A Sliver of Shadow (10 page)

And stupid.

He stilled, pain glittering from that one brilliant eye before giving me a gentle push in the direction of my bedroom. His mouth twisted self-mockingly. “Good night, Abby.”

So much for that.

I retreated into the quiet of my room, sparing a last look down the hall before I shut the door. Talivar had turned away, one hand grasping tight around his elbow as he strode to his own room. I exhaled sharply.

The elven prince walked with a limp too.

Had I been so utterly wrapped up in my own minutiae that I couldn’t even see what was before my eyes? I mean, hell, I’d only lived with the man for nearly a year. Surely I wasn’t as blind as all that?

I closed my door with an audible click and tumbled into bed. No doubt Sonja was waiting for me in the Dreaming, but I wasn’t sure I had the heart for another training session tonight. It was nearly morning anyway. “Sorry,” I said as I closed my eyes, though I didn’t know who I was saying it to.

M
orning drifted over me too soon, punctuated by the blaring ring of the phone and the belch of a hungover unicorn. I blinked against the blurring ache of my head, eyes trying to focus as I rolled out of bed to snatch up the discarded robe from the floor. Not that I cared much about parading about half naked in my own room, but Phin was another matter. I narrowly missed tripping over him as he staggered next to my bed, the tuft of his tail a tangled, wet mess.

One of these days I’d remember to keep the cell phone within reach of the bed, but as it was I had to scramble through a pile of clothes. I’d tossed them in a heap in the corner as soon as I’d gotten into the bathroom the night before.

“Damn.” The phone stopped ringing about two seconds before I found it, wedged into the back pocket of my jeans. I snapped it open and frowned as the call cut off.

“Who is it?” Phineas’s rusty growl rumbled at me from a nest of my underwear on the floor. I shuddered. Guess I’d be doing two loads of laundry later.

“Roweena,” I muttered. “But I wish she had better timing.” I squinted at the clock, sighing when I realized it was only 7
A.M
. “Christ. Do you think the powers that be would
mind if I asked them to make sure the next apocalypse takes place later in the day? Maybe around teatime?”

“Good luck with that.” He yawned, rolling onto his side.

I padded to the bed, tucking the cell phone neatly on the night stand. “And what is that smell?” I looked down at Phineas, my stomach tap dancing in revulsion. “You fall in the toilet again?”

His red-rimmed eyes remained a study in indifference. “Oh, so
now
you give a shit about me. How’s that for fair-weather friendship?”

I bit down on my lower lip to keep from laughing at his hangdog expression. Normally I would have taken him seriously, but an inebriated unicorn is pretty damn funny, regardless of the situation. Inwardly, though, I was cringing because he was right. “I’m sorry.” I crouched beside him. “I didn’t mean to snap at you, Phin. Where’d you go last night?”

“Chasing a little tail of my own.” He scowled, his beer-stained beard waggling at me. He let out a high-pitched giggle as he attempted to flick his own tail, watching it hang there in a sodden mess. “Little tail,” he repeated, sneezing suddenly. I backed away. Last thing I needed was unicorn snot on my feet. “There was this … nymph? Undine? Oh, hell, I don’t know what she was,” he chuckled. “But she had the sweetest ass I’ve ever had the pleasure of—”

“More than I need to know,” I said hastily. I’m not a prude by any stretch, but some things are better left to the imagination. I glanced down at him and shuddered. Or not.

He shot me a withering look. “Oh, please. You think listening to you and Brystion get it on was any bed of roses?” He reared up on shaky legs, prancing forward and swinging his hips, his voice a high-pitched falsetto. “Oh, Ion, I’ve never done it like that, you naughty boy! Maybe next time you can stick your hot man-rod up my—”

I poked him with a finger, watching impassively as he tumbled onto the rug, snorting in wild-eyed surprise. “You,” I said sourly, “need to shut up. And get cleaned up. And do it now before you track any more filth on my floor.” I headed for the bathroom, pausing only to grab a towel before turning on the hot water.

He grunted and shook himself, his legs wobbling as he followed me.

