Heart of Thorns: a Between the Worlds novel Read online

  “Right, ah…let’s go look at this car shall we?” she hedged, trying to distract him from Jason’s comment.

  She had expected him to be annoyed by this blatant avoidance, but instead he laughed lightly as he waved at his friend. “If this involved your sculptor friend then I dearly hope it also involved nudity, and that the resulting artwork will be for sale eventually.”

  She snorted, unable to resist his cheerful attitude, “Keep hoping. But I’m glad your time with Jess put you in such a good mood.”

  They stepped down from the porch and started across the yard, Allie still tucked under his arm. Bleidd couldn’t resist one more joke before they got down to the business of the car, “I told you before that he can be quite pleasant when he isn’t talking.”

  “Right,” she rolled her eyes. “And before I forget let me say thanks for the enormous distraction you two caused me while you weren’t talking and I was trying to ignore you and pose for a sculpture.”

  He was still laughing when they reached the curb where two men were waiting next to the cars. One looked to be in his forties with slightly graying brown hair, a round face, and a cheerful demeanor. Despite his friendly air Allie instantly disliked him, although she couldn’t quite put her finger on why. She guessed the other man was probably his son; he was in his late teens or early twenties, taller than his father but slouching down so that he appeared shorter, with the same brown hair, minus the gray, and same rounded face, which he kept aimed at the ground. Unlike his father the younger man didn’t exude cheer but rather a vaguely put out feeling and Allie found that she liked him much better; there was something more genuine about the youth that appealed to her.

  “Hey Bleidd,” the older man said, his eyes moving over Allie in a way that made her distinctly uncomfortably. Bleidd’s hand tightened on her shoulder slightly, either trying to re-assure or to keep her from stepping away, she wasn’t sure.

  “Hello Daniel,” Bleidd said smoothly. “This must be DJ.”

  “Yeah,” Daniel said, shrugging as if it was insignificant to introduce his son. “figured he might as well be useful for something. For once.”

  The young man shifted uncomfortably but kept his head down. Allie’s dislike for the older one grew, but she managed to keep her voice fairly pleasant when she spoke, “Hello Daniel, DJ, I’m Allie, thanks for coming out today with the car.”

  DJ did glance up then, obviously surprised that she’d bothered to include him. He gave her the same once over his father had before looking back down but from him she found it more flattering than creepy.

  “Not a problem, not a problem at all beautiful. When Bleidd said the car was for his girlfriend I knew just which one would be perfect,” Daniel said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

  “And which one would that be?” Bleidd said drily, not loosening his hold on Allie. Which was fine with her, since the longer she was around Daniel the more she had the urge to find some pepper spray.

  “Right over here,” Daniel said, gesturing magnanimously at the light green car. Allie couldn’t deny she liked the look of it, but it couldn’t possibly be anywhere near her budget and while she didn’t mind Bleidd, or Jess, helping her out with the car she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of either one of them or both of them spending into five digits to do it. She tensed, already anticipating the fight and how she’d manage to convince them to look for something more reasonable.

  Bleidd finally, reluctantly, stepped away from her and went over to the car, walking around it with Daniel as the other man rattled off a basic history of the vehicle. Allie and DJ were left standing awkwardly on the curb. She suspected she should probably walk around the car too, but she knew so little about cars that it seemed pointless and she’d rather keep her distance from Daniel anyway.

  Allie listened in growing dismay to him describing a car which was only three years old – newer than any vehicle she’d ever owned – and which, according to him anyway, had low mileage and minimal use. With each sentence her estimate of the cost climbed and her heart sank even further.

