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I rested my head on the heated tiles, my back soapy and sliding as he drove into me, again and again. Seeking for something I couldn’t even verbalize, I gazed into his face, drinking in his expression.
Grieve snarled, his teeth gleaming. And his snarl hit my core like whisky, burning my throat, burning my stomach, making me ache for him to eat me up, drink me down, to possess me in a way no one ever had.
My breasts rubbed against his chest with every stroke he made, and I began to cry. The world was heartless and hopeless, but here, within this shower stall, within this tiny bubble where we were the only two alive, I felt the power that we could create between us.
“I love you. I love you with my heart and my soul, forever and ever.” I whispered the words, not trusting the slipstream. If it caught them, it might carry them afar, to those waiting to destroy what happiness we’d managed to scrape together.
“Cicely, you are my own. You are my queen. You are the world for me. There is no life without you.” He pressed his lips to mine again, driving the words out of my thoughts until only passion remained.
I wondered if we were going to meet Luna’s sister before we left, but that was not to be. We were dressed and downstairs without too much delay, where Wrath simply looked at us and nodded to the crystal box sitting on the table. I slowly approached. Lainule’s heartstone shimmered within, glowing, fading. Picking up the box, I felt it quicken.
Rhia and Chatter joined us, looking rosy-cheeked, and I had the feeling their shower had gone something along the lines of ours. But none of us spoke. There was nothing left to say until we found out if this was going to work.
Wrath led us out onto the grounds, where Peyton and Rex were waiting. They drove us to the rippling waters of Dovetail Lake—a large pond or small lake, depending on how you looked at it. We remained silent. So much rode on what would happen next. If Lainule failed to rally…I didn’t want to even think about the consequences then.
Peyton and Rex waited in the car for us. Since it was daylight, the chance of being attacked by Shadow Hunters was almost nil. We headed out, to the portal leading to Summer.
A guard was on the lookout for us. I don’t know how he knew we were coming, but it was obvious he’d been expecting us. Wrath looked at him.
“My Lady?”
“Still lives, my Lord.”
Wrath nodded, then led us through the shimmering veil into the realm of Summer. I reveled as the warm weather hit but was struck by the leaves on the trees. There was no mistaking it this time. They were turning color. Autumn had found its way into the Court of Rivers and Rushes, and the bloom was fading even as Lainule’s powers waned.
We followed him through the grass, to the royal barrow. Once again, we were ushered into a hushed chamber, and from there, Wrath led us to Lainule’s bedchamber. As I entered, I couldn’t help but let out a prayer to whoever might be listening that this work.
“Approach the bed.” Wrath motioned for the others to stand back as I slowly drew close to the four-poster bed and climbed the steps beside it. Lainule looked still as death, but her lips were parted and I could still see the rise and fall of her breast as she took shallow breaths.
“I have your heartstone.” I leaned down and handed her the box, but she could not reach up for it. Biting my lip, I turned back, but Wrath would not speak to me, and I realized it was up to me to figure out what to do.
I opened the lid and the pulsing of the heartstone filled the room. I thought I heard panpipes, and drums echoing in the distance, and a sudden wash of the scents of apple and honey and sweet wine rushed past me. I closed my eyes as a ray of sun broke through the room, coming from the center of the heartstone as its brilliant green rays collided with the lights that sparkled in the air and on the walls.
Slowly, hoping I was not making a mistake, I lifted the heartstone out of the box and held it in my hands. It burned brightly against my skin, and I cried out, almost dropping it as my skin reddened. I turned quickly, on instinct.
“Rhia—come help me.”
Rhiannon nimbly climbed the steps and sat beside me. She reached up, took the heartstone from my hands, and gasped, her head dropping back as a low growl of ecstasy rolled from her throat. I stared at her. Her hair sprang out of its braid, wild around her shoulders.
“On her chest—the stone must rest on her chest.” I knew what to do, but it turned out I wasn’t the one who could actually do it. However, I could pull down Lainule’s comforter to expose her perfect, tanned breasts. They were lovely and I stared at her. Unearthly she was in her beauty, even though she was almost dead.
Rhia slowly lowered the stone to rest on Lainule’s chest, between her breasts, and a rumble filled the chamber. The music grew louder, the drums grew stronger. I clasped my hands to my ears, but Rhia reached out and grabbed them, and we held hands, waiting and watching. The roar was deafening, and yet the music caught me up in its rhythm and I began to drift.
The stone began to glow so brightly that I thought it would blind me. And then it began to—melt? The gem began to liquefy against Lainule’s skin, and the liquid emerald pooled between her breasts. I wanted to reach out, to touch the glowing gem’s essence, but I knew better. I kept hold of Rhia’s hands. We watched, wordless, speechless, as the gemstone liqueur began to soak into Lainule’s body, leaving a red mark on her skin where it had been.
As the drumming grew louder and the panpipes more frenzied, Lainule’s eyes began to flutter.
Wrath uttered a low moan and fell to his knees, hanging his head. He looked both overjoyed and bereft, the two emotions waging war in his eyes. Grieve and Chatter looked slightly confused, but then Grieve looked up at me and caught my gaze and I felt a stirring from my wolf, but this time it wasn’t seductive so much as a recognition of something I felt I should understand but didn’t.
Another moment and the heartstone had vanished into Lainule’s skin. Her breathing grew stronger, and in the next beat she sprang to a sitting position, her eyes flying open. She turned to me, her face a whirl of expression, and then she looked at Rhiannon.
The next moment, tears began to trickle down her cheeks. “Thank you, my girls. Thank you. You are both my salvation and my doom.” And with that, she rose from her bed, glowing like the sunrise, and I realized that I’d never truly seen her in her power. I’d only met her after Myst drove her from her center, from the core that made up her wellspring.
“What do you mean, your doom?” My words hung in the air as Lainule ducked her head, smiling.
She leaned down to give me a kiss on the forehead. “Worry not about it at this moment, child. What is to be is now in motion. What was is passing away. What is important is that we now have some control over this situation. Now I can fight back.” She turned to Wrath, who sprang to her side. “My Lord, I am so sorry…”
“No more. Say no more. ’Tis all forgotten, my beloved.” He wrapped her in his arms and kissed her, long and deep, and I felt their bond—an ancient one from times long past. “I will go with you, wherever you journey. You know that, my sweet.” He rested his head on her shoulder.
