| |
“Your wolf has returned.” Freda doesn’t lower her sword from the attack position as she addresses me. “He’s devouring you with his eyes.”
I don’t turn toward the crowd gathered to watch our sparring session. Instead, I step to the side, sword raised to block her inevitable strike. “That just makes us even then, since Alric has been eye-humping you for the last two hours.”
It’s true. After the confrontation with Melrock and Gil—who’d been both reluctant and insulted at their punishment to work in a soup kitchen over the weekend— we’d gone to see Alric.
I don’t mince words. “Did you take Seelenverkäufer from Freda’s tent?”
“No,” he responds, eyes guileless and mystified.
“And have you ever arranged for someone else to take the sword of souls?” Freda pushes.
“Of course, not.” Alric’s gaze shifts from Freda to the sword handle poking up over her shoulder. “It’s right there.”
Freda’s shoulders sag. Not a full-on slump, but a miniscule easing of tension visible only to those who know her well. I wonder how many sleepless nights she’s spent worrying that Alric was the traitor, imagining that she would be forced to kill him.
“My queen?” The gold flecks in his brown eyes seem to shift as his gaze roves from me to Nahini before resting on Freda. “First? Is ought amiss?”
Addy was in the storage room doing supply inventory but otherwise the clinic is deserted.
I look to Nahini, then to Freda. “There’s no wiggle room in his answers, right?”
Freda shakes her head, her blonde hair coming out of her braid in curling wisps. “No. He has no courtly slyness.”
“More to appreciate.” Nahini stops just short of saying I told you so. “We can trust him with the whole story.”
So, we do.
Alric agrees to use his connection to the birds and beasts to watch Freda’s quarters. A falcon or hound could observe comings and goings much more casually than posted guards and animals, and as he pointed out, won’t accept a bribe.
Then we’d gone on to training.
Freda’s grin flashes a moment before her sword. It isn’t, Seelenverkäufer, which she hasn’t practiced with in weeks, at least not since our training “got real”. Translation: when she needed to fight back to win.
I see the move before it happens, the way she taught me, and fall into a blocking stance. She lands three blows against my sword in rapid succession then ducks beneath my return swing. I anticipate the move, and swipe out with a roundhouse kick, knocking her to the ground. She’s down for only an instant, then arches her back in a graceful maneuver and springs up to land back on her feet, sword poised for the next attack.
We clash again and again, neither of us gaining much ground. I’m gratified to see sweat forming on her brow. She must work for what had been an easy victory a few weeks ago. She feigns a swing from the left, when I know she has every intention of kicking out to the right to trip me up. I’m on to her tricks though, and back up enough, take two steps and leap over her blade, flipping in midair to land behind her. She whirls, only to have the point of my sword at her throat.
A spattering of applause from the onlookers. I don’t look their way. Don’t back down, don’t budge an inch, waiting. Her sword drops to the dust. A laugh escapes Freda as she puts her hands up, followed by a murmured, “I yield.”
I duck as the second attack comes from behind me. Nahini rolls over the top of my back in a graceful summersault. Her two long knives are out and crossed before her by the time her feet touch the ground. Freda retrieves her sword and I am faced with level two, trying to disarm and beat them both.
So far, an impossible task.
Nahini is fast, where Freda is strong and the two have worked in tandem for the better part of two centuries. They separate, Freda moving left, to my weaker side while Nahini circles right. There’s no way to keep an eye on two opponents at once, so I follow Nahini with my body and gaze. Freda is stronger, but also larger and slower than both Nahini and myself. It makes her somewhat easier to track. Nahini, I’m convinced, can turn to smoke if she so chooses.
There are no war cries as they lunge. The attack is silent and if they’d wanted it to be, deadly. I defend against Nahini’s quick jabs and throw my body weight to the side to avoid the powerful blow from my First. I have only one weapon, no way to put the second opponent down. At least not yet.
Nahini slashes out with a knife. I jump back, doing a mule kick into Freda who lunges forward. The blow makes contact, though it isn’t the direct hit I’d intended. She staggers back but still holds her sword. I duck low to avoid Nahini’s slicing cuts, the daggers glinting in the late afternoon sun.
We continue for several moments, me landing blow after blow on Freda while dodging Nahini’s attacks. She moves like the tide coming in on the beach, one hit surging against me like waves against the shore. Eroding my flagging energy, wearing me down.
