MacLeod, King of the Western Lands, was not exactly what I’d expected, either. I’ve met many vampires, and killed more than a few, but MacLeod was the first I’d seen who had been old enough when he’d been turned to have liberal splashes of silver in his dark hair. That being said, I had no problem imagining him on some ancient, body-strewn battlefield, covered in blood, claymore in hand. His face, with its strong, square jaw and deeply cleft chin, drew my attention. It was a face that had settled during his mortal years, so that you knew without a doubt that he was much more handsome in his late forties than he had been in his early twenties. There were lines on that face that remembered squinting into the sun, and he was infinitely more interesting for having them.
No, he didn’t look at all like I had expected him to. What he did look like was every inch a king, from his short salt-and-pepper hair to his broad shoulders draped in full Highland regalia. This was a man who was used to giving orders and having them followed without question. He had an air of authority about him, a sense of unquestioning confidence that he could face anyone he encountered and come out the victor. If he had been in a room with a hundred other men, I’d still have known him for a king.
Of course, the throne certainly helped to convey that image. Vampires, I’d come to realize, were particularly fond of thrones, whether they held any claim to one or not. MacLeod wore this one with as much confident grace as he did his kilt and sporran, as if it were an extension of himself and his power. Its centuries-old wood was dark with age and heavily carved, and I wondered briefly what long-dead king or emperor had sat on it before him.
My gaze moved to the king’s left, to where Hashim stood dressed in a darker green version of his twin’s attire, and finally settled on the petite woman standing at MacLeod’s right. She was obviously a vampire, and I wondered if she was the queen. If so, she was exquisite. She wore a gown that had been the height of fashion in the last century, with its wide skirt and yards of tucks and lace. She should have looked outdated, but she didn’t. She looked like she had been born to wear it, and I couldn’t imagine her in today’s less complicated fashions. Her glossy black hair was piled in artful curls atop her head, and every feature on her heart-shaped face was nothing short of perfection. Black brows arched delicately over eyes that looked to be almost violet. She was like a tiny porcelain doll. She did not look like someone Justine would call the most frightening woman I’ve ever met.
Khalid stopped us halfway across the room and said in his deep, accented voice, “Your Highness, King of the Western Lands, may I present Drake, Sentinel of the High King of Tara, and his companions, The Righteous.”
“The Righteous?” the woman gasped, her hand going to her throat.
Her eyes widened as they traveled over the four of us, and then she did something I never thought I’d see in this new world that I lived in.
The vampire fainted.
Chapter 6
The men rushed forward but Justine and I hung back, staring.
“What the—?” I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it again. “Vampires don’t faint!” I exclaimed in a whisper.
Justine chuckled and grinned at me. “She has your helpless routine down pat, mon amie.”
I glared at her, offended. I had never resorted to something as trite as fainting.
“Well, it certainly seems to be working,” I said, cocking one eyebrow. “She has your man fawning all over her … mon amie.”
Justine’s eyes narrowed as she watched Devlin pull the woman into his arms. Michael was frantically fanning her with his hand. Khalid paced and fretted behind them, and Drake had moved up to watch the whole scene with a bemused expression. Hashim, I’d noticed, hadn’t moved an inch. In fact, his gaze stayed riveted on me. MacLeod was watching the woman with concern on his face but hadn’t risen from his seated position. Not the queen, then. So who was she? She was about to find herself staked if Michael and Devlin didn’t quit drooling over her, and at this point I wasn’t sure who would be the one to do the deed, me or Justine.
“Is she all right?” Khalid inquired.
“She’ll be fine,” Drake assured him. “Who is she?”
“The young lady is new to Edinburgh,” Khalid explained, then his voice fell to a whisper. “I believe she had a falling-out with her lover. She arrived by ship with not a shilling to her name. One of the Wardens took pity on her and brought her here. Naturally, the king was kind enough to offer her a room.”
The woman’s violet eyes fluttered open, and she gasped as she saw Michael and Devlin leaning over her.
“You have nothing to fear from us,” Devlin said, his voice so deep and gravelly that I wasn’t sure it wouldn’t scare her into another swoon. “What’s your name?”
