Suzanne McLeod - The Cold Kiss of Death

‘Oh and just in case you’re wondering,’ he went on, the membrane slipping down over his left eye in a wink, ‘they’re always like this. We naiads ain’t got the same shrinkage problems as everyone else.’ He did a little flip and his non-shrinking credentials somehow managed to stick out at right angles. ‘So, luv, whenever you’re ready for a bit of slippy-slippy, I’m up for it.’

I did an astonished double-take, then got my mind back on track.

‘Tavish,’ I yelled, glaring at the open vault door, ‘get in here, now!’

Tavish strolled in almost immediately, silver beads sparkling at the ends of his dreads, black harem pants gathered at his ankles and the green-black skin of his chest gleaming like watered silk. He smiled, and my mouth lifted to smile back at him before I could stop myself. I pressed my lips together and dragged my eyes away before I ended up staring like a charm-struck human again.

‘What the hell is he doing here?’ I pointed at Ricou.

‘If the naiad’s nae tae your liking, doll’—he gave me a bland look—‘just say the word; I’m sure the Lady Meriel will let you choose from the rest o’ them.’

‘But that’s not bleeding fair, kelpie,’ Ricou cried. ‘I’ve just told the bean sidhe —’

‘Hey, fishface,’ I waved my hand at him, ‘shut up, before you make me do something you’ll regret.’

‘Like what, luv?’ The clicking laugh came again. ‘I mean, the way I heard it, you ain’t got any bleeding magic to speak of.’

‘Yeah?’ I gave him a just-you-try-it look. ‘So who do you think built the sand-dune out there?’

His headcrest slowly subsided.

‘Of course, doll, if there’s nae one o’ the naiads takes your fancy,’ Tavish said coolly, his delicate black-lace gills shifting slightly at his throat, ‘t’would be an easy thing for me tae tell the Lady Meriel that we’re courting and save you the bother o’ disturbances like this one.’

Save me the bother? ‘C’mon, Tavish,’ I snorted, ‘this is your own private aquarium. The only way fishface could get in here is if you let him, so whoever you think you’re fooling, it’s not me.’

‘Ach, doll, I’m only showing you your alternatives.’ He smiled, his silver eyes sparkling like the full moon on the sea. ‘Far be it from me tae stop you having a litter o’ naiad pups, or maybe half-a-dozen saplings.’

And as for that idea—No way was I being manipulated into something as important as having a child, so the whole lot of them could hold fire until I knew more about it.

‘Unless there was something else you were wanting?’ Tavish added.

Behind him, Malik appeared in the vault doorway, an edge of shadowed darkness slipping from him. He’d found a black T-shirt from somewhere and the plain cotton moulded itself to his lean, muscular chest, leaving a tantalising glimpse of pale skin at the low-slung waistband of his leather trousers. His black eyes fixed on mine with a half-lidded, almost lazy expression, a hint of a smile twitching one corner of his mouth, a suggestion of a promise weaving like smoke through my mind.

Crap. Talk about a double-act of annoying eye-candy! The pair of them were in it together. It almost made me want to take them up on their offer, whatever it entailed, just to see how far they would go ... Okay, crazy thought —and one I had a suspicion wasn’t mine. I glared at the pretty vamp. No doubt they’d go way further than I could imagine.

Damn, the whole curse thing needed sorting out, and while I could empathise with its awful consequences, I was getting more than a little pissed off with being either chased by dryads, hit on by fishface, or having a scheming kelpie try to trick me into whatever. Hadn’t any of them heard about sitting down and talking? Not that I had time for it right now, not until after my meeting with Grianne—

That was it, wasn’t it? Same as yesterday: they didn’t want me to meet the phouka, the queen’s ambassador.

‘Prohibition,’ I said softly. Neither of them made the slightest movement, which was telling enough in itself. ‘Or, to give it another name, everyone controlling, manipulating and deciding my fate. And you two are still doing it now.’ I waved at the naiad. ‘Trying to distract me with fishface here, threats of saplings and promises of whatever! Well, thanks for the offer, but I’ve got more important things to do. Like getting information that might solve a friend’s murder. So I’m not staying here in Tavish’s bed, however attractive the inducement, and just in case neither of you can recognise it, that was sarcasm.’

Tavish grinned, displaying his sharp-pointed white teeth. ‘I could always make the inducement less attractive, doll.’

Frustration filled me until I felt I might explode. Still, if he wanted to play tough ... Stun spells sounded like a handy idea, except of course even in Between I couldn’t cast spells. But the magic seemed to like me just fine, so ...

‘Yeah, well how about this?’ I lifted my hands and called the magic net. It bundled itself into my palms until I felt like I was holding two balls of soft green cotton. I threw one out towards Tavish, willing the net to trap him. I was taking a chance, not certain the magic would heed me—it might just leave me with metaphorical egg on my face—but my frustration seemed to fuel the spell, just as it did before, and the net swirled out and landed over his head, tangling in his dreads. His silver eyes flashed with surprise as his fingers pulled at the net, trying to deny the magic—

I cracked the spell, exploding the net—and his silver beads—into tiny motes that glowed briefly before dissipating into the ether. He grabbed hold of the shredded ends of his hair, snorting in dismay as he examined them.

Okay, childish I know, but also satisfying pay-back for the blonde-bimbo Glamour he’d sicced on me.

I turned towards Ricou, who was staring at Tavish in wide-eyed amazement—at least I think that was what his gaping mouth and bolt-upright headcrest meant.

‘Hey, fishface,’ I called to get his attention, ‘unless you want me to do the same to your credentials ’—I tossed the other ball of magic in the air and caught it—‘you’ll go back to the rest of your poker-playing pals and tell them that if I’m ever up for it—and believe me, I’m not talking about sex here—then I’ll be the one that comes visiting, got it?’

‘Got it in one, luv.’ His face-gills slapped back against his head and he did the grin-yawn thing again. ‘And just in case you do fancy a bit of slippy-slippy, luv’—he thumped his fisted claw on his chest and winked at me again—‘drop a bit of blood in the water and give Ricou a shout, okay?’ Then he leapt and twisted, diving into the hole, and sped away like a dark streak through the water.

Yeah, I’d give him a shout—like when the Thames froze over again ...

‘Next time, Tavish’—I held up the green ball of magic and blew on it until it exploded into tiny filaments that coated the glass floor like iron filings on a magnet—‘it’ll be your aquarium here.’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘How’s that for a less attractive inducement?’

Tavish snorted. ‘Neat bit o’ magic, doll, I dinnae ken you could do that.’

‘I’ve been practising,’ I said. Getting the equivalent of ‘knocked out’ every time I absorbed a spell was so not fun. Trouble was, I could only call the smaller, more benign magics so far. Still, nice to know that Finn wasn’t reporting my every move back to Tavish ... and now it was time to put a stop to Tavish having any more crazy ideas.

‘I think it’s time for some ground rules,’ I said, in my most reasonable voice. ‘I know about the nasty effects of the curse; Finn’s told me—something you should have done ages ago.’ I looked pointedly at Tavish.