Son of Sun (Forgotten Gods (Book 2))

by Clair, Rosemary

  “Ara,” I answered automatically, knowing how much she wanted Dayne’s birth right.

  “We’ve been over this a million times. Do you honestly think the world of humans would survive if Sidhe were answering to Ara?”

  I focused on the ground, refusing to answer. He was right. Ara wasn’t an option if the world’s were going to remain in balance. She would wipe them out with one stroke. I concentrated on the boot prints he left in the soft green carpet when he moved from me, the air feeling colder and lonelier without him near.

  “Then I’d live here with you. Nothing holds me to my world, Dayne. I’d stay here with you forever.” I spun on my heels, my tone urgent, finding him running a finger over a tree’s mirrored bark. His reflection shown back at me, and from that angle I could see the torment playing over his features.

  “I know you would. If I asked, you would never leave my side. And you would probably think you were happy. But this isn’t your world. You’ve got more power in your pinkie than my mother has in her entire body. You weren’t meant to be hiding among the Sidhe. There is some greater purpose for you to serve. And keeping you here would be selfish.”

  “Do you hear the words that are coming out of your mouth?” I drew my face into a disgruntled question mark, unable to process what he was telling me, and grabbed at his shoulder, spinning him to face me. “You are making zero sense!”

  “I know,” he chuckled at the way I was glaring at him and it made me mad. His smile fell away and he sighed, shaking his head as he leaned into the tree. “I don’t expect you to understand. But I know you were born to this world for a purpose, and hiding in LisTirna isn’t it. My mother has seen things. Things she will not tell me, but things that have convinced her you must be destroyed. I can only…” His words stopped abruptly and he grunted in a guttural, breathy way, the air seemingly trapped in his chest.

  His face twisted into a horrible mask that frightened and confused me.

  “Dayne?” I placed my hand on his chest, but he didn’t answer, continuing to stare blankly through me.

  A strange wheezing noise hissed from behind closed lips, and his face went instantly pale, all emotion and thought draining from it as he frantically searched my face with wild eyes.

  Blindly, he reached for me, as if he couldn’t see me standing inches from him. My body ignited with fear.

  “Dayne! Dayne what is it?” I grabbed his hands, pulling him into my arms as he began to stumble forward. We fell into the lush wall of tree leaves and vines at my back. His body was impossibly heavy on top of me and he didn’t try to move, falling like a lump of lead.

  I pushed at his massive body, my hands roving over his back, searching for something to grab hold of and push him off me. His massive weight was crushing my chest and making it hard to breathe again.

  That’s when I felt it.

  Chapter Thirty One

  Breathe

  Blood is a peculiar thing. A fluid slick as hot candle wax, yet somehow sticky as a half sucked lollipop.

  The scream that formed in my chest and caught in my throat would have woken the entire population of Ireland if Dayne’s weight hadn’t kept it from bursting out of me. My hand was drenched, coated, covered, in bright red as I removed it from his back and held it in the tiny shaft of light filtering through the canopy overhead. Tangling my fingers in the soft gauzy shirt that was staining from blinding white to deadly red with his blood, I struggled harder and managed to wiggle out from under him, leaving him resting on his side.

  An arrow, maybe five inches long and carved with familiar vines and leaves protruded from his back. I sunk to my knees, pulling him into my lap and stroking his hair soothingly as I tried not to let the panic register on my face for his sake.

  Inside, I was unraveling at the seams quickly. Frantic. Unsure of what to do. I gripped the arrow in my bloody hand to pull it out, then remembered better and left it. Dayne’s face was frozen in torment, and for a moment I feared the worst. Until he opened his eyes and drew in a ragged breath.

  “Dayne, what do I do?” I whimpered into his ear. I couldn’t see Daoine’s army, but I knew they were coming. Their feet sounded like a horse galloping on concrete to me, yet to normal people the forest would have still been silent. I had maybe a minute to get out of there before their arrows would find me under the tangle of leaves and brush where we had fallen.

