“Why?” I asked, confused by his sudden change of mood.
“Because Faye, tonight’s not the night. It’s not going to happen like this.”
“What does that mean?” I shook my head against the table at my back with wide eyed wonder unable to believe he had the strength in him to resist me as I so obviously offered him whatever he wanted in the position I was in.
“Have you thought about the consequences of this, Faye? If I make love to you, right here on this table, have you thought about what might happen?”
“It’s not a big deal,” I said, craning my neck to kiss his lips, hoping to reassure him I was ready for this. He turned his head to duck my kiss, and I fell back against the table in disbelief.
“It is a big deal, Faye. It’s a very big deal, and I’m not going to let you make some rash decision because your body has gotten ahead of your mind.”
“Dayne, most girls my age have already done this.” My hands fluttered like detached puppets from where he still held them tightly at my shoulders.
“Well, you’re not one of those girls, and I’m not one of those guys.” He released my hands, bending down to retrieve his shirt. “Virginity is sacred to me. It’s what my kind was created to protect, remember. I’ll kiss you all night long, Faye. But until there’s some kind of commitment between us, it goes no further.”
I pushed him away and sat up, smoothing my hair back into place while I thought. I suddenly hated Danu for protecting virginity, even if it did make me feel better to know Dayne was saying no because he was bound to, not because he wanted to. That still didn’t keep me from being totally humiliated in the process. What was worse? I was beginning to realize that I was some evil temptress trying to lure him into sin, and that made me feel dirty all the way to my core.
At the same time I couldn’t help but hear him say until there’s some kind of commitment between us which implied something MUCH bigger than I was ready to deal with. It was all totally confusing and not at all how I had pictured this night ending.
“I’m ready to go home,” I pouted, so embarrassed I couldn’t even look at him.
“Well, I’m not ready to take you,” Dayne said, tucking the tails of his unbuttoned shirt into his pants and walking around to face me. He took my chin in his hand and tilted it so that I had no choice but to meet his eyes.
“I’m not saying no to you, Faye. I’m saying no to this happening so…unprepared, so unromantic.” He waved his hands in the air around us, pointing to the sterile surroundings of the industrial kitchen we sat in.
“It will happen, Faye. I promise. And it will be beautiful. But it’s not going to be on our first date, on a table in my kitchen.” He found his way back between my legs as I sat slumped on the table and tilted my head up. A kiss landed on my forehead, but I kept my eyes closed.
“It’s going to be special. It’s going to be a moment worthy of us.” His hands in my hair felt divine, as if he had never touched me that way before. My eyes couldn’t help but open and the embarrassed anger of earlier fell away with each stroke of his hand. A smile twisted his lips and he shook his head, tracing his finger down the bridge of my nose.
“If all I wanted was sex, I would have never left LisTirna. That’s all a Sidhe woman offers. I’m not like that. I guess I’m really old-school in that respect.” He laughed at himself then and shook his head. “Danu’s blood still flows in my veins, and I would never take from you the one thing I am vowed to protect. Not until it’s meant to be mine.” He was serious now. The playful smile was gone from his face and I knew one day we would finish what we had started on his table, and then some. The pit of my stomach leapt up with an unexpected jolt of anticipation, and maybe a sprinkle of fear, now that my hormones were back in check.
I hated to admit it, but he was right. The fever had subsided in my veins, and sex on a dinner table didn’t sound like the best way to lose one’s virginity anymore— even if it was with Dayne. I didn’t really know what to say so I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested the side of my face against his chest, hoping he understood my unspoken apology for pouting with him like a little child.
We stayed that way for a while before he broke away.
“Come on,” he finally said, brushing my hair back and taking my hand. He led me outside to the ancient Range Rover parked in the driveway.
“Are you taking me home?” I was ready to argue, the disappointment clear in my voice. I hadn’t really meant what I said about going home a few minutes ago.
“No. We still have time,” he said reassuring me that the night wasn’t coming to an end.
He turned on the radio and rolled the windows down. The first notes of “Into The Mystic” drifted through the night air to where I stood. Dayne closed the door and walked over to me, taking me by the hand and leading me down the crushed stone path to the little garden at the side of the house.
With an audience of old ivy covered statuary and bright red roses blooming in the moonshine, he pulled me to him and we began to dance. Our bodies pressed together, swaying in the night to the rhythm of Van Morrison as he played the soundtrack of our lives. So in love, so happy to just be near each other. That was enough for me. Tonight at least, all I wanted was to be in his arms and know we were exactly where we were supposed to be.
I wondered what would have happened if that bus had never crashed. Would I ever have known how blissfully happy life could be?
The perfection of the night was ripped from me, replaced by panic, when my imminent future flew back in my face.
“Dayne, what’s going to happen when I have to go back home?” I pulled away from him as we danced, needing an answer, needing him to tell me it would all be okay. I couldn’t lose him, not again.
He was quiet for a while. His hand guided my head back to his shoulder and we continued dancing in the night.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” he finally said. “How would you feel about going to college in Ireland? I could probably pull a few strings to get you accepted on late admission.” His lips never left my head, my hair muffling his words.
