Opening her mind to him had pinpointed her location. The wizards were everywhere, hiding under ground and in the caves within the mountains. Rarely could one of their locations be uncovered.
Thankfully, opening his heart to Noele had let her thoughts flood his mind. With her thoughts came her location.
He fought back the guilt that assailed him. How could he have failed to protect her? Married but for a few hours and he had nearly lost her because he’d been too afraid to open his heart.
Recriminations would come later. Now he had to focus on rescuing Noele.
“There!”
He turned at Roarke’s shout, following his gaze to a small opening at the top of a steep cliff. They halted and dismounted, preparing to set off on foot.
The climb was treacherous, the incline nearly straight up. Yet craggy rocks and slight footholds gave them aid. He prayed by the time they reached the cavern it would not be too late.
“She is strong,” Roarke reassured. “Her mind is even stronger. She will not let them take her.” Garick fought hard to believe him. “Let us hurry, then.” They raced along the narrow path until they reached the cavern’s entrance. Garick drew his sword and called forth his magic. The cavern lighted as if the sun itself had shined inside the dank hole of darkness.
Opening his mind, he searched for Noele’s essence. His heart stopped when he realized it was faint, barely present, and yet still enough that he could follow her signals. “This way,” he pointed to a pathway on the left side of the cave.
Garick stayed alert, knowing wizard trickery could befall them at any moment. The pathway was narrow, hardly enough room for men his size, and yet they persevered, hugging the back wall of the path and inching their way forward.
They’d no more pushed through the narrow opening into some kind of empty anteroom when a dozen wizards rushed them. Skeletal creatures, more bone than skin, they seemed incapable of even moving, let alone the strength they were known for.
Raising his sword, he fought their magic fireballs, the electric arcs of pain that both froze and burned.
Roarke pressed against his back and fought a wizard on the other side of him. Their guards engaged the rest.
Elvin magic was strong, but so was wizard cunning. When Garick raised his sword to slice through the skeletal figure, it disappeared, only to reappear to the side of him and slide through his tunic with a bolt of magic.
Searing pain arced through his body, but he called up his own strength, wielded the sword to the right and beheaded the wizard. The bony creature fell in a heap on the cave floor.
His guards fought valiantly, beating back the wizards until several had disappeared or turned to run through one of the many narrow tunnels.
Yet when some left, others came in and took over, their refreshed strength more powerful than Garick and his wearying warriors.
Garick turned to take on another of the creatures, this one taller, stronger, his eyes blazing red in his hideous, sunken face. A cackle of pure evil rose up as the wizard raised his arms. Rocks rained down over Garick, which he fought away with his sword and his own magical spell. When his sword connected with the creature’s bony flesh, a wailing scream echoed through the room. The wizard turned and slipped through an opening in the wall.
“That one has Noele,” Garick said quickly to Roarke. “I can feel his connection to her.” Roarke nodded and Garick followed the wizard through the opening, confident Roarke and his men could take care of the rest of them.
His side burned as if a torch touched him, but he fought back the pain, convinced this wizard would lead him to Noele.
Her cries echoed in his mind, her pain piercing him, stabbing at his heart. Her agony injured him more than the gaping hole in his side. He must find her.
There! Ahead in the darkness, the wizard stepped through steel bars, its body so thin it did not need to open the doors. Garick reached the bars only to find the wizard holding an unconscious Noele in his arms.
“Kill me and your precious queen dies.” His cackling voice and death grip around Noele’s throat turned Garick’s blood to ice.
He halted, his thoughts merging with Noele. He effectively blocked out the wizard’s mental probing and spoke to her.
Noele, wake up!
She did not answer. By all that was magic, was he too late to save her?
Noele! My love, I need you to awaken.
He felt her stirring.
Do not move , he warned. A wizard holds you by the throat. Do not let him into your mind, do not let him know you are awake.
Aye, Garick.
Relief washed through him. Her voice was weak, and yet he felt her strength, wishing with all his soul he could somehow transfer some of his to her.
My love, are you well?
Aye, Garick. I am weak, but my mind is intact. He has not breached my magic.
He allowed a grateful sigh. His bride was indeed a strong faerie.
Can you conjure?