Nahini’s speed is unearthly. Like Freda and myself, she was born a mortal. But unlike my fatal kiss, her gift is that of swiftness. She moves like a dancer, no motion wasted, every one graceful and deadly. I can’t beat her.
So, I let Freda do it for me.
I allow Freda inside the protective circle I’d created with my sword and kicks, pretending to drop my guard. She takes the bait and charges at the same time Nahini slashes out. I dive out of the way, hitting the ground hard on my left side. The movement completely inelegant and totally effective.
The two warriors crash into each other, Freda barreling down like a freight train, Nahini too off balance to move out of the way in time. Her daggers are poised wrong, and I see the panic in her eyes, the worry that she’s about to unintentionally stab Freda.
She drops them.
They go sprawling to the ground. Freda’s sword is still in her hand, but Nahini is defenseless and trapped beneath her.
My side aches like a bitch, but I scramble up in record time and step on Freda’s wrist, so she can’t raise her sword against me. Then tap each of them with two fingers. If this had been a real fight to the death, those taps would have been my Goodnight Kiss.
Elation fills me. I won. I beat the two best fighters in the Wild Hunt at the same time.
“I think that’s enough for today.” Freda grunts. “Mind getting off my wrist?”
“Sorry,” I step back and then drop my own sword, and offer them each a hand up.
This time the hoots and hollers from the crowd are much more enthusiastic. I turn to face them, unable to keep the grin of elation off my face and meet Aiden’s leaf green eyes.
Well done, my queen. He beams at me with pride even as his mental voice caresses me from the inside out.
Time seems to slow and stretch between us, our connection pulling taut, crackling with energy. I sway a little, all my soreness replaced by something else. A growing hunger. Primal urges. I want to run into his arms, can see it in my mind’s eye. Throwing myself at him, letting him pick me up and spin me around to celebrate the moment of victory.
Together. Forever.
The cawing of two crows from the stand of birch trees shatters the spell like a dropped glass ornament on a concrete floor. Freda claps me on the shoulder. “You won. Once. Tomorrow we’ll try it again and next time I won’t be so easy to fool.”
I shake my head, trying to dispel the last shards of that bizarre vision. “Then I’ll have to come up with something else.”
“Always so confident.” Freda removes her hair from her braid, the golden fall catching the late afternoon’s rays. Behind her I see Alric clench his fists as he watches her.
“Now that you know he’s on our side,” I begin but she raises a hand.
“I know where you’re going with this and...I can’t.” She shakes her head. “I’m just relieved he’s with us.”
“Who’s with you?” Aiden approaches from behind and is standing so close I can feel his body heat.
“Alric,” I murmur as his cedarwood and sage scent fills my senses.
Aiden tilts his head to the side. “Why would you think otherwise? He’s always been loyal to the Hunt.”
“A few weeks ago, I never considered that we had any who weren’t loyal to the Hunt.” Freda’s features are taut with strain. “We need to deal with the reality that is, not what we wish it to be.”
Aiden watches her walk away and then turns to me, his gaze going to where my left arm is crooked and pressed tightly into my sore side. “You’re injured.”
“I’ll be fine.” Having cracked my ribs before, I know it isn’t serious. Probably just some bruising. “Nothing a hot shower can’t fix. Where have you been?”
I start walking toward the house, knowing he’ll follow. After a brief pause, he does, catching up to my slow pace easily. “I was checking out our new friend. The one who was so fascinated with you earlier.”
“And?”
“He got off the bus on the opposite side of town, about ten miles from here. He was the only one at the stop, though there was another boy waiting for him. I got off at the next stop but by the time I tracked back to where he’d exited, I lost them.”
“What do you mean, lost them?” We’re nearing the old barn and I head toward it, my stride purposeful as though I have business there.
“No scent. No tracks, nothing to follow.” Aiden scans the area. Seeing no one nearby, he scoops me into his arms and carries me inside the barn.
“Hey.” The protest is automatic, almost by rote.
“No one’s looking. Hold on to me.” His green eyes glint with mischief.
I grip him around the neck, pressing my sweaty body against his. It isn’t a carnal move, merely one of self-preservation because I know what he’s going to do. Sure enough, my body comes apart, drifting upwards in a shower of sparks.
I’ve traveled with Aiden this way before, molecule by molecule. We become weightless, able to drift on the wind. The breeze that’s coming from the west, the direction of the sinking sun carries us off. We are caught up in an air current. It pushes us to the east, over the Blue Ridge Mountains.
