Chapter 18

"I do not appreciate being manipulated," Tiernan's terse voice woke me.

I felt strange; my skin vibrated with energy, my fingertips tingled, and my heart beat wildly. There was something in the air; a gentle swaying heat. A pulsing like laughter on my lips. I breathed it in and it rushed through me; seeming to light up all the dark places within. It was amazing; leaving me more refreshed than I'd ever felt. Power zipped through my veins as if it were alive, as if it knew where it needed to go. I felt alive; a feeling which had me wondering if I'd ever truly lived.

"You were not supposed to hunt me," I heard the end of Aideen's answer. "We believe that to be the work of King Uisdean, as was the Sluagh."

"He wants her dead," Tiernan's grim reply came from somewhere above me.

"Yes, I'm afraid so," Aideen said. "Which is why we needed her to come home at last."

"Well, it explains my strange attraction to her." Tiernan sighed, and I felt movement against my cheek. I was lying on his lap; my