of her after so long, after a lifetime, was like life after death.
He rolled over, pressing her under him, going deeper into the wonder of it. Her breasts, fuller, softer, sweeter than he remembered, and her heart drumming under his hands as she arched up to him.
A blur and storm of the senses—the feel of her skin, silk like her hair and warm, so warm, chasing away all the cold. The shape of her, the lovely curves, the sound of her breathing his name, moving, moving under him, chasing away all the lonely.
His blood beat for her; his own heart pounded as she tangled her hands in his hair as she used to, as she ran them down his back. Gripped his hips, arched up. Opened.
He plunged in. The light exploded, white, gold, sparking like fire—all the world afire. Wind whipped in a torrent to send that fire into a roar. For an instant, one breath, the pleasure struck.
Then came the lightning. Then came the dark.
He stood with her in the storm, her hand gripped in his.
“I don’t know this place,” she said.
“Nor do I. But . . .” Something, something he knew, somewhere deep. Too deep to reach. Thick woods, whirling winds, and somewhere close the rush of a river.
“Why are we here?”
“Something’s close,” was all he said.
She turned up her hand, held a small ball of flame. “We need light. Can you find the way?”
“Something’s close. You should go back. It’s the dark that’s close.”
“I won’t go back.” She touched her amulet, closed her eyes. “I feel it.”
When she started forward, he tightened his hold on her hand. He would find a way to shield her, if needed. But the urgency to move on pulled him.
Thick trees, deep shadows that seemed to glow with the dark. No moon, no stars, only that wind that sent the night screaming.
In it, something howled, and the howl was hungry.
Fin wished for a weapon, dug deep for power, drew a blade, and set the blade on fire.
“Dark magicks,” Branna murmured. She, too, seemed to glow, alight with her own power. “All around. This is not home.”
“Not home, but near enough. Not now, but long ago.”
“Yes, ago. His lair? Could it be? Can you tell?”
“It’s not the same. It’s . . . other than that.”
She nodded as though she’d felt the same. “We should call the others. We should have our circle in full. If this is his place.”
“There.” He saw it, dark against dark, the mouth of a cave hunched in a hillside.
He would not take her in, Fin thought. Would not take her there, for within was death. And worse.
Even as he thought it, the old man stepped out. He wore rough robes, worn hide boots. Both his hair and beard were a long tangle of gray. Both madness and magick lived in his eyes.
“You are too soon. You are too late.” As he spoke he held up a hand. Blood dripped from it, blood spread over his rough robes.
“It’s done. Done, as I am done. You are too soon to see it, too late to stop it.”
“What is done?” Fin demanded. “Who are you?”
“I am the sacrifice. I am the sire of the dark. I am betrayed.”
“I can help you.” But as Branna started forward, power roared out of the cave. It swept her back, Fin with her, sent the old man falling to the ground where his blood pooled black on the earth.
“Dark Witch to be,” he said. “Cabhan’s whelp to come. There is no help here. He has eaten the dark. We are all damned.”
Fin pushed to his feet, tried to shove Branna back. “He’s in there. He’s in there. I can feel him.”
But as he made to leap toward the cave, she grabbed at him. “Not alone. It isn’t for you alone.”
He whirled toward her, all but mad himself. “He is mine; I am his. Your blood made it so. It’s your curse I carry, and I will take my vengeance.”
“Not for vengeance.” She wrapped herself around him. “For that would damn you. Not for vengeance. And not alone.”
But he woke alone, covered with sweat, the mark on his arm burning like a fresh brand.
And could still smell her on the sheets, on his skin. In the air.
The dog quivered against him, whining.
“It’s all right now.” Absently, he stroked. “It’s done for now.”
He showered off the sweat, grabbed pants, an old sweater, pulling the sweater on as he went downstairs. He let the dog out, barely noticed