In this form my senses are dulled. I can’t smell the scents being carried on the air or feel the wind on my skin. I have no skin, no nose, no anything, yet I am somehow still Nic Rutherford. And Aiden is there too, his floating embers mingling with mine until there’s no way to tell the two of us apart.
After an interminable amount of time, we drift back down to earth, forming where we touch first. It was like that before and I don’t know if that’s because it’s easier to tell us apart that way, or it’s his sneaky way of getting me to cling to him a few moments longer.
With Aiden, it’s hard to tell.
“How do you do that?” I breathe as our upper bodies continue to reform.
His hands are on my waist and he makes no move to release me. “I’m really not sure. It’s transmutation of some kind, changing solid living matter inanimate and then back. Mostly it’s about removing water from the body, making it light enough to float.”
When I frown up at him, he goes on. “People are made up of a great deal of water. Water’s heavy, deadweight that’s tied to the earth. Take out the water and transport is much easier. I just pull moisture from the air to replace the water when we reach our destination.”
I’m watching his mouth, only half listening to his explanation. Being so close to him, breathing in his scent, the sage, cedarwood and wild heat of him, it’s almost impossible to ignore the current that sizzles between us.
“Nic,” I see it in his eyes, the animal hunger. “I want you.”
It’s true. So close, I can feel the firm length of him pressing into my hip.
And gods help me, I want him too.
Without conscious thought, my hand snakes up the back of his neck, fingers furrowing through his thick dark hair. I stand on my toes, tugging him down while reaching up to meet him.
He breathes my name again and then his lips are on mine, molding and shaping them in an intimate crush. He tastes of cinnamon gum, and an addictive kind of heat and each small sip only makes me crave more.
My hands become restless, eager to explore the terrain of his broad shoulders, the tight muscles of his arms, the leanness of his torso. His own hands caress along the length of my spine, only adding fuel to the blaze within me. I bunch the cotton of his t-shirt in my hands, pulling it almost frantically from the waistband of his jeans.
He tears his mouth away from mine, sucking in oxygen. “This isn’t why I brought you here.”
“I don’t care. You’ve been teasing me for weeks.” I rest my forehead against his chest.
A laugh rumbles out of him. “Have I then?”
“You know you have.” My tone is irritable, frustrated.
He tilts my chin up so he’s staring into my eyes. “I didn’t mean to, love. Truly.”
I fix him with a level stare. “Then what is it you want, if not to drive me crazy?”
“To protect you. To keep you safe.”
“Is that all?” I whisper.
The perfect arches of his dark eyebrows draw together. “You sound disappointed. Maybe you need to tell me what it is that you want, Nic.”
I suck in a breath and confess the truth that’s been eating at me for weeks. “I want to know that you’re here because of me, not because of her.”
We both know who I’m talking about.
His grip on my waist tightens. “Nicneven is dead.”
“I know that. I also know that you believed I was destined to be exactly like her. Isn’t that why you swore your oath to me again? I don’t want you hanging around because of a promise you made to someone else or out of misplaced sense of guilt.”
He blinks as though I’ve shocked him. Maybe I have. The more I get to know Aiden, the more my attraction grows. Where once there was only scorched earth in my heart now there is fertile soil. But the feelings taking root within are not a pretty garden full of flowers and butterflies. No, true to form, what’s been growing in my heart is a snarl of poisoned vines, like those in Underhill’s dead forest, waiting to attack. Jealousy, possessiveness. Ownership.
I want him to belong to me and me alone. And that scares me more than anything else. It’s one thing to snuff out the flame of life, another entirely to dictate when and where that flame can be lit and who it can warm.
Suddenly, Aiden’s head whips to the side. “Did you hear that?”
I seize the distraction with both hands. “Hear what?”
He mutters an oath in a language I don’t comprehend, then lowers my feet until they touch the ground once more. Retrieving his discarded shirt, he pulls it on, then pulls me down behind a scrubby rhododendron.
“What...?” I ask, my blood still racing around in my veins, my head still foggy from lust.
Aiden points and lowers his mouth until his breath tickles the fine hairs around my ear as he speaks. “That is why I brought you here.”
From our hidden spot, I can see only more field, nothing more remarkable than browning grass and dead leaves fluttering off a river birch. I’m about to tell him so when the light shifts, a craggy mountain face growing from the earth.
“Is it an In Between?” I ask, referring to the places where one can cross the Veil into Underhill, the realm of the fey.
