by Anya Bast
Aislinn would miss him. She’d even worry about him.
However, she had every reason to believe that the queen would allow him to stay, as long as he hadn’t shot off his mouth about the Seelie within her hearing. He was far too colorful and beautiful a man to refuse. He was the type that was like candy to the Summer Queen.
Then he’d gone and bought her an expensive birthday present. Of more concern, he was growing on her. She actually liked him. She was attracted to him. There was no denying it. Even worse? Nightmarishly worse? She was developing feelings for him. Feelings that eclipsed the good sense she should have, to stay away from him because of her prophetic dream. Even if Gabriel wasn’t going to do it intentionally, somehow he was going to lead to her death.
How stupid could she be?
Apparently since she’d met Gabriel her IQ had dropped a bajillion points because despite what her good sense told her, she was putting on that gown, slipping into those shoes, and going down to the ball.
Willpower had never been her strong suit.
GABRIEL watched Aislinn come toward him, parting the crowd of fae around her like an ocean. The gown fit her perfectly, clinging to every luscious curve so closely it made him jealous. The dress was backless and if it dipped any farther than it did, all the men in the room would’ve been very happy instead of just teased beyond belief.
She’d done her light hair up on the top of her head, leaving her slender throat and the back of her neck bare. His fingers itched to caress her nape and free her hair so it fell down around her shoulders. The color of the dress set off her gray eyes and the shade of her skin.
The knowledge that it was the gown he’d bought for her that encased her body and rubbed against her skin aroused him beyond belief. It was erotic to watch the way she moved in the garment, knowing he’d held it in his hands that morning. Why he should be struck with this oddness now was a mystery. After all, he’d purchased many gowns for many women, yet this one was different.
Everything about Aislinn was different.
Gabriel had seen many women in his life, but Aislinn was by far the most beautiful. That beauty came from more than just her physical appearance. It came from her intelligence and her strong backbone. It came from her wit and her deep compassion for others. Hells, he even loved her stubborn streak and that far-too-honest mouth. He could think of lots of things to do with that mouth, too. . . .
The bottom line was that he wanted to get to know her even better.
For the first time in more years than he could remember, he wanted a relationship with a woman. Hells, he just wanted Aislinn, whatever way he could get her, for as long as he could have her.
Coldness washed through him, followed by a wave of warmth. This faint beginning of a deeper caring for a woman scared the hell out of him. He frowned. It wasn’t like he was a sociopath; he cared about all the women he was involved with. He’d cared for Caitlin deeply.
But this was different. More involved or something. Honestly, he wasn’t quite sure what this was yet. He only knew that he was in unfamiliar territory, and that watching her walk toward him right now made him happy.
“Hello,” she said, looking up at him with a smile. Every person around them seemed to be watching, murmuring. Gabriel had no doubt they were admiring Aislinn. She was a knockout every night, but more so tonight.
And tonight, she was his. His. And no way was she escaping him.
Without a word, he pulled her forward into his arms and up against him. The movement was purely instinctual and completely impulsive. She gave a little cry of surprise but allowed him to drag her up against his body.
“Gabriel, Kendal isn’t here tonight. You don’t have to put on an act for him.”
“Who’s acting?” he growled. “You have a short memory. I tried this the other night, but you ran away from me, as I recall.”
“I know. I’m sorry about that, I really am.”
“I can forgive you, but you’ll have to make it up to me.”
Her cheeks colored a little and she licked her lips. His gaze ate up every movement. “Maybe I will.”
“Tonight?”
“We’ll see.” She glanced around. “Everyone is watching us, Gabriel.”
“There are other people in the room? I don’t see anyone but you.”
She ducked her head a little and smiled. “Thank you for the dress.”
“Happy birthday.” He turned her in time to the music and pressed his chest to her back. In one smooth movement, he pulled a necklace from his pocket and looped it around her throat, securing it in back.
She turned toward him, touching the sapphire pendant. “I know this necklace. This is Bella’s.”
“She asked me to give it to you for your birthday.”
She looked up at him, a wet sheen in her eyes. “Thank you.” She stroked the top of it with the pad of her index finger. “It means so much to have something of her. I miss her.”
He took her into his arms and they began to dance. “I know. She misses you, too.”
“But how did you get it?” She frowned. “I don’t understand. Did she give it to you before you came to petition?”
He opened his mouth, intending to lie. To say, yes, that was exactly how he’d come to possess the necklace, but this curious thing happened. As he looked into her eyes, he became totally and utterly unable to force a lie through his lips.
Ah, there was that cold-warm rush of fear chased by contentment through his veins again. What the hell was that?
“Bella gave it to me last night, Aislinn.” He paused, watching her jerk in surprise. “I can go back to the Unseelie Court when I choose and I have on several occasions since I came to petition the Summer Queen.”
“How?”
“One day I hope I’ll be able to tell you.”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand. Why can’t you tell me now?”
“Let’s just say that I have a good relationship with my king.”
“Strong enough to withstand your attempted defection?”
