Michael gaped at him. “Why on God’s green earth would you come back here?” He flicked a derisive glance around the hall. “Once you make up with Ciar, you can stay in Ireland.”
“Court is not for the likes of me, as you well know. And Ana’s happy here. I’ll not go uprooting our poor sister again and make her return to a place where leprechauns are treated little better than slaves. You lived so long in the rarified atmosphere of our father’s world among the Tuatha Dé Danaan you’ve forgotten how Ciar treats the leprechauns in her domain.”
The office door cracked open, and Nightshade poked his head out. “You don’t need to worry about Tristan getting at your sister. He can’t leave the manor because he’s addicted to feeding on the piskies’ trapped spiritual energy.”
“You been eavesdropping?” Niall demanded.
Nightshade touched his ear. “Superior hearing, Irish.”
With a sigh, Niall wondered how good Rose’s ears were. “Will Tristan die if he can’t feed on them?”
Nightshade frowned. “I don’t know.”
Niall walked to the window and tapped his fist against the frame. “Even if the druid can’t harm Ana physically, ’tis possible he’ll attack her with magic.”
“Surely we can leave Ana for a few days,” Michael said. “We just need to set a temporary protective ward around the cottage. I know she won’t like it as she cannot go outside, but so long as she keeps her wee self in the house, she’ll be safe.”
Ana hated Niall’s making a fuss over her. He did not want to leave her alone, but if she stayed inside her cottage, she should be safe. He sighed. “Very well. Michael can come to Ireland.” He lowered his voice and glanced at Nightshade. “But I’ll not be taking Rose. ’Tis too dangerous.”
“Don’t talk about me as though I’m not here,” Rose said from inside the office. “I must come to find out how to free the piskies.”
The door opened wider, and she appeared next to Nightshade. Niall winced. Had she heard everything he’d said? It was probably safe for her to know about Ana, but he did not want her to know about his disagreement with Ciar and start asking questions.
“So much for a private word.” He pointed at the office door, and they all filed back inside. When Rose took the chair again, Nightshade sat on the desk at her side and rested a hand on her shoulder as though he owned her. The unfairness of her attitude knotted Niall’s gut. He had tried to protect her when they’ visited the manor, and rescued her when Tristan took her captive, yet she looked at him with disdain. While the nightstalker who’d betrayed her and her people and helped Tristan capture her was suddenly her new best friend. To make matters worse, Nightshade had revealed the significance of the Magic Knots. The calculating glance she’d given Niall after that revelation clearly showed that she understood she had some control over him via his stones.
Rose crossed her arms, green eyes blazing with determination. “Don’t even think of leaving me behind.”
“There’s no need to put yourself in more danger,” he said. “Let me find out if there’s a way to reunite the piskies.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Why don’t you want me to come?”
“’Tis dangerous for you, lass. Ciar is unpredictable.” And he would die rather than have her witness what Ciar would do to him.
“You don’t want me to meet this Ciar, do you?”
Wasn’t that what he’d just said? “I can hold my own, Niall. I’ve taken a course on dealing with difficult people.”
He barely clamped down on the urge to laugh. “You have no idea how difficult a self-obsessed two-thousand-year-old fairy queen can be.”
She blinked at him in surprise for a few seconds, then seemed to gather her wits.
“You won’t put me off that easily. I’ve dealt with a whole range of people in my job, most of whom didn’t want to cooperate with me. I can look after myself.”
“Like you did at the manor?”
“That’s not fair. Tristan’s a madman. Anyway, as I recall, you didn’t earn any gold stars either.”
He glanced at his boots and clenched his jaw. She had a point. But he was not about to concede it. “You’re used to humans who play by human rules. Ciar is one of the ancient Tuatha Dé Danaan. Years ago she was worshiped as a goddess. She makes up the rules to suit herself.”
“I’m half-fairy, for goodness’ sake. If I’m ever going to understand what that means, I need to visit with other fairies, get familiar with the culture.” Rose glanced at his brother. “Michael said there were protocols for visiting”—she touched her hair self-consciously—“royalty, which would protect me.”
“There certainly are,” Michael piped up in an annoyingly helpful voice. “I remember when King Esras visited. Ciar hated him, but she could do nothing to him because he was a king.”
“He also had ten bodyguards, a druid priest, and five shades protecting him,” Niall added.
Michael shrugged. “He survived.”
“Barely.” Niall had the feeling that what ever he said, Rose wouldn’t take any notice. It was almost as though she wanted to defy him. When he’d taught her to consult the tree deva, and she’d read the tarot for him, he’d thought she liked him. And then there’ been the good-bye kiss. If he closed his eyes, he could still feel the sweet press of her lips. Not that he was foolish enough to believe the gesture was anything more than her way of thanking him for the rescue.
Obviously, he couldn’t persuade Rose to see sense, so he looked at Nightshade. The stalker met his gaze with understanding. He recognized the danger Ciar posed, even if Rose and Michael didn’t. “She mustn’t come to Ireland,” Niall said to Nightshade.
