Lone Star Magic (4 page)

“No.”

“Strange coincidence, isn’t it?”

Alrick sighed. “No coincidence. The lightning
fire was the Warlord’s second attempt to kill you. I was about to
bring rain to counteract his spell, but the weather beat me to
it..”

“Ok, supposing I believe you, which I don’t.
Tell me how. How would you go about bringing rain?”

His gaze traveled over her, his expression
thoughtful. “A simple spell,” he said at last. “Where I’m from,
such a spell would be nothing.”

“A spell. You’re telling me you can do
magic.”

“Yes, of course I can.” Arrogance crept into
his tone. “Unfortunately, my magic – any magic use – here is bound
by limitations. So much magic used so close together can wreak
havoc with the weather in your world.”

“Limitations? Magic? Messing with the
weather? What the hell are you talking about?” She felt like she
slurred her words, as though she’d had a couple shots of tequila or
something. Shock, she must be in shock.

“Where are your brothers?” Alrick glanced at
the road as if he expected them to appear at any moment.

She sighed, one long, brutal shiver went
through her. “I don’t have any brothers!”

His grin told her he had known. “Or high
school workers either?”

“No.” She rubbed her arms.

“Are you cold?”

“I’m stunned. Look Alrick, I think you’d
better explain. Since you showed up, I’ve had a fireball spinning
over my garden and now a freak storm and lightning strikes my barn.
Then a custom made rain cloud lets loose on my house. What’s going
on? I don’t want to hear any more of your weird lies.”

“Lies?” He shook his head. “I’m not the one
who claimed to have siblings. I don’t lie. I can’t lie.”

Cannot lie. She sighed. “Do you have a cherry
tree you wanna chop down too?”

“I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t. Ok, fine,
whatever.”

“I’m staying.”

Exhaustion again claimed her. Or shock. Or
something. She’d been feeling like that a lot lately. Ever since
Liam died…

“You can stay.” She’d probably regret this
later. “For now. But not in my house. Since I don’t have a barn
anymore, there’s nowhere for you to sleep.”

“I can sleep outside. I often do.”

“Great.” Turning on her heel, she set off for
the back door, wobbling slightly. Alrick fell into step beside her,
taking her arm to steady her.

“Are you all right?”

Though she let him hold her elbow, she shot
him a glare. “I’m fine. And Alrick?”

“Yes?”

“Your story? I want you to tell me all of it
– why you think someone wants to kill me and where on earth you
came from. And, whenever you get around to telling me your little
story, you can also explain why you talk like some character in a
badly-written play.”

Though Alrick hadn’t a clue what Carly found
so odd about his manner of speaking, he did know once he told her
he’d traveled across the veil that separated their worlds to save
her, she’d immediately send him packing. Yet he truly could not
lie. While the Fae truly found it impossible to speak a falsehood,
most of their trickery and tomfoolery was based on simply
omitting
part of the truth. This was what he decided to do
with Carly Roberts. He’d give her as little as he could get away
with. Tell her only the pieces of reality with which he felt she
could deal.

Once they were inside her home, she shook off
his arm. “It smells horrible in here.”

“Smoke. At least only one small part of your
roof is damaged. I will repair that in a few minutes.”

“Oh, so you’re handy too?”

“Handy?”

“Never mind.” She grimaced. “I guess you can
always use your
magic
to fix the roof.”

Though he knew she mocked him, Alrick
answered in all seriousness. “I will not risk using magic on such a
simple task. I will use my hands and back to do the work.”

“Right.” Carly sighed. “Do you want something
to drink?”

“Wine?”

“Wine! It’s just past nine o’clock in the
morning. I was thinking more like lemonade or tea.”

From the way she peered suspiciously up at
him, Alrick knew he’d made another blunder. Since spirits rarely
affected the Fae, in Rune he drank wine with all his meals.

“I’ll have whatever you’re having,” he
said.

She shook her head. “Come on.”

Once they were settled in comfortable wooden
chairs around her table, Carly handed Alrick a glass vessel full of
ice and some indefinable, yellow liquid.

“What is this?”

“It’s lemonade. I make it myself.”

