The woman that blazed before him made Myrna look like an incomplete, poorly sketched copy of the original. And she drew Kegan as if her light was his guiding flame, making the attraction he had felt for Myrna seem weak and insubstantial in comparison.
Of course he had desired Myrna. She’d been attractive; they had been friends, and as Kai had so crassly noted, had she loved him he would have been the most powerful male in Partholon. Naturally, he’d been interested in her. But he’d never felt anything for her like what he was feeling for Morrigan. Watching her, Kegan’s body pulsed and he had to stifle the urge to touch her—to go to her and call the Change so he could shape-shift into human form and take her there on the floor of the Usgaran. He could feel the heat and passion and power of her through the very stone that surrounded them, and he desired her with an intensity he had known for no female, woman or centaur, before her.
Kegan heard an odd, choked sound to his right and he glanced over to see Kai staring at Morrigan with a mixed expression of awe and sadness. Anger filled the centaur. He knew it was unreasonable. He knew he had no right. But he didn’t want any other male to be drawn to Morrigan, even if it was only the Stonemaster and he was probably only staring at her like that because he was overwhelmed by her bizarre resemblance to Myrna.
It was then that Morrigan shouted, “Hail, Adsagsona!” The priestesses echoed her cry and the ritual was over. Morrigan lowered her hands and shook back her hair. Her body had lost most, but not all, of its glow. Kegan thought she looked slightly dazed. She just stood there, gazing at the sacred boulder while the priestesses put out the smoking herb ropes and began to quietly file out of the chamber as they gave their High Priestess furtive looks that were almost fearful.
“Incredible…” Kai said softly, still staring at Morrigan. “Have you ever seen anything like that?”
“No. No one has for three generations.”
“What do you mean?”
Kegan took his gaze from Morrigan long enough to fix Kai with a hard look. “After all the years you’ve spent with the Sidetha, did you never study their lore?”
Kai frowned. “I have, of course, become knowledgeable about Adsagsona, and I consider myself friendly with their old High Priestess, Birkita, but the focus of their people has not exactly been on the spiritual.”
Kegan snorted. “You mean Shayla’s mercenary nature has tainted them.”
“And I could argue that Shayla’s nature has been what has brought such an era of prosperity to her people, but be that as it may, it has been my duty to act as intermediary between the reclusive Sidetha and those in Partholon who wish to purchase products found only in their Realm. It has not been my duty to study their spiritual history. You are the High Shaman, not I.”
Kegan thought about mentioning the fact that Kai had become Stonemaster because of his spiritual gifts; therefore, he should at least be curious about other gifts from the Goddess, but he decided that he was probably just being overly sensitive. Truthfully, Kai had no reason so delve into the spiritual past of the Sidetha. Kegan knew their lore only because of his training as a High Shaman.
“She’s a Light Bringer, which means her powers are easily as vast as mine. If not more so,” he explained.
Kai looked thoroughly shocked. “She’s that powerful? Truly?”
“She is.”
“Then her power might rival that of Epona’s own Chosen?”
Kai’s question sent a jolt of realization through Kegan. Adsagsona was not Epona, Warrior Horse Goddess and prime deity of Partholon, but she was goddess of the underrealms of the world—the womb of Partholon. He’d never thought of any other of the various gods or goddesses worshipped to a lesser extent by pockets of the different races of Partholon as being in any way comparable to the mighty Epona. But what if a priestess of Adsagsona, or at least one uniquely gifted by her goddess, could wield powers similar to Epona’s Chosen?
Then wouldn’t that High Priestess, that gifted Light Bringer, require an equally gifted mate? Might he have been fashioned as Morrigan’s soul mate, and that was why he’d felt an instant attraction to Myrna, who’d mirrored her so completely in all ways but that of the spirit?
“Kegan? What is it?”
“It is just that I never considered what having another priestess whose powers rival Epona’s Chosen might mean to Partholon.”
