Smoke in Moonlight (Celtic Elementals Book 1) (21 page)

The Changelings had all dissipated into dust when their master had been killed and the other Fomorians had scattered in blind, thundering fear. The stone cave was empty now, except for the four of them. They were huddled next to the wall where Aine had been whipped and Lacey had fallen—Aidan, Aine…and Ronan who was cradling Lacey's blood-soaked head in his shaking hands.

"Nae." Aidan's voice was quiet, but utterly final. "Ye know I canna do tha', mate. And it's too late, she’s gone."

Ronan picked up Lacey's limp body in his arms and his gaze fell on Aine, who trembled at his look. "Ye!
Ye did this
, all of it...bring her back! Damme, woman—for once do something to
help
me! Ye owe me tha' much!"

Aine's lower lip quivered. "Ronan, I'm so sorry," she whispered and it crossed the small part of his mind still functioning that for once she was telling the truth. "But I canna..."

"I, however, bring one who
can.
" The voice rang through the stone chamber like a newly forged bell, strong and clear.

Ronan looked up and saw Lugh striding into the cavern, his very presence and the light radiating from his immense figure causing Aidan to wince and sidle into the shadows.

Lugh spared Aidan a glance, his aura dimming slightly before beckoning to someone behind him. Ronan was damn sure he had never imagined being glad to see Bav before now, but now at the sight of her his knees went weak as hope grabbed his breaking heart in two hard hands.

Bav smiled up at him almost roguishly before bending over Lacey, tossing her scarlet curls over one pale shoulder. She withdrew a simple, silk satchel from inside her white robes and scattered a glittering coppery powder over Lacey's face, before bending down and pressing her lush, scarlet mouth to Lacey's blue and bloodstained one. The goddess exhaled once, long and deep.

Lacey's chest rose as Bav's breath was forced into her. The thick gash on her throat knitted itself as he watched and color seeped back into her skin like pigment in a developing photograph.

"Neat trick, tha'." Ronan heard Aidan mutter sardonically before Lacey blinked and turned her head to smile at him in sleepy confusion.

"Didn't I die? Wow, I was
really
sure I was dying this time…even more sure than when Aidan bit me—"

"Aidan what?!" Ronan's roar of rage made the chamber echo again, but Lacey silenced him with a kiss.

They came out from under the granite lip of Knockdoon in the deep dark that preceded the dawn. Ronan with his arms still wrapped too tightly around Lacey. It made it hard to breathe, but she didn't have the heart to tell him to loosen his grip.

She'd seen the tear streaks on his bloody, bruised face when she'd opened her eyes. The awesome depth of grief in his grey eyes when he'd looked down at her as the sword had hit the stone.

Ronan Fitzpatrick loved her. If she had to put up with a cracked rib or two….

She was more than willingly to deal.

Lacey inhaled deeply of the misty green Irish night, happier than she'd ever imagined it was possible to be. Lugh and Bav and Aine remained in the underground chamber, sorting whatever needed to be sorted. Lacey had got the expression there was lot to be explained and that Aine was in a lot of trouble—but that the goddess had managed to do some things right as well. She had felled a threat to Lugh’s throne and broken Ronan’s curse in one swoop. But her means of reaching that end were still to be answered for.

Ronan had passed the sun-god his sword without comment before they left the gods to it, but Lugh had inclined his head as he had taken the weapon back.

"Well done, lad. Well done." Then those fierce blue eyes had turned to Aine and Lacey had truly felt for the diminutive goddess, even after all she'd put them through. She hoped Lugh wouldn’t be
too
hard on her….

Then she'd caught the heat hidden behind Lugh’s anger and smiled to herself. The gods loved, too. Who knew?

He dipped his head and brushed her hair with his lips. "Damme, woman, ye smell like fire and brimstone and blood! I think a shower is in order."

Lacey's belly tightened. "Only if you join me."

"Try and keep me out." She leaned back and let the rumble of his laughter vibrate through her body. She wanted to ask him something but was nervous. She trailed her fingers over the rough strong fingers laced over her belly and heard him sigh. "What is it, Lacey? There is nae holding back, naught anymore."