I believe I can.. What do you wish me to do?
He gave her his instructions, hoping she was strong enough to withstand what was to come.
Noele opened her eyes, hatred shooting out from their crystal blue depths onto the wizards face.
“Ah, the faerie awakens, Garick. Now you can both watch what I do to her.” Noele reached for the skeletal arms of her captor, and pushed him backwards. Surprised, the wizard fell to his knees and Noele stood. “Be gone from here, evil one. My faerie magic compels you to be still.” Garick closed his eyes, feeling Noele’s strength diminish.
“You are weak, faerie,” the wizard said, fighting against the invisible bonds holding him.
“I will die rather than give up my magic to you,” she sneered.
The wizard laughed, breaking through her holding spell and grabbing her against him.
Garick wanted to shout his frustration to the corners of the world. If only he could get to her!
“Now, Garick, King of Winterland. Watch your faerie die at my hands.”
The wizard’s black eyes bored into Noele’s. She gasped and covered her face, shaking her head and pummeling the evil one’s chest. The wizard only laughed, a maniacal sound that reverberated off the cold, stone walls.
Hang on, my love. Soon. I’ll be there soon. You know what you must do.
Garick prayed she would have the strength to see it through.
Suddenly, Noele slumped against the wizard.
Garick let out a mourning howl that spoke of loss, of grief. Echoes of his agony sailed through the cave walls and into the outside air.
“Rail all you want at the four winds, Garick. She is gone!” The wizard turned his gaze away from Noele’s lifeless form to Garick and grinned, his face a twisted mask of evil.
“She has given up her soul to me. Her life force exists no longer. In moments, I will extract her essence and become even more powerful than you.”
Garick railed against the bars. “You bastard! You will die for killing the one I love!” The wizard threw his head back and laughed, then dropped Noele’s limp body on the cold floor.
“Oh, the great king has found the love of his life, only to have her taken away on the night of their marriage. How sad for you Garick. How pathetic that you could not open your heart and protect her.” Garick refused to heed the wizard’s words. “No! She is mine. She lives.” The wizard’s laugh drove him mad. “She would have lived, had you the capacity to love her. We knew it was only a matter of time until you gave her to us.”
“Noooooo!” Garick railed.
“Too late, elvin king. Watch as I take her magic and her soul.” The wizard raised his hands in the air.
Now, my love, Garick pleaded. Please show me you are still with me. I need you, Noele.
Instantly, Noele’s eyes opened. She transferred her magic into Garick’s mind and he sliced through the bars as if they were wood instead of steel. They crumpled before him like stale bread.
With a cry of surprise, the wizard tried to run past, but Garick grabbed him and with one arcing slice, beheaded the evil one.
He ran to Noele and gathered her against him, transferring her essence back into her body. Closing his eyes, he prayed to the magical gods to restore Noele’s magic, feeling it leave him and enter her body.
He only hoped it would be enough to restore her.
“Come back to me, faerie,” he pleaded.
Her silvery tipped eyes partly opened. She lifted a small hand to his cheek and smiled.
“You came for me.”
Garick fought back the emotions threatening to make him weak in the knees. So grateful for Noele’s life, he sent up a silent prayer to all the gods in the heavens. “Aye.”
“I love you, Garick.”
Her eyes fluttered closed and he gently picked her up, carrying her back the way they came. By the time he reached the opening in the wall, Roarke and the guards had dispatched the wizards.
Roarke frowned and raced to his side. “Is she well?” He nodded. “Weak, but she will recover. She has much strength.” Roarke grinned and nodded. “Your new bride is quite a warrior.” They left the cavern and made haste back to Winterland.
Garick’s wounds were tended to, despite wanting only to remain at Noele’s side. But the physician told him she only needed rest to build up her strength, and he was to leave her be.
By the time nightfall came, Noele’s sisters had been to the chambers to impart some of their magical strength to her. Garick waited patiently by her side as her sisters fluttered about, asking her questions about her ordeal.
He wanted them to leave. He needed to be alone with his wife.
When he was ready to scream at them, they kissed Noele and bade her goodnight.
