The youngest girl glanced his way. She had a shy, secret smile on her face and gave him a little wave. He waved back. The Charity-clone. He wanted to scoop her up.
“Girls,” Arleigh said. “I need to breathe. Besides, I’ve brought someone to meet you.”
They all stood, and Arleigh swept her arms out to encompass all three of them. He guessed at their ages, remembering back to when the girls were younger. The oldest he put at thirteen or fourteen, when Faith had been wearing braces and pined in her room for days over Christopher Poole. The middle girl was about ten. He remembered Hope, jealous of Faith, worrying for months about when she would finally get breasts and her period. And the little girl he placed at around seven, the age Charity had been when she won a prize in a regional music competition but had puked out of nervousness when she had accepted her award.
They were gorgeous little girls, and their blue eyes studied him. He heard the middle one whisper, “He looks like Remy.” The youngest one smiled.
But it was the oldest one who came toward him first. No surprise there. Faith had always been the one in charge, and now he saw why.
“It worked,” she breathed. Her voice held a trace of surprise, like she had not been expecting such a miracle.
“Like a charm,” he said. “I assume you must need me for something.”
“More than you can know,” the girl said.
“I’m Ryder.”
“We know,” they chorused.
“You’re pretty talented little girls. My sisters use their powers for stupid things like A’s and prom dates and reading my mind, but they’ve got me wrapped around their fingers as tight as you do. I’m Stephen’s brother. Your…uncle.” He nodded his head slowly, hoping they’d picked up on his signal.
“Aye, of course, you’re our uncle,” the oldest girl said, smiling. “Who else would you be?”
“Smart kid,” he said.
“Did you call me a goat?”
He laughed. “And the language barrier continues.”
She ignored him the way Faith always did when he tried to be funny and she didn’t think he was succeeding.
“I’m Fiana,” she said, “but I suppose you knew that. That’s Hannah, and the little one is Corliss.”
“Sure,” he said. “I’m your uncle. Of course I know who you are.”
“I thought you hadn’t seen Stephen in years,” Arleigh said.
“Oh, mail and stuff,” he said.
“Male?”
“Forget it, honey. It doesn’t matter.”
“Are you living at our house?” Hannah asked. “With Arleigh?”
When he nodded, Corliss tugged at his hand.
“Have you seen the faeries?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Kind of freaky at first, but I’ve gotten used to them now. That Adelina is a stitch.”
Corliss wrinkled her tiny forehead. “She’s some kind of sprite. What’s a stitch?”
He couldn’t help it. He reached down and swept her off her feet, spinning in a circle. She giggled, and when he set her on her feet, she cuddled against his leg. Man, he was going to fall in love with them. He ruffled the hair across her forehead, and she glanced up at him.
He took her hand and sat down. She crawled up on his lap. He motioned for the other girls to come closer, and they sat down on the floor at his feet. He felt like Santa Claus. Arleigh went over to speak with the ban-tee. Where she thought that would lead, he hadn’t a clue. He didn’t think the ban-tee would help them. She had made it pretty clear she wouldn’t.
“We need to talk about Flynn,” he said softly.
“He’s not in the house right now,” Hannah said. “You don’t have to whisper.”
“What about her?” He motioned toward the ban-tee.
“She’s nice,” Corliss said.
“She won’t tell him anything,” Fiana said. “She doesn’t really care about Master Flynn. She only cares about us.”
“Does she treat you well?”
“Very well,” Fiana said. “Like Arleigh. Only we don’t love her the way we love Arleigh.”
“Arleigh is very easy to love,” Ryder said.
“Do you love Arleigh?” Corliss asked.
Ryder’s glance swept over the girls with surprise. “That’s kind of a private question, don’t you think?”
“We need to know if it worked,” Hannah said.
Fiana shot her sisters a disgusted look. “Don’t listen to them. We want Arleigh to be happy. We’re glad she’s not lonely.”
“Arleigh and I are fine, but she misses you guys a lot,” he said. His voice lowered. “She cries.”
“Corliss cries all the time,” Hannah said.
