Knight in Leather (25 page)

“Did you deal with our little problem?” Ethan asked him.

Colin sighed and pulled his gaze away from Dasha. She was going to need to grab that shirt from Ethan to clean up, or else go have a dip in the stream. If she had to go adventuring, she didn’t want to be tromping around with sticky thighs.

“Well, yes and no,” Colin said.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Ethan asked.

“It means that I caught up to her family.
Charming
bunch they are, let me tell you.” Colin rolled his dark-as-night eyes and gave his limp wet hair a swat. “Made me wonder if perhaps someone should
forget
to tell them the realm is collapsing.”

“
Colin
,” Ethan warned. “Get to the point.”

Colin sighed dramatically. “No one appreciates a good, rousing story anymore, but
fine
. I swam across the channel to them. Took me a while to get a read on them. I hung back about a week to familiarize myself with who they are and what they and the others like them in this realm are like. I don’t like going into scenarios half-cocked.”

Ethan raised a brow.

“What? I’m not just pretty, you know. I
do
have a brain in my head.”

“Go on.”

“They’re nutters. The whole bloody lot of them.”

“Inbreeding.”

“Yes, I suspected that. I imagine that what makes you so attractive as a potential mate is that you
could
shift into something resembling a merman if you wanted to, so they likely don’t see the genetics as completely disparate. Anyhow, I informed them that the shop was closed, and that Laurel wouldn’t be…” He made a noncommittal gesture. “You know.
Fertilizing her fields
with your help. I made them understand that you already have a mate and that Laurel’s not her.”

“How much effort did that take?”

Colin scoffed and pinned his gaze at a suspicious point below Dasha’s neck.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her cleavage.

He groaned. “A
lot
of effort. A good comparison would be having to paint a house, you know? I had to clean up all the old, chipping paint first and then go in with a fresh coat.” He batted his eyelashes at Dasha. “That’s figurative language, dearie.”

She ground her teeth. If she weren’t in a post-orgasmic haze with slow reflexes and little desire to do much of anything except roll onto her belly and sleep, she might have popped him already. “I’m familiar with the concept.”

“But they understand now?” Ethan asked.

“Yes, they understand. They feel awful about Laurel and her brother what’s-his-face. They’d like to have him back.”

“Nah.”

“I figured you’d say that.”

“You said
yes and no
, so I assume that means that you didn’t catch up to the lady herself.”

“That would be a correct assumption.”

“Fuck.”

“Maybe she’s not a big deal on her own.” Colin shrugged. “She’s just one woman who doesn’t have much magic to her credit beyond the ability to turn half-fish when she steps into water.”

“Right. A woman who’s recently spoken directly to the queen about me and who’s probably feeding Rhiannon all sorts of information about The Hearth and the people residing there.”

“For all you know,” Dasha said, “she’s with Rhiannon right now.”

Colin cringed. “Well, that’d be unfortunate.” He hooked his thumbs into the belt loops of his borrowed jeans and cocked his head. “I guess we could just wait and see.”

“I’m not going to wait around here like a sitting duck. Lure her out—wherever she is—and deal with her. She’d be one less problem to worry about when we need to be devoting our efforts to getting the hell out of this place.” She rubbed her unsettled belly. The conversation was making her nausea flare up.

“Sounds like a brilliant idea,” Colin said brightly. “How do you suggest we go about doing that? Set a mermaid trap? Sprinkle a little bit of tuna fish on a plate and hope she takes the bait?”

Slow reflexes or not, Dasha’s slap hand was starting to tingle, and Colin was
so
asking for a bruise. She didn’t care whose mate he was. If he was going to be a dick, she was going to put him in his place and worry about Daryn’s feelings on the matter later. If Dasha had to make a guess, though, she’d say that Daryn would
want
her to check the demigod on his foolishness. Dasha would be saving her some work.

“I know stalkers,” she said through clenched teeth. “I had one. I understand what’s motivating her, and I can probably guess what would trigger her to move.”

