“Mandy. Please?”
Amanda sighed. “Fine. But you so owe me.”
“Yay!” Ruby bounced in excitement. “I’ll see you soon.”
The women exchanged quick good-byes, and Ruby slid off the railing. “Sorry, did you need something?”
An introduction to Amanda would be nice, but Raven could wait. He had a mission to fulfill before he could find the self-proclaimed naughty girl and properly introduce himself. “I have to call Robin.”
“Ah. Tell him I said hi, and to bring Michaela back for a visit when he can.” Ruby patted his arm and headed into the kitchen, leaving Raven to call his father and ponder why he so desperately needed to meet a woman he’d never even seen.
Oberon pulled up in front of the Gray Palace and sighed wearily. It had been a long, arduous drive with Cassie still unconscious. All he wanted to do was curl up around her and fall asleep for a day or two.
From the look on the face of the man waiting by the open door he’d be lucky if he was allowed to sit down for the next week.
Oberon slid out from behind the wheel and nodded. “Hobgoblin.”
Robin’s brow rose. “My king. You seem to have acquired something in your absence.” Mischief danced across his Hob’s face as the wind blew his red hair around him.
Oberon made a disgusted noise, secretly delighted that Robin was happy for him. He’d seen his Hob’s eyes dart to the woman slumped in the front seat, the flash of green that darted across the blue of his eyes. “She is one of a kind, isn’t she?”
Robin threw his head back and laughed. “That she is.” He stepped forward and offered his hand. “Welcome back.”
Oberon found himself tugged into a quick hug. Robin had been more worried than he’d let show. He returned the hug, touched that his old friend felt so strongly about Oberon’s return that he’d needed to touch him. “It’s good to be back.” He stepped out of Robin’s hold. “Do we have any clues as to who might have poisoned me?”
“Then it was poison?” Robin’s gaze darted once more to Cassie. “Was she able to give you any insight as to how it was administered?”
“Since there are no puncture wounds, she believes it might have been through something I ate or drank.”
“Checked you over thoroughly, did she?” Robin smirked.
Oberon narrowed his eyes. “Hobgoblin.”
Robin sighed. “Michaela is waiting for us.”
“Why?” He couldn’t stand it anymore. The itch to hold Cassie was far too strong. She hadn’t voiced so much as a whimper in a couple of hours, and the lack of anything from his bondmate was beginning to worry him.
“Raven called. I sent him to the Dunnes to find out where you were.”
Ah. Of course. “And Shane told you either myself or Cassie was injured.”
“And that you two had truebonded, yes.”
Oberon shook his head. “We are bonded, but I’m not sure how.” There were steps to a bonding that hadn’t yet taken place. Not that he hadn’t dreamed of it. The last three nights had been filled with Cassie, hair tangled across their pillows, her expression filled with passion as he made love to her.
“If you don’t know how a bond takes place, my friend…” Robin, that irrepressible rogue, was laughing at him.
“That’s just it. We are bound, but certain steps haven’t occurred yet.” He opened the car door and carefully lifted his truebond out.
“A Tuatha Dè gift?” Robin sauntered beside him, alert to any possible danger. For the first time since he’d found himself wandering on the side of the road, Oberon truly relaxed.
Oberon grimaced. “Making love is still part of the bond, Robin, even for us.”
“Ah.” Robin eyed Cassie. “Yet here you are, and there she is.”
“Indeed, but it’s a riddle for another day.” Oberon strode quickly toward his private quarters. “For now, we need to concentrate on Cassie.”
“And find the traitors in the court.” Robin’s black nails, normally short and blunt in his human Seeming, had become claws. Sharp fangs decorated his wicked smile, and his eyes had gone from winter-sky blue to glowing, angry green.
“Who did you set on that task?”
“Tristan Malmayne and Kael Oren.”
“Interesting choices.” The young Malmayne lord had worked as an agent for Gloriana before leaving the White Court and becoming a Blade. He’d almost destroyed the mating between Shane and Akane Dunne, unaware of her unusual reaction to ingesting gold. He’d battled the half-dragon to a stand-still, proving himself one hell of a warrior. And when he’d realized how wrong his queen was about the Child of Dunne, he’d turned away from the White and joined the Gray, and Robin’s Blades.
