Finn rested his hand on her naked hip; his touch was electric.
‘This will all end if you just say the word,’ he murmured in her ear. ‘Consent to be mine.’
‘No.’ She turned away, horrified, but he caught her around her waist and pulled her back towards him.
‘Faye. I need you. I missed you. I want you,’ he murmured, his breath hot on her neck. He brushed her hair away from the nape of her neck and kissed it tenderly. Despite her intentions to stay detached, to stay focused on finding Aisha and bringing her home, Faye felt her blood respond. She gasped, feeling the deep, pleasurable lull of faerie overtake her.
‘Faye.Bruadarach, neach-gaoil,’he murmured as his fingers traced the hollow of her back and then the curve of her bottom. She knew now that it meant:Lover, love of my dreams. Dream lover.
They had come together in dreams so many times. And it had been so good; unearthly, profound, kingdom-transcendingly incredible.
His hand slipped between her thighs and stroked them gently. She turned to him, unable to control the desire that his touch sparked in her. She could feel a line of sensation from his fingers on her thighs to the deepest, most secret part of her that ached for him, ached to expand its sweetness and drown her in pleasure.
‘That’s it, my pretty little one. That’s it.’ He breathed in her ear as his fingertips brushed her wetness softly. She gasped at the sensation that his touch created; like a mesh of pinpricks of delight pulsating from the softness of her pussy, out to her thighs, up to her stomach and deep inside her. She knew that she was dripping wet for him; she wanted – no,needed– him deep inside her.
‘Tell me what you want. What you need,’ he murmured as he held her firmly, his fingers making slow circles over her clit. The honeyed pleasure built and built maddeningly, and she could think of nothing else. She buried her face in his chest and breathed him in. There was no smell like Finn: like sea salt, woodsmoke and sex.
‘I…I want…’ She wanted him, there and then, in that moment. Her desire was so strong.I want to be devoured by you. Possessed by you. I want to be your slave, your plaything, your whore.The words were on her lips, waiting to be uttered.
But there was something else she wanted. Finn’s power was considerable; the erotic bond between them was deep. But Faye could also feel the faerie magic coursing through her, and that too was intoxicating. The wild freedom of riding on the kelpie’s back; the mastery of water; her ability to transport herself here at will. The magic had worked. She felt invincible.
No. Don’t let him draw you in.
Something in her consciousness snapped Faye out of her reverie.
Remember Aisha.
It was Annie’s voice. Whether it was really there or a part of Faye’s brain that knew she needed a wake-up call, it succeeded.
Faye extricated herself from Finn’s grasp, and her hands went to the kelpie pendant she wore around her neck. Now that she was back in Murias, it had reappeared and was a tangible thing, not merely a memory and an energetic resonance.
‘You cannot keep me here!’ she cried, and though she didn’t have the wand, she remembered the sigil. She drew it in the air with her finger and chanted the words:A rèir an tròcair mhòir, Glòir agus cumhachd do Rìgh agus do Bhanrigh Mhurias, mar a bha e aig an toiseach, agus a-nis, agus gu bràth. Kelpie, come to my aid. Bring me home.
‘Faye! No!’ Finn shouted, the anger steely in his voice, but she knew he could not stop her.
The black kelpie rose from the water inside a golden cauldron at the centre of the tent, and Faye jumped upon its back.
‘I will not be tricked! I will find Aisha and bring her home,’ she vowed as the kelpie reared up on its long, black, scaly tail.
‘So be it,sidhe-leth.’ Finn’s expression changed, and she saw fury in his eyes. ‘Do not say that I did not give you every chance to do this without pain.’
13
Mallory had her feet up on the brown leather footstool and was flicking through the TV channels with the remote control from the sofa when Faye got back to the flat. She looked up, laughing; Faye could hear Rav crashing around in the adjoining kitchen.
‘Oh, it’s you, Faye. I was hoping the pizza delivery boy had let himself in,’ she drawled.
‘Yes, it is,’ Faye said pointedly, but in truth she was taken aback. Why was Mallory here at eleven o’clock on a Saturday night? In Rav’s flat, the two of them apparently enjoying a few drinks? Rav definitely hadn’t mentioned Mallory being invited over; if she’d known, Faye wondered whether she would have wanted to leave them together – even if it had been essential that she and Annie try to reach Aisha.
Mallory eyed Faye coldly, picked up a beer bottle and drank from it, not bothering to get up. Rav came in, also holding a beer, and stopped when he saw Faye. For a brief moment, she saw surprise and panic in his eyes; clearly, he wasn’t expecting her home yet, or had lost track of time.
‘Oh! You’re back.’ Rav enveloped her in a huge hug. ‘How was Annie? Did you guys have fun?’
She could smell the beer on his breath. Over his shoulder, Faye could see six or seven empty bottles littering the coffee table; one had rolled on its side and a small pool of sticky beer was soaking into a pile of music magazines.
‘Umm. I’m kind of tired.’ She disentangled herself from his hug and walked into the kitchen to get a cloth for the spill, but also to have an excuse to gather herself a little. She was upset and discombobulated from her journey to faerie. As ever, she felt awful as soon as she returned to normal life, as if she had a horrible cold. Clearly, that effect wasn’t exclusive to visiting Murias, because wherever she had been, Finn had said it wasn’t his kingdom. Faye wondered where exactly the war was being fought, where the mountainous landscape was. She shuddered as she thought about the creatures in battle with each other, and how close she had come to surrendering herself to Finn Beatha.
When she had returned to the circle, in which Annie sat patiently, she had collapsed. The kelpie had performed its purpose, but disappeared like steam as soon as Faye was back in her rightful place, and she had broken down into tears as soon as she was safely back with Annie, laying her head in her friend’s lap.I called you back. Did you hear me?Annie had said, stroking her hair gently.I couldn’t let you stay there for too long. I wouldn’t let him have you.
