The Wood Queen (17 page)

Her shoulders tightened and she had to resist the temptation to leap to her feet. “
That’s
what you want to talk about? You really are just here to give me the sales pitch on the Order of the Crow? Classy.”

He flushed. “No, it’s not like that!”

“But that’s exactly what it sounds like.”

Robert leaned toward her, capturing her gaze with an intensity that surprised her. “I just think you might do better away from Ironbridge.
Far
away.”

“And you know what’s best for me, all of a sudden? We only just met.”

“It’s not so much about what’s
best
for you, rather than what might be … worse for you.”

She stood up, straightening her coat and fiddling with her gloves. “You’re not making any sense. If you can’t just spit it out and stop with the cryptic shit, forget it. Time’s up.”

A sudden wind moved like cold fingers through her hair and Donna spun to look behind them. Perhaps she’d been right all along about being followed, and it hadn’t been Robert she sensed before.

Frowning, she carefully examined the groups of people walking through Ironbridge Common, wondering if any of them were wood elves wearing a glamour. It made sense that Aliette might have her monitored. Perhaps the queen wanted to ensure Donna kept her end of their bargain, although it did seem strange that she’d risk expending more of her power when she could just send Ivy to tail her.

Thinking of the strange fey girl filled Donna with a confusing mixture of curiosity and envy. She immediately gritted her teeth against jealousy. She would
not
get hung up on who Xan might have been with before her. That was ridiculous, and not at all like the kind of person she believed herself to be.

But you’ve never fallen for anyone before
, argued a plaintive voice inside her traitorous heart.

Robert touched her shoulder, making her jump. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

A ghost?
She smiled, knowing the expression came out wrong even as her lips curved. “Not exactly.” She tasted bitterness on her tongue and swallowed it away.

She would
not
be that person.

“I’m fine,” she added, shaking herself free of both the dark mood and the lingering suspicion about being followed.

“Donna, I’m sorry I offended you earlier,” Robert said quickly. “If you’re annoyed with me about what I called your boyfriend—”

She cut him off. “Forget it.”
Like you care, anyway
.

Robert’s angular features twisted in what looked like genuine concern. “I wish you’d listen to me.”

“But you’re not
telling
me anything.”

“Come to London. I’m not saying that because they told me to—I swear that’s true. Just … think about it.”

Donna shook her head. “Like I have a choice, anyway.”

“Yeah, you do. You’re more powerful than you think.”

She looked at him, narrowing her eyes and trying to figure out just what the hell he knew. “I have to go.”

“Think about it.” All humor was gone, wiped out like he hadn’t recently been laughing and joking about gorgeous half-fey boyfriends. “You can’t trust the Order of the Dragon.”

Tell me something I don’t know
, Donna thought. But all she said was, “I really have to go.”

She turned and ran through the Common, all the way back the way they’d come. Back toward Xan’s.

This time, Robert didn’t follow her.

Donna tugged her steaming mug of coffee closer and watched Xan—who was shirtless—working in the open-plan kitchen. The dining room, where she was sitting at a huge oak table, was separated from the kitchen only by a low partition made of artistically arranged stone. Xan was turned away from her, and she could see the scars where his wings used to be standing out against the tanned skin of his back. His shoulders were wide and his waist narrow; he was ridiculously perfectly formed.

It was only those thick, ropelike scars that marred his beauty. At least, they would in the eyes of most people. Donna’s lips twisted into a bitter smile as she glanced down at the silver tattoos covering her arms and the backs of her hands. She knew a little something about pain and scars.

She looked up and found Xan watching her, casually sexy in a pair of low-slung jeans and bare feet. He was holding a bag of bread in one hand.

“How many slices?”

The smell of eggs made her mouth water. “Four.”

He did the single-eyebrow raise she’d always envied in Nav. “I like a woman with a healthy appetite.”

She blushed, suddenly feeling self-conscious around him. This morning’s verdict, along with her escape from the mansion and her conversation with Robert, had left her reeling. But now that she was back here with Xan, everything they’d shared last night came back in a rush. Of course, there was still the tiny matter of Ivy and what the changeling girl’s past relationship with him might have been, but she could keep that worry in the background.

It wasn’t like she didn’t have more important things to stress about. For a start, she had to decide which bombshell to drop on Xan first. The fact that she was being sent to London? Or the whole deal-with-Aliette thing?
Ah, decisions …

Normally, it would be pretty tough to concentrate when faced with a shirtless Alexander Grayson, but right now the only thing on Donna’s mind was saving Mom’s life. Xan had proven that he knew a few things about faerie
doors, and she needed to hear any ideas he might have about sending the wood elves home. And after everything he’d suffered at the hands of the wood elves, he deserved to know what she was planning.

