Echoes from the Veil

by Colleen Halverson

  “They say the black hole in the sky means the Morrígan has returned,” he said. “I cannot help but think she’s behind all this. My people have faced persecution before, but nothing to this degree.”

  “The Fir Bolgs have a device,” I said. “A bomb of some sort. It draws from the Morrígan’s power. We need to destroy it. Cut their power off at the source.”

  “And how do you intend to do that?” Torc asked.

  I smiled. “I’m an Aisling, Torc. There is nowhere forbidden to me.”

  Torc snorted. “Here is what I propose. I fight in your war, help you destroy this device, take back Tír na nÓg. For that, you give me a third of your confiscated weapons and all the might of your kingdom to destroy this human scum slaughtering my people.”

  I held out my hand. “It’s a deal.”

  Torc grabbed my palm and gave it a firm shake.

  “Get your people and your guns together,” I said. “And be ready for when I return.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Finn’s hand grazed my arm as we left Torc’s office.

  “Are we prepared to fight against these people?” he asked in a low voice. “We don’t know what lies ahead.”

  My mind traveled back to Maeve and what she had said about cultivating allies. “Torc wants power. Power over London.” I turned and winked at Finn. “But who is more powerful than the person who gives that power? As long as he thinks himself a chieftain, he’ll be content.”

  “And fight alongside us,” he continued.

  “And you’re wrong about one thing.” I whirled, cutting off Finn. “I do know what lies ahead—victory.”

  I pushed open the storage room and found Eamonn still seated on the floor, staring at his fallen idol. My heart constricted for a moment. The great Morven, a Red Druid, a sorcerer of the highest order, struck down by a tiny bullet through the brain. Eamonn was right. So much knowledge—erased. He had been our link to the past, to the old magic that had created the Veil, that had constructed the boundaries of the ancient worlds. What else would we lose before this ended?

  “We need to go,” I said softly.

  Eamonn nodded. Gathering up our energies, I closed my eyes and traveled us back to Tír na nÓg, to the caves. When I opened my eyes again, dusk had fallen on the Faerie realm. I glanced up at the sky, hoping the darkness had abated, but the black hole remained like a festering sore in the heavens. At least it hadn’t become any bigger.

  I turned to Finn. “Can you carry Morven?”

  He nodded, and I led us up a hill. All of Tír na nÓg lay sprawled around us. The wind whipped my hair and tore through my tunic. I fingered the coarse cloth, pulling my sleeves over my hands with my thumbs. Scáthach had placed so much faith in me, faith I didn’t think I deserved. With so many unknowns, the battle ahead needed leaders. We couldn’t wallow in uncertainty. We had to make our fate.

  “We can bury him here,” I said, pointing to a patch of grass beneath a tall ash tree.

  Eamonn shook his head. “Druids burn the dead.” He uttered a few words in his foreign Druid language and then a great burst of blue light shot from his fingers. Morven burst into bright cerulean flames, and in an instant, he was gone.

  I locked eyes with Eamonn and nodded. “So much depends on you now. I have the blood, but you have the power to destroy the device.”

  “I don’t—”

  I cut him off. “I know. You don’t know if you can do it. None of us do. But I need you to try. And in the meantime, use what we have left to transform the weapons we have into the weapons we need. Every drop is priceless.” I poured some blood into a vial I still possessed and handed it to him, retaining the rest at my side. The substance was too precious, too volatile to keep all in one place.

  Eamonn placed it in a pocket in his robes and bowed. “I will do my best.”

  I gave him a weak smile. “That’s all any of us can do.”

  Eamonn headed toward the caves, and as soon as he was gone, I turned to Finn. My hands traveled over his face, his shoulders, his back, his waist. The longing to touch him, every inch of him, feel the weight of his body over mine, spread through my limbs like a gale force wind, sweeping me up with an overwhelming force.

  “Elizabeth…” he whispered, reaching for my cheek.

  I backed away, wiping hot tears from my eyes. “I thought I would never see you again.” My voice cracked, but I smiled up at him.

