Page 14 of A Honeymoon of Grave Consequence (The Unexpected Adventures of Lady and Lord Riven #2)
The woman’s outraged gasp cut through the green-tinted air, but Leonie hurried forward, head lowered, past that cloaked figure to take shelter by Margaret’s side.
Driven by instinct that overpowered reason, Margaret reached out to take the girl’s closest bony arm in a reassuring grip as they began to walk together, and—even more uncharacteristically—Leonie did not shake her off.
“Wait!” the possible baroness called urgently after them as they started back up the mossy, sloping ground.
“You don’t understand. I’m here to help you in your own quest. You’re searching for Reflection’s Heart, aren’t you?
I can tell you exactly where it is, in exchange for one small favor.
A mere nothing! Only leave behind that monster and come with me, and I’ll tell you everything you need in order to further all of your ambitions! ”
As they continued to walk, her voice rose even higher. “You can’t possibly succeed in this without my help!”
Leonie hesitated, looking back between the trees—but Margaret only shook her head and continued onward, tugging the nachzehrer with her through the next break in the trees.
“Don’t pay her any attention,” Margaret murmured softly.
“It is never worth making any bargain for help from a person who can’t be trusted to deliver it.
” She’d learned that lesson years ago, well before the end of her first term at university.
“I promise you’ll regret it if you don’t come with me now!
” the woman shrieked after them. “Don’t you dare walk away!
My men are only waiting in the carriage for my command.
If you had any idea how much power I truly wield, and the trouble I could cause you—!
If you refuse to listen to me now, then I’ll have to make you, and it will be all your own fault!
I have a higher purpose for this forest! ”
“What nonsense.” Rolling her eyes, Margaret walked even faster.
The woman’s increasingly furious and demanding calls chased after them for the next several minutes. Apparently, though, she didn’t dare go any further in that direction herself. Her voice grew fainter and fainter in the distance until it finally faded out completely.
The stillness of the forest resettled around them at last, and Margaret slowed her pace, shoulders loosening with relief.
Beside her, Leonie gave a full-body shudder that vibrated through their physical connection—then jerked around to stare at Margaret’s hand on her black-robed arm as if she’d only just realized that it was there.
Margaret released her immediately, but the nachzehrer didn’t lunge away as expected. Instead, after a long moment of silence broken only by the crunch of fallen needles beneath their feet and the sounds of birds and insects among the trees, the girl finally muttered, “Thank you.”
“Pfft.” Margaret gave an uncomfortable shrug. “It was nothing. I certainly had no desire for any more conversation with her.”
“But if she really can tell you more about Reflection’s Heart.
..” Sighing, Leonie came to a halt and muttered her next words with her gaze fixed upon the ground.
“It’s not worth ruining your quest for my sake.
She didn’t say anything I haven’t heard for myself every time I’ve seen my own face in my bedroom mirror. ”
“Then you also need to revise your thoughts,” Margaret said tartly, “because they’re clearly incorrect, and there’s no sense in clinging to a warped reflection.” Hadn’t she realized as much about herself just this morning, in front of her own bedroom mirror?
Leonie looked even more dubious than before, but Margaret started purposefully forward across the rising ground without waiting for agreement, brushing against green needles with every step as the trees grew closer and closer together.
“At any rate,” she called back, “I’ve been told more than enough times in my life that I would never succeed in my ambitions for one reason or another.
Nowadays, I pay no attention to such doom-laden forecasts, and neither should you. ”
At that, the nachzehrer finally subsided, but this time, Margaret did not fool herself into imagining that silence heralded agreement.
Still, the next hour or two passed in a relatively companionable peace, as Margaret did her best to follow the dictates of her vacillating compass and Leonie grunted warnings more than once to save Margaret from precipitous falls.
It was just as they both emerged from a tangled patch of underbrush that Margaret held up a warning hand. “Listen!”
In the distance, beyond the thickest stretch of mingled pine and spruce, an unmistakable splash of water sounded.
For one delighted instant, Margaret glimpsed the same light of discovery in the nachzehrer’s red eyes that she felt in her own. Then, Leonie’s face tightened into a harshly set expression as she visibly braced herself for danger and Margaret nodded. “Let’s begin.”
