Neglected under Ara’s care, the garden had morphed into something barely recognizable. It was tangled and overgrown, unkempt from months of neglect. Still, I knew my way. Something was calling to me, guiding me down paths I shouldn’t know or remember. My heart ached as it beat itself against the prison bars my ribs had become. Reaching for something it wanted, yet was unable to grasp. I closed my eyes, groaning and bringing a hand to my chest to calm the muscles constricting around my heart. I tried to massage their rigid lines, to ease the pain, but it did little good.
With my eyes closed, the garden disappeared behind my eye lids. The muscles of my heart seized again with vicious strength and a new vision appeared.
Dayne!
The angular lines of his startlingly beautiful face, his soft waves of mahogany hair. Instinctively, I reached my hand out to the chilled, empty air, as if I could catch his face and hold onto it.
The vision did crazy things to me—drawing the entire length of my body taut like a bow string, then hurtling it forward like an arrow. I didn’t fight it; I followed it. Hoping it was Dayne calling me to him the way he had said I called to him, sensing my presence and drawing me to his side.
My feet were propelled by some unseen power down the trail, all but running to keep up with the speed at which my body was being thrown forward. I kept my eyes closed, running blindly, not wanting to loose the image of Dayne.
His face was impossible to read, dark and hooded, as if he were trying to hide his thoughts. He refused to look at me, keeping his head turned down so all I could see was his furrowed brow and clenching jaw. Still, his force pulled me on.
When the vision vanished, I opened my eyes and gasped. My boot-tips teetered on the edge of the great pool, shimmering soft white in the moonlight, ripples skittering across its surface like heartbeats.
Everything about me stilled. This was it. This was the moment I had been thinking about since LisTirna had spit me out months ago. I knew I belonged with Dayne; I knew our worlds would find their way back to each other. But I had always assumed it would be him coming back to me. Not the other way around.
Things had changed. Life had changed. And I was no longer a scared little girl who was as afraid of unleashing her own magic as she was the secrets buried in her past.
No more.
Remembering how Ara had entered her world, I narrowed my eyes, gritting my teeth with determination.
I turned away from the water long enough to gather my strength. Then I leapt high into the air, my toes pushing off from the earth with a force that sent my body screaming into the air. I arched my back, spread my arms as gracefully as a bird in fight, and swan dived into the rippling water.
I splashed down like a rocket reentering the atmosphere—water spraying, waves lapping—only to land completely dry in a crouching position inside LisTirna’s dangerous spell.
My chest heaved with labored breath, no longer fearing, but waiting, wanting the fight I knew lay on this side. But there was nothing.
I rose slowly, utterly confused by LisTirna‘s silence.
Like before, I was surrounded by the garden, the same green grass and blooming white roses that lay ensconced in Ennishlough’s gleaming diamond walls. Looking down, I still wore my jeans and navy stripped shirt. My clothing hadn’t changed when I entered LisTirna as it had before, as if confirming the fact that my magic didn’t belong in this world. In fact, nothing had changed. The garden looked just the same. The only proof I had that I was in Dayne’s world was the pond, rippling over head where the moon had hung in the sky before.
I took a deep breath and settled my shoulders down my back, starting confidently forward into the tangle of tree roots that would lead me into the bowels of LisTirna. Sidhe magic wasn’t strong enough to keep me out, or trick me into thinking I was still on the other side. I strode forward and pushed my way between two enormous gnarly roots.
The next second I was enveloped in LisTirna’s soft, ethereal glow. Raining down from the heavens, sparks of iridescent light lit the magical realm of the Sidhe. The mirror-barked trees towered so tall their branches became obscured from view, dwarfing the redwoods bordering St. Anne’s campus. Huge plants in variegated shades of blue and green grew as high as my shoulders, a single leaf the size of a small child. Fearing discovery by jeweled eyes before I formed my plan, I took cover behind one of these leaves, scouting the scene from its safe shadow.
