“I can probably help with getting us started on my magickal powers,” Clare admitted.

  Bianca’s mouth dropped open. “Have you been keeping something from me?”

  “Not just you – everyone,” Clare admitted, and saw her friend’s face go stony. Reaching back, she squeezed Bianca’s hand. “Please know it was because I couldn’t understand it, and because it didn’t make sense – in the real world or scientific world – I buried it.”

  Bianca sniffed and looked away before nodding stiffly.

  “I… it’s just that, I feel like I can hear stones talking to me.” Clare rushed it out in one sentence before she chickened out. Even saying the words out loud made a blush creep up her cheeks and she turned to stare out at the passing countryside. They were already a good thirty minutes outside Dublin, and buildings had been left behind for hills and open land.

  “Well, duh, you’re the one chosen to find the stone treasure,” Bianca snorted, and Clare jumped, turning around to raise an eyebrow at her friend.

  “You don’t think it sounds crazy?”

  “Well, maybe before I knew what you were, I might have. But now that I know, I mean, well, duh, right?” Bianca elbowed Seamus and he nodded his agreement.

  “The beautiful lady speaks the truth. The expectation is that you should have a natural way of conversing with stones. It’ll lead you straight as an arrow on your path. If you couldn’t discern the truth of a stone, well, the Domnua could charm one to make you think you’d found the treasure.”

  Dread sliced through her at the realization that she was most definitely in way over her head.

  “It never occurred to me that the fae would make a fake stone. Are they really that cunning?” Clare asked softly.

  Seamus let out a booming laugh that all but shook the car, slapping his leg hard as he laughed.

  “Oh, my dear Clare, you’re a balm for my jaded soul. Aye, of course fae are that cunning. They’re known to be quite the tricksters. We’re known to be,” Seamus amended, catching her eyes, “or you would have known what I was ages ago.”

  “Here I have this big secret and nobody is surprised by it,” Clare grumbled.

  “If you teleported us to Clifden, I’d be surprised then,” Blake said, but he shot Clare a smile to soften his words.

  Fine, so they were teasing her. She needed to relax a bit.

  “Tell me what you mean by ‘stones talk to you,’” Bianca asked. “It looks like I’m the only non-magickal one here, so I’d like to know.”

  “You’re magick to me, beautiful,” Seamus said immediately, and the entire car paused for a moment.

  “Awwww,” they all said at once and burst into laughter.

  “Stop it! Don’t take my moment away from me,” Bianca ordered, but she was laughing too.

  “To answer your question – I can’t quite say. For example, if someone comes to the shop with a particular ailment, I’ll know which stone will help heal them. Not because of what books say, but because that stone will quite literally say to me, ‘I’m the stone meant for this person.’ It’s not like I hear a voice in my head exactly, it’s more that I just see the words in my mind. If that makes sense?”

  “Sure and that makes perfect sense to me,” Bianca said. “It’s like using your intuition to the tenth degree.”

  “Something like that,” Clare agreed. “And, well, the only other thing I’m aware of at this point is that I can now see fae.”

  “The colors show up for you now?” Blake asked, one arm on the wheel, looking relaxed in the driver’s seat. Clare could almost – almost – imagine they were on their way to holiday instead of some sort of magickal mission.

  “Aye, they do,” Clare said.

  “What colors? The silver eyes?” Bianca asked.

  “Yes, and the violet glow of the Danula. Seamus has it,” Clare said, and Bianca cast a speculative glance at him.

  “You’re purple?”

  “Violet, thank you very much,” Seamus sniffed.

  “What color is Blake?” Bianca demanded.

  Clare cast her eyes at him and studied him for a moment.

  “I can’t really tell. I almost want to say violet but then it fades to a white and then into nothing and he just looks normal.”

  “Normal is good,” Blake said with a nod.

  “He’s almost pure white because he’s fighting for the highest good of our gods and goddesses,” Seamus interjected.

  Clare sat back, stunned. “You’re an angel?”

  Blake snorted. “Do you see a halo?”

