The Royal Hunter (17 page)

He stalked around the truck, wishing like hell he could believe the emotions currently churning inside him had anything remotely to do with business.

T
alia was never so glad of anything in her life as she was to escape the close confines of her truck and distance herself from Archer. The drive home had been awful. Even Stella had eventually fallen quiet when the occupants of the front seat remained wrapped in their own thoughts.

“I’ll start unloading,” Stella said, apparently also relieved to make her escape.

“Just unstrap them,” she said. “I’ll help you unload.”

Stella nodded, but before Talia could follow her, Archer stepped between them. Talia swallowed a sigh. And a healthy dose of trepidation. She was still shaky and her head was pounding. She did not feel up to dealing with one more thing today. Not even if it was a matter of life or death. Anyone’s, even hers. “Please, I have a great deal to do tonight.” She kept her gaze on some point past his shoulder. Of course he wouldn’t accept that. She jerked her chin away from his touch, but kept her gaze on his, hoping it would be over faster this way. “What?”

“We have to talk. There is a lot to prepare you for.”

“Isn’t that what I’ve been doing every minute since you got here?”

“Not that. There are other things. I have to brief
you on what to expect in my time and who the players are. It will be a crash course on Dalwyn’s court, but it must be done if you are to help yourself stay afloat. I probably should have done this sooner.”

She felt the tremors run through her. It was finally happening.
It’s all a fairy tale like the ones Mummy told you. Blink hard once or twice and you’ll find yourself waking up in your hammock, all this a nasty dream
. If she were anywhere else, she might have convinced herself that was true. But when she looked at Archer … she knew. She knew she’d always known. Somewhere. Somehow. And she still wasn’t ready.

“The dogs won’t wait. So you’re going to have to.” She went to push past him, but he stopped her with his hand on her arm. There was such solid strength, such conviction in his touch, she didn’t know whether to shrink from it … or lean into it. Things were going to change, she’d known it, felt it. Archer was the one constant. The one thing she knew she could count on. The one person she could trust.

That thought alone should have sent her screaming into the house, behind any number of locked doors.

Instead she looked into his eyes. Eyes that held hers with reliably steady strength. Eyes that looked at her and saw her for who she really was … and didn’t turn away. Eyes that often looked at her with frustration and irritation, as well as desire. How had she come to trust him? Maybe it was because there was so much at stake for him, too, she knew he’d never risk failure. But that wasn’t it. What she really thought was foolish. And dangerous. What she really thought was that he’d keep her safe because somewhere in that mercenary heart of his, he cared for her. She’d seen it in that moment he’d come out of the woods.

She blinked at a sudden moisture in her eyes, wishing she could laugh instead. Because it really was a ridiculous notion. “I know we have to deal with this. Please just let me handle the dogs and get Stella done and out of here. Surely we can wait that long.”

He finally bent somewhat and nodded curtly. “By full dark, no later. And you don’t leave my sight.”

She wanted to argue, if for no other reason than it would give her a vent for all the screaming tension and fear building inside her. But time was moving on and she wasn’t. So she nodded and went to work.

True to his word, for the next two and a half hours Archer never let her out of his sight, to the point where she swore his gaze alone felt like physical contact. But then it had always been that way around him. She’d thought the presence of the animals and Stella would act like a shield of sorts, but of course they hadn’t.

In all honesty, as much as she dreaded what was to come later tonight, right now she was thankful for all his hovering. She might have been able to ignore the threat Jimmy had been to her … but there was no denying or forgetting the look in Anteri’s eyes as he’d lunged for her. The idea that Anteri had been stalking her at the fair while she’d been blithely finding homes for her animals … She didn’t want to think about what could have happened if Archer hadn’t acted so quickly.

“They’re all tucked in for the night,” Stella announced, coming around the corner. “I checked the water and put the horses in.”

Talia nodded. She finished administering medication to one of the strays she was still working with, then handed a tube of ointment to Stella. “Put this on the little spot where we had to pull the hair off that pom mix, okay?”

Stella’s eyes lit up. “Sure.” Then a furrow creased her brow and Talia knew she was working up her courage.

