Fantasyland 04 Broken Dove (52 page)

Norfolk threw out a hand. “Not at all.” He looked to me. “It’s been a pleasure.”

Aw, that was sweet.

“You’re very kind,” I murmured.

“And you are a delight,” he replied, smiling. He turned to Apollo. “I will leave you to your charming company.”

Apollo inclined his head.

Norfolk dipped his chin to me and moved away.

After he did, Apollo moved me from the wall and started us walking slowly through the crowded space.

I took a sip of my champagne and muttered, “What now?”

“Now, we socialize.”

Ugh.

“That’s it?” I inquired.

“Well, to quench your need for excitement, I could challenge someone to a duel, but outside of the Drakkars, there’s no one here whose blood I’d relish drawing.”

I stopped and looked up at him and he stopped with me.

“You duel in this world?” I asked quietly.

“Indeed,” he replied. “But only when honor is at stake.”

“I don’t suppose women engage in duels,” I remarked.

He raised a brow, his lips twitching. “Wanting another go at Franka?”

“She’s not very nice,” I said by way of answer.

“If given the opportunity, I’d prefer observing you besting her with her own weapons,” he murmured.

“Then I hope she’s stupid enough to make another approach.”

He shook his head, grinned and started us moseying again.

“Did you get anything out of Eirik and Valeria?” I queried.

“Dove, they’ll hardly admit to conspiring during a trivial conversation at a gale,” he replied.

“Of course not,” I returned. “But they don’t have to admit it straight out for you to get something from them.”

He stopped this time, exchanging my half-drunk champagne glass with a fresh one and getting one of his own.

“My role this evening is to be here and keep an eye on Franka, Kristian, Eirik and Valeria as Remi and Hans find maids, charm the information out of them that would lead to the rooms of those particular Drakkars and search them.”

Interesting.

“Just those Drakkars?” I asked.

“Alas, our informant was quite cagey about who was doing the conspiring. But only those Drakkars would be foolish or spiteful enough to court the wrath of a man who commands elves and dragons.”

I nodded, putting my glass to my lips and searching the crowd until I found Kristian.

“Kristian?” I murmured into my champagne before taking a sip.

“He would be the foolish one,” Apollo replied.

“Hmm…” I mumbled, looking from Kristian to Apollo. “I must say, Lo, that this world is a whole lot more intriguing than mine.”

His eyes warmed when I used his nickname but his lips warned, “Intrigue always has consequences, poppy. We just need to ensure that those who deserve them are the ones who get them.”

“Well, I’ll keep track of Franka and Kristian and you keep an eye on Eirik and Valeria. Does that sound like a plan?” I offered.

His look got warmer as he started us moving again, murmuring, “And she gives me more reason than just that gown not to regret introducing her to a den of vipers.”

“I aim to please,” I replied quietly, scanning for and locating Franka.

But as I did, I suddenly felt Apollo’s lips at my ear.

“You do, Madeleine, always. And tonight, we’ll be exploring new ways for you to accomplish that.”

Something to look forward to after we left Creepy Castle with its (mostly) Foul Family.

And I so looked forward to it, when Apollo moved his lips away, I caught his eyes from under my lashes and gave him a small smile.

He one-upped the promise made by my smile by staring at my mouth while he ran his tongue along his lower lip.

My clit pulsed and my lips parted.

His gaze came to mine and he whispered, “Come, dove, I’ll introduce you to Sinclair, Draven’s uncle.”

A diversion.

I nodded and gave him a different kind of smile.

He tucked me close, moved me through the crowd and introduced me to Walter Sinclair, who, like Norfolk, was also kindly and older. And, I found when I shared it openly with him, he was a man who very much appreciated the fact that I cared deeply for his nephew.

Chapter Twenty

Hewcrows

Creepy Castles and (mostly) Foul Families aside, as I moved down the front steps of Brunskar hours later, Apollo guiding me to our sleigh, I was pretty pleased the night went so well.

Actually, intrigue was kind of fun (though I wouldn’t tell Apollo that since he obviously didn’t enjoy it much).

And I noticed he had steered me clear of a variety of people just as he steered me to closer acquaintances who would not be unkind or inappropriate.

Always looking out for me.

Always.

It was a weird sensation.

But once I got over the weirdness, it was a sensation I liked.

We made it to the bottom of the steps and I pulled my cloak closer around me, noting, “Tonight was fun.”

He moved ahead of me, reaching out to open the door of the sleigh, but looked back at me, smiling a bemused smile.

“You have an interesting idea of fun, poppy.”

I stopped moving at the bottom step and tipped my head to the side. “I do?” I asked and didn’t wait for him to answer. “Champagne. Good food and lovely company. And you looking hot and me looking fabulous in a gorgeous dress. Isn’t that everyone’s idea of fun?”

“I may take this neck cloth off, guide the sleigh to a cliff and throw it over,” he said by way of answer and I giggled.

“Can I take it from that that you don’t like neck cloths?” I asked the obvious.

