by AJ Nuest
Yes. She cinched his mane harder and forced him into the trees.
They crashed through the warped branches and the foul odor of rotting vegetation and hoary slime coated the inside of her mouth. Belial faltered in the muck, stumbling and lurching. Dart chucked from his roost on a gnarly branch and, as they cleared the first quagmire, he flitted to another a few feet ahead.
Rowena steered the horse in that direction and the marshy bog gave way to firmer soil. Bless that big, beautiful bird for leading the way.
Dart picked their path until the trees opened to a large circle of sodden moss. A massive flat boulder jutted in the center, tilted at an awkward angle as if over the centuries the weight had caused one end to sink into the spongy turf.
She slipped the knot at her waist and Caedmon tumbled to the side, collapsing on his back to the ground.
No. She leapt off Belial and knelt at his injured side, cradling his face in her hands. Blood coated his chest, trickled down his arm and dripped from his fingers. A blotchy pattern stained the waistband of his leather pants. “Look at me. Caedmon, look at me.”
He reached for her, but his hand fell lifeless across his chest. “Do not weep, my love.” He grimaced and pain flooded his gaze. His breath rasped in this throat. “I found…my way back…to your arms.”
“You can’t leave me.” Grief bunched her shoulders and she lowered her forehead to his. Her tears fell and slid down his cheeks. “You hear me? You can’t die. God, please don’t die. Not now.”
“Kiss me. One last time. So I may depart…within the memory…of your sweet lips.”
“No.” She fisted his hair in her fingers. “I won’t kiss you. Not unless you promise to live.” A sob cracked from her chest, and she buried her face in the gentle warm slope of his neck. “Caedmon, no. I don’t want to let you go.”
“I once promised. Never to lie to you. Don’t ask…as much of me now.” A weak smile played across his lips. “Kiss me, Rowena. And I shall await you in paradise.”
She should have ridden faster. Tried harder to get him to safety. She should have accepted him the moment he walked back into her life. Hair dripping salty tears from the sea. Brown eyes filled with love as he sank to his knees in front of her.
Holding his cheeks, she brought her lips to his, trying to drink him in and gather some small part of him so he would always be with her. His mouth parted, the tip of his tongue swept hers. A small breath eased from his throat, and he went still.
Her hot tears mingled with the last two soft touches she placed on his lips. Sitting up, she pressed the back of her wrist to her mouth.
She had brought him to this place. Dying in a swamp. A kiss freely given only when it was way too late.
And now, emptiness. Self-loathing. A misery that would haunt her the rest of her days.
The curve of his bottom lip swept her palm as she dragged her hand down his face to close his eyes. He’d deserved better. So, so much better. She tilted her head to the sky and her caustic laugh fell hollow in the damp air.
He’d offered her love, everything he had, and this was what he got for his efforts.
A low hiss gathered inside the trees, the soul-shuddering flap of veined wings, and she slowly lowered her chin. A clawed foot stomped from the forest, larger than human, the leathery black skin covered in coarse hair.
It was quickly followed by another, and then several more.
A clan of male Dreggs. They had her surrounded.
She sprang to her feet, the last two silver spikes from her chest plate whirring to the centers of her palms. They were human in shape, but stood several hands taller, with lidless black eyes and pointed ears topped by tufts of black fur. The pointed joints of their bat-like wings soared several feet over their shoulders, each boney ridge ending in a sharp talon ideal for decimating flesh.
No clothing adorned their hairy bodies, the dense covering thicker and longer around their genitalia. Leather cords decorated with little bones and teeth hung around their necks.
But the one thing that really flicked her gag reflex were the flat, moist slits that doubled as a nose. The skinny forked tongues that slithered past sharp fangs as if tasting the breeze.
“The first one of you to touch him dies.” She pivoted a slow circle, meeting each pair of soulless blank eyes. Two dozen. Maybe more. They blended so well with the contorted trees it was hard to estimate their numbers.
Chittering laughter erupted through the ranks, so piercing and high the whine drilled into her skull like a hive of enraged bees.
