Page 9

Eight

Bricriu

S he’s cradled in my arms, and I can’t see myself letting her go any time soon. My thumb traces the mark I’ve left on her right hand with awe. Each one of them is different, but mine holds my attention.

All mating marks are abstract, but ours is like an inksplash swirling across her delicate wrist, stretching up her forearm in shades of black and grey. Captured within the wash are shapes which are faintly reminiscent of my animals. A valravn wing. A pair of feline ears. A forked tongue.

I break my stare to look down at my chest. Right in the centre, a matching stain of vivid violet stands out amongst the black that covers me from head to toe. If I twist my head just so, I think I can make out a dragonfly amongst the lines.

My animals are already shoving my other tattoos out of the way, eager to get close and examine the new addition. Lox nudges the edge with his beak, and Naris headbutts it, both smug when it doesn’t budge.

They like being claimed as much as I do.

Espen is more restrained, his tongue flicking over it before he slithers a retreat back to my forearm. The nathair has always been the quietest of my animals, and his approval is just as subtle.

Right now, I think they’re having an easier time coming to terms with everything than I am.

Rose loves me. Me.

She said she did, but some part of me didn’t believe it was possible. Now, there’s no denying it. I knew I wasn’t worthy of her, but?—

“Bricriu, is she okay?” Drystan repeats, and I realise he’s been trying to get my attention for a while.

“She just passed out.” I raise a brow at the redcap who’s blinking around the room, examining his hand while grinning like a loon. “Check the bond if you’re worried.”

I’m surprised he isn’t fanatically monitoring her through it already.

From here, I can see the edges of the bright red, slashing design at her inner thigh. Then Lore shoves his damned palm in my face, and I get an up close and personal view of the wispy strands of violet that now surround his hand in a matching band that wraps between his forefinger and thumb before fizzling out towards his wrist.

“Marked!” the redcap crows. “Marked and mated?—”

“To a female who fainted because you couldn’t restrain yourself,” Drystan mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You’re damned lucky I can feel for myself that she’s okay, redcap, or I might melt that mark from your bones.”

Lore’s knife is at Drystan’s throat in an instant.

“You haven’t waited even a fraction of the time I have for this pretty gift, dullahan.” The redcap’s scarlet eyes glint manically. “Try to take it from me. I dare you.”

Drystan shoves the blade away with a groan. “I cannot believe I chose to be stuck with you for an eternity.”

The words are harsh, but his tone, and the warm way he looks at our mate says he doesn’t really mind at all.

“What happened?”

Rose has woken without me noticing, which should’ve been impossible, given our new connection. She brushes a wayward strand of strawberry-touched gold hair out of her face and takes us all in with confused eyes.

“I got a bit too excited, pet. I’m sorry,” Lore admits easily, surprising us all as he blinks beside her. He snatches his cap back from Caed and presents it to her with big red pleading eyes. “Forgive me?”

Rose melts, and I feel it happen.

Then she looks up at me and does it all over again.

She loves me as much as she loves him.

That should be impossible, but there’s not an ounce of favouritism. Even when the rest of them—Caed exempted—are so much better for her than I am.

“Forgiven,” she whispers, looking down at him, then at the place where my thumb is still lightly tracing my mark on her skin.

There’s enough unsteadiness in her limbs as she pushes to her feet that I remain alert and ready to catch her, but she doesn’t even notice. She’s too busy looking at my mark, examining it from all angles, then crushing her chin to her chest as she tries to interpret Drystan’s white marks over her heart.

To me, it looks almost like the edge of a sheer veil, merged with the silhouettes of horses and other animals… or…

“The lights of the Otherworld,” she mumbles softly, her cheeks turning red as she meets her dullahan’s eyes.

Then she catches sight of his right forearm and the vivid matching purple mark that now covers it. She beams.

“Lore, can you fetch some chains for the Fomorian?” Drystan asks, still surprisingly mellow. “That way, Rose can focus on calming Jaromir’s wolf.”

It seems we’re all on our best behaviour now that she’s awake, because the redcap doesn’t argue, quickly shackling Caed’s hands in front of him as the Fomorian kneels on the floor. Unfortunately, that draws our Nicnevin’s attention to the blue idiot, who cradles his right palm like it’s made of glass.

“You didn’t want to attack us.” I wish I could read her face. “I can feel how much you hate being under his control.” She twists, her pretty eyes landing on mine, and I belatedly realise my hold has gone from supportive to restraining. “It’s tearing him apart.”

She wants to go to him. That’s understandable. The bond thrives off closeness, and right now it’s going to be at its worst. But he’s unpredictable. He used the moment we were all vulnerable to strike, and he won’t have a choice but to seize every opportunity he’s given.

So I don’t plan to give him any until we’re ready.

Jaro’s wolf—unhappy that he’s yet to be acknowledged—abandons the Fomorian and jumps up so his fore-paws are on the altar. The sandy fur of his ruff is marked with a deep purple pattern that’s difficult to discern, but Rose’s perfectly healed bite-scar is surrounded by pale brown slashes which could almost be confused for birthmarks, if not for the glittery incandescence that all marks possess.

The wolf licks at it, making a pleased chuffing sound, and Rose presses an answering kiss to his cheek. “Can I have Jaro back, please?”

Whining, the wolf licks her again, and Rose smiles. “We can snuggle tonight, I promise.”

He’ll hold her to that, and I resign myself to the edge of the bed. I don’t want to risk accidentally touching someone who’s not Rose. Maybe one day all the work I’m doing with Priestess Claudri will get me to a place where I can join in without fear.

But we’re not there yet.

She tugs at my arms as Jaro’s body reforms, her fingers automatically rising to the purple slashes climbing up from his throat to wrap around his ear. The top half of the mark is mostly covered by his hair, but I sense it won’t be for long.

