The Magic Knot

by Helen Scott Taylor

  Then Niall turned to Jacca. “Nightshade at the rear. Keep Rose in sight at all times. I’ll mind her front. If anything happens, stalker, don’t pick her up and fly over the top. The queen will view that as cheating. She won’t go letting us in if we don’t play her game.”

  “What’s likely to happen?” Rose asked, her pulse suddenly loud in her ears.

  Niall fiddled with his cuffs and glanced at her. “Maybe nothing. Stay alert. Stay close to me, and if there be trouble, do what I say without arguing.”

  The clouds slid apart, revealing a silver claw-shaped moon. Niall twitched his wrists, and a crystal blade glittered in each hand.

  “Flashlights off. We’ll not make it easy for them. Come on.”

  Michael jogged away in front of them. Niall proceeded more cautiously along the narrow gravel path into the topiary, and Rose followed. When she passed between the first two towering animal bushes, the temperature plummeted. She shivered as her breath drifted away in foggy clouds.

  “Why’s it so cold?”

  Niall swung around and placed a finger to his lips.

  Jacca grasped her shoulders and pressed his lips to her ear. “Magic.”

  Rose took a fortifying breath, and followed on Niall’s heels, staring down the dark avenues separating the groups of bushes.

  For a few minutes, nothing happened. Apart from the crunch of her shoes and the sound of her breath, all was silent. Niall and Jacca walked without making a sound.

  Suddenly, a white minitornado spun out from the shadow of a towering bush creature. Rose gasped as ice crystals jabbed needle-sharp, piercing her exposed skin. She scrubbed at her face but they clung like icy ticks burrowing into her flesh.

  “Niall!”

  He jumped in front of her, blocking the shower. The icy needles hissed against him and dissolved harmlessly. Jacca sheltered her back as Niall cupped her face in his palms. She closed her eyes and sighed as the warmth of his hands melted away the pain.

  Niall eased open her coat, pressing his palms against her bare throat and shoulders. The gentleness of his touch relaxed every muscle in her body. Her skin hummed beneath his fingers. She caught the woodsy fragrance of him on the damp air. Tender emotions she thought smothered by his hostility welled up stronger than ever. She screwed her eyes tight, frightened she would lose control if she looked into his face.

  For the first time since she’d persuaded him to bring her to Ireland, she extended her senses and flowed along the mental thread that joined them. Inside, he quivered against her tentative contact, raw and edgy as a trapped animal. She clutched at the front of his jacket and held on tight. What did he expect to happen that had him so rattled?

  He brushed the drips of water off her cheeks with his thumbs. “Are you all right, lass?”

  She nodded. How could something as simple as tiny scraps of ice be so shocking? Niall had warned her of danger, and Michael had taught her rules, but until that moment the reality that she might be hurt hadn’t sunk in. “I didn’t believe you until now,” she whispered.

  Niall’s hand stilled against her cheek. “Open your eyes, lass.” When she looked up at him, he ran his thumb along her cheekbone and his eyes softened. “I won’t go letting anything bad happen to you, Rose Tremain; that I promise.”

  Her heart fluttered and then jolted with surprise when Jacca touched her back.

  “That attack was intended for Rosenwyn alone,” Jacca said. “Your queen knows she’s here.”

  “Aye, and she wants me to get the message that she disapproves.”

  The two men looked at each other over her head. “Be watchful,” Niall said. “We be only halfway through.”

  “I thought it was you she had a problem with, Irish?”

  Niall stepped back, took a breath, and faced forward. “Aye. But she’ll let me arrive in one piece. Our disagreement is personal.”

  A burn of jealousy made Rose curl her fists in her pockets. She wanted to know exactly what Niall and Ciar’s personal disagreement was about.

  As they walked on, Niall prowled ahead, tense and ready. For the first time she realized how much trouble she’d caused him by coming, and wondered if she should have allowed him to obtain the information on freeing the piskies. Too late to change her mind now.

  After another few minutes, Niall cocked his head, raised a hand, and stopped. She closed the gap between them and laid her hand on his back. Until the incident with the ice, he hadn’t invited physical contact like Michael and Jacca had. That shared danger had broken the invisible wall between them.

  Rose heard a grating sound followed by a tearing, dragging noise, like a huge brush sweeping the gravel. Dread streaked through her. She swiveled her head quickly, trying to identify the direction of the sound. “Should we run?”

  “No good.” Niall circled, his expression tense. “I can’t make out where ’tis coming from.” He pulled her down beside a bush. “Stay quiet and don’t move.” He gripped her shoulders, the silent demand in his eyes reinforcing his words. Then he stood. “Stalker, watch out for her. I’ll be back.”

  Fear rose in her throat as Niall twirled his daggers and slipped soundlessly into the darkness.

  Jacca positioned himself in front of her so all she could see was the back of his long coat. For a few seconds the confinement comforted her; then it became annoying because she wanted to watch for Niall. “Psst.”

  Jacca glanced down at her.

  “Give me some space.”

