Blood Kin (33 page)

I nodded. “Yeah, nothing. Never mind.” I cleared my throat and began to hum again, focusing on the music. I let my mind bring forward the memory. Tucker sat close to me, his presence a comfort. I laid a hand on his arm, grounding myself, afraid to let myself get lost in the music again.

Behind me, Niko attempted to follow me on the flute, a talent I hadn’t know he possessed. He’d explained he was but a dilettante; a brief flirtation with a musician some decades back led to his learning to play, but he’d not picked up the instrument in nearly as long. To John’s left, Rodney softly
beat the drum, trying to ascertain the beat. I continued to hum, Tucker taking up counterpoint, John strumming the strings softly. Slowly, we began to mesh, the faery melody becoming solid, real, harmony supporting it, the quiet beats of the bodhrán providing emphasis. The shivery hollow flute sound carried the sounds together, over the air, across the ground and into the very depths of our existence. I closed my eyes, the energies combining the five of us too strong for me to watch. We were creating a synergy, an unspoken spell, magick out of music. I continued to hum, zeroing in on my purpose—the Call. Without missing a beat, we each moved closer to the others.

The world Above fades around me as I follow the sound beyond and Below; my consciousness carries forth, targeting only one goal: Adam Walker. Here, the corridors are no longer dark-gray shining stone, but near transparent, shimmering colors chasing across the glassy surface. I see hordes of Sidhe folk, lesser fey, nymphs, dryads, fairies with gossamer wings flitting about. Some feasting, some fucking, some sitting and listening, entranced by Iolo’s own bardic tales. Ignoring them all, I keep searching. In the far corner, I see a darkness out of the corner of my eye. A cloud, impenetrable by my vision, by my senses. There. Closer still, I see the cloud isn’t completely opaque, just dense. Defenses laid thick by Gideon. I’d recognize that signature anywhere, despite its new flavor. Behind the curtain of dark gray, three men: Drystan, Gideon, Adam. Arguing, words silent to my hearing. Adam’s fangs bare, something he never does outside of feeding. He is king, he cannot lose control.

Gideon struts along the back of the room, smirk now fixed on his face as a mask. Behind it, though, I see something else: jealousy, disappointment, want, perhaps?
Is it me he wants or power? Or power with me? I don’t know and care even less. Gideon is less than nothing to me now. He fulfilled all his potential—the negative kind. Too bad for him.

Adam stops in his mute tirade, head tilted and eyes searching the richly appointed room. I barely notice the furnishings as my focus reaches Adam. He stills, his fangs retracting. Drystan moves into the periphery of my vision, but Adam bows to him, says something. Gideon springs forward, too late. Adam smiles and vanishes.

“He’s coming,” I said and sagged against Tucker’s side.

“I’m here.” Adam stepped out from behind us, and with a swift move, hauled me up into an embrace, burying his face in my hair.

“H
OW DID YOU
—?” Adam finally asked. “I was speaking to my father and then … I heard …” He stopped as he realized we had company.

John and Rodney, both of whom had stopped playing their instruments, regarded Adam with curiosity, but nothing more than could be expected of anyone meeting Adam for the first time. He did have a commanding presence—whether that was the vampire or the Sidhe prince, I had no idea, but in any case, most humans were usually impressed at first sight. Not to mention he’d appeared out of the thin night air.

“You’re not the other guy,” Rodney said with a sniff of dismissal. He bent back over his drum and fiddled with a fragment of leather.

“Other guy?” Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.

John ran a hand down the strings of the guitar. “The other musician guy,” he said. “Who played this song a couple of days ago. Thought he might come back once
we started playing. It was really cool, though,” he added. “With the humming and the flute. Lots richer this time. Really great.” He smiled, his love for the music shining in his face. “Thanks, yeah?”

“You are very welcome, John. We’d jam with you any time.” I smiled broadly. “You all were brilliant.” He had no idea how much.

“I’m afraid we must be going now,” Adam said to the men. “Thank you for the music.”

John studied the four of us. Niko, Tucker’s arm wrapped around his shoulder. Me, my hand in Adam’s. “You all take good care then, eh.”

“That we will,” I said. “And the same to you.”

John nodded and turned back to his guitar, now picking out a new tune. One of the Child Ballads, I thought. I laughed as we walked away, recognizing the tune.

