“Owain constantly reinforced that Oswald was destined to rule,” Fianna rephrased. “Until Oswald became obsessed—”
It was all Elise could do not to grab the other woman and shake her until her teeth rattled. “Not that. The part about the eyes.”
Fianna’s pale brows scrunched together as she tried to understand. “What about them? They are a mark of great power. Oswald has always believed they mark him as the next destined ruler and his father encouraged that belief.”
“His eyes—they change color? Is that what you mean?” Elise’s heart was pounding in her chest so hard she was surprised it wasn’t vibrating the floor. Surely, if that were the case, Aidan would have said something to her when she’d told him about Dina.
“Well, yes.” Fianna stared at Elise for a moment until something seemed to dawn on her. “I’m sorry, I forgot for a moment that no one outside the royal family is supposed to know about that.”
“And Oswald is one-hundred-percent Fae, right? Not a hybrid? No human in the mix—or demon?” Elise’s mind reeled. The portrait! That’s what it was. The artist hadn’t gotten the hue wrong—the queen had changed her eye color sometime after it was done.
“Of course,” Fianna replied. “That mark has only ever appeared in pureblooded Fae—and only among the nobility—only within our close kin, as far as I know. Oswald is the only one I’ve ever heard of except for Llyris. As children, their eye color can change, until they settle on a shade that seems right for them. Llyris chose ice blue, while Oswald’s are the color of dark sapphires.”
“And good goddess, Dina chose green,” Elise whispered, stricken. “Aidan is her father!”
“What? Your daughter is a potential queen?” Fianna’s hand flew to her throat. “A halfling? Goddess, if they found out about that, she’d be in even greater danger. It violates everything they believe in.”
There was a thump a few feet down the hallway, as a maid dropped a stack of towels she’d been carrying. Her jaw was hanging low, her almond-shaped eyes round with horror. Then they narrowed. “No. A part-blood who could become queen? Never!”
Neither Lana at the main stairwell nor Elise had paid any attention to the maid who’d strolled casually up the servants’ stair with a load of linens in her arms. Fianna’s back was toward the servant. Now, Elise noted with terror that the woman stepped in front of Aidan’s bedroom door and she’d blinked in a lethal-looking snub-nosed revolver, which she raised and pointed into the room at the bed where Dina slept.
“Noooo!” Elise screamed as she leapt toward the woman. Lana snarled and began to run toward them, but she was too far away.
Fianna had spun around and she was closer. The former Fae launched herself at the maid, putting her body between the gun and the open door right as the other woman pulled the trigger.
The gunshot boomed in their ears. Elise struck the maid—she couldn’t remember the bitch’s name—as Fianna crumpled to the floor, a bright red stain spreading out from the hole above her breast. Elise bore the woman down and in a heartbeat, Lana was there, a wicked knife in her hand. Without hesitation, she slit the traitor’s throat. The body, blood and all, instantly vanished.
“One less prisoner to interrogate, but I didn’t want to take the time to subdue her,” Lana said, wiping her blade on her T-shirt. “Is Fee okay?”
Elise rolled, laying her hands on Fianna, who coughed, bringing up a bloody foam. “Nobody.” Cough. “Should.” She choked and gasped. “Hurt.” Another, weaker cough. “Children.”
Elise didn’t respond, she was too busy trying to heal the woman. Damn, the bullet was cold iron and it had passed through a lung to lodge at the edge of the heart.
“Meagan, tweezers—long skinny ones,” she yelled, knowing the commotion would have brought her friend running to the door. “Lana, slice open her shirt.”
Lana bent down and used her knife to cut Fianna’s polo shirt from neckline to hem, before turning her back to them, standing guard. Colin, Morwynna and Belinda appeared at their various doorways, Morwynna with a wicked-looking blade in her hand, Colin with a hockey stick. Good.
“Here.” Meagan blinked in a pair of long pointed tweezers. “But would it be easier if I just blinked out the bullet?”
“Hell, yes.”
