Page 22

Shy

Rhys takes my hand as we enter the most sacred chamber in the temple. “This is the space where we would perform our rituals. Where we would be together.”

I like how he calls them our rituals. Something has changed inside me since the moment I realized I could help Fae Neil, that I wasn’t merely helpless to do anything but talk to spirits. I feel…settled. Ready.

Our rituals involve sex. Love. Communion of the most intimate kind.

I’ve literally held other souls in my body and yet I do not know what it feels like to join bodies with the man I love.

“It is also the place with the biggest bed, and we should think about that,”

a familiar voice says. Lee has followed us around. We managed to shake Cassie and her brother in the small kitchens. Not that there was a ton of food in there. Or at least there hadn’t been until Rhys brushed his fingers over the potted fruit trees and shriveled remains of what had once been a garden. The vegetables and fruits had bloomed, growing in seconds as they soaked up Rhys’s unique energy. Brendan whined since Rhys can’t exactly grow him a pizza, but luckily his sister was prepared. She’d delighted in the peaches she found while tossing her brother some beef jerky.

But we still have Lee with us. He’s holding on even after he showed Sasha how to get out with the best chance of getting away from the guards.

Seeing Sasha disappear into the stables without a bunch of arrows going his way was a huge relief.

But now I kind of want to be alone with my…everything.

“It’s getting late. We can all bed down in here for a few hours and head out in the morning.”

Lee eyes the space critically, nose wrinkling at the sight of the stream that flows through the large chamber at the heart of the temple. “Though I’m wary about the water. They could send something through.”

“Not unless they want to excavate about sixty feet down.”

Rhys has a frown on his gorgeous face. “It’s actually an underground stream. This is the only place in the sithein where the water is on the surface. Also, the temple would keep out anything it considered impure, including anything with malicious intentions. Which is why your father no longer has access to it.”

“Yeah, I know about that part, but I don’t want to underestimate Myrddin. We should stick together,”

Lee announces.

“I intend to bed my goddess here and very soon,”

Rhys replies back, and he looks my way as though waiting for me to protest.

I give him a simple smile.

Lee’s lips kick up in a grin. “Yes, I am well aware. It’s going to be very helpful to all of our plans. Proceed, brother. I like a good fertility ritual. Do you need any…”

A thick vine wraps around Lee’s waist and begins dragging him from the room.

“Have you thought at all about what will happen when we begin?”

Rhys asks. “If you’re not in the right room, you’ll be affected by it, and she really is far too young. I will kill you if you touch Cassie.”

His eyes narrow. “Or her brother.”

“I was joking. Mostly. I am prepared for your magic. There’s a room in the temple that is shielded. As I said before the palace is under some heavy wards, though I suspect they’ll still feel it.”

He sighs. “Fine. But you’re really no fun. I bet I’m a ton of fun in your timeline.”

“You are a pain in my ass,”

Rhys replies as he gestures toward the door. The minute Lee is out, the door slams closed, and I hear the sound of a lock sliding into place. He turns to me. “Now that the riffraff is taken care of, you can tell me what happened. You were locked into some kind of spell with Myrddin.”

I would rather he throw himself on me, but I can understand his worry. I look around the chamber. It’s lit with soft lights from above. I can’t see them so I have to believe they’re magical. They make the room glow. The sacred space comprises three levels. There’s the stream below us, with a large bathing pool in the center that the water flows into and out of. It’s got stone flooring and steps down to what is a beautifully done cabana. “It wasn’t a spell. It was a battle. What did it look like?”

We’re standing on the second level. There’s an altar with a bowl and candles and various offerings long since turned to dust. I suspect St. John’s wort, marigolds, and such were once offered here by those who wanted to benefit from the Green Man and his goddess.

“Like the two of you were frozen in place,”

Rhys explains, his eyes steady on me. “I tried to get to you but there was some kind of energy that kept me away.”

