“Shall we?” Garnet gestures toward the long, red carpet that leads from the parking drop-off loop to the white and blue riverboat bobbing at the end of the dock.
“Sure, why not?”
“Take my hand, Lady Druid.”
I chuckle and strike off under my own steam. “Pass. I’ve been walking on my own since I was eleven months old. I can make it a few hundred feet to a boat.”
“That’s not the point.” His voice is tight. “By entering the meeting on my arm, a message is conveyed that you are here as my guest. There will be a great many powerful people in the room. Having them know I won’t tolerate aggression toward you will go a long way toward me keeping you safe for the next few hours and upholding my oath to your father.”
I sigh and look up at him. “Seriously?”
Garnet arches an ebony brow, his long, wavy hair framing his face and brushing his pecs. He’s an easy foot and a half taller than me and a hundred and fifty pounds heavier. As far as the intimidation factor goes, between him and me, he wins hands-down.
“Fine, but I want it on the record that it rankles everything in me to play the part of the swooning female to your big and brawny.”
“Noted.”
I step closer, and when he bends his arm at the elbow and holds his hand up ahead of us, I rest my palm on his wrist. “And I may not have the heightened hearing of a lion shifter, but I heard the amusement in your voice when you said that.”
He chuckles and runs his free hand over his mouth to sober. “Apologies. I find your lack of pomp quite entertaining. I admire your transparency. It’s refreshing.”
“Yeah, but we’re still in the honeymoon stage. You’ll likely change your mind once we spend more time together.”
“Then I suppose time will tell.” As much as this guy might seem like the consummate gentleman, I hear my father’s warning playing on a loop in the back of my head. Da doesn’t make accusations lightly, and he’s come across Garnet Grant enough times in the past years in the police stations to take a serious disliking to him.
The wind coming off the lake holds the bite of winter, so I flip the collar of my jacket up to protect my neck. We stop our stroll along the red carpet to collect two champagne flutes from a server stationed as a greeter.
I feel bad for the guy. It’s chilly out here.
There’s another arrival ahead of us, so we amble to the side and wait for the congestion to clear.
Garnet offers me my glass of champagne, and I stare at it. He chuckles and leans down to speak directly into my ear. “It’s a mimosa, not poison. Would you like me to take the first sip and be your royal taste-tester?”
I flash him a haughty look and accept the glass. “In honor of transparency and before we embroil ourselves in more guild business, may I ask you something?”
He sips from the edge of his glass and shrugs. “Ask away.”
“What is it that gets you and your men arrested so often that my father has you pegged as one of Toronto’s biggest crime lords?”
He chokes on his champagne, and I give his broad back a couple of whacks to clear the pipes. “Is that what he told you?” He guides me farther off the red runway and lowers his voice. “Your father thinks I run a crime syndicate?”
“Well, not in so many words, but I know my father. He’s a father first, a cop second, and a druid third. For him to take such a disliking to you, it’s because you offend something he values. Since it’s not my brothers or me, the next most important thing to him is his sense of law and justice.”
Garnet nods to a male in a double-breasted suit and waits until the man passes before talking. “I’ve researched him extensively over the past weeks. He’s rather rigid in his moral code. I’m sure living up to that level of censure was tough.”
I swallow my drink and laugh. “Nice try. I see what you did there, but no, we’re not turning the conversation around on me. I am very clear about the lines my father draws between right and wrong and agree almost completely with how he views the world. My question is what you do that lands you in the station enough to be put on his naughty list.”
By the change in Garnet’s demeanor, I know I’ve struck a nerve. He studies me with a cold gaze and takes another long sip of his drink. “Honestly, Fiona, there are people in the world who simply dislike those who have more than them.”
I stiffen and step back. “Not my father, which—if you researched him as you said—you know. Niall Cumhaill wouldn’t care less if you owned half the city as long as your moral codes aligned. Which they don’t, or you wouldn’t have tried to front.”
