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“Yes, Lady Sorceress.” He bowed, irritation wafting off him.
“Fine.” It might do me good to work off some energy—both the sexual and the mad. I concentrated on the image I wanted and converted my heels to a pair of cross-trainers and my dress into workout shorts and a sports bra. Liam’s mouth dropped open, both for the display of magic and skin. A grin of satisfaction warmed me and I picked up my stick, swinging it in the figure eight I’d learned. “Let’s do this.”
I hadn’t had a lot of lessons so far and little time to practice or build my arm muscles, but I was improving. I swung the stick, blocking Liam’s attacks, spinning my way through the practice movements. The spiky sun-and-moon wheels were more difficult to manage. Nevertheless, I didn’t clonk or slice myself the way I had the first few times.
And it felt good. Muscles working, sweat running down my body, no time to think about all the things that consumed my waking thoughts. No complex negotiating. Just movement. Thrust. Parry. Spin. Lunge. The silver wheels flashed in the sunlight and I drove hard into Liam, backing him up as the knife-edges drew closer and his blocks grew more desperate.
I felt supple, elastic, closing in on my helpless prey.
“Hold!” he yelled, the sound penetrating my mind enough for it to inform me it wasn’t the first time he’d said it.
I pulled back and the man bent over, panting, hands braced on his knees. My hair had long since fallen out of Starling’s elaborate headdress, and now it hung long, plastered to my neck and arms with sweat. My body sang with power and strength. I could take him now, while he was weak. Claws flexing, I closed the distance between us.
The man’s head rose and his eyes flared with fear. He froze. Wise. He couldn’t escape me.
“Lady Sorceress,” a blue page intoned behind me. “Your next appointment awaits.”
I frowned at him, not entirely certain who the little guy was. Though he smelled good. Would he taste of blueberries or flesh?
“Lady Sorceress Gwynn,” he said steadily, no fear in his face. Larch. This was Larch and I was…
Predator.The cat ghost, silver-white, flashed through my mind and disappeared into the hot course of my bloodstream. And here I’d thought Rogue’s and Falcon’s strength came from the leverage of their long limbs. I hadn’t imagined that it was fueled by these animal natures. My left temple itched and I scratched at it. Wondering if the lines were visible.
Liam watched, wary, though looking less like a deer in the headlights than before. Behind him, a fair distance off, nearly shrouded by the tall coastal grasses and the lengthening shadows of evening, the Black Dog sat. Waiting for me.
“I beg your pardon, Officer Liam. I can’t say what came over me.” I sounded like Rogue. It was an effort, to keep my gaze on Liam and not stray to the Dog.
“It seems that you’ve…progressed, Lady Sorceress.” Liam still hadn’t caught his breath.
“Yes. It does seem that way.”
I bit my tongue on thanking him, said farewell for now instead, asked Larch to take my weapons back to my tent, and strode off to meet the Dog. As I walked through the grasses, each blade a different citrus color that made a sound of chimes when they rustled together, I wished my shorts and sports bra into a long, flowing white dress. It suited my mood. I kept the cross-trainers though—all the better for squelching through the increasingly marshy stuff.
He’d been sitting on his haunches, as if carved from a block of obsidian, glossy black and unnaturally still, but now the Dog stood, wagging his tail, tongue lolling out. It would be a happy dog look, if not for the white fangs inside the massive jaws. They were tinged with blood and I resolved not to wonder whose it was. He nudged his broad head under my hand and I stroked the short silky fur.
Of all the denizens of Faerie, the Dog seemed unconditionally devoted to me. He required no payment from me and followed no rules himself.
Something similar grew out of me now and somehow I knew the Dog understood. More, was attracted to it.
Restless, I kept walking and the Dog paced by my side, waist-high so I easily rested my hand on his muscular shoulder. Though I now knew for certain that Rogue lurked somewhere inside this beast, he felt no more present to me than ever before. Rogue wasn’t aware of the Dog’s actions, couldn’t remember them, so where did his consciousness go? Maybe he was less inside than temporarily suspended elsewhere for a time.
Where had mine gone, for that matter, when the feline-ghost in me decided to take over the physical fight? I didn’t remember being anywhere. The lost time was the only evidence. That and Liam’s dramatic reaction.
At least it seemed I didn’t need to be concerned about self-defense anymore.
A breeze blew in off the ocean, scented with salt, lifting my drying hair. I skirted the human camp, giving them a wide berth. Together the Dog and I walked up a bluff that overlooked the beach. The sea glowed a nearly fluorescent blue now, in the late day sunlight, flashes of orange in the foaming surf. I didn’t see any sign of my fiberglass half boat, but huge wooden scaffolds had been constructed and already frames of new sailing ships sat in them. Made of fine golden floss, the ships seemed to be woven instead of built and the sails seemed made of the petals of orchids, vivid, ruffled pastel.
As if they could sail into the sunset and become one with it. Part of me longed to go with them.
The Dog bumped my hand and I crouched in front of him, scratching his ears. “Rogue? Are you in there?” I asked it anyway, though I felt sure he wouldn’t answer. The Dog never did—never communicated even in images. He cocked his head and gave me a canine grin. Then he slurped my hand with his tongue and took off down the bluff, fae and humans alike scattering with shrieks of terror.
I watched long enough to make sure he didn’t eat anyone—though what I’d do about it, I didn’t know—and saw him leap into the water, dog-paddling out toward the horizon. No doubt Rogue would make an appearance before long then.
I turned to walk back and found Larch waiting just behind me.
“My lady.” He bowed. Said nothing more.
“Something you wanted, Larch?”
