The Ruby Kiss (14 page)

The two of them were like chalk and cheese, but Ruby admired Aila’s quiet dignity and determination to guard the Book of Light. Ruby wouldn’t have been as selfless if she’d been locked away from the man she loved and forced to marry a book.

The two rose and embraced. “I’d love to see you again if you have the chance to return,” Aila said. “And if the nightstalker proves to be your destiny, I wish you happiness with him.”

“Shall I tell Devin you were pleased with his gift?”

Aila’s gaze dropped and she nodded. She admitted, “I have nothing to give him in return. My Magic Knot belongs to the Book of Light.”

Ruby’s heart ached for Aila and Devin. The Seelie king and
queen had a lot to answer for. The surface gloss of their court hid a rotten core.

Aila peered through the silver peephole, then opened the door into the throne room. As she did, the murmur of the Seelie hunters’ voices ceased. All eyes fell upon Ruby as she stepped into the shaft of sunlight arcing down through the clear crystal roof.

She cast around for Nightshade and Twister, expecting them to be waiting for her. “Nightshade!” she called out when she didn’t see him.

“Ruby.”

She swung around to see her father. She’d expected him to have bruises after his fight with Devin, but his face was as impossibly perfect as before.

“Where’s Nightshade?” she demanded.

“I thought you were handfasted to the Unblessed king, daughter. Why do you not inquire after his whereabouts?”

“Twister can look after himself.”

“As it happens, both your betrothed and your bodyguard are in the west atrium awaiting your arrival.” Kade halted five feet away and examined her carefully, as if he expected some physical sign that she had come into her power. “Was your consultation with Aila successful?”

“Very.”

He grunted. “Verbose, aren’t you?”

“I talk when there’s someone I want to talk to.”

His lips thinned and anger flashed in his eyes, but he hauled in a steadying breath and the moment passed. “Follow me.”

He pivoted and strode off without waiting to ensure she followed, but her desire to see Nightshade overcame her instinctive reaction to go in the opposite direction. She hurried after Kade, her skin prickling as the eyes of the Seelie hunters tracked her.

Kade led her into a lofty chamber set to one side of the
throne room. Emerald light flooded in through the crystal walls, lending the space a strange under-the-sea quality. Nightshade and Twister occupied a cream leather sofa decorated with silver symbols and set in front of an intricately carved marble fireplace. A group of Seelie hunters who’d been talking stood to attention at Kade’s approach. He appeared to hold an authoritative position.

“Ruby!” Nightshade jumped to his feet as soon as he saw her.

To hell with dignity. She hitched up her long dress and ran into his arms.

“You’re all right?” she asked.

“Me? Of course. What about you?”

Twister caught her arm and pulled her down on the sofa. “Remember where you are,” he whispered. “Do you still have your power?”

“Yes.”

His breath shuddered out as though he’d been holding it ever since she went into Aila’s sanctuary. “Thank the gods.”

Nightshade put his arm around her shoulders, angling his head to whisper, “Have you learned what you need to know?”

Ruby nodded, mindful of her father listening a few feet away. She didn’t want him to realize her limitations. Aila had explained the nature of ethereal energy, and had pointed out things she’d already been doing. It turned out that when Ruby used her artist’s vision to draw the abstract energy of plants and animals, she was seeing the source energy that manifested each living thing. But she would need years of practice before she could control the power as skillfully as the old Mistress.

Kade stood quiet, watchful, like a warrior angel ready to bring death and destruction, his arms crossed over his gleaming crystal breastplate, his wings wide, framing him. “Now that you’ve reassured your friends you are still in one piece, say goodbye to them and I’ll have someone show you to your room.”

Nightshade tensed, but Ruby checked his reaction with a murmur. This was her battle and she wanted to fight it.

“Have I just regressed twenty years without noticing?” Ruby looked down at herself. “Nope. I’m still an adult.”

“Don’t be facetious,” her father replied.

“Don’t you be a patronizing jerk.”

“Ruby,” Kade bit out. His wings extended and canted around his body so he appeared huge and intimidating.

“Let’s get things straight,” Ruby said. “You are
not
my father in any way that matters to me. I have
no
interest in you or what you want me to do. As far as I’m concerned, you can take a running jump of the nearest cliff. We’re leaving,” she said abruptly to Nightshade.

