Guardian (5 page)

It was a welcome respite from the burning sun and the air beneath the vines was thick with the flowers’ sweet scent. Despite myself I was impressed.

Directly in front of me, Ian Lavelle walked tall and straight, looking just like a faery in his tight breeches. His smooth, naked, brown back still looked as if it glowed with some inner light. I frowned at this. I was starting to suspect that Ian Lavelle was no ordinary human. But if that were true…then what was he?

I barely had a chance to ponder this latest, startling thought before Queen Tana turned and signaled to the fairies holding Ian. They hauled him away from the rest of us, toward a rock wall in the distance.

I picked up my pace until I walked beside the queen. “Where are they taking him?”

“To the caves. You will get your chance to question him later.”

I nodded. “I’d like to bring him his meal.”

Her sharp gaze swung to me and I held it, refusing to give in to the incredible pull of her personal power. Finally she nodded, “As you wish, Warrior.”

We reached the common area of the kingdom and she stopped, turning to Etta and me. “You will be given shelter here. I will see you tonight, at the feast.” She glanced at the faery beside me and the young woman bowed low.

“Follow me please.” The young faery instructed in a soft, high pitched voice.

I continued to look at Tana. “Feast?”

She smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. “To celebrate the intruder’s capture. And his imminent death.”

My mouth opened to say something…though I wasn’t sure what…but she turned away and left us standing there, her long, slender legs striding purposefully toward the golden palace in the distance.

I shook my head and looked at Etta. Her eyebrows lifted but she said nothing. We would keep silent until we were sure we were alone. It was obvious we couldn’t allow the queen to follow her own timeline. Or Ian Lavelle would be dead before we’d discovered what we needed to discover. For some reason the queen was very unhappy with our charming human. The depth of her unhappiness seemed out of proportion to his crime. And while I knew Queen Tana to be a volatile and petulant ruler…I also knew that she was eminently fair. Which led me directly to the obvious question. What the hell had Ian Lavelle done to the faery queen…to make her hate him so?

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I pushed back the gauzy window cover and peered out. Queen Tana had left a guard behind to watch us. Etta and I had decided to communicate telepathically rather than risk being overheard in our planning.

Is he still out there?

I turned and nodded.
I need to get to those caves.

She frowned.
They’ll be expecting you to go. I should be the one to go. They won’t expect me to try it, guardians aren’t exactly known for rule breaking.

I knew she was right, but damn! If Etta gave him the potion he’d be stuck to her instead of me. I wasn’t sure why that bothered me but it did. Finally I did an inner shrug and told myself it was because I was a control freak. I needed to control everything around me or my skin started to itch.

Un huh.

I shook my head.
I need to be the one to speak with him.

Why?
The angel disappeared before my very eyes and the monster was standing there. I was used to dealing with monster Etta, but it was still a little eerie to see her face go all purple and splotchy like that.

Because the Council gave this task to me, not you.

I was sent along to help.

To help, yes. I’ll let you know when you can help me.

There was a groan and a muffled thump outside and I flew to the door. It opened before I got there. Ian Lavelle sauntered in.

“Ladies.” He closed the door and went to the window, peering out as I’d done mere seconds earlier.

Etta and I exchanged a look.

“How the hell did you escape? And what did you do with the guard?”

He dropped the gauzy panel and grinned. “I’m getting very good at it actually. The caves and I are old friends.”

“What exactly is your relationship with Queen Tana? Why is she so royally pissed at you. Excuse the pun.”

He laughed. I found myself admiring the way his short, black hair outlined a perfectly shaped head and highlighted his strong jaw and square chin. “Tana and I go back a long way. Let’s just say we share a history and she doesn’t like the way it was written.” His eyes sparkled, “Especially the ending.”

The sound of footsteps and an alarmed call outside brought his head sharply around, his dynamic brown gaze narrowing. “Sounds like it’s time for me to go, ladies. I’ll be seeing you.”

His hand came up and opened over his head. Sparks of light scattered around him as the faery dust filtered down and he started to waver and fade.

“Not this time, dammit!” I yelled, and flung myself toward him. I hit him hard in the chest, eliciting a surprised, “Umph!” from him. And then, amazingly, one strong arm came around my waist and pulled me close so that I was encompassed by the same dust.

We entered a layer between worlds that was much deeper than the layer I usually traveled. An observant person could see the ripple in the air when I traveled. But I knew from having seen faery dust used that it was beyond even the most perceptive eye. Or the use of magic to discern it.

Still holding me tightly around the waist, Ian took two giant steps backward, until we stood behind the door. We were still in the room with Etta, watching her throw a truly entertaining tantrum, but we might as well have been a thousand miles away.

The door burst open and I flinched as it headed right for my face. But it passed right through us as if we weren’t even there. I looked at Ian and grinned. He grinned back and dropped his arm from my waist, grabbing my hand. “Let’s go.”

I looked at the queen’s guards, who now filled the room. They had Etta in restraints and were demanding to know where we’d gone. They didn’t seem to have heard Ian speak.

“They can’t hear us? Crystal cool.”

Ian dragged me through the guards at the door, very odd feeling that, and down the steps of the tree house to the ground far below. I started to turn toward the gate but he pulled me back. “This way.”

I glared at him. “Have you lost your mind? Why would we go to the palace? Tana wants you deader than I do.”

He stopped, turning toward me and yanking me up against his warm, hard body. “You want me dead?”

I scowled at him, “Only occasionally.”

