Taran stopped and stood before her, towering over her, making her feel so small and fragile that it was all she could do not to touch him. His devastating smile was back, too.
“Here we are then,” he said softly.
Skye stared up at him for a long moment before catching his meaning.
“Oh! Right – the room,” she said as if snapping out of a trance.
His smile widened as he opened the door for her, allowing her to enter first and letting his eyes wander over her form as she did.
The interior of the bedroom was massive, the carpeting and wallpaper both busy with floral patterns and rich colors that could only be considered suitable in a castle. The furniture was extravagant and ornate. Every pillow was overstuffed and hand-stitched. The bed was spectacularly beautiful. A canopy of thick golden curtains was held back at either side; their material matching that of the headboard, bedspread, and excessive amount of pillows.
Without a doubt, this was a room fit for royalty. Needless to say, it was intimidating in comparison to the rundown motels in which she usually crashed.
Taran’s intoxicating accent interrupted her thoughts, surprising her by how close he had come without her hearing his approach. The feeling of him standing behind her caused her lips to part and eyes to flutter closed involuntarily.
“My bedchambers are just down the hall,” he said in a low tone as his eyes unhurriedly passed over the curves of her body. He bit his bottom lip while watching her back arch slightly in response to his presence. He could hear her pulse pounding, no matter how rigid she willed her posture to become. It was wondrously alluring to him, how hard she was fighting off the attraction she was feeling. This was a woman decidedly against surrender in any aspect of her life. Her resistance only drew him closer, made him yearn to know her truths, to unravel the mystery that surrounded her.
Taking another step toward her, he intentionally dropped his voice a few octaves as he continued, “I will show ya where, in case ya need me in the night...”
Skye forced herself to take a breath. She was not sure whether he had actually paused at that point, or if her mind had suffered a massive meltdown at his choice of words.
“... to help ya find anything. I would nah recommend ya go wandering aboot by yourself for any reason – though I promise if ever ya do get lost, I will find ya,” he assured with his smile evident in his voice.
Skye swallowed with a great level of difficulty and, steeling herself for another viewing of his bare chest, turned to face him. “Thank you,” she somehow managed.
That was it. That was all she could say before he smiled and took her arm again. No witty comments, no biting remarks, none of her trademark sarcasm or distance.
Damn him, she thought. Did the man have to radiate so much sex appeal? He gave a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘raw animal magnetism’. She swore that having him stand behind her in front of the bed had nearly brought the change an hour early.
Mercifully, he did not open the door to his bedroom when he showed her how to find it. She honestly did not trust herself to remain calm if presented with an entire bedroom of his scent. It was like vaporized sex. That was what Taran smelled like to her new senses. That was what she was up against. Hot, passionate, wild, clawing, biting, wall-climbing, back-breaking, mind-blowing sex in vapor form to torment her with the realization that he had a scant few thousand years of sexual knowledge waiting to be shared with her...
She arched a brow, wondering whether this would fall under the column of ‘pro’ or ‘con’ for becoming a faol.
A horrifying possibility crossed her mind. What if all faol men were going to smell like this to her? Her brow arched higher still as she considered it. She would have to lock herself up forever, or hire a freaking harem of men to service her thrice daily. It had been... her eyes widened in shock... holy shit-ski, two years since her last failed attempt to let a man touch her. In the first year after her escape, she had tried one-night stands a few times, had attempted to lead a normal life. On some inescapable level, though, she always found herself disgusted by it. Her past had seemingly ruined all chance of experiencing an enjoyable sexual encounter.
As if listening in on her thoughts, Taran took her hand in his at that point, in addition to clasping her arm. When she peered up at him warily, he merely gave her a reassuring smile.
Maybe I could give it one more try, she thought as a smile attempted to form on her own lips, you know – just to be sure.
“You guys ready to do this thing?” Miko called from down the hall.
Skye looked over at him in surprise before realizing the reason for his question. Taran answered as she tried to hoist her mind back up out of the gutter.
“Aye,” he replied before looking down at her and lowering his voice. “We’d best get ya downstairs, my love. As much as I would nah mind an excuse to carry ya, I’d rather ya were comfortable when this begins.”
She nodded despite her inner protest of the effect he had on her.
Did you hear that? Why did he have to keep slipping in those distracting little phrases? ‘In case ya need me in the night’, ‘my love’, ‘I would nah mind an excuse to carry ya’ – that last one had completely cushioned the fact that she would be in too much pain to walk. She did not even care.
And why did his accent have to make everything sound so damnably sexy? Why did every word out of his mouth have to feel like auditory foreplay? The bastard could inflict orgasms by reading aloud from the phonebook.
They descended the seemingly never-ending stairs and nearly twenty minutes later, entered one of the castle’s several basements. A cage that could have easily contained a rampaging elephant stood at its center. Taran unlocked the door, opened it, and motioned for her to head inside. She entered it slowly, wringing her hands and not noticing until the door had closed behind her that Taran had stepped inside with her. When she turned and found him standing there, she eyed him in puzzlement.
“Take off your jewelry,” he instructed and held out a box.
