Chapter 29
Cillian
I haven’t slept. Sleep was impossible after I made love to her for the first time.
But I don’t want to push her too fast, so I let her sleep through the night, kissing the back of her neck to wake her only when the sun is fully up.
There’s still half an hour before she needs to get up, and selfishly I want her again before I leave.
She turns in my arms, blinking up at me as I move over her easily, settling between her thighs, my cock nudging her entrance. She smiles sleepily.
‘Niamh?’ I ask, and when she nods, I slide easily into her. Her lips form a surprised ‘O’ as her legs wrap around my waist. I keep my thrusts slow and deep, our lovemaking sleepy and apparently spontaneous. Though I’ve been planning this for hours.
I don’t stop kissing her as we move together, bitterly regretting my choices over the past four years.
Why did I push her away like I did? Vittoria was constantly telling me how selfish I was, always choosing my duty to the Court over her.
But that wasn’t the reason. All along I’ve been stalling in the hope that…
I don’t know. That something would change, that having Niamh wouldn’t mean I had to give up everything else.
But that’s where we are now. And I’m not sure I’m going to regret it.
I will never be king if I choose Niamh, and yet the sacrifice is worth it. On a personal level, at least.
I have to go back and face the Court again.
They might even have made a decision in my absence.
Without uttering any words, I’ve chosen Niamh with my actions.
But there is no way out of here for her, apart from through the Court, and Vittoria has already made her guilt appear to be the only sensible way to interpret the events of that night.
I realise that if the Court takes my position as Huntsman from me, then I will no longer be able to visit Niamh here, if she stays. I must fight to remain the Huntsman. And persuade her not to risk facing a trial in a Court corrupted by the Rialis.
‘Cillian?’
I blink down at Niamh, who is staring up at me. Her hands are on my hips, holding me still.
‘Come back to me.’
I nod. ‘I’m sorry. I was just—’
‘Worrying about what the Court will decide?’
‘Yes.’
I lean my forehead against hers and start to move again. This time determined to focus on her. She winces as I thrust a little harder, and I stop.
‘Don’t stop,’ she says. ‘I’m just—’
But I pull out and sit up, reaching for the pillows. ‘Turn over.’
She frowns but does as she’s told, and I push the pillows in under her stomach.
‘Head down,’ I say, running my hand down her spine.
‘Cillian,’ she murmurs, a little confused, but a hand on her back keeps her in place as my cock nudges her entrance and she groans as I sink inside her, my hands gripping her firm arse.
I want to do this every morning and every night from now on.
I will never get enough of the way this woman makes me feel.
She circles her hips and pushes back, my cock sliding in deep.
I watch my body move easily in and out of hers, loving seeing her spread in front of me for the taking.
Her echoing gasp makes me smile as she gives me what I need, without needing to be taught anymore.
I lean over her, sliding one hand around the soft skin of her thigh to reach her clit and continue to thrust slowly in and out of her welcoming body as I feel her excitement build, her body tensing, reaching for an orgasm she’s not yet ready to have and I’m not ready to give her.
‘Relax,’ I say, kissing the back of her neck, then biting into the soft flesh where it meets her shoulder. ‘And just enjoy.’
She gasps as I take my time, pushing deeper inside her than I have before with this new angle. I stroke up the length of her spine with my hand.
‘Cillian,’ she whispers, reaching back towards me. I move then, taking both her hands and leaning over her, interlacing my fingers with hers, pinning her hands to the bed beside her head. Inside her pussy, my cock is moving over and over that sweet spot, and her pleasure builds.
‘Please,’ she whispers, shifting her hips, trying to escape the intensity of the sensations, but I don’t let her.
She cries out, a long, low wail as her whole body peaks and shudders.
I hold myself still for a moment as her body practically strangles my cock, then she collapses spent onto the pillows.
But I’m far from done with her. I lift her hips with my hands and pull her back to meet me, thrust for thrust. I watch as her fingers grasp onto the duvet for a moment, then let go as another orgasm crests.
There’s no resistance left in her as I keep up my pace until, finally, I collapse on top of her as I reach my own peak.
We lie together until all I can hear in the room is her breathing as it slows.
Her body under mine, comforting rather than passionate, is unlike anything I’ve experienced with other women, and it’s this I want more of. This sense of peace and … joy. Having nearly lost her, I’m sure now that I would be willing to give up anything to have this woman by my side forever.
