A chill swept through me, shivers of a past that resonated in my soul. Her perfect diamond- shaped head bobbed. “Yes, you should be afraid. Once you are within the Otherworld you will be forced to fight your way to your mother and sister. And that is only the beginning. The Fomorii hate the Tuatha with a rage that is not equalled anywhere in the history of this planet. They were ousted from the Emerald Isle and believe it was wrongly taken from them. Many Fomorii were killed in the battle and they have a long memory.”
“You’re going to help me rescue them?” I asked, hope stirring. I ignored the rest of what Cora was saying. I didn’t want nor need a history lesson right now.
She gave a flick of her tongue. “Both of you girls are important to bringing peace to this land—we need you both alive. Stupid Council and their belief that they know the prophecy better than I do.”
The wind blew, rustling the bushes around us, my long shirt waving in the breeze. I stared out into the forest. “Why are the Fomorii here, if it was Ireland they were ousted from? Why did they take Ashling and my mom?”
Cora let out a hiss and curled herself back around my neck, her head now underneath my braid. “I don’t know the answer to the first question. I could guess but I would not put those thoughts into words, for fear they would come true. As to why they stole the ones you love… that you must find out on your own. I’m here only to help you find the path you must walk and give you the tools you will need to fight your battles.”
I wanted to refute what was happening—to not believe in what I was seeing and feeling. Yet there was a large part of me that had to acknowledge that her words made a twisted sort of sense.
“If I am a Tuatha, then so is my mother,” I said, trying to wrap my head around all the information I was being asked to not only take in, but believe completely.
“She is only a quarter Tuatha. Your father is full-blooded Fae.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. These were just details right now—they didn’t matter in this moment, not really. It didn’t change the fact that I was going after my family.
“I have until midnight tomorrow to get to Ashling and get her out of the ocean, or wherever it is that the Fomorii took her,” I said.
“Quinn, who are you talking too?” I spun to face Luke, his brows drawn over his eyes, deepening their colour to an intensity that made my knees weak. He really was a beautiful man, despite the fact that we had started out on the wrong foot—and the small fact that he didn’t want to help me rescue my family.
“Um. I was just . . .” I waved my hands in the air, then finally pointed at Cora, who let out a long hiss.
“Good gods Corchen. Really? You weren’t to come here.” Luke’s voice and eyes softened with something akin to pity. He shook his head and again I was struck by the sadness that filled his features when he let his guard down.
“I don’t recall that, boy. Besides, it was you that wasn’t to come here to Quinn, if I recall correctly. There was no restrictions put on me.” Her coils tightened and I tensed until she relaxed. She lifted her head. “No, I think you’re just jealous. I’m going to usher her in. Not you.”
Luke strode forward and very gently pulled Cora off me. “Old lady, you are not fit for these battles anymore.”
She coiled around his wrist. “I want to help. I still have some years left Luke. Don’t turn me away from the last of my line.”
I blinked several times as her words sank in. “We’re related?” I did not fancy ending up in a snake form.
Luke took a deep breath. “Yes, she is the founder of your lineage. And you are the last of hers.”
The line of the snake. I didn’t have time to dwell on that right now.
“I will protect her with my life, you know that Luke. Then you will be able to free Bres from his bond and you will be able to do as you please, with whomever you please,” she said.
I put my hand out and took her back from Luke, doing my best not to blush under his gaze. “She can stay with me.”
His eyes widened and he lifted an eyebrow. “Fine. But it does not relieve anyone of their obligations.”
Cora tightened over my arms, locking them within her coils. A pair of handcuffs made from a serpent.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I asked, trying not to get panicky as her muscles tightened around my hands further.
Luke grabbed the end of Cora’s tail and began to unwind her. “Corchen, let her go.”
“It is her time. I must Quicken her blood now. The prophecy calls for it. It is my task as she is one of my own.”
I did not like the way this was going and I wriggled my hands, trying to get them out without hurting her.
Luke continued to unwind her body, searching for her head.
“Don’t do it Corchen. It will only heighten Balor’s resolve to kill her; let her at least speak to the Council first, I think that would be better,” he said as his hands worked at untangling her body from my arms.
“Quinn will not have a chance if her blood is not Quickened. And we both know that Balor will try to find a way to kill her no matter what.”
“Wait, what are you talking about? And, I think I’ve already . . .” I started to explain that I’d already been Quickened, by my Grandpa.
