night,” Micah ordered, shoving her up onto the porch with a jerk, yanking her around to face him before she got away. “And in the morning, long as it ain’t still blowing, we’ll make sure you get home safe and sound. When you’re ready to be a little more sociable, a little more accepting of the people who live around here, you’ll know where to find us.” He pushed her then, toward the darkened doorway, clearly not meaning to be so forceful by the look she saw in his eyes after she fell backwards, landing on her rear with a thump that made her bite her tongue. It didn’t matter. The hand he held out to her was slapped away, her gaze icy when it lit on his own stony aspect. She spat a copious glob of blood-tinged saliva into the snow at his feet, the sight infuriating the tiny woman. Moving quickly, Ailill rolled to her feet, hunched her shoulders, and sprang forward, knocking him backwards into the snow, the breath stolen from his lungs with a muffled “Oomf”.

  Her face reddened with the cold, with the hurt anger he and his twin had caused, Ailill stood over him. “I will neverbe accepting o’ my father’s people, Micah!” she exclaimed harshly. “And if you believe your threats to keep away from me will sway what knowledge I have about a great many of them, you are sadly mistaken, for I care naught if you choose to stay away from me. You have got a lot of nerve, making me out to be the antagonist here. It wasn't me who chose to go off with a woman that has whore written all over her, to try to hide the fact that she gave ye botha blowjob in less than fifteen minutes time! Don’t you dare speak at me of being sociable, Micah, because at least Ihave limits.”

  “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 youon. 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, thatis who I am, and yet you blame mefor waiting ‘til I am a wee bit aulder ere I become a slaveto my own deliberately inborn carnality? A slave to your own lustful whims! You blame mebecause 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’ yourcock 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 everwant 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 sexyou 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 offme, 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 t
he 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.

  Against the teachings of my own wizened Elders, each and every one would think me mad if they knew, I’ve forged a gift for each of you, in the spirit of the one true God, in honor of the birth of his Son, though He, too, is forbidden to me. Blasphemy it might be, giving a gift in the name of a God I am not supposed to believe in, given the fact that I am to live a life very certainly not in accordance with His teachings, but I cannot help what comes naturally to myself, no more than I could help the life I have been given everlasting. I had hoped to see your eyes, more telling than either of you believe them to be, when you received these gifts, but it is not meant to be. Do as you wish with them; do not give them up to the foul Kiah, if he shows his ugly mug hereabouts again. He is a beast in the truest sense of the word. A dhiobhuil. It would be wise for both of you to move up to Hidden Jewel; my parents would welcome you with open arms, they would see it as a sign of where my heart lies. Aye, I know all of this sounds like rambling, but you must take that first step, it is not my call. It must be yourselves who would choose the path you take. Remember this about Kiah, for he will return... He has no rights over you, he is not your real father, as you’ve always known deep down. Ask James or Annie to take you home, if you wish it. They will know what you mean, they will comply. I’ll return when I am ready to give my heart, as well as my body, up to three men. Triplets, not twins, the missing link has ever been you, Micah and Jacob. I am not sorry for leaving, we all must grow a bit more.

  Yours Eventually,

  Ailill

  Their eyes met at the same instant, a look of unutterable pain in the deep blue orbs of both, the lips of the raven haired men moved as one, a whispered denial. “She’s left us...again.”

 

 

 
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