The music swelled, and so did Aisling’s chest. The magic in her blood flared with heat as Niall clasped her hand in his.

Niall spun Aisling in a circle, holding his arm up so she could twirl beneath it. As she came back towards him, he spun her back into himself, so her back rested against his strong chest.

He kissed a trail of fire along her neck. Aisling tilted her head back, giving him access to her bare skin. Her whole body flushed with a strange heat, not just from her desire, but from the magic that pulsed through her veins.

She felt so different. Her skin tingled. Her veins felt like they ran with liquid sunshine.

Niall’s lips trailed up her neck. He gripped her chin in his fingers and turned her head, his lips seeking hers. Aisling turned in his arms, sinking into the kiss, devouring Niall, thinking this might be the last time she could ever touch him like this, and how much she wished that weren’t true.

Please, she begged the house. Please don’t destroy Niall. He’s the only thing I have left.

Niall’s hands caressed her body through the silken dress, cupping her breasts. His fingers sought her nipples. He tugged one through the fabric, causing it to stand erect. Aisling reached up, and unhooked the clasps that held the dress.

“Was this how your dream went?” She grinned as she stepped out of the dress, leaving a puddle of fabric on the floor.

“This is already much better.” Niall grinned back, embracing her once more, his lips meeting hers in a ferocious kiss. Aisling’s fingers dug under his shirt, running over the taut muscles of his back, over the raised scars that marked his skin. She lifted his shirt over his head, relishing the sensation of her charged skin against his.

His lips still locked on hers, Niall dragged her across the room, until the backs of her legs banged against the piano bench. He pushed her shoulders down, so that she was sitting in front of the piano, facing out into the room. The keys continued to pound out the eerie waltz. Niall’s fingers twined through her hair, his body tense. Aisling ran her hands over his thighs, toying with the drawstring of his trousers.

“Don’t tease me, witch,” Niall growled.

He started to climb on top of her, his eyes determined, but Aisling pushed him back. He’d given her so much, and this might be his last time as well. She wanted it to be something more. She wanted to know what it would be like to—

She reached a hand beneath his drawstring, and drew his length out. He leapt against her fingers, hardening further against her touch. She admired him from all sides, the tautness of his skin, the veins standing out around the dark head, the way he jerked between her fingers whenever she breathed against him.

Aisling leaned over, and took him in her mouth. Niall moaned as her tongue slid over his length. She gripped him with her right hand, her other running over his sac, exploring everything about him.

She drew him back into her throat, as far as she could, sliding her hand along his shaft. She slid him out again, and took him in deeper, trying to fit as much of his length as possible while keeping the pressure strong. Niall’s hands gripped her hair, tugging at the strands. She loved the way his muscles tightened when she drew him in, as though he was holding himself back, desperately trying to maintain control.

He tasted warm, and slightly salty. Aisling moved her hand faster, building a rhythm while her fingers danced across the skin on his thighs. Niall’s breath came out in shallow gasps, and his fingers tightened around her hair. She sucked him right to the back of her throat, loving the sensation of being completely full of him.

“Aisling, stop. No more.” His fingers gripped her hair. His face had twisted, poised on the brink between agony and ecstasy. “I won’t be able to … I can’t—”

Aisling grinned, and dropped him. “So I did okay then?”

Niall grabbed her roughly, tipping her back so she laid down on the bench. He yanked up her legs, placing one on either side of him. He slid up between her legs, burying his face into her sex. His tongue worked her furiously, forcing the ache through her body, bringing her right to the brink.

He sucked her up into his mouth, and she toppled over the edge, into the galaxy of pleasure, the world within her where nothing existed but her and Niall and his tongue on her body and oh … her mouth was open and she was crying out, but she didn’t register the sound. All that existed was the pleasure.

Niall didn’t wait for her cries to die down. He flipped her body over, so her legs hung off the end of the bench. He grabbed her around the thighs and dragged her back, driving into her in one smooth movement. Aisling drove her hips back, forcing him deeper. She gripped the end of the bench, her head tossed back as his length slid inside her.

From this angle, he lit up all new places within her as he thrust hard and deep and furious. The music swirled around them, the keys pounding in time with Niall’s strokes. He leaned forward over her and gripped her nipple between his fingers. She cried out as the sensation flooded through her.

His pace grew frantic. His fingers dug into her thighs. Aisling’s body surged with heat as the magic inside her swelled with the ache forcing itself up from inside her. She cried out as the two forces collided, the ecstasy coiling around her, sinking deep into her veins.

