Dolmarehn - Book Two of the Otherworld Trilogy (23 page)

Smiling like an idiot, I gathered all my personal things into my bag and stepped through the door to greet Cade.  He gave me a curious look and arched his eyebrows.  He too had returned to his customary jeans and t-shirt ensemble.

“A better morning I hope?” he asked tentatively.

I nodded, blushing from the memory of my melt-down the night before.  We made our way down the stairs and got as far as the courtyard before we were caught.

“Meghan, a word.”

Danua stepped out of the morning shadows, her imposing figure striking in a dark blue dress.  The blood froze in my veins.  Had she found out we planned to leave early?  Had she been waiting for us?

I cringed as she moved towards a door to her left.  She opened it then set her cold, ocean-blue eyes on me like a hawk eyeing a squirrel.  I glanced at Cade and he released a breath I was certain he’d been holding for a good half minute.

“You’d better see what she wants,” he murmured, “Danua’s wrath can be worse than the Morrigan’s if you push her too far.”

I swallowed my irritation and nerves and crossed the flagstones, my footsteps echoing eerily off the tall walls of the bailey.  The space we stepped into turned out to be a small outdoor sitting room.  While the side facing the courtyard was a solid stone wall, the other side had a half wall and granite columns holding up the roof.  A few benches and a matching granite table were scattered about and the spaces between the pillars gave a wonderful view of the city far below.

With a confidence I’d quickly become familiar with, my mother closed the door, crossed her arms and asked, “Where are you going?”

I returned her glare, trying hard not to start shaking.  I crossed my own arms, mocking her stance.

“Home,” I stated simply.

It didn’t take a genius to realize ‘home’ meant the house and family waiting for me in the mortal world.

Danua didn’t even bat an eyelash.  “You won’t be safe there.”

“No,” I countered, “but I’ll be happy.” 
At least there I have a family who loves me
.

I turned and reached for the doorknob, only pausing when she spoke again.

“Live where you wish, but I will demand one thing of you.”

I spun around in a flash, my teeth gritted and my eyes most likely flashing several different colors.  “You will
demand
me?  You didn’t even want me, what gives you the right to demand anything of me?”

“The right a queen has over one of her subjects.  And the right of a mother over her natural daughter.  I do not want you associating with Caedehn MacRoich.”

It felt like she’d slapped me.  “I’m sorry?”

She sighed deeply and rolled her eyes to the vaulted ceiling.  “I don’t want you seeing that young man any longer.”

“I’m not
seeing
Cade, he’s my friend!”

“Oh please.  I’ve noticed the way that boy looks at you.”

For a moment I lost all of my bluster.  Did he really?  Look at me?  I mean, look at me in the sense that he wanted to do more than just look at me?  Ugh.  My thoughts weren’t making any sense.  Sure, I had wondered about some of his glances, but who was I, so besotted with him I couldn’t think straight half the time, to judge?

“He’s not good enough for you,” my mother continued.

“Oh really,” I countered, forgetting my musings and instead rejoining the fight, “not good enough for the illegitimate, half-breed daughter you cast aside?”

“No, not even good enough for that.”

That hurt.  Not because she was so adamant about keeping me away from Cade, but because she hadn’t argued with me when I’d described myself in such a base way.

“Besides, there are far better suitors for you, and all of them of acceptable birth.”

“Suitors?  Acceptable birth?”  It was a harsh whisper, but she heard me.  “I am not some piece of property you can marry off to one of your court nobles.  I met them last night and I don’t like a single one of them.”

“Please, Meghan.  You hardly spoke with them,” she replied.

I bit back my anger.  I took a calming breath, then said with all the confidence I could muster, “You gave up any right you had as a mother when you abandoned me as a toddler, and last night when you treated me like a burden.”

“What do you want from me Meghan?”  She turned on me, her eyes flashing and the air growing cold and hostile.  “Didn’t you want my acknowledgment?  Isn’t that why you came here?  I claimed you last evening, in front of my entire court.  Eventually the whole kingdom will learn about you.  Isn’t this what you wanted?”

She sighed and the room filled with a gust of frosty wind.  “All I ask is for you to obey me in this one thing.  Detach yourself from Caedehn MacRoich and perhaps we can start over.”

I jerked my head up, my eyes filling with tears.  She asked too much.  I would never destroy my friendship with Cade to win her approval.  He had done so much for me, and meant far more to me, than her.  Mother or not, I didn’t know her and so far I wasn’t too impressed with what I’d learned.

With a raw voice I whispered harshly, “I will not stay away from Cade and you cannot make me.”

I jerked open the door, slamming it behind me before she had a chance to say anything more.

Cade eyed me warily as I stepped out into the courtyard.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said, my voice shaking a little as I sped past him.

To my great relief, he quickly caught up to me without demanding to know why.

* * *

When we reached Kellston on the other side of the dolmarehn, most of the village was still asleep.  I was grateful, for I didn’t think myself capable of handling their optimism at the moment.  Since the visit with my mother had been cut short, I still had a few days to fill before I needed to return home, so Cade invited me to stay in his castle.  I didn’t even have to think about my response.  So for the next two days, Cade tried to help me coax my glamour out into the open.

“Your natural magic should be able to flow free from your skin, like this,” Cade said, holding his palm flat and letting five golden flames dance from his fingertips.

I gasped and stared at him with wide eyes.  He merely grinned.

“Most of the time I make the magic undetectable, but for educational purposes I took away that stricture.”

I tried to follow his lead, listening carefully as he directed me on how to encourage my glamour to follow my instruction, but every time the exhilarating force would fill my arms only to stop at my fingertips.

“Why won’t it work for me?” I cried, throwing my hands down as I plopped onto the ground.

