[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

that you could huddle around in the dark.
Jeremy turned in his seat, as far as the seat belt would allow, wrinkling his
suit, which meant what he had to say was serious. "Why did you ward my back,
Merry?"
"What?" Uther said.
Jeremy waved the question away. "I had an old sidhe injury on my back. Merry
put a ward on it. I want to know why."
"You are persistent," I said.
"Tell me."
I sighed, cuddling Uther's arms around me like a blanket. "It's possible that
the sidhe that injured you
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
could call the dragon out of your back or force you to shapeshift into one."
Jeremy's eyes widened. "You can do that?"
"I can't, but I'm not a full-blooded sidhe. I've seen similar things done."
"Will the warding hold?"
I'd have liked to have simply said yes, but it was too close to a lie. "It
will hold for a while, but if the sidhe that did the spell is here, he may be
powerful enough to breech my magic, or he could simply keep hitting the ward
with his own power until he wears the magic away. The chances of the same
sidhe being on this hunt are very slim, Jeremy, but I couldn't let you help
me, and not ward it."
"Just in case," he said.
I nodded. "Just in case."
"I was very young when this was done, Merry. I can protect myself now."
"You're a powerful magician, but you're not sidhe."
"It makes that big a difference? "he asked.
"It can."
Jeremy fell silent and turned in his seat to help Ringo find the quickest way
to the airport.
Uther said, "You are tense."
I smiled up at him. "And you're surprised?"
He smiled, that very human mouth under the curved bone of the tusks, the
Page 60
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
piggish snout. It was like part of his face was a mask, and underneath was
just a man, a big one, but just a man.
He ran thick fingers through my still-wet hair. "I take it Branwyn's Tears
were still active when Jeremy went up?"
I'd have never taken time for a shower otherwise, and Uther knew that. "So
Jeremy told me." I sat up so that I wasn't soaking his shirt with my hair.
"Didn't mean to get you wet. Just forgot. Sorry."
He pressed my head, gently, back to his chest with a hand as big as my head.
"I was not complaining, just remarking."
I settled back against him, my cheek resting on his upper arm.
"Roane left just after we arrived. Did he go for help?"
I explained about Roane and his newfound skin.
"You didn't know you could heal him?" Uther asked.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
"No."
"Interesting," he said. "Very interesting."
I looked up at him. "Do you know something I don't about what happened?"
He gazed down at me, small eyes almost lost in his face. "I know that Roane is
a fool."
That made me stare at him, searching his face, trying to read what lay behind
those eyes. "He's a roane, and I've given him back the ocean. It's his
calling, his heart of hearts."
"You're not angry with him?"
I frowned, shrugging awkwardly in his arms. "Roane is what he is. I can't
blame him for that. It would be like yelling at the rain for being wet. It
just is."
"So it does not bother you, at all?"
I shrugged again, and his arms settled around me, cradling me almost like a
baby, so I could gaze up at him more comfortably. "I'll admit to being
disappointed, but not surprised."
"Very understanding."
"I might as well be understanding, Uther-I can't change things." I rubbed my
cheek against the warmth of his arm and realized what part of Uther's charm
was. He was so large and I was so small, it was like being a child again. That
feeling that if someone could hold you in their arms completely, nothing could
hurt you. It hadn't been true when I believed it as a very little girl, and it
certainly wasn't true now, but it was still nice. Sometimes false comfort is
better than no comfort at all.
"Damn," Jeremy said, raising his voice for our benefit. "There's a wreck up
ahead-looks like Sepulveda is completely blocked off. We'll try to take side
streets around it."
I rolled my head back against Uther's arm to see Jeremy. "Let me guess,
everyone else is trying to exit here, too."
"Of course," he said. "Settle in. It's going to take a while."
I moved my head so I was looking up at Uther again. "Heard any good jokes
lately?"
He gave a small smile. "No, but my legs are going to fall asleep if I must
keep them tucked under like this for long."
"Sorry." I started to move away so he could adjust.
"No need to move." He put one arm under my thighs, kept the other arm behind
my back, and picked me up. He held me like a baby, effortlessly, while he
straightened his legs out in front of him. He settled me onto his lap, one arm
behind my back, the other lying loosely across my legs and his.
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
I laughed. "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be... big."
"And I wonder what it would be like to be small."
Page 61
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
"But you were a child once. You remember what that was like."
He gazed into the distance. "Childhood was a very long time ago for me, but
yes, I do remember. But that is not the kind of small that I mean." He looked
down at me, and there was something in his eyes, something lonely, needy.
Something that pierced that calmness in him that I valued so much.
"What's wrong, Uther?" My voice was soft. There was something very private
about us being back there alone with no one in the middle seats.
His hand rested lightly on my thigh, and I was finally able to read the look
in his eyes. It wasn't a look I'd ever seen in Uther's face. I remembered his
comment when I was getting fitted for the wire, how he'd wait in the other
room because it had been so long since he'd seen a naked woman.
The surprise must have shone on my face, because he turned his face away from
me. "I'm sorry, Merry.
If this is completely unwelcome, tell me so, and I will never mention it
again."
I didn't know what to say, but I tried. "It's not that, Uther. I'm about to
get on a plane and go Goddess knows where. We may never see each other again."
Which was partially true. I mean, I was leaving town. I couldn't think of any
way to finish this in this short drive without hurting his feelings or lying
to him.
I wanted to avoid both.
He spoke without looking at me. "I thought you were human with some fey blood
in you. I would never have suggested this to someone who was raised human. But
your reaction to Roane's desertion is proof that you don't think like a
human." He turned almost shyly back to me. The look in his eyes was so open,
so trusting. It wasn't that he thought I'd say yes. He didn't know, but he was
trusting me not to react badly.
It had just been yesterday that I'd first thought of how very alone Uther must
be out here on the coast.
How many times had I cuddled against him like this, thinking of him as some
kind of big brother, a father substitute? Too many. It had been unfair, and
he'd always been the perfect gentleman because he thought
I was human. Now he knew the truth, and it had changed things. Even if I said
no, and he took it well, I'd never be able to treat him this casually again.
I'd never be able to cuddle in his big arms in innocence.
That was gone. I mourned that, but there was no recovering it. All I could do
now was try and keep
Uther from getting hurt. The trouble was I didn't know how to do that because
I didn't have a clue what to say.
My thinking had taken too long. He closed his eyes and moved his hand off my
thigh. "I'm sorry, Merry."
I reached up and touched his chin. "No, Uther, I'm flattered."
He opened his eyes, looked at me, but the hurt was there, plain to see. He'd
put his heart on his sleeve, and I'd put a knife through it. Dammit, I was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]