The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance

Jennifer Ashley Shifter Made

Baile Ícín (near Dingle), Ciarraí, Ireland — 1400

«Smith.»

Niall knew without looking up from his anvil that the woman who addressed him was Fae, or Sidhe as the villagers called them. He could smell her, a bright, sticky-sweet stench that humans found irresistible.

He kept his head bent over his task — mending a cooking crane for a village woman was far more important than speaking to a Fae. Besides, his name wasn’t Smith, and if she couldn’t call him by his real name he saw no need to answer.

«Shifter, I command you,» she said.

Niall continued hammering. Wind poured through the open doors, carrying the scent of brine, fish and clean air, which still could not cover the stench of Fae.

«Shifter.»

«This forge is filled with iron, lass,» Niall cut her off. «And Shifters don’t obey Fae any more. Did you not hear that news 150 years ago?»

«I have a spell that keeps my anathema of iron at bay. For a time. Long enough to deal with you.»

Niall finally looked up, curiosity winning over animosity. A tall woman in flowing silk stood on his threshold, her body haloed by the setting sun. Her pale hair hung to her knees in a score of thin braids, and she had the dark eyes and slender, pointed ears common to her kind. She was beautiful in an ethereal way — but then all Fae were beautiful, the evil bastards.

The wind boiling up from the sea cliffs cut through the doorway, and she shivered. Niall raised his brows; he’d never caught a Fae doing a thing so normal as shiver.

He thrust the end of the crane into the fire, sending up sparks. «Come in out of the weather, girl. You’ll be freezing in those flimsy clothes.»

«My name is Alanna, and I’m hardly a girl.»

She had to be if she responded to Niall’s condescension, or at least naive. Fae lived so long and never changed much once they were fully grown that it was difficult to tell what age they were. She could be twenty-five or four hundred and fifty.

Alanna stepped all the way into the forge, darting nervous glances at the iron — the anvil, his tools, the piece of crane he was mending. «I’ve been sent to give you a commission.»

«You were sent were you? Poor lass. You must have offended someone high up to be handed the thankless task of entering the mortal world to speak to a Shifter.»

Her cheeks coloured but her tone remained haughty. «I’ve come to ask you to forge a sword. I believe you were once a sword maker of some repute.»

«In days gone by. Now I’m a humble blacksmith, making practical things for villagers here and on the Great Island.»

«Nonetheless, I am certain you retained your skill. The sword is to have a blade three feet in length, made of silver. The hilt is to be of bronze.»

Niall drew the crane from the fire, set it on his anvil, and quickly hammered the glowing end into shape. «No,» he said.

«What?»

He enunciated each word. «No, I will not make such a damn fool weapon for you.»

Alanna regarded him slack-jawed, a very un-Fae-like expression. Fae were cold beings, barely bringing themselves to speak civilly to non-Fae. Fae had once bred Shifters to hunt and fight for them, and they regarded Shifters as animals, one step below humans.

This woman looked troubled, confused, even embarrassed. «You will do this.»

«I will not.»

«You must.»

Was that panic now? Niall thrust the iron crane back into the fire and got to his feet. The Fae woman stepped back, and Niall fought an evil grin. Niall was big, even for a Shifter. His arms were strong from a lifetime of smithy work, and he’d always been tall. Alanna would come up to his chin if he stood next to her; her slender hands would get lost in his big ones. He could break her like a twig if he chose, and by the fear in her black eyes, she thought he’d choose to.

«Listen to me, lass. Go back to wherever you came from, and tell them that Shifters take orders no more. We are no longer your slaves, or your hunters, or your pets. We are finished.» He turned back to pump the bellows, sweat trickling down his bare back. «Besides, silver won’t make a decent sword. The metal’s too soft.»

«Spells have been woven through the metal to make it as strong as steel. You will work it the same as you would any other sword.»

«I will, will I? Fae don’t use swords in any case — your weapon is the bow. Not to mention the copper knife for gouging out other beings’ hearts, usually while they’re still beating.»

«That is only the priests, and only when we need to make a sacrifice.»

«Sacrifice, you call it? Seems like it’s not much of a sacrifice for you but hard on the one who’s losing his heart.»

«That’s really none of your affair. You need to make the sword for me. What we use it for doesn’t concern you.»

«You are wrong about that.» Niall lifted the crane again, quickly hammered it into its final shape, and thrust it into his cooling barrel. Water and metal met with a hiss, and steam boiled into the air. «Anything I make has a little part of meself in it. I’m not putting that into a sacrificial weapon you’ll stick into helpless animals or humans or Shifters who never did any harm to you.»

Her brow clouded. «A piece of yourself? Blood or a bit of skin.?»

«Not literally, you ignorant woman. I don’t christen it with blood, like some Fae priest. I mean I put a bit of my soul in everything I craft. Gods know I wouldn’t want Fae touching anything that’s come close to my soul.»

Her face flamed, and her look was now. ashamed? «Shifter, I have to take this sword back with me at first light.»

Last light was now streaming through the door, the spring air turning even more frigid. «And where would I be getting time to craft such a thing before morning? Sword-working is a long business, and I have sons to look after. I’m not doing it, lass. Go on home and tell them you couldn’t bully the big, mean Shifter.»

«Damn you.» Alanna clenched her fists, eyes sparkling. «Are all Shifters this bloody stubborn? I thought I could do this without hurting you.»

Niall looked her up and down. Fae could work powerful magic, without doubt, but not much in the human world. They’d given up that power to retreat to the safety of their own realm, while Shifters had learned to adapt and remain in the world of humans. Fae still had magic out here — minor spells, glamour and misdirection, not that they didn’t use those to lure human beings to their deaths.

«Could you hurt me, lass? In this forge full of iron? I lost my mate ten years ago. That hurt me more than anything in the world ever could. I doubt you could match that pain, no matter how many tiny spells you can throw at me.»

«No?» Alanna asked, her voice ringing. «What about if you lost your cubs?»

Niall was across the room and had her pinned against the wall before the echo of her words died, the iron bar he’d just cooled in the water pressed across her pale throat.

The Shifter was stronger than she’d imagined, and the iron against Alanna’s skin burned. The spell that her brother had grudgingly let his chief magician chant over her kept the worst at bay, but the bar felt white hot.

