Enchanted Moon (Moon Magick Book II) (14 page)

But he could teach her a wee lesson.

He pressed his hips in so that his hard prick would
speak volumes. “Aye, I want you, Ailyn.” He watched the play over her face as
he pressed. He cupped her face, weaving a hand in to her braid where he
gripped, tilting her face back. Her creamy throat beckoned for his touch. She
likely tasted sweeter than he could imagine. He refused to even think of it.

He would satisfy one desire at least. With a quick
flick and tug, he loosened the leather tie on her braid and slowly unwound the
tresses. She let him, her gaze openly fascinated.

Hair tumbling about her face and shoulders, he slowly
let her go. She frowned a little. “No lips, then?”

Quinlan groaned, reaching for her, no longer able to
resist one small taste of her.

“Aye, if you please,” Danny said, his voice like an
icy dunk into a river. “No lips.”

Ailyn turned, Quinlan followed. Danny stood arms
akimbo, leaving no doubts in Quinlan’s mind as to how offensive the man found
this whole kiss idea. How much had he seen? It mattered not. Ailyn’s virtue
would certainly not be besmirched from the threat of a kiss. All Danny could
have seen is what he saw now. A woman, flushed and aglow, looking like a wild
temptress from a bard’s tale. And Quinlan likely looked like a man about to
suffer many hours of a stiff ache wanting one very specific relief.

It would be a long night indeed.

~

Ailyn touched her lips, her eyes on Quinlan’s broad
shoulders as he walked away. Her lips tingled even though he’d done no more
than brace an arm around her. He’d been rough with her, as if showing his
strength would somehow deflect her interest. Not that she was interested in any
mortal. Not considering her current circumstances. If anything, nurturing an
attraction to Quinlan would distract her.

She thought of Colm. She thought of the journey ahead,
of the likelihood that Kristoph was here, too, hunting down the very thing she was
but with the darkest of intentions. Aye, there was a part of her that welcomed
any distraction from the growing weight within her.

The moonlight cast shadows and light over the small
meadow. She could see well. No one could take them by surprise. The horses
would certainly warn of someone coming. Even Kristoph. There was no magick in
these lands. Surely his powers would be thwarted without the dwindling Fae
source to draw upon.

She could hope. But she could not count on it.

It wasn’t wise to keep assuming Kristoph was the man
Breanne foretold of. She’d already filled the role with his visage. She’d have
to correct that. Colm oft warned—never assume. Albeit he also oft claimed
the simplest answer tended to be the true one.

She released a heavy sigh. Her mind was too tired to
untangle the mental knot tonight. Her physical contact with Quinlan, the way
her body lit with delicious sensations only weakened her thought process. Her
body still buzzed with arousal. Those intense eyes, fair glittering with desire.
She yet wondered what he would taste like, if his full lips would be as
demanding as his embrace.

Danny behaving like a jealous lover only worsened
matters.

“I’ll bid him farewell come morning light,” Danny said
in a low voice, settling onto his blanket cross-legged.

“Do you not think there is opportunity in Quinlan
joining us?” she asked, wishing Breanne could be here to answer her additional
questions as well as manage her brother.

Narrowing his eyes, he nodded. “Aye, there is. He’s
fierce in battle, but it would mean sharing that which he does not ken.”

Ailyn arranged her blanket on the ground, sitting as
well and considering his point. “What does he know?”

“He knows Breanne’s visions are powerful, and I trust
he would heed any warning they came with.”

“Then why not share them with him and ask him to
help?” He had already helped her more than any near stranger could be expected
to, though. This wasn’t his battle. It wasn’t his world to fight for. “Do you
think he’d refuse?” Refuse, but be handed knowledge they needed to covet
closely.

No. She could not believe Quinlan had such little
honor as to merely bow out and wish her luck. His actions thus far demonstrated
that if she could trust any mortal, it was he.

Danny lay back and stared at the stars, thoughtful.
“My sister saw him helping you. She suspected he would come.”

“Then why would you not welcome him?” Ailyn asked,
beyond confused. Danny knew Quinlan would arrive? Why so much resistance,
then?”

He thought about her question a moment. “I canno’ say,
exactly. I’ve no specific concern to warrant it. Quinlan is a good man, a good
friend. I once thought he would join my family. It isn’t his mettle I
question.”

