Beyond the Pale: A Thin Veil Novella (The Thin Veil Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

forgiven her? She pulled her hands out of his grasp and stood up. “Lorcan, what are you doing here? If they find you…”
    “Shhhh,” he said, putting his index finger to her lips. “You are worth the risk, Kier. I’ve waited long enough.” He cupped his hand behind her head and kissed her, his lips pressing into hers with a desperation that forestalled her initial protest. As she reveled in the familiar sensation, she realized what it was she had been feeling before: loneliness. Her life with Brogan was content enough, but she was ever so lonely, especially when he was in Ériu, with his human mistress or whomever he went to see. Lorcan’s kiss was breathing new life into her, so she returned it with a passion she hadn’t felt in months.
    “Kier, Kier, Kier,” he whispered in the few moments when his mouth was not pressed hungrily against hers. “Everything will be as it should.”
    “You said you didn’t want to see me,” she murmured.
    “I’ve changed my mind. You are worth fighting for,” he replied.
    She barely heard what he was saying, so intent was she on the flood of warmth and desire that was rushing through her. It had been so long since she had felt so wanted. She brushed away the flicker of guilt when he lifted her onto the bed and covered her body with his own. Brogan had opened this door, by both his words and his actions, and she was going to rush through it.
     
    * * *
     
    Later, as they lay exhausted, Kier stared at the ceiling, her mind and heart reeling from what had just happened. A sheet was wrapped around her body, but Lorcan was reclining against the pillows, ankles crossed and arms behind his head, completely naked, as if he feared no one and nothing. The loneliness Kier had felt before Lorcan’s surprise visit began to creep back into her, and she snuggled close to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
    “Tell me, beautiful Kier, if the Elders closed all the sidhe, how does your husband travel when he leaves you all alone?”
    She felt a pang in her heart and pressed herself closer to him. “They are all closed—all except for one. It is a secret sidh he created so he can visit his mistress on Ériu.” She could hear the bitterness in her own voice, and didn’t like it.
    “Do not worry, my darling. I have not been idle these past few months,” he said. “I have been devising a plan—one that will set everything to rights.”
    “A plan for what?”
    “I’ve had this dream for a long while, but it was impossible to act while the Elders ruled. Now that they are gone, there is no reason why we cannot make it into a reality. I have become convinced that it is the only way forward for our people.”
    “What are you talking about?” She looked at him curiously. He had changed over the last few months. He seemed bolder, more confident.
    “Do you remember that day on the hill, when I told you about my ability, and you told me the Elders had closed the sidhe?”
    “Of course,” she replied.
    “ I was the reason they closed the sidhe,” he said. “I suppose I can’t take all the credit, but I was the first to recognize that something had to be done.”
    “Done about what?”
    “Oh, Kier, you are too tenderhearted for your own good. You have believed all the stories about the gentleness and harmlessness of humans. They’re all lies, don’t you see? Too many of our people have forgotten our great humiliation, which was deliberately underplayed by the Elders. But I have started reminding them. The humans are not our friends, Kier. They are our enemies.”
    Kier blinked at him in surprise and sat up. Had he always felt this way? Had she been too blinded by love to notice? “I know you are proud of our race,” she said. “But…the humans have done nothing to us. What makes them our enemies?”
    “And that is the great lie you—and too many others—have bought into!” he said. “Why do you think we are in Tír na nÓg in the first