Blood Tied (20 page)

An unspoken promise and the power it ignited within me.

WE LAY
naked in the grass, my head on Aiden’s chest and his arms wrapped around me. Our rapid breathing finally returned to normal. Everything was different. Having Aiden inside me, surrendering myself to him, had changed me profoundly.

I’d been terrified of emotion, of letting go, for fear I might unleash the monster that almost killed my brother. What happened instead proved far more surprising. Released from the iron fist of control, I hadn’t tumbled into a sea of churning emotion. I wasn’t swept away, lost to the dark depths.

By letting go, I’d found firm ground beneath my feet instead of the shifting sands of uncertainty. I’d always believed my family to be idiotic for reveling in their emotions, for giving in to them so wholeheartedly. For me it had only led to disaster.

Now I saw the truth.

Emotion didn’t make us weaker. It amped up our powers. Perhaps that was why Mason had finally tapped into darkness. Because he’d fallen in love with Drake.

Was that what had happened to me?

I gazed up at Aiden. His eyes were closed, but he wasn’t asleep. A thin smile stretched across his lips. He was still basking in the afterglow.

I mentally traced every line on his face, the curve of his strong jaw, the dip of the dimple on his chin, the swell of his cheeks, and my heart fluttered inside my chest. It was like hundreds of butterflies flitted around within me. It tickled and made me smile.

What I felt for Aiden wasn’t love. At least not yet. The potential was there. It swelled within me like the ocean responding to the pull of the moon, but only time and the tide would fill our hearts with love’s waters.

“You’re staring again,” Aiden said, gazing at me through one partially opened eyelid.

“Tough,” I replied. I rolled on top of him and leered down at him. “Get used to it.”

He grinned broadly. “Too late,” he admitted, resting his hands on my ass. “I already am.”

“Good,” I replied, brushing my lips against his.

He strummed his fingertips up my back and down toward my ass in light, feathery strokes. “Being with you was amazing. It’s never been like that for me before.”

He didn’t have to tell me. The pleasure had been so intense, I’d almost crawled out of my skin. “For me either. You touched places inside me I didn’t know existed.”

“That’s because I’ve got a pretty big cock,” he said with an eyebrow wiggle. “It’s a curse the Teine fae must live with.”

I rolled my eyes. “Although your dick is pretty amazing, I don’t think that was it.”

“Are you doubting the power of my family’s vigor?” he asked with a fake scowl.

“How do you know it wasn’t the supremacy of the Blackmoor ass?” I asked in return.

He grinned. “How about it was both?”

“Now
that
makes sense,” I said with a smile.

Neither of us wanted to lose the bubble we’d created around us, keeping the crazy that awaited us at bay. Our silly banter allowed for the illusion of normalcy to linger instead of drift away like smoke on the wind.

“It’s time to go, isn’t it?” he asked, his eyes filled with regret.

“Not yet,” I answered. “Like you said earlier, we need this. I think we should stay here tonight. Sleep in each other’s arms. Tomorrow, we’ll face what comes together.”

The width of his smile told me he wholeheartedly agreed. He squeezed me tight and let out a long, contented sigh.

“I can’t thank you enough for what you did for me.”

He pulled out of the embrace and turned over. I fell off him and onto the warm grass. “I didn’t do it for you,” he said. The playfulness disappeared, and a stern severity settled in his gaze. “I did it for us.”

I liked the way that sounded. Us. I could certainly get used to an “us.”

“Do you think it worked?” he asked.

“I believe it did.” Together, Aiden and I created magic that only our bodies could cast. It swirled within me, empowering me and giving me the defenses I needed to stave off whatever blood magic the shadow weaver intended to use against us. “But I think it did more than we expected,” I said after rising. I stood naked, glancing around. The colors were brighter than I remembered, and a hum of energy I hadn’t heard before whispered in my ears, as if it were calling to me and letting me know it was here.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

I closed my eyes and opened up my soul to the powerful thrum. It poured into me, through me, before settling down within. “Your touch gave me more than a shield. It gave me a battering ram.”

