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CORMAC FLASHED OUTSIDE the gate of the Woodlands and looked back at the destruction they’d caused. Trees were still on fire or smoking. They had managed to kill quite a few of the Wood Elves and Fire Elves.
Until the Skye Elves showed up and his people scattered. Fear was a great deterrent. The Fomorians refused to fight against the Skye Elves, knowing it would be a losing battle.
Fools. They were all fools. And weaklings. Not all Fomorians possessed magic—only a few of them could call themselves mage. Like Lorcann and Cormac. Most were nothing more than violent barbarians. Something they proved over and over again every time they attacked.
Lorcann flashed beside him.
“They run scared from the Woodlands,” Cormac said.
“It is better to run rather than fight a losing battle. Besides, I managed to kill one of the nobles.”
“Which one?”
“One of the Fire Elves. He was to marry the princess. You were supposed to kill the king. Did you?”
Cormac stared at him as he remembered the conversation he’d had with Andahar. He had tried hard to forget his wife and children, but the king hadn’t forgotten and he had made a point to remind him. To remind him that he’d been a pawn of evil for both Kieran and Morrigan.
And now Lorcann.
Lorcann wanted him to kill Andahar. But killing the king would only mean another would take his place. Would he then be asked to kill the next sovereign?
“I didn’t have a chance before the Skye Elves arrived,” Cormac said.
“Then you failed.” Lorcann started up the path away from the Woodlands.
Cormac had no choice but to follow him. “What do you intend to do? Punish me? Because you can’t. Your magic is failing.”
Lorcann halted and rounded on him. “My magic is the only thing that saved you from the underworld.”
“Aye, that is true. But when you resurrected me, did you realize how much of your power you gave me? And killing Randir used what precious little you had left.”
“You lie.”
“Do I?” he taunted. “Prove me wrong them.”
In a fit of fury, Lorcann slammed his hands on Cormac’s chest. Nothing happened. Not even a flash of light, a glimmer or shimmer. A slow smile spread on Cormac’s face. He lifted his hand and placed it on Lorcann’s chest.
The mage flew backward as though he’d shoved him. He crashed against the ground and skidded a few feet before coming to a stop. The flash of light had been so bright, it blinded even Cormac. He blinked furiously to get the white spots out of his line of vision.
“You see? I don’t lie. Your magic is depleted.” He walked toward Lorcann, stopping close enough to kick dirt on him. “From now on, you will answer to me. I lead these people. And I will decide what happens to the princess and the Hin’dar Rhule.”
“If you don’t allow us to take the power from the lava, then our people will die.”
“Then we die. An eventuality we all face one way or another. I’ve died once already and I’m willing to face it again. Are you?”
His eyes narrowed. “You bastard. I should have left you in the underworld.”
“Mayhap.” He grinned, well pleased with himself. He held a hand down to Lorcann. After a moment of hesitation, the mage took it and Cormac helped him to his feet.
“I’m returning with the others,” Cormac said.
“You expect me to follow you? You bastard. You’ve taken my people and my woman.”
Cormac couldn’t hide his surprise.
“You thought I didn’t know. But I could smell your filth on her,” Lorcann said.
“I took nothing that didn’t want to be taken,” he retorted. “Gweneth came to me. She gave herself willingly and she belongs to me now.”
Lorcann cracked his knuckles in a fit of agitation as he glared at him. Clearly he was missing his power and wishing he could strike back at Cormac.
“Since you cannot flash, I will flash us both.”
Lorcann glanced at his outstretched hand in a moment of consideration. He crossed his arms in defiance.
“Fine then. We’ll do it the hard way.”
Before Lorcann could react, Cormac wrapped his arms around the mage and flashed away back to the Sorrow Lands. As soon as they were back, the mage shoved away from him and then landed a punch on his jaw. Cormac stumbled a few steps back before he could get his bearings. But he wasn’t fast enough. Lorcann launched, head down, and hit him in his gut. They flew backward and Cormac lost his footing and they collided with the ground.
