Chapter 22
"Who's Tamsin?" the question hit him straight on as soon as he pulled himself up onto his forearms, some energy seeping back into his finally fever-free body. The earnest grey eyes fixed him with an unswerving intensity and the shifter had to admit, if only to himself, to feeling more than slightly uncomfortable under the scrutiny. A powerful fae warrior dropping his gaze and squirming before a slip of a human girl would be a cause for a goo chuckle if he wasn't so concerned about the why of it.
"My ..eh.. comrade in arms," Dyson replied cautiously and totally blamed the accompanying blush and the stammering on his still weakened state. "Aren't you going to ask how I am feeling?" he added by way of a lame distraction.
"As a person who has been dabbing your forehead and listening to your breathing over the last couple of hours, I am uniquely positioned to know that you're much better," Kenzi pronounced solemnly and plowed on with her line of questioning, "You whispered her name a few times after I asked you to think on who might have gotten you poisoned."
"That's a strong word and quite an unfounded accusation," Dyson hefted himself up to sitting and stretched his arms, testing the muscles. Apart from a slight dizziness and a hint of a muscle ache, he felt as good as new, as new as a thousand-year-old fae could actually feel, "Poisoned ? Really? Sounds a bit melodramatic."
"That definitely was when I had the pleasure of hauling your not exactly featherweight ass and playing the fair nurse," the girl snorted, "What do they feed you? Wolf Royal Canin?"
"That's all muscle," the wolf huffed.
"Just teasing. I know, I caught quite a glimpse when I was tucking you in," Kenzi's serious façade cracked for a second and Dyson felt suddenly flushed in an absolutely fever-unrelated manner.
Back to all-business, Kenzi grabbed his wrist and rolled up the sleeve to expose a barely noticeable prick mark which was still angry-red against the tanned skin of his forearm.
"If you can think of another cause of your temporary ailment, do share," she said evenly, "Otherwise, I'll stick to my version. Whoever did this, might have miscalculated the dosage or didn't want you dead, just weakened. If I hadn't been around, you might well be adorning the insides of an old enemy's dungeon or wherever your old enemies usually live."
"My old enemies are old and numerous but they are, for the most part, either dispatched by yours truly or serving your sister now," the wolf retorted drily, his gaze glued to his forearm as a memory stirred in his still less than clear mind.
Kenzi dismissed the implication with a wave of her hand as she released the shifter's wrist and continued undaunted, "So, Tamsin? Is she ugly as hell? Decisively into girls? Your blood relative?"
"No to all of those," Dyson replied perplexed by the sudden change of tack and feeling the traitorous blush return.
"So, either you were having a wet dream with her as the female lead or she was your first choice of suspect after I prodded you on this poisoning theory?" the girl opted for not being subtle, the approach that gave the wolf pause long enough for some home truths to hit home. He did remember having a rather patchy and a rather wet dream but was pretty sure Tamsin was not its star. The wolf briefly wondered if that was the only women's name he had let slip off his fever-fuelled tongue and braced himself to consider the second option brought forth by Kenzi.
"Ok, theoretically speaking, she might have had an opportunity to jab me with a needle," he finally allowed, flashing back to his tussle with the ogre and the feel of something sharp against his skin he had dismissed in view of the much more pressing issue of Steve's fist to his ribs, "But why would she do that? She's my ally, my friend, my …." He took a second to clear his throat before he looked into the silver eyes and forced out, "My lover."
"Lover as in the person you love or as in a polite term for a bang-buddy?" Kenzi inquired, unflappable.
The beautiful chiseled face framed by long blonde hair, the green eyes, arctic one moment and full of lust and passion a heartbeat later, floated in his mind's eye as the answer to the question came to him with an astounding clarity.
"I am not in love with Tamsin," Dyson replied firmly and got off the bed with more agility than he was actually feeling up to, "The buddy thing, crude as it is, covers it much better. Which only goes to validate my point. She has no reason to try and poison me and all the reasons to keep me well, for the cause we are fighting as well as for her personal use. Enough of that, whoever did or did not try to poison me, it couldn't have been Tamsin."
"Ok, case shelved for lack of hard evidence," Kenzi shrugged her shoulders recognizing the stubborn set of the wolf's pursed mouth but couldn't resist a last shot, "Are you sure she's ok with the status quo in your relationship? Woman spurned, you know …"
"You can't spurn a woman who doesn't have feelings for you, beside the physical need," Dyson snorted, shooting down the idea and turned around in search of his jacket.
"Sure, you beautiful dumbass," the human girl muttered to herself, "Fae knows how many centuries around and still not a clue about women."
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Hale stood to attention as the slim figure strode into the room, the blonde hair in a casual updo, a cream blouse instead of the white coat adding to the understated elegance of the woman. Lauren cut short the courtesies and assurances of eternal loyalty the well-bread aristocratic fae fell upon at the sight of his ruler.