“Really?” Aiden asked. He rose and took my hands in his. “Do you feel your powers growing?”

“I do,” I answered. “It reminds me of that afternoon as a teenager, when I froze Mason. All these things were going on inside me I couldn’t explain. All I knew was I had to let them out, and I did. And it terrified me. It made me afraid of what I could do. That’s kind of what I’m feeling now. Like the power I’ve held inside me not only doubled but quadrupled. But there’s also something else.” I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, so I didn’t even try.

“Is it scaring you?”

“No,” I answered without hesitation. “It’s exhilarating. It makes me feel alive, and whatever it is, it’s just dying to be released.”

Aiden led me back to the spot where we’d made love, under a huge tree that was most likely at least a century old. He lay down and pulled me into his arms. When we were settled in and firmly in each other’s grip, he said, “Then let’s get some sleep. Tomorrow, we’ll find that shadow weaver and set you loose. That bastard won’t know what hit him.”

No, he wouldn’t. I would make him pay. For my brothers. For Drake. And even for Ben.

Chapter 8

THE NEXT
morning we ate berries and nuts Aiden had gathered for our breakfast before getting dressed. A few hours later, we emerged from the Arbor. It existed between the four kingdoms of the light fae. The Sylphs, or air sprites, lived to the east of the Arbor, while the water fae known as the Undines lived to the west, along the Gulf of Mist. To the north, the Gnomes dwelled among the rocky crags of Mount Matakin.

We were headed south along the grasslands and up to the Hearth, the place the fire fairies called home.

“That’s the Shade,” Aiden said as we made our way up the hill toward his home. A patch of land dominated by shadows stretched beyond the northern boundaries of Mount Matakin. Unlike the golden sky above us, dark, purplish clouds, which resembled huge bruises across the heavens, tumultuously roiled over the dark patch of land. “That’s where the dark fae live.”

“And your father is king over all fairies?” I asked. The politics of this land had always confused me. Each tribe had their own leaders, and they made up the Royal Fae Court, but they all answered to one king. It had never made sense to me why that was.

Aiden nodded as he led me farther up the hill. “He’s ruled Otherworld for nearly a century now.”

Damn. How old
was
Aiden?

“I’m old enough not to answer that question,” he said, giving me a smirk.

“How’d you know that’s what I was thinking?”

“Because I know your kind,” he said, pretending to be disgusted with my need to know his age. “Always concerned with numbers instead of just letting someone be.”

I stopped. “Let me make one thing clear. I don’t care if you’re sixty years old. It wouldn’t change one damn thing.”

“That’s good to know,” he said before kissing my lips. He grabbed my hand and tugged me forward. “But I haven’t been sixty in years.”

I let fly a low whistle, to which Aiden responded by slamming into me with his shoulder.

I decided it was best to change the subject. “I don’t understand why the other fae don’t follow a leader from their own tribes.”

“We used to. Many generations ago.” His face grew dark and serious. “That was before my time, but my father told me stories about a civil war between the fae.”

I couldn’t hide my shock. Everything I knew about the fairies indicated they were a peaceful species who abhorred violence. And hadn’t Aiden told us the fae had always lived in peace? “Really? But that’s not what you said back in Havenbridge.”

“I know,” he said. “We have lived in peace my entire life. That point in our history wasn’t one of the better moments, and it’s not information I freely share. It was fueled by discontent with our removal from your world.”

So I’d been right. The fae hadn’t come here by choice. They had been forced. “Because of the Conclave?”

“Yes.” His muscles tensed. “Your kind had just fought an uprising of sorcerers, and they beat them with our help. But after our victory, more humans became aware of magic, and more witch hunters were born. They tracked down all magical creatures, killing whomever they could, and it was learned these hunters could sense magic, follow it like a homing beacon. Since we were beings of pure magical energy, they could easily pinpoint the fae and through us find your kind.”

“So it wasn’t animosity that caused the Conclave to make this decision, but concern for the safety of all?” That didn’t sound too bad.

