by Autumn Dawn
* * * *
Scy sighed and set aside the piece of wood he'd been carving. "I know why you're asking, gorgeous, but the information you're asking for would violate my oath and upset more than one sleeping snake I'd rather let lie."
Leo sat on the footstool opposite him and eyed him suspiciously. "You wouldn't interfere with a murder investigation, would you, Scy?"
One dark brow lifted. "And since when has Jackson authorized you as an official justice maker?"
Pink frosted Leo's cheeks and the tip of her nose, but she continued doggedly on. "Does it matter? None of those he ordained got the job done."
"And you think you can do better?"
"We might."
His gaze remained steady. "This is no light matter you wish to jump into. Those you would tamper with have been under Jackson's surveillance since the incident, with no results. The odds of you--”
"We have a new plan," Andrea interrupted. "This one will get results."
Wary now, he gave her his full attention. "What plan?"
She gave him her pleasantest smile. "One for one. You tell us what you can, without breaking your oath, who had a rough birth and we'll tell you the plan. But you have to give us your word not to tell anyone what we plan to do."
"But I can 'hint' about it, right?" he said rather sardonically. "This seems to be your standard."
"Do you want details or not?" Leo snapped, neatly sidestepping the issue.
He regarded her for a moment without expression. "There are three. One is a female who has been dismissed by all concerned as innocent." He waited.
"The plan involves bait," Andrea told him. Leo madly scribbled notes.
The muscles in his jaw tensed. "The female in this case is unusual of the three. Her father is believed to be neither human nor Haunt."
Leo's jaw dropped and the point of her stylus broke. "You can't mean...." She fell silent at his curt nod, stunned.
Intrigued as she was, Andrea knew that he was purposely sidetracking them, and they couldn't afford it. "The plan depends partly on spreading a rumor."
Scy rubbed his shadowed jaw. "One of the men is a warrior. His father was Haunt."
"Was?" Leo asked, leaning forward. "Mathin the Ravager?" She held her breath.
She wasn't the only one. Every bit as riveted, Andrea leaned closer. What would her Mathin say? Did he know?
Scy's curt nod sent her breath out in a wobbly exhale. She'd never expected this! "We've thought of a way to ambush the bad guys."
Without looking at Leo, keeping his eyes locked on Andrea, he continued with growing ire, "The third is also a spawn of Mathin the Ravager. He sits before you now, growing more concerned about your sanity by the second."
Chapter 11
Andrea choked on her own saliva. Mathin's brother? No wonder he was so cute!
Leo actually recoiled. The momentum sent her backwards over a footstool and onto her rump. "Ow!"
A low growl erupted from Scy as he bent down to glower at her where she sprawled on the floor. "Did you think I would suddenly carry you off and eat you? Haven't I had enough chances over the years if that was my plan?"
Aware that Leo's reaction probably hurt, Andrea tried to distract him. "Not to seem rude, but as a half-Haunt, what abilities do you have? Can you hear and smell like they do? Change? Detect Sylphs?"
He ran a hand through his hair, then got up and paced, his expression half-savage. "Partly to the stronger senses. No to the change. Yes to the Sylphs, which means your plan won't work. I knew you for one the moment you arrived, and Leo has been one from the moment she came back from visiting the Haunt."
"What!" Leo squawked. Still pale, she stared at him. At least she was once again sitting on the stool.
He shook his head, a slight, knowing smile on his lips. "Your purging didn't work. Jackson doesn't know, and lucky for you. He'd throw a fit."
Overcome, Leo slapped a palm to her forehead, mouthing silent oaths.
Scy returned his attention to Andrea. "Those who can tell already have knowledge of you both, yet have done nothing at this point. Why do you think you'll have sudden success now?"
Questions spun in Andrea's mind. She searched his face. "You must not be as strongly affected by the Sylph pheromone as the Haunt."
"Why do you say that?"
A tiny smile edged at her lips. "I don't see you, er, perusing Leo with the vigor typical of a full blood."