Theoretically, it might be. The Shadow King didn’t have the same vanity that the Summer Queen possessed. Ronan had gone from the Unseelie to the Seelie and back, though he was the only one who ever had. That situation had been different for a number of reasons, one of which involved Bella.
But mostly it had been because of the piece of the bosca fadbh.
That was the artifact Ronan had stolen for the Phaendir. He’d bought Bella’s life and his freedom by giving it to the Summer Queen. The piece of the bosca fadbh, when combined with the other two pieces and used with a spell from the Book of Bindings, had the power to break the warding that imprisoned the fae in Piefferburg. Obtaining the other pieces was a long shot at best, but Gabriel had no doubt both the courts were trying. They might even be competing.
The Seelie and the Unseelie, the Summer Queen and the Shadow King, might war, they might hate each other—but there was one area in which they were united. All fae hated the Phaendir and most fae wanted out of Piefferburg. Almost everyone wanted the freedom to live in the world again.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
Gabriel knew firsthand that the Summer Queen and the Shadow King were already talking about combining forces to make a move on the Phaendir. It was only a question of time.
So when Ronan and Bella had shown up on the stairs of the Black Tower, refugees from the Seelie Court with nowhere else to go, the Shadow King had had his fun, but there had been no doubt they would have a home there.
They needed Ronan.
They would need Bella, too, and Gabriel, along with many others, if they planned to make a move for the rest of the bosca fadbh and the Book of Bindings.
“I think my relationship with my king is strong enough to withstand an attempted defection, yes.”
She looked at him sharply. “My king.” She stopped moving, stepped back, and blinked. “You don’t intend to stay here, do you? No matter how the Summer Queen rules.”
/> He glanced around them at the rest of the dancing and conversing Seelie Court. “Can we talk about this later?”
She pressed her lips together and gave a curt nod.
“Good.” He took her hand and whirled her out, around, and back against him.
She laughed out loud, the prettiest sound he could imagine. “You’re a great dancer.”
“Thanks.” He stared down into her eyes and put everything he was thinking about doing to her into his gaze. “It’s the second best thing I can do.”
She swallowed hard and glanced away. “Yes, I can imagine what the first thing is,” she answered in her characteristically dry tone of voice.
“I’d be more than happy to show you.”
“You have to know by now I’m not that easy.”
“Easy things are generally not worth the time and trouble, sweetness.”
“And you, Gabriel, you’re just trouble.”
“Not as much as you’d think. Anyway, I think you could use a little trouble in your life, the right kind of trouble, anyway. My kind of trouble.” He growled the words and held her tight. Gods, he wanted her so badly. Having her body pressed against his, her hips to his, her breasts to his chest. It was driving him insane.
She stopped dancing and moved away, drawing a shaky breath. Could she be feeling it, too? “I think I need a drink.”
A familiar figure caught Gabriel’s eye. “Looks like Kendal decided to come after all.” He was accompanied by his floozy of the moment.
“Correction, I think I need to get out of here.”
What a great idea. “Then let’s do it.”
NINE
SHE took him to her apartment with every intention of seducing him.
He wasn’t staying here. She’d heard it in his voice and seen it on his face. Gabriel still swore allegiance to the Shadow King. Why he’d even come here at all was a mystery to her. Tomorrow, unless the Summer Queen had sensed Gabriel’s distaste for the Rose, she would probably extend him an invitation.
He wouldn’t accept.
By tomorrow he would be gone, back to the place where he’d come, and she’d never see him again. She assumed he’d already been to see the Shadow King about returning. That was likely how he’d obtained Bella’s pendant. Just that morning she’d been thinking about how she’d miss Gabriel if he left. Now that it was a reality, she realized just how much.
Yes, he was polished in the womanizing department. He obviously loved them and had seduced many in his lifetime. Yet he wasn’t cruel, misogynistic, or skanky about it. For as much as he enjoyed sleeping with women, he seemed to respect them just as much, even worship them. Yes, he was arrogant as all hell. But he was also witty and intelligent, caring in his own way, scarily insightful, and not as self-absorbed as she’d first assumed. He was fun to talk to and when he wasn’t near she noted his absence.
Her heart felt a bit heavy at the prospect of losing another friend to the Unseelie Court.
“The Summer Queen will be very angry when she finds out you’re declining her invitation to stay.”
Gabriel turned from where he stood at her living room window, looking down at the square. She came to stand next to him. Night had fallen long ago and the sky was strewn with glittering stars. Across the square, the Black Tower stabbed upward.
He turned back to observe the square. “How do you know I intend to decline her invitation?”
“I just do.”
He said nothing for several moments, letting her know that she was right. “If I were to stay, it would be for you.”
At the beginning of the week she would have instantly believed that was a line, but now she felt he meant it. “But you won’t.”
“My heart is in the Unseelie Court, Aislinn. I know that now more than ever.”
“You don’t like it here because the focus of our lives is on the social.”
“Aislinn, this place has no magick in it and magick is the core of who we are.” He spoke with deep passion in his voice. “I’m surprised so many Seelie Tuatha Dé are happy with their lives here.”