“Cheer up. I’ll make you breakfast.”

“You sure you’re not trying to poison me?”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. Have it your way. Canned spam for nummies. How’s that?” Gingerly I picked him up and placed him into the tub. “I’ll wash your mane in a minute.”

“Whatever.”

I retreated to the bedroom to give him a little privacy and find some clothes. A knock on my door and a muffled question announced Talivar’s presence on the other side. I tightened my robe, suddenly shy. “I’m decent.”

The prince popped his head around the corner. “Just checking to make sure Phineas was all right. He didn’t look so good when I found him trying to climb the stairs.”

“He’s okay. Just dirty.”

“Isn’t he always?” I stared at Talivar for a moment, trying to decide if I should say anything about the night before, but he beat a quick retreat before I had a chance. I took it as a sign I should get dressed and forget about it. I’d had enough morning-after regrets to last awhile without bringing my roommate into it.

I pulled my hair up into a loose bun, the familiar sounds of a frying pan on the stove suddenly filling me with warmth. It would appear the way to my heart was through my stomach. Or at least the attempt, anyway.

Shrugging away the uneasy feeling of early morning phone calls, and trying to ignore the thought of breakfast,
I proceeded to lather up Phineas with a careful hand. He wasn’t exactly a dog, and he wasn’t really objecting, but it still felt a little odd to be washing him. The fact that he was humming “Pokerface” wasn’t helping matters. “I’m not doing your privates. Those are up to you.”

“Spoilsport.” He grunted, ears twitching. “Though I probably wouldn’t either, based on where they’ve been.”

“Yummy. Now, hush up and let me finish.” I rinsed out the last of his mane, wrinkling my nose at the wave of filth running down the drain. “Dude—when you go slumming, you really go
slumming
.”

He yawned, shaking himself out as I shut off the water. “You have no idea.”

Hastily I dried him off, setting him free on the carpeted part of the floor. Although it was amusing as hell to watch him skate over the bathroom tile, the unicorn could hardly stand up, let alone make it across the slippery hardwood of my bedroom.

He shook out his rump and winced, cocking up a hind hock to nose his underbelly. “I think I broke something.”

I shuddered. “Do I need to find you a vet?”

He shot me an unfriendly look. “I overdid it is all. Not like I picked up a case of scabies.”

“Well, it was an undine,” I murmured. “Maybe it was crabs?”

The unicorn bared his teeth at me, whatever he was going to say interrupted by Talivar’s polite cough. “Breakfast,” he said mildly and disappeared again.

“Come on, Phin.” I scooped him up and headed for the kitchen. “Let’s go eat.” I put him down in a chair, nosing over the plates of food. The unicorn’s ears flattened as the ceramic scraped over the table.

“My head hurts,” he moaned.

“And here I thought that horn could cure hangovers.”

He blinked at me. “Oh, yeah … get me a glass of water, if you would.”

Talivar dug in the fridge for a bottle, popping open the cap and handing to me. I poured it into a bowl, exchanging a quizzical look with the prince. He shrugged and slid it across the table to Phineas. The unicorn coughed and dipped his horn into the bowl, a little shiver twitching over his body as though he were shaking off a fly. A flash of silver burst from his horn and sparkled over the surface. He snorted, eagerly reaching forward to guzzle the now-milky liquid.

“That’s the stuff,” he burbled happily.

“Now that
that’s
out of the way.” I found my own seat and a plate of eggs. They were runny and half raw, but I gave Talivar a smile anyway. Points for trying and all that. “Time for food and tea and a game plan.”

Talivar slouched in the chair next to me, casually lifting his bare feet to rest upon my chair’s footrest. It was an oddly possessive move. It was also oddly sexy. His gaze lingered on me a half second longer than it should before his face turned down to his own plate, mouth twitching.

“Roweena called this morning, but hung up before I could get it.” I took a bite of the eggs, trying to ignore the warmth flush that suddenly suffused my belly. “Suppose I’ll call her back in a few, but I dunno. I don’t want to be Tresa’s TouchStone. If Moira insists on it, then I suppose I will—but only until another replacement can be found.”

