Cruel Enchantment (28 page)

AERIC
shut the door behind him, nodded to the two guards standing watch outside, and then headed for the stairs. His hands were shaking in relief. He’d been so afraid she wouldn’t make it through. Then, when it had become apparent that she would pull through, he’d worried that after they’d weaned her off the drugs she might wake up different, permanently changed for the worse.

Emmaline was the strongest person he’d ever met. He’d gone from hatred to unadulterated admiration.

He rounded a corner and came face-to-face with Niall. “Hey, I’ve been looking for you all week,” Niall said.

“Been a little busy,” he growled. Niall wasn’t the person he most wanted to see right now.

“Look, I’m sorry for how hard I came down on you before you went over to the Rose for Emmaline. I can tell that you’ve developed some pretty strong feelings for her.”

“And you don’t get it. Yeah, I remember this conversation.”

“You risked your life for her by storming into the Rose, and, man, that’s a story that’s going to be told for the next hundred years. Then I saw how you carried her back here, what kind of shape she was in. You disappeared behind a door with her and didn’t leave her side until you healed her.”

Aeric fidgeted. “Is there a point to this conversation?”

“My point is that I see you’ve come to care deeply for a woman who isn’t Aileen. I remember you two.” Niall shook his head. “I didn’t think it was possible for you
ever
to love a woman other than her.” He pressed his lips together. “Your choice is a little strange—”

“Who says I’m
in love
with Emmaline? That’s a little strong.”

“Okay, maybe, but you can’t deny that your actions would lead the observer to think
love
.”

“Point?”
Aeric barked.

“My point is that I’m old and I remember. I remember how fucking infatuated you were with Aileen, how you couldn’t see
anything or anyone
but her. You couldn’t even see she was sleeping with another man while she whispered sweet nothings in your ear.”

Aeric went very still. “How do you know about that?”

“I’m probably the only one who does, and I only know it by purest chance.”

“Tell me.”

“I saw them together once, walking in the woods. They were very deep in the forest, all alone. Holding hands and laughing.” He paused for a moment and looked like he was debating whether or not he should continue. “They looked like they were in love.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Niall laughed. “Fuck that. You would have killed the messenger. I kept that little secret to myself. I wouldn’t have mentioned it at all if it weren’t for Emmaline. If Aileen had been with any other man in those woods that night, I would’ve forgotten the whole thing long ago.” He drew a breath. “But she was with a Seelie, one that Emmaline offed—”

“Driscoll Manus O’Shaughnessy.”

Niall’s eyebrows raised into his dark hairline. “You know.”

“All but one very significant part of everything you just told me, yes.”

“I’m sorry to be the bearer, man. You’re not going to kill me, are you?” Niall glanced down at Aeric’s hands.

Aeric forced himself to unclench his fists. “No.”

“I still don’t understand what you see in the Summer Queen’s assassin.”

“She’s not the Summer Queen’s assassin anymore. She’s just Emmaline.” Aeric pushed past Niall and continued on his way.

Once in his apartment, he went straight into his forge and stood at the foot of Aileen’s portrait. Walking hand in hand in the deep forest. Laughing at one another’s comments. Looking like they were in love. Because they had been, of course. O’Shaughnessy had offered Aileen what she’d needed. Things that Aeric never would have been able to give her.

He reached up and took the portrait down, turning its face toward the wall.

“Good-bye, Aileen.”

 

 

AFTER
Aeric left, Emmaline pushed from the bed and crossed the room, approaching her old crossbow as if it were a poisonous snake that might lash out at any false move. Finally she reached it and, swallowing hard, picked it up.

Touching it made the last three hundred-plus years disappear in a heartbeat. Suddenly she was back in Ireland, in the polished halls of the Seelie Court hidden under the hills with her crossbow and quiver slung across her back. The weight of the crossbow felt good in her hands, the wood rubbed smooth where she’d always held it. Her finger brushed the trigger and she remembered the way it felt to aim and release, the backlash of the weapon against her shoulder, the sound of the bolt slicing through the air to find its target.

She remembered the rest of it, too. The way the light would evaporate from her mark’s eyes as he died, the sound of the bolt finding flesh, the thump of the body falling. She remembered the cold timbre of the Summer Queen’s voice as she ordered death after death.

And Emmaline had obeyed her.

Emmaline set the crossbow down and backed away from it.

 

 

She came awake with a scream and with shakes racking her body. Aeric stared at her in the murky half-light of the room, his face an inch from hers. His hands were grasping her shoulders as if he’d shaken her out of a nightmare.

His face looked tense, lined with worry and exhaustion. “Are you okay? You were screaming in your sleep.” He pulled her close and she melted against him.

A second later she realized she’d molded herself to his body and backed away. “Yeah.” Except she was still shaking. She curled her arms over her chest and licked her lips. “Just a bad dream.”

His lips curled into a sardonic half smile. “Gee, can’t understand why you’d have those. Want to tell me about it?”

“No.” The word snapped out of her like a bullet. She drew a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, steadying herself. “But thanks for the offer.”

“What do you need?”

“A shower, a change of clothes, a good stiff drink.”

“Luckily I can provide all of those.” He pointed toward a shadowed doorway. “Bathroom is in there. A change of clothing has already been placed on the counter. I’ll order us some dinner, okay? It’ll be here when you get out.”

