by RJ Scott
Darach ignored him, narrowing his eyes and casting a look around for what he needed. He finally located the wide leafed plant he knew would provide an interim solution to their problem. He hesitated, giving himself time to think. The idea of bonding fully with his Cariad was overwhelming, and he had to focus to pull his Fire closer and rein it in. He looked back at Ceithin, who was lying there, so damn sexy, a look of confusion on his gorgeous face. Darach smiled. He had put that expression on his lover's face, and to have a moment where Ceithin couldn't control a situation was priceless.
He loved Ceithin. Pure and simple. In the short time they had been together, with the call of their Fires, he had fallen irrevocably in love with the Cariad.
He rummaged in the low undergrowth around the waterfall pool and pulled at the foliage he needed from the short-stemmed plant that loved the mists and water of the river. The leaves of the Aloan plant were thick and fleshy, pale green, and his Fire could feel the energy of the creamy moisture retained inside each leaf. Eyes glinting blue, a smile on his lips, he looked at Ceithin and cocked his head.
"You're so resourceful." Ceithin smirked as he rose to his feet and reached for Darach's free hand. Unhesitating, Ceithin led Darach along the edge of the river, following a narrow path near the bank. The path split near the falls, and Ceithin pointed to a spot behind the curtain of water.
A hollow in the stone had been carved by falling water. It wasn't really a cave but it was near enough. Water murmured as it cascaded, individual drops hissing and spattering, a mist fanning from the falls back into the recess.
Ceithin pulled Darach into his embrace and kissed him, tender and strong at the same time. "How can something so right be such a short time…" he murmured. Darach didn't understand his lover's words, but looked into Ceithin's eyes and saw the love there, he released his blue Fire to dance with Ceithin's scarlet.
Darach had never, ever felt more at home.
They slid to the floor, a tangle of hands and legs and laughter, a lot of laughter, which changed quickly into sighs and moans as they lost the course of time and joined as one. When Darach peaked, looking up into Ceithin's face, his lover buried deep inside, it was all he could do not to pass out. The Fires—violet, purple, sparking white—danced around them, inside them, and when Ceithin came inside him, words of love spilling from his kiss-bitten lips, for Darach the universe sat in complete balance.
* * * *
They held hands when they made their way back to the village, a slow walk from the waterfall through trees to the place Darach named aloud, as he had named silently before, home.
"So this is what bonding feels like," Ceithin began. "I wonder…" Ceithin started the conversation Darach knew they needed to have.
"Wonder what?"
"Wonder if the stories are true. About eternal connection, and love, and lust, about forever?" Ceithin asked the question and then squeezed Darach's hand.
"I hope so, although I bet your Cariad stories are better than mine." They walked on in silence, both lost in thought, and entered the village with fingers still entwined, fires lingering together.
Darach, less able to hear the sounds of footsteps, didn't register the approach of another person, but Ceithin did and slowed his pace, easing slightly in front of his lover, protecting him. Darach stepped clear, able to protect himself. His Fire snapped a bit under his skin, and Ceithin grinned at him.
"Ceithin." Brigid's voice barely cleared the distance between them and where she stood, waiting for them. Darach wondered if Ceithin would drop his grip. He didn't.
"Is everything okay?" Ceithin asked, and Darach sensed his unease.
Darach reached out to sense what Brigid was feeling. Fear, concern… What had happened?
"Father wants to see you."
Ceithin wrapped his left arm around Darach and nodded to his sister. No one spoke as they strode through the dark.
All too soon they stepped into the family cabin, where a fire burned brightly in the hearth and shadows chilled the rest of the room. Llewellyn glanced up from staring at the logs burning on their grate.
"He's coming here," Llewellyn stated simply. "Guardian has passed the wards." Brigid was crying, Ceithin stood with his mouth open, and Darach didn't know what to say. Guardian? The keeper of the amber Fire, the greatest Fire, and the leader of the Council, had crossed the wards safely and neared the village?
"Why?" Darach finally asked.
Ceithin released Darach gently and started pacing, the confines of the small front room curtailing his stride.
