“No, that is not true,” Aednat said. She smiled up at me. “Easier than getting past the bad Queen. Lir is being held deep in the lake, the monster guards his cell.”
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Luke asked, lifting his hands to the air once more. “If I’d known we only had to get past the lake monster, with only the three of us, me with a single sword, Quinn with a dagger and you with . . . do you have some weapon we haven’t yet seen?” Aednat shook her head and he continued. “Well then, of course, that will be easier than getting wet in the rain.”
His sarcasm was completely lost on her. She nodded, smiling from ear to ear. “Good, we go get Lir. For when the earthquakes stop, then we are too late.”
For the first time, I sent up a prayer to whatever God or gods would hear me that the earthquakes would continue, and that we would make it in time to stop Balor from releasing Chaos.
10
Despite the fact that I wanted to hurry, my body wasn’t quite ready for a full out run through the forest. Not even with the Fairy Honey helping me along. My feet kept tripping on unseen roots, and rocks seemed to throw themselves into my path, smashing my shins. Since Aednat had closed the gateway closest to us in order to block the other Banshees, we had to trek through the coastal forest to get to the next possible gateway.
“Damn it!” I yelped for what seemed like the hundredth time, falling again to my hands and knees. The only thing that saved me was the fact that we were still primarily on mossy ground.
Luke helped me to my feet. “Will you let me carry you now?” It wasn’t the first time he’d asked. Panting, I nodded. My legs were wobbling, I could only just get my feet high enough to take a step, but not high enough to avoid tripping. My lungs burned, as though I’d been running, not taking a walk through the cool coastal forest. It was time to admit defeat, at least on this.
“Are you going to . . .?” I didn’t get a chance to ask which way he was going to pack me. With an ease that shouldn’t have surprised me, but did, Luke scooped me up, his right arm under my legs and his left supporting me. At least he didn’t stick me on his back like some little kid going for a piggy ride with her dad.
Skipping through the ferns and shrubs ahead of us, Aednat called over her shoulder. “Sleep, Quinn. Let your body heal.”
Even with the jostling of Luke’s footsteps, the moment my eyes closed I was asleep. Deep and dreamless, when I woke sometime later, I could feel my body already healing. Slowly, but at least it was healing. Lifting a hand to touch Luke’s arm, I got his attention.
“I think that you need to train me, Luke. I mean, if you are willing to. That was one of the last things Cora told me,” I said.
Luke glanced down at me, his blue eyes and soft lips so close, so tantalizing. Heat rushed through me, so much so that there was no way he couldn’t feel it with our bodies pressed against each other. He didn’t say anything, just stared at me, the air seeming to thicken between us. His feet stopped, his arms tightened around me, and he leaned his head down to mine, his lips brushing against my cheek then across to my mouth.
“I will teach you anything you’d like to learn.” His voice tingled across my skin. Feeling bold, I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair and tugged him closer. “Anything?”
If I thought the heat rushing through me was bad before, it was nothing to the blaze that lit inside as he let my legs down so that I stood in front of him.
Cupping my face, he surprised me; he bit down on my lower lip and pulled me closer. I let out a yelp, he chuckled and then we were kissing.
Like our first kiss that seemed so long ago, it was if I was drinking in the sunshine, the heat of his mouth, the taste of his lips on mine sweeping through me, whispered to me all the things that my mother told me good girls didn’t do—especially not with someone that they had only known a few days.
I wrapped my arms around him, revelling in the fact that his muscles trembled under my hands. He broke the kiss off, his eyes full of a hunger I knew I’d caused. I smiled up at him, unable to stop the goofy grin I could feel spread across my face.
He grinned back, and then a clod of dirt hit him in the side of his head, roots and mud marring the moment. We both spun to see Aednat standing with her hands on her hips, a glower on her face.
“You two, no kissy kissy. We have a job,” she said, her tone that of a rebuking mother.
Embarrassed, I nodded, “You’re right.”
Luke still hadn’t said anything. Instead, he’d lifted the edge of his shirt to wipe off his face. I couldn’t resist reaching out to touch the skin along his ribs. It was bare, no tattoos like Bres had.