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He purred, arch and mysterious. Somehow I really doubted it. Darling insisted, showing me that same picture of a big-bosomed mermaid cuddling him to her naked breasts and cooing what a fierce fighter he must be. I snorted and he batted my hand with an indignant swipe.
I sat back and watched him start into a vigorous bathing session.
“What’s your vote—should we move into Rogue’s castle?”
He flattened his ears in disdain, splayed his legs to lick his butt, and sent me an image of him striding through a battlefield, tossing monsters aside. The cat had battles on the brain. Plus he wanted a new name. A battle name.
“What if we went on a quest instead?”
Darling paused in the butt-licking and fixed me with a bright green stare, flicking an ear tip in interest. He imagined himself on the prow of a sailing ship, his fur blowing nobly back in the breeze. Perhaps a pirate name?
“I have no idea if we’d need to sail, since I have no idea where we’d look.”
“Well,” Starling said from behind me, making me start, “if you’re thinking of looking for my father, we should go to Castle Brightness first and ask my mother.”
I turned sideways in my chair to better see her. She chewed on her lip, but held her chin high.
“Color me surprised. I got the impression you didn’t care to confront Blackbird over this stuff.”
Her gaze slid down and to the side, looking at something only she could see. “I’ve been thinking about what you said, that if I’d been firstborn, it might be me that…disappeared. And I think I’d want my brother to look for me.”
“Good for you,” I said softly, trailing my hand down Darling’s arched spine. He approved of the plan.
“Yes.” She nodded, a crisp echo of Blackbird. “We ask my mother, find my father and discover what happens to the children.”
“He may not yet know.”
“No, but you can work on Rogue, to find out what he knows too.”
I picked at a sand burr in Darling’s fur, focusing on that. Even it was pretty—a little jewel, with hooked spikes. “He already agreed to help me.”
“He did?”
She sounded as if I’d said Rogue planned to dance naked under the full moon. Probably he already did that. “Yes, he did. Why else would I agree to let him sleep with me every night?”
A sly grin twisted her pretty mouth. “I figured that was his natural charm.”
“Ha to that.”
“Do you doubt my natural charm?” Rogue’s smooth voice echoed in the tent a bare moment before he materialized before us. Sound preceding light in this case—interestingly reversed.
“Speak of the devil,” I observed wryly.
“Lady Starling.” Rogue took her hand and kissed it. “You’re looking delightful. So grown-up. The hair suits you—Gwynn’s work?”
“Yes,” she simpered, tossing the blond locks flirtatiously. “Thank you for noticing, my lord Rogue.”
“How did you know it was my work—does it show?”
He glanced at me, dark-blue gaze sweeping me from head to foot. Not for the first time I wondered what he saw when he studied me in that inscrutable way. My blood ran just a little faster, my skin warming. It wasn’t easy to keep my face impassive.
“Your magic, lovely Gwynn, has a distinctive flavor. And yes, it clings to what you touch. No one would mistake but that Starling is your creature now.”
“She is not my ‘creature’—she’s her own person.”
“It’s okay, I don’t mind being your creature.” Starling’s hands flew up, as if she could pet us into being nice.
“It is not okay. That was an obnoxious thing to say.”