She could only hope that he would understand her motives—that he would still help her.

Xan turned back to the gleaming, modern stove and reduced the heat on everything. Tossing the bread back onto the wide expanse of marble-topped counter, he padded over to the table and stood next to her chair, gazing down at her with warmth in his viridian-bright eyes.

“You’re quiet,” he said.

She smiled. “Maybe I’m just shy.”

“You don’t have to be shy around me, Donna.” He extended both hands and smiled at her in return.

Donna clambered awkwardly out of the chair and let herself be drawn into the warm circle of his arms. Her head barely came to his shoulder. She breathed deeply of his pine scent, rubbing her cheek against his golden skin as he held her tightly against him.

She rested her hands on his lower back and looked up into his eyes. “Let’s not talk about me for a minute.” She gave him a cheeky grin that made her feel more confident. “Are
you
okay?”

“Best I’ve felt in years. In fact, I can’t think of a better way to spend my birthday.”

There was laughter in his voice and she pulled back to see if he was joking. “What? It’s really your birthday?”

He lifted one shoulder in what she took to be a vaguely self-conscious shrug. “It really is.”

That made him twenty.
Twenty!
Aunt Paige would kill her if she knew she’d almost spent the night with a twenty-year-old guy. Not that she cared what her aunt thought about anything—not anymore.

“Happy Birthday to me,” whispered Xan, his breath hot and inviting against her face as he bent his head to hers.

Donna shivered with anticipation, but before she let his lips touch hers she put both hands on his chest and pushed him away. “Hold it right there, Mr. Grayson.” She mock-glared at him. “Why didn’t you tell me it was your birthday?”

He tried to grab her hands, but she sidestepped him and crossed her arms. “Seriously, I wish you’d told me.”

His shoulders slumped and the teasing expression drained away. “I never celebrate my birthday. It’s been a long time since I had anything to celebrate.” His voice was flat, giving nothing away.

Donna bit her lip and watched him for a moment, almost able to breathe in his sorrow. “What about your parents? I mean, before they got divorced and your mom went back to England. They must have done things with you to, you know … celebrate and stuff.”

Xan shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans, pushing them even further down his hips. He watched her through the too-long bangs that she always had the urge to cut. “Yeah, but only when I was a kid. I haven’t had a real birthday … thing … for the last four years.”

“Oh.” Donna found it hard to imagine not being fussed over for her birthday. Despite the sadness and loss in her own life, Aunt Paige had always made her feel special on her birthday.

He shrugged and turned back to the kitchen. His voice was muffled as he clattered the pan with the probably dried-out eggs onto a ceramic tile next to the stove. “This is the first time in a long while I’ve felt like there was some hope for the future, you know?”

Pain tightened Donna’s chest. She wished she could forget all the panic and drama in her life—put it on hold just for one more day—and give Xan the best birthday he’d ever had. But she didn’t have time. Mom didn’t have time.

“Xan—”

There was a loud banging at the front door before she could continue, and she almost let loose a scream of surprise.
What an idiot
, she thought with disgust. She was so on edge it was ridiculous, jumping out of her skin at the first loud noise.

Xan was already heading for the hallway. “It’s probably just some mail for Dad,” he called back over his shoulder. “Stay in here though, just in case.”

In case what?
she thought, idly tracing lines in the sugar she’d spilled. She was trying not to think too much about Aliette and their agreement, but she knew that she couldn’t keep it from Xan for much longer.

He kicked the dining room door shut behind him and Donna was left in sudden solitude. The sound of the humming refrigerator was the only thing to break the
silence as she waited for Xan to get rid of whoever was outside. Tapping her fingers against the smooth wooden table, she found herself more able to look at her tattoos without wincing. Either this was a total coincidence, or it was some kind of weird side effect of her new teleporting super power.

The door opened and Xan walked back in, his face shadowed with what looked like barely repressed annoyance. Donna pushed back her chair, eyes widening as soon as she saw why Xan looked so uncomfortable.

Navin Sharma walked into the room, his ever-present biker jacket in place and his hair untidy from the sharp wind outside.

His hands were pushed deep into the pockets of his jacket, and the tension in his shoulders was probably only visible to someone who knew him as well as she did.

“Hey, Don,” he said, his voice steady and his dark brown eyes focused only on her. “What’s up?”

Now this, Donna thought, was what could only be described as uncomfortable.

