Page 39 of Shaw

We’re your kin, loyal and true, Teine thought to her. Ever and always, Sister.

I wasnae before the master saved me, Dearg admitted, rubbing her cheek against Fia’s. Now I’ve another chance to prove myself. Permit me do so, Sister, and never again shall you doubt me.

She held onto them for a long time as the shark inside her stopped writhing and seething and went entirely still. On some level she knew she had conquered the ravenous killer, and that it would never again plague her. She also sensed both Dearg and Teine had done the same with their beastly halves. These transformations had changed them in more than form. They had acquired a strange sort of independence and dependence.

We shall return to the caves and await our master’s awakening, Fiacail said. If he’s yet somewhat pished, all the better. We must convince him go with us and meet Derdrui on Insii Orc. Let the greatest of our miseries face each other, and parlay for what they most desire.

Teine smiled, flashing her shark teeth. If they dinnae slay each other first.

Shaw came into his bed chamber expecting to find it empty, only to discover Julianne standing by the windows. She had dressed in the leine and trews he’d retrieved from her chamber, which Lark had dyed with woad to match the color of the bay shallows. She should wear blue all the time, he thought, his gut knotting. He’d had her only last night and wanted her again, just now, even against the wall if she’d permit.

Julianne’s body subtly stiffened as he approached her, but when he placed his hands on her shoulders she turned around and embraced him.

“My lady.” All of his notions dwindled away as she lay her head on his chest and linked her hands behind his back. “What bothers you?”

“Besides you leaving me to wake up alone this morning, and why you always try to do stuff by yourself, and how that makes me so sad?” She tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “I have to show you something, only you can’t freak out. Promise me.”

Shaw already knew what those words meant, thanks to Caroline. “I willnae. Show me.” When she began unlacing the bodice of the gown he stopped her hands. “I’ve looked upon every part of you bare, my merrow lass. If I left marks on you last night–”

“I don’t know if you did this. Maybe. Probably.” Julianne took hold of his hand and pressed it inside her leine, just beneath her breast.

Shaw smiled, thinking she wished his caress, and then something moved against his fingers. “The fack.” He reached for the laces.

“No, it’s easier to see if I lie down.” She went to the bed and did that as she pulled up the hem. “Remember, you promised. Don’t freak out.”

From the spot by the window Shaw saw the blackness on her skin, and for a moment could not breathe. Somehow the Pritani spirit had marked her with the same reversed crescent symbol that marred the back of his hand.

“It happened when we made love last night, and then when I woke up this morning it was still there. It hurt a little at first, but now it’s just cold and hot at the same time.” As he came to her she frowned. “I’m fine. Quit with the scary black eyes.”

Without thinking he reached for her with his marked hand, and went still as the beast stirred inside him. It seemed to rumble with a low, growling purr, yet again seemed uninterested in harming or killing Julianne. Instead it also wished to touch her, and poured itself through his arm to pool in his hand, where the ink on his skin seemed to shimmer now.

“Why?” Shaw muttered the word as he pulled back his hand, denying the beast what it wished out of spite. “Why couldnae you permit me one night without your facking corruption ruining another innocent?”

“Hey. The Big Bad didn’t do anything wrong. It was those slaver jerks that stuck you two with each other.” Julianne sat up, seized his marked hand, and before he could pull free used it to tug him down beside her. “You should stop talking about me like I’m a kid, too, because I’m not. Like the innocent thing? No way. There’s tons of stuff you don’t know about me. Like, I ate peanut butter crackers in bed all the time. Mom never knew.”

As she said that the beast seemed to shrink away from her, as if it feared what she might say. Julianne leaned closer and kissed Shaw’s mouth briefly, almost regretfully. Shaw tasted salt, as if tears had dried on his lips.

Or hers. “What wish you of me, my lady?”

“I want you to come with me to another place,” she said as she laced up her bodice. “Somewhere we can spend some time together away from the castle and clan and all this depressing stuff. Just you and me and the Big Bad. It’ll be fun.”

“I cannae take you to the future,” Shaw said. “’Tis beyond the power of the Pritani spirit.”

She smiled. “Not there, but not here. Let’s get off the island for a while.”

Blue and green lights drifted up between them, and he tried to wrap his arms around her, but something tore her away from him. Towering oak trees crowded around him, blocking the sight of his bed chamber and then the light of the sun, which shone down only in a few bright yellow beams in the shadowy grove. The soft ground shifted under his weight, but he did not dare try to brace himself against one of the trees.

“It’s okay,” Julianne called from the murky green darkness to his right. “We got bounced apart when we jumped off the island. I can see you, though. Stay there, I’m coming to you.”

A leaf drifted down, making Shaw flinch, and then the slippery moss on which he stood made his feet slide out from under him. He narrowly missed careening into one of the oaks and fell on his back between them. As his hands touched some twigs poking up from the soil, flames sprouted from them.

“Here, I’ve got you.” Julianne appeared over him, yanking him to his feet as she stomped on the tiny flames he’d started. “It’s okay now.” She gripped his hand in hers.

Although her touch dispelled his mortal weakness, Shaw did not recognize the forest around them. Then two old men in druid robes came out from behind the oaks, their wrinkled faces beaming.

“Our thanks, Mistress,” the shorter of the pair said, and bowed. “The grove, ’tis one of the oldest in Scotland. Had your halfling burned the ancient oaks here, ’twould trigger a curse of nine hundred and ninety-nine centuries.”

She glowered at the old man. “His name is Chieftain Shaw MacMar, not halfling, and he’s already been cursed, thanks so much. Don’t you guys have anything better to do than scare people? No, guy,” she added when Shaw tried to hush her. “You don’t have to kiss their robed butts. Where are we, exactly?”