Blood Kin (6 page)

“Keira,” he continued. “I came to find you because I know you are soon leaving. No,” he said firmly. “I know you’re going to ask how I know. Please permit me to finish.”

I swallowed my words and motioned for him to continue.

“You are both my liege and hold my debt,” he said. He looked directly at me, his gray eyes mirror to my own. I was the only one in my immediate bloodline with eyes that color. Tucker’s were the clear blue of spring skies. Rhys and Ianto, the twins, shared a lovely hazel green. The rest of my brothers had brown eyes like our dad. I’d inherited the looks of my mother’s family. Tall, rangy, thick black hair, skin just this side of vampire pale and gray eyes that sometimes shone silver if the moon was right.

I shook my head at Daffyd’s words, unwilling to accept what he was saying. Tucker and Gary both remained quiet. Daffyd rose from the couch and approached me. He looked so odd in the kitchen, all flowing robes and Sidhe shine among stainless steel appliances and digital readouts. Two of my worlds, colliding. My cousin held his hands out and dropped his head into a bow. “Your mother is heir to the queen of the Seelie court, for that alone I am subject to you,
but I also owe you life debt, Keira Kelly.” The formality of his words chilled me.

“And if I refuse?” The words spilled out before I could censor them.

He raised his head. I stared into his eyes, seeing nothing more than sincerity and strength of will. “I cannot accept your refusal,” he said so quietly that I wasn’t sure that even Tucker heard. “You hold my debt and I must serve you.”

“Daffyd, I can’t—” I shut my eyes and crossed my arms across my chest, ignoring his outstretched hands. I knew what I was supposed to do. I’d seen it countless times in my mother’s cousin’s court, burned into my memory as I watched from the sidelines. A debt acknowledgment required I take Daffyd’s hands and accept his offering.

How could I become responsible for someone else when I’d been so bloody
bad
at responsibility? I’d failed Marty miserably. I’d let Bea get kidnapped by a psycho killer. I’d gotten involved with Adam Walker, only to have him end up in a coma and almost die because of me. Didn’t Daffyd know I wasn’t safe? He’d be better off going back to—wait, that was it.

I opened my eyes, reached out and took his hands. He brightened. “Daffyd ap Geraint. Cousin.” I spoke slowly, trying to make sure the words came out right. “I acknowledge the debt and grant you freedom. You may return to your home, to Wales.” There. That’s the ticket, I thought.

Daffyd’s hand tightened around mine and he got a very distinctly amused look on his face. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought he was smirking at me.

“My liege,” he said and sank to one knee. Appalled, I tried to pull him back up and failed. He was stronger than I was. “I accept my debt to you and willingly enter your service. I thank you for my freedom and I choose to stay.”
He bowed his head, his long silver hair parting to bare the nape of his neck, the locks on either side of his face brushing the Saltillo tile floor.

Oh, for fuck’s sake. He’d bared his neck. I didn’t know if this was a Sidhe thing, but it was definitely a wolf thing, and a Clan thing. When pledging service to one’s liege, the bared neck signified submission and acknowledgment of the other’s dominance.

“Damn it, Daffyd.” I pulled on his hands and he allowed me to let go. He stood and faced me, hands clasped in front of him, a smile still dancing around his mouth and eyes. “You played me.”

“Indeed?” He laid a hand on my arm. “For that, I apologize, cousin,” he said. “I appreciate the freedom. You do not know how much it means to me.”

“Then why don’t you take that freedom and go back to Wales? It’s not like I’m going to be around here anyway,” I said. “I’ve got a plane coming for me soon.”

“You’re going to your Kelly family,”

Daffyd said.

“Yes.”

“Then I shall come with you.” He nodded decisively and went back into the living room to sit next to Gary on the couch. Gary grinned at Daffyd. Tucker, who was supposed to be on my side, echoed Gary’s grin.

“You’re what?” I stomped into the living room, hands on my hips. “You cannot be serious. Why on earth would you want to come to British Columbia and see the very person who imprisoned you?”

“That’s not known to be true,” Daffyd answered. “You, yourself, do not know that it was Minerva who closed off the cave.”

“No, but I would damned well bet on it.” I flung myself into the chair. Tucker patted me on the head and I pushed
off his hand. Damn it, I wasn’t a ten-year-old, even if I was acting like one.

“Is Gary coming, too?” Tucker asked, looking over at the still-grinning man.