"The way your lover pursued you?" he asked softly. "That is how you know so much about it, isn't it?" When she said nothing, his gaze slid to Leo. "There are herbs a man can take." His smile held little humor. "I've become intimately acquainted with Leo's fertile cycle, when the pheromone is strongest. It is not something a man wants to encounter unprepared."
A pink blush made Leo's expression of misery more acute. "I'm sorry...." She stumbled on the words, unable to go on.
He picked up the wood he'd been carving, just held it. "It doesn't matter."
But it had to. Andrea's throat ached. How apart he must feel--one of the Ronin, but more as well. Was that why he hadn't yet married? Did he dread his wife discovering who he was and possibly loathing him for it? To be the child of rape ... she couldn't imagine. But this was so much harder. "Do you have any brothers and sisters?" she asked softly.
"No. No family that acknowledges me. Mathin's other spawn and I don't talk, nor do we have feeling for each other." His face hardened. "Our sole link in common doesn't make for cozy conversation."
The next question that spun in her mind made her blush ten shades of red, and it was far from delicate. But really, how..? "Er," she cleared her throat. "Um, how does ... uh, being half Haunt affect your ... your...." She couldn't say it.
He tilted his head curiously. "What?"
She waved him off.
"What?" he demanded, growing impatient. "Say it!"
Andrea toyed with the edge of her shirt tail, examining it in minute detail. "Are you only allowed to mate with one woman?" She couldn't believe she'd just asked him that.
For a long moment he stared at her in utter silence. "I'm flattered," he said slowly, "but--”
"Not me, you idiot!" she hissed, mortified. He thought she was propositioning him! She darted her eyes in Leo's direction and mouthed, "Her!" Fortunately Leo was looking anywhere but at them.
Vastly relieved, he exhaled and relaxed, resting his forearms on the back of the couch. "Oh." His grin was slow and very heated. "Why do you think I'm in such a hurry to find a mate, or such a popular lover? I satisfy--and find satisfaction with--my partners without pressuring them to give up more than a maiden should. But I find myself growing restless." His hot gaze captured Leo's, and his voice dropped to an intimate murmur. "It is time for more."
Leo shivered.
Sorry she'd asked, Andrea cleared her throat and said briskly, "Right. Thank you. Now, about the kidnapped Sylphs...."
All friendliness faded from his now mocking expression. "You want to know if I did it." Before she could answer yea or nay he continued in a tone that dripped sarcasm, "Yes, I took five women--”
"Five!" Leo exclaimed.
He spared her a glance. "There were two others from other settlements that you haven't heard of." He returned his attention to Andrea, but this time his soft tone ached. "I took five women, including my grandmother, and sold them off to a mad woman for her sadistic experiments."
An ache so fierce it closed her throat made Andrea look away. She had to tell Mathin about this man!
Much subdued, Leo asked, "Can you help me purge the pheromone from my system, Scy?"
"I don't know. We can try, though I don't know why you'd bother. The swamps aren't exactly swarming with men who'll notice."
"No, only one killer who's hunted down Sylph before," she snapped.
"And you'll not go near him." He straightened up. "It's too dangerous."
Leo's expression remained mutinous.
"Don't press me, woman." A hint of Haunt fire made his blue eyes glow.
"Not over this."
Understanding too well that Leo was playing with fire and what kind, even if Leo didn't, Andrea reached over and gripped Leo's shoulder, saying calmly, "The plan was to quietly surround ourselves with protection and then spread a rumor that an old friend of Yesande's wished to take up where she left off."
"No."
Unwilling to hear a word against their idea, Leo stood up. "You have no authority over us, Scy, and taking this to my brother won't stop me. Why give up this chance--”
Equally furious, and far more tense, he moved closer until they were almost nose to nose. "You don't know the man you're dealing with. Even I could barely take him--”
"Even you?" she demanded, incredulous. Her expression became so patronizing that Andrea groaned. This was not good.
Oblivious to the buttons she was pushing, one by one, Leo went on, "You may be a decent hunter, Scy, " she gestured to the snake skins, "but I've yet to see you practicing with the warriors or besting anybody."
