by Lucia Ashta
Fianna and Nessa sat on the tea table, feet crossed onto their thighs, appearing stranger than usual in their battle gear sipping from a dainty, flowered tea set. “Thank you for the wonderful tea,” Nessa said as she tilted a cup toward her lips. “It isn’t often that a host is considerate enough to have fairy-sized cups on hand for company.”
“Uncle likes to be prepared,” Quinn said, as if the fairies were indeed invited company and he and Irving hadn’t had a similar conversation with them as they had with the witch.
Nessa sipped contentedly from a cup that was small enough to hold no more than a splash of anything. “Well, it’s very nice indeed to enjoy some good Irish tea after all this time.”
“You had some just yesterday,” Fianna said.
Unfazed, Nessa responded, “Sure, but not like this.”
“Do you fairies ever talk about anything that’s actually important?” Naomi said in pleasant tones that contradicted the meaning of her words.
“When we’re in company we trust, sure we do,” Fianna quipped with a tight smile, turning to Irving. “What’s she doing here, really? We can’t move forward in suspect company.”
I had to agree with the fairy on that front. Time was ticking away, and if shifters or vampires might be after me, I had no desire to waste time.
“Naomi has her uses,” Irving said, and I got the impression he was choosing his words carefully despite the aloof look on his face. “If she were to choose to behave, she could be a valuable ally.”
Naomi offered a wicked smile as if to say, Why bother behaving when misbehaving is so much more fun? Her lips curled in marked mauve lines and she flipped her blond hair across a shoulder with predatory precision.
I scooted closer to Quinn on the overstuffed couch, where I was once more sandwiched between the two large shifters, but I couldn’t really get much closer without sitting on his lap. I craved safety, and he seemed to offer his protection without reservation … though it was more than that. There was something alluring about the land boy beyond the security he offered and his warm, handsome looks—though they were undoubtedly part of the appeal. Perhaps it was simply the kindness that radiated from his multi-colored eyes that made me long to be closer to him. But I couldn’t exactly throw myself at someone I’d barely met, especially not with all these witnesses.
“And if she were to choose to misbehave,” Irving continued, speaking of Naomi though my thoughts had wandered, “then she can be on her way once she repairs the wards.”
“So that’s it, Irv?” Naomi cooed. “You just want to use me and then throw me out?”
“No one uses you unless you want them to, so I’m not worried.” His smile back at her was actually pleasant, as if he were the only one here not terribly bothered by the woman with an obvious agenda. “What do ya say you drain your tea and get to fixing the wards so they’re back up and runnin’?”
I stiffened, and Irving sensed it. “Once she crafts the wards in such a way that they account for you, they won’t hurt you anymore.”
“Of course they won’t, dear,” Naomi said. “I’ll make sure my wards understand you’re not a threat. All I need to know is exactly what you are and then I can set about my work.” She twirled a strand of her chin-length blond hair and pasted an innocent expression on her face.
I wondered why the woman bothered to speak at all if she was going to do so little to disguise her duplicitous nature. Quinn was already shaking his wavy hair, sending the dark strands bouncing all over the place. “We can’t tell her, Uncle. It’ll put Selene at too much risk.”
“Agreed,” Irving said, drawing every set of eyes to him. He adjusted his stocky shoulders. “But it’d be a great help indeed if we could rest safely inside my home while … getting ready.”
“Oh, you don’t have to be coy with me,” Naomi said. “Unless you want to be.” She winked lashes coated in deadly black at Irving, who rubbed his beard uncomfortably. “I already know what your plans are because it’s the only logical thing, and you, Irv, are a very logical man. You plan to train the girl to defend herself against all those who will come for her, sooner rather than later, I might add.”
All those who will come? That sounded like a lot more than a few power-greedy shifters and vamps. I pressed my thigh against Quinn’s, wishing his pants didn’t impede my skin in touching his. He stared at my legs before resting a whisper of a touch just above my knee. His touch, though light, seared my bare skin, and heat raced across my chilled body—like a gulp of hot tea that warmed me from the inside.