As they landed, Lorcann landed punch after punch on his face, the side of his head. The surprise attack made Cormac forget his newfound powers. But only for a moment. He pushed his hand against Lorcann’s ribs. The mage was gone in an instant. When Cormac climbed to his feet, Lorcann was on the ground, his tunic smoking.
In that instant, Cormac could have killed him. But he’d taken it easy on him. He noticed the others standing around watching the fight. Cormac wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
“Lorcann has lost his magic,” Cormac announced. “He has agreed to relinquish command to me. Haven’t you, Lorcann?”
The mage’s response was to cough and spit.
“I’ll take that as your agreement.” He looked up at those still standing around. “Go and tell the others. Make sure they know,” Cormac said. “From now on, you will follow me and my command.”
They headed off one by one and Cormac turned on his booted heel toward his tent. Gweneth stood outside his tent, a small smile playing upon her lips. Her long hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her slender form. She wore a gown of pale pink that hugged all her curves.
“Well played, my lord,” she said and beckoned him. “Well played. Now come inside for your reward. I will help you relax.”
The full force of his fatigue hit him as he shuffled past her. “Not tonight.”
Yet she followed him inside. “Do I not please you?”
He looked her over. She was appealing. That he didn’t deny. Nor could he deny she reminded him of his lost love. The wife he had tried to forget only to be reminded of her by the king of the Wood Elves. He could see her inherent strength in Gweneth’s features. Her very appealing features. Aye, she pleased him. And it pleased him to know he had stolen her from the worthless mage, Lorcann.
“You do.”
She kept one hand on his chest as she walked around behind him. She slipped her hands under his tunic and up his back, over the taut muscles. “You are tense.”
She massaged his shoulders, working out the knots. He wanted to resist. He tried to resist. But he found he couldn’t with her fingers kneading away the stress. He let the tension release as he dropped his shoulders.
“You like this?”
“Aye.”
“Then allow me to do more for you.”
She moved to his side, taking him by the hand and leading him to the bed. She helped him remove his tunic. He lay face down and the girl straddled him. She poured a scented oil on his back and rubbed it into his pores.
As she did so, the cooling sensation spread throughout his body. His body relaxed, all the tension ebbing away as she massaged the scent into him. It made him drowsy. Dreamy. And it made him want her.
“You are relaxed now, aren’t you?”
“Aye.”
“And you want me, don’t you?” Her voice lilted over him, tingling his exposed skin.
Was she using some form of magic on him? “Aye.”
Her weight was gone and a moment later, he heard the rustle of clothing. When he turned his head, she stood naked before him. The only thing she wore was a smile of seduction.
“I want you too, Cormac. Take me. Take me beneath you and make love to me.”
He rolled to his back as she moved to him. She climbed on the bed and straddled him again. She reached for the scented oil and poured a small portion into her palm. She massaged it into his chest. It heightened his arousal.
He grabbed her wrists, halting her movement. “What is this?”
“The oil is merely an aphrodisiac,” she said. “One I made for you.”
“You seduce me with potions?”
“You wanted me to seduce you. Did you not? This merely intensifies all that you feel. All that you want.” Gweneth leaned toward him, her nipples brushing his chest. “And you want me.”
“Aye.”
“And you shall have me.”
His fingers slowly uncurled from her wrists and her hands went back to working their magic on his chest. The more she massaged, the harder his shaft. The pain of arousal was nearly unbearable.
As if sensing this, she shimmied her lithe body down his. Her hands landed on the waist of his breeches and tugged. He lifted his hips, allowing her to free him. His shaft stood at rigid attention. With a small smile, her hand closed around him and pumped up and down several times before she bent over him.
Her small luscious mouth engulfed him, sucking his hardened length to the back of her throat. He groaned, his hips pushing upward. When she pulled him out of her mouth, her tongue licked him from base to tip in one long stroke of such eroticism he thought he might lose consciousness.
