Page 20 of The Dark Will Fall (Twilight Lake #5)
Maeve Cruinn
The attendant directed us to the dark staircase, with twists and turns I hadn’t seen before. The never-ending rooms were gone, replaced by a labyrinth of steps.
We emerged in the foyer of a stone castle, in the process of being claimed by the mountain on which it stood.
Manannán mac Lir was nowhere to be seen.
Neither Cormac nor I spoke as we were led to our room for the night. The tension was so heavy that it pressed on the back of my neck like a boot. Cormac had been alone in the Tuatha Dé Danann, though he didn’t seem worse for it. On the other hand, I was coated in dry, tacky blood and ready to drop.
The room was better than I expected, with sturdy wooden furniture and thick woolen bed covers.
I wanted more than anything to fall face-first into the bed, but my questions had manifested in a painful kind of indigestion that made it hard to breathe.
Cormac had been my only constant since arriving at the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the idea that he knew about Tor, Shay, and Rainn without speaking a word left a sour taste in my mouth.
I sat on the end of the bed, breathing deeply through my nose to try to calm myself.
The blood from the wolf attack had left my sleeves stiff.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I whispered. “When you realized I had forgotten about them?”
Cormac remained standing. The hand he dragged along the armoire clenched into a fist. “It seemed better that way.”
“Why?” I pleaded. “Because you wanted to be the only one?”
He laughed bitterly. “As if I care about that.”
“Then why?”
Cormac did not face me as he spoke. “Because I didn’t want to see you hurt. If this condition is permanent , there is no use dwelling on the Aos Sí. If you didn’t remember them, then you couldn’t miss them.”
“But you remember them?” My throat was thick with unshed tears.
“Of course I do.” Cormac took a shaky breath.
“Right now, they’re in danger. They might very well join us in a matter of days if Balor has her way.
The Tuatha Dé Danann is unfamiliar territory, and we can’t trust a single being here.
My kingdom is without a ruler, and Balor is in the Twilight Lake just waiting to take it!
” he roared, slamming his fist onto the dresser.
“Do you have any idea how powerless I felt at the lake when Manannán mac Lir snapped his fingers and you melted into nothing? I had no idea where you’d gone. If you even existed anymore.”
“It was a trial.” I winced.
“I don’t trust that bastard.” He began to pace. “King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, my arse!”
I rolled my eyes. “The Tuatha Dé Danann seems to go through a lot of Kings.”
“Kings, queens.” He flung his hands up, exasperated. “None of these gods can decide on a gender!”
“Belisama said they’re energy,” I told him. “They don’t have physical manifestations. They don’t exist in the physical realm. Not like the Aos Sí.”
“It feels real,” Cormac grumbled, pacing.
I pushed my hands through my hair, tugging at the strands. “How long has it been in the Aos Sí? Years could have passed by now, and Balor could have taken the whole lake.”
Cormac arched a brow. “Aside from worrying about your Shíorghrá, is Balor ruling the lake such a bad thing?”
“Cormac—” I snarled.
He held up his hand. “You don’t want to rule Cruinn. Who would want to rule a bunch of Undine who have ridiculed and mocked you your whole life?”
“Balor isn’t fit to rule.” I snapped.
“And you are?”
“I have to protect them. I have to protect the lake.” I growled, fists clenched and jaw hard. “My mother gave safety to the creeds of the Twilight Lake. You saw what the Dark King did to those Kelpies.”
“And you can protect them?” He asked gently.
My eyes narrowed. “If I have to.”
He approached the bed, sitting by my side, knee to knee. Noses almost touching. I panted with anger, my palm itching to slap him. To goad him, as he had so successfully goaded me.
“What about Tarsainn?” I cocked my head to the side. “Aren’t you worried about the Mer being ruled in your stead?”
Cormac’s brows disappeared into his hairline. “I don’t rule. I never have. My mother used to give me a trident and point me at a problem. I was a weapon, not a king.”
His statement rang so close to my own situation, it was hard to ignore the hollow feeling in my chest that his words caused.
“But it is my duty to protect the Mer.” His chin jutted.
“I’m not ready to die yet,” I told him.
“I don’t think it’s up to us.” Cormac reached out and cupped my cheek, his eyes soft.
“We’re going home.” I nodded staunchly.
“Of course.” He mirrored the action. “Rainn Shallows is going to fuck everything up somehow. It’s our duty to stop that happening.”
“Cormac!” I chided, slapping his chest.
The golden-haired male caught my hand and tugged me toward him. He pressed his lips against mine, and all thoughts evaporated. My fist clasped the fabric of his tunic, clinging to him, frightened he would disappear the moment I let go.