  He pressed his hands to my chin, forcing me to look at him. “I’m here, Elizabeth. It’s going to be all right now.”

  “No…” My throat tightened. “The Fir Bolgs have the device. It’s no good.”

  Finn nodded. “We’ll figure out a way. We’ll get it back.”

  We wandered back to the cave in tense silence, the blazing sun at our backs creating long, dark shadows against the forest floor. I lingered by the door of our chamber, dreading what I had to do next. I needed time to think about my next move, and a deep weariness had taken over my limbs, as if being back with Finn had triggered my “off” button and my body wanted to sink into the safety of his arms. Sensing my exhaustion, he took my hand and led me inside. We gravitated toward our mat, and I collapsed with a deep sigh. The battle, the black hole, the device, the Morrígan, all of it could wait. It would have to.

  With a gentle movement, Finn pulled me close and kissed my forehead. A shiver of electricity bolted through my skin and down to my core. I closed my eyes, reveling in his nearness, the manly scent emanating from his chest. I swept his hair away and kissed him in the curve of his shoulder, tracing a line up to his ear with my mouth. I wanted to pour my whole being into that kiss, all the pain and terror and hardship of the past month melting away.

  He grabbed my fingers. “I don’t know what happened or what you’ve been through, but when you’re done telling me about it—all of it—I’m going to fuck you senseless.”

  Heat rose in my cheeks, and I coughed, my skin lighting on fire with his nearness. After so long without him, I wanted to draw him close, study every inch of him with my fingers. Those weeks without him had seemed endless, and though I had changed in so many ways, he had that ability to find me at my baseline, the fundamental clockwork of this bumbling disaster I called my life. He saw through it all, reached through the nonsense to take hold of the deepest part of me.

  He raised his hands and stretched, giving me a delicious peek at his rock-hard abs beneath his shirt. Glancing down at his lap, I smiled, realizing that wasn’t the only thing that was hard.

  He grinned, readjusting himself. “I’ve missed you.”

  Fresh tears threaten to pierce through my armor, and I brushed them aside. “I’ve missed you, too.”

  He took my hand, his palm so rough and warm against mine. He traced the calluses on the pads of my fingers. “You’ve been practicing with your spear…”

  I let out a spluttering laugh. “You could say that.”

  We sat in the quiet of the cave, and for almost an hour, my story tumbled out in halting stops and starts. Finn listened without interrupting, occasionally prompting me or asking a question for clarification. I started by talking about traveling to the Bronze Age, the small bull figurine disappearing, and training with Scáthach. How the gods had come to me, how Morrígan had threatened me and Bel had blessed me. I even told him about drinking the bull’s blood. I told him about Bel and how Thornton had asked me to help him. When I finished, Finn let out a long breath and stroked my hair, kissing the crown of my head.

  “I can’t help but feel we’re right back where we started,” I said finally. “We lost the device. Thornton is still working on a portal into Mag Mel, to get to the heart of the Tree of Life. We’ve gone nowhere.”

  He drew me close to him, tucking my head under his chin.

  “Perhaps.” He stroked the side of my face, and I nuzzled into him. “But perhaps,” he continued, “we are stro
nger than ever now. Perhaps we have more information, more insight into the Fir Bolgs and their plan. You defeated a demigod, for heaven’s sake, and we have the blood, the substance we need to destroy the device and help build our army. In the end, we cannot know what mattered and what didn’t.”

  “But Thornton…and the black hole…” My hair fell in a curtain against the side of my face, blocking out Finn. “To get it back…”

  “Let’s not think about it right now,” he whispered, sweeping his hand across my shoulder and tucking the loose strands of hair behind my ear. “Not when all I can think about is being inside you.”

  I stared up into his gray eyes. “I want you.”