As she held him tight in her grasp, her tongue did a swift dance over the tip in a tight circle. She didn’t stop with one. She swirled her tongue over him again and again before taking him once more into her mouth. Her glorious, wet hot mouth knew exactly how to suck him and how he wanted to be sucked.
And then she nudged his legs apart as she took his shaft out her mouth and bent between his legs. Her velvet-soft hands cupped him and the next thing he knew, she licked his sac, taking her time to explore every part of him. The tip of her tongue moved along his ridge.
Pleasure exploded behind his closed eyes as he bucked upward. Her hand closed around his shaft and she pumped him while continuing the onslaught of her tongue. His hands fisted in her hair, pulling at her scalp and urging her onward. He knew he was seconds away from releasing his seed and would have if she hadn’t stopped.
Before he could protest she straddled his hips and pushed him inside her warm wet body. Filling her. She rode him hard as she rocked her hips over him. He could only look at her through half-lidded eyes, watching her as she fondled her breasts and pinched her nipples. Her head fell back, exposing the long column of her throat. She moaned with the sheer pleasure of it all.
He wanted to come. He wanted to feel that release inside her. But he wanted to lick her more. And he wanted to take her from behind.
Cormac pushed to a sitting position, grabbing her around the waist and flipping her to her back in one swift movement. She gasped a breath and giggled as he pushed her into the mattress.
“I wasn’t finished,” she breathed.
“Neither am I.”
He crushed a fierce kiss against her lips, sucking her tongue into his mouth. He didn’t linger there long as he made his way down her body, pausing only long enough to suckle one nipple—one perfect hard bud. He rolled his tongue over it for a quick moment before he moved downward.
Her hips opened with eagerness as she anticipated his next move. Her knees fell open exposing the beauty between her legs. He swiped two fingers down her wet slit, feeling her hot damp core. He had to taste her.
Cormac met her gaze as he licked her sweetness off his fingers. Desire flooded her gaze as she pinched her nipples.
“Let me feel you, Cormac. I need to feel you.”
He bent, gently pulling apart her lips, and slid his tongue inside her. Her gasp of pleasure vibrated throughout her entire body. He lapped up her arousal as though he were a starving man. As though he had never tasted a woman before. And he hadn’t tasted this one before. Not like this. He’d taken her once before, but it had been a swift coupling. He hadn’t had a chance to taste her, explore her, memorize her body with his hands and his mouth.
Gweneth rolled her hips to and fro against the rhythm of his tongue as he licked her. When she came against his mouth, he had never tasted anything as sweet.
Before her climax had even ended, he moved on top of her and plunged his shaft inside her. She gasped with her pleasure and together they found their rhythm. Their climax came together and he knew in that instance he would never release her back to Lorcann.
––––––––
IN THE AFTERGLOW OF their lovemaking, Cormac held Gweneth in his arms and listened to her rhythmic breathing.
He had returned from the fires of the underworld. He lived once again. The Wood Elves and the Fire Elves? The Hin’dar Rhule? Would he allow Lorcann to capture the Fire princess and use her to harness the power of the lava?
He knew the answer to all of these questions. He knew he couldn’t do any of that. He wouldn’t. He had allowed Lord Kieran to pressure him into following him because he had captured his family and hidden them away. The location of them had died with Kieran.
So when Morrigan had offered him the same thing, he had jumped at the chance to find them again. To be with his wife again. To see his children once more. He had intended to go north. To escape all of them and live in peace.
A part of him felt he could still do that—escape. Only this time, he would take the girl with him. He couldn’t let her go.
He had told Andahar he wanted to see the Fomorians banished to the Unseelie realm. To the Darkness. Now that he had most of his power back, he could use what magic he had to go through the Barrier. He knew how Kieran did it.