The nightstalker was on his feet in a heartbeat, followed by Twister a second later. Kade bared his pearly teeth in a snarl and raised his fist, and Ruby flinched, expecting a magical attack, but all he did was uncurl his fingers. Her three pink stone rings on their silver chain sparkled against his palm.

The room faded. Every scrap of her attention focused on her Magic Knot. Desire to possess it slammed through her. As if her life depended on it, she stumbled a half step forward.

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists. “Not. Like. This.”

“Would you walk away without your Magic Knot?” Kade asked, his silky tone weakening her control.

“Return Ruby’s stones,” Nightshade said. His voice was lethally soft.

“So she can give them to you, stalker? I don’t think so.”

Ruby pressed against Nightshade’s side to help her hang on to her control. “Aila told me it’s against the Seelie Court’s rules to take another person’s Magic Knot without permission.”

“As it is in the Unseelie Court,” Twister added.

A pink flush ran along Kade’s cheekbones. “A father has the right to take his child’s stones into safekeeping.”

“So bloody well hand them over. I stopped being a child a long time ago.” Ruby slung out her arm to present him with her open palm.

“You are still under my protection.”

“I’ve never been under your protection, and I’m not letting you control me.” She snapped her fingers. “Hand them over.”

Kade gestured, and the other Seelie hunters moved into position. “Very well. Take your Magic Knot and leave.” He dangled the chain in front of her.

Ruby trembled with conflicting emotions. Every instinct she had told her to snatch her stones from him while she could. But she wasn’t silly enough to think he’d let her go that easily. “What’s the catch?”

His lips thinned in a parody of a smile. “I have the Seelie king’s authority to detain your nightstalker friend if you won’t stay.”

“Why, for god’s sake? What’s that going to achieve?”

“Leverage,” he said.

She ran her gaze disparagingly over Kade. “Fine. Keep my Magic Knot. Nightshade is more important to me.”

Twister’s breath hissed in, and Kade stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. After a moment he recovered. “Very well, I’ll choose a male to bond with you.”

Kade beckoned one of the hunters, but Ruby didn’t spare him a glance. Her father was bluffing. He would never bond her to another man and give up his power over her.

“You need your Magic Knot,” Nightshade said softly, his gaze locked on the three hunters closest to him.

“I’ve done all right without it so far. I’m sure I’ll survive.”

“You really are beyond foolish, you stupid girl.” Kade glanced around at his minions. “Capture my daughter and throw the others out.”

* * *

Nightshade prepared to fight.

Beside him, Twister snapped, “Don’t you dare lay hands on me,” his eyes flaring gold.

“About time you found a backbone,” Nightshade muttered. He scanned the hunters’ facial expressions and body language, trying to gauge who would attack first.

A few seconds of tense silence strummed the air; then the Seelie hunters backed down.

“You’ve taken this too far,” one of them said to Kade. “We can’t touch the Unseelie king.”

Nightshade grabbed Ruby and took off toward the door.

“You can’t run away from me,” Kade shouted.

Nightshade glanced over his shoulder. The other Seelie hunters weren’t coming after him. Kade had lost his support. With luck, he was too much of a coward to pursue them alone.

Twister caught up as they reached the throne room. “I’ll take the lead. I can’t assume wolf form in this realm, but I can fight anyone who tries to stop us leaving,” he said.

“Let me down!” Ruby wriggled free from Nightshade. She kicked off her pumps, hiked up her skirt, and sprinted after Twister, while Nightshade watched her back. A few of the Seelie specters circled beneath the ceiling, but they didn’t attack.

Kade appeared in the throne room doorway at the far end of the corridor behind them.

“He’s coming after us,” Nightshade said, trying to both watch Ruby’s father and make sure they weren’t heading into more danger. “How will we get down?”

Twister opened the door atop the glittering stairway they’d ascended. “Devin’s disappeared off to cool his heels but he’s left the Darkling Road visible for us.”

“Take Ruby to safety,” Nightshade said. “I’ll keep Kade busy. What power does he have?”

“Check the symbol on his breastplate,” the Unseelie king replied. “Remember, don’t
fly
down; we’re in a different realm. You can only leave via the Darkling Road.”

Ruby rushed back and hooked her fingers through Nightshade’s belt. “No, come with us.” She tugged him toward the stairway. “If we have to fight Kade, let’s do it on your turf.”