“That could work,” I said, not wanting to accept too quickly, and seem too needy. I couldn’t stand the thought of a single day away from him. A year at college would be unbearable.
That was all we said. I knew he wanted me with him, and he knew I wanted to be with him. We didn’t need anything else. We danced quietly in that little garden until he had to take me home. He held me close to him, spinning me out and pulling me back in randomly. We laughed at our silliness and he kissed me softly every time I returned to his arms.
The moon shone down on us, giving everything a silvery glow in the darkness. In the distance, the sounds of the forest called out in the night. The colorful faces of the flowers in the garden danced with us. I loved Dayne DeLaney, and there was nothing that would keep me from him.
Chapter 21
Burning Ground
It was late in the afternoon the following day. The horses were happily munching hay in their stalls. I had just swung the last saddle onto its rack when Dayne appeared in the tack room doorway. He leaned heavily on the frame, his thumbs hooked on his front pockets, looking like an advertisement for something so delicious everyone would want it.
“A…A…ACHEEW!” I sneezed at the cloud of dust the saddle kicked up. Phin was a horrible housekeeper.
“What is that?” Dayne asked as a smile danced on his lips.
“A sneeze…?” I asked, looking at him in confusion, thinking the answer was way too easy.
“I know what you call it. But what is it?” He asked for clarity.
“When something tickles your nose you sneeze to get it out.” I offered the first explanation that came to mind as I put the cloth cover over the saddle and turned back to him. I was surprised by the look of contemplation on his face. “Don’t you sneeze?” I reached for the stack of bridles and began hanging them in their proper place.
He shook his head. I bet he didn’t bur
p or have any other unpleasant bodily functions either. Totally not fair.
“Well, everyone else does, and if you’re going to appear to be a normal human being, you should start saying ‘God bless you’ whenever someone does it,” I said as I hung the last bridle in place.
“God bless you?” The words sounded ridiculous coming from him. He chuckled under his breath as he continued to watch me with an amused grin on his face. He was so fascinated by the tiniest of human moments. I was amazed he had been able to keep his secret so long.
“So I have to keep an eye on a pile of underbrush while it finishes burning. Stay with me?” I loved it when he talked to me like that. Of course, he was only asking me to stay with him for an hour or so, but my mind heard more. My mind heard forever, and I had to swallow the smile that danced at the corners of my mouth and threatened to give me away.
“Love to,” I smiled at him, thinking that was a more appropriate answer than ‘forever and always.’
An hour later we were sitting on his tailgate, sharing freshly squeezed lemonade and decadent finger cakes from Loren’s kitchen as the bonfire sent smoke rising high into the dusky, late afternoon sky.
“First star of the night,” I said as I leaned against him to get his attention and pointed to the southern sky.
“Make a wish,” he said when he spotted the first star brave enough to dance and twinkle in the navy sky.
I closed my eyes and thought about what I wanted. I thought really hard, but ever since Dayne came along, I didn’t have any wishes left. They had all come true. The tiny ones that I still had, like wanting to be a few inches taller, seemed pretty selfish and insignificant after the wish of Dayne had been granted.
So I wished for forever.
I wished that nothing would ever change and that Dayne would be by my side and as ridiculously, incomprehensibly in love with me as he was at that moment. It still didn’t make sense to me that he was mine. I figured the extra insurance of a starlight wish that nothing would ever change couldn’t hurt.
“What’d you wish for?” Dayne asked as he playfully leaned into me and knocked me over to the side.
“I can’t tell you!” I shot back, punching at his arm and landing a soft blow on his shoulder. The ice cubes jingled in my glass and he reached for the thermos to fill it back up.
“Why not?”
“Because if I tell you, it won’t come true.” I held my cup out to him.
“Well, if you want to be sure it comes true, you have to close your eyes and spin around until you fall down.”
I eyed him suspiciously.
“Um…I’ve never heard of that.” I said shaking my head.
“It’s an Irish thing. Come on, I’ll do it with you.” He took the drink from my hand and pulled me off the truck before I could say no. “Arms up.” He lifted my arms into the air. “Head back.” He kissed my forehead as my head fell back. “And spin!” He said, giving my waist a twist. It was absurd, but he was enjoying it so much I didn’t protest.
I started spinning and with the first stumbling step I started laughing and opened my eyes. I felt absolutely ridiculous.
“No, no! Keep going…until you fall down or it won’t come true!” He said, clearly enjoying a good laugh at the silliness of it all.
I kept laughing and spinning. Dayne kept laughing too, but I was pretty sure he was doing more watching and less spinning than I was.
I spun and spun, feeling Dayne’s protective hands near me to be sure I didn’t spin into any danger.
Something moved around my neck and grazed against the skin of my chest before it slipped away. I opened my eyes in time to see my necklace fly off of my neck and slide down my arm as it flew through the air away from me.
“My necklace!” I screamed as I clutched my neck where it had stayed for years. I had never bothered to take it off when I finally put it on, and I felt suddenly naked without it around my neck.
I watched helplessly as it sailed through the air and into the orangey flames of the fire licking high up into the night sky.
