26. Keira

Chapter 26

Keira

W e travel across a wide road chiseled into a rocky terrain of low mountains with a sheer vertical drop on one side. My skin prickles with fear as we cross an immense bridge that arches over a gulf, its support pillars disappearing into the swirling vapors of hot, misty air below.

Caitlin gives me a wide-eyed look and her face is pale, but neither of us protests.

The altitude and humidity don’t seem to affect the fae, who laugh and joke as they jog all around us. It makes it hard for me to catch my breath and forces me to ride Kai.

We pass through many villages carved into the very stone of the mountainside in sprawls of ornate domed caverns, but they are practically deserted. An inn beckons to us halfway up a mountain, and I dream of a warm bed and hot bath as we approach.

Its courtyard is utterly empty as we enter. The banquet hall and levels of apartments are silent, dashing my hopes. The only sound is the ringing footfalls on the pavers, until two elderly high fae rush out to greet us. I wait at the back of our group as they trap Aldrin in a long-winded story about their woes and the fact they haven’t had a customer in a year .

Apparently, this was once a busy pilgrimage trial for a religious ceremony to a temple at the mountain’s peak.

I join Caitlin where she peers over the railing at the edge of the courtyard, to inspect a waterfall that crashes down the mountain and disappears into the steam. It must pass directly under the inn. Multiple water wheels spin within its cascade.

“There are hot springs here. Inside the mountain.” Caitlin points at a sign singing in the breeze, advertising the pools. “It might make a pleasant home for a Lake Maiden.”

“Yes. That sounds lovely.” I turn, examining the unbroken face of the mountain around to inn, looking for the entrance. I catch Aldrin’s eye instead.

I approach, but direct my attention to the innkeeper. “Can we visit the hot springs?”

“Yes. Yes. I can take you there. It’s full of fire sprites, mind you.” The woman says, then rushes off, barking orders at her partner.

Aldrin raises an eyebrow. “Fancy a swim? I could escort you, especially if you are planning to take these off.” He pulls at the fabric of my clothes.

I nudge him in the ribs, giving him a dark look. He plays dangerous games. “We are looking for a home for the second seed-stone.”

He continues to grin at me. “Careful what you get yourself into, sweet little human. Fire sprites have a temper. You almost got eaten alive by pixies last time you were surrounded by low fae.”

“Are you offering yourself as my big fae protector?” I roll my eyes at him.

He spreads his arms wide. “Well, I’m here if you need me.”

“If I recall, they were biting you as well.” I poke him in the chest, then freeze as a thought comes to me. “Why are there fire sprites inside the mountain?”

“Because this is an active volcano.” His smirk is oily as he waits for me to react.

“We are standing on an active volcano?” I practically yell and everyone stops and turns to me .

Caitlin stalks over with fury lining her face. “Are you bloody serious?” She pokes Aldrin in the chest. “Are you insane, making us hike up a volcano for days? What if it erupts? I don’t know about you, Aldrin, but I don’t have a death wish.” She storms off.

“I see why she and Cyprien became fast friends,” Aldrin mumbles.

“She has a point.” I don’t let him bait me. I wait for the explanation I know he has.

“It rarely erupts and the fire sprites give us plenty of warning when it is about to.” He shrugs. “This inn has survived five eruptions, because it has wards layered upon wards. We’ll be fine.”

“Have you forgotten I’m human?”

“How could I forget?” He murmurs so low I wonder if I was meant to hear it.

We are led through a series of tunnels filled with hot steam. Water drips from the low ceiling and runs down the walls. The way opens up to an immense cavern filled with dozens of baths.

Another tunnel takes us to a great, bubbling lake with multiple streams converging and gushing water into it.

My skin flushes from the heat and my clothes are hair are damp from sweat and vapor. I take a few steps toward the edge of the lake, but it feels like walking toward a raging bonfire.