"Well...does this mean you're not.... I mean—is the curse truly broken or—" She could feel him smile against her ear before he pulled her down the forest path.

"I am no longer
faoladh
, Lacey."

"Wow," she said softly, thinking about a millennium and a half of living under the shadow of a curse and unable to wrap her mind around the fact that for Ronan it was truly over. "Doesn't that feel...."

"Wonderful. Oh gods, Lacey, it feels damme
wonderful!
" Ronan breathed, straightening and swooping her high into the air. "And it makes it much simpler to make plans. No' having to worry about the moon being on the rise and all. So, how does tomorrow sound? Or rather, mayhap today?"

"T-t-t-oday?!" Lacey squeaked as he let her slide down hard against his body, his arms wrapped around her thighs. “For what?” But she thought she might know what he had in mind. He was that kind of man after all.

Old-fashioned, one might say.

Her heart pounded as he smiled up at her.

"Well, it will probably take a damme month or two if we tell Mam and them—I suppose there’s nae way around tha', though. What do ye think of a simple handfasting?”

Lacey thought of all the reasons she should stop him right there, but for once she was going to tell reason to fuck off.

Ireland had taught her that much.

"Are you asking me to marry you, Ronan Fitzpatrick?"

"Aye. Do ye have a problem with tha'?"

She cupped her hands around the hard planes of his face and smiled, her blood racing but her heart sure. "No ‘damme’ problem at all."

It was only after a long, hot shower in which they managed to crack more than a few of Michael's handmade tiles—when they were lying tangled together after—warm, naked bodies pressed together from shoulder to hip and hip to ankle on the big bed that Ronan frowned.

"Where'd Aidan get to?"

Lacey shrugged and tried to snuggle even closer.

"Didn't you hear him say he was coming back to let Moiré know everything was alright? He said now that you were slow and bloody human again it was the least he could do. But personally I think he wanted to get away before you started asking about him biting me."

"Aye," Ronan muttered, but he looked suddenly anxious and sat bolt upright. Stalking to the odd cabinet in the corner and rummaging, muttering to himself. "I suppose I wouldna smell him so keenly anymore, would I? Damme, tha's inconvenient."

There was a sudden curse in Gaelic she didn’t have to understand to know was furious.

Ronan straightened slowly and looked at Lacey. His face was bloodless and pale under his damp black hair.

"What? What, Ronan? You're scaring me." Lacey sat and wrapped the comforter around her, feeling chilled at the look in those misty eyes.

"Aidan has the vial, Lacey. The potion of Aillen’s. And if I know tha' cursed bastard, he's going to try and use it."

"But, Ronan, Aidan…he wouldn't use it to hurt anyone. I mean…well, he wouldn’t.
Would he?”
Lacey couldn't understand why Ronan looked so incredibly tense. Aidan was his friend, even if he was a vampire.

Lacey couldn’t really see why letting him try to see the sun was such a horrible thing. Hell, she figured he deserved a shot after all he’d done for them.

"It’s nae Aidan tha' worries me. He only longs to see the sun once more, he canna help himself. But—if it gets back to the others.... If any of
them
get an idea what tha' stuff can do…

"
Abhartach
has to know Aidan's back by now. If no' yet, then soon. Very soon…,” he said this last to himself, sounded pissed off and not a little scared.

Lacey stared at him in confusion, not understanding a word.

“Lacey…listen. The other vampires
aren’t
like Aidan. Ye think his power is dark, but ye’ve nae idea. The rest of them are monsters, in the truest sense of the word. Vampires are faes gone far worse than demons, they turn humans very rarely—and then only the most depraved, the most loathsome.

"Aidan is the exception, most definitely not the rule. The others, what they would do with tha' damme potion…," Ronan shook his head, unable to continue for a moment.

