Morrigan (38 page)

“None of that matters to me, Tiarn. I love
you!” Morrigan reached for his hand, but he pulled away. “I know
you’ve spent years running away from everyone, but your name has
been cleared. You don’t need to run away anymore.”

“Outlaw or no, a lycan has never been welcome
in the royal castle. Arianrhod may have tolerated me while I was
healing since I did her a service, but the other nobles in the
ballroom were none too happy with my presence there. Wolves make
people nervous. It would be selfish of me to stay with you when you
deserve so much better. I would only bring you shame if I were to
remain here. I would rather die than cause you pain.”

Morrigan was frustrated. “What about what I
want? Doesn’t that matter?”

“Not when there are laws that forbid it!
Don’t you see Morrigan? Now that your mother is gone, there is no
hope for us. You cannot change the law.”

“Maybe I can’t, but Arianrhod can!” Morrigan
told him. “And like she said in the cavern, there are some rules
that are meant to be broken.”

Tiarn’s jaw dropped. “Are you telling me the
queen has given us her blessing?”

Morrigan was relieved to see she was finally
getting through to him. “Yes, Tiarn. There is nothing left to stand
in our way except for your stubbornness.”

Like a man transformed, Tiarn dropped his
bag, swept her into his arms, and smothered her with kisses. “Do
you know what this means, Morrigan, my love? If the queen has
overturned the law, it means we are free to marry—to have a
family!”

“Whoa! Slow down there, wolf man!” Morrigan
laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I think that for
now, it just means you’re officially my boyfriend. Let’s talk about
marriage and babies in a few years, okay?”

Tiarn nodded. “Whatever you wish, Princess. I
have already waited a lifetime to find you. I can wait a little bit
longer to make you my wife. Yet there is still one problem.”

Morrigan was confused. “What’s that?”

“They say one of the reasons it was forbidden
for a lycan and a witch to unite was because after only one night
of passion, he would be forever her slave.”

“Oh, really?” Morrigan kissed him on the
mouth, loving the taste of him and the feel of his hands as he
explored her body. “That’s one myth I wouldn’t mind putting to the
test. Of course, you did say you wanted to wait until we were
married.”

He gave her a toothy smile, lifted her up,
and carried her to the bed. “As you said, Princess, there are some
rules that are meant to be broken.”

“Come now, Morrigan.” Tiarn stood in the
corner of the living room, grinning as Morrigan wrapped up her
story. Around them, their four children were watching her with
wide, innocent eyes. “That was hardly the most amazing story ever
told. I think you are exaggerating just a bit.”

Morrigan rolled her eyes at her husband. It
hardly seemed possible that fifteen years had passed since they’d
met. As Tiarn strutted to her side to place a kiss on her check, he
still looked the same as he did the first time she caught a glimpse
of him outside her classroom window. Right down to his sarcastic
smile.

“Haven’t you ever heard of poetic license?”
she asked him. “I was trying to be dramatic.”

He laughed. “You do not need to try to be
dramatic, my love. Still, one part of that story was new even to
me. You never told me you dreamed of me before our meeting.”

Morrigan shrugged. “I thought you’d tell me I
was crazy.”

“No madder than I, because your face haunted
my dreams as well.” He pulled her close to sniff her hair. “As did
your intoxicating scent.”

“I think it was an amazing story, Mama!”
cheered six-year-old Eostre, distracting the couple from their
romantic memories. “I love when you tell us stories!”

“Me too,” Filtiarn Jr agreed. He was the
youngest of their brood and the only boy. “I loved all the sword
fighting.” He jumped up with his wooden sword and made slashing
motions in the air. “Someday I want to be captain of the royal
guard, just like Papa and Grandpa Connelly.”

Morrigan gave Tiarn a cocky look. “You appear
to be outnumbered.”

“It certainly seems that way,” he relented.
“I suppose you receive the title of master storyteller, in addition
to Princess and heir to the throne.”

“Did it really happen that way, Mama?” Eostre
asked. “Did you and Papa really save Auntie Arianrhod? Did you? Did
you?”

“Every word your mother said was the truth,”
Tiarn declared as he swept his little princess into his arms.