She sighed, removing her nose-ring and leather wrist-guards before hesitantly taking off the cross that Aiyana had given her. She was surprised by how much the cross meant to her. Her fingertips wandered across her collarbone in search of it the moment it was gone. He closed the box and she looked up at him for further direction.
“And now your clothing,” he said slowly and smiled when she instantly turned and stalked away from him.
“Open this fucking door,” she snapped as she glared at Miko through the bars. Her mind was reeling in outrage that this was just a stupid ploy to get her naked.
“Hey, kitten, this is his show – not mine,” Miko laughed as he held his hands up.
Skye ground her teeth, turning back angrily... only to find Taran smiling down at her with those sexy eyes of his. He leaned down to her slowly and whispered in her ear, stirring up the same overpowering feelings as before.
“Wee one, know this as truth... when the desire to touch ya and watch ya undress for my own benefit becomes unbearable... I will be more than willing to spend the time and... mmm... energy necessary to earn such a privilege,” he said in a low growl, deliberately breathing in her ear each time he paused and sending goose bumps over every inch of her flesh.
She swayed on her feet, leaning closer to him and inhaling deeply. Her face was a mask of longing when he pulled away and smiled down at her. Her entire body was responding to his whispered seduction. She knew damned well that he could sense her arousal, but for the sake of appearances, she tried to regain her composure.
Miko was leaning forward now with a frustrated look on his face as he strained to listen in on them. He hated that Taran always knew the limits of his hearing. No matter how much his training had honed his senses, he could never hear a word the ancient did not intend for his ears.
“I simply ask tha ya remove your clothing for your own safety,” Taran assured her in a public tone.
“Funny, that’s precisely the same
reason why I’d like to keep them on,” she stated as she crossed her arms over her chest stubbornly.
“Ah, well – tha’s fair enough, I s’pose,” he laughed as he drew a hand over his beard. “But tell me something, when your Maker changed, what happened to his body? Describe it for me,” he urged, leaning back against the bars and watching her with interest.
“Umm...” she breathed as she closed her eyes.
For the love of Christ, why did he always expect her to be able to think in his presence?
“I guess it grew... I mean, yeah, it had to have. He had tripled in size by the time he was finished,” she recalled, trying to remember what she had seen without reliving the pain.
She looked up in surprise when Taran snapped and pointed at her.
“Exactly,” he exclaimed with a pleased smile, nodding excitedly and taking a step closer to her.
She tilted her head to the side, studying his eyes as he gazed down at her. They twinkled when he was happy, she noted. When he was giving a sexy smile, they practically smoldered. This was different. There was a glitter to his eyes now; an energy that made her feel somehow lighter.
“Like it or nah, love,” he continued, interrupting her intent study of his features, “Your body is going to grow when ya change.”
God, he had such a beautiful, honest smile. She found herself watching his lips as he spoke, loving the way that his mouth formed his words with care. It seemed to take a bit of effort for him to pronounce certain things. ‘Grow’, for instance. He had this way of turning his face to the side slightly and squinting as he forced the thickly accented words from his lips. She wondered what he sounded like speaking his native tongue – though, from her dream, she realized that she already knew.
His hand on her sleeve, tugging at the durable fabric in amusement brought her back from her thoughts.
“By the looks of them, I would say tha this shirt and these pants are going to put up quite a fight before they tear,” he observed. “If ya are already free of them, ya’ll lessen the pain for yourself in the long run.”
He motioned to his own attire. She flinched at the invitation to feast her greedy eyes on his bare chest and stomach. Despite smiling knowingly, he did not call her out on it.
“In time, ya’ll become accustomed to wearing clothing tha can be torn away or removed easily,” he assured.
Skye thought it over, and then over again with scenarios of him tearing away her clothing. Mmm...
Dragging her one-track mind back out of the gutter (as it fought her, kicking and screaming, the entire way), she returned to the problem at hand. She knew that he was right, but was not crazy about the idea of giving them a free show.
Seeing her hesitation, Taran motioned for Miko to bring him a sheet that was folded up on the table. He took it quickly, knowing that the mortal loathed handing over something she would use to cover up. After all, Miko had been waiting to see her strip since they met. Grudgingly, he accepted that waiting a little longer would not kill him. Getting into that cage with her, however, was likely to do exactly that.
Taran shook the sheet out, giving her a smile that needed no words. He had told her he would wait and he meant it. Holding it at arm-span, he raised it above his head. At his height, it was just as effective as a curtain.
Skye stood still for a minute; wringing her hands and waiting for him to ‘accidentally’ drop it. She knew that Miko was dying to run up along the side of the cell where the sheet was not blocking. However, as she watched Taran’s silhouette through the sheet, she was struck with the oddest feeling of... was it trust? Her brows drew together in uncertainty at the concept. Somehow, she just knew without a doubt that he would keep his word. He would not let Miko disrespect her, either – even if Miko did see it as only a joke.