Not up to dealing with this tonight, she cut her off before she could speak. “I know how you feel about the little guy, Stella. But we’ll talk about it later. Okay?”

Stella’s face threatened to split from the force of her grin. An instant later Talia was enveloped in a hug. “You won’t be sorry, Talia, I promise.”

“Awful sure of yourself, aren’t you?” she said, but there was no censure in it.

Stella beamed. “I’m meant for him, Tal. And he for me. You know how sometimes you just know it?”

Talia’s smile faltered as Archer came into view at the far end of the kennel. Ringer came to sit beside his feet. A man and his dog. If only it were that simple.

“Yeah, I know,” she said quietly. “Go on home and get some good rest. Tomorrow’s going to be busy.” This last she said with her eye on Archer. Somehow she had to convince him to let her stay another couple days. She had to see these guys safely away from here. Stella and her two part-time employees could deal with the horses and hold down the fort for the rest. She refused to think about the strays that could be turned away in her absence.

God, she thought. Was she really going to go? It wasn’t as if she were going on a brief weekend jaunt to the shore, either. She couldn’t truly wrap her mind around it. She smiled at Stella who nuzzled the sleepy little pom before shutting him back in his run for the night. “Good night, Stella.”

She smiled, her eyes dreamy. “Night, Talia. And thank you so much. You won’t be sorry.”

“Tomorrow,” Talia said. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”

And then she was alone with Archer and wondering
why she’d been in such a hurry to see her young employee go. She walked to the kennel door that Stella had just floated through and scratched Ringer’s scruffy head while Archer made sure it was locked and secure for the night.

“Now what?” she asked, knowing she sounded a bit snakey, as he would say.

“We talk. Care for a walk?”

“Do you really think that’s wise?”

Archer stared at her for a long moment, as if debating an entirely different meaning than she’d intended. A shiver stole over her skin that had nothing to do with the sun setting. She was thinking about the last time they’d been down by the pond … and knew he was, too.

But then his expression changed, turned harder, and she knew he was in bodyguard mode again. Not that she wanted to reprise their little scene on that flat rock. Well, she
wanted
to, but she knew it would be better if they stayed in bodyguard mode from here on out. Dammit.

“Baleweg told me that moving through time isn’t a precise thing. He can get the time right, but location is approximate. It’s obvious Emrys is more skilled in that area. He moved Anteri in and out today and had the location pretty damn precise.”

“Did you tell him? What did he say?”

“I haven’t talked to him yet. I’ve been watching you.”

“So, what do we do next? Where is Baleweg?” She’d been surprised that he hadn’t appeared since they’d returned. “Don’t you think we should all be together when you give your briefing, or whatever you call it?”

“Baleweg knows nothing about the court.”

“On the contrary.”

Both Talia and Archer turned to find Baleweg
standing just on the other side of the fence. Talia smiled. Something about Baleweg had always made her feel safe. Not in the way that Archer did. More in the way that, well, she supposed the way a child felt around a parent. That because they were older and acted wiser, somehow everything would always be okay if they were around. Another foolish notion. She, better than anyone, knew that having a parent guaranteed nothing.

“Why do you wish to discuss the House of Dalwyn, young Archer?”

“She must be told how it works, if she’s to find her way through.”

“You’ll be there with me, won’t you?” Talia asked Baleweg.

“I’ve taught you how to focus your mind in order to expand your connective feelings. There is not much more I can do.” He paused, looking slightly troubled.

“What is it?”

“I had hoped your other inherited abilities would have surfaced by now.”

Not for the first time, Talia wondered if Baleweg shared her doubts about her ability to be a healer. “I don’t feel I know anything yet. And what I do know I’m not controlling very well.”

“It will take practice,” Baleweg said. “But I think you control things better than you assume. You’ve had years of experience in controlling your gifts so others don’t surmise your hidden talents. In fact, I’d say you will fare far better when you learn to loosen your formidable control. Perhaps that will provide a path to awakening those other talents you were born to possess.”

Talia glanced surreptitiously at Archer. The one time she’d loosened her control was the time she had connected with him. She hadn’t attempted that
again. “I’m still not sure I can help the queen.” She looked to Baleweg and gave voice to the one thing they hadn’t discussed. “What happens if I can’t help her?”

