Puca Page 17
She was lying on a low cot of some kind and it felt like it was padded with straw. Sitting up, she looked around the room. The walls were dirt and stone with roots hanging down in places and there were metal bars of some kind across one end, making it a cell.
Never having seen anything quite like them, she eyed the creatures standing on the other side of the bars. The tall, thin one dressed in jeweled velvet and silk, his long dark brown hair shining in the torchlight, had a regal bearing. He would have been beautiful, she thought, if it had not been for the cold 204
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deadness of his eyes and the hint of cruelty to the arrogant set of his mouth. She waited for him to speak.
“I marvel at the Puca’s choice in companions,”
Finvarra said silkily. “But then he has never been the most refined creature in his appetites.”
Emma raised her eyebrows at the implied insult and listened to the grating laughter of the Elf’s entourage. “Yeah, and look who you hang out with,”
she said with a smirk.
The Elf King’s eyes narrowed, and a few of the creatures standing with him snickered. Finvarra waved his hand in a chopping motion, and several of the laughing things crumbled into dust. His lip curled in a cruel smile at her look of shock.
Emma swallowed nervously. “That must make you feel like a big man. Compensating for something, are we?” she asked sweetly.
“I do hope you enjoy your stay with us, my dear,”
Finvarra said. “I am looking forward to discovering just what it is about you that the Puca finds so intriguing,” he added and licked his lips.
Emma gave an involuntary shiver. “It’s a human thing, you wouldn’t understand.”
Finvarra’s smile widened. “Such fire,” he drawled,
“we shall be well-matched, you and I, when I quench that burning.”
“As if,” she retorted derisively.
The Elf laughed. “Oh, yes, this will be very entertaining indeed.” He turned and strode down the dark hallway with his minions in tow.
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She watched Finvarra leaving, his fawning creatures hurrying to keep up, and shuddered. She knew exactly what the evil being meant. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and turned her mind to concentrating on escape.
Standing up, she began walking around the cell looking for anything she could use to escape. Finding nothing, she turned to look at the rickety cot. She hurried over to the bars and listened for signs of anyone nearby. It was silent. She smiled and went back to the cot, preparing to tear it apart.
A couple of good hard kicks, and the little bed was reduced to kindling. Emma quickly sorted through the bits of wood and selected a few pieces that appeared strong enough to dig with. Somehow she knew Kian would be coming for her, and she refused to be found huddled in a corner whining and cringing. Sitting down on the floor beside the bars, she began to dig.
* * * * * *
Aiden pulled up to the house and got out of his car.
He shut the door gently and then hurried up to the door. Pin greeted him with a hug.
“Is there any word yet?” Aiden asked quietly.
“N-nothing,” Pin said, “G-go and com-comfort y-your bro-brother. H-he will ne-need y-your help.” She looked up as a second vehicle pulled into the driveway. Tilly joined her and they watched a small white car pull next to Aiden’s Jaguar and stop.
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The woman who got out and walked toward them had the wildest cloud of black hair they had ever seen. Tilly would not have been surprised to see lightning bolts coming from the mass of dark curls.
The woman was barely taller than the Brownies in her flat brown shoes and shapeless khaki tan dress.
“Hi, I’m Molly, Emma’s friend from college,” she said with a smile holding out her hand to them.
“Welcome, Miss Molly, I’ve a nice pot of tea and fresh apple cake in the kitchen,” Tilly said, taking the girl’s hand and tucking it in her elbow. She led Molly into the kitchen. Pin followed them.
Kian looked up at the sound of the bedroom door opening. The hope in his eyes faded when he saw it was only his brother. Aiden stopped in front of him and took hold of Kian’s hand.
“I came as soon as I had word. You’re sure it’s Finvarra that has her and not some Sprite or Pixie playing a prank?” Aiden asked.
“Aye, I’m positive. I smelled his stench in the garden behind the woodshed,” Kian said, his voice bleak. “He’ll kill her after he’s...he’s...” Kian could not bring himself to say the words.
Aiden laid his hand on his brother’s shoulder and sighed. “Don’t think of that, it serves no purpose but Finvarra’s. Think of getting her back.”
Kian took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That Elf wants killing. Donagh warned me he’d broken the tradition, I was not vigilant enough.”
“Kian, the girl is a woman grown, with a mind and a will of her own. You could not be expected to watch 207
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over her constantly,” Aiden said reasonably.
“Maybe not from threats of the mortal world, but this I should have foreseen,” Kian said angrily. “I should have protected her and I did not. I—”
“You,” Aiden cut him off, “are being entirely too unreasonable in this. Even Father would say that.”
Kian looked sheepish. “Aye, he did say much the same thing when I spoke with him.”
“There, now, did Father say when he would arrive?” Aiden asked.
“He said he could not get here before evening and also that I should do the unexpected,” Kian answered with a great sigh. “Therefore I have been thinking on it...”
“Well, then, what are we going to do?” Aiden asked.