The same trail that had led me to Daoine’s altar traced through the woods, its plush green grass slicked by a coat of dew. Taking the easy way would just be stupid. LisTirna was too open, too welcoming, and I feared it was a trick. Why would Daoine make it easy for me to steal my way in unless she were waiting for me?
Thinking the cover of forest was my best bet, I began to follow the trail, sneaking from huge leaf to glittering tree trunk as I went, my eyes frantically darting in every direction, waiting for someone to discover me and blow my cover.
On the other side of the trail, misty blue fairy fires burned brightly through the forest. Some where completely vacant, left unattended by their makers. A few lounging bodies cast shadows behind the flames of others, but no one turned to me as they had when Dayne, Ara and I made our way to Daoine’s altar before.
Was I invisible? How was it that I could enter this world—an interloper from my clothes to the freaky magic flowing in my veins—and no one notice...or care? I didn’t have time to worry about that.
Music still filtered through the air, as if the tree branches were the stringed instruments of a great symphony. The sound caressed my ears, lulling my sense like a strong lullaby. It made me weary, but I had to continue on.
My feet grew heavy and clumsy and I stumbled as I ducked behind another tree. Struggling to regain my footing, I stifled a scream when the earth gave way beneath my feet and sent me falling down, down, down through the iridescent light. Plummeting down a steep escarpment I had not noticed before. Away from the trail, away from the fires, away from Daoine’s altar on the amethyst hill which had just come into view in the distance.
My arms flailed to find something to grab hold of and stop my descent, but I found nothing. My nails dug into the rich, wet earth, the musky scent of exposed dirt filling my nostrils. As I scraped past the loosened ground, I winced in pain, the black dirt staining my clothes as rocks abraded my bare skin. Helpless to stop my fall, I curled my body into a ball to soften the eventual blow when I hit on earth again.
With a forceful thud, I slapped the ground, only to have the landslide of disturbed earth dump on top of me in a breath-stealing blow to the back. Spitting and spewing, and wiping dirt away with impatient hands, I looked around me for some sense of where I was. The light was dimmer here, or maybe it was my eyes.
Warily, I turned, searching for something familiar, something I may have seen as Dayne flew me over LisTirna last time. I found nothing. Until I focused far into the shadows and something began to take shape.
“What the…” My words trailed off as, in the distance, a formidable structure stood cloaked in misty shadow.
As breathtaking as a blushing bride hidden behind a veil of soft white. She was massive, even by Sidhe standards. Moving slowly forward, I forgot about the need for cover, walking blindly toward the vision.
A towering castle stood carved into the side of a rose quartz mountain, peeking out from the tumultuous mist created where two great waterfalls converged. The falls flowed like swirling hair over her pinked cheeks, framing a lovely facade.
Cone shaped turrets, curtain walls, balustrades, casement windows and all. It was startling in its naturalistic beauty, narrowing as it grew to a crown-like finish where a great white pillar adorned the stone maiden’s fair head. Finished in a flourish so dizzyingly high it brushed LisTirna’s cotton candy sky.
“Faye…” My name whispered in my ears, so softly I wasn’t sure at first if I had heard it. “Faye…” Again it called to me and I stumbled forward.
Without thinking twice, I charged through
the castle’s main gate. Running the way Chassan had taught me—so quickly that I would never have been seen by human eyes. The massive wooden gate lay open, spread over a mote, nearly hidden in the soft white foam. Held in place by enormous chains that could snap it shut like a trap.
I didn’t think about it being a trap. I didn’t think about it being dangerous. All I thought about was him.
The blur of motion my body had become stopped abruptly in the courtyard, a great wave of dust swirling at my feet, body spread low in case I had to fight. But, again there was no army waiting to fight me. A few horses—massive like LeSheen and sleek like Lisana—stood sleepily in stalls at the far end of the yard. A handful of men lounged lazily near an opening in the castle wall, one playing a guitar in a mellow tune while the others listened. But no one noticed my arrival. No jewel-eyed Sidhe waited to attack me. Something wasn’t right. How had I made it so deep into Sidhe territory without being discovered?
