She placed a finger over his mouth, stalling his words. “That was an I’m sorry. What happened then?”
It took him a moment to gather his thoughts. “Then…then I was tossed in prison. In a dungeon. I think he meant to torture me. I can’t be sure. But my brother didn’t know everything about me. For a week I was left alone, with only an occasional visit from him. Once to tell me to speak to no one about what he could and the other time, he merely looked at me. As though not sure what to do with me. The rest of the time I shut up in darkness, given just enough food to sustain me, but I grew weak and I knew that if I didn’t do something to leave there right away, I would never get out again. And that is how my silence saved me. Because my family did not know me. They did not know how I would sometimes travel the tunnels beneath the castle. How I knew hidden ways in and out of that dungeon. So while I still had a bit of strength left to me, I made my escape. And that was when I saw John, not much older than me. A big, brawny man even then, so I made a deal with him. His freedom for his eternal loyalty.”
“And of course he said yes.” She smiled.
A sound between a sigh and a shudder rolled out of his body as he cupped her warm cheek. “Would that I could keep you forever too.”
The words hung between them, sharp and full of truth. He felt his eyes flash, but not just with desire this time.
Nixie didn’t push him away; instead she clung to his hand that still cupped her. “One more wish, Robin, and then I’m gone, never to return again.”
Those words were a blow to his gut. “How can this be so real between us, and we that have only just met? I feel as though I can tell you anything. How have you done this to me, woman?”
A rich, lilting sound of her laughter swaddled them. But there was a freneticism to it too. “I’ll be found by another and another and another and I’ll…” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’ll never forget you, Robin. Please know that.”
They both knew that tonight he’d make his final wish. As soon as his men arrived. John was due here any moment.
“What did you do at the party?” she asked.
His genie was no fool. She’d never questioned that it was he who’d somehow caused the disturbance. They both knew he had.
“The pages rolling out the carpet, those were my men. Hidden, even from your eyes. When Crispin stepped away from the stage, calling the women to him, the scream was his. Most of my men had been planted in there as not only knights, but even a few women. The chances that we ran into one or three of them on our way out was fairly good.”
“I had no idea. Wow. No wonder you didn’t let me look at them when I changed them.”
It was important she know something. “If…if by some chance the lamp had been stolen, taken from me, I did not want to run the risk that if you’d been captured you would know anything that could place you in harm’s way.”
Her gaze was searching, as if trying to divine the truth in his words.
“I would not lie to you, my pet. Not for all the treasures in all the world.”
“I did not think you would.” She reached out a hand, her fingers extended as if she meant to touch him.
He leaned forward an infinitesimal inch, just as desperate for her touch. His skin felt raw, electric, his body nothing but one giant, screaming, exposed nerve.
“So you’ve taken Crispin, now what? You’ve not the power to change yourself as he has. Is that your wish? To take his place? Because otherwise you’ll be caught. You’ll be hanged for this, regardless that he’s a monster, they, none of them know it.”
“My wish is not to alter my appearance. Crispin’s power is compellment. To make you believe the words that come out of his mouth. But he’s not got the power to make you see him as anything other than what he truly is.”
She frowned. “I don’t—”
“I learned his secret long ago.” He held up his hand, the one with the ring on it.
Nixie shook her head. Tracing the ruby eyes of the horse. “This ring is magic?”
“No.” He frowned. “Not this one in particular. This is replica of his. His ring causes you to see any illusion he wishes. The ring he wears was my father’s. It was only after many years that I made the connection.”
She gripped his hand tightly. “What is your plan, Robin? Please, because none of this makes sense to me. I need to know that whatever it is, even after I’m gone, you’ll be safe and not hunted like a dog.”
And there it was.
Something he hardly dared believe, and yet, his gifts proved her right. She cared for him. Completely. As he did for her. And though the enormous feelings that raged between them should terrify him, it didn’t. Because this almost felt like they’d known this level of commitment between them before.