Ailyn glanced past her shoulder to watch the shadowy
outline of the man in question. She could barely see the scruff of whiskers
along his angular jaw, so dark were the shadows he stood in, leaning against a
tree, one leg propped against it as though he hadn’t a worry in the world.
Perhaps he didn’t.

If he could hear or sense what they were saying, he showed
no outward signs of it.

“Then what is it that has you distrustful?” Ailyn
asked, fighting the edge out of her tone. She had to trust that he meant well.
She had to trust Breanne.

“Given your heritage, perhaps you’ll understand.” He
sat up and put a fist to his stomach. “Something dark surrounds Quinlan’s
arrival here. Something….” He shook his head and lay back down.

If dark followed him here, it was no fault of his.
Mayhap she had to trust herself and Quinlan instead. She had no gift of sight.
Her court trick kind of magick was all but gone in this world. She had no bow
or arrows to influence. Her dagger all but ignored her words. She was left with
her own sense of right and wrong, and perhaps some wits and skill, thanks to
her brother.

Thanks to her queen insisting that she join the
guard’s ranks soon after Kristoph’s attack.

Her life oft felt cleaved into two halves. That which
came before that day, pressed against the stone wall just outside of Tullah’s
quarters. And all that came after. Her reaction. Her fears. Nightmares. Tullah
placing her under her own younger brother’s command.

She felt for the pendant under her tunic. Aye, she
also had that. Her only treasure, handed down through her family’s female line.
Her mother bequeathed it to Ailyn a year before she died, blessing it under the
Imbolc moon.

“You should sleep,” Danny said. “While you can.”

Ailyn nearly scoffed at his foreboding tone, but
before she could, her unease grew. Wanting to be safe would not make her so.
Underreacting for the sake of denial would only hurt matters and put them all
at risk. Better to err on the side of caution.

Except when it came to Quinlan. She would do all she
could to keep him here. Even if it meant telling him what she was, what they
were after, and why.

Stealing one last glance at him as she lay down
bolstered her resolve. Despite his easy- looking demeanor, she had no doubts
whatsoever that her life lay in capable hands. She held tight to the notion as
she permitted sleep to tug her into its depths, when the dream began.

At first, she thought a noise had awakened her.
Sitting up, she looked around.

Danny lay snoring. The embers of the fire glowed
green. Quinlan was gone, but that didn’t worry her much, because beautiful
butterflies that glowed the green of spring fluttered about. They filled her
with childlike wonder. She reached out for one, and that was when she knew she
was dreaming because the butterfly morphed into a blue orb. The orb had come
back to her, its noise of voices within it urging her to listen.

“You’re speaking too fast. I canno’ understand,” she
said, sitting on her knees and leaning forward.

A word seemed to form in the collective voices. Still,
even together their sound blurred. “…easecumin….” “…coming….”

“…eees…coming….” It pulsed brighter with the words.

Ailyn shook her head and tried to touch the orb but it
flitted out of reach. The light dimmed, the orb shrinking. “…love….”

It dwindled. “Please. I’m trying. Stay.”

But it could not. As quickly as it had appeared, it
vanished. The butterflies followed. The wind picked up, chilling her arms and
cheeks. Ailyn wrapped her blanket around her shoulders and stood up. “Come
back. Please. I can hear you now.”

She went to awaken Danny, but he was gone. As was his
blanket. The fire had disappeared as well. A sweat broke over her shoulders as
a low clicking noise echoed through the trees and to her ears. Where did she
know that noise?

Click.
Click. Click.

No, not a click that a lock and key would make, or the
knock of a knuckle on a door. This wasn’t mechanical. This noise was human.
Fear raced over her shoulders and down her stomach. Her feet became heavy as
she tried to run from that noise.

Tck.
Tck.

Tsk.

“Ailyn!”

“I refuse you!” Ailyn screamed. “I refuse you!”

Something grabbed her shoulders. She opened her mouth
to scream, but naught came out. The sound clogged her throat, making it so hard
to breathe.

“Ailyn, wake yourself, lass. Ailyn, you’re dreaming,”
Quinlan said as she slowly opened her eyes.

His face filled her vision. The light of dawn showed the
velvety sable color of his eyes, the thick fringe of lashes framing them and
their stark concern.