“Magick is the Summer Queen’s domain within these walls. Not ours.”
“And that’s wrong.” He turned toward her. “Magick is in our spirit, Aislinn. It’s what we’re made of—take it away and we’re just like the humans; there’s nothing left to make us different or special. Take away our strengths and we’ll wither and die slowly as a people. Especially now. This is not the time to weaken ourselves.”
She looked up at him. “You mean in the face of the Phaendir.”
“That’s one of the issues where the Shadow King disagrees most with the Summer Queen. She keeps her people pampered and distracted when she should be keeping them strong. She should be preparing them for battle.”
She shook her head, looked out the window, and crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not true that the Summer Queen wants to keep us weak.”
“She’s vain, Aislinn, worried that someone in her court might turn up more powerful than she is. No woman is permitted to be as beautiful as she is. She desperately wants to be the focal point, the adored one. Most of all she wants to be the one you all need.”
Suddenly Aislinn feared a knock at her door, the Imperial Guard coming to take Gabriel away for voicing heresy against the queen.
She snorted. “You’re saying that Caoilainn Elspeth Muirgheal, the direct descendant of the original High Royal of the Tuatha Dé Danann, is insecure.”
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying.”
Aislinn shook her head, but didn’t deny it. What Gabriel said was true. It was just the kind of truth that no one really wanted to face.
Gabriel shrugged. “In the Black, magick is emphasized as important from birth. Formal education begins at five years old and is taught alongside a child’s ABCs and one-two-threes. It’s required we learn Old Maejian fluently. We all are encouraged to develop our skills and hone them, to be able to control them at all cost. Because the Unseelie can use magick to harm and to kill, it’s not a safe place, but it’s an interesting place.” He flashed a smile at her. “Never boring.”
“I can imagine.”
“You can’t, love. You can’t imagine it. It’s so different from here.” He paused. “I think you’d like it. I think you would fit in there and be content. You would find a meaning and a purpose to your life that you lack here. I believe you would feel less alone.”
She looked down at the square. Join the Unseelie? She had magick that could kill, if she truly was a necromancer . . . but live in the Black Tower? It was inconceivable. But if she was a necromancer, it was imperative she learn about her magick, that she understood it and could control it.
Gabriel had just opened a pathway she’d never believed she could take.
She frowned. “You don’t think I fit in here?”
“No.” His answer came fast. “I think you’ve made yourself try to fit the best you can out of a sense of self-preservation, but you don’t belong here, Aislinn. Your magick is too strong and you’re doing yourself a disservice by suffocating it. You have a secret, a dark one, like the one Bella was keeping. I can feel it in you.”
A week before she might have been offended by the notion that the Seelie Court was anything less than perfect, but not now. She said nothing for a long moment. “How do you know so much about me?”
He turned her to face him and tipped her chin up, forcing her to look into his eyes. “I watch you. I’m interested in you. I want to know who you are inside and out. So I tune in and pay attention.”
“You’re very perceptive.”
“Only because I wish to perceive every aspect of you, Aislinn.”
A shiver ran through her. His eyes were a rich, warm blue and his voice a low, rolling seduction. She believed him.
The world seemed to shift under her feet. She trusted him. Her instincts screamed that she could. Maybe she couldn’t before, but now something between them had altered and not just on her end. Gabriel had begun to ge
nuinely care for her at some point and that had changed everything.
How nice it would be to have someone to confide in, to talk to, someone to understand who she was under the ball gowns and jewelry. Bella was the only one who knew the true Aislinn. How strange it was that Gabriel might also know the true her when she’d disliked him so much in the beginning.
There was so much more to Gabriel Cionaodh Marcus Mac Braire than first met the eye.
“And I don’t mean only sexually,” Gabriel added, his voice low and as smooth as warm chocolate, and probably just as bad for her health. “In case you were wondering.”
She hadn’t taken his comment that way when he’d uttered it, but now she did. A flush suffused her body. Images did, too. She’d brought him here with the intention of sleeping with him and she wasn’t typically shy about sex. The fae, the ones who were so long-lived, rarely were about such things. Yet with Gabriel she’d developed a sudden case of bashfulness.
She turned away from the window and walked back into the living room.
“Aislinn?” he questioned from the window.
She turned. “Have you ever known any necromancers?”
He jerked and then went very still. “No. They’re very rare. There has never been a necromancer in Piefferburg to my knowledge. The Shadow King’s maternal line has them. We learn about those necromancers, among others, in school.” He paused and turned back toward the window in a gesture that seemed almost too nonchalant. “Why do you ask?”
She frowned, trying to interpret the odd body language. “I’m curious about them.” She wasn’t going to give more until he did.
“I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
She moved to pour them drinks. Gabriel liked his whiskey straight. She wanted a glass of red wine. “Then pick a necromancer and tell me everything.”
He was still standing by the window. “Brigid Fada Erinne O’Dubhuir. She was—”
“A woman?” Her hand tensed on the bottle of whiskey.
“Yes. Necromancers are usually women. Didn’t you know that?”
“No.” Were her hands shaking?