  After several minutes of this Daniel popped the hood and the two spent more time looking in at the engine. She couldn’t actually see what they were doing, and their voices were muffled, but it didn’t seem to matter much since she knew even less about what was under the hood than she did about the rest of the car. Allie fought the urge to fidget, wishing she could find a diplomatic way to say no. She started going over possible scenarios in her mind, trying to find the most polite way to refuse the vehicle without sounding impossibly rude. Finally they closed the hood, but before she could say anything Bleidd was pulling her over to the car. “Ummm, Bleidd…”

  “Time to see how you like driving it,” he said, ignoring her obvious reluctance. He pressed a set of keys into her hands and opened the passenger side door without waiting for her reply, leaving her little choice but to move around to the driver’s side and get in too. Daniel had already walked over to where DJ was standing, giving Allie another long look as he moved past her that made getting in the car a more appealing option than staying on the curb near him. She jogged quickly around to the driver’s side, keeping her head down and trying to ignore the emotions from Daniel that left her little doubt that he was leering at her the entire way.

  “It’s a nice car,” she said, taking in the spotless tan interior, her hand sliding across the leather bench seat before she could stop herself. “But, I mean it’s probably a little too nice.”

  He reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing it slightly. “Allie, when it comes to cars there is no such thing as too nice. Come on, try it out. See how it handles on the road.”

  “Well, I meant, you know too nice for me,” she said, and then flustered that she’d said anything that self-depreciating out loud she started the car and put it into drive.

  “Allie,” he started, and then sighed. They drove down the street in silence for a minute and then he continued. “You’ve always been a humble person, and I can admire that, in a way. But recently…I do not understand this. I had thought that you didn’t like accepting my help…our help…because you wanted to show everyone that you could handle everything yourself. I wonder now though if that is the truth.”

  She was silent as she drove, admiring the smooth acceleration and braking as she turned. Finally, quietly, she said, “Is there a question in there or is it all commentary?”

  She felt his anger and winced, wondering again why she had to keep picking fights. It was only a moment though and then his feelings were overtaken by melancholy. “A question then. Why do you really not want me to get you this car?”

  She pulled over to the side of the road, a deserted stretch of one of the many backroads around their neighborhood where houses had once stood before the Sundering had fused the worlds. The car rolled gently to a stop and she put it into park, setting the brake to be sure. Then she turned in her seat as far as the seatbelt would allow, so that she was facing him. “What exactly have I done to deserve this?”

  “I don’t understand,” he said frowning.

  “What have I done to deserve this?” she said again. “Is it because we’re sleeping together?”

  “No,” he snapped, then in an obvious effort at a lighter tone, “I’ve certainly never bought a car for any of my other lovers before.”

  “Is it because I saved your life?” she asked softly, seeing the dead birds all over again, and the terrible gaping wound in his chest. Gods, she thought resisting the urge to cover her face with her hands will I ever stop seeing that when I close my eyes?

  “No, Allie,” he leaned forward taking her hands in his, his own voice soft now. “Why can’t it just be a courting gift? A gesture based in love? Why do you feel like you only deserve it if you earned it somehow?”

  “I don’t know,” she answered after a moment. “I don’t know. My whole life I don’t think I’ve ever just been given anything without feeling like I earned it first. I don’t feel like I deserv
e this.”

  “I wish I could make you see that you do,” he said softly, his feelings sad.

  “But why do I?” she asked, her voice barely a whisper. He opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again, unsure what to say to her.

  They sat like that for several minutes, and finally she pulled away and started the car again. They drove back to the house in silence, his bafflement wrapping around her like a cloak. She pulled up and parked in front of the house, getting out and looking around for Daniel, DJ, and the blue car but they’d disappeared. She was standing on the curb wondering where they’d gone when Bleidd walked up to stand next to her, his emotions uneasy enough to make her uncomfortable. She looked at him, her eyes questioning.

  “I already bought the car,” he said simply, obviously braced for a bad reaction. She looked down for a moment, unexpectedly ashamed that he automatically assumed she’d be upset, and that he was right to assume it.

  She crossed the space between them and threw her arms around him, “I don’t deserve you.”