“Are you well, Ailyn?” Danny asked, drawing her
attention past Quinlan’s shoulder.

She lay cradled in Quinlan’s arms, she realized, and
had been only dreaming. She’d known that, though. Perhaps she had somehow
forgotten while in the grips of it.

“What did you see?” Quinlan asked, helping her sit up.

“See?” It was a dream. Not a vision. Brown-bloods did
not have visions.

Danny paced the area behind Quinlan. “That took far
too long. Think. What has Breanne seen?”

Quinlan let her go, looking at Danny with open
skepticism. He stood up, bracing his hands on his hips, giving Ailyn a fair
sight of a very appealing backside. She scrambled to her feet as well, not liking
the tension in his stance. Or in her belly.

“Danny, you’ll be explaining what you’re really up to,
now, or I’ll be taking Ailyn back to Tir Conaill with me.
Now
.”

Chapter Fourteen

Quinlan prepared to be hit. Danny was a proud one, and
he was not so young now that he’d be easily dissuaded. They might have plenty
of years between them, some fourteen, but honor was honor. While Quinlan meant
no disrespect, he also did not make empty threats. Something deep within him
insisted that Ailyn was in danger and that Danny was heightening that risk.

But the man only walked up to Quinlan face to
face—inches apart—and glared him down. “You’ve no idea what you’re
toying with here, Quin. Step down before you get her killed.”

Quinlan’s eyelid twitched.

“You’ll be getting yourselves killed with your
stubborn fool heads,” Ailyn said. “I’m not some chattel to be parceled out to
the most able man among you.”

Danny hardly blinked at her words. Quinlan, too. He
expected no lass to ken the consequences of establishing a hierarchy here. Be
it age, strength, cunning, or knowledge, either Danny would concede his
role—whatever that proved to be—or Quinlan would take charge.

“While you were busy listening to her talk in her
sleep, Quin, I was looking for what went missing.”

“Missing?” Ailyn put her hands between them, forcing a
space. “What do you mean, missing?”

“Aye, Danny, what do you mean, missing?” Quinlan asked
pointedly. Within an hour of Danny and he changing duties and Quinlan falling
into a light sleep, he’d awoken to Ailyn murmuring in the old tongue. Just as
she had before.

He had called to Danny.

Danny was nowhere to be found—gone. To check the
horses, he claimed, once Quinlan found him.

 
Danny
glared, his nostrils flaring. “You know full well what I mean. And soon, Ailyn
will, too. You canno’ fathom what you are tempting here, friend.” He fairly
spat the last word.

“By my estimation, you have two choices here, Daniel.”
He meant his sarcasm as a challenge, to prick the lad’s patience. One hit was
all Quinlan needed to justify putting the wee pup in his place. “One, you
explain yourself in full—why you are here, what your intentions are, and
what really occurred this glorious morning as Ailyn and I slept—or two,
you leave us.”

Ailyn growled, stepping between them. “I swear by
Morrigan’s wrath, if you louts dinna explain yourselves to me, I’ll rid myself
of you both. I’ve enough troubles to face all on my own! I don’t need to suffer
the mess of a war of fool honor.”

Her hair had become quite a sight, unbound and having
been slept on. The wild disarray of the locks matched with the deep red hue.
Combined with her flashing eyes, her hair exaggerated her ire to the point that
it took effort for Quinlan to not burst out in a deep guffaw.

What in the world had she just sputtered? Suffer the
mess of—what was that? Oh, and to boot, she clearly thought to be taken
seriously. He bit against the bubble of laughter as his anger eased.
Thankfully, Danny was the first to cave. A small chuckle escaped, which he
attempted to cover with a cough.

“Ailyn, dinna fash yourself, lass,” Quinlan said,
reaching for her as she stormed away.

“Ah, let her go,” Danny said. “I’ve enough to attempt
without her interfering.”

Quinlan knew defeat when it stared him in the face,
and Danny wore it well. “Fair enough. Mayhap you can start with what the two of
you are really after.”

“Fine. But you’ll be helping me look for signs of
treachery as I tell ye. Someone was in our midst this morn, and years’ worth of
research I’ve collected are gone.”

