Wickedly Dangerous (Baba Yaga, #1)(103)
He couldn’t do it for her then. He didn’t know how to do it for her now.
A hard, stony burn of anguish began to bubble up into his throat, and it erupted as a single, pleading word. “Barbara?” he whispered.
This time she did hug him; a quick peck on the cheek accompanying the unexpected gesture. She gave him one of her most wicked smiles and a wink, and said, “I’ve got this, Liam.” Then took a step forward to bow low to the throne.
“Your Majesties,” she said loudly, to be heard over the desolate keening, “I have had an idea.”
The queen raised an eyebrow. “If it will bring peace to my throne room, I will consider almost anything. Come, tell Us.”
Baba walked up the stairs and spoke in quiet tones to the queen and her consort, whose shrewd face first showed surprise, then a kind of sharp-edged glee as he sat stroking his dark beard. The queen’s stern visage was harder to read, but she glanced from Melissa to Maya to the little girl and back to Melissa again, nodding her head sagely.
“I like it,” the queen said finally, gesturing at the guards to bring Maya closer to the throne. “It is fitting.”
Baba fetched the child, quieting Liam’s involuntary protest with a quick headshake and a mouthed trust me. A devious grin peeked out at him from a sideways glance, then disappeared beneath a more serious facade.
“If you will assist me?” the queen requested her consort, and the two of them descended gracefully to where Maya and the girl waited, exchanging silent expressions of mutual dislike. The queen and king each put a hand out to touch the chest of one that stood in front of them, and when they clasped their own hands together, a sparkling curtain of mist enveloped them all in a translucent rainbow of magic. When the energy cleared, two little dark-haired children stood where there had previously only been one. Of the Rusalka there was no sign, just a wet spot on the floor and a fierce scowl on the face of the second Hannah.
“Aw, shit,” the pseudochild said. “You have got to be kidding me.”
The queen’s steely glance silenced any further complaints. “Considering that the penalty for your actions is normally either death or banishment,” she pointed out, “you should consider yourself lucky that you are only being required to serve out a sentence so benign. If you are kind to this poor Human and behave yourself, perhaps in a few hundred years when the mortal is gone, I will consider returning you to your original form. Perhaps. And rest assured; I will be watching you.”
Sullenly, the former Rusalka marched across the swirling inlaid tiles to stand next to Melissa. Immediately, the woman’s face brightened and she stopped crying, ignoring Liam and everyone else to put her arms around the girl she believed was hers. In her radiant smile, he could almost catch a glimpse of the old Melissa, before life and her own fragile spirit had so cruelly betrayed her.
“Fear not,” the queen reassured Liam. “We shall take most good care of your former lady, and make sure she has all that she requires.” She raised a questioning brow. “Unless you would prefer to take her back to your world, of course. Although, if so, the ‘child’ could not go with her.”
Liam couldn’t think of anything more hurtful than to deprive Melissa of her daughter one more time. And experience had proven that mortal medicine was unable to help her fight her demons. Perhaps the magic of this world could do better, now that she was no longer under the Rusalka’s control. He merely shook his head. “Thank you, no, Your Majesty. I am content to leave her in your tender care.”
Baba stepped forward once more, causing the queen to let slip the tiniest breath of a sigh. “Was there something else, Baba Yaga?” she asked. “I tire of this, and wish to move on to lighter, more amusing pursuits.”
Liam couldn’t blame her. He was ready to be done with this whole thing himself. Of course, being done here still meant facing the music back at home. He bit back his own sigh, suddenly feeling as tired as if they truly had been lost in the Otherworld for half a lifetime. Only the discipline of years on the force kept his shoulders straight and his back firm.
“There is one more small boon I would ask of you, Majesty, but not for myself.” Baba gestured from Melissa to Liam. “When the Rusalka forced Melissa to return to the mundane world and accuse Liam of the crimes Maya herself had committed, she did great damage to his reputation. This was the intent, of course, but now, the damage is done.”
The king leaned forward, obviously intrigued. “As a keeper of the law, that is most undesirable. And all men value their reputations. But the woman is clearly too damaged to trust with the task of undoing her ill words. What is the boon you seek?”
Liam’s whole body tensed, not knowing what Baba could possibly have up her sleeve this time, barely daring to hope.
Baba waved a languid hand around the circle of courtiers that surrounded them. “Any of these, your faithful subjects, could easily don a glamour that would make them look and sound like Melissa. If you could send someone back with us to recant her earlier accusations, that would be most helpful, and both Liam and I would consider your debt to us in this matter repaid completely.”
“Ah,” the queen said, bestowing a wintery smile on them both. “Easily done, and most clever.” A satisfied look revealed that she felt she’d gotten the better of the deal. Baba had told him that those of the Otherworld hated being in debt to anyone, the queen most of all. Liam suspected Baba could have asked for a great deal more, but he was too relieved to protest. While the fake Melissa was in town, he could also have her sign the divorce papers he’d had sitting in his desk for the last two years. It would finally be over.