My son and daughter-in-law went to Iceland recently and all I got was this mug. Nah, only kidding. That's actually perfect. I mean, is it possible to have too many insulated travel mugs? I certainly don't think so!
The Caves of Hella are one of the oldest man-made structures in the world. No one knows for sure, but apparently there's reason to believe the caves were constructed by the Celts. Which makes sense, I guess. Tír na nÓg was an island located to the west of Ireland, after all. So if the Irish journeyed in that direction, that's probably where they fetched up.
And I guess that's as good a reason as any to post an excerpt from IRON.
“Would you like to see it?” [Aislinn] asked, sitting up in bed with her legs crossed beneath her, wanting suddenly to give something back to him, to make him smile again.
The blankets slid to her waist and Gavin quickly averted his eyes. “Eh? See what?”
“The Summerland. You need only lie back and close your eyes and I will sing ye there.”
“Sing me there?” Curious eyes swung back up to her face. “Ye can do that?”
Aislinn shrugged. “Of course. It is just your mind I’d be transporting. Your body would remain here, in peaceful slumber.”
“Aye, no doubt,” Gavin muttered, his gaze turning suspicious. “But for how long will I slumber? That’s the question, is it not?”
“A night,” she answered. “No more than that. I promise ye, you’ll not travel outside of time tonight. When ye wake up tomorrow morning, safe in your own bed, neither you nor the world will be more than a single day older. Will ye not trust me?”
“Might I not come to harm there? For I’ve heard stories.”
“Not tonight,” she said, leaning closer to smile temptingly at him. “If I give you my word, O’Malley, that I’ll not allow you to suffer any harm tonight, will that not suffice?”
“And have ye the power to make such promises, I wonder?” he asked as he studied her expression but finally he nodded and closed his eyes. “Go on then, Fae. Do your worst.”
Aislinn took a moment to gather her power, humming quietly until the air shimmered and rippled around her and time itself began to shift and there she stopped it, mindful of her promise not to take him outside time tonight. But someday I might, she thought, and smiled at the sleeping form before her, someday, indeed, I might.
And then, still smiling, she began to sing...
*
Gavin sighed as Aislinn’s voice settled over him as welcome as a soft, warm blanket on a cold night; and he’d have gladly snuggled into it, if his body did not seem too heavy to move. His mind, on the other hand, felt light as air, rising higher and higher until, at last, it broke free of the bonds that had kept it tethered within him. And then, like a caged bird suddenly set free, it took off, winging its way westward over a bleak, black sea toward a flicker of light on the horizon.
The light grew as he approached until he realized it was not a light at all, but rather the reflection cast by the rising sun upon the tall, white cliffs of an island.
Gulls swept past him, crying out a greeting; and then he was soaring above the island itself. Gentle, rolling hills stretched below him as he flew and the low, throbbing tones of Uilleann pipes rose up from among them, as though calling him home.
Dipping closer to the ground, he spied horses racing each other for the sheer joy of it across vast, verdant pastures. The sweet, mingled perfumes of a thousand flowers filled the air and a light mist kissed his skin as he landed in a sunny glen.
Deer, browsing amid the trees, paused in their foraging, their tails flicking as they scented him, but they showed no fear. He was aware, too, of a thronging crowd of people that seemed to exist just beyond the edges of his sight and who studied him just as curiously as the deer did. But he paid them no mind for there was a sound that tugged at his consciousness, bidding him follow it.
Aislinn...
He found her, at last, seated atop the bent branch of a willow tree that had extended itself over a clear and sparkling stream, paddling her feet in the crystalline water and singing sweetly.
She broke off as he approached and smiled in greeting. Gavin paused on the sandy bank and stared at her. Though the water appeared cool and refreshing and he was suddenly aware of a great thirst, he was loath to partake.
Laughing, Aislinn jumped down from the branch to stand before him. “’Tis quite all right, you know. The water will do naught tonight but quench your thirst. Although, on another occasion it might, indeed, do more. But did ye not believe me when I promised to protect thee here? What is it that’s made ye so suspicious, O’Malley? What have the fae ever done to thee?”
“I doona know,” he answered with a shrug, trying not to notice the sweet smell of sunlight on her skin and in her hair. She was dressed in a simple, diaphanous gown of shimmering white without so much as a single ornament, but even with her feet bare and her hair undone she looked more elegant, somehow, than any woman he had ever seen.
No wonder her fool of a sister was so worried, he thought, for sure and she has the look of one who should be queen.
“But how is it you’re here?” he asked. “For I thought you were banned from the place.”
“Aye,” she answered, casting a sad glance at the landscape that surrounded them. “From the Summerland itself, I am still in exile. But no one can remove me from my memories of it. This is but a shadow of the place. I could have sent ye there alone, had I wished to. But without accompanying ye, I could not have guaranteed your safety. Nor could I have transported ye into the past without breaking my promise not to take ye out of time. But I thought this would do to show ye what it’s like and why I’m so loath to give it up. Do you not find it beautiful?”
