Chapter 12

Twelve

Ifroze, more from the deadly tone of his voice than his command. He removed another stone, more gray light spilling through the crevice above into the pit where I"d fallen. That's when I saw what I was sitting upon.

Scattered and broken, some still with flesh clinging to them, I had fallen into a den of bones. A predator's den. They weren't the remnants of deer or boar or other large prey. They were the skulls, legs, arms, and wings of dead fae. One of the skulls, completely white with two giant spiraling horns, was that of a beast fae. The jaw was open in a soundless scream.

But not even that was what had my heart pumping hard with fear. There was something foul filling this space, a dark essence that awakened my magick with a burning sensation blazing through my veins. It hurt. I whimpered.

"I can't breathe," I whispered to myself, my chest rising and falling so quickly I began to feel dizzy.

"I'm coming!" Vallon shouted from overhead, removing another stone from the opening.

Then a low, sinister rumble filled the cavern. In the deep shadows, four eyes glowed silver in the dark.

"Murgha, listen to me." Vallon's voice was deep and urgent. "Do not move. It will not be able to see you if you don't move. He can smell you, but my shield will confuse his senses."

I didn't ask what he meant. In the next second, I was encased in a gray shroud, magick covering me like a blanket. Instinctively, I knew that it was Vallon's magick. He'd swathed me in shadow, so the bones around me became a smudged blur. And though I could barely see those four eyes growing closer, it was the feel of this beast that had me trembling with terror.

The clamor of stones being shifted and Vallon's labored breathing above felt distant as I homed in on the creature crawling closer to me. When it slithered near the light, to keep from making a sound, I bit on my bottom lip so hard I tasted blood.

It slid across the cavern floor and over piles of bones with a giant serpentine body, its horned head nearly scraping the top of the cavern. But it wasn't a serpent entirely. It had eight muscular legs that ended in long black claws as long as my arm. The creature's forked tongue lanced the air and then it hissed, revealing rows and rows of long, sharp fangs.

Vallon was right. His shadow magick had kept me completely camouflaged. Barely even breathing, I remained perfectly still as it slithered over a mound of bones, sending several skulls rolling to the side.

My heart pounded so hard I thought it would leap from my chest as it came even closer, bringing with it a wave of evil so potent I sucked in a breath. This creature wasn't simply a predator. It was filled with something malevolent and wicked.

It moved farther into the light, heading toward me slowly, it's black, forked tongue licking the air. Its scales were a pattern of shiny silver and dark gray would make it blend into the mountain when hunting prey. But right now, it didn't need to hide. It simply needed to find me. If it stepped five steps to the right, its forked tongue would lick right across my face.

I pulled my injured arm closer to my chest, dislodging a femur bone at my elbow that went rolling down the small hill. The creature jerked its giant head in my direction and opened its jaws with a terrifying hiss. It knew where I was. It coiled its body upward ready to strike.

Blessed Mother of the Wood, protect me.

Then the beating of huge, black wings dragged my attention upward. Vallon dove through the opening like a falling star, his sword poised above him. The beast was so intent on me that it looked up too late.

Vallon landed on its head and sank its sword into its eye up to the hilt. The creature screamed so loud I covered my ears. It shook back and forth, trying to dislodge Vallon, but my shadow fae was stabbing over and over, gouging out one eye then moving to the other.

When I thought the monster had kicked him off balance he'd actually leaped to the floor of bones, dragging his sword across the creature's throat. It hissed and screamed, black blood spewing as it scrambled backward to flee into its den. But Vallon had already given the death blow. Before the serpent completely withdrew into the shadows, it collapsed onto its pile of bones, black tongue hanging from its mouth.

Suddenly, the gray haze was gone and Vallon had me in his arms. Then we were airborne, and he flew us back through the crevice above. His wings scraped the edges as we passed through the opening and shot straight up then down the small incline to where the blue coal-fire was burning. There was unwrapped cheese and bread scattered on the ground.

He set me on a large stone next to the stream, the soft babbling water a sharp contrast to the suffocating silence of that den.

Chest heaving, Vallon bent over the stream and splashed the water on his hands and arms where the blood of the creature had splattered. I watched him stalk back to his satchel, yank out a cloth, and frantically wipe the creature's remnants off him, swiping the towel across his face as well.

"Your wings," I murmured as I gulped in the fresh air, no longer stifled by the oppressive stench of death and evil down below.

"My wings?" he huffed with exasperation, his voice trembling as he finally turned to me.

Tossing the cloth onto the rocks near the coal-fire, he strode toward me, his expression tight and stern. He gripped me by the shoulders and hauled me roughly to my feet. Then, very gently, he cupped my face, his hands shaking. I instinctively covered his hands with mine, needing to comfort him. So strange it was what had been running through my mind—that Vallon needed me to soothe him, and it was my place to do so.

"You hurt your wings on the rocks," I whispered dumbly as he held me so intimately.

