The Theron Residency (Brides of Theron Book 4) (38 page)

When Iain Moor opened the door, they found Zion waiting behind it. “Are you ready to go to your quarters?”

“Yes,” they both said at the same time.

The corner of Zion’s eyes turned up as if he were smiling. “Follow me.”



            
 
The accommodations on this ship were beyond compare. The Valhalla was one of the elite vessels in the Interdimensional Council of Light. Laura seemed to be right at home here. She said that many of the amenities found in their room were much like the ones she found in Agartha. She eased herself into the overstuffed chair in the living area of the room.

“I think we should stay. You said yourself that your family was gone from Theron and now you have found a piece of it on this ship. Your grandfather wants us to stay. I think we should, too,” Laura said. Ceran knew deep down she was right. They could learn so much from being here and working with these people. She could learn so much more than she would ever learn on Theron. Besides, he thought about the fear in the eyes of all those people that passed her in the hallways as they were leaving the Pyxis. Word was quickly spreading around the ship about what happened with Rog Gizzeppli. She wouldn’t have to worry about being shunned or feared on this ship.

              “I don’t know him very well. We were never close when I was a child. He was always behind the locked doors of the elder building. What if it doesn’t work out with him and me?” Ceran said.

              “If it doesn’t work out, we can always go back to Theron. But, I really think we need to give this a shot. I am sure that Zeb and Zirlo will understand our decision.”

              “What about the prophecy? What if it’s not me, or if it is and I fail? What then?”

              “Maybe it is you. Then again, maybe it is one of our children or even grandchildren. You don’t know. For now, let’s forget about the prophecy. This is a great opportunity for the both of us. Just think, I could finally find out where all this,” she held up her hands and looked them over, “comes from. Think about it for a minute.”

              “So, I think our decision is made. We’ll stay here. I will have to tell Zirlo and Zeb our decision and we will have to go and get our belongings from the house on Theron. You’ll probably want your books,” he said and she stood and pulled him to her with a huge smile on her face. “Besides, my home is where you are.”

              “It’s funny that you said that. I was thinking the exact same thing earlier. As long as you are with me I am home.” She stood on her tippy toes and kissed him. “What do you say we take this into the bedroom?”

              “Hummm, I like that idea.” He swept her legs up into his arms and carried her through the door leading to the bed. She giggled as he tossed her on the mattress. She started to take off her shirt when his knee went down on the bed landing just between her legs. She pulled the band from her hair letting it fall loose on her shoulders. He thought at this particular moment she couldn’t be sexier. He went in for a kiss and felt her fingers run against the grain of his hair. It caused chills to go down his spine. “I know that you must be tired of hearing me say this, and I have no intention of ever stopping. You are so beautiful, Laura.”

              She smiled and ran her fingertips just over the skin underneath the hem of his shirt just before she pulled it over his head. “I don’t imagine that I will ever tire of hearing it. I hope you won’t tire of hearing me tell you how much I love you. Come here and kiss me, you big sexy man.” He wasted no time and kissed her as he removed her bra. Her breasts tumbled out and he cupped the soft flesh with his hands. He trailed kisses down the lightly salted skin of her neck down to the pink tips of her breasts. She combed her fingers through his hair as she softly moaned. The little noises she made when he touched her like this turned him on and he was feeling the aching of his swollen and hard cock.

              He unbuttoned her pants and eased the zipper down. Touching the soft skin just above her hips, she reacted and lifted her hips as he pulled until her pants over her feet, then tossed them to the floor. He returned his attentions to that sensitive skin just behind her ear and along her jaw. Her fingers found the waistband of his pants and she worked to free him from the confines within. Once he was sprung, he felt the scraping of her fingernails on the bare flesh of his ass. He arched his back as his chest made contact with hers. Her hair was a mess and some of the golden strands crossed her face. Gods, she was so hot!

              He tested her readiness with the tip of his cock. She rose to meet him halfway. He was already nearly mad with desire. He pushed into her a little harder than he first intended and her eyes went wide. He liked to see her surprised, even if it was just for a second. She fell into a rhythm with him. “Ahh…yes! yes!” she screamed and he pressed into her harder and harder.

With each thrust, she seemed to glow brighter. Was this what Iain Moor was talking about? Is this what she could do that would make him live forever? He wouldn’t mind living forever if it meant that he could spend the entirety of it buried between her thighs. She was glowing bright white now with fine droplets of sweat beading on the tops of her breasts and on her face. He was at his limit now, just waiting for her to tell him to let go. “Now! Cum with me Ceran. Cum with me now!” she screamed. He let it all go at once, collapsing on top of her heaving chest. Her breaths were coming quick and the glow cast from her skin was slowly beginning to fade.

He rolled off of her and lay on his back hip to hip with her breathing heavily. “Can it get any better than this? Because, woman, you’re going to kill me if it does.” She laughed and it was music to his ears.

