Moonshadow (Moonshadow #1)

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about,” she whispered, staring at him.

For a moment when she had first laid eyes on him, she had seen the predatory eyes of a leopard looking back at her. Then the leopard was gone, and in its place stood a tall knight in chain mail, his black cloak falling to the ankles of tall boots.

It was Nikolas, and yet not Nikolas. He had the same terrible, immortal beauty, the same eyes, the same mouth, but his hair wasn’t cut short. It fell to his broad shoulders, and his expression was stamped with clear, implacable determination.

Then that image was gone too, and the real Nikolas stood before her, leaner, harder and darker. He was dressed in the same black pants and shirt he had worn at the pub. The folds of the dark cloth shifted as he moved, catching the strong streak of illumination from the flashlight in the intense shadows and hinting at the powerful body it sheathed.

“No?” In the slanted light that he pointed away from them, his expression was stony, while his dark eyes glittered like onyx. “Then tell me, what did you see that frightened you so?”

“I wasn’t frightened,” she said frankly, knocked out of her outrage at finding him here. She paused, for some reason reluctant to describe the knight that she had seen. “I was startled. I think I saw a flash of a leopard. Are you part Wyr?”

“Yes. And Elven. And Dark Fae.” His voice was icy, bored. “Why, do you find me monstrous now?”

“Of course not!” she snapped. “Why would you say such a thing?”

“Because many do. The enemy we fight wants to exterminate us for our mixed race.”

“Then they’re stupid. I’m not stupid.” She held out her hand for the flashlight. “What did the—what did you call it?—the moonshadow have to do with my seeing that?”

“This land is steeped in so much magic that you don’t understand, history that you don’t know, and dangers you don’t comprehend.”

“Just because I don’t know something doesn’t mean I can’t learn it,” she pointed out acerbically. “Bigotry and racism are flaws. Withholding information because you think you know better is a flaw. Ignorance isn’t a flaw.”

He handed the flashlight to her, and she turned it off, plunging them both into deep darkness. After a moment, he said, “Standing in a shadow cast by the moon reveals a person’s true nature to those with the ability to see it.”

His true nature, leopard, knight, and prince. She was still shaken and awed in spite of herself. Busily she ran around inside her head, stamping out all the sneaky pieces of awe she could find.

“So what exactly does that mean?” she asked. “What do you see when you look at me?”

“Just as you see the Wyr in me, I see the Djinn in you.”

*

Earlier in the pub, Nikolas had been glad when Sophie had walked off in a huff. It meant he could concentrate on eating the rest of his meal in peace and enjoy the rare chance of relaxing with Gawain.

The beef stew was excellent. He finished his meal in a few bites. As he wiped the corners of his mouth, Gawain muttered, “I know we can’t be responsible for everybody we run into, but sometimes that sits ill in my belly. That girl is going to get herself killed.”

“She’s not a girl,” Nikolas said. “As she pointed out earlier, she’s a woman fully capable of making her own decisions, no matter how imbecilic they may be. And let’s be accurate. Robin is the one who will get her killed. He should have stayed with us instead of going with her. If we’re right, and the Queen had been holding him prisoner, she’ll be looking for him. And he will lead her right to Sophie.”

“Agh.” Gawain ran big hands through his hair. “I want to strangle her with my bare hands.”

Nikolas knew Gawain wasn’t referring to Sophie. He finished his Guinness. “As good as it’s been to sit with you for a while, we need to split up.”

“Aye, I know.” Gawain looked down at the back of his hand. He said softly, “It’s a good spell, a good technique.”

“Yes, it is. I’ll give her that.” After a moment’s hesitation, Nikolas told him, “You go on. I’m going to stay.”

A look of relief crossed the other man’s face. “You’ll watch over her?”

“I’m certainly going to watch her, at least for a while.” His tone was dry as he rephrased what Gawain had said in a small but important way. “Maybe I can talk to her again and convince her to send the puck with me. Or maybe I can talk to Robin again and convince him to leave her.”

Gawain blew out a breath. “If you want, I can be the one to stay and watch over them.”

“No.” His response was so swift and decisive the other man paused to stare at him. “I’ll be the one to do it.”

If Gawain stayed to do the job, he would be too nice about it. He might hesitate if he had to make a difficult decision, whereas Nikolas had lost the nice part of himself a long time ago.

Besides, he didn’t want the other man around Sophie, watching her, possibly even spending time with her. That was his to do, no one else’s. He frowned, caught by the unusual thought.

“I don’t know, man. She didn’t react so well to you,” Gawain pointed out. “And to be honest, you didn’t react so well to her either. She responded better to me.”

“We’re worried about her feelings now?” Nikolas narrowed his eyes and gave the other man a hard look. “I don’t think so. I’m the one who needs to stay. She saw a vision with me in it, and there’s something that connected us together strongly enough so that I saw her too. Some other kind of magic. She said her vision was complete now that we’d met, but I don’t know that I believe her. Besides, she might have more skills that would be useful to us.” He paused. “It would also come in handy if she would teach one of us the technique she used to cast the temporary null spell she painted on your hand.”

“I’m not going to argue with that,” Gawain said. He stood, and Nikolas followed suit to haul him into a hard hug. “You want me to update the others?”

“You can if you want. There’s not much to tell them yet.”

Gawain squeezed his arm. “Look after yourself, Nik.”

“You do the same.”

As he watched, Gawain spat on the back of his hand and rubbed it on his napkin. Within seconds, the null spell evaporated. The witch had been true to her word.

Gawain strode out, and Nikolas stayed just long enough to pay the bill, then he too left and studied the outside of the building until he found the window of Sophie’s room. Settling his back against the trunk of a tree, he watched until her light went dark. A few moments later, she left the pub.

Now, facing her in the shadow of the cursed house, he was glad she had turned off the flashlight. His night vision adjusted quickly until he could see almost as well as if it were daylight.