by C. D. Hersh
He placed the second braided cord over their hands. “The white stands for consecration, devotion and truth. I pray for the blessing o’ these things in yer lives. And sae the second binding ’tis made.”
Delaney gave him the third cord of pink, brown, and silver.
“The pink o’ this cord represents unity, happiness, and love. The brown ’tis for grounding, healing, home, and hearth. Do ye promise tae strive for these things in yer relationship?”
“We do.”
“The silver ’tis for protection, inspiration and vision. I pray for the blessing o’ these things in yer lives.” He set the cord over their hands. “And sae the third binding ’tis made.”
He took the fourth cord of yellow. “Balance, harmony, comfort. Do ye promise tae strive for these things in yer relationship?”
“We do.”
“Then I pray for the blessing o’ joy in yer lives.” He arranged the fourth cord over their hands. “And sae the fourth binding ’tis made.”
Eli held the final cord of red, green, and gold high over his head. “Red for passion and commitment. Green for success and prosperity. Gold for endurance and clarity. The three cords are bound taegether for a connection that canna be broken: the mortal world, the celestial world, and the other world.” He lowered the cord and wrapped it around Alexi’s and Rhys’ hands, tying all five cords together over the plaid. “And sae the final binding ’tis made.”
He took their hands in his. “As this knot ’tis tied, sae are yer lives tied taegether, entwined in an intricate knot. Ye are man with woman. Woman with man. Hirt tae hirt. Triune in self, in life, and in love. Have ye rings tae exchange?”
“We do,” Rhys said as Harry fished in his vest pocket.
Delaney slipped the simple gold band she held for Alexi off her finger and handed it to her as Alexi passed her the bouquet.
“Laddie, place the ring on yer love’s finger and repeat after me. I, Rhys Temple, do take ye, Alexi Jordan, tae be my one and only love. I will hold ye in my hirt, protect ye with my life, and remain by yer side no matter the circumstances o’ our life. I vow tae remain true tae you alone, till death do us part.”
Rhys recited the vows.
“Now you, lassie.”
“I, Alexi Jordan, do take you, Rhys Temple, to be my one and only love. I will hold you in my heart, protect you with my life, and remain by your side no matter the circumstances of our life. I vow to remain true to you alone, till death do us part.”
Eli beamed at the pair. “A thousand blessings be upon ye both. May ye be blessed with long life and peace. May ye grow auld with one another and be blessed with riches and wealth beyond gold and silver. By the powers o’ the elements o’ the air, the fire, the water, the earth, and the stone, I now pronounce ye man and wife. Laddie, ye may kiss yer bride.”
The lump in Delaney’s throat nearly choked her as Rhys kissed Alexi. Harry glanced over the smooching pair’s shoulders, his mouth quirked into a smile, his eyes dancing.
She scanned him. What was he feeling? He radiated clear red tinged with bright pink. Lust and love. The pink wavered and disappeared. She blinked, wondering if she’d really seen it. Did he love her? Or was it wishful thinking on her part?
Eli spoke, drawing her attention off Harry. “Ye can come up for air, laddie.” His voice held a hint of amusement.
Alexi clung tighter to Rhys at Eli’s comment. The couple broke apart, and Rhys planted another kiss on her head as Eli undid the binding.
She smiled broadly when she saw Delaney clutching the bouquet. “You’re next.”
“Hardly fair. I’m the only other woman in the room.” The spicy scent of roses tickled her nose, reminding her of another bouquet-the one Harry gave her.
“Guess you’ll have to get the garter, Captain.” Rhys gave him a playful punch in the arm.
Harry’s grin broadened, and Delaney’s face heated.
Eyes widening, Alexi moved to Delaney’s side and whispered, “Oh my gosh! You two are doing it! Do you love him?”
“Shh,” Delaney hissed. She frowned at Alexi then glanced at Eli. If he found out there’d be hell to pay for screwing with a mortal. Again. He had standards he expected his council to follow. She whirled Alexi around as a barrier to him and gave her a big hug. “Don’t say anything to anyone, please. I don’t want Eli to know.”
“It will be our secret. But promise you’ll fill me in.”
“A lady never tells.”
“Not that part. How it happened.”
Eli’s hand tapped on Delaney’s arm. “Time tae be sharing the bride with the rest o’ us.”
Moving aside she let him fold Alexi in his arms. “’Tis all the luck o’ the ages I’m wishing the two o’ ye,” he said. He let Harry take Alexi and said to Rhys, “Yer getting a bonnie lass. ’Twill be yer job tae protect her, but I’ll be there whenever ye need me.”