Odours of sweat, fire, smoke and metal poured off the Shifter called Niall. He’d scraped his black hair into a tight braid, the style emphasizing his high cheekbones and sharp nose, the touch of Fae ancestry that had never disappeared from Shifters. His hard jaw was studded with dark whiskers, wet with sweat from his labours. The whiskers and sweat made him seem so raw, so animal-like. Fae men were beardless, their skin paper-smooth, and she’d never seen one do anything so gauche as sweat.

Studying the Shifter’s stubbled chin kept Alanna from having to look into his eyes. Those eyes had been deep green when she’d entered the forge; now they were nearly white, his pupils slitted like a cat’s. He was a cat, a predatory cat bred from several species of ancient wildcats, and any second now he’d tear her apart.

And then his two sons would die.

Niall’s towering rage held her as firmly as the iron bar. «You touch my cubs, bitch, and you’ll be learning what pain truly is.»

«If you do as I say, they won’t be hurt at all.»

«You’ll not go near them.»

«It’s too late for that. They’ve already been taken. Make the sword, and you’ll get them back.»

The Shifter roared. His face elongated, and animal lips pulled back from fangs. He didn’t shift all the way, but the hand that held the bar sprouted finger-long claws.

At that moment Alanna hated all Shifters and all Fae, especially her brother Kieran, who’d told her that subduing the Shifter would be simple. They will do anything to protect their whelps. We’ll carry them off, and he’ll whimper at your feet.

Niall O’Connell, master sword maker of the old Kingdom of Ciarraí, wasn’t whimpering or anywhere near her feet. His fury could tear down the forge and crumble the cliff face into the sea.

«Make the sword.» Now Alanna was the one pleading. «Craft the sword, and the little ones go free.»

Niall’s face shifted back into his human one, but his eyes remained white. «Where are they?»

«They will be released when you complete the sword.»

Niall shoved her into the wall. «Damn you, woman, where are they?»

«In the realm of Faerie.»

The Shifter’s pupils returned to human shape, his eye colour darkening to jade as grief filled them. Niall’s shoulders slumped, but though his look was one of defeat, the iron never moved from Alanna’s throat. «Gone, then,» he whispered.

«No,» Alanna said quickly. «If you give me the sword, they will be set free. He assured me they would not be harmed.»

«Who did? Who is this Fae bastard who’s taken my children?»

«My brother. Kieran.»

«Kieran.»

«Prince Kieran of Donegal.»

«There was a Kieran of Donegal in Shifter stories of long ago. A vicious bastard that a pack of Lupines finally hunted and killed. Only decent thing the bloody dogs have ever done.»

«My brother is his grandson.»

«Which makes you his granddaughter.» Niall peered at her. «You don’t seem all that pleased to be running this errand for your royal brother. Why did he send you?»

«None of your affair.» Enemies saw your compassion as weakness and used that against you, Kieran had told her. Kieran certainly used every advantage over his enemies — and his friends as well.

«Back to that, are you?» Niall asked. «What assurance do I have that you’ll not simply kill my boys whether I make the sword for you or not?»

Alanna shifted the tiniest bit, trying to ease the pain of the bar on her throat. «You have my pledge.»

He snorted. «And what worth is that to me?»

«My pledge that if your children are harmed, you may take my life. I wasn’t just sent as the messenger, Shifter. I was sent to be your hostage.»

Even through his pain, his grief, and his gut-wrenching fear, Niall couldn’t deny that the Fae woman had courage. He could kill her right now, and she knew it. She offered her life in exchange for his sons with a steady voice, though she obviously knew that a Shifter whose cubs were threatened was more dangerous than an erupting volcano. And even though she’d said she’d been given a protective spell against iron, Niall knew the cold bar hurt her.

Slowly he lifted it from her throat. Alanna rubbed her neck as though it pained her, but the bar had left no mark.

Niall stopped himself having any sympathy. She and her brother had taken his boys, Marcus and Piers, who were ten and twelve as humans counted years.

He looked past her to the darkening night, to the mists gathering on the cliff path, to the Great Island silhouetted by the blood-red sky. «My youngest, Marcus, he likes to fish,» he said. «The human way with a pole and hook. Will he be able to fish where he is?»

Alanna shook her head. «The game and the fish in the rivers are for Kieran only.»

«My mate died of bringing him in, poor love. She was a beautiful woman, was Caitlin, so tall and strong.» Niall looked Alanna up and down. «Nothing like you.»

«No, I don’t suppose she was.»

Shifter women tended to be as tall as the males. They were fast runners, wild in bed, and laughed a lot. Caitlin had laughed all the time.

«Piers, now. He likes to craft things. He’ll be a smith like me. He likes to watch the iron get red hot and bend into whatever shape he tells it. He’d love to have watched me make this sword.»

Alanna said nothing. Niall knew what he was doing, why he was saying these things. He was letting himself start to grieve.

Deep in his heart, he didn’t believe Prince Kieran would ever release his sons. Fae didn’t play fair. Niall might be allowed to take Alanna’s life in vengeance for his sons’ deaths, but it would be an empty vengeance. He would have no one left. No mate, no cubs, no one left in his pride. Niall lived here on the edge of this human village called Baile Ícín, because the other members of his pride and clan had died out. Shifters could marry into other clans, but there weren’t as many females as males any more, and other clans were few and far between. The Shifter race was diminishing.

«You’ll make the sword then?» Alanna asked, breaking his thoughts.

She didn’t have to sound so eager. «I don’t have much bloody choice, do I?»

Her eyes softened. «I am sorry.»

Sympathy, from a Fae? Had the world gone mad today?

«You will be, lass. If my cubs are hurt in any way, you’ll be the first to be very, very sorry. Your brother, now, he’ll be even sorrier still. So show me this damned silver and let’s be getting on with it.»

Forging a sword was a different thing entirely from the usual practical ironworks Niall produced for the humans of the village. Niall never asked Alanna why he’d been chosen for this task, because he already knew.

Once upon a time, Niall O’Connell had been a master sword maker, before Ciarraí had been made an earldom by the bloody English. He’d created beautiful weapons used for deadly purpose in the last Fae — Shifter war. The Shifters had won that war, though Niall knew much of their victory had been due to luck — the Fae had already been losing power in the mortal world, and the Shifters had only made their retreat into the Faerie realms inevitable.

It wasn’t often that Shifters from different clans and species worked together, but at that point, Lupine, Feline and Bear had fought side by side. The Fae had conceded defeat and vanished into their realm behind the mists.