He was also the lord of the Gray Court’s Malmayne clan, small though it was. The majority of that clan had chosen their other lord, Henri, and the Black, much to Oberon’s dismay.
Lord Kael Oren was a pooka, and one of the most subtle, adept shifters Oberon had ever met. He’d assisted Robin in the mission that brought the Hob his mate, and had only recently been accepted as a Blade. Technically, he was still in training. Pairing the young pooka with Lord Malmayne was a good move on Robin’s part.
“A test for them, if you will.” Robin winked. “With their lofty birth, none will think twice of them moving through the court.”
“And much can be learned if you’re a chair at the card tables.” Gossip ran rampant at the parties of the High Court fae, and Kael would be perfectly placed to hear some of the juicier bits. His ability to change form to inanimate objects had assisted Robin in the search for the young Prince Evan, saving the prince’s life. The Prince had immediately joined the Gray Court, fearful that his aunt, Queen Gloriana, would have him declared tainted by the Black who’d held him hostage. Everyone knew Gloriana was not compassionate toward those who were tainted, not even her own relatives. In return, Kael had also joined the Gray, becoming a Blade trainee. So far, Oberon was pleased with the young lord’s progress.
“Indeed. I would have used Etienne as well, but the man seems to have disappeared.”
“Oh?” That piqued Oberon’s interest. He waited for Robin to open the door to his private quarters and followed him in.
“As you, I find it…curious.”
“Hmm.” Etienne Valois was a French Sidhe who had joined the Gray Court on his majority, leaving behind his birth clan to become part of the Levasseur clan. He had worked with Akane Dunne and Jaden Blackthorn, the latter very reluctantly. His dislike of vampires was rivaled only by his hatred of Titannia, or so Oberon had thought. “Could it be a ruse to throw us off the track?”
“Make a Blade disappear right after you, thus throwing the Knights of Oberon into the position of being forced to defend themselves?” Robin flopped into a chair near Oberon’s bed. “The thought had crossed my mind.”
If the Court believed that the Knights of Oberon, aka Blades, had turned on him, they would try and tear not only the organization, but Robin, their leader, apart. Some of them would do so reluctantly, some with relish, but it would happen. And if it was a Blade who had done this, Robin would be the first one to investigate them all, even the ones who were currently out on assignment or on leave, like Akane. He would be an avenging fury, worse than if the traitor had not been a Blade, for Robin thought of all of them as his children. It would break his Hob’s heart if it turned out to be one of his own who’d poisoned Oberon.
For Robin’s sake, Oberon prayed it was some courtier who’d taken a bribe, or become tainted by the Black.
Oberon carefully placed Cassie on the bed. He brushed his hand across her cheek, concerned over how cool her skin had become. She was pale, almost as pale as when her Seeming dropped, and aqua strands of hair streaked through her Seeming’s brown.
“Oberon?”
He looked up to find a familiar female grinning at him. The tiny,
silver-haired female with bright gold eyes was practically bouncing on her toes. “Lady Goodfellow.”
She squealed and dashed across the room, throwing herself at him. He reached out and caught her before she could fall. “We were so worried about you!”
“I can see that.” He hugged Robin’s bondmate tightly to him. How could he not have realized how loved he was? Had he closed his heart off that much?
Michaela squeezed him one more time before stepping back. The golden eyes and silver hair of a Tuatha Dè were stunning on Robin’s once-mortal bondmate. “All right. Where’s my patient?” She took a good look at Cassie. “Is this her?”
Oberon nodded, too worried to speak.
“Let me take a look.” Michaela sat on the edge of the bed, gently pushing Oberon aside. She put her hand on Cassie’s forehead, frowning in concentration. “Oh, ouch.” She grimaced, her expression becoming pained. “What did you do to her?”
“We bonded out of order, and I believe she’s being overwhelmed by it.”