Elise maintained a mental connection with the wound, stopping the bleeding as best she could. Then Meagan knelt and laid her hands on Fianna as well. Elise felt the additional power flow in as Meagan poured her magic into Fianna to stabilize the patient. A moment later, Meagan held the bullet in her hand.
Elise integrated the additional power, instantly starting to mend the gap left by the bullet. “You’re getting good at this, but don’t overtax yourself and hurt the baby.”
“I won’t,” Meagan promised. True to her word, she pulled back as soon as the bullet was clear of Fianna. Immediately, Morwynna knelt and took Meagan’s place, while Belinda helped Meagan to her feet.
Elise paused for breath before repairing ribs, muscle and other tissues. She’d used her power more today than any other time in her life and she was damned near out. Exhausted, she sank back on her ass on the floor as Fianna’s eyes fluttered open.
***
“We’ve got gunfire on the second floor!” Aidan heard the words as he stepped into the house through the security entrance, their motley team trailing behind them, some carrying or prodding the prisoners.
The guard yelling was Toby’s nephew, Morgan, who was running down the hall toward the stairs, headset on and weapon in hand. Forgetting the prisoners for a moment, Aidan ran right behind him, Ric and several others close at his heels.
“Wallis, mind the prisoners,” Aidan called back over his shoulder as he raced up the service stair. “Toby, see our guests through the portal so they can go home.”
His bedroom was directly above the library, allowing for a secret passage between his walk-in closet and the portal chamber. Had someone tried to use it? As he reached the top of the stairs, two steps behind Morgan, he saw Elise and Morwynna on the floor in his bedroom doorway, along with Fianna, all of them covered in blood. Meagan, her hands bloody, leaned against Belinda’s shoulder.
His heart started beating again when he saw Elise and Meagan both turn and wave at their approach. “What did that bitch do now?” He ’ported in his cutlass. This was the last straw—he was ending Fianna once and for all.
Elise got shakily to her feet and stood in his way, laying both of her hands on his shoulders. He’d never seen her so pale—or so bloody. “She saved Dina’s life. Almost died doing it. Leave…her…alone.” Her voice was little more than a whisper and she swayed against him, her knees giving out.
Aidan dropped his cutlass and caught her in his arms before she could hit the floor. Desmond had stepped forward to catch her too, but Aidan was quicker and ignored the sharp look her brother cast his way.
Meanwhile, Greg shoved past Aidan to crouch beside Fianna, whose shirt front was torn away, revealing a white bra stained red with blood. He ran his hand across her skin and then buttoned her sweater.
“Seriously.” Meagan launched herself into Ric’s arms. “This maid pulled a gun…” She pointed to the weapon now in Lana’s hand. “She seemed pretty freaked out about something.”
“Jennet?” Aidan asked. All the women shrugged, even Elise, whose shoulders rubbed against his chest.
“It’s the same bitch who was sleeping with the gardener.” Greg snarled as he stood and eased Fianna up beside him, his arm wrapped possessively around her waist. “Her scent is all over the place.”
“Where is she now?” Aidan asked.
“Dead.” Lana bared her teeth. “But I wouldn’t have gotten to her in time. Fee threw herself in front of the bullet. Honest.” She traced an X across her chest. “Elise healed her, but I think it was pretty close.”
Meagan nodded. “Get Elise cleaned up and put to bed, Aidan. And go talk to Dina—she’s hiding under the covers hoping everything’s going to be okay.”
> “I think we could do with showers and sleep all around,” Ric agreed. “You have someplace to lock up the prisoners?”
Morgan the guard nodded. “There are a couple hidden cells in the basement. We can throw them in there until morning.”
“Bring in more guards from Rosemeade if you need them,” Meagan said. “I left instructions that they’re to answer to Wallis or Toby if need be. I want eyes on those bastards every minute.”
Aidan nodded his agreement. “And don’t forget Dylan, the groundskeeper. Round him up and throw him in the cell as well.”
“You got it, boss.” Morgan and the other guards turned and headed back down the stairs. “You want me to send a couple guards up here?”
Desmond shook his head “We can take shifts. You guys cover the prisoners.”
