Page 46 of The Magic of Highland Dragons
He groaned. “Nay woman, I canna wait, I need to be inside ye right now.”
She pushed against his broad chest, gently but firmly. “Not yet, I need to tell you something first.”
He pulled her closer, her strength no match for his. “What could you possibly have to tell me that canna wait until after I have ye again?” He nuzzled her neck, rocked his hips insistently against her with a low growl of pleasure. “Open yer legs for me.”
“You’re going to be a father.”
He stopped, went completely still for a long moment, then lifted his head up slowly to look down at her. “What did ye just say?”
She gave him an innocent smile. “Mmmmm… you’re right, it can wait until after you’ve had me again.” She brought her arms up to circle him, to pull him back down to her. He didn’tbudge. His expression had changed, a look of tender hope lighting his eyes, mixing with the darker haze of passion and desire that had been there already. The combined effect made her catch her breath, love and yearning and happiness filling her like never before.
He grasped her arms, shaking her a little. “What did ye say, Faith?”
“I said you’re going to be a father.”
She watched the emotions cross his face: a look of incomprehension, followed by astonishment, followed by pure joy. His hand moved down her body to rest lightly above her womb.
“A child? My child? Are ye certain?”
“Yes.Very certain.”
His face broke into a wide grin. “Ah god, ye have made me the happiest man on this earth! Ye’ve come back to me, and ye’ve brought my child with ye. I just canna believe such a thing is true.”
But even as he looked at her with such love in his eyes, she saw a flicker of sadness there, that seemed so out of place.
“What is it Bren? What’s wrong?”
He looked away, took a deep breath, and let it out with a sigh. “My brother. Drust. He’s gone. I can only assume he’s dead, because I canna feel him with me anymore.” He looked into her eyes. “Just as I couldna feel ye, when ye were gone from me.”
Faith sat up, tears already welling in her eyes for Drust. She had cared for him greatly.
“What happened? Tell me, Bren, I need to know.”
He told her about how they had gone to find the ring, and how Drust had insisted on going in Eian’s place, how he had sacrificed himself to bring her back, for the ultimate survival ofthe clan, to avenge their mother and his honor, and how Drust seemed to have known that it was his destiny to do so.
A tear rolled down Bren’s cheek as he finished the story. “It was the hardest thing I ever had to do, to leave my brother there in that cave. Only the hope of bringing ye home to me… only kenning the sacrifice he made for me…”
Faith put her arms around him and held him tight. “We will name the baby for him, if it’s a boy. We will never forget what he did for all of us.”
Bren nodded, a solemn smile touching his lips. “I would like that, verra much.” His smile grew wider as he looked at her, echoing his joy of just moments ago. “I canna believe I am to be a father so soon, that I will hold a child of mine in my arms.” He lay back down on the bed, pulling her with him, then leaning over her and tenderly pushing the hair back from her face. “When ye were gone from me, and I was waiting, hoping ye’d come back somehow, the nights were so verra long… sometimes when I lay awake I’d let myself think of what it would have been, for ye to bear my child. What our son or daughter would look like, how ye’d be so verra beautiful with my babe at yer breast. How much love we would have to give…” He paused, his words beginning to tremble with so much powerful emotion, his eyes growing dark with desire.
Faith reached up to hold his face in her hands, and he turned his head slightly to place a kiss in the center of her palm.
“I love you, Bren Mac Coinnach.”
She pulled him down into a kiss that told him everything else that words could not.
Drust Mac Coinnach was growing desperate. He had been without food or water for days, and the wound in his side that he couldn’t even see in the inky darkness throbbed and burned so much that he feared he would eventually pass out. But not now… not yet. For now, he was still alive, and so he would keep walking. The underground tunnels that he felt his way through seemed to go on forever, and he knew that it would be by a miracle alone that he eventually found his way out. Especially since he suspected he might be slowly bleeding to death. Though he kept a wadded piece of cloth pressed to the wound, the rag was soaked through, his fingers wet and sticky, the smell of blood strong in his nostrils. But still he kept moving, his instinct for survival strong, and his warrior’s body strong as well.
Still, there was only so much life-blood a body could lose before even a warrior’s strength was not enough. As his hand scraped against the damp stone, he felt the tunnel begin to curve to the left, and he followed, stumbling, his breath shallow. Herecalled that a man bleeding to death will begin to gasp for air, as his veins grow empty. He was close, then.
It seemed the floor was rising, as if he were moving uphill, and he struggled to stay upright just a little longer. Aye, he was definitely climbing now, and up ahead there was a light, dim at first, then growing brighter as he came closer. It was so bright, after days in the darkness, that it hurt his eyes. A light. Either he had finally found a way out, or he was dying. At the moment, he had no idea which, but either was fine with him. With the last of his strength, he went towards the light, and then collapsed.
When next he opened his eyes, he knew that he had died, because there was a beautiful angel hovering above him, watching him with big blue eyes, her hair a halo of curls around her face. He wanted to touch her, and he lifted his hand. It felt as heavy as lead, and pain shot through him, stealing his breath. He dropped it back down to his side, defeated. It wasn’t right, he thought dimly, that he should be dead and still suffer so from his wound.
“Rest now, dinna try to move”, the angel said.
She smoothed her hand over his forehead and her touch was soft and gentle. He wouldn’t mind so much, being dead, if she would stay here with him… but now he was fading away again into the blackness.
Willa picked up his hand and held it tight. “Nay, warrior, dinna go. I have yet to even learn your name. Stay here with me now.”
From somewhere in the shadows, Drust felt her touch and heard her plea, and he wanted to stay with the angel. After all, he hadn’t learned her name yet, either, and he found that he desperately wanted to know it.
