“You appear to be in a great deal of trouble,” she observed with a subtle dip of her snout.
“It appears so.” He emptied his tankard and poured another. “May the powers be with me.”
20
She stood in the center of the crystal alcove in front of the shimmering fountains. The sight of her made him stop walking and merely stand there and stare, savoring her beauty. What had he done to deserve such a remarkable mate? His heart pounded harder as need coursed through him.
Her damp hair cascaded over her shoulders, and down the silk wrap clinging to her lovely curves. It was an ebony wrap shot with silver embroidery, fitting her like a second skin. He almost forgot to breathe. Gilda had chosen well. He opened and closed his hands; already feeling the slippery softness of the material as it flowed over the roundness of her hips and the fullness of her breasts.
His mother’s command nagged at the back of his mind, fighting for control of his thoughts while lust inflamed him. He had to talk to her. Hannah deserved to know about the gateway to Taroc Na Mor. Then they could move on and enjoy their lives together. She would accept the reality of things. Of course she would. Just as she had accepted him.
She faced him as he neared. “I was wondering if you would come find me.” She came to him with open arms, her smile warm and inviting.
He pulled her close, breathing in the perfume of her hair and the honey-sweet warmth of her freshly scrubbed skin, massaged to a rosy sheen with sacred oils befitting the Guardian. “Mother kept me o’er long or I wouldha joined ye in your bath. Did ye enjoy the blessed pools, my love?”
As she stretched to trail kisses along his throat, she slid her hands up under his shirt. “Not as much as I enjoy being back in your arms.”
With a pained groan, he eased away, tucking both her hands in his own. “First, we must talk. I fear there is something ye must know about the portal to Taroc Na Mor.”
Her brow puckered as her smile faded. “I don’t understand. What would I need to know? We agreed that as soon as we saved your people from Sloan, we would return to Taroc Na Mor.” She closed the distance he had placed between them. “Now, enough talk. I missed you and need you to hold me.” She stretched again and caught his earlobe between her teeth.
Suppressing another groan, Taggart cleared his throat with a light cough and stepped away again. She was not making this easy. He caught her by the hand and pulled her closer to the bubbling fountains. “I dinna believe that is what I said.” He kissed her fingers then smiled. “I believe I told ye I couldna desert my people. However, I never mentioned the difficulties of returning to Taroc Na Mor.”
Her eyes went cold and narrow and she pulled her hand out of his grasp. She circled him, smoothing her robe and yanking the belt tighter about her waist. “What are younotsaying? I am learning you have a terrible habit of omitting extremely necessary details. A great deal like the little boy who only stealssomeof the cookies from the cookie jar.”
There was naught to do but say it. “The portal to Taroc Na Mor has been destroyed.”
Hannah came to an abrupt halt, turning a hard look on him as if she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. “Destroyed? As in, gone. Forever. I-can-never-go-back-ever-again destroyed?”
He tilted his head to one side and managed a shrug. “In a way.” She was not making this easy. Her cheeks were flaming red. A suresign her fury was rising. Icy fingers of worry wrapped around his spine, then raked their talons across his gut.
“It is not a difficult question. Either I can go back to Taroc Na Mor. Back to Scotland.Myworld. Or I can’t. Which is it?” Her voice reached the sharp, ear-splitting level of an irritated shriek.
This was not going well. She should not be this upset. After all, at least they were together and Sloan no longer held her prisoner. “I can use my magic once to send ye back. But I can only send ye back alone.” He held his breath, allowing his words to sink in while his worry grew when she didn’t respond. “I canna go with ye when I send ye, and I can never bring ye back to Erastaed once ye have gone. We would be separated. Forever.” Merlin’s beard; why in Hades’ name did she not say something? All that mattered was the fact that they were together. Surely, she felt the same.
She stared at him with her fists clenched to her chest. Her lower lip trembled and her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “How did the gateway get destroyed?” she whispered.
He turned away, unable bear the hurt and recrimination in her eyes. “We overloaded it,” he admitted. “Too many of us came through at one time when we brought all the Draecna to this side.”
“I see.” Her voice quivered and grew louder. “So, if you had been more careful, more patient, and had only sent through a few at a time, I wouldn’t have to make this choice between everything I have ever known and loved and the man I have only known for a few months. The man who has brought nothing but chaos into my life. Right?”
Somehow, it sounded terrible when she put it like that. Perhaps that was why Mother had been so irritated. With a defeated nod, he replied, “Aye.”
“Leave me alone.” She pointed at the exit. “I cannot stand to look at you right now.” She turned away as tears spilled over.
“Hannah.”
“Just go. Please.”
With an understanding nod, he turned and strode away, prayingshe would forgive him. If she couldn’t, and didn’t take him back, then nothing mattered.
“How many ofthe outer provinces still burn?” Sloan paced around the table in the center of the room. It displayed all the regions of Erastaed on its surface. Outside the nearby window, the smoke of burning villages darkened the horizon. The cloying scent of charred bodies and decaying flesh hung heavy in the air. Sloan inhaled the delectable perfume of the carnage. He just wished his brother’s scent was among them.
Corter stood in the doorway with his bandaged arm lashed to his side. “At least half a dozen still burn bright. A few more are only smoldering piles of ash.”
Focused on the map, Sloan traced a nail along a silver-edged line running along one mountain to the north and leaned closer to read the inscription. “And yet no one has given up Taggart’s whereabouts? Not one has seen the newest female Draecna or the Guardian?”
With a snort, Corter shook his head. “Not even when we stretched them across the fire pits and turn the dogs loose on’m.”