  “Ah, well, you know,” Seamus said, “we don’t really have angels in our history. I suppose if you wanted to compare it to different religions, then he’s an angel of sorts. Being a Na Cosantoir is a job of great honor.”

  “Like a knight? Oh, he’s like a knight in shining armor! Except he glows instead of wearing armor!” Bianca gasped and then fanned her face dramatically. “It’s so romantic.”

  “Hey, I’m a warrior too, you know,” Seamus grumbled.

  Bianca reached out and squeezed Seamus’s leg. “Of course you are. I just… you know, the whole fairytale thing.”

  “I’ll give you a fairytale,” Seamus promised, and Bianca twinkled up at him.

  “Moving on,” Blake cleared his throat, but Clare caught a hint of a blush in his cheeks. “I suspect one of your magicks is to freeze.”

  Clare paused before speaking, confusion racing through her. “To freeze? Freeze time?”

  Blake chuckled, his smile making his wickedly handsome face even more devastating. “Freeze motion.”

  “I don’t understand,” Clare asked. “Sure and you can’t be saying I can freeze something in its tracks.”

  “Why, that makes sense,” Seamus interrupted. “Because her treasure is stone, one of the closest elemental powers would be to freeze.”

  “Wouldn’t the closest element be earth?” Bianca asked in confusion.

  “It doesn’t work like that. Fae world, weird rules, that kind of stuff,” Seamus explained quickly. “I’m surprised that didn’t occur to me earlier.”

  “Doesn’t ice kill fae?” Bianca asked.

  Seamus put his arm around her, squeezing her to him for a moment. “I love how your mind works. I wish you would’ve looked at me sooner. I’ve been crushing on that pretty face and brilliant mind for a year now.”

  “You have?” Bianca drew the word out in a long breath.

  “I have. You’re the light in my world,” Seamus said and then turned back to Clare, leaving Bianca flustered in the back seat. “Freezing isn’t icing someone, though it would be amazing if you could do that. Then you could just, zap, zap, zap… you’re iced! And take down a Domnua.”

  Despite herself, Clare had to laugh at Seamus’s enthusiasm.

  “But really, what it does is it stops something that’s in motion. A ball rolling, a Domnua attacking, that kind of thing. It’s a sort of a pause button.”

  “How long does that last?” Clare asked, beside herself with curiosity. She flexed her hands in her lap and looked down at them, wondering if she really did hold such a power.

  “Not long. Maybe enough to get your dagger into their heart. Perhaps enough to stop someone from being hit by a car. It’s wise not to get cocky with it, because as soon as they unfreeze, they’re coming for you like a freight train,” Blake said, his tone and his words sending a chill through Clare.

  “I, uh, I can’t even think about sticking a dagger in someone’s heart,” Clare admitted helplessly. “It’s so out of the realm of what I know. I’m not sure I’m really the right person for this quest.”

  “You’ll feel differently when a Domnua’s about to slice your head off, trust me,” Seamus said cheerfully.

  “Sure and you’re joking with me,” Clare said.

  “Sadly, I’m not. I think tonight we’ll need to work on some basic self-defense and sword work. For now, we can practice magick.”

  “How in the world can I practice magick in a moving car?” Clare exclaimed, turning to look at Seamus.

  “Easy,” Seamus said – and tossed a can of soda at her face.

  Clare reacted without thinking, her hand coming up to block her face, but the can never reached her.

  Instead it hung suspended in the air.

  Clare’s eyes grew as wide as saucers. Seamus caught it neatly when it finally fell, stopping it from exploding all over the car.

  “See? You’re a natural.”

  Chapter Twenty

  After a few panicky moments during which Clare had to put her head between her knees and take deep breaths, she began to practice. Though her science-mind refused to accept that the laws of physics could so easily be broken, that same mind marveled at how the magick worked. She wanted to dissect it and write a paper about it, look for formulas or explanations.