“What’s so amusing?” Adam asked as we climbed the hill hand in hand toward the main street.

“I’m thinking yon musician knows a lot more than he let on,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Tucker asked.

I smiled as I hailed a passing cab, unwilling as I was to walk the rest of the way to the condo. “Didn’t you recognize the tune?” I asked.

“No,” Adam said as he held the cab door open for Niko and I to enter the back.

I slid to the center seat and waited until everyone was settled and all doors shut and Tucker gave the driver the address of our building. “John was playing ‘Tam Lin.’ ”

I
STEPPED INTO
the condo, exhausted but exhilarated, the three men behind me. We’d spoken little on the short trip back. All I wanted to do now was spend the time relaxing for at least, oh, three years or so. I’d settle for a good day’s sleep and then we’d tackle Daffyd. I intended to offer him the way into Faery if he’d go back and stay out of my affairs. True, this local door only led into the Unseelie lands, but I figured Daffyd could find his way from there. Then, I planned to consult with family to figure out how to seal this door for good. It wasn’t safe having an avenue for the Sidhe to come into Vancouver. This was Kelly turf.

A figure, too small to be Rhys or Daffyd, sat in silhouette, perched on one of the armchairs in the darkened apartment, side-lit by a small lamp. Oh, bloody wonderful. This made my fucking day.

“Minerva.” I remained standing in the entryway, reluctant to go any closer. Adam came up beside me, Tucker and Niko stopped behind.

“Not Gigi?” She grinned, white teeth flashing as I flipped a switch, illuminating the whole room with tasteful indirect lighting.

“A child’s name for use by children.” I met her steady gaze with an equally steady one. “Evidently, I’m not one anymore.”

Her silvery laugh echoed in the room, bouncing off the walls as if we were in the Great Hall at Minas Tirith or
Edoras and not in a rather cozy living room in a glass-and-steel tower in the middle of a modern city.

“I missed you, child. You’re like a breath of fresh air.”

Yeah. Me and Hurricane Katrina.

“I hear you were Below,” she said, keeping her amused tone. “Visiting.”

“You could call it that, I suppose.”

“Come, sit, dear one. Let’s chat.” She patted the arm of the chair. Yeah, right. Not even.

“I’ll come sit,” I said as I went in, heading for a spot across from her but not too close. “Adam, boys, shall we?”

The three men followed me into the living room. Tucker and Niko took up their now customary posts on either side of me.

Adam stepped toward Gigi and gave her a polite bow, one ruler to another. “Minerva.”

“It’s been too long, Aeddan,” Gigi said with a smile.

“That’s what my father said.” Adam returned her smile. Neither of them let their smiles reach their eyes.

“How is Drystan?”

“The same.”

“How droll.” Gigi turned her attention to my brother. “Tucker, you look well.”

“I am.” He smiled, nodded, but didn’t leave my side.

“And this must be Nicholas. A pleasure.” Gigi extended a hand. Niko, ever the courtier, stepped forward, took it and bowed over it.

“The pleasure is mine, m’lady.” He stood and returned to his place, guarding me.

My great-great-grandmother’s eyes narrowed as she took in the scene. “Well, well … how … interesting. You seem to have garnered more than one champion, child.”

“Seems that I have.” I settled into an armchair across
from her. Adam perched on the arm of the chair, while Niko and Tucker flanked me. “So then, shall we talk?” Two could play this silly game, I thought.

My grandmother looked no different from when I last saw her: petite, dark of hair and eye, a society matron who would look no more out of place at a reception at Buckingham Palace than at Neiman Marcus. Her delicate feminine features hid a mind as sharp as a serpent’s tooth and about as vicious. Family was her first and foremost obligation and focus, and woe betide he or she who crosses a Kelly. That said, she ruled her family with the proverbial velvet-gloved steel hand. She tolerated no fools, nor those who sought to harm the Kelly name.

“No entourage, Minerva?” I waved a hand, indicating the lack of bodyguards. “That’s unusual.” I briefly wondered how she’d gotten here. Surely Raine had not had time to fly north and fetch her back? For all I knew she’d flown here in a chariot drawn by winged dragons. Or had some Clan version of Scotty beam her down. But no need to waste brain cells cogitating on her travel arrangements. I had enough to deal with.

