“This really isn’t fair. I can’t help but do what you want me to,” I was frustrated by my humanness and by my inability to do anything other than exactly what he wanted. I didn’t have any cool tricks like he did.
“I’ll make it up to you. You can ask me anything you like,” he said gathering up a few twigs and dried brush from the cliff side. He piled it all together in front of us, struck a match from his pocket and blew the flame onto the twigs. Before I could blink the warm amber glow of fire mixed with the cool blue moonlight on the ledge.
“Whoa…how do you do that?” I reached out to the fire and the chill left my fingertips.
“Magic, but you already know the answer to that question.” The shadow of flames danced dangerously on his face and for a moment I wished I were still in the safety of my bed instead of stuck on a ledge with a mythical being.
“Right. I guess I’m just not really used to that yet.” Dayne stoked the fire with a branch and the flames leapt higher into the air. I swallowed my fear and told myself to quit being such a baby. If Dayne wanted my soul, he certainly didn’t have to whisk me away in the dark. All he had to do was look at me the right way and I would follow him back to LisTirna in a heartbeat. Cause that’s what fairies did, right? They stole innocent young girls in the night and took them back to their world? Which was still hard for me to believe, even after everything I’d seen tonight.
“Is the alternate realm - LisTirna - real?” I fiddled with the lace on my shoe, hoping my veil of hair would hide my face long enough for the blanched fear to fade away. The shadow of his head nodded on the ground beside me.
“Then why are you here?”
“I guard the entryway, which lies within Ennishlough.” Satisfied the fire was stoked as high as it could go, he settled against the ledge and pulled me over to him.
“So close?” I would’ve been scared if his arms hadn’t been around me. I smiled with a goofy grin as I said this, so affected by his touch.
“It’s not a revolving door.” He fussed over my hair, being sure it was out of the way before he settled me into the nook of his arm. “I’m here to be sure a human doesn’t stumble in and also to keep my kind where they are supposed to be. We cannot move between the two worlds without the queen’s permission. I’m always notified when others are traveling.”
“You’re like a jailer or something?” I ventured a hand to rest on his knee, because it was right beside me and also because I thrilled at the idea of touching him...finally.
“Our word is warren.”
“Is that like a jailer?” I adjusted slightly so I could look at him without getting a crick in my neck.
“No.” He shook his head and pursed his lips, twisting his beautiful features as he thought. “More like a guardian. Every Sidhe has regular magic, but we also possess one supreme ability if our blood is pure enough. Being a warren binds me to the things I protect. Like Ennishlough, or the queen. And for some reason...you.” The fire was beginning to burn low, bathing the cliff in its orange glow—Dayne’s face, the folds of his black shirt and canvas pants, my own denim shirt and white skinny jeans.
“So what’s that like?”
“It’s like...an alarm. Every time you have a strong emotion—whether it’s fear, or calm, happy or sad—you call to me. Your voice, clear as a bell, shouting in my head, calling my name. It’s the way you say my name that lets me know if you need me.”
“Has that ever happened before? With a human?”
“Never,” he said, lifting his arm to remove it from my neck. I leaned forward, watching him dig through his pockets.
“I almost forgot!” He said, producing a bag of marshmallows from his pocket.
I laughed out loud at the absurdity of roasting marshmallows in a magic fairy fire, on a ledge over the sea with an Irish Sidhe.
“What? Don’t you like marshmallows?” He wrinkled his brow at me, but couldn’t help but smile when he saw how hard I was struggling to contain my laughter.
“I love them,” I finally managed, swallowing the last snicker and accepting the twig he’d speared through the heart of a powdery little pillow.
“I thought you might be hungry, you didn’t eat dinner after all,” he gave me a totally parental glare and I stifled another giggle when my stomach rumbled loudly, voicing its anger at having been ignored.
He dug through the pile of twigs he’d collected for the fire, and selected his own before settling back beside me, holding it high to spear a marshmallow.
