“Hmm.” They hit the shampoo aisle first. It was fascinating, watching him open the bottles and sniff the contents. Some got a wrinkled nose, some he simply put back on the shelf. When he made his selection he placed it in the cart. He did the same thing with deodorant and body wash, placing his selections in the cart one by one. The scents he picked were masculine but mild and wouldn’t overwhelm the senses.
Cassie added a few things of her own to the basket before taking him to the clothing aisles. “Let’s get you some clean clothes and a jacket.” The weather was still nasty for spring, one moment sunny and cool, the next snowy and windy and blech. She’d have to check the sales racks for a jacket that would be warm enough for him.
“Some shoes as well.” He stared mournfully at his feet.
“We might have some walking to do at some point. We should probably get you sneakers.”
He shuddered dramatically.
Cassie laughed. “You looked just like Robin for a moment. You couldn’t force sneakers on his feet.”
That slight smile crossed his face again. “Robin does enjoy his clothes.” He stopped dead. “How do I know that?”
Cassie grinned, pleased. “Your harmonies are realigning on their own. It’s a good sign.”
He took a deep breath, and only then did she realize how tense he’d been. His whole body seemed to relax, his features easing, the tightness around his eyes disappearing. “That is excellent news.”
“Almost as good as this twenty percent off sale.” She picked up a pair of jeans and held them out. “What do you think?”
He tilted his head. “Do they have anything in gray?”
“It wouldn’t kill you to wear colors, you know. You’d look stunning in blue.”
He took the jeans from her hands and put them back on the rack. He walked over to the next rack and picked up a pair of skinny gray pants. “These will do.”
“Check the size, make sure they’re correct.”
He checked, surprising her, before putting them in the basket, along with four identical pairs. “Shirts, shirts… Ah.” She followed him toward, of course, gray shirts. He grabbed a couple of long sleeved T-shirts, a button down and a polo shirt. He even found gray sleep pants, turning down the black Batman ones she held up.
She shook her head as she led the way to men’s underwear. “I don’t think they sell gray underwear here.”
He actually smirked at her as he put the gray boxer briefs and gray socks in the cart.
“Hmph.” She pushed the cart toward shoes, trying her best to ignore his quiet laughter.
He picked up a pair of dark gray oxfords and gray canvas slip-ons before declaring himself satisfied. Cassie pushed the cart to the groceries, picking up a few snacks and drinks for the drive to the coast. “Anything you want?” She held up a finger. “And I don’t want to even think about gray food.”
“I think you’re making fun of me.” He picked up a packet of peanuts.
“I think you might be right.” She took the peanuts and put them back, grabbing the trail mix with the chocolate in it instead. “Take this one, it’s better.”
“How so?”
She blinked at him, confused. “It has chocolate in it.”
“And?”
“Heathen.” She put it in the cart, swatting his hand when he tried to remove it.
“Maybe I don’t like chocolate.” He snagged some yogurt-covered raisins, his expression daring her to take them away from him.
“Maybe you do.”
“And I’ve just forgotten?” He stared at the raisins before carefully putting them in the cart. “You’re right. I might like it.”
She sighed. “I didn’t mean to—”
“I know.” He tugged the hairband off her head, causing her bangs to fall in her eyes. “Keep it off. I like your hair better this way.”
She blew her bangs out of her face as he grabbed some bottled water. “You are a very strange man.”
He glanced over at her, his expression somber. “Am I?”
He turned again to walk away, and Cassie couldn’t resist. “I will save you.”
Oberon stopped. “With luck, we’ll save each other.”
She couldn’t stop the wide smile that crossed her face in that moment. Maybe, just maybe, he was finally beginning to trust her a little.
Cassie could only pray that was right, or their truebond didn’t stand a chance of ever forming.
“You want me to go where?” Raven slid behind the wheel of his car and wondered if his father had lost his damn mind.
“Nebraska.”
Nebraska. “Why?”
Robin laughed, the sound full of wicked delight. “Don’t whine, child. You may find Nebraska suits you far more than you expected. I know I did.”
Raven sighed. “Fine. What’s in Nebraska other than cow shit and soybeans?”
“The High King.”
Raven sat back, his car keys in his hand. “And how the hell do you know that?” Raven had barely begun his investigation. There was no way Robin, still at the Gray Palace, could have found Oberon so quickly. Not even the Hob was that good.
Or maybe he was. Who knew what the Hob was capable of?
“I got an anonymous email from one of my Blades who forgot his lord has a pet gremlin.” Robin’s tone had gone silky smooth, almost lethal. Gremlins were fae who could manipulate machines, and the one Robin spoke of was their leader, Big Red. “Head to the Dunne farm. I’ll send you the address to plug into your GPS. Ask Jaden Blackthorn why he didn’t send the High King directly home, if you please.”
Blackthorn? And here Raven had thought the vampire completely loyal to the Hob. He’d certainly seemed close to Robin when they’d met in Philadelphia. “Yes, sir.”