Cyprien grabs my arm and pulls me back a pace. “Do not touch the water.” His gaze is hard as he holds my eye. “It will sear the flesh off your bones.” A great splash drags my attention back to the lake, as all three kelpies dive in. Cyprien gives me an apologetic half-smile. “They are fae, and you are not.”

Caitlin slaps him on the back as she passes. “Thanks for the tip, Cyprien, but I think we will manage.”

A crackling, scraping sound echoes from a tunnel and I whip around to it. They are footsteps of a whole horde of creatures, becoming louder and louder. The rock walls illuminate with an intense red glow, only growing brighter.

My mouth goes dry and every muscle tenses in preparation to fight whatever hellish beasts are about to march out. If they are half as violent as the Cú Sídhe, I won’t have a chance to run .

“Ouch, Keira. Why are you clawing into me?” Cyprien frowns at me and I realize I have a death grip on his arm, and my nails are digging in.

Drake glances at me, then at the tunnel, and laughs. “Are you afraid of a few fire sprites?”

“Aldrin said…”

“Oh this is going to be good. What story did he tell you?” Drake beams.

Cyprien drags my hands off him. “They are bad-tempered but not dangerous. This wouldn’t be a tourist spot if violent creatures lived here.”

It makes sense. Drake is still staring at me, his lips clamped tight like he wants to laugh again and I give him a hard look.

My heart freezes regardless of when the fire sprites step into the cavern.

Their forms are humanoid but completely composed flames that move and flicker and crackle. Their hair, fingers, and feet are tongues of fire and their eyes are black as charcoal. It is like their entire bodies are ever-changing mosaics of red, orange, and yellow. The heat that radiates from them is distinct, even in this sauna.

The innkeeper hurries over to the elemental fae, inquiring about their families. It is the strangest sight, that motherly, greying woman laughing with these demons.

“Big bastards, these ones,” Aldrin muses as he passes us to greet them.

“Sometimes a fire sprite is the size of a candle flame. Sometimes they are as big as a tree,” Cyprien says. “Aldrin will try to convince them to join us, so try not to be afraid.”

“I think I’d prefer the sprites the size of a candle flame.” Caitlin grounds her teeth as she approaches me. “Shall we get to work? The kelpies said these waters are suitable.”

We squat by the rim of the pool and Kai waits with outstretched arms held below the water’s surface. He holds a form that is half man, half fish, like the legends of mermaids.

Sweat drips down my face as the heat rolling off the water threatens to suffocate me. I pull a slippery seed-stone out of its protective sack and hold my cupped hands as close to the water as I can bear. Pain pricks my skin as boiling droplets splash onto my hands.

I pour the seed-stone into that shimmering cauldron and quickly rip my hands back. Kai swoops it up and dives into the depths of the water with his precious cargo.

I suck on my burns, but it doesn’t help.

Our bargain with Odiane means that only Caitlin or I can take the seed-stones out of their sack and place them into the water. Kai can only help once it is done. Caitlin helps me to my feet and together we stagger out of those caves and into the cool night air, leaving the fae behind us. It rains gently outside, and those droplets are cold kisses on my overheated skin. We lean against the rocky wall and pant, both of us flushed a deep shade of red.

It takes a long time for my head to stop spinning and my skin to return to its usual shade of creamy white.

Caitlin gives me a sidelong glance. One that is scrutinizing and disapproving.

“What?” I ask. Her frown deepens. “What?”

“Have you laid with Aldrin?”

I almost choke.

“Because if you have, if your plans have changed, I need to know.” There is no hint of judgment in her. “If you get pregnant, we need to run. Already I have been watching him for the signs of becoming a crazed, possessive fae.”

A cold sweat breaks across my skin. “My plans have not changed,” I say in a rush. “I am still taking the contraceptive herbs.” Gods, the last thing I want right now is a pregnancy.

She tips her head at me. “But have you laid with him? Do you plan to? Because he could still turn and entrap you, just like the fae did to our grandmother.”

“Gods, Caitlin, I don’t know.” I toss my head from side to side. “He won’t hold me against my will if he gets attached?— ”

My sister grips my shoulders tightly and stares into my eyes. “No woman thinks it will happen to her.”