“Do you know the history of my people?” The white cloud drifted upward, stopping inches from his face as he appraised it in the shadows. He blew away a piece of debris, which was pretty hard to avoid given the constant breeze that swirled around us.
“Some of it. But so far it’s been too many myths and not much truth.” I crossed my legs, brushing a little patch of dirt from my jeans.
“Truth is often lost to time,” he said absently, satisfied his marshmallow was clean and stabbing it into the waiting flames. “Irish Sidhe are descendants of Danu. She was also called Diana or Artemis when she lived on Mount Olympus.” He slowly turned his own twig to be sure nothing burned and looked over his shoulder at me. I loved to watch the flames licking the contours of his face, the hollows between his jaw line and cheekbones, the tiny curves by his elegant nose. The rest of him seemed to fade into the shadow of the cliff wall. Everything but the beauty of his face, bathed in warm light, so close to my own.
“Like from mythology?” I snapped out of my love struck daydream, remembering he could hear my heartbeat, and it certainly picked up when I had thoughts like those.
“The very same,” he nodded his head. “Goddess of the animals, wilderness, childbirth and virginity.” I blushed when he said virginity and my eyes hit the scuffled souls of my tennis shoes, unable to even look in his direction when he mentioned that word. He didn’t miss a beat.
“Everyone knows the mythological gods and goddesses. What few know is that they were originally created by The One to rule over humankind and serve as an intermediary between The One and his creations on earth.
Over time, the lesser gods got jealous of The One, and began to keep the praise and sacrifices of humans for themselves, convincing humans that the Olympic gods were the supreme rulers of earth.
The One was so angry he cast them from Mount Olympus, scattered them to the far corners of the world, and cursed them with the burden of truth for all eternity to atone for the sins of their lies.”
“So you can’t lie?” I propped my elbow on my crossed leg and rested my chin on my fist, totally intrigued by it all. His cryptic answers in the woods that night were finally making sense.
“No, but I’ve learned to use my words wisely over the ages.” He gave me a sarcastically guarded look and reached for my hand, steering my neglected twig back in the fire.
“So Danu settled in Ireland?” I rotated the twig just as he did, paying attention to my supper once again.
“Yes, with her lover. They intermingled with the locals at first, which is where Sidhe come from. But when the old pagan religions crumbled to Christianity, humans turned on us. A fight broke out, and when it was all over Danu created LisTirna for the Sidhe, so humans would never suffer at our hands again.” Satisfied his marshmallow was cooked to perfection, he sat back, pulling crackers and chocolate from another pocket.
“Always prepared?” I giggled again taking the little stack of sweetness he offered.
“Always.” He turned back to his, sandwiching the steaming marshmallow between crackers and chocolate and sliding it off the stick with ease.
“Then why do you suck people’s souls?” I asked, watching him delight in eating his s’mores and wondering why he even needed souls in the first place.
“We don’t suck people’s souls!” His hand slapped over his mouth when he choked on the bite he’d just taken. I covered my smile with the back of my hand, smelling the sweet aroma of the cookie and chocolate I held, unable to believe th
e reaction I’d just gotten from him. “That’s some made up Hollywood storyline to scare you in a dark theatre!” He exclaimed and I focused on making my own s’mores so I wouldn’t laugh in his face again. I wasn’t used to seeing Dayne so candid. He was always so poised and reserved. It wasn’t that he was mad. He was caught off guard to hear me throwing the terms around so casually. “When we’re in LisTirna, we remain just as we are. Our powers and youth never wane. Being on this side weakens us. We borrow from others to recharge our batteries. Anything that has a heartbeat has the energy to restore us.” He finished and took another bite, licking at the melted chocolate that had dribbled to his chin.
“Well, if anything with a heartbeat can do the trick, why not use animals?” My marshmallow caught on fire, and I swung the flaming ball in the air, trying to put it out.
“We can. That’s what I do. If we shift to animal form, and live that life, our power comes back to us as strong as ever.” He rested his s’mores on his knee, wiping his hands and grabbing at the ball flaming through the darkness like a sparkler. He quickly blew it out and restored order to my process.
