“I don’t feel so well,” Sasha finally admitted, and Maddox scooped her into his arms without breaking stride, picking up the pace. They quickly arrived at the keep, where the fire still blazed and Seamus was stirring something in a pot hung over the flames.
“Quickly now,” Seamus ordered, pointing to where he’d laid a sleeping bag by the fire. “Lay her there. I’ll want to use a poultice as well as have her drink something.”
Sasha began to shiver as she was put down on the sleeping bag, and she wondered if it was just coming down from the adrenaline of the past two hours, or if the fae magick was really affecting her so. Fierce battle was known to raise the adrenaline, which explained what had happened with Declan after. ’Twas natural to feel lusty when the adrenaline was still surging through her body. It couldn’t be much more than that, Sasha tried to convince herself; she barely knew the man.
Liar, her brain whispered, and she shoved the thought down as shudders began to rack her body. It felt like ice was creeping through her veins. Dimly, she heard Bianca talking to her.
“Hey, I need you to stay with me here.” Bianca was crouched by her head, holding a cup to her lips. Sasha gulped at the liquid, knowing that it would help her, but not even remotely wanting to swallow it. She reminded herself to be a warrior and take her medicine, so she did as Bianca instructed.
“Ouch,” Sasha sputtered, as Seamus pressed a steaming poultice to her wound.
“I’m sorry, but it needs to be applied hot. Warmth to fight the cold, you see?”
Sasha nodded, and finished swallowing whatever bitter solution was in the cup that Bianca kept shoving at her face. When it was finally finished, she swatted the cup away and put her head down, only turning it to the side when she heard angry voices.
Her vision was beginning to blur. There must have been a sedative in the mixture, she thought, as she dully watched Maddox get in Declan’s face.
“She’s wounded. And you thought that was the right time to tup her?” Maddox shouted.
Declan’s face went to stone when he saw Sasha lying on the ground. “Back off,” he ordered, and Maddox shoved him, making Sasha’s eyes pop open.
“You’re supposed to protect her. Which means her welfare comes before your lusty needs,” Maddox said, shoving him once more before turning to stalk over to Sasha.
The shattered look on Declan’s face was the last thing Sasha saw before darkness claimed her.
Chapter Thirty-eight
It was light the next time Sasha opened her eyes, and all she felt was an incredible sense of peacefulness. Cocooned in a sleeping bag, well-rested, she blinked as the tent around her rustled in the wind, which had yet to abate from the night before. Or was it several nights? She wondered how long she had been out.
“You’re awake,” Declan said, his lips pressed to her neck and Sasha jolted in her sleeping bag, instantly realizing the other reason she felt so safe. Declan’s large arm was looped loosely around her waist and he’d pulled her back against him until his large shoulders overshadowed her slim ones.
“I... what are you doing in here? How long have I been out?” Sasha asked, feeling a blush creep up her cheeks as she remembered what they’d done right before the fae sickness had taken hold of her.
“Just through the night. I want to check your wound,” Declan said.
Sasha found heat creeping up her cheeks once again as he pulled the sleeping bag down and lifted her shirt to poke and prod at her abdomen. Luckily, she felt no pain when he did.
“It feels fine. Actually, I feel great,” Sasha admitted, reminding herself to ask Seamus just what he’d given her. Now she was just as curious as Bianca about what kind of tricks he had in his little magick bag.
Declan placed an arm on either side of her shoulders, effectively caging her as he loomed over her and looked deep into her eyes. Sasha’s heart sped up as she lost herself for a moment.
“I’m sorry I failed you,” Declan finally said, his tone serious, shame crossing his face.
“What? How did you fail me?” Sasha asked, immediately reaching up to press her hand to his face, her hand scraping against the coarse hair on his chin.
“I didn’t protect you,” Declan said, and she could feel his jaw clench as he spat the words out.
“But you did. You rescued me.” Sasha was confused. He’d done everything he was supposed to do.