Ethan furrowed his brow. “I hope you’re not suggesting that—”

She pressed her hand gently over his lips and shook her head. “Right now, her impulses will be to either get you on your own so she can try to ingratiate herself to you again, perhaps even escalating her tactics, or to eliminate what she perceives to be as obstacles keeping you from giving her what he wants.”

She leaned against the sideboard and let out a breath.

“Ben thought trying to get me fired was a good way of going about that.”

“What purpose would that have served?” Colin asked.

“Think. If I were unemployed and without resources, I would have been looking for support. He thought I’d have to rely on him financially and that he’d be able to keep me under his thumb.”

“I’m going to kill him,” Ethan muttered.

Dasha dropped her hand. “Don’t waste your energy. He’s not worth the hassle, and I’d prefer that he have to live with all his regrets. Certainly by now, he realizes he has some and has plenty of time to ponder them…since he’s in prison.”

“Why is he in prison?”

She ran a hand over the back of her neck and ground her teeth to keep from spitting out the unnecessary and angry words she held in her heart. “Because I helped to put him there, okay? He kept violating his restraining order, and a FBI agent who’d been investigating him for some other thing wanted me to help her ensnare him. The ordeal was stressful, and I’m not ready to rehash what happened. I’ll just say that the agent and I both got what we wanted in the end. He’ll probably be out in a couple of years, but I doubt he’ll be able to get close to me by then, anyway.”

“Since you’re moving back to North Carolina.”

“Really? Who told you that?” She’d never mentioned her return plans to Ethan, or even to Simone, for that matter.

Ethan narrowed his eyes. “Your husband.”

She stuffed her hands into her dress pockets and gave him a lazy smile. “I…guess that would make sense. All things considered.”

“Perfect sense.”

“I haven’t lived with anyone in ages, though. You might find me entirely unsuitable for cohabitation.”

He grunted. “I doubt that. Princess Simone seemed to think you made a fine enough roommate in college. I trust her judgment.”

“I like that you like my friend.” Her tentative smile fell away. “Had an issue…with that.”

He let out a long, ragged breath, then pulled one of her hands from her pockets and squeezed it. She didn’t need him to say anything. Him just holding her hand was enough.

“I’m not sharing a motel suite with you and Sully indefinitely, though,” she said quietly.

He grinned. “We’ll get a house. Or maybe your parents can take us in for a while.”

“No way. You’re too big for my mother’s furniture. We’ll figure something out.” She rubbed her chin and pondered logistics. They’d need a garage. She’d lived without one for too long, and covered car storage was on her list of must-haves. “I’d like something with a big porch.”

“A porch would be good. And a basement. Somewhere for me to store weapons.”

Colin sighed with apparent exasperation and rolled his eyes. “So, you were saying about a
plan
?”

“No need to get your panties in a wad,” Dasha muttered. “Anyway, the plan is to bait Laurel. And I mean with me, of course. I’m her obstacle right now.”

“No,” Ethan said.

“What do you mean
no
? I
am
her obstacle.”

“I’m not refuting that you’re not a hindrance to her. I’m refuting that you should be setting yourself up as bait.”

“You’ll be nearby.”

“You’re damn
right
I’ll be nearby, but that’s neither here nor there. You’re not doing it.”

“Oh?” Dasha stiffened her spine and raised her chin. “You know, I have a habit of finding ways to do things in spite of me being told not to. You should be careful, because trust me, you’d prefer me to do things out in the open rather than behind your back.”

“I’m only trying to protect you.”

“I get that, but right now, I’m not asking for you to. Let me do my part so we can go home. Okay?”

He didn’t respond, but she knew she’d wear him down sooner than later. He’d agree.

He didn’t exactly have a choice.

Ethan was counting his bullets when Ari flew into through the cottage’s front window in the pretty purple hawk form she usually took when she had to travel by air.

