Blackbird Crowned (The Witch King's Crown #3) - Keri Arthur Page 0,39

of way that Elysian did.

Did that mean the shield really was another of Mryddin’s subterfuges? If so, why? I guess there was only one way to answer either of those questions, given it was currently impossible to ask the man himself, and that was to find whatever had briefly responded to the shield’s pulses.

Luc picked up Mo’s sweater on the way over the bridge, then headed up the path to the parking area. Jess appeared out of the trees as we neared the SUV, the rifle case slung over her shoulder and a large grin on her face.

“Now that is my definition of a damn fine night.”

“Anytime there’re no major casualties on our side is a damn fine night,” Luc said, voice dry.

“It is indeed always a bonus,” she agreed. “You able to give me a ride back into town?”

“Sure.” I glanced up at Luc. “You’d better drive though, I think.”

“There’s no ‘think’ about it—I want to get back to my motorbike in one piece, thanks.”

“How did you get here if not on the motorbike?”

“Cab earlier this afternoon. They’re too aware of the motorbike now, so she’s parked in a secure lot, out of the way.”

He placed me down next to the passenger door, then took the keys from my hand and opened the SUV up. As Jess climbed into the rear, he placed me into the passenger seat, dug a first aid kit out of the small backpack he was carrying, and quickly but efficiently tended to my gunshot wound. Then he ran around to the driver’s side and started up the vehicle.

We wound our way out of the peninsula park then headed onto the main highway that ran around Ainslyn’s more modern city center and on to the old walled town. By the time we neared the Petergate Gatehouse, my left arm was aching and I was barely keeping my eyes open.

“You can drop me off here somewhere,” Jess said. “I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

Luc immediately pulled over. Jess jumped out, then leaned back in and added, “Tell Mo to give me a call if she needs any more of them red bastards shot. Hell, more than happy to shoot any of the other kind, too.”

“I will,” I said, amused.

“Catch you later then.” She slammed the door shut and disappeared into the shadows of a covered laneway between two old houses.

Luc drove off. “Where on earth does Mo find these characters?”

“She likes oddbods. Always has.”

His smile reached his eyes, crinkling the corners. “Another thing that runs in the family.”

“I’m definitely her child more than I ever was Mom’s.” A statement that provided an ideal lead-in to the whole mage thing, but reluctance remained stronger than the need for honesty. He’d have to know, and sooner rather than later, but I really wanted to give him the time and space to accept me being the heir to the Witch King’s crown before I hit him with another monumental piece of information that would affect our life together. Mages had very, very long lifespans. Humans had a relatively set time span. If we did ever marry, we’d both have to accept the fact that I would watch him grow old and die.

Not something I was ready to even think about right now. Especially when we hadn’t even gotten around to doing anything serious.

I glanced out the window and watched the world go by as we wound our way through old Ainslyn and then across the river to The Red Lion. It was an L-shaped old coaching inn that had been considerably altered over the years. What had once been a large manure heap now contained a lovely beer garden that ran down to the riverbank, and the old stables had been converted into rather quaint en-suite accommodation. Ginny’s sixteenth birthday party—a bigger milestone in her family than the eighteenth—had been held in the beautiful medieval dining hall upstairs, rather than her family’s large home, simply because between the inn and the nearby hotels, there’d been enough accommodation to house her extended family in the one vicinity. But it wasn’t a pub we visited often, which was exactly why Mo had booked a room here. That, and the fact it was owned by a friend of a friend who’d agreed not to ask questions and who’d accept both cash and a false name.

The parking area only contained one other car, which wasn’t really surprising given it was the middle of the off-season, tourist wise. I shivered into Mo’s sweater