“I don’t!” Corliss said. “Not all the time. Just sometimes.”
“She misses Arleigh and Papa,” Hannah said. “Papa’s dead, you know. We miss him terribly.”
“I know what you mean,” Ryder said. “It’s okay to be sad about that, and it’s okay to cry. We all cry sometimes. But Arleigh is very sad you’re not home. When she thinks I’m not looking at her, she has the saddest face, but she’s trying to be brave. Like you’re trying to be brave.”
“It’s hard sometimes,” Fiana said, “but we do try.”
He reached out to touch her hair. He couldn’t help himself. “I know you better than you might think.”
“Our other selves?” Fiana asked. “The ones in the after.”
“We’ve seen them,” Hannah said.
“They look like us,” Corliss said. “Only bigger.”
“My sisters,” he said.
“We know,” Fiana said. “You have sacrificed much to come here. You must miss them.”
“I do, but being with you helps.”
“We’re glad,” Hannah said.
“I’m glad you seem okay,” Ryder said. “Is Flynn being nice to you? He hasn’t hurt you in any way, has he? Are you getting enough to eat? Do you have a nice place to sleep? Do you have enough clothing? Are you cold, tired, lonely, sick, anything?”
Fiana laughed. “You talk a great deal. Too many questions at once.”
“Yeah, I’ve been told that before,” he said, glancing at Arleigh.
“We are being well cared for,” Fiana said. “Everything has been fine. Master Flynn doesn’t frighten us too much.”
“Because things are okay doesn’t mean we’re going to leave you here. I’m taking you all home.”
“When?” Fiana asked.
“Now,” he said.
Chapter 22
Ryder stood and picked Corliss up in his arms. Her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms circled around his neck. Her hair smelled like a field of clover. The other two girls stood and held hands.
“Come on, guys, we’re getting out of here.”
He strode across the room, and Arleigh took the ban-tee’s elbow, moving her out of the way, but the woman resisted and barred the door.
“The children cannot leave,” Mistress Cullen said.
“Look, Cullen,” Ryder said. “Don’t make me move you. I’m really a nice guy.”
“I’m sure you are a wonderful person,” the ban-tee said, “but I still cannot allow you to take these children from this house. They belong to Master Flynn.”
“They belong to me,” Ryder said. “Now move your skinny ass before I run you down.”
The ban-tee’s brow wrinkled. “Children?”
Fiana put her hand on the woman’s arm. “We want to go with him. You can let us go.”
“I am to keep you well and try to make you happy,” the woman said.
“It would make us happy if you let us go,” Hannah said.
“Come with us!” Corliss said. “Then you can take care of us at our cottage!”
The older woman turned to Arleigh. “Is that possible?”
Ryder pulled Arleigh aside and turned away from Corliss. “Does she know about you?” Ryder whispered. “I thought you had a secret identity or something.”
Corliss tugg
ed on Ryder’s hair. “What’s a secret identity?”
“It’s like Clark Kent and Superman, honey,” Ryder said.
Corliss laughed and glanced at Arleigh. “He talks funny.”
“You’ll get used to it. I hardly notice it anymore,” Arleigh said. She turned back to Ryder. “Aye, ’tis a secret, but I told her because I thought it might affect her decision.”
“Did you have that much influence in the faery world?”
“I had influence.”
“What am I falling in love with? Were you like a queen or something?”
“A queen? No, I wasn’t a queen, but… You’re falling in love with me?”
“Of course. Didn’t you know?”
Arleigh took a step closer, brushing against him, and the look on her face was curious, hopeful. “You didn’t say that, Ryder. You said you cared for—” He started to reach for her, but the ban-tee grabbed her elbow and yanked at her.
“Is it possible?” the older woman asked again.
Caught in two conversations, Arleigh’s head twisted between them. She heaved a sigh and turned to Mistress Cullen.
“I don’t know all the laws that govern you. Don’t you know?”
“No, I’ve not had reason to question the laws before. The children are always where they want to be. They do not wish to go elsewhere.”