Ailyn disappeared past a copse of trees, likely
heading to her horse, or perhaps the stream. Quinlan trusted she’d have the
good sense to come back, so he nodded to Danny. “What items? You’re certain
someone was here?”

“Parchments, and aye, I’ve no idea who, but I have a
guess as to how as well as why. You’ll not like my conclusions any more than
aught else I’ve to share, though.”

The knowledge that someone was in their camp at all
unnerved him beyond words. Anger would serve them little at this point, but he
couldn’t help but blame Quinlan. He’d utterly failed his watch. He was mad at
himself. He counted himself as a light sleeper, vigilant even during rest. He’d
failed as well.

They strode the perimeter of the site, beginning at
the north end, looking for tracks of any sort. Even signs of covering tracks
would do to affirm that someone had entered the camp right under their noses.
Did Ailyn have her dagger? Aye, it had been strapped to her thigh through the
night.

“What sort of parchments exactly?” He itched to share
details of the parchment Jamison had found, to tell Danny of the drawing that
he suspected matched Ailyn’s pendant. Except he’d not seen her pendant since,
and verified as much.

“I’ll be asking you to bear in mind who my sister is.
Better yet, the gifts you’ve witnessed in her. She is dedicated to the old
ways. Some five years ago, on the eve of Ostara, I came upon a shimmering light
I’ve never witnessed or heard speak of.” Danny paused a moment and seemed to
search for the right words. “You never told me what you came to share with us.”

Quinlan winced.

Danny jabbed his left side ribs. “A whopping lie, it
was, aye?”

He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around Danny’s
mercurial moods. Hopefully, once he knew the truth of matters, the man’s
reactions would seem logical. “Aye, I should have known you saw through me when
you didn’t press me for it.”

Danny shrugged. “Why press? You were here, just as
Breanne predicted. I had a wee bit more on my mind, you ken.”

“Breanne predicted, you say?” Quinlan’s gaze fell to
the wee bit Danny gestured toward. Ailyn had seated herself on a far rock and
was finishing the thick braid of her hair. She tethered it and faced them, her
jaw set with determination.

“She’s Fae, Quinlan,” Danny said.

“Are you addled?” The words sent a warm shiver over
Quinlan’s back despite his utter disbelief. “What in shite are you spewing,
Danny?”

They’d come full circle with nary a sign of man or
beast entering or exiting the camp, save themselves. Quinlan gave up the
search. His attention swung from Danny to Ailyn in the distance, and back to
Danny.

“I swear it. Faerie. The hill folk.
Sidhe
. The night you found her she’d
passed through her world into ours. But she isna the only one who came
through.”

His mind spun, stopped, then spun again. “I’m taking
her back to Tir Conaill. I dare you to try to stop me.”

He strode toward Ailyn, who had her back to them.

“Quin, wait. You dinna believe me, I ken as much. But
at least listen before you judge.”

Quinlan shook Danny’s grip off his arm as the man
caught up with him and tried to stop him. Ailyn stood up and faced them, her
brow wrinkled with confused concern.

“Tell him,” Danny insisted.

“Nay. Tell me nothing. Gather your things. I’m taking
you back to where you’ll be safe.” He shot Danny a look with the last remark.
He meant to quell even the notion of resistance.

But Ailyn wasn’t moving. She merely stood there
looking from Danny back to him. “What did you say?” she asked Danny.

“That you are of the Fae realm. He doesna believe me.”

Quinlan didn’t like the fear that passed over her
face. Or the resolved set of her chin when she met his gaze. “Ailyn, if we
leave now, we’ll be back before nightfall. You’ll be safe.”

“I am safe.”

“You canno’ force her, Quin. You’ll either listen,
join us, or leave yourself,” Danny said, taking position at Ailyn’s side.

Quinlan shook his head. “He’s mad, Ailyn. How can you
think you’re safe? Do you realize someone entered our camp as we slept this
morn?”

Her gaze swung to Danny.

“Aye, and none of us detected it.”

“You’ll make her think I fell asleep, put like that.”
Danny faced Ailyn. “Whoever came through here had powers enough to conceal
himself from all of us.”

“What did he take?”