“Yes, well…” Irving said, seeming a bit unsettled. “The sooner we get the wards back to protecting us, the sooner we can focus on other things.”
“Precisely.” Naomi grinned like a cat with a mouse captured in its jaws. Her mauve lips stretched. I wanted to look away but was bizarrely mesmerized by her face. Here was a witch who’d kill and sleep like a baby afterward, no doubt about it. “And all you need to do for me to fix things is tell me about the girl. I’ll even waive my fee.”
“You’re not waiving your fee, because I’ve already paid you,” Irving said.
“No worries, darling. I don’t mind doing you a favor.”
“You’re not doing me a favor, and you won’t proceed until you recognize that.” Gone was the unsettled Irving. He scooted to the edge of the couch, leaning his elbows against his thighs, and pinned the witch in that stormy gaze of his. She didn’t so much as fidget in her place in the armchair across the room, though I’m sure I would have.
“Fine, whatever you say, darling.” She waved a manicured hand as if she couldn’t care less. But her eyes were ever alert, like a bird’s flying across the ocean, seeking easy pickings right beneath the surface of the water. “I always like a satisfied customer. Since I consider you a friend, that goes doubly.”
Irving gave a curt nod. I didn’t understand exactly what it meant.
“Fianna!” he barked.
“Yes?” Fianna the Crimson replied as if she were docile.
“Will ya supervise Naomi as she binds her magic in such a way that she cannot hurt any of us while in this house?”
“Might I suggest doing away with the ‘while in this house’ bit? She might have at us the second we step outside of it.”
From the gleam in Naomi’s light eyes, I was sure that was the case.
“You can’t make the terms too broad, fairy,” Naomi spit out, “or I won’t agree to them.”
Irving pinned Naomi in a glare that suggested he was ready to back up his threats. “We’ll make the terms as we wish or you’ll leave. You’re the intruder here, and I’m under no obligation to continue extending you any courtesy. Our past dealings have all involved an exchange of payment. I owe ya nothing.”
A wave of displeasure raced across Naomi’s face before she scrambled to tuck it away. “I’ll agree to not hurting any of you so long as, and only if, none of you ever attempt to harm me. If even your intentions toward me harbor ill will, I’ll be able to sense it, and the binding will break. I’m warning you.”
What exactly she was warning us about I wasn’t sure, but I imagined it involved her flashy green magic and a variety of discomfort she could cause with it. I’d seen Mulunu suck the life force right out of sea creatures. In five seconds flat, they went from thriving to dead, and the sea witch had harbored no ill feelings toward those victims. Naomi was ill intentions wrapped in a sophisticated, color-coordinated package. I didn’t want to think about what she might do to us if we opposed her.
“Fair enough,” Irving said with a nod.
“Great,” Fianna said, flying over to Naomi but staying out of swatting reach. “I’m ready when you are.”
“Fine,” Naomi gritted out. I suspected things weren’t going as she wanted them to, even though it seemed as if she’d done nothing but control the situation since she arrived.
With a furious string of staccato words, Naomi ground out, “I, Naomi Nettles of the noble Nettles bloodline—”
&nb
sp; “Oh, puh-lease,” Fianna said under her breath until Naomi shot her a death glare. Fianna mimed zipping her lips shut and chucking the key over her shoulder. Nessa pretended the key hit her in the head and brought both hands up to her face as she stumbled silently across the tea table, mimicking shrieking cries.
Fianna slapped her on the shoulder. “Hey!” Nessa protested.
“Behave,” Fianna said, but her tawny eyes twinkled in amusement.
Naomi cleared her throat angrily. “I, Naomi Nettles of the high and noble Nettles bloodline, do now place a binding on my magic by my own will and according to the following terms: I will not effectuate any kind of harm to any of the creatures seated in this room with me in this moment—”
“No,” Fianna said, “that would exclude Nessa and me.” Neither of the fairies was sitting. They were standing or hovering in the air above the tea table instead.
