Stone's Kiss (21 page)

“I’m recovered,” he said as he scanned the kitchen behind her.

When she cleared her throat he looked back at her quizzically.

“Turn around. I want to check the knife wound.”

“I’m fine. There is nothing to see.”

“Not a debate.” In case he pretended he suddenly couldn’t understand English, she grabbed his left shoulder and tugged until he turned. She viewed his back with its smooth, brown skin, perfect except for a shinny vertical line on his right shoulder blade. So close to his spine. She laid a hand on the scar and gently probed the area around it for signs of heat and swelling. It looked to have healed well, but she couldn’t forget it had nearly killed him. The image still haunted her when she closed her eyes.

Stretching up on her toes, she pressed her lips against the pale mark and circled her arms around his torso. Memories of the previous night returned. Unable to help herself, she slid her fingers up his chest until she found the throb of his powerful heart. Sighing, she rested her head against his back and began counting each beat. This was the sound of life, peace, and home.

She might have spent half the day listening had his deep rumble of pleasure not startled her into releasing her hold. She stepped back just as he turned to face her, his eyes full of dark heat.

Apparently she wasn’t the only one remembering last night. She couldn’t maintain his gaze and stared at her hands.

“Thank you for everything you did last night.” His voice still held a heated quality to it. “I’m glad the Sorceress will one day love her gargoyle again.” A finger under her jaw guided her head up.

“Shit. I thought you were asleep,” she growled.

“I can still hear and understand while I’m in a light sleep.”

“Not fair. You’re like Super Gargoyle. You’re wings are even cape–like.”

He laughed, the deep tone raising gooseflesh. “And you are a strange little dryad.”

“Thanks, I love you too.” She hoped gargoyles understood sarcasm.

“I know.” Gregory shifted back to his true form with a blur of light and shadow, then rested his muzzle on her head.

So much for sarcasm. Her mind switched to more pressing topics. “Why has the Council come?”

“They must make a decision.”

“About?”

“Us,” he rumbled into her hair.

“I don’t like the sound of that.”

****

Lillian stood in the meadow’s center, her Redwood towering at her back. She idly petted the soft needles of her hamadryad while she waited. Gran had directed the Council to meet at the center of the maze, saying some of the shier members would feel more at home protected by the maze and sheltered by the trees. More likely Gran chose the spot for the gargoyle’s sake. The shadows could hide him without him having to go invisible and break his promise to Lillian. She never met such a creature of opposites. Fearless and yet shy, soft spoken and brazen. She found his core personality intriguing, and could overlook some of his quirks, such as his aggressive overprotective tendencies. A grin tugged at her lips.

She and Gregory had arrived early because he wanted to check the wards on the grove, again. While the gargoyle worked his magic, she decided to try her hand at some dryad magic she’d overheard Sable and Kayla discussing.

With her bare toes digging into damp earth and embraced on either side by low spreading branches of her hamadryad, Lillian closed her eyes and sought the forest lurking beyond the manicured gardens of her grandmother’s home. Magic answered her wish, and the presence of the land touched her mind.

It was there, waiting to reclaim the cultivated grounds and return them to a natural state. The forest called to her, wanting her to merge with its vast expanses. She focused her mind and, on closer examination, found the spirit of the forest was connected by water, like blood vessels within a body. Creeks meandered into streams, and her mind followed those subsidiaries as they made their way into fens and rivers, then finally to lakes. She flowed south with the water, toward Haliburton Forest. While not tame, that forest lacked the size and wild abandon her heart craved. She sought east and north, to where the smaller tracked of woodland butted against the mighty Algonquin.

We are here,
the trees whispered.
Join us. Be one.

“Lillian, it’s time to come back.”

The voice intruded upon her link with the land and she tried to push it away.

“My Sorceress, return to me.”

A tongue slathered her cheek and Lillian returned to herself with a sputtered exclamation. “Ugh.”

Gregory was holding her upright—her own legs felt like rubber. He nuzzled her again, licking at her neck.

“Gregory have mercy, please.” She pushed at his shoulders, attempting to look serious, but the effect was spoiled when he licked her cheek again. She burst into giggles. She got herself under control a moment later. “Okay, what happened?”

“You do not have the training you need, that is what happened.” Each word came out clipped.

