Page 43 of Heart of the Wren
“Yeah, I can’t believe a horseshoe above the door didn’t fix it.”
I put my hand on my hip. “Alright, alright, well it’s not like you’re coming up with any ideas.”
“Here’s one.” Lorcan wiggled his fingers. “You’re a witch: do some magic.”
I snorted. “If only it was so easy. I can banish a ghost or a malevolent spirit, given enough time, but a goddess is a different matter altogether. They tend to follow patterns — ancient patterns — and those are hard to break. They repeat themselves through themes, stories, principles... Usually you wait for them to reach the end.”
“I don’t think I can wait much longer. I can’t afford to have all the windows in the house replaced.”
“Sometimes a witch can act out the stories to tap into the power of the gods. A safe recreation in a ritual setting using a symbolic sacrifice.”
“You’re not sacrificing my sheep…”
“Ah, would ye stop. Witches don’t do that. I saidsymbolicsacrifice. We offer up some food or drink. Flowers, even.” I rubbed my forearm and paced around the room, stopping by the little tinsel tree on top of the television. “The timing hasn’t escaped me. I imagine things will reach a crescendo at the solstice.”
“Maybe she’s waiting for Christmas,” Lorcan said.
My eyebrows climbed an inch. “Could be. It’s a powerful time of year, whether you celebrate it or not.”
“How do we stop her?”
“First off, we need to find what the pattern is. What story she’senacting. She’s following a path and we need to know what it is and where it leads. There are a few legends attributed to her.” I picked up the library book again. “In one she falls in love with a handsome warrior but she gets swept away by a great wave and drowned. In another she acts as a muse by visiting a poet and inflicting him with a dreadful thirst she will only relieve when he agrees to live with her. There’s a paragraph here on a man who learns her magic and plots to kill her but she turns into a wren and flies away.
“And there’s the tale of Sean Fitzgerald who was at a dance to celebrate his engagement. During the celebration, he suddenly dropped dead. The people believed he’d been “carried away” by fairies at the behest of Clíona. Sean’s fiancée demanded a huge dowry for him and rather than pay it, Clíona returned him.” I closed the book. “If she’s playing out a story and you’re part of it, who are you? The handsome warrior? I could see it. Or the poet? Have you been feeling inspired to create anything lately? Maybe you’re the groom? But unless someone’s proposed to you and you haven’t told me, I can’t see it.” I started pacing again. “Once we figure out what pattern she’s replaying, I should be able to offer a ritual sacrifice instead of…”
“Instead of what?” Lorcan pointed to himself. “Me? Am I in danger? Is that what’s happening now? Am I going to drop dead and have my soul abducted by a horny goddess?”
I took a deep breath.
He all but jumped out of his chair. “Ah, for Jaysus sake, Dara!”
“I know, I know,” I said. “Calm down. It won’t come to that.” I grabbed him by the shoulders. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
His breathing grew heavier and we kissed. He wrapped his armstightly around me and held me close. “Is there anything we can do right now?”
I smiled. “Nope.” We kissed again. “We’re going to have to wait for an opportunity to arise. Although now I think of it, there may be one thing we could do in the meantime. If you want to?”
Lorcan led the way upstairs and into his bedroom. He pulled the curtains and switched on his bedside lamp.
I took the ends of his jumper and helped him pull it off over his head. I ran my hands over his hairy chest and belly, stopping to gently tweak his brown nipples, making him moan softly. Stripping off my own clothes, I stood naked and proud in the warm light. He took his time running his hands over my body. It had been a good long while since he’d had the luxury of spending time with a man, he told me. His liaisons with Pat were often quick and furtive.
He sucked on my nipples, he kissed the patch of ginger hair on my chest, he nibbled an earlobe, kissed my neck, all while my hands wandered over his body. I loved how soft he was, the sensation of his hair between my fingers, the plumpness of his arse. We kicked off our shoes.
Both of us naked, he gently pushed me onto the bed. The springs squeaked and I laughed, hoping the bed wouldn’t give way beneath us. Lorcan, on his knees, took my short, thick cock into his mouth and gently worked the shaft with his tongue. I groaned, loudly, and stretched out my arms on the bed, surrendering completely to his desires. His tongue wandered around my plump balls, making me gasp. He kissed his way up to my thigh, onto my round belly, my chest, and finally to my lips. He lay on top of me,gently grinding. “Do you want to… you know…?”
I playfully bit his lower lip. “I’d love to but I haven’t had a chance to, you know,prepare.”
“Oh,” His cheeks flushed. “Of course.” He rolled off and lay by my side. “Sorry. I… Sorry.”
“Hey.” I rubbed his chest. “It’s okay. We didn’t know this was going to happen.” I slid my hand lower and grabbed his softening penis. “And there’s plenty of other things we can do.”
Chapter 27
DARA
“DO YOU do this for all your lodgers?”
In the weak morning light, we lay on Lorcan’s bed and he rubbed my bare foot. “I like your stubby little toes.”