Naomi offered a tight smile that revealed that was exactly what she’d been trying to do. “I will not harm any of the creatures currently occupying this space with me so long as they have no intention to harm me. If they intend to harm me in any way—”
Fianna interrupted again. “That’s too broad. If we have ill thoughts about your sparkling personality, that could be enough to break the binding under these terms. It has to be significant physical harm.”
The witch’s face tightened all around, revealing her pleasant features as a façade. Her voice became even harsher than before. “I will not harm any of the creatures in this room with me right now as long as they do not intend to do me any significant physical harm. If they should choose to do me harm, the binding on my magic will dissolve, and I shall be allowed to do them harm.”
She shot Fianna a snarky look that said, Satisfied now, you annoying little fairy?
Fianna gave her a curt nod, red hair shining as the bright midday sunlight from outside glimmered across it.
I liked that there was no end date to the binding. I could do with one less enemy, and Naomi would be a fearsome one.
“I, Naomi Nettles, do complete this binding and seal it with both my magic and a blood offering.”
“Blood?” I whispered, gulping.
Quinn whispered back, “The most powerful witches use blood in their magic. The blood of supernatural creatures carries its own magic.” He pressed fingertips against my leg in what I assumed was meant as a reassuring gesture, but the firm touch only set my heart to racing.
“Oh, thanks,” I breathed, trying to get myself together. Sure, I was a fish out of water, but Quinn shouldn’t be getting to me this much…
Naomi traced one of her sharp mauve nails across her wrist and allowed three fat drops of blood to plop to the floor next to her feet, nearly splattering her high heels. Then she waved her other hand across her wrist. A wave of green closed the wound, leaving a faint pink line where her flesh had just been open.
“I bind my magic with my blood,” Naomi chanted. “I bind my magic with my blood. I bind my magic with my blood.” At the third repetition, the droplets of blood rapidly soaking into the hard wood of the floor ignited into small green fires. In seconds, the green flashes had entirely consumed the blood offering, leaving not even a stain on the floor behind.
Naomi brushed off her hands, though I hadn’t seen her dirty them, and cocked a hip to the side, a hand right above it. Several rings on her fingers flashed as the light from outside hit them. “Well? Satisfied now?” she said to Irving first, then Fianna.
The fairy nodded right away and Irving stood from the couch. Immediately, I missed the warmth of having another able-bodied shifter on my other side.
“Thank you for doing that, Naomi,” Irving said.
“I wouldn’t have done it for anyone else, you can bet on that,” she growled.
“I realize that.”
“So … now that we’ve had tea and you’ve bound my magic”—she said it like one would say, You’ve killed my favorite pet—“are you going to tell me who this girl is so I can get to work or what?”
“Now I’ll tell you,” Irving said.
“Actually…” I piped up before I could consider the wisdom of engaging the witch directly, “I’ll tell you myself.”
Irving gave me an approving nod, so I stood as well. Quinn popped up next to me, reaching for my hand. I startled at the unexpected touch and he pulled away his hand, but I reached for it and clasped it in mine.
What had they said? Even if you don’t feel strong, pretend that you are? Well, I was about to pretend I wasn’t shaking inside and that I accepted the path Mulunu’s magic had hurled me upon.
Everyone would see right through me.
10
I forced myself to get the words out before anyone prompted me; Naomi had already opened her mouth.
“I am the daughter of an angel,” I said, unsure why I started with the angel piece when I’d grown up amid a mertribe. Perhaps because the angel bit was obvious, what with the gigantic wings hanging off my back.
I shifted unconsciously as Naomi’s gaze raced toward my wings, her eyes wide and stunned.
“Angel wings?” she said, more softly than I thought her capable of. “How … that shouldn’t be possible.”