“But now you are considering it.”
Kegan’s eyes met the Stonemaster’s and he saw there the knowledge that he had never attempted to hide—that he enjoyed the power his unusual position as a centaur High Shaman, as well as the youngest Master Sculptor in Partholon’s history, brought him. He also guessed it had been obvious—at least to Kai—that part of the enthusiasm with which he had courted Myrna had had more to do with the power that would have been his if he were to have won the love of the next Chosen of Epona. Of course, Myrna had not had the slightest touch from the Goddess. And Kegan, along with every other centaur High Shaman, had lost the chance to rule Partholon beside Myrna.
And now Kai had to be reading a kind of rekindled hope in the centaur’s eyes.
“Yes,” he said flatly. “I am now considering it, as are you.” Kegan looked away from the Stonemaster and back at Morrigan. Birkita was talking to her. Kegan couldn’t hear what the older woman was saying, but she was speaking with a controlled intensity that lined her forehead and made her look perturbed. Kegan wondered what could be wrong. Yes, Morrigan’s prayer ritual had been unusual, but she was a Light Bringer. Historically they were greatly gifted, passionate women who made their own rules. Birkita had been a highly competent and knowledgeable High Priestess. Surely she knew that Light Bringers followed their own paths.
At that moment Morrigan exploded with anger, raising her voice so that it carried easily to Kegan. “I need some damn air!” She made an abrupt gesture with her hand, cutting off Birkita’s next words. “No. I don’t want to hear any more right now.” Then the Light Bringer’s eyes met his. Kegan felt the look as if a burning brand had speared through him. There was nothing else in the world except Morrigan. His thoughts, his desires, his vision—all tunneled down to only include her. Unable to stop himself, he moved quickly to her.
“My Lady, allow me to escort you to the surface,” he said with a bow and a formal flourish.
Morrigan hesitated for only a moment, then she placed her hand on his offered arm. “Fine. Whatever. I just need to get out of here for a little while.”
“Your wishes shall be my commands, my Lady,” Kegan said. Then he called to one of the priestesses still in the chamber, “Have a basket of food and wine brought to the surface. Your Light Bringer needs to ground herself after her ritual.”
“Yes, my Lord,” the priestess said, and she hurried off.
With Morrigan not speaking a word yet thrumming with energy and so tightly strung that her hand seemed to burn against the skin of his arm, Kegan escorted her from the Usgaran. He could feel Kai’s considering gaze on him long after they’d left the chamber.
CHAPTER 12
Morrigan burst from the mouth of the cave like a fading star.
She dropped the centaur’s arm and strode forward, only aware enough of her surroundings to stop at the edge of a drop-off. Hands on her hips, she stared into the horizon. Half blinded by the golden sunlight, she blinked hard, acclimating herself to the brightness of day. Gulping deep breaths of the warm morning air Morrigan tried to calm her tumultuous emotions and breathe through the vestiges of power and excitement that still electrified her body. The ritual had begun as her response to hurt and sadness, but her feelings had quickly morphed into anger. It was then that she had been filled with the power. Power! The way the light had rushed through her body had been even rawer and more thrilling than that time in the Oklahoma cave right before the accident when Kyle had witnessed it. Morrigan shivered as she remembered the desire that she had felt then, too.
“Your ritual moved me.”
She’d forgotten the centaur was there and s
he jumped a little in surprise when he spoke. He was standing behind her, but she didn’t turn to look at him. “Really? Well, it moved me, too.”
“It wasn’t like any ritual for the dead I’ve ever experienced.”
Morrigan still didn’t look at him. “Sorry about it being abnormal. Seems it freaked out Birkita, too,” she snapped.
“Freaked out?”
She sighed. “Freaked out equals shock plus annoyance.”
“Then, no, your ritual did not make me freaked out. I said it moved me, not shocked or annoyed me. And, quite frankly, I cannot see what Birkita would have found so shocking. Light Bringers always follow their own paths.”
