Knight in Leather (27 page)

“Ethan is… Well, he’s what I need.” She smiled, realizing she’d told the truth. “He’s aggressive, but adaptable. He knows when to back off, and that’s so important to me. I came out of a situation where my right to say no was constantly ignored and my personal space was invaded continuously. When you’ve been in a relationship like that, you learn how important being around people who respect your boundaries is.”

Colin furrowed his brow. “Boundaries.”

“People have boundaries, and sometimes those lines change. In a relationship, both parties have to respect that. Ethan has a way of making me feel like he doesn’t want me to get away because he needs and loves me. He doesn’t make me feel like I don’t have a choice as to whether or not I have to love him back.”

“Do you?”

“Love him back?”

Colin nodded.

She smiled even broader at being able to answer that question without reservation. “Yeah. I do. This is the first time I’ve considered a man my partner. We may argue and be on opposite sides of a debate, but I think we both know that’s because we’ve had vastly different upbringings and experiences. Because he’s so adaptable, he’s able to deal with my modern inclinations and adjust his strategy in how to handle me. And trust me, he’s
handling
me. I’m not an easy woman to be with.”

“You’d admit that?”

She laughed and stirred her legs in the water some more. A little fish tickled the bottom of her foot on the way past, frightening her briefly. “I’m pretty self-aware. I’d like to think that most human beings don’t have their heads up their asses and are generally aware of their deficiencies.”

“What would you say mine are?”

She cringed and locked her stare on the woods on the other side of the wide river.

“Come on,” Colin whined. “I don’t have
that
many.”

“Well, the thing is, I don’t really know you that well, but in the time I have known you, you’ve made a pretty bad impression.”

“How can I clean myself up, then? Besides not being a…
douche
like you mentioned.”

“First things first, try seeing women as sentient,
rational
beings who have a multitude of layers, and with those layers, numerous needs beyond having someone who can put a dick in them.”

He gave her a long blink. “I don’t know what you’re getting at.”

“You’re hopeless, then. Absolutely hopeless. Good luck to you, Colin. You’re going to need it.”

“No, really. I—”

Whatever Colin was going to say to conclude that objection, Dasha didn’t hear the words. She didn’t even have time to hold her breath before something grabbed her by the ankles and yanked her down into the frigid water.

She didn’t even have time to scream.

Because Dasha had taken a few semesters of swimming to fulfill her physical education credit requirements back in college, she knew a little something about save-your-life swimming. But in none of those classes had the instructors ever discussed what a person should do if a psychopathic fairy mermaid was trying to drown her.

Having already inhaled far too much water, Dasha coughed and sputtered as she kicked and flailed—the tight grip on her ankles unceasing.

She was being pulled down, and she kept kicking—kept using up energy she didn’t have.

So, she stopped and concentrated on blowing bubbles through her nose and conserving her energy.

Laurel was stronger and, being in her own element, she was going to be unbeatable. Dasha couldn’t even lob a decent punch underwater. All she could do was be calm and wait.

She closed her eyes and went limp as she descended, willing herself not to breathe. She didn’t lift her lids again until she felt the disruption in the water near her.

Colin
.

He swam down past her, and the grips on her ankles unlocked. He gave her a push upward, and she swam in her heavy dress to the surface, not bothering to look down. She needed air—
not
to satisfy her curiosity.

Ethan grabbed her from the water as she surfaced, coughing and sputtering.

He pulled her tight against him and pounded her back. “Come on. Cough it out.”

She coughed so hard she had to wrench herself away from him to vomit. He rubbed her back and murmured soothing things in some language she didn’t know.

“Colin uses water like a mirror. Before he swam in, he let us know he was swimming down for you.”

She closed her eyes again and waited for the dizzy spell that was making her wobble to abate. “You…got here fast.”

“I’m faster than the average fairy. And I was motivated.”

Colin surfaced at that moment and swam to the edge, dragging something behind him by his fist. He crawled up unto the surface, shimmering gray tail disappearing as he moved nude onto the land.

He let go of Laurel’s hair, and she collapsed onto the rocks, whimpering.

“She had a little cavern down there with a pocket of air. I think she meant to keep Dasha there until Ethan showed himself.”

Ethan squatted beside the wretch and twined his fingers. “Well, here I am,” he said darkly.

“You came!” Laurel pushed up onto her hands, her tailfins flicking excitedly like a puppy’s tail.

He cracked his knuckles.

“Getting angry is pointless, Ethan,” Colin said. “She doesn’t understand and probably won’t. All I can do is wipe her memory. If I do that, though…”

He put up a hand. “Yeah. I get it.”

Dasha thought she did, too. If Colin wiped Laurel’s mind, they couldn’t glean what she knew about Rhiannon’s activities. They needed that information.

“You all right, Dasha?” Colin asked.