“Faye…”
My name echoed on the waterfall’s soft, cool breeze. Was it Dayne’s voice calling me? I craned my neck up, taking a few steps backwards as I swept my eyes to the top of the towering fortress. Painstakingly carved into the solid rock face, the castle both welcomed and tormented me.
Chapter Twenty Eight
Un-Welcome
Twelve stories of windows, cutting thick black rectangles into the glistening pink walls, rose to meet the sky. For all I knew the entire Sidhe army hid behind those walls waiting for me. But, I also knew in my bones that Dayne was behind those same walls. If getting him back meant facing the Sidhe too, I was ready for them. They didn’t know who they were dealing with anymore.
Just for reassurance, I stuck my hand in my back pocket and felt the coal still burning there.
On either side of the castle’s facade, gurgling waterfalls rained down and splashed into the mote. Just visible beyond the tree line of the flowering vine tangled forest I had been lost in before. If I didn’t know how deadly the Sidhe could be, it would have been a breathtaking sight. A storybook castle as magnificent as I had thought Ennishlough was once upon a time.
Only, I knew how dark their magic was. I knew what might be waiting for me, which made the whole scene feel like some alternate reality where my life was hanging in a precarious balance. The old Faye Kent would have hidden in the shadows waiting for Dayne to save her, to afraid of what lay inside the castle walls to chase what she wanted.
Fear was no longer my master.
I was my only master now, and the castle had something I wanted.
Slowly, I approached the massive double doors, ones that mimicked the doors I passed through in Ennishlough, carved vines and all. Listening, watching, waiting for my superhuman senses to alert me to the danger that might be waiting.
Nothing.
I reached out a hand for the heavy metal latch, feeling the pitted metal that had been worn by an eternity of use slide past my fingers. It was cold and solid and unmistakably enduring in my hand.
Just as my fingers curled around it, the latch was snatched from my hand. I jumped to the side as the door swung wide, arms coming up, ready to fight my way to him if I had to. When the foyer came into focus, I laughed disbelievingly at who greeted me. No way was she looking for a fight.
On another day, the girl standing before me could have been Christine—warm smile, innocent eyed and fresh as the dew. She wore a gown of the Sidhe, fanciful and grand, with embroidery and fine heavy cloth. But her eyes were normal, not glowing like radiant jewels in her head, which told me she was a prisoner of this world. The two thick bracelets on her wrists confirmed my suspicion.
Her placid brow furrowed ever so slightly when she noticed my unusual dress—jeans and a modern shirt—clothes she would have been wearing if she were still living the life she was snatched from. I knew immediately my strange appearance triggered something in her memory. Her tiny pink lips parted as if to as a question, but quickly closed again, her thought obviously washed away by the spell she was under.
“May I help you?” She asked, bowing slightly in a show of a respect. Now it was time for my brow to furrow, once-overing the girl, knowing this had to be some sort of trick. She shuffled from one foot to another, waiting for me to answer her. When I said nothing, she stepped back and waved me inside with a grand sweeping gesture.
Scuttling around her sideways, as if she might stick a knife in my back, I hurried past.
“I’m afraid everyone has gone hunting. Master Dayne is the only one home,” she swept into a low bow as I passed.
“Dayne.” My voice was low and breathy, all emotion draining from my face, unable to believe how close I was to him.
“Master Dayne,” she nodded as she rose.
My thoughts scattered as I nodded my head frantically.
The castle was a blur. Rugs of woven vines lined the hallways I followed her down. Sconces of fire protruded from walls carved with such ornate detail artwork would have been utterly useless. Great swathes of blooming vines hung from overhead, growing along the inner shaft of a spiraled staircase that I hoped led me to Dayne.
The girl stopped at a darkened door, bowing as she showed the way with a sweeping hand. I nodded and followed, the prickle of uncertainty stinging my belly as I reached for his door. My hand stilled on the latch as I looked down at the empty wrist that had once held his gift, his promise that he was mine forever. It was gone. Given as a gift of love to someone who had needed it much more than I had. But even if it had served a greater purpose, that didn’t erase the fact that it had come off. A fact Chassan constantly reminded me of. A fact that, until that moment, I hadn’t wanted to believe.
