“Clitheroe is not a pleasure trip and I won’t have you staying alone in London.”
“You won’t have me?” She set down her knife and fork with exaggerated care and pushed her plate aside. “The purpose of this marriage was to give me more freedom, or did I misunderstand?”
“I’m not trying to dictate—”
“Then don’t!”
“Lily, be sensible.”
“I’ve been sensible and patient for days,” she declared with the emphatic stamp of one who’d not be persuaded otherwise. “I will not pass another night out here or in Lancashire or anywhere else while there’s a demon on the loose in London.”
“Timothkin isn’t an immediate threat to—”
“Then why are you afraid of me being there on my own?” she challenged.
He was being cautious, not afraid, and he shouldn’t have to bloody explain himself. This wasn’t about him being Lily’s husband; it was about being her protector. He didn’t give a damn how safe the streets of London were, he refused to leave Lily there alone under the nose of a demon.
But if the resolve primed into the arch of her brow was anything to go by, she wasn’t setting foot outside London until the last demon had been exterminated from the city limits. Damnation.
His gaze snapped to Greyston, who was chewing on a slice of toasted bread while observing the byplay with mild amusement.
“Armand’s already left for Glasgow and Lily’s not staying in London on her own,” he told Greyston abruptly. “You’ll have to come with us.”
“I never realised that wasn’t the plan all along,” Greyston said.
It had been, until they’d misled Lily by withholding pertinent information.
Predictably, Lily took only a moment before remarking, “Greyston will have to go to Clitheroe in your stead, then.” She glanced at Greyston. “We can’t be in close proximity to each other, especially with Timothkin right there.”
“The Clitheroe investigation is too critical to delegate, if you don’t mind,” Kelan said firmly. “I’ll thank you for not rearranging my schedule.”
Her sharp inhalation warned him he’d just said something wrong, but hell if he knew what.
“We’re no longer a hazard to each other,” Greyston supplied into the cutting silence. “The scent of my blood is masked.”
“Masked?” exclaimed Lily. “What are you talking about?”
“A protection rune, tattooed to my skin,” Greyston said with a careless shrug. “You didn’t really think I’d let you go off to fight demons in London without me, did you?”
The implication of his words hit her, wiping the green spark from her eyes, flattening the determination arched in her brow. A pale, blank expression covered the realisation there’d been no impediment to Greyston marrying her; that she was the only person in the room yesterday who hadn’t known.
“I see…” She scraped her chair back and stood. “I haven’t quite finished my packing. Please excuse me.”
When it became apparent Greyston wasn’t going after her, Kelan cursed beneath his breath. “You couldn’t find a better way to do that?”
“I’d rather Lily know the truth and hate me for it than have her constantly worried about our combined scent attracting demons.”
“The truth comes in many shades, some less harsh than others.”
“And sometimes a lie is just a lie,” Greyston said. “You’ll only make it worse,” he warned when Kelan pushed to his feet.
“Don’t worry, I’m not about to entrench myself in your domestic squabbles.” Which reminded him. He paused across from Greyston. “While we’re on the subject, I’ll have your word that you and Lily will refrain from physical relations while she’s my wife.”
“You think Lily and I have—”
“I don’t think anything because it’s none of my business and I care even less about what went before or what comes after.”
“You have my word, of course.” Greyston’s gaze narrowed on him. “And what of you and Lily? Should I be asking for your word?”
“What goes on between me and my wife is none of your business,” Kelan said curtly, not inclined to ease anyone’s mind when he was still damned confused as to why he’d ended up married to Lily.
He knew the how. He’d figured the McAllisters owed Greyston and so he’d allowed the man to bow out without further ado. The puzzle was why Greyston had been so resistant to the marriage when his emotions were clearly invested.
The visible strain of wanting to object, of knowing he’d given up the right, played on Greyston’s face.
Kelan didn’t wait around to see which argument won. “Meet me in my study once you’re done here,” he said on his way out. “I’ve something for you.”
He hadn’t gone far when his path crossed Lily’s. She’d regained some colour, but the look in her eye was a dull replica of the Lily he’d come to know. Whether she were excited, furious, devastated or at peace, those hazel eyes would spark with green, shimmer with depth or bathe in saturated pools of warmth.
“Lily.” He grabbed her arm as she made to walk straight past him. “Is everything all right?”
“Besides me being made to look a complete fool?” She twisted her arm within his grasp.
He released her, but moved to block her passage. “Is that really what’s bothering you? Being made to feel a fool?”
She tried to squeeze past. “I don’t have time for this.”
“What’s the rush?” he said, stepping in to block her again.
“I need to send Evelyn a message.”
“I can’t imagine what’s left to say.” The two women had clogged up the Aether since Lily had sent the first signal about her intention to marry.
“If you must know,” she said on a sigh, meeting his gaze. “Evelyn has decided the perfect way to re-launch me into society as a married lady would be the Alternate War Office’s annual ball at the end of the week.”
“And that’s a problem?”
“It wouldn’t be, were I able to flaunt a husband at my side,” she said without any hint of accusation or ire. “Knowing Evelyn, she’ll be broadcasting our attendance from Hyde Park to Highgate and the sooner I stop her, the less questions I’ll have to field in the flaming quagmire of rumours.”