"Fuck my wings, Murgha." He pressed his forehead to mine. "I almost lost you."

"You didn't," I whispered, tilting my face closer to his.

Then we were sharing breaths, and that deep, aching longing for the affection of another hit me with ferocity. He didn't bridge the tiny space between our mouths, so I dared to do it myself.

Lightly, I brushed my lips across his. "I'm here."

He stiffened for a moment, then ever-so-gently he grazed his mouth against mine. The sensation was divine. Pure loveliness.

He coaxed and teased my lips apart then sank into my mouth on a groan. When his tongue touched mine, I kissed him back with desperate need. I stroked mine against his, slowly sliding my tongue along one of his fangs.

One of his arms came around my waist, lifting me against his hard body. I felt his stiffened cock against my belly, and my reaction wasn't at all what I would've thought. It shocked me that I wanted to open my legs and take him inside me.

I had the uncontrollable urge to touch him, to feel him. I glided my hands up his broad shoulders and clasped them beneath his hair at his nape.

He moaned into my mouth, pressing me closer. With one hand, he encircled the back of my neck, his thumb resting on the pulse at the base of my throat. His other hand slid down my spine to my backside, cupping me firmly. I rocked my hips forward, a gasping moan escaping my mouth, breaking our kiss.

He eased back, his feral gaze intent on mine, full of heat and want and determination. He held me hard in his arms, my feet not even touching the ground. I'd never been so brazen, but I pressed my breasts closer, easing forward to capture his lips again. But he didn't let me, keeping just out of reach.

"Murgha."

"I love the way you say my name."

He set me on my feet but kept his hands firmly on me. "You're hurt." His gaze shot to my arm, his scowl deepening. "I'm sorry." He let me go abruptly and stepped away, taking his warmth with him.

Knees shaking, I sat on the stool, reeling from the erratic sensations still buzzing through my body. I'd never felt desire like that before, not even with Dellyn. Nothing even close.

Was it because I was so desperate for someone's affection? I'd promised myself I'd only give myself to one male, the one who'd vowed himself to me. Because no male had ever even considered me worthy of more than a bedding, I never thought them worthy of my body either.

But seconds ago, all of that had flown from my mind. I was a creature of pure sensation and desire.

It wasn't as if a husband couldn't leave his wife either. That happened all the time. But I thought, at least, if my future husband and I made a vow under the gods' blessing to honor and cherish one another, then it would be harder for that male to leave me. That's why I'd made that promise to myself. I was ashamed how readily I was to forget that.

Vallon snatched the cloth off the ground and dipped it in the stream. He returned and kneeled on both knees in front of me, sighing as he pulled back the torn sleeve of my coat. "This didn't protect you much, did it?"

"The cut would've been deeper if I'd been in my own cloak."

He muttered something in demon tongue I didn't understand then pressed the ice-cold cloth to the cut. It was a jagged bone that had torn through my coat and blouse to my forearm.

"Hurt?" he asked when I winced.

"No. It feels good."

"I don't have any ointment. But we're only a few more hours from Gadlizel."

"Are you sorry you kissed me?" I blurted.

He jerked his gaze to mine, his silky black hair coasting over the exposed part of my wrist. "Why would you ask that?"

"You stopped so suddenly. I thought you might have thought it was a mistake."

"Do you think it was mistake?" he asked, his expression tight with anticipation as if my answer mattered greatly.

I considered my feelings, my emotions of relief and gratefulness that he'd saved me and dragged me out of that nightmare of a pit. But that wasn't what had made me press my lips to his. It had come from somewhere deeper. Or, perhaps, somewhere divine.

"No," I finally answered.

The tension in his face eased. "It doesn't look bad enough to need stitches, thank the gods."

"What about you?" I pushed. "Did you think it was mistake?"

He huffed out a laugh, his fangs flashing when he met my gaze. A tremble shivered through me at the sight of his teeth. I had the most outrageous desire to lick them again, feel the sharp prick of them on my tongue.

Those crimson eyes filled with the same heat of a few moments ago. "No, Murgha. It was not a mistake. It was as it should be."

When I thought he might ease forward and kiss me again, the fluttering of tiny wings announced Gwendazelle's arrival right before she landed on my knee.

"Murgha is hurt? What happened? What happened!" Her round black eyes widened with alarm.

"It's all right," I assured her.

"It was a nightwyrm."

"It attacked during the day?" She shook her little head. "Not good. Not normal."

"Indeed," said Vallon, "and they don't prey upon the fae."

"The creature was unnatural," I said, remembering how I'd sensed something odd near the dellabore bush and had followed the pulse of dark magick seeming to come right out of the ground. "I was looking for the source of that unnatural essence, and I slipped…"

I was falling again, slipping back into the abyss, and then I could no longer see Vallon's concerned expression or Gwenda's worried one. I could see nothing at all, my mind slipping into that misty world of visions.

Of prophecy.