by Claire Marta
They escorted her from the fourth floor dungeon, down the long hall and three flights of stairs. Even before they reached the first floor, she could hear her daughter’s excited laugh and Prince barking. Voices raised, Darcy’s taunts were answered by a male opponent.
They found them in the main communal room. Someone had taken the cushions off the couches and built a fort with them. Willow peeked from within, her arms clinging to her puppy as he jumped and yapped. Darcy had a wooden sword like the ones used in martial arts classes. She was battling Zana, the dark knight who had come to steal the princess away. Expression intent, her cousin was taking her role as a white knight very seriously, even if she was only pretend-playing with a wooden sword.
The man had never seen her in action with two real ones, or he’d be shaking in his shoes.
Parrying his jab, she deflected another before striking him in the center of his chest. The Persian let loose a dramatic cry, hand flying up to clutch the imaginary fatal blow. Dropping to his knees, he tumbled to sprawl on the floor.
Excited by the play, Prince broke free of Willow’s hold, jumped out of the fort, and leaped onto Zana’s chest. Assaulted with slobbering doggy kisses, he was forced to resurrect.
Shoulders shaking with laughter, Darcy caught sight of them standing in the doorway. “Hey.”
Raven smiled. “I see you’ve been having fun without me.”
“Zana made me a castle,” Willow’s voice called from the depths of the piled-up cushions. “He says they’ve already started building my real castle outside.”
“I’d like to see that,” Darcy remarked when the child drew in a breath.
“And Mummy!” the little girl added. “Zana can take us.”
“It’s dark outside, sweetheart,” Raven reminded her with a hint of regret. “How about tomorrow?”
Willow was silent for a moment. “Only if Aunty Darcy can sleep over.”
Darcy grinned. “I was wondering why I had this odd feeling to bring an overnight bag with me. A little button whispering in my ear, maybe?”
Her daughter giggled, crawling out of her make-shift fort. “I did! I wanted you to come and my wish came true. Maybe you can stay forever.”
There was no missing the look that Zana gave her cousin, with masculine interest and a spark of hope that maybe she would stick around. Now that her secret was out, she’d have to let Darcy know what she’d been dealing with. Surely, between the cadre and her cousin, they could manage to keep Willow safe.
And with Zana’s help, they could hopefully learn who was behind the threat and eliminate it once and for all.
Chapter Seventeen
Raven watched her cousin pull Willow from her castle and hug her tightly. “How about you and your Mummy help me get my bag from my SUV?”
Raven glanced up at Killian and Cayden. She didn’t need their permission to accompany her cousin but considering everything that had happened, she wanted to be sure they were still comfortable talking to Tobias without her.
“Go,” Cayden urged softly, brushing a stray lock of her hair behind her ear. “Do what ye must.”
Killian took her hand, lightly squeezing her fingers in reassurance before releasing it. Even these simple gestures had a strange way of calming her.
“Did you and Mummy play pirates?” Willow asked them, admiring their costumes. “I want to play pirate! Aunty Darcy and Zana can play with us. Uncle Lukas, too!”
Cayden’s face pinked. With his ginger coloring and paler skin, there was no hiding the flush of guilt. “Aye,” he choked out, coughing the word. He cast a look at Zana, then sliced a telling glance at Darcy. “It’ll be up tae yer Aunty, playing pirates wie Zana and Uncle Lukas. I think she’ll find that most of the single men here would welcome the challenge.”
Jaysus. Darcy was blushing now. Raven needed to get the men out of here and find out what was going on with her cousin. Finding her purse, she dug out her cell phone, unlocked the screen, and pulled up the texts. While Cayden and Killian read them, she fished out a notepad and pen to write down her number and the one used by her blackmailer. “Zana should go with you,” she said, reclaiming her phone, “since he’s the one who handles this kind of thing. You three, go find Tobias. Tell him what’s going on. I’ll let Darcy know.”
That got her cousin’s attention quickly enough. Darcy stepped away from Zana and came to where Raven stood, cell phone in hand. The men slipped away, leaving the two women and Willow alone with her daughter’s puppy.
