Page 10 of The Water Witch (Fairwick Chronicles 2)

“It means nothing,” I said, pulling my hand out of the water. But he grabbed it and intertwined his fingers with mine. He pulled me closer, until his face was even with mine, his lips inches from mine.

“No, Callie, it doesn’t meannothing. It means you feel…” He tilted his head and moved a millimeter closer. His nostrils dilated as if he were inhaling me. “…sorry.”

“I didn’t want to hurt you,” I cried out, as if he had just hurt me. But he wasn’t hurting me. His lips grazed my cheek in the gentlest kiss.

“I know,” he whispered, his breath tickling my ear. “You had no choice. You thought I’d preyed on the students.”

“I didn’t know it was Mara!” His lips were on my throat.

“Of course not. I don’t blame you for hating me when you thought I could dothat. But even then you hesitated. You wanted to come with me.”

I closed my eyes and recalled that dark urge as I rested my head on his shoulder. He ran his tongue down the length of my neck, and brushed his cheek against the top of my breast, nudging my wet T-shirt away. His face was rough with a day’s worth of bristle, just the way I liked it best. Hmm…hadn’t he been clean shaven a moment ago? He was changing right in front of me, becoming what I wanted him to become, doing just exactly what I liked…He pulled my bra back with his teeth and ran his tongue in a slow circle over my nipple, then sucked. I gasped and fell against his chest. His solid, warm chest. I felt his heart beating. Hewasreal. I wrapped my arms around him, wanting to feel him hold me one last time.

But he still held his arms taut at his sides. He lifted his head and gazed at me out of pain-filled eyes. He slid his eyes to his right hand, the one that still held mine, and lifted it a centimeter above the water. I felt the muscles of his forearm straining. Tendons stood out on his biceps. His jaw was locked with the effort, but he wasn’t able to lift his hand even an inch above the water line. The iron manacle I’d clamped on him held him to the water.

“This is as far as I can go, lass. The green groves of Faerie are not for me.” He nodded his chin towards the grassy meadows where the undines had frolicked. They’d vanished over a hill, but I still heard their laughter. “Follow the sound of their voices and you’ll come to the door back to the human world. You’ll be able to open it. You’ve become more powerful since I saw you last.”

“But what about you?” I asked, running my hand down his clenched arm. He was straining just to keep the iron from dragging him deeper into the water.

“I’ll stay in the Borderlands. I’ve learned to avoid the more dangerous creatures who lurk here—like the shell-eaters. I’ve even been able to help a few creatures across.” He smiled. “I know it will never save me—the way your love would have—but I like to think I am making some amends for the souls I’ve drained over the years in my quest to become mortal. I thought for years that it was their fault for not being able to love me, but after you…well, I see now that I never lovedthemand that’s why they couldn’t love me.” A tear slid down his face. He tried to shrug his shoulder to wipe it away, but the effort was too much for him.

“Oh, Liam,” I said, reaching over to wipe the tear away. “If only you hadn’t lied to me. Couldn’t you have told me who you were?”

He shook his head and a lock of his dark hair fell over hiseyes. “No. I’m not allowed. Would it have made such a difference?”

I brushed damp hair away from his eyes. It would always be wet now. I’d condemned him to this watery hell. His skin was cold. He would always be cold. I wanted to warm him with my flesh. I stepped into the water and ran my hands down his arms until my fingers grazed the cold iron. “If I let you come back, you’d drain me. I’d let you. Neither of us would be able to help it.”

“I know, Callie. I know I can’t go back to your world…but if you release me from my bonds, at least I could stay here in Faerie.”

I looked into his eyes. “Do you promise you would stay here?”

Tears welled in his eyes. “I’d never risk harming you again.”

I touched the iron key. It lay cold and heavy on my chest. Why had I kept it on if not to use it to release Liam? The knowledge that he was in eternal pain because of me had haunted my dreams. This was my opportunity to free him—and free myself from those dreams.

I slipped the chain over my neck and brought the key to the manacle on his right wrist. My hands were shaking so much I could barely fit the key into the lock. Was it from cold? Or fear that I was making a terrible mistake?

“You know I would never hurt you,” he whispered in my ear as I slid the key in the keyhole and turned it. The click was as loud as a gunshot. Liam sighed and shook free the manacle, which sank into the water. His wrist was cut to the bone.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, fumbling with the manacle on his left hand. “I never meant to hurt you.”

As soon as the left manacle was free he raised both hands to my face and tipped my chin up. He lowered his lips to mineand kissed me, gently at first but then hard, opening my lips with his and pushing his tongue deep into my mouth. His hands roved over my body like birds freed from a cage, stroking my breasts, my belly, then cupping my behind and pressing my hips against his hips. His erection strained against my belly.

“Liam,” I gasped, freeing my mouth from his. “You promised…”

“I promised not to follow you into your world, Callie. I didn’t say anything about what I would do to you in this one.”

He scooped me up in his arms and carried me up the bank, deeper into the shade of the willow. He laid me on a bed of emerald green moss that felt as soft as velvet. He knelt above me, raking my body with his eyes. I couldn’t help doing the same to him. He was Liam, but not. His skin was more golden, his limbs longer…everythingwas a bit longer.

His eyes—more emerald than black—flashed.

He stroked his hand down my belly and between my legs. “For months I’ve done nothing but remember the exact contours of your body outside…” He slipped his fingers inside me and I let out a moan. “…andin.”

He lowered himself onto me and I felt the head of his penis graze my clit. I arched up to meet him, but he moved a fraction away. “Let’s see if I remembered it right,” he said, a sly smile playing on his lips.

“Let’s find out,” I said, wrapping my arms around his back and my legs around his hips, pulling him down into me. This time he met my thrust with his own. I cried out so sharply he pulled out of me.

“Callie? Are you…”

“I’m perfect,” I moaned, pulling him back inside me again. “Perfect.”

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