The Ruby Kiss (23 page)

She rotated her hand, pouring the gold links and green stones into his palm with a flutter of relief. When she stood, a ball bearing rolled away from her foot.

“Why?” she asked, pointing at the debris.

“They were Fenrir’s creations. He was a learned man, on par
with the greatest academic minds in history. I kept them for him.”

Tears pricked the back of Ruby’s eyes. She crouched and sorted through the pile of broken metal cases, picking out three devices that had survived almost intact. She stood and handed them to Twister, who accepted them silently, his golden-brown eyes unreadable.

“Keep a few. You’ll regret it if you don’t,” she said.

When she reached the door, Twister spoke. “I hope Nightshade recovers.”

Ruby’s heart got the better of her. “So do I,” she whispered.

Ruby blinked sleepily as she maneuvered her car along the narrow Cornish lanes. Nightshade lay wedged on the backseat beneath a blanket with Ares and Apollo curled atop him. He had slept most of the ten-hour journey from her home in Scotland, where she had packed some clothes and collected her car, to Cornwall.

He heaved himself up on his elbow with a grunt and glanced out of the window. “Nearly home, thank the gods. Turn left between the two granite pillars coming up.”

Ruby followed a winding route between banks of rhododendron bushes, down a dip into a wooded valley and over a stone bridge spanning a stream. The car topped the brow of a hill and broke from the trees. She swung around a small pool containing an ornate fountain and pulled up outside the front door of a rambling granite manor house.

“Never thought I’d be so pleased to see Trevelion Manor,” Nightshade muttered.

Ruby gripped the top of the steering wheel and rested her forehead on the backs of her hands. She badly needed a comfy bed. She felt as though she’d sleep for a week.

The front door of the house burst open, and Devin led a group of people toward the car. How convenient, to be able to disappear in a puff of smoke and travel instantly to your destination like he did. It was a pity the djinn couldn’t have carried Nightshade here.

Ruby’s door was pulled open. Ares and Apollo scampered
out over her, leaping from her lap to the gravel like kamikaze pilots, their little ribboned topknots bouncing.

“You made it.” Devin offered his hand, helping her out while the dogs circled his feet and yapped with excitement.

Ruby’s leg muscles trembled with fatigue after the marathon trip. She hadn’t dared stop for longer than a few minutes at a time, just in case someone saw Nightshade. Her brain wasn’t up to explaining to any curious police officer why her passenger had wings.

The piskies looked reassuringly normal. The two women and two men who’d rushed out were all wearing regular clothes and didn’t have pointed ears or anything. The most unusual detail about them was that the two men were extremely attractive identical twins with the brightest blue eyes she’d ever seen.

“My half brothers and their wives,” Devin said. “Niall, Michael, Rose, and Cordelia.”

“Hi,” Ruby muttered. They glanced up and nodded in greeting, but all four of them were focused on helping Nightshade out of the car.

Michael angled in and gave Nightshade his arm to lean on. “What’ve you been up to, boyo?”

“Not what I went for, bard.”

“Didn’t you see Dragon?” Cordelia asked.

“I saw him all right.” Nightshade’s gaze met Ruby’s, and disappointment and frustration flashed across his face. “Dragon took back his Magic Knot, and I was in no fit state to stop him.”

Rose gripped his hand tightly. “You know we’ll never let him take Rhys. We all love him. Goodness,” she realized, pressing a palm to his forehead. “You’re burning up.”

Cordelia stepped forward. She laid her hand over Nightshade’s heart and closed her eyes.

Nightshade grumbled, but he was obviously pleased with
the attention. “Can’t you women let me get inside before you start groping me?”

Cordelia’s eyes opened. She bit her lip and looked at Michael.

“What’s the matter with him, sugarplum?”

“I need some quiet time to examine him before I’ll know for sure. Take him up to his bedroom and make sure you take it easy. No roughhousing.”

“Would I go doing a thing like that?” Michael flashed a megawatt grin at Ruby, but it fell away, quickly replaced by lines of worry.

