Alanna"s face grew cold again. "You see everything through Shifter eyes. Dubhan was my brother"s slave, so of course you believe I forced him to service me. I told you, I loved him. I freed him, I fled with him to the human world, and we became lovers. Until my brother found us."
"You sneaked out of the Faerie realms to become lover to a human?" Niall"s astonishment and respect for her rose. "You are an amazing and brave la.s.s."
"I was foolish as it turned out. I should have sent him off and not tried to stay with him. Kieran would have forgotten about one slave in time, but he never forgave me for letting a lesser being touch me."
"Which is why he sent you here to become hostage to a Shifter."
"I"m my brother"s prisoner and in disgrace. I"m forced to do his bidding."
"Does he not fear that while you"re in the human world you"ll break away and flee him?"
Alanna shrugged. "I have nowhere to go, and, unlike Shifters, I cannot pa.s.s for a human. The spell that lets me resist iron will wear off." She shivered. "And it is so cold here."
Niall rose, fetched the woollen cloak he"d thrown aside when he"d started to work, and draped it over her shoulders. She looked up in surprise, jerking her hand away when his brushed hers.
He"d thought her overly slender when she first walked in, but now he saw that this was a trick of the loose-flowing garments. Her bosom was round and full, her waist nipped in above strong hips. Her face was delicate, a little too pointed for Niall"s taste, but her dark eyes drew him in. Her braids outlined her pointed ears, but the ears didn"t look as strange and unnatural close up. She was flesh, not cold marble, her skin flushing as she warmed from the fire and the cloak.
"You could pa.s.s for human," Niall said as he went back to the forge.
"Unlikely. Look at me."
"I just did." Niall took up the heated bar with his tongs and tapped the rapidly cooling metal. "If you wore your hair loose to hide your ears and dressed in human clothes instead of fancy frippery, no one would look twice." He considered as he flipped the bar. "No, they"d look twice, because you"re a beautiful woman, but unless you shouted it, I don"t believe they"d realize you were Fae. Most humans don"t believe in the Fae any longer, anyway. They pretend to they avoid the stone circles at night and put out milk to appease the sprites but deep down, they believe only in hard work, exhaustion, and G.o.d, bless them."
"You care for them," Alanna said, sounding surprised. "But you"re Shifter."
"If you lived in the human world before, you might have noticed that Shifters are not thick on the ground. We might be stronger and more cunning than humans, we might be able to change into ferocious beasts when we wish to, but we need humans to survive."
She regarded him in curiosity. "Do the humans in this village know you"re Shifter?"
Niall shrugged. "They know I"m different, but as I said, they don"t much believe in the other any more. But they know I"m a good smith and that the villages round about get left in peace now that I live here."
"You"re good to them."
"It"s survival, love. We each have what the other needs. "Tis the only way Shifters are going to last."
"The Fae chose to retreat." Alanna said it almost to herself, as though she didn"t expect an answer. "We sought the mists of Faerie."
"Aye, that you did."
She fell silent, but Alanna was difficult to ignore as he continued work, and not just because of the distinct Fae smell, which didn"t seem so terrible now. Perhaps he was growing used to it.
Niall sensed her presence like a bright light her beauty, her sorrow, her courage in coming here when she knew she"d likely lose her life. Fae princes could be mean b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and the fact that she"d defied this Kieran with the human slave spoke much of her.
Once Niall had the metal thin enough, he heated it again, ready to shape it. As he set the blade on the anvil and took up his hammer, he felt her breath on his shoulder.
"Wait."
"Metal"s hot, la.s.s. It won"t wait."
"I need to layer in some spells."
His eyes narrowed. "What is this sword for? For ceremony, I know, not fighting, but what sort of ceremony, exactly?"
"I"m not certain myself. Exactly."
Niall"s grip tightened on his hammer. "Don"t lie to me, la.s.s. If you"re putting in the spells, you know what they do."
"I cannot tell you. Please, if you know, then your sons will die."
"I think they"ll die anyway, and I think you know that too. Tell me this much is the sword meant to hurt Shifters?"
Alanna said nothing, but the look in her eyes spoke volumes. He read guilt there, anguish, grief, anger.
Niall shoved the bar from the anvil with a clatter. He sat down on the floor, his hammer falling to his side. "You"re asking me to save my sons by forging a weapon against Shifters? What kind of monster are you?"
Alanna sank to her knees beside him, her silks whispering across his skin. "Niall of Baile icin, I ask you to please trust me. Make the sword. All will be well."
