Faeleahn Read online

  Enorah turned her eyes onto her brother, then narrowed them.

  “You seem far more cheerful and light-hearted than usual. Are you ill?”

  “No, not at all,” was all Cade said, his mischievous smile only widening.

  I turned to regard him. He had been so quiet as we traveled through the Weald, and now, he looked simply giddy, so much so that if I were to suggest we go disturb a badger den just for the fun of it, he would jump for joy and clap his hands at the prospect.

  What is with you? I sent, but he ignored me.

  “Are you sure?” Enorah wondered, stepping away from me and placing her hands on her hips.

  She gave her brother a quick perusal, then studied me as well, her eyes narrowing once more. “Something is different about you two.”

  She placed her chin in her hand and gave us one more careful look. She studied Cade’s face, then trailed her eyes down his arm and regarded his fingers clasped tightly around the handle of the torch. They lingered there for a short while in puzzlement, and I started to wonder what she found so fascinating.

  I think the truth hit Cade’s sister the same second I realized what she was gazing at. Enorah’s eyes grew impossibly wide, and her mouth became suddenly slack with shock as she turned with the speed of a viper to stare at my left wrist.

  She made a choking sound as her eyes met mine. I almost laughed out loud. Never in my life had I seen Enorah so caught off guard.

  Cade stepped forward and gave her a strong pat on the back. “What’s the matter, big sister? Did you accidentally swallow a litterbug?”

  So that’s why he had looked so smug. He was waiting for Enorah to discover the truth on her own. I did my best to hide a smile. Only Cade would find a way to tell his sister about our engagement in pesky little brother style.

  “M-married?!” she finally got out.

  Cade shook his head. “Not yet. The wedding will be in early May, perhaps even on Beltaine.”

  While Enorah still gaped at the news like a fish out of water, I took advantage of her weakened state and said, “I would have told you on Imbolg, if you’d come to the party. I told Cade that telling you in person was much better than sending a lett-”

  I was abruptly cut off as Enorah shot forward, taking me in one arm and her brother in the other. Meridian screeched indignantly and fluttered off into the dark, seeking out a branch.

  Too many arms! she complained.

  “I am so happy!” Enorah finally managed. “Oh, wait until the Wildren hear!”

  When she let us go, I chuckled lightly. “The Wildren don’t know us all that well, what makes you think they’ll be as excited as you?”

  Enorah snorted and rolled her eyes, grabbing us both by our hands and dragging us forward. “Because this is an excuse to have a huge bonfire and party tonight, of course!”

  Both Cade and I laughed as Enorah led us into the village center, proclaiming the good news at the top of her lungs. We just barely managed to drop our bags in a spare cabin before we were pulled and prodded to the center of the settlement where several younger children were already building up the central fire.

  People poured from the many cabins making up the Wildren’s village, and soon, Faelorehn men, women and children of many ages were stepping forward to congratulate Cade and me. Wind and string instruments were passed around, and somewhere in the crowd someone began playing drums. For the next half hour, we danced merrily to the music as the great flames of the fire leapt high into the sky, spitting flecks of orange light that disappeared into the night. Cade pulled me close to him. The two of us danced the way we had done at the Dagda’s Beltaine Eve party and at the castle in Erintara before the battle with the Morrigan.

  For several glorious minutes, I felt that same rush of life again, that determination to live to my fullest because I had no idea what lay in store for me. In some ways, that was still true. I was about to embark upon a lifetime commitment with Cade, an eternal commitment, and although the very thought should frighten me, it didn’t. The reason why was beyond my understanding at the moment. Maybe it didn’t scare me because I had already known what it was like to lose the very thing I now held so dear. I had watched Cade die, and I had felt the fear of it happening again. Perhaps the reason I was so comfortable in the knowledge that I would soon be pledging my immortal life to his was because I had already done so in my heart. My glamour flared up then, as if verifying everything my mind was still trying to work out.

  I looked up at Cade then to find his brilliant green eyes studying me intently. All around us the Wildren danced and laughed and played their music. We moved with them, two facets of a larger entity, yet I felt that Cade and I stood apart.

