Captive Heart by Phoenix Sullivan

face.”
    The pheasant that panicked my horse—was that also of her doing? My own bolt of panic arrowed through me. Surely even Nimue didn’t own such power to waste. Even she couldn’t shape fate. Because if I believed that… I stared again at the joining of Marrok and Gareth’s hands. An unbidden image of them naked and together sprang to my eyes. Fae Sight? How much easier it would be to bear if I could believe Nimue pulled the strings of their hearts.
    “Then we’ll face what comes as it comes,” Marrok said. Clearly irritated, he rose, breaking the circle of our hands. “Unless you know what next she’ll do.”
    “Merlin might. I don’t have his Sight.”
    To my astonishment, Gareth caught my free hand in his, holding them both now, face-to-face and knee-to-knee. “Why would you?” he asked gently. “Merlin’s fae, like Nimue.”
    I shook my head. “Not like her. Nimue’s corrupt, evil. You don’t know what she threatened—or how much she enjoyed it. Fae blood runs through them both…as it does me”—I looked pointedly at Gareth then up to Marrok who’d gone very still—“but Merlin is nothing like her.”
    “You’re fae ?” Marrok’s voice was gruff above me.
    “Half-fae. My mother…” I chose to look into Gareth’s sea-washed eyes as he followed my words, gripping my hands harder in support.
    “And your sister?” Gareth prompted.
    “Half-sister. Nessie’s father is my own.”
    Marrok stooped swiftly beside me. His back to Gareth, he whispered fiercely. “Then you can help me.”
    I looked from him to Gareth with his furrowed brow and back again. “Gareth—”
    “Doesn’t know.”
    Apparently all our secrets would not be bared today. I kept my voice gentle when I whispered, “I have no magic to help you. Only Sight. And even that irregular and rare.”
    “But Nimue would.”
    “Perhaps.”
    He charged to his feet then and shouted across the water, “Nimue is mine!” Turning back to Gareth, he added, “the Red Knight I’ll leave to you.” He stalked off then to shake his frustration. I knew the sharp disappointment he must feel, grateful that I didn’t let him carry hope for long that I might have the power to cure him.
    Besides, Merlin had said I might need the wolf. Until Nessie was safe, I wanted Marrok just as he was.
    “You know his secret.” Gareth said.
    It wasn’t a question but I nodded anyway, trying to follow the emotions that played across Gareth’s face—envy that I knew and he didn’t, hurt that Marrok would not confide in him, joy that whatever the burden was, Marrok wouldn’t have to bear it alone.
    “Take good care of it,” he said. “And of him. Marrok’s a good man.”
    “So are you.”
    He smiled a little at that as if he only half-believed me. That humility only made him more beautiful in my eyes. Still holding my hands, he slid closer to me. His eyes on mine sought permission for the liberty he took as we sat hip-to-hip and he placed our hands in my lap. And for the next liberty when he extracted one hand and placed it on my thigh.
    I breathed faster, my chest lifting up and out with each breath. The image of him naked with Marrok returned, only this time it lingered so I could enjoy each hard curve of him—of them .
    Then Gareth’s thumb began rubbing circles over the still-damp linen that clung to the fold between my thighs.
    I felt a stirring not far from where he was rubbing. How ready was I to be excited by a man such as he. How unready was I to be simply teased. “I thought you and Marrok…”
    “Yes.”
    “Then you and I…”
    “Are you and I.” His circling crept higher.
    I blinked. That had truly not occurred to me. And I didn’t yet know how I felt about it. But I did know his hand on me was maddening. Tentatively I placed my free hand on his thigh, stretching my arm so it was as near his knee as possible.
    He leaned close and moaned his appreciation. Then the hand holding mine in my lap took yet a further