Aila moved, too. She flowed forward in a flash of white light and threw herself into Devin’s arms. Time paused between their heartbeats. He clung to her, buried his face in her hair, breathed the intoxicating fragrance of her skin. Her fingers fluttered like a moth against his cheek.
“I love you,” she whispered.
If only Aila could walk unseen through the air as he did, they could steal away.
“Ruby has something for you—”
Kade’s fist smashed into Devin’s jaw, knocking him sideways. Staggered, he shook his head, and spat blood.
Eavan swept an arm around his daughter’s shoulders, propelling her toward the open door of her sanctum. “How dare you desecrate the Bride!”
Devin avoided another blow from Kade by disappearing and reappearing a few steps away. Aila craned her neck to keep him in view, tears running down her cheeks. But nothing else could be done.
Misery clenched Devin’s heart. He shouldn’t have come on this fool’s errand. He’d done so to satisfy his own selfish longings, and he’d only upset Aila and jeopardized Ruby’s mission. Pivoting, he smashed his fist into Kade’s mouth. With just a thought, he could bring Kade to his knees in agony, but right now, he wanted the primitive satisfaction of beating the crap out of someone.
* * *
Nightshade moved in front of Ruby as the violence broke out. She peered around his shoulder, desperation coiling tighter with every step Aila took away from them toward her sanctuary.
“I’m going to lose my chance of an audience with the Bride,” she whispered. After this fiasco, the Seelie probably would keep her away from Aila. She’d be stuck with her stupid affliction forever.
Nightshade swept Ruby into his arms. “Actually, Aila’s sanctuary will be the safest place for you. Hang on.”
He leapt into the air with a powerful thrust of his thighs, landing behind the thrones as Eavan pushed a struggling Aila through the sanctuary door. Depositing Ruby on the ground, Nightshade gave her a gentle shove toward the doorway.
She clung to him. “Please don’t fight and get hurt.”
“None of these glossy pretty boys will hurt me, woman.” He patted her on the bottom. “Now get to safety.”
Ruby did so, scooting past Eavan and dashing into Aila’s sanctum the moment before he slammed the door shut. The hubbub from the throne room was cut off, and a deep silence replaced it.
Aila had her eye pressed to a silver architrave around the door. “Oh no, my father will slaughter Devin if he gets the chance.”
She had a peephole! Actually, there were several, and Ruby pressed her eye to a tiny aperture in the decorative silver band on the other side of the door. Two Seelie hunters had grabbed Nightshade and were pulling him back to where Twister stood. The nightstalker must have taken her plea to heart, because he wasn’t resisting.
Kade wasn’t visible, but Devin now faced Eavan. The two men stood rigid with concentration, their faces masks of murderous intent. Eddies of smoke rose from Devin, while tongues of white flame danced across Eavan’s skin.
“Devin, please be careful, my love,” Aila whispered.
Kade strode into view, and the Seelie hunters pushed Nightshade to his knees. Ruby clenched her fingers against her leather dress, willing Nightshade to remain calm.
A startled cry burst from Aila. Ruby’s gaze jumped to Devin in time to see him disappear in a puff of smoke. Aila flopped back against the wall, her breath catching, and Ruby dragged her eye away from the peephole and Nightshade and turned.
“I’m so sorry about the trouble we’ve caused you, my lady.” Not that she believed it was all their fault.
Aila pressed a trembling hand to her throat. “I am the one who should apologize—for my parents’ behavior, Mistress.”
Ruby unfastened the small leather bag containing Devin’s Magic Knot from her belt and held it out. “From Devin.”
Aila closed her eyes and clutched the bag to her heart.
“Don’t you want to know what’s inside?” Ruby asked.
“My senses tell me all I need to know. This bag holds something I’ve longed for.”
Emotion tightened Ruby’s throat as Aila swallowed her tears.
“Devin should have been the perfect match for me. His father is the son of a god. His mother is a djinn queen. He himself holds dominion over his own territory. But my parents will never forgive him for being a djinn, a shadow elemental.”
Ruby didn’t understand. Why didn’t Aila just walk out of here if she wanted to be with Devin so badly? She was a grown woman, not a child. Ruby would fight tooth and nail to get away if someone was keeping her from Nightshade even though she’d only known him for a few days.
Straightening, Aila visibly gathered her composure. “Please forgive me for my . . . distraction.” Her slender fingers tightened around the leather bag. “I never thought I’d see Devin again.”
She extended a hand, inviting Ruby inside. Ruby glanced over her shoulder at the door, wishing she knew what had happened to Nightshade, then entered the sanctuary proper. There was little else to be done. After all the kerfuffle, she’d reached the moment of truth.
Inside a stark white marble room, she sat beside Aila on a white suede seat hung from a silver frame. Sick nerves clenched her stomach. “Can you teach me how to control my power?”
Aila nodded. “Certainly. It’s like learning to walk. And once you understand how to use your power, you won’t remember a time when you couldn’t do so.”
Ruby swallowed. “Can you take the power away?”
Aila’s eyes went wide. “It’s . . . it’s possible. But why would you want to give up such a wondrous gift?”
Ruby’s gaze drifted into the distance. Relinquishing her power would solve all her problems: her affliction would cease, Twister would no longer want to marry her, her father would lose interest. She could return to a normal life and forget the supernatural. Yet an uncomfortable truth made her cringe inside: She had secretly condemned Aila for not fighting to be with Devin when she herself was about to take the coward’s way out, turning her back on Nightshade’s world and possibly losing him. Could she and Nightshade have a future together if she was simply human?
“How will I change if you take away my power?” she asked.