“And then immediately became consumed with my own needs and didn’t tend to your injury,” Declan said, derision in his tone.
“Hey, we thought I was fine. And you tended to my needs... quite well. Several times,” Sasha said, already feeling the long languid pull of lust in her core as she thought about their time in the tower.
Declan’s eyes turned predatory as he watched her, his breathing picking up – just a tick, but enough that Sasha sensed the switch from anger to lust.
This time it was Sasha who leaned forward, brushing her lips across his in the softest of kisses. Both to reassure and to test herself, she explored gently, and Declan tilted his head, only opening his mouth slightly to allow her to dip her tongue in.
Gently, she lost herself, much like yesterday, as a feeling she wasn’t sure she even totally understood came over her. In a matter of moments she’d threaded her hands through his hair and was gasping against his mouth, wanting so much more from him.
“Lass, I can’t. You’re injured. It would be dishonorable of me,” Declan said, knowing what she wanted but still holding himself straight on his arms above her.
“I’m fine. I swear it. Whatever Seamus put in his magick concoction has healed me up,” Sasha said, her eyes on him as insecurity crept in. Maybe it was best that they didn’t do this again. The heat of the moment after battle was one thing, but having morning snuggles in a tent was oddly intimate. Perhaps her heart wasn’t ready for this after all. “Never mind. I’m certainly not going to try and force myself on a man. It’s fine.”
Sasha moved to roll out from beneath him but found his arms would not budge. She glared up at his face.
“Let me go.”
“Never,” Declan whispered fiercely, claiming her lips with his, this time pouring all of the urgency he felt into it. In seconds, Sasha was riding the wave with him, unable to say no, unable to turn away.
And in the early morning hours, with the winds blowing and the misty Irish rain shrouding their tent, they loved each other as though they had known each other forever.
Destiny, Declan had kept repeating to Sasha. He touched her as though he knew her in a way that no others had or ever could again – and maybe, just maybe, he was right.
Would she be a fool to turn this gift away?
Chapter Thirty-nine
“I want to go back up into the lighthouse, now that the door is open. I feel like we could be missing something,” Sasha shrugged, frustrated that they still had no direction and yet feeling incredibly languid after her morning with Declan.
“Do you not feel like the sword is here?” Bianca asked, blowing on the bowl of oatmeal before handing it over to Sasha, who took it eagerly. She felt like she could eat a meal for ten right now. Between the battle last night, whatever magick Seamus had given her, and her time with Declan, she felt like she had ten cups of coffee coursing through her veins.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure what to look for. It seems foolish to stay here one more night, though, doesn’t it? The Domnua know where we are, they know how to attack, and next time they may come in a different way. Shouldn’t we keep moving?”
“I agree,” Maddox said, coming from around the wall of the keep and hurrying over to cup Sasha’s face in his hands. Measuring her with a long look, he saw what he needed and then bent to kiss her forehead. “Glad you’re better now.”
“Sorry to scare you for a moment there. I honestly was convinced that I was fine,” Sasha said.
“Fae magick is sneaky like that. It has killed more than one in battle that way. They ride off, thinking they are fine, and the poison acts
when they are too far away for help,” Seamus said, poking his head from the tent before extricating his long limbs and standing to stretch, his red hair at all angles as usual.
“Thank you for your help. I feel right as rain this morning,” Sasha said with a smile for him. “In fact, there’s barely a mark on my stomach. I’m certain you could make billions if you patented that and sold it.”
Seamus laughed and crossed to drop a kiss on Bianca’s cheek before taking the oatmeal she offered.
“True, I most likely could. But my life is much easier this way. More money, more problems, as they say.”
“Plus you’d probably be violating all sorts of fae moral codes and whatnot,” Bianca said, settling herself on the ground next to Sasha. The fire still sputtered cheerfully, and Sasha assumed it was also helped along with a little magick.