He lifted a hand my way, and chuckling, replied, “You can indeed.”

But I wasn’t paying attention to his words, his hand or his humor.

This was because I was trying to lift my foot but it seemed frozen to the step.

I looked down. It was freaking cold there but to have your foot freeze to a step?

It didn’t matter. I saw when I looked down that the black stone steps were cleared of snow and ice so this couldn’t be.

“Maddie, cease your play. It’s cold and I’m keen to get to the inn and get warm, but mostly get
you
warm,” Apollo urged, saying things I normally would like very much.

But this was lost on me because I tried lifting my other foot and that wouldn’t budge either.

Something was not right and that not right was
really
not right.

Panic surged inside me and I lifted my head.

“Ap—” I started but didn’t get it all out.

He was dissolving.

No.

Fear shot through me because he wasn’t.

I was.

I heard him roar, “
Madeleine!
”

Then I heard nothing. I saw nothing. I felt nothing.

I was surrounded in black mist.

Oh fuck.

Suddenly I was falling.

Falling through
nothing.

Oh
fuck!

I hit snow, the abrupt impact jarring my entire body, shooting pain through my legs and knees. Both crumpled and I landed heavily on my side in the snow.

Quickly, I lifted my head and looked around to assess the situation.

Moonlight.

Snow.

Trees.

Nothing else.

No light. No castle. No sleighs. No noise. No people.

I was alone in a forest somewhere and I had no clue where.

Well, I guessed Minerva and her minions had decided to use magic.

On me.

Shit.

I pushed up to my knees and brushed the snow off my thin gloves. Gloves meant to be worn to a ball. My cloak meant to be worn in a sleigh with a fur over me, curled into the side of a hot guy.

I was not prepared to be in the cold in the middle of nowhere.

This was not good.

And it got worse when I caught movement through the moonlit forest.

I shot to my feet, my eyes glued to where I caught the movement.

Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, moving in another direction.

I turned to that and started backing up.

Another movement from yet another direction.

I put one hand behind me in order not to slam into a tree and kept backing up.

One of the things moving stepped out from behind the shadow of the trees.

And at the impossibleness of what I saw, I went completely still.

It was a man, a sword at a slant on his back.

But his head was the head of a bird with a sharp, pointed terrifying beak and creepy beady eyes.

“What the hell?” I breathed.

He lifted his hand and went for his sword.

I saw another movement as another one stepped out of the shadows.

He was going for his sword too as I heard the hiss of steel when the other one drew his from his scabbard.

Another one appeared in the moonlight, his sword already unsheathed.

Okay.

Well.

I was
so totally
right.

This was
not good.

And in my fabulous gown in the middle of a forest, not knowing where the heck I was, I had one option open to me.

Run like hell.

I took that option, turned, grabbed my skirts, yanked them up and did that like the devil himself was on my heels.

And, seriously, he was.

All four of him.

I didn’t look back. I was not going to fall over a fallen branch like some stupid bitch in a horror movie.

No fucking way.

If they were going to get me, they were going to have to catch me.

I had no idea where I was running and I didn’t care.

I just ran.

I heard them giving chase behind me and they seemed close.

Fuck.

Shit.

Fuck.

I kept going.

Then I heard something from in front of me. It sounded like someone (or something) crashing through the snow.

They were coming at me from another side.

Crap!

I shot to the side and kept going, my breathing labored, my slippers encased in snow, the tops of my feet covered in it. It was awkward dashing through tall snow, and thus not easy, but I kept right on going.

“
Miss Maddie!
” I heard shrieked.

I kept going but I knew that voice and I couldn’t believe I heard that voice where I was.

That voice was Loretta’s.

Then I saw her and Meeta racing through the snow ten feet to my left.

What the hell?

I couldn’t ask what the hell. I could only do one thing.

So I did it.

I ran their way, shouting, “Keep going. Go, go,
go!
”

They kept running as I ran to them and felt and heard those things chasing me.

I made it to them and Meeta threw back her cloak. On the run, she handed me a dagger.

I took it, and suffice it to say, I wouldn’t have a problem using it on whatever creatures were chasing us. If I got that chance (which I hoped I didn’t), I wouldn’t hesitate.

But as I took it, I saw she was heavily armed. She had a knife belt on with more weapons. I was still running so I didn’t have it in me to count all the blades she brought, but what I saw made me feel hope, even as I felt shock not only that they were there but that they’d come prepared.

“Where are we?” I asked, still running.

“We run toward Brunskar,” Meeta gasped.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back there.

“But—”

Meeta cut me off. “No talk! Run!”

I thought this was good advice so I kept running.

Until I heard them close in. Loretta cried out and I looked over my shoulder to see one of the bird-headed men had her.

Fuck!

“
No!
” I shrieked, turned, but Meeta was already there.

She yanked a short sword out of her belt and, without delay and looking like it wasn’t the first time she did it, she cut his head off.

Okay. Maybe she wasn’t Spock.

Maybe she was a Maroovian Russell Crowe-ian type gladiator.