Silver Hollow (44 page)

Flames erupted from his hands around her neck. Yet for some reason they felt wet instead of scalding, almost like a caress. But the pain of his touch made them break apart at last.
Whirring around on unsteady heeled feet, she faced him, a fresh light sphere pushed up in his face.

“Dearg!”
she exclaimed. “What the crap?” Her voice shook as her body trembled with relief.

His skin still glowed like freshly stoked coals, like the light trapped within a glass lantern. Dearg braced his hand on the opposite wall in an effort to temper his fury. “Amie
,
what are you doing down here alone? You could have been killed or worse!” The anger
etched in his brow
contrasted with his even tone.

Shaking her head
,
she countered, “Why did you do that? You scared me half to death!”

“
I came for
you
.
You
should not be down here alone.
Could you not fe
e
l it was I?
” H
e brushed up against her, eyes boring into hers with a heat too close for comfort
,
and passed.

Amie laughed and shrugged. “Well, I don’t know. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, right? I mean, there’s always one snatch and grab scene in these kinds of stories…” He only looked down over her curiously in return
,
and waving the thought aside she said, “Never mind.”

Stepping closer to her space, he spoke even lower, in a rough voice she sen
sed was more natural to him
yet
rarely used.

“I’ve been looking for you because I feared for your safety. All is not well on the edge of the Borderlands. We mustn’t let them snatch you.”

Amie wasn’t sure whet
her he wanted her to follow him, even if he was the reason she skipped dinner with Henry and Emrys.

“Are you coming or not?” His voice fell over her with a draft of wind
several steps ahead. “Come.
You can nay go the way you came.
Who knows who could be
watching.”

“Who, the
M
ob? S
WAT
team maybe?
You know for some hermit who claims to never get out, you sure seem to know a lot about the castle. And what did you mean,
feel
you nearby?
”

Dearg shook his head and opened the outer gate. It was more like a round pothole, or a hobbit door, Amie decided. Hobbits were the main people she was desperately hoping were real too.

Why not? Everything else is in this circus.

Once Dearg had cleared the surface he stuck out a hand to aid her. Amie blinked mistrustfully at it. The last time she had seen that hand it was around her neck.

“Amie…”

The moment her nickname fell from his lips she remembered all their fireside chats and her heart warmed. Nodding, she slipped her fingers into his grip and clasped his wrist. He lifted her out of the earth in one smooth tug. Apparently she was supposed to land somewhere on the frosted grass beside him and would have if she hadn’t panicked at the last second. But a strange sense of helplessness dangling above a black pit stole her senses. She swung under his grip and collided on top of him instead, sending them both sprawling onto the ground.

“Oof!” They both exhaled on impact. Dearg groaned and blinked up as Amie peeked through a cloud of curls.

Wincing at his pained expression
,
she smirked. “Sorry.”

He smiled. “Guess we’re even now.” And then his hand crept from her upper to lower back while the other moved to slide into her hair.

Amie stared transfixed into his blue eyes. Sparks danced within them even now, began to burn brighter the further she leaned into him. She wasn’t going to lie. This felt
more than brilliant
, it was transcendent, euphoric, addictive and strangely right.

And weren’t you cozying up to you-know-who like three hours ago?

Snowflakes dusted her hair and shoulders, shielding him from the pain water brought him. Suddenly Amie was very aware of the hard body responding beneath her, the arms trapping her closer to him. She could hear the pounding of his double
-
chambered heart and frowned.

A flash of insecurity entered his face. “What is it?”

“You have two hearts?”

He flinched as though she had said something forbidden. “
Aye
.
”

Amie yelped when he suddenly stood, keeping her locked in his arms. She watched the snow melt and steam on his thermal skin and she dragged her fingers up to brush the wetness away. Everywhere her fingers touched, a glowing trail lingered on the surface of his skin. A struggle began in his eyes as she wrapped her hands around his neck and sank her face into his chest. She knew how ridiculous they must look right now, her flouncy blue princess gown versus his wise winter wear. She wasn’t even wearing proper boots. But as long as he held her Amie couldn’t even feel the cold.

“Dearg, can you take me away from here?”

His grip tightened over her sparkling ballroom skirts, spilling over his hands and pooling around them. “Away?” His blacksmith muscles flexed when she breathed his scent in.

“I need to get away from the house for a few hours. Think you can help me?” When she pulled back to meet his eye she was unprepared for the flames circling in his
iris
es
and the smile
split
ting
his face in two.

“You are certain?”
he asked.
At her answering nod he glanced around them.

Amie saw they were on the opposite edge of the garden, where stone meld
ed
with the forest. Dearg met her eyes briefly before clutching her more tightly and walking into the woods.

His stride took them farther and much more quickly away from any place she knew. Soon the shadows beneath the trees seemed deeper as the underbrush grew thicker. The air tasted differently, older and tinged with something special, a white
-
hot energy. She felt the physical sense of loss when they stepped over the boundary of Wenderdowne lands. Yet Dearg didn’t seem to notice, or care
,
and she had to wonder what made him so worried he would lead her so far away from everyone else. Unlike the day Emrys left her in the woods in his own twisted way of teaching her a lesson, Amie wasn’t afraid.