It was one of the misty grey mornings that Ireland was famous for, and the waves of mist being blown across them in the wind made Sasha think fondly of a corner pub, a fire, and a nice book to read. Instead, she was huddled in her rain jacket before a fire eating instant oatmeal in the mist.
Actually, it wasn’t such a bad morning after all.
Decidedly cheerful—good sex will do that to a body—Sasha smiled when Declan came back from where he’d gone to relieve himself and check the perimeter to make sure the magick still held.
“Maddox,” Declan said, nodding once briskly at Maddox.
“Declan,” Maddox said, returning the nod stiffly.
Sasha remembered what she’d seen just before she’d gone under last night. “Are you two fighting?” she demanded.
“Just a difference of opinions,” Maddox said, his nose about as high in the air as it could get.
“No, not a matter of differences. You were right and I’m sorry,” Declan said, offering his hand. Sasha almost beamed at him. There was nothing more attractive than a man who knew how to apologize when he was wrong—though from what she’d heard, she wasn’t certain Declan had even been in the wrong. But it mattered little so long as there was peace among the group.
“Apology accepted. And I’m sorry for shoving you. I get a little protective of Sasha sometimes,” Maddox said, shaking Declan’s hand.
“As do I,” Declan said, smiling and taking the bowl Bianca offered him.
“Well, now that we’re all one big happy family again, what should we do today? Sasha thinks we should go look at the lighthouse during the day. But we were discussing things and we both agree that it doesn’t make much sense to continue our stay at the castle. The Domnua know where we are now and will just set up watch until they find a weak point again.”
“I think they’ll find us anywhere we go,” Maddox said, pointing with his spoon.
Declan sat next to Sasha, slightly behind her and leaning into her so that his bulk blocked the majority of the wind and mist for her. She leaned into his warmth, craving his nearness in a way that she wasn’t yet certain she was comfortable with.
“We keep moving then. It will make me feel more comfortable as currently I feel like we are too vulnerable,” Declan said.
“I think we need to move on. I’m not sure why we were brought here yet, but my gut says to keep going.” Sasha looked at Bianca, who had raised an eyebrow and was motioning her head at Declan. “What?”
“Um, well, maybe you had to come here to, you know,” Bianca said, nodding at the two of them again.
“To boink?” Sasha said, and Bianca burst out laughing.
“Who even says that? What are you, a thirteen-year-old boy?” Maddox said, rolling his eyes at Sasha.
“What? It’s a technical term,” Sasha said but grinned around her bite of oatmeal. No use hiding anything from these three anyway, so they might as well discuss it.
“I’m just saying... what if we were led here so that Sasha and Declan could realize they love each other? Then that is like a key that opens the next level,” Bianca said.
Sasha choked on her oatmeal, coughing and sputtering as Declan pounded her back. She waved a hand in front of her face, brushing away the tears that clouded her eyes from coughing, and drew a shuddering breath. “I think we need to slow down a bit. No need to be throwing the L-word around all careless-like,” Sasha said, clearing her throat and looking anywhere but at Declan.
“I mean... am I the only one that sees this?” Bianca looked around at the group, and Seamus smiled at her while Maddox gave a quick nod.
“I agree there may be some truth to this,” Declan said, shocking Sasha into looking up at him.
“You love me?” she said, stunned that he was not shying away from this conversation.
His eyes crinkled at the corners and his face warmed as he looked down at her. “Aye, I do. What did you think this all was for? I wouldn’t have said you were my destiny if you were just a woman I’d casually date and dismiss after a night or two. Look around at what we are doing. Where we are. The centuries of myths and legends that have led us here. The years I’ve watched you, protected you, claimed you as mine in my head. The years I had to watch you with other men – the wrong men – and still protect you anyway. Did you think this was anything less than love?”
Sasha’s mouth was hanging open by the end of his statement – not only because it was the longest she had heard him talk, as he was typically a man of few words, but also because she could read the absolute truth behind his words. A warm glow filled her and for once she felt entirely safe with a man.