“That was awesome!” She turned to him and put her head on his chest. “I’m spent. It has been a long day and I’m sure I’m going to sleep well, now.” She traced her fingers along the lines carved into his muscular chest. She tilted her head to look up at him. Her eyelids were heavy and the shadows beneath them were dark.

He kissed the top of her head and said, “Much has happened today. No one deserves sleep like you do. Go ahead and close your eyes.” She fell asleep in his arms, the slow rhythmic breathing starting to overtake the rapid breaths of the exertion from making love. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t long before he slipped out of the bed carefully, covering her with the woven blanket on the bed.

After showering, he dressed looked around the room for a communications panel. He needed to find a way to contact the Eternity and speak to Zirlo. He checked the bedroom one more time to find her deeply asleep in the bed. After scribbling a note telling her where he had gone, he left their quarters on a mission to find the command deck.

She was in a fog surrounded with the smell of peat smoke and heather with an underlying scent of baby soap and sour milk. The sound of a toothless mouth smacking on a tiny fist just over her chest. The feeling of dampness soaking through her shirt. A whine and whimper caused her breasts to harden to the consistency of rocks, and an urgent pain surged through them. When she opened her eyes, she looked down to find the downy, white blond hair on the tiny head of the baby strapped to her chest.

She had to be dreaming, but this felt real. She wasn’t really sure, but it was possible that she was dreaming of the future. The baby looked up and her large eyes were a swirling combination of two shades of blue with many metallic golden streaks running through them. Each shade of blue came from the baby’s parents, her and Ceran. The tiny fist flew from the baby’s mouth as it reached out for its mother. She extended her finger and the baby clasped it tightly. “Are you hungry?” she said instinctually. The baby wailed now. She looked around her for a place to sit. Behind her was a castle and to the left of that was a loch. She was in Scotland. This was Dunvegan. She walked over to the knot garden of boxwood and sat in the grass.

The baby started smacking, knowing it would be fed soon. She unstrapped the baby from her chest and realized the baby’s name. It was Leanora. The baby was a girl. She pulled up her shirt and freed her breast just as the baby hungrily clamped on. The milk let down and she felt instant relief of her milk letting down. The ground was a bit damp where she sat, but one could expect that in the Isle of Skye. She looked around the garden to see various types of rhododendrons in pinks, fuchsia, and white. It was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky dusted with several high clouds.

In the middle of the baby’s second breast, she could hear the sounds of a child’s laughter. She looked behind her to find a young, red-headed child with her arms filled with dolls. A woman was chasing behind her. The baby was fast asleep in her arms now and she propped the baby over her shoulder and lightly patted her back while straightening her shirt over her chest. The little girl sat several feet away from her and dropped her four dolls on the ground in front of her.

“Well, who are you?” Laura asked her.

“You have a baby?” She answered.

“I do. Her name is Leanora and my name is Laura. What’s yours?”

“My name is Aurora, and this is Emberwi, Windy, Terwa, and Furn.” She raised each doll as she said their names. She realized just who this child was and looked into the familiar eyes of her baby’s namesake.

“Aurora, I hope you aren’t bothering the lady.” The woman looked to Laura and smiled, “I hope she isn’t disturbing you. You have a beautiful baby.”

“Oh, she is not disturbing us at all. I am Laura and this is Leanora.” She continued to pat the baby’s back waiting for her to burp. “Aurora is a beautiful name for a beautiful child. What made you call her that?”

“She was born on a night that the Aurora Borealis lit the night sky. It seemed to be the perfect name for her.” She looked down at her lovingly and brushed her long hair over her shoulder as she played. “I’m Caitriona. It is nice to meet you. You sound like you are from America. What brings you to Dunvegan?”

“Are you kidding? This has to be the most beautiful place I have ever visited.”

“There are some fairy pools in the area that you must see then,” Caitriona said.

“Burrrrp…” the baby was startled by the loud sound of her own making and opened her eyes.

Caitriona looked into the baby’s eyes, “Och Aye…I have never seen such beautiful eyes.”

“Thank you,” Laura said as the baby drifted back to sleep in her arm as she patted the baby’s behind.

“Catriona!” a man yelled from the castle. “I need you for just a minute.”

“Come on Arrie, Da is calling us,” Catriona said to the little girl who was happily playing with her dolls.

“I know you don’t know me, but I would be happy to watch her for a few minutes. The baby is sleeping and I’m not going to leave for at least a half an hour. I promise I won’t take my eyes from her,” Laura said.

“Are you sure?” Caitriona looked up at her husband who motioned her up with his arm, “I don’t want to impose upon you.”

“It’s no imposition. Seriously, I promise that she will be alright here with me.”

The woman looked up and back at the child. “I suppose that will be alright. I will be back in just a minute. Arrie, be a good girl for the lady.”