Not good. He sounded pissed which meant he was scared.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I overheard Sable and Kayla talking yesterday while I was getting ready for the Hunt. Dryad magic sounded so easy and natural. I’m tired of knowing nothing… .”

“We will talk of this later.” Gregory’s ears swiveled toward the entrance of the maze. “I hear the others coming. Please, do not call on magic until I have time to teach you some basic rules.”

Lillian concluded Gregory didn’t lie very well. Yes, the others were coming, but that’s not why he didn’t want to talk about magic. Every time she wanted answers about magic, he evaded her questions. “Okay. I won’t use magic again.”

She lied better than her gargoyle.

****

From her position under the shade of her Redwood, Lillian surveyed each of the Council members as they emerged from the maze. Two young girls arrived with Gran, one to each side. Gran led them to the picnic tables next to the stream.

On closer inspection, Lillian realized these were not children, but delicate four–foot–tall women. Each wore a simple, but elegant cream robe tied at the waist with golden rope. The taller of the two had mottled brown–and–white hair, not from age—this was a pattern. The brown–and–white layers ran horizontal. The other women had the same style hair, but tan and brown. They gazed around the meadow, their jewel–bright eyes immediately drawn to the Redwood at meadow’s center. At the sight of the majestic tree, the taller one made a soft cry, and what Lillian had thought were bangs, lifted from her forehead into a short spiky ruff.

Gran gestured at the food laid out on the tables and then headed in Lillian’s direction.

When she reached Lillian’s side, she smiled and nodded toward the others arriving. “I figured I’d tell you a little about each member as they arrive.”

Lillian nodded absently as she studied the next person to enter the maze. He was the man she’d seen leading the Hunt the night before. “Okay, they’re getting ahead of you. The two short women, who are they?”

“Hyrand and Goswin are sprites. They are mother and daughter and represent the lesser elementals of the Clan. Both have been members of the Council for decades. All the Council members are allies, but some are less dangerous than others. You can trust Hyrand and Goswin.” Then Gran nodded to the taller silver–haired man who stood looking at the tables with distain. “That is the sidhe lord, Whitethorn. I doubt that’s his real name. I’ve known him for a number of years, but he doesn’t trust easily.” Gran gave a little shrug. “Even in this realm he is powerful and holds the Clan and the Coven together by sheer strength of will. Do not offend him, or challenge him in anyway. While he and I may not share an unending attachment, in the past we have always gotten past our differences of opinion. At the very least, he deserves respect; he has given up much of his power to protect our peoples.”

“Got it. Don’t piss off the big pale one.”

While they’d been conversing, a small, black horse eased out of the maze’s shadows and into the light. At first Lillian wondered if this was the sidhe lord’s steed. Then it turned to look upon her with glowing yellow eyes, like they burned with an internal flame.

“Ah, the pooka has arrived. Good.”

Lillian studied him a moment more. Something about him caused a shiver to race down her back. “I can already tell this isn’t one of the friendly types.”

“Like many of the old ones, the pooka took the greatest joy in the Hunt when it was untamed. He will not even gift us with a name we can call him by, so we call him the pooka. Though, he likes the naiads and the dryads more than some of the other species. So you might get him to open up.”

“I don’t think I’ll be striking up a conversation with him anytime soon.”

“Ah, here comes Greenborrow.”

Lillian tore her eyes away from the pooka and noticed an older–looking man hovering in the shadows of the cedar walls. With one hand he was petting the maze, in the other he held a massive club. A raven perched on his shoulder, and a giant wolf walked at his heels.

“I hope he’s friendly. What’s he doing to my maze?”

“Oh, likely admiring the thickness. A little pride on his part. He planted this hedge for you many years ago. Greenborrow is a leshii: a forest lord—another of the old powerful ones—much diminished now, but don’t let on.”

The leshii ignored the others gathered around the picnic tables and made straight for Gran. His taupe–colored tunic was without a belt, like he’d lost it at some point and couldn’t be bothered to find another. Bare feet covered with dust and grass stains add to the newcomer’s wild–man look.

“Well, so this is our fine young dryad. I saw you and the gargoyle at the Hunt last night.” Greenborrow said, then slapped his thigh. “I’ve never seen such power. Magnificent. Your gargoyle, he’s here?”