Michaela bit her lip, her skin glowing as her power began to fill the room. “She’s drowning in song.”
He kept himself still as possible as Michaela worked, the powerful female showing her strongest gift, that of healing.
The aqua hair faded away, and color returned to Cassie’s cheeks. She was breathing easier, her chest rising and falling in a steady, deep rhythm that he hadn’t even realized had been absent.
Saving Michaela was turning out to be the best thing Oberon had ever done. The Tuatha Dè blood he’d awoken within her had given her a powerful healing gift, one Oberon both admired and envied. He couldn’t wait to see what else she was capable of as she grew into her gifts. He’d need to work with her some more, help her hone not only that gift but the others her Tuatha Dè blood granted her. Not even Robin was aware of everything his bondmate was now capable of.
When he found out, his Hob would shit kittens, as Jaden was fond of saying.
Michaela swayed as she stood up, prompting Robin to grab hold of her. “I’m fine.”
“You say that, yet you are not.” Robin settled back down, tugging Michaela into his lap.
Michaela squirmed until she was comfortable, settling her head against Robin’s shoulder with a sigh. “She was healing on her own. I just had to remind her where her own song was.”
Robin eyed him over the top of Michaela’s head. The baffled expression on Robin’s face that only Michaela seemed to elicit amused the hell out of Oberon. “Do you understand a word she’s saying? Because I must admit, I’m lost.”
Oberon nodded. “It makes perfect sense.”
The Hob shrugged, but the green in his eyes had faded away now that his bondmate was snuggled close to him. Michaela had a calming effect on Robin. “If you say so.” He glanced toward Cassie, who stirred, rolling over onto her side. She cupped her cheek with a sigh and settled back down. “Perhaps we should take this into another room, lest we disturb Cassie’s rest.”
Michaela nodded. “She’ll need to sleep for a while longer, but she’s going to be fine.”
“Let’s adjourn to my study, then.” It was Oberon’s favorite room, where he did the quiet, day-to-day work of running the court. “We can have a quiet drink and—”
“No.” Robin stood, Michaela in his arms. Oberon would bet it was something Robin did often from the way she rolled her eyes but didn’t struggle. “We haven’t gone through the decanters in your study yet. In truth, Michaela and I have not had a meal here since you disappeared.”
She grinned. “Paris was lovely, but I think I liked Venice best.”
“Did you, amore mio?”
Michaela put her finger over Robin’s lips, her cheeks blushing bright red as Robin kissed her fingertip. “Not now, dear. We have company.”
Oberon shook his head. “You two are disgustingly adorable.”
Michaela giggled as Robin carried her out of the room.
Instead of the study, Robin led them into the dressing room right off of Oberon’s bedroom. Inside, Harold, his brownie majordomo, stood holding a tray of food. The brownie had tears in his eyes as he laid everything out on the coffee table where Oberon often took his morning meal. “It’s good to have you back, sire.”
“It’s good to be back, Harold.”
Robin placed Michaela on the sofa. “Did you follow my instructions?”
“Yes, your highness.”
Robin winced. “Please, Harold.”
Harold cleared his throat, his amusement at Robin’s discomfort obvious. “Yes, your highness.”
Robin snarled, but settled next to Michaela.
Harold turned to Oberon. “I prepared everything on the tray myself, sire. I give you my word it’s safe for you to consume.”
The tinge of magic in Harold’s voice made it a vow Oberon could trust. “Thank you, Harold.”
“Wait.” Michaela nodded toward a chair. “Harold, can you join us? You know the staff that comes in and out of here better than we do. You might have some insight as to how Oberon was poisoned.”
“Poisoned?” Harold took the seat Michaela indicated, his expression grim. “Sire, you were poisoned?”
“According to my bondmate, yes.”
The majordomo straightened. “Bondmate?” He said it in a near whisper, his gaze darting toward the bedroom door. “Then Princess Cassandra is…”
“My truebond, yes.” Oberon wasn’t going to hide Cassie from anyone. The courts would get the official announcement soon enough, and it would fall on Harold’s shoulders to organize the formal bonding ceremony and ball.
