Chapter 16
SEAN
The bombardment wouldn’t stop.
Stranger after stranger practically fell at his feet, praising his name, thanking the Mother for his return, worshipping him. Isobel had not prepared him for the onslaught, and the wine she’d given him had long since burned away, leaving him jittery and certain they had the wrong guy.
This couldn’t be his life now.
It was a comedy of chaos.
Bonfires dotted the forest as far as Sean could see, and figures danced around and around to the pagan music. His senses filled with drums and strings and haunting voices that would caress his dreams later that night.
Before his head had stopped spinning, Sean found himself facing a tall, thin man, with slick black hair and gold light at every edge.
“Caden Sidera,” he said, bowing deeply, tapping his temple twice.
“I prefer Sean,” he replied automatically.
The man returned to his full height. “I am Nish. Council leader.”
Sean’s stomach fell.
“I was hoping to have a word?”
“Oh, um—” He glanced backward in search of Isobel, but she was deep in conversation with someone else. Beyond her, Cole and Anna talked and laughed.
Everyone was at ease.
Everyone but him.
Nish took Sean’s elbow and guided him away from the thickest crowds. Deferential bows followed in his wake, but the man barely acknowledged them.
Once they’d reached an area more conducive to conversation, Nish faced Sean, smiling. “I cannot say how thrilled we are at your return,” he said. “When your mother absconded with you, we thought all hope was lost.”
“She thought she was doing the best thing for me,” Sean felt the need to point out.
Nish’s mouth tightened, a bare hint at irritation. “No matter. You are here now.”
He merely smiled.
“The other Council members are eager to make your acquaintance. Has your father discussed your role?”
“I—”
“You will sit on our Council as every Sidera has done before you.”
“O-okay,” Sean said.
Nish grinned, gazing at him like a trinket he’d thought lost forever. “We look forward to your presence when next we meet.” His attention caught on something behind Sean’s left shoulder, and his smile widened. “Ah. Lady Isobel.”
Isobel crept up to Sean, looping her arm around his.
Nish practically melted. “Fate finds a way, does it not?”
She dipped her head. “Indeed it does.”
Sean struggled to keep the smile on his face. He gripped Isobel’s hand too tightly, begging for an out. “Would you please excuse us?”
Before Nish answered, Sean dragged her away. He kept a vice grip on her acidic wrist as he strode from the fires, heart slamming in his chest. The darkness of the forest enveloped them, nothing but Luster sparking silver in the night.
He kept moving until the revelry faded, then whirled on her. “Why are they acting like that?”
Isobel’s eyes widened. “Like what?”
“This is—This is religious, Isobel. They’re paying homage, like I’m a…”
God.
He couldn’t get the word out. Couldn’t acknowledge he’d even thought it.
She reached for him as he retreated. “It’s hard to explain.”
Raging heat swirled inside, eclipsing everything. Those people had bowed and scraped and poured out their thanks. But thanks for what?
“They call me Savior, Isobel. What the fuck does that mean? There’s more to this than you’ve told me.”
“It’s just a nickname!”
“You are lying! What do you know?”
She took a deep breath, the vial at her throat rising and falling. “There’s so much I haven’t told you. It’s been two days, Sean. You have to be patient.”
The answer was a dodge, but voices traveled through the trees nearby, and Sean cringed at the idea of more praise, more smiles, more thanks.
These people didn’t know him. They had some idealized version of Caden Seán Sidera they’d invented in their heads, and he would never match their expectations.
Bel touched his arm. “If you want to escape, I can hide you.”
“Please.”
The celebration grew faint as they ran, until the roar of water replaced it.
Her fingers threaded through his, and they approached the precipice of a cliff.
The short crag crested over a river, and a half-moon waterfall spilled over the edge of rock opposite.
At the base, the water churned, and where it should have been frothy white, it glowed a faint blue.
The sky above, now blooming with puffs of purple galactic clouds, reflected on the water. A dazzling, inhuman landscape.
“This is the Onyx River. Beyond the river is pixie territory.” She led him toward the falls, where a small, worn path hugged the edge of the cliff.
