Kindred: Book 1 A Realms of the Otherworld Book (34 page)

I’m about to offer that we help move the tables and their contents inside only to see that Maith has that well under control. She waves us in the direction of the yet another room that I’m unfamiliar with. This must have been a backup plan in case of bad weather but I’m no longer in the mood to continue the celebration. It has been tainted with the appearance and threats from Tarron. All I want to do is go up to our chambers and hide away from what appears to be my fate. Remembering my vision from earlier, the last image I saw was one of me submitting to the pull of the blood contract and I anguish over what is to come. Alaric pulls me into a hug and just holds me as the two of us give into our unease over Tarron’s proclamation. Time is now our enemy.

Chapter 31

(Tarron)

As my men and I bolt across the bridge heading back the way we had come the night has turned dark, reflecting my mood. The sky is now lit only by lightning as it dances across the night sky revealing murky, dark, rolling clouds and I revel in the approaching storm. The ride away from Glenndale Lock Keep is a somber one as I reflect back on the moment I first lay eyes on my chosen. Words cannot describe how alluring she is to me. Her presence is one of light and strength. She’s tiny and yet she fills the space with her presence and her light fills the recesses of my dark soul. Her eyes are mesmerizing and she’s vulnerable, yet fierce. My perfect match, except for the fact that she is not only Alaric’s kindred but they are now shifter mates. Once the best of friends I know now that from this point forward we will forever be enemies. The only thing that will change that is if I choose to not evoke the terms of the contract and that is not an option. The moment my eyes met hers I was lost. Lost to her beauty, she is the light to my darkness. I crave her. She will be my redeemer, my queen.

Alaric has always been the golden boy, the favored amongst us while I was the reject that my father, King Bres chose not to claim. He made promises to my mother, a princess in her own right, only to turn around and marry that bitch, goddess Bridgid, once he found out that their affair had resulted in a pregnancy. He tossed both my mother and me aside to play house with his new family driving my mother to madness and disgrace while placing Bridgid on the throne as his queen. To add insult to injury he then acknowledged to the entire Realm that I was his bastard son and no longer first in line to the throne, placing first my younger half-brother and then my half-sister ahead of me in the hierarchy creating a rift so great between us that I refused to have anything to do with him from that moment forward. I quickly rejected his pitiful attempt to bridge the gap between us when he offered to make me his Captain of Arms, a prestigious position to most. That only resulted in alienating me further as I retreated to my own Keep. Alaric never understood what that did to me. He has always had the love of his parents as well as having found favor with The Dagda, taking him under his wing. And as time passed I became more and more envious of everything that my friend had, allowing a darkness to take root in my soul. There is a part of me that will regret my actions as I did at one time value my friendship with Alaric but we are now clearly facing off over a woman. One we both want, one that I will do anything in my power to possess. Just thinking about her now with Alaric has my blood boiling. I was to be her one and only, she was promised to me! Once again the universe is attempting to deny me what is rightfully mine. Kindred and mating bonds be damned!

When Danu approached me with her proposal of becoming allies to over throw The Morrígan I jumped at the chance when she offered to seal the alliance by offering her unborn daughter to me, a political binding to assure the alliance was a strong one. Unbeknownst to her I had devised my own plan to over throw the Fomorian queen and take her throne. With Danu’s daughter by my side my vie for the throne would be more readily accepted so in order to seal the deal I insisted on a blood contract infused with dark majic. I wanted nothing to stand in my way. Alaric may have her now but she will be mine. I will have her. After being in her presence Ashlinn is fast becoming my obsession, an addiction. I crave the light that I see in her as it pushes the darkness that threatens to consume me back and I vowel to do everything in my power to possess her body and soul. That is a vowel I intend to keep.

Chapter 32

(Alaric)

I don’t like it. None of it. I don’t like feeling helpless to protect her from Tarron and now that the dust has settled from our encounter with my once friend and now nemesis, Ashlinn is angry with me. Not just angry, she is furious. I feel her seething emotions thru our bond and I’m bracing myself for the outburst to come. She is about to dress me down in front of everyone gathered here this evening. All I want to do is hold her delicate form in my arms and pull her close to me, comfort her, but she has something else entirely in mind as she pulls out of my hold and backs away from me. She looks up at me as she takes several more measured steps away, shaking her head in disbelief. What began as fury is quickly morphing into hurt as realization sets in that Tarron and I were once friends. Her emotions are unstable as they switch back and forth between anger, uncertainty, and betrayal. They’re a punch to my heart and I almost stagger from the weight of it. I can’t stand that she feels betrayed by me and I want to reassure her that we’re in this together but she’s attempting to shut down our link so I say, “Ashlinn, please let’s talk about this. I know you’re feeling…”

“What Alaric? What am I feeling? You should know shouldn’t you? Hurt that you didn’t feel the need to tell me about your previous friendship with the dark prince. Or maybe I’m feeling left out of important details that will directly affect my future, our future. At what point were you going to let me in on your dark little secret? Seriously? Why would you keep something like that from me? I don’t understand Alaric, help me to understand! Imagine my surprise when I realized that you not only knew Tarron but that you were friends. Please enlighten me because right now I’m not sure that I can trust you. I’m not sure that I can trust you to be forthright with me. What’s about to take place in less than a month’s time will not only affect us, it will affect all the Realms and you are sitting on information that could help but you have yet to offer that information up.” She looks up at me accusingly with unshed tears glittering in her whiskey colored eyes.

