SidheWarrior.PDF by Elemental Alchemy

Author:Elemental Alchemy
Language: eng
Format: epub

* * *

Rowan wandered along the shadowed wall-walk. Across the flower-strewn valley, the mountains blazed with the crimson, orange and gold of sunset. But amid that glory, the contrast of deep violet crevasses reminded her of hers and Cullen’s lives. His was like the mountains, standing through ageless days and nights—the turning of the seasons and centuries. Compared to his life span, hers was more like the flowers—a short time to grow, bloom, fade away, and die.

She turned at the sound of his feet crunching on the crumbled rocks from the nearby broken section and held out one hand. “Come and enjoy the sunset.”

He inclined his head in a courtly gesture that sent a whirl of hunger and delight swirling through her blood. Her body still ached and tingled from their last bout of making love only an hour earlier.

“My lady of the castle,” he murmured and drew her hand to his lips.

“More kisses?” she asked lightly in an attempt to get her raging hormones under control.

Gazing up from where his lips hovered just above her 57

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curled fingers, he said, “As many as you want,” in a rich, deep tone that promised endless delights.

She retrieved her hand and crossed her arms, setting up a silent barrier. “Cullen, the goddess knows you tempt me to lose myself in your lovemaking, but we still have the problem of why you were able to leave the castle grounds with me one time and not the other.”

“Well, miurnin, since we’re going to be practical, I should wait until later to give you this.” He held out one broad palm cradling a delicately etched gold locket on a dainty chain—

open to show a miniature photograph behind a glass cover on one side and a snippet of reddish gold hair on the other.

She stared at the picture, slowly realizing the man’s identity. “My father. Where did you get his photo?”

Cullen slipped it into her hand. “From happier times. He’d planned to give it to your mother on their anniversary, and asked me to keep it safe until then.”

“Safe? Why?”

His enigmatic expression and hyper-alert body language told her he wouldn’t answer any more questions about the picture—at least for now.

“Thank you. I’ll treasure this gift.”

She’d known him long enough to see his tension ease at her response.

She traced the frame surrounding the face she’d only remembered from other photographs. With a sigh of regret for the years she hadn’t known her parent, she closed the locket and tried to fasten the chain around her neck, but the double 58

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clasp was difficult to open.

Familiar fingers brushed her neck. “Allow me.”

“Thank you.” She held her hair to one side, leaving her neck bare. The warm slide of his fingers against her skin generated small jolts of pleasure.

When he stepped back a pace, she mourned the loss of that small contact.

He leaned against a solid section of the wall and gazed at her. “The gold locket suits your sun-kissed skin.”

She fingered the gift. “Grandmother destroyed all the other photos of my father.

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