Without even thinking, I ran to the fire and plunged my hand in to retrieve the necklace. The flames jumped higher the moment my hand entered their midst. The force of their burning let out a great belching blast, and I turned my head to avoid the heat.
I shrieked and brought my arms up to shield my face, forgetting how dangerous it was for me to be around open flames. It wasn’t until I held the necklace up to inspect it for damage that I realized what I had just done.
With wide eyes I held my breath and watched the fire continue to consume the sleeve of my shirt and send it flowing to the ground in little droplets of red embers. I felt nothing, which wasn’t unusual given my birth defect. The fact that my creamy skin was completely untouched, despite just being engulfed in flames, was freakier than seeing the future.
My eyes caught Dayne’s, and I knew something was really wrong with me—again.
My sleeve melted away, consumed by the fire’s glowing wave, revealing my skin beneath, just as perfectly unblemished and silky white as it always was. I had never touched fire before. Not that I could remember. I had been sheltered from it and taught to fear it ever since I could remember. Because of my nerve condition, I’d always been kept away from any source of heat, protected from the danger.
I’d never questioned my parents or the doctors when they tried to explain away the fact that I couldn’t feel heat with some high level medical jargon that never really made sense to me. I didn’t bother trying to find out for myself. All my life I had been terrified of heat and fire because I thought it would hurt me.
Looking at my arm, I knew everyone had been wrong. Fire couldn’t hurt me—not even a blister puckered on my skin.
The darkness of night had settled in by the time I processed all this, and the look on Dayne’s face was illuminated in the amber glow of the fire. He wasn’t surprised at all. Standing stoically silent, his brows pinched together, rumpling his forehead in hard lines as his temples pulsed beside eyes as black as the night at his back. He looked at me with an intensity I had never seen before, like he was angry with me for discovering some secret he had tried to hide away. I reached out with my hand and quenched the flames that were continuing up my arm. The fire sizzled and hissed against my flesh. I removed my hand and saw nothing but the black residue of ash.
“What is going on, Dayne?” I asked with disbelief as I turned to him for the answers he obviously had.
“Nothing,” he said, turning away from me to hide his face.
“Nothing?” I asked, walking around to face him so he had no choice but to look at me. “I just put my hand in fire and it’s nothing? Why aren’t you surprised by this? Why aren’t you freaking out and insisting on rushing me to the hospital like a normal boyfriend would?” I asked, holding my untouched arm up in between us for effect. The tattered remnants of my sleeve billowed in the breeze.
“If I asked you to just forget it, would you?” he asked.
“Um…let me think…no!” I yelled sarcastically, crossing my arms over my chest. “This isn’t some top secret fairy stuff, Dayne. This is me we’re talking about. I’m not magic. Remember? So, no, I’m not going to leave this alone.” He walked away from me again, to the farthest edge of the darkness where he paced back and forth in thought.
I uncrossed my arms and looked down at the tattered sleeve. I couldn’t believe what had just happened, not that I wasn’t getting used to the impossible happening these days, but I was in no way prepared to believe I was one of those impossible things. Sure, I was well accustomed to the fact that I was dating a mythical creature that lived a life a Hollywood super hero would kill for. I was well aware that magic did exist in this world if you were willing to believe in it. But it was me who had just essentially walked through fire, not him, and I was certainly nothing spectacular or mythical.
“I’m not so sure about that,” he said with defeat in his voice as he turned back to the fire.
“Not s
o sure about what?”
“Not sure about you not having magic in you,” he whispered the word, like he was afraid someone might hear.
“That’s ridiculous, Dayne. There’s no way. I come from America, not some alternate reality. I can’t control things with my mind, and I certainly don’t have the ability to fly around when no one’s looking. You’re wrong. You have to be.” My head was shaking just as quickly as these words were flying out of me. Nerves were stacked on top of nerves in my stomach, reaching up my esophagus and tugging at my throat.
“Just listen to me.” He held up his hands defensively. “I know you’re freaking out right now, but I don’t think you belong to this world any more than I do.” He walked back to me, and I suddenly had to sit down. My knees buckled and I sank to the ground below.
“I don’t…how?” I was babbling like a baby. Thoughts were flying through my head so fast I couldn’t grab onto one long enough to think about it. What had he just said?
“You don’t really know who your parents are, right?”
I shook my head quickly, staring straight ahead into the fire that had just changed my life.
“Faye, I knew there was something different about you the first night I saw you, but I didn’t know exactly what it was until the night Ali was born. That was the first night you called me.” He sat down beside me.
“I knew it was your voice, but I have never, in all my years, heard the language that your soul speaks.”
“What language? I only speak English.”
“This language isn’t in your mind. Minds are easily erased. At your core, your soul is something completely different. It isn’t human, and it's not Sidhe. It isn’t any of the races I know of. And for the voice to be so strong— when the memory is washed from the mind— makes whatever it is very powerful.”
“So what does that make me? Some pathetic freak?” I wiped away a tear that trembled on my lash.
“No. I think you must be some hybrid. Some offspring of the races mixing.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to make sense of it himself.
Heir of Earth (Forgotten Gods) Page 31