Page 245 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
I glanced aside at the woven case sitting in the corner of Myrrdin’s cabin, where my mother’s voice glowed, a captive star—silenced by a rat and a Shadow Prince. “Didn’t we already know that, though? I mean, we all had to guess that someone in the Spring Palace is working with Gentian. And has been for years.”
“Yes, Amy.” Myrrdin sat at his tree stump table, dropping his sharp chin into his palm. Was it a trick of the fae asters, or was his bronzy-brown skin a bit sallow? I wondered if he’d been sleeping. “And we know who at least one of those duplicitous louts is—your grandfather.”
He might as well have smacked me.
“Your mother’s birth father, Lord Luxovious Staghorn, whom your lovely and benevolent grandmother revoked her vows from while your mother was still a faelet. He’s closely affiliated with Gentian. In fact, he affianced your mother to Gentian before—”
“I know,” I interrupted, growing impatient. “Uncle Neel told me the story. Do you think he’s the traitor?” Did Myrrdin think my grandfather was the one responsible for “fixing” my parents’ security detail the night my mother died? Did he think my grandfather aided his own daughter’s murderer?
“I can’t be certain, Amy, but I sincerely doubt it.”
Something tight inside me unwound.
“He’s too blatant in his leanings to sabotage the inner workings of court life. Anyone with a pinch of intelligence at the Spring Palace would know to prevent his dealings in anything vital. He’s a member of the Danann elders, yes, but he has no sway, his credibility questionable.”
This conversation was starting to irk me. I knew why but was ashamed to admit it. “All right—so, how is this new corruption any different from theoldcorruption? I mean, why are you suddenly so bothered by it when you weren’t before? And what exactly do you want me to do about it?”
Myrrdin and the clerics shared a wry, almost reproving look.
I pretended not to see it as Myrrdin took in a patient breath. “Amy, this new corruption, whatever it is, seems to be affecting the decision makers at the palace now. Someone or something is distorting their judgment.”
I gulped. “Who—whose judgment?”
As terse as I’d ever heard him, Myrrdin replied, “You already know who.”
Of course, I did, and I didnotwant to think about him. Not while everything I’d ever wanted stood so close behind me, his hand at my back.
At my stricken expression, Myrrdin softened. “Child, I know you’re frightened of losing what you’ve found here, of facing what you’ve—”
“Thank you for the warning, Myrrdin. But until you know more about what’s happening at the palace, I can’t help. So—” I spun about, grabbed a stunned Pete by his collar, and towed him from the cabin. Away from the yoke of my uncertain but prickly future.
“Jaysus,there’sreallynothingback here,” Pete teased later, looping an arm across my hips. He’d been caressing my bottom for several minutes, sporadically kissing the new triple spirals Danu had branded me with during my summoning. My dimples of Venus featured as the epicenter in each triskelion.
Failing at not thinking aboutthings, I barely managed a giggle for Pete’s joke. Not because he’d offended me. Coming from someone else, that remark might’ve cut deep. But Pete—I knew he found my lacking derriere cute.
“It’s my non-butt. It’s really just an extension of my legs.”
Pete chuckled. “Aye, I like it—non-butt.” Still chuckling, he trailed a line of kisses from my tailbone to my shoulder, his beard tickling the whole way. If I weren’t in so sour a mood, I’d have been shivering by then, just as Pete intended. As I was, however, none of his tricks turned me on.
After several more erotic but fruitless shoulder smooches, Pete emitted a leaden sigh and sat up, naked. As we always were in that bed. “Do you want to talk about it, Shorty?” I loved how he asked me for my thoughts without demanding them.
I pouted into my folded arms. “No.”
“Aye, all right then.”
I turned to peer up at him, chewing my lip. “What areyouthinking?”
His wide mouth quirked. “About your arse there. About these lips here.” He thumbed my bottom lip, making me flush. But he didn’t defer my question.
“I mean about what Myrrdin told us. About the corruption. There’s nothing I can do about it right now. Is there?”
Pete raked his hair, souring. “Shorty, I don’t know. How can I say one way or the other? We don’t even know what Myrrdin meant by ‘corruption.’”
“But that’s what I mean. If Myrrdin doesn’t know what he’s talking about yet, then how can I do anything about it? Does he just expect me to fly off to the Spring Palace? To go on a wild goose chase in search of this mysterious someone or something?” I paused, my heart cracking open. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Pete’s mouth twisted. “Because you’re not asking for my thoughts. You’re asking me to agree with you.”
I stiffened, sitting up with him. “And you don’t?”