  Blake had laughed at her when she’d said as much, but it had held no sting. He seemed to be willing to indulge her curiosity – much like a child learning to ride a bike for the first time – as she threw a pen repeatedly into the air in front of her and froze it in mid-air.

  They’d stopped for a quick break outside Galway, where Blake had given them but minutes to use the restrooms. He was trying to limit their exposure to the public, as he was worried the Domnua would be tracking them. As far as they knew, the Domnua still thought Clare was in Dublin, but they couldn’t be sure.

  As they wound around a curve on the dark road, Clare raised a question that had been bothering her.

  “How did they not know who I was? I mean, they know now – but one of you mentioned they had to find me. And how will they find the next? Do we know who the next girl is?” Seamus had already explained that all Na Sirtheoir were women.

  “That’s part of the Goddess protecting you. If the Domnua could figure out who you were, they’d kill you when you were a defenseless baby. There is a protection in place until you are much older,” Blake explained.

  “Is that why my parents never saw my mark – the one on my head?” Clare asked.

  “When the mark comes out, the protection has been lifted and you are on your own. Aside from the protectors and the Danula watching out for you, that is. But even the Danula must find you first. I’ve been with you since as soon as the mark showed.”

  Clare shook her head, still marveling at how long Blake had been protecting her while she had remained oblivious.

  “Do I have a color?” Clare exclaimed, suddenly realizing that this must be how the fae discerned what she was.

  “You do,” Blake smiled at her, appreciating that she had finally picked up on it.

  “Well, what is it?” Clare demanded.

  “Gold,” Blake and Seamus said at the same time.

  Clare gasped, looking down at herself. She couldn’t detect the color anywhere. “I’m gold?”

  “A nice shiny gold. It’s a lovely color with your skin tone and auburn locks,” Seamus said easily.

  “But why gold?”

  “Fae love shiny things. Gold is one of the most coveted metals. Since you are, you know, one of the elite – a Na Sirtheoir – well, you get gold as your color.”

  “I guess that takes the phrase ‘you’re good as gold’ to a whole new level,” Bianca quipped. They all laughed, though Clare was having trouble absorbing all these new ideas. It was like her identity had shifted and she was being forced to see herself through an entirely different lens. It wasn’t bad or good, she supposed; it just was. Being a somewhat pragmatic sort, she’d learned to not question things she couldn’t change.

  And it seemed being a seeker was something she had no choice about.

  Narrowing her eyes at the thought, she turned to Blake.

  “Do I have a choice in being a seeker? Can I just renounce it and go back to living my normal life?”

  “Sure, for as long as the Domnua would let you live,” Blake said.

  “They’d still try to kill me? Even if I wasn’t seeking the treasure?”

  “Aye.”

  “Well, that’s just shitty,” Clare murmured, her eyes scanning the dark road ahead of them.

  “That’s the way of things, I guess,” Blake agreed.

  “Where are we staying tonight? As I’ve yet to tell my parents we’re coming.”

  “I’ve got us a place to stay about twenty minutes out.”

  “You aren’t thinking we’ll be sleeping in those sleeping bags, are you?”

  Blake grinned, his teeth a flash of white in the light from the console. “Not tonight, but one of these nights, most likely.”

  “You realize it’s the thick of winter, right?” Bianca interjected from the back seat.

  “You realize we’re trying to save the world, right?” Blake parroted back.

  “I suppose it’s a small matter when you put it like that,” Bianca grumbled.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The headlights of the Range Rover washed over what looked like a small farmhouse with two cottages tucked behind it. A light shone in the front window of the farmhouse and Clare saw the shadow of a figure move.

  “Be right back,” Blake said, hopping out of the car and leaving it running. He jogged to the front door, which had already opened, but the figure stayed shadowed and Clare couldn’t make out much more. In moments, Blake had returned to the car, keys dangling from his hand.

  “Both of the cottages are ours, so we’ll be sleeping here tonight,” Blake said, pulling the Range Rover around the house and driving it toward the stone cottages. A small light shone from the front of each, illuminating the cheerful blue doors, but the rest remained in darkness.