It’s bold and dark and everything the wolf wanted.

“You already stabbed me,” Caed grumbles, dodging the redcap’s knife as he shuffles forward on his knees. “I’m not trying to hurt her. I just want to see my mark.” There’s a long pause, a deep breath, and then he meets Drystan’s cold eyes with surprising sincerity. “Please.”

Rose has stopped breathing, and I count the seconds before she remembers to do it again.

Drystan glances back at her, sees what I can only assume is her pleading expression, and sighs. “Fine.”

Jaro moves aside to let him approach, though the gold of the wolf flashes into his irises as Caed comes within touching distance. Rose extends her left arm, revealing a geometric sunburst not unlike the curse mark on his arm, except in vivid blue, the exact shade of his skin.

Caed’s eyes grow suspiciously shiny before he looks away and extends his right hand, showing her the matching violet design that shines across his palm and up to his forearm.

It’s a surprisingly delicate mark, given the heavy tattoos that cover his opposite arm, and I wonder if Danu did that to make a point, or simply to distinguish her curse from her blessing.

“Right. Back to my cosy little cell, then?” Caed’s voice is full of forced peppiness, but none of us is falling for it.

“No,” Rose replies.

“No?” I’m not sure which of us says it, because all five of us are probably wondering how she’s somehow found out about the surprise.

“Elatha’s going to want to know how Caed kidnapped me,” she begins, meeting Drystan’s eyes. “He can’t suspect that any of this is a setup, so we’re going to let him roam the Winter Court freely. That way, when the Fomorians demand to know how he did it, he’ll be able to say, with total honesty, that it was all his own idea.”

“The plan needs more work,” Drystan objects, but we all know he doesn’t mean it. “We might have worked out a few contingencies, but we haven’t tested your power now that you’re properly mated. We have no idea how much iron is now inside the palace. We might not be able to even use glamour.”

Jaro and I share a look, and I know we’re both wondering if he’s having second thoughts. We agreed that it would be cruel to make him miss out on her mating night, but perhaps the dullahan was under the impression that we’d be locking him away again afterwards?

“We may not,” I say, pointing at the Fomorian. “But he can.”

“I’m shit at it,” Caed protests. “Barely good enough to hide me and Prae on a good day.”

“You were shit at it,” Jaro corrects. “Do you not feel it? We’re closely bound to Danu now.”

Yes. We are. If we were dangerous before, we’re a hundred times worse now. If Rose actively funnels us magic from the Goddess, we’ll be unstoppable.

She pats my arms, and I release her, watching like a hawk as she passes Jaro and heads straight for her Fomorian.

“I won’t fight you,” she whispers. “But I have some requests, if I can?”

She’s afraid. We can all feel it plain as day, and Caed shifts uncomfortably.

“Charm me into whatever it is, little queen, if it makes you feel better.”

It’s a huge concession to make—and an open-ended one. I approve.

“Please don’t let him touch my wings,” Rose begins. “And please don’t hurt anyone when you take me.”

That’s it? She’s left it wide open. He and his father could do anything to her. Kill her. Again .

“Dragonfly…”

“I know, Bree. I know.” Her lower lip trembles as she glances back at me. “But it’s got to be realistic, at least until we find Florian.”

It’s got to be realistic? She expects us to let her suffer ?

“Rhoswyn,” Drystan warns. “You are not going to be harmed. If he touches one hair on your head?—”

“You’ll do nothing.” Rose stares him down. “Not until you know for certain that we can get all of the fae prisoners to safety.”

“Florian would rather die than let you get hurt,” Jaro growls. “He swore an oath as a knight?—”

“He has a mate, Jaro.” Rose turns that guileless expression on him next. “Can you not see how perfect he and Prae are for one another? Gryffin will make both of them lighten up, and?—”

“This is why the plan needs work,” Drystan insists. “You think the redcap is going to stand by if you’re afraid? You think any of us will?”

Lore shrugs. “Anyone who raises a blade to my pet dies. The fun way.”

Goddess, I don’t even want to know what that entails.

“If we’re doing this,” the dullahan continues. “I want you out of Elatha’s reach, along with the Fomorian, as soon as his orders are fulfilled.”

“Agreed,” Jaro adds quickly.

Rose doesn’t fight them. “Okay.”

“That stuff can wait,” Lore announces. “Our pretty pet isn’t spending her first night as a mated female stuck in a war room with stuffy advisers.”

“I’m… not?” Rose’s cheeks heat under the intensity of five very male stares.

Even I manage a rare smile at the way her heart starts to race and her nipples tighten into little buds that have nothing to do with the cold.

Jaro’s smile is positively wolfish with glee. “We came to an agreement while you were asleep yesterday.”

She’s blinking in confusion, because we’re all shooting looks at Caed, whose double-pointed ears are turning a deep navy like he’s blushing too.

A bolt of envy hits me hard, but I bat it away. I may not be able to give Rose my first time, or my second, or even my hundredth, but she’s the only female I’ll ever touch again. That’s worth just as much.

Drystan sighs when it becomes clear we’re going to make him tell her. “If you agree, we’re all happy for the Fomorian to join us tonight.”

Rose’s mouth falls open, and Lore helpfully reaches out with one finger to close it for her.

“You’ll catch flies,” he tsks.

“Join us as in…” Rose finally stammers.

“I just want to touch you.” Caed looks so hesitant. “Nothing more. Nothing to do with your wings. You don’t even have to touch me.”

“And you can say no,” Jaro insists. “If you’re not ready.”

Rose shoots one last disbelieving look at Drystan…

And then launches herself into the Fomorian’s arms, kissing the ever-living daylights out of him.