“Don’t argue. I want you safe.”

Nightshade kissed her, then pushed her away. A gamut of emotions swept her face, but she turned and disappeared down the steps with Twister. Nightshade braced for a fight, smiling at the sound of Ruby berating the Unseelie king for leaving him to fight alone.

Kade broke from the doorway at a run, launching himself into the air with a downbeat of his huge feathery wings. “Bloody bird,” Nightshade said to himself. “Last thing I want is another mouthful of damn feathers.”

Instead of coming for him, Kade headed for the edge of the terrace. Belatedly Nightshade realized that, as a Seelie, Kade would be able to fly down from this realm to the mortal world. If Kade left the Crystal City, Nightshade’s only way of intercepting him would be to run down the long flight of stairs behind him.

He sprinted a few steps before leaping skywards. His wings were smaller, so he wouldn’t have Kade’s speed, but he would be more maneuverable.

“Out of my way, batwings,” Kade sneered as Nightshade cut him off. The hunter hovered, his wings swishing up and down. “You’ll never have the Mistress. Go now and I’ll forget you interfered.”

“Scared I might whip your feathery arse?” Nightshade grinned. But his amusement fell away when he noticed a lightning-bolt symbol on Kade’s breastplate. What in the Furies could the hunter do with lightning?

Kade’s hands were empty, and Nightshade could see no sign of the silver chain holding Ruby’s Magic Knot. But he had to try to retrieve it for her, especially after she had chosen him over her stones.

“Give me Ruby’s Magic Knot,” he demanded.

“Are you deaf as well as stupid? Skedaddle back to where you came from. Scottish Fairy Court matters don’t concern you.”

Blood thundered in Nightshade’s temples. He hated the stupid power struggles in the damn fairy courts but he always seemed to get tangled up in them: first the Irish, then the Welsh, now the Scottish. If he wasn’t careful, he’d one day end up fighting the Norse gods in Asgard with Troy, or Devin’s scary mother in the djinn city under the desert sands. After this trip, he promised himself to stay put in Cornwall. Still, he ached to wipe the supercilious look off Kade’s face. “They do when you involve my woman.”

Her father kicked out. Nightshade lurched back to avoid a thump in the guts, and Kade dived past him. Swinging around, Nightshade returned the kick, catching the hunter a solid whack on the thigh. Kade recovered with a grunt and flew on.

He’d thought the hunter was running from the fight, but fifteen feet away Kade swung around. A sizzling flicker of light danced between his palms. Nightshade swore and glanced around for cover.

Kade parted his hands. A streak of lightning arrowed through the air, and pain slashed across Nightshade’s ribs, accompanied by the smell of burning flesh. Nightshade sucked in air, his eyes watering, and by the time he recovered his senses, Kade had drawn his wings in tight as he swooped down toward the mortal world.

“Damn and blast!” Nightshade dropped to the green marble terrace, running the moment his feet hit the ground. He headed for Devin’s doorway, then pelted down the Darkling Road,
leaping five or more steps at a time with the aid of his wings. When he emerged from the bottom, Kade stood on the grassy path, blocking Ruby and Twister’s route back to the Bunker. The fight had only been delayed.

Ruby marched toward her father, holding a broken branch, her face taut with anger. “Get out of my way,” she demanded.

As she swiped the makeshift club at Kade, he caught her wrist and threw her back. “You want to be treated like an adult, yet you behave like a child.”

She glared defiantly at him. “That makes you father of the year, I suppose.”

Twister stood to one side, watching. He wasn’t protecting Ruby, but he hadn’t abandoned her, either. “Don’t taunt him, foolish woman,” the Unseelie king said.

“Don’t criticize me for standing up for myself, coward.”

Twister straightened, his eyes flaring gold. “You’re the most infuriating woman I’ve ever met. You have no idea how politically awkward this is for me.”

“I take it the engagement’s off, then.” She smirked.

Nightshade hurried to intervene. “Ruby, love, let me handle this.” He rounded on Twister and gave him a meaningful look. “Home advantage,” he said under his breath.

“Oh, all right,” the king said. The air around Twister smudged, and a huge gray wolf appeared in the Unseelie king’s place. It prowled toward Kade, lips drawing back to bare vicious pointed teeth. A hint of panic flashed in Kade’s eyes. Nightshade pressed the advantage by moving forward himself.