"It was only a matter of time," Llewellyn looked sad, "but no Guardian has ever approached the Cariad directly. We are normally called to appear on neutral ground."
"It's me." Ceithin seemed to push the words out. "My fault. I should never have…" He stopped in mid-step. He straightened his spine, an intense look of resolve on his face. "I'll go and meet him. If he wants me to appear before the Council for entering the City then I will."
"Wait—no!" Darach didn't even realize he had spoken, and when Ceithin turned to face him with an incredible sadness on his face, Darach wanted to plant himself between his lover and the door. "We don't need to see him; we can leave. You said I was strong enough."
"I won't have Guardian hurt my family, Darach."
"He is benevolent, Ceithin. If we go, he'll leave. He won't hurt your family." Darach had faith in the faceless Guardian.
"He is also the voice of the City and the maintainer of the laws. Someone has to pay, Darach. If it isn't me, then it could be Brigid."
"What do mean pay? Why does he want you?" Ceithin wouldn't meet his gaze. "Someone tell me." Desperate, increasingly angry over the threat to his Bondmate, Darach looked from Ceithin to Brigid and then to Llewellyn.
It was Llewellyn who began to speak, his tone calm and careful. "Centuries ago, when the Cariad moved away from the City, a pact was drawn up to assure our safety in this Valley and anywhere else we chose to live. A set of rules prescribed our interactions, and we vowed not to set foot in the City. When Ceithin went to seek out Trystyn, he broke the earliest law."
"No! That isn't right. He was just looking for his brother. What will they do to him? Ceithin!" Darach took Ceithin's hand and refused to release it.
"Someone has to answer for my actions, and I won't let anyone else answer for me." The dark grief in his eyes indicated Ceithin had closed himself off, his only passion, it seemed, reserved for the moment he threw himself on Guardian's mercy. Ice cold shivered through both of them, physically and emotionally, as Ceithin consciously attempted to separate them, his scarlet retreating reluctantly from Darach's thoughts. Pain sheeted where scarlet had been removed, pain so deep he wondered if he would ever feel normal again. Abruptly, Darach reached and stopped scarlet's ebbing and forced blue-white fire into their connection. He wasn't letting go!
Darach searched through his memories of Guardian, a benevolent presence in the City, keeper of the amber Fire. People in the City thought of their Guardian with awe but not fear. He was the magik, the one who dispensed justice, who kept the city at peace. Another thought crossed his mind. "Wait! You said he had passed through the outer wards. Is there nothing we can do to keep him from here?"
"No magik is strong enough to keep him out, Darach." Llewellyn sounded so damn calm. No, Darach realized a heartbeat later, not calm, resigned. Baffled by Ceithin's acceptance and his father's lack of response, Darach lost focus for a moment, and Ceithin released his hand, staggering a little when the sudden separation sent pain through him. The sharp shock snapped Darach out of his confusion.
Ceithin didn't stop to offer goodbyes. He simply opened the main door and stepped out into the dark. Darach didn't hesitate either, darting out after him before anyone could stop him. If Ceithin went to face Guardian, Darach would go to face Guardian with him. Separation from his Bondmate would kill him anyway. If he was going to die, he wanted to be at Ceithin's side, and he wanted it to be quick.
The night's blackness hit
him hard, and for a second, he had to look to see where Ceithin had gone. His Fire snaked out into the shadows and slipped past Ceithin's defenses. He stood by the horses that grew skittish, startled by Darach's Fire. Darach stomped to him quickly and purposefully. He slid in between the horse and Ceithin.
"I'm not letting you sacrifice yourself like this."
"Move out of the way, Darach." The sadness in Ceithin's voice didn't deter Darach. Rather, it reinforced his determination.
"Make me." Darach realized belatedly this particular threat was probably the wrong one to use. Scarlet Fire picked him up and deposited him none too gracefully six feet away.