“He will be expecting me to follow tradition as I always have. He will not be looking for an attack,”
Kian smiled slowly. “And he will have no experience of Emma; she will not be a biddable captive. As you said, she’s a mind of her own and stubborn when she’s angry, for all she’s a gentle soul.”
Kian was silent for several minutes and Aiden waited. He knew his brother was plotting something; he remembered the look from their childhood. Kian was always the one to find them trouble.
“Here is what we’ll do,” Kian said at last and began outlining their plan of attack.
* * * * * *
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Kian walked into the kitchen with Aiden. He smiled sadly when he saw Molly, but it did not reach his eyes. Giving her a brief hug, he turned to Tilly and Pin. “You can trust Molly, she knows,” he said shortly. “Tell her what she asks.”
Aiden glanced at the wild hair and ugly dress with distaste. He turned away and busied himself with straightening his already impeccable velvet blazer.
Kian had the worst taste in women, he thought sourly. Emma had been the only one in the past hundred years or so to be tolerable.
He glanced surreptitiously at Molly. She was deep in conversation with Tilly, ignoring him totally.
Miffed he turned his nose up and caught Pin grinning at him. He sniffed and quickly looked away.
“Y-your fa-father wi-will be here f-for din-dinner,”
she stammered, “I-if y-you are n-not b-back by th-then h-he w-will c-come to he-help.”
“We will be home when we have Emma and I’ve taken care of Finvarra,” Kian said. “It’s pleased I am to be seeing you here, Molly, Emma will have need of a friend when she returns.”
Kian followed Aiden out to his car and they left.
The women watched as the car winked out of existence as it crossed into the otherworld halfway down the drive. Molly turned to the Brownies and waited for explanations.
“Well, there it is, and here we are,” Tilly said eyeing Molly.
“Y-yes, and n-now t-to be kee-keeping the gue-guests fr-from fi-finding out,” Pin replied.
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They sat do
wn at the table with their tea to plot.
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Chapter Twenty-One
ian and Aiden arrived in the woods surrounding Kthe hill Finvarra had commandeered for his stay in their territory. They shimmered and returned to their human forms. Kian caught his brother’s arm and nodded toward a tiny glowing spot in the side of the hill.
The Pucas watched as the glow grew larger and an opening appeared in the side of the hill. Several Red Caps exited and dispersed into the forest. Aiden swore softly and followed Kian as he hurried through the opening.
Inside the hill, Kian stifled a sneeze at the musty, damp smell. He walked several feet down the narrow rough hewn hall to a small room where two other corridors joined and stopped. Sniffing carefully, he caught the faint scent of the vanilla bath oil Emma favored underlying the stench of evil that surrounded the Elf. He smiled and nodded Aiden toward the left hand hallway.
Aiden caught Kian as he started toward the hall that would lead him to Finvarra. “Be careful, brother, the King is mad and that makes him more dangerous,” he said.
“Aye, and that with his arrogance will make him just that much more careless as well. Take Emma 211
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home for me, guard her well and see she comes to no harm. I will return when I’ve dealt with our unfit King,” Kian said, his eyes glowing with the fiery red that signaled his rage.
“I will,” Aiden said.
Kian watched his brother hurrying away until Aiden rounded a bend and disappeared from view, then walked purposefully toward the source of Finvarra’s stench. Slowing, he listened carefully for any guards and heard nothing but the sounds of a banquet in progress. Grimacing once, he let all emotion fade from his face as he stepped into the large makeshift throne room.
Finvarra had made it easy for him to get to this place. That was the point of taking Emma, after all; she was merely bait to tempt her Puca lover into rashness. Kian knew that. He knew as well it would be far more difficult to leave. For that, he would need to kill the Elf. Mentally apologizing to Donagh, he smiled pleasantly at the first of the creatures that saw him. Silence fell over the banquet hall.
Emma looked up from her work on the bars.
Footsteps heralded the arrival of someone, and she hurried to the back of the cell. If they wanted her they would have to come in to get her, and she definitely would not go easily or quietly, she thought grimly.
He walked out of the shadows, and her heart skipped a beat. She recognized Aiden from the computer shop. Suddenly an odd subtlety in the way he moved made her hesitate; it was Aiden, and at the 212
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same time it was someone else. The only other man she had ever seen that was quite so dangerous-looking was the man who shared her bed.
* * * * * *
Aidan strode down the hall toward the cells. How did I get talked into this fool plan, he wondered. The cells were not his favorite place to be. He saw the girl huddled against the back wall of the cell they had put her in. Well, she was nice enough and he would have liked to take her out as he had planned when he saw her at the computer shop, but he just did not see what Kian was so worked up over. He went to the bars and motioned her over, wondering if he could wheedle a kiss out of her.
“Come on, let’s get you out of there before the guards come back,” he said. He pulled out his pocketknife and with a few deft turns, had the lock picked. The door swung open, and he held out his hand to Emma.
“What are you?” she asked, not moving and not taking his hand.