Her accusation cuts right through me and I can only shake my head as I attempt to gather my jumbled thoughts and all I can manage is, “I’m sorry mo grá, please forgive me.” I yammer out.

“Is that all you have to say for yourself?!” She asks, pushing me.

“What do you want me to say Ashlinn?! I screwed up! Don’t you think I know that I should have told you?! Especially now after this evenings events, I’ve been struggling for days now not wanting to overload you with information. Wanting to protect you and divulge information to you at a pace I thought you could handle. You have been through so much. You and Alexia both. I only sought to give you time to come to terms with all of this.” I say gesturing to the room and people around us. “I sought to give you happiness, a home. Surround you with people that you could trust, that you could grow to love, to feel connected to like your family from the Mortal Realm before you were totally immersed in all that has been placed on your shoulders. All I wanted to do was build a solid foundation for you, so that if things went all to hell you could feel comforted in the fact that you had a family that would have your back. That you would know without a shadow of a doubt that we would move the heavens and the earth to rescue you, even in your darkest days! I would do anything to protect you! Anything! I only sought to give you all my love, happiness, and a feeling of home before that is all possibly ripped away from you! From us!” I pause as I take in her reaction to my words and watch as silent tears track down her face, her bottom lip trembling. “I apologize for holding back but I would do it again if I were able to accomplish my end goal. Ashlinn, you need to know that I only had your best interest at heart. You know that right? Tell me you know that I would never do or say anything that would intentionally harm you. You are my world! You even asked just this morning if we could slow things down because everything was happing too fast. Please…” I’m spent and not sure what else to say as I swallow hard waiting for her response.

Ashlinn bows her head under the impact of my words. I watch as each tear drops from her cheeks to splash on to the polished stone floor. No one moves and I stand resolute, allowing her to work through her feelings. That is before her shoulders begin to shake as she begins to cry in earnest as more of her tears splash down against the floor. I take two long strides to stand in front of her and cup her downturned face in my hands. Gently I lift her face to look into her eyes. With my thumbs I attempt to brush her tears away as I say, “I love you Ashlinn. We have been thrown
into a shit storm that neither of us were expecting. I wish that our lives were less complicated but if that meant that we would have never known one another then I’ll take this life over anything else. A life where you do not exist for me is no life at all. I’m so very sorry that things turned out the way they did this evening. I can’t say that I would change the decisions I’ve made so far because every decision has been made with your best interest at heart. Please, Ash, I need to know that you understand.” I plead softly as I gaze into those beautiful eyes of hers.

“I’m sorry Alaric. Once that encounter was over and I had time to process I didn’t know what to think. I’m so… I’m so… I.. I should have known but I’m just so… conflicted. But mostly I’m scared, because whatever went into that blood contract is affecting me even now.” She says with sad, tearstained eyes as she reaches up to trace the outline of my jaw like she is trying to memorize the shape and feel of me and I lean into her resting my forehead against hers before pulling her to me never wanting to let her go. I hear her muffled voice as she says, “I don’t ever want to lose you. I don’t know if I will survive if I lose you. I’m just so frightened. I saw my future tonight. I saw Tarron ride in through the gate this evening before he did. I saw images unfold before they actually happened but the last image was one of me succumbing to the dark pull of that infernal blood contract. In my vision I was helpless to resist it, the more I fought it the weaker I became until I was all but suffocating. Alaric I went to Tarron willingly as I followed the pull of dark majic. The dark tendrils wrapped themselves around me until I was consumed in darkness. With each step closer to Tarron the easier I could breathe and the darker my heart became.” She finishes as she clutches me in her arms. I am truly terrified for her, for our future.

“Ashlinn, it’s more important now than ever that we work on building and strengthening our binding as well as forging your relationships with your new family and friends. We will do this together and even if the worst comes to pass, then we will work together even though we will be apart to break that cursed contract.” I say holding her close.

She pulls back and looks up at me and says, “I’m sorry I doubted you. Forgive me?”

“There’s nothing to forgive. From this point forward, full disclosure. I will share everything I know. The time is gone of me protecting you from knowledge that you need to have. Time is running out and we need to work fast. But we will do it together and we will take time to make happy memories and spend time together with friends and family. We’ll make the most of our time. Okay?” I ask.

“Yes Elf Man, what you said.” She adds with a wistful smile as she pulls me down to place a kiss on my lips. Wanting her to know how much she means to me I deepen the kiss pouring all my love for her into that single intimate act as I gently brush my tongue against her lips begging for access as she opens for me. This is not a kiss of passion but one of reverence and love as I cup her face with my hands brushing my fingers along her cheeks and her jaw. She is always so receptive to my touch and I cherish this moment above all others that we have experienced thus far. I break the kiss and inhale her unique scent as I whisper, “Never forget how much I love you, how much I adore you. You are the very air that I breathe. We will get through this.”