Bound In Blue: Book One Of The Sword Of Elements (7 page)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Taliesin’s message was clear: stay and submit or else.

I shared a look with Peter and he stepped back and was in control of himself again. “OK, I’ll do it, but I’m going to need some stuff if you want me to stay here tonight.”

“Great,” Tynan said eagerly. “I’ll go with Peter to your place. He can get what you need.”

“Thanks, but I need some personal items in my purse now, actually. It’s in my car.” Tynan blushed as I gave him the keys from my jeans pocket. Even barely alluding to feminine products was enough to psych out a teenage boy. I knew Daley was watching so I kept my face blank and innocent.

“It is settled then,” Taliesin declared. “Miss McInnis will wait in the dining room for the fith-fath to be prepared for her and Daley will give Mr. Larsen a greater introduction to our history and methods. Rowan will escort Miss Lynne to her room.” He turned to contemplate the view out the window. It was our cue to go.

Rowan had appeared at the doorway as if summoned by silent command. He gave me a rueful smile. “OK there, kiddo?”

“Just peachy,” I said under my breath as I followed him out of the room and down the hall. Daley gave me a look that promised he would find out all my secrets as he ushered Lacey and Peter back into the dining room.

“It’s going to be all right,” Rowan assured me. He’d known all along how this was going to play out and I hated him a little for making me like him so much at lunch.

I paused on the first step of the staircase. “What’s ‘all right’ about being kept here against my will?”

The man grimaced. “Don’t think of it like that. Taliesin needs to be careful, that’s all. He carries the weight and responsibility of protecting countless lives.”

“Sure, I get it. The leader of a magical army that’s supposed to protect us from King Arthur is afraid of a seventeen year old girl.” Rowan was saved from replying by Tynan bounding up to us and delivering my purse.

“Thanks.” I took a quick look inside to make sure he hadn’t gone through it, but the contents were intact.

Tynan grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs. “Rhi’s a guest, not a prisoner. I’ll take her to her room.” I followed Tynan as Rowan watched us from the foyer.

“Here,” Tynan said, pushing open the door to the first room down the hall off the landing, “this is one of the nicest.” It was a bedroom. A bit of relief somewhere in all the cream on cream would have been nice, but a large window showed the forest behind the house and the king-sized bed looked soft enough to accidentally suffocate in.

“I’ll just be a minute.” I brandished my purse and Tynan blushed again.

The bathroom was luxurious. Dropping my purse on the marble vanity, I pulled out my phone and the card from Mom’s room.

Bingo.

Tynan was sitting on the bed waiting for me when I came out. “Isn’t the bathroom great? It’s almost as big as the one in Dad’s room. We’ve had to camp out and use outhouses and latrines before, so this place is great. And the beds are . . .”

“Great?” I interrupted, but I smiled to take the sting out of it.

Tynan laughed. “Yeah.” He threw himself back onto the bed. “C’mon, try it.” I’d almost forgotten how handsome he was behind those shaggy bangs.

Playing along, I climbed into the space beside him and sank deep into the soft covers. It really did feel . . . great.

Tynan propped himself up on one elbow. “Listen, I’ll talk to Dad. He’s not usually so cautious. We lost someone recently and he blames himself. We’ll sort it out and then you can go home, I promise.” I noticed how his voice had changed, how much older he sounded, and how the almost pathological shyness he’d exhibited was gone.

I was suddenly aware of how close we were. I could see the faint line of gold around the brown of his eyes and he smelled like sugar and light sweat. His eyes widened and without warning, he leaned down to kiss me.

Whoa! Down boy!

Pushing myself away with my heels, I banged into the headboard as Tynan fumbled awkwardly to keep from falling on me. As I grabbed at the pillows to prop myself upright, a strange expression crossed his face, dark and ugly.

“I hope I’m not interrupting anything.” Miko stood in the doorway, her leather bag under her arm and a grin on her face. Tynan got off the bed while I sat up quickly.

