“He’d planned to leave today,” she muttered. “I’m surprised he hasn’t been by my cabin to tell me when he wants to take off.”
Blane flashed his teeth in a victorious grin. “We have a deal. He’s can’t leave until arrangements are complete to take the children with us.”
Ange frowned. She tugged on a strand of hair and glanced around the empty hold. The ship was hers. The thought of Blane striking a deal with Ryol without even a word to her was aggravating.
Blane smiled at her. “The deal was clear. I call the Fa’erie, he collects the dust, he pays to take the children back to the Federation. He got some dust, so he has no cause to complain.”
“Maybe not, but what about me?” She poked her thumb into her chest.
The look he gave her was full of innocent surprise. “I never doubted for a minute you’d take them if I could get Ryol to agree. But if it’s money you’re worried about, you’ll be well paid. It would take a hardhearted person indeed to turn their back on the plight of these children.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my heart.” What was he suggesting, that she was some unfeeling ogre? He was right. They did barely know each other, despite their wild lovemaking sessions. She made a sweeping gesture that took in the Hawk’s Flight. “And it’s not just my credit account that I worry about, even though this ship costs plenty to fly. If I show up back at the Federation with a bunch of children there’ll be a ton of official questions to answer—questions that might keep me grounded for weeks, even months. But I don’t suppose that ever occurred to you.”
She caught his gaze, hoping to see sympathetic understanding. Instead, he laughed. “Stay calm! I’m sure my brother has sufficient influence to smooth the way for you.”
She frowned, weighing her options. Her momentary anger at Blane’s indifference to her problems faded as she recalled Michel and his innocent blue-eyed stare. She could make room for the children in the hold, all right—if Ryol could make the official inquiry go away.
“I’ll need to discuss the details with your brother,” she said through stiff lips.
Blane snorted. “You do that. But I advise waiting a day or two. If you talk to him today, he’ll smell the dust on you.”
“Fine.” She shot another glance around the hold. She could subdivide the space some way, provide a bit of privacy for the children. “I can avoid him today and talk to him tomorrow. One more night on Kyffin won’t hurt.”
“It will be longer than that. I need to talk to the parents and it may take me a few days to persuade them. The families will want time to say goodbye.”
She could understand that, but the delay irritated her. She wanted to get off Kyffin, far away from the Fa’erie. “You don’t seem to realize that time is money in my business.”
Blane planted his hands on his hips. “Sorry! I guess I’ll just snatch the kids out of their parents’ arms and yell goodbye on my way up the ladder.”
The image was so ridiculous it made her smile.
“That’s better.” He grinned at her. “Ryol will probably want to stay a day or two longer anyway. If I know my brother, he’s hatching some plan to sneak back up to the meadow. The two moons will rise together once more tonight.”
“That’s right,” she whispered, amazed that she’d forgotten. Oberon’s enchantments were strong, but the Fa’erie king wasn’t going to make her forget, not while she still needed answers. Frowning, she concentrated until the memory of the dance once more filled her mind with a haunting beauty. It would all happen again tonight. The king would appear with his queen. The light of infinity would stream out again. She had only to walk into it—
Alarm appeared on Blane’s face. “I know that look. Don’t tell me you’re thinking of going back to the meadow. Ryol doesn’t want the faeries upset any more than they have already been. If he caught you there, I can’t say what he might do.”
She tapped her stun gun with her fingers. “Your brother doesn’t frighten me.”
“You are thinking of going back,” Blane accused. All trace of humor vanished. His face grew dark with anger. “What do you want to do? If you think you can defeat the faerie magic, you’re wrong.”
“I can try.” Blast it, who did Blane think he was, arguing with her. If she wanted to return to the meadow, she would. She was damned if this man was going to dictate her every move. She leaned forward and poked a finger in his chest. Rock hard muscles resisted her. The man was in splendid shape all right. And his lips were extremely kissable. But it seemed her libido was affecting her ability to think. Too many things were happening because of the faerie allure. She had to put a stop to that.
She narrowed her eyes. “I stepped into the meadow, because the Fa’erie king—or whatever he is—saw me and beckoned me inside. But I can’t remember a thing after that.”
His gaze slid to the right. What was wrong with him anyway? Did he really have trouble talking about it, or was it some game he was playing with her? He’d already confessed that he’d visited the meadow more than once. He had to know something. Her stomach twisted, telling her more was involved than Blane wanted to admit. She had to get to the bottom of it. “I don’t like having my memories toyed with. You’ve been to the Otherworld. What do you remember?”
He met her gaze, a growing sadness in his eyes. “Nothing from my initial experience. The journey to the Otherworld is simply too overwhelming to the human mind. That’s why Oberon takes control of our minds, I think. To protect us. Bits and pieces the second. Most of it the third. I never went back to the meadow after that, until last night.”
Her pulse beat faster in her throat. She trembled on the brink of remembering, but her mind seemed to back away, as if from a precipice. She rubbed sweaty palms against her pants, troubled by the sorrow on his face. “Why not?”
He drew a hand across his eyes in a weary gesture. “If I knew, I’d tell you. Sometimes I have dreams of a beautiful land, more beautiful than we can endure. Maybe it was that—maybe the sheer bliss of the place was too much.”
