Authors: Natale Stenzel
“It’s true. You might stop and think for a moment, too. You call your mom a weirdo for her beliefs and interests, but here
you are with a millennia-old shape-shifting puca under your guardianship. Who’s the weirdo now?”
“Smart-ass. So, are you ready to go?”
“To your dad’s?”
She winced. “Please don’t call him that. It conjures up all these visuals of chubby babies, piggyback rides and father-daughter
dances. Honestly, not Dunky’s style.”
“So you don’t acknowledge him as your father?”
She smiled tightly. “
He
doesn’t acknowledge
me
. As a pissed-off teenager, however, I decided to make it a reciprocal insult and not acknowledge
him
. For the sake of my own dignity.”
“A real fun guy, huh?”
“You don’t know? I thought a ‘canine prophet’ would know everything.”
“Nope. Just parts of the puzzle. Not the whole.”
“Any parts you’d be willing to share with me?”
“I’m bound by rules, Mina. You know that. I share and it’s all a waste anyway. Break the rules, renew the condemnation. I’d
be back in my cornerstone.”
“They’d know?”
“They’d know.”
“Just sucks to be you, doesn’t it?” Mina felt dirty and mean, but darn it, this wasn’t any cakewalk for her either. And
she
wasn’t the one who seduced some Druid’s precious daughter. What had it been like to have a father who loved her so dearly
he cast life-altering spells over pucas and generations of a human family just to avenge her?
When Riordan seemed to be watching her too long—and too knowingly—Mina whirled and snagged up her purse on the way out the
door. “Let’s go.”
“After you, babe.”
“Low profile, please. And, um, the face thing?”
“Right.” He sighed and flashed into his dog form.
Inwardly protesting the idea of seeing her father again—hey, if he didn’t want to see Mina, then Mina damn well didn’t want
to impose her soiled presence on his exalted self either—she wrestled the steering wheel and ancient gears until she’d gained
the interstate. Halfway there, she was gazing absently out the window, when she noticed a brand-new sign advertising the county’s
campaign to recruit teachers. She frowned, staring more intently, until realization had her reflexively stomping on the brakes.
“What—whoa!” Riordan landed on his butt on the floor mat.
Mina parked on the shoulder to stare at the billboard. The
T
and
e
of
Teacher
were smudged—and familiar. She remembered the huge lettering on Tiffany’s stained cardigan. The puca ride. She unwillingly
pictured the puca in stallion form . . . galloping along the framework of a billboard? No. That billboard had to be thirty
feet high. How would he get up there? Fly? She stared at it, then at Riordan, who regarded the sign almost fondly. “You didn’t.
You couldn’t have.”
“Would you like a demonstration?” This from a very smug-sounding puca.
“No. I don’t want to know. I’ll just—no.” Conscious of—and completely ignoring—Riordan’s disturbing amusement, Mina carefully
put the car in gear and merged back onto the interstate. Twenty minutes later, they stood outside a dignified brick building
with its tasteful sign proclaiming the offices of Forbes & Forbes, Accounting and Financial Services.
Mina studied the sign. It was new. And smudge-free—but no, she wasn’t going there. Her head would explode. The second Forbes
on the sign, Mina knew, referred to her half-sister, who appeared to be infinitely more acceptable as a daughter. Mina had
never met the girl and, frankly, knew nothing about her other than that she had somehow managed to earn favor in Duncan Forbes’s
warped eyes.
“So this is the domain of
the
Duncan Forbes? Somehow I never pictured your mother getting it on with an accountant.”
“Dogs don’t talk, ” she muttered and, dismissing the sign and her thoughts, stalked up the steps and opened the door.
Absently, she held it open for Riordan to trot inside after her. Then she turned to the gaping receptionist, who’d jumped
to her feet and was now pointing at Mina’s canine companion.
“No dogs in the office!”
“He’s a working dog.” Mina raised her eyebrows for emphasis and attempted to look dependent.
Man, are you going to burn for that one.
Why, did you have a better argument to offer?
Not at all. Fabricate away, my beautiful Mina.
I’m not your anything.
That’s not what the Druids say . . .
Riordan’s singsong response echoed in Mina’s head as she turned abruptly and strode down the hallway to her father’s office.