Off to one side of the hall, Aidan saw Cynric and Clive hugging their wives who’d come out into the hallway, and Colin, who stood in the adjoining bedroom door. Good thing this was a damn big house.
George exchanged a look with Jase and turned to Aidan. “Jase and I can take first watch. Neither of us took any damage at the steel mill.”
Des swallowed hard and held out his hand to Greg. “You and I can take the second shift, Novak?” It was a peace offering, considering Des’s long-standing grudge against wolves, and Aidan wondered what the hell had triggered that change.
Greg accepted the gesture with the hand not wrapped around Fianna and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” He turned to Aidan. “So where are the showers and beds?”
Unable to gesture with his arms full of Elise, Aidan tipped his head at the hallway. “Pick a room. Dial zero on the house phone if you need anything. Wake me up when it’s my turn to stand watch.” He strode into his room and sat Elise on the bed beside Dina, who poked her head out from under the covers.
“Daddy!” She launched into his arms and hugged him.
“Hey, sweetheart. Everything’s okay. We had a spot of trouble out in the hallway, that’s all, but it’s over now.”
Dina nodded. “Mommy’s all bloody.”
“Yeah, now it’s Mommy’s turn for a bath.” Elise made a trembling attempt at a laugh. “Can you go back to sleep, baby?”
The child looked anxiously from one parent to another. “You’ll both be here when I wake up, right?”
“You got it, princess.” Aidan kissed the top of Dina’s head. “We’ll be right there in that bathroom. When we’re all cleaned up, we’ll come back in here and we can all sleep together. How’s that?”
“Okay.” She curled back up on the pillows and closed her eyes.
“Time to get clean, Mommy.” Aidan picked Elise up again, even as she moved to stand on her own.
Too tired to struggle and enjoying being held too much to try, she wrapped her arms around his neck for the short trip to the bathroom. Aidan bypassed the enormous tub in favor of the even more decadent marble-lined shower. Elise rolled her eyes—he could fit an entire hockey team in this thing with room left over. There were jets in the ceiling, up and down all four walls and a built-in bench on one wall, long enough to sleep on.
As Aidan approached the enclosure, he spoke a brief word and the water started up. Little flicks of his fingers caused first Elise’s, then his clothing to vanish with every step closer to the shower. By the time he reached the glass door, it was steamed up from the hot spray and he murmured one last command to make the door swing open as he stepped inside, Elise still held securely in his arms as he kicked it shut.
In the center of the marble-tiled space, he shifted his grip, allowing her to slide down along his body to stand on her own feet—well, toes at least. He still supported most of her weight, both from his arms wrapped around her back and the fact that she leaned heavily against his chest. The hot spray prickled against her skin and she sighed at the luxury of it, even as she buried her face in the dent between his pecs and inhaled his spicy, musky scent.
Everything that had happened in the last two days came crashing back and she leaned into him, wrapped her arms around his waist and hung on until the shivering stopped.
“Gods, Elise,” he muttered thickly into her hair. “Do you have any idea how much you scared me? They said there’d been gunfire and I saw you on the floor, all covered in blood…”
“N-n-not my own.” She shuddered as Fianna’s blood rinsed away and swirled down the drain. Her palm rubbed his stiff back. He was so tense his spine felt like a drawn bow, ready to snap.
“I know. Not yours. Thank the gods.” He dropped kisses all over her head and squeezed her so tightly she could barely breathe.
She wasn’t about to complain. It felt wonderful. Even as tired and stressed as she was, her body was softening and relaxing in response to his closeness. She drew in a couple more ragged breaths and got her voice under control. “I felt the same, you know. When that asshole pulled me through that portal and I felt your blood all over my hand. I was sure you were dead…” Her voice cracked and she sniffled against his warm, strong chest.
“Ah, leannan. It was close, I’ll admit. But our little girl is one hell of a healer. And now I’m fine and so are you and here we are together.” He nudged her with his hips, pressing the firm evidence of his own arousal against her stomach.
“Dina?” She’d healed Aidan? “Thank the gods.” Suddenly, she remembered what she needed to tell him—the things she’d learned from Fianna. Even as she subconsciously rubbed her breasts against his ribcage, her own arousal surging, she tried to keep her mind clear for this conversation they needed to have. “Aidan, there’s something I have to tell you.”