She wiped her running nose with her sleeve and lifted the hem of her dress. Her ankles and shins were bruised, but otherwise, she was no worse for the wear. “Beyond being a bit soggy, I’m okay.” Straightening, she wrung some of the water out of the skirt. “I could use a cup of tea and a nap, though.”

“Head on back to the house,” Ethan said. “I’ll be there in a bit.”

“You’re not coming now?”

Ethan kept his gaze locked on the grinning, finned fairy. “I’ll be there shortly.”

His words were slurred, for some reason. She moved closer and saw fangs peeking out from his tightened lips.

“Ethan—”

“Everything will all right. I just need to deal with this first.”

Dasha didn’t like the tone he took when he said “deal with.” Heath sometimes took that tone when he was about to go out on a hunt. While Dasha had come to learn that Sídhe were very practical and that practicality sometimes required a certain amount of violence, she’d also come to learn that Simone did everything she could to keep Heath from acting to excess. Dasha hadn’t really understood the purpose of Simone’s little pep talks to her husband until that exact moment. Dasha needed to keep Ethan from doing anything he’d regret. She could do that. She was usually pretty good at talking people into things, sociopathic ex-boyfriends the exception to her trend.

She brushed some dirt off a nearby large rock, and sat. “I’ll wait for you.”

He gave her a long stare, darker than anything she’d ever seen from him, but she wasn’t cowed by the look. He wasn’t like any man she’d dated before. She actually
understood
him. He was generally guileless and easy enough to read. Likely, he believed he was warning her away from seeing what he thought he needed to do, but she wouldn’t have made much of a mate for him if she would walk away just because he’d told her to.

“Go on,” she said. “I’m curious to see what she has to say.”

He stared at her a little longer, fangs retracting, then turned his head slowly toward Laurel.

Laurel’s grin went even bigger.

He looked up at Colin. “Can you make her answer questions as honestly as she’s able to?”

Colin nodded.

Ethan stood and paced near the trees. “When was the last time you spoke to Rhiannon?”

“Oh, just this morning. She’s getting ready to take a trip.”

“To where?”

“I don’t know where. She said she was waiting on a portal.”

“A new portal?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Made by whom? The keyman Fergus?”

Laurel scrunched her nose. “She didn’t say anything about Fergus. Should she have?”

“She’d do best to not mention him at all. What did you want from Rhiannon this morning?”

“Nothing. I’m supposed to check in with her every morning while she has her tea.”

“Check in for what?”

“To let her know what I’ve seen. Me and the others.”

“What others?”

“Her favored ones, silly. We check in every day.” She shaped her fingers into the shape of goggles and held them in front of her eyes. “We tell her what we see. She’s very grateful.”

“And just what have you been seeing?”

She put down her hands and grinned again. “You.”

A low rumble vibrated in Ethan’s chest.

Dasha figured she’d best intervene. She was having the hardest time being angry with the mermaid. Something was just
off
about her—she was a cartoon character of an individual, and Dasha pitied her. Laurel couldn’t possibly have been completely at fault for being the way she was. Yet again, Dasha was reminded that the sword that was fairy magic cut both ways. It could harm just as easily as help.

“What have the others been seeing?” Dasha asked.

Laurel shrugged and pouted. “Oh, I don’t know. I don’t care about them.”

Colin muttered something about useless fish brains and shook his head at the heavens.

“Have you been telling her about Ethan?” Dasha asked.

“Uh-huh. I talk about him all the time. Queen Rhiannon understands true love.”

Ethan grunted and walked into the woods, likely to compose himself.

Good boy
.

“What do you know about Ethan?” Dasha asked. Before Laurel could open her mouth, she amended, “I mean, what do you know about what Ethan is
doing
?” She figured she may as well ask a pointed question since Colin was going to wipe Laurel’s memory anyway.

“Well, not much. I haven’t been able to get too close, but I know Mielikki’s been here. She always leaves behind a certain scent. I told Queen Rhiannon that Mielikki’s been here, and she got very upset.”

“Oh, fucking hell,” Colin said.

“What does Rhiannon have against Mielikki?” Dasha asked.

Laurel shook her head. “I don’t know, but after I told her that, she said she needed to take a trip.”

Dasha locked gazes with Colin, who’d started pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What do you think?” she asked him.

“In my estimation,” Ethan said, leaning against a sturdy tree, “and this is me thinking worst-case scenario, Rhiannon’s looking to bounce before she’s unable to.”

“What do you mean?”

“An old fairy like Fergus would probably be able to put a finer point on this explanation, but Rhiannon’s power increases with each fairy added to the realm. That’s part of the reason the people are stuck here although the gods gave them leave to escape centuries ago. She holds them here, because if they all go, she’ll be significantly weakened. She tied her magic in with the growth of the population. She may be connected to the place in such a way that if a certain percentage of the population leaves, she won’t be able to get out.”

“Why would Mielikki’s presence have triggered that thought for her?”

“Perhaps Mielikki isn’t the only goddess or god who’s shown up recently. Perhaps there are other Sídhe who’ve managed to garner the sympathies of the gods who abandoned us long ago.”