That ancient warmth I felt, the one that I know is mine and yet I cannot give it a name. “We were fighting over Neil’s soul. When he died, I realized I could spare his soul by taking him into mine. Myrddin seems to have some kind of spell that drags spirits to him since he didn’t actively pull Neil until I stopped the flow.”

“You’ve never done that before and you’ve seen people die.”

Rhys is almost too still, like a predator who worries his prey will run if he moves too quickly.

I have no intention of running. Not tonight. We can play that out later.

Why was I ever afraid of this? Am I coming to accept my sexual needs? Needs I refused to think about for so very long. Or perhaps I’m being affected by this sacred place meant for sex. Either way, I don’t care. Desire is a drug in my veins and one I fear I can easily get addicted to. I glance up at that third floor. The one with the big bed and what looks like soft, warm quilts. It’s dark up there, but we don’t need much light. “The souls I’ve seen either moved on or chose to stay. I’ve never been in a position where a soul could be destroyed or imprisoned. It was an instinct to save him.”

He moves slowly into my space, his big body looming over mine. “That was power, Shy. Raw, unfiltered power. Everyone felt it. I swear it stopped the fighting briefly because it slammed into all of us. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

And he’s worried. “I can handle it. I know it seems sudden, but I’m not afraid of it. It’s like when I broke free of your vines. I suddenly knew what to do. What questions to ask in that case. I didn’t work my will. Simply asked if the vine wouldn’t mind helping me out.”

“By dying.”

“By turning early.”

For the first time in hours I feel insecurity slip in. “I didn’t kill it. It isn’t truly gone.”

He holds a hand up as though he knows what’s going on in my head. “I did not mean dying is bad. It’s natural, but up until now all of your powers have been in talking to the dead. What happened today goes far beyond a medium. Shy, can you feel the dead here? From what I understand the king hasn’t been allowed inside in a long time.”

I close my eyes and send out that part of me that senses the dead things of the world. “There are many creatures buried around the grounds, but they’re at peace. This is not a place for the restless dead. This is a place of life. This is where they come when they are ready for the wheel to turn.”

His lips kick up in a sweet grin. “You’ve spent too much time with the witches. You talk like a witch now. The next thing I know you’ll be doing shadow work and surrounding us with crystals.”

I shake my head. “It feels right. And I know I’m correct about this place. There are no restless dead in the temple or on the grounds right now. But the palace is out of balance. The dead have their place. Even the restless ones. I think I know what Myrddin is doing.”

“I don’t want to think about him tonight, Shy. I know we should go downstairs and join the others and plan,”

he begins.

I do not want that. “Or we could bring this temple back to life and show this sithein what they are missing. The temple needs you. Can’t you feel it?”

His eyes darken, the green of the deepest forest. “In my soul. The temple wants an offering. It’s been many years since a high priest brought his magic here. Brought his goddess here and shared their love with it. This temple magnifies our magic.”

I don’t correct him the way I would have a mere day before. It is our magic. Like Ostara said. We are opposites and feed each other, nurture each other in a way we cannot on our own, could not with anyone else in all the planes.

“What exactly does that mean?”

My question comes out on a breathy sigh. “Lee said something about wards.”

“I suspect the king has warded against all kinds of magic. You saw even the servants wore talisman and charms. If they weren’t protected, then a ceremony like what we’re about to perform would be felt throughout the sithein. However, I’m grateful for the wards since there’s an evil version of my father out there who I don’t want horny and wild. Lee told me the wards don’t extend to the dungeons since they use magic to torture prisoners.”

I gasp, understanding what he’s trying to tell me. “Your father and Ostara will take in our magic.”

“It will strengthen them, and there will be nothing their captors can do about it. This magic slips in and out and finds who needs it the most. It will bring the palace grounds back to their former glory.”

More than that. “It will bring hope to the ones who need it.”

“Shy, I don’t want you to do this to save someone else.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not doing it for the sake of the sithein. I’m doing it because I want you. I know I’ve been reluctant, and it was all about my fear. I’m done with fear. I worried I couldn’t stand on my own because Harry was with me all those years, but I was wrong. He was good to me, but he wasn’t my power. My power has always been inside me. It isn’t a scary thing. It simply is. I am it and it is me, and we have always been.”