Gary’s smile vanished. He looked at Tucker, then back at Daffyd, who nodded slightly. “I’m going to my dad,” Gary said softly. “It’s time he knew.”

“But doesn’t that mean …?” I couldn’t finish my thought aloud.

“Yeah, I’ll die.” Gary looked me in the eye. “I know it’s not necessarily something you or your people would choose,” he added, “but I’m human. Daffyd has given me years I’d never have had otherwise. I want to go spend the rest of the time I have left with my father. He’s suffered enough.”

He’s caused a hell of a lot more suffering than he’d suffered himself, I thought. Gary’s father, Judge Carl Pursell, spent years turning the other way when his foreman Pete Garza took illegal workers to the Sidhe. The Sidhe needed energy; the Judge got to know that Gary was safe with them and not dying of leukemia. Death for life. The way of nature perhaps, but this had been murder. The victims had not gone willingly. Neither had Pete.

“I know, Keira,” Gary said. “He’s not a good man. But he’s my father and it’s time to mend fences. I want to spend the rest of my life with family.”

“It’s your choice.”

What else could I do? It wasn’t as if I could bring the Judge to justice in a human court. I figure he could atone by taking care of Gary for the rest of Gary’s life—however short that might be.

“So you’re coming with us, then,” I said to Daffyd, suddenly making up my mind.

“I am,” he said. “All righty, then.” I looked at my brother, who’d kept uncharacteristically silent throughout all of this. “What?” I spat out as he laughed.

“Nothing,” he said. “You’re the boss.” He leaned over and patted my head again. “I wonder what Adam’s going to say about all of this.”

I threw up my hands. I had no bloody idea.

“Y
OU’RE SERIOUSLY
not
coming with me? But I thought …”

Adam’s expression didn’t change as he processed my umpteenth version of the same question in the last hour. He stood, surrounded by the lush elegance of his neo-Renaissance office, next to his dark mahogany desk, one hand on a stack of papers, the other tucked in his trouser pocket. He seemed at ease, relaxed and absolutely worry-free. But over these past few months, especially in light of what had so recently happened, it was easy for me to read behind the pose.

“I cannot.” His voice remained calm and even. “It is extremely tempting, Keira, but I simply must stay here.”

“That’s what you keep saying,” I said. “Stuff to do, paperwork, blah blah whatever.” I got out of the tapestry-upholstered chair I’d been lounging in and stepped closer. He didn’t waver. Not even a millimeter. “Adam, it’s only for a few days.” I crossed my fingers at this assumption. “Surely this place can run without you for a week or so.”

What I didn’t repeat was my initial run at this where I’d pulled out the guilt trip; the “Hey, you almost died the real death there, buddy, and I saved your undead ass, so you totally owe me” bit, which was the unadulterated truth, but pretty hard to use as leverage since I (or, rather, one of my family) was kind of responsible for having put him in the
coma-near-true-death thing in the first place. Adam would never even have been in Texas Hill Country to begin with, let alone in a coma, if it hadn’t been for me. So, dip your mug into the guilt cauldron and take a huge chug, Keira Kelly, this one’s totally on you.

“The ranch can run without me. Perhaps you are correct in that regard.” Adam abandoned his nonchalant attitude and went behind his desk to sit at his chair. “Tell me this, however: Is my going along with you necessary? As necessary as remaining here and demonstrating that I am well, whole and can still lead?” He didn’t mention the fact that Daffyd was coming with me. I’d told him earlier and he’d just raised an eyebrow and nodded. Daffyd and Gary had both left the house before Adam woke. Tucker had gone back to Niko’s. After some very much needed private time with Adam, I’d gone with him to his office and broached the subject there—neutral ground, sort of.

I sat back down, defeated. He was right; damn him and the logic he rode in on. No matter how much I wanted him to be with me on this bedamned trip, his staying here and making sure his people knew he was still king overruled my wishes. Despite our so-called modern ways living in twenty-first century civilization, some things are best left to tradition. Hell, even the Queen of England needs to sometimes put on a show … and as far as I knew, the Brits seemed to be a hell of a lot more forgiving of their monarch’s foibles than a pack of vampires would be their master’s shortcomings, however tame they might seem. At least Adam’s actions weren’t splashed across the front pages of every issue of the weekly tabloids.