  He laughed, a deep, full laugh that she could feel as much as hear, his arms wrapping around her and holding her close. “Oh Allie, I might agree with you but I think I would mean it entirely differently than you do. Rest assured, you do deserve this and I am glad to give it to you.”

  She smiled into his t-shirt, not wanting to let him go. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

  He laughed again, and she drank in his delight, “As Jess recently said to me, I can think of a few ways for you to thank me.”

  She giggled, then they both turned as a strange car came around the turn. “I think that’s Hannah, I told her I’d show her around the house.”

  Bleidd stepped back as Hannah parked her little SUV at the end of the line of cars. “I will leave you to it then. We will have to take the car to the DMV in Norton to get the paperwork finished, but obviously not today.”

  “Not tomorrow either, Jason’s friend is coming to fix the door at the store and I can’t risk not getting that done and ending up with another fine. But Tuesday, I’ll go and then I can enjoy my new ride.”

  “Well, show your nurse around quickly and then you can get to the business of thanking me properly,” he said.

  She punched him lightly in the shoulder, trying not to laugh and he gave her a possessive smile in return.

  He walked back towards the house and Allie shoved the car keys into her pocket before turning back to Hannah who was only just getting out of her car. She felt her spirits lifting as the clinic nurse emerged, smiling and waving.

  Well the new car is a done deal, no reason not to accept it now Allie thought smiling and waving back. Let’s see if we can follow up with a new roommate and really make it feel like my luck is turning around…

  ***************************

  The sun was just setting as Allie walked across the backyard towards the stone wall that bordered it. Her ankle was aching less than usual today, and she suspected it was because of the amount of energy she’d been taking in. I guess there’s no way to avoid accepting that I really can heal myself to some degree now she thought sighing inwardly And all I need to do is draw lusty emotional energy from one of my bond-mates. I think this has hit the point where I need to talk to Miss Amelia about it and see what she can tell me. The old mage wasn’t always forthcoming with information but she’d had an elven lover when she was younger who was the same kind of deviant empathic Fey, a Bahvanshee, that Allie was. She had been very helpful, when she chose to, in teaching Allie how to function and handle her abilities, although Allie still had a long way to go.

  As she reached the stonewall a dark shadow separated from the trees and a black horse loped forward. The Kelpie was one of Allie’s oldest friends, and they had worked out an agreement a few months ago which allowed the normally dangerous lesser Fey to visit past the wards, because Allie’s bad ankle made it difficult for her to visit the pond he lived in. Although his true form was that of a horse, he could take several different shapes, including that of a large dog and it was the canine form she’d been expecting; normally he only appeared as a horse if he was hunting or otherwise ready to fight. Allie smiled, feeling something deep inside herself relax at the sight of him, despite the unexpected shape. “Hey Ciaran.”

  The horse shifted, its shape twisting and turning into the form of a pale, dark haired man. He sat down on the stonewall next to where Allie was standing, “Good evening Allie. I hope you are well.”

  “Well enough, I think,” she said, sitting down next to him. “And yourself?”

  He hesitated for a moment, his nostrils flaring, and he tilted his head giving her an odd, obscure look before answering. “I am as well as always.”

  “Good,” she said smiling at her friend. “I will try to bring you out some new books soon if you’d like, or if you want the next time you visit the house feel free to pick out a half dozen or so.”

  “That is very generous of you,” Ciaran said, inclining his head slightly to show his thanks. “I would be glad to be your guest again soon.”

  “I think you enjoy Jason’s cooking more than my company,” she teased.

  He smirked, “I enjoy your company a great deal, but I will not deny that I have also come to like Jason very much as well. For a human he is quite kind and humorous.”

  Allie kept her face still at that; although everyone believed Jason was human she knew that he was half-Fey. He hid it exceptionally well, well enough to fool even the amazingly perceptive Kelpie, obviously, but then he had little choice. Jason’s mother had falsified his paperwork when he was a child to get him into the country and if the subterfuge was discovered at best he would be deported back to Japan. She tried not to dwell on the potential worst case scenarios. Instead she focused on the part of that comment that she could safely respond to. “I am very happy that you like Jason. He is one of my best friends and is very dear to me. Speaking of visiting the house though – I wanted to let you know that we are getting a new roommate.”