“Count me in,” Harry said. “I promise we’ll catch the SOB who tried to kill her.”
Delaney stifled a sigh. She loved conviction in a man, but he was going to be in the way. “Anyone hungry?” she asked, changing the topic. “There’s a wedding feast in the kitchen.”
“Aye. I could eat a small horse.”
“Roasted chickens,” she replied.
Eli rubbed his stomach. “’Twill do nicely.”
Dinner passed amiably with laughter and no talk of manhunts. After they’d cut the wedding cake, and the bride and groom tasted their cake politely, Rhys and Alexi excused themselves and went upstairs. Eli took his pipe out to the patio, and Delaney started clearing the table.
“Nice ceremony,” Harry said as he set a stack of plates on the kitchen counter. “Weird, but nice.”
“You’ve never seen a handfasting before?” She carefully placed the glasses in the soapy water and began washing them.
“Never even heard of it before this.”
“It’s an old custom dating to ancient Greece and Rome. The ancient Celts practiced it, too. Eli learned it there.”
“In ancient Rome?”
“No.” She hurried to cover her faux pas. “He’s Scottish. It’s a popular practice there today.”
“It’s a pagan rite?”
If he couldn’t accept a pagan rite twined in a marriage ceremony how would he respond to her magical secret? The crystal squeaked under her fierce cleaning. She blew out a breath to calm herself. Doesn’t matter. I’m not going to tell him anyway.
“Lots of pagan things are mingled in Christianity today. Easter eggs. Christmas trees. Mistletoe. Do you mind those?” Her voice sounded defensive. If you’re not going to tell him, why try to defend it?
“I guess not. It’s the newness of the idea.” He put the plates into the sink and grabbed her hands under the soapy water. “Is it something you’d want to do if you got married?”
Her heart skipped a beat. She stopped scrubbing the dishes, her hands still held in his under the soapsuds. “Why? Are you proposing?”
He massaged her hands. His fingers glided effortlessly over her skin, sending shivers of delight plummeting into her belly. “Not marriage. Not yet. But I did have something else in mind. Want to come to my place tonight?”
His place? An ache began between her legs. “Yes,” she whispered, the word barely audible. “I would like that very much.”
Removing his hands from the sink, he rotated her toward him and threaded his arms around her.
The damp imprint of his hands on her backside cooled the desire curling around her heart. “Not here. Someone might see.”
“Who? The happy couple is upstairs.”
“Eli.”
“That old coot? Who cares?”
“I do.”
Harry moved away. “Why?”
“It’s complica
ted, Harry.”
“Seems I’ve heard that about him before. If he’s giving you trouble you need to let me know.”
“He’s not giving me trouble.”
“Then what is it about him that bothers you?”
“We go back a long way.” His eyebrows rose and jealousy flitted over his face. “Not like that,” she hastened to add. “We’re old friends, and I owe him a lot.”
“More than you owe me, given our recent relationship?”
“Yes.”
“I’m not sure I like your answer.”
“There’s not much I can do about that.” She wiped her hands on the dishtowel and leaned back, placing her elbows on the counter. “What Eli thinks is important to me, and right now I don’t want to worry him with details about our relationship.”
“How would knowing you’re sleeping with me worry him?”
“He’s old fashioned. Why do you think he agreed to Alexi and Rhys marrying in spite of the situation?”
“He agreed? What does he have to do with their decision?”
Delaney squeezed her eyes shut. If she didn’t end this conversation soon, she’d have more than Eli to explain. “Like I said, it’s complicated. Enough said.” She rotated toward the sink causing Harry to back away. The silence behind her was deafening. Say something, Harry. Please.
“I’m not crazy about complicated, Delaney.” He scooped the dishtowel off of the counter and wiped his hands on it. “I’ll see you in the morning, at the precinct.”
Not what she wanted to hear. She held her body stiff until he left the room, then slapped the water in the sink, sending it shooting over the counter. “Damn you, Eli!”
“What would ye be damning me tae, lassie?”
She whirled around to find Eli standing in the door, his bulk filling the frame. “I . . . I didn’t know you were there,” she stammered.
“Apparently not, elsewise ye’d nae be damning me tae my face.” He scooted a seat out from the kitchen table, sat, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Sae, what have I done tae make ye sae angry with me?”
Returning to the dishes in the sink, she scrubbed a plate. “Nothing.”
“Dinna lie tae me. I can see clear through ye, ye know.”
“Don’t scan me, Eli.”
“I dinna havetae. Yer agitation shows clear enough. What have I done tae make ye sae vexed at me, especially on such a blessed day?”
