A Sliver of Shadow (26 page)

Her head snapped up, her nostrils flaring. “Do you think I lie?”

“You can’t lie. I get that, but you sure as hell can choose not to answer an entire question. I call bullshit. Why not go to the Queen?”

“You understand nothing,” she said bitterly, going very still. “There’s still time. Give me the Key and I may be able to right things. Maurice would take it as a trade, I’m sure of it.”

My hand touched the amulet as though to reassure myself that it was still actually there. “I can’t. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. It won’t come off.” Something I was terribly grateful for at the moment. The thought of Maurice with such a talisman didn’t bear thinking about.

Her mouth tightened. “Pity.” She moved forward, her feet squelching in the mud, though her limbs were shadow-swift. I spun, wincing as her fingers snagged my hair. I swung wide with my fist, the sting of my knuckles acknowledging that I’d made contact. My knee screamed in rebellion and I knew I wasn’t going to win this. Time to regroup.

Ducking into the herd of horses, I slapped them on the rumps as I passed, narrowly avoiding being kicked.

“You can’t outrun me,” Tresa jeered, sliding between their legs.

“No,” I agreed. “But they can.” The piebald mare in front of me reared when I jerked hard on her lead rope. Tresa chuckled.

“Foolish girl. You think the Sidhe leave their pretty ponies tied with anything so mundane as mortal rope? It cannot be undone by any save the owner.”

Well, shit. I tugged again on the rope. The knot certainly looked as though the slack would simply fall out, but it remained steadfast. The mare snapped at me, her ears slanted back. “Hell with this.” I whipped out the iron dagger, half intending to throw it at the woman.

A roan stallion began to buck and I heard shouts from up on the hill. I glanced up to a cluster of elven men running toward us. Tresa continued to advance, pulling a stout walking stick from beneath her cloak.

On impulse I slashed at the rope attached to the mare, blinking as it began to smoke. A moment later there was a snapping sound. The mare wheeled and took off, her unshod hooves making dull thuds as she galloped away.

“Iron to break a Glamour,” I breathed, rushing to cut the other ropes. If nothing else, I could cause a distraction, but best case I might even manage to ride one out.

Tresa snarled at me when she saw the dagger. “Cheater,” she hissed.

“Yeah, well.” I cut through another set of ropes. “I don’t pretend to be anything else.” By now, the horses were a squealing mass of rolling eyes and heaving sides, clearly uncomfortable at having two random strangers weaving between them. A stallion nipped Tresa hard on the forearm, and she let out a high-pitched scream.

“Abby!”

Talivar? I swung toward the voice, my knees going weak with relief as the prince vaulted over the outer fencing. I waved frantically at him as something slammed into my
shoulder. Off-balance, my arms windmilled and I fell to the ground, Tresa pressing me facedown into the dirt.

I scrabbled in the mud, pulling my good knee up beneath me to try to roll out from under her. One arm wrenched free and snatched something soft. Her hair? Without thinking I yanked hard, concentrating on causing pain as opposed to any sort of logistical tactic. My eyes rolled sideways between the rush of horse legs, catching no sign of Talivar. A sizeable crowd had gathered at the edges of the paddock, looking none too pleased at the situation as several of the horses barreled through the gate and up the hill.

“Thief!” Tresa called suddenly. “Horse thief! She’s cutting the ropes with an iron blade!”

An angry rumble started up and I began to struggle in earnest. Tresa alone I might be able to escape, but a furious mob of Fae were another thing altogether.

Did the Fae hang their horse thieves? I had no doubt I wouldn’t get much chance to explain myself. Tresa disappeared into the dust, ducking beneath the wheeling punch of an elven blacksmith. “Good enough for the goose and gander.” I jerked back as fire lanced through my fingertips. Someone was grinding my fingers together. The knife fell from my hand as I tried to roll away, wriggling out of another’s elf’s grasp.

Not fast enough.

Immediately, my arm was jacked up behind my back, my legs swept out from under me.

“Stop moving,” grunted my captor, bending my wrist to emphasize the point. I bit back a yelp and did as I was told, turning my face so that I wasn’t breathing dirt.

“Let her go,” Talivar commanded, striding over to where I lay. He yanked the other elf off and gingerly helped me stand.

“My lord, she was stealing the horses.”

“She was doing no such thing,” the prince snapped, wrapping his cloak around me, his leather armor creaking. “The lady is my TouchStone and will not be treated as a common criminal, is that understood?” His eye narrowed when he saw Tresa struggling in the arms of two other elves. “That one, however, is another matter.”