“Don’t hurt him.” Robin’s tone changed, relaxed. “He’s done this sort of thing before in order to protect someone else. If my suspicions are correct, he’s working under either Oberon’s orders or the direction of a seer named Shane Joloun Dunne. If that’s so, discover exactly what they think they’re doing.”
“Do I go in the front door? Blackthorn and I don’t exactly get along.” Raven started the car, eager to get on the road now that he had a direction.
“Yes. Don’t bother hiding from them. The Dunnes can be trusted. And Jaden is…family.”
It was true, then, what Raven had seen in Blackthorn’s eyes when he’d sworn himself to the Gray. “So you have children the Black Queen doesn’t know about?” Raven whistled. “That’s going to piss her off.”
“He is mine, my blood, but not in the way you are. It’s complicated.”
“It still makes him a target.” Anyone with the Hob’s blood was desirable as far as the Black Queen was concerned. A vampire with Robin’s power flowing in his veins would be damn near irresistible.
“It’s known he’s mine. And he would not be easily swayed by Black Court blandishments. You will find that Jaden Blackthorn is surprisingly strong despite the fact that he has barely breached his first century.”
“Hmm.” The pride in Robin’s voice when he spoke of the vampire had Raven almost snarling with jealousy. He’d just gotten his father in his life, and now he found himself sharing the man’s affections with someone who wasn’t even a sibling.
Robin laughed again. “Ease your heart, my son, and go to the Dunne farm. Trust me.”
“I already do, or I wouldn’t have come to the Gray.” Raven hung up the phone and punched in the address.
He was going to Nebraska.
Lovely.
“You were right. I do like chocolate.” Oberon munched on the trail mix, ignoring the way Cassie tried to snatch some from the container for herself.
The urge to give her some—hell, to give her whatever she wished—was so strong he had to fight to keep the trail mix in his lap.
“You are so greedy.” She laughed, the music of it sliding through him.
“I am.” Greedy for more of that laughter, of those smiles. He would do almost anything to bring them out. And that urge frightened him almost as much as his lack of memory.
She blew her hair out of her eyes again. “Have some yucky yogurt raisins instead.”
He bit back a smile. “But I’m enjoying the trail mix.” To prove it, he took a big handful and poured it into his mouth.
She reached into the container just as he did, their hands tangling together. The car swerved as she jerked her hand free. “Sorry.”
Even in the dimming light he could see the dark red blush staining her cheeks. “Don’t be.” Perhaps this attraction he felt wasn’t one-sided. He still wasn’t sure if he wanted to act on it or not, but the fact that it might not be just him who was wanting was tantalizing.
She cleared her throat. “Have you remembered anything else?”
“Not a great deal.” He wasn’t about to inform Cassie that he was certain now it was a demon who’d taken Titannia away from him. Not yet, anyway. Not until he was certain he could trust her a hundred percent.
No matter what Shane and Jaden told him, Oberon trusted no one. Not until they had proven themselves to Oberon’s satisfaction and no one else’s.
“When we stop for the night I’m going to try and heal you some more.” She bit her lip. “I think that’s one of the reasons Shane wants us near water. My powers will be stronger the closer we are to the ocean.”
“So if we were to actually go into the ocean you might be able to bring all my memories back?”
“Maybe.” Her tone was bland, but her reluctance was obvious. For some reason, the mermaid did not want to go swimming.
“Cassie.” The danger to her obviously came from the sea, mermen who would turn on her. Was she a wanted criminal? Or was something else going on? “I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.”
The sideways glance she shot him was full of irony. “Funny, that should be my line.”
At this rate neither of them would survive this. “I’m trusting you with my life, Cassie. I’m asking you to give me something in return.”
“You have no idea what you’re asking for.” Cassie pulled off the highway. It seemed they were stopping for the night earlier than planned. “Besides, once your memories return, you’ll know it all anyway.” Her face fell. “And then I’ll have to leave.”
No.
Everything in him screamed in denial at the thought of never seeing Cassie again. Already her presence was becoming essential to him. The idea that she could be out there, hurt, hunted, unable to make her way back to him…
He took a deep breath, trying to control the rage filling him as dark clouds raced across the sky. Whatever was after her would not take her from him.
Nothing would.
First he needed to determine what the threat was. And if she wasn’t willing to tell him on her own, he’d work even harder on getting his memories back.
She pulled into a motel with a sigh. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Even he could hear how cool his tone had become.
She put her hand on his knee. “I don’t think you understand. Until your memories are returned and your harmonies realigned, you’re highly suggestible.”
“Meaning?” A chill ran down his spine.
“If those men had captured you, you would have believed most of what they told you, if not all. The only reason you’ve begun to remember your true self at all is because—”
“You sang to me.” He had no doubts that Cassie had saved him from a fate worse than any he’d faced before. The black glass sculpture and the men they’d fought off proved that.
Those men had known to look for him on that road. He was beginning to wonder if he’d truly gotten out of the Gray Palace on his own, or if he’d been sent out. Another thread of memory he would have to pursue when Cassie sang to him again.
She nodded. “I don’t want to influence you in any way. You need to be you again, not what I, or anyone else, thinks you should be. If I tell you too much, I’m afraid I might alter those harmonies. I want you to be Oberon, not my version of Oberon.”