  Then, his mouth was on mine. A rush of emotion, desire, anger, fear, and love took hold of me, all rational thinking gone. My hands ripped away his shirt, fumbled with his belt buckle, tore through his hair. I pushed him down on the mat with both of my palms, throwing my clothes over my head and across the room. Somehow my trousers and boots landed on the floor, and I straddled Finn, taking hold of his cock, running my fingers up and down his generous length. He was so hard. Impossibly so, pre-come dripping from the tip. I wanted to lick it, taste him, taste all of him. But I couldn’t stop until our bodies were one, and I guided him inside me. I would enjoy him later. Now I just needed him, the animal part of him, and the raw essential connection between us.

  He groaned, bucking up into me, his neck muscles straining, his body trembling with restraint. I rolled into him, parting my thighs wider as he thrust up into me again, his hips lifting and falling off the mat. His hands gripped my breasts, his thumbs brushing against my nipples with territorial intensity. The sensation sent shards of desire right to my core, and I slammed down against him, riding him, my eyes closed, taking in everything. All I could hear were his panting breaths, his low, rumbling moans as our bodies moved faster and faster. I opened my eyes and leaned forward, my breasts swinging near his face. He threw his arms around me, one hand planted hard against my hip, his fingers digging into my skin. He pushed me hard, forcing every inch of him up against my womb. The pain and pressure sent me to another plane of hot, aching need, and I lost my breath as I pressed my mouth into his shoulder, screaming as a tremor of release surged through me.

  “Oh, Elizabeth…” Finn cried in my ear. “My Elizabeth…”

  He thrust so hard and fast, I thought I might shatter. He came inside me, pumping and holding me down as if to fill every corner of my body. My sweaty hair pooled around us, and he swept the loose strands away from my face, planting hard kisses on my cheek, my mouth, my neck. I clutched at his back, my fingernails digging into his skin, not wanting to let him go. I felt if I did, someone would come to steal him away again. The Fir Bolgs. Thornton. Trinity. I hated that thoughts of our enemies would sour my reunion this way, but that was always the way with our love. Forbidden and persecuted from all sides. What would it be like to make love in a bed, in some house far away, and never have to worry about enemies drawing close?

  “Stop,” Finn growled.

  I let him go. “What?”

  He took hold of my hands and kissed my fingers.

  “Stop worrying about things you cannot control,” he said, leveling me with a hard stare.

  “I’m not—”

  He gave me a soft smile. “I can practically hear your thoughts.” With a gentle hand, he pressed me back to the mat. “Let me help you forget them. Just for a moment.”

  I chuckled, throwing my hands above my head. “Good luck with that.”

  Finn crawled down the length of my body and threw one leg over my shoulder as he parted my sensitive folds with his fingers, circling his thumb around my clit.

  I arched my back, a moan escaping from my lips. “We don’t have time for this, we have to—”

  Just as Finn had predicted, I completely forgot what we had to do as his tongue flickered against my opening and back up to the small circle of pleasure between my thighs. He slipped a finger inside me, and I gasped as his mouth locked against my pussy, his tongue exploring my core with expert precision.

  “You do not have to do anything except lie there, my love,” he whispered, his low voice creating incredible vibrations against my skin. He placed another finger inside, and I clutched at the blankets, my mind exploding with pleasure as his hand and his tongue moved with lightning quickness. Just as my body threatened to go over the edge, he lifted himself up and grabbed my thighs, pulling me hard against his cock. He teased me for a minute, running his length against my clit, but then he slammed home, his arms scooping my body close to his chest. I locked my ankles around his waist, my lungs gasping for air as he crushed hard against me, his muscles rippling with the strain. I nuzzled my nose against his chest, breathing him in, and Finn’s hand ran across my scalp, pulling at my hair, lifting my head up to meet him in a gentle kiss even as he fucked me rough. I met each thrust, echoed each low moan, my orgasm rising from a furnace deep in my core and exploding through my limbs with a blast of heat. My body trembled with the force of it, my fingers shaking as I drew him closer, digging my nails into his back as one last spasm enveloped me, leaving me weightless and floating.

  Finally, when our breath slowed, he slipped out of me, collecting me in his arms. He stroked the side of my face, the curve of my waist, and I wanted to weep at the simplicity of it. The beauty of his hands, the soft nature of his caress. How could I ever live without him? Live without this perfect touch? My chest filled with so much love, I thought my heart might shatter.

