She jerked back and quickly snapped the curtains closed, utterly unnerved. Sorcha looked around the cottage to find all the drapes open. She hastily shut them and then went back to her chair and wrapped her arms around herself.
Her ears strained to hear anything, but only silence met her. Everything Cathal had told her came back to her in stereo. She couldn’t stop thinking about the men she’d seen along the fence. Were they the Fae Cathal had said were coming to impregnate her? If they were, she had a feeling they wouldn’t care if they forced her or not.
The notion caused a chill to race down her back. It was one thing to think Cathal had come to woo her to have sex, and quite another to imagine some Fae raping her. And all she had to do was think about the Light Fae at the Fairy Pools. He simply hadn’t wanted to take no for an answer. If Cathal hadn’t been there…
“And I just blew him off,” she said with a shake of her head. She couldn’t believe he had actually found her house and tried to talk to her again.
If it had been Sorcha, and she’d been treated the way she had done with Cathal, she would’ve gone the other way. It just proved once more that the Fae didn’t act anything like how she’d thought a Dark should act. Then again, all she had to go on was what she’d been told about the Dark Fae—that they were evil.
And the red eyes, along with the silver in the hair, pretty much made that easy to spot.
Droughs, however, weren’t so easy to distinguish from the mie. Sometimes, a Druid didn’t know until it was too late. With the Fae, they could use glamour to hide their true colors, so to speak. But she didn’t think Cathal used glamour with her. In fact, he’d said that he should have used it so she didn’t see his Dark coloring.
Why had he shown her who he was? Was it because he wanted to see how she reacted? Or was it because he didn’t care?
Minutes crawled by as she stared at the door, wondering and waiting to see what was going on outside with Cathal, the Dark female, and whoever else was out there. The woman had made it seem as if there were others that needed to be dealt with. Even Sorcha had seen the men along the fence. Is that who the woman had been talking about?
Sorcha had started to nod off when something made her open her eyes to find Cathal and the woman standing in her living room. Cathal’s shirt was torn, giving her a glimpse of his chiseled abs. He was breathing hard, and his long hair had come loose from its queue. Sweat soaked his shirt and lined his brow. The woman held her side as she clenched her teeth together. Her face was smudged with mud, and her black clothing was smeared with grass and dirt.
Sorcha jumped to her feet. “What happened?”
“We took care of the fekkers,” the woman said. Then she grimaced. “Sorry. I’m Aisling, by the way.”
Sorcha looked from Cathal to Aisling. “Hi.”
“They’re gone for now, but they’ll be back,” Cathal said.
Aisling pulled her hand away from her side to reveal a wound. After looking at it briefly, she said, “I hope so. Tonight was fun.”
Cathal grunted, but his gaze was on Sorcha.
“Are you hurt?” she asked him.
Aisling answered. “We heal. Don’t worry about us.”
“Oh,” Sorcha said, hating to miss an excuse to touch Cathal’s fine body once more. Then she frowned. “How did you two get in?”
Cathal shrugged one shoulder. “We’re Fae.”
“But if you can get in, can’t the others?” she asked.
Aisling’s red eyes snapped to Cathal. “Did you not tell her?”
“I hadn’t gotten to that part yet,” he said as he turned his head to Aisling.
Sorcha raised her brows. “Perhaps now would be a good time.”
“They want you,” Aisling said. “And they’ll do anything to get to you. As far as we can see, there is only one old ward on the property to keep the Fae out. It’s weathered and worn. We’re not sure how much longer it’ll hold.”
Sorcha didn’t miss the fact that Aisling had said it would keep the Fae out. If both she and Cathal were Fae—and they certainly looked Fae—then how did they get in? Sorcha kept that tidbit to herself for the moment. It wasn’t the first time that something like this had been said. After all, Cathal had mentioned that he’d once been Dark. As if he weren’t anymore.
“So, what do we do now?” Sorcha asked.
Cathal shook his head as he looked at Aisling. “We should be fine tonight. It’s tomorrow I’m worried about.”
“They’ll be back soon, and probably with more numbers,” Aisling added. “We should probably get a few more to help us.”
Cathal’s lips twisted. “I’m not sure that’s an option.”
“I’m pretty sure it is,” Aisling replied.
Sorcha didn’t like feeling as if they kept secrets from her. There was definitely something going on, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Besides, she was still wrapped up in learning that she was a Halfling, finding out that her mother had many secrets, and remembering what had happened to her family. It was almost too much for her to take in.
Add to that was the fact that she’d just learned some Fae wanted to put their seed inside her… Yeah, she teetered on the edge of fuckery the likes of which she’d never experienced before.
“What if I went somewhere more secure?” Sorcha asked.
Two pairs of red eyes swung her way. Cathal was the first to speak. “We just need to keep you guarded until the ritual.”
“That is if you want to do the ritual,” Aisling said.
Cathal’s face lined with anger as he glared at the Dark. “Of course, she wants to do the ritual. It’s the answer to everything.”
“Is it?” Sorcha asked. She looked between the two. “I’ve not done the ritual in ten years. This is the first time I’ve been approached by Fae—any Fae. It’s too much of a coincidence. It has to be more than the family ritual. My mother never missed a ritual.”
Aisling’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Are you sure about that?”
“It’s what she told me,” Sorcha said. Then she realized that her mother had left out a lot of things about her past, including who Sorcha’s father was. “I…well, to be honest, I don’t know anymore, really.”
Aisling shrugged. “There’s one way to find out if it is the ritual or something else.”
“No,” Cathal snapped, his brows drawn together, waves of ire rolling off him.
Sorcha ignored Cathal and stared at Aisling. “And what is your suggestion?”
“Aisling, no,” Cathal said in a low, dangerous voice.
The Dark raised a black brow and returned his scowl with one of her own. “She’s a grown woman and has the right to choose. And she’s right. If you’d put aside your feelings and look at the facts, you’d see it, too. No Fae have bothered her in ten years. That’s ten years of not doing the ritual. Why now? What was it that brought all the Fae to Skye for her?”
Sorcha watched as a muscle twitched in Cathal’s jaw. After several tense moments, he turned his head to Sorcha. “As much as I hate to admit it, you are an adult. You can make your own decisions.”