Niall growled. "Your b.a.s.t.a.r.d brother will slaughter my boys the minute he gets this piece of metal in his hands. He knows I"ll kill you in retaliation, and then he"ll kill me, and laugh about it. That is how things will play out."
Alanna shook her head, her braids touching his bare shoulders. "Not if you trust me. I cannot tell you everything, but you must make the sword the way I have instructed." She put her hand on his shoulder Fae, who didn"t like to touch. "Please, Niall."
"And why should I trust you? Because you once bedded a human? Should I believe you have compa.s.sion for the whole world then?"
"Because of a vow I once made. I will never let your children come to harm. I promise."
Fae had a way of enchanting, of charming. Niall knew that, had experienced it first-hand. But Alanna"s pleading look was different somehow from the Fae who"d once spelled Shifters to be slaves to them. Fae charmed by being too brightly beautiful, too desirable, stirring a person into a frenzy before they knew what happened. Alanna didn"t make Niall feel frenzied or dazzled. He was angry and sick, tired and sad.
When Shifters lost loved ones, they retreated from the rest of the pride or pack to be alone with their grief. A survival instinct, he supposed, because in that gut-ripping sorrow, they had no desire to fight or hunt or even eat. A Shifter might weaken the pack by refusing to fight, and so the he took himself away until the worst pa.s.sed. Or he died.
Alanna"s hand on Niall"s shoulder was cool, cutting through his instinct to seek solace. Her fingers were soothing to his roasting skin, and her fragrance no longer seemed cloying, but fresh like mint.
"Please," she said again.
Niall got to his feet and pulled her up with him. "You ask much of me, la.s.s."
"I know."
Alanna"s eyes weren"t black, as he"d thought, but deep brown with black flecks, her wide pupils making them seem darker. Her hair was like fine threads of white gold, metal so delicate that the merest touch could break it.
Niall stepped away from her, fetched the half-formed blade, and thrust it back into the fire. "And you wager your life on me trusting you?"
"Yes," she said again. "Will you?"
Niall shrugged again, his insides knotting. "Looks as though I"ll have to, doesn"t it, la.s.s?"
She gave him a smile of pure relief. "Thank you, Niall."
Niall turned back to work, wishing her d.a.m.ned smile didn"t warm him so.
Four.
Alanna let her hand hover over the red-hot blade Niall laid on the anvil, the metal"s heat touching her skin. She murmured the spell, watching the curled Fae runes sear into the metal and disappear.
Niall did not trust her, and she couldn"t force him to, but she was relieved he"d at least let her do the spells. Alanna couldn"t ask more of him, not without fear that Kieran would discover what she was doing.
Niall beat the sword after the runes faded, as she instructed, then put it back into the fire. Again and again they repeated the pattern Niall hammering the blade, Alanna chanting her spells.
They worked side by side, shoulders brushing, both sweating from the fire, both breathing hard from their exertion. Spell casting, especially casting spells as powerful and far-reaching as these, took stamina. Alanna soon set aside the cloak and pushed up her long sleeves.
The stench of sweating Shifter didn"t seem as bad now. Niall had, well, an honest smell, one that came of hard work and caring. He protected the people of this village like he protected his children, a fact Alanna wouldn"t tell Kieran. If her brother thought the villagers were important to Niall, Kieran would find some way to use that against him.
When Niall said the sword needed to rest, he shoved it into a barrel of ash, wiped the sweat from his face, and led her from the forge. The dirt track outside hugged the cliffs above the sea, Niall"s shop being at the very end of the high street if the muddy track between the houses could be termed a high street. The western ocean pounded away below them, the moon glowing on the black bulk of the nearby island.
At first Alanna worried that Niall had brought her to the cliffs for some nefarious purpose, but he simply stood looking out over the dark ocean, breathing in the bracing air.
"You know we"ll never finish on time," he said. "Blades have to be heated and rested a number of times to make the metal strong, and then I have to grind the blade and make the hilt."
"You"ll finish."
"You sound certain."
"The spells I"m using will temper the blade faster than your process by hand," she said. "When we go back, you"ll be ready to grind it."
Niall"s voice went low. "I"m not ready to go back yet."
He had to be freezing out here without a shirt, the icy wind from the sea whipping his short braid. His eyes were green even in the faint moonlight, hard green, not Shifter white-green.