Cordelia turned to Ruby and touched her arm. “You’re well, are you, Ruby? Devin’s told us what you’ve had to endure.”

“Are you the healer?”

Cordelia nodded. “For my sins, yes.”

“Please concentrate on making Nightshade well. All I need is a good night’s sleep.”

Devin slipped his hand beneath Ruby’s elbow, and she leaned against him, grateful. His exotic smell of incense had become familiar, and it even had a comforting effect on her now.

“You not going with them?” she asked Devin when Michael put an arm around Nightshade and led him to the front door. Rose and Cordelia walked beside them.

“I’ll catch up later.”

Nightshade paused at the door and looked back. “Ruby, come and see me before you go to bed.”

“Of course I will.” She smiled. But she felt like an outsider intruding on this happy family.

Niall remained behind. His extraordinary blue gaze roamed over her, coolly assessing. He had an innate air of authority, even though he was dressed only in jeans and a checked shirt. And when Devin fetched her bags from the trunk, Niall approached.

He inclined his head in greeting. “I’m Niall O’Connor, king of the piskies. You must be Ruby.”

“Pleased to meet you,” she said. “Will your healer be able to cure Nightshade?”

Niall glanced after the others. “The wise woman is a good healer. She will do her best. It would help if we knew what caused his illness.” He raised one eyebrow.

Ruby lifted a shoulder and let it drop, almost too weary to think back over all that had happened.

Devin came up beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “I don’t think Ruby knows any more than I do. Nightshade was injured, but we don’t think this sickness has anything to do with that.”

Ares and Apollo appeared and sidled up to Niall, their little bodies twisting as they wagged their tails. The pisky king crouched and stroked them.

“My boys would love you two little rascals.” He glanced up at Ruby with a smile that transformed his face, making him look more friendly and approachable. “How do they get on with small children?”

“They’ve never met any kids.” Ruby blinked and sleepily struggled to raise her eyelids.

Devin noticed. “Why don’t you take the dogs, Niall? I’ll show Ruby to her guest room before she keels over.”

“What’re their names?” Niall scooped up a small furry body in each hand and held the dog’s faces level with his own. Their stubby tails wagged madly.

“Ares has the blue ribbon and Apollo the red one,” Ruby said.

“Ares, god of war. I hope your name isn’t indicative of your behavior, squirt,” said the pisky king. He smiled at Ruby, his incredibly blue eyes twinkling, and although his coloring was different from that of his half-brother, Devin, she noticed the similarity between the two men in both the high cheekbones
and the shape of their lips. “Go and catch up on your sleep, Ruby. I’ll introduce you to the others properly tomorrow.”

Ruby followed Devin toward the front door, while Niall took a path around the outside of the house. The ancient granite manor lay like a comfortable old creature dozing in the sun, stone pots overflowing with late blooms lining the front. Inside, the oak paneling and decorative plasterwork appeared worn but lovingly cared for. Devin led her up an impressive stairway, then along the landing.

A tiny wrinkled woman with curly dark hair stepped out of a nursery holding a baby over her shoulder. She smiled, and Ruby was yanked back two decades to when the leprechauns had helped her and her mother escape from Ireland.

“Ana’s a leprechaun,” Devin said under his voice. “She’s Michael and Niall’s half sister.”

“Are you telling me Michael and Niall are half leprechaun?” she asked when they’d moved farther down the hall.

“Hard to believe, I know. Lucky for them, they mainly took after our father.”

That explained why Devin’s brothers had Irish accents. She’d been wondering about that. “So Michael and Niall are half leprechaun and half what, Norse god?” Devin nodded. “Then how come Niall’s the pisky king?” she continued.

“His wife Rose is half pisky, half human. He’s king by marriage.”

“And your other brother, Michael? Nightshade called him bard. What does that mean?”

“That’s bard as in storyteller. You haven’t laughed properly till you’ve heard one of Michael’s bawdy tales. But don’t be fooled by his relaxed attitude. He’s nearly as powerful as Troy.”

He left her at Nightshade’s bedroom door and took her bags into a room a few doors farther down the hall. She knocked lightly and entered when Michael answered.