“Tressspassser, ’tisss not human flesssh we ssseek.” The largest stepped closer and she quickly moved between him and Caedmon’s body, waving a silver spike under his chin.
Looked as if he was the leader. And if she took him down, hopefully the rest would skulk back to whatever dank cave they infested. “Then what do you want? Let me to mourn in peace and I’ll be on my way.”
“Your mate lingersss in thisss realm.” His tongue snaked out and moistened one of his eyes, coating it in a thick film of slime. Her stomach rebelled and she swallowed at her dry throat. “He can be sssaved.”
“Tell it to someone else, Stinky.” She knew a lie when she heard one. And that one pretty much took the cake. “I felt his dying breath with my own lips.”
“Hisss sssoul awaitsss in the Cave of Tearsss.”
Her heart lurched, but she frowned. What was he talking about? She’d never heard about souls going to any such place in her life.
Leaves crunched behind her and she spun, jabbing her weapon in the air. Another drone of chittering laughs swept the forest, and she whirled in a lame attempt to drive back their advance. “What do you want from me? I got nothing of value, so you might as well just get lost.”
“White ssssorceresss, only you hold the ability to sssave usss.”
Save them? Save them from what?
Oh, dear God. She dropped her chin, closed her eyes, and slowly lowered her arms to her sides. Not this. Anything, but this.
How many times did she have to explain she wasn’t a sorceress? She didn’t have special powers. Though, God knew, if she did, she would’ve happily worked whatever magic they wanted in exchange for Caedmon’s life. “You got the wrong girl, fellas. I hate to break it to ya, but the person you’re looking for doesn’t exist.”
A ray of morning sunlight broke over the trees, warming her cheeks and the crown of her head. The dew-covered moss sparkled, and she squinted through a beam of bright light.
Leather wings ruffled the air and a humid draft lifted the hair off her shoulders.
One by one, the Dreggs fell to their knees. Candra-Ssscinlæce…andra-ssscinlæce…ssscinlæce…whispered through the trees.
“Save it. I’m not who you think I am.” Though never in her life had she wished so hard she was wrong.
Heaving a soggy breath, she tossed her weapons aside. Piss on it. Once they discovered the truth, they’d kill her anyway. The joke would be on them, though, since they’d be doing her a favor. At least she’d be with Caedmon. Here, at the end of all things.
“We are not asss we onccce were, Candraaah.” The leader stood and the rest of his ranks lumbered to their feet. “Our ssstrength fades, allegiance sssplinters, numbersss weakened.”
A second Dregg loped forward, shoulders more stooped than the others, gray strands mottling the dusky patina of his coat. Uh-huh, and what was he supposed to be? The Dregg version of an elder? “And the sssilver flame ssshall bathe her mate in the tearsss of the Nine, exchange light for dark, one sssoul to sssave many.”
The words echoed into bones and she glanced at the sky as a shiver wracked her spine. Hold on, the tears of the nine actually existed? In this vile place?
“Yet, heed thisss warning, Sssorceresss.” The leader held up his palm, easily the size of a dinner plate. “The gloaming of the goddessesss is deccceitful. Once the cave is entered, time within their realm doesss not exissst.”
Rowena reared back on her heels and staggere
d to the side. A cave of tears…tears of the nine goddesses. She glanced from one face to the next. Others had come here. They’d walked into this forest and never returned. Or had come back years later, not having aged a day.
She slapped her palm her forehead. Holy shit, could the prophecy actually be true? Hell, did it even matter? If, by some small miracle, these mysterious waters contained healing properties which could save Caedmon’s life, she’d go wherever, do whatever they said.
“Take us there. To the Cave of Tears.” She strode in front of the leader and pointed at the ground. “Take us there and I swear on my life I will do whatever it takes to restore every last one of your kind.”
With a nod from their leader, two of the Dreggs approached Caedmon’s still form. They draped his limp arms over their shoulders and she shielded her eyes with her hand as the wind from their powerful down strokes buffered her cheeks. A leap and she tipped her head back as the three of them soared into the sky.