Andrea put the back of her hand to her brow and groaned. No brother of Mathin's would take that lying down.
"Perhaps because there would be no contest?" His tone was absolutely confident, almost insolent. "I'm no easy mark, blue-eyes. If nothing else, Mathin's blood makes me a soldier you pray you'll never see in action." He tossed the wood block on the table. "I've known from childhood that none of these could ever take me."
Knowing that Leo was on the brink of causing a war, Andrea jumped into the gap. These two might be destined to explode sometime, but she didn't want to be anywhere near the fallout. "Okay, so modify the plan. It's still good and that guy should be brought to justice. What would you do differently?"
It took a moment, but gradually Scy unwound enough that he no longer looked capable of eating anyone. "I don't know. Something that doesn't involve this 'bait' idea. Preferably something that depended on you both being locked safely away."
"Don't concern yourself," Leo told him coldly. "We never expected--or wanted--you to become involved." She flicked her hair over her shoulder and headed for the door. Before she could blink Scy was there, blocking the way.
"I'll make a deal with you, blue-eyes." He was smiling, but there was no fun in it. "If you can take me down right here and now, I'll give you my favorite rifle and my snake skins. You'll have to be at least that good to get near your target." When she didn't move, just eyed him suspiciously, he taunted, "Come on, gorgeous. Show off some of those moves your brother taught you. I know you're not helpless, but it'll take a lot more than a few defensive tactics to kill a son of Mathin."
Andrea jumped up and put one hand on each of them before what she could see coming happened. They didn't really want to go there, did they? "I believe you, so let's not waste time with this, shall we?" Her calm tone belied her thumping heart. "We can just as easily come up with a new plan, can't we, Leo?" When both combatants stared at her suspiciously, she lifted her brows in mock surprise and made an "O" of her mouth. "Unless you'd like me to leave you two here alone to resolve this?" She tried for a leer.
It was comical how swiftly the two broke apart.
"Stay out of trouble," Scy warned them. One hand rested on his hip while the other ran distractedly through his hair. He was half-turned away, and breathing rather hard. Andrea knew he'd be watching them.
Leo's chest moved more rapidly than normal, too. There were a lot of teeth in her smile. "Of course. Would I ignore you?"
Andrea hustled her away before anything could come of Scy's hot look. Once outside, she scolded mildly, "You'd better stop baiting him unless you'd like to be bitten."
"He annoys me." Leo shot an irritated look at his house as they walked away.
"He likes you."
"Hah! He acts like my brother," Leo complained bitterly.
Andrea doubted his thoughts were fraternal. "Let me rephrase that. He wants you."
Frozen in her tracks, Leo goggled at her. "That's not true. He's never seen me like that."
Searching her eyes for clues, Andrea asked, "Are you sure? Or is that just what you'd prefer since you don't want him back?"
As she walked, Leo toyed with the edge of her jacket cuff and looked everywhere but at her. "We're friends of a sort. Have been for a long time. We carry on very well this way. I insult him, he parries. Sometimes we talk. That's all I want. Anything else would be too complicated."
"Why?"
But Leo didn't have to answer. Their wandering had taken them to a bakery, and the delicious smells inside the mellow lit shop quickly distracted Andrea. "What is that yummy looking pastry?" She pointed to rounds of what looked to be puff pastry sprinkled with green nuts and drizzled with caramel sauce. On either side of the dessert, tiers of tartlets, delicately browned, triangular biscuits and fan-shaped, pastel cookies dominated the sweets section. Domes of bread, ranging from family size to single serving, took up much of the rest of the shelves. Some of the bread had been shaped into fancy twists and fish shapes.
"What can I get you and your friend?" The baker, a rather thin, short woman with a ready smile, wiped her hands on her apron. "I've just finished a batch of meat filled buns if you'd like a snack."
Leo grinned at her. "You know me so well, Elda. We'd like a sack of sweets, too. Some of everything."
While the baker filled their order, Leo examined the shelf trim. "The carpenters did a wonderful job on these, Elda."
