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Authors: Maeve Greyson

Eternity's Mark (24 page)

BOOK: Eternity's Mark
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Hannah took a step back and edged in close beneath the protection of Taggart's wing, shivering at the sight of the Goddess Isla. The scales of the ancient Draecna who had sacrificed so much gleamed a pure and startling white. Her long trailing beard and the tips of her horns shone as golden as her huge, luminous eyes.
“Welcome to my home, Guardian Hannah MacPherson. I have monitored your journey and ye have done quite well.” With a pointed glare in the direction of her son, Isla stretched and resettled her gold-veined wings along her iridescent back. “I have also watched my son's behavior and will speak to him about some of his choices later.”
Should she be offended at the goddess's tone? Hannah glanced from Isla's face to Taggart's guarded expression. Was his mother referring to the fact they'd slept together, or something else Taggart had apparently done? Unable to quite pin down their expressions, Hannah's curiosity overcame her reservations about her physical appearance. “Would you mind explaining what you mean by that? I don't mean to sound short, but I've had a
really
long day and I'd just as soon have everything out in the open between us right now. If we're not going to get along, I'd rather we both were up-front about it. I'm not good at games of innuendo.”
Stroking a gold-tipped claw through her trailing beard, Isla's snakelike irises flexed. The shimmering skin of her long, smooth face crinkled at the corners of her eyes. “The fire of honesty. Verra good. It will serve ye well in the difficult days that lie ahead.” Chuckling, she turned, waddled over to the table, filled the tankards, and nodded for them to sit. “Rest easy, child. I was not referring to the fact that he marked ye as his mate. I look forward to the day when ye place grandchildren at my feet. I am not pleased with the way he accomplished it. He didna honor ye as he should have. It is my son I have issues with, not you.”
“Mother,” Taggart groaned through tightly clenched teeth. He shot a pleading look in Hannah's direction.
Hannah relaxed and stepped forward. Taggart's mother seemed quite reasonable. “Taggart and I just want to get back to Taroc Na Mor. We've rescued Esme, so now we can return to the nursery and see to the other eggs.” She accepted a tankard from Isla and sniffed at the contents.
Wow.
Now that's some potent stuff. Her eyes watered at the fumes wafting up from the depths of the cup. With a slight cough, Hannah moved the cup away from her face and concentrated on Isla's understanding face. “I appreciate all that the Draecna have done, but it's over now. They can return to guarding their portals or wherever it is they came from before Taggart asked for their help.”
Isla turned to Taggart, one golden brow rising in a questioning arch. “Ye didna tell her where ye obtained your forces? Ye told her nothing about all that transpired while she was imprisoned in Sloan's keep?” Taggart's tense expression darkened with a meaningful scowl. “I havena had the chance to tell her much of anything
yet
.”
“Taggart?” Hannah risked a sip of wine, choking back another muffled cough as the fiery fluid seared her throat. “What's your mother talking about? What did you do?”
Taggart waved away the wine his mother held out and kneeled at Hannah's side. “All that matters is that you're here ... safe.” Taggart slid her hand into his. “But I can no longer turn my back on my people, Hannah. Please try to understand. We have to stay here. We have to fight and save Erastaed from Sloan.”
Sliding her glass onto the low marble table, Hannah drew her hand out of his grasp.
Absolutely not. Not another war.
She'd lost one love to war. She'd be damned if she'd risk another to a senseless battle. “No, Taggart. We can go back home, to Taroc Na Mor. We can go through the portal and seal it off. He'll never find us and we'll be safe. Let the Draecna take care of Sloan. All we have to do is leave here and never come back.”
Taggart shook his head, stared down at the floor, then took Hannah's hand back into his. “No, Hannah. I canna desert my people again. I left them once when my father took away my birthright. They've suffered immeasurably under Sloan's rule. Ye've seen him, Hannah. Ye know his cruelty firsthand. If not for the people of Erastaed, the coup would not have been such a success today. They helped us, Hannah. Now, we must help them. I canna turn my back on my people again.”