“Relax.” She closed the door and then bounced onto the bed in front of me. “Rowan didn’t like the idea of you two in here alone so I volunteered to act as chaperone, but don’t let me stop you. If Taliesin’s going to go all prison warden on you, you might as well have some fun.”

Watching him from the corner of my eye, I could see that Tynan now looked as embarrassed as I felt. He’d gone back to hanging his head and letting his hair hide his eyes, but his cheeks were red. The best thing to do was to not make a big deal out of it. I pointed at the bag I’d seen Miko carrying around school. “What’s that?”

She pulled out the harp. “I thought it was time you two were properly introduced. Rhi, meet the harp of Binnorie.” The instrument had twisted knots carved all over the sound box and was painted in gold.

Tynan sat back down beside me. “Did Dad say you could do this?”

Miko’s eyes narrowed. “I’m Binnorie’s keeper, not Taliesin. Here.” She pushed the harp into my hands.

Startled, I nearly dropped it; it was heavier than I expected.

“Close your eyes,” Miko said. Triggered by those familiar words, I obeyed.

Thunder shook the ground and my eyes flashed open, but the world around me had changed. I should have been frightened, but I felt calm and distant, as if I were half asleep. I was standing on the banks of a wide river surrounded by misty hills. I heard a sound and turned. Beside me, two girls in long, richly embroidered gowns were arguing. They were both beautiful; one with dark curls bouncing on her shoulders and the other with a cascade of bright hair falling to her waist. In a sudden violent movement, the dark haired girl pushed the other one into the river. She thrashed and struggled to stay afloat, but the weight of her gown and hair kept pulling her under. Sister, the drowning girl cried as she slipped under one last time and was gone.

Another clap of thunder. The river had become a shallow stream and the girl’s body had washed up on the shore. White bones showed through white flesh and I was grateful her tattered gown and golden hair hid most of what was left of her from sight. A man on horseback passed by on the road and when he saw the lovely ruin by the water, he dismounted and wept over it. Retrieving a knife from his saddlebag, he went to work on the body, severing bones and shearing hair.

I was reminded of L’Inconnue de la Seine and the worship of beautiful dead things in the water.

The thunder came again and I was now in a crowded hall where a young couple sat at the head table, whispering to one another and stealing quick kisses. It was a wedding celebration. Beside me was the man who had found the body of the girl and in his hands he held a golden harp.

I walked with him as he approached the bride and groom. The harper placed the harp on the table and sweet music sprang from it entwined with a voice which pierced my soul. It sang of two sisters who loved the same man, but he loved the younger one and her golden hair. It sang of how they walked by the river and how the jealous sister pushed the other one in. It sang of the harper who wept over the body of the drowned girl and then used her bones and hair to make a golden harp.

And then the harp accused the young bride in the hall of murdering her sister Binnorie and marrying Binnorie’s beloved.

No clap of thunder, just a slow fade of the scene as I closed my eyes in the past and opened them in the present.

I took an unsteady breath. “What
was
that?”

Miko took the harp from my nerveless fingers and put it back in her bag. “You saw?” I nodded. “The harper carved the frame of the harp from Binnorie’s breastbone and made the tuning pegs from her fingers and the strings from her hair. The harp sang the truth of how Binnorie died and Binnorie’s sister was burned at the stake by the same husband she stole. I think after that the harp became obsessed with justice and uncovering hidden truths. I think it helps us find people with talent because they’re hidden too, but it’s not all-knowing and it does send us down some completely useless roads sometimes. Because of the sister’s betrayal, it took me a while to earn the harp’s trust, but it doesn’t trust men at all. It hasn’t forgotten that Binnorie’s beloved transferred his affections to her sister after Binnorie’s death.”

“Is her spirit in the harp?” I was horrified at the thought.

Miko shrugged. “Don’t know, but Binnorie must have had powerful earth magic for her bones and hair to still be alive with it even after her death. Too bad she didn’t discover that before her sister murdered her.”

I shivered. “Where did you find it?” 