“Later,” he decreed huskily as he nipped her ear. “Right now, I need you. I need this. We’re both alive and whole and together. Dina is safe in the next room and can’t hear us over the shower. That’s all that matters for now. The rest can wait.” His hands skimmed down her back to cup the cheeks of her butt.
“But…” Her traitorous body was clearly on his side. Without realizing she was doing it, she’d widened her stance and her own hands were sliding up his chest to loop around his neck. He was right. After the day they’d had, the urge to reaffirm and celebrate life was a powerful one. She lifted her face for his kiss, glad that the floor of the shower was a rougher tile than the smooth marble walls, providing traction so she didn’t slip.
Yes! The touch of his lips on hers sent a jolt of awareness zinging through her, to the tips of her fingers and toes. Aidan! It seemed that something deep inside her stirred to life, recognizing its mate. Goddess, how she loved this man.
Their tongues tangled. His darted, retreated and claimed her again and again. One of his hands slid down the crevice of her backside and between her legs to stroke and play, while he brought the other around and up between them to cup her breast. She moaned into his kiss. Not content to let him do all the work, she tangled one hand in his short dark hair and used the other to cup the side of his head, rubbing the pointed tip of his ear between thumb and forefinger. His already rigid erection stirred and lengthened at the touch and this time it was he who moaned.
“Need you,” he murmured, pulling his mouth from hers. Rather than bend over further to run his lips down her neck, he simply wrapped his arms around her waist again and lifted her up to him. “Now.”
She didn’t need any more preliminaries either. Elise wrapped her legs around his waist and tipped her head to give him access as he nibbled his way down her throat. When he shifted her a bit, bringing the head of his cock into alignment with her core, she sighed happily and dug her fingernails into his shoulders.
“Mine,” he grunted as he impaled her in one slow but determined thrust of his hips.
“Yours,” she agreed, too lost in the moment to know what she was saying, or to care. She pulsed her hips against his, trying to take him deeper but their tenuous position didn’t give her any leeway. “Wall.”
“You okay with that?” Obviously he remembered that she’d been reluctant at first when he’d loomed over her—was it
only earlier that same day? It didn’t matter. This was Aidan and after that one moment of panic, she’d known to the deepest reaches of her soul that he’d never, ever hurt her—at least physically. Right now she wanted him to take her, deep and hard.
“Wall,” she repeated. “Yes. Now.”
He moved toward the wall, speaking to her in a language that resembled Gaelic and Welsh but was older than either. She couldn’t understand the words, but her heart thrilled at the guttural intensity with which he uttered them. When he pressed her back into the cool marble tile, she shivered with pleasure and used the support to tilt her hips, drawing him deeper inside.
“Yes,” she moaned again. He recaptured her lips, so she couldn’t speak as he began to slide slowly out of her channel before thrusting back in with just enough controlled force to make her tremble.
His chest pressed her into the wall, his hands supporting her hips, so he couldn’t caress her with those long, clever fingers, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was the steady rhythm of his body pounding into hers, the frantic mating of their lips and tongues. She gripped him hard with hands and nails, and sucked on his tongue when he thrust it into her mouth. Aidan retaliated by swiveling his hips as he thrust, hitting spots inside her she hadn’t even known she had. He did it twice more, shoving himself deep enough that she could have sworn he touched her spine. On the third, she shattered, climaxing with a cry that came straight from her soul. Her womb clenched, her inner muscles clamped down on Aidan’s cock and held him deep as she shuddered around him.
Even as he swallowed her shriek, he groaned into their kiss and pushed deeper still as his body shook with release. She felt the hot splash deep in her channel and the tremors that raked him as he poured himself into her.
“Mine,” he whispered again, followed by more words in the elven language of his birth.
“Mine.” She buried her face in the crook of his neck as the aftershocks rippled through her belly. The dampness on her face might have been all from the shower or some of it might have been tears. She loved him so much—and this moment was far too perfect to last.
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