  “Indeed?”

  “Yes, a young woman, a nurse at the clinic. She is very nice and she came out today and looked at the house. She liked it enough that she’s decided to move in next week. I wanted to be sure you knew before she arrived.” Allie said, trying to judge Ciaran’s reaction.

  He looked up at the sky, dark now and starting to fill with stars. The silence stretched, but Allie knew that he would speak when he felt like it. “I appreciate the consideration.”

  Another comfortable silence, as they both watched the stars. Then he said, “Allie may I speak plainly to you?”

  “Of course Ciar,” she said, surprised that he had even asked.

  “I…am concerned for you,” he said surprising her even more. “There is strange magic in the air, something that I cannot quite place. It is like a scent on the wind that shifts away as soon as I become aware of it.”

  “What kind of magic?” she asked, feeling a chill go through her.

  “I cannot entirely say. Dangerous for certain. Unsettling.” He frowned slightly. “I was worried for you before but though I may dislike Bleidd and your Elven Guard it seemed something that could be handled.”

  “What’s changed?” she asked.

  The silence drew out until she was sure he wasn’t going to answer. “There are times I might wish that things did not change. There is a comfort in sameness, is there not? And yet change is as inevitable as the seasons.”

  Allie thought of everything that had changed in the last six months. Her best friend and roommate Syndra had been murdered and Shawn had moved in. She’d started seeing Jessilaen and then psychically bonded to him, unintentionally, to save herself after being kidnapped. She’d helped the police and Elven Guard investigate a series of ritual murders, had even been tricked – by Jess no less – into joining the Guard in an adjunct capacity. She’d been stalked and harassed, shot, and finally poisoned by the group behind the murders, not to mention pursued by elven agents of the Dark Court, who had
tortured her after she’d been kidnapped. She’d bonded Bleidd to herself and Jess when Bleidd had tried to help Jess save her life after she was poisoned. She’d found out Jason’s secret, as well as the truth about her own nature. Her cousin, who had been like a sister to her, had been killed, leaving Allie the house they’d grown up in.

  In short her life was almost unrecognizable from what it had been 6 months ago.

  “Yeah,” Allie agreed. “I think I’ve had my fill of change lately, to be honest with you.”

  Ciaran gave her a long look at that, and she shifted uneasily under the scrutiny. “What? What is it?”

  He hesitated, then shook himself slightly. “Not all change is bad Allie.”

  “That’s true,” she said relaxing slightly. “There have been a lot of positive changes lately too. I guess my head’s just in a really cynical place right now.”

  “Don’t lose sight of the good even in the bad times,” Ciaran said. “But that aside, I think we must all be on our guard until this strange magic is sorted out.”

  “Okay,” Allie said slowly. “I’ll pass that on to Bleidd and Jessilaen as well.”

  “That would be wise.” He agreed, then he stood and moved back towards the woods, without another word.

  She watched him go, wondering what was really going on, and how exactly they could get to the bottom of it if even Ciaran didn’t know what it might be.

  Chapter 5 - Monday

  Allie opened up the store Monday morning feeling more cheerful than she had in the last week. Jess was home and his cheer seemed to be contagious; even when the house’s water heater had suddenly and unceremoniously died that morning it had seemed more funny than tragic. And since Jess had nothing else to do today while everyone else was at work he was handling having it replaced, and treating the entire thing like some grand adventure in human cultural interaction. He had dropped her off at the store and then headed back to the house to be there for the repair, and would be picking her up after work. He had given her a hard time about not eating breakfast because her stomach was still bothering but she had reassured him that the dizziness had improved at least. All in all despite the craziness she felt like the world was making sense again.