She looked at him with wide, round eyes. “Belinda,” she whispered, placing one dainty hand on his chest. “But you may call me Bel.”
I rolled my eyes and shifted my weight. Justine’s fingers were inching ever closer to the sapphire-tipped dagger she had hidden in her boot. I cleared my throat, and Michael turned his head to look at me. I gave him a meaningful look and pursed my lips. His gaze moved over my face, then on to Justine’s. He took one look at her and reached down, pulling the woman to her feet as he gently shoved Devlin away from her. Justine relaxed a bit, and I let out a breath. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in Devlin’s shoes if he were ever foolish enough to stray.
Drake stepped up and took control of the situation. “My dear Belinda, we aren’t here to harm you. We are here to investigate the bodies that have shown up in the city in recent months.”
MacLeod leaned back and narrowed his eyes. “Let us not play games, Drake. You are here to investigate my queen. You are here because some spy in my court has whispered to the High King that she is guilty. That is why you’ve brought them with you,” he said with a sweeping gesture.
Drake inclined his head. “If she is guilty, then she must pay the price.”
MacLeod’s fingers gripped the arm of the throne, his knuckles turning white. “What will you do, Drake? Have one of them take her head? Lock her away somewhere in the bowels of Castle Tara?”
Drake laced his hands behind his back and paced. “So quick to judge, my old friend. Do you think she is guilty?”
MacLeod’s head jerked back. “Of course not. But she is … not well. Leave here, and I will take her into the hills to Caisteal Dubhar, and not bring her back to the city.”
Caisteal Dubhar, or Castle Darkness, was the king’s country residence north of Inverness. It was remote and well protected, a veritable fortress.
Drake shook his head. “I will not bargain with you, MacLeod. The truth must be uncovered, one way or another.”
MacLeod leaned forward. “She is my wife, my world. I will not let you take her.”
“With all due respect, Highness, you are outnumbered.”
MacLeod leaned back and chuckled. “You are no warrior, Drake, and the red-haired girl is a mere fledgling. Three against three are odds I’ll take any day.”
Khalid and Hashim flanked their king, and I had no illusion that they were as unarmed as they appeared to be. We certainly weren’t. This could get messy quickly. I moved up to stand between Michael and Devlin, and Justine moved in to guard my back.
“With all due respect, Highness,” I echoed, holding my hand out, palm up. I conjured a ball of pure magic above my palm, glowing with iridescent golden light. With a thought and a touch of glamour, the ball seemed to burst into flame. It wasn’t a true flame, only the illusion of it, but I was counting on the fact that no one would put it to the test. Technically I could conjure fire in the palm of my hand, but I would never try it, vampires being so very combustible. “The fledgling begs to disagree. It is a fight you cannot win.” I snapped my fingers and the ball of flame disappeared. “So why don’t we try discussing this like rational adults instead?”
Five pairs of eyes regarded me with fascination or horror, or both. Bel’s hand went to her throat again and I snapped, “Woman, if yo
u swoon again you’ll wake up on fire.” She gulped and took a step back, but thankfully stayed on her feet.
MacLeod smiled. “Such power in such a small package. You’d best beware that you don’t become so powerful, you are more of a liability than an asset to the High King.”
I glanced at Drake, but his expression gave nothing away. It was, in fact, so devoid of any reaction to MacLeod’s statement that a cold knot of dread clenched in my stomach. Ah, bugger, that was all I needed. I couldn’t do anything about it now, though, so I would worry about it later. At the moment I had bigger problems, like Hashim gliding toward me with the stealth of a serpent.
“She is dangerous, Your Majesty. She will use her magic to effect whatever outcome they desire, whether it be the truth or not.” I rocked back on my heels at the force of his fear and hatred. “Let me kill her now.”
“Don’t be a fool,” I snapped. “I have not wronged you in any way, Hashim.”
“Your very existence is an affront to Allah. You are an abomination,” he spat.
“Oh. Says the vampire.”