It sends cold chills running down my spine and my stomach twists at the dread. “He made a blood oath to me; he physically cannot hold me prisoner against my will,” I say. Her hands fall from me and the tension bleeds from her shoulders. “Being in this realm is the only time in my life I get to live,” I half-whisper, and a tear rolls down my cheek at the admission.

Caitlin glances away from me. “I was scared for you, Keira. He seems to be everywhere you are, getting too close and finding excuses to touch. Don’t forget that we have to go back, no matter what. That our time here is only temporary. Live, but don’t get attached.”

When we leave the mountain range, two fire sprites join our party.

Our journey takes us toward the coastline. The taste of salt hangs in the air and the roaring of waves bounces off the scraggy, windblown trees of the woods. We trek through them until the trees thin, then disappear.

The shore meets the ocean in a series of broken cliffs. Those rock faces are beaten away by the sea, and each time they clash a clap of thunder echoes. Our entire band stops to admire their battle. I near the edge of a cliff and peer down the sheer height of it, mesmerized as those waves roll in.

“Careful not to fall.” Aldrin loops an arm around my waist and pulls me against his chest and away from that edge. I laugh with delight and bat at his hands. “Sharp winds have been known to pick up a person and deposit them over.”

We take a narrow staircase carved into the cliff face down to a beach protected by a natural alcove in the coastline. The warmth of a mid-spring sun bakes my back. It blows my mind that the seasons progress here not with time, but with location. As one travels through the Spring Court, they go from the thawing of winter to the kiss of mid-spring, and end at the beginning of summer.

A dozen seals sunbathe lazily on rocky platforms on the far side of the small beach. Aldrin calls out a greeting as he approaches, and a few roll from their back to glance over .

My step falters as one stands fully erect on its back flippers. Its neck extends unnaturally, then its entire head flops back, and a woman’s face emerges. Like a person unbuttoning a coat, she peels off that seal skin and steps out of it, completely naked.

She fastens her seal skin around her like a cloak that reaches to the middle of her thighs. More of their number transform as our party approaches.

I can’t help staring in wonder at those selkies, but I fall behind and Aldrin starts to address them.

I rush across the sand, my boots digging in deep, to hear their exchange as they bow before their king. I join the rag-tag band behind Aldrin, of high fae, low fae, and humans.

Drake raises his eyebrows at me. “You’re a nosy one, aren’t you?”

“You have no idea,” I murmur back.

Drake goes to open his mouth again, probably to say something he thinks is witty, but I shush him instead, straining to hear the selkies.

“Did you just shush me?” He somehow makes a whisper sound indignant, but the hints of a smile are on his lips.

“Someone should do it more often.” Klara cuts in. “You talk too much.”

I turn my attention back to the selkies, while Klara and Drake speak in hushed voices.

“My king, we did not expect you in these parts.” The female selkie leader says. “We heard you were exiled for trying to fix these lands.”

“It is true, but it will not stop me from fighting the plague of corruption that has fallen on us.” Aldrin spreads his arms wide.

The woman falls to her knees before Aldrin, tears running down her face, as she hugs his legs. His entire body turns rigid and he casts a glance back at Cyprien, who merely shrugs.

“Oh, my liege, we have suffered. Only you understand. The fae at Fort Saltcrest turned us out!”

Many of the selkies wail. It is a horrible chorus behind her words that breaks my heart.

Aldrin grabs her hand and lifts her to her feet. “What is your name?” He probes gently .

“Sasha, my king.” She stares and stares into his eyes.

“Tell me of this plague on your tribe?”

She wipes away a tear. “It is our children. They are born…they cannot remove their skin and take their second form. There is no indication that they have the higher intelligence of a selkie. In all ways, they are born just seals ! Animals. We don’t understand why.” A loud sob escapes from her.

“And your magic?” Aldrin holds both her hands.

“It dwindles with each generation. We have only a drop left,” she says.