She asked the question as though she not only believed
Danny, but also knew who had been here. Why was she not at all disconcerted?
Quinlan scrubbed his hand over his face. By his life, with each passing moment,
he recalled less and less his cause to come here. A drawing? What more? This
woman did something to him. She sent his mind into a frenzy. He was behaving
like some lovesick fool, blind to reality.

 
He had
done so once before. He knew the signs, and he knew the outcome—pain
staring him in the face. Pain there waiting all along, but before, he refused
to see it. No matter how odd the idea felt now, he had once wanted Breanne with
every ounce of his being and thought she returned that love. When she chose
Ashlon, it had crushed Quinlan. Not only because he did not win her heart, but,
in hindsight, that fact was there for him to see all along. He simply had refused
to.

He would not make such a mistake here.

He would not project what he wished for in his most
secret thoughts onto a reality that very clearly did not support it. He wanted
her. Instead of entertaining the impossible, he would offer her safety. If she
refused that, the lot of them be damned.

They were on their own. Quinlan turned on his heel.

“Aye. Leaving is your favorite trick,” Ailyn called at
his back.

Quinlan halted, spinning back around. “What’s that?”
Heat shot up his face and neck.

“It is your favorite trick,” she said again. “Dislike
the silly lass’s actions, leave her. Canno’ handle the situation yourself,
speedily depart.”

The heat increased tenfold. “Are you suggesting I’ve a
habit of abandoning you, lass, because by my recall I’ve done naught but aid
you at each step, saving your pretty neck more than once.”

She shrugged. “You do come back; I’ll give you that
much.”

Jabbing a hand in Danny’s direction, he scoffed. “Come
back, she says. Have you any idea the trouble this woman attracts? Or what
foolishness I’ve witnessed in her actions? She clobbered a wolf one moment, and
the next swore it was a pet. She makes no sense at all.”

Danny’s eyebrows rose, but to his credit, he kept his
mouth shut.

“I need you here, Quinlan.” Ailyn closed the small gap
between them. “Danny doesna lie. And, aye, hard it will be to believe, but I am
not one of you. It terrifies me to admit as much, but you’ve shown me nothing
but kindness and honor. I choose to trust what I see and ask you to stay.”

Folding his arms, Danny moved to speak, then
apparently thought better of it, likely because of the look Ailyn shot
him—one Quinlan could only imagine from his current vantage point. It did
the job; that he could see instantly. Damn it all, but the fact intrigued him.

Ailyn returned her attention to him, her eyes
searching his. “I canno’ force you to stay and I will not beg, but I will ask
you to consider what I say first.”

Her lips seemed pinker than before. A flush crept into
her cheeks. It wasna easy for her to ask him, was it? Finally, Quinlan nodded.
He’d hear her out. And if her madness matched Danny’s, he’d have to wish them
well and depart. He’d no wish to live inside the constant swing of reacting to
what disaster might next strike this woman’s journey.

“When you found me, soaked and stumbling in the dead
of night, I’d passed into your world but moments before. Passed is a generous
term, really. More like chased. Maera is my liege.” She paused until he nodded.
“She is to inherit the throne. A truce between all four Fae tribes, called
three generations past, will come to an end unless Maera accepts certain
duties.”

“A betrothal,” Danny added. “Much like any clan in our
world, except in Fae law, birth order, blood magick, and so much more take
precedence. This has been worked out generations past through prophecy and
agreements.”

Ailyn shook her head. “He doesn’t need the history,
Daniel.” She looked back to Quinlan, her eyes again searching his. Beseeching.
“You saved my life by protecting me from that rite. You are right about the
wolf, too. I did clobber him. Trust me, he deserved it. He is no pet, but that
is another tale entirely. Please just know this. A man so vile I haven’t the
words has come through to your world as well. He means to destroy me. To
destroy you. To destroy all that is mortal. To take back this world and rejoin
what our ancestors cleaved in two for our individual race’s protection.”

Quinlan crossed his arms. He wanted to believe her.
But how could he? Better yet, if he did believe her, would it not be a death
wish to then stay?

She struggled with her words, worrying her mouth and
taking a breath.

“Ailyn is the key to stopping him.”

Her forehead wrinkled up deeply over that. “I am not
the key, Daniel. Her hand went to her chest. “But I do hold the key.”

“And you are the only one who can use it,” Danny
rejoined, which earned him another look that Quinlan envied him for.