Well, conceded defeat was too strong a phrase. The Fae had gone, killing, burning and pillaging behind them. Fae didn’t care whether their victims were children, breeding mothers, or humans who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Niall still had his sword-making tools kept safely in a chest at the back of the forge. He hadn’t touched them in years. He shook his head to himself as he laid out his tongs and hammer, grinding stone and chisel. This sword wouldn’t be good, strong steel, but soft silver, which was daft, even if she claimed it was spelled to work like steel. He could craft such a thing, but it would only be good as a trinket.

He briefly considered mixing a bit of iron into the hilt to debilitate any Fae who touched it, but he knew such a trick would make his sons’ deaths even more certain. Not that he believed the Fae Prince would let Niall live either, in any case. But Niall would take out the Fae bitch when they came for him. Prince Kieran would watch his sister die before he killed Niall.

Niall glanced at Alanna as he pounded out the bar of metal she’d brought him. She’d found a stool and seated herself on it near the fire. She did look cold, the silly woman, probably not used to the harsh clime of the Irish west coast. The Faerie realms, he’d heard, were warm and soft all the time, which was why she wore flimsy silk robes and let her braids flow. Fae women didn’t have to bundle their hair out of the wind.

After a few quick looks at her, he realized that Alanna wasn’t staring sightlessly at the forge, or watching him beat the blade. She was studying him.

Her gaze roved his bare back and the muscles of his arms, as though she’d never seen a half-clothed man before. She probably hadn’t. Fae were cold people, not liking to be touched, preferring robes, jewels and other fussy things to bare skin. They rarely did anything as crude as coupling, bodily seduction being almost as distasteful to them as iron. Shifters, on the other hand, loved breeding and loved children, children being all that more precious because so few survived.

«Are you a virgin, then, lass?» Niall asked her.

Alanna jumped. «What?»

«A virgin. If it doesn’t hurt your pristine ears for me to ask it. Are you?»

«No.»

Interesting. Fae women didn’t lie with males unless they absolutely had to. «You have a lover then? A husband?»

«No.» The word was more angry now. «It is none of your affair.»

«You like to say that, lass. Did you have a gasún?»

«A child? No.» Again, the chill anger.

«I’m sorry, love.»

«Why?»

«That must have hurt you.» When a Shifter woman was childless it was an impossible sorrow to her. As dangerous as breeding was for Shifters, females were happy to risk it to bring in cubs. «I imagine ’tis different for a Fae woman.» The Fae were so long-lived they didn’t need to bear many children. Fae women who did like children often stole them from humans, rather than bearing their own, raising them to be their doting little slaves.

«It did hurt me.»

Niall saw the pain in her eyes. She looked so out of place, sitting in his forge, her strange, elegant robes already soiled from the dust and soot. He never thought he’d feel sorry for a Fae before, but the sadness on her face was real.

«Did your lover not want a child?» Niall asked gently.

«My lover, as you call him, died.» Alanna’s jaw was fixed, rigid. «We tried to have a child, but I don’t know whether it was even possible.»

«Fae do breed. I’ve seen your wee ones.» Even crueller than the adults, unfortunately.

«My lover was human.»

Surprise stilled Niall’s hands. «A human man? Let me guess. A slave?» He couldn’t keep the disgust out of his voice.

«He had been captured, yes.» She met his look defiantly. «But not by me.»

«Oh, that makes it all right then. Whose slave was he? You’re royal brother’s?»

«Yes. It was a long time ago.»

One of her brother’s slaves, made into her lover. A typical story of Fae cruelty except for the grief in her eyes. He wasn’t imagining that.

He bent over his task again. «How long ago?» he asked.

«One hundred years.»

«And you loved this man? Or pretended to?»

Her silence was so flint-hard that Niall raised his head again. She was glaring at him. «Did you love your mate?» she asked in a sharp voice.

«I won’t apologize for my question, love. You are the one coercing me into helping the bastard who stole my children. I’ll answer yours — yes, I loved her more than my own life.»

«My answer is the same.»

She met his gaze without flinching. The pain in her dark eyes wasn’t false and neither was the loneliness, and Alanna didn’t look ashamed of either.

Niall went back to pounding. After a time he asked, «So what happened to this human male so worthy of the love of a Fae woman?»

«My brother killed him.»

Niall stopped. «The very brother who sent you here? Why?»

«Because Dubhán dared to touch me.»

«The man was your slave, love. He wouldn’t have had a choice.»

Alanna’s face grew cold again. «You see everything through Shifter eyes. Dubhán was my brother’s slave, so of course you believe I forced him to service me. I told you, I loved him. I freed him, I fled with him to the human world, and we became lovers. Until my brother found us.»

«You sneaked out of the Faerie realms to become lover to a human?» Niall’s astonishment and respect for her rose. «You are an amazing and brave lass.»

«I was foolish as it turned out. I should have sent him off and not tried to stay with him. Kieran would have forgotten about one slave in time, but he never forgave me for letting a lesser being touch me.»

«Which is why he sent you here to become hostage to a Shifter.»

«I’m my brother’s prisoner and in disgrace. I’m forced to do his bidding.»

«Does he not fear that while you’re in the human world you’ll break away and flee him?»

Alanna shrugged. «I have nowhere to go, and, unlike Shifters, I cannot pass for a human. The spell that lets me resist iron will wear off.» She shivered. «And it is so cold here.»

Niall rose, fetched the woollen cloak he’d thrown aside when he’d started to work, and draped it over her shoulders. She looked up in surprise, jerking her hand away when his brushed hers.

He’d thought her overly slender when she first walked in, but now he saw that this was a trick of the loose-flowing garments. Her bosom was round and full, her waist nipped in above strong hips. Her face was delicate, a little too pointed for Niall’s taste, but her dark eyes drew him in. Her braids outlined her pointed ears, but the ears didn’t look as strange and unnatural close up. She was flesh, not cold marble, her skin flushing as she warmed from the fire and the cloak.

«You could pass for human,» Niall said as he went back to the forge.

«Unlikely. Look at me.»

«I just did.» Niall took up the heated bar with his tongs and tapped the rapidly cooling metal. «If you wore your hair loose to hide your ears and dressed in human clothes instead of fancy frippery, no one would look twice.» He considered as he flipped the bar. «No, they’d look twice, because you’re a beautiful woman, but unless you shouted it, I don’t believe they’d realize you were Fae. Most humans don’t believe in the Fae any longer, anyway. They pretend to — they avoid the stone circles at night and put out milk to appease the sprites — but deep down, they believe only in hard work, exhaustion, and God, bless them.»