After they left, Noele slumbered deeply. Not wanting to wake her when she needed rest to restore her body, he undressed quickly and slipped into bed with her, cradling her close against him. His mind and heart remained fully open, not wanting a repeat of the previous night. He slept fitfully through the night, waking several times to be sure she still lay protected in his arms.
By the time morning came, Noele still slumbered peacefully. A fierce need to protect her coursed through him. He had failed her before. If she so allowed, he would never do so again.
She would have been safer if he had given her to Roarke. And yet he could not cast her aside any more than he could cut off one of his own limbs. She was his, and would forever be.
She murmured low in her throat, a husky sound that stirred his cock into full awakening.
No, he should not touch her. She needed rest.
But her voice entered his mind.
I am fully awake, my husband. And what I need has nothing to do with rest.
He needed no further urging. Desperate to join with her again, he rose above her, his cock probing for her entrance.
She was damp. Her nipples hardened when he rubbed his cockhead against her clit. Her soft moans told him that even in partial sleep she desired him.
A pride unlike anything he’d ever known overcame him. This was his woman, his mate, and she possessed an inner strength he would have never thought possible in a female.
Gently, he slipped his shaft into her channel. She pulsed and contracted around him. Her eyes fluttered open, blue as the clear winter skies outside. He placed a kiss on her parted lips. “Good morning, my queen.”
Her tentative smile stabbed at his heart. “Good morning, my king.” Noele could think of no better way to awaken from the nightmare of the past couple of days.
Completely rested and her heart welling with joy and love for her husband.
His heat melted her insides, his hard shaft buried so deeply he touched her very soul. Joining with him was a sweet pleasure she wanted to wake up to the rest of her life.
When she lifted her hips and wrapped her legs around his back, he grinned. “Are you certain you are ready for this?”
Noele smiled and nodded, threading her hands through his hair. Arousal coursed through her body, the need for release tensing her eager muscles. “Aye. Fuck me, Garick.” Her tongue caressed his bottom lip, then she sucked it gently inside her mouth. He pulled back and plunged his cock inside her, deep and hard until he was buried to the hilt. She gasped and bit at his lower lip. He wound her hair around his fist and pulled hard, rewarded when her pussy flooded with her desire.
“Yes, like that,” she cried, digging her heels into his back.
He devoured her lips and thrust his tongue inside her mouth, offering it for her to suckle. He drew his cock out and then stabbed it inside her again, drawing shrieks of delight from her.
Withdrawing quickly, he pulled her up and turned her over, slipping one of the feather pillows under her stomach.
He leaned over her and drove into her cunt again, pinning her arms to her sides. Relentlessly he pounded inside her. She lifted her ass and met every thrust with equal fervor. “Harder, Garick. Fuck me hard and fast. Make me come all over you.”
Garick could not believe his fortune. A beautiful, strong faerie, with as lusty an appetite for sex as he. He was truly a lucky man.
Her pounding passion drew him ever higher. He let go of her hands and lay fully on top of her, reaching underneath to thrum her clit with his fingers. She gasped, her face buried in the mattress, her fists wound tightly into the sheets. She pressed her rear against him when he thrust hard, his balls slapping against her pussy.
“You want my come inside you, Noele?” he said, barely able to hold off his orgasm.
“Yes! Fuck me, Garick, fuck me hard and come inside me. Now!”
Her demands sent him over the edge and he took her along with him. He fucked her fast and furious, sending his seed shooting deep into her cavern. She screamed and pulsed around him, flooding him with her juices.
Afterward, they lay panting and stroking each other’s skin. It seemed strange that despite the intimacies they’d shared, he did not know how to simply speak to her now.
“Garick?” she asked, her voice a near whisper.
“Aye.”
“Did you mean what you said on our wedding night?”
“What did I say?”
She turned and leaned up on her elbows, her clear eyes mesmerizing him. “That I was yours?” He arched a brow and smiled at her. Despite all that they had been through, she still doubted him. For that he was ashamed. “Aye. You are mine. I do not wish to cast you out nor hand you over to Roarke.” He read the relief in her eyes, and it pleased him. “I am glad.” His heart swelled and he knew then he’d found love. He’d never looked for it, never wanted it, and yet here it was and he would not turn it away. He trailed a finger over her silken cheek. “And what is your choice, my queen?”