Alanna didn"t flinch when he cupped her neck with his big, rough hand. The touch of others had always sickened her, until she"d met Dubhan. She wondered what sort of strange Fae woman she was that she"d fallen in love with a human man and now didn"t mind that a Shifter pulled her into his embrace.
Niall"s face was lined with dirt and soot, but by now hers couldn"t be much better. His hard body cut the wind, and she melded into his as he scooped her against him and kissed her.
His kiss was harder even than Dubhan"s, firm mouth opening hers, his whiskers burning her lips. He tasted raw, of this wild land of Eire, of a bite of ale and of himself.
Niall eased back, and Alanna shivered, not willing to let go his warmth. The wind cut right through her, but she scarcely noticed it.
"This might be our last night, you and I," he said.
"Yes."
Niall kissed her lips, her cheeks, her neck. "You agree that it"s our last night? Or are you saying you"ll share my bed as I suddenly wish you to?"
"Both."
He cupped her face in his hands. "Be certain, Alanna."
"I am. Very certain."
He nodded once, his eyes darkening. He took her hand and led her behind the forge and into a neat cottage with a garden in front. She saw signs of his family small boots, scattered tools, half-whittled pieces of wood, animals the boys had been carving when they"d been s.n.a.t.c.hed by Kieran"s men.
Niall avoided looking at the carvings as he led Alanna to the loft, where neat pallets had been made up for the night. Niall stripped without word, revealing a body of solid muscle, male beauty sculpted by nature and the ancient Fae. Shifters had been bred to be superior in strength, speed and stamina, and they"d also been made to be beautiful.
He put his hands on his hips, unashamed that his wanting was plain to see. "Are you not getting undressed? I might start to feel ridiculous like this."
Alanna untied the complicated tapes that held her gown to her body and let it fall in one piece. She liked the appreciative way Niall looked at her nakedness, instead of with the loathing or indifference she"d expected. His gaze lingered on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, his eyes dark and soft.
Alanna went to him. He raked his hands through her braids and tilted her head back to kiss her deeply. His hardness pressed her belly. She"d always heard that Shifters were more endowed than humans or even Fae, and she decided that this rumour was true.
Niall"s huge, work-worn hand cupped her breast, thumb brushing the tip. He kissed her neck, nipping her a little before he kissed her mouth again.
Alanna had loved Dubhan, and she always would. The fact that loving him had caused his death had haunted her for a century. But this Shifter would never go easily to her brother"s men, would never give up without a fight. Niall could have killed her outright when she"d announced Kieran had kidnapped his cubs, but he was giving her the gift of his trust well, perhaps not his full trust, but at least his hope.
Niall lifted her and set her gently on the pallet. He came down with her, stretching his warm body on top of hers.
"You"re such a bit of a thing," he murmured. He closed his hand around her wrist. "See? So fragile."
"I"m stronger than you know."
"I know, la.s.s. You have Fae strength, but I"ve never seen it packaged in such beauty."
Was he trying to melt her heart? The big, strong Shifter with loneliness and sorrow in his eyes? She suddenly wanted to hold him to her and heal all his hurts.
Niall had something else on his mind besides healing just now. He parted her thighs with a soothing hand and slid himself inside her.
Alanna"s eyes widened as he filled her. What a wonder that a huge, barbaric beast of a Shifter could be so gentle.
He stayed gentle as he began the rhythm of lovemaking, his head bowed, his braid sliding across his shoulder. Alanna cupped his hips, urging him with hands and mouth not to be too careful with her. Niall groaned as he sped his thrusts, kissing her as she met him stroke for stroke.
Alanna"s frenzy began a few seconds before his did. They peaked together, both crying out, both holding hard, kissing and panting, hot breaths tangling. They wound down together, Niall smoothing her hair with a tender hand.
"You see?" Alanna whispered. "I"m perfectly fine."
"That you are, love. And so am I. As you can feel inside of you."
"You mean I"ve not yet worn you down?"
Niall grinned and licked her upper lip. "Not by a long way, my love. Not by a long way."
He started again, this time more playfully. In spite of knowing that Niall was right, that this might be their only night together, and in spite of her worry about his sons and the choices she"d made before coming here, Alanna pulled him inside her and let herself drown in his loving.
Alanna awoke hours later to see Niall leaving the bed. She lay in the warm nest they"d made, enjoying the view of his b.u.t.tocks as he bent over to fetch his tunic. Their gazes met when Niall straightened up to slide it on.
His eyes changed to the feral cat within him before returning to dark green. "You"re such a beautiful la.s.s." He leaned down to kiss her, his lips warm.