She bounded into the bedroom and, after having shifted into her two-legged form, apparently, called out, “Am I late?”

“No,” Mother responded. “Mielikki is due back any minute.”

Fastening the ties of her robe, Ari strode out of the room and looked around. Her curly blond hair was a mass of tangles, as always, and her violet eyes twinkled with their usual warmth. “Greetings, brother. Been a while.”

“Aye, it has.”

“Any news?”

He canted his head toward Dasha. “Say hello to your new sister. That’s Dasha.”

“
Dasha
, is it?” Ari grinned sweetly and walked over to Dasha, who was looking a bit green around the gills—an impressive trick considering her usual brown coloring.

“Well, hello,” Ari said. “Welcome to the family.”

“Thank you. I’ve heard so much about you,” Dasha said.

“Good things, I hope.”

“Nothing but good things.”

“I’m glad. Ethan takes pleasure in exaggerating my failures.” Ari plopped her hands onto her hips and canted her head. “So, when are you due?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Your due date. What is it?”

“Huh?”

Shit
.

The ammo slipped from Ethan’s fingers and scattered onto the floor, and he couldn’t make his body move to pick up the bullets. To say he was stunned would have been like saying arsenic was just an irritant.

Ari was never wrong. Knowing when women were with child was one of her lesser-used gifts. Some goddess, and Ethan couldn’t remember which anymore, had granted her the gift after some good deed Ari had done for a young mother.

The high coloring in Ari’s cheeks drained. “Oh, dear. You didn’t know, did you?”

Dasha blinked at her. “I…
Know
? What are you telling me?”

Ari turned to Ethan. “I’m sorry, brother. Usually by the time I can give confirmation, most women already know.”

Dasha looked even greener than before.

He grabbed one of the rungs of her chair back and pulled her over to him. “Dasha. Say something.”

“I thought that…you couldn’t…”

“Not that I couldn’t, just that success would probably take some time.”

“She’s not of the Sídhe.” Mother settled into the chair across from her at the table, her lips pulled into an enlivened grin—the kind of grin that could send Dasha running for the hills.

Sídhe grandparents weren’t any less protective of their grandchildren than the children’s parents. Dasha wouldn’t be able to move three feet without some fairy looking over her shoulder at the baby.

“I’m sorry,” Ari repeated and cringed. “Would it make things better or worse if I said there’s more than one?”

Mother’s grin went even bigger, Dasha went even greener, and he stood there like a jackass, not quite sure if he was allowed to be excited.

Then he got a hold of himself.

“Dasha, do you need some tea or something?” He squeezed her hand.
Please want this.

He damn sure did. The event was unexpected, for sure, but much-wanted. If she weren’t happy, he didn’t know a thing he could do to make her feel any better. They hadn’t discussed having children…or rather, they hadn’t decided when they would consider trying.

“I… I think I’m off-schedule.”

“Aren’t you happy, dear?” Mother asked.

Ethan shot her a look. Mother might not have spent time around humans, but she should have known that certain subjects needed to be handled with delicacy. While Sídhe may have been very outspoken about their infertility, humans didn’t generally discuss sex and the potential products of it with people they’d known only a short time.

“I…” Dasha gave her head the slightest shake and pulled in a breath. “I’m stunned, is all. That’s a huge piece of news, and I don’t know how to digest it all at once. I’m…going to have a kid?”

“
Kids
,” Ari amended softly. “Two.”

“What kind?” Mother asked.

Ari fixed a soft gaze on Dasha. “Do you want to know?”

“You can tell?” Her voice was strained and her expression one of comical stupor.

Ari nodded.

“No. I…I don’t want to know. Not unless they’re going to stick. It’s too early, and I don’t want to…” Dasha pushed her chair back suddenly and ran for the front door. She tugged it open, and hurried through the opening, but she must not have gotten so far away because Ethan could hear her heaving.

He pushed back from the table, too, and followed her out. He found her just off the path, retching beside a tree.