If she had the receptionist announce her, no doubt Duncan Forbes would keep Mina waiting for twenty minutes while he slunk
out the back door. That’s what he’d done the last time she tried to talk to him. The time before that . . . she’d rather not
recall, if at all possible. Pain and humiliation were bad enough to live through the first time without enduring a mental
replay. Ugly scene.
“Ma’am? Ma’am! You can’t go in there!” The receptionist hurried after Mina, but Mina just strode on.
Lady, you have balls. I’m so impressed.
No, I’m just desperate and well aware of the cowardice of good old Dunky.
Mina popped a hand out in front of her and simply smacked her father’s office door open. As the receptionist squawked protests
to Mina and apologies to the tall man seated at the desk inside the office, Mina ignored her. She simply held the door open
for Riordan to enter and followed him in.
When Riordan fixed his eerie gaze on Mina’s father, the man shot to his feet, eyes wide and staring at the puca. “You.”
“Sir, I tried to tell her we didn’t allow dogs—” the receptionist hurried to explain.
Duncan Forbes merely waved her away, then sank slowly into his seat. “It’s all right, Wendy. I’ll handle it.”
Looking relieved, the receptionist hurried out, closing the door behind her.
After a silent few moments, Forbes raised his gaze to Mina. “So, it’s happened. Just like she intended.”
“Like who intended?” Realizing Forbes wasn’t going to do the polite thing and offer her a seat, Mina presumptuously dropped
into a chair without invitation. Riordan seated himself as well, his chin raised to fully meet the man’s gaze.
“Why, that lying bitch who gave birth to you, of course. Who else?”
Mina saw red, but kept her voice icy. “Say what you will about that ‘lying bitch,’ but at least she was ‘man’ enough to stand
by her own child. Where were you? Coward.”
Forbes glared. “I don’t have to listen to this.”
“Yes, you do. Unless you’d like to pay up on the eighteen years’ worth of child support you owe my mother. Funny thing, how
paternity tests have become so much more sophisticated since I was first born. And how would your wife and acknowledged daughter
take the news that you had another family you never mentioned to them? Kind of a big secret for a staid old accountant.” She
paused. “Much like your heritage is.”
“Heritage?” He cast a nervous glance at Riordan, who seemed to be smiling, Mina decided. Riordan was incorrigible. Undoubtedly
one of his more attractive qualities.
You humble me.
That’ll be the day.
Doggy snort.
“So what do you want from me, then? Money? The name of a vet for neutering this thing?”
“Just some answers. That’s cheap enough, don’t you think?”
Her father leaned back in his chair, eyes speculative as he folded his arms across his chest. “What kind of answers?”
Damn good question. What kind of answers do I want, Riordan?
Ask him if he knows me.
“Do you know my friend here?”
“The dog?”
Mina shrugged. “Sometimes.”
Duncan Forbes looked even more forbidding. “I’ve never seen him before.”
Mina raised her chin. “Duncan Forbes, meet Riordan. Also known as Robert Goodfellow, puca.”
“Nice to meet you, dog.”
The man needs a lesson in manners.
Tell me about it. “So you’ve never met him. Do you know
of
him?”
A long pause. “Yes.” A single, grudging word.
“Ah, we’re getting somewhere. What do you know of him? And how?”
“Just silly stories. Myth. Legend.” He paused, then continued with ironic candor. “Frankly, I never thought to actually lay
eyes on him.”
“But as soon as you did, you knew who and what he was and implied my mother was involved?”
“No implication needed. The woman tricked me.”
“How?”
“
You
.”
Mina swallowed. This shouldn’t hurt. It shouldn’t. Obviously, she never learned. “She tricked you into having me. That’s what
you said when I first talked to you.”
That first time Mina had walked into his office—which then bore only one Forbes on the sign outside—she had been so hopeful.
He was normal. An accountant, for pete’s sake. Maybe he’d welcome her with open arms. She’d even looked for and found some
resemblance, in their coloring—the light skin and strawberry-blond hair—and something about the set of her eyes. But there
the connection ended. Her Daddy fantasies were nothing but that. Fantasies. She’d decided she didn’t want to claim a man as
cowardly as Dunky anyway. So there. Take that.
Dunky was scowling. “That’s because your mother
did
trick me. If it was up to me, she never would have gotten pregnant.”
“So you were helpless. Used and abused. My mother
forced
you to have sex with her. She
raped
your sorry self. Right?”