He leaned down before I knew what he was doing and covered my lips with his. A whirlwind of sensation flowed through me from the touch of his skin against mine and I gasped under its onslaught, trying to pull away. But his arms were iron bands around my body and I wasn’t going anywhere.

I decided I might as well enjoy it.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and deepened the kiss, pulling the intoxicating musk of his breath into my body and rolling it around on my tongue like the finest ambrosia. His hands swept up my back and tangled in my hair. His body ground into me with urgent need. His lips left mine and he growled. “We’ll finish this later. I need to get to Tana.”

He turned and strode toward the Palace. I stood there, slightly dazed by the intensity of the kiss, and then started after him. I wasn’t sure why he was so bent on getting to the woman who wanted to kill him but I figured he might need me to save him from the noose. And I still had a lot of damn questions to ask. So I took off after him.

I glanced around as a door slammed shut behind me, followed by a strident voice lifted in anger. Etta was being led out of the tree dwelling where we’d been ensconced and toward the caves. She wasn’t happy about it. She was nearly shrieking with rage, but her captors were turning a deaf ear to her. Probably literally at that point. I was sure their auditory senses had shut down in self defense. But I figured they were more afraid of their queen than they were of one, tiny, pissed off guardian angel. I couldn’t say I blamed them. I’d have to remember to warn the Watcher so he could get her released.

I grinned. After Ian and I were safely away.

We walked right past a full complement of guards on the steps of the palace and down a long, marble hallway, toward a tall set of gold doors at the end. The two guards at the door, armed with crossbows and swords, were discussing the women they’d had the night before as we walked through…I mean literally through, the golden doors and into Queen Tana’s rooms.

She was standing before a roaring fire, staring into its depths. Suddenly she stiffened and turned, starting directly at us. “Ian? Show yourself.”

Ian suddenly disappeared from the layer and reappeared in the room with the faery queen. Stuck in the deep travel layer by myself, I panicked. Then I realized I could probably extricate myself in the same way I usually did, when I’d been traveling in an alternate layer. A second later I was in the room with them, much to the queen’s surprise.

“Why is she with you?”

Ian shrugged. “She seems very fond of me. She’s always throwing herself at me.” He grinned in my direction and I scowled.

“Your highness.” I bowed. “I have been sent by the Council of the Gods to fetch this human and get some answers from him. I won’t leave his side until I get those answers.”

Ian’s grin widened. “Interesting.”

I ignored him. Queen Tana stared hard at me for a moment and then nodded. “I have spoken to the Watcher. He assured me of the same. But I too have business with Ian Lavelle. Your business must await mine.”

I opened my mouth to argue but Ian’s voice stopped me. “We haven’t much time, Tana. I have been away for too long. They’ve been suspicious of me since I refused to bring them here.”

She nodded, turning back to the fire. I opened my mouth again…

“I feared as much. Have you learned who in my kingdom betrays me?”

Ian put a hand up to still me. “Not yet. But I’m getting close. Very close.”

I watched his nose to see if it grew visibly from this whopper.

Tana handed him a small cloth bag, tied at the top with faery twine. “I’ve filled this with the altered dust. That is the last of my special mix.”

Ian nodded. “Shall we communicate in the normal fashion then?”

Tana threw me a speculative glance and turned to Ian, her startlingly beautiful eyes filled with communication I couldn’t decipher. He returned her gaze and I felt a subtle change in the air that told me I was outnumbered and soon to be outmaneuvered.

Tana’s next words confirmed this. “The Monad must not be allowed to interfere.”

Ian threw me a speculative glance and frowned. He opened his mouth but didn’t get a chance to say whatever had been on his mind. I leapt on him, the weight of my body and the element of surprise bringing him to the ground beneath me.

His mouth came open in a grunt as he hit the floor hard with me on top and I quickly emptied the contents of the vial the Watcher had given me down his throat.

He choked and sputtered and spewed some of the contents back into my face. But I saw his throat working convulsively and I knew some of it had gone down.

Suddenly a blinding light encompassed us and invisible bands of steel wrapped themselves around me and yanked me away from Ian, dragging me upright to dangle in the air above him, twisting painfully.

I jerked against the bonds that held me. To no avail. Queen Tana’s power was legendary and she’d had thousands of years to hone it to perfection.

Ian pulled himself off the floor, wiping a hand across his lips. He strode toward me, anger riding his dark features. I forced myself not to flinch as he brought his face within an inch of mine. I could feel the anger rolling off him in waves.

“What did you give me, Monad?”

I smiled, at last I had the upper hand. Though to look at me, arms locked against my body with invisible power bands and hanging helpless in the air, it might be hard to see it. I figured it was all a matter of perspective.

“Binding potion. If you leave my side you’ll suffer excruciating pain.”

Ian stared hard into my eyes for several beats and then turned to Tana. She shook her beautiful head in disgust. “You have no idea what you’ve done, Monad. Stupid, stupid spirit.”

“Then tell me.”

Ian walked away from me to pace the room. “I have to return today or all will be lost.”

“Mayhaps we should just kill her.”

Oh boy.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. The potion has bound him inextricably to me. He
needs
me now. He’ll descend slowly into madness if I’m killed.” I didn’t know at all if this was true. But I thought it sounded good. And I really didn’t want him to test the theory.

Ian swore and the intensity of his pacing increased. Finally he looked up at the faery queen. “I’ll have to take her back with me.”

I smiled smugly.

Tana’s jeweled gaze widened. “How? You can’t just add her to the group. You know how suspicious they are. They’ll kill you and disband.”