“It called to me. It led me to one of those old castles in England that’s open to the public. The harp was sitting on a bookshelf, right out in the open, but no one seemed to see it. I don’t know why it chose me, but I became its keeper.”

I crossed my arms. “And now you use it to kidnap people.”

Miko laughed. “Nope, you’re the first.”

Tynan wasn’t amused. “Stop it, Miko. No one’s being kidnapped.”

“Really, Ty? Taliesin’s paranoid and you know it. I mean, I agree we need to get to the bottom of things, but we could try asking the harp instead of locking Rhi up in a tower like Rapunzel. Now that we’ve introduced them, we could do it right now.”

Tynan sat back down on the bed. “No. Not unless Dad says we can.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to get any better acquainted with Binnorie, but I asked anyway, “If the harp is so good at finding truth, why would he say no?”

Miko grimaced. “He doesn’t trust it. Or me.”

“Why not?”

Miko lay back on the bed and pretended to inspect the black polish on her nails.

“It’s the whole fairy thing,” Tynan explained when Miko didn’t respond.

I laughed and then stopped when I saw he was serious.

Time for a little payback.

“You’re a fairy? Don’t fairies have wings and put their hair up in ballet buns and need little children to clap for them or they die?”

With a sigh, Miko pushed herself up on her elbows and glared at me. “OK, listen up, cuz I’m not repeating it. Mom was a fairy—or a
sidhe
as you better call them whenever über Celt Taliesin is around—and Dad was human. He owned a ritzy department store in Kyoto—still does—and she was the model-slash-girlfriend of a well-known British lingerie designer. Did you know half the models in the world are at least part sidhe? Fairies can retract their wings into their bodies, and who else could look as good in thongs and pushup bras? Anyway, Dad was rich and kind of hot stuff so they hooked up. Mom got pregnant and I ended up with some fairy powers but no wings—genetics are a bitch. As soon as I was born, she dumped me on Dad and took off. Fairies are beautiful,
obviously
, but also lazy, cruel, and generally stupid. Dad spent a lot of time beating that out of me—literally—so when the harp called, I left and never looked back. Fairy powers are all about glamour and deceit and that makes me good at knowing the truth from a lie and not so good at getting people to trust me.”

Tynan put his arm around the girl’s shoulders. “I trust you, Meek.”

Miko shook him off and rolled her eyes again. “Because you’re an idiot who can’t even remember the first fifteen years of his life. If you did, maybe you’d know better.”

“Wait,” I interrupted, “you were serious about that?’ When Tynan flushed, I regretted asking.

“When Taliesin found him in New York, he was living on the street like an animal. He didn’t even know his own name and his abilities were all over the place.”

Tynan’s face had gone bright red, but Miko was about as sensitive as a wooden spoon. “What about Daley?” I asked to change the subject. I didn’t expect Miko to fall back on the bed laughing in response.

“Don’t,” Tynan warned. “He’ll kill you if he finds out you told her.”

“Oh, who cares!” She flipped over and looked at me with a wicked smile. “It’s too funny to not share. Daley’s been with Taliesin the longest and he’s definitely teacher’s pet. I’ve never seen anyone take Daley down, not even in practice, and he would have more control over the magic side of his abilities if he just tried harder to master it. But back then, nobody would tell me anything about him and even the harp was silent.”

“The harp doesn’t like Daley,” Tynan added.

“The harp is flammable, idiot. Can you blame it? Anyway, like I said, Daley was a mystery so I kept my eye on him.”

“He says you stalked him.”

“Whatever. I was following him one day when the weather turned bad and then it happened . . .”

“What?” I asked, intrigued.

“Daley was hit by lightning.”

“Was he hurt?”

“Nope.”

“I don’t get it.”

Miko paused for dramatic effect.  “He caught it.” She frowned. “So technically, I guess he wasn’t actually hit by the lightning.” She was on her knees now and bouncing on the bed. “C’mon, it’s no fun unless you guess. I’ll give you some clues: lightning, big hammer, imagine Daley with long hair and a beard . . .”