Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Aodhan stepped off the bed to pull on his pants before slipping beneath the covers and motioning for Sierra to sit with him. Sierra slid under the covers, leaning her head back on his shoulder.
“So, on Friday, we were supposed to have our date. I spent a little extra time getting ready, because I wanted to take you to this really fancy restaurant Braan had told me about. He knew about our date because I had asked him to arrange some things while we were out so I could take you back to my place after.” He took a deep breath.
“Everything was going well until I got to the library just before closing, and you weren’t there.
I asked Mona, and she said you had been there, but maybe you had left a few minutes early because it was slow.
But when I went into the break room and saw your messenger bag, I knew something was wrong right away.
” It was Sierra’s turn to take a deep breath as the events of that night flickered behind her eyes, but she kept quiet; her time to talk would come later.
“Before panicking completely, I checked the bathrooms and the microfilm room, just in case you had ventured away from your usual duties.
But by the time Mona was ready to lock up, I knew something had happened during your shift.
I took your messenger bag with me and went to your place to see if you had gone home sick enough to forget your bag or something.
“But then you weren’t there either, and I really started to panic.
You are a creature of habit, and I couldn’t think of anywhere else you could possibly be other than the places I had already checked, especially because you always stuck to the plans we made previously, even when I was late. So, then I went to Braan.
“Braan helped me call the Dublin police, just in case it was someone human who had taken you, so they would be looking for you there. But deep down, I already knew. My father had gotten tired of waiting and must’ve sent someone to collect you.”
“Did he know what I looked like?” Sierra asked.
Aodhan nodded. “Before I left for Dublin, I had made a sketch. You hadn’t meant anything to me then, and I didn’t realize then how dangerous that could be.
“I asked Braan and Kaye to stay there in case you came back and that I would ‘call’ them using the waters as soon as I reached my father's place in Sidhe.”
“But you never made it,” Sierra surmised.
“No, my father had anticipated my every move. They were waiting for me when I crossed the border into Sidhe.”
“Who was?”
“Guards from Cuileann. My father had labeled me as a dangerous criminal and said to detain me by force until further notice.”
Sierra’s eyes widened. “How did you get free then?”
“Well, that’s the thing: while my father had labeled me as a criminal and asked the Cuileann advisor, Fearghal, to hold me until further notice, Cuileann is its own province, and they have their own laws.
They believe in a fair trial system, similar to the ones in the human world, and when requests for elaboration on my crime went unanswered, they eventually let me go.
I didn’t know how many days had passed, but I assumed I was there for four or five days.
“At first, I went back to my father’s place in Fuinseog, but I knew that if he saw me, I would be in trouble, so I used a servant’s entrance to see Slaine, who I knew could help me figure out where you had gone, and she told me that she had been in contact with Aislan.
She wasn’t sure where he was planning to take you, and she isn’t one of the few people who knows about this place.
So the next part was just by chance, but I decided to come here to hide out, get some sleep, and plan my next move.
Then I saw the rope was up, and I thought maybe I had guessed right and Aislan had brought you here.
“And here we are.” He smiled, gripping me a bit tighter. “Now it’s your turn.”
“Before I begin, let me just specify that next time we are separated and I’m not expecting you, please don’t just get into bed with me, that was terrifying.”
“Noted,” Aodhan replied. “But know that I don’t intend to be separated from you ever again.”
“As much as I wish that were true, you know as well as I do that it’s bound to happen at some point.”
“Fine,” groaned Aodhan, clearly not liking the idea of being separated. “Now continue with your story.”
“Well, some of it is…muddled, because I was drugged or knocked out.” Sierra felt Aodhan stiffen below her as a low snarl emerged from his lips, displaying his displeasure at the thought of Sierra being hurt.
“But best as I can tell, I was taken from work Friday night, a little before closing, but whoever took me drugged me almost immediately, so I was out until Saturday morning…I think.”
“When I awoke again, I was in the trunk of a car, and then I slept more until I was taken out sometime during the day, likely at the entrance to Sidhe. I was blindfolded and bound, so the man who took me practically had to drag me across the border.
“Once we crossed into Sidhe, he put me into a cart, and I was taken to your father’s home, or at least I assume it was your father’s home.”
“If it is where you saw Slaine, then yes, it is.”
“I was prepped for some ritual that Conlan was convinced would break the Fae curse, but either it didn’t work, or Conlan saw my skin and thought that my condition was the reason it wouldn’t work.”
At the mention of her skin, Aodhan reached down, running his hand over her arm. “Your skin, it’s clear.” His eyes were wide.
“Yeah, you didn’t notice before when I was naked?” Sierra asked incredulously.
Aodhan reached his hand down to touch her thigh, clearly surprised by the smooth skin he felt there. “No. When I’m with you…I can’t explain it, but it's your soul that I am attracted to, not your body. I’m too distracted by who you are as a person to notice something trivial like your skin.”
Sierra turned to look at Aodhan, her eyebrows raised.
“I mean, I find your body beautiful as well, but beauty is a subjective thing. You are the most beautiful woman in the world to me in the way you speak, think, and breathe. I am happy that you are more comfortable with the way you look now, but I am attracted to you no matter your appearance.”
Sierra felt herself blushing, “I-I’m flattered.”
Aodhan placed a kiss on the top of her head. “Now tell me what happened next.”
Sierra continued the story, telling Aodhan all about the dungeon, as well as her time with Slaine. Eventually, she got to the part where Aislan rescued her and their trek through the jungle.
“And now, I’m here,” she finished, with a fake flourish.
Aodhan was silent for a few minutes, clearly taking in everything she had said, his arm running a languid path up and down her arm.
“I know this might be hard for you, but can you tell me exactly what ritual my father was performing? I’m trying to figure out what prophecy he thinks he’s fulfilling. ”
“He, uh, took some of my blood, twice, while I was tied down to this stone podium.” Aodhan’s grip on Sierra’s arm grew tight—so tight that Sierra had to wrap her own hand around his to get him to loosen his grip. “It’s okay, I’m okay, I survived, and I’m here,” she whispered, to calm Aodhan.
“I know,” he said at last. “I just can’t believe he thought he could hurt you and get away with it.”
“You have to remember, Aodhan, that not everyone knows how you feel about me.”
Aodhan opened his mouth to argue, then quickly shut it again, and Sierra knew she was right.
As if someone had been listening from the other side of the door for a good time to intervene, Aodhan and Sierra were interrupted by knocking.
“Isteach,” Aodhan called, and Braan poked his head in the door.
“While I’m glad to see you two catching up, we really do need to plan what we are going to do next.”
“You’re right,” Aodhan agreed. “Give us a moment to get dressed and we will be right out.”
Braan closed the door. “I’m timing you, so just one minute is all you get,” he called through the closed door, clearly reading both Sierra and Aodhan’s minds, both of which were currently contemplating if they could have a second round before it was time to join the others.
“We will have more time for that later, I promise,” Aodhan said as he stood from the bed and pulled on a shirt, before heading to the closet and tossing some leggings to Sierra. “Those will probably be a bit big, but I’d rather my friends not see you in just that shirt.”
Sierra slid on the pants, which, indeed, would barely stay on.
Crossing the room, she peeked into the closet until she found a pair of pants with laces similar to what Aodhan was wearing.
She eased the chord from the pants, tying it around the top of the pants as a makeshift belt to keep her pants in place.
“This will hold for now, but it probably won’t work for when we travel from here.”
Aodhan nodded, clasping her hand in his and heading for the door. “We will cross that bridge when we get to it, okay?” Opening the door, the two of them stepped into the common room to join the others.