“I... I suppose that would make sense,” Sasha said lamely, her fingers tapping on her leg as she thought about her response. “It’s just that... for me this is all so new. And I haven’t known you that long. It may take me a little longer to wrap my head and my heart around this all.”
Declan held her eyes for a moment and in them was no censure – only understanding. “You take all the time you need, my love. I already know what I need to know,” he said, leaning over and brushing a soft kiss over her lips before returning to his oatmeal.
Sasha was surprised to find herself just a little annoyed at his statement. Shouldn’t she be the one to know how she felt? What made him think he knew? Annoyed, and frustrated at having her innermost demons and emotions continually exposed to the group, she stood. It wasn’t easy walking around like a raw exposed nerve all the time.
“I’d like to go to the lighthouse after I use what passes for a bathroom around here. I think we should look for any other clues and then move on. Especially because it looks like heavier rain is going to move in.”
With that, she turned her back on the group and faced into the rain, her heart beating a staccato beat in her chest while she kept her mind focused on the end goal.
Find the sword and go back to life as normal.
Chapter Forty
They climbed the stairs of the lighthouse, taking their time, this time with flashlights, and calling back to each other whenever a broken step appeared or a loose bolt was apparent. Sasha was still niggling over Declan’s declaration of love, so she missed a step and almost went down, but he caught her – strong and steady behind her. Would it always be this way? Him there to catch her?
Sasha needed to come to terms with the fact that it already had always been this way. The only difference was that now she was included. It was like pulling back a curtain to reveal a secondary cast of characters in her life that she’d had no knowledge of. It was disconcerting, to say the least. It should have come as no surprise to anyone that she wasn’t quite ready to drop the L-word yet.
“This is cool,” Bianca exclaimed from the top, and soon they all crowded into the circular room. The flame from yesterday had now died out, though it seemed to Sasha that another one had been ignited in her heart. Heat flushed her as she thought about Declan taking her against the wall, her body melded to his. Declan turned and flashed a knowing grin at her, and she jumped and turned away to begin to examine the room.
“It’s fairly standard, for the century it was built in,” Seamus said as they began t
o examine the stones, peeking through the window slots to look at different viewpoints.
“The view is phenomenal,” Sasha sighed and leaned against one sliver of window that showed the ocean, uninterrupted for miles but for a moody seagull swooping in the misting rain. Though the weather was melancholy, there was something about the seagull that calmed her. There had been a battle raging on these very shores the night before, yet in the morning, the birds still flew and the rain still fell. Wars were waged, battles won and lost, and the world moved on. The continuity of it was a blessing.
Sasha smiled and turned, crossing her arms as she looked at her friends, the people who had now become her family. She looked up and murmured a silent ‘thank you’ to the Goddess.
And froze.
“Hey, is that a placard?” Sasha asked, pointed to a small metal square, bolted to the wall, far above their heads where the roof rounded to its peak.
“Good eye, Sash,” Seamus said.
She gasped as he scaled the wall, nimble as a monkey, and peered at the square. Holding on with one hand, he brushed at the rust for a moment until he could see.
“Get anything?” Declan asked.
“There, but for the grace of God, go I,” Seamus said, and dropped lightly back to his feet.
Sasha thought it was interesting that she had just been thinking about the circle of life, the ebb and flow of good and bad, and here was a quote that echoed the luck and misfortune of humanity.
“Grace’s Cove!” Bianca said immediately.
Sasha looked at her in confusion. “Grace’s Cove? I think I’ve heard of it. Village on the west coast?” she asked.
“It’s near where we had our last battle and found the stone. The cove is enchanted. It’s all very fantastic; I’ll fill you in on the ride. But I’m certain this is where we need to go,” Bianca said. Then she paused, her round face flushed as she held up a hand, and said, “Actually, it doesn’t matter what I think. What do you think, Sasha? Does Grace’s Cove feel right?”
Sword Song: The Isle of Destiny Series Page 13