All right. So I guess my wings didn’t make my heritage obvious. That seemed like an advantage. “What else would my wings be from?”
“Any sort of thing,” Naomi said, before Quinn added, “Some of the fae have wings.”
“But not like that,” Nessa said.
“Some elves do,” Quinn said.
“All right, I’ll give you that, but it isn’t many. Only the special ones.”
Quinn nodded, meeting my curious gaze. “There are also some pegasus creatures that have wings.”
“I hope I don’t look like a horse,” I said.
“Oh no,” Quinn scrambled. “You don’t. You’re beautiful, so beautiful. I mean, I’m not saying you look like a beautiful horse. You don’t look like a horse at all, you look like a girl. You—”
“Stop while you’re not ahead, Q,” Irving said, grinning.
Quinn nodded, his cheeks pink even beneath faint stubble. “There are others too. Not who are beautiful, who have wings. Though some of them might be beautiful, I guess. I should just stop, shouldn’t I?”
“Definitely,” Fianna said, smiling too.
“You could have also been a witch wearing a glamour,” Naomi said. “My kind enjoys appearing differently than they truly are. It helps to keep people guessing.”
And here I was giving a dangerous witch my secrets. It really didn’t seem wise. “Should I continue?” I asked everyone but her.
“Yes, lass,” Irving said right away. “We need these wards up immediately, and the only way to keep them from killing ya is to have her exclude your kind.”
Fianna added, “I can’t do wards like she can.” The admission seemed to pain her. “So you’d better get on with it.”
I sighed. “I’m the daughter of an angel. I’m also the daughter of a siren.”
Naomi gasped. In her surprise, she didn’t bother to school her features. For the first time since I’d met her, she appeared vulnerable, like she too experienced the range of emotions the rest of us did. “A merangel?” she whispered, awe dripping from every syllable.
“No,” I said. “I’m a siren, not a regular mermaid. My song contains magic, a typical mermaid’s doesn’t. We’re different.”
“Oh, I know,” she said like a true know-it-all. And suddenly I was back to regretting that I’d had to tell the witch a single thing about myself. I was hand feeding the shark.
“I guess that would explain why you’re half naked,” she said. “I thought Irving and Quinn were having an orgy when I first showed up. Naked fairies, mostly naked girls.”
“What’s an orgy?” I asked Quinn with raised eyebrows.
His face colored. “Never mind. It’s nothing.”
“Oh, it’s something all right,” Fianna said. “I told you supernaturals liked to get it
on.”
Oh. I wasn’t sure what she meant by “getting it on”—what exactly did what get on?—but I understood enough to keep my mouth shut and not to follow up the point.
Naomi was staring at me. “Amazing… When I set out here I had no idea. I thought it was going to be another one like Quinn, just a little different.”
“Like Quinn?” Nessa and I asked in unison.
“Never mind all that now,” Irving said hurriedly. “Naomi, ya need to adjust the wards to include her kind and ya need to do it now.”
Naomi, who I didn’t imagine took well to orders, nodded her head rapidly. “Yes, you’re right. I sense they’re closing in.”
“Who’s closing in?” he asked.
All attention was on Naomi. “I’m not entirely sure,” she said. “From the chill of the sensation … perhaps the undead, though the vamps tend to be subtle, unless they’re bringing company. But I suppose it could be shifters too, or most other kinds of supernatural creatures, really. The shifters and vamps have been recruiting.” She scowled in distaste. “It could be ghouls, the risen dead—the kind necromancers like to mess around with—or maybe ghosts—the kind that have found the way to become corporeal through possession…” She trailed off while she considered, during which time my heart started beating so fast it was in real danger of fleeing my chest, and I reached for Quinn without thinking. He took my hand in his and pulled me against him.
“It doesn’t matter much in the end,” she finally said. “Whatever’s coming, there’s more than one, and they’re moving fast. And we’re definitely not properly prepared for them.”
“Then enough with the chatter. Get on with it, woman!” Irving said.