“Wow, you really seem to want to fatten me up,” she complained gently as she stood. “You sent that huge meal before I fell to sleep and now dinner.”

He caught her wrist before she could move away. “I want you to keep your strength up so you can heal.”

She stopped and gave him a shaky smile. “Be careful. Someone listening might think you care about me for more than just my ability to procure the piece of the
bosca fadbh
.”

He didn’t drop her wrist or refute her words. He held her gaze steadily, a muscle working in his jaw.

Her heart thudded and the playful smile she wore faded. Clearing her throat, she finished, “Anyway, I’m healing up fine. I feel much better than I did this morning.”

“You’ll have more scars, according to the doctor.”

She gave a bitter laugh. “Won’t be the first set.” She pulled away from him and went in to take a shower.

When she came back out, scrubbed clean, dressed in a pair of jeans and a sweater and feeling refreshed, it was to a dinner laid out for two.

“Nice,” she said, walking over on bare feet, her damp hair loose around her shoulders. “Salmon with roasted veggies and potatoes.”

“How’s your stomach?” Aeric asked, lounging in a nearby chair.

Despite her bravado, she’d been appalled when she’d unwound the bandage around her midsection. Lars had always focused on her stomach for some reason. She shook the memories out of her head. “Better. Just a couple more marks to add to the loveliness of my person.” She touched her midsection and gave a small laugh. “I think they add character.”

Aeric rose and walked over to her. He splayed his hand over her abdomen and her breath caught. The warmth of his palm bled through the fabric of her sweater, but it was no match for the warmth in his eyes. “Nothing they could ever do to you could make you less attractive.”

Then he went down on his knees, pushed the hem of her sweater up and laid his lips to her fresh bandage, and slowly kissed every one of her older scars that showed.

Her insides turned to jelly at the tender touch of his lips to her skin and the symbolism behind it. He dragged his mouth across her belly button and his warm breath whispered over her skin, raising goose bumps along her arms and legs.

His fingers found the button and zipper of her jeans and undid them. Slowly he eased them down over her hips and pulled them off, leaving her in only her cotton panties and sweater. Then her panties were gone, too. Still moving slowly, he slipped them down her legs and off, his hand trailing in their wake.

He pulled her hips to his face and his tongue snaked out to lap her clit. Her head fell back on a moan and her hands tightened in his hair. Ripples of pleasure echoed through her veins. Oh, Danu, yes, she wanted this.

She sank down onto her knees on the rug beneath them so she could look him in the eyes. They were dark, the pupils dilated from his arousal. His face wore that hungry expression she liked so much when it was directed at her.

He lifted her sweater up and over her head, letting it drop to the floor. She wore no bra. Now she was nude and he was still fully dressed, a thing that needed to be remedied. Holding his gaze, she reached out and tugged the hem of his black T-shirt up. He let her pull it over his head, leaving that delicious, muscular expanse of his chest bare to her eyes and to her hands.

Slowly she caressed his warm skin, moving from the swell of his biceps down his nipples and over the hard ridges of his abs, all the way to the button of his jeans. His hand moved to cover hers and she was on her back in a flash, her hands reached over her head and pinned gently to the floor. His jean-covered knee forced her thighs to part and rasped against her sensitive sex, making her shudder in need.

He didn’t move. He only stared down at her, as though seeing her for the first time. Her nipples hardened in the cool air of the room and from the sharp arousal building in her belly. His chest lightly rubbed against her breasts as he moved, making her sex clench with need.

“So now do you believe me about everything?” Her voice came out a little breathless from the pounding of her heart. “That I never intended to go back to work for the Summer Queen, that my intentions where the key is concerned are good? That I’m not a liar?” She swallowed. “About anything.”

“Yes, I believe you.” He paused. “About everything.”

“And it only took being threatened by the Summer Queen and almost dying to make that happen.”

“Let me make it up to you.” He lowered his head and kissed her under her ear. Her eyes fluttered closed and she melted.

“I might let you,” she murmured with a small smile. “Maybe.”

“I want you. I need you, Emmaline.” He moved to her mouth and nipped her lower lip gently. She shivered with pleasure.

“So, take me,” she murmured. “I’m yours if you would just stop treating me like a breakable doll.”

“Are you sure you want this? Are you healed enough to handle it?” he growled near her ear. “It’s going to be hard and rough at first. I warned you. I want you too much for it to be any other way. At least . . . for the first time.”

Danu, help her . . .
the first time
. “I’m healed enough and . . .” She licked her lips. “I want this.”

His eyes seemed to go a shade darker.

He let her wrists go and she put her hand to the button of his jeans again. This time he didn’t stop her when she undid it, along with the zipper. Reaching within, she found his wide, hard length and stroked him. He closed his eyes and groaned. He was as hard as a rock, so hard she wondered if it hurt.

“Turn over and raise your hips,” he gritted out through a locked jaw.
“Now.”

She rolled to her stomach, which gave only a twinge of protest that quickly became lost in a flood of desire. He didn’t wait for her to position herself. Looping a hand under her, he lifted her rear to fit against his hard cock, forcing her up onto her knees with her thighs spread.