It grew wet, narrowing into a ledge behind the waterfall.
As they entered the cave of water, blue light rippled against her skin.
The path descended until it met the edge of the river and opened into a small grotto covered in moss.
Bel turned to him and put one hand on her hip. “I used to come here as a girl.”
“You’re not going to tell me why they treat me like that, are you?”
She sighed. “Lhynion Sidera was well loved, Sean. They mourned when he was killed. They fought a war in his name. You look just like him.”
Sean peered into her face, searching for any sign of deception. Steady eyes gazed back. A small smile curved her pretty lips.
It hurt to look at her.
It hurt not to look at her.
“I wanted somewhere I truly belong. I wanted a family. I wanted my mother back. I wanted…” He swallowed, and it hurt too. “I don’t want this.”
A small measure of sympathy softened her gaze. “I don’t either.”
Sean raked his fingers through his hair. Nails dug into his scalp.
She took a slow step toward him. “You’re the lucky one here, Sean.
Autumn has to live up to the woman who led our armies into battle and won.
David is living down the iniquity in his bloodline.
I will sacrifice everything I am for this.
But you… You inherited loyalty and love, the destiny of a hero. You are our Savior.”
He shook his head. “I’m not. You can’t know…”
“The Mother has given us signs—”
“Signs? You’re basing this on signs? If it’s all based on some unexplainable magic, how can it be trusted? You’re blindly guessing and hoping you’re right, when really some unseen force is calling all the shots.”
She touched his face. “We aren’t blind. We see you. You’re the answer to all of this. You just can’t see it yet.”
“I’m no one.”
Incredulity puckered the skin between her brows. “If I had any doubt, do you think I wouldn’t be screaming it for everyone to hear? No one stands to gain more from that than me, Sean, but I’m standing here, at your mercy, telling you you’re the only thing that matters.”
The only thing that matters.
“Why do they call me Savior, Isobel?”
Her shoulders fell. “There was…a prediction. We call it a Sending. Shortly after Lhynion died, an oracle predicted Galadaine and his ideals would infect us all. She said only Lhynion’s heir would free us.”
Sean took a deep, cleansing breath. “Galadaine is dead.”
“I know.” She nodded. “The Sending makes no sense, but for centuries people have interpreted it as Galadaine’s heir following in his footsteps, and you will stop it.”
“I—what?”
“You can’t tell David, Sean. If he knows what’s predicted…
it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
We don’t know it’s him. The Sending talks about retributive lifeblood and immeasurable sacrifice and only one path to liberty, but it never calls us out by name.
The Seelie Court will watch you both, waiting to see how it plays out, and neither of you will be allowed to stray. ”
Two heartbeats pounded in Sean’s ears before he lost it. “What the fuck, Bel? You didn’t think this was something we’d want to know?”
“It’s been two days! You showed up in Viterra after years of me imagining you, and the magic went berserk inside me. To be frank, I haven’t been focused on this prophecy I’ve known about since I was a toddler.”
Sean blinked.
Her voice shrank. “It’s hard to remember how much you don’t know.”
He nearly laughed. “This is what you’re supposed to protect me from, isn’t it? Some prophecy says I’ll save the world, and you keep me safe while doing it?”
Eyes squeezed shut, Bel’s head dropped. Eventually, she nodded.
“This is”—Sean scrubbed his face—“so stupid.”
She remained silent, her body stiff.
“Look at me,” he said.
Slowly, her eyes lifted. She stood close enough in the dim cave that he could count her eyelashes. The vial that represented his life rested near a pulse pounding in her throat.
Something inside her called to him, like a piece of him she’d kept hidden but now wanted to return. A missing limb.
“You will not die for me,” he said. “I am no one, and I’m not worth that sacrifice. Do you understand?”
Her eyes dilated, and she whispered his name, almost pityingly.
Everything about her loosened as she stared into his eyes.
An overwhelming desire blossomed, unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
She extracted it from deep, unwilling places.
Heedless of the potential pain, Sean dipped his head and kissed her.