The three of them had moved to the spacious living room, Donna and Navin sitting at opposite ends of the long couch and Xan slouched in an armchair, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his bare feet golden against the impractical white carpet. He had refused to put on a shirt and just sat there belligerently, looking all
masculine and dangerous, a coiled anger sizzling below the surface of his deceptively calm exterior.

The testosterone in the air had almost singed her eyelashes as she’d given Navin an awkward hug and then curled up in the furthest corner of the couch.
And what had gotten into Xan?
Sighing, Donna wondered if she should take the bull by the horns and tell them
both
about her bargain with Aliette. Tell them at the same time and then make a run for it, perhaps? See how angry they got, and no doubt listen to them try to make decisions for her about what she should and shouldn’t do.

Yeah, that seemed like the perfect plan.

It wasn’t that they wouldn’t understand her need to save Mom’s life, of course, but that wouldn’t keep them from worrying about her safety—not to mention the fact that, once again, she was dealing with the very beings who had tortured Xan in his childhood and kidnapped Nav just weeks ago.

Donna pulled down the cuffs of her sweater and smiled nervously at her best friend.

“I was worried about you,” Navin said, refusing to even glance in Xan’s direction. “Your aunt has come over to my house twice already, asking about you—since you just disappeared from the Estate.”

Of course she has
, Donna thought savagely. She wants to tell me more lies. Anything to keep me within the ranks of her precious alchemists.

Clearly wondering about her silence, Navin continued. “Dad and Nisha are getting suspicious—especially since I cut classes today to be at the verdict.”

“You were at the Frost Estate?” Xan’s voice was harsh and accusing.

To his credit, Navin didn’t wilt under those twin emerald laser beams. “Sure.
Someone
had to be there for Don.”

Oh great
, Donna thought, cringing internally.
Thanks for that, Nav.

Xan continued to glare. “Of course. Because they’re far more likely to let the commoner trash in before they’ll let the halfling trash cross their sacred threshold.”

Navin ignored that and turned his attention back to Donna. “So you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.”

He glanced at the shirtless Xan and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I can see that.”

Flushing, Donna scowled at him. “How did you know I’d be here, anyway?”

He just looked at her with an expression on his face that said,
Duh.

Flustered, she bit her lip and wished that both guys would make more of an effort with each other—this was the third time they’d met, and she was especially surprised at Xan; he wasn’t exactly helping the situation. He could be a little nicer to her best friend. There was an unpleasant, self-satisfied sort of expression on his face that was really starting to piss her off.

Men
. Seriously, why did she even bother?

Donna forced herself to take a deep breath.
Calm
, she told herself.
Stay calm
. She couldn’t risk doing that bizarro disappearing trick at the moment—too much needed to be done. She’d already figured out that extreme emotion seemed to trigger the teleporting.

Xan stood up. “So, I have to get going.”

She stared at him. “You do?”

“Yeah, sorry. I forgot about something … somewhere I need to be.”

But I have important things to tell you!
Donna tried to communicate this with her eyes and her non-existent telepathy, but he wasn’t even looking at her. He’d gone all shifty, and she didn’t want to call him on it in front of Navin.

Which is exactly what he’d counted on. That much was obvious.

Watching as Xan gathered his things and shrugged into his long coat, she wondered where the hell he could be going in such a hurry. What could be so urgent that he’d leave her when she’d just been exiled and still had to rescue her mother? Not that he knew any of that, but he
did
know she had something she needed to talk to him about.

Donna swallowed, trying a different approach. “I thought we were going to do something for your birthday.”

“I’d love to,” he said. “Tonight would be great, if that’s okay with you.”

“Sure,” she replied, trying to keep her tone as casual as his. Tonight she’d be in the Ironwood trying to open a door to another world, but she couldn’t say that now—not when she didn’t understand why he would just disappear
on her like this. Was Xan angry about Nav being here? And did that really offer the guy she’d almost slept with last night an excuse for bailing
right now
?

Interesting that they’d met
Ivy
last night.

Donna was beginning to feel glad they’d gotten interrupted by her crazy new ability before things could go too far between them; she didn’t want to rush into something with Xan if it turned out that all her instincts about him were wrong. She sincerely hoped she was right about him, of course, but she wasn’t so blinded by her growing feelings that she couldn’t be more careful.

He was already at the door. “I’ll call you later.”

And then he was gone.

Mom needs me
, she told herself fiercely. Nothing—and nobody—was going to get in the way of that. Not her aunt and the rest of the alchemists, not a changeling girl called Ivy, and certainly not Xan’s erratic behavior.

But first, she was going to tell Navin everything—no matter what it cost.