“Unusual circumstances, wouldn’t you say, child?” She regarded me with amusement. “I came to rescue you or, perhaps, to keep you safe, since you didn’t seem to be obeying my directive to come to me. Yet, you seem to need no rescuing.”

I nodded. “I apologize for not leaving right away. I figured we”—I motioned to my companions—“could take on a rogue Sidhe. I didn’t figure on the rest.”

A raised eyebrow and another smile. “You bearded the lion in his den, then? How amusing. I take it you won.”

“So to speak.” I laid a hand on Adam’s arm. “We all got out.”

“Left Gideon there,” Tucker put in. “Did you know about that? About him?”

Gigi’s smile turned sour. “I did. Ungrateful child. He Changed, you know.”

“Yeah, I kind of discovered that—the hard way.” I spit out the words. “He attacked me, Gigi. I blacked out.”

Her eyes widened, the only indication of surprise. “You seem to be fine.”

“I am,” I said, “thanks to one of Adam’s relatives … and to Adam himself, who loaned me power. My cousin is dangerous, Gigi. I don’t know what the freaking hell you were thinking with all of this, but of all the damned people—”

“He’s as much heir as you are, Keira,” she said. “Perhaps in more need of attention, but—”

“Attention, my ass.” I sprang up and strode over to her chair. Crossing my arms, I stared down at her. “What exactly were you playing at, Minerva? Some half-baked breeding experiment trying to bond all the Other together? Was that it? If so, I think it’s backfired … a lot.”

She stood, her five-foot-and-a-smidgen stature no match for my own five foot ten. Despite that, I stepped back. She still overwhelmed me, power for power, and it was damned unmistakable. “Backfired? Oh no, my darling child. It’s nowhere near a backfire. It’s worked out much better than I ever thought.”

“It’s true, then.” Adam crossed the room to join me, his voice as angry as mine. “All this was part of your manipulations, your machinations? Was it not bad enough that my own father had me made vampire? Now you’re breeding between the various tribes of Other? Did you want the power that much?”

“You overstep your bounds, vampire,” Gigi warned,
her power flaring. I put a hand on Adam’s shoulder and with less effort than I expected, extended my shields while simultaneously increasing their resistance. Gigi stared at me, her eyes like steel. “You’ve learned much, Keira.”

“I’ve had to.” I slid my hand down to grasp Adam’s hand. “Adam is mine, Minerva, and king in his own right. You had no business messing in our lives.”

“Do not address things you know nothing of, child. There is more to this messing than you know.” Gigi settled back into the chair, having once again attained her regal detachment. “Be assured your best interests are always at the heart of anything I do. You are my heir.”

“And Gideon?” I countered. “He’s the elder of the two of us. Wouldn’t he be heir? I’m just the spare.” I let go of Adam’s hand and went back to my own chair. He followed after a curt bow in Gigi’s direction.

“The existence of two heirs was more than I could have hoped for,” she admitted. “It has no precedence. When you were both born, I saw the signs in each of you. I’d intended for you to remain with your mother, then come to us when it was time for the Change. You could have ruled your mother’s Court, influenced her cousin’s. Gideon was meant to be my heir here and, with his connection to Drystan, help influence the High King and his heir.” She nodded, indicating Adam.

“But I hadn’t anticipated the coldness of your mother’s people toward you, Keira, so you joined us as a child. Later, when you were attracted to Gideon, I admit to seeing the interesting possibilities of your union, but I did not mess, as you say, in establishing your relationship.”

I wasn’t entirely sure I believed her.

“When Gideon demonstrated …” She paused a moment. “When he frightened you so with his experiments
of the darker sort, I attributed it primarily to his youth and his Unseelie blood, but it also made me aware, for the first time, that you and Gideon were of quite different natures.”

You got that right, granny, I thought to myself.

“Still, there were many alternatives and I continued in my campaign to unite all Other. I’d already convinced the wer’s Fenrir to join us, to perhaps consider joining our families in a blood bond. I intended to eventually speak with yon vampire king.” She nodded toward Adam. “Fate, it would seem, leant us her twisted hand in having him fall in love with you. Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you.”

“Not at all.” Adam placed his hand on my shoulder. “So all of this was part of that last summit, then? You admit, I was never part of those plans.”

“No, you were not,” Gigi said. “Your father and I thought it was best to keep our ideas to ourselves for the time being. There was no guarantee that our plan would work.”