“Mighty generous of you,” he said dryly. “But I can tell you now that if Moira had anything to do with this she would have told me. Believe me, you’re far too important to her to leave blowing in the wind. If this is coming down from the Court, however … it would mean you’ve become a pawn, Abby. And pawns are rather expendable, if you take my meaning.”

“Yeah. I know. Bacon’s good, by the way.”

He stabbed viciously at his own eggs. “You’re changing the subject.”

“You’ll get used to it. And pawn or not, one thing I’ve noticed about dealing with OtherFolk is there are no guarantees.” I fixed him with a glare. “About anything.”

“There never are,” he agreed, grabbing the teakettle to refill my mug with hot water.

“Besides,” I added, swallowing another bite, “I’d think you’d be just as happy for me to break the Contract with Moira. After all, then you’d get to go home.”

He looked at me blankly. “I what?”

I glanced down at my plate. “Isn’t that what you were talking to Melanie about yesterday? At the Hallows? I mean, I’m sort of the only reason you were sucked into this whole mess. If I’m Contracted to someone else, that makes you free and clear, right?”

“Anyone ever tell you it’s rude to eavesdrop?”

Phineas twitched, his ears flattening and then standing upright. “Do you guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” I frowned at him. “I think it’s your hangover. Or maybe you farted?”

“No, no. The ambrosia did the trick on that end. But that ringing…”

Talivar went still. “I hear it too. Like a voice … or some sort of crying.”

I stared at them both incomprehensibly. I didn’t hear anything.

Talivar lurched forward, his head cradled in his hands as he pressed his fingers in his ears. “Oh, shit. Hold on to Phin. This is going to hurt.”

I whirled, watching in horror as the unicorn reared, the whites of his eyes showing. The bowl flew off the table in a splash of silver as he lurched sideways, hooves drumming the side of the chair. “Phin!” I twisted out of my own seat
to grab him, hissing when the horn’s point gouged into my wrist. I retracted my hand, a thin red line bubbling up along the inner skin of my forearm. Shaking it off, I grabbed the larger of the dishrags to throw it over the unicorn’s head, dodging another hoof as I managed to wrap him up.

A gagging noise erupted from Talivar. He was choking. Ignoring Phin’s struggles, I bolted to the elf’s side. “Seizures,” I breathed. They were having
seizures
. “What the hell!”

Phin had passed out beneath my arm, legs dangling. I laid him on the floor as hastily as I could, pulling Talivar away from the table. “Hey?”

No response. Damn.

My arms slid beneath him and I yanked him from the chair as his feet kicked out wildly. I heard the shatter of the plates as the table upended, narrowly missing us both.

Focus, Abby. Get him on his side. Put something under his head.

The words were like a litany as I attempted to follow them. I knew what to do for seizures. After all, I’d certainly had enough of the damn things. But then, for all I knew he’d start floating or …

Or go completely apeshit
…

I rolled out of the way as his body shivered, the magic of his Glamour melting away. I caught the quick glimpse of scar tissue along his neck, but didn’t have time to pay much attention as he snatched at my arms. It took nearly everything I had to press him to the floor, his fighter’s physique coming into play. Had he been cognizant of what he was doing he could have snapped me in two.

“Stop fighting me … you son of a bitch …” I straddled him, my knees on his shoulders, trying to release his hold on me.

In the distance I heard the phone ringing but there was
nothing I could do about it now. “Talivar? Wake up.” My voice cracked beneath the strain and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold him still much longer. He stiffened, neck rigid, and then his mouth slackened, arms dropping to his sides.

My own arms trembled, adrenaline surging through my veins with a vengeance. Ignoring the cramps of muscles that wouldn’t quite relax, I crouched beside him to see if it started up again. But like Phin, Talivar now appeared to be sleeping.

Sinking onto the floor I took a haphazard look around my kitchen, barely noticing the way the tile was covered in a mess of cheese and eggs, grease and tea and shattered porcelain. Swallowing hard, I shut my eyes and breathed deep.