Chapter 14

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

T he Temple of Braciaca rose out of the autumnal forest like a jewel of bronze and porphyry. Eirianwen crouched low in the long golden grass on the outskirts of the glade and counted six temple guards dressed in bronze armor that was beautiful, but not practical. There had to be more inside.

Eirianwen checked the position of the sun, trying to calm the pre-skirmish nerves. If she was honest with herself, being away from Bleddyn set her on edge. She didn't trust Madoc, but Bleddyn trusted him with her even less, which was why Eirianwen and Aiden were readying themselves to create a good enough of a distraction. Bleddyn, Madoc, Daesyn, and Bran would be moving the marker stones. Bleddyn would meet her to move the last one in the south once the others were complete. It was a good plan, but she still didn't like it.

"It should be harder than that," Eirianwen had said when Merlin explained how to move the stones.

"Why? In the middle of a battle, I don't want to be thinking of complicated magic. I want it effective and easy to remember."

Despite the way he constantly goaded Bleddyn, Eirianwen liked Merlin. He reminded her of Bleddyn when he was younger and not so controlled. It made her wonder what a handful his mother would have been.

Aiden appeared through the long golden grass beside her. "My lady, we are in position."

"Well then, Aiden Fireheart, it's time to cause some trouble. You know what to do."

His bright orange eyes glowed with excitement before he unleashed an inferno. The golden grass in the glade caught in seconds, surrounding the temple with flames.

The guards cried out in panic as they were suddenly surrounded by Unseelie guerrilla fighters. Two fell, skewered with Aiden's fiery arrows, and Eirianwen neared the entrance.

As suspected, the guards were ceremonial and not of the Autumn Queen's elite knights. Eirianwen cut through two of them with ease before closing in on a third.

"You are too late!" he cursed, backing up against a wall. "The message has been sent, and the queen's warriors will slaughter you before you leave this place."

"Thank you for saving me the trouble of sending the message myself," Eirianwen smiled viciously. Her eyes caught on the door he was pressed up against. "What's in there?"

"It is the queen's inner chambers and not for Unseelie—" the guard gasped. Eirianwen's blade pressed against his neck.

"Open it," she demanded. The guard fumbled at his belt and passed her a ring of keys.

"I fear her more than you, Unseelie."

Eirianwen snatched the keys from his hand and tried them until the lock opened. The door swung open, and they were assaulted by the smell of rotting flesh and incense.

"Move," she shoved him before her.

It was dark in the inner chamber, but when she illuminated the room with magic, Eirianwen wished she hadn't. There was an elaborate tiered altar with sacrifices to the autumn goddess —wheat sheaves, fruit, cider, flowers, and in the center was the body of an Unseelie girl. It didn't look like she had been dead for a week. The queen had removed her heart and placed it in the girl's cold hands.

"Did you know of this?" Eirianwen whispered, unable to look away from the grotesque scene. The deep rage inside of her made her vision swim and her fangs lengthen.

"Yes, but I couldn't stop—" the guard garbled before Eirianwen tore out his throat with her teeth. She spat out his too sweet blood and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Filth.

"Aiden!" Eirianwen called. She took the bolt of fine altar cloth and wrapped the girl tightly in it.

"General?" Aiden appeared, looking at the scene before him in disgust. "What happened here?"

"The queen." Eirianwen touched the corpse, and it floated up behind her. "Burn it all until there is nothing left, do you hear me?"

"With pleasure, Eirianwen."

Outside, the Unseelie fighters were remounting their horses and keeping watch for any Seelie in the forest. Eirianwen instructed one to take the body back to the Night Courts so that she could try and find her family. She pulled herself into her saddle just as an albino raven circled her and landed on her shoulder. She held out her hand, and the bird dropped a small red berry into her palm. As she crushed it, Fintan's voice rose around her.

"The queen is sending soldiers to the temple. Get your men out of there now."

"You heard him. Let's ride," Eirianwen commanded. Aiden walked out of the temple before sending fireballs into the forest to cover their escape.

Live to fight them another day , Eirianwen told herself and headed south, heart sore and furious.

Bleddyn was pacing in front of the final marker stone as he waited for Eirianwen to arrive. Since taking her blood, he now felt her and the faint pulse of her magic moving about inside of him. Something had happened at the temple, but he couldn't determine what, and it set his teeth on edge. He had sent Bran and Madoc back to the Night Courts, and the remaining men were tensely guarding the forest surrounding them.

A distant crashing through the brush heralded the arrival of Eirianwen and Aiden. She looked fierce, and her anger was evident in every inch of her.

"What happened?" he asked, holding her horses' bridle as she vaulted from her saddle.

"I'll tell you later," she said meaningfully. "The temple was barely protected, and we were gone again before the queen's knights arrived. How did you go?"