Hannah searched his face, her heart falling at his words. But she had to admit, he had a point. Sloan's ruthlessness. . . Hannah shuddered, reaching out to touch his cheek. Taggart's eyes had changed. Their depths glistened with newfound pride and determination. All the humiliation and loneliness was gone.
“I can't lose you,” she whispered through the knot of emotions closing off her throat. Why couldn't he understand? Her soul ached for him to be safe in her arms and never leave her again. She'd risked opening the rusty hinges of her heart. How could he ask her to do this?
Brushing her hair away from her face, Taggart smiled his reassurance. “I've lived over seven hundred years, my love. I'm as close to immortal as I can get. Ye're not going to lose me, Hannah. I promise.”
Hannah glanced at Isla, then at Esme, then returned her gaze to Taggart. All of them watched her as though they held their breath. What choice did she have? She'd witnessed Sloan's barbarity in the short time of her imprisonment. Who knew what the populace of Erastaed had suffered over the years? “Fine. We stay until we rid Erastaed of Sloan, and then we go back and seal the gateway.”
Pressing his forehead against hers, Taggart wrinkled his nose as he stroked her cheek with his thumb. “Ye're a wonderful woman, my dearest love. Now, all we must do is get ye in a bath. Lest your aroma give away our position.”
“You are such an ass.” Hannah shoved him away, causing him to topple back on his heels as she rose from the chair and pushed past him.
“The ass will stay here while ye relax and get refreshed. I need to have a few words with him. Gilda will take ye to your bath.” Isla nodded to a much smaller, gray Draecna waiting at the farther end of the cavern.
With a haughty nod, Hannah cut her gaze back to Taggart, now sitting in the floor. “Thank you, Isla. I appreciate your hospitality. Obviously, you attempted to teach your son some manners. He just forgets to use them.”
Taggart enjoyed the sway of Hannah's hips as she made her way down the cavern toward Gilda. The tightness in his chest had finally eased now that she was safe.
“Ye lied to her, boy. When are ye going to learn to be honest? It makes your life more complicated every time ye turn around. Taggart, how many times do I have to tell ye—”
“Dammit, Mother!” Taggart snarled. “Do ye even take a breath between any of those words?” He hadn't seen her in several hundred years and she'd already started in on him.
“Do not curse at me, young man!” Isla's roar echoed through the cavern, making the gemstone chandelier tinkle as it trembled from the blast.
“Forgive me, Mother.” Taggart took a deep breath. Scrubbing the weariness from his face, he reminded himself his mother didn't care he was seven hundred years old. Some things never changed. He'd just let her rant and get it over with.
“When are ye going to tell her ye already destroyed the gateway to Taroc Na Mor?” Isla circled her son as though ready to pounce if he dared answer her in the wrong way.
“I can still send her back.” Taggart defended, turning to keep his front to his mother. He'd learned long ago: never ever turn his back on Mother. It didn't prove wise.
“Aye, and if ye send her back, ye know as well as I, ye must send her back alone. When are ye going to tell her that? Are ye also going to tell her that 'tis permanent since the portal has been destroyed?” Isla cuffed him on the back of his head, catching him before he turned to face her in time.
Flinching from the sharpness of the blow, Taggart rubbed his throbbing skull. Holy blazes, Mother truly was pissed this time. “I'm hoping she'll want to stay here with me. I'm hoping it willna matter.”
“Ye're hoping.” Isla shook her head. “I canna believe I raised such a blithering idiot.”
“Mother!”
“The woman is intelligent. Tell her all the facts. She accepted ye as a hybrid, didn't she?”
There was that. “I will tell her soon. As soon as she is rested. Ye have to admit, she has had a very big day.”
Pointing a razor-sharp claw within inches of the tip of his nose, Isla growled until the chandelier shuddered again. “Ye will tell her as soon as she finishes her bath. I want no more secrets between the two of ye before the battle is waged. The mating ritual is not complete even though she has been marked. Now make me proud, Taggart! Ye grow too old for this type of nonsense.” Clapping her claws together, she disappeared into a mist of shimmering droplets.
