Page 68 of Shadow Master
He snorted. “Goodness no. The fir bolg are immortal beings like the Tuatha.”
“But fomorians don’t live as long?”
He shook his head. “No. Fomorians do not have the lifespan of a Tuatha, although as a half-breed, I benefited from a longer lifespan.”
Ah, yes. He was half Tuatha. “And Laramir?”
“Pure fir bolg,” Lugh said. “I believe there are remnants of their existence in the mortal realm in what they call giants. They abandoned their world, the world which now belongs to mortals, to conquer other worlds. In their absence, humanity was born—fragile, beautiful beings with the lifespan of a butterfly—and the Tuatha were enraptured. They swore themselves the protectors of humanity. The fir bolg have been fighting to get the mortal world back ever since.” He shrugged. “My world was simply a means to an end. A pathway to their true goal.”
But the Tuatha hadn’t made it easy. They’d fought the fir bolg alongside the fomorians.
“The fir bolg want back what they believe is rightfully theirs,” Lugh said.
“But it isn’t.” I looked down into Brady’s face and curled my hands into fists to stop myself from touching his cheek. “They gave it up. They abandoned it. The world evolved, and it belongs to humanity now.”
Lugh’s gaze fell to my mouth. “I can feel him, you know. Looking out through my eyes from time to time.”
My breath caught. “What?”
“Like now. He’s pushing against my consciousness now, and he feels …” Lugh shook his head and broke eye contact.
I grabbed his chin and forced his head up to look at me. “What? What does he feel?”
Lugh’s eyes misted. “Longing, sorrow. Want.” His gaze fell to my mouth, then tore away. “And anger. He wants me gone.”
I released Lugh. “Can you blame him?”
“No,” Lugh said. “But we are both victims here.”
The clip of heels signaled the return of Latrou. Had it been an hour already?
“You’re done?” I slid off the podium as Kash entered the room.
Latrou smiled smugly. “Helseth is very good at what she does.”
Helseth joined us, carrying a leather strap. She held it aloft for us to see. “The leather has been etched with the requisite runes and woven together. Once I tie it to your wrist, the soul that belongs to this body will rise with the moon and sleep with the sun.”
I looked out the window at the red sky that signaled sunset. Oh, God. “Do it.”
Lugh’s smile was wry as he held out his wrist. “By all means.”
Helseth approached him and carefully knotted the strap to his wrist. The strap glowed blue for a moment.
Lugh looked at the setting sun and then fixed his gaze on me. “I’ll see you at sunrise.”
My pulse hammered in my throat as the sun finally set, and the world went dark. Lugh staggered back but caught himself, and then his eyes fixed on me.
Soft, dark, and filled with stars, and heat flared through my veins. Anger, confusion, and then joy—not my emotions. His. The connection pulsed between us, stronger than ever before.
“You did it,” Brady said. “You found me.”
Hot tears turned the world into a shimmer, and then I was bridging the distance between us to wrap my arms around him and never let go.
Twenty-Two
Brady had me tucked into his side as he looked down on Kash. “You’re Kash?”
Shit, my stomach fluttered with nerves. I needed these two to get on, to like each other. Hyde, Harmon, and Brady already had a grudging respect for one another, and Hyde and Harmon were okay with Kash. I needed Brady on board.