Aye, he would escape. He would take all the Fomorians with him to the Unseelie realm. The only question was how. How would he be able to do that? He would have to use some form of trickery. Some way to get them there without Lorcann or the others knowing.
And then it occurred to him he could contact Andahar for help. He could tell him what his plan was and the Wood Elf would help him. He and the Fae queen. Elyne had promised him she would help him find his family once. Mayhap she would help him once again. This time, though, he would take his rule to the Unseelie realm. It was without a king. He could rule them there.
The final battle would happen on the charred plains of the Hin’dar Rhule. This was where Lorcann wanted to make his last stand. Where he intended to take the magic from the fires using the princess of the Fire Elves.
“Your thoughts are loud, my lord.” Gweneth’s sleep-laced words wafted to him. She lifted her head and propped her chin on her hand to look up at him. “What troubles you?”
“Don’t you know already?”
“You intend to go to the king of the Woodlands,” she said. “And tell him of the plan at the volcano.”
“I do,” he said with a nod. There was no denying it when she clearly heard what he’d thought. “Do you intend to stop me?”
“No.” She rolled to her side and sat up, tucking her legs under her. “You are meant for more than this.” She waved her hand around the tent. “If you intend to rule the Unseelie realm, then I intend to be by your side as your queen.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“Trust isn’t a tangible thing. You can’t see or touch it. But you can feel it.” She took his hand and put it against her chest. Her heart beat slow and steady. “You have my trust and my heart. From the moment I saw you.”
He looked at her. Really looked and thought for a brief moment he saw the flicker of his wife’s face in hers. “You remind me of someone.” He brushed her hair from her face. “Someone I once loved.”
“I know.” She smiled. “You are powerful, as am I. Together we can rule the Fomorians. I will help you get the Fomorians to the Unseelie realm. The Barrier is closed but there is a way to open a portal to the Darkness.”
“You know how to do this?”
“I do.”
“And you’ll help me?”
“I will.”
“Then tell me your plan.”
* * *
THE SUN WAS BEGINNING to set. Laerwen dressed all in black as she sat on the floor, her knees curved under her. She pressed the palms of her hands together in front of her heart, her eyes closed. She prayed for forgiveness from the gods.
She’d watched Randir die by the hand of that awful Fomorian. And there was nothing she could have done to stop it, even though she had tried.
Guilt swarmed her. She had, only before he had died, faced Andahar and told him she would marry the lord despite her feelings for the prince. Now king. Randir may not have loved her—nor she him—but they could have built a life together. They could have rebuilt the Hin’dar Rhule together.
Now what was to become of them? Of her people? Her realm? Would it be forever lost to the Fomorians?
She didn’t know. So she prayed for forgiveness and strength to be able to go on. To face what was to come. She didn’t know if she had any more strength left in her.
A knock sounded on her door before it opened. She knew without looking, Hiram had come for her.
“Your majesty, they are ready.”
Laerwen pushed to her feet and turned to face her advisor. He waited in the doorway dressed all in black. Together they made their way out of the palace, down the stairs and to the meadow where the funeral pyres had been erected. Four of her people had died. One of them Lord Randir.
The Wood Elves, as well as her people, gathered to pay their final respects to those who had fallen. It seemed all eyes fell on her waiting for her to say something. She was queen, after all, she should have something profound to say, but all she could think to do was stand there, numb to it all.
“Your majesty, a few words?” Hiram whispered. She knew he was trying to urge her on.
“Aye, of course.” She stepped away from the group, letting her gaze touch each of the bodies that had been so carefully placed upon the pyres. Randir was in the middle dressed in his finery. “It is with a heavy heart today that we say farewell to our friends and loved ones. They fought against the Fomorians not once, but twice. They gave their lives to protect us. To make sure we could go on living. For that, we shall never forget them. They will live on in our memories for all eternity.”
Hiram and three others stepped forward to light the funeral pyres. Laerwen took the torch from one of her people to light the one under Randir herself. She placed the fire against the wood and watched as it spread upward.