A pair of clawed hands cinched her waist and she smacked her palms to the Dreggs’ wrists. Moist air swirled her hair, the marshy ground surrendered and shrank beneath her feet.
She crossed her ankles and hung on tight as they flew north.
Chapter Nineteen
Thus my angel comes…
Clear liquid spilled over the rim of a golden chalice, splashing his shoulder, his torso. He sputtered and coughed as it moistened the line of his lips.
Water. Thirst.
Yet his fleeting glimpse of the celestial being which tended him so resembled his beloved Rowena, Caedmon fought, at first, to push her away.
Pain screamed through his shoulder as she propped his head along her arm and returned the cup to his mouth. “Sh-h-h… Drink it, Caedmon. Come on, just a sip.”
Fury turned his fingers in on themselves even as he obeyed. Did Helios despise him so much, the sun god sought to torment him even in death? Hell reaped no punishment compared to an eternity spent clasped to a seraph who so embodied everything he’d lost. Everything he’d cherished.
Tears scalded eyelids and slid down to merge with the waterline lapping his temple.
A pool. Drifting. The suffering eased.
Darkness. He slept.
Caedmon blinked and narrowed his gaze at the strange formations suspended above him. Fragile blue and pink light played off the crystalline rock, in constant motion as if water sprites frolicked along the faceted tines. Down the shimmering façade of a roughly hewn stone wall, rivulets of water trickled and gullied in an iridescent pool.
He frowned and licked his lips, but no dryness parched his throat. His muscles were relaxed and well rested. A feathered mattress supported his back, the fold of a woolen blanket rested near his hips and thick pillows cradled his head.
Warm air easily stretched his lungs, and he pressed three fingers to the small wound in his upper chest. No blood. No soreness. Only the faintest hint of a scar…
He grasped his shoulder, working the joint and flexing his fingers. Not a bit of stiffness in his arm.
’Twould seem his attending angel had summoned a miracle to heal his physical ailments. He sighed and closed his eyes. Her spiritual balm, however, had done nothing to stem the continued ache in his soul.
How long would he remain in this ethereal plane before the indulgence of his earthly sins had been forgiven? How many eons would pass before he and his love were returned to one another’s arms?
Whatever the duration, paradise would evade him until such a reward had been granted. Yet again, they’d been cast apart by a veil he could not ask her to breach.
“What the hell is this thing?” A loud clang resonated against the stone walls, and he scowled, tipping his head.
That voice. It sounded like—
“Useless piece of trash, if you ask me.”
Another ear-splitting crash, and he sprang to sitting. Across the damp, uneven floor, the delicate frame of a fair maiden hunched over a stockpile of weapons, carelessly flipping pieces of armor aside.
Silver hair tumbled like a waterfall down her back. A thin sleeveless chemise hid her bent legs, one narrow strap hanging limp off her pale shoulder, the hem a crumpled mass of creamy petals at her feet.
Joy surged through his veins even as despair curled his hands into two uncompromising stones. Just as he’d feared, his love had succumbed to the dangers of the Black Forest. She’d tended his funeral rite only to die at his side.
If not for Helios’ absent heart, Caedmon would’ve routed the gates of heaven to skewer the pitiless sun god himself.
“Rowena.” He cleared the rasp from his throat.
She gasped and whirled to her feet.
Goddesses wept. Even in death her beauty outshone that of the Nine combined.
A resounding gong echoed through the cavern as she threw a dented shield back to the pile and sprinted directly for his arms. All thoughts of death, all regret and misery faded to dim inconsequence as she straddled his legs and rained fervent kisses over his cheeks and eyelids, his forehead and chin.
This…this was the welcome he had longed for since his return.
Gathering her by the hips, he dragged her to his chest, capturing her lips as her inner thighs heated the cool skin at his waist. Her mouth parted and hunger tightened his gut as he darted his tongue inside.
Her sweetness detonated across his palate. Tipping his head, he nipped and supped. The insatiable need to tear the shift from her body, expose every curve and valley to his greedy hands, stormed his veins.
