I move my gaze from Gloriana to Linton. My mind is a whirl of confusion. He drops to his knees in front of me.
“I didn’t know, my Kaitlyn.” He pants as if it’s hard for him to push through the myriad of truths. “All I knew was I had to watch you, I had to be with you, and when the Redcaps attacked, I had to protect you.”
I cup his face with my hands as he grasps at my arms, his eyes wide and wild. I’m not sure he knows what to believe anymore, and I don’t blame him. There has been double cross after double cross in this game of monster chess.
“All I know, all I’ll ever know is the first time I saw you, I knew you were mine. My fate, my destiny, my life and light. Nothing has changed, no matter what Tam Lin said or did, no matter where I was. It was you. It was always you, my Kaitlyn.”
Anger bubbles up inside me. We’ve both been used, but Linton, my dangerous, feral, innocent mothman has been badly used. There’s so much we don’t know, and I have no desire to find out.
“I know this is not your fault, Linton.” I lift my gaze to Gloriana. “The Yeavering has many tricks up its sleeve, but I’m not prepared to be tricked or coerced anymore. I think we’re done.”
“You’re done?” she queries.
“We quit,” I clarify.
“We do?” Linton stares up at me. “What’s quit?”
“We’re done. We’re finished with the Yeavering.” I return my gaze to him. “Let’s use the portal and go somewhere none of them will find us, including the so-called resistance.”
A smile spreads over Linton’s face.
I think I have finally found my chaos.
With my mayhem mothman.
LINTON
I’m not entirely sure what has been going on until the witch appeared. I have a vague recollection of wanting to mate, and of being close to my Kaitlyn, and of passages, and of the smell of earth.
Then we were out in the open, and the witch gave me something which brought me back, and now she says Long Meg is responsible for what I’ve been doing. That she made me Kaitlyn’s protector, when I have wanted to be with my mate since the moment I first saw her in Lord Guyzance’s castle.
The day she walked out of the kitchens into the main hall where I was watching, and I thought my heart would pound out of my chest. I thought I would reveal myself in order to get to her. The day I knew I would never let her go again. I didn’t need a witch for such bond to exist.
Kaitlyn belonged to me. Only Tam Lin wanted her, and when he took my services, he had no idea I would never give her up.
Next to me, my mate bristles with anger. I can feel it vibrating down her hands which still touch my cheeks. I don’t want her to be angry. I want a smile on her face and joy in her heart.
I do not want Tam Lin to take her.
I do not want her to be unhappy.
I do not want to ever be apart.
“Whatever you wish, my Kaitlyn. I am yours. The moon is full tonight, and we can go anywhere we please.”
I reach out and touch the portal stone. Instantly the world around us dissolves and we are in my lair. Just Kaitlyn and me.
How it should be.
How it should have always been.
“Linton?” she says, her little body shaking harder than my wings. “What happened? Where are we?”
“I used the portal to bring us home, my Kaitlyn.”
“This is your home?” she asks.
I admit, it is dark. Maybe too dark for a human. I uncover one of the glow rocks, the algae which live on it emitting a steady blue light.