Tresa jerked her head upright. “Sanctuary,” she cried, her eyes glittering with desperation. “I call sanctuary.”

“And I deny it,” the prince said, gesturing at his men to tie her up.

“Sanctuary here is not yours to grant or deny, my lord prince.” Kitsune’s words swept past us like a breeze made of iron. “As well you know.” The others parted for the fox-woman, standing aside and lowering their heads as she passed, her tail swaying gracefully.

“She’s a traitor to the realm, and has conspired to harm my sister’s child.”

Kitsune waved her hand at him impatiently. “And what concern is that to me? How quickly you’ve forgotten the rules, Talivar.” She reached up to pat his cheek. “It was not so long ago when you claimed the same.”

He exhaled slowly. “No, my lady, and I was grateful for your protection.”

“Would you have me deny another’s?”

Tresa smirked at this, pulling her arms free as Talivar nodded toward his men.

“No.” He turned to Tresa, his face impassive. “Should you enter Faerie proper, your life is forfeit to me.”

Tresa spat at the ground. “It will never happen. The land itself has cast me out.” She raised her wrist to reveal a gaping wound, blood pulsing beneath a pustulant scab. “The thorns contain a slow poison … as you know,” she
added slyly. Talivar’s jaw twitched at her words and I took his hand.

Kitsune raised a finger. “We’re not done here yet. I require justice for the loss of my horses.”

Shit. “But I didn’t steal them.”

“And yet, they are gone. Released by you.”

“Some destiny,” I muttered, but I couldn’t fault her logic. I
had
cut them free. Didn’t mean I wanted to die for it.

“The prince, a way out of here, and a chance to find the woman who betrayed you.” Kitsune cocked her head at me. “Isn’t that what you asked for?”

“What bargain did you make, Abby?” Talivar stared at me.

“She gave me a thread. A red spool of thread. I was supposed to follow it.” I flushed. “What the hell else was I going to do?”

“Argue later,” the fox-woman said with a sigh, clapping her hands twice in rapid succession. Immediately two dapple gray horses appeared from the remainder of the herd, flanks gleaming with sweat. Kitsune’s mouth twitched. “I offer you this choice, my prince. Consider it an opportunity to assuage your potential losses of today.”

Tresa’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve granted me sanctuary. I’m not under his jurisdiction anymore.”

“No,” Kitsune said sharply, her ears flattening. “Now you’re under mine. And you chose to attack this woman in the midst of my horses, leading to their escape.”

“But—”

“And what is it we’re doing here?” I interrupted, confused. Was I going to be dragged behind them?

“Each of you shall mount one and head off in different directions.” Kitsune’s smile turned feral. “Whichever of you the prince chooses to pursue, he can keep.”

“And the other?” I was almost afraid to ask, not daring to look at Talivar. It was a shit decision to have to trade me for his enemy but that didn’t mean I wanted the alternative either.

“Belongs to me, of course. A pity you didn’t drink the tea when I offered it. Then I would be honor bound to seek recompense for the attack upon you.” She yipped in that high-pitched bark again, laughing when the men lifted a panicked Tresa toward the first horse. The elf coldly stared at the fox-woman as she seated herself with as much dignity as she could. Kitsune turned to me. “I’ll allow Talivar to do the honors.”

He sighed, cupping my chin so that he could meet my eyes. “I will find you, Abby. I promise. Can you ride?”

“Uh, no. Not since the pony ride at my seventh birthday. Where are Mel and Phin?”

“Safe enough. We’ll meet up with them later.” He gave me a tight smile and a leg up onto the beast. I barely had time to settle myself before Kitsune let out another barking laugh.

“Off you go.”

“Off I wha—” I tumbled forward, my mouth full of horse hair. I snatched at the mane, my hands wrapping around the horse’s neck even as Talivar slapped it hard on the ass.

The horse snorted in surprise. I let out a warning shout, every bone in my body rattling as we barreled through the crowd. My legs slipped out sideways and I narrowly avoided cracking my nose when it jerked its head up.

Mud spattered my thighs, flung up by churning hooves. How the hell did one steer a horse without a rope or reins or what have you? I vaguely remember something about using your knees, but a squeeze of my shoes against the heaving sides rewarded me with a snaking neck and a snap of teeth at my calf.

