Jeros shook his head. “No. Not a word. But Mairwen warned me there would not be.” He sucked in a deep breath of the hot, smoky air and immediately wished he hadn’t. “The master witch was not pleased with me. Said I needed to learn a hard lesson about trusting my lady love.”
Darkcord frowned. “Why would she say that? Ye never mistrusted Lady Lexi, did ye?”
“Only when it came to protecting her.” He thumped a fist to his chest. “I told the old one I could keep my mate safe. Keep her out of the fray and guarantee no harm came to her.”
“And the Master over all the Divine Weavers questioned that?”
“Aye. It was not what she wished to hear.”
“I dinna understand,” Darkcord said. “Would she not wish ye to protect yer mate? Would her ladyship not wish it as well?”
“It would appear not.” Jeros scrubbed a calloused hand across his mouth. “Mairwen said it was a matter of trust and admiration that was an important facet of love. To protect one’s mate, but also trust them enough to listen when they wished to not only to protect themselves but others as well.” He shook his head again. “I have no idea what she meant.” His heart ached even harder. “All I know is half my soul is gone, and my heart is as bleak as the land beyond our borders.”
* * *
“Mairwen and Aylrydwon’t tell me, but you could,” Lexi said to Keeva while jogging to catch up with her. She was tired of everyone in Seven Cairns running away from her. It was like she had the plague or something. Even Lilias had cut back on her stream of chatter whenever Lexi popped into the pub. “Keeva!” Lexi halted on the cobblestone street and stamped her foot. “You have to talk to me, eventually. You know you do.”
Keeva halted, her bright purple hair swinging forward as she bowed her head. “I dinna have to talk to ye. Not ever.”
“Then how are you going to collect my rent?”
“Mairwen said ye can stay as long as ye like. Rent free.”
“And why would that be?”
Keeva shrugged and started walking again, this time at a faster pace.
“Aylryd, slow her down. Cats are good at that. Help me out here since you’ve been giving me the silent treatment lately.” Lexi hated to fight dirty by sending in the kitten, but what else could she do? She still hadn’t worked out the puzzle of the three tarot cards, nor did she have a clue what her supposed superpower was. It couldn’t be her self-defense training. She could fight a little, but nothing spectacular. And why couldn’t Mairwen tell her? No matter how many times Lexi had sworn to take the old woman’s words to heart, Mairwen still wouldn’t say. Said she needed to discover it on her own, so it would mean more. How ridiculous was that? She needed to know so she could get back to Jeros. Not knowing how he was, if he was safe, if he was even alive, was about to drive her insane.
The wily kitten dashed forward, darting in and out between Keeva’s feet and winding around her ankles with every step. With an irritated groan, she hopped and stumbled from side to side, trying to avoid stepping on the annoying feline. “Be gone, wee beastie! Go vex yer mistress.”
“All you have to do is give me a hint,” Lexi said. “Just a hint. What’s the superpower Mairwen refuses to tell me about? Tell me what the tarot cards mean. I know you know what I’m talking about. You were there. I saw you in the shadows.”
“What was on all three of the cards?” Keeva whirled around to face her, jutting her chin higher as she walked toward her. “What did they have in common?”
Lexