The Hob (The Gray Court 4) (2 page)

“This is Lord Kael Oren. He will be coming with you. He is a cousin of the missing Prince Evan.”

Oh, this should be fun! Not.
Robin smiled at the other man. He remembered the scandal following Prince Edmond Yate’s mating of a pooka commoner. The White Court had been utterly appalled that one of Gloriana’s brothers had lowered himself so, forcing Gloriana to raise the girl’s family to the peerage. Prince Edmond had told them all to go pound sand and declared that he was abdicating any right to the throne of the White Court to be with the woman the gods had declared was his.

Robin had sent them a lovely mating gift.

Robin bowed, graceful yet mocking, and saw his bow returned, mimicked nearly perfectly.
 

“Lord Robin.” The pooka’s tenor voice was soft and filled with amusement. He met Robin’s gaze dead on, with only a slight twinge of fear, quickly masked.

Robin grinned, intrigued.
Maybe the boy has potential after all.
Robin was always on the lookout for potential Blades, men and women of integrity who guarded Oberon and did his will. This one could be a recruit, if he proved himself capable.

He turned his attention back to Oberon, one eyebrow cocked, the grin still lingering on his face.
 

Oberon merely shook his head. They knew each other well. Oberon would know how Robin would react to Kael. “If the prince is no longer with us, I expect you to dispense justice.”

The green glow in Robin’s eyes was swiftly hidden by his long lashes as he bowed to his king and friend. “Yes, my liege.” He ignored Lord Kael’s swiftly hidden shiver of unease.

This had the potential to be
fun
.

Oberon watched as Robin and Lord Kael left the room together. He smiled and lifted the glass to his lips.

Robin was hiding something from him.

It would have been the work of a moment to have the Hob come to the Gray Palace and meet Kael, but Robin had been acting suspiciously for two months now, and Oberon was determined to get to the bottom of it.

Oberon sighed and placed his glass back down on the bar. Robin was his closest friend, his greatest ally. They were like brothers. There was none he trusted more than the Hob. So what was it that Robin was hiding so assiduously from him? Oberon had not missed the sound of a feminine gasp as he walked past Robin’s library, yet he knew Robin always sent his playthings away lest they overhear something they should not.

Robin had not reacted to the female’s presence, meaning he’d been aware of—but unconcerned about—her presence. Not even his Blades were treated with such trust.

Oberon was well aware that the few females Robin trusted to that extent were currently in Nebraska, helping Lord Jaden Blackthorn in dealing with the influx of those who wished to join the new Blackthorn Clan. So who was it that hid from him in Robin’s library with Robin’s full knowledge? And why had Robin not introduced his guest?

Oberon grimaced. For the first time in centuries he would have to keep a close eye on his Hob. The thought that Robin might play him false was almost too much to bear. He had had his fill of betrayal with Titannia.

He sent a swift prayer to the gods that Robin was not about to break what little was left of his heart.

Chapter Two

“Why are we staying at my place? Why couldn’t we just rent a room in the hotel?” Kael had long since ceased to be amused, and it showed. “The Court can certainly afford it.”

Robin held the steering wheel lightly and smothered his grin. “I told you, it’s more inconspicuous this way. If for some reason someone decides to tamper with our room, your place is at least defensible. Besides, if worse comes to worst, Oberon has placed a mirror in your home.” A defense Robin himself did not need, but a concession to the pooka, who could not move about the way Robin could. While Robin could have teleported them both, he was unfamiliar with Kael’s home, and hadn’t been to Philadelphia in decades. Besides, the trip gave him time to become better acquainted with the pooka he’d be sharing a home with for the next few days. Kael could have forced the issue, refusing to open his home to Robin, but despite his grumbling he’d been more than generous.

“Thus blowing my cover.” Kael shot him a sour look. “I do have to continue living here, you know.”

Robin sighed. “If it’s that much of an issue, I will offer you sanctuary when the mission is done.” Robin glanced in the rearview mirror, checking for traffic. He was distracted by his altered appearance.

He had to admit, he was charmed by the brown eyes he’d chosen for his current guise. They reminded him of Ruby, his favorite person in the world besides Oberon. Really, none would recognize the merry, redheaded scamp he preferred to be in the golden-skinned, dark-haired man he currently appeared to be.

“I have a job. I’m hoping to have a mortgage someday.”

“Hmm.” Robin could understand the desire for a home. He suffered from the same affliction. While he had the house, had filled it with color, life had not chosen to nest there.

Robin’s house was still not a home, and he had no idea how to change that.

“Still, we could have rented a room. It would have been easier to monitor the delegates if we were all in the same place.”

As Robin took the turn off of I-95 toward Center City, Philadelphia, he wondered if the pooka would ever stop complaining.

They were headed toward Kael’s Center City apartment on Locust Street. It was roughly five minutes from the apartment to the hotel where the negotiations were to take place, making the location ideal. He’d have access to all of the amenities of Center City without having to worry about staying in the same hotel as the delegates. He patted the dashboard and smiled. The place even had free parking for his rental car.

Life was sweet. Now, if only he could get Kael to stop his incessant bitching. “Time for your big girl panties, Kael, my dear.”

He slowed down once they hit Locust, following the flow of traffic. It was mid-morning, plenty of time to drop some things off at the apartment and do a little sightseeing before heading to the hotel.

“Are you going to make me sleep in the spare bedroom?”

Robin choked on a laugh. “I give you my word, I will not steal your sleeping space.” If the spare room were truly inadequate, Robin would simply make other accommodations. Perhaps Paris? The City of Lights was beautiful this time of year. “I think we can manage.”

Kael shot him a horrified look. “Not that I don’t think you’re attractive or anything, but my tastes tend to run more toward females.”

Robin’s eyes widened with hurt. “You mean you don’t want me?”

“
Yes
.”

Robin laughed with outright delight at the emphasis Kael had placed on that single word.
Not many would turn me down so flatly, out of fear of retribution. I was right. This
will
be fun.
He placed a hand on his chest, the gesture far more Robin than the persona he should have been adopting. “I’m hurt, Lord Kael.”

“No, you’re just bored.”

Robin stopped laughing and glared at the pooka, aware a slight tinge of green had entered his eyes, but he beat it back, as he always did.

The sad part was, Kael was right. He was bored spitless. He had left Nebraska—and the very entertaining Dunnes—behind, putting him at loose ends until Cassie arrived at his home. Nothing he did, no one he attempted to sleep with, could fill the aching void left behind by the only family that had ever wholeheartedly accepted him. But distance was necessary, lest he attempt to steal that which did not belong to him, future bondmate or no.

Ah, sweet, loving Ruby. He missed her most of all, but she did not belong to him. It would kill her to leave her truebonded, Leo Dunne, and would devastate the Dunne family. Robin would sooner cut off his own arm than harm them.

But it would have been sweet to taste her at least once.

At least one good thing had come out of the fiasco at the Dunne farm last winter. Unfortunately, the White Court lost a powerful clan, the Malmaynes, to the Black.
 

But the Child of Dunne had not only fulfilled his duty, he’d shown Robin the future.

His
future.

Shane Joloun Dunne had the blood of Seers running through his veins, faint but powerful. He sculpted his visions of the future, both possible and impossible. That power had nearly been turned against him by the trickery of the Malmaynes and one of Robin’s own children. Fortunately, Shane had not only survived but found his own truebond in Akane Russo, hybrid daughter of the Seer, the last of her kind, and her dragon mate, now deceased. As one of Robin’s most trusted Blades, Akane had been assigned to guard Shane from the machinations of the Malmaynes. She had failed, but through no fault of her own. Thanks to his powerful gift, Shane had known that the prophecy of the Child of Dunne could not be fulfilled unless he was captured. The hybrid had allowed himself to be taken and had suffered greatly for it, but had declared his task complete. He had refused to explain to Robin exactly what that task had been, but Robin suspected it had to do with Cassie and the mystery surrounding her.

Robin was fond of the young man, not least of which because he’d sculpted Robin’s future. It had been the only thing to give him the strength to leave Ruby behind, truebond or no. Robin pulled into the parking garage of the apartment complex that was his new, temporary home and remembered the first time he’d seen the sculpture.

The sculpture Shane had created for him, and that now graced Robin’s bedroom, was a ball made out of razor sharp, mirror–like metallic strips, with bits of jagged glass dotting them. The cutting metal edges stuck randomly out into space. Through the metal strips he could see a tiny figure standing, arms raised like a supplicant, one hand to her chest, one to the sky. Shane had reached one finger in, blooding the metal, and tipped that figure over. Thanks to the way he’d constructed the ball, the inside had reflected the jagged edges of the outside over and over until there was nothing left but chaos and death. The position of the figure’s arms when standing was perfect for a figure lying on the ground as well.

If that figure fell…

Well. Best not think on that. Robin climbed out of the car and prayed that he found the woman in Shane’s sculpture soon, or he would slowly go mad. The dreams were tearing him apart with need.

Kael stretched and groaned. “Gods, I’m glad I’m back.”

Robin chuckled quietly. “Don’t like flying, my friend?”

Kael snorted, amused. “Hardly. The seats are too tight, I always wind up near a screaming child, and the bathrooms are laughable. And that’s
before
I get on the plane.”

Oh, Robin was growing more and more fond of this one. “After you.” Robin bowed with a grin, aware of the sound of another car pulling into the parking lot. He turned and saw the most mind-searing orange Jeep Wrangler he’d ever been privileged to lay eyes on pull into the parking spot next to his. The grin faded as the engine revved twice before cutting off.

Behind the wheel was a dainty female in hospital scrubs. She smiled over at them before reaching down to grab something off of the passenger side floor. He tilted his head, trying to get a better glimpse of the woman.

“Robin?”

He tilted his head the other way, staring at the tiny figure in the driver’s seat. There was something about her, something that called to him. What was it? Robin sniffed, but all he could scent of was exhaust, rubber, human and pooka.

“Robin, we need to go.”

Robin turned and nearly snarled at Kael, but the concern on the pooka’s face stopped him. What had he been doing, staring at a human female?

A car door slammed shut. “Excuse me, is everything all right?” She practically bounced in place. “Hi, Kael.”

Kael’s tense posture visibly relaxed. “Michaela. Just getting home from work?” Kael smiled sweetly at the dainty, brown-haired sprite of a female. The girl barely reached Kael’s shoulder. Robin guessed she’d be roughly chin height on him, were he in his normal form. As it was, she barely reached his shoulder as well. She was passably pretty, with a bottom lip fuller than the top and a square, soft jaw. Deep brown eyes gleamed with good humor over a larger-than-average nose. Scrubs, covered in the scent of illness and some hideous yellow bug-eyed
things
in brown pants and ties that grinned and capered about her person, obscured her figure. Sensible white shoes graced her feet, and her dark brown hair was bundled up in a tight ponytail. Her pale cheeks were flushed with wind and happiness.

Dear gods above. Robin felt faint for the first time in his life.

It was
her
.

It was the woman from his dreams, and she stood before him, tiny and vulnerable and tempting as sin.

That sweet smile turned on Robin. “You must be Kael’s friend. I’m Michaela. Pleased to meet you.” Michaela held out her hand. “I saw you standing there, looking like you were lost. Let me guess; Kael here is too much of a pain in the ass to show you where the elevator is.”

She laughed as Kael took her hand and placed it on his arm. Robin wanted to rip Kael’s arm off and beat the pooka to death with it. “Of course I was going to show him, once he was no longer blinded by your Jeep.”

“Hey, no mocking the Punkinator.” She wagged her finger at Kael before turning back to Robin with a sweet smile. “It took me a week to remember where it was when I first moved in.” She shifted the heavy bag on her shoulder and pointed to a concrete column. She hmph’d. “Blind, my ass.”