"Madoc and his men killed off a few patrols. Bran and I moved the markers without incident."

"Do you feel any different?" she asked. She was one of the few people who knew of Bleddyn's tie to the Unseelie lands and the burdens that came with it.

"It feels…wider in my mind. My senses are stretching out further, so it must be working." He gave her a smile to try and reassure her, but her frown grew deeper. "Also something we will discuss later. Let's just get this done."

They approached the final marker, a jagged black stone finger streaked with silver. Bleddyn offered her his hand, and after a moment's hesitation, Eirianwen took it. Neither mentioned the smears of ash and blood that covered them.

"With your permission?" he asked, waiting for her nod before he reached out his magic to find hers. He swallowed hard as the heady rush of their combined power moved over him. Her cool face remained impassive as she looked up at him, her blown out pupils and the tremble in her hands the only signs of the high riding her.

"Easy, Eirianwen. My power has changed over the centuries." Bleddyn warned her as her own magic pulled and consumed his. "Control the flow. You know how." She nodded slowly and placed their hands on the stone.

Ancient power joined their own and Bleddyn struggled to focus on the task at hand. His senses screamed as they heightened; he could feel the currents of power in the earth, in the trees and waters, the figures of the soldiers reducing to pulsing lights in his periphery. The scent of Eirianwen was so strong, he could taste her skin in the back of his throat. Her magic had changed with her transformation. It was deeper and darker and called out to him, desire whispering over his skin before he could hide it from her.

"Now who needs control," she chastised. He didn't want to control; he wanted to press her up against the stone and…Bleddyn shut down every emotion and thought except the task at hand. He gripped the stone and forced his will onto the ancient magic.

The stone complied with their commands, and they walked slowly behind it as they guided it to its new position. As it hit the earth and reconnected, Bleddyn crumpled to his knees and tried not to vomit.

"Easy," Eirianwen crooned, resting her hands on his shoulders to support him. "It's done now. Let's get you home."

"Home," he murmured, his mind burning. It was precisely this feeling of being stretched in a million directions that was the reason he had never wanted to be the king of the Unseelie. How could one body take it? It was too much power for any one being.

With Eirianwen's subtle help, Bleddyn got himself on the back of his horse, and slowly they let each other's magic go, leaving a feeling of spring and darkness under his skin.

Back at the Night Court, the warriors were celebrating the victory over the marker stones and the additional trouble for the queen. Eirianwen left Bleddyn to be pulled into the crowd of revelers, backing out of the throng and going to find where the body of the girl had been placed.

Two warriors carried it on a stretcher to her mansion where she had it placed in one of the lower cellars where it was cool. Even though she was tired from the huge magical expenditure and the deep gnawing thirst for blood, she filled basins with clean, perfumed water, and began to wash the body. She was so lost in thought that she only registered Bleddyn's presence before he opened the door to the cellar.

"You should be out celebrating," Eirianwen said, stitching the wound in the girl's chest closed.

"Daesyn is handling it admirably. He's young and has the appetite for it. I'm a stranger to these people." Bleddyn sat down on a wooden stool, his tall body making it look like children's furniture. "Who is the girl?"

"I don't know. The queen sacrificed her at the temple." Eirianwen tied a knot in the thread and cut it with a small knife. "I couldn't just…leave her there. Her parents will be found so they can put her to rest properly." Her eyes welled unexpectedly as she wrapped the body in linen before carefully washing her hands in fresh, hot water. How many bodies had she wrapped over the years? How many more would she tend the same way before it was over?

"I'm so tired of this, Bleddyn," she admitted, unable to turn to face him. "I've been fighting for so long that I no longer have the energy for it. I'm so tired of watching my people die. So tired of war."

"I am too," he said. "It's why I've left the revels to the young and passionate. One more final stand against the queen—that's all I have left in me. It is why I tried to create a peace treaty with her or force her into a position to finally face me so I could kill her. Laughable I know, but I'm exhausted by the fighting and ruling."

Eirianwen hugged herself and turned to him. His skin and clothes were smeared with ash and hair tousled by the wind, and he had never appeared so real or beautiful. She forced herself to look away so she could say what she needed to.

"I never really understood the kingship bond with the land until today. I knew they were one, but I didn't realize the burden of it until I joined my power with yours, and I felt it. I've never understood why you didn't want the crown, why you didn't return to claim it. Even using you as a conduit, it was so consuming, as if it was eating away at everything I was. Nothing was important, and yet every single thing from the stones in the earth and birds in the air was the most important thing in the world. It was mine to command, to reshape any way I wanted. They were there to obey. It was so wonderful and horrible. I can still feel it in me like a phantom pulse…" She gripped her biceps tightly, panic seizing her.

Bleddyn caught her by the elbows as her knees buckled. "Let me take you back upstairs. You need to rest. You've done your duty to the girl."