“Maybe I’ll just stay here,” I said brightly. “That could
work. What would happen if I didn’t hop a plane and obey Gigi? Besides, if she wants me, she can bloody well come to me. I can play Mohammed just as easily as my great-great-granny can.” Mohammed had only had a mountain come to him. That had probably been easier than budging Minerva Kelly.

“And what about Gideon?” Adam raised an eyebrow at me. Damn it, I hated when he raised that eyebrow.

“Yes, well,” I grumbled. I knew very well that once our pilot arrived, I’d have to leave, but damn it, I was cranky. Too much had happened in the past few days and all I was asking was some support from the person who kept telling me he loved me.

Adam started to say something, but then kept his mouth closed. Probably a good idea, because I kept right on talking. “Niko’s coming with me, right?”

Adam ignored my abrupt segue and answered me. “He’s not me, but …”

“Yeah, I definitely know that,” I said, smiling back at him. “But he’ll help run interference.”

“And act as emissary of sorts,” Adam said.

Emissary. More like a shoulder to lean on when family shit spread across the fan, which I expected no later than five or so minutes after I hit ground zero at Kelly Clan Central and announced my intention of returning to Texas. It totally might be a futile attempt, but I was hoping that Gigi would behave in front of company. Niko and Daffyd both equaled company. Not Clan, but a representative of a fairly powerful vampire king—his second-in-command—plus my Sidhe family member. Not to mention Niko and my brother Tucker were about as much an item as two people could get without uttering wedding vows or entering into an official
civil union. In my humble observation, my shapeshifting Viking berserker brother Tucker, after twelve centuries of liaising, coupling, enjoying and otherwise having a great deal of fun, had fallen in love … with a capital and most definite L. I wasn’t sure he’d realized it yet, but I knew that before Gigi would even say boo to me once we got to the Clan home, she’d say something to Tucker.

Not that my brother prided himself on being footloose and fancy-free; it was merely the way things happened over his long years. Kind of like how I’d first noticed a tall dark-haired guy on the fringes of various parties during my time in London; a man who had then shown up a few years later in my small redneck corner of Texas, having bought a ranch to house him and his tribe while giving himself a chance to woo me. Too bad the wooing ended up taking place while I was trying to solve my cousin’s murder. But hey, things like that seemed to be the way my rather twisted life path was heading, so why the hell not? Him turning out to be a vampire: pure perfection since I never dated humans—anymore.

Both our phones rang at the same time. Adam headed to his desk and I walked out to the reception area so as not to bother him.

“Hello?” I said, not recognizing the number in the display.

“Keira Kelly?” a cheery woman’s voice asked.

I cringed. I hated when a caller referred to me by my full name. Always figured it was someone who didn’t know me. “Who’s calling, please?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral. If it was a sales call, I could pretend I was someone else.

“It’s your pilot,” she said. “I’m headed your way and will be at the airport within the hour.”

I checked the clock on the wall above the aquarium. “We’ll have some company,” I said. “Need to leave after sunset. Is that doable?”

“Absolutely,” she chirped.

Egads, she was bound to be one of those bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young things whose constant perkiness made me want to hurt them. I bet she even woke up in a cheerful mood. She might be old enough to be my grandmother, but definitely sounded like a cheerleader type—a Texas cheerleader type—with perfect white teeth, twinkling eyes and bouncy hair.

“Great,” I muttered. “We’ll meet you at the airport. I’ll give you a ring when we pull out.”

“Cool beans,” she said and disconnected the call.

I folded up my phone and put it back in my pocket.

“When do you leave, then?” Adam came through the office door to join me.

“Whenever we decide. The pilot’s on her way. She’ll be at the San Antonio airport soon and I imagine she’ll cheerfully wait until we get there—no sense coming all this way to leave without us.” I shrugged. “We can head out of here close to dusk. The back of Tucker’s panel van is closed off so Niko can be shielded from the sun. It’ll only take about two and a half hours to get to the airport.”

“Makes sense.” Adam walked over to the large aquarium against the side wall, picked up a can of fish food and tapped a few flakes into the tank. “Keira,” he began. He gazed at me with a serious look on his face. “Are you going to stop by Bea’s before you fly out?”

I’d told him yesterday about my encounter with Noe and how Bea hadn’t returned my calls. I stared down at the floor. “No,” I replied. “I … I don’t know what to do,
Adam. How to fix it.” Sheer single-mindedness hadn’t accomplished anything. I’d called several more times, left shorter and shorter voice mails. The last call, I’d listened to the canned message and then hung up, completely out of ideas.