Hidden Jewel (Heartfire Series) (44 page)

"
Ignis fatuus. Teine Sith
."

At her soft-spoken command, the chamber lit up with a suddenness that made Micah jump and stare around the circular chamber in open-mouthed wonder. It could not be the same place he had been before, and yet, he knew it was. His face broke out in a grin when he saw his twin smiling over at him; letting go of the woman's warmth, he scrambled over the edge of the berm after Jacob, onto the smooth stone floor below, turning back to look up at Ailill. She looked nearly as awed as Micah had looked and both men stood near the drop-off, watching her with a wary satisfaction for a moment before each took her by the hands and lifted her down from the stone shelf. Their heads tipped back, to see above.

The room was brightly lit by the lively flickering of torches which lined the wall in ornate stone sconces at two foot intervals along the full circumference of the circular room, lending to it a welcoming air after the darkness and shadows of the passageway. Micah found that he was instantly relaxed, as if he were ensconced in safety, a warm womb, away from any harm at all; the way that he had felt since the first day he had reveled in the warmth of the tiny, fiery woman, sharing a first kiss in the darkness of her parent's kitchen; he smiled at Jacob. Pleased as punch at the wondrous treasure so far below the mountain, Jacob grinned back, gazed around the room from the top, down.

Every square inch of the perfectly rounded, bowl shaped ceiling had been painstakingly chiseled with hundreds of triskeles, the connected triple spirals exactly like the ones seen in dolmens across Scotland, across Ireland. A beautiful foot-wide pattern of interlacing Celtic knots along the curved juncture of ceiling and wall ran the circumference of the dome, followed by various geometric and zigzag carvings interspersed over the walls.

Jacob and Micah stood directly before Ailill, side by side, forming a wall that effectively blocked her line of sight, giving her no choice but to look at them. Her eyes were bright with moisture, a deep shade of amethyst in the light of the torches; lips the color of ripe cherries were parted, forming a small oval, a panting breath at each familiar sight. When they had her attention at last, the two men parted for her to lead the way, eyes glued to her beautiful face as her gaze traveled downward, over each. Her heart fluttered hard in her chest at sight of them, their natural darkness lit by the fiery walls, two living flames.

"Sweet Brigit, but ye truly belong here," she breathed shakily, gripping the hands she was holding with sudden strength, pulling the men along with her as she moved forward, drawn to the edge of a still, black pool that ran from the center of the granite floor to the far wall. "Tis more exquisite than I remembered. Ye add much to the beauty o' my dun." The torchlight danced and shimmered over the glassy surface, giving the impression that the water held living fire within it's very depths, a misty steam suspended mere inches above the hot spring adding a smokiness to the overall impression.

Placing a smooth knuckle beneath Ailill's chin to draw her gaze, Micah smiled down at her, his eyes full of love and tenderness. "We know how much you like to bathe in hot water, Abby," he said softly. "Even though you have no wounds to speak of, would you like to try the spring with us?"

"We'd be pleased, Ailill. It's incredible," Jacob added, pulling the strap of her rifle up and over her head. "Y'all belong here more than us. It looks like it'd feel great." His own eyes gleamed in the firelight, his teeth a brilliant shade of white when he smiled down into her eyes, making her blink.

She hesitated, eying the man closely. "This is a fairy pool. You should be wary, perhaps a bit frightened. A powerful place, this."

"Yeah? Well, I am fine," Jacob argued gently, pulling her over to a stone bench along the wall and sitting her down. "Not a bit scairt, and why should I be? I don't even really need the healing whatever y'all believe is in the water, now. See." He pulled the bandages from his hands, waggling long, perfectly shaped fingers before her eyes, showing Ailill that the stitches she had made last night were no longer there, the deep cuts healed. And he truly believed she'd nothing to do with that. "Will you try it? For us?"