  The arrow hanging out of Dayne’s back was meant for me, I knew it was, but he had shielded me from it, and was now lying limply on the grass, gasping for breath. Guilt tore at my stomach and filled my mind with crazy thoughts.

  “Faye,” he uttered weakly, and I pressed my face closely to his. “You have to go. Follow the stream, it flows behind the altar. You can find the portal from there.” Dayne pointed a weak finger to a trail that disappeared into the woods. When I concentrated on the sound of flowing water, instead of stomping feet, I found it gurgling a few yards down the path to our right.

  “I’m not leaving you!” I shook my head resolutely, and got a strong grip under his arms. With every ounce of strength I could summon, I tried to lift him off the ground. But it was no use. His body was massive, and my strength was failing. He groaned at the pain of being moved and pulled my hands away from him.

  “Leave me, Faye. Save yourself.”

  “No!” I grabbed at his arms again, determined to drag him all the way to the portal if I had to. “They’ll kill you.”

  “They don’t want me, Faye,” he gritted his teeth and stilled my hands with his. “They want you. You can save us both, but you have to leave. Now!” He pushed me away from him, toward the trail he had pointed to earlier, but I didn’t leave.

  The footsteps hunting me were unmistakable, running through the underbrush, snapping tree limbs and popping vines as they thundered toward our hideout.

  “I don’t want to leave you again! I may never...” Dayne raised a weak finger to silence me, pushing it against my lips and looking at me with such wounded heartbreak in his eyes that it stole the breath from my chest.

  In that moment, I realized what he was doing. I realized that Dayne didn’t want to let me go, but he had lived this life longer than I had, and he knew he had to let me go. For reasons neither one of us knew, I had been released into the world. My dangerous magic had been set loose. Things like that didn’t happen by accident, and he was too selfless to come between me and my true purpose. That’s what he meant when he said the only way he could love me was to let me go.

  He knew as well as I did that I would stay with him forever if I could. But LisTirna wasn’t my world, and it wasn’t where I was meant to be. We were all born with a purpose. A reason that gave our existence meaning. A purpose I couldn't ignore, and a purpose Dayne refused to get in the way of. That purpose wouldn’t find me in LisTirna. I had to leave. I had to get out while I still could.

  “It’s not about doing what we want to, Faye. It never has been. For us, it’s about doing what we need to.”

  “I love you,” I whispered through my tears and leaned over him, clasping our blood soaked hands together at his chest. Our faces were so close to one another I could hear a raspy rattle deep in his chest. The kind of gurgling sound a person makes when death is knocking on their door. Immediately, I knew the arrow had pierced something vital inside him. Fighting the tears for his sake, I dropped my forehead to his cheek and held him as best I could in the few seconds we had left together.

  Then something inside me woke up, something snapped, and I realized that this didn’t have to happen. It didn’t have to end this way. Dayne wasn’t immune to arrows; he wasn’t immortal. But our magic could save him.

  His breath was shallow and wheezing. With a trembling hand I grasped the arrow and yanked it from his back in one swift motion, hurtling it from us like a bomb. He groaned again and rolled over on his back, writhing in agony, his chest bucking up in the air as if searching for something to soothe the pain.

  Summoning all the power I had left flowing in my ve
ins, I placed my mouth over his pillow soft lips one last time, found the stuttering rhythm of his heart under my palm, and exhaled into him what little magic remained. I never thought about what I was really giving away, about how dangerous it was for me to give up everything I had with a Sidhe army chasing me. At that moment, saving Dayne was all that mattered.

  His wavering hand found my cheek, and suddenly, my lips weren’t saving his life, they were kissing him goodbye. As his strength returned, he pulled me to him, reviving as our lips worked against each other. His hand gripped around my neck and pushed our lips together so violently it would’ve shattered a normal person.

  There was way too much sorrow in our goodbye, because both of us knew it was probably forever. I ran my hands over his chest, wrapping my arms around his body and pulling myself to him.

  I was seconds away from saying to hell with it all, and letting the Sidhe catch me just so I didn’t have to pull myself from Dayne’s embrace. Then another arrow whizzed so close to us that it sheared off a golden ringlet from my head as it passed.