Aiden snorted. “That was what they claimed, but you merely tap into magic. We are comprised of it. The Conclave perceived us as a threat, and after the sorcerers, they were taking no chances. They wanted us out, so they cast a spell that blocked the energy of the Gate. Without it, we would die. They promised only to release the spell once we had left their world to create our own.”

“I don’t understand. Why go to such extreme measure? Why not negotiate?”

“Because the Conclave concerns themselves with being the strongest forces of magic in existence. They didn’t care that we were their allies. Their desire to remain the strongest in all the land prompted them to turn against us and force us here. If we had not come, we would no longer exist.”

Something was missing from this story. While I didn’t think Aiden was lying to me, he had only the fae’s version of the truth. The real answer had to lie somewhere in between. “How did this lead to a civil war?”

“The dark fae wanted to return to your world.”

I stopped. The banshees we had captured back home had been telling the truth. They were motivated by an ancient desire to reclaim the land that had once been theirs. “But you stopped them?”

“We did,” he said, pointing to the Shade. “And they have resided there ever since. It was decided after their defeat all fae, light and dark, needed a voice to avoid further dissension, and the Royal Fae Court was born. But the leaders could never agree. They constantly argued until it was decided we needed a ruler, one who would be in charge of protecting our species from threats within and outside the fae.”

“And your tribe was chosen to lead?”

“It was the decision of the court that only a light fae would lead since the dark fairies had been responsible for our conflict,” he answered. “The Sylphs expressed no desire to take on the responsibility. The air sprites prefer to dance on the wind than concern themselves with the everyday problems of our world. The Gnomes seek only solitude and also withdrew from the running. That left only the Undines and the Salamanders.”

The Undines consisted of merfolk and river spirits that were charged with the protection of every body of water on the planet, and their kingdom had become legendary on earth. They had been the residents of Atlantis.

“How was it decided?”

“One battle between the most powerful Salamander and Undine. The stories tell of an epic battle that lasted for days, until at last, my father’s great-great-grandsire won. Ever since then, my family has been charged with protecting and leading our people.”

I didn’t know what to say. I had a whole lot of information to process.

The fae weren’t as everyone believed them to be, so why did the books written about them portray them as staunch pacifists? Was it done to downplay their threat?

And if peace had reigned so long here, why stir up the banshees now? What could be gained from that?

I glanced over my shoulder at the Shade. The dark, menacing land stretched far beyond what I could see, but as I swept my gaze across their kingdom, a question I hadn’t previously considered sprang to mind.

Where were the dark fae now? We’d been in Otherworld for a day and hadn’t been attacked once. They had been lying in wait for Aiden the moment he’d tried to come home, after I met him in the forest.

Something was going on.

“What’s the matter?”

Aiden’s question snapped me out of my thoughts. I tore my gaze from our surroundings, where I was searching for an unseen threat and focused on him. “Just wondering where the banshees are.”

He nodded with a sigh. “I’ve been wondering that too.” He surveyed the landscape. “And how did the vampyren get into the tunnel connecting our worlds?” Aiden added.

“I’d place my money on the shadow weaver,” I answered.

“But how did he know we’d be there?” he asked. “Was he listening to us from the shadows?”

That was a safe bet. The shadow weaver had obviously been eavesdropping while we interrogated the banshees in the library. He’d killed them before we could get our answers. It made sense, yet my gut told me that wasn’t the answer. I was missing a piece of the puzzle.

“You don’t think so, right?”

I shook my head. “How did you know?”

“You get this faraway look in your eyes whenever someone says something you disagree with. You also gnaw on your bottom lip while you search for the right answer.”

I released my lip from my teeth. I hadn’t realized I did that. My mother had chewed her lips raw whenever she was about to offer an opinion that countered my father’s. Knowing I’d inherited her habit made me smile. “I have no doubt he was there in the room with us. We were fools not to consider the possibility, but something tells me he wasn’t hiding in the shadows.”

Aiden’s arched eyebrows almost joined his hairline. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I,” I answered. “It’s just a gut feeling I have.”

He nodded as if that made complete sense, and to a fire fae it probably did. They trusted what they felt far more than anything else.