He nodded. “I do. But what of the other place? Will you be showing me that as well, that I might compare the two?”
“Nay,” she replied with a shake of her head. “Perhaps another time. I’d not wish to trouble your sleep with such a thing. You’d not thank me for it if I did. Now, come,” she said, smiling once more as she took hold of his arm. “Let me show you something of my home.”
Instantly, a path appeared on the ground before their feet leading to a sumptuous pavilion that Gavin was certain had not even existed a moment previously. Bright silk brocade gleamed in the morning light and a banner flew above it.
Gavin squinted his eyes to try and make out the device traced upon the fluttering fabric until Aislinn tugged him forward. “’Tis of no import,” she insisted softly as she held aside the flaps that covered the doorway and bade him enter. “Pray do not worry yourself about it further.”
Inside, moss-covered stones were soft against his feet. A scattering of couches piled high with pillows furnished the large, round room and at its center stood a table set with a feast.
Silver bowls of fruit and dishes of butter, clotted cream and honey, still in the comb, stood side by side with wheels of cheese and jugs of ale, cakes and pies and fragrant brown loaves of bread—all manner of delicacies. Above a grated candle, keeping warm, was a pot Gavin was sure contained tea. He felt his mouth water as he gazed hungrily and worriedly at the tempting array. Then Aislinn laughed and, with a snap of her fingers, caused the entire table to disappear.
“Nay,” she said as she turned to him. “I was not forgetting your fears concerning our food and I’ll tempt ye no further with such a display. But I thought it no harm to show ye that I can indeed provide a meal fit for any occasion, as long as it’s here in my own country.”
“I didn’t doubt it,” Gavin replied with more politeness than truth.
Aislinn merely smiled. Then her smile turned sly. “So, then, since we’ll not be eating together, will ye not lie with me, O’Malley?” Her expression was like that of an angel, innocent, pure, without guile, as she cocked her head to the side and gestured toward one of the waiting couches.
Gavin inhaled sharply. Though he knew that to do such a thing here, with her, would be even more perilous for him than eating or drinking, a part of him wanted to answer, immediately and forever, yes! Instead, he posed his own question. “Will ye not transform yourself into Mairead for me, Fae?”
She shook her head. “Nay. That I’ll not. In this, of all places, I’ll be no surrogate, but only myself alone.”
“Then neither will I lie with thee here,” he replied, pleased with the cool, firm sound of his words though he didn’t doubt she could read his mind just the same and sense the disappointment raging within him, for he wished it could be otherwise. And when she gazed into his eyes and he felt her urging him to reconsider, he was tempted to give in. But, with an effort, he closed his heart to the sweet compulsion and, abruptly, felt it cease.
“Ah, well,” Aislinn murmured, taking hold of his arm once more and leading him back to the doorway. “If that’s to be the way of it, I think perhaps ’tis best for you to leave now.”
They pushed through the soft fabric only to find that a soft, silver rain had begun to fall, obscuring the landscape from his sight. Gavin felt a pang of loss and a cry of dismay broke from his lips. “’Tis all gone.”
“Do not sorrow yourself so,” Aislinn whispered in his ear. “For ’tis like the stars in the sky above. Though ’tis only at night you see them. They are always there and, day or night, they shine just as brightly. This place is a part of you now, Gavin; a place to which you might return, in your dreams, if you so wish it; a place you will remember always and, I hope, with fondness. But, sleep now,” she murmured and Gavin felt his eyes fall shut and his spirit start to sink, but soft and slow like a feather drifting to earth. And he heard the amusement in her voice as she added, “And may your angels gather round thee, Gavin O’Malley, and protect thee from all temptations.”
Temptations? “No use in bothering the angels over something like that,” he replied as sleep crept up to claim him. “For there’s hardly enough of those to be after worrying over.” In fact, he thought, there was really only one.
Aislinn...
IRON
Nineteenth century Ireland. Blacksmith Gavin O'Malley is a bitter man, with a heart as hard as the iron he forges. He wants his life back--the one that was stolen from him the day his wife died in childbirth, taking their firstborn son with her.
When Aislinn Deirbhile, an immortal, shape-shifting fae, arrives on his doorstep, he knows he's in luck. For Aislinn can give Gavin everything he's been missing: A devoted-seeming wife in the image of his beloved Mairead, and children who are sure to outlive their father. Now, all he has to do is find a way to keep her--without losing his immortal soul in the process.
But Aislinn has an agenda of her own. On the run from a vengeful fae lord who's vowed to either make her his or end her existence, she knows the iron that allows Gavin to take her captive will also keep her pursuers at bay. In order to put herself permanently beyond her enemy's reach, however, Aislinn will need something more. She'll need to win Gavin's heart and convince him to willingly part with a piece of the very soul he's trying to save.
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