Page 57 of Lord of the Hollow Court
With a crash, she plummeted to the ground before him, landing in a cat-like crouch. Her head snapped up. “He’s heading toward Ziyl. Now, if there’s nothing else, I was in the middle of hunting a stolen coven in the Scottish Highlands.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Those fae fools want to get themselves cursed just like their friends across the Irish Sea.”
Misman hissed out a breath, suddenly glad he was out of the business of avenging humans. If a coven was interesting enough for the fae to kidnap, they wouldn’t exactly be good company. A darkness business indeed. But when you were Valkyrie that was the only sort of business you had. Misman was suddenly grateful he’d been cut from the trainees.
Weighted by the heavy air near the heart of the forest, Misman bent to gather the pheasant feather. In the brief moment he slid his gaze from the Valkyrie to the feather, Realm vanished.
Misman closed his eyes then, sparing a moment for what could have been. They reopened, filled with determination.
It was time to find Lord Braam and bring him home.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Enthralled
Braam woke with a start, his legs kicking out. His eyes widened at the sight of towering rolls of grain dotting the horizon. Field after field scrolled by behind a carriage window, their greens and browns changed to gold in the slanted late afternoon light, followed by a patch of marshland. This was not the Hudson River Valley. Wherever he was, he was far from his lands.
As his eyes slid to the woman opposite him, his head throbbed, and his mouth was drier than cotton. Where was he? Why was he in a carriage? And where were hisclothes? He wore nothing but his court’s ring. Conspicuously absent was his silver wedding band.
“Tell me this isn’t what it looks like,” Braam said. Madeleif’s appearance was immaculate as always, her dress and coat tidy and her long hair only lightly mussed. An ivory handled brush lay across her lap.
“Awake at last?” she asked, all innocence, and pushed a stray fall of hair behind her shoulder. “You’ve slept most of the way. But I’m not surprised, given your earlier efforts.”
The low rumble of her laughter was nearly lost in the sounds of the road. Braam pulled himself up from where he slouched in the seat, wincing as he reached for his shirt and trousers. His hip was killing him. Now he knew exactlywhathe’d been doing here, but not the why or where.
“Don’t fret,” Madeleif said, the corners of her mouth turned down. “It’s terribly unflattering.”
“What did you do?” Braam asked, voice rough even to his own ears. Searching frantically, he spotted his wedding band under the opposite seat, the glimmering silver peeking out from beneath Madeleif’s slipper.
“That’s mine,” he said gruffly, jutting his chin toward the floor of the coach.
Madeleif clucked her tongue. “Is that any way to talk to your love? Especially when she wassogenerous to you earlier.”
“What did you do to me?” Braam repeated, rage mixing with panic in his chest.
“All I did was remove the obstacles for you.”
Braam shut his eyes, wishing he could recoil from his memories. He had not been married a full day, and his mind was filled with carnal images of another. Worse still, they werereal.
A thorough thrall.The thought made his skin crawl. Only that could be the cause of the fuzziness of his memories, the way his head pounded and pressed claws into the backs of his eyes. He knew Madeleif was powerful—she would not have been chosen as the Lady of Lindendam otherwise—but that she would resort to this?
Even for High Fae, there were some things deemed too dark to tangle with. Memories were one of them.
“Oh, don’t look like that,” Madeleif exclaimed. “You needed to be reminded of how you feel. Yes, I helped you forget the silly things that came between us—but I was right, wasn’t I? You professed your love to me. Sadly, a thrall can’t do everything. This trip would have been far more enjoyable if you’d been able to perform—but we will get there again, I can assure you. Your body will soon catch up with your mind. In the meantime, nothing between us has to change.”
Braam could have shouted with relief. How close he’d come to breaking his marriage vows, and in such a short time!
“I’m married,” Braam said, tugging his shirt down over his head. “And I’d thank you to return my ring to me.”
Madeleif tched, then stomped her leather boot over the twined silver. Braam’s gut twisted, not just at her behavior, but with the speed at which the countryside was receding. They were entering a town.
“You won’t be needing that,” she purred. “Don’t tell me I need to remind you again?”
“No!” Braam pressed his back against the seat. He was reminded yet again that he was only a low fae, and that his land’s power, so closely tied with his own, was not what it was. He could not defend himself against her.
“Perhaps another sleeping spell, then,” Madeleif suggested, the softness bleeding from her expression. “My frustration aside, the ride was rather peaceful with you in a doze.”
“I’d rather be awake,” Braam said. “Please.” He stole a glance at the stretch of vineyard beyond the carriage window. “You’re taking me to the Court of Claws, aren’t you?”
Madeleif stared back at him for too long a moment, her eyes slightly narrowed, face and body frozen in a stately pose. Braam felt his heart slow as she began to move again, reaching for the carriage floor.