Taggart turned and looked at Esme standing quietly in the corner.
“Ye appear to be in a great deal of trouble, Taggart,” Esme observed with a subtle nod.
 
She stood in the center of the crystal alcove in front of the shimmering fountains. By all that's holy, she was a beautiful woman. What had he done to deserve her? Taggart's breath stilled in his chest as need blazed through his body. Her still-damp hair curled down over her shoulders and across the silk wrap clinging to her lovely curves. An ebony wrap shot with silver embroidery encased her like a second skin. Taggart shuddered and swallowed hard. Gilda had chosen well. Taggart clenched his hands; he already felt the black sheen of the material polishing the roundness of her hips and breasts.
His mother's voice nagged at the back of his mind, while lust inflamed his body. He had to talk to her. He had to tell Hannah the gateway back to Taroc Na Mor was gone. Surely then they could move on with their lives. She would accept the reality of things. He knew she would, just as she had accepted him.
“I've been waiting for you.” Hannah prowled over to him with a promising smile curling her inviting lips.
Pulling her close, Taggart breathed in the perfume of her hair and the honey-sweet warmth of her still damp skin. “Mother kept me o'er long. Did ye enjoy your bath, my love?”
As she buried her face into his chest, Hannah slid her hands up inside Taggart's shirt. “Not as much as I'm going to enjoy being back in your arms.”
Swallowing a groan, Taggart pulled away and tucked her hands into his own. “First, we must talk. I'm afraid there's something I must tell ye, Hannah, about the portal to Taroc Na Mor.”
A confused look darkened her eyes as Hannah searched his face. “What are you talking about? You said as soon as we saved your people from Sloan, we could go back to Taroc Na Mor. Enough talk, I missed you and I need you to hold me.” Hannah stretched forward and nipped at his chest.
With a groan, Taggart shuddered and took a step back. She wasn't making this any easier. Patting her hands, Taggart hedged and pulled her closer to the bubbling fountains. “Not exactly. I believe I told ye I couldna desert my people. I never actually went into any details about returning to Taroc Na Mor.”
Hannah's eyes narrowed as she jerked her hands out of his grasp. She circled him slowly, smoothing her robe and yanking the belt tighter about her waist. “Out with it, Taggart. What are you
not
saying? You've got a bad habit of omitting extremely necessary details. You're a great deal like the little boy who only steals
some
of the cookies from the cookie jar.”
“The portal to Taroc Na Mor has been destroyed.”
Hannah stopped in her tracks, clenched the neckline of her gown, and scowled as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard. “Destroyed? As in, gone, like I-can-never-go-back-ever-again destroyed?”
Taggart tilted his head with a weak shrug of one shoulder. “In a way.” She wasn't making this easy on him. The curve of her cheeks flamed a decided shade of red. A clear indication the fires of her fury blazed higher. Uneasiness wrapped icy fingers of worry around his spine and raked their nails across his gut.
“It's a simple question, Taggart. Either I can go back to Taroc Na Mor or I can't. Which is it?” Hannah's voice increased several decibels, nearing an irritated shriek.
This wasn't going well. She shouldn't be this upset. After all, at least they were together and she no longer sat inside Sloan's prison. “Hannah, I can use my magic once to send ye back. But I can only send ye back alone.” Taggart paused, allowing his words to sink in and his frustration fermented when she didn't say a word. “I canna go with ye when I send ye back and I can never bring ye back to Erastaed once ye've gone. We would be separated
forever
.”
God's beard. Why doesn't the woman understand?
All that mattered was the fact that they were together.
Hannah stood with her fists clenched. Her lower lip trembled as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “How did the gateway get destroyed?” she asked with a trembling voice.
Ducking his head, Taggart turned away. He couldn't bear the hurt and recrimination in her eyes. “We overloaded it,” he admitted. “Too many of us came through at one time when we brought all the Draecna through.”
BOOK: Eternity's Mark
9.94Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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