“Eternity seems kinda boring. It might be fun to fly like an eagle or swim like a fish every few hundred years.” I squeezed my marshmallow between thumb and forefinger, pulling the burnt casing off and popping it in my mouth. I loved slightly burnt marshmallows.
“I couldn’t agree with you more. But it’s kinda like the difference between having a bologna sandwich or a perfectly grilled prime rib. A packet of sugar or a s’mores,” he offered dragging a finger along a line of melted chocolate and licking it off with a smack.
“But you don’t eat us. It’s not like we’re food?” The gooey center of my marshmallow was pinned between cookie and chocolate and I began to slowly pull the twig away.
“No, it’s way more than food.” His eyes flared wide when he said ‘way’ and he shook his head in a guarded way. “It’s an addiction for some of us. There is no energy stronger or more intoxicating than the passion of unbridled youth. Something about the innocence of a virgin’s soul makes most of my kind crave them like crack cocaine. I think it goes back to Danu being the goddess of virginity, but somehow we’ve gotten so far off track that we’re destroying the ones we were intended to protect.” I shivered at the thought, tossing my twig into the fire and pulling my knees into my chest.
“Danu’s not around to stop it?” I finally took my first bite as Dayne was taking his last, wiping at the corners of his mouth with his thumb.
“No. Danu is long gone. We have a queen and king who rule us. The crown is passed just as it is with any other royal family. When one gets tired of ruling, the responsibility is passed to an heir. We’re all immediately bound to the successor.”
“Did Danu approve of this borrowing?” I asked with a mouth full of sweet goodness.
“Breathing borrowed breath.” He corrected. “The energy is transferred between bodies with our breath. They breathe out, we breathe in. Or vice versa on rare occasions. If you didn’t know what was going on, you might think it was just a kiss.” He chuckled absently, thinking as he stared at the fire’s flames.
I blanched and stopped chewing when he called it a kiss. How many times had our lips touched? I didn’t realize I was holding my breath as I counted, until I pulled in a huge gasping breath. He must have heard my heartbeat race, because he bit nervously at his bottom lip, clearly wondering if he had shared too much, if he was being too candid now.
“Rarely would Danu approve breathing borrowed breath.” He continued when my fear subsided. “She championed shifting and living the lives of the animals she guarded, thought it made us stronger and wiser to learn the world from a different perspective.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” I said, licking chocolate off my finger.
“Danu’s original purpose is long forgotten now that we no longer rule in this world. Sidhe have lost their way, strayed from Danu’s path. When we are in animal form we have no power and we’re solid white, which makes us very vulnerable. We bleed and die just as humans do. If we’re killed, regardless of which form it’s in, we’re dead. In LisTirna we can live as long as we choose.”
“So the whole breathing borrowed breath thing—that’s just cause they get bored?” I asked popping my last bite in my mouth. Dayne offered me another marshmallow. I declined with a quick shake. He stood and walked to the edge of the cliff, scattering the remaining marshmallows into the sea, before coming back and offering me a hand to stand.
“Yep, or because they have a physical addiction. We aren’t immune to the pleasures of the flesh. In fact, I would say we are the ultimate pleasure seekers. Eternity gets very boring. Everyone needs a way to forget.” He snuffed out the fire and we were alone in the darkness, the briny sea breeze kicked up over the rock wall, scattering my hair in every direction. I couldn’t see anything, so I stood still, brushing the sand and dirt from my jeans. I felt his hand grab mine and swing me onto his back.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting us out of here.”
“How?” I panicked.
“Trust me,” he urged in the darkness, and the next minute I was flying through the air, holding tight to Dayne’s neck. The wind whipping my face. I was terrified to open my eyes. When I finally did, I saw our path was illuminated in the familiar green glow of Dayne’s magical eyes. Straight up the rocky face of the cliff wall, Dayne’s path hugging every jut and crevice like he’d done this a million times. His body straight and taught as an arrow shot from a bow, flying like Superman through the air. I screamed and shut my eyes when I was sure we were about to crash into a branch dangling over the sea.