I clenched my jaw and clung as tight as I could as the Barras retreated rapidly from view. I caught the silhouette of the other horse disappearing into the shadows, Tresa’s form clinging like a burr. I eased my aching butt up a little higher. We were moving into the trees now. Branches and twigs snarled past me to catch in my hair and Talivar’s cloak.

I could see no hint of silver ahead, no sign of the CrossRoads. I pulled on the horse’s mane, but it merely snorted and plunged deeper into the forest. Brambles and ferns, massive mushrooms and towering oaks whirled by.

“Goddamn but you’re a bony thing,” I said, wincing as my pelvis ground into the protruding withers as it leapt over a streamlet.

“You’re not exactly a basket of fruit either,” the horse—a mare, I assumed judging by the voice—sniffed.

Given everything that had happened so far today, I decided it wasn’t worth being surprised that I was riding a talking horse. “Erm. Hello?”

“
Now
she decides she wants introductions. I hope like the hells you can swim.”

“Couldn’t you just slow down? I’ll jump off if that makes it easier for you.” I glanced down at the forest floor, ignoring the thought of what might happen if I landed on my bad knee. I blinked. “Did you say swim?”

“Yeah. And you can’t jump off. Not until I allow it.”

“Um, you wouldn’t happen to be a kelpie, would you?” Kelpies had the pleasant distinction of taking their riders to the nearest body of water and then tearing them to shreds. Which would be the utter height of irony, but I almost didn’t have the energy to laugh.

“If I were, do you think I’d warn you?” The mare made a noise that sounded suspiciously like an amused chuckle. She shook her head, dancing away from a cluster of thick bushes blooming with brilliant azure flowers. The Glamour melted
from her body like mist, revealing a coat so black I could have sworn the color would have smeared onto my hands. Her neck curved toward me and I could see the lantern-glow of golden eyes.

“Ah,” I said weakly. “That would make you a—“

“Puca,” she agreed. “And I’m supposed to dunk you in the nearest pond and then gallop off, laughing madly.” She made a sort of equine shrug. “Sorry to say.”

“And you were in with the horses because?”

“I was there to guard the others,” she said dryly. “Glamoured to look like a normal Faery horse. But here we are.” She sniffed the air suddenly, blowing hard. “And here we go.”

Before I could formulate a reply, we hurdled down an embankment so steep I thought she would summersault us the rest of the way, my body crushed beneath her weight. Abruptly we stopped … or more to the point, the puca stopped. I continued my trajectory ass over elbows and straight into a large pond.

Sputtering, I flailed madly, the shock of the water sucking the wind out of me. Stunned, I sank down into the murk for a moment, the brush of something slimy jerking me back to myself.

“You could have least picked something warmer.” My teeth chattered as I sloshed toward the shore. At least the fucking thing hadn’t been too shallow. Spitting out a clump of duckweed, I peeled off Talivar’s cloak, throwing it into the bushes with a twitch of disgust. Damn thing was coated in slime. I glanced down. As was the rest of me, including my beloved purple Chucks. “Dammit.”

The puca eyed me balefully, shaking herself like a dog. “That’s that, then.”

“Shouldn’t you be off cackling somewhere?” I shot her a sour look.

She let out an eerie whinny that
did
sound a bit like maniacal
laughter and stomped her hooves in the mud a few times. “Okay, propriety has been satisfied.” She lowered her head to nip at a fern.

“Those are poisonous to horses, you know.” I kicked at the bracken, squeezing the dirty water out of my hair. I should have been pissed that I was soaking wet, but to be honest, I was just so horribly tired. I could have been naked by this point and don’t think I would’ve minded, as long as I wasn’t riding a horse, being slammed into the dirt by crazy elf chicks, or half gutted by a stag.

“Not really a horse,” the puca pointed out, continuing to browse.

I picked through my thoroughly saturated backpack, wrinkling my nose as I assessed the damage. At least the protein bars were wrapped up and therefore safe, but the rest of it was probably ruined. I sank onto a tree stump, my feet squishing inside my shoes.

So here I was. No knowledge of how to get back. No dry clothes. No iron knife. I peeled the wrapper of one of the protein bars and wolfed it down with a vengeance.

The puca’s ears cupped toward me. “Anything good?”

I took another bite. “What do you care? You dumped my ass in a puddle. You think I’m gonna give you my food?” I shifted, my knee protesting. Hell, most of my body protested. I suspected after the day’s activities I was going to be covered in bruises later, but for now it was probably better not to look.