“And if they’re turning up now, she has to be thinking that people aren’t going to sit around and wait when they can take their chances and run.”

“Exactly. Especially if the gods are helping them escape with their power intact.”

“Hold on. If Rhiannon leaves, wouldn’t everyone else be able to? Her guards aren’t going to have good incentive to hold people here. They’re going to want to get out, too.”

Ethan nodded. “Seems to me we should be encouraging the witch to leave.”

“But if she gets out before you, she could raise a lot of hell before Prince Heath works out what happened,” Colin said. “You’ve already sent Ari through, so you’ve lost your opportunity to send a messenger.”

“No.” Ethan pulled Dasha to her feet and started toward the path. “That may not be true. For one thing, Father’s sword is on the other end. He sent it on ahead. If the magic’s intact, he may be able to use the blade like a mirror. If Sully’s near the room, he might hear us calling for him. Alternately, we have one more shot at having a flesh-and-blood messenger get word out. Laurel could go to the palace.”

“She could?” Dasha asked.

“Mm-hmm.” Ethan kissed the top of her head. “The guards outside of Fergus’s place will let her through the portal without question. She’s going to go through, and find some fairy with the right kind of magic who could get a message to Heath.”

“She is?” Colin asked.

“Mm-hmm. Be a good sport and bring her on along, will you? We’ll try calling out to the sword first, and if that doesn’t work, we know what to do.”

___

Ethan pulled a dripping wet Dasha through the door of the cottage and called to his parents, wherever they were, “Pack up whatever you can carry. We’re evacuating.”

Mother stepped into the doorway of the bedroom wearing a furrowed brow and holding her handloom. “Have you already forgotten that we can’t?”

“Not at all.” He opened the trunk near the fireplace and started piling family heirlooms inside. Someone would have to carry that behemoth, but the burden seemed a small price to pay to not have those important baubles lost to the realm’s collapse.

“What information are you neglecting to tell us?” Father asked.

Colin pulled Laurel into the cottage before Ethan could answer.

She looked around, grinning and agog.

Ethan tossed a blanket at them for her to cover herself with. “Laurel’s going through the tunnel to Fergus’s for us.”

“Is she, now?” Father asked.

“Yep. As soon as Owen gets here, we’re gone.”

“Mind letting us in on the plan?”

“Naturally, I’ll tell you everything.” He turned to Dasha who was rooting her normal clothes out of her big purse. He hated that she was going to remove the dress that suited her so well, but her own clothes would be more practical, and certainly drier. “Sweeting, when you’re done, could you fetch that pile of fabric from the workshop? And also Mother’s pattern books?”

“Sure.”

Ethan went back to stacking.

Father’s booted feet appeared beside the chest. “Mind continuing?”

Ethan straightened up and let out a breath. “We have reason to believe Rhiannon’s about to stage her own withdrawal from the realm, and we want to get out ahead of her or, at the very least, follow right at her heels. I tried to call Sully through your sword, but I didn’t get his attention. I’m surprised the magic worked at all.”

“Easier to initiate from this end. That’s why I sent it.”

“I figured. So, we’re going to send Laurel out ahead of us to Fergus’s. She’s been spying for Rhiannon.”

“And you’re going to reverse the charges now, are ya?”

“Precisely.”

Father got moving. “Moira, love, get everything that’s important. I need to remember where I’ve stowed all my knives.”

“Hello!” Laurel said cheerfully as he passed her at the door.

“Uh, yes. Right,” he muttered.

Colin plopped her into a chair and joined Ethan near the fireplace. He picked up the hand mirror from the mantel and stared into the glass. “Assume Rhiannon’s guards are out of the loop. You realize that means you’ll have a fight on the other end, right? They’re likely guarding Fergus’s place very closely if Rhiannon’s told them he’s prone to doing something.”

“I do realize that.”

“Just making sure.”

“You’re the one who’s not sounding very sure. Afraid you won’t be able to keep up once swords start clashing?”

Colin shrugged. “I do fine in a fight, and I don’t need a sword. Have you given any thought to how your mother will fare? Or your wife?”

“I’ve given that plenty of thought, trust me. I’ve been thinking about little more than Dasha’s safety for months, and I’m certain my father has numerous concerns of his own about Mother’s wellbeing. This is a calculated risk I’m certain will pay off, and I’m not
afraid
to retreat if I have to. I’ll try again tomorrow or the next day if I think the risk to my wife and my offspring will be too high. The Sídhe will do well to abandon the wait-and-see philosophy your ilk so often takes.”

Colin flinched. “I’m not trying to discourage you from making a move. I’m just trying to see where your head’s at.”

“Because you can’t understand why I make the decisions I do?”

Colin waved a hand over the mirror and bobbed his eyebrows. “I guess I don’t. I’m used to making decisions only for myself because nobody else cares. I don’t have to worry about how what I do affects other people, because there usually aren’t any other people around me.”