Kelan blew out a breath of frustration. Damn it all. “Then there’s no problem. Clitheroe will hold until after the ball. That gives us a day or two to settle you into my household and your new position in the ton.”
“Please, don’t put yourself out on my account. It’s hardly uncommon for couples to live separate lives.”
“We won’t be living separate lives, Lily, and it is uncommon for a young miss to disappear from chaperoned society for months.” He backed up against the wall, folding his arms. “For this to be believed, we’ll have to sell our story as a love so grand, we married without fanfare and have spent the last two months in some bloody highland love nest.”
“Bloody highland love nest?” She slapped a hand across her chest. “It must have been your charming, romantic nature that captured my heart.”
Sarcasm. A definite improvement from dull, listless and emptied, Kelan assured himself.
“However,” she continued, “there’ll be plenty of people to testify you spent most of those two months in London.”
“I’m not in the habit of relinquishing my duties or divulging the details of my personal affairs.” He gave her an encouraging grin. “I did rush back with unusual frequency and urgency.”
“You did?” Her lips turned up a fraction at the corners. “I never noticed.”
“Then I’ll strive to do better in future,” he said lightly. That fledgling smile felt like one of his greater achievements, and that from someone who’d defeated his share of demons.
He indicated for her to walk with him. “Since your packing crisis appears diverted and there’s no message to send, will you join me for a moment?”
She fell into step beside him. “Greyston’s tat
too…” She tilted her head to look at him. “Does it work?”
“The tattoo is very much like the protection rune that shields Cragloden. It acts like a barrier, masking your combined scent while inside the castle grounds and shielding outside demonic energy from penetrating. And that’s the only difference between your blood and everyone else’s; a small quantity of demon energy.” He grimaced as he realised what he’d just confirmed. “Don’t be too critical in judging Greyston’s actions. He couldn’t be sure the tattoo would be effective.”
“He sounded fairly sure to me.”
“He’s had the night to think on it.”
She drifted into a silence that lasted until they’d climbed the steps to his personal quarters. “Why?”
“Why?” He sent her a frown as he held open the door to his study.
“Why are you defending Greyston?”
“I’m not,” he replied sincerely. I’m protecting you. God knew why, but something within him rebelled at standing by, disinterested and uninvolved.
And it occurred to him as he followed Lily inside, acquiring a wife was a paradigm shift for any man, no matter the circumstances surrounding the marriage. Protecting Lily now included a host of vague connotations other than simply keeping her physically safe.
Lily glanced over the sturdy desk of dark teak and matching chairs padded in leather, the sheepskin rugs scattered on the floor and an accurate painting of the known world map covering half of one wall. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“Which one?” he said, injecting a note of politeness as his patience wavered. At the press of a concealed button, the wood panels of the wall to his left rearranged to reveal an inner door. He thumbed the dial of the combination lock and slid the latch back.
“Does the rune tattoo work?”
His impatience fled and he gave her his full attention. “Yes, and now you’re wondering why you don’t have one.”
“The shield would hinder my visions?” she asked with a perception he found impressive.
“I also suspected there might be adverse side-effects due to your demon blood rejecting the rune, although that doesn’t seem to be the case with Greyston.”
“But…wait…” Lily rubbed her brow. “Greyston time-ran yesterday morning. Did he already have the tattoo then?”
Kelan nodded. “Your visions, however, rely on a sensitive connection between you and the scent of the other demons,” he said. “I don’t believe the rune will make you sick. Will it affect the clarity of your visions?”
He shrugged, turning from her to flip the lever for the gas lamp.
A dim yellow light flooded the small sanctum tucked behind the wall of his study. His gaze flashed over the meagre arsenal and immediately found the petite dagger with a three-inch blade.
“You’re saying I shouldn’t get one?”
“The process to remove the rune is painful, literally branding it off your skin,” he called out as he dipped inside the room to retrieve the dagger from its shelf. “I see no reason to rush into anything, but it’s up to you,”
No, he didn’t think she should get the rune. Because when the time came that she saw no more demons, they’d have to remove the rune to make sure. Meanwhile, she was susceptible to demon influence. So yes, he thought she should get the rune, but he couldn’t bring himself to advise a course that ended in pain and scarring.
“Good Lord!” Lily had come closer to peer inside, her eyes frozen on the spiked iron ball and chain pinned to the wall.
“Ancestral souvenirs,” Kelan said, backing her from the doorway as he stepped out and handed her the dagger. “This belonged to my grandmother.”
Her brow went up. “Your grandmother?”
“It fits into a lady’s reticule.”
Lily twirled the slender hilt between her fingers, holding it up to the light streaming in from the window to examine the pattern of emeralds and opals. “Your grandmother kept a dagger in her reticule?”
“No.” Kelan chuckled at some of the stories he’d heard of the woman. “She strapped it to her thigh in a leather holster. That’s no ordinary dagger, Lily. The blade is forged from Cairngorm ore. It won’t kill, but can inflict the type of pain that might just inconvenience a demon long enough to buy you a few vital seconds.”