"What about me, Ceithin?" The death of one bonded mate before the other was as terrible as the theft of Fire. Nightmares of loneliness and pain that never abated, and of a world without light, flooded Darach's mind. The nightmares he imagined were probably only the surface of the pain of separation. He had bonded, as it had been foretold he would. Surely his destiny wasn't to watch his lover walk away.
"What about you?" Ceithin said harshly. "Face it! I'm Cariad and you are City! We were doomed from the start! A bond less than two hours old is too fragile to cause lasting damage to you. Consider this your escape clause in action."
"You don't mean that! Damn it, Ceithin, I love you!" Darach tried to scramble to his feet, and couldn't. Clearly, Ceithin had cast something to stop him. Well, it might have worked before, but now he had strength and control he hadn't known were possible before. Forcing every piece of magik he knew into one snap, he severed the casting that held him pinned to the ground and, in a few paces, was back between his lover and the horse.
"I do mean it." Ceithin closed his eyes briefly, a frown crinkling his forehead. "We all knew that if Guardian decided to take action, he would come and take one of us, or both, to answer for the breaking of the Earliest Law. I knew this would happen, Darach. I just wanted it to be after you had managed your element with your Fire. It was only a matter of time."
"We are lovers, bonded. If you go, I go."
"You think I want that?" Ceithin's temper swung in a heartbeat and he gripped Darach's upper arms, the pressure punishing. "You think I want the man I have fallen in love with to die with me? I want you here, with my family, and I want you to live. Father can show you ways to manage the loss of the bond. You could live a long life."
"It won't be a life without you." Darach could feel hysteria rising in him. This was so wrong. "Ceithin, there must be a way. We could all leave; we could all run. Somehow…"
Ceithin shook his head, his face carved with grief and then resignation. "No, Darach, could you love a coward?"
"It isn't being a coward. It's called staying alive."
"We don't know for sure Guardian will kill me or take my Fire. He may smack me across the knuckles, slap on a punishment, and then let me go. We won't know until I meet him and see."
"Then I am going with you. I want my face to be the last thing you see if he decides to—" He couldn't form another word because of the tears tight in his throat.
Then it was suddenly too late to discuss anything at all.
* * * *
The horse entered the yard with the muted sound of hooves on dust and dirt. It reared to a stop by the gate, no more than ten feet away from Ceithin and Darach. The rider stayed astride, a cloak loose about him, a hood half covering his face. The aura around him was incredible. A blush of gold, a wash of amber, a yellow so intense it burnt any gaze foolish enough to risk more than a quick glance. When the horseman alighted, he did so with the grace of long practice.
Ceithin sank to his knees, bending his head. "Guardian."
Darach hesitated. Even living in the City, he had never seen Guardian out of the shadows and showing the full range of his fabled amber Fire. It lit the yard, and the night receded against its brilliance. When Guardian inclined his head, the hood sliding forward and deepening the shadows over his face, Darach was compelled to kneel. He did so with a muttered, "Guardian."
Ceithin sought his hand, gripped it tightly, cast one look at him, and gave him the same grin that Darach had fallen in love with. "I love you. Please don't do anything stupid," he whispered so low no one apart from Darach could hear.
"I promise," Darach replied.
Then, standing shoulder to shoulder, they faced judgment.
Guardian stepped closer, tall, imposing, his hands clenched in fists at his side. "Ceithin Morgan." The voice was soft, low, familiar, and tension knotted in Darach's stomach. "And Darach Gravenor."
Familiar? Why?
Darach took his own step forward. Horrified, Ceithin attempted to drag him back, even as he shouted, "Darach! No!"
Guardian chuckled and pushed back the hood of the cloak, showing his face, handsome and strong for the most part, but scarred terribly from temple to neck on one side.
Darach was sick, ecstatic, furious. Wrenching his hand free of Ceithin's powerful grip, he stumbled forward until little more than an arm's length separated Darach and Guardian. He couldn't believe his eyes, couldn't pound comprehension into his overtaxed mind. Temper roared from deep in him and his hands clenched into fists. The punch he threw crashed into the fleshy part of Guardian's abdomen. He would have forced it through if he could have. Vaguely, he heard Ceithin shouting at him to stop. The next punch, a jab to the other man's jaw, was deflected by Guardian, who pushed Darach back with a stern "Stop! Darach! Stop!"