“When you talk like that, I’m the one who is scared because I realize we haven’t begun to find the depths of your power. When you talk like that, I know we’re not even sure what you are yet.”

He’s right, and he should have a choice. “Will you find out with me? Or wait and see?”

His stare goes hard, and his hands tighten on me. “I will allow nothing to separate us, Shahidi. I mean it. I will leave you alone if you do not want me sexually. I will keep my distance if your heart does not want mine, but I will protect you always. You will always be my goddess even if I am not your god.”

I was never afraid of him. I was afraid of loving him so much I would be destroyed if I lost him or hurt him.

But he is worth the risk. I go on my toes, my lips so close to his. “Then explore with me. Fight this fight with me. Be the one thing I never have to compromise on. Make me yours in the eyes of your people.”

I am already his where it truly counts. In my heart. But he is a leader and there are rituals.

His mouth finds mine, lips soft at first, and then I feel his will. It’s there in the way his tongue licks along the seam of my lips, how it invades when I welcome it inside, sliding along mine in a silky glide that somehow has a straight track to my pussy.

Heat pools there, anticipation that suddenly knows it will be fulfilled this time.

He steps back, and for a second I stare at him. Marveling in his beauty. Thick black hair that brushes past his broad shoulders. He pulls his tunic over his head, tossing it away, and there is such lust in his eyes. The god inside is not like his father’s. Bris is a separate entity, but Rhys is a fertility deity all on his own, and yet that part of him has been suppressed for so long, there’s a sweet madness around him now.

He holds out a hand and starts up the stairs toward the bed. “Come with me.”

A command and one I’m more than willing to follow. I let him lead me to what is obviously a space meant for pleasure. As we reach the landing, soft candlelight flares to life, and I see what I did not before. What I thought were curtains are hundreds of pixies. Wings of all colors and sizes flutter against the window, moonlight joining the candles to illuminate this space where we will join our lives and magic together.

Life and death. Spring and autumn.

Rhys and Shy.

The window has no glass in it, but like the palace there’s a magical barrier. I can feel a warm breeze, but if Rhys wills it the temple will close itself off. For now it lets in the light from the moon and the stars, the sweet scent of night-blooming flowers caressing my senses.

His face falls suddenly, and a low groan goes through him. “Shy, my pack is back in the palace. Damn it.”

His pack. With all the helpful items he brought along. Condoms. There’s no pulling out with a fertility god. The pill doesn’t work either.

But I asked the vine if it didn’t mind moving on early. I have control of my body. I turn the wheel.

Damn. I am not human. Or rather I am human and something more. “It’s okay, Rhys. I’m not ready for a child. I won’t be for a while.”

Our powers are complementary. They only work on each other when we wish them to. I feel it so keenly that I know it’s true.

“You can stop me.”

There’s a slight smile on his lips. Admiration.

“I can decide. Our bodies are wheels, too. I decide when I’m ready, and no gorgeous fertility god can get around my will.”

I move into his space this time. He has never had control over this part of his magic. His father hadn’t either. It was only when he took on Bris that Dev Quinn could control some of it. “I am your control, Rhys. I am your goddess.”

“My magic flows from you.”

“And mine flows from you.”

We are like the stream that runs through the temple. We meet in the middle, our magic forming a pool we can drink from, luxuriate in, draw from. We do not have to fear our magic. I would not have found this magic without Rhys Donovan-Quinn, and his would be out of control without me.

“You are sure?”

Rhys asks, his whole body taut but his eyes hot on me.

As sure as I can be. I know it deep in my soul, the same way I know we were meant to come here. Myrddin might have tricked us, but there is a greater purpose at work.

The wizard really should remember the rule of three. But that is a thought for another night.

I nod.

“Then you should be undressed, my goddess.”

I take a deep breath, ready to begin.