But before either of them could take another step towards that tree line, someone else slipped through it from the other side, moving with such slippery fluidity that the needles of the spruce and fir trees on either side barely even quivered with her passing.
Only damp patches were left upon the ground with every step as the tall, slim figure prowled towards Margaret in an old-fashioned, deep green gown that was sodden at its hem—and then abruptly swerved, catching sight of Leonie.
“Ohhh!” The nixe’s pale green eyes widened as she reached forwards with one graceful, long-fingered hand. “So pretty . How did you do that?”
Leonie flinched back just before the nixe’s pale fingers could touch her face. “What?—?”
“Your eyes ,” the nixe crooned in a voice like rippling water. “I’ve never seen that color before.”
The nachzehrer’s chin jerked up; she crossed her arms in front of her chest and braced her legs. “I know what I look like. You don’t have to tell me.”
“But how ?” The nixe stalked around her in a flowing circle, green gaze sweeping with open admiration across every feature of Leonie’s chalk-white face and hairless head.
“You’re like a jewel, all rubies and bone.
I would hoard you as my treasure! Come with me, and I’ll feed you the finest of fish for every meal. You’ll never feel any hunger again.”
“You—I—what?” Leonie blinked rapidly, a flush rising in her face as her mouth dropped open to reveal even more of her sharply pointed teeth.
Had she only just realized what was actually happening? Margaret cleared her throat, deeming it time to interrupt the incipient courtship. “Unfortunately, she wouldn’t be able to survive on that diet.”
“Not on fish?” Scowling, the nixe swept around, tucking her long, unbound fair hair behind her slitted ears. Her gaze swept impatiently across Margaret’s own features and her upper lip curled. “If she needs humans for food, I can manage that too. Do not think I cannot provide for her.”
Leonie gave a strangled, wordless sound that Margaret could only interpret as “ What is happening?”
Thankfully, as expedition leader, Margaret had done her research. Lifting the basket she’d carried all this way, she said, “I’ve brought you an offering of apples. ”
“Apples?” The nixe took a step forward, gaze narrowing. “Are they ripe ones?”
“The ripest,” Margaret promised. “See?” She carefully raised the cloth that had covered them for protection, and the nixe’s pink tongue darted out to sweep her lips in anticipation.
All of her visible front teeth were pointed enough to rip and tear flesh, but as with humans, nixen had hidden molars suitable for crunching fruit as well as meat—and apples were known to be a favorite delicacy.
“Hmm.” The nixe drew back, green gaze darting between the basket and Leonie. “Does she eat apples?”
“Um...no?” Leonie swallowed visibly, red eyes wide and stunned. “They’re all yours.”
“Only for you, treasure, I would share.” The nixe cocked her head to one side to study Margaret suspiciously, fair hair tumbling over her shoulders. “The last humans who visited our lake did not bring apples.”
“I’ve heard they brought you only trouble,” Margaret said calmly.
“They tried to claim your lake as their own, didn’t they, to make themselves a profit?
I don’t know them myself, but we’ve no interest in breaching your territory or disturbing your peace.
I am Lady Riven, and my only goal is to conduct a piece of scholarly research, which should benefit everyone in this forest and shouldn’t take longer than a few hours at the most.”
“A few hours?” The nixe’s slitted ears flattened against her head. “And will you be followed here by hungry crowds? Human men who want to chase us or steal from us again?”
“We haven’t been followed by anyone,” Margaret assured her with perfect confidence.
The stories of the nixen’s revenge on those would-be pleasure-seekers must have spread throughout the area. Even that aggravating baroness hadn’t dared to chase after them once they’d neared the lake.
Something about that thought tugged at her, but she set it aside. For now, she focused on holding the nixe’s keen gaze and keeping her own expression steady.
“Will my treasure remain here with me for all those hours?” the nixe finally asked.
“That,” Margaret said, “is entirely up to her. Leonie?”
“Ah...” Still looking dazed, Leonie took a long moment to think but then nodded. “Yes. I want the answers to this research too.”
“Then I will allow it, for your sake. Come, treasure. Let me help you through.” The nixe took Leonie’s closest clawed hand in her own and drew the nachzehrer between the trees.