“Lemonade.” He held it up to the light,
noticing the even perfection of the painted colors.

“Do you like the glass?” She grinned. “I got
those for a wedding gift from my neighbor Frieda.”

“I see. Lemonade.” The name felt odd on his
tongue. “You drink the juice of lemons?” At her nod, he grimaced.
Though their worlds existed side by side, some things were very
different.

He took a cautious sip. Both sweet and sour,
the drink tasted unlike any he’d ever sampled. He liked it. He
thought. “Very good. My thanks.”

Setting her glass down, she leaned her elbows
on the table. “You’re welcome. Now start talking. Tell me where you
came from and why you’re here.”

Alrick straightened his shoulders, carefully
placing his glass on the table. “I have traveled a great distance
to reach you,” he began.

“From another country?”

“Yes.”

“I knew it! You’re not from anywhere in the
US, are you?”

So far, so good. “No, I am not.”

“North America?”

Since he had no idea where on earth that
might be, he felt safe in answering. “No.”

“Not Central America or South America either,
I’ll bet. Asia’s out. And you don’t look like you’re from a middle-
Eastern country, like Saudi. So you must be from Europe.”

“England, France, Germany, Wales? No. Though
I’ve traveled there.”

She narrowed her emerald eyes. “Russia
then.”

When he didn’t answer, not at all certain
where this Russia might be, knowing only the place couldn’t be too
pleasant, or the Fae would have visited it, she took his silence
for confirmation.

“That’s it. You’re from Russia. So that
explains your accent.”

Speaking carefully, he looked her straight in
the face. “I am from Rune.”

“Rune.” Resting her chin in her hands, she
gave him a half-hearted nod. “Is that near Siberia?”

“No.” Best to change the subject. “We need to
talk about protection. The Warlord wants to kill you, and each time
he fails, he will grow angrier.”

“Let him. He can stand in line with the
others. There seems to be no end to the people around here that are
angry with me.”

“You have human enemies?”

She stared at him like he’d sprouted horns.
“Why do you say that as though you’re not human?”

Patience. “I am Fae.”

“I am Fae,” she repeated. “As though that
explains it all. Do you really mean
faeries
?”

He had to smile at her tone. She said the
word as though she found it distasteful. “Yes, faeries.”

“Is this Warlord person Fae also?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. All I know is that he
is a wizard. Tell me of your enemies.”

She looked down at her hands. “I don’t know
that I’d call them enemies. A lot of people thought I should sell
when Liam died. I’m an outsider and a city girl and they don’t
think I can run this ranch.”

“Do they threaten you?”

Raising her head, she frowned. “No. Not
really. They aren’t friendly, and won’t help me, but I don’t think
any of them would actually hurt me. They just want me to sell.”

Alrick relaxed. Bad enough he had to keep her
safe from the powerful Warlord with limited magic. He’d hate to
find out she had human enemies as well. “Why don’t you sell?”

Her smile faltered. “I might have to, one of
these days. But this ranch was Liam’s dream. I owe it to him to try
and make it work.”

“Liam’s dream? Not yours?” Though the
question was so personal asking it bordered on rudeness, Carly
didn’t seem to mind.

“No, not mine.” She gave a short bark of
humorless laughter. “This place belonged to Liam’s parents. I’m a
city girl, through and through. No Name Ranch was the only thing we
ever disagreed on. We met in Austin while we were in school. Once
we graduated, we married. We lived near campus.”

Her wistful expression made Alrick’s chest
ache.

“We only moved out here when Liam’s parents
were killed in a plane crash.”

Since the Mage had told him few details of
Carly’s life, Alrick welcomed any information. When fighting an
unseen threat, he never knew what knowledge might help him.

“What about your husband?” He kept his voice
soft. “What happened to Liam?”

She looked stricken. “After we’d lived here a
year, I couldn’t stand it. I told him it was either me or the
ranch. Because we’d used up all our savings trying to keep this
place running, he took a second job, driving trucks. There was an
accident.” Swallowing, she appeared to blink back tears. “Liam died
trying to make enough money so we could buy a place in town.”

