Faery Kissed

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Midsummer's Eve

Three Years Later

"Come give me a kiss then, and hurry up so you can meet me there."

"With pleasure," I replied, pulling Ceridwen into my arms and kissing her heartily. "You know I'll never get sick of doing this, right?"

She smiled, and tweaked my nose. "You better not, or I will stake you myself. Now hurry and finish your chores so you can join me at the celebration. Vampire or not, you should never keep your wife waiting."

"I like it when you're feisty," I replied with a grin, and kissed her again.

She was breathless when I released her. "I need to go before I'm late and the women start teasing me about rolling in the hay with you again."

I shrugged. "Not my fault if you can't get enough of me."

She slugged me in the shoulder.

I laughed. "Better be careful. You're gonna hurt yourself, or you may land up flat on your back again."

"You would like that, wouldn't you?" she accused.

"Very much, I'm afraid." I pulled her against me and kissed her again.

"Bran, I need to go. We'll have to finish this later."

I sighed and released her. "I'll be there as soon as I've finished putting the horses up for the night."

She hurried toward the open, giant barn doors—the dying rays of the sun giving her honey colored hair a burnished tint. "And no biting me in public tonight either. Someone is going to see you doing that one of these days and it will scare them to death."

"I'm always careful with that. You'd be surprised how little people pay attention to things."

"Even so, you need to be cautious. Things are changing, Bran. We'll probably need to move soon."

I nodded. "I know. Go to the festivities. We will talk about it later."

She waved, and I watched her go until she was out of sight, and then I turned to finish feeding the horses. They came to nuzzle against my hand, a simple thing that I was quite proud of. It had taken them a while to warm up to me since they were able to sense I was a predator. I had to work hard to regain their trust, but eventually they came around.

I continued to ponder over Ceridwen's remark. As much as I hated to admit it, she was right—we would need to leave this place soon. I wasn't aging anymore and everyone around us was. Ceridwen was now the same age I'd been when I was turned, and it was a great source of controversy with us about what would happen from here on out.

I reconsidered her suggestion that she become like me, and while I liked the idea of being with her for the rest of eternity, I also balked at the idea of messing with perfection. I loved Ceridwen just the way she was, but I guess in the end the decision would need to be hers. She had the right to choose what was best for her.

I wasn't sure about how my parents and Fergus would take to her decision, though. They knew my secret, but were constantly reminding me to be careful in the things I did to acquire blood so I wouldn't harm anyone else. While they supported me, they weren't exactly thrilled with the change.

Someone caught me unaware—a feat not easily done—and walked into the barn behind me. I stiffened when I smelled the scent because it was different—not human, but yet it was. A definite puzzle.