Aila thought for a moment. Then she shrugged. “As you’ve not started using the energies yet, I would say you’ll change very little. How does your power manifest?”
“Natural things grow or change their form when I touch them. That’s happened on full moon since I went through puberty.”
Aila frowned. “I can’t understand why your power would be influenced by the moon. Air elementals such as Devin and his father Troy draw their power from the sun, and to a limited extent from the sunlight reflected off the moon. But the Mistress’s power transcends normal elemental-based magical gifts.”
Ruby was confused. “I thought you said Devin was a shadow elemental.”
Aila nodded, her flaxen hair sliding over her shoulders like a silky shawl. “That’s the paradox. Shadows only exist in light. Think about it. When are shadows at their most defined?” She raised her fine gold eyebrows. “Shadow elementals are considered to be demons, creatures of the darkness, but they are as much a product of light as ordinary elementals. That is why my parents’ prejudice against Devin is so ridiculous.”
Ruby digested this rather odd piece of information, wondering how exactly Devin was different in practice. He didn’t look much like she thought a demon would look. But right now she needed to concentrate on herself. “So, how does the Mistress’s—my—power differ?”
“Your power calls upon ethereal energies: the progenitors of life. You manipulate energy before it becomes earth, air, fire, or water.” Aila glanced at a door on the far side of the room. “The Book of Light is an ancient source of ethereal energy, which the Seelie use to nourish their power. The Book is priceless, coveted by many. You are a living breathing channel for ethereal energy with the ability to wie
ld its power. Do you now understand why the Seelie and Unseelie Courts are both vying for you?”
Ruby stared at the white marble walls, trying to comprehend Aila’s words. Her insides trembled. Was this a nightmare or a dream? How could she bear such responsibility?
“What’ll happen if I give up the power?” she asked.
“Normally it would pass to the next female descendant. Kade might have produced another female child, but I’m afraid I don’t listen to the salacious gossip surrounding his escapades, so I don’t know.”
Tension throbbed in Ruby’s head as a terrible possibility occurred to her. “If I give up the power and there isn’t another female descendant, is there any chance the power will pass to Kade?”
Aila looked startled—and then scared. “I must counsel you against renouncing your legacy if there’s the slightest chance Kade will inherit. I know he is your father, but I have to admit he frightens me. Seelie hunters swear an oath of fealty to my parents that includes honoring the Book of Light and myself as the Bride, yet on two occasions he’s boxed me into a corner with his wings and tried to intimidate me into showing him the Book. I no longer allow him in here alone.”
Ruby rose and paced to the far side of the room. How could an affliction that warped floorboards be this rare power Aila spoke of with awe? And why did Kade have to be such a jerk? If he threatened the Bride of Light in her own sanctuary, what the hell would he do to Nightshade?
“Excuse me a moment.” Ruby hurried to the door and pressed her eye to a peephole in the silver strip. The throne room appeared empty.
She yanked on the door handle, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Only I can open the door,” Aila said from behind her. “It’s a precaution for my security.”
“I can’t see Nightshade!” Panic rose in Ruby’s voice. If the Seelie hunters hurt him, she would go freaking mad when she got out of here. “Open the door. Please.”
“Mistress, calm yourself.” The silky lilt of Aila’s voice drained Ruby’s fear. “They will not harm your nightstalker. They fear you.”
A disbelieving laugh burst from Ruby. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
At the patient expression on Aila’s face, her laugh faded. The Bride of Light was serious.
“Do you mean that if I learn how to use ethereal energy, I’ll be more powerful than Kade?”
Aila nodded.
“Even if he has my Magic Knot?”
Aila’s breath caught. “He took it from you?”
“I didn’t even know I had one until he showed it to me.”
“That is against our laws. My parents must punish him.”
“I get the impression they encouraged him to keep it.”
Aila turned with a weary sigh, and Ruby followed her back to their seats. “I do not want to believe this of them. How have you survived without your Magic Knot?”
“I haven’t missed what I’ve never had.”
“It’s your most precious possession.” Aila kissed the small leather bag containing Devin’s. “Maybe this deprivation explains why your power manifested on full moon before the old Mistress died. Your body was trying to make up for the loss of your Magic Knot.”
So, by stealing her Magic Knot, Kade had warped the power she’d inherited and caused the affliction that had plagued her life? Because he’d abandoned her mother, her childhood had been a peripatetic nightmare through the fringes of the supernatural’s world. All the crappy things that had happened to her could be traced back to her father, it seemed. Something clicked over in Ruby’s mind. This wasn’t just about her; it was about Nightshade, Twister, and every person, fairy and human, who would suffer if Kade took control of the Mistress’s power. She couldn’t hide away and pretend her affliction didn’t exist anymore. She would embrace the power that was rightfully hers, claim the man she loved, and kick her father’s feathery arse.
“Please teach me to use my power.”
* * *
Chapter Seven
A few hours later, Aila leaned back and released a satisfied breath. “I think that’s all I can teach you. Now you need practice.”
Ruby’s eyelids sagged after the effort she’d put into learning how to wield her power. She’d hoped the skill would come naturally, but she’d made little progress. She could see the ethereal energy using what she called her artist’s vision and understood she should let it flow through her, but she couldn’t manipulate it. The only thing she had really learned to do was contain her power so it didn’t leak out and make plants grow. Aila demonstrated her own magic effortlessly, spinning the ethereal energy into solid shapes like a conjurer, creating tiny birds that flew, and food. Ruby had eaten an apple Aila created, and it was as solid as a normal apple.
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 Ruby Kiss Page 10