Eirianwen let him help her up to the kitchens, sitting her down at the scrubbed oak table. She watched him with quiet amusement while he made her rosehip tea and arranged her some bread and cheese onto a wooden board.

"You seem quite practiced at that," she smiled when he set it down in front of her.

"I'm not totally helpless without servants," he said. "That much magic will knock you around, and I need you strong and healthy to keep me sane."

She winked at him over her cup. "I was never much good at that."

"You are better at it than most."

She ate a few mouthfuls of bread and the jittery feeling inside of her eased even if her craving for blood was still there. She would have to go out and hunt, her supplies gone in the last few days.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can," Bleddyn said and poured himself more tea.

"Is the magic the reason you never wanted the crown? Were you afraid of what you'd do with it?"

"It wasn't the magic. It was the forgetting," he admitted. "You said yourself that it was eating away at you. I didn't want only to be the king, and that's what I would be. It's why I was always closer to my uncles than to my father. There were times when he would have no idea who I was. I knew from the minute I was born that I was expected to take over from him, that I was the heir. I had resigned myself to that fate, but then I met you, and everything changed. It wasn't the kind of husband I wanted you to have. You are the reason I never wanted to be king."

"And you didn't think it would've been better to let me go and then become king anyway?" Eirianwen said. She fiddled with the handle of her cup, unable to look at him to see if he was teasing her or not.

"Letting you go isn't something I've ever been able to do," Bleddyn said softly. "I've never wanted anything more than I wanted you, not even a crown and a faerie kingdom."

"I'm not that girl anymore," Eirianwen said firmly.

"And you think that I'm the same man?" Bleddyn replied. "We are who we are, but some things will always be true. You still terrify me and make me want to kiss you."

"Even covered in ash and Seelie blood?" she teased.

"Especially then." He smiled and got to his feet. "I should get back to the palace. I need to wash and sleep though I don't like my chances with the generals all there, drinking my wine."

"Stay here," Eirianwen offered. "There are plenty of rooms."

"You wouldn't mind?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I did. You spent more time in this house than your own growing up. Pick a room. You know your way around."

Bleddyn gave her a small bow. "Thank you, my lady."

As soon as he left the kitchen, Eirianwen slumped over to hit her head on the kitchen table. She should've sent him on his way, but after the day she'd had, she didn't want to be alone. Even knowing someone else was in the house comforted her, if she didn't think too long about who it was. She pushed the burning thirst down further. She would hunt tomorrow. She couldn't go out now without him following her, and she wasn't ready to share that part of her with anyone.

Back in her own chambers, Eirianwen bathed the sticky ash from her body and the smell of smoke from her hair. She tried and failed not to think about Bleddyn doing the same. How many more scars would now decorate that huge body of his? He had been a prisoner to the queen after all, and she always knew how to leave a mark. A rumor was that they had also been lovers, but Eirianwen found that to be too infuriating to think about. Strangely, she didn't feel that way about his wife.

It comforted her to know that he had loved truly and that the queen hadn't completely destroyed his ability to do so. He had Merlin, a son of his blood and many, many more of his adopted family around him. They fought like cats, but anyone could see Merlin loved his father and Rosa adored Bleddyn. Her mind drifted back to the breakfast she had shared with Merlin before he left.

"He can be a right prick as you know, but when he loves you, it's hard and deep and annoyingly forever," Merlin had told her. "Be careful not to do something stupid like die or break his heart. I don't think I could handle him if he lost you again." He hadn't explained further, only kissed her hand and said his goodbyes. It had left her feeling hot and irritated and desperate to fight something.

She had tried her entire life to forget Bleddyn Seren Du. She had taken lovers who hadn't known her new nature and weren't afraid of her reputation. They never lasted long. Something had broken too deep inside of her, and the relationships had never been the same. Maybe Bleddyn brought out the worst in her, or the best, but being around him eased her mind as much as it felt like hot wires were constantly poking at her.

There was a tap at her door, and she pulled her robe tightly around herself before opening it. Bleddyn had showered and looked like a king again. A pissed off king. His eyes scanned her face, and his frown deepened.

"What do you want?" she asked, folding her arms.

"You're starving. I can feel it beating against my head. Why haven't you fed?" he said, stepping into the room.

"It's none of your business."

"It is if I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight. Why are you starving yourself?"

"I don't want to hunt. I've taken enough life for one day," she said, knowing he would sense the lie. He had been a part of her today, and it would take a while to untangle that connection.

"You're only drinking animals?" Bleddyn asked, sitting down on her chaise lounge.

"Why do you care?"

"Because you're ashamed of your own nature, and I hate it. Denying what your body needs is self-harm."