"Have you heard from Kenzi?" she asked bluntly and sighed as the siren replied with a dejected negative.
"Thought so, if Bo's theory is true that would be ridiculous," the doctor went on thinking aloud, "A man? A romantic getaway?" She weighed the words as they rolled off her tongue as if measuring them against what she knew about her rebellious sister.
A part of her was hoping that was exactly what it was, for her sake as well as for Kenzi's. Tearing a strip off the sassy girl for a reckless escapade seemed to Lauren an infinitely more palatable option to harboring dark suspicions about her only family.
"When was the last time you were intimate?" she asked sharply, looking straight at Hale, and detected a slight heightening of color in the handsome dark face.
"A couple of days ago," the siren dutifully replied.
"You initiated it or she did?" Lauren spoke in a tone people usually reserve for small talk while the young fae squirmed at her directness, shifting his weight from foot to foot and inspecting the tips of his leather shoes.
"She did," he breathed out and continued studying the pattern of the carpet.
"Was she tender? Needy? Tired? Insatiable? Different? Did she tell you anything at all about her plans? Something strange?" the doctor was unrelenting, "I want you to think and be as precise as possible."
"Distracted, but that she often is. Also quiet," Hale didn't have the will to feel indignant at the prying, "She prohibited me to say a word and seemed just about satisfying her … need. That was odd, she usually likes talking, before and after, about whatever, about my sister, my summer holidays at the Santiago estate, about our child, about my old friends. She likes me calling her name. And that last time she was completely silent all the way through and told me to leave as soon as we were finished."
"Distancing herself, going through the motions not to arise suspicion?" Lauren sounded like she was taking notes on a patient's medical chart.
"Is anything wrong, my Queen?" Hale dared ask, his worry for Kenzi overriding the awe.
"Seems like our little girl has another of her little mutinies going on," the blonde sighed, "And this time she might have a willing accomplice. I just hope she's back safe and sound when she's had her fun and is ready to face the music or rub it in my face, whichever mood strikes her."
"I know she's a big girl, smart and resourceful and maybe Bo's right and I should stop smothering her," the woman surprised herself by confiding to one of her fae puppets, "but I still can't help worrying about her. Right now I am agonizing over where she is and who she is with."
"Don't worry, my Queen," the siren leaned with a solicitous expression on his face, "I can assure you Kenzi will come to no harm. She has the Twig of Zamora and it will keep her safe."
"The Twig of Zamora?" Lauren's eyebrows shot up as the name rang a distant bell.
"Family heirloom, passed down from father to son," Hale explained with a hint of the old pride, "It's an atifact that has the magical properties to protect the one who has it from any danger or illness, from any bodily or mental harm. I gave it to Kenzi."
Something twitched inside Lauren as the young siren uttered the last simple words and she caught the glimpse of a real feeling in his brown eyes, deep underneath the enthralled devotion and the blandness that had crept into his very essence the day she had turned him into her slave, out of revenge for her sister and her unborn child, out of conviction the arrogant fae bastard couldn't love Kenzi unless ordered to.
The next moment a light bulb of epiphany flashed brightly in Lauren's ever-analyzing brain as the pieces fitted together. "That's why the thrall didn't work on Kenzi when I injected her," she cried out with something approaching relief at one puzzle solved, "The damned twig counteracted my science."
A cautious knock interrupted her thoughts racing at the implications and Lauren flicked a wrist at Hale, "Get the door and get out, I'll talk to you later."
No sooner had the tall slim fae stepped over the threshold than a shorter figure tumbled in, panting as if from a long run but triumphant. Vex, in all his heeled, leather-constricted glory, executed a half-assed courtesy and started with a giggle.
"I've found him, my Queen," he crowed in between the snickers.
"First off, spare me the sight of you thigh flesh," Lauren screwed up her nose at the sight of the fishnet pants.
"Am I getting cellulite?" the Mesmer flew off on a tangent as he groped as the aforementioned part of his anatomy and twisted around trying to get a better look.
"Just not a fan of fishnet in places it doesn't belong," Lauren snapped, "And you found who? If that's not something earth-shatteringly important, cellulite is going to be the least of your health concerns."
"The wolf," Vex squeaked and by a flicker of interest ousting the low burn of anger in the huge brown eyes of his queen he knew he was given a stay of execution, "I found his lair."
"And the wolf himself in it, I hope?" the doctor was back to slightly menacing.
"Not yet but he will be soon enough, I am staking out the place," the fae assured her hastily.
"You are here," Lauren retorted, as amused as she was repulsed.
"I had the foresight to leave a detail on a stake-out while I hurried here to bring my lovely Queen the good news," Vex groveled, "From the state of the place he's not gone for long. Before the sun sets tomorrow, you'll have the dog on a leash, my omniscient mistress."