He nods and covers my kiss swollen lips with one hand while thinking at me, Don’t speak out loud.
The green hill grows until it’s about thirty feet high. The ground shakes beneath us. I fall to my hands and knees and only Aiden’s vice-like grip keeps me from sprawling on the ground.
It’s a fairy hill, from one of the courts, Aiden thinks. Only the royals hold enough power to cross this way.
My gaze slides back to the hill. The shaking stops, but the movement goes on, moss clinging to the rock slithers, vines outline something that looks like a doorway. An entrance to our world from Underhill. Who’s coming through? Which court is it?
I don’t know. We’re close enough to the change in power that it could be either summer or winter, Seelie or Unseelie. This explains why that brown-eyed boy vanished so suddenly earlier.
And why he’d been looking at me so intently.
The moss and vines finish their readjustment. A loud scraping sound fills the deserted clearing and then I see the arch of a doorway, glowing with a hypnotic light.
We have two choices. Aiden turns and holds my gaze. Confront whoever emerges directly or follow them and see what they’re up to. The decision is yours.
My heart is racing as I stare back at the door. I’m sneaky by nature and my impulse to spy wars with my need for answers. With Aiden by my side, it wouldn’t matter if one of the Seelie kings strode through that newly made door with murder on his mind, the wolf would protect me with its life.
Yet even though fey can’t lie, they have a way of twisting the truth until up is down and black is white.
We follow them. I think to Aiden. Find out exactly what they are up to and then we can bring the might of the Hunt down on them if need be.
He nods, green eyes glinting and simultaneously, we both turn back to face the doorway. We’re both facing it head on as a cloud of sparkling golden dust erupts from within, like someone stepped on a puffball mushroom. There’s no time to react, to run, it overtakes us with the speed of thought. Aiden’s hand close around my wrist to shield me with his body.
But the wave of glittery sunbeams surrounds us, permeating our clothes, our skin down to every pore. I brace myself, expecting it to hurt.
It doesn’t. Instead a wave of euphoria passes through me. Someone giggles.
“Nic,” It’s Aiden’s voice, but he sounds...different. “Are you all right?”
“Never better,” a sloppy grin steals over my face and I sway in his hold. His arm tightens around me. “You don’t always need to be so worried about me. I’m a big tough girl, can tie my own shoes and everything.”
He doesn’t respond to the last statement. “I need to get you out of here. Try not to breathe.”
“That’d probably kill me.” Probably comes out sounding like proly. Am I slurring my words? Another giggle and I’m shocked to realize it’s coming from me. “What is this stuff?”
“Intoxidust. Come on, I think I see an opening.”
This statement has me snorting with mirth. Aiden foists me up over one shoulder in a fireman’s carry and hauls my giggling carcass from the center of the cloud.
We jounce along for an interminable time, me no more than deadweight. Finally he stops near a creek and lowers me to the ground before scooping some water up in his palms to splash his face. Then he cups more water and splashes me with it.
“Hey,” I take a swat at him, several seconds after the water makes contact. “What’re you doing?”
“Trying to clean the dust off your skin. You’ll only feel its effects as long as it’s in contact but the longer it lasts, the worse the recovery.” He splashes me again.
I stumble into him, gripping his hands to keep him from any more water sports. He’s so close and I can’t help but bury my face against his t-shirt and take a deep breath, eyelids growing heavy. “Mm. Amazing.”
Aiden tilts my chin up, green eyes scrutinizing my face. “Your pupils are the size of quarters. You’re completely intoxicated. Come on, we need to bathe you in the stream.”
I sigh and lean into him, glad someone else is calling the shots. “I don’t wanna be the boss of you.”
“You’ve made that abundantly clear.” His tone is dry as he bends down to tug off my boots.
“Shouldn’t you at least buy me dinner first?” I’m no help. My arms and legs feel like foreign weights that I don’t have the strength to operate. I end up curled over the top of him while he removes my footwear and socks. “And how come you’re not affected?”
He stands and reaches for the hem of my t-shirt. “I am. I just have a higher tolerance than you do because I’ve been pixed before. Still probably couldn’t pass a sobriety test.”
“Pixed?” I repeat. “As in pixies?”
“The dust doesn’t actually come from pixies. They collect it in the Unseelie catacombs.” His eyes are trained on my breasts as though he can see through my sports bra. “We used to dose ourselves after festivals and...”
