by Rhys Ford
“Kai, get up off of him,” Ryder said. “I have more of those ties you gave me. We can secure his wrists. And not kill him.”
“I’d rather send him the way of the ainmhi dubh, but this is your circus, lordling.” I stood up and pressed the flat of my foot into Kerrick’s throat. I didn’t care if he choked on my boot. He wasn’t going anywhere. “What do you want, lady?”
“The question isn’t what I want but rather what I will take.” She inched around her ainmhi dubh and shoved them aside with her hands as though they were nothing more than a cluster of tiny Chihuahuas. She smiled in a way that set my nerves on fire, and despite the distance between us, my body whispered that it wouldn’t mind a taste of her… or her tasting me. “I will make you a deal, Lord Ryder. You take the children the Penault were chasing and leave me with Tanic’s son.”
I aimed my gun at her face, and Ryder literally growled.
“Not anyone’s pet,” I said, pressing my boot down harder when Kerrick wiggled. “I don’t belong to anyone but me.”
“Well, it was worth a try. Mostly I wanted Chaulin to leave the Sidhe children with you, but I found out about her leaving too late to protect her. So instead, I ended up chasing the Penault in order to stop them from killing her,” she drawled elegantly, giving me a graceful shrug while she stepped over the severed arm of one of the ATV drivers. Another bit of moaning crept through the air, and she flicked her fingers out and bent her wrist up slightly in a casual, dismissive gesture that sent the ainmhi dubh pack careening toward the grasses beyond the clearing. “And if you’re worried, they will bring the other one back safe and sound. I have a message for him to return to his house. I’ll take back Chaulin, the woman they killed, to her family.”
“I would have your name at least.” Ryder took a few steps, clutching his side, but he didn’t so much as wince when he walked. “You clearly know Kai but use a name he does not like. You obviously know me and believe you can manipulate me into abandoning either the children I came to rescue or Kai, someone I value above all.”
“Actually, kind of hoping you put the nieces above me,” I pointed out. “For one thing they’re babies, and then there’s the fact that I’m a Stalker and probably won’t live very long.”
“Kai, please try to live as long as I need you to live and perhaps even a second past that.” Ryder didn’t so much as glance back at me, but if I thought the woman in front of us had ice in her voice, there was a glacier in his. “I am not sure I believe your willingness to give us the children without a fight or a ransom, especially since the Tijuana Dusk Court is in shambles.”
“So you’d rather I just take them from you?” She gestured to the surrounding grasses. “I have enough ainmhi dubh to make that happen if I want to.”
Ryder didn’t even blink. “Then I will have to ask Kai to do to you what he did to the ainmhi dubh. So choose carefully.”
“And they said you were a pacifist,” she purred, a smile lifting her hard face into a startling beauty. “I really was trying to help her, not the Penault. We are allies of sorts. The head of the Penault house and their clan usually align with mine, but lately they’ve taken to stealing humans and Sidhe. I want that to stop. We need to take care of our own.”
“Allies don’t bring packs of ainmhi dubh with them to start negotiations. Usually, if a Wild Hunt is in the mix, it means someone’s been served up for dinner,” I said as I pulled Kerrick up into a sitting position. He needed to go into the transport, out of my sight for a bit, because even though my anger had ebbed, it flared up a little bit every time he struggled. “Try pulling the other leg.”
“There are too many tiny clans, and their infighting cripples our court. Our resources are stretched too thin, and we are forgetting our ways,” she replied as she nudged the severed arm away with a kick of her boot toe. “I am Bannon cuid Xandras, Hunt Master and Lord of the Clan Xandras. And soon, the High Lord of the Tijuana Dusk Court.”
“Ambitious,” I conceded. “Good luck. That place’s been a mess since before the Merge, right?”
“It’s a different world now. It’s time for new leadership,” she replied. “While I have a reason to be here, you are on the wrong side of the caverns, Lord Ryder. If you’d meant to invade our territories, you should have brought a different army… and perhaps one that wouldn’t stab you while you weren’t looking. I am supposed to believe you just came down to rescue three Sidhe children?”