«You care for them,» Alanna said, sounding surprised. «But you’re Shifter.»

«If you lived in the human world before, you might have noticed that Shifters are not thick on the ground. We might be stronger and more cunning than humans, we might be able to change into ferocious beasts when we wish to, but we need humans to survive.»

She regarded him in curiosity. «Do the humans in this village know you’re Shifter?»

Niall shrugged. «They know I’m different, but as I said, they don’t much believe in the other any more. But they know I’m a good smith and that the villages round about get left in peace now that I live here.»

«You’re good to them.»

«It’s survival, love. We each have what the other needs. ’Tis the only way Shifters are going to last.»

«The Fae chose to retreat.» Alanna said it almost to herself, as though she didn’t expect an answer. «We sought the mists of Faerie.»

«Aye, that you did.»

She fell silent, but Alanna was difficult to ignore as he continued work, and not just because of the distinct Fae smell, which didn’t seem so terrible now. Perhaps he was growing used to it.

Niall sensed her presence like a bright light — her beauty, her sorrow, her courage in coming here when she knew she’d likely lose her life. Fae princes could be mean bastards, and the fact that she’d defied this Kieran with the human slave spoke much of her.

Once Niall had the metal thin enough, he heated it again, ready to shape it. As he set the blade on the anvil and took up his hammer, he felt her breath on his shoulder.

«Wait.»

«Metal’s hot, lass. It won’t wait.»

«I need to layer in some spells.»

His eyes narrowed. «What is this sword for? For ceremony, I know, not fighting, but what sort of ceremony, exactly?»

«I’m not certain myself. Exactly.»

Niall’s grip tightened on his hammer. «Don’t lie to me, lass. If you’re putting in the spells, you know what they do.»

«I cannot tell you. Please, if you know, then your sons will die.»

«I think they’ll die anyway, and I think you know that too. Tell me this much — is the sword meant to hurt Shifters?»

Alanna said nothing, but the look in her eyes spoke volumes. He read guilt there, anguish, grief, anger.

Niall shoved the bar from the anvil with a clatter. He sat down on the floor, his hammer falling to his side. «You’re asking me to save my sons by forging a weapon against Shifters? What kind of monster are you?»

Alanna sank to her knees beside him, her silks whispering across his skin. «Niall of Baile Ícín, I ask you to please trust me. Make the sword. All will be well.»

Niall growled. «Your bastard brother will slaughter my boys the minute he gets this piece of metal in his hands. He knows I’ll kill you in retaliation, and then he’ll kill me, and laugh about it. That is how things will play out.»

Alanna shook her head, her braids touching his bare shoulders. «Not if you trust me. I cannot tell you everything, but you must make the sword the way I have instructed.» She put her hand on his shoulder — Fae, who didn’t like to touch. «Please, Niall.»

«And why should I trust you? Because you once bedded a human? Should I believe you have compassion for the whole world then?»

«Because of a vow I once made. I will never let your children come to harm. I promise.»

Fae had a way of enchanting, of charming. Niall knew that, had experienced it first-hand. But Alanna’s pleading look was different somehow from the Fae who’d once spelled Shifters to be slaves to them. Fae charmed by being too brightly beautiful, too desirable, stirring a person into a frenzy before they knew what happened. Alanna didn’t make Niall feel frenzied or dazzled. He was angry and sick, tired and sad.

When Shifters lost loved ones, they retreated from the rest of the pride or pack to be alone with their grief. A survival instinct, he supposed, because in that gut-ripping sorrow, they had no desire to fight or hunt or even eat. A Shifter might weaken the pack by refusing to fight, and so the he took himself away until the worst passed. Or he died.

Alanna’s hand on Niall’s shoulder was cool, cutting through his instinct to seek solace. Her fingers were soothing to his roasting skin, and her fragrance no longer seemed cloying, but fresh like mint.

«Please,» she said again.

Niall got to his feet and pulled her up with him. «You ask much of me, lass.»

«I know.»

Alanna’s eyes weren’t black, as he’d thought, but deep brown with black flecks, her wide pupils making them seem darker. Her hair was like fine threads of white gold, metal so delicate that the merest touch could break it.

Niall stepped away from her, fetched the half-formed blade, and thrust it back into the fire. «And you wager your life on me trusting you?»

«Yes,» she said again. «Will you?»

Niall shrugged again, his insides knotting. «Looks as though I’ll have to, doesn’t it, lass?»

She gave him a smile of pure relief. «Thank you, Niall.»

Niall turned back to work, wishing her damned smile didn’t warm him so.

Alanna let her hand hover over the red-hot blade Niall laid on the anvil, the metal’s heat touching her skin. She murmured the spell, watching the curled Fae runes sear into the metal and disappear.

Niall did not trust her, and she couldn’t force him to, but she was relieved he’d at least let her do the spells. Alanna couldn’t ask more of him, not without fear that Kieran would discover what she was doing.

Niall beat the sword after the runes faded, as she instructed, then put it back into the fire. Again and again they repeated the pattern — Niall hammering the blade, Alanna chanting her spells.

They worked side by side, shoulders brushing, both sweating from the fire, both breathing hard from their exertion. Spell casting, especially casting spells as powerful and far-reaching as these, took stamina. Alanna soon set aside the cloak and pushed up her long sleeves.

The stench of sweating Shifter didn’t seem as bad now. Niall had, well, an honest smell, one that came of hard work and caring. He protected the people of this village like he protected his children, a fact Alanna wouldn’t tell Kieran. If her brother thought the villagers were important to Niall, Kieran would find some way to use that against him.

When Niall said the sword needed to rest, he shoved it into a barrel of ash, wiped the sweat from his face, and led her from the forge. The dirt track outside hugged the cliffs above the sea, Niall’s shop being at the very end of the high street — if the muddy track between the houses could be termed a high street. The western ocean pounded away below them, the moon glowing on the black bulk of the nearby island.

At first Alanna worried that Niall had brought her to the cliffs for some nefarious purpose, but he simply stood looking out over the dark ocean, breathing in the bracing air.

«You know we’ll never finish on time,» he said. «Blades have to be heated and rested a number of times to make the metal strong, and then I have to grind the blade and make the hilt.»

«You’ll finish.»

«You sound certain.»

«The spells I’m using will temper the blade faster than your process by hand,» she said. «When we go back, you’ll be ready to grind it.»

Niall’s voice went low. «I’m not ready to go back yet.»