His voice faded away. His eyes held no conviction that his theory was true. Instead they gazed through her, as if searching for answers, while violet shadows gathered in their depths.
Ange straightened. This was nonsense. If they couldn’t remember, they needed to know why. “Okay. But I intend to go back, one more time. I want some answers.”
To her surprise, Blane took her hand. His fingers were warm as they curled around hers. He looked at her with agony in his eyes. “Please, promise me you won’t. There’s nothing good waiting in that meadow, no matter how beautiful the Fa’erie appear.’
“Why do you say that?”
His brow furrowed and his eyes lost focus. He lifted a hand to rub his temples. “I-I don’t know.”
Ange tossed her head. “Well, maybe you can stand to live your life with a mystery at its core, but I can’t. I intend to go back there tonight and get some answers.”
Blane struggled to speak. He stumbled over each word, as if some inner force were trying to stop him. “You’re making a mistake. The Fa’erie aren’t human, and they’re not even faeries. Forget all the lovely tales you heard as a child. Think of them as aliens, aliens who may be hostile for all we know, and you’ll be closer to the truth.”
Ange nodded. That might indeed be the reality behind the Fa’erie myth. “I’ve thought the same. They told me they were faeries though.”
She frowned at her own words. When had that happened? When the king had looked at her—that’s right. He sent a stream of thoughts into her mind, thoughts that told her of the faeries and of him, their king. He’d even sent her his name, Oberon. But were those thoughts the truth or some lie designed to deceive her?
“They sent the same thoughts to me when I first went to the meadow,” Blane said. “But I’ve since wondered if they didn’t steal their whole folklore wholesale from my mind. Our family is Celtic. I grew up with stories about the faeries. They could have taken it all out of my subconscious.”
“What would they really be, then?”
“Aliens, creatures from another dimension. I don’t know. Telepathic certainly, and able to manipulate energy. There has to be a reason for the patterns they dance. I think the meadow is some kind of energy nexus for this entire sector of space and the patterns they weave affect everything within that area. I think they live in another dimension where they’ve learned to master using focused energy to shape our reality. But they are too much like humans for it to be a coincidence. There has to be some sort of connection between our races.”
Ange swallowed. This whole thing was becoming more complicated than she would have ever believed possible. “Why would they want to shape our reality?”
“My theory is that we are a lower level of their reality. If that’s the case, they need to keep events flowing in a certain direction here for their level to remain stable.”
“Then they might be as guilty of manipulation as Ryol.” Ange grew angry as she remembered Oberon’s terrible beauty. She didn’t want to think that such a glorious creature might harbor motives as selfish as humanity’s usually were. Why had he taken her into the Fa’erie world and what had he done to her there?
Blane reached out and took her hand, his touch gentle. Nonetheless, her heartbeat quickened. Was it the damned dust or the incredible violet of his eyes? She wished she knew. His face twisted as he forced out a few words about the Otherworld. “They promised me they worked toward the highest good of all creatures. I believed them when they said it, but once I was away from the meadow doubts began to trouble me.”
Ange bit her lip. As hard as it was to believe a creature as beautiful as Oberon might harbor evil, she had her own doubts. “What about the effects of this dust? I’d like to hear them explain that one. Driving you to mindless lust, or turning you into a love slave. How does that lead to your highest good?”
Blane rubbed his temples and sighed. “Good questions, and I don’t know the answers. The dust seems to be suffused with the Fa’erie’s essence—their overwhelming attractiveness. I suppose that’s neither good nor bad by itself. It’s how you use it that makes the difference. Ryol sells it to people with money who want to control others through desire. That’s evil, in my book. You stand there and reek of the dust and I cannot control my attraction to you, but I can’t help but think in that case the dust only helps me to see how unbearably beautiful you truly are.”
His words took her by surprise. She looked down at the deck, embarrassed by his vehement passion. “I’m not that special.”
“Yes, you are. You have an outer beauty that can’t be denied, but your inner beauty is even more spectacular.” His voice soothed her spirit like a warm balm.
She blinked hard, overwhelmed by fierce emotion. The thought that this man wanted her in spite of her secret moved her in a way she could not explain. “How can you ever be sure what you feel is the truth? Maybe your perceptions are colored by whatever the faeries have done to change us.”
He laughed. “You’re a demanding woman, Ange Bennett. What is the truth? Does the dust reveal it or conceal it? Questions for the Fa’erie, perhaps.”
“Exactly, and that’s why I intend to go back there.”
He shook his head. “I see you won’t listen to reason. If you must go back, keep a sharp eye out for Ryol. He may try to get more of the dust.”
She eyed him with dismay. “You won’t come with me?”
A pained look slid across his face. “I don’t think I can. The other night…I started the fight with Ryol because I knew if I didn’t do something that instant, I would lose all control and run out into the meadow with you. I wanted to walk into the light with Oberon. And that thought frightened me more than I can say. Because if I go into the Otherworld one more time, I’m not sure I’ll ever come back again.”
