Warrior, Opposed: Book One Of The Comhairle Chronicles

Chapter Four - Reading to Escape

Deòthas groaned as she looked at her alarm clock, still three hours until sundown. She’d tossed and turned throughout most of the day, and when she had managed to sleep she’d been plagued by dreams which only left her feeling more alone than she had in centuries. Damn that blasted boy, the one Tancred was foisting on her. How had he gotten so far under her skin that her subconscious decided she should dream about him?

Like she really needed to wake up with her limbs tangled in her sheets, some strange yearning to be held, and a burning need for the boy’s body blazing away in parts of her which were better left ignored. She’d only just met him, for Ràsbàrd’s sake. And she’d attacked him. Shit. Lusting after him was neither acceptable nor helpful to her sanity. It was also completely out of character. Gods, what had taken place the night before had really set her off-kilter.

Tancred had every right to be pissed off at her too. It was only his faith in her that had prevented the Comhairle forcing her to make that damn oath centuries ago, the one she’d refused to make the first time they pressed the matter. The only reason she hadn’t sworn before the gods never to feed on a ghaisgeach was because she had an understanding with Tancred to the same effect anyway, and that had so much more value. He saw no reason to publically humiliate her over a promise he already trusted her to keep. A promise she couldn’t afford to break.

She tried to roll onto her side, hoping that adjusting her position would help her drift into a more peaceful sleep. She groaned again though, as her injured side stretched with the movement, pulling at the stitches which she’d done herself before turning in for the day.

 It was pointless. She wasn’t going to get to sleep again and there was little to be gained by trying.  Really it would be better for her to do what she usually did when either nightmares, or injuries, or self-loathing prevented respite. She might as well go to the library, pick up a new book and lose herself in some paranormal romance.

Strange choice right? Human speculation on the supernatural world amused her, though. They got it so very wrong most of the time, and it was useful to be aware of when they got it right. After all, one of the Comhairle’s duties was to protect supernaturals from human attack… It was good to be abreast of what they thought they knew.

Plus she relied on the false hope that the books gave their readers, the foolish notion that no matter how bad things were, eventually there’d be a light at the end of the tunnel. Though, as a warrior, heading towards the light at the end of the tunnel generally meant your last war wound had been one too many.

Ha ha. Drum roll please… Yeah, so stand up comedy was never going to be her thing.

What the hell was going on in her head?

Whatever. She was only half way through the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and reading about a band of warriors who were just as cursed and messed up as she felt made her feel less of a failure, even though the characters in question were vampires for the most part. As there was a shortage of books with baobhan sith as main characters, she figured vampires were the best she was going to get.

Pushing herself up from her bed tested her will, and her burning side protested painfully at the action. Not that one little dagger wound would defeat Deòthas, especially considering her other wounds were already well on the way to being healed... Although she couldn’t be bothered to do much more than get on her feet. Fighting with clothes just seemed like too much effort when the sun hadn’t even set yet.

Thankfully no one ever entered the library until Aifric arrived at sundown, so it wouldn’t matter much if she wandered in wearing her pyjama bottoms. Even the ones with that damn cat on, the feline whose popularity had made a resurgence. What was her name? Oh yeah. Hello Kitty. No one was going to see that she’d paired up Hello Kitty bottoms with a Rammstien t-shirt from the band’s Riese Riese tour.