Thunder rumbled over their heads, and Edane felt his heart swell. “Say that again.”
“I love you. That’s who I am. The woman who loves you.” Her head dropped back and she closed her eyes, her voice rising to a shout. “I love this guy.”
Edane held her as the storm unleashed a heavy downpour that soaked them in seconds. Nellie laughed and shook her wet curls and tackled him against her now-sopping cloak. The power of the storm merged with the passion rising in him, and Edane held her close as he began to change and more memories flooded into him.
“You told me to go without you.” He reached for her nape, stopping just before touching it. “In the underworld.”
Nellie gripped his arm. “Show me.”
Chapter Thirty-One
THE APPROACHING STORM caused great agitation among most of the Sluath, for whom being earth-bound seemed the worst of torments. Galan found it amusing that the guards and sentries spent more time watching the slow-moving cloud bank than the village and the ridges. Danar clouted several as he derided them for ignoring their duty, but even he seemed slightly distracted.
Galan’s own excitement swelled as the storm swallowed the sinking sun, and billowed into mountains of tumorous darkness. There seemed to be no end to the tempest, and if it raged on for days he could spend all of them on wing.
Prince Iolar remained alone with his two attendants for much of the day, emerging from his cottage to order Seabhag to remove their bodies. He took in the darkening skies before eyeing the other demons, who watched him with the stillness of the starved at a feast.
“Secure the mortals that still serve us,” the prince told Danar. “You may remain behind with Clamhan to keep watch on them and our sanctuary.”
The demon kept his skull mask in place, probably to hide his scowl, but the big demon merely inclined his head. “As you command, my prince.”
With a casual wave of his hands Iolar removed his blood-spattered glamor, revealing his majestic white and gold beauty. As he did Galan felt the brush of his power, which stirred his own. Ever since the prince had revealed the limits of his abilities, Galan’s fear of him had not reawakened. He even admired the clever ways he used terror to control his unruly army.
Iolar might be the most powerful Sluath, but he had weaknesses as well. His vicious temper, unrelenting vanity, and constant need for amusement could be used as weapons against him, once Galan acquired more power.
“I believe I’ll go find more females for my personal use. I can carry at least two or three at a time, more if they’re not fully grown.” Iolar yawned before catching Galan’s gaze. “When I’m finished collecting, I expect to see Nellie Quinn among your captives, Aedth.”
“Then mayhap Danar should hunt with me, my prince,” Galan told him. “For I’ve never seen the wench.”
The prince’s golden eyes shifted as he studied his face. “Danar is needed here. I will hunt with you, Druid.”
Before Galan could reply Iolar sauntered off to inspect the pen where the two druids had died.
“Our prince bestows a great honor on you, Aedth,” Danar said, seizing his arm and marching him toward the barn. “Come and I shall arm you myself.”
Galan didn’t resist until they were out of the prince’s sight. “I dinnae need your blades, deamhan.”
“The prince suspects something, or he would not leave me behind and hunt with you.” Danar shoved him inside the barn. “If he learns that the halfling may yet live, he will go mad with fury. We’ll all be made to hunt for him, day and night, from the sky and the ground. He’ll not stop until every Sluath drops or he kills them. I cannot permit that.”
“I hadnae planned to reveal your lies.” Galan smiled smugly. “But now you make me think of your place, serving our prince. ’Tis a position of great trust and of considerable value. Since you so fear Iolar’s wrath, I reckon it should be mine.”
Danar loomed over him. “Do not think to threaten me when you remain mortal enough to kill. There won’t be enough left of you to collect in a bag.”
“How shall you explain that?” Galan countered. “I’ve done naught but as I’m ordered. I’ve sacrificed my tribe, my body, even my future lives for the prince. I killed one of my kind to protect both of you. While you? You’ve lied to him about the creature he most hates. Now you speak as if you mean to end him, and that I cannae allow.” As the demon drew a huge dagger from the top of his wing, Galan held up one hand. “After I’m gone, he shall ken what you’ve done. I’ve seen to it.”