“Yes, mummy,” Aurora said as she made the two dolls in her hands dance together in the grass. Her mother sprinted as fast as she could in heeled black leather boots up the hill to the castle. She said a few words to her husband as he put his arm around her and waved down to them in the garden just before they disappeared behind the wall.

“So, do your dolls like it here at the castle?” Laura fingered the doll dressed in blue that she assumed was Windy. The doll had wings that were made of an opalescent fabric.

“They say that they wove the caswel. They used to wive there a wong time ago.” She was so cute.

“There was a great man that lived here. I have traced my family all the way back to the first Leod that lived here. I have a story about one of my favorite Lairds that lived in this castle. Do you want to hear it?” Laura said.

“Sure,” she said as she continued to make her dollies dance.

“There once was a man named William Dubh McLeod. He was a big, braw man with dark black hair, who fought his enemy with a big long sword. When he was a boy, he was hunting in the woods, when a beautiful woman spotted him from the trees. She was not from this place. She was from somewhere secret from the people that lived here. She stepped on a twig as he drew his arrow while hunting a stag. The stag ran and he was mad. Startled, she drew his attention and ran as fast as she could to return to her hidden home, deep inside the Earth.”

“It would be years before they met each other again. But, when they did meet, it was love at first sight. Her name was Anora and she had golden hair that fell below her waist and eyes as blue as the sky. They married and had a child together. His name was Alistair and he was a very happy child. However, carrying the baby in her belly made Anora really, really sick. She was dying. The only way she would be able to get better was if she went home. Her father came from a distant land with many fighting men to collect her a year after her baby was born. The baby couldn’t come because his place was in this castle. One day he would be the Laird of Castle Dunvegan.”

“When her father convinced them both that it would be best if she returned to her hidden home inside the Earth, she went with one condition. William had to promise that he would never allow the child to cry. If her baby cried, she would have to return to tend to him. William, despite his love for her, had no choice but to let her go. She looked horrible. It was like she would die at any moment. Anora really didn’t want to leave either, but she went back and after a time started to feel better. William was sad. He had a baby son that reminded him every day of his lost wife.”

“Anora had several fairies that looked in on them from time to time. Their names were Windy and Emberli.”

Aurora interrupted, “Hey, those are my dolly’s names.”

“Yeah, I know. That is why I picked this story.” She touched the little girl’s nose with the tip of her finger and continued. “They told Anora that William was lonely and melancholy.”

“What’s melancholy?” Aurora asked.

“Melancholy means that he was sad and miserable. So sad, in fact, that he didn’t enjoy his life here in the castle with his son. She sent them to find him a new wife that could make him happy and they looked and looked until they found the perfect woman. They sent her to the castle when there was a big party. There were musicians, a bard, and a feast that had not been seen in the castle since Anora had left. The fairies cast a spell so that he would be happy. They did it for Anora because she couldn’t bear for William to be so unhappy.”

“William spotted her across the crowd and rose to dance with her. The music was lively and the nursemaid went to the landing of the stairs to look down upon the great room. The night was magical and everyone was watching the Laird have fun for the first time in over a year. The baby started to cry and Anora felt it from far away. She merely thought about her son and was by his side. He quieted when she came and picked him up from his cradle singing a lullaby. Once he was fast asleep, she put him back in his crib and draped her silk scarf over his tiny body. She gave him one last look and left.”

“Did you know that the scarf is in a frame inside the castle? It has been said that it has saved the people here several times, once from famine and once from a war with Clan MacDonald. All they had to do was wave the flag and it would bring help from Anora’s people. The MacLeod’s have one more wave of the flag before it is powerless, according to legend that is.”

“I’m going to marry a man wike Wilwim one day,” Aurora said. “That’s what they say.” She pointed to the dolls on the ground.

“I am sure you will. I will pray that you find him.” Caitriona was approaching them now. “It was very nice to have met you Aurora. I hope we see each other again one day.”

“Was she a good girl?” her mother asked.

The sleeping baby in her arms started to stretch out her tiny arms and legs. Her fists were closed tight above her head. “She is a splendid girl. Leanora doesn’t talk much yet, especially when she is sleeping. Thank you for allowing your daughter to keep me company.” Catriona nodded and smiled.

“It was nice to meet you Laura,” she stroked the baby’s face with her little finger, “and you as well, Leanora.” Laura put the baby back in the band that wrapped over her shoulder and around her waist. “We must be off now.” She picked up the two dolls that were not in her daughter’s fists and picked up Aurora. “Now, say goodbye.”

“Bye, bye,” the little girl waved as her mother walked back to the castle to rejoin her husband. When she was near, he took the little girl and gave her a tight hug and many fatherly kisses. It was clear that Aurora was well loved. She had to be almost four years of age.

“I will see you in twenty years my sweet mother,” Laura said as she turned and walked away from the castle and into the fog. The smell of heather and peat smoke was fading away from her senses and her arms became empty, but the knowledge that she would have a child filled the entirety of her soul. Leanora would be her and Ceran’s future.

The End