“It was supposed to be a simple run down to pick them up,” Ryder explained.
“They’re all supposed to be simple runs,” I complained, jostling a grumbling Kerrick. He sat with his legs straight out, making him difficult for me to control, especially with his hands loose. “And they never are.”
“The children needed sanctuary. I intend to provide it. They’ll enter my court, become my people, who I’ve promised to protect and nurture.” Ryder ignored me. “What do you want, Bannon?”
“My people need someone to think for them, someone to guide them,” she continued, her voice growing haughty. A circuit of the clearing drew her close to me, and the desire to taste her mouth overwhelmed me. She stopped short. Her lips parted, and her eyes widened slightly, her posture not that different from the ainmhi dubh hunting through the grasses. “You are very… enticing, Ciméara. You might consider joining me.”
I knew what she felt. It touched me in places only Ryder did, but with a different tingle, a different taste. If there was any doubt of my split bloodline, Bannon put that to rest. I was as much drawn to the Unsidhe lord as I was the Sidhe.
“Kai.” Ryder’s mouth was a thin line, tense and holding back words he couldn’t speak out loud. He couldn’t say I was his. I wasn’t his court. I wasn’t his people, but that didn’t mean I wanted to dance over the border to join her. “We don’t know her.”
We. He wasn’t speaking in the sense of a royal we. He meant me and him. We didn’t know her. Didn’t know who she was, didn’t know what she was capable of, and there was a hint of trepidation in his voice, a wavering doubt, as though he also knew she tickled at places only he had before. There hadn’t been any Unsidhe who’d made enough of a mark for Ryder to take notice, but Bannon was standing up to be counted. Right here. Right now. She was going to be a force to be reckoned with, and she would be knocking at his back door, pushing at his court, and maybe even trying to steal me out from under his nose.
It was funny how much a single we could hold.
I cleared my throat and jostled Kerrick’s arm. He bitched back at me in Sidhe. “Sorry, lady, but I’m on a job. You can have Kerrick if you want. I’ll even throw in some military rations to sweeten the deal.”
“I would not take him.” She laughed when the ainmhi dubh broke free of the grasses, hot on the heels of the other ATV rider. He was injured, bleeding from several places, and he held his arm tightly against his chest, but when he stumbled to the ground at her feet, the black dogs only nudged aggressively at his body and pushed him about. “And the only reason I’m taking this one is because I need him to inform everyone in his family that I am coming for them and they can either choose to join me or feed my dogs.
“You ask me what I want, Ryder? It’s very simple. I want a clan and court that doesn’t beg for food from humans. We’re stealing Sidhe to increase our numbers, and all we get are Sidhe. Our own lines are too weak, too fragile, and that is the fault of the clans not being led by true clan heads. That has to change if we are to survive.” She gave Ryder another smile, and I chuckled. “What do you find funny, Ciméara?”
“The two of you should really get together and talk dynasties,” I replied, gesturing slightly with my gun in case she’d forgotten it was there. “So you’re just going to let us walk out with the kids? And not get anything in return?”
“I didn’t say that,” Bannon disagreed. “I want you, Ryder, to stay out of my way. I will let these three go with you, but in the future, no Unsidhe will cross this border. You will promise to turn them away, to not
lure them from the court. You will give me your word you will not poach my numbers. Because this region will be mine, will fall into my control.”
“No. You said it yourself, these people flee because they are being starved out and abused,” Ryder countered as he pulled out a couple of the zip ties I’d given him earlier. He held them toward me and gestured toward Kerrick. Then he turned to face the Unsidhe lord. “I would take in any elfin, regardless of race. If they are fleeing hunger and oppression, I will welcome them. I’m not going to send somebody off to die because you feel they need to sit at your feet.”