He relaxed, some of his coolness warming at her reasoning. He could hardly fault it. “Then why did you bring me to Shane?”
She pulled her hand off his leg. “Shane sees things others don’t. His powers are…unique, and he told me the only way to truly save you was to bring you to him. I don’t know what he showed you, other than the one statue.”
“Which one?”
“The fanged one. And I don’t want to know what else he showed you. I don’t want anything to taint your healing, not even me.”
It was frustrating, but he could understand her point. “I don’t like it.”
“I am aware of that.”
“I’d much rather you just told me what’s wrong.”
She sighed. “Believe me, I’d rather do that too. I’d rather you weren’t in this position at all, but you are.” She brushed her bangs off her forehead. “Please. Be patient. I’ll do whatever I have to in order to give you back what you’ve lost.”
“At what cost?”
When she got out of the car without answering he wanted to grab her and stop her from whatever it was she was planning. Something told him the cost wouldn’t be to him.
And it might be far higher than he’d ever ask her to pay.
Chapter Seven
“Relax. This won’t hurt a bit.”
Cassie winced at the cold glance Oberon sent her before he settled on the bed. “Do your worst.”
Damn it. He was still upset that she wouldn’t give him the answers he wanted, but she’d told him the truth. She didn’t want to influence him too deeply. It was bad enough she could feel the urge to bond with him, to claim him in the way of her people. She didn’t even know if the High King felt the same pull she did, but she remembered the way he’d looked at her when she’d offered to heal one of his Blades. It had only been a couple of weeks ago. She doubted once his memories returned he’d feel any differently than he had then. He’d made it clear her presence was unwanted.
Once he remembered, it would be over. The man who’d shoveled trail mix into his mouth would turn once more into the cool, composed King who’d turned his back on her without a second glance.
But that didn’t matter. None of it did. All that mattered to Cassie was making sure her bondmate was fully restored, no matter what it would cost her.
Cassie began to hum, gradually aligning her voice with Oberon’s harmonies as she began to sing.
She could see the dark threads of discord winding around his harmonies, but they seemed looser already, quieter, especially where his earliest memories resided. One harmony in particular seemed to be freeing itself somehow, the wild notes dancing and twining through most of Oberon’s life.
That harmony must be Robin Goodfellow, the madcap Hob who most thought was Oberon’s secret son. Cassie wasn’t so sure. There was nothing in Oberon’s song to indicate a child had been born to him. Robin’s harmony appeared fully fleshed out from beginning to end, as if he sprang into Oberon’s life fully formed, a being of raw power made flesh.
So she followed that thread, untangled it from the discordant notes, set it free to run wild through Oberon’s melody.
His body jolted hard, but Cassie kept singing, kept tugging harmonies free of the dark threads. She wasn’t able to eliminate those threads and, left unsung, they would continue to wrap around his harmonies. If they were separated, they would still muffle and eventually replace his harmonies.
Shane was right. She needed to get him to the ocean, where her powers were strongest. She’d give him breath, and sink below the waves with him.
She just prayed they wouldn’t get caught by Pacifica.
Healing Oberon was turning out to be almost as difficult as dealing with Shane’s illness had been. Then, Shane’s blood had been infested with a black, ooze-like parasite that was torturing his mind and raping his gift of sight. Only the death of the one controlling the poison had caused the parasite to die.
Thank the gods this poison was not like that other one. Akane had known who’d poisoned her bondmate and, together with Jaden and Robin Goodfellow, put an end to it. If that had been the situation, if it had been another child of the Hob’s who’d done this to Oberon, Cassie wasn’t sure what the cure would have been.
She had no idea where to even begin looking for someone like that. It was bad enough they had a traitor in the Gray Court. Having it turn out to be a child of Robin’s would have been devastating to both men.
No, this poison, this spell, was different from what had been done to Shane, and she could only be grateful for that. She would be able to heal the High King, she was certain of it. But she would need the power of her native element in order to do it.
She allowed the song to wind down, humming the last bars as she disengaged from Oberon’s harmonies. “How do you feel?”
He stared at her, his expression troubled. “I remember him.”
“Robin?”
He nodded. “We’re family.”
“A brother?” That would explain what she sensed about Robin’s thread in Oberon’s life.
“In a way, I suppose.” Oberon smiled, the expression full of fondness. “Gods, we were so young then.”
“You and Robin.”
“All of us. The Tuatha Dè Danaan still existed then, and I was but one of many under the rule of Nuada Airgetlám, the Silver Hand.” He grimaced. “The king had sensed something in the wind, something he feared greatly. So he sent me to investigate.”
“And you found Robin.”
He chuckled. “What I found was a mass of nothing. At first I couldn’t understand what my king feared so, that he would send me to investigate what appeared to be air. But there was purpose behind the swirling mass, an intelligence I’d never before faced. So I began to speak to it, calling it to me, curious in that way only the young and foolish can truly be.”
Siren's Song: The Gray Court, Book 5 Page 7