Aldrin nods. “You are losing your magic and that is why your children are not born selkie. Those high fae in their fortress above the coast should have set that right.” Anger rises in his tone and the selkie leader begins to sob again.

“What of my pregnancy?” another woman calls out from among those rocks.

“And mine?” says a second.

Aldrin’s eyes run over the amassed selkie. “Those I can save. My followers here can give each of you a top up of power, but the same problem will occur again if we do not return the magic to these lands. The children that have already been born.” Aldrin shakes his head. “We cannot give magic to creatures that don’t have any to begin with.”

The selkie features crumble as she glances over to a seal pup. Her child, trapped in seal form.

Tears burn at the corners of my eyes, and I force myself to look away and stop listening.

I turn back to Klara and Drake instead. “How do you give a selkie your magic?”

“It is much like healing.” Klara’s violet gaze focuses on me. “We do not give them our specific powers, but top up their own reservoirs. I have done the same to you. The low fae take their magic from the lands, whereas we high fae generate it within ourselves.”

“It is exhausting, physically and mentally, and takes time for a high fae to recover.” Drake runs a hand over his shaved head. “That's why some fae don’t like doing it. The process is very inefficient when it is done from fae to fae.”

“People are inherently selfish,” Klara states. “And prefer to hoard their resources to advance themselves. Most people need to be forced to do the right thing.”

Caitlin is silent with a severe frown occupying her pale face as we place the last of Odiane’s last seed-stones within a cavern with multiple, deep pools of water that connect with the bay at high tide. The significance of the deed hardly registers within me on the back of the selkie’s pain. Silent tears roll down Caitlin’s face, as our side of the bargain is completed and wisps of blue light evaporate from the runes on our skin.

We have almost completed the mission of our pilgrimage. There is nothing holding us back from returning to Odiane, collecting our prizes and leaving this realm forever, except there is so much I still want to see and do.

The fact that I only have a finite time here comes crashing down on me.

The look Caitlin gives me is one of pure understanding, because she knows what I have to go back to. I finger my moonstone bracelet. It still glows brightly enough. I have at least another month before the portals close.

We set up camp on those cliffs that overlook the ocean, within a natural depression that shields us from the unforgiving wind but doesn’t steal the view.

A small cooking fire crackles in the center of our ring of tents, and we sit around it eating shellfish and drinking.

Silvan pulls out a set of windpipes and plays a fast-paced tune. Drake adds to the music by clapping his hands against his thighs and beating his feet on the ground, while Lilly sings a high-pitched, wordless song that weaves in and out of the music.

Fae pair up and dance, swapping partners every few heartbeats. It is raw and chaotic compared to the stiff, structured waltzes of my home.

My eyes are only for the lone man who walks upon the beach, the moonlight shining off his naked body. Aldrin’s muscles ripple with each step he takes into the waves. My attention is attuned to the flex of each tight butt cheek and the specks of water that glitter on his huge biceps and across his broad back.

When the waves reach his waist, Aldrin dives into the water and disappears.

The people revel around me, but all I can think of is the growing dread for the day I must return home.

Aldrin returns as most of his band retire for the night, talking to a few of them in hushed whispers outside of the firelight. When they leave, he sits alone within the grassy field dotted with closed blooms and stares out to the ocean, far away enough that I can hardly make out his profile in the shadows.

Something pulls me toward him, unable to leave him alone in his struggles.

I grab a canteen of wine and make my way over. There is a deep scowl on his face and every chiseled muscle of his neck and shoulders are taut, slightly exposed through the half-unbuttoned neckline of his tunic.

I sit in the soft grass beside him, but I don’t say a thing, I just stare out to that same view. I hand him the canteen of wine. Aldrin looks at me for a long moment, then relaxes marginally and takes a swig of the wine.

“It is easy to lose hope. Seeing the gravity of the situation,” he says softly, letting out a long breath. “I have been so blind. For years of my exile, I believed the high councilor would do a better job at ruling these lands than I did. That because the people voted her in, I must respect their choice.”