“Some ladies get a wedding band.” Lily’s fingers closed over the hilt as if she were holding a piece of cutlery. “I get a jewelled dagger.”
“You’re getting both.” He slid his hand over her wrist to guide her grasp into a firmer hold. “Stiffen your wrist, keep your fingers supple—no, not like that,” he said as the dagger almost slipped from her fingers.
“You needn’t buy me a ring.”
“Our marriage would appear odd without it, don’t you think?” His other hand covered the limp fist around the hilt to help give her a feel for the required tension. “You still need control, just flexible.”
“I’ll choose a ring from my mother’s jewellery box as soon as we get to London.”
“That really isn’t necessary.”
“Kelan?”
His eyes lifted from her hand to find her gaze on him instead of what he was trying to teach her.
“It really is necessary,” she said. “This marriage is a sham and I’d rather not wear your token proof of that.”
“Am I interrupting?” came Greyston’s drawl from the doorway.
Lily snatched her hand away, leaving Kelan to catch the dagger just before it hit the floor. He glanced across the room. “Not at all.”
“I-I should go,” Lily said, taking the dagger he pressed into her hands before hurrying past Greyston.
Greyston reached out, as if he might detain her, but then his arm fell to his side and he strolled inside, drawn to the yellow glow spilling from the opening to his left. A moment later, he shot a look at the doorway Lily had just departed through and then at Kelan. “You’re arming us?”
“A precautionary measure only,” Kelan said, pointing to the crossbow propped in one corner as he joined Greyston in the chamber. “How’s your aim?”
“Decent, as long as the target isn’t moving.” Greyston turned in a slow circle, taking in the collection. His gaze stopped on a shelf that held a short-handled axe. “How would you even intercept a demon bolt with an axe?”
“That belonged to Aster McAllister. He took out Raimlas with it in 1685; hurled the axe between the bastard’s shoulder blades. Raimlas only went down for a couple of seconds, but that was all Aster needed.” He briefly explained the unique qualities of the Cairngorm weapons as he went to pick up the sword on the lower shelf.
“My father decapitated two demons before he left it all behind for Florence.” Kelan swung the sword in a contained arc, his eyes on Greyston. “With the second one, Elibarbas, he inadvertently caught and reflected a beam of fire and discovered that rebounding demon energy on itself stunned Elibarbas for a good half a minute. Before, McAllisters had to rely on stealth and luck to get their chance at trapping a demon. Now, we could entertain the possibility of engaging in an honest fight.”
“Will you teach me?”
“You don’t have a hope of mastering the skill in time and that’s by no means an insult,” Kelan told him. “My father started training me before I learned to walk. If you come up against a demon, you’ll have to disable it the old fashioned way and if you can’t trap it within a rune in those few seconds of confusion and pain, then you run like hell. Those are the rules you play by, do you understand me?”
“Then why are you bothering with Lily and that Strobe machine?”
“Excellent reflexes are always an advantage.” Kelan lowered the tip of the sword to the stone-flagged floor. “The bow and arrow is a good choice. The more distance you’re able to keep between yourself and a demon, the better.”
“And the less likely I’ll get the demon into a rune before it recovers,” Greyston argued.
“I’d rather you run like hell than attempt a banishing.”
&nb
sp; The set of Greyston’s eyes hardened to granite. He held his hand out, his voice as hard as his stare. “I’ll take my chances with the sword.”
THIRTEEN
Having travelled overnight in the most comfortable and luxurious style afforded by the Great Northern Railway Company, Lily should have arrived in London quite rested. She hadn’t been able to sleep a wink though, her mind a whirlwind of excitement and anxiety.
On Greyston, on what truly felt like the ultimate rejection, she refused to allow her thoughts to dwell. The odd pang still struck, like a whiplash that knocked the air from her lungs, but there it was. Whatever had driven his decision, be it for her good or for his, be it selfish or sacrificial or too complicated for him to care, he’d given her away. He’d handed her unto another man.
When she thought of Greyston, a dull, ringing reverberated in the chambers of her heart. He handed me to Kelan.
She couldn’t get past that. She didn’t think she ever would.
They were a disgruntled group that disembarked at Euston Station. Kelan sombre and distracted, Greyston sniping off caustic remarks at every turn. As for herself, she was a hotbed of tension that could only partly be attributed to the demon. Between the rumours and her long silence followed by a hasty marriage, facing her aunt was bound to be an unpleasant task.
Neco stayed behind to oversee the unloading of the luggage and the rest of them were met by the McAllister carriage, a letterbox-red Landau with black trimming. Emblazoned on the door, the McAllister crest was a dominant red eagle with wings spread on a yellow shield.
The driver, dressed in matching red, black and yellow livery, jumped down as soon as he saw them, doffing his cap. “Good day, m’lord.”
“Morning, Brinn.” Kelan came to stand right beside her. “May I introduce my wife, Lady Perth?”
“Honoured to be at your service, Lady Perth.” The man clutched his cap at his chest, giving a shallow bow. “We were all mighty happy, happy indeed, when we got news his lordship will be arriving with his lady wife.”
The Dark Matters Quartet Page 40