Harold muttered something that sounded suspiciously like thanks or a prayer, or perhaps both. “I’m happy for you both, sire.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you wish me to send the announcements to Atlantis and Pacifica, sire?” Harold pulled out a notebook.
“Do it. A truebond trumps an arranged marriage, so there should be little resistance on either side.” Although that wasn’t always the case. The Malmayne clan, once White Court, had objected to Leo Dunne’s truebond with a mortal woman, Ruby. They’d made such a pain of themselves they’d resorted to kidnapping, attempted murder and torture, and eventually had become Black Court. The few who had not chosen to follow their clan were now loyal to the Gray, and led by Tristan Malmayne. “We’ll have to invite representatives from both courts for the formal bonding ceremony as well.” With luck, both courts would drop the issue or arrange for a different bonding. Cassie had sisters who could fulfill the contract now that she’d truebonded with him, and the cachet of having one of their daughters becoming the Lady of the Gray should appease Atlantis.
“A suitable gift should be arranged for both courts as well.” Harold scribbled some notes. “Something like a bride price, as neither court chose to back away from their contract.”
“Considering how angry both courts have been over Cassie’s disappearance, that might not be a bad idea.” Robin poured them all some tea, handing the first cup to Michaela.
“Perhaps I should discuss it with Shane.” Oberon accepted a cup from Robin, sipping carefully at the hot beverage. “He might be willing to sculpt something for us.”
“If so, he might be working on it even as we speak.” Robin smirked. “I do enjoy my time spent with that boy.”
“He is interesting, I will grant you that.” Oberon placed his cup back down and picked up one of the dainty croissants. “But now, on to more important matters. Harold?”
“Yes, sire?”
Oberon smiled, aware from Harold’s shiver exactly how cold it was. “Tell me who you suspect among my staff.”
Harold gulped. “Ah. Yes.” He took a deep breath. “There are three who linger in my mind. Your valet, your personal assistant and the cook herself. Your valet has access to the entire palace, as does your personal assistant. As for the
cook…” Harold shrugged. “If your food was poisoned, who would be in a better position to do so than her?”
His words made sense. “Robin?”
Robin nodded, vanishing from sight, no doubt to investigate the three named by Harold as suspect.
Michaela stood. “I should head to our rooms. Robin will look for me there.” She yawned. “Besides, I need a nap after taking care of Cassie.”
“Thank you.” Oberon stood as well, offering Michaela a small bow.
“You’re welcome.” She strode toward the door, her step missing its usual bounce. “If you need me, you know where to find me.” Lady Goodfellow walked out the door, yawning once more.
“Will that be all, sire?” Harold stood as well, tucking his notebook back into his vest pocket.
“Yes, thank you. When Cassie wakes, I’ll ring for you.”
“I’ll be waiting, sire.” Harold saw himself out, closing the door softly behind him.
Oberon went back into the bedroom, food forgotten, and curled around his sleeping bondmate.
Chapter Eleven
Cassie shifted. Every atom in her body ached, even her toenails.
Toenails?
She opened her eyes, surprised to see the pale blue ceiling instead of dark water. When had that happened? The last thing she remembered was singing to the High King under the waves. She’d freed him from the bonds of the dark poison, and then…
And then…
Nothing.
She took a deep breath and tried to assess the damage. Something had happened, something profound that had changed the timbre of her song. But what?
“Don’t try to move, my dear. You’ve given us quite the scare.”
She turned her head and instantly regretted it. “Owie.”
Robin Goodfellow laughed softly. “Owie indeed. Perhaps one should think before, as my mate so eloquently put it, trying to drink from the fire hose?”
Sticking her tongue out hurt like hell but was worth it. “Oberon?”
“Reinstated to his rightful place, as I suspect Shane Dunne had planned on.” He frowned. “My son has yet to call and inform me of exactly why Shane and Jaden kept the High King away.”
Siren's Song: The Gray Court, Book 5 Page 11