again, he felt himself falling through that door into her soul, tumbling into a place of brightness and warmth. And love.
As the storm broke over them simultaneously, Harrison felt as if he'd been flung to the stars and back, a rush of such intense feeling, of such pleasure and beauty, he could barely credit the perfection of it.
All the while, he held her gaze, and she his. His gaze. His heart.
Finally, on a sated, shuddering sigh, he rolled onto his back, cradling her against his chest. As he stroked her precious head he wondered, for the hundredth time, how he was going to let her go.
Yet he had no choice. She couldn't stay here. Not unless they failed to stop King Rith. Then maybe, if she had nowhere else to hide...
He couldn't think that way. He couldn't wish for them to fail, not even a little bit. His mind and heart had to be totally in the game. More than anything, he wanted what was best for Ilaria. And what was best for her was to be queen.
Even if it meant she'd be lost to him forever.
With a start, he remembered... Stephie.
"What's the matter?" she asked softly.
"My daughter. I wanted you to try to heal her."
Ilaria started to rise. "How quickly can she get here?"
He pulled her back down. "Not fast enough. She's in Pennsylvania somewhere. Hours away. Besides, I'd never bring her here, not with King Rith on the loose. She's Sitheen. One of them might sense her. Target her."
Ilaria curled against him, her lips brushing his shoulder. "I'll come back, Harrison. When this is over, I'll come back with the draggon stone and heal her." She lifted her head, meeting his gaze. "I will do everything in my power to return to heal her. I vow it."
He cupped her face in his hands, feeling the force of her will, of her emotions, and felt his heart ease. And swell. God help him, his life was going to be empty when she was gone.
As if reading his mind, or sharing his thoughts, Ilaria kissed his shoulder again, then slid her hand down to stroke him hard once more.
"Join with me again," she said softly. "I don't ever want to forget."
An hour later, as they lay together, sweaty and sated, Harrison's cell phone rang. He grabbed it.
"I have the stones," Findris said. "King Rith is now following the scent of the others. We've not much time."
"How far are you from the gate?"
"A couple of blocks."
"Good. Stay there until I call you. We'll pick you up." He didn't want the others thinking Findris was one of the bad guys. He hung up and speed-dialed Charlie. As he waited for his brother to pick up, his gaze caressed the beautiful woman now lying on the bed beside him, her skin glowing in the moonlight like marble, a shadow of a smile curving her full mouth.
"Yo."
"Findris has the three stones King Rith stole. Get the other four and meet us in Dupont Circle. ASAP."
"Roger that. We'll meet you in twenty. Oh, and Harrison, grab the two Hokie ball caps out of my closet and give them to Ilaria and her friend to wear. I've issued orders that Esri wearing Virginia Tech hats are allies, not enemies."
Harrison snorted. "Good thinking, little bro. Bizarre. But good."
Charlie echoed the snort. "What about this situation isn't bizarre?"
"Good point. VT hats it is."
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Ilaria stepped out of the warm taxi and into the cold wind, Harrison's hand tight around hers. Findris climbed out behind her wearing the maroon ball cap with the orange VT.
Snow whipped and swirled about her like a white cloak, stinging her cheeks and tangling in her eyelashes. Ahead, in what appeared to be a small grassy park rimmed by a road, chaos reigned. No, not chaos, but a frantic frenzy of effort by dozens of humans. Some set up spotlights, others directed and drove a line of large trucks, parking them end to end in a perfect circle around the huge marble chalice rising from the center of the park.
Tension twisted into a hard coil beneath her sternum, dragonflies darting about inside her stomach. But it was the sight of the humans in police uniforms, humans holding flamethrowers, that sent a stark chill through her.
Harrison's hand squeezed hers. "The cops will guard the perimeter outside the wall of trucks and try to keep the Esri from coming through."
"They wear holly?" If not they would be all too easily enchanted.
"Absolutely. It's