Rocking forward then back, he aligned their bodies. She wound her fingers through his hair and his balls grew heavy as she tugged and fisted the strands. His cock flexed and stiffened. She bucked her hips and he moaned into her mouth as she dragged her nails down his spine.
“Thank God.” Her arms cinched his shoulders, legs clamped around his sides as if her skin created a maddening limit in her desire to get close. “I thought you’d never wake up.”
He quickly withdrew, one hand falling to her thigh and the other cupping her neck. But surely, he’d misunderstood.
Her bottom lip had plumped from his kisses. A ripe temptation he longed to suck back into his mouth. “I have been but asleep? Sweet tits, for how long?”
“Hard to tell.” She shrugged and combed a lock of hair away from his brow. “The light always stays the same but, if it helps any, I’ve slept three times since we got here.”
Faint memories eddied. Bare images to tickle the corners of his mind.
The red fletching of a poisoned arrow. A desperate escape on horseback.
Entering the Black Forest.
Love’s final kiss.
He’d died. He was certain of it, and no one held the power to retrieve a soul from the afterlife barring mayhap Fandorn. Caedmon cocked a brow. Or a sorceress who’d been divined by the Nine.
Sparing a second glance at their otherworldly surroundings, he frowned and his hold on her instinctively firmed. Clusters of glittering rock sprouted from every surface, dribbling over the sides much like candles upon an altar, their hues ranging from the milk of a common quartz to the sapphire’s midnight blue. Heaps of treasure spilled forth from each nook and cranny. Traveling wardrobes, arms and weapons…a chest overflowing with gemstones and gold coins lay toppled on the floor.
On his left, a shimmering pool collected clear run-off, weeping down a wall worn smooth with age. And yet, his love had been correct in her assessment. The most peculiar aspect was the incandescent light. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere all at once. “What is this place?”
“I’m not entirely sure.” She dropped her gaze to the healed hole near his shoulder. The soft pad of her thumb circled his scar and she sighed. “The Dreggs call it the Cave of Tears.”
Astonishment drove the air from his lungs and he carefully studied the porcelain beauty in his arms. For centuries, many had sought the cave’s location, only to return empty-handed, more the worse for wear. Or much to their loved one’s horrified dismay,
to never return at all.
Over time, tales of a sacred pool in which the healing tears of the nine goddesses fell to earth had turned to legend…legend to myth…myth to bedtime tale.
If asked, he would have scoffed such divine intervention had ever existed.
And yet all this time, the Dreggs had secreted this holy relic within their realm. He squinted. Perchance the true reason behind their fierce allegiance to so vigilantly guard the Black Forest. “And they freely escorted us here?”
“They flew us, actually.” A smile rosied her cheeks. “It was pretty cool, now that I think about it. Definitely something on my list to try again.” Fanning her fingers along his unkempt beard, she placed her thumb on the strip of hair beneath his lower lip. The sadness dimming her eyes was a hardship no man should’ve ever had to face. “Under different circumstances, of course. Dying on me once was more than enough, thank you very much.”
Pride surfaced in a rush and he clutched her upper arms, applying a small shake before yanking her to his chest. The foolish, headstrong woman. Willingly risking her life in such a way. Agreeing to such a dangerous endeavor for his sake.
A chuckle escaped all whilst he fought the urge to bend her over his knee and soundly smack her bottom. She’d struck a bargain with a Dregg. A Dregg, of all things. The very same creatures which had swarmed in and delivered him to the dungeons of Castle Seviere.
What scheme she’d hatched to conjure such a trick, he could not deign to guess. “How, my heart? How did you persuade them to intervene?”
“Yeah, well, don’t be too impressed. They did the persuading without any help from me.” Clinging to his neck, she burrowed against him in such a way as to make him palm the silken tresses blanketing her back.
She was unsettled. Goddesses wept, what had he done?
“They think I’m something I’m not, Caedmon. Yes, I’d do the exact same thing all over again, but I can’t stop thinking the Dreggs are gonna get really pissed once they ask me to deliver something I can’t.”
Ah. He slumped. And then was once again caught between baffled amusement and the urge to shake her so she would see reason.