Sometimes I really don’t know when to keep my mouth shut, and this was one of those times. Hashim’s hand drew back to strike me, and before I could even blink two things happened at once: I heard the slap of flesh against flesh and the sharp hiss of steel clearing a scabbard. I hadn’t flinched. I’d known without a doubt that he would never be able to touch me, not with Michael standing at my right and Devlin at my left.
A muscled ticced in Hashim’s cheek as he took in the result of his folly. Devlin’s hand gripped his wrist not six inches from my face, and the tip of Michael’s claymore was pressed into his jugular.
I glanced at Michael and found his face cold as stone. His high cheekbones seemed sharp as a knife’s edge when his jaw was clenched in fury. “You lay a hand on my woman,” he said in a low, deadly voice, “and you’re going to die bloody.”
Khalid reached out and jerked his brother back, whispering fiercely to him in Arabic.
I looked at MacLeod. “It’s not my magic that you need to worry about, it’s whatever magic has been worked here before me. The air fairly reeks of it.”
Everyone looked around as if they expected to see magic floating above their heads. I laughed and shook my head. “For people whose entire existence is due to some sort of magic, it always amazes me that vampires aren’t more sensitive to it. Someone has been working magic in this house.”
“What sort of magic?” Drake asked.
It was a question I wished I could answer. Sensing another witch’s magic was one of the first things my aunt Maggie had taught me when I’d come into my power. Just like humans or vampires, there are good witches and bad witches, and it was important, Maggie had said, to be able to sense what sort of magic was being worked around you. What was in this house, though, didn’t feel like anything I’d ever encountered before.
“I don’t know,” I said. “But it’s definitely here.”
“ ’Tis impossible,” MacLeod said. “I’ve not even seen a witch in more centuries than I care to count.”
“It’s not only possible,” I replied, “it’s happened. If the queen hasn’t been working magic, then perhaps someone has been working it against her. You say she’s been unwell?”
MacLeod was silent for a moment. There was hope in his eyes, hope that I’d put there, but he still didn’t trust me. It was a pity, really, since I was his one best hope to save his queen.
Finally he spoke. “She has. Do you think that her illness is due to some sort of spell?”
I shrugged. “I need to see her. I can’t promise anything, but it’s possible that I’d know if she has been influenced by someone else’s magic.”
MacLeod nodded and rose. “You may come up to our chamber, but only you.”
I started forward, but Michael grabbed my wrist. “She doesn’t go anywhere in this house alone.”
MacLeod arched one dark brow at him. “You dare suggest that your woman would come to harm while under my personal protection?”
“She’s already been offered violence,” Michael said, motioning toward Hashim. “I’ll tell you again, Highness, she goes nowhere alone.”
MacLeod glared at Hashim, and then nodded. “So be it. But the rest of you must remain here.”
Drake opened his mouth to protest, but I caught his eye and shook my head. He gave me a long look, then inclined his head to me and remained silent. MacLeod was skittish and I for one was willing to humor him. I wanted this whole business over with as quickly as possible.
The whole house was so overly done with red velvet and gilt that MacLeod’s bedroom stunned me just as much as his Presence Chamber had. It was a massive, windowless room but, for all that, it wasn’t overwhelming. It was comfortable; the sort of room that could keep you occupied through long summer days.
The walls were hung with rich, vibrant tapestries, and the wood floors shined with polish. A heavy oak desk sat at an angle in the left-hand corner of the room, its surface covered in papers and piles of books. The bookshelves that consumed the two walls behind it were similarly crammed with texts and pieces of paper jutting out here and there. A huge globe perched on a brass stand to the left of the desk. Across the room, a fire glowed in the hearth, illuminating the two Roman couches that flanked the fireplace and the low table between them. A large, well-used chair sat directly across from the hearth, making the little sitting area quite cozy. To the right of the door a second fireplace mirrored the first, casting flickering shadows across a huge, low bed swathed in sheer netting. It looked like something you might find in a sultan’s harem. My gaze traveled upward to the Italian Renaissance ceiling, painted with scenes of gods and goddesses. I shook my head and smiled. It was exactly the sort of eclectic room that a well-traveled two-thousand-year-old vampire would have, filled with mementos and antiquities. The only thing missing was the queen.