“Yes,” Lillian paused, realizing Gregory had drifted off somewhere. “… he was just here.”

“Oh, nevermind dear. He’s over by the pooka.” Greenborrow pointed behind her.

Lillian turned. Her breath hissed out in surprise. The pooka was behind them, less than ten feet away. Gregory stood on all fours, his wings mantled in aggression as he faced off against the black horse.

A streak of white blurred between the tree trunks and the unicorn skidded to a halt next to the gargoyle. Both equines eyed each other with disdain.

“I don’t think they like each other,” Lillian remarked.

“No,” Gran replied. “Two stallions seldom get along. And Gregory, well, he doesn’t trust anyone, and the pooka has a nasty enough history it sets alarms a–ringing in his head, I imagine.”

“To put it mildly,” Greenborrow added, his accompanying laugh echoed across the meadow. Both stallions turned toward him. The leshii inclined his head to the unicorn and the pooka. “If you two misbehave, I’ll see what I can do to discipline the both of you.” He ran his hand along his club, caressing the wood. “Anyway, I wish to talk with Hyrand and Goswin; it’s been entirely too long since I’ve last spoken with the lovely sprites. Good day, ladies.” He bowed then wandered away.

“I like him,” Lillian declared.

“Old Greenborrow is a good sort, but like all his kind, he has a dual nature. Be certain to always be on his ‘good’ side.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. By what I’ve seen of the Clan and the Coven so far, I don’t think I want to witness his bad side.”

Gran smiled. “If he had a bit of ambition, he’d be the Clan’s leader. But he doesn’t, though he has the loyalty of more people than Lord Whitethorn, but Greenborrow is loyal to the sidhe lord so it all works out, for now.”

“Is the wolf at Greenborrow’s side a dire wolf? They seem smaller in the daylight.”

“No, it’s just a wolf. Last night the dire wolves lost their alpha female. The Pack will remain in seclusion until a new alpha pair is chosen.”

Lillian barely had time to nod before Gran launched into her next introductions.

“Ah, here comes Mardina.” Gran gestured at the woman entering the meadow.

The one called Mardina was of medium height, and with her alabaster skin and white–blond hair which flowed passed her shoulders, she drew the eye. Her hair was held back out of her face by two long, silver combs. She ran a hand through the locks, smoothing the wind–tossed strands back into order. If it hadn’t been for the deep gray under her eyes, and her strange robes, she would have been beautiful. Gray and sea–foam white, the robes were flimsy and frayed, and looked more like a ragged bank of fog than clothing. They floated and swayed around her body like they were caught in some unfelt breeze.

“Mardina is a banshee.”

“Oh.” Lillian’s mouth dropped open, but she snapped it closed in the next. “Is she friend or foe?”

“Mostly friendly, depending on how pure one’s soul is. Now,” Gran cleared her throat and chuckled evilly, “if she was to run across a murderer or rapist … then she might not be so nice.”

More movement at the entrance caught Lillian’s eye. Sable entered with Lillian’s uncle.

Uncle Anthony held a metal toolbox at arm’s length, like it might bite. He went directly to the picnic tables without a word of greeting to anyone. After he placed the box on the center table, he tossed back the lid and frowned down at the contents. One by one the others gathered around the table came to look within the box. No one reached to touch whatever was inside. By their expressions, Lillian envisioned a severed limb or a mummified cat stuffed within the confines of the toolbox.

“It’s here. We should begin.” Without glancing at Lillian, Gran marched over to the picnic tables and seated herself at the center table.

Gregory appeared at Lillian’s shoulder and she instantly felt stronger, if not braver. “Guess it’s our turn,” Lillian muttered as discomfort enveloped her in a nervous sweat. Gregory shadowed her steps. Briefly, she wondered what they looked like to others—two very different beings moving as one across the dew–dampened grass.

Chapter Sixteen

Lillian arrived at the table as the pooka leaned over the box. He tilted his head and one bright–yellow eye fixed on the mystery item within the toolbox. His lips curled back from his teeth and after a quick sniff, he jerked his muzzle away with a snort and a shake of his head. Glossy–black skin shivered like he was being attacked by invisible flies.