She steeled herself against the bizarre familiarity of his features and turned to face him. “You know about Light Bringers?”
“Historically they were passionate women greatly gifted by the gods who made their own rules.” His smile was slow and warm. “But I’d never seen one perform a ritual until today. It’s much more interesting in person than it is in the dry, stale pages of history.”
“Kinda like centaurs,” she said automatically, and then wanted to slap her hand over her stupid mouth when she realized what she’d actually said aloud.
His smile didn’t waver. “Centaurs?”
Well, crap. She couldn’t pretend she hadn’t said anything. Okay, so she’d stick as close to the truth as possible. “You were there yesterday when Perth said that Birkita foretold my coming and that Adsagsona had brought me to the Sidetha, right?”
Kegan nodded. “I was.”
“All that’s true. They just left out the part about Adsagsona bringing me here from far away. Really far away.”
“Where did you come from that is so far away?” Kegan looked mildly amused.
“It’s a Keep called Oklahoma. It’s in the Southwest. Oh, and we didn’t have centaurs there—at least we didn’t have living ones. Only in, let’s see, how did you put it? Only in the dry, stale pages of books.”
Kegan blinked several times, utter shock replacing amusement on his handsome face. “No centaurs?”
“Absolutely none.”
“I’m the first centaur you’ve ever seen?”
“Absolutely the first.”
“And were you—” he hesitated, raising his eyebrows “—freaked out by me.”
Morrigan laughed. “Yes, I’ll admit I was a little.”
“So how do I compare to the pages of history?” His smile was brilliant, and it made him look even more like Kyle, if that was possible.
She took her time answering him, enjoying the excuse to study him. First she let her eyes roam from his face to his mostly bare human torso, then she studied the horse part of him. What she had thought about him earlier held true under scrutiny—he had a terrible beauty that was as alluring as it was alien. Kegan was different from Kyle. The centaur mirror of him was masculine in the extreme—a male animal barely tempered by the man. As she’d reacted in the Oklahoma cave, the arousal she still felt from the ritual’s power responded to him with an elemental strength that had her stepping forward and closing the space that separated them.
“I think you are magnificent,” she said.
He hadn’t moved as she’d studied him, but kept his blue eyes trained on her. His expression said he enjoyed the attention and welcomed her scrutiny.
“Then we have that in common. I think you are magnificent, too.” His voice had deepened and it sent electric shivers through her already sensitized body.
“May I ask you something?” she said.
“Anything, my Lady.”
“Birkita told me that a centaur High Shaman can shape-shift. Is that true?”
He smiled again. “It is.”
“Into anything?”
“Into any living thing,” he corrected. Slowly, he reached forward and took her hand in his, lifting it to his lips. He turned it over and kissed the meaty spot under her thumb, and then, very lightly, he bit her there before saying, “Perhaps someday you will allow me to demonstrate my abilities for you.”
His lips were warm, and the soft bite sent sparks of pleasure through her body. “Would you shape-shift into a human man?”
Kegan’s thumb caressed a lazy circle around the spot below her thumb he had just kissed. “No matter what shape I take you should know that I will always be more than a human man.”
“I can see that,” she said a little breathlessly. Morrigan loved the way the teasing game between them made her feel. His alien beauty that mixed so perfectly with his similarity to Kyle excited her and she wanted to touch him, though she knew she probably shouldn’t.
You are a Light Bringer! Passion and fire are your right!
The voice exploded in her head, goading her into action. She tugged her hand free from his. He let her go easily, and then she could see the surprise in his eyes when, instead of moving away from him, she stepped even closer.
“Do you mind if I touch you?”
“Not only do I not mind, I welcome your touch,” he said without hesitation.
First, she reached up and placed her hand on his arm, putting it lightly on his shoulder just above the swell of his biceps. He was dressed in the same type of open leather vest he’d been wearing the night before, which left most of his torso bare. Kegan’s grin was teasing. “You’ve already touched me there.”