But as it stands, there is no way to get her out of here – unless she’s willing to face The Unseelie Court for killing Kin – the outcome of which is both predictable and fatal, and not an option.
I move off her, adjusting the pillow so that we can lie spooned together once more, and we lie there for a while. I wonder if this will be the last time we’re together. Would fate actually be that cruel – to wait until we’ve finally got together then force us apart?
‘You’re thinking again, aren’t you?’ she asks.
‘Just that we’re going to need a bigger bed,’ I say, and she laughs, tracing invisible patterns on the backs of my hand.
‘Let me come with you?’ she whispers.
‘Absolutely not.’
‘Cillian, please. How can I defend myself if I don’t even go to the trial?’
‘If you don’t go, then there won’t be a trial. And if you do go… You didn’t see them the last time. The way Vittoria presented the evidence…
‘Yes. Even you started to believe I was guilty?’
I smile against her shoulder, and she shivers. ‘She twisted everything. It all sounded so plausible.’
‘Cillian?’
‘What, Gléigeal?’
‘Do you trust me?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then trust me to come with you. This is what I do, this is who I am.’
‘Rose said… Rose said she didn’t remember enough to contradict any of what Vittoria said.’
‘You saw Rose?’
‘Yes.’
‘So, she knows about Matt?’
‘Yes.’
‘Oh, Cillian. Just tell her the truth this time. And trust me, trust us. Please. I shouldn’t be condemned for what I did. And the knife … what if that ending up in my hand was someone else’s magic? Let me challenge this and fight to get my life back.’
‘I’ll think about it,’ I say, and her face falls. She knows I mean no. Not wanting to ruin this morning with a pointless argument, I get out of bed and head for the shower.
* * *
Declan clearly doesn’t expect Niamh to be back on catering duty so soon after her brush with death, so I leave her sitting on the jetty after a brunch cooked by Brother Duncan. She has a book in her hand, but I know she hasn’t actually turned a page since she sat down half an hour ago.
‘You’ll come back?’ she asks, standing up to hug me, but refusing to make eye contact.
‘As soon as I can,’ I promise, but we both know I might not make it. I kiss her, hating that I have to prise her fingers from my jacket so I can leave. But she doesn’t say another word. Doesn’t ask again to come with me – or ask for promises I can’t keep.
* * *
I shake my head when I push through the thin place in the chapel and emerge into the Court chamber. I look around realising that I’ve come back at virtually the same time as I left. Right in the centre of the Court with every eye on me.
A door thuds, and I look towards it, surprised to see Rose enter. She frowns at the door, opens it and peers back into the corridor, and I suspect that the Court chamber is playing tricks on her and that she thought she was getting to leave.
‘Dammit,’ she curses, stomping across the floor back to her seat.
‘You’re back?’ Vittoria fixes her cold eyes on me, ‘Is there anything about your previous statements that you’d like to change, Cillian? The Court can be very forgiving when it wants to be.’
We observe one another across the chamber. There’s a hum in the atmosphere that I don’t think was here when I left, and I look around, trying to work out the source of it. I notice Alec Carruth looking around, too, as well as MacGowan, so I know it’s not just me who can hear it.
‘What have I missed?’ I ask.
‘Nothing at all,’ says Vincenzo. ‘Looks like the Court is very keen for you to speak on this matter, and for the rest of us not to have our time wasted.’
‘I’m sure Cillian has some new information to consider since he left,’ Vittoria says smugly. ‘He may even have had a change of heart, in which case, once we resolve the small matter of why my brother’s murderer is still breathing, we can all go home.’
‘Matt didn’t kill Chris!’ Rose states, standing up.
‘He was found desecrating the body,’ Vittoria states. ‘Drenched in his victim’s blood. If you had seen it, Rose, then you’d never trust him again.’
‘He was trying to save him,’ Rose says through gritted teeth.
‘Christopher was immersed in water when he died. It was instrumental as a cause of his death. Matt is water Kin.’
‘And? So are a lot of Kinfolk.’
By this time, I’ve reached our alcove. I put my arm around Rose’s shoulder and kiss the side of her head, realising I’ve not shown any affection towards my sister since the night Matt died. The knowledge adds to my burgeoning sense of regret.
‘We will deal with this,’ I tell her quietly. ‘But not yet. After this, you should go to St Marnox and talk to Matt.’