Maybe it’s because I really do trust him
,
she marveled, because trust was the thing she struggled most with.

Silences were comfortable with Dearg, always giving Amie room to think for herself. This
wa
s one of the many reasons she had sought refuge in his hut so often these past nights. How Dearg managed to haul all one hundred and forty pounds of her around, bridal style, was beyond human logic. By the laws of Sir Isaac Newton he should have dropped her by now. But whenever she began to twist away he only clutched her thigh and backside tighter.

“What are you doing?” He spoke into her ear and shivers rushed down her spine and straight to the pressure of his hands below.

“I’m kind of heavy.”

“And you expect me to let ye shiver to death?” A rush of fresh heat pushed from his body and covered her for emphasis.

“Of course not
,
my Lord
.”

His grip tightened, frustration creeping into his voice. “Amie
,
ye know so little of our world. Some will
try to
take advantage of
you
.”

Biting her lower lip, she answered, “Some already have… Whoa!”

Dearg pressed her back into a nearby tree trunk so he could pull away while maintaining a steady grip o
n
her thighs.
When he moved
a hand to trail yellow flames up her jewel
-
studded dress, it took all the self-control she possessed to
not
lean into his touch.

His eyes were what stopped her, burning brightly in light of the moon as he asked, “Who
’
s taken advantage of you?”

Pressing a hand to his chest
,
she rolled her eyes. “Nobody! Look, I was just being melodramatic
.
Wouldn’t be the first time.”

His eyes hardened. He wasn’t buying it. Father always warned her to tell the truth. And anyone but Dearg would have barraged her until she caved in. But Dearg wouldn’t press her for answers. Sometimes she wondered if this was so she wouldn’t ask any questions.

Then she realized his hands had stopped just short of her low neckline to gently pull the fabric lower. He glared at her chest until Amie started to wonder if there was something wrong with her chest.

Wait, there’s actually a man who doesn’t like good knockers? What a revelation!

“
Do you remember w
here did you get this scar?”

Amie froze, tried to shift under his touch and realized he had effectively pinned her down.

Not exactly the
fantasy I pictured, but oh well.

“Amie?” His voice softened
,
hoarse from countless years spent over the b
e
llows and under the open sky.

For a reason she didn’t begin to try and dissect, she told him. “The night I decided to come to Silver Hollow I was attacked.” Her scar ached with an old familiar pain. “I never really saw who did it, but it scared me so bad I knew I’d be an idiot not to listen to Henry’s letter.”

Dearg was silent so long Amie looked up to meet his eyes. His response surprised her.

“You should leave this place and never come back if you know what’s good for you.”

“I don’t believe you.” She tried to pry out of his embrace and he held her wrists above her head.

“I’m serious. You’re in over your head, lass. This goes far beyond the dangers of the human world. There are worse things here that don’t want you to ascend and they would do anything to stop it.”

For the longest moment Amie almost believed him. She didn’t have a clue what
ascending
meant for her, but tucked it i
nto the back of her mind. Rage brimmed and tossed about
his eyes again, the same she
had seen
when he grabbed her. But behind the stirred flames was something deeper resembling fear.

“You don’t look like you mean it.”

His gaze
traveled from her eyes to linger on her lips and Amie felt a different kind of heat.
“
Please
,
Amie
. Y
ou’re not making this easy.”

Softly she asked, lowering her gaze to his lips, “You want me to stay, don’t you?”

“Creator help me, yes
,
” he breathed and lifted her from the tree into his arms.

Running her fingers through his thick locks, she pulled his cap off his head. “That settles it then. I’m staying.” The space between them decreased
,
flames and
nixy
stirring together.

His lips brushed hers as he spoke. “You shouldn’t.”

“Why not?” she asked with a groan.

“I am afraid, Amie.”

“Of what?”
s
he gasped when his lips ghosted over the corners of her mouth and gently tasted.

“What I shall do if you stay.” Slowly, he slanted his lips against hers.

And her world exploded behind her eyes
,
a vision more brilliant than fireworks and stars. It melted her from the inside out, pooled from her stomach and sang through her veins, blended with her inner nixy and drowned in his heat. Beneath the frost, ice flowers began to grow, winter blooms of silvers, blood red and indigo violet. The flames illuminated his skin yet her inner nixy kept it in control, kept it from burning them and the forest around them to the ground.

Amie’s inner nixy escaped her skin like slivers of light, bolts of energy jaggedly cutting paths across his arms and into his skin. As the winter garden filled the small glade around them Amie learned how to rein the beast. Dearg’s constant inner flame gave her the light and strength to do it and at last understand what Slaine had meant.

She was never meant to control her powers. Together, she and Dearg were stronger than they could ever be apart. For some reason, Amie knew this was what the old man had been warning her about last night. Eyes opening
,
she found his pain long gone, no longer threatening to burn her to a human torch every time they touched. The fire still lingered there behind his eyes, wrapping tendrils of smoke from within his iris. But there was light there too.

Barely a breath was spent apart before he kissed her again and again and again. Each breath felt warmer to her lungs, the snow harder to breathe in. Every scent drew more sharply through his nose as life flowed beneath the earth and filled them up.