“Oh, for... And what do you think I am?” Aidan asked in return, exasperated.
“You look like Aiden, but you’re different,” she said warily.
“Ah, and does this help?” He asked with a hint of mischief in his voice. He shimmered and an immaculately groomed chestnut-brown Irish wolfhound blinked at her.
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Emma’s eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand. She watched as Aiden flowed back into his human form, grinning at her. “You’re a Puca like Kian,” she said.
“Oh, no, a Puca to be sure, but thankfully never like that dratted brother of mine,” Aiden said quickly.
“And where is Kian? Why isn’t he here?” Emma refused to move.
“Oh, for... Kian has business to take care of with Finvarra. I am to get you out of here.”
“I’m not leaving without him,” she said.
“You’ll come with me and stay out of his way. He does not need your distraction. Now are you coming out of there, or do I come in and drag you out?” He grinned at her.
“Just try it, buster,” Emma said.
Aidan sighed and looked down the hall for a moment. “Kian, you owe me for this one,” he said under his breath. He turned and stepped into the cell toward Emma.
* * * * * *
Several minutes later, a disheveled Aiden was depositing an angry and dirt-smudged Emma on the ground outside the hill. She refused to speak to him.
He glared at her and turned to inspect his black velvet dinner jacket for damage. Turning to Emma he pointed toward a sleek black Jaguar. “Get in the car.
I’ve promised Kian to see you safely back at the house and I will do that,” he said with grave determination.
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Aidan watched the woman his twin had chosen with distaste as she glared at him. Stubborn, combative, irritating woman, he thought sourly. She and Kian should deal well together.
Emma turned and stormed over to the car. Aidan winced as she got in and slammed the door. He reached into his pocket for the keys and ground his teeth. The pocket was torn. He got into the car and started it with a glare at Emma. “You have torn my coat,” he said coldly.
“Ask me if I care,” Emma shot back.
Aidan made a low growling sound and floored the gas pedal. He drove them back to the house without a word.
* * * * * *
Emma jumped out of the car and stormed up the steps. She didn’t bother slamming the car door. She stopped suddenly and rounded on Aiden, storming back down the steps.
Aiden got out of his prized car and shut the door carefully. He walked around and shut the door Emma had left open. Dusting his hands off, he sadly examined the rent in his jacket pocket. Hands grabbed him, jerking him around and he staggered, falling back against the car.
“And what did you do with Kian? Where is he?”
Emma asked, glaring up at him.
“What?” Aiden said, confused.
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you hurt him...” Emma threatened.
Aidan looked down at Emma wide-eyed and then up to see the Brownies, who were watching from the front porch. “Mother! Aunt Tilly, get her off me!” He pleaded desperately.
Pin came down the steps and caught Emma’s arm.
“C-come inside, d-dear, y-you’re rum-rumpling poor A-aiden’s coat,” she said.
Emma glared at Aiden, then looked questioningly at Pin and followed the Brownie into the library.
Aiden looked miffed. He turned to Tilly and held out the damaged pocket toward her. “Just look what she’s done to my coat.”
“Yes, dear, come inside and I’ll be mending it for you,” Tilly said sympathetically.
Aiden walked along with Tilly, still examining his torn pocket, grumbling softly to himself about hysterical and poorly dressed women. He was busy mourning his coat when he bumped into something soft and warm. Looking up angrily, he was accosted by a pair of the softest grey eyes he’d ever seen, framed by thick black lashes. He stepped aside and watched Molly walk past.
Molly, dressed in her ill-fitting and tasteless clothes, ignored him and disappeared into the library.
He shivered slightly and hurried into the kitchen, shrugging out of his coat and handing it to Tilly. “Just who is that dreadful woman in the hall, besides a friend of Emma’s?”
“Mis
s Emma’s best friend from Texas. Lovely, sweet girl,” Tilly said cheerfully.
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“Sweet? She needs someone to teach her how to dress and fix that mess of her hair. It looks like a great huge...” Aiden sniffed critically.
“Storm cloud?” Tilly asked with a knowing smile.
“Yes. A great unruly storm cloud,” Aiden said and sat down at the kitchen table to wait for his coat.
Emma sat down in one of the leather-upholstered wing chairs by the library fireplace. She looked at Pin, her eyes glassy with tears. “Oh, Pin, I’m so worried,”
she said.
“H-he wi-will be f-fine, no-no one in th-their r-right mi-mind wan-wants to f-fight an angry Pu-puca,” Pin said, giving Emma a comforting hug.
The door opened and Emma looked up to see Molly coming in with a concerned look on her face.
“Molly! When did you get here?” Emma asked. She stood and hugged her friend.
“I just got here. Emma, is everything alright?”
Molly asked.
“I don’t know Molly,” Emma said and quickly explained the situation. “Kian is still there,” she added sadly.
“He w-will be f-fine, M-miss Em-emma, I kn-know my s-son,” Pin said with certainty.