Ruairi shifted into his horse form, and I offered Keelynn assistance into the saddle, an olive branch. The woman looked at my hands as if they were made of serpents and mounted by herself.
I had two options. Have her behind me, arms wrapped around my waist, breasts pressed against my back. Or have her sitting between my thighs.Knowing it would probably be the last time I’d have her anywhere near me, I chose the latter.
I climbed behind her, and we started down the road. The infernal woman wouldn’t sit still. She was obviously having trouble getting comfortable, but every time she adjusted herself, she would wiggle and remind me she was basically sitting on my lap, and she smelled so good that I thought I would go mad if I breathed at all.
“When we reach Gaul, we can stay with one of my friends in the city,” I said once she’d settled and I managed to unclench my jaw. Lorcan and Dierdre would interrogate me later, but they wouldn’t mind the company. “We should be safe there until I can find a magistrate willing to grant us an annulment.” Unless I could convince her otherwise.
“Why can’t I just stay at an inn?” she asked.
“The inns are the first places Fiadh will check.”
Her spine stiffened. “Fiadh is coming back?”
It was a wonder the hateful witch hadn’t come back already. “Fiadh never forgives or forgets. What do you think she’ll do to you if she finds you again?” I could guarantee the witch wouldn’t just stab her in the stomach.
“You can do what you want, but I’m not staying with yourfriend.”
Obstinate feckin’ woman. Didn’t she realize what was coming for her? “Have you been listening to a word I’ve said?” I reached for her shoulder. The wasp shrugged me off. She didn’t want me touching her. Fine. But she would listen. “The innsaren’t safe.”
“I have friends too, you know. And it just so happens one of them lives in Gaul.”
“What’s your friend’s name?”
“Why does it matter?”
It mattered because I feckin’ asked a question and I wanted a feckin’ answer. “It doesn’t.”
Ruairi huffed a laugh. I dug my heel into the bastard’s sides. He didn’t even have the decency to shudder. Hours later, we reached the outskirts of Gaul. Ruairi asked where to go, and Keelynn gave him the address with a feckin’ smile. Me? The cold feckin’ shoulder. And after I’d saved her life. Heaven forbid she thank me.
We ended up on the high-street side of town amongst row after row of quaint townhouses. Her friend had money. No surprise there. Keelynn came from money, so it made sense her friend would as well.
Ruairi dropped us in an alley and shifted back into his human form. Although people would wonder what he was from his sheer size—and if they glimpsed his fangs there’d be no question—it was safer for him to move about the city by himself on two legs instead of four. Some pooka, the ones without as much power, didn’t have that luxury.
Keelynn tried to get me to go with him, but there was no way in hell I was letting her wander around on her own. She didn’t look thrilled, but I didn’t care.
She fidgeted with her cloak the whole time, eyes straight ahead. When we reached the end of the street, she stopped so abruptly, I nearly ran her over.
“Take off that kohl,” she clipped, giving me a disapproving once-over. “And tie this properly.” She flicked the ends of my cravat where it dangled around my neck.
“You can choose one or the other,” I told her with a smirk. “Not both.”
I was who I was, and if her “friend” didn’t like it, she could sod off.
Her black lips pursed. “Kohl.”
So much for knowing whether or not her friend had magic. Although from Keelynn’s ignorance, I’d say it was fairly safe to assume she didn’t. I dragged my cravat from around my neck and scrubbed my eyes clean. Keelynn’s pout remained, but her lips were back to being the most kissable shade of pink.
She stilled outside number thirty-six’s low fence. “You should wait out here. I’d like a chance to explain our situation without an audience.”
I only agreed to appear reasonable. Plus, I’d be able to hear every word she said as long as the street stayed quiet. “You have three minutes.”
Nodding, she eased aside the gate, crossing to the steps to knock on the red door.
And a man answered.
I knew who he was from the way he collected her in his arms and kissed her hair. From the smile and the sigh on her lips.
Robert.