The woman’s glance darted between Arleigh and Ryder and touched on each of the girls. She seemed truly conflicted.
“Let’s give it a shot,” Ryder said. “Come on, Mistress Cullen. You’re welcome to come with us.”
“I will try. I don’t know what will happen. I am not to choose. I am to be neutral.”
“You’re not choosing,” Ryder said. “The girls are choosing to come with me. You will be following them. Come on, it’s going to be an adventure.”
The ban-tee nodded her head and took Hannah’s hand. Arleigh grabbed Fiana’s. They almost made it to the front door.
“Where’s everyone going?”
They stopped dead in their tracks. Ryder turned and met Flynn’s eyes. Cold, hard, glittering with something that would make an ordinary man nervous. But in this place, Ryder did not feel like an ordinary man. Flynn walked toward them like he had all the time in the world.
“I’m taking them home.”
“They’re not going anywhere,” Flynn said. “Cullen, what are your responsibilities?”
“Leave her out of this,” Ryder said. “She’s taking care of the girls where they want to be. I know it’s a loophole, but I think it will work.”
“Loophole,” Flynn said. “Interesting concept. You must be a fairly bright man. I had my doubts about you. I thought you might be completely mad.”
“Oh, I’m mad all right,” Ryder said, “and getting madder by the minute.”
“What you’re doing here is very dangerous, Kendall. I warned you. Arleigh. You should keep your man on a leash.”
“Cameron, let us go,” Arleigh said.
“You can be so sweet when you want something,” Flynn said. “Such a bitch when you don’t get your own way.”
“That’s enough,” Ryder said.
He put Corliss down on the floor, and the ban-tee took her hand, backing away.
“I’ve had enough of you,” Ryder said. “I know your secret, and I know your game. Why don’t you work some of your faery magic on me and get it over with? The suspense is killing me.”
“I can arrange the killing part,” Flynn said. “But I wasn’t thinking of working my faery magic on you. I’m going to work it on her.”
He looked at Arleigh. She moved backwards, pulling Fiana with her, but Ryder saw her blink, and her eyes took on a glassy haze. She dropped Fiana’s hand and took a step toward Flynn.
“Arleigh!” Ryder shouted. “Don’t move, honey.”
She glanced toward him, and a spark of terror flickered in her eye. She continued to move toward Flynn. Heart hammering, Ryder started to lunge toward her, but nausea suddenly overwhelmed him, and his head seemed to split in two. He doubled over and nearly fell to his knees. The sweat poured from his body in streams, and through strands of damp hair, he saw Arleigh come within inches of Flynn’s body. The man grabbed her and pulled her against him. He wrapped one hand around her waist and covered her mouth with his. His other hand cupped her breast. The girls gasped.
“No,” Ryder breathed. He fought to move, steeling his muscles, concentrating on his legs, but the nausea and weakness wormed its way through his body like a drug. He couldn’t stand upright; he couldn’t move his legs. The nerves in his body sputtered and flared with a dull aching throb that sucked the strength from his body. “Arleigh, no…”
Arleigh didn’t struggle. She leaned against Flynn and sighed.
His head began to swim. Vertigo spun the world around him, and his stomach lurched. He thought he might actually fall to the floor. The edge of his vision blurred, and black spots flickered in front of him. He shook his head, trying to draw a breath, and in the next instant he felt okay, but for a minute there, he wondered if he’d blacked out. No, he was swaying but still on his feet.
When he turned, Arleigh’s arms had risen and were around Flynn’s neck. The kiss had deepened, and his heart stuttered in his chest. He rushed across the room. Flynn pushed Arleigh away, and she fell to the floor.
Ryder came at Flynn, swinging, but Flynn backed up and drew his sword. Ryder skidded on the floor and barely stopped before being impaled with the point of the weapon.
“See how dangerous it is to play games with me, Kendall?” he said. He flipped the sword in his hand, clearly enjoying the thrill of his own prowess. “The Between Times are a magical place. Did you enjoy being there? You look a little peaked.”
