Moonshadow (Moonshadow #1)(25)

Nikolas glanced at Gawain, who said, “A half hour is almost up. Either we need to split up, or we can see what this young lady might be able to do for us.” Gawain turned to Sophie. “I don’t want to be forced to leave before we’ve finished this conversation. I’ll volunteer for your spell if you would be so kind to cast it.”

Every muscle in Nikolas’s body tensed. It went against all his instincts to trust a stranger to put a spell on one of them, especially when he had clashed with her before, and even now, she held a creature he had never entirely trusted on her lap as they talked.

Then he looked at Robin again, at the protruding bones underneath the thin skin, and the filmy look in eyes had that once snapped with dark sparks of intelligence and mischief. The puck looked ruined, and Nikolas did not think Robin would sit so trustingly on the lap of someone who had been involved in what had happened to him.

He also noticed the gentle protectiveness in the way Sophie curled her hand around the dog’s shoulder, and he remembered how she had stood up to both him and Gawain in defense of what she had thought was an abused pet.

That took courage and decency.

Sophie had noticed his tension and hesitation. “While I appreciate that I frighten you deeply, you can relax,” she said in a sour aside to him. “It’s just a spell drawn with magic-sensitive colloidal silver. It’ll rinse off with water, or you can spit on it and rub it off on your jeans in a pinch. You don’t have to carry an amulet, and there’s no damage done. And it will last for hours, if you want it to, as long as you don’t work up a sweat.”

At her sarcasm, antagonism flared, hot and bright, but he held himself in a clench because Gawain had been right. They had been too long at war, and all his responses to conflict were violent and deadly.

She must have seen it in his eyes, along the dangerous way his body was coiled as if to strike, because her expression flickered and she edged away from him. She hadn’t blinked or flinched before that moment.

Nikolas dismissed her before he did something he couldn’t take back and turned his attention to Arran, who was still waiting. He told the pub keeper, “Bring us Guinness and supper. Whatever your special is for the evening will do.”

“Very good, my lord.” The pub keeper slipped away.

“I don’t know if I like Guinness,” Sophie said. “I’ve never had it before. And I’m not sure I want to sit here and try to choke down food with you two watching me. Thanks for asking, asshole.”

“For the love of all the gods, you stupid woman,” Nikolas said between his teeth. “Is that petty point really what you want to focus on right now?”

He didn’t realize he had spoken in the old tongue until he saw the incomprehension in her face. Gawain coughed quietly into one hand and nudged him under the table with one foot.

Sophie lifted one shoulder. “I’m not sure what you said there, but I have a feeling it was not complimentary. Let’s clear up a few things for you old-timey folks—not that this is likely to come up again anytime soon. Don’t touch me without my permission. Don’t order anything for me again. Don’t speak for me when I can speak for myself. Don’t open doors for me, and don’t take that patronizing, lord-of-all-you-survey tone with me. Not if you want me to do a goddamn thing for you. You still owe me for the attack from two weeks ago—and for this.” She indicated the bruises appearing on her wrist. “Understood?”

Nikolas curled a nostril and didn’t deign to reply. Gawain coughed again. “I, for one, understood that perfectly.”

She gave Gawain a tight smile. “I’ll go get my vial. Be right back.”

Gawain nodded. “Thank you.”

As she stood, she tried to put Robin down in her seat, but the dog let out a sudden ki-yi that was so loud all conversation paused as everybody looked at them.

“Oh fine,” she snapped. She tucked him under her arm, and together they left.

When they were alone again, Nikolas and Gawain looked at each other. Gawain said, “What is the matter with you? You grabbed her and shoved her into the wall, and all because she stopped to help an injured creature?”

The edged note in the other man’s quiet voice rankled. Nikolas snapped, “There’s more going on than that.”

“Well, I’ve never seen you act this way.” The other man studied him keenly. “What did she mean when she said you attacked her?”

“You remember when I killed four Hounds a fortnight ago, just before the summer solstice gathering?”

Gawain frowned. “Yes.”

“The fog rolled over the park within seconds, and the Hounds attacked. Just as I killed the last one, I felt a presence. When I turned around, she was there. Not physically. It was more like a vision. I thought she was part of the ambush, possibly responsible for the fog, and I threw a morningstar at her.” Nikolas set his teeth. “And we still don’t know if she was involved or not. All we really know is that Robin seems attached to her, so it’s unlikely she was involved in torturing him.”

Gawain’s frown deepened as he considered that. “The pub keeper said she just arrived in England.”

“He said she just arrived in England today.” Nikolas stressed the last word. “That has nothing to do with where she was two weeks ago. She could have been here, left, and come back again. Or she could have been involved while in a different location. We never connected physically. It was all psychic, all magical.”