She didn’t know how long she stood there watching the fires. All she knew was darkness had descended and the only light in the area was that of the flames reaching upward to lick the sky. Hiram had tried to pull her away but she refused. She remained, waiting until they were nothing more than embers.
One by one her people and the others filed away leaving her there alone.
But she wasn’t alone. She sensed rather than saw the presence as he moved to stand beside her. He fixed his gaze ahead on the flames before her. She knew Andahar stood by her side for a long moment before slipping an arm around her shoulders. She let him. She drew his strength into her, refusing to cry when all she wanted to do was break down.
“It wasn’t your fault, you know,” he said.
But she couldn’t help but blame herself. Randir had saved her from the attack. From being captured. Something Andahar didn’t even know yet.
“There wasn’t anything you could have done.”
“I am still responsible for him and his death.”
“No, Laerwen.”
“If it hadn’t been for me, he wouldn’t have been killed. But he came for me. When the Fomorian mage tried to capture me, Randir stopped them. He killed them and knocked out the mage. The mage must have followed me when he came to. He found us so easily. He got his revenge by killing Randir.” She didn’t know why the words bubbled out of her but she couldn’t stop them. “They were after me, Andahar. Me.”
“But they didn’t capture you,” he said. “And I will protect you.”
“You can’t. Randir couldn’t. No one can. They breached the gate and the wards Lady Talaiel put in place. They can do it again.”
“We will find another way to stop them.” He sounded so confident it was hard not to believe him.
“I don’t know if there is another way. Mayhap I should surrender to them.”
“Laerwen, no. They’ll kill you.”
“We don’t know that. If I give myself up to them, mayhap they’ll leave my people alone. Me for the Hin’dar Rhule. I could negotiate with them. Give them what they want.”
Andahar stepped in front of her, the firelight flickering over in his face. She could see the concern in his eyes as he gripped her by the shoulders. “That is suicide and you and I both know it. I’ve sent for Queen Elyne and the Skye Elves are here. They will help us. We will get the Hin’dar Rhule back without you having to sacrifice yourself.”
“Isn’t that what a ruler is supposed to do?”
He shook his head. “No. I won’t let you do it.”
Laerwen resisted the urge to shrug away his hands. She wanted to step away from him. To tell him he couldn’t stop her. Her mind was made up. She was going to surrender to the Fomorians. She believed, deep down, it was the only way to save her people.
“Are you going to stop me?”
“Aye, I am.”
“You can’t.”
“I will.”
“How? By chaining me up in my chamber?”
“No, by chaining you up in mine.” In the darkness, she saw the sliver of a smile. He was toying with her and it did nothing but make her angry.
She pushed him away. “I’m not jesting, Andahar.”
“Neither am I. I’m not going to let you go. Not after everything that’s happened. Your people have lost so much already. They shouldn’t have to lose you too.”
Andahar may be right in that but she was still stubborn as they came. “I—”
A flash of light stopped her. It was so bright, it blinded her. She blinked furiously, trying to get rid of the flash in her eyes.
“Cormac. What do you want?” Andahar stood in front of her now, so close she could feel his body heat radiating over her.
“I told you I would return, did I not? I’ve come to warn you. There will be another attempt on the princess’s life.”
She finally got her vision clear enough to see the man standing before Andahar. She peered over the king’s shoulder. “I surrender.”
“Laerwen—”
“That’s not necessary,” Cormac said. “At least not yet. Lorcann is planning a final battle at the volcanoes of the Hin’dar Rhule when the sun and moon align.”
“The night of the eclipse?” she asked. “Why?”
“It is believed the volcanoes are scheduled to erupt then,” he said.
“That’s merely folklore,” Laerwen said. “They haven’t erupted in thousands of years. They’re dormant.”
“For now,” he agreed with a nod. “But not on the eclipse. They will erupt and Lorcann believes there is some magic that can be harnessed from the lava.”