Slow clapping came from behind them, and Galan turned to see the prince leaning against the inside of the barn wall.
“Most impressive,” Iolar said, not to him but to Danar. “I find myself utterly dazzled by your brilliance. Go and prepare the brethren for our hunt. I will deal with Aedth.”
The big demon sheathed his blade, bowed to the prince and departed.
Galan summoned his power, although he knew it to be no match for Iolar’s. “’Twas all trickery. You and Danar sought to deceive me with this tale of a halfling. Why?”
“Danar has been watching you since the attempt on my life,” Iolar said, smiling. “It’s his job to protect me and my throne, and he lost his trust in you, if he ever had any. He anticipated your demand to resurrect your wife, and advised me accordingly. Be assured it was not all lies, Aedth. I had a halfling brother who could bring the dead back to life. When I took power I killed him and had his stinking carcass dumped into a time stream. I have no idea where or when his body landed in the mortal realm, but he’s long since rotted.”
All the fury emptied from Galan as he saw what a fool he’d been. “You sought to drive me mad before you ended me.”
“We had to know what you were.” The prince advanced on him. “Danar felt convinced that you wanted me dead. Once in his confidence, he thought you would attempt to conspire with him to assassinate me. I believed you would turn on him and use his fear to take his position. I’m quite pleased you proved me right.” He lifted his hands, his power forming two golden orbs around his claws. “Kneel, Galan.”
His knees buckled, but not to please the prince. He had lost Fiana, and with her his own chance at immortality.
Snow and frost swirled through the barn as Iolar cast his power over him. The front of Galan’s tunic tore open, and new glyphs were etched in black across his chest. The magic within them sank into his body, and spread through him, colder than the ice crusting his face. He could feel it hardening his bones and freezing his blood. It felt like death, and yet when the power faded he felt his chest rise and air rush into his lungs.
“I have given you power no mortal has ever possessed,” the prince told him. “Use it to serve me well, and when we return to the underworld, I will make you an immortal. There we will breed more halflings until we create one with the power to revive the dead.”
Galan rose unsteadily, unbalanced as much by his promise as the wings that shot out from his back. “You would do that?”
“To have again slaves who may never truly die?” Iolar’s teeth glittered like polished bones. “To that end I will sire ten thousand brats myself. Come.”
Galan could feel the power of the storm rising over the village. As never before it called to him, wordless and wild, pulling at the new power inside him. He followed Iolar outside, where Danar waited.
“The deamhanan stand ready, my prince,” the big demon said.
“Make your apologies to Galan,” Iolar said before he spread his wings and soared up into the sky. The other Sluath followed in a wide, glittering swath against the roiling dark gray clouds.
“Dinnae waste your breath,” Galan told Danar as he started to speak. “All you’ve done shows how greatly you wish to be rid of me. I shallnae forget that, nor give you the means to try again.”
“If I wanted you dead, Aedth, you would be rotting in the ground.” His copper eyes flashed with amusement. “To serve as I do demands absolute allegiance to Prince Iolar, and none have ever challenged my pl
ace at his side. For him to bestow so much on one who remains mortal has troubled me.”
“’Twas envy,” Galan said, gloating now. “The prince favors me with wings, and his power, and now the promise of immortality. When we go to the underworld, I willnae take your place. I shall make my own.”
Danar chuckled. “Perhaps you will. You’ve already done the impossible.”
He would have told Danar to fack himself, but in that moment the seeking spell he had cast earlier returned to him with a captured burst of Pritani magic. He lifted his hands to contain it, and between his palms appeared the blackened remains of a ravaged village. Two figures on horseback appeared to be riding across the pasture beyond the ruins. One had long red hair, wore a green and black tartan, and carried a bow and quiver.
“Edane mag Raith cast a spell no’ an hour past,” Galan said. “From Wachvale.”