“When I secure the entire Dusk Court, I can give all the Unsidhe a better life,” Bannon said. “How about if I will give you every Sidhe I find in the houses that claim fealty to me so none of mine risks their lives crossing the border to a nirvana I will soon be able to give them? We are Unsidhe. There is too much of your kind and humans creeping into our culture. We are losing ourselves, and I cannot allow that. If all my people are doing is bringing in others, soon others will be all there are here, and we will be no more.”
“You sound like you’re preparing for war, not just with my race but also with the humans.” Ryder stepped aside to let me hogtie Kerrick. “You say bloodlines and purity, but I hear closed-mindedness and bigotry.”
“I do not want or need a war. My own people are dying. It is time to purge those houses who would sooner kill each other than put food back on our people’s tables. Surely you can agree with that,” she asserted. “And if you would like a gesture of goodwill, get your chimera to walk away, and my ainmhi dubh would be happy to have a Sidhe lordling as their next meal.”
“No thank you. I will not sacrifice my cousin for your ambitions.” Ryder sighed and glanced at me. “If your people make it to my court, Bannon, I will not return them to you, but they will have to make it into San Diego. I can promise we will not retrieve them from the border. You’ve already said they are starving and being taken advantage of by their houses and clans. If they want out badly enough, they’re welcome, but should you provide them with a place—a safe place—for them to return to, without fear of retribution and retaliation for leaving, I will let them go. But it would have to be their choice to return.”
“I will agree to that,” she said, inclining her head. “But one last thing—your Stalker was right, Ryder. If you do not kill him—this cousin—he will attempt to murder you again. And if he’s successful, then Kai will kill him, plunging your region into chaos, beginning a battle between the Chimera and your grandmother, the duplicitous spider. That is not a war your people would survive. So you see, it is better to feed him to my dogs.”
“I like her, Ryder. She’s practical.” I zipped the last plastic tie around Kerrick’s wrists and made sure it was tight. It wasn’t in me to kill Kerrick, or at least not once my rage settled down. I hated the bastard, and I needed to get Ryder into the transport before he lost too much blood and passed out at my feet, but that wasn’t a reason to kill Kerrick. “And I don’t give a shit about what you say. He’s getting packed back up and dumped on your grandmother’s doorstop as soon as we get back.”
“Hush. Killing Kerrick isn’t an option, and you would never do it. Are we in agreement, Bannon?” Ryder held his hand out to her, his fingers cupped and ready for her binding shake. “And should you ever decide to move against me, I will send my chimera to you, and he will return with not only the heads of your ainmhi dubh but with your skull for me to drink from.”
As much as I didn’t like everyone automatically assuming I was an extension of Ryder’s court, I didn’t mind him using me as a threat. Bannon had a pack of ainmhi dubh, and he needed to come to the table as some kind of fighter. Sure, he’d taken a knife to the ribs and then gotten back up as easily as pouring a cup of tea for an afternoon picnic, but the tightness around his eyes told me he was in pain. Bannon didn’t seem like the kind of woman who appreciated weakness. Threats seemed to work, or at least make her pause.
Bannon hesitated—not long, but just enough for her eyes to settle on me for a split second as she debated the pros and cons of Ryder’s offer. Whatever she was looking for or at, she evidently didn’t like what she found, because Bannon stuck her hand out and clasped Ryder’s.
“Agreed,” she replied softly. “Now take your Sidhe—both the ones you came for and the one who tried to kill you—and get the hell off my lands.”
Twenty-Four
“THERE. THAT should do.” I tightened the last rope across Chaulin’s carefully wrapped body and secured her to the back of Bannon’s air glide. Having the Unsidhe lord at my back made me uncomfortable, especially since she seemed to have a hard time keeping her hands to herself. After another brush of her hand against the back of my thigh, I growled, “Swear to Pele, you do that one more time and you’re going to be pulling back stubs.”
“I am helping,” Bannon protested softly, but I heard the mocking laughter in her words.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you’re a complication I really don’t need or want.” I sighed when she stepped back, glad for the breathing room. “Besides, show Chaulin some respect.”