Garnet narrows his gaze as his frame grows rigid. “Just because someone doesn’t want to get into defending his personal life in a public setting doesn’t mean he’s fronting.”
“Maybe. Or maybe your admiration of transparency doesn’t extend past protecting your king-of-the-castle image. Too bad. I was genuinely starting to like you.”
I swig back the rest of my mimosa and stride over to the ship’s purser, who is greeting the guests. He’s adorable in his sailor suit and white gloves, and I figure if all else is a bust on this riverboat to Hell, at least there is some nice scenery.
He reaches forward when I arrive at the boarding planks and takes my hand. “Welcome aboard the Jubilee Queen. Your party is gathering for appetizers on the upper deck. We hope you have a wonderful cruise.”
I step across the boarding planks and smile. “I doubt that very much hotness, but thanks for trying.”
Chapter Two
The Jubilee Queen lets off a long blast of its foghorn to signal us disembarking from the dock. The jostle of the engines gearing up rocks the ship, and I sway. Garnet is there to steady me and places a possessive hand at the base of my spine.
“Say what you will against me in private, Lady Druid, but I take my oath seriously and won’t leave an opening for you to be harmed. I would rather you be angry at me than have to kill a colleague I respect because my position on the matter is unclear.”
“Um...thank you?” I’m not sure where I fell by the end of that oration but whatevs. “I get it. You’re better at appreciating honesty than you are offering it. As an alpha, I expect admitting flaws and exposing weaknesses to others is unsettling. I’m sorry I hopped on a soapbox.”
The relief on his face gives me hope. At least on some basic levels, I understand where Garnet Grant is coming from. After we take off our jackets and hand them to the girl behind the coat-check counter, we head off.
He lets me take the stairs first, and I feel the warmth of his gaze on my ass. I’m not sure whether to be pleased that my ass really does look awesome in these pants or weirded out because he’s old enough to be my father.
“Huh,” I mumble as I settle at the top of the stairs.
“Something wrong?” Garnet asks.
“It’s just…this is the luncheon for the Empowered Ones of Toronto, isn’t it?”
“Your point?”
I shrug. “Nothing. I guess I expected it to be more Hogwarts majestic dining hall and less next-door neighbor’s bridal shower. You know her, remember? She belongs to your quilting guild.”
He arches an ebony brow and chuckles. “Right, how could I forget? Janine. We’re BFFs. Is she the one standing on her porch holding a yappy ball of fur?”
“Yes, that’s Skippy. What that dog lacks in size and character, he more than makes up for in incessant barking at anything that moves.”
“Charming.”
“You have no idea.”
“Grand Governor,” a man says as he steps up to Garnet. His skin is mossy green, and he smells a little like he took a bath in swamp water before coming. “If I knew we were free to bring arm candy, I would have done so as well.”
I stiffen as Garnet’s hold on my hip grows tighter. “Malachi, now, now, we both know you’ve never had the grace or the charms to secure arm candy. If you’d like to say Lady Cumhaill is beautiful, perhaps make your comment as simple as that. Women appreciate transpar
ency—or so I’ve been recently reminded.”
“We do.” I force a smile for Malachi and muster as much sweet and sincere as I can summon. “Thank you, by the way. I like to think my pleasing exterior distracts men from noticing I’m both intelligent and deadly. In a battle, it helps to be underestimated from the beginning.”
Malachi cants his head to the side like a puzzled dog.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Garnet says in that amused tone of voice he seems to get around me.
He uses his hold on my hip to guide me away from that conversation and straight toward a lithe girl a little older than me with long silver hair and more fringe than John Wayne. Animal hide bellbottoms ride low on her hips, and beaded braids fall on both sides of her slender face.
When she turns to greet us, I notice she has the same tipped ears and panther grace as the French-kisser I met in the Doyle grove.
“Suede Silverbirch, this is Fiona Cumhaill.”