Alarmed by the sudden agony in his voice, she laid a quieting hand on his arm. “Don’t be concerned about me. I’ll be okay. I’m a hardboiled space brat. Oberon may have hypnotized me once, but it’s not going to happen again.”
Blane forced a smile, making his dimple appear. “A hardboiled space brat with golden curls. You look lovely enough to be a Fa’erie yourself.”
Ange swallowed hard and looked away. With other men fear and repulsion followed the lust. Blane showed no sign of that. His reaction was even more startling than the Fa’erie magic. Nothing on this planet was what she expected.
With a shake of her head, she started to move around the hold. If she was going to transport the children to Tau Delta, she’d have to make some changes.
* * *
Blane watched as Ange prowled the cargo bay. Maybe the magical forgetfulness had set in at last. She’d dropped the subject of the meadow and turned to the problem of housing the children who would be traveling within her ship’s metal walls.
Conditions in the hold would be primitive, but Blane wasn’t particularly worried about that. The children had endured poor conditions at the colony for years. The hold was no worse than the buildings they lived in every day. The cold metal floor bore scars from the many crates dragged over its surface. The walls were painted a pale yellow in a valiant attempt to cheer up the space. It didn’t work. The yellow faded into the shadows cast by the stark overhead light, leaving only dingy patches that struggled against the encroaching gloom.
“Maybe softer lighting will help.” Ange put her hands on her hips and twisted in a slow circle. “It’s big enough anyway. We can get twenty youngsters in here easily enough.”
Blane nodded. Hell, there was room for all fifty colonists for that matter. He opened his mouth to suggest that option, then shut it again. The children were the priority. He’d pushed Ryol to the limit to get him to agree to that. Ryol wasn’t happy about the expense of transporting the children to the Federation. Besides Ange’s fee, there would be Federation authorities to bribe when they showed up with unregistered children on board. And, he’d promised to send them to proper schools where they could get the training they would need. Better to concentrate on getting them off-world and worry about the adults the next time Ryol returned for his magic dust.
No doubt there would be a next time. His brother needed more dust. Ryol had been enraged at his interference last night. He had the scars to prove it. Wincing slightly, he probed the bruise on his jaw where Ryol had landed a wild punch and rubbed his sore knuckles. In the clear light of morning he was surprised Ryol hadn’t tried to back out of his agreement. But Ryol needed Blane to summon the Fa’erie. If he ever learned Ange had the same power, he’d make her life living hell.
“Captain?” Jake’s voice blasted out of the communicator on Ange’s jacket.
She slapped the transmit button. “Yes?”
“Ryol Llewelyn is asking for you. Where are you?”
Blane caught her eye and gave his head a shake. “You don’t want to see him, not today. Tomorrow maybe, after another shower or two.”
Ange hesitated only a second before hitting the switch again. “Give Mr. Llewelyn my regrets and tell him I can’t see him today. I am taking the lander and traveling—ah—south to see the sights.”
“He may ask me what sights you are going to see.” As usual, Jake’s android brain saw the future as a logical extension of the present.
Ange released the communicator button and cast a desperate look at Blane.
“That’s simple. Tell him you’re going to see the second colony.” Blane rubbed his hands together in glee. He’d always wanted to investigate the fate of the second colony, but by the time he was old enough to fly solo a shortage of replacement parts had grounded all the colony’s landers. Ange’s dilemma gave him the perfect excuse to go.
“What second colony?” Ange looked confused.
“There was another settlement south of here. It fell silent about five years before I left. No one knows for sure what happened. I’d intended to ask you if you’d consider a trip there.”
Ange relayed Blane’s information about the second colony
to Jake and signed off with the android.
“How long will the flight take?”
Blane laughed. “That depends on how fast you fly your lander.”
Ange planted a hand on her hip. “I’m known as a pretty hot pilot.”
Blane suppressed a leer. “I’ll bet you are. Figure two hours flight time. We’ll check out the colony and maybe have time to see a bit of Kyffin.” His mind hummed with plans for the day. Keeping Ange away from Ryol was the first priority, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have some fun while doing it. Before the colony’s last lander had died, he’d explored hundreds of incredibly beautiful beaches within flying distance. One particular beach sprang to mind—a lover’s paradise. He pictured Ange sprawled nude on the clean white sand as a thundering wave washed over them both.
“Sightseeing?” Ange looked doubtful. “This is a world full of islands. What’s to see?”
“You’d be surprised.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Surprise me, then. I suggest we get out of here before Ryol tracks me down. I’ll get the lander refueled and supplied. You do whatever you need to do and meet me in the launch bay in half an hour.”
“No problem.” Blane turned away to hide his grin at her spat of orders. No doubt bossiness came with the territory for a starship captain. He wondered how she would be at sharing in an equal relationship. For that matter, how would he be? He lived an independent life on Tau Delta, doing as he pleased much of the time. He wasn’t as wealthy as Ryol, but no man—or woman—was his boss. If he followed Ange into her world, that would change.
He shook off the thought. He couldn’t make any plans for a future until he found a way to keep his brother from exploiting the Fa’erie.
Chapter Fourteen
Blane met Ange at the lander carrying a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. He flopped down in the co-pilot’s seat and gave her the coordinates for the second colony.
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