Softly, I landed a single knuckle against the solid wood door.
“I already told you, I’m not going hunting!” Dayne’s voice barked from the other side.
His berating tone stole every bit of air from my lungs. I inhaled sharply, loving to hear his voice fill my ears again, but hating the harsh tone. It was a tone all too familiar to me—menacing and hissing, warning of the danger that lurked at his core.
How could he not know it was me? Hadn’t he called me since I crossed into the garden at Ennishlough and entered his world? Now he chastised me like I was some forgettable servant?
The unsettling fear of uncertainly bubbled back up from where ever it had been hiding, putting my nerves on edge as I grasped the latch firmly in my hand and pushed the door open, holding my breath as it swung wide.
The room was empty on first glance, nothing but an oversized, carved wooden chair, an equally massive desk and heavy velvet drapes hanging from thick metal rods over two windows that faced the waterfalls framing the castle’s facade. It was a large room. Stone walls lay cast in shadows at the far ends. A carved wall panel to my left depicted a towering Celtic cross covered with vines. It all seemed safe enough. I stepped over the threshold and closed the door behind me.
“Dayne?” I whispered his name, unsure of what waited for me.
A sudden scuffle of movement from behind me caused me to lurch forward, and spin, crouching low, steeling myself for attack. From the shadows he appeared, just as strong and beautiful as I remembered. Mahogany hair flowing down to his shoulders, emerald eyes wide with shock. The same deerskin breeches and loose white embroidered shirt he always wore in this world.
Dayne! Alive and in the flesh, but hesitating as his eyes cautiously drifted over me, clearly unable to believe it was really me standing before him.
My poor heart beat so heavily in my chest it felt as if it might fly away. I had to feel him. To touch him. To know he was real. My feet started flying in his direction without a word of encouragement from my brain. I ran to him, leaping into his arms as tears began to flow down my cheeks.
A dam had broken inside me. A dam I didn’t know I had built until that moment. All the feelings I had kept bottled up inside me—all the longing, all the need, all the desperation, all the angst. It broke over me, stealing the strength I had forced into my limbs, ren
dering me a lovesick fool in his arms. It felt as if I had been starved the months we had been apart. He was the only thing I truly needed to live. Finally, he was with me again and the breath I drew into my lungs was somehow made sweeter by his presence alone.
I pulled him to me so forcefully it would have broken a normal man, but not him. He was solid under my touch, hard as stone yet soft as a sigh. My body so inconceivably drawn to him it was beyond either one of our controls.
I laced his body with my arms, leaning up on my tiptoes to place a kiss on the soft skin near the bottom of his neck, breathing deeply the rich woodsy scent of him. A scent that quelled my raging emotions like hard drugs. Dayne was back. He was back in my arms and I no longer cared what I had been through to get here, or worried over the evils that had chased me into his world.
But something wasn’t right. Something I sensed in my bones, not in my head. Dayne’s reaction to me hadn’t been right. It was stilted and awkward, as if I was a stranger in his arms. His body was ill at ease so near to mine, holding me, yet not throwing himself freely into the unbridled passion our love had awoken in me.
I pulled away from him, looking into his dark green eyes as if they might hold some sort of answer. An answer I wasn’t so sure I wanted to know.
He didn’t try to hold me to him, to prolong our embrace. All to willingly he let me go, and I slid down the length of his body to find my own feet again.
Nothing.
Cold, blank nothing registered on his face as his jade gaze followed me down to the bare stone floor. None of the enraptured, dumbstruck, puppy dog love that so plainly painted itself clear as day on my own face. None of the overwhelming relief to be reunited after too long apart. None of the irrational bliss that tumbled from me like the waterfalls outside his window.
This wasn’t my Dayne.
Son of Sun (Forgotten Gods (Book 2)) Page 26