Fallen

Chapter 4: You Get What You Bargain For

He stepped back, clasping her hands in his, staring at them. So different than the hands he had dealt with in the throne room. He ran his thumbs over them. Smooth, supple, unblemished by liverspots or beauty marks. He let out an unsteady breath. “I don’t know how to tell you.”

“Tell me what? We’re going to be wed soon. You can tell me anything.”

“You said you believed there is still magic in the world.”

“Yes.”

Sylas lifted his eyes and met hers. “I saw it today. The washer woman has come for Sionnach.”

Ciatlllait’s eyes widened. “Oh, my love. I am so sorry.”

Sylas shook his head and swallowed. He continued, “She is no ordinary ban sídhe. I fear what she did to our guards is only a fraction of what she’s capable of.” His breathing quickened. “I couldn’t let her take him, Laittie.”

“What are you saying?”

Sylas leaned his forehead against hers. “Our marriage will have to wait.”

Her breath caught. “What did you do?”

Thunder rolled. The storm was closing in. “I took his place.”

Ciatlllait bit her lip. She pulled away from him, running her hands through her hair and staggering. She reached out to steady herself against another tree, gripping her stomach with her free hand.

“I would do it again to protect anyone I loved.”

Ciatlllait bit her fist. Her shoulders heaved and trembled. Sylas crossed to her and slid his arms around her from behind, holding her close to him like the night they first kissed. He lowered his head to the curve of her neck and kissed her nape gently. Her hand went to his and gripped it. “You go to your death,” she choked.

Sylas winced. “No,” he said, as though to convince himself, “death cannot part us.”

Ciatlllait shuddered again and sobbed.

Sylas grazed his finger beneath a lock of her golden hair. “Laittie, listen to me.” He turned her around, clasping her wrists. “You said you believe in magic. You believe in happily ever after. Do you believe in our love?”

Ciatlllait bit her lip, then slowly nodded. Sylas swept her into an embrace. “Oh, Laittie. So do I. Ours is a once upon a time love. We control our happily ever after.” His nose brushed against hers. Rain fell through the trees. “Our story is far from over.  I will find my way back to you, even if I have to chase you through eternity.”

The water from the heavens mixed with Ciatlllait’s tears. She stood on tiptoe and sealed her mouth to Sylas’s. A silver sheet of broken water descended upon them. Sylas slid his fingers through her hair and kissed her deeply. He inhaled and became lost in her scent, in the way her cool, creamy skin warmed beneath his touch as he found his way across her collarbone and the round of her shoulder. He leaned into her, aware of her curves and her pulse beneath his hands. They wandered over her chest and slid behind her, plucking at the strings of her corset. Ciatlllait’s chest heaved. Sylas squeezed his eyes closed tighter, trying to remember the way her heart beat felt while pressed against his. She broke their kiss and gasped without opening her eyes, then clutched his leather jerkin. Their lips hovered against one another, heated breaths rose silvery on the air. Her lips parted to kiss him again. He pressed into her and tugged at her lips with his own, teasing with his tongue.He trailed across her jaw and down her neck to the hollow of her shoulder. Ciatlllait’s nails dug into the tree trunk as Sylas’s hands wandered. He continued to kiss across her collarbone and up her neck. He leaned his forehead against hers. The heat between them strained the air. Sylas kissed her hard, He lifted her against the trunk. Her thighs hugged his waist. The sound of caw caused Ciatlllait’s eyes to flutter open. She looked past Sylas and locked eyes with a silver crow sitting on a branch. Crow blinked at her with beady black eyes and cawed. Ciatlllait’s skin prickled. She sucked in a breath. Lightning flashed.