Divine Beginnings

Chapter Thirteen

Aine forgot to breathe. “Your wings are beautiful.” She watched them shiver, as if her words had been a caress. Surprised, she took an involuntary step back.

“Please don’t fear me. We are bound, you and I. I would tear these wings from my body before I harmed you.”

“Could you do that?” She stared at his wings. “They seem so much a part of you.”

“To my people wings are the seat of our soul. Destroy my wings and you will probably destroy me.”

He’d given her the gift of his vulnerability and it frightened her terribly. Not for herself, but for him. What would have happened if the bear trap had closed around one of his wings and ripped it off? It made her sick just thinking about it.

“Aine, are you worried for me?”

She pulled her gaze from his wings and met his eyes. “It’s just that they’re so…out there. If your wings are that important you’d think they’d be better protected.”

Tegan laughed. “You’d be surprised. I’m not usually this helpless.” Still chuckling to himself, he continued down the narrow path.

They hadn’t gone much farther when Tegan told her, “You’ll have to bend down to enter the cave, but it widens soon.”

She watched him crouch and then disappear into what looked to be nothing more than an ordinary niche in the side of the mountain base. She ducked and went after him. After only a few feet the entrance spilled into a large, oblong room. There was a round opening in the ceiling, but it only let in a weak, indirect light. Mostly it served as an escape for the smoke from the well-banked fire that gave soft light and ample heat. She heard falling water and saw that the rear wall was wet with a steady waterfall which ran out through a crack in the rock floor. Along another wall were strips of smoked meat interspersed with drying herbs. The cave smelled pleasantly of pine smoke and spice.

“How long have you been here?” she asked as she began to unload the urn.

Tegan was gingerly lowering himself onto a pallet of furs. “Two full passes of the seasons.”

She blinked in surprise. “And no one knows?”

“Only you. I rarely go out into the Partholon forest, and was only there yesterday because winter is coming and the hunting there is better than the Wastelands side of the mountains.”

Aine began examining his leg. “So there are really no other Fomorians here with you.”

“You said you believed me yesterday.”

“I did. I do. It’s just that this is all so incredible.”

He sucked in a sharp breath as she poured a cleansing solution over his wound. Aine grimaced, but didn’t pause until the leg was clean and dressed. Then she sat back, breathing as heavily as Tegan. She studied him with Healer’s eyes. His wound was better today, but he looked worse. There were bruised shadows under his eyes and his skin had lost much of the luster it had the previous day.

“I’ll be better now that you are here.”

She frowned at him. “Stop reading my mind.”

“I’m reading your face, not your mind.” Tegan smiled. “Sit beside me and tell me about yourself.”

Aine sat, noticing that the tip of his wing was almost touching her knee. “I’m a Healer,” she said, trying to keep her attention from his wing. “I grew up at Laragon Keep. The women in my family have been Healers for generations.”

“A legacy of kindness and strength.” Tegan covered her hand with his as if it was a completely natural thing to do. “I have been given such an amazing gift in you.”

Aine was going to pull her hand away, but then she felt it. His pulse against her skin. And in that pulse she also felt the beat of his need for her.

“You want to drink from me again.” Aine’s voice trembled.

“I do. I will always want you.”

“Your need is especially intense now because of your injury.” She concentrated on him, staring into his eyes. “It would help you heal, wouldn’t it?”

“Your blood has the power to heal me, body and soul.”

She did pull her hand from him then, rubbing at the spot that was still warm from his touch.

“Aine, I gave you my word I would not drink from you against your will.”

“What if it isn’t against my will?”