Danar peered at the image before it faded. “That wench with him is Nellie Quinn.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
THE GLEN BLURRED around Edane as the connection they shared wrenched them from the storm, and hurled them into a colder, darker place. Long tunnels filled with strange stone stretched out all around him. The rock moved with light and color, as if a living thing. It cast an unnatural glow over him and Nellie as they stood together, waiting. A hooded figure approached them, its robes flowing as it glided through the air.
“’Tis naught to discuss.” Edane stepped between the demon and his lady, his hands bunching. “She goes with us.”
Behind him the stone drew from his fears and flashed images of a shrieking flapper being torn apart by vultures.
“Cut it out,” Nellie said, slapping the rock face. The gruesome tableau vanished.
“Nellie cannot leave the underworld,” the Sluath chided. “My brethren have held her captive for more than a century.” A thin gloved hand gestured toward the dark stone. “As you see, she has been altered too much by her time among the Sluath.”
“Then I shall stay with her,” Edane said flatly. “Send my brothers and their ladies through, and leave us.”
“Give us a minute, huh?” Nellie said to the Sluath. When the demon floated away, she put her arm across his shoulders. “Truth time. I’m not like the others, or you guys. All the time I’ve been here has changed me. There’s almost nothing left of the girl I was.”
“I ken you,” Edane told her flatly. “You’re good and kind. You’ve saved us all.”
“The little good I’ve done since you came doesn’t make up for what I did to get here.” She touched his cheek. “I’ve earned this hand, Danny.”
“Fack that.” He pulled her into his arms, pressing her against his chest. “I willnae go without you. You’re my life.” He looked over her damp curls to the demon, who had returned. “You claimed that love saved you, Sluath. ’Twill be the same for Nellie. She has my heart.”
“That shall not stop her from reverting,” the Sluath warned. “When she emerges from the time stream, she will awake as the woman she was when she was culled.”
“You ken what Danar shall do to her when they find us gone. Leaving her here, ’tis certain death.” Edane cradled his lover’s face in his hands. “We shall find each other again, just as the others shall. When we do,’ twill be as ’twas here.”
“You’re such a maroon,” Nellie sighed, and pressed her cheek against his chest before she stepped back and gave a little nod.
Edane felt the demon’s cold hand on his nape and stiffened before he plummeted into darkness.
* * *
Nellie dragged Edane onto the sky bridge while the demon set the lever. She could feel the faintest stroke of awareness on her neck, which meant that Danar was stirring. “Have all the others gone through now?”
“Yes. He’s the last before I enter the stream.” The demon sounded as bland as ever. “You’ve no regrets in loving this rebel?”
“Why, are you worried about your honey bunny?” She looked up as the Sluath hovered closer. “Oh, come on. When you really love someone, you’ll give up everything for them. What you want, what you could be, even your life. I’ve done it twice now.” She glanced down at the archer. “No regrets this time. You?”
The demon sighed. “If I could feel them… No, I think not.”
“There you go. Okay, time to scram, Danny,” she said, grunting the words as she lugged him over to the edge above the cloud stream. “You find yourself a sweet gal out there. She’ll love you as much as I do, I’m sure, and don’t take any wooden nickels, you goof.”
Looking down at his face made tears rush into her eyes. The sensation felt strange. Nellie hadn’t cried in decades.
She turned as the demon floated over to her. “Make him forget everything about me and this dump,” she managed to say as the tears began to fall. She swiped angrily at them. “Everything.”
The demon touched its claws to Edane’s brow, and dark blue magic flared for a moment. “Send him now.”
With a sob Nellie pushed her love off the bridge, and watched the cloud stream drag him through the time portal. It felt as if something small and fragile inside her finally uttered one last gasp and died. Only when he’d disappeared from sight did she take out the dagger she’d stolen from Danar.
She’d always known this was her only way out.