The power in her rose, only this time he was having none of it. He shoved that magic away.
Heat exploded in his chest and sank down, waking needs he’d never before experienced, wants that had been buried deep in primal parts of his soul. Skin that went electric. Kisses that caught on fire. Acts at once divine and unholy.
It should have been more awkward. Slower, even. This was the first time he’d ever looked at another person and thought, I want to be inside you. There should have been uncertainty. Shock. Hesitation.
Instead, he was engulfed in flames and the unquestionable certainty that Isobel Faywood was the right person. The only person. She was the oxygen he breathed, and he was suffocating.
Her back hit the rock wall behind her as he pushed closer.
Every soft curve shaped itself to his body.
He kissed her harder, wilder, wishing it could wring out the frustration and fear and confusion from his brain.
He considered pulling back, modulating the frenzy, but she grappled onto him, tight and painful.
Maybe this was where he belonged. With her. Right there in her arms.
Sean kissed her neck while memories unfurled in his mind, delicate flowers ripe for picking.
He already knew what she liked. His hands moved to the straps of her dress, sliding them off her shoulders with brutal slowness.
Isobel’s breath came faster, and his mouth followed the neckline of her gown as he pulled it lower and lower.
The fabric lost its fight with gravity and fell to the ground. He wanted to drop to his knees, to wrap her legs around his neck. He wanted to taste how much she wanted this, but she pulled him back for a deep kiss.
Hands tugged at his shirt, tearing it over his head, and then they were pressed chest to chest, hard to soft. Exquisite heat and excruciating friction.
Her hips flared beneath his hands as he slid them down to the tie that held the last bit of clothing on her body. He loosened it, dropping the silk away and slipping his hand between her legs.
So soft.
So wet.
He’d never imagined he could want something like this, hadn’t thought his body was capable of longing so sharp.
Sean needed to hear her cry out, wanted his name moaned from her lips, yearned for her aching and begging and scratching his skin to get closer.
Her head fell back, eyes fluttering closed. When she opened them again, the light burned brighter, the blacks of her eyes blown out with desire.
“I barely know you,” he whispered against her mouth.
“You seem to know me pretty well,” she replied, the words hardly more than a breath as her knees weakened, and she slid her arms around his shoulders to hold her weight.
And he did know her. Or her body, at least. He’d never touched a woman this way, but he knew exactly where to slide his fingers, precisely how to stroke and when to slip deep inside.
Her gasps became frantic, and Sean kissed her shoulder, her neck.
He let her tug apart the buttons keeping him from her.
His thoughts blurred.
Her legs wrapped around him…his hands held her weight…and heat encased him.
Pleasure shot up his spine.
A violent release of memories exploded in his head. The floodgates of magic opened, and whatever Meléan had forged between them yanked tight and cut deep, sharp as diamond.
Terror and relief clawed for control, but the pleasure overrode it all, and a little voice whispered in the back of his mind.
You should have waited.
His entire life bent toward Isobel, every molecule reached for her.
You can never go back.
Her fingers scratched lines into back, her kisses healing the damage as it occurred.
You’re hers now.
She melted in his arms, her legs clutching around him to press him deep.
This isn’t right.
That last thought dissolved as she cried out. His name echoed through the damp space and drew forth his own release. Breathing hard, he held her while her fingers threaded through his hair.
“Did—Did we just do that?” Her words were slurred.
Memories flooded—her bare and spread before him, on her knees, straddling him. He’d been inside her, on top of her, beneath her. Touched her. Tasted her.
“I think we’ve been doing that for a long, long time.” Sean looked into her eyes, torn by conflicting desires to pull her close and push her away. What was happening to him? Why did everything feel sliced down the middle?
Right versus wrong.
Love versus magic.
Autonomy versus destiny.
None of it made any sense.
Her mouth tugged into the slightest of smiles before she kissed him again, and his brain wiped clean of doubt.
“I don’t know that I’ll remember the trick to kissing you without pain in the morning,” he said.
“Hmm. Then I guess we’d better make good use of tonight.”