The next moment my feet found solid ground. Waist deep grass waving to welcome us atop the bluff like an old friend. I took a moment to catch my breath, looking around me as I did.
The ocean’s spray was far below. Seeming like a distant memory in comparison to the moon drenched field before us. Every surface soaked in the muted night palette that always colored my nights with Dayne. A world of dark blues and blacks and purples, painted with streaks of brightest white and silver where the radiant sky filtered down on the pristine land of Ireland’s western shores, beautifully basking in its glory.
“Does that always happen?” I pointed to my own eye—cause I didn’t have the first clue what to call his chameleon eyeballs— as he closed glowing eyes and opened normal green ones like he just taken out his contacts.
“When I use my magic,” he faced the view that stretched into eternity from where we stood. A sliver of moon winked in the sky, surrounded by dancing stars. The constant crash of the waves beating against the rocky shoreline a hundred feet below came as steady as a heartbeat. I watched him. His eyes closed, breathing deeply the salt air and cool night mist.
“Do you come here a lot?”
He nodded his head, letting the wind blow over his body unrestrained, his chest still rising and falling with the cadence of the waves.
“But it’s never been as soothing to me as it was the night you stood right there,” he said, pointing a long finger to Banshee Pointe on the other side of the little horseshoe bay.
“You were here that night?” I asked, peeking up at him through my lashes, swatting at my hair that kept flying in my eyes.
“I’ve watched you from afar all summer, Faye.” His intent glare made my cheeks flame. I let out a nervous laugh and bit at my lip.
“Me too,” I admitted sheepishly.
“Just think of all the time we’ve wasted,” he said, taking my hand and leading me into the swaying waist deep grass. His hands were that amazing mix of subtle strength—their velvety touch belying the power they possessed. Beneath the welcoming caress of soft warm skin lay muscles that could break boulders if they wanted to. The good/bad balance was becoming a common theme with Dayne. He was the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Sea sounds softly rolled into the lilting, singsong voices of crickets battling to be heard. Filling my ear
s in a calming way, growing louder as we neared the road that was our goal.
“What’s happens to them? The humans who’s breath you borrow?”
“They’re drained by their captors until nothing’s left. Then their memories are washed and they are returned to this world a shell of the person they were. Some return home. Others never find their way back.”
“They can’t just disappear. I mean it would make headlines.” I broke off a blade of grass that tickled my palm, twisting it in my fingers as we walked.
“It does. Kidnappings, runaways, student travelers lost in foreign countries? People make excuses for us.”
“But criminals are caught and tired every day for those crimes.”
“Some are.” he nodded in agreement. “We never are.” He shook his head once and looked down at me, a disgusted snarl curling his lips.
“You don’t agree with the ways of your people?”
“It’s selfish of us to live in this world and destroy human lives for no reason. If I had my say, the portal would be sealed and the worlds would never mix again.” His teeth clenched and his grip tightened on my hand. I winced slightly, but didn’t pull away. “My views make me an unwelcome maverick in my family. My opinion is too dangerous for them.” His grip grew even tighter and I finally had to pull my hand away, holding it to my chest and massaging the pain away.
“I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed, freezing in his tracks, eyes wide with guilt. He grabbed my hand in his, rubbing the length of each finger with his own.
“You have a family?” I asked, slightly shocked at the thought of anyone telling him what to do.
“I have a mother and a father who birthed me, but we are far from a loving family unit.” He grabbed my waist and lifted me over the stonewall guarding the road from the field with ease. I waited for him to join on the other side. “That doesn’t happen in my world,” he added when he hurdled the wall with a single bound and landed beside me. Effortlessly.
“Doesn’t happen in mine either,” I mumbled, kicking at a rock lying in my path.
Heir of Earth (Forgotten Gods) Page 25