How her face softened, how her green eyes
glowed as she spoke of the man she’d loved. Alrick felt an
uncomfortable twinge – he’d never loved or been loved like
that.

To cover his confusion, he frowned. “But if
he was working so you wouldn’t have to live here—.”

“The least I can do is try. If I’d have been
willing to try before, Liam wouldn’t have died.”

Now he understood. “You are doing
penance.”

Her chin came up, anger chasing away her
sorrow. “I—. Penance,” she repeated, her anger seeming to leave her
as suddenly as it’d come. “I never thought of it like that. Though
I guess you’re right. Since it’s my fault Liam died, yes, I suppose
that’s what I’m doing. Paying penance.”

He watched her, trying to understand a woman
who would think like a soldier. “Is there anything you wouldn’t
do?”

“What do you mean?”

“To save your ranch. And yourself.”

She regarded him soberly, her eyes dark. “I
wouldn’t kill, even for food.”

“I find that difficult to believe. If you
were starving-.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t like blood.” Pushing herself up from
the table, she went to stand by the window. The sunlight touched
her hair, making the copper color appear to blaze. He’d known many
women, but Alrick had never met one quite like Carly. Though her
stature was slight, she was fiercely independent. Determined to
make her husband’s dream a reality in order to honor his
memory.

Foolhardy, but noble.

He studied her, letting his gaze room over
her petite figure. This human woman, who claimed she couldn’t hurt
another living being, would be Rune’s savior, one day. Stranger
things had happened. As long as he could protect her from the
Warlord. While both he and his enemy had magic, the Warlord was
more powerful. They both had the same limitations, though he
supposed the Warlord cared nothing about those.

“I’ve grown to like the place,” Carly said.
“Yeah, it’s lonely sometimes, but that would be the same no matter
where I lived.”

“You need to learn how to farm.”

She glanced at him over her shoulder. “No I
don’t. This is not a farm, it’s a ranch. I don’t farm for anything
here except hay.”

“If you don’t farm, how do you earn your
living?”

Again her gaze skittered away. “I have some
money left from Liam’s life insurance, not much. There were a lot
of medical bills after the accident. That’s what I’ve been living
on so far.”

“I see. But what about the future?”

“We were hoping to raise horses. TM is
descended from a line of champions.”

“You can live off that? Raising horses?”

“No, not at first. But it could be quite
profitable, if I could afford to hire someone to show TM. If he
wins a few championships, I can put him out for stud. His services
would be worth a lot then. And his foals.”

Again much of what she said seemed
incomprehensible. While he kept a stable full of choice mares at
home, he had no idea what she meant by
show
TM? Did humans
have competitions for horses? “Do your people not recognize a good
horse when they see it?”

“That’s just it. No one can see TM if I can’t
show him.”

Now he understood. Partly. “Why don’t you
breed him yourself?”

She looked down. “We’d planned on it. We were
saving to buy a really good brood mare. But then Liam had the
accident and the medical bills took most of my money.”

Alrick thought of his own horses, back in
Rune.

She bit her lip, turning to stare out the
window. “I can see TM. He’s so beautiful. He was Liam’s pride and
joy. I’m glad you saved him.”

“He’s not all power and muscle, that one.
He’s got a keen sense of intelligence as well.” Good breeding
stock, and one he’d welcome for his mares.

“I saw the way you rode him from the barn.”
She looked at him, her expression thoughtful. “I’m surprised he let
you do that.”

“He was so terrified of the fire, he didn’t
notice.”

With a slight shake of her head, she
indicated her disbelief. “Oh, he noticed. Do you plan to break
him?”

The word was jarring enough to make Alrick
blink. “Break him?”

She waved her hand. “You know, teach him to
be ridden. He’s three, so it’s time.”

“And he’s never had a man upon his back?”

“No. Not even a blanket, or a sack of
grain.”

Alrick let that one go. For all he knew, they
trained horses differently here as well. Something in Carly’s face…
a look of longing… of uncertainty.

“I will train him to accept a rider and I’ll
teach you to ride him, if you’d like.”

Her eyes met his, brilliant green shining
softly. “I don’t know. I’m not much of a rider…”