“Gee, Papa, you were kind of a jerk before
you got old,” she teased.

Tiarn rolled his eyes. “You are your mother’s
daughter.”

“Mama, what’s a maiden head?” Little Tiarn
asked.

“Okay, that’s enough storytelling for one
night!” Morrigan told them, ignoring the question and ushering the
two younger children out of the room. “It’s time for bed! Are you
girls coming?”

“Yes, Mother, we will be along in just a few
minutes,” said her eldest daughter, Maeve.

Morrigan shrugged her shoulders and took the
two little ones to bed, leaving Maeve and her fraternal twin sister
Macha staring into the fire, each lost in their own thoughts. Both
of the girls were extraordinarily beautiful, even in the awkward
stage of puberty. Macha had the dark hair and complexion of her
mother, while Maeve was a younger version of her Great Aunt
Arianrhod. They were thirteen, and unlike their younger brother and
sister, they had inherited the gifts of both their parents. They
were witches and changelings—a first for the land of Tír na NÓg. It
was rumored that the combined abilities made them the most powerful
witches to have ever been born into the royal line. The fear of
such awesome power was the very reason why the law forbidding
witches and lycans to mate had been created. Once they reached
adulthood, there would be no one in the kingdom able to challenge
their incredible authority.

“How terrible that our grandmother tried to
kill her own sister!” Maeve said. She started to pick up the toys
from the ground and put them away into the chest Tiarn had carved
for them. “It’s hard to believe anyone would want to hurt Mother or
Aunt Arianrhod. I always thought everyone loved them. The people
say Arianrhod is the best queen they have had in centuries and
Mother will surely follow in her footsteps.”

“I don’t know,” Macha argued. She looked on
in disdain as she watched her twin, the elder of the two by five
minutes, cleaning up. She had no intention of doing anything so
mundane. That’s what the servants were for. “Sometimes I think Aunt
Arianrhod is a little too nice for her own good. She lets the
commoners walk all over her. Maybe Ceridwyn would have made a
better queen.”

Maeve rolled her eyes. “You must be kidding!”
She laughed good-naturedly. “Well, at least I know you would never
try to do anything so awful to me when it’s my turn to be queen.
I’m sure the two of us will work together and make the kingdom even
better.”

Maeve didn’t wait for a reply. She shut the
toy chest and skipped off to help her mother get the little ones
ready for bed. Along the way, she stopped to pat Danu and Dagda,
who were old and long since retired from their Guardian duties.

Maeve didn’t notice Macha scowling at her
retreating back or realize her sister thought she was degrading
herself with menial tasks. She had no way of knowing Macha intended
to rule Tír na NÓg once they reached womanhood, no matter what the
cost. She had already formulated a plan. She just needed to bide
her time. And if someone got hurt along the way—someone like her
sweet little twin, well, that was just the way it had to be. Macha
would be queen, and she planned to pick up right where her
grandmother Ceridwyn had left off.

Coming in 2013 from Author Laura DeLuca

Demon

Dark Musicals Trilogy, Book 2

Rebecca Hope was sitting high atop a deserted
lifeguard bench, watching the waves roll in along the oceanfront,
bringing with them an abundance of broken seashells and seaweed.
Behind her, the sand stretched for miles. The distant screams from
the roller coaster were the only sounds marring the peaceful beauty
of the night. She watched as the sun dipped into the deep blue sea,
turning the waters a murky gray. Looking out at the endless stretch
of water made anything seem possible, but not even the spectacular
beauty of the evening was enough to pull Rebecca from her
sullenness.

“I can’t believe the summer is already over.”
She sighed. “This is it. It’s really our last night together.
Tomorrow we’re officially college students. “

Rebecca’s boyfriend, Justyn Patko, gave her a
supportive squeeze, but when she looked over at her best friend,
Carmen Webber, her eyes welled with tears. They had been close
since grade school. Rebecca wasn’t sure how she was going to face
life without her best friend by her side. They had never been apart
for more than a few days.

Carmen waved her hand in dismissal, but
Rebecca heard the catch in her voice. “Please don’t talk about it.
You know I don’t like letting people see me cry.” She squeezed the
newly acquired teddy bear that her boyfriend, Tom Rittenhouse, had
spent at least fifty dollars trying to win for her.