  What are you thinking, Meghan? His thoughts whispered against my mind.

  I smiled languorously and tilted my head back just enough to see him below my half-lidded eyes. That, despite all of these questions that are sprouting like weeds regarding my decision to marry you, not a single one of them scares me.

  He angled one brow at me, his eyes darkening to brown.

  Oh? he sent back.

  I nodded, then proceeded to share my theory with him. He grinned, reaching down to give me a quick kiss.

  Would you like to know when I decided I wanted you as my wife? he asked quietly.

  I drew in a breath and felt my eyes go wide. My heart fluttered, and not because of our dancing. I bobbed my head vigorously. Yes.

  I knew the morning I visited you after your first journey through the dolmarehn.

  For a second, all I could do was follow the rhythm of the music as I stared at him, doing my best to dredge up that particular memory. The day he visited me after my ill-conceived dash into the Otherworld ... I wanted to groan. That had been my first introduction to the Celtic goddess of war. I had stupidly fallen for the Morrigan’s tricks, running headlong into the first of her many traps. Thinking Cade needed my help, I had blindly followed her without question only to find myself caught in the midst of a massacre once I’d crossed over. I had nearly died that day, and would have if not for Cade.

  Ugh, I managed. That wasn’t my proudest moment, you know, being so easily duped by the Morrigan. You would have been fine, and you wouldn’t have broken your geis if I had just stopped and listened to my common sense.

  My common sense had kicked in and convinced me that perhaps I hadn’t been making the wisest choice, only by then, it was too late.

  Cade lifted a hand to my face and gently brushed his thumb along my cheekbone. Suddenly, my old thoughts of regret vanished, and I felt myself growing still as I basked in his attention.

  But that is how I knew, Meghan. As much as I hated the idea of you taking such a risk for me, I realized that if you were willing to cross into a world you knew nothing about, understanding that danger of an unimaginable kind waited for you on the other side, in order to help me, that you were just the right person I had waited all my long life for.

  Cade moved in closer, leaning down and pressing his forehead to mine.

  You see, I was in denial for so long, Meghan. I had convinced myself I didn’t deserve you. Even with the not so subtle advice of my sister and foster father, it took me forever to realize you were exactly what I needed. I needed your strength to challenge my own. I needed your faith to guide my way. And I needed your love to open my heart.

  I took Cade’s face in my hands and met his eyes. But don’t you see, my love? I needed those things from you as well.

  I saw more than felt Cade’s answering approval as a wash of pale blue color flooding my subconscious. Then, we are well paired, are we not?

  “Yes,” I said aloud, “we are.”

  Smiling, I linked my arms behind his neck and laughed as he picked me up and spun me around. The merriment went on for several hours more. The whole lot of us only pausing long enough to eat something from the communal meal and take short breaks from our dancing. Eventually, the younger children were ordered to their beds, and those adults who had less energy
than the others sought out their cabins. One by one, they bid me congratulations as they retired for the night. Finally, it was just me, Cade and Enorah left to watch the remains of the fire die down.

  “Would you two care for a cup of mead to celebrate?”

  Cade and I both nodded our approval, and Enorah disappeared for a few moments, returning with three ceramic mugs and a bottle.

  For several minutes, the three of us lounged before the now low-burning bonfire, laughing and reminiscing over our strange adventures together. Just before midnight, Enorah started to rise.

  “I need to check the perimeter one last time before going to bed,” she said, her speech slightly slurred.

  Like me, she had probably had one glass of mead too many. Oh well. I was happily warm and snuggled up next to Cade without a care in the world. At least, I was snuggled up next to Cade until he stood up, beating his sister to it.

  “Let me check the perimeter,” he offered, a little too steady on his feet for someone who had been enjoying as much, if not more, mead than his sister and me.

  Enorah only blinked dazedly at him, and he showed her a sharp smile. “Besides, I think there is something Meghan wants to talk to you about.”

  He gave me a quick look before striding from the fire pit and disappearing into the dark. I turned to regard Enorah, the light buzz of the alcohol beginning to wear off. She returned my look, her green eyes appearing brown in the firelight.

