Page 49 of Light and Shadow
Harper’s arms are tightly wrapped around her bent knees. A tear runs down her soft cheek. “Where did the others go?”
“We think they are locked in time.” I take her hand and pull her into my lap. “The elders believe that Trocor’s mate, Delana, cast the spell that sent all the dragons into a place where time does not exist.”
“Aye,” Fancor agrees. “It is said that they will stay locked in time with no way out until the balance of magic is returned to Domhan. Though others say they are gone forever.” Shaking his head, he steps out of the circle and drags his bed roll off to the side.
The rest of the party follow his lead and find their places just outside the fire’s light.
The elves sing “The Lament of Delana.” It’s a sorrowful ballad recounting the sacrifice of Trocar and the loss of dragons in our world.
Lifting Harper, I carry her to the place near a rock outcropping where I’ve already laid out blankets. It’s a bit outside the ring, but I need her to myself. “Why are you crying? Is it for the lost egg?”
She rests next to me and curls against my body. “No. That is sad though.”
“Why then?” I wrap my arms around her and breathe in her scent, which is more earth and grass now than the flowers she carried in her world.
“For Delana. She is trapped in time and can’t mourn her mate. I wonder if she knows the passage of time here or will have to weep for his loss when she returns. Will he die in the battle ahead? Can he be saved? Sometimes love doesn’t prevail. Life is not always fair.” She wipes her face with her fingers. “I wonder if all of this is a dream, and soon I will wake up in my own house in New Jersey.”
“If you do, what will you think? Will you be relieved that your life is unchanged, and no danger exists?” Now that I have asked, I wonder if I want to hear the answer.
Silence hangs between us. Her voice is soft, and she threads her fingers through mine where our hands rest on her abdomen. “I would miss you.”
Nothing could have prepared me for those words. No declarations about doing the right thing or saving worlds from evil. She would miss me. More joy than I deserve, and certainly more than I’ve ever before felt, scorches through me. “I would send you back if I could. To keep you safe.”
“Safety is an illusion. No one is ever really safe. I could go back to my world and be hit by a truck while crossing the street. Those wolves might follow and drag me back here. I miss mymother and sleeping in a bed, but I know this is where I belong. At least, for now.” She closes her eyes, turns toward me, and kisses my chin.
Cupping her jaw, I wait until she opens her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I want you,mo chroi.”
“You’re not worried about making love for the wrong reasons?” Her smile glints in her green eyes.
Combing her hair away from her face, I lower my lips to just above hers. “I’m worried about so many things. If I had lost you, I don’t know if I could have survived.”
“Because the prophecy says you need me to beat Venora.” Turning away, she bites her bottom lip.
Firming my grip, I ease her gaze back to mine. “Because I’m not sure who I am without you anymore. Because my heart would have broken into a million pieces. I know we’re from different worlds, and the future is beyond our control. I know you will leave me behind like a forgotten dream when this is over.” My chest aches, but I have to tell her the truth. “Harper Craig, I love you. In this time, in this place, and for all time, in all places, my heart is yours.”
Her drawn breath quivers. “You love me? I never thought. But somehow, I knew.” Eyes lowered, she’s talking to herself. When she looks at me again, unshed tears shimmer in the moss green of her eyes. Pushing me to my back, she lies on me and brushes my hair out of my face. “I think I’ve always loved you, even when you were a dream.”
Full of joy and desire, my cock presses between us. “I’d understand if you wanted to wait for a proper bed or at least more privacy.” The moon and planet Arcania shine behind her head, and she looks like a mystical spirit complete with a halo.
Looking at the fire and the elves bedded down twenty yards away, she giggles. “Can we sneak away?”
“I did see an old fairy glen when I went hunting with the soldiers earlier. They can be dangerous for those not fully in the light, but it will be safe for us.”
“What is a fairy glen?” she whispers.
“Fairy glens, even after the fairy folk abandoned them and went to live away from elf kind, are blessed and hidden from Venora’s evil. It’s a short walk over those hills. Do you think you can make it?” Reluctantly, I roll us to standing and take her hand. In the other, I grab the blanket. When she nods, I say, “Come.”
I can’t help noticing Fancor watching us leave the camp. He doesn’t rise, but he sits up on his makeshift bed. He’s a good soldier. In time, I feel he’ll be a good friend. “Centuries ago, when the old gods still roamed the land, the fairy folk lived all over Domhan. They blessed certain places with light magic. Even now, those places cannot be harmed or even seen by dark magic. Someone like Venora wouldn’t even see the glen. It’s likely some of the group didn’t see it either, though I noticed Jax and his men all looking in that direction.”
We make our way through the tall grass and over a slightly larger hill to a small stand of trees that form a canopy over a little green glen. Mushrooms grow in a stark white circle inside the tree line, and soft moss grows along the ground like a well-worn feather mattress. A small stream bubbles through a carved path across the middle before disappearing into an underground spring.
Harper releases my hand and turns in a circle. Her unbound hair spins in a wide arch. “This is magical.”
Laying the blanket on the moss, I leave it to take her around her waist. “You are magical.”
A soft smile on her beautiful lips, she rises to her toes and kisses me. “Are there a lot of places like this in Domhan?”
I run my thumb under a bruise that still mars her cheek and slip the fingers of my other hand under the bottom of her shirt. The skin of her back is smooth and soft in contrast to the denim pants she wears. “There are not that many. This is only the second one I’ve ever found.”