“Is that true?” Andahar asked, looking at Laerwen.
“Folklore. Nothing more. All Fire Elves grew up with the stories of the magic in the lava, how it could be harnessed. It would take a sacrifice to...” Her words trailed off, the sudden realization smacking into her. Her stomach cramped. “That’s why he wanted to capture me, isn’t it?”
“It is,” Cormac said. “He intends to use your blood, Princess. When the lava flows, he will sacrifice you to release the magic within.”
Andahar was right. The Fomorians were going to kill her. She had been naïve enough to believe they would let her people live if she turned herself over to them as a prisoner. How wrong she was.
Andahar moved to stand closer to her, slipping an arm around her and pulling her to him. “I’m not going to let you take her.”
“I’m not here to take her,” Cormac said. “I’m here to warn you. And...offer you a truce.”
“What sort of truce?” Andahar asked.
“I thought about what you said before. And you’re right. I don’t want to hurt you or the Fire Elves.”
Laerwen glanced up at Andahar, the question on the tip of her tongue. But she didn’t get a chance to answer when he said, “But Lorcann does.”
“I will handle the mage myself,” Cormac said. “He is of no consequence to you.”
“He killed Randir,” Laerwen said. “I will see him dead for it.”
“Leave him to me, dearie. He’s not worth your trouble.” He looked back to Andahar. “If you help me, your realm will be free of all Fomorians.”
“What do you want?”
“The Unseelie realm is without a king. I intend to fill that void.” He thumbed at his chest.
“You?”
“Aye. Is that so hard to believe?”
“Well...no. But the question of the Barrier remains.”
“I have a solution for that. There is a sorceress who is willing to help me. I have her trust and her assurance she will not betray me. Once the volcanoes erupt, we can use that as a distraction to open a portal to the Unseelie realm. With our combined magic, the two of us can banish all the Fomorians there.”
“But if the volcanoes erupt then we’re all dead anyway,” she said. “We Fire Elves can withstand the heat of the fire but not the lava.”
“We will plan out battle locale accordingly,” Cormac said.
Andahar glanced down at Laerwen. Her heart had kicked into overdrive at the thought of seeing her beloved realm once again. If the volcanoes did erupt, the land would be destroyed but it was nothing she and her people couldn’t overcome.
The Woodland king looked back at Cormac. “And you’re certain it will work?”
“No. But the sorceress and I have a plan in mind.”
“I’d rather you discuss it when Queen Elyne and her husband have arrived. They are due here soon.”
“I don’t have time to wait. I need to go back. I will return, though, with the final battle plan.”
Before Andahar could reply, Cormac flashed away. They stood there a long moment, his arm still around Laerwen’s shoulders, as her eyes re-adjusted to the darkness after the flash of light. She finally stepped away from him.
“Do you believe him?” she asked.
“I believe he truly wants to help us.”
“Why?”
“Because he was forced to help Lord Kieran and Morrigan before. They held his family hostage and the Goddess of War killed them anyway.”
She turned to face him but his features were difficult to discern in the shadows. She couldn’t make out his expression. “But he could want revenge.” Like her. That’s all she wanted was revenge on the Fomorians that had wiped out her realm and murdered her parents and Lord Randir.
“I don’t think so. What he told us tonight makes him a traitor to the Fomorians. They could kill him for that.” He moved toward her, his feet crunching in the bracken. “Let me take you back to your chamber, Laerwen. The night air turns chilly. Tomorrow Queen Elyne and King Derron arrive. We can reconvene then to talk more about this situation.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she nodded. “All right.”
He took her hand and led her away from the embers of the funeral pyres. The walk back up the winding staircase, through the palace and to her chamber door was a silent one. Neither of them spoke. She didn’t know what to say to him. She still harbored some guilt for Randir’s death. Mayhap Andahar knew that. When the halted at her door, he gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek before leaving.