“I thought I could still achieve my aims in the background, convincing the lords to invest in their lands, but very few would even grant me an audience. When I realized my error, most of my influence had whittled away, and now I am far too powerless to stop what is happening.”

He falls into silence .

I take his hand in mine and squeeze it. “You are not powerless, Aldrin. Far from it. You will open the people’s eyes; I am sure of it.”

“I don’t have a choice. My people need me,” he murmurs. “But regaining my throne will be the first challenge of many.”

“I will help you negotiate with my people,” I say. “My family will have the connections you need to open the portals between our realms. We could have trade and migration flowing freely again. It could save both our realms.”.

A cool breeze whips off the ocean, ruffling my hair and making a shiver run down my spine. Aldrin frowns as he notices, then he puts his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in until my head rests on his chest. His warmth and scent immediately envelop me.

“No mention of your prince this time,” Aldrin murmurs. “Or of you becoming his queen.”

I shudder and Aldrin’s grip tightens. “I don’t want to be his queen. I know we should use every resource at our fingertips, but I don’t want to spend my life in an unhappy marriage. Is that selfish of me?”

Aldrin stares into my face, his expression searching. “I don’t want you to marry him either.” I swear there is hope within his amber eyes. I pull away from him.

The heavy guilt of my duty threatens to suffocate me. In the end, I will do what is required of me.

I force a smile on my face. “I would love to import your spices into my realm. I don't think I can go back to human food.”

“Hmmm. Humans are known for having terrible food.” Aldrin rumbles.

I elbow him in the ribs playfully.

“What?” He grins at me. “You pretty much said the same thing.”

“You have never tried our food.” I protest. “There is so much to gain from combining our cultures, for both sides. Maybe my people will become as liberal and progressive as yours. Our women will be free to choose their own destinies.” I glance over my shoulder, to where Klara, Lilly and Caitlin share battle stories.

Aldrin lays back in the grass, gazing at the stars. “Those are a lot of pretty thoughts, but there will be great upheaval and battles between here and there. We may not get to live in those golden times. Great social change can take generations.”

I lay beside him while those words hang in the air.

A peaceful silence stretches out between us. I examine the sky, a broad expanse of indigo and purple, streaked with a thick slash of bright stars.

“Your constellations are wrong,” I tease.

“Excuse me?” Aldrin actually sounds indigent.

“Every time I get comfortable here and almost forget I am in another realm, something incredibly off reminds me I am on another world. Your constellations are completely different to those in my night sky.”

“Do you want me to tell you the stories behind them?” he asks, turning his face to mine. There is less than a handspan between us.

“I would love that.”

At some point in the night, I fall asleep right there beside him in the long grass. I wake up when the sky is still dark, with my head nuzzled into the center of his chest and my leg bent across his hip. My hand somehow found its way under his tunic in my sleep and rests on the hard planes of his bare abs.

Worse is the placement of his hands, one wrapped around my back and cupping my rump and the other with the tips of his fingers plunged into my neckline and resting on the top of my breast.

I remain like that, enjoying the weight of his hands on me and listening to his breaths as his chest rises and falls beneath me. He murmurs something in his sleep and his head thrashes slightly from side to side. I crawl up his body to peer into his face to check if he is having a nightmare.

In the motion, Aldrin’s hand dips deeper into my neckline, and his callused fingers graze my nipple. I take in a shuddering breath at the sensation, and heat suddenly pools between my thighs.

His eyes move rapidly under his lids and his fingers twitch slightly on me, as he murmurs some more. I bite my lip, considering if I should wake him in case some trauma plagues his dreams. Worry fills me as I move to place my hands on either side of his shoulders and stare closer at his face, but then I feel it pressing into my stomach.

Aldrin is completely erect.

And then he whispers my name.

Sensual shivers ripple across my flesh as that single word does wicked things to me. Is he having a sex dream about me? My breath hitches. I want to know every last detail of what he does to my body in it.