  “Girls’ and boys’ cabins?” Clare said lightly, though her heart had picked up speed when Blake had mentioned only two cottages.

  “Nice try, Doc. You’ll be bunking with me.”

  “Why can’t I sleep with Bianca?” Clare demanded.

  “I, for one, would certainly have no problem with that – so long as I could watch,” Seamus piped up from the back seat. Bianca squealed and smacked him across the shoulder.

  “You’ll be staying where I can keep an eye on you. I’ll ask that you not make this more difficult than it has to be,” Blake said evenly, but Clare could read the steel beneath his words.

  “Fine. You may sleep on the floor,” Clare said evenly, getting out of the car to put an end to the conversation. Blake’s chuckle followed her, and a shiver worked its way down her spine.

  “Are you sure you’re okay with staying with him?” Bianca grabbed her hand and whispered in her ear. “I mean, I would be, ’cause, duh, he’s delicious. But I don’t want to put in you in an uncomfortable situation.”

  Clare glanced over to where Blake stood hefting several bags easily from the trunk.

  “I can handle him.”

  “Mmhm, I bet you can.”

  “What about you? Do you have a problem bunking with Seamus?”

  “He isn’t going to know what hit him,” Bianca declared. Clare laughed, long and hard. Both men looked over at them, but Clare just pulled Bianca in for a hug.

  “So much for letting him woo you,” Clare quipped.

  “See? I told you they wanted to sleep together,” Seamus said, making Clare laugh even harder.

  “Try and get some rest,” Clare cautioned her friend and breezed past Seamus with a cheeky grin on her face. His eyebrows rose at her look, but then his gaze sought Bianca and he hurried after her toward their own cottage.

  “Your accommodations await, madam,” Blake said dryly, swinging the cottage door open. Clare breezed past him with her nose in the air.

  The cottage was essentially one big room, with a small kitchenette on one side, a table with two chairs, and a queen-sized bed tucked under the eaves on the other end. A threadbare circle rug covered worn wood floors, and a small couch lined one wall. A door next to the bed led to what Clare hoped was a bathroom.

  Though there wasn’t much decoration, the cottage was quaint and serviceable, which held its own type of charm.

  “Is this a bed and breakfast?”

  “Something like that,” Blake said, tossing his bag onto the couch and stretching. Clare found herself staring at the way his muscles rippled under his shirt, and turned away to put her bag on the bed and dig through it for her toiletry bag. Her hand stilled as she realized that she hadn’t brought any decent pajamas with her. Typically she just slept in her underwear and a t-shirt or a tank top. Silently cursing herself, Clare turned and narrowed her eyes at him.

  “I hope you don’t think you’ll be sleeping in the same bed as me,” she declared, sticking her nose up in the air again.

  “I believe I was the one who said I didn’t need the distraction,” Blake pointed out, not looking up from digging through his bag.

  “I’m aware. I was making sure you still understood where I stand,” Clare said, then swept into the tiny bathroom. Slamming her bag onto the sink, she glared at herself in the mirror. One moment this man had her blind with lust and the next he infuriated her. This hot and cold game was never one that she’d played well, Clare reminded herself. She had chased after a few bad boys in her life. She would be smart to remember what they were all fighting for.

  And it certainly wasn’t for love.

  Her eyebrows rose as the word slipped through her mind and settled low in her gut. Love? There was no way she could love a man she’d just met. Just because she’d felt an instant connection with him certainly didn’t mean it was love.

  Or even that he felt the same way back. Protecting her for years was his duty. Admiring her from afar was probably just a consequence of his vocation – not something she should read into.

  “Everything okay in there?” Blake called and Clare jumped.

  “Yes, I’ll be but a moment,” Clare called. She quickly washed her face, brushed her teeth, and used the toilet tucked next to a small shower stall in the corner. At least there was a shower, Clare thought.

  Taking her bra off but leaving her jeans on and tugging a loose t-shirt over her head, Clare finished up. Stepping from the bathroom, she screamed as a pillow came flying at her head.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20