It shocked her how easily she was suddenly able disrobe with two men in the room. It was as if they were not there at all. She shook her head in disbelief that it was all because of the word of a stranger. After pulling her shirt off over her head, she let down her long blonde hair and shook it out. She removed her bra before sliding her pants and thong down her legs. Folding them all neatly, she placed the pile on the bench. All that remained now was Skye, standing at peace in her own skin, not worrying about fighting to protect herself, not spending so much energy distrusting everyone around her. It was the greatest sense of freedom that she could ever recall experiencing.
She reached up to Taran’s massive hands, running her fingers over them gently as she guided him to lower the sheet. His genuine smile greeted her before he bent to the task of wrapping it around her body. She could not help but watch him with admiration, noting the great care he took in the action. His hands never once brushed against her skin in an inappropriate manner.
A flesh and blood decent guy , she marveled, who knew that phrase could ever be more than an oxymoron?
Miko’s jaw hung open uselessly when he focused on her. He had never seen her let her hair down before. There was something else different about her, though – a softness to her expression that had not been present when the sheet went up.
Taran leaned down to her ear and whispered sweetly, “There ya are, my love. I was beginning to wonder if ya would ever take off tha mask,” he said before pressing a kiss to her cheek.
Tears formed in her eyes. Her lips parting as she drew a choppy breath. She closed her eyes tightly. Her body trembled in response to the feeling of his warm lips. She was completely unaccustomed to a man’s touch in such a gentle fashion.
“Absolutely beautiful, I do hope ya know this,” he whispered.
She stared at him in awe as he took a step away from her. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to throw her arms around the neck of the first person she could recall making her feel safe since she was a child. She wanted to take shelter from the world in his embrace.
Instead, she simply blushed and smiled, not wanting to let that clearly deluded and irrational side of herself out into the open. There was a longing inside of her the likes of which she had never known, a burning need to feel his arms around her. Every time he came close, she could feel the warmth of his chest and arms and feared that she might lose control. Something told her that it was right, that she belonged with him... to him.
Of course, she got right to work convincing herself that the feeling was just a side effect of being a faol.
“Holy shit, Skye! You’re a hottie!” Miko blurted out and interrupted her thoughts.
She arched a brow and gave him an incredulous look.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” He demanded as he approached. “Seriously! I mean yeah, before you were like ‘whoa!’ – but now you’re like ‘WHOA!’”
Skye blushed again and averted her eyes awkwardly. She hated that she had no idea how to accept compliments. Every one of the fifty responses forming in her mind would leave Miko with a complex, but for some reason, she did not want to use them. She rationalized that she might be feeling somewhat grateful for him saving her life.
“Down, lad,” Taran cut in good-naturedly on Skye’s behalf. “One more outburst like tha and ya’ll be in a pup-cage of your own.”
Miko laughed as he sat back down. He was still thunderstruck over the change in Skye, mind you, but was now keeping quiet about it.
A clock in the distance chimed the hour, drawing Skye’s attention. The sound served as a reminder that her time was almost up. Cold dread began closing in on her with each chime. What if she could not do this? What if the pain was too much to bear? What if something went wrong? What if she hurt Miko? What if she hurt Taran? What if she could not come back once she changed? What if she got loose from the cage?
Without realizing it, her breathing had quickened. She was startled from her worries when Taran took her hands in his.
“Do nah be frightened, wee one,” he soothed as he gave her hands a reassuring squeeze. He sat on the bench in front of her so that she had to look down into his eyes. “I promise ya, it will be all right.”
; For his benefit, she forced herself to nod, but she could not get the fear to go away. It was locking up her muscles now; snaking its way into her stomach and making the room feel smaller. She told herself to be brave, but could not find it in herself to be. This was a situation where she could not fight to protect herself – all she could do was wait for it to come. That scared her more than anything in the world did. She felt like she was sinking.
All those years she spent powerless, sitting alone in a cell, waiting for them to come, knowing what would happen when they did...
She began slipping away, retreating into herself, losing her hold on reality in a way she had not in years. Without a word, she sank to the cold concrete floor. Absentmindedly, she pressed her back against Taran’s leg. Her eyes stared blankly ahead as she chewed nervously at her fingernails. She kept playing out in her mind the memory of the night she had been bitten. She knew what her body was about to do and was growing steadily more terrified of it.
Miko gave Taran a stricken look and climbed to his feet, wanting more than anything to open the cell door and tell her it was going to be fine. He might not know Skye very well, but he did know that she did not like anyone touching her. Even though she seemed to have made a slight exception to that rule with Taran, for her to seek out comfort from a man it was serious. He was suddenly having regrets about not being able to bring Aiyana along for this. Skye trusted Aiyana, talked to her. The only time that he had ever seen Skye somewhat relaxed was when they were together.
Taran nodded in understanding, holding up a hand to Miko that told him he needed to stay clear. As gently as possible, he ran his hand through her hair.
Miko found himself shifting back and forth on his feet, hating that all he could do was watch.
“Skye, listen to me,” Taran began softly. “I know ya are afraid of what’s to come, and tha’s fine. Everyone is scared at first, but ya have a stronger spirit than any woman I’ve met in the long years I’ve spent in this world. Ya will survive this... and probably do so with more ease than even I did the first time I changed.”
Darkness Descends: A Skye Faden Novel Page 13