“I’ll make myself scarce for a few minutes,” he said with a mischievous grin.

Nightshade lay on his side in bed. “Ruby,” he said gruffly.

She hurried across the room and sat on the edge of his bed. She clasped his hand to her chest. “Are you feeling any better?”

He grimaced, and she took that for a no.

“I’m sure your pisky healer will be able to help.”

“Don’t worry about me, Ruby. I’ll get better.” He curved a warm palm around her cheek and smiled, his silver eyes glowing with pleasure despite his illness. “I wanted you to see where I live and to meet Rhys. Can you hear him playing in the garden? Go and look out the window.”

Children’s excited squeals filtered in through the partially open window. Ruby rose and took in the magnificent view across a trimmed lawn to the gunmetal gray expanse of the Atlantic Ocean beyond. It certainly looked as though the piskies lived a very humanlike existence. A privileged one as well. Three little boys, two golden-haired and one black like Nightshade, scampered to where Niall crouched holding Ares and Apollo. They stroked the dogs, then pelted around, bouncing up and down and shrieking with childish energy and excitement.

The boy she assumed was Rhys wore little denim dungarees over a yellow T-shirt. He looked so cute running around flapping his arms as though he was flying, and a pang of loss stole through her. If the doctors were right, she’d never be able to have a child. Nightshade wasn’t going to be happy when she told him.

She breathed through her mouth to hold back the tears gathering behind her eyes and had to swallow twice before she could speak again. “He hasn’t got wings.”

“They grow at puberty.”

She nodded slowly and struggled to get her emotions under
control. She wasn’t normally this sensitive. Her tiredness must have stripped away her defenses.

“Come here, Ruby.”

She swallowed the thickness in her throat and turned to him with a smile. “Your brother’s cute.”

“I just hope he never falls into Dragon’s hands again. He abused both Rhys and his mother, you know.” Nightshade’s gaze lost focus and his jaw tightened. “I’ve let Rhys down by returning without getting Dragon’s pledge to give him up. As soon as I’m well again, I’ll have to return to Scotland and sort things out once and for all.”

“Just concentrate on getting better.” Ruby returned and sat on the bed. She splayed a hand on Nightshade’s chest and leaned down to wrap an arm around his neck. His skin was feverishly hot.

“When I’m better, we need to talk.”

His fingers trailed down her back, making nerves spark to life beneath her skin, and she kissed him, her body humming to life despite her weariness. “I want to do a lot more than talk,” she whispered.

“Knock knock,” Michael said, putting his head around the door. “Cordelia’s ready to treat you now, boyo.” The man’s gaze settled on Ruby. “She’ll be needing to concentrate, so ’tis best if you give them some time alone.”

“I need to sleep, anyway.” Ruby kissed Nightshade again then stood, giving him a smile of encouragement. “I’ll come and see you when I wake up.”

Cordelia was waiting in the hall. Michael tugged affectionately on her long plait and kissed the tip of her nose, then went downstairs. Cordelia’s gaze followed him before flicking back to Ruby.

“Sorry, he always makes me forget what I’m doing. I wanted a quick chat with you before I treat Nightshade. Can you think
of anything that might have made him sick? I’ve only examined him briefly, but my first guess is that he’s been poisoned.”

“Poisoned!” Ruby blurted. Her hand flew to her mouth as she tracked back over everything they’d eaten at the Unseelie Court. Could Twister have poisoned him in order to fix their competition for her? She didn’t think so. She’d have sensed that through her bond with Twister. And Nightshade had already been sick when Dragon arrived. “If he was poisoned, it must have happened at the fairy Gathering.”

“I’m not saying anyone poisoned him on purpose,” Cordelia clarified. “And it isn’t necessarily something he ate. Did you see him drink or smoke anything odd?”

“You mean, like, drugs?”

Cordelia swung her long plait over her shoulder and absently fiddled with its end. “Possibly, although I can’t imagine Nightshade taking drugs. He doesn’t even drink much alcohol.”