The water horse looked between them. “I get the impression you’re not calling the shots here, Aodhan. Has this human woman stolen your bridle?”
“Do I look like a kelpie?” Aodhan snapped. He raised his wand, sparks crackling ominously from the tip. “We need a lift back to my library. Are you going to give us one, or is the sky about to acquire a new and very sad little rain cloud?”
The kelpie did not have eyebrows to raise, but Cathy had the distinct impression that if he had, they would have been up past his forelock. “Excuse me, I think I have water in my ears. You want me to carry you back to your place? Has someone clipped your wings?”
“No, he’s fine,” Cathy said, pushing Aodhan’s wand down. “I’m the one who needs a ride.”
“Ah. I get it now.” The kelpie shook his head sadly, his long mane rippling. “Unicorns. Way too repressed. Just don’t understand the joy of slipping between a lovely lady’s thighs.”
Aodhan made an inarticulate sound. Cathy tightened her grip on his wrist.
“I’m afraid I don’t have a lot I can offer you,” she said to the kelpie. “But I’d be very grateful. And if there’s anything I can do for you in return—”
“No need,” the kelpie interrupted. He turned sideways, offering her the reins again. “It’s not every day a beautiful woman voluntarily gets up on my back, after all.”
“I’m riding too,” Aodhan said, in tones that brooked no argument.
The kelpie flicked his tail in what Cathy interpreted as the equine equivalent of a shrug. “The more the merrier, as far as I’m concerned. Didn’t have you down as the sort to enjoy a threesome though, Aodhan.”
“No, I just don’t trust you.” Aodhan grabbed the water horse’s nose, forcing the creature to meet his narrowed eyes. “So much as the barest hint of any trickery, and I’ll ram my wand straight up your ass.”
The kelpie wiggled his ears suggestively. “Promises, promises.”
Aodhan’s fingers dug into the kelpie’s nostrils, sinking in up to the knuckles. The water horse squealed and tried to jerk back, but Aodhan held on.
“If you disturb so much as a hair on her head, you won’t live to regret it.” Aodhan’s voice was so cold Cathy wouldn’t have been surprised to see ice bloom through the kelpie’s watery body. “By blood and bone and the Morrigan’s black wings, I swear it. Are we clear?”
“As spring water,” the kelpie said, for the first time sounding rather unnerved. “Sea and salt, what’s gotten into you?”
Aodhan released the creature. “We don’t have time for your inane prattle. Straight to my library, understand? And I strongly advise that you run as though death itself is on your back. Because I will be.”
“We really are tremendously grateful for your help,” Cathy said, hoping to diffuse the tension. “If there’s any way I can repay the favor, just let me know. I’m Cathy, by the way.”
“Neifion.” The kelpie made a kind of equine bow, stretching out one foreleg while kneeling on the other. “At your service, albeit somewhat involuntarily. And speaking of debts, I’m dying to hear how you managed to get the great, haughty Aodhan of the Oak prancing to your tune.”
“Remember time? That thing we don’t have a lot of?” Aodhan shoved his wand through his belt, then laced his fingers together, offering his cupped palms to Cathy as an impromptu mounting block. “Here, I’ll give you a hand up.”
Cathy hesitated, looking down at her ruined shoes. “I’ll get mud all over you.”
Aodhan rolled his eyes. “Human, in the list of terrible things you’ve done to me today, that’s not even going to make the top five. Stop fretting and come here.”
Cathy reluctantly put a slime-covered foot into his hands, and Aodhan boosted her effortlessly onto the water horse’s back. Even with Neifion kneeling, it was a long way up. Cathy gulped, trying not to look down through the water horse’s translucent body. The shifting hide didn’t feel entirely solid underneath her.
“Aaaaand you’re bringing the dog too,” Neifion observed as Aodhan handed Noodle up to her. “Okay, this is getting weird even for me. Just so I know, are there any other random creatures you’re intending to load onto my back? A couple of newts? A large toad, perhaps?”
Aodhan didn’t dignify this with a reply. Placing one hand on Neifion’s haunches, he vaulted up behind her—and Cathy abruptly had much bigger things to worry about than merely falling off.
She’d appreciated, of course, that Aodhan was a stunning man. But it was one thing to have all that chiseled muscle glowering at her from six feet away, and quite another to feel over six foot of solid mage pressed against her back.
He wasn’t trying to make the situation awkward, she knew. She could feel how stiffly he was holding himself, doing his best to minimize the unavoidable contact. But still, it had been a long time since any man had touched her, let alone one who looked like a college professor who moonlighted as an underwear model. A bolt of longing lanced through her, so sharp it was physically painful.
“Herne’s hooves, stop holding your breath.” Aodhan put an arm around her, taking a firm grip on the kelpie’s reins. “We’re not even underwater yet. And anyway, there’s no need to asphyxiate yourself. I can transmute water to air if this blasted creature tries to drown us. Not that he will, will you, Neifion?”
The kelpie curved his neck, that dark, liquid gaze fixing thoughtfully on Cathy. She was pretty sure that Neifion, at least, could tell that her hammering pulse had nothing to do with fear.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” the kelpie said. “This is turning out to be far more interesting than I expected. Keep a tight hold on your lady, o great and powerful mage. Things are about to get bumpy.”
And without further warning, he plunged head-first into the pool.