“Of course not,” Neifion replied. He cast a pointed glance at the lake. “But do I come to your home and toss junk all over the floor?”
“Fair enough,” Aodhan said, then frowned. “Wait. You don’t live here.”
“I was getting bored with the streams near Maeve’s sidhean.” The kelpie smirked, starting to sink into the lake. “And I have a feeling this place is about to get rather livelier. See you around, neighbor.”
He vanished, his body turning to water and merging with the lake. Aodhan was left staring at the rippling surface, a half-formed protest dying on his tongue.
“Herne’s balls,” he muttered. “As if I didn’t have enough problems already.”
Still, ousting an unwanted kelpie fell somewhere below giving the crow-cat a manicure on his list of priorities at the moment. Number one, by a considerable margin, was catching up with Cathy. She could step through the stone circle back to her own world at any moment, and then he really would have one hell of a conundrum.
There was no time to waste. He shifted into alicorn form, for once grateful for the greater strength and speed of his birth body. With a leap, he launched himself into the air, beating his wings hard. The crow-cat flapped after him as he turned for his library.
Rituals for teleportation whirled through his mind as he skimmed above the treetops. Even with his precise cataloging system, it would take too long to locate the relevant spellbooks. He tried to visualize pages, scouring his memory for the list of materials he’d need. Raw amethyst, of course, and… spring meltwater? No, that was wrong. Quicksilver, yes, that was it—
He was so distracted, he never saw the blow coming. Only the crow-cat’s frantic screech saved him from being knocked from the sky. Aodhan jerked, instinctively turning to see what had alarmed the creature, and an instant later he was spinning, one wing screaming in agony as a white blur shot past.
He couldn’t cast a shield spell without hands. Aodhan forced his wings to stay open despite the icy pain in his shoulder. The ground lurched toward him in crazy leaps as he fought for control.
The crow-cat screamed again. Out of the corner of his eye, Aodhan saw her tiny black form darting around a much larger creature, like a crow mobbing an owl.
Exactlylike a crow mobbing an owl, in fact. The ice griffin’s head swiveled almost in a full circle, its huge beak snapping at its smaller cousin.
On the ice griffin’s back, an armored figure flung out a hand. A flurry of snow shot from the man’s palm, frosting the crow-cat’s feathers. The little griffin shrieked and broke off her attack, fleeing into the forest below.
The ice griffin’s head turned as though to pursue, but its rider leaned forward, steering it away from the retreating crow-cat. He raised his hand again, this time pointing straight at Aodhan.
Oh, fuck.
In desperation, Aodhan rolled, and felt an icy blast sear along his flank in a glancing blow. The maneuver cost him what little altitude control he’d managed to maintain. He spun into the treetops, branches snapping around him.
If he’d hit the ground as an alicorn, he would have broken half the bones in his body. He just managed to shift back into his preferred form in time, tucking into a ball and rolling. The impact still jarred all the air from his lungs, sending fresh agony lancing through his chest.
But he was on his home ground now. Still unable to breathe, he slapped a hand against the earth, activating his wards. Golden light burned through leaf-litter and wound up tree trunks, forming sigils of aversion and shielding.
Silent as a snowflake, the ice griffin landed just outside that circle of protection. Frost spread out from its clawed front feet, racing across the ground. Where it touched the light, sparks hissed and spat.
The ice griffin’s rider held out a hand, and a long, glassy blade materialized in his grip. No glamour disguised his true nature now. The gold of the high sidhe’s armor was frosted with silver; his face as cold as a glacier.
“Where is he?” Prince Morcant pressed the tip of his sword against the ward, and ice lanced through Aodhan’s chest. “Where is the human boy?”