Her face lights up with genuine warmth. “Fiona, a.k.a. the girl who’s finally more annoying to the males of the Lakeshore Guild than me? Nice to meet you. Happy to have you around to shake things up.”
I like her immediately. “My pleasure. If truth be told, so far, all my offenses have been reactive, not proactive. If it weren’t for the members of the Lakeshore Guild coming after me and mine, you’d likely still have your place at the top of the annoyance list.”
Her grin is wide and infectious. “I’m sure I would. Come, have you tried the appetizers? They’re delish.”
I look back at Garnet, but he holds up his hands and surrenders me to the force of nature that is Suede Silverbirch. When we’re out of earshot of the men, she hugs my arm against her side and faces me toward the food selections. “Let’s talk fondue. Are you a cheese or chocolate girl?”
I laugh. “Chocolate. One hundy percent.”
“Oh, thank the goddess. I didn’t want to be the only one. Come, let’s dig in and make them all puff up in protest.”
“Hey, one of my specialties.”
The two of us set up in front of the chocolate fountains, and she hands me a small white plate. “Okay, here’s the lowdown. Me, Garnet, and Zxata—you see that swarthy guy with blue hair standing in front of the picture of the queen? That’s Zxata—yeah, we’re trustworthy.”
With a tilt of her head, she draws my attention to a tall, Korean man in a blue suede blazer. “Xavier is head of the vampires. He and his sect are only as loyal as greed allows. If you have an understanding with them and they get a better offer, you’ll lose out. Count on that.”
She picks up a few pineapple chunks and a couple of strawberries with the metal serving tongs. “The hobgoblins are all assholes, which you know because Kartak of the Narrows already took a run at you as a favor to Droghun. That’s not over, so don’t take your eyes off him in a crowded room.”
Not over? Awesomesauce.
“I have no grievance with him. I wish he’d drop it.”
“Sorry, sweetie. Never going to happen. You denied him his vengeance, you killed his men, and you brought their dishonorable behavior of attacking outside the scope of the charter to light. You’re walking dead in their opinion. That fight is coming your way, so be prepared.”
“Forewarned is forearmed, right?”
Suede grabs a wooden skewer, stabs it into a chunk of pineapple on her plate, and holds it under the flow of dark chocolate. I do the same but pick milk chocolate.
“Okay, what else?” She looks around the room while she chews on her fruit. “Make friends with the mages. They’re cool. Witches be bitches… Oh, and do you see the blond in black leather looking bored in the corner?”
“The kid tatted up with ripped jeans and the guitar?”
“Yep. That’s Nikon Tsambikos. Old money. Arcane powers. As much as he despises these mixers, he’s hands-down the most powerful being in the room.”
“Being? What do you mean by that?”
“I mean he’s one of the immortals. Not sure how or when but the rumor is that sometime way back when in ancient Rome—maybe medieval times—his family tapped into eternal magic.”
“He looks like he’s ready to audition for a heavy metal band but will need a fake ID.”
“Looks mean nothing with the empowered. Take a guess how old he is?”
I cast a sweeping glance his way and assess his punk spikes and guyliner. Seeing her amusement, I tack on a couple of extra years for good measure. “Twenty-one?”
Her smile widens. “Try twenty-one hundred.”
“Hubba-wha?” I dip another chunk of pineapple and swing around for another look. “Yeah no, I’d never have guessed that. I thought when you said ancient Rome you meant his ancestors, not his parents.
Suede catches one of the passing servers and snags us two more mimosas. “That’s about it for the hierarchy. The rest of us are lesser fae and shouldn’t give you any trouble. Oh, and remember that most of the people in this room can hear your heartbeat, smell your emotions, and tell if you’re horny. Try not to be horny. It makes the men cocky and stupid.”
“I’m not horny.” I scan the forty or so people in the room and nod. “And I won’t be getting horny while I’m here.”
“Okay, good.” She takes a long sip of her drink and smiles. “So, we’re girlfriends now, yeah?”