"Believe me, vampires have
only
been kept in check by the power of the sun. Tha' threat has forced them to stay to the dark, to keep their numbers low. So they haven't been much of a real danger to humans. Sunlight keeps them humble and cautious. But—"

"—if they could hunt in the daytime..." Lacey breathed, following his logic, and feeling colder by the second as she remembered the heavy lethargy that had come over her in the glowing power of Aidan's strange gaze. The way she had been helpless against him. That power, and the needle-sharp bite of those curved fangs combined with the type of creatures she’d seen in that pit….

She felt the blood drain from her face even as Ronan's last words rolled over her.

"If vampires nae longer had to fear the light…if they nae longer had to hide… Gods, Lacey. It'd be hell on earth."

Coming November 2014

Aidan’s story…

BLOOD IN FIRE

The author (that’s me!) would just like to say thank you so much for reading Smoke in Moonlight! Hope you enjoyed Lacey and Ronan’s story as much as I did. And if you're dying for more Aidan, his book is out now.

Blood in Fire

The third book in the Celtic Elementals series,
Lightning in Sea,
is slated for late 2016.

You can also check out my other series, Phoenix Inc.

Phoenix Rising

Phoenix Fallen

Phoenix Broken

As always, it would be absolutely wonderful if you could leave a review and let me know what you think.

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Craic.
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Aine
, goddess of the moon, patroness of werewolves

Aillen
, Fomorian prince, half brother to Aine, ruler of demons and Changelings

An bhfuil tú go hiomlán gan chiall, tá tú bean dÚsachtach

Dhraíocht
-Irish Gaelic, roughly
-
Are you completely without sense, you crazy woman?

Bav
, the woman in her prime form of the goddess trinity known as
the Morrighan
, goddess of death, cycles and war, patroness of the vampires, her other forms are
Anu
, the crone and
Machu
, the maiden

bitseach
-Irish Gaelic, bitch

Brehon
-judge, or arbitrator, also used in the term ‘brehon law’ This was a largely hereditary role, taken on by several clans in ancient Ireland

Brigid
, goddesss of hearth and home and fire

claíomh na gréine
-Irish Gaelic, sword of the sun, term used for Lugh’s sword, in Ronan’s possession. It can only be wielded by those Lugh gives his blessing to.

Cúchulainn
, legendary hero of the
Red Branch
, half-human son to
Lugh the Long hand

Changelings
or
the
Sluagh
-undead creatures formed from lost and damned souls to do the bidding of Aillen

Eire
-Irish Gaelic, Ireland

Damnú air
-Irish Gaelic, basically damn it--or sod it. Expression of frustration

Fand
-fairy queen, former wife to
Manannán mac Lir,
lover of
Cúchulainn

faoladh
-werewolf, werewolves are not traditionally ‘evil’ in Irish folklore, they were more protectors, but they were considered extremely dangerous

craiceann a bhualadh le
do thoin
-Irish Gaelic, basically, go fuck yourself

Fomorians
-the demon gods who ruled before the
Tuatha de Danaan

ghrian siúlóir
-Irish Gaelic, loosely sun walker, or one who walks in the sun

luchóg
-Irish Gaelic, mouse

Lugh of the Long Hand
-current king of the Tuatha de Danaan, foster son to
Manannán mac Lir-god of the sea- and
grandson to Balor, king of the Fomorians. Lugh killed Balor to end the war of the gods. He is the god of the sun, the term ‘long-hand’, or sometimes said as long-arm is given for his deadly prowess with his spear.

Natilus
, Catholic priest

Ní thuigim déithe
-Irish Gaelic, I don’t understand gods

Nuada
, former king of the Tuatha de Danaan, killed by Balor

Orthannach
, demon henchman and executioner for Aillen

Mac Giolla Phadraig
-ancient name of the Fitzpatrick clan

Manannán mac Lir
, god of the sea and horses, foster father of
Lugh of the Long Hand

Tá fáilte romhat sa teach seo, mo dheartháir
-Irish Gaelic, you are welcome in this house, my brother

Tá mé chomh mór sin i ngrá leat
tá
sé
nimhneach
-Irish Gaelic, I am so much in love with you it hurts.

Ti'rna No'g
-a place in the Otherworld, a starry city in the sky

Tuatha de Danaan
-people, or tribe of the Danu, the gods of the Ireland