"You were born with the ability to take memories from blood, but you don't need it to live! I was created into this thing because a mad man saw a vision of me defeating the queen and did everything he could to ensure it happened. I've had centuries to be mad at Bran about his decision. I've accepted it as best as I can."

"You haven't accepted it at all. There was no one to teach you, to guide you?—"

"And that is what you do with all your children? Hold their hands as they take life and tell them it's natural?" she demanded, her fangs lengthening in anger.

"In the human world, we can get blood without taking life. Here, I understand that it would be a challenge. I can see why you would only drink animal blood. Tell me, have you ever drunk anything else?" Bleddyn kept his voice calm, everything about him relaxed as he forced her to talk about the one thing she'd never shared with anyone.

What do you have to lose by telling him? A small voice asked her. She trusted Bleddyn enough to take her magic, so she let out a sigh and decided to tell him the truth.

"Only when Bran did the magic. He told me he mixed his blood into it. When we discovered that my resurrection came with the hunger, we fed it with animals. It was enough until the Autumn Queen's curse started to weaken, and magic started coming back to the Unseelie. Since that happened, I've had to drink twice as much to keep it at bay. Only Bran knows that I need it to survive. Zalan helped me at Gwaed Lyn," she admitted.

Anger flashed through Bleddyn's eyes like lightning. "He didn't mention that."

"He told me to tell you. I didn't want to until I couldn't hide it any longer. Don't blame your brother," Eirianwen said and sat down next to him. "I think he gave me human blood. It was stronger. The effects lasted until we were almost back at the Night Courts, and then I had to start hunting animals again. I usually keep vials as a spare, but I finished them last night. I didn't expect to use so much magic today, and it's drained me. Now you know everything. Happy?"

"Not particularly. You still need to feed, or neither of us will sleep tonight, so feed on me," Bleddyn said, and Eirianwen would've leapt out of the chair if he hadn't taken her by the hand.

"Absolutely not."

"Why not? You won't see any of my memories if that is what is holding you back," he said. He saw her hesitation and gave her a gentle smile. "Don't think I'd offer just anyone my blood. Even my own children have only had it once when they changed."

"You know that's not the reason. Whatever I drink becomes a part of me…"

"We already are a part of each other. I can still feel your magic in me even now, as you have some of mine. What is really the problem?" When she didn't answer, he bent his mouth to her ear and whispered, "Are you worried you might like it?"

"Aren't you worried I might tear your throat out for provoking me?" she replied with a vicious smile.

"You can try." He looked at the goose bumps along her skin, and his grin widened. Gods, she hated that he could still do that to her. She had felt that desire when their magic had joined and felt him respond. It was thrumming through her now as hot as her thirst, and from the look in his eyes, he knew that too.

"It's not the same as drinking an animal."

"I should think not," he said, his fingers lightly brushing the inside of her wrist.

"Don't play with me, Bleddyn. Don't offer it out of an idle curiosity. You know as well as I do that it will mean starting something you might not want," Eirianwen replied, hating that her voice sounded so small and scared. He lifted her face so she was forced to look him in the eye.

"Do I look like I am playing?" he growled. Before she had a chance to respond, he pulled her onto his lap so she was straddling him. The curve of his neck was before her eyes, and thirst beat against her like a thousand raven wings.

" Do it , Eirianwen," he insisted. It was the closest to begging she'd ever heard him utter, and it undid her.

Before she could hesitate, she fell on him, teeth tearing into his pale skin. She was aware of the groan he uttered, his pulse racing as his arms came around her. The heady, thick blood hit the back of her throat, and she was drowning in him.

It was unlike anything she'd ever tasted, ever imagined it could be. It was liquid magic filling her up and sending every one of her nerves sparking. It was midnight desire racing through her veins and making her burn. She grabbed his hands and pushed them up behind his head, the new power in her muscles strong enough to crack the back of the chair as she held them tight.

Eirianwen breathed him in, her heightened state detecting the arousal on his skin and the way it mixed with her own. She drew another mouthful from him, her thighs tightening around his hips as she moved against him.

Bleddyn uttered a throaty, breathless laugh. "Gods, woman, you are perfect. Take as much as you need."

The most powerful Unseelie male in history was submitting to her, and she was drunk with blood and magic. The feeling was more intimate and arousing than any sex she'd had in centuries. She moved harder against him, and he swore, his body trembling against her. She didn't care about what embarrassment she would feel later. She didn't care about anything but the skin under her mouth and the heat and hardness of him beneath her as she took and took and took. Bleddyn freed one of his hands, moving it gently between her legs to tease her until her body screamed with pleasure.

Eirianwen cried out as she came, finally lifting her mouth long enough for him to press his mouth to her bloody lips in languid kisses. She released his other hand, and he caught her as she swayed backward, her vision darkening.

"Sleep, beloved. I have you," he whispered. He carried her to bed and curled around her. "Sleep."