“Chaulin’s family will be accepted into my clan for her sacrifice in returning the Sidhe to their own people. Her body is just meat.” Bannon nodded toward the open transport. “Much like that other one should be, but I understand how he thinks.”
“I’d say I agreed with you right up until the part where I wanted to kill him. Ryder’s right. Can’t make a utopia if you kill off everyone who disagrees with you. That kind of thinking leads to people like Sebac. I forgot that. Won’t happen again.” I’d tucked in the flowers the children had gathered up for Chaulin’s body into the folds of her clothes, but I wondered if her family would toss them away, thinking they were trash. “Can you make sure they keep the prairie flowers with her? It’s all the kids have to give her.”
“They will. I’ll tell them.” Her gaze roamed over my face, searching for something. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d be sentimental. What do you care about a dead Unsidhe? You did not even know her.”
“Because she died protecting those kids… kids who don’t even have names,” I pointed out. “Don’t have to know her to respect the hell out of her.”
“Kai! We’re almost done here,” Cari called out from the open door of the centipede. “If we’re going to get to the barn before dark, we’ve got to move out soon!”
“Yeah, be right there.” Not knowing what else to do, I patted Chaulin’s wrapped shoulder and wished her soul the best. It didn’t seem fair that she was going home to be buried and we were carting Kerrick back home, even though I’d rearranged his too-pretty face into something more in line with his soul. “I’ve got to go check on how Ryder’s stitches are holding up and how well he did with securing Kerrick.”
“Do you think he’d allow Kerrick to get loose?” Bannon asked.
“Probably not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Ryder hand-fed the asshole all the way home and checked every hour to see if he was comfy. If it were left up to me, he’d lose a limb or two because I cut off his circulation tying him to the chair.” I shrugged and stared at the battered transport we’d fought to get righted. “We’ve got to refill our water supplies before those kids can get bathed. Lost too much of it in the tumble. They’re my focus right now. Kerrick’s just a stain we’re taking with us until we can dump him.”
The day was eaten up first by the resurrection of the centipede and then by harnessing Bannon’s black dogs to the Unsidhe’s ATV so they could drag him back to her court. She sent them on ahead, confident they’d get him there or maybe knowing they’d go half a mile and decide to eat him instead. I didn’t know, and I wasn’t sure if I cared. As long as I didn’t see it, I was fine with either outcome. Something told me Bannon probably was too.
“You okay with your pack going on ahead?” As much as she seemed capable of taking care of herself, Bannon was also the best option to stabilize the Dusk Court. I didn’t
trust her, but it was just better to take what I could get.
“Are you worried about me, Ciméara?” Bannon powered up her glide and switched over to the cells she’d charged from her solar panels while we prepared Chaulin’s body. “I am touched.”
“Just want you to get home in one piece. There’s people’s asses you need to kick.” I was going to wish her a good trip, but something shifted in the forest beyond—a shadow flitted against the flow of the wind. “Hold up.”
Something was advancing in the sparse woods. It crept beneath the underbrush line, sunk down low to the ground. Whatever it was, its gait was jerky—a flash of ungainly movement and then a deathly stillness where it landed back in the deepening blue shadows. It was too sleek to be one of Bannon’s pack circling around to take us out, but I wouldn’t have put it past her. And she was tense. She held herself alert and reached for the gun she’d tucked into the console space of the air glide. If she’d been planning to double-cross us, she would have done it sooner and not waited for me to help her with the dead woman’s body.
Or so I hoped.
The shadow crept closer, and I was going to have to make some pretty hard decisions. My Glocks were still on me, as were my knives. It wasn’t like I was going to walk outside of the transport unarmed. There were too many things that wanted to make snacks out of anything remotely meaty, and I now had an entire tactical vehicle filled with more than enough walking buffets to feed even the most starving predator.
“Cari, close the door!” I lifted my voice, praying she wouldn’t argue. If the shadow turned out to be nothing more than a wandering dog, I would take mockery. “Bannon, if I were you, I would get on that glide right now and leave.”