"But, Micah's head..." Her voice trailed off, her gaze drawn back to the still water. Eying the steaming pool with longing, Ailill pulled loose the lacings of her knee-high moccasins and looked around, reading the various symbols within view from where she sat. Jacob and Micah knelt down before her, sliding the soft leather from her tiny feet, each man watching her intently, the struggle to deny herself visible in the expression on her face. Her gaze skimmed over a variety of cup and ring markings, each ranging from two to twelve inches in width, carved along the edge of the chamber floor, eyes moving back and forth over the surface before coming to rest on a three-foot long symbol which seemed to be pointing toward the pool. She stood abruptly, her toes curling against the chilly stone below her bare feet, staring down at the carving of an ankh on the floor. Dozens of tiny, child-sized footprints extended out from the symbol, running parallel to the edge of the steaming pool. A chill crawled up her spine.

"Did you wear the stone about your neck?" Ailill looked back over her shoulder, obviously distracted by each new thing that caught her eye; she'd never given the carvings much thought before. Hadn't bothered with light the last time she had been there. "Aye, that is good," she murmured when she saw Jacob hold up a long chain, the two inch crystal glowing softly where it dangled from the edge of the metal. She turned to face the two men, a light flickering in the blue of her eyes. "Please keep wearing the ones I gave you; it's not exactly safe here."
Especially for me,
voice whispered at the back of her mind.

Both men pulled the pendants from beneath their shirts, eyeballing the luminescent stones curiously, though neither questioned her. Ailill watched as the crystals slid back down over the warm skin of Micah's and then Jacob's chest; each stone brightened momentarily, taking on all of the colors of the rainbow before ending up a deep shade of blue that matched their eyes, a much more fortuitous color than the pink of earlier, a color which had shown fear within them both. The color decided her and, flashing a pleased smile, Ailill quickly doffed her clothes and slipped into the warm pool.

Lightly scented with sulfur, the hot mineral-laden water had an almost oily consistency, adding a softness to the soothing heat as it washed over Ailill's flesh, the warmth loosening muscles she hadn't realized were tight, making her sigh in ecstasy. Cautiously feeling her way around the pool, using her feet to guide her movements past a stone bench carved into the well beneath the surface of the water, Ailill stopped in the center and submerged herself completely, holding her head under the nearly scalding water for as long as she could stand it before resurfacing with an explosive breath.

Seated on the flat edge of the spring, still fully clothed, both Jacob and Micah watched as Ailill's lightweight body bobbed up and down in the steaming water. The pool deepened towards the center, the glassy surface still yet a full foot higher than the top of her head when she placed her feet flat on the warmed stone bottom. Treading water, her breasts floated up, only the upper halves visible, the rest lost in the shadowy depths; a stark contrast to the firelight reflecting off the water, shining brightly against the twists of silver and gold around Ailill's neck and wrists, sparking off the coppery highlights in her long hair, painting the smooth lines of her flesh with a warm, golden glow. When she moved to float on her back in the relaxing warmth, the flames shimmered in the many facets of the tiny gem pierced through the right side of her small knife-edged nose, mini sparks of fire as her head turned this way and that; her eyes, a deepening amethyst in the vermilion firelight, roamed hungrily over the chiseled designs on ceiling and walls, settled on an ornately etched arch, hidden in plain sight on one wall; she stared at it thoughtfully for a long while before pulling her gaze away. With a small secretive smile, Ailill met the eyes of each man, a new and unusual flame burning in the depths of her steady gaze. She wanted to go home; neither had passed her small test thus far. It looked as if she was stuck here for a while longer.

"Will you be joinin' me then?" she asked in her oddly low-pitched lilt, watching the eyes of each man travel slowly over her nude body suspended over the surface of the heavy water. Her eyes were luminous, glowing with an inner light. Two pair of dark, laughing eyes met them at once. "You need to heal." Her gaze lifted to Micah's bandaged head.