He held the ties of her scarf away from her face and rubbed her back. “They’re going to stick, sweeting. They always do.”

“You can’t…” Her body convulsed, but nothing came out. “You can’t know that.”

“I know a little something about Sídhe pregnancies. Of course, I haven’t been pregnant myself, but I’ve picked up a few nuggets of information here and there.”

“As your mother reminded you, I’m not of the Sídhe. Dasha straightened up only to lean against the tree trunk. “Oh, Lord, I feel even worse now. My head is killing me.”

“You wouldn’t be sick if they weren’t going to stick.”

“Cute rhyme, babe, but that’s not the way these things work.”

“For Sídhe women, they do.”

“I’m
not
—”

“No, you’re
not
,” he interjected and placed a hand over her belly. “But they are. Ari wouldn’t know if they weren’t going to stay. Viability isn’t a problem for us. Getting sperm to meet egg is.”

“And because I’m human…”

“You’re more likely to release an egg. Makes sense, right?” He rubbed his chin. “Maybe we won’t have fertility issues. Until you run out of eggs, anyway. We could have a whole bloody brood of kids.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m still trying to cope with there being
two
.”

“Are you telling me you don’t want those two?”

“Fuck, Ethan. Don’t put words into my mouth. Of course I want them. I love the idea of having your children.”

“And I love the idea of you having them, because I love
you
.”

“You do?” She smiled softly, but the grin fell away when she rubbed her sternum. She bent over again and groaned. “Ugh.”

He ran his hand gently up and down her spine. “The queasiness will pass.”

And then come back with a vengeance, probably. She was probably going to have a miserable month or six weeks ahead, but he didn’t want to make her more scared than she already was. Early pregnancy plus the fetuses’ budding magic made for terrible morning sickness.

“I’m terrified because we’re not
prepared
for them,” she said. “With everything going on, I mean. And we haven’t even had much time together on our own.”

“We’ll make time in the coming months.”

“Assuming we’re back safe outside of this realm.”

“We will be. I promise. I’ll do everything in my power to make sure we are.”

“Easy to say…”

“Yes, and hard to do. Obviously, I’m motivated.”

She straightened up only to lean her back against the tree. She gulped, let her air out in a sputter of her lips, and fixed her gaze on him. “All right.”

“All right, what?”

“Let’s do what we have to do to get the hell out of here. When I don’t feel well, I like to be in my own bed, and I don’t know about you, but sleeping on a straw pallet for the past few weeks has been doing hurty-hurty things to my body.”

“I did actually have a bed here once.” He shrugged. “After I left home, my parents downsized the cottage a bit.”

“Understandable. The place is hard enough to heat as it is.” She pushed away from the tree and, listing a bit, started down the path toward the house. “Let’s see if Mielikki has come back and make sure we’re sending Ari with all the information the crew needs to know.”

Ethan hooked his arm around hers and righted her swaying walk a bit. “Dizzy?”

“Very. Need to lie down. I feel a migraine coming on. I haven’t had a migraine in five years.”

“Still want to make yourself bait? I mean, given the circumstances—”

“I believe in nipping problems in the bud. I’m not one to half-ass things.”

“Just so you know, I’m against the idea.”

“You were clear about that.”

“I’m certain my parents aren’t going to be so enthusiastic about your volunteerism, either. I’m sure they love me very much, still, but they’d be more concerned about the next generation for obvious reasons.”

“Because there aren’t many of you.”

He grunted. “On either side.”

“Well, we’ve all got to do our parts. If a fight breaks out, I doubt you’ll let Laurel get away with much.”

“That’s for damned sure.”

In fact, if Laurel harmed one hair on Dasha’s pretty head, he was going to find a massive rock to tie the fish woman to and would sink it into the deepest body of water he could find in the realm.

“Why are you grinning like that?” Dasha asked.

He cleared his throat and fixed his face. “No reason.”