“Come on, guys.” Tom gave Carmen a light jab
in the arm. “It’s not that bad. It’ll be Thanksgiving before we
know it. Then we’ll have a big reunion. We’ll all swap stories
about college life and how hard we partied.”

“Besides,” Justyn added, “this is a
beginning. Not an ending.”

There was a commutative sigh as they
considered that. It was the last day of summer vacation. It was
bitter sweet, but they had decided to make the most of it. They
drove the forty-five minutes to a little tourist town called
Wildwood, a resort known for its free beaches and spectacular
amusement parks. They spent the day sunbathing, exploring the
boardwalk, and stopped for dinner at a little restaurant called
Duffy’s on the Lake. Finally, they headed back to the beach to
watch the sun set on the nearly deserted shoreline.

“At least you two will be together,” Carmen
said with a wistful glance at Tom. “Tom and I are going to be on
opposite ends of the country.”

Rebecca couldn’t argue. She knew how lucky
she was. Tom was off to his endless summer in California while
Carmen would be staying close to home and attending a state college
in New Jersey. They were going to be a world apart.

Rebecca and Justyn had both been accepted to
the New York School of Performing Arts. Their tuition was paid in
full, thanks to the talent scout who had come in search of Justyn,
but found a duo he refused to leave behind. They even arranged to
rent a small apartment off campus, much to her parent’s
displeasure. Still, the fact that Rebecca was going to have her
boyfriend by her side didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous about leaving
her hometown and everything she knew. In fact, she was downright
terrified.

Justyn seemed to read her thoughts, even
though he addressed everyone. “Don’t worry. After all we’ve been
through his past year . . . college will be like one big
vacation.”

Rebecca saw Tom nod in the darkness. They
were all contemplative for a moment, remembering the nightmare they
had faced. During their high school drama club’s production of
Phantom, one of the students had stalked and terrorized them, even
going so far as murdering two of their classmates, including Tom’s
best friend, Jay. Justyn had been close to death when the crazed
killer was de-masked on opening night. Luckily, the gun shot only
hit his shoulder.

Rebecca noticed Justyn grimace and try to
readjust his arm on the cramped bench that was only meant for two.
He was lucky he was an actor and not a pitcher because his shoulder
would never to be the same. Rebecca still felt responsible. After
all, it was her friend Debbie who had hurt all those innocent
people, including Justyn—all because she had secretly yearned for a
romantic relationship with Rebecca.

“Hey, babe,” Tom said to Carmen, interrupting
Rebecca’s dark reverie. “How about one last stroll along the
beach?”

Carmen nodded. The pretty Latina was trying
so hard to maintain the tough girl façade, but Rebecca could see
her eyes glistening as she climbed down the ladder that led to the
sand. She watched them walk away hand-in-hand, but they hadn’t gone
far before Carmen finally fell apart. Tom wrapped his arms around
her and stroked her long black hair. Rebecca, feeling like an
eavesdropper on the intimate moment, averted her eyes to give them
some privacy.

“You know, we really are lucky.” Justyn
whispered, and tilted her head to place a gentle kiss on her lips.
“I’ve moved a dozen times in my life. I’ve left friends and family
behind more than once, but I don’t think I could bear to leave
you.”

Rebecca smiled, and studied his familiar face
in the moonlight. His multiple facial piercings glistened against
his pale skin and dark outlined eyes. His solid black ensemble
should have made it hard to see him in the night.

When people saw Rebecca with the dramatic
Goth, it took them by surprise. They made a strange pair. With her
everyday jean shorts and curly brown hair, Rebecca was the poster
girl for boring. Yet they made it work, and Rebecca couldn’t
imagine herself with anyone else. They were completely in tune with
each other, and created a sort of magical harmony, not only with
their voices but in all aspects of their relationship. She had even
learned a few things from him. She touched the silver pentacle that
dangled around her neck. She was still in the midst of her year and
a day training; she had a few more months before she could call
herself a full-fledged witch. Thanks to Justyn, she had discovered
her spiritual path as well as her soul mate.