“How about a bubble bath?” Raven asked Willow, needing to buy the adults some alone time. “You’ve been a good girl. You can stay in as long as you want. When you’re done, we’ll help Aunty Darcy get her bag....”
Returning to the guest suite, she drew Willow’s bath and got her started, then pulled Darcy into her daughter’s room to talk. “There are things you need to know,” she began. “Someone has been sending me texts. Threatening me and Willow. Demanding that I gather information on the Citadel and the men here. Cayden and Killian know about it. They’re going to fill Tobias in now. It’s crucial that we keep a close eye on Willow. She’s already at risk—”
She stopped short, wondering how in heaven she could explain things to Darcy without her cousin doubting her sanity. “I know we were raised in different countries, but Japan has myths the same as Ireland. I remember you telling me about a dragon who’d ride on your friend’s ceiling fans and make them spin off balance. Well, there are things of that kind the world over. Things of that kind here. Fae folk. One of them—a prince named Calodin—has actually spoken to Willow. He gave her a bag of jewels for her birthday. They’re worth a bloody fortune.”
Digging out the bag from under Willow’s pillow, Raven opened the top and spilled them onto the duvet.
Darcy picked up the most precious one. “Is that—”
“Gold? Yes. Black coral, blue amber, rose gold, a fire opal worth almost as much, and celestite. He promised to give her one each year, now that she’s old enough to use them, whatever the hell that means.”
Darcy swept the flat of her hand over the five orbs. “To control the elements,” she said slowly. “Fire opal for fire. Amber for wood. Coral for water. Gold for earth. Celestite for air. I met a Shaolin monk once when I went with my grandparents to the temple. I was a very small child, but I was privileged to study with him later. He taught me many things, including what goes unseen by most human eyes. Dual worlds exist, and there are guardians to keep it that way, to protect others from crossing over into this one. So I need to battle this Calodin. Alright.”
Raven’s eyes widened with alarm. “No! No! I don’t think so,” she blurted. “From what Theo says, he’s Willow’s fated mate. He’s been watching over her since birth, waiting for her to grow up, I guess.”
Darcy snorted. “Yeah, well, he needs to keep his Fae ass on the other side where it belongs, then. She’s five years old, for Buddha’s sake. There’s already enough out there to contend with.”
“Like vampires,” Raven muttered.
Darcy spun to face her, her expression fierce. “What have you heard?” she demanded to know.
“About what?”
Her cousin rolled her eyes and swore in Japanese. “Vampires,” she grated. “What do you know about vampires?”
“Nothing, really,” Raven assured her. “But Morgan…”
She stopped herself before she said more. Darcy was her cousin, but Morgan was a client. She couldn’t reveal anything without breaking her oath of confidentiality. If she could talk Morgan into booking a therapeutic massage with Darcy, maybe she could learn something more.
“Morgan watches too many movies,” she told her. “She gets scared sometimes. But she’s not alone. I’ve seen films that made me wonder about things. Aliens and such.”
Darcy smirked. “You and your tentacle porn. Back to the threats. Who do you think is behind the texts? What kind of information did they want?”
Raven chewed on her lip, feeling the worry lines
crease her brow. “Photographs of their vehicles and Casey’s ultrasound. I don’t know who’s sending them. The messages started coming after our trip to the zoo. At first, I thought it was Colin. When I accused him of sending someone to take Willow, he swore it was none of his men. I still shudder to think what would have happened if Cayden and Killian hadn’t come. I owe them more than I can ever repay.”
“You trust them,” Darcy spoke softly. “But do you honestly believe they can keep you safe? If you're being blackmailed because you're here, why not leave? I could take some time off. We could take Willow to Florida… do the theme parks, have some fun. Remove yourself from the equation, and they’ll have no more reason to threaten you.”
Raven perched on the end of her daughter’s bed. “I can’t. My clients need me. Casey needs me.... Her pregnancy has to be monitored.”
Darcy sat down beside her. “She’s having trouble with it?”
“There are... complications.”
