Ilona Andrews - On the Edge

She brushed his arguments aside. He had lied to her. She actually thought there might be something between them. Yes, she knew better, and yes, the whole challenges deal was a huge strike against him, but everything else about him felt so right. She was so mad, she couldn’t even see straight. Mad at him for lying, mad at herself for buying the lie, and mad at the world because once again she was just the means to someone else’s end. The anger sat in her chest and hurt.

“Where did you take Jack this morning?”

“I took him to the Wood.”

“To what purpose? Don’t lie to me, Declan, because I’ll go and get my brother and he will tell me the truth.”

“I instructed him to follow the hounds’ trail.”

“Are you out of your mind? He’s a child!”

Declan’s jaw took on a stubborn set. “He’s also a changeling. He’s smart, cunning, and fast. He was never in any significant danger. I was always within half a mile from him.”

“So because he’s a changeling, that makes him expendable?” she snapped. “Or is it because he’s a mongrel?”

“You’re not listening. Jack was in no danger.”

“I’m sorry. I seem to have been mistaken. The hounds are just some fluffy, harmless bunnies. That’s why an hour ago you bled all over my kitchen.”

“That’s a completely different situation. I was alone in cramped quarters without my ability to flash. Jack was in the tree canopy under strict orders to run to me the moment he sensed the hounds.”

“And much good it would do him. They would be on him in the trees before you could get your sword out.”

Declan growled. “You baby the children, Rose. Especially Jack.”

She glared at him.

“He’s a predator. He’s eight years old, and George is ten. Neither is educated in basic self-defense or blade work. George doesn’t know how to properly hold a knife. Jack told me he has never ridden a horse. How do you expect them to survive? They can’t cling to your skirt forever.”

Her voice caught in her throat, and for a second she couldn’t speak. “You barge into our life, you practically force yourself on me, and now you question how I raise my brothers. Who the hell do you think you are? You try it, Declan. You try raising two boys when you’re goddamn eighteen years old, your mother’s dead, your father has taken off, you’re working a below-minimum-wage job that makes you fall over from exhaustion every night, while half of your town is out hunting you so they can sell you to the highest bidder!”

“I didn’t say you were doing a poor job, but you can’t teach them everything.”

“Before I throw you out, answer one question,” she squeezed out through clenched teeth. “Why us? Why me? Why the whole marrying ruse?”

“The hounds are attracted to magic. I followed their trail to a house,” he said. “And then a beautiful girl came out, leveled a crossbow at me, and declared she wouldn’t sleep with me. I played along.”

“You played along.” Bitterness dripped from her words. “Do you have any idea how scared I was? How much I worried that you might drag me off, leaving the kids behind, or that you might kill them? Do you know how much anxiety your playing along has cost me? Get out.”

He sat on the porch and smiled, showing her his teeth like a flash of a sword blade in the scabbard. “I don’t think so.”

“What?”

“We had an agreement. I haven’t breached it, so the fault lies with you. Therefore, you must issue a refund, and you can’t. You spent the money.”

She opened her mouth and clamped it shut. “You’ll get your money,” she managed finally.

“Until then, I’ll remain here. Like it or not, I’ll protect you, and I’ll use any excuse to do it. More, you’re bound by our oath. We both swore to go through the three challenges, and I expect you to issue a second one.”

“I’m through playing,” she said.

“I’m not. The world doesn’t revolve around your whims.”

“Leave!” she demanded.

“Hell no. I would be a fool to walk away. You’re one of a kind, Rose. I want you, and I’ll fight to have you.”

“Well, I don’t want you.”

“Be that as it may, you have to continue with the challenges. If you don’t, there will be a magic flashback, and neither of us knows what form it will take. You and I could both die, and where would that leave your brothers?”

Once again she was backed into a corner. “I hate you,” she said.

He offered her a pleasant smile. “I’ll take that over indifference. Although I do find you much more attractive when you don’t scream and throw a tantrum like a child.”

“If I don’t scream, I’ll fry you.”

He jumped off the porch and loomed before her. “Do it. You want to take it to the next step, then let’s go. But you won’t like it. I’m not one of your local boys. I know how to defend myself.”

Magic shimmered around her. His power flared around him. She clenched her teeth.

The screen door banged, and Jack’s voice recited, “Grandma said to tell you to please fight quieter. You’ll wake Georgie.”

Rose closed her eyes and forced herself to exhale slowly. She heard Declan releasing his breath and felt the pressure of his magic ease.

“You’ll have your challenge as soon as Georgie wakes up,” she said calmly when she could speak.

“I look forward to it, my Lady Camarine,” he said.

She marched past him into the house and very carefully closed the door.

GEORGIE woke up the next morning around ten. Rose had checked on him three times by then, and when she finally saw his blue eyes looking back at her, her knees went weak and she had to lean against the door frame.

“Well, there you are,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay,” he said.

She came closer, sat on his bed, and touched her lips to his forehead. He felt dry and warm. No trace of a fever. “Declan told me you called him.”

“He was closer,” Georgie murmured. “I couldn’t find you. You were too far.”

Guilt clutched at her. “I’m sorry.”

“What happened?” he asked.

She told him.

“I tried to tell you about the wolf and Casshorn,” he said. “But you had to hurry to work, and then I forgot.”

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “The next time you have something important to tell me, I’ll listen, no matter what. I tell you what—I’ll go and get us some tea and funnel cake, and you can tell me all about it.”

“There is funnel cake?” Georgie’s eyes lit up.

“I made some especially for you. You’re the hero. Heroes always get funnel cake.”

She came back, and he told her the whole story between bites of funnel cake and sips of raspberry tea. The more he talked, the clearer the picture became in her head.

“I see,” she said finally. She saw quite well now. Declan following her into the Broken. His stubborn insistence on staying in her house. She was still angry at him. Very, very angry. But certain aspects of his behavior finally made sense.

She regretted her loss of temper. A lot had happened in the last few days: Declan’s presence, the hounds, losing her job, the attack on Georgie. Any event by itself was enough to upset her, but together they turned her into an emotional pressure cooker. All of it had to come out somehow. She just wished it hadn’t come out quite the way it did, in front of Declan, who no doubt thought she was throwing a tantrum. It’s hard to convince someone to listen to you and leave your house when you’re raving too loud to be taken seriously.

“So what happens now?” Georgie asked.

“Now I need your help for my second challenge to Declan.” She hesitated. “Do you think you’re strong enough to walk?”