Arousal runs hot through me in waves, making my skin burn as I watch the perfect lines of his face. His dark hair curls freely in the blades of grass and I just want to run my hands through it. I want to kiss those lips.

I teeter on the edge of indecision. My entire body tingles with desire and need, screaming at me to wake him up and make his dream a reality. My brain is still in control enough to tell me it is a terrible idea.

Aldrin’s eyes flick open, then darken with something primal. They glance from my face hovering over his, to my body pressed against his chest, then his hand still tucked deep within my neckline that gapes open and reveals my breasts.

In a heartbeat, he flips us so my back is pressed into the grass and he lays over the top of me. His face is just inches from mine, his legs are pressed between mine and that erection pushes hard right over my core. My eyes roll back in my head.

“Aldrin.” It is meant to come as a warning, but it sounds like a moan.

“Is there something you want from me, Keira?” He takes my lips with his before I have a chance to respond. My back arches into him, as his tongue slips into my mouth, caressing my own with wild passion. He bites my lower lip and all rational thought floods my mind.

My hands grip his back, pulling him impossibly closer, and my legs wrap around his hips, reveling in the feel of him right there.

“I will stop if you ask it of me. But you have to ask it.” Aldrin growls in my ear, as he palms my hip and holds it in place as he grinds the length of his hard cock along my core.

White hot sparks of pleasure shoot out through my body at the friction and a choked sound leaves my throat. I jolt from the intensity of the sensation.

I don’t want him to ever stop.

A smugness curls his lips as he peers into my face, then drags his hardness against my most sensitive parts again and again. My fingernails dig into his back as shudders run through me and I am lost in the utter bliss of the moment.

That chest pressing me into the grass, that cock lighting up every one of my nerve endings as it rubs into me with each delicious rock of his hips against mine. I roll mine, drawing out every last bit of friction.

I let out a low moan and Aldrin cups a hand over my lips. “Scream if you want to, but you’ll need to be quiet if you don’t want to wake up the camp.”

I whimper in response as the pleasure builds within me, coiling tighter and tighter until my breaths are ragged.

Aldrin fists the hem of my skirts in his hand and bunches them until they rise high enough that he can glide his hand across the bare skin of my thigh. He raises his body from mine to give himself access and drags his clutch on my skirts ever so slowly up and up until the fabric pools above my hips.

Aldrin’s gaze flicks up to mine to read my face for a mere moment, then he loops his fingers into my panties and drags them down my legs.

I help him by lifting my hips.

By the time he tosses them aside, my hands are at the waistband of his pants, fumbling with the laces. My whole body shivers with need for him. I so desperately want to join our bodies. There is awe on his face as he looks down at my legs parted around him and my core bared and ready to take him.

I don’t get the first loop undone on his trousers when the voices reach us. They are so damned close. Panic flares within me. It is then that I notice the sky has turned a silvery blue with dawn and the sounds of the camp waking nearby registers. And there are ruffled footfalls approaching our direction.

Aldrin groans, then rolls off me. I quickly thrust down my skirts over my bare body.

A handful of moments later, Drake and Hawthorne pass by in the long grass, swinging pots to fill with water from the river to boil with breakfast. They almost pass us completely, when Drake happens to glance over the distance and notices us laying in the long grass. A slow smile fills his face, but he says nothing.

I turn onto my side and face Aldrin, my lips parted as I pant. He presses his forehead to mine.

“Fuuuck, Keira.” His voice is low and hoarse, his breaths as ragged as mine. There is so much emotion threaded into those two words. “The next time I get you like this, I’m not letting you go.”

Shivers run across my flesh with anticipation.

When his eyes open, they are filled with such raw need and tenderness, as though I am the most precious thing in his world. That look sends liquid fire through me, warming my very soul. It is so much more than desire for my body. His gentle fingers brush away the hair from my face and trace my cheek.

In this moment, I know I am in trouble. If I give this man up, it will not only destroy me. It will kill him also.