"Darach, what the hell are you doing?" Ceithin's words echoed his disbelief and dread. Nevertheless, he stumbled forward to stand next to his Bondmate, his expression shocked, the fear bright in his eyes, his scarlet spiky and uncoordinated on his skin. "Darach, please! Guardian, forgive him; he's young. It's me you—"
Guardian raised a hand, and Ceithin subsided into silence, but still stood shoulder to shoulder with Darach.
"Guardian? Is that what you are calling yourself?" Darach couldn't believe what he was seeing, what he was hearing, and wouldn't have stopped the derision coloring his words, even if he could have.
"Dar—"
"We saw you burn." His voice shook with emotion, tears battling with fury and disbelief. "I stood with Kian and we watched you die."
"The Council… I didn't… I couldn't…" Guardian shrugged, his scarred face twisting in a parody of a smile and he held out a placating hand. "I'm sorry."
Darach took a step back, breathing heavily, in no mood to hear apologies
"What the hell is going on here?" Ceithin muttered under his breath, and Darach's chest tightened. He took a deep breath, several deep breaths.
Guardian was not going to hurt Ceithin. Guardian wouldn't be exacting revenge on Ceithin or Darach. And if he tried… Finally, he found the words inside him and allowed them to grate out past the anger. "Ceithin, your Guardian, my Guardian, was my friend Eoin Gryfyth."
"The one who died when he got his Fire? That Eoin?" Ceithin sounded incredulous and, as the words sank in, considerably less nervous than he had been only a few seconds earlier. Darach relaxed into the strong embrace of scarlet Fire.
Eoin inclined his head. "Darach, Ceithin, there will be time to discuss this later. For now, the three of us—"
"The three of us?" Ceithin repeated suspiciously.
Anger, distrust, and fear tumbled through Darach, chased down with not a small amount of grief.
"We need the Cariad—" Eoin started again.
"His name is Ceithin, not 'the Cariad'," Darach spat, taking a step closer to the friend he had thought dead.
Guardian, Eoin, nodded apologetically. He seemed so much older than his twenty-one years. Older, darker, scarred and weathered by responsibility. His amber fizzed and danced on his palms, and, Darach realized, his beautiful golden hazel eyes were shadowed by worry.
Darach couldn't understand what was happening here. Still attempting to process the presence of his Eoin standing in front of him, definitely alive, not to mention reeling from the emotions involved in bonding with and then nearly losing Ceithin, Dar
ach stood shaking until Ceithin embraced him and soothed him with fire and a gentle kiss.
"All three of us must cross to the Otherworld, where Kian is." Guardian—no, Eoin—paused dramatically, and Darach wanted to punch him again. "We have to find Kian and his Hunter. Someone on the other side of the gate, in the Otherworld, has a boy with amber Fire held prisoner. Whoever has him is feeding off their Fire, channeling the Fire to the Eicio. I can see the child as the one that was stolen from here. I can't do this alone. I need you both with me."
"Eoin—"
"Guardian—"
Darach and Ceithin spoke at once, but when Guardian interrupted, it was in a tone so bleak, so sad, it made Darach fear for what they needed to do. Six words, an ominous foreshadowing of something that made Darach's head spin with questions.
"We have two worlds to save."
To be continued…
About the Author
RJ Scott lives just outside London and is aiming for the day when writing can take over her web design business full time. She has been writing since age six, when she was made to stay in at lunchtime for an infraction involving cookies and was told to write a story. Two sides of A4 about a trapped princess later, a lover of writing was born. She loves reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror; however, her first real love will always be the world of romance. Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and more than a hint of happily ever after.
Email:
[email protected]
Webpage:
www.rjscott.co.uk
Twitter:
@rjscotts
Also by R J Scott
Available at Silver Publishing:
Oracle
Moments
The Christmas Throwaway
The Heart of Texas
Valentine 2525
All the King's Men