  He stepped forward just as a violent scuffling sounded to her right. Every muscle in her body locked rigid as she scanned the dark bushes. In the faint moonlight she caught movement, and then Niall grunted.

  Jacca shrugged off his coat, dropped it, and braced his wings, the muscles in his back and arms bunching like steel hawsers beneath the skin.

  Rose picked up his coat and pulled the warm, almond-scented leather around her shoulders, an extra layer against the bone-numbing chill.

  More grunts and flashes of movement came from the bushes. What if Niall were wrong and Ciar did plan to hurt him out here? Anger, frustration, and fear twisted knots in her gut at her own powerlessness. She stared into the darkness and, concentrating all her attention on Niall, tried to sense him.

  Something tickled her neck. She brushed the irritation away absently and kept feeling for Niall. The tickle came again, a flutter against her skin like delicate wings. Rose froze, her attention one hundred percent back in her body. A firm touch caressed her neck. Rose screamed, the sound out of her mouth before she had time to consider the wisdom of pinpointing her location to every creature for a mile around.

  Jumping forward, she thumped into Jacca’s back, the soft, leathery feel of his wings against her face shocking the breath from her. He staggered, turned, and swung her behind him.

  She peered around him, her heart thumping like a drum in her ears.

  “What was it?” he demanded.

  “Something touched me.” She scanned the area of the bush she’d been crouched beneath, desperately looking for movement.

  The sound of Niall’s fighting had stopped. A heavy silence hummed in her ears.

  Jacca stared into the night. She followed his gaze and saw a patch of darkness detach itself from the deep shadows. She tried to focus her eyes. It disappeared.

  “Did I imagine that?” She stared around wildly. “Where’s it gone?”

  “It’s a shade. Watch out of the corner of your eye.”

  She turned her head and scanned the shadows with her peripheral vision. The shadowy shape of a man drifted toward them.

  Jacca shoved her back and stepped forward. “Get down and stay out of the way.” He took up a fighting stance, and faded from sight like the shade.

  Slapping a hand over her thumping heart, Rose backed up and tried to see them out of the corner of her eye. Faster than she could follow, the shadows of Jacca and the shade fought. Grunts and the sickening smack of fists hitting flesh and bone filled the night.

  They spun li
ke mad dancers. Rose retreated and pressed herself into the bushes as they moved closer. Panic fluttered in her belly. She couldn’t get out of the way. Pain exploded in her jaw, knocking her off her feet. After landing on her butt with a stinging thud, she skidded on the gravel. When she came to a rest, her head throbbed, and her world spun. After a few seconds, she wiped the shocked tears from her eyes and examined her injuries. Luckily Jacca’s leather coat had tangled around her body, protecting her skin from the gravel path.

  A hand touched her shoulder, and at the same instant, the reassurance of Niall’s presence slid into her mind, smooth as silk. He crouched and gathered her within the protective vee of his thighs. “Hey, lass.” He checked her elbows and knees. Ran a hand over the back of her head. “Are you hurt anywhere?”

  Rose rested her head on his chest, swallowing the tightness in her throat. “I don’t think so.” The scarred leather of his flight jacket was ridiculously comforting. “What about you?”

  “I shall live.”

  She glanced up at his face in the moonlight and picked out dark, bloody scratches on his skin and leaves in his hair.

  “There will be no more bushes taking to their feet this night. I’ve scattered the charms that were set.”

  Niall’s fingers gently smoothed her hair. His breath warmed the top of her ear; then his lips brushed her temple. Rose closed her eyes, trembled inside, hardly daring to breathe for fear of spooking him. If being in danger brought them closer, she was willing to put up with the pain and fear.

  “When we make it inside, lass…” Niall hesitated, then looked away. His chest heaved. “I must keep me distance from you. ’Twill be dangerous if the queen senses something between us.”

  “Why?”

  Niall tensed and drew back a fraction. “’Tis not something to discuss now. If we get home…later.”

  Rose clung to his jacket as he tried to stand. “Is there something between you and the queen?”

  His lips thinned. “Naw, lass. ’Tis not the time.”

  Erratic movement nearby demanded her attention, and she tensed, ready to escape. A patch of shadow wavered, then solidified into Jacca.

  He strutted forward, pretending to polish his fingernails on his chest. “Amateur. I sent him scuttling back to his queen in tatters. That’ll teach them to send a shade against a nightstalker.”

  Niall helped Rose to her feet and dusted the gravel off the coat.

  “You’re full of surprises,” she said to Jacca, a little wary of him again. “What else don’t I know about you?”

  “Why do you think I’m called Nightshade? That is my gift. None can beat me in shadow form.”

  “Niall, over here.” Michael’s voice came from their right, not far away.

  “Grand.” Niall shot Rose a rare smile of relief.

  “Me brother always was good at finding his way into places he’s not meant to be.”

  He gripped her hand and pulled her against his side. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Rose jogged to keep up with him, and her bottom ached from the fall. Within twenty yards she saw light blinking between the bushes at the end of the path.