“I’m fine,” Ryder snarled.
“Well, you won’t survive the experience very often.”
Ryder glanced at Arleigh lying in a quiet puddle on the floor. “What did you do to her?”
“Her experience was infinitely more sensual than yours. The Between Times are for pleasure or power, for lust or for control. This time, well, this time I decided to stop fucking around with her, Kendall. You’ve forced the game to higher stakes, and I no longer have the luxury of merely toying with her. I’ve claimed her now. She belongs to me.”
Ryder took a step toward him, but Flynn flicked the sword in his direction. Ryder tried to control the impulse to lunge at him, weapon or not. The adrenaline coursing through his body seemed to have a mind of its own. “She belongs to me!”
Flynn shook his head. “No, sorry, Kendall. The wheel has been spun. She’s mine now. I can make her do anything I want by merely thinking of it. Imagine the delightful possibilities of that. I can make her wish for me when she lies in your arms. I can make her call out my name when you are inside of her. I can make her—”
Ryder’s fists clenched. “Shut your filthy mouth.”
“I think you get my point,” Flynn said, flipping his sword. “Both of them, actually. I could kill you now, and these little girls lose any hope. Or you can back away, take the woman, and go. But the children stay here.”
“Why do you want these girls? Why is it so important they stay here with you? You’re a sick mother—”
“Ryder!”
The sound of Fiana’s voice froze him. Fiana bent over Arleigh’s unconscious form. How could a kiss that had taken only moments done that? It had been only moments, hadn’t it? Ryder tried to think, but his mind seemed to be empty of thoughts and filled with cotton.
“It’s your choice, Kendall,” Flynn said. “I know what you’re thinking. We’re about the same size. We’re about the same strength. Well, we would be if I were mortal like you.”
His laughter echoed in the hall and drilled into Ryder’s skull. Flynn shook his head, that dark hair swirling hypnotically around his shoulders.
“You think you might be able to kill me. Perhaps with your bare hands. But you cannot do that, Kendall, because I am immortal and you are not. Don’t even
try. These girls will be drenched in your blood.”
“Ryder,” Fiana said.
He turned around and faced her. She wore the serious Faith expression, the one that said she had made a decision, wouldn’t take any arguments, and she had taken charge. He had never won an argument with Faith.
“Take Arleigh and go,” she said.
“Oh, baby, you know I can’t do that.”
“You must. It’s the only hope we have. Please.”
The other girls nodded. Jesus, they were tearing him up inside. He looked at each one, trying to detect any kind of hesitation, any slight flicker that said it would be the wrong decision. But he saw nothing. Their eyes were hard sapphires, firm, unrelenting.
He leaned down and kissed each one of them.
“I’ll come back for you,” he whispered.
“We know,” they chorused.
He took in one more moment of their beautiful faces, then turned and picked Arleigh up from the floor. She felt too heavy in his arms. The lightness of her spirit had disappeared.
He glared at Flynn. “This isn’t over.”
“Of course it isn’t,” Flynn said. “It’s just begun.”
The ban-tee opened the door and gave him a nod of encouragement. Ryder left his girls, his nieces, his sisters, and part of his soul behind. He walked away from the stone monstrosity, struggling to hold back the tears that gathered in his eyes.
* * * *
Arleigh could barely raise her head from the pillow. She felt like she’d been sleeping for a hundred years, and even that had not been long enough. The sun glared through the window, and the sounds of birds singing in the trees nearly split her head in two. She wanted to snuggle back into the covers, forget a new day had dawned, and pull the pillow over her head to smother the noise. But her body had other plans. She stretched her hand across the mattress. The cold sheets signaled Ryder was long since gone.
She remembered nothing but the Between Times. How long had she been there? However long had been enough. She could think of nothing but the kiss, the need, the desire. Her face grew warm thinking of Cameron Flynn, his face, his form. He had consumed her dreams while she wandered between sleep and awake, and now he consumed her thoughts. She would have to go to him.
Carlton, Amber - Trinity Magic (Siren Publishing Romance) Page 25