Niall shuddered, hardening inside her. With a final gasp, he collapsed against her back, his body tensing, then slackening. The warmth of his body pressed against her, and her magic wrapped around them both, cocooning them in a state of peaceful bliss.

The piano struck one final, haunting note, then fell silent.

“Do you think Lady Greymouth used to do what we just did in here?” Niall asked, stroking her hair. He rolled off her and sat on the ground, one heavy arm draped across her back.

“I bet she did it on piano benches every night,” Aisling said, grinning back.

Later, after they had recovered enough to move, Aisling made them both dinner, and they sat in the drawing room and watched the fae archers stalking around the wall. Behind them, the lights of Medietes twinkled across the blackened sky. The city appeared strange, foreign, without the glittering lights of the university spires. He wondered what had happened, but he guessed he wouldn’t ever find out.

“It looks like they’re guarding the place,” Aisling said, pointing to one of the fae standing sentinel along the wall.

“I agree, but I don’t know why,” Niall said. “I don’t see a weapon anywhere.”

“Maybe they’re just here to make sure we stay inside until they use the weapon.”

“They know we can’t leave.” Niall pressed his face against the window, squinting at the guard. “It’s almost as if they’re trying to keep something out of the house.”

“Odiana?”

“Maybe.”

Weariness overwhelmed AIsling. She yawned, and set down her book. “I don’t want to think about this anymore. I’m going to bed. You coming?”

“Jeez, woman. I’m a fairy, not a stallion.” Niall patted his crotch. “Give me some time to recover.”

Her cheeks reddened. “I wasn’t actually talking about that.”

He leaned over and kissed her lightly, his tongue playing along her lips. “I think I’ll stay here a little longer, see if I can figure out what they’re doing. Don’t wait up for me.”

“Goodnight, my fairy.” Aisling dragged her fingers over his shoulder, her skin still buzzing with the new power surging through her body.

“Goodnight, dream witch.” Niall’s grin burned itself on to her eyelids.

* * *

Some hours later, Aisling awoke. She’d been called from sleep by a disturbing dream. Now, as she stared into the darkness of her room, she could not remember what she’d dreamed about. She threw out her arm, expecting to feel Niall’s warm body beside her. But all she grabbed was a cold sheet.

Aisling sat upright, now fully awake. A nagging unease crept through her body. Why was Niall always up and around the house in the middle of the night? That was probably dangerous with the fae just outside. She remembered that time she’d seen him leaving his room, carrying that strange object. She’d been so distracted by the forest in the bathroom, and by Niall himself, it hadn’t occurred to her to investigate further.

It occurred to her now.

Something’s going on with Niall.

Aisling threw off the covers, causing Widdershins to glower at her grumpily from the foot of the bed. She found her slippers, and debated taking a lantern to find her way. But she didn’t want to alert him that she was coming. Moving carefully so she wouldn’t bump the furniture, she padded out into the hall.

First, she peered into Niall’s bedroom, but he wasn’t there either. She checked the sheets on his makeshift bed-nest. They were cold.

From somewhere in the house, she heard something clatter on the floor, and Niall curse.

As quietly as she could, Aisling tiptoed to the staircase, and started down to the ground floor. She steadied herself against the wall, placing her feet as close to the edge as possible, avoiding the steps she knew had creaks. As she rounded the corner and peeked her head into the hallway, she noticed a dark shadow standing in front of the boarded-up dining room.

Her breath caught in her throat. In a few moments, her eyes adjusted to the gloom, and she could clearly make out Niall’s shape. His head was bent down, focusing on his task, whatever it was. Aisling noticed several sheets of paper strewn at his feet, pages torn from her ledger book and covered with strange scrawls and symbols.

What’s he doing?

She took a step toward him, and then another, craning her neck to see his hands. Her foot landed on a loose floorboard, and a loud creak echoed through the hall.

Niall whirled around, and his face told her everything she feared. In his hands, Aisling saw a strange metal object.

She recognized it instantly. She’d seen them before – much larger, of course. Huge rays being wheeled across the front lawn by the fae, their tripods planted in the frozen earth while their barrels pointed at the front door. The one Niall had gleamed with a silvery coating, and it had several small dials running along its side.

It was a magical ray, a fae weapon. And Niall was holding it, with an expression of complete and utter guilt on his face.

Aisling stepped forward, her voice trembling. “Niall, what are you doing?”