  When they passed out of the topiary, the temperature climbed as they left the magic behind.

  Michael stood, hands on hips, unscathed and completely out of place in his scarlet pullover and leather pants against the backdrop of cloud-topped mountains. “I’ve found the dark man.” He glanced toward a tall figure holding an oil lamp whose face was lost in the shadow of his deep hood.

  Rose looked around for the house and caught a glimpse of a huge Palladian mansion out of the corner of her eye. The building was like the shade: visible only in her peripheral vision.

  “Did you ask permission for an audience with the queen?” Niall asked his brother.

  “Aye. No problem. ’Tis all agreed.”

  “Great.” Rose smiled at Michael. She wasn’t sure what she’d face inside, but it had to be better than outside. At least something was going according to plan.

  “Sounds too easy.” Niall walked across to the sinister hooded figure and inclined his head. “What be the conditions of entry, guardian?”

  “You must go before the Fearsome Goddess skyclad,” the man whispered in a voice that brought to mind the sound of wind whistling across desolate moorland.

  Niall’s jaw hardened. Jacca groaned. Michael grinned.

  “I don’t recall your teaching me that word.” As usual, Rose was the only one who didn’t understand. “Don’t tell me that after wasting a day shopping for this dress—which cost an arm and a leg, by the way— I should have worn something else.”

  “No, Rose,” Niall bit out.

  “No what? I shouldn’t have worn something else?”

  Niall’s blue eyes burned in the flickering light of the oil lamp. He raked his gaze down her body, leaving her skin tingling in his wake. “Skyclad means we go naked.”

  Niall watched Rose’s jaw drop. Surprise, then annoyance flashed across her face. “This is outrageous.”

  “’Tis not as strange as you might think,” Niall said. “Nakedness is viewed a little differently by the Good People. ”

  “You don’t look too eager to strip off.”

  “The queen knew it would not be to me taste, which is why she’s made the condition.”

  “Don’t be shy,” Michael said, strolling across to Rose. “You have a beautiful body.”

  Rose put her hands on her hips and looked at him. “I think you’re missing the point here.”

  Michael caressed her face and murmured something in her ear. She put her hand over her mouth, but Niall could see she was smiling. Anger whipped through him. This was one woman Michael had better keep his hands off of, or there would be trouble.

  Niall turned away to cool his head. However hard he tried, he couldn’t get Rose out of his mind. He admired her sense of duty, her inner strength and determination. She hardly knew the Cornish troop but was willing to put herself at risk to set right her parents’ wrongs and bring the piskies back to life. She might not have Ciar’s power, but she had noble qualities Ciar would never possess.

  Michael pulled off his red sweater. “Come on, darlin’, we’ll get undressed together.”

  Niall strode forward and pushed his brother away from Rose. “Oh, no, you don’t, laddie.” Nobody was going to see Rose naked, especially not Michael and Nightshade. And he wasn’t willing to demean himself by stripping in public. “This condition is the queen’s opening gambit. I’ve a few tricks up me own sleeve yet.”

  Niall pulled a small package wrapped in gold silk from his pocket and unfolded the fabric. The ancient Greek medallion, acquired from a contact in Dublin the previous day at a cost of nearly one hundred thousand pounds, gleamed in the moonlight.

  The dark man’s eyes flickered like marsh gas beneath his hood as Niall held out the bribe. Ciar wouldn’t pass up a trinket from her ancient homeland. “I hold in me hand a gift for the Queen of Nightmares. We shall enter her demesne clothed as we are.”

  After a few moments’ silence, the dark man said, “One must enter skyclad.”

  Niall had expected that comeback. The queen couldn’t be seen to capitulate completely and lose face. He had only one option. “Michael. You up for this?”

  His brother grinned.

  Niall sighed, full of conflicting emotions. He really didn’t want Michael parading around naked in front of Rose.

  “You know me, boyo.” Michael unfastened his leather pants. “I came prepared, so I did.” He kicked off the pants and posed, arms bent like a strongman, in only a black leather G-string.

  “Grand.” Niall struggled to keep the grimace off his face. Part of him hated his brother’s lack of restraint, while another part envied it.

  Rose stared at Michael, lips pursed and eyebrows raised. Niall had thought she might be embarrassed, but she looked anything but.

  He twisted away, muscles rigid, ready to pound a few rocks to dust. Rose caught his arm. Reluctantly
he halted, eyes fixed on the mansion, determined not to look at her. After a few seconds he relented and glanced down. A wicked smile danced on her lips as she nodded toward Michael. “I can imagine you’ look pretty good in that outfit.”

  It took a few seconds for Niall’s befuddled brain to process her words. Heat gathered in his belly and tightened his groin. He grunted and pulled away. If Ciar sensed his bond with Rose, it would put her in danger, and above all else, he must protect her. “Come on. We must get inside.”

  Michael strolled past them, an eager grin on his face. The house shimmered into view, and he stepped over the threshold of the east door.