Baleweg stepped closer and put his hand on her arm. She realized then that he rarely actually touched her. She wondered just what powers this man truly held.

“I’m afraid there is not much of a choice for you now, Talia. At least in terms of your safety.”

“You knew about Anteri, didn’t you?” The accusation came from Archer.

Baleweg held Archer’s gaze steadily. “I sensed our time was dwindling. I believe you knew that, as well.”

Archer stared. “Why didn’t you warn me?”

Baleweg held up his hand. “Talia needed to place her animals. You were there with her and you felt the disturbance, as well, did you not?” He waited until Archer grudgingly nodded. “Your instincts are good ones, Devin.”

Talia stepped forward. “There isn’t anyone else to teach me? To pick up where we’ve left off?”

“Your mother was the only one,” Baleweg said, turning back to her. “I only wish she’d had the time to work with you. But she made me promise to sever all contact with her. It was the only way she felt she could keep you safe.”

“So she never intended to bring me back?”

“From what you tell me of the stories she told you as a child, I feel she did plan that very thing. Perhaps she wanted you to grow up first, in a place where she could teach you in relative safety, then bring you back as a grown woman, able to handle yourself.”

“But how would she have brought me back if she had no contact with you?”

Baleweg smiled then. “Your mother was not without
skills of her own. I have every faith she would have found a way to contact me had she been ready.”

“She must have known someone was looking for her. We moved around a lot. Did she know about Emrys?”

Baleweg looked troubled then. “Yes, she did. But I thought she was being overly cautious. I honestly didn’t think he’d have any interest in her, or you.” He blinked several times, as if his eyes had grown glassy, then sighed. “I had no idea she lived with such fear and for that I am terribly sorry. I felt a disturbance when she died, but honored my promise to not interfere in your life. Perhaps I should have. Maybe this whole thing could have been avoided. But I stayed wrapped up in my studies.” He looked to his hands, then to some point far beyond the two of them that only he could see. “Too wrapped up, it appears.”

“Then why interfere now?” Talia asked gently.

His gaze sharpened as he brought it back to them. For the first time she saw anger edging those brilliant blue eyes of his. “Because Emrys does have an interest in you now, though why I cannot say. It can’t only have to do with Chamberlain’s wish to take on the power of the throne. He enjoys toying with the lives of others. If he’s aiding Chamberlain, it is only because it serves some childish wish of his to entertain himself. And, as usual, his entertainment comes at a cost to others. I imagine my involvement with your mother is part of that amusement. He is using Chamberlain’s desires to jab at me, draw me out.”

“Then why didn’t you step in sooner?” Archer asked. “You could have just come back and taken her to the queen yourself.”

Baleweg turned on him, eyes snapping. “My
stepping into the game then, for the sole function of attempting to protect her, would have only served to heighten his amusement and shift the focus more sharply on her. As it was, the queen resolved the issue for me by taking up the search for Eleri herself. It had only been a matter of days by then that I had come to be aware that the plot with Dideon was afoot. As usual, I was fairly immersed in my studies, not in the latest political schemes. Then you were chosen. The royal hunter. And the path became clear to me. I knew you would be the one. And so you are.”

Both Archer and Talia fell silent. Talia felt it the moment Archer shifted his gaze to her and wanted nothing more than to look into those eyes, take from his strength. But she needed to be strong herself. It was difficult enough to admit she trusted him, that she knew he’d risk his life to keep hers safe … but to simply give everything over to him … no, she couldn’t do that. She had to know she could take care of herself.

Archer spoke then. “Tell us more about Emrys. We need to know who and what we’re dealing with. He is more powerful than you are, isn’t he?”

Baleweg looked to them both, remaining silent for so long neither thought he would speak, then finally, he said, “He is known as the Dark One. I assure you he deserves that moniker. His skills are, in some ways, more advanced than mine, but he has far less discipline.” His expression turned baleful. “He’s learned quickly, in far less time and with less effort. It is all a game to him and he bores easily. I’m certain this drama at court is a highly amusing little play to him, like a chess game, with Chamberlain as a rather entertaining pawn.”