My fear of the Mistéireach had not truly left me. Though my hands were steady, I was shaken. Cormac seemed to sense that, breaking the kiss only to scoop me up and hold me to his chest.
He laid my head on the pillow, looking at my face with a soft reverence. Though I’d had to face the Mistéireach alone, it would have been easier with Cormac by my side. Even if all he did was complain the entire time.
I’d never imagined that I would have missed the sound of his voice.
He climbed into bed beside me, pulling the covers over us both. We lay face to face, nose to nose.
Cormac had been alone while I had been sent to the Mistéireach . I had no idea what Manannán mac Lir had said or done in my absence. A strange kind of darkness had settled in Cormac’s gaze that made me frightened to ask.
I reached up and cupped his face, pressing my lips against his. His warmth, the hard muscles of his chest, and the rough skin of his jaw stubble—even the scent of his skin—I wanted to sink down into him and never come up for air.
His fingers danced over my shoulders before moving down my body to settle at the small of my back. He pulled my body to his. My hard nipples pressed against his chest, with only a thin layer of fabric between us.
“Too many clothes,” I said breathlessly.
Cormac chuckled his agreement and pulled my blouse over my head, tossing it to the floor.
Soon, we were naked, covered only by the thin sheet on the bed.
He leaned in, head tilted, as he kissed me again.
Hard and deep. Determined to taste every inch of my mouth.
His hardness pressed against my stomach, pinned between our bodies.
I squirmed, every inch of my body strangely restless. He hadn’t even touched me, but I was desperate to feel him inside of me. To feel the entirety of his length, until I had no idea where he ended and I began.
I breathed his name against his lips. The calluses on his fingers made my stomach flutter as his hand traveled down my body. He stroked my thigh, coaxing me to open my legs, though I didn’t need much convincing.
I reached out to touch him, too. My fingertips brushed over the contours of his muscular stomach and the hard planes of his chest. His heartbeat quickened under my touch, and I knew mine sounded the same—nervous, excited. My cheeks warmed at the knowledge that he felt the same as I did.
My hand moved south, and I grasped him, though my fingers did not meet as I wrapped my hand around his cock.
I looked down, watching the action as I pumped his member with slow and deliberate motion, watching the head of his cock weep a single tear of precum.
He twitched under my gaze, seeming to grow harder.
Wetness surged between my legs, though he made no move to touch me beyond the gentle caress of my thigh.
It was my turn to please him, to explore his body the way he had explored mine.
His gaze darkened with hunger as I continued my study of his cock, pumping him with a teasing speed.
Finally, Cormac broke free from his self-imposed stillness and took my lips with his.
His kiss was punishing, as he rolled me onto my back and settled between my legs.
I used my grip on his cock to rub his leaking head against my wetness, circling my cliterois.
He did not break our kiss as he plunged inside of me, stealing my breath. Right to the hilt. I was full of him, every inch of my skin burning with pleasure, though he hadn’t moved a muscle. I arched my hips to meet him, seeking the friction that only he could give me.
“Cormac…” I whispered, gripping his golden hair in my fist. “Fecking move!”
Cormac pulled away, leaving only the head of his cock inside of me, before he surged in again. “You feel so good, Princess.” He smirked wickedly, against my lips.
The heat built, and my muscles locked as my orgasm coiled inside of me like a poisonous viper ready to strike.
My fingers tightened, grasping his shoulders as he pumped inside of me, hard enough that I felt him in my lower stomach.
I moved my legs, deeper, faster, my head swam as pleasure swept me away like a tidal wave.
As my walls clenched around him, Cormac held himself inside of me, throbbing with his release.
I was able to get some sleep, although I didn’t have any dreams.
When I woke, the same storm clouds rolled across the sky, visible through the glass windows. Cormac sat on the end of the bed, deep in thought, his brows pursed as he stared into the distance.
Before I could speak, a single knock announced the arrival of a visitor. Cormac eased himself to his feet, walking to the door with a relaxed ease that I seldom saw in the Mer. Cormac Illfinn was a strutter.
The Mer opened the door just a crack. When he spoke, it was barely above a whisper.
I realized he thought I was still asleep.
A moment passed, and he closed the door, turning back to the bed.
He closed his eyes and loosened a deep sigh before dragging his gaze to mine. His expression did not change when he noticed I was awake.
“The Quorum is starting soon.” He told me. “We should head up.”
I nodded, swinging my legs off the bed and standing up. I made no move to cover my naked body, and though I knew we didn’t have time to entertain our desires, a small thrill shot through me when Cormac’s gaze darkened. Whatever had troubled him before was a thing of the past.
“You fecking with me, Princess?” He growled.
I smiled sweetly. “Just getting dressed.”