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Ellery swallowed hard. “I appreciate the concern for my welfare.” She tried to make her voice casual around the tingle that raced up her spine. Jangled the nerves at the base of her neck. “I can’t say I wasn’t warned, can I?”
“You’re a fool, girl.” She looked over Ellery’s shoulder. Her eyes narrowed to slits of hate. “It’s him.”
Conor approached from the side of the house, lashing the bushes with a riding crop. With his arrogant soldier’s stride and his shirt sleeves rolled back to reveal the solid corded muscles of his arms, he was every woman’s darkest fantasy. He paused when he spotted them, but she knew by the way his gaze sharpened that he had been aware of their conversation. He’d known they were there.
Glynnis’s eyes slid between Ellery and Conor. “Is that how it is?” she sneered. “You’re double the fool then, girl. He’ll take you like the beast he is, and death will be the mercy.”
Conor took the terrace steps two at a time. “Gram will be looking for you, Glynnis.”
His face was pale, his eyes brooding. He must have heard her. She hadn’t tried to hide her venom.
For a split second, Ellery thought the woman would strike him. Instead, she gathered her robe about her as regally as a queen, swung around on her heel, and swept past Conor into the house.
“She doesn’t like you much,” Ellery said.
“She wouldn’t.” He rested his elbows on the baluster next to her, his eyes on the trees. She recognized the pose as one of studied patience. But she knew by now it was just a pose. This was a man who waited for nothing. He met life head-on.
“I was with Uncle Talan and my cousin Richard the night they disappeared.”
“What happened?”
He shrugged, twirling the crop idly between his hands. “I don’t know. We were on the road from Bristol. I went to bed one night. When I woke, they were gone. My aunt thinks I killed them.” He met her gaze, his eyes a golden bronze. “She’s seen me shift.”
“Oh.” That could explain Glynnis’s fear. But the hate was palpable. And current. She couldn’t explain that.
The terrace had lost its magic. Glynnis Bligh and her warnings had soured Ellery on its charms. “Let’s walk,” she said. At Conor’s look of reluctance, she grabbed his hand. “You can show me the scenes of your misspent youth.” She expected him to pull away. Reject her invitation with a cool dismissal. And after her visit to his bedchamber, she couldn’t blame him.
Instead, he gave her a sidelong smile. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have Ruan’s company?” And the hurdle was crossed. Their footing once again sound.
She sniffed. “I thought you were too busy browbeating your cousins to notice Ruan’s attentions.”
“You’d have to have been blind not to notice Ruan.” They crossed the lawn, headed for the nearest path. “I wouldn’t get any ideas. He’s been known to flirt with the vicar’s grandmother—and she’s ninety-five. And bald.”
She let go of his hand only long enough to punch him in the arm. “So now I’m right up there with hairless besoms.” She tilted her nose in the air. Walked ahead. “I know attraction when I see it, Mr. Bligh. Ruan’s charming. And he laughs.”
The trees closed around them. The air grew cool, the sun falling in slanted bars through the branches. Conor took her hand back, threading their fingers together, his callused palm firm against hers. “I laugh.”
She snatched a look up at him, but his eyes scanned the treetops. The path ahead. The underbrush to either side. Even here, he was on guard. Never letting his body relax into complacency. She glanced back down at their clasped hands
. Except for that slip-up.
There were a million reasons why she should let go. Put some distance between them. Turn around and walk back to the house. But not a single one was coming to her. All thought was centered on their linked hands. Giving up, she smiled, letting the delight spread through her. “You’re right. My mistake. You’re as jolly as they come.”
She lost track of time and direction as they walked, Conor pointing out the dovecote, the long low hills at the southern edge of the wood, the private family chapel surrounded by weathered tombs. The woods thickened, became dense, almost impassable in places. The sun barely penetrated the old, gnarled branches. Owls called from overhead. A fox barked. The moist air smelled of rich earth and growing things, but every now and then the breeze bit with a tang of the sea. Ellery felt a pricking between her shoulder blades.
“I feel as if hundreds of eyes watched from the trees,” she said.
Conor shot her a sly smile. “Probably because they are. Daggerfell holds more within its boundaries than just what you can see.”
“Is that good or bad?”
He shrugged. “We offer what protection we can. They do the same. Gram has most dealings with the fey within our borders. But they’ll allow themselves to be seen if the need is urgent.”
Coming around a bend, the house came back into view. Roughly cut of gray stone with its arched windows and round corner towers, it gave the impression of great strength and age. One flickering light shone in the west tower. Ellery shivered and trained her gaze across the stern façade to the west where the sunset turned the walls to rose and gold. “Does Asher constitute an urgent need?”
“I wish to God I knew, Ellery.” His hand dropped to his waist as if seeking the comfort of a sword hilt. He glanced over at her, his jaw set, his stare ominous. “It would make my task a damn sight easier.”
“How long have you known Ellery had this power?”
