CHAPTER8
Following the black dog to Kevin turned out, unfortunately, to not be that simple.
“You reek,” Aodhan said bluntly, when she’d wanted to set off straight away. “Any fae that isn’t numb from the nostrils down is going to be able to tell you’re not from this realm. Do you think I could saunter unnoticed through one of your cities in my natural form?”
Cathy was pretty sure that Aodhan would have attracted attention in her little English village in either form. Even with a hat to cover the pointed ears, he could still cause a major traffic incident just with his cheekbones.
I guess if you’re going to go to all the effort of learning to shape shift, you might as well take the time to make yourself perfect.
Still, at least she didn’t have that problem. “Some of the servants at Maeve’s court didn’t look that different to humans. If we could find a stream so I can wash, and a change of clothes—”
“Wouldn’t help,” Aodhan interrupted. “It’s not a physical smell. More a kind of aura. Or an absence of an aura, to be more accurate. You’ll attract the attention of every seelie in a seven league radius. Might as well garnish yourself with parsley and a nice garlic butter sauce.”
“Seelie eat people?”
“I was speaking metaphorically. Though, from a human perspective, it might be preferable if they did.” Aodhan rubbed his chin, looking her up and down as though she were a house in need of renovation. “We have to find a way to disguise you before we can risk going back into seelie territory. I’ve got a few ideas on that, but none of them are remotely feasible without access to a fully stocked arcane workshop. We still need to get back to my library.”
Cathy’s heart ached with the need to follow her son’s trail, but her head knew that Aodhan was right. It wouldn’t do Kevin any good if she got captured—or worse—five steps across the border.
“All right,” she said, reluctantly conceding to Aodhan’s inescapable logic. “Will you try the summoning ritual again? Now that we’ve got Noodle, maybe this time the magic will bring us something I can ride.”
Aodhan shook his head. “First rule of mage craft. Don’t try the same thing and expect a different result. Well, it’s more like the ninety-seventh rule, but the principle still stands. The spell brought us what we needed most. If we try it again, best case is that nothing happens, because we already have the puppy. Worst case… well, let’s just say that the powers that be tend to take a dim view of mages who aren’t properly grateful for what they were given the first time round.”
Cathy blew out her breath. “Okay. So that’s not going to work. But you can fly to your library, right?”
So far, Aodhan’s expression had been a constantly shifting landscape made up of a thousand subtle shades of exasperation, with brief flashes of sharp, dry humor. Now, however, his face went absolutely blank.
“I can,” he said, biting off each word. “So?”
Cathy had the sense of having put her foot through ice into a deep, frigid waters. She couldn’t figure out how on earth she’d offended him, but it was clear she had. Her first instinct was to apologize, but that would only irritate him even more.
She tried a bright smile. “So, uh, you can fly back there, and I’ll wait here with Noodle. You won’t be too long, right?”
For a moment, Aodhan didn’t respond. He just stood there, unreadable as a frozen lake, utterly still.
“Let me get this straight,” he said at last, in flat, inflectionless tones. “You’re suggesting that I just abandon you in the middle of these goddess-forsaken woods, where any bored unseelie hunters might stumble across you, without shelter or supplies, for an unspecified amount of time.”
“Maeve swore that none of her people would hurt me while I was in her lands,” Cathy said, a little nettled by the implied criticism. “And I take Kevin camping every summer, so I’m not afraid of sleeping rough. I’ve got snacks, and I think I heard a stream nearby. As long as you’re not going to be longer than a few days, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
Aodhan continued to stare at her as though she’d started speaking in a different language. “And no other solution to this dilemma occurs to you?”
Okay, now he does think I’m stupid.
Cathy could feel the flush spreading up her neck. She’d clearly missed something obvious, but try as she might she couldn’t think what it could be. “I—I’m sorry, I don’t know how things work here. If you’ve got a better plan, of course I’m happy to follow your lead. But, um, you’re going to have to spell things out for me.”
Aodhan pinched the bridge of his nose as though he had a headache. After a moment, he dropped his hand, fixing her with those icy blue eyes again. His whole body was still tense and guarded, as though he was expecting her to take another swing at him.
“We might as well stop dancing around the dragon in the room,” he said, jaw tight. “Human, why haven’t you asked me to carry you?”
“Well, you didn’t offer, so I assumed it, er… you know, wasn’t possible.”
He stared at her in obvious bafflement. “Why in Herne’s name wouldn’t it be possible? Your balance can’t be that bad.”
“It’s not that. But I, um.” She made a vague gesture, indicating herself. “You know I have a child.”
“Of course I do. What does that have to do with anything?”
Cathy wished that she was a black dog, and could go intangible. Being able to sink through the floor would be really handy right now.