And how. Casey was a fated mate, transformed to have four-strand DNA, facing a court-ordered paternity test on her babies. Heaven help them if the government got hold of the real test results, not the fake ones Tobias was arranging.
“She’s on bed rest right now,” Raven told her. “I plan to be here until she delivers her twins and make sure nothing goes wrong.”
The sound of a loud splash and a little voice calling from the bathroom interrupted them. Rushing into the room, they found that Prince had jumped into the tub with Willow. The puppy barked happily, wagging his tail and sending clusters of bubbles flying while his mistress clapped her hands in glee.
Raven shook her head. “You take the dog, I’ll take my child.”
Darcy grabbed two large towels. It was easy enough to get Willow out but the puppy’s extraction turned into a wrestling match. By the time her cousin had Prince cradled in her arms, her top was soaked and damp paw prints darkened the thighs of her jeans.
“You little imp,” Darcy muttered, rubbing him down vigorously.
“He’s a good boy,” Willow insisted. Already tired, she let her mother slip on her clothes.
“He needs to go out,” Raven reminded her. “I’ll put him on a leash when we go to get your bags. Give him one last chance to mark the grass before bedtime.”
Darcy handled the puppy, and Raven carried her sleepyhead. Once Prince had revisited a favorite spot, Raven took the leash while Darcy went to the garage. Returning with a duffle bag hoisted over her shoulder, Darcy reclaimed the leash, and their little group headed back.
Her cousin tried to get the puppy to heel, but the dog was distracted by the ravens perched on the tree limbs. The fog rolling in didn’t help the creepiness factor. There was a stillness about it that was unnerving.
Raven swore it felt like they were being watched.
Ivan?
Prince whined, weaving himself around Darcy’s legs, threatening to send her to the ground when his lead got tangled.
“With the birds and the fog, it almost feels like we’re in a Hitchcock movie,” Raven joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
Darcy halted her gaze on the dense area of fog swirling around the base of a tree. “Get Willow inside. I’ll take Prince and check it out.”
There was a hardness to her cousin’s tone she’d never heard before. It sounded more like an order than a suggestion. Was something lurking? The Fae or something worse? How the feck Darcy would willingly go after it alone was beyond Raven. With her martial arts training, her cousin was quite capable of protecting herself, but it would take more than a black belt to battle the forces of darkness. Darcy was human, after all. She wasn’t a gargoyle like the men of the cadre.
Hurrying inside with Willow still cradled in her arms, she bumped into Zac and Zana.
“Can you watch Willow for me?” she begged, handing the child to the Persian. “There’s something outside in the fog and Darcy’s got the hair-brained idea to search for it.”
Emmett and Theo emerged from the library at the sound of her voice.
Zana gave the child to the Greek. “Watch her, Theo. Zac, come with me. If there is a threat, we will deal with it. Emmett, inform Tobias.”
Raven led the way out of the building. She felt safer with the men and prayed that Darcy hadn’t found trouble. Thick and white, the fog closed in around them, obscuring everything from view.
“Darcy?” Raven and Zana called out in unison.
Somewhere to their right, they could hear Prince barking excitedly. Then came a string of Japanese curse words.
The three of them moved in that direction. The farther they walked, the more the fog waned. As quickly as it had come, it began to dissipate. Before she knew it, Raven found herself close to the amethyst grotto with the dragon sculpture soaring above it, shining silver in the moonlight. Two denim-clad legs were poking out from the entrance. Prince was wagging his tail and bouncing up and down on Darcy’s chest. Her cousin had dirt smeared across one cheek, and her hair was bedraggled. A rip in the knee of her jeans was darkened with crimson from a cut.
Raven rushed to reach her, kneeling down to check her over and make sure nothing was broken. “What happened to you?”
“I thought I saw something,” she muttered, wincing when she flexed her leg. “When I chased after it, Prince lunged. The next thing I know, I tripped on something, banged my knee, and landed in here.”
“Nothing’s broken by the looks of it,” she assured her. “I’ll need to disinfect that knee and see if you’ve got any more scrapes.”
Reaching for Darcy’s hand, Zana helped her up, sweeping her into his arms when she grimaced.