  That brought us back to reality, and as the lock of hair hit the forest floor it echoed in my ear. They were here. They were right on us, and if I didn’t leave at that moment I wouldn’t get away.

  “Go!” He hissed in agony as a foot rustled the grass near where we lay.

  The next second I was gone, flying through the woods, leaping over anything that came in my path. Flying to the river that gurgled in the distance. When I found it, LisTirna began to look familiar again. I raced to the little stream where he had first taken me in his world. Where the wishing pearls had once given me such hope in our future together I never would have thought I would be leaving this place alone.

  Along the wooded trail where Christine had appeared to me, back up the trail to where Daoine made her judgements on her amethyst mountain. Back to the very altar where she had ripped us apart, and ruined my life.

  I should have kept running. At the speed I was going, the portal was seconds away. I could leap back through the watery moon that served as a gate between our worlds. But then what? Would I forever be running?

  Would I forever live in fear of who was hunting me? Constantly keeping one eye over my shoulder? And whose to say Daoine wouldn’t send her army to chase me in my world? I didn’t see where it ever stopped. Running from my problems wouldn’t make me any safer, wouldn’t stop the ones who wanted me dead from hunting me.

  Daoine and her army of demigods certainly weren’t as dangerous a threat as Chassan was. Dayne had told me I was much stronger than her. If I could lure her from LisTirna, where my power would be reignited, I could probably defeat her. If she was gone, Dayne would take her place. And while that wouldn’t exactly solve the problem our love affair was facing, at least the Sidhe would have a ruler who didn’t want me dead.

  The bigger question that scenario posed made my stomach churn with dread. Was I capable of taking someone’s life?

  Time to consider that question was not a luxury I had.

  The army of moths were right behind me, enraged even further by their inability to catch me—twice now. It was almost comical how easy it was to elude an army of Sidhe when I had the power of fire on my side.

  With a wicked grin, I strode confidently over the mountain of amethyst to Daoine’s carved stone altar. The light was the same, ever present, never changing, shade of pinkish purple, like I was trapped inside a giant bubble of chewing gum.

  I leapt up to the altar, standing on it to get a better view. The Sidhe army were approaching on one side. The forest of fairy fires burned on the other. The lounging figures that surrounded them payed attention to me now, all sitting up, hearing the angry voices of the army approaching and obviously seeing the shadow of someone daring to defile Daoine’s altar as I most certainly was.

  I was pretty sure this was the most excitement LisTirna had seen in eons.

  Bursting through the tangle of trees where I had exited the forest moments before, the army came. Marching slowly and steadily, Garyn at the front, directing his minions with great sweeps of his giant arms to fan out and flank me where I stood. Dressed in the pale clothes of LisTirna, they stalked over the land like moon light, brightening it as they went. It was beautiful, the elegant and rhythmic way they moved. Had I not known they were intent on killing me I would have enjoyed it more.

  The truth was, someone was about to die. I didn’t see anyway around that. The Sidhe were certain it was me—no one could face those kind of odds alone and win. But I was as determined to leave LisTirna alive as they were to kill me.

  As the army fell into rank and prepared to attack, a great call echoed through the land. A cry so ear splitting and unnerving it made everyone wince and turn their heads toward the heavens. I clapped my hands over my ears, and peered into the clouds.

  A great bird circled overhead. I gasped, thinking it was Chassan. Had he joined forces with the Sidhe to kill me? My eyes went wide with the thought.

  An army of Sidhe was one thing, but facing the Son of Sun was something entirely different. I began to back pedal, my eyes darting from the massive bird overhead to the army shuffling and scurrying below. Did I have enough time left to run? Were they distracted enough that I could still get out of here?

  I got my answer—a resounding NO—when the bird switched its circling and began to swoop with alarming speed toward me. When our eyes locked, the bird glared at me with radiant purple eyes, not molten gold. It was Daoine, taking the shape of her eagle body and bearing down on me with razor sharp talons waiting to tear into my soft flesh.