I blink. “Um… Yeah, I guess so.”
“Okay, then from one girlfriend to another, tell me. Why do you wear the kiss of a woodland elf?”
Now it’s me choking on mimosa and Garnet patting my back as he comes up behind us looking amused. “Yes, Lady Druid. I’m curious to hear the answer to this one too. Woodland elves don’t offer magical favors for no reason. What did you give him?”
As I glance around the room, I realize that at least half of the attendees are staring at me in a sideways glance. My cheeks flame hot, and I turn back to the chocolate fountain. “Nothing salacious. I saved and restored his grove. Barghest imprisoned fae and drained their essences. The elf was grateful we were able to stop it and right the balance. The kiss was unsolicited and rather unexpected.”
Suede giggles. “I’ve heard they are very good kissers.”
I offer her a small smile. “Yeah, you heard right.”
The twang-clang-twang of metal startles me, and I jump nearly out of my skin. The captain is smacking a metal baton around the inside of a triangle to get everyone’s attention. “If you’d be so kind as to move to the main deck, your luncheon will be served.”
I pat my hand over my racing heart and frown. “If you’d be so kind as to provide fresh undies in the loo, I may have just peed my pants, thank you very much.”
Garnet, Suede, and I happen to be standing at the back of the boat and take another couple of spears of fruit dipped in chocolate before we join the end of the pack.
I like being the last to move. It gives me a chance to study the players while no one’s at my back—except Garnet, who has rarely taken his palm off the base of my spine since we boarded. “Am I really in such grave peril, or do you like to have a hand on me?”
“Will you judge me if I say a bit of both?”
“I value honesty, remember? And I try not to judge.”
He lifts a muscled shoulder. “Then both.”
The crush of bodies ahead of us thins into a single file at the top of the metal stairs, and we make our way down. The chatter of close to forty people swallows the hollow clank, clank, clank of my boot heels on the steps.
The main deck is set up for a sit-down meal. With two short and two long tables pushed together in a linen-draped rectangle down the center of the ship, the empowered guests and governors are seated so everyone faces inward.
It’s a massive banquet table, and my skin tingles with magic the moment I’m fully in the room. I follow the energy and focus on the table’s centerpiece.
It’s a low rock wall fountain that runs the surface’s length and provides a visual division of space complete with little cascading waterfalls of fae-enriched
water.
It’s the only thing remotely interesting or magical in the room, and I have a feeling it’s directed at me. What I’m not sure about is whether the nod is in my favor or not.
That sparks another thought. “Have you had one of these lunch meetings on a boat like this before?”
Garnet flashes me a knowing smile. “No. It’s a first.”
Okay, so the entire location is directed at me. Nice.
I take another gander around the room and wonder what other messages might point my way. On the far end of the room, the cutie sailor sits behind the bar. On the near end, beside us, a table sits heaped with all manner of daggers, swords, and guns.
“I assume it’s rude to be armed at the table?”
Garnet dips his chin. “These luncheons have been known to come to bloodshed. It’s best if the weapons of greatest temptation not be too convenient. Have you anything you’d like to surrender, Lady Druid?”
I shake my head. “Nope. I’m good.”
Birga and Bruin are part of me, so tough noogies. I’m not surrendering them.
“I’ll catch up with you after, Fiona. Good luck.” Suede pats my arm, but before she peels away, I catch her wrist.
“Don’t abandon me now. I thought we’d sit together.”
“I can’t, sweetie. The tables are grouped by power rankings. Druids don’t sit with elves. You can call and command magic. I possess nature magic. That’s two different worlds in this crowd.”
I’m not sure what she sees in my face, but she shakes her head. “Don’t get gnarled up about it. It’s the way of things. We’ll reconnect upstairs for dessert.”
Without waiting for an answer, Suede glides off and takes a seat on the opposite side of the room.
I scowl at Garnet. “Segregated seating based on race and power levels? Seriously?”
A Family Oath Page 2