  “So,” she piped, draining the last of her mead before setting the cup down and lacing her fingers behind her head, “what ominous subject did you want to bring up in Cade’s absence.”

  For a while, I just stared at her. Only when she flashed her teeth in one of her characteristic smiles did I relax.

  “I’m only teasing you. Go ahead. What did you want to talk about?”

  Rubbing the back of my neck, I set my own mug down as well, not bothering to finish the last of its contents.

  “Nothing so daunting as you might guess,” I admitted.

  When Enorah continued to watch me, I let out a great sigh and turned my eyes to the sky above. Remarkably, it was clear tonight, the stars mere pinpricks of diamond dust scattered over deep blue velvet.

  “I would like for you to act as my Maid of Honor at the wedding.”

  Enorah, who had been tilting her head back as I had been doing earlier, leaned forward and gave me a surprised look.

  “Me?!” she asked, her tone one of shock.

  I huffed a small laugh. “Yes, you.”

  “But, what about your friends from the mortal world?”

  Obviously, I had shocked her with my question because she had forgotten that my friends, like the world they came from, were mortal. I sat up straight and crossed my arms casually, arching one brow.

  “Enorah, they aren’t Faelorehn. They can’t participate in my wedding unless we have it in the mortal world, and we’re not. It’s going to be at Luathara Castle.”

  “Oh,” was all she said.

  For the first time since meeting Cade’s sister, she looked somewhat embarrassed. My asking her to be my Maid of Honor must have really come as a great surprise to her. Afraid I might have offended her with my last statement, I blurted, “But I don’t want Robyn or Tully to be my Maid of Honor. They are my best friends from the mortal world, that’s true, and I honestly regret they won’t be able to attend my wedding, but you are my closest friend here, besides Cade and the Dagda. Enorah, you are going to be my sister! I can think of no one I’d rather have acting as my moral and emotional support when I marry your brother.”

  I gave her a smile and she returned it, relaxing a little. Her eyes were still a bit glassy from all the mead she’d consumed, so, trying to lighten the mood once more, I gave a little laugh and said, “And who knows, maybe one day you can return the favor and make me the Maid of Honor at your wedding.”

  I smiled and wiggled my eyebrows at her.

  Enorah only snorted and rolled her eyes. “Unlikely. The only person suitable to play the role of husband in my life would just as soon slit my throat.”

  My light mood darkened in a flash, and I gave her a disturbed look. What in Eile did she mean by that?

  Enorah must have realized she had said something she hadn’t meant to because her own carefree smile faded as her eyes turned away from mine, her brows furrowing in slight confusion.

  “Sorry, that was the mead talking,” she managed.

  She shook her head slightly and sat up, leaning forward as she pressed the heel of her hand to one eye. She took a deep breath and then glanced once more at me. The haunted, distant young woman she had been for a split second was long gone and the ever-gregarious Enorah was back.

  “Of course I’ll be your Maid of Honor, Meghan. You honor me just by asking.”

  I took in a breath to question her about what she had said before, but a familiar bark and the sound of footfalls announced Cade’s return with Fergus. For the next five minutes, the three of us worked together to put out the fire. When it was nothing more than a pile of hot ash, Enorah bid us goodnight and headed for her cabin.

  Cade and I soon followed suit, seeking out the small cottage that would be our quarters for the next few nights. As we settled in for the evening, I found myself curling up close against him in the rather small bed. I rested my head on his chest and pressed one hand flat against his warm skin.

  “How did the talk with Enorah go?” his voice rumbled beneath my ear. “Did you ask her about being your Maid of Honor in the wedding?”

  I nodded, afraid to open my mouth and speak. If I did so, I would be tempted to ask him what Enorah might have meant with her bizarre comment from earlier. Did she mean she expected to spend the rest of her life alone, always caring for the Wildren but never starting a family of her own? Did it mean she didn’t have the patience for a husband? Or did it have a much darker connotation, some reference to a past I knew nothing about?

  I shuddered, and Cade wrapped his arms more securely around me.

  “What’s bothering you, Meghan?” he asked.