  I leapt to the side just as she would have snatched me in her talons. Only, my magic was so weakened by LisTirna and saving Dayne I miscalculated my jump and ended up crashing down the side of the amethyst mountain. Tumbling head over heels, crashing into rocks, slashing through trees and brush, scraping along the wall of amethyst all the way to the bottom. Normally, I would’ve had enough strength to catch myself, but not now. Whatever powers LisTirna hadn’t weakened I had given to Dayne to save his life. It was useless. I was just as weak in this world as I had been the last time I faced Daoine.

  With a great thud, I smacked against the ground, not even bothering to see where my attacker was before I sprang to my feet and began to run.

  In the distance, I locked my eyes on one of the fairy fires burning soft blue. It was fire, however odd it looked, and if I could get to it, I could recharge my powers enough to fight.

  I hoped.

  The great whooshing swoop of Daoine’s wings followed me, pushing a mighty wind over the land as I ran and she flew overhead, expertly mimicking my path. It was hard to keep my course, constantly needing to close my eyes or shield my face with an arm to avoid the dust and debris her wings kicked up.

  Still, my feet kept up the pace. When the fire was a few yards from me, its warmth caressed my cheeks like an old friend. An embrace that stoked my magic and coaxed a fiery sizzle up from the base of my spine. Feet from it, I raised my hand and began to call to the flames in my mind, just as I had done in Dayne’s room.

  Nothing. I redoubled my efforts, my calls becoming motherly pleas. The flames hissed, but instead of leaping toward me, they flattened low over the ground, struggling for life. Overhead, Daoine shrieked so loudly it shook the trees. Amazingly, the sound continued to grow louder the longer it went. She was in a death dive. Hurtling her body toward the earth to scoop up her prey. Only, I refused to lose so easily.

  Her body sliced through the air like a knife, sounding exactly as I remembered the bird on Chassan’s mountain sounding. I closed my eyes to listen, and when she was inches from closing her razored talons on me, I fell to the earth and rolled into the fire. Only there was no fire anymore. Not even a measly coal remained to stoke my magic.

  In a great flurry of movement, the massive eagle grazed over me, flapping around like a fool when her talons closed on empty air. But she was too large and cumbersome to attack me on the ground. There, I had an advantage. As
her eagle-body collected its strength to ascended—no doubt preparing to strike again—I took off running through the underbrush.

  Her wings fluttered furiously above. Covering me with dirt and debris and swirling my hair into such a wild mess vision was lost. I panicked. Searching for another way out, my eyes darting for any form of refuge. In the near darkness and whirlwind of Daoine’s anger, I found none. My only option was to keep running.

  Daoine’s cry rang through the treetops. In the distance, her army of moths answered with a great whooping battle cry, their weapons clanging at their sides as they began to charge forward. There was no time to think. With not a bit of wit about me, I focused on the only glowing object I saw on the horizon and began to run again, ducking around trees and covering myself with the enormous leaves as I ran for my life.

  For once, I wanted a fight. I wanted to turn to Daoine and fight her for Dayne’s birthright, but I wasn’t stupid. There wasn’t enough power in me at that moment to kill a fly, let alone the Queen of the Sidhe.

  Calling on every muscle that quaked in my aching body, I forced myself to run as fast as I could, blindly through the woods, toward whatever bright spot illuminated the horizon. Daoine was close. I could feel her beady eyes on me. She could fly as quickly as I could run, but in tree cover so dense, she wouldn’t try to dive again.

  I was almost there. The bright spot was growing larger and for a moment I thought I was going to make it.

  Just a few more seconds and this nightmare would be over. The fire would wake my magic and give me the power I needed to stand and face Daoine and her army of Sidhe.

  Only, the closer I got, I realized it wasn’t another fairy fire at all.

  It was the portal, glowing like the moon in a sunset sky. My escape from Daoine. My liberation from the all-consuming nightmare my life had become. Running away wasn’t the ending I had planned or wanted. But without another fire in sight, and the evil witch-queen a wing’s flap away, I didn’t see what other option I had.