“Are you rambling?” I ask, charmed by the idea.
He blinks, then makes an efficient tug to yank my yoga pants down to my ankles. “Go get in that stream.”
But I’m much more interested in moving in closer to his body, enjoying the intoxicating effects of the dust and picking up where we’d left off. “I’m too cold. Warm me up first.”
“I’ll go with you, how’s that?” With a grunt Aiden picks me up again and carries us into the stream.
“No, I want—,” I claim his mouth in a hungry kiss. My fingers revel against the smooth flesh of his stomach. With a groan, he acquiesces, tongue lapping against mine, hands cupping my face to hold me still.
Soon the shirt is in my way, the fabric frustrating me as it obstructs my progress. I don’t know if Aiden senses my growing agitation or is only experiencing his own, but he withdraws from me long enough to whip the shirt over his head.
His skin is so hot beneath my fingertips, so smooth pulled taut over the hard ridges of muscle. His abs and pecs, biceps and triceps are perfectly formed, drum tight and ready for whatever demands he makes of his body. The perfect weapon, honed via the hellish flames he’s endured. With only inches between us, the wild scent of his skin is overwhelming, like a drug spicing the air. I sway on my feet while I explore the entrancing terrain at my leisure.
“Nic,” he breathes my name and I can’t tell if it’s encouragement or protest.
I move closer into him, my hands curling around to the equally exquisite dips and hollows of his back. My stomach brushes against the hard length between his legs and he gasps into my mouth. The sound delights me, and I repeat the contact, intentionally this time, wondering what would break the iron fetters of his self-control. His hold on me tightens, his hands slide down my back to grip my ass in both hands, holding me against him. What would it take to make Aiden wild with lust, with desire? What will drive him to the point of no return?
Aiden’s hands slide lower still, until he’s got one hand around the back of each of my thighs. He lifts me up, encouraging me to wrap my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck.
The pressure is addictive, him pressed against me just there, the friction and heat making me crave him even more. Dream memories have given me glimpses of what it’s like to make love with Aiden. He’s fire and magic and all things sex should be. There will be no awkward teenage fumbling, no clumsy exploration with teeth clacking together, hair inadvertently pulled. My wolf will know exactly what to do, how best to proceed, even if I don’t.
It dawns on me suddenly that I want more, I want all that his delicious kisses promise. And not just the sex. The intimacy. Me, who has never let anyone close, who trusts no one, including the aunts who raised me. And yet here I am imagining that sort of closeness with Aiden. When did that happen?
Without warning he sets me down in the icy mountain stream. I gasp in indignation as the cold seeps into my calves.
Aiden ducks under water. The yellow gold dust drifts downstream like a thick layer of pine pollen, glittering in the sunlight.
“Your turn,” he emerges wearing only his wet jeans but looking more like himself.
I reach up to touch his face when he reaches for me. His stubble prickles against my fingertips. “I’ll tell you a secret. It’s not because I don’t like you.”
He pauses in trying to dunk me. “What isn’t?”
“Why I’m such a bitch to you. It’s not because I don’t like you. It’s because I do like you. And that’s scary.”
“Nic,” he breathes the word like a prayer.
“You want to kiss me,” I lean in closer, ready, eager for another taste of him. Kissing Aiden seems like the best idea I’ve ever had. Why didn’t I think of it sooner?
“That’s the dust talking.” He makes a grab for me but I dart away, laughing.
“It is not.”
He closes in. “Nic, this isn’t a good time for heartfelt confession. Trust me. You think you know what you’re talking about, but—”
I splash him. Not with my hands or feet, but with my fey queen powers, I dump a big bucket of water over the top of his head.
He stands there, staring at me, water dripping off his perfect nose. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
Neither can I. I stare down at my hands, in awe. I hadn’t even thought about it, it had been sheer reflex. Of course, now I have a sopping wet wolf to contend with.
With a growl he lunges for me. I dodge and then leap to the rocky shore. Alighting on rocks, moving fast enough to stay ahead of him.
But not for long.
He leaps, his body plowing into mine and turning in midair to take the impact of our crash landing on his back. The water is about four feet deep, and he wastes no time rolling with me until my entire body is submerged.
Quickly he helps me up. Wet hair streams in my eyes as I sputter and choke.
“Are you all right?” Aiden pushes the sodden masses of hair out of my face.
“Fine.” I sway on my feet. Then the ground rises up to meet me and I know no more.