He had to be freezing out here without a shirt, the icy wind from the sea whipping his short braid. His eyes were green even in the faint moonlight, hard green, not Shifter white-green.

Alanna didn’t flinch when he cupped her neck with his big, rough hand. The touch of others had always sickened her, until she’d met Dubhán. She wondered what sort of strange Fae woman she was that she’d fallen in love with a human man and now didn’t mind that a Shifter pulled her into his embrace.

Niall’s face was lined with dirt and soot, but by now hers couldn’t be much better. His hard body cut the wind, and she melded into his as he scooped her against him and kissed her.

His kiss was harder even than Dubhán’s, firm mouth opening hers, his whiskers burning her lips. He tasted raw, of this wild land of Eire, of a bite of ale and of himself.

Niall eased back, and Alanna shivered, not willing to let go his warmth. The wind cut right through her, but she scarcely noticed it.

«This might be our last night, you and I,» he said.

«Yes.»

Niall kissed her lips, her cheeks, her neck. «You agree that it’s our last night? Or are you saying you’ll share my bed as I suddenly wish you to?»

«Both.»

He cupped her face in his hands. «Be certain, Alanna.»

«I am. Very certain.»

He nodded once, his eyes darkening. He took her hand and led her behind the forge and into a neat cottage with a garden in front. She saw signs of his family — small boots, scattered tools, half-whittled pieces of wood, animals the boys had been carving when they’d been snatched by Kieran’s men.

Niall avoided looking at the carvings as he led Alanna to the loft, where neat pallets had been made up for the night. Niall stripped without word, revealing a body of solid muscle, male beauty sculpted by nature and the ancient Fae. Shifters had been bred to be superior in strength, speed and stamina, and they’d also been made to be beautiful.

He put his hands on his hips, unashamed that his wanting was plain to see. «Are you not getting undressed? I might start to feel ridiculous like this.»

Alanna untied the complicated tapes that held her gown to her body and let it fall in one piece. She liked the appreciative way Niall looked at her nakedness, instead of with the loathing or indifference she’d expected. His gaze lingered on her breasts, his eyes dark and soft.

Alanna went to him. He raked his hands through her braids and tilted her head back to kiss her deeply. His hardness pressed her belly. She’d always heard that Shifters were more endowed than humans or even Fae, and she decided that this rumour was true.

Niall’s huge, work-worn hand cupped her breast, thumb brushing the tip. He kissed her neck, nipping her a little before he kissed her mouth again.

Alanna had loved Dubhán, and she always would. The fact that loving him had caused his death had haunted her for a century. But this Shifter would never go easily to her brother’s men, would never give up without a fight. Niall could have killed her outright when she’d announced Kieran had kidnapped his cubs, but he was giving her the gift of his trust — well, perhaps not his full trust, but at least his hope.

Niall lifted her and set her gently on the pallet. He came down with her, stretching his warm body on top of hers.

«You’re such a bit of a thing,» he murmured. He closed his hand around her wrist. «See? So fragile.»

«I’m stronger than you know.»

«I know, lass. You have Fae strength, but I’ve never seen it packaged in such beauty.»

Was he trying to melt her heart? The big, strong Shifter with loneliness and sorrow in his eyes? She suddenly wanted to hold him to her and heal all his hurts.

Niall had something else on his mind besides healing just now. He parted her thighs with a soothing hand and slid himself inside her.

Alanna’s eyes widened as he filled her. What a wonder that a huge, barbaric beast of a Shifter could be so gentle.

He stayed gentle as he began the rhythm of lovemaking, his head bowed, his braid sliding across his shoulder. Alanna cupped his hips, urging him with hands and mouth not to be too careful with her. Niall groaned as he sped his thrusts, kissing her as she met him stroke for stroke.

Alanna’s frenzy began a few seconds before his did. They peaked together, both crying out, both holding hard, kissing and panting, hot breaths tangling. They wound down together, Niall smoothing her hair with a tender hand.

«You see?» Alanna whispered. «I’m perfectly fine.»

«That you are, love. And so am I. As you can feel inside of you.»

«You mean I’ve not yet worn you down?»

Niall grinned and licked her upper lip. «Not by a long way, my love. Not by a long way.»

He started again, this time more playfully. In spite of knowing that Niall was right, that this might be their only night together, and in spite of her worry about his sons and the choices she’d made before coming here, Alanna pulled him inside her and let herself drown in his loving.

Alanna awoke hours later to see Niall leaving the bed. She lay in the warm nest they’d made, enjoying the view of his buttocks as he bent over to fetch his tunic. Their gazes met when Niall straightened up to slide it on.

His eyes changed to the feral cat within him before returning to dark green. «You’re such a beautiful lass.» He leaned down to kiss her, his lips warm.

«Where are you going?»

«The sword won’t get finished by itself, love. It’s not going to be a very good weapon made so hasty.»

«My spells will hold it together.» The point was for Shifter craftsmanship and Fae magic to join. Alanna wasn’t certain what Niall might make of that knowledge, so she kept silent.

Niall descended to the lower floor, and she heard him poke up a fire and clatter crockery. She pulled on her robes and followed him downstairs to find him setting out ale and bread and a hard chunk of cheese.

«I’ll do that,» she said as he started to slice the bread. «You go to the forge, and I’ll bring the breakfast.» Niall raised his brows, and she smiled. «I used to make Dubhán breakfast. He was surprised I could do it.»

Niall shrugged, set down the knife, and kissed her cheek. She turned her head to meet his kiss with her lips, determined to enjoy this very brief time they had together. Her hand closed around the knife handle, and she gasped.

«Damn,» she said. Alanna looked at her fingers, which were creased with light burns. «The spell is wearing off.» She sucked on her fingertips.

Niall picked up the knife and quickly cut slices of bread and cheese. «What did you do when you lived in the human world before?»

She took her fingers out of her mouth. «Dubhán found copper and bronze knives for me.»

«You need to go back to Faerie.»

«When the sword is finished.»

They assessed each other again, like enemies who’d learned to respect each other’s skills. Niall brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead.

«Eat your breakfast, love, and then we’ll finish the sword. Whatever comes, we’ll make the best damn sword that ever was.»

Alanna didn’t reach for the plate. «Let’s finish now. I don’t need sustenance the same way Shifters and humans do.»

«Eat the damn food, woman. You’re weak here, and with all this iron about, you’ll just get weaker.»

«Yes, dear.» Alanna sat down, slanting him a demure glance. «Whatever you say, dear.»