"Nah... this one is for you, Ailill," Jacob said in answer. "Because I'm sorry for hurtin' you and I want to make up for it. Do you like it?" A shadow passed quickly over his chiseled features, eyes dark with regret for every pain he had inflicted upon her in the past day.

She laughed, a throaty sound, husky with intense feeling, and gazed up into Jacob's expressive face. "O' course I do! But I would like it all the more if the two of you would join me in these fine healing waters instead of sitting there as spectators at a caber toss." Grinning in amusement, she added, "you're like to bore holes through me, the way you're staring, and then I would sink."

She chuckled softly and, with a swift kick, Ailill glided backward through the dark water, coming to rest on the opposite side of the pool, away from where the twins were quickly removing their own clothes. Turnabout
is
fair play and, perched on the built in stone bench beneath the surface, Ailill observed them both with the same degree of fascination as they had shown toward her moments before, eying the gracefully curving musculature of each in turn with open admiration, liking the way both looked wearing nothing but a kilt; and then nothing at all.

"You have got beautiful bodies," she remarked casually, watching rippling bumps of gooseflesh rise over deeply tanned arms as the heated water swirled up about the narrow waists of the two men. "Perfectly sculpted." The r that rolled off her tongue was more pronounced than usual, drawing each man's attention to the high color of her overheated cheeks. She smiled, rather lasciviously. "Did you work at it, or is it natural?"
Au Naturale, and ye ken it, lass
.

Studying her curiously, Micah shrugged. "Both, I guess," he answered, before he ducked, disappearing momentarily into the dark abyss. Jacob followed, popping up beside his twin, directly before her eyes, in a moment, water streaming from the long raven hair, dripping onto her chest as her head tipped far back to see them both more clearly.

"We ain't slackers, darlin'," Jacob drawled, leering down into her upturned face. "We both work hard at anything we do." Taking a step toward her, he found his way blocked, a tiny foot pressed flat against the hard plane of his thigh. Grinning mischievously, Ailill blocked Micah in a similar manner.

Her gaze roved boldly over Jacob, then Micah, eyes sparkling with good humor. "Can ye not be near me without wanting something from me?"

"Not easily, no," Jacob answered truthfully, making her laugh. "Y'all are just too damn sexy, darlin'," he added with a grin.

"Aye? And
you
," she replied, poking a slender finger at his chest, "are one hell of a flirt. Flattery will get you nowhere, have you never learned that?"

"Well, you pretty little thing, flattery's gotten me all the way a lot of times before," he drawled, grabbing her foot up out of the water and kissing it. "Mmm, never noticed that before." His thumb ran along a wide metal band around her big toe as he sat beside her on the bench. He studied it curiously, purposely not letting go of her foot.

"You are not very observant then. Micah noticed them the first day." Her gaze flicked up to Micah's still face. He was watching his twin intently, as if he were waiting for the man to make a move on her. Nudging his leg with the ball of her foot, Ailill smiled at him, wishing he would come closer. It showed in her eyes, but Micah made no move to oblige.

"You had shoes on the first day, Abby," Jacob said easily. "I remember everything from that day." He eyed his twin with suspicion, making Ailill roll her eyes in exasperation.

"I'm not talking about the first day
you
saw me. Micah saw me on the mountain trail, the morning I arrived."

Moving closer, at last, Micah leaned down. "The day I fell in love with you," he said softly into her ear. Meeting his eye, Ailill smiled.

Grunting in response, Jacob muttered, "y'all were in love with her a hell of a lot sooner than that, Micah. Like, mmm, I dunno. Years before."

"At least I can wait for the right girl," Micah snapped back, shooting his twin a dirty look. "And she is definitely the right girl for me." He looked away sulkily and sat down beside Ailill.

Ignoring Micah's sudden change of mood, Jacob looked down at Ailill curiously. "Why do you wear rings on your toes?"

"Because I like to. Why else?" She stared at him, eyes narrowed. "It isn't all that unusual, Jacob."