She dropped the clean plate into the dish drainer and squared off with Eli. “We can start with letting Alexi marry Rhys. Don’t you see this can only lead to trouble?”
“I dinna know how. The marriage o’ two Promised Ones, in league with us, canna be anything but guid.”
“We don’t know Rhys, Eli. We don’t know who he is as a shifter.”
“Alexi knows him, and I trust her. As for him being a shifter, I’ve seen him with my own eyes. I had tae convince him tae take on the duties. I dinna think we havetae worry aboot him. He’s a guid man.”
“He’s a powerful man. Maybe even more powerful than you.”
“There are none more powerful than me, Delaney.”
“No? Then how did he pull life force from you? You’re immortal, Eli, and he drained some of your essence. How do we know he hasn’t added immortality to his legendary set of powers?”
“He canna get it that way. It can only be bestowed by me passing it on. I dinna intend tae be passing anything on tae anyone just yet. My time as Keeper o’ the Stone isnae anywhere near its end.”
“Unless he figures out some way to kill you and take your powers.”
“Yer barking at the moon, Delaney, and I think yer trying tae sway me from what’s really bothering ye.”
Grabbing a dirty plate, she plunged it into the sink. “I am not.”
The swishing water and the squeak of the sponge on the dish sounded loudly in the quiet kitchen. She held her breath waiting for his response. The scrape of the chair against the floor broke the charged silence.
“Yer lying tae me, Delaney.”
She felt, rather than heard him approach her. Her hands stilled, and she held her breath.
His hand rested gently on her shoulder. “It dinna work with a mortal yer first time. Spare yerself the hirtache agin.”
Facing him she said, “It’s my life, Eli.”
“Aye, ’tis. But I hold the power in our world.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“Nay. Merely saying a truth.”
His expression, full of reproach, stung her to the core.
“If ye keep running down this path, lass, ye’ll havetae make a choice. Think on it long and hard.”
She had been, and it was tearing her apart.
Chapter 24
Delaney pushed open the morgue door. “Anything on Paul Forrester?” she asked the coroner.
“Forrester?
“The missing persons’ report I brought you. Did you match him yet?”
The coroner rummaged through a pile of papers on his desk. “Got it right here. Sorry I haven’t sent it yet, but we’ve been inundated with corpses.” He handed her the file. “In my twenty years on the job I’ve never seen this many dead bodies appear in such a short period of time.”
“Neither have I.” Probably Sylvia’s work or some other rogue shifter trying to lend credence to Sylvia’s terrorist activity claim. Thanking the coroner, she took the file. “FBI security on this one, remember. If you think of anything else, contact me and only me.”
“Got it,” the coroner said.
Back at her desk, she found Paul Forrester’s address in the files. Harry came in as she slipped her jacket on.
“Going somewhere?” he asked.
“I’ve got some business to attend to.” She stuffed the paper with the address into her purse and slung the strap over her shoulder.
“Anything I should know about?”
Stopping, she debated what she should say. The coroner would keep the information quiet, but if Harry caught her bringing in Forrester’s wife for an ID he’d want to know why he hadn’t been read in. There was nothing unusual about this death she could pin a terrorist spin on. If she kept this one secret it could increase tension between them if he found out.
Sighing, she dropped her purse onto her desk. “We found the identity of the guy that surfaced at Settler’s Landing.”
“We?” he said. “I don’t remember getting a memo on it.”
“I found the identity.”
“How?”
“Doesn’t matter. I was on my way to inform the wife.”
He picked up the desk phone. “Damn Blake. He should have informed me.”
She put her thumb on the receiver button, cutting off his connection. “Don’t blame him. I ordered the results sent to me.”
“Don’t push it, Delaney,” Harry said, becoming a shade of claret. “We may have something going outside the office, but you can’t run behind my back on official business. That dead body is in my precinct.”
“So is the FBI and Homeland Security. You’ll be kept in the loop when it’s necessary.”
“Any dead body in my town is in my jurisdiction.”
“Which is why I told you.”
“Were you planning to if I hadn’t come in and found you ready to leave?”
“Eventually.” She slung her purse over her shoulder again. “Since you know, want to come along?” she asked, praying he’d say no.
He strode around his desk. “Don’t bother to throw me a bone.” He dropped into his chair and started shuffling papers. “I’ve got too much to do anyway. Make sure you fill me in later.”
“You found him,” Mrs. Forrester exclaimed when she saw Delaney at the door.
“Yes, we did.�
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A scowl narrowed the woman’s eyes. “Send the jerk home. I swear, when I get my hands on him-”
“You misunderstood me when I said we found him. May I come in?”