Cora didn’t answer me, at least not with words. Her bright red head appeared and before Luke could grab her she reared back, let out a hiss and struck, her fangs sinking deep into my neck. I let out a strangled cry and sank to the ground, moss cushioning my fall. Luke’s hands caught me before I hit the forest floor, lowering me into the soft moss as my world dissolved in a blaze of fire and pain.
11
I writhed on the ground, every inch of my skin lit from within, nerve endings firing spasmodically throughout my whole body. What had she done to me? There was no doubt in my mind this was more than just some simple snake poison.
“Damn it Corchen, you know what will happen to her!” Luke said, somewhere close by my head.
With every beat of my heart the pain intensified, as if it originated within me and not from the venom in Cora’s fangs.
“Then you must protect her. It is what you were born for Luke. That’s why I didn’t tattle on you to the Council.” Her voice was right in my ear and I had an urge to grab her and break her snaky little neck, relative or not. But my nerve endings were white hot, screaming at me to put the fire out, and that left little room for anything but trying to hang on to consciousness.
Then it began to fade, and that strange power that I’d felt well within my body once more rose to the surface, bringing with it the strength to flush whatever she’d done to me away.
“It is as I thought,” Cora said. “I dreamed that your blood had been Quickened by another, that you rode the pain alone. That is not well done.”
Luke dropped down beside me, his body cradling mine. “Who Quickened you, do you know?” he asked softly, his voice right in my ear.
I put a hand to my face, then my throat, no evidence of my grandfather’s bruising there. “Blake, my grandfather,” I said.
Cora bobbed her head. “I do not like that you faced it alone.”
I interrupted her. “Ashling was there and I’m sure that Luke was too, and even you, I saw you there Cora.”
She snorted. “Luke and I were not truly there, though I dreamed it, as no doubt Luke did too. I just did not realize that it was a dream of truth. I thought it a foreshadowing of what was to come. You did well Quinn. You did not try to flee the pain. By embracing it you will be stronger.” Cora’s voice whispered into my ear as her she slid to her spot around my neck. “I am sorry for biting you. My venom is uncomfortable even for those of the long-lived blood lines. Your grandfather must have wanted for you to have his memories very badly.”
“Huh?” I mumbled, Luke’s hands making me drowsy as they drew patterns all over my upper arms.
“When your blood is Quickened, you gain the ability to draw on your powers. It’s why you were able to stay so long under the water,” Luke said. “I should have known then, but I just assumed it was a matter of need, your abilities showing up. It happens.”
“That’s why Ashling could stay under so long too?” I asked.
Luke nodded. “Most likely.”
“Along with that,” Cora added, interrupting us. “Whoever escorts you over gives up their most important memories, the ones they feel the initiate will need in order to thrive. I daresay, he must have thought you needed his memories more than you needed to pass through the pain with any sort of comfort.” Very suddenly she changed subjects. “I am tired and you need to rest while the venom burns off. Luke, do not misbehave,” she said as she tucked her head under her own coils and went to sleep.
I lay on the mossy ground, my head in Luke’s lap, as the world lightened around us. His warmth spread through me and I let out a small sigh. I could lie here forever, his hand stroking my brow, his presence giving me a sense of security that surprised me. I found my hand creeping into his, stroking the soft spot between his thumb and first finger. Why was he really protecting me?
“Because you are a light,” he said, answering my thoughts as if they were his own. “You are everything the Fomorii want and cannot have. There is a reason so many of them stole the Tuatha women away to be wives and mistresses.”
Heat flared deep within my belly at the thought of Luke stealing me away, of making me his. Skin and na**d bodies writhed against one another, desire flaring in blue eyes as I licked my way down his chest. He pressed his body against mine and I glimpsed a tattoo on his ribs. Luke lurched away from me and I rolled, pushing myself upwards; I had to put a stop to that line of thinking. Where had the tattoo come from?
I glanced up to see him crouched in front of me. Electricity flared between us, crackling through the air as my power rose up inside of me. Blue lightning danced across my finger tips as I touched his hand. He sucked in a sharp breath of air but took my hand. I stared into his eyes and the images wouldn’t let up. Hands traced down the curve of my spine, fingers resting in the hollow of my back, br**sts pressed against his smooth chest; each beat of his heart matching my own. I leaned forward and put my mouth to his skin, tasting him, as his hands roved over my body sending tingles of awareness to stop me from any rational thought.