Speirling, who cropped grass only a few feet away, eyed me with curiosity before getting back to his lunch.  The lingering bad mood that had followed me from the visit to Erintara didn’t help.

Cade only shook his head, joining me in the middle of the field.  “It will, Meghan.  Trust me.  When your magic’s ready, it will come fully awake and you won’t even realize what hit you.”

The next morning, Cade escorted me back to the mortal world.  Meeting my real mother had been a disaster, and although I told her I wanted to go home to my family, I yearned to live in Eilé.  I regretted our angry parting, and I hoped someday I’d be able to patch things up with her, but she would have to understand I wouldn’t choose her over Cade.

Cade turned to leave, and in the next moment I remembered how I had been putting off asking him to prom.  I hooked a loose curl of my hair behind an ear.  I hadn’t asked him the night my mother acknowledged me in front of her court because I feared he’d only feel sorry for me, and I’d come up with one excuse after another not to ask him during these past two days.  Well, I was fresh out of excuses and to be honest, I was tired of being afraid; afraid of the Morrigan, afraid of my mother’s disappointment and disregard, afraid to tell Cade how I felt about him . . .

“Um, Cade?”

He paused before stepping into the cave, then turned and waited for me to continue.

Ugh, I wasn’t good at this, not good at this at all . . .

“Uh, well, this is my senior year in high school and prom is coming up, which is kind of a big deal.  It’s this dance everyone goes to and-”

“I know about prom,” he cut in.

I chewed my lip again.  Dang it.  If he hadn’t interrupted me I might have asked by now.

I took a deep breath and stared at the ground.  “Well, I was wondering if you’d like to go with me.  To prom.”

There.  I’d asked him.  Now I just needed to wait for his response.  My eyes weren’t on him, so I felt Cade take my fingers in his before I saw him move.  I started a little from the gentle touch.

“I would be honored to accompany you to prom, Meghan.”

His voice was soft, and chicken that I was, I still couldn’t look him in the eye.  I cleared my throat and pulled my hand out of his so I could use my fingers to hook my hair behind my ear again.

“Great,” I said, “it’s on the first of May, a Saturday night.”

Finally, I glanced at him.  He stood back watching me, a small grin on his face.  I grinned in return.  No, I beamed.  Cade said he’d go to prom with me!

“Are you sure about this Meghan?”

My smile vanished and a boulder the size of a house settled in my stomach.

Cade’s tone took on a bitter note when he continued, “After all, you can do better than a Faelorehn bounty hunter with questionable parentage.”

I merely stared at him, stunned.  Had my mother spoken to him as well?  Or had he heard our discussion?  My cheeks turned pink, anger having a little to do with it.

“Did Danua talk to you?” I asked in a harsh whisper.

Cade flinched.  “I accidentally overheard your conversation.  I’m sorry Meghan.  I didn’t mean to, your voices carried through the door.”

Oh no.  What had I said?  Had I mentioned anything about my own feelings towards Cade?  Sure, I’d just been complaining to myself about being afraid to tell him what he meant to me, but I didn’t want him to find out like this.  Oh crap!

I decided to ignore the voice in my head and took a deep breath.  “I don’t care what Danua thinks of you.”

I gazed up at him, met his eyes with my own, and crossed my arms.  The boldness I sensed earlier started welling up again; the desire to banish all my fears.  But unfortunately I wasn’t brave enough to finally tell him the truth.  That I loved him.

“She doesn’t know you Cade, but I do.”

His laugh was harsh and grating, enough to make me take a step back.  He ran his hand through his hair and shook his head.  He heaved a deep sigh and placed his hands on his hips, tilting his chin up to the treetops.  The afternoon light got caught in his hair, turning the strands copper.

“Oh Meghan, if you only truly knew me, you wouldn’t be so quick to defend me.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

I didn’t intend to sound snippy, but my response came out that way.  I had too much on my mind, that was my problem.  I had just met my birth mother for the first time, a mother who had given me up years ago and was now trying to tell me how to live my life without even making a minor attempt to get to know me.  Besides, even though I didn’t want to admit it, what Cade said held some truth.  I trusted him, was completely head over heels in love with him, but did I sincerely know him?  Hadn’t he kept things from me?  Wasn’t he still keeping things from me?  So why did I jump so quickly to his defense? 
Because he was the first one to tell you about who you are
, the little voice inside of me whispered,
and because he’s the first boy to ever really care, isn’t he
?

Cade must have detected my distress because when he lowered his head once again and caught sight of the expression on my face, he grimaced.

“I’m sorry Meghan.  That was a stupid thing to say.  Perhaps Danua’s words got to me more than I’d like to admit.”

His smile seemed genuine this time, but a lingering sadness tainted his voice once again.

He recaptured my hand and planted it with a kiss.  “I look forward to prom, my lady.”

Cade let go of my fingers and whistled for Fergus, and in the next moment the two of them were through the dolmarehn and on their way back to the Otherworld.

I think I stood outside the cave for a good five minutes before Meridian reminded me we should head home.

Yes, home
, I thought. 
Home, to a mother and father and brothers who love me
.

* * *

The rest of March and most of April flew by at warp speed.  Everyone at school was obsessing over graduation, prom and the upcoming summer.  I spent much of my time brooding over what I would do about Danua and how I was going to inform my family of my own plans.  I’d turned it all over during the last several weeks and had come to a conclusion: on the day after graduation, I’d finally tell them I was Faelorehn and that I belonged in the Otherworld.  I only hoped they would believe me and not try to cart me off to the psychiatric ward.

On Saturday, exactly one week before prom, I woke to find Fergus sitting at my glass door.  Feeling a pang of delight jolt through me, I threw on a robe and my sandals and pulled the door open.