Elda beamed. "Know it. Charge a fair price, too, for what you get."
"I thought your son was a carpenter? Couldn't he have done it for you?"
"Posh." Elda waved a hand. "His Nilha is keeping him close and busy, what with tending to their twins. It was faster to have the others do it."
"How is she doing? I hear the birth was easy, for being two of them." She slanted at look at Andrea, who had to turn away to hide her grin. Apparently Scy hadn't cowed her.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Elda sliding a fat, steaming roll into a bag. "As easy as birth ever is." Elda handed Leo a pair of bags and told her the cost. "I thought I'd die when I delivered my boys."
Leo glanced at Andrea, whose loose clothes still hid her condition. "Well, yes. But no one ever has a truly difficult time of it, do they?" She shrugged. "After all, that's why we have symbionts."
For a moment Elda regarded her with a sharp gaze. "There's a reason if we don't, but if you're hunting for news from me you won't find it, girl. I can understand why you'd care, but it's not my place to speak of it." She turned and disappeared into the back of the shop.
Andrea blinked. "Now that was odd. How could she know--”
Equally stunned, Leo shook her head. "I have no idea. Maybe there's more here than we thought."
It had begun to rain, and they had to dash through the worsening storm to reach Leo's tree.
Andrea shook droplets off her hands and went in search of a towel and dry clothes. At least it had let up enough to give them time outdoors. By the time she had finished, Leo had opened the sacks and a bottle of lightly fermented juice. She'd also put on the glass kettle for tea.
"What do you think Elda meant?" The meat roll was very good, but Andrea's mind wasn't on food. "If you think hard you might find a memory that might have something to do with it."
Time passed as Leo munched quietly. At last she said, "Nothing comes to mind." She took a sip of her juice. "However, I'd lay odds that my brother knows something of this. Getting him to tell me might be more of a miracle than I can expect in a lifetime, though." She traced her lips with the edge of a thumbnail, her eyes unfocused. "We could continue with this line of questioning, however, and see where it leads."
Stumped for ideas herself, Andrea just nodded. The baby was making her tired and, though she was loath to admit it, a little weak. The daily walks and mental stimulation were good for her, but Leo was going to have to do most of the footwork. Besides, Leo knew these people and she didn't. What help could she possibly be?
* * * *
Mathin read his wife's latest lette
r, then sat in silence before the fire in the banquet hall.
This might be difficult.
He took a long drink of his wine, smiling without humor. His wife had a gift for understatement.
Thought you needed to know....
Had he? Had he really? He crumpled the edge of the letter in his fist and then tossed it aside. For most of his life he hadn't known about these strangers spawned of his father's madness. No doubt they were content to keep it that way as well. What did his wife think, that the three of them could take up friendly relations as easily as sitting down to dinner? The criminal included?
His head ached. Massaging the bridge of his nose, he tried to think, plan. He missed his wife. Worry for her clouded his mind. Not one night in five did he sleep well, knowing she was far beyond his reach.
As soon as she got back he would speak with the medic. He was never going to jeopardize her again, even if it meant giving up the chance of future children.
* * * *
As days dragged into weeks, and then months, Andrea's condition began to be noticed. Also noted was her general pallor, her frequent visits to Scy and the ease with which she tired. Subtly, the responses Leo got to her questions began to become even more sympathetic. More than one person asked her outright if Andrea was the reason she asked.
Surprised at the knowing questions, Leo fumbled a reply and found it expedient to stop asking. So far they'd gotten little in the way of results, anyway. Oddly enough, once she stopped, people began to seek her out. Most who came ended up visiting with Andrea. Often they brought gifts of food or baby clothing, especially once she made it clear that she already loved her child and was looking forward to its birth. "I love my child," she said rather forcefully to a matron who hinted at pity for her. "How could I not? He's half of me."
One kindly older man she often saw at the children's play area with his grandchildren as she walked brought her a book one day.
"It's very lovely, and thoughtful of you," Andrea said warmly to him as she caressed the beautifully bound history. "But I have to confess, I can't read."