  Curse him. He knew me better than I knew myself sometimes.

  “Nothing, really,” I answered. “It’s just something your sister said.”

  He stopped running his hand up and down my back in a soothing gesture. “Oh?”

  I sighed and stretched out next to him. So much for keeping my thoughts to myself. “I made a light joke about me someday returning the favor, of being her Maid of Honor when she got married. Her response was a little unnerving, but then she tried to brush it off like it was nothing.”

  Cade grew even more still, and I could have sworn his skin went cold.

  “Cade?” I asked, moving my head so that I might see some of his face.

  “What exactly did she say, Meghan?” he pressed, his voice quiet but deep.

  I knew better than to keep things from him when he adopted that tone.

  “She said that whoever was willing to marry her would also be willing to slit her throat. But Cade, she must have been joking, even if it was a bad joke. She did have a lot of mead tonight.”

  Cade let out a long sigh and lifted both his hands to rub his face.

  “I thought she had put all that behind her,” he said, more to himself than me.

  “Cade?”

  His arms tightened around me once again, taking me by surprise. I felt him press a kiss to the top of my head, and he murmured, “Don’t worry about it, mohr faelorah. It most likely was the mead talking, as you suggested. She’ll be back to her old self in the morning, you’ll see.”

  As much as I wanted this new mystery solved, I also didn’t want to stir the pot. Whatever dark demons Enorah had buried in her past, they had almost managed to claw their way to the surface tonight. If pressing the issue gave them even the tiniest bit of leeway, then I would drop the subject. There was going to be a wedding in just over a month’s time, and so far, everyone we had informed had been overjoyed by the news. We needed this, not just me and Cade,
but everyone we knew in Eile. After the hell we had gone through battling the Morrigan, we deserved a time of celebration, and I was more than ready to let the happiness outshine the sorrow.

  CADE

  I woke up with my arms and legs entangled with Meghan’s, and I smiled. Sharing the small bed in one of the spare cabins in the Weald meant we had to sleep practically on top of one another. Something I wasn’t at all bothered by. Cracking open an eyelid, I noticed that the light streaming in through the window was watered down in tones of deep grey and cobalt. Either it wasn’t quite dawn yet, or some heavy rainclouds had moved in overnight. Carefully, I extracted myself from Meghan, managing not to wake her up, and quickly got dressed.

  Outside, I discovered I had been correct on both accounts. The sun hadn’t risen yet, and thick, inky clouds darkened an already dark sky.

  “Cade!” a familiar voice called out from across the small creek running behind my cabin.

  I squinted against the weak light and recognized my sister’s tall figure. I waved back, then darted inside to leave Meghan a quick note before stepping out into the cool air once again. Enorah’s cabin was situated against a small rocky hillside along with a handful of other, multi-story buildings. These small houses were set aside for the few Faelorehn living in the Weald who had a husband, wife or significant other. Or, in Enorah’s case, happened to be looking after the entire lot of them and had therefore earned a small, private refuge to call her own.

  I managed to get beneath the roof of her small front porch before it started to pour.

  She crossed her arms and leaned against a post, shaking her head. “I had wanted to run weapons drills with the older students and ask Meghan if she’d be willing to talk with those who still haven’t been able to find their glamour yet. But this weather might just keep us locked indoors all day.”

  I flinched at my sister’s words. I wasn’t disturbed by her obsession with teaching children how to fight with dangerous weapons, that was a necessity in the Otherworld. Rather, I felt somewhat pained for those whom she deemed the late bloomers. Most children sensed at least a small portion of their glamour from the day they are born, only discovering the wealth of it before the age of five. Usually, some semi-traumatic event, most likely a fall from a short distance or an unexpected encounter with an unfamiliar wild animal, will wake it up. Faelorehn glamour is as integral to our kind as breathing is to everything else. It is a part of us and very necessary for our survival in this harsh world of monsters and magic. In rare cases, glamour stays dormant well past the toddler years. In Meghan’s case, it remained dark and lifeless far into her teenage years. But that was most likely due to the geis her mother had placed on her and the fact that she spent her entire childhood in the mortal world.