His eyes narrowed. «Your brother doesn’t know what a feisty witch he’s harbouring, does he?»

She sent him a grin. «’Tis best that way, do you not think?»

«Vixen.» Niall leaned down and kissed her. «To think, when you walked into my forge, I thought you cold and brittle.»

«You warmed me, Niall.»

«Aye, I wrapped that cloak around you.»

«That is not what I meant.»

Niall gave her another seductive kiss. «I know.»

He grabbed bread and cheese, took a gulp of ale, and banged out of the cottage, sending chill air sweeping through the room. Alanna shivered again, but without the loathing she’d had last night. It was cold in this human place called Baile Ícín, but with Niall to keep her warm, she thought she could weather it.

Whatever else Alanna’s magics did, they certainly sped up the forging process. Alanna chanted more spells, and Niall watched runes appear and disappear as he formed the tang, made the hilt, and ground the blade. Alanna closed her eyes for the last spell; sweat stood out on her brow as her musical voice pronounced the words.

The last set of runes faded to be replaced by fine lines that etched themselves all over the sword and hilt. Those lines didn’t fade but joined in continuous, interlinked patterns, as though they bound the sword and hilt together.

Niall raised the blade, finding the balance perfect, the edge sharp. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear he held a sword of the best, strongest Damascus steel. He made a few sweeps, amazed at what he’d wrought.

No, what they’d wrought.

«We make a good sword, you and me,» he said. «Now, do you mind telling me what it’s for?»

Alanna hugged her chest. «Ceremonial purposes. For my brother.»

«Aye, and what kind of ceremonies will he be conducting?»

«I do not want to tell you that.»

Niall brought the sword around until the tip was an inch from her throat. Alanna didn’t flinch, didn’t move, though he saw her draw a breath. «You had better tell me, love.»

«If I do, you’ll try to kill Kieran, and he’ll destroy you. Probably very slowly so that you will beg for death. Please, do not make me watch that.»

The anguish in her eyes was real, but Niall shook his head. «Sweeting, he will kill me anyway. I’d rather go out trying to take him with me.»

«Niall.» Alanna took one step closer, letting the tip of the sword nick her skin. A drop of Fae blood, so dark red it was almost black, welled up from the cut and trickled across her throat. Niall quickly withdrew the sword and wiped the blood away with his thumb.

«I pledged myself as hostage to you,» Alanna said. «I made a promise that I would get your sons released. I will fulfil that promise. But to do it, I must again ask you to trust me. Let me take the sword to my brother, let me finish my part of the bargain. Your sons will come home to you today. Please.»

«You’re a daft woman, do you know that? You aren’t planning to take this blade and stick it into your brother, are you? Tell me you’re not going to try something so stupid.»

Alanna shook her head. «It’s tempting, but no. He would expect me to do something like that. I imagine his bowmen would shoot me dead the moment I raised the sword.»

«Good.» Niall set the weapon down and pulled her close. «I’ll not have you throwing yourself away on vengeance. ’Tis not worth it.»

«You were ready to kill me when I first came here.»

«That was instinct. You’re Fae, I’m Shifter.»

«And now?»

Niall smoothed her hair, loving the satin feel of it. Even sleep-tousled and sooty, Alanna was beautiful. «Now I’m thinking you’ve made me feel something I’ve not felt in a very long time. Can a Shifter love a Fae?»

«I don’t know. This Fae once loved a human. And she is falling in love with you.»

He smiled and cupped her cheek. «So what do we do about it?»

«Let me finish my task. Then if I am still alive, I will return to you.»

Niall saw it then, her certainty she wouldn’t live through whatever her brother had in mind. She knew she might have to sacrifice her life to save his children.

Niall drew her close. He vowed to himself, then and there, to protect her. He’d make himself trust her, whatever she was planning, because Alanna knew how to get his cubs free and he didn’t. But he wouldn’t let her pay with her life. Niall would protect her like a Shifter would his mate — damn it, she was his mate now.

If they survived this, he’d seek another clan leader and beg him to complete the bond, under the sun and the moon, in the eyes of the Goddess. His own clan leader was long dead, which meant that Niall was, in fact, a clan leader — of the very small clan of himself and his sons, he thought with a grin. But he couldn’t mate bond himself.

One thing at a time.

«I’m not letting you go, yet,» Niall said softly. He kissed her lips. «Not quite yet.»

Alanna pulled him into a deeper kiss. Niall took the sword with him as he led her to the cottage and made love to her again in the light of the rising sun.

When Niall awoke in the bed an hour later, Alanna was gone. Entirely gone — he didn’t catch her scent in the cottage at all. Her silken robes were no longer hanging on the peg next to his crude tunic, and the sword he’d laid next to the bed had vanished.

Niall rose, naked, and shifted into his Fae-cat form.

Several thousand years before, the Fae had taken the best of every wildcat in existence and bred the Fae-cat, larger and stronger than any natural beast. Fae-cats had the strength of lions, the ferocity of tigers, the speed of cheetahs, the stealth of panthers. Niall bounded down from the loft and out into the dense fog that had rolled in from the sea.

Alanna wasn’t in the forge. He picked up her scent on the path that led to the gently sloping mountain above the village, towards the circle of standing stones even the most sceptical of the villagers liked to avoid. Mists rolled between the stones when Niall reached them. The mists smelled all wrong; instead of salt and fish like the heavy fog over the village, these mists exuded an acrid smell overlaid with the sharp scent of mint.

An entrance to Faerie. Niall regarded it with foreboding before he realized that Alanna’s scent was quickly fading. His sons were in there, and now Alanna. Without further thought, Niall leaped into the mists between two of the stones and heard something snick closed behind him.

Alanna found her brother hunting, but this wasn’t unusual. Kieran spent most of his time hunting, or rather, having his men chase animals towards him so that he could shoot them.

Kieran was every inch a Fae prince as he stood in the fog-soaked clearing wearing a white kid tunic, soft boots and fur-trimmed cloak, with his white-blond hair held back by a diamond diadem. Two men at arms flanked him: one carrying his bow, the other, his quiver of arrows.

As Alanna approached, Kieran took the bow and nocked an arrow, sighting into the woods opposite her. In a few seconds a wolf charged out of the fog, streaking for the heavy undergrowth on Alanna’s side of the clearing. The wolf was larger than most, its blue-white eyes intelligent.