“I know, but I was distracted then and wasn’t really thinking about you.”
“And now?”
“Now I’m definitely thinking about you.” She let her hand trail down his arm until it was resting on his forearm, much as it had been when he’d escorted her from the cave. “Your skin is so hot. Is it always like that?”
“Yes, a centaur’s body temperature is warmer than humans’.”
Completely intrigued, Morrigan placed her palm where his vest opened, against the bare skin of Kegan’s chest, and splayed her fingers wide. Without taking her eyes from his, she began to move her hand down in a sweeping caress that passed over his well-defined abdominal muscles, down and around to his waist, and then past his human torso to where equine met man in a shining golden coat. She could feel his muscles tremble against her hand and reveled in knowing that one small touch from her could cause such an obvious reaction in him.
“Amazing…” She breathed the word.
“Morrigan.” He moaned her name as he slid his hand around the back of her neck, bent and pressed his lips to hers.
The kiss wasn’t an intrusion; it was a question. Morrigan answered it with an exclamation mark. Her arms slid up and as far around his shoulders as she could reach and she opened her mouth, meeting his tongue with her own. He was so hot! And he tasted like something wild and male and yummy. The erotic energy that had been building in her body flamed again and she pressed herself against him, wanting to drown in the heat and passion he had ignited, just as she had wanted to once before in that crystal-lit Oklahoma cave.
“Oh, excuse me, my Lady!”
Morrigan broke away from Kegan’s embrace and had to stifle an urge to whirl and shriek at the wide-eyed priestess, who she recognized was Deidre.
Kegan recovered first. “Excellent, you brought the food.” Smiling, he took a laden basket from Deidre.
“I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Deidre stammered.
“Don’t worry about it.” Morrigan was definitely pissed by the interruption. Her body was on fire and she’d been totally making out with Kegan when Deidre had to come bumbling up. Great. She could only imagine the gossip that was going to spread—not to mention what Birkita would have to say about it.
Morrigan’s sharp tone made the priestess flinch and repeat nervously, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
When she just stood there staring, Morrigan said with exaggerated politeness, “Thank you very much, Deidre. You can go now.”
The priestess curtsied and practically ran back into the mouth of the cave. Morrigan was glaring at the cave when she heard Kegan’s deep chuckle and turned her fl
ashing eyes on him.
Still laughing, he held the basket out to her as if making an offering to an irate goddess. “I surrender! Indeed, it was me who asked the priestess to bring food and wine. Be merciful.”
Kegan’s amused reaction brought her up short. What was it she was so angry about, anyway? She’d got caught kissing a centaur. So what? Birkita had said that Myrna’s dad had been a centaur—so clearly centaur/human kissing wasn’t exactly a never-done thing. And anyway, it had been Birkita who had said that Kegan’s similarity to Kyle might be a gift from the Goddess, so she shouldn’t ignore it. Besides, Birkita was not her grandma, and even if she was, it was about time Morrigan took charge of her own life, which meant she shouldn’t be embarrassed when she got caught kissing a guy. She definitely needed to get a grip. It was just that her emotions felt so close to the surface and so ultra-everything: ultrasensitive, ultra-angry, ultrahorny. She slid her eyes over to Kegan. Well, most of her friends had already lost their virginity. Why not…
“Deciding whether or not you’re going to make me explode in a ball of light?” he asked with a grin.
She opened her mouth to say she couldn’t do that, and then thought better of it. Maybe she actually could do that. Instead she smiled back at him. “It’s not you I’d explode.”
That made him laugh again. “Have pity on the poor priestess. You already made her freaked out.”
Morrigan rolled her eyes. “Okay, enough Oklahoma words for you.” She gestured at the basket, suddenly realizing she was absolutely ravenous. “Want to share what’s in the basket?”
“Well, my Lady, that depends.”