With her free hand she felt along her side until she found the space between the two ribs nearest her heart. She’d stab herself, and her body would fall into the time stream. Maybe she’d land back in her own time, in the little cemetery next to Mickie and her folks. Not that it would matter to anyone but her.
“You could live forever if you remain here, and become Sluath,” the demon said. “Even now, you stand just on the brink. I could take from you every memory of what you did to help the rebels, and me.”
“Yeah, well, after being with him, I’d rather die.” She heard the sound of distant groans and nodded toward the stream. “They’re starting to wake up. You’d better hightail it out of here.”
“Perhaps I’m wrong.” Claws snatched the blade out of her grip. “Love may be enough to save you.”
Before Nellie could blink the demon touched her forehead. A black cloud billowed inside her head, wiping out every memory, every thought, until all that remained was her name.
“Deserve this hand, Nellie Quinn,” the demon murmured, and then shoved her off the bridge.
Chapter Thirty-Three
NELLIE FELL THROUGH time, through shadows and memories, through herself in all her lives. She saw the peaceful stillness of the farm, the shrouded emptiness of the speakeasy, and even the glaring white prison chamber she’d shared with Edane. Each place seemed to be waiting for her, as if she could go back to them if she wished.
Instead she opened her eyes, almost blinded by rain as she looked at Edane. She had conned him in the underworld, too, but it had been for the very best reasons.
“You’d have ended yourself,” he said, as if he couldn’t believe it. “But for the demon, and love.”
“Just like you.” She tried to smile. “Think we’re both damned now?”
He hauled her against him, kissing her so deeply she bowed back over his arm. She clutched at him, dragging him down on top of her as the rain pounded over them. Their hands tangled as they tore at their clothes, her nails grazing his hard abdomen as she jerked down his trousers. He shoved her skirts to her waist and tore apart her knickers, spreading her thighs as he pushed between them.
Then he thrust into her, hard and pulsing with his need, and Nellie uttered a long, heartfelt moan.
“Never again shall you leave me,” Edane said through clenched teeth. He worked in and out of her pussy with powerful, passionate strokes. “No more lies, or cons, or sacrifices. You’ll return to the stronghold and mate with me and love me as I love you. Or I think I shall end us both.”
“Sounds swell.” Nellie gripped his hips, pulling him deeper inside her. “The loving and mating you, I mean. Let’s quit trying to kill ourselve
s, okay?”
Rain poured down the sides of his face as he stared down at her. “You’ll be my wife? Truly?”
“Sure.” She slipped her hand inside his trousers to caress the tight curves of his buttocks. “You gotta make an honest woman out of me.” When he frowned, she added, “I never went this far when I was undercover. Before that, I never had a guy of my own. You’re the first man I’ve ever loved, body and soul.”
“The first.” He seemed dazed now.
“First and last.” Nellie tightened her muscles inside to gently squeeze his shaft. “You’re the only man I’ll ever love.”
Edane covered her mouth with his, and as the storm raged on he pumped into her over and over. She came on the pounding strokes of his cock, her cries scattering her delight through the thunderous deluge. He didn’t stop until he made her insane with pleasure a second time, and watched her shake herself apart with it before he stiffened and joined her.
Nellie groaned as she felt him flood her fluttering, clenching softness, the thick warmth spreading inside her like the love pouring from her heart. She’d have this, and him, for the rest of her life. They’d have to make peace with Kiaran, and tell the clan what had happened in the underworld, but she knew that nothing would ever come between them again.
By the time Edane shifted them onto their sides rain had plastered their hair and clothes to them, and the cloak beneath them was more puddle than wool. He held her close as he tried to straighten her skirt and his trousers.
“I don’t think it’s going to stop.” She held a hand over her eyes to look up at the storm. “Want to head back to the shelter? We can try this again naked and dry.”
He laughed and helped her to her feet before he turned away to retrieve the cloak. “Aye, my lady, but first we must–”
Edane: Immortal Highlander, Clan Mag Raith Book 3 Page 17