MacLeod’s shoulders were visibly tense. “She was here but an hour ago,” he said, almost in a whisper.
I could feel the same cloying scent of magic in this chamber, stronger here than it had been in the rest of the house. Whoever was responsible for it had been here recently.
“If she was taken, how did they get in?” I asked.
He looked at me without comprehension, and I nodded to the heavy key in his hand that he’d used to unlock the door. He looked down at it as if he were seeing it for the first time.
“The lock is meant to keep her safe, not to keep her a prisoner.” He nodded to the door, and I noticed that in addition to the lock there was a heavy iron bar that could be placed across the door from the inside. This was their retreat, their daytime resting place, and as such would be barred from the inside so that they could get out, but no one could gain entrance from the outside.
“We must find her before daybreak,” Michael said.
“Come, Highness, we’ll alert the others and split up and search the house.”
MacLeod nodded, and the three of us moved rapidly down the hall. When we reached the head of the stairs I stopped. “You two go ahead.” I motioned in the opposite direction, toward our room. “I’ll get some supplies and see if a location spell will help us find her.”
Michael narrowed his eyes at me. He knew very well that it had been years since most of my magic required any sort of spell or ritual to accomplish, and he knew that I carried little with me in the way of magical paraphernalia.
“I’ll help you,” he offered, daring me to object.
“Thank you,” MacLeod said, and at my nod he turned and continued down the stairs.
“What are you up to?” Michael asked when the king was out of earshot.
I shrugged. “Whoever had been using magic in this house has been in that room. I want some time in there to see if I can pick up on anything.”
He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you alone in this house.”
“Michael, sweetheart, I am not without my own defenses. Besides, we don’t know that anything n
efarious has actually happened to her. She could be the one working this magic for all we know, and has fled out of fear we’ll find her guilty.” He gave me a dubious look and I sighed. “I know, it doesn’t feel right to me, either, but someone in this house is not on the up-and-up, and I need you to go down there and keep an eye out. Look for anything suspicious. I think we can safely rule out MacLeod as a suspect, but the other three … make sure none of them go searching without one of us with them. Now go,” I said, reaching up and kissing him quickly. “I’ll be fine.”
“You have fifteen minutes,” he said, “and then I’ll be back.”
“That’s all I need,” I called out over my shoulder as I hurried back to MacLeod’s chamber.
Once inside I stood at the foot of the bed, cleared my mind of everything, and reached out with my senses. It wasn’t my magic, however, that drew my attention to the tapestry on the wall to my right; it was the very faint draft of air that blew along my cheek. I walked over and ran my hand along the cavorting unicorns and faeries, appreciating the master weaver’s skill even as I felt for that draft once more. Toward the edge of the tapestry my hand pushed into empty space. I grasped the fabric and pulled it aside. There was a door that had been left open, sliding neatly into a pocket in the wall. Beyond the door were stairs leading up in one direction and down in the other. It would be more logical to take the stairs down—this near to dawn any sane vampire would surely head down—but something drew me inexorably up the short flight of stairs to my left, which ended at a heavy steel hatch in the ceiling. I slid the bolt lock free and pushed the hatch open, climbing out onto the roof.
The sound of weeping drew my attention to a small, tin-roofed gazebo. I glanced around before I approached, searching the shadows for any sign of danger. Other than the woman at the gazebo, I could sense no other presence around me. The heavy latticework kept me from seeing inside the structure, so I walked slowly across the rooftop and around to the front.
The sounds of the city stirring filtered up to me: voices shouting, either in greeting or annoyance; horses’ hooves clicking on the cobblestones; the jingle of bridles and the low rumble of heavy carts. Above it all Edinburgh Castle sat high on its rugged stone perch, like a mother dragon nestled down, keeping watch over her children. Only the muffled sobs of the woman in the gazebo disturbed the otherwise ordinary cadence of the waking city. I walked around the corner of the gazebo and stopped short, my hand flying to my mouth.
Grave Sins Page 4