The wolf saw Alanna and veered at the last minute. Kieran’s arrow, which had left the bow, bounced off a boulder where the wolf had been a second before.

Kieran shoved his bow back at his armsman and growled. «Damn you, Alanna. I’ve been tracking that wolf all night.»

«Have you?» More likely his trackers had found the wolf for him. «That wasn’t a natural wolf,» she said. «It was a Fae-wolf. A Shifter.»

«Bloody animal. Any Shifter in my realm is fair game.»

That was true. Any Shifter who ventured here had to be crazy, which meant the Lupine had probably been captured or lured in somehow. She didn’t know enough to tell whether it were male or female, and she wondered if Kieran had stolen its cubs too. She hoped it found its way back to the standing stones and out.

Kieran’s hungry gaze went to the sword, the Lupine forgotten, and he snapped his fingers. Alanna walked to him, handing over the sword with a little curtsy.

«Lovely.» Kieran hefted the blade, testing its balance. «This is perfect.»

«What are you going to use it for?» Alanna asked him.

«Simple, dear sister. To defeat Shifters.»

Niall had accused Alanna of knowing what Kieran’s spells were for, and she did, but she didn’t understand exactly what Kieran meant to do with them.

«Defeat them?» she asked. «It’s not a good weapon for killing, the Shifter said. Not sturdy enough, even with the spells.»

Kieran kept his gaze on the etched blade. «You know that I am named for our grandfather, who was killed by a horde of Lupine Shifters. Demons in animal skins. With this sword, I shall avenge him.»

«How?» Alanna asked. «The Shifters who killed him died long ago. Shifters are short-lived, you know; they last only three or four centuries at most.»

Kieran gave her a pitying look. «You are simplistic, my sister. I don’t need to find the descendants, I have the Shifters themselves. I have their bones.»

He waved his hand and mists lifted from the other side of the clearing. Low mounds, a dozen of them, lay side by side, overgrown with green.

Alanna’s eyes widened. «Where are those?»

«My loyal men tracked down the graves of each of the Lupines who slaughtered our grandfather. I had their remains brought here and reburied. I’ve been collecting them for a long time.»

«Why?»

«For this day.» Kieran raised the sword again. «Did you not understand the spells I gave you? You are a fine mage, my dear, and the only one who wasn’t afraid to go to the human world. Surely you will have worked it out.»

Alanna nodded. «You wanted to make a soul-stealer.»

«Ah, so you have not lost every bit of your intelligence after all. No, I cannot kill the Shifters who murdered our grandfather. But, if I capture their souls and make them do my bidding, they will be miserable for eternity.»

Alanna studied the mounds, which looked vulnerable and sad. «But the Shifters have been dead so long. Their souls will be gone — won’t they?»

«Not these Shifters. Our grandfather cursed them as he died.»

«Cursed them?»

Kieran gave her a disparaging look. «You are ignorant, Alanna. He cursed their souls to cleave to their dead bones. No going to the happy Summerland to chase rabbits for these Shifters.»

Alanna hid her revulsion. Even Fae had souls that dissolved when they reached the end of their long lives. The Fae then drifted, content, free of the constraints of the body, which also dissolved. To tie a soul to a cold, dark grave seemed to her the height of barbarity.

«Aren’t they miserable already?»

«Perhaps, perhaps not. But if I have their souls, they will become aware of their suffering. I will make certain of it.»

Alanna shrugged, pretending not to care. She had to make Kieran think she sided with him until the very last minute.

«Well, whatever you intend do with the dogs’ souls, the sword maker kept his end of the bargain, to my surprise. I will take his sons back to the human world.»

Kieran gave her another disgusted look. «I don’t bargain with Shifters.» He snapped his fingers. «You. Bring the Shifter’s get.»

Two attendants disappeared and returned holding the squirming Fae-cat cubs. The cubs were wrapped in nets, both attendants cursing as they dropped the bundles to the ground.

One of the attendants put his hands on his hips, panting. «They refuse to shift back to human form.»

Alanna knelt next to the net-wrapped cubs, keeping herself out of reach of their flailing claws. «Your father sends his love,» she whispered so the attendants wouldn’t hear. «He says to tell you he’s proud of you.»

Both small cats eyed her in suspicion, but they quieted.

Kieran strode to them. «Let us test the blade on them, shall we?»

Alanna rose quickly. «You said it wasn’t a killing blade.»

«No, but it will likely do some damage; they are small, and I imagine their souls will be. cute.»

Alanna tried to grab Kieran’s arm, but before she could, a huge Fae-cat tore through the clearing and leaped at him.

Niall.

He’d followed her. Alanna watched in panic as the men-at-arms and attendants fought him off. Kieran would kill Niall for certain.

Niall fought hard, but there were ten Fae to one Shifter and, after a few minutes of struggle, Niall was overwhelmed. The men-at-arms bound him in another net, and Niall went insane, fighting and clawing the ropes, foam and blood flecking his mouth.

Kieran approached Niall, rage on his face. «I’ll test the blade on its maker instead.»

Alanna clenched her hands in fear, but Niall raged and fought so hard through the net that Kieran couldn’t get near him. The men-at-arms advised their prince to abandon the attempt.

«Tell him to shift back,» Kieran shouted at Alanna. «He shifts back or I kill his cubs.»

«Why would he listen to me?» Alanna folded her arms. «I’m Fae. He was foul as foul can be the whole time. I hope you’re happy. Shifters disgust me.»

Niall roared, the sound filling the clearing. His children fought and yowled, encouraged by their father’s wrath.

«Fine,» Kieran said. «I’ll shoot the bastard, instead. Good target practice.»

Alanna touched his arm, trying to make her tone cool. «Why don’t you show the Shifter smith what the sword was made for?»

Kieran stopped, then a feral smile creased his face. «Sister, you will make a fine Fae yet. Watch, Shifter. Let me show you how I can reach into the past and hurt your kind in the present.»

The Prince walked to the closest mound, flicking back his cloak. He lifted the sword and drove it point down straight through the mound.

Light flashed up the length of the sword, and a shower of dirt shot from the grave. In the midst, a swirl of smoke changed into the misty shape of a Fae-wolf. Kieran laughed. He went to the next mound, and the next, releasing the essences of the Lupines, who floated insubstantially over the places where their bones had been buried.

Kieran flourished the sword, its silver blade flashing. «Behold the souls of those who slew my grandfather.» He turned to them, and opened his arms. «You will surrender to me, and do what I bid. You will kill the Shifter Feline and his cubs.»