“It was brave of you to come out here alone not knowing what you might face,” he told her, amusement dancing in his eyes. “But I would expect no less from a woman made of stars whose body is woven from the light of heaven. You have a purity and swiftness that are envied by angels. And, as you have discovered, true courage drives devils away.”
The voice. Raven looked at Darcy, wondering if she’d heard it, too—that seductive timbre that could bring a woman to her knees. For once, Darcy was speechless.
Jaysus. Not her, too…
Normally, her cousin would insist on being put down, trying to make it on her own. Instead, she was content to let Zana hold her, his Persian poetry echoing in her ear.
Raven reached to grab Prince’s leash, but the puppy darted back into the amethyst cave. “Oh, no, you don’t,” she warned him, catching the end and pulling him outside. The dog had something in his mouth. Cut stones winked in the moonlight. Kneeling, Raven pried his mouth open and rescued his find—a tiara bearing a tag with Willow’s name on it.
Not just Willow. Princess Willow.
Calodin.
“What is it?” Darcy asked, sensing Raven’s unrest. Knowing her cousin, she probably felt her aura go supernova. Like the mother bear in Brave, she was ready to defend her child from unwanted suitors and supernatural beasts. Damn Fae. Coming and going like he owns the place. Someone needed to set boundaries and maintain them. Maybe Tobias could do something. He was almost as protective of Willow as he would be a child of his own.
“A gift from that Fae prince,” Raven growled. “First precious stones. Now he’s leaving her bloody tiaras. If he thinks I’m letting her see this, he can think again.”
Zac scanned the area, silent up to now. “He may still be out here, unseen.”
Rising determinedly to her feet, she scowled out into the night-dark garden. “You won’t have my baby, you hear me? Stay away from us! You aren’t welcome anywhere near her! I don’t care who you claim to be! Willow has a right to choose when she’s older!”
“Careful,” Zac warned. “Angering one of his kind isn’t wise.”
“Neither is angering me.” Raven’s body burned with the fury she was feeling.
“Let’s return to the house,” Zana advised, still carrying Darcy in his arms. “Your cousin needs tending to.”
For lack of a better place, Raven pu
t the tiara in her cousin’s overnight bag that Zac had rescued from somewhere. He shouldered it and led the group toward the house. Zana carried Darcy, and Raven had Prince, who pulled on his leash, sniffing at the grass with interest.
Emmett was standing in the light spilling from the open front door, watching for them with worry.
“The Fae,” Zac told him as they passed. Turning to Raven, he motioned with his free hand. “Let me take the dog and bag upstairs. If he looks like he’ll behave, I’ll leave him out. If he doesn’t settle, I’ll put him in his crate until you’ve taken care of your cousin.”
One word to Emmett, and a crate large enough for a full-grown Irish wolfhound had magically appeared in the guest suite.
Raven eyed the puppy. “Just to be on the safe side, go ahead and put him in his crate.” Offering her thanks, she handed the leash to Zac and headed for the infirmary. Peeking into the communal living room as they passed, she saw Theo on the couch, a sleeping Willow draped against his chest. She had her arms wound around his neck, clinging to him even though she slumbered. After all the excitement outside, Raven was relieved to see her daughter looking so peaceful.
“I’ll be a little bit longer,” she whispered to him. “Darcy fell. I need to see to her leg.”
The Greek smiled and nodded, humming softly to himself, his attention returning to the muted Disney movie that was playing on the TV.
Zana carried Darcy to the infirmary and set her on the examination table. The crisp white paper liner crinkled beneath her weight. Raven knew her cousin. She wouldn’t want her cutting up a favorite pair of jeans. “They need off,” she told her, casting a look at Zana, who seemed oblivious to the hint.
“A-hem.”
Zana arched a brow. “Yes?”
“You can go now.”
He drew himself up. “I am familiar with a woman’s body,” he promised.
“Not with my cousin’s, you’re not!” Raven growled. Or she hoped the hell not, anyway. They’d been battling with wooden swords when she’d found them. Surely that’s all the further things had gone. “Now get out. Go!”