  “Did I hurt you?” he whispered in my ear.

  I laughed, shaking my head. “I can take whatever you can dish out, Finn O’Connell.”

  He let out a low sound from the back of his throat. “I’ll have to test out that claim sometime. Perhaps with a nice bullwhip.”

  A barking laugh escaped my lips even as my body responded to the thought. I slapped him lightly on his chest. “Only if you promise to dress up like Indiana Jones.”

  “Who?” A flicker of jealousy passed across his eyes.

  “He’s an archaeology professor.”

  “From your university? From your department?”

  I chuckled. “No, from a movie.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “I might have to whip you for lusting after another man. Especially an archaeologist, of all things.”

  I gave him a half smile. “Like you’re one to talk. You fell in love with a Celtic Studies major.”

  He grinned, his eyes half closed and full of so much adoration, I had to force myself to not look away.

  “So I did.” He tucked a hair behind my ear, his hand slipping down to cup one of my breasts. “But to her credit, she has the nicest rack I’ve ever seen.”

  I punched him in the gut, and he let out a fit of staggering laughter.

  “Honestly!” he cried out. “The best breasts this side of the pond, I swear it!”

  I tackled him, thrusting my so-called incredible breasts in his face in the process. “You’re the worst!”

  He squeezed my other breast. “They are brilliant, truly.”

  I pushed him away, grinning. “I can’t believe I traveled back in time only to return just for you to grope me.”

  He winked. “You love it.”

  I shook my head, pulling my tunic over my head, exhaustion pulling me back on the mat. Finn curled up next to me, folding me in his strong arms.

  “Did you really fight Cuchulainn? And train with Scáthach?” he asked.

  “I did.”

  “And you met the god Bel?”

  “Yep.”

  He let out a low laugh. “Promise me you will never go on any other incredible adventures without me ever again. Bloody hell, Elizabeth.”

  I sniggered. “Believe me, I would much rather have had you as my champion when I faced down Cuchulainn.”

  He stroked the hair away from my face. “I w
ould fight for you regardless, but it sounds like you do not need a champion anymore. You are doing well enough on your own.”

  “Maybe,” I said, my eyes heavy with sleep. “But if we don’t find Thornton and defeat the Fir Bolgs, none of this will matter.”

  “Our enemies will have to wait.” He squeezed me tighter against him. “I need to hold you for a little while, I think.”

  Pale moonlight pierced through the small vents far above on the roof of the cave, catching the crystals in the stone face. No sound echoed through the caverns but the occasional drip of water falling into the small pools hidden all through the labyrinthine tunnels. In seconds, Finn’s soft snores sounded against my back, but in spite of my exhaustion, sleep refused to come for me.

  I squinted in the darkness, seeking out my spear. Cuchulainn’s spear. The Gae Bolg. I had fought against it, defeated it in battle. With the slowest of movements, I disentangled myself from Finn’s embrace and padded across the cavern floor, crouching down to study it. Every time I held it before, it was like riding that bull. Erratic, violent, barely tamed by the magic binding tied around it. I touched the shaft, tentatively at first, and then clutched it with a firm hand, the way Scáthach had shown me a hundred times. I unwrapped the leather, and this time, it sprang into my palm, locking into my energy like a puzzle piece, the magic within it conjoined with mine. A flash of light surged through my hand, and I smiled, sending the spear into flight as I twirled it, moving in the formation Scáthach had taught me. I had defeated Cuchulainn and now the Gae Bolg was mine. I smothered a wild laugh, letting my body revel in the smooth touch of the wood.

  I brought the spear next to my mat and set it down like a small baby, studying its deadly blade, the grain of the ancient ash tree that had sacrificed itself to create the fierce weapon. With one last look, I turned over, throwing my arm around Finn’s shoulder. I resisted the pull of slumber as long as I could, holding onto consciousness moments longer so I could listen to Finn take one more breath, surround myself in his warmth. Finally, darkness overtook me and I fell into a thick, dreamless sleep.