“No, I’m saying she lied about being on the pill, hid her identity from me, and seduced me just to have my baby.”
“She wanted me.” God, that wasn’t supposed to come out sounding so weak and needy. But at least it was true. Her mother wanted
her, even if the man who’d fathered her didn’t.
“Yes and no. What she wanted was a child from our two bloodlines.” He raised his eyebrows.
Make him spell it out for you. I think he wants to, but mostly
to hurt you and divide your sympathies.
Mina glanced at Riordan, but the warning was unnecessary. The malice in twisted old Dunky’s eyes was pretty damn obvious.
As was, now that she looked more closely, the rage and anxiety. She chose her words carefully. Tried to remain objective.
“Why would she want a child from your bloodline and hers . . . and what do you mean by bloodlines? Why is this important?”
“Obviously, you already know about your mother’s bloodline.” He glanced at the puca and back to her. “You’re descended from
the Avebury family and, apparently, a viable guardian for this freak.”
“Some people might condemn a man who abandoned his child as pretty damn freakish. And cruel. Riordan’s never been cruel.”
“Not to you.”
Riordan shifted, but no comment sounded in Mina’s mind.
“Not to me. That’s right. And, what’s more, nobody in this room is a saint. We can all acknowledge that and move on. So, tell
me about your bloodline.”
Forbes grimaced. “It’s very simple really. Your mother was descended from the peasant family found guilty of aiding and abetting
this jerk. I—my family—are descended from the woman he wronged. And descended from the Druid who condemned the puca.” His
eyes narrowed. “And you, my daughter that should never have been born—”
Riordan growled.
Somebody’s in desperate need of a puca
ride.
But Mina buried a cautioning hand in his fur.
“—you are descended from both Avebury and Druid. You have blood ties to both the condemned and the condemner. The perpetrator’s
conspirator and his victim.” He smiled, and it wasn’t a nice smile. “Feeling a little torn, daughter?”
“Not really. You don’t act terribly victimized. And Riordan has paid over and over for what he did. Aren’t two millennia of
torture and isolation sufficient punishment for his crimes?”
“That’s a matter of opinion, and frankly, not your decision to make.”
“Yet.” Riordan spoke aloud, drawing Forbes’s attention.
“So the spook speaks. How quaint. I’ll bet you could tell some tales after living all these centuries.”
“Not as many as you might think. I spent most of those lifetimes locked inside of a rock.”
Forbes sneered. “What, am I supposed to feel sorry for you? From what I’ve heard, you only got what you deserved. You thought
you were so powerful as to be above human ethics and morality. Apparently not. Look what a human did to you.”
Riordan nodded, seeming more thoughtful than affected. “I’ve heard it said that with great power comes great responsibility.
It only follows that wrongs committed by those in great power should garner great punishment. And so mine did, ” Riordan acknowledged
evenly. “I might also add that lifetimes spent in contemplation tend to change a person. I’m not the mere child I was when
I was condemned. I’ve changed and learned.”
“So you say.”
“So I say.” Riordan deliberately lowered his voice. “But what I wonder is . . . have
you
learned anything in the years since you abandoned Mina?”
Forbes sputtered in outrage. “I didn’t abandon her. She wasn’t supposed to even exist. She’s Elizabeth Avery’s creation, not
mine. It would have been different if she’d been accidentally conceived. But she wasn’t. She was the product of an act of
manipulation committed by her mother. I refuse to bow to anyone’s manipulation.”
“Gentlemen, could we please get back to the point? Look, Dunky, Daddy, Mr. Forbes, or whatever the hell you think I should
call you”—it had been a contentious point during their last conversation—“I frankly don’t give a shit whether you wanted me
or not. All I want from you now is information. You owe me answers.” Mina stared at the man who’d fathered her, refusing to
feel anything but frustration. She just wanted those answers and a ticket out of this hellhole.
Forbes studied his daughter, then averted his gaze. “You’ll leave when you have your information?”
“Happily, freely and immediately.”
“Fine. What else do you want to know?”
Her heart pounding with emotions she refused to entertain, Mina paused to arrange her words. “You say my mother wanted to
give birth to the product of two bloodlines. The condemned and the condemner. The perpetrator as well as the victim. What
is the significance of this? Tell me why this is important.”