The figures whirled around him. Alanna held her breath, fingers at her mouth. This was not what she’d expected to happen. She’d changed the spells so that the wolves would disperse, their souls free for all eternity, not bound. Instead they lingered, like wolves gathering around prey.

Prey.

«Kieran!» Alanna shouted. «Drop the sword. Run!»

Kieran ignored her. He swept the sword blade through the ghostlike creatures. «Obey, wraiths. Now you are mine.»

The wolves circled him, their eyes glowing yellow through the mist. As one, they attacked. Kieran cried out as the pack swept down on him in wild glee, and then he began to scream.

Niall shifted to human form, watching in amazement as the insubstantial wolves ripped into Kieran. They were mist and smoke — they shouldn’t be able to touch him — and yet the wolves rapidly tore the Prince apart. His pristine white cloak turned scarlet, and his men-at-arms and attendants fled.

The sword flew from Kieran’s hand, as though it propelled itself, and landed at Niall’s feet. Kieran screamed again. His bloody body turned in on itself and crumpled to dust.

The wolves padded in a circle around the Prince’s remains, then they lifted their heads and howled. It was a faint whisper of a howl, eerie and hollow, but it held a note of triumph.

The wolves shifted into a dozen men with broad shoulders and flowing hair, with the light blue eyes common to Lupines. They gave Niall and Alanna a collective look of acknowledgment, shifted back into wolves, and vanished. Wisps of smoke spun high into the sky and faded away.

Alanna caught up the sword, sliced swiftly through the net binding Niall, and helped him out of it. She moved to cut the ropes binding Piers and Marcus. Both cubs shifted into boys, running to Niall and throwing their arms around him. Tears streamed down Niall’s face as he knelt and gathered them in.

He looked over their heads at Alanna, who clenched the sword, her dark eyes wild. «Alanna, what happened? What did you do?»

Alanna was shaking, but she lifted her chin. «Kieran commanded me to make a soul-stealer, but I spelled the sword to be a soul releaser. Instead of binding the souls of those Shifters, driving it through their remains set them free.» She drew a breath, looking white and sick. «That’s all I meant to do. I did not realize the Shifters would decide to take their vengeance — I did not know they could.»

As horrifying as Kieran’s death had been Niall couldn’t be unhappy that the cruel Fae who’d abducted his children and would have murdered them was gone. «If they hadn’t, the Prince would have killed all of us.»

«Me, certainly,» Alanna said. «I hoped that while he attacked me, you and your cubs could get away.»

Niall shot to his feet. «That was your excellent plan? For me to run away while you died? ’Tis not what Shifters do for mates, lass.»

«It’s done, Niall. You must leave now. If they find you here, they will hold you responsible. Kieran’s cousin, his heir, had no love for him, but the Fae might demand he make an example of you.»

«And what is to say they won’t come after me into the human world?»

«Because most Fae had no love for Kieran, either.» Alanna smiled. «I doubt any of them will be willing to risk entering the human world again to hunt down a Shifter to avenge his name.»

«You cannot stay here, either, lass. They’ll blame you too.»

Alanna gave him a thoughtful look. «Perhaps, if you exchanged your steel knives for bronze ones, I could better serve you breakfast?»

Niall’s heart thumped fast and hard. He reached for her, pulled her into the circle of his family. «Love, you saved my boys, and me. You will stay with me as long as you damn well please.»

«Could you bring yourself to love a Fae?» she whispered.

«If that Fae was you, I think I could.»

Alanna pulled away and held the sword out to him. «This belongs to you.»

Niall closed his hand around the hilt. The sword felt right in his hand, as though he’d made it for himself to wield. «A soul-releaser?»

«I spelled it so that when a Shifter’s soul is in peril of being bound to its body or to another’s will, this sword will release it in peace. The Lupine souls that had been cursed to linger at their graves have at last gone to the Summerland.»

Niall studied the lines that ran down the blade and the hilt. «Why did you do this? Why help Shifters? You’re Fae.»

«You speak in ignorance, Niall. Most of the Fae are noble people. Some like Kieran, or our grandfather, or the ones who made and enslaved the Shifters in the first place, were cruel — even we consider them cruel. Fae have long lives, and we now live remote from the human world, which makes us view things differently. Kieran’s plan was that of a child pulling wings from a fly. I could not let him succeed.»

The boys were looking at the sword too, with the bright gazes of lads fascinated by a pretty weapon. Niall saw long days ahead explaining to them why they couldn’t touch it.

«Why didn’t you tell me, lass?» he asked. «When we made the sword together, why didn’t you tell me what you were doing?»

«Because when I walked into your forge, I knew you hated Fae. Why should you help me? You are Shifter. And to be honest, I simply didn’t think you’d believe me.»

«And you’d have been right, love. I wouldn’t have.» Niall’s heart squeezed as he thought of the danger she’d walked into, taking the sword to the Fae realm and knowing her brother would discover what she’d done. «But you should have told me this morning what you intended.»

«I intended to have your children back to you before you woke. I never thought you’d be daft enough to follow me to Faerie.»

«Daft, am I?» Niall tilted her face to his. «I am, to love a Fae. Now let’s be going, before your brother’s keepers return for us.»

They went, through the mists and the standing stones, back to the freezing wind from the wild sea, the light dancing on the waves and the green of the Great Isle across the strait. The wind tossed Alanna’s hair, which streamed like gold.

They returned to the cottage, where Piers and Marcus ate ravenously and regaled them with their adventures with the enthusiasm of boys no longer afraid. Niall hung the sword point downwards on the wall, the blade gleaming softly.

«Keep it well,» Alanna said from his kitchen table. «And wield it well.»

«There are so many Shifters,» Niall replied. «I can’t be everywhere in the world waiting to see if a Shifter is in danger of losing his soul.»

«Then you will make more. We will forge enough swords so that every Shifter clan will have one, and then your work will be done. You aren’t the best Shifter sword maker alive for nothing.»

«I’m so glad you believe in me, love.»

Alanna rose from the table, stepped into his arms and kissed his lips. Piers and Marcus snickered.

«We’ll do it together,» Alanna said. «Every piece, every hammer stroke, we’ll forge them together.»

«Sounds like bliss, it does. Or a lot of bloody work.»

«But worth it?»

«Aye, lass.» Niall sank into her warmth, took her mouth in a long kiss, ignoring his sons’ gleeful laughter. Laughter meant love, and he’d take it. «’Twill be well worth it.»