Rose shot out of her seat and stomped toward Niall, her pale cheeks blooming a pretty pink. “Since when did Jacca become my keeper?”
Something inside Niall snapped at the sound of her pet name for the nightstalker. “I was bloody well wondering that meself.”
She frowned at him for a moment, then shook her head. “I want to ask Queen Ciar if there’s a way to free the Cornish troop. If you’re so against my coming with you, Michael and Jacca will take me.”
Niall’s jaw tensed until it ached. Damned Michael and Jacca should be nominated for sainthood. He breathed slowly, hanging on to his control by a thread. “I’ll be the one to take you, if you insist. You may not believe me, lass, but you’ll need all the protection you can get. The stalker and I will act as your bodyguards.” He held up a finger and wagged it in her face. “But…you will do exactly what I tell you at all times—if you want to survive.”
She gave his finger a disparaging glance. “Don’t be so melodramatic. Ciar can’t be that bad.”
“She’s worse.” Queen Ciar was possessive and jealous. She didn’t really want Niall, but she didn’t want anyone else to have him either. To protect Rose, he must keep their bond well hidden. If the Queen of Nightmares ever discovered what Rose meant to him, they’ both suffer.
Rose walked with Michael along the rutted track next to the estuary as they made their way toward the woodland cottage belonging to Niall and Michael’s sister.
In the beam of her flashlight, she watched Niall stride away in front of them. She flushed, embarrassed and irritated. Since she’d persuaded him to take her to Ireland a few hours earlier, he’d virtually ignored her.
“Niall doesn’t want me around, does he?”
Michael slanted her a sideways glance. “I’m thinking you like me brother?”
Rose considered denial, but if she wanted to pump Michael for information about Niall, she had to tell him why she was interested. She nodded and bit her lip.
“He’s sweet on you too, lass, and he’s fighting it like the plague.”
“Wonderful.” Rose shook her head incredulously. “Just now I thought the fact that he didn’t like me was all I had to worry about. Now you tell me he does like me, but he considers it a fatal disease. Thank you so much for making me feel better.”
Michael grunted a laugh and
ruffled her hair. “’Tis not that bad. He’s just frightened.”
“Frightened?” Rose halted and stared at Niall’s flashlight bobbing among the trees. Somehow the idea of his being frightened of anything didn’t seem possible.
“Me brother’s locked down this tight.” Michael raised a clenched fist. “He doesn’t let anyone in. Not even meself.”
She couldn’t believe Niall was simply a man scared of emotions. “Don’t tell me—he had his heart broken and now he won’t commit.”
“You’re on the right lines, but it was no lass who hurt him. ’Twas our father, Troy.”
“Troy?” The name had an epic ring to it.
“When we were six, Troy came down to the cave beneath Wicklow House, where we lived with Ma and Ana. Fetched me up to live with him at court. Niall was left behind.” Michael paused and adjusted the sacking around the bundle of iron stakes he carried. He stared silently at the ground for a few seconds and shook his head. “Was always a mystery to me why. ’Twas Niall he should have chosen. As a wee lad, me brother crept up and watched Troy practice every day, rain or shine.” Michael glanced at her. “Troy is the queen’s bodyguard. Niall worshiped the ground he walked on. Wanted to be like him. Me, I was never interested in fighting.” Michael laughed. “I’m the original coward. The only pain I like is when I’m naked and sweaty and ’tis mixed with sex.”
Rose tried to picture Niall as a little boy with dark curls and a cheeky grin. She could imagine Michael easily, but Niall was the sort of man who gave the impression that he’d never been young and carefree. “Are you sure your mother and father didn’t make some sort of arrangement so that they each had one of you?”
Michael laughed hollowly. “Hardly. Ma didn’t want us great hulking lads in her little cave. We may be half-blood leprechaun, but our only resemblance to Ma and Ana is our hair color. If not for Ana, Ma would have turned Niall out.”
Rose’s throat tightened as she imagined how Niall must have felt when his father took Michael and left him behind. How could a parent choose one twin and reject the other?
“Did Niall resent you for what happened?”
“Naw.” Michael stared into the darkness. “It would be better if he had.” For the first time since she’d met him, she saw pain on his face. “Niall blames himself.”
“Michael.” Niall’s shout echoed between the tree trunks. “What in the Furies are you up to? I be needing the stakes.”
“Come on.” Michael puffed a misty breath in the cold air and grinned at her. “Or he’ll think I’ve pressed you up against a tree for a quickie.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Not a bad idea, now I come to think of it.”
Rose managed a small smile in return. “I’m afraid I like my sex somewhere warm and comfortable.”
“’Tis funny you should say that, lass. I have this lovely big bed—”
“Michael.” Rose slapped his arm. “You have a one-track mind.”
“Oh, enough of the flattery, darlin’.” He sobered and glanced in the direction Niall’s voice had come from. “Don’t mind me wicked ways, lass. ’Tis only joking I am. I like me pretty face too much to risk Niall’s rearranging it. When he gets attached he’s a mite protective. He guards Ana with the ferocity of a hellhound.”
Rose quashed the flutter of envy in her chest. What would it be like to have a man care for her that much?
They turned up a narrow woodland path and followed it for a hundred yards until they emerged into a clearing. She recognized the small thatched cottage in the center from Niall’s screen saver. That meant the brown-skinned child in the picture had to be Ana.
She scanned the clearing with her flashlight and caught Niall in the beam, kneeling, his arms around someone small. The figure ducked her head against his shoulder. “Douse that bloody light,” he bellowed. “It hurts her eyes.”
Michael leaned close and whispered, “Sorry, lass, should have warned you. Keep the light down now. We’ll work by the moon.”
Rose retreated to the edge of the clearing and leaned against a tree. She’d planned to help them place the ward around the house, but Niall was so hostile at the moment, it seemed best to keep out of his way. Michael must be wrong about Niall liking her. He’d probably just picked up the link she’d forged with Niall when she touched his stones, and misread it.
The two men knocked the iron stakes into the ground at intervals around the house, so each stake was in sight of the ones on either side. Once the ring was complete, no fairy could pass through. Then with the addition of a line of salt around the house, the druid’s magic would also be kept at bay until they returned.
After a few minutes, Ana’s small form emerged from the shadows on the opposite side of the clearing and came purposefully across the garden toward Rose.
“Ana,” Niall called softly. “Stay here by me.”
The small woman flapped a hand at him and kept walking.
“Rose won’t eat her,” Michael said.
Niall grunted. A weight of sadness settled inside Rose. He didn’t even want her to meet his sister.
Ana stopped in front of Rose and looked up. Moonlight glowed on her brown curls and illuminated her wrinkled, leathery skin.
“Greetings to you, Rose Tremain.”
Rose smiled, unsure what to say. Because of her size, she wanted to treat Ana like a child, but she obviously wasn’t. “Hello…Ana. I’m sorry. Is your second name O’Connor?”
The tiny woman gripped Rose’s hand and pulled. “Come down here, lass, and let me take a look at you.” She angled her head and scrutinized Rose’s face with her large brown eyes. “Aye.” She nodded slowly. “You’ll do for me darling boy.”
“Um…” Rose cleared her throat. “I think maybe we’ve got our wires crossed.”
“Nonsense. ’Tis there plain as the nose on me face. Give Niall a chance. He’s taken some knocks along the road.”
“But I don’t think—”
“Aye, you do. You own part of him. Be patient…please.” Tears filled her eyes, glittering in the moonlight. “He’ll take a while to trust you before he gives of himself willingly, but the lad deserves to be loved.”
What should she say? Before she could decide, Ana squeezed her hand, turned, and trotted back to her front door.
Ana’s tears left a tinge of guilt in Rose, as though she’d hurt Niall, yet he was the one being unfriendly. She released her breath. Both Michael and Ana had told her Niall liked her. They must know him better than anyone else. Maybe she would give him a chance. But he’d have to come halfway to meet her. She wouldn’t make assumptions again and end up feeling foolish as she had after she kissed him.
Nightshade hesitated in the hall outside the kitchen when he arrived back at Trevelion Manor. Silence filled the room, but he knew from the smell of processed food that Tristan was inside. He flexed his muscles, composed his expression, then burst through the door.
“Niall has Rose! I saw her through a window at the Elephant’s Nest.”
Tristan looked up, his pupils black pinpricks of anger. “Damn that interfering, righteous son of a bitch. Why couldn’t he forget her and do as I asked? I should never have involved him.” Tristan threw his fork down into the TV dinner before him. “He’ll pay for crossing me. Bring him here.”
Nightshade held his breath and waited for Tristan to realize he’d asked the impossible. When Tristan didn’t rescind the command, Nightshade said, “If I try to bring him by force, chances are we’ll both end up dead.”
Tristan rubbed his lips. “Bring me the sister then. The leprechaun. He’ll come to retrieve her.”
Nightshade had expected this strategy and planned his answer. “They’ve warded her house with iron and salt. I can’t get at her unless she comes out.”
Tristan stood, marched across to the sink, and dumped his meal in the trash. “The Tuatha Dé Danaan are prouder than the bloody piskies. I won’t let him trample me as if I’m dirt beneath his feet.”
How could Tristan’s view of life
be so warped that he believed he was the one being trampled? Nightshade watched the druid pace back and forth. Now was the time to set his plan in action. “Niall and Michael are taking Rose to Ireland.”
Tristan jerked around and glared at him. “Why?”
Nightshade shrugged and snapped his wings against his back. “I couldn’t hear everything they said. I think she wants advice on how to rescue the piskies.”
“Damn, damn.” Tristan stamped his foot and stared at the ground. “Why would Niall agree to go back to Ireland now? He’s absented himself from the Irish court for nearly five years.” Tristan turned a questioning glance on Nightshade. “Surely he isn’t willing to suffer Ciar’s wrath for my daughter’s sake?”
The Magic Knot Page 14
