Page 90 of First Light

It was the same way he always held her after they made love, as if a climax wasn’t enough and he had to bind her in his arms to make sure she wouldn’t slip away.

“I missed you,” he murmured into her shoulder. “I missed you so much, Carys. I love you.”

She didn’t know what to say. Her mind was as overwhelmed as her body.

Making love to Lachlan was necessary and right and she didn’t regret a moment of it, but while Lachlan was holding her the same way he always had, Carys couldn’t find the same peace in his arms.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” he whispered. “At least for tonight?”

“Yes.” She couldn’t turn him away if she wanted to. She needed it as much as he did, her body craving the comfort of his familiar embrace. “Sleep. Let’s both sleep.”

We can talk in the morning.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

When Carys woke in the blue light of morning, she immediately felt the warmth of Cadell’s presence overhead and the cold sheets in the bed beside her. She opened her eyes, but Lachlan was gone.

There was a pang of disappointment followed immediately by a creeping sense of relief. Her body felt loose and worn and fantastic, but she was also confused.

Carys had fallen in love with Lachlan in the Brightlands, the wandering, good-natured Scotsman with a quick smile, an amazing sense of humor, and kindness oozing out of his pores. He was hardworking but not ambitious. Easy but entertaining. He was the perfect boyfriend.

But now she was seeing Lachlan where he was born, a land called Alba ruled by powerful fae and scheming humans raised in the shadow of magic, myth, and monsters. A land where children were sacrificed to forests, dragons carried kings, and ancient magic touched everyone from the lord in the castle to the farmer in his field.

This was where Lachlan was raised. This was the world he was born into. This was the place that had made him. She didn’t knowLachlan here, and she didn’t know herself. Carys had been making love to a memory of what they had been, not the reality of who they were.

She turned to Lachlan’s side of the bed and found the journal she’d been taking notes in open to a blank page.

Shit.

She grabbed for her journal and saw a scribbled note from Lachlan.

I didn’t want people to start talking. It would make you uncomfortable. I left before the maid could come.

There was another line farther down the page, underlined for emphasis.

I did not kill Seren.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit.” She flipped to the page just before the note and looked at the rambling notes she’d scribbled down two days before.

Who might benefit from Seren’s death?

Regan—seems super evil

Eamer—things were cold between them, maybe jealous

Robb—ambitious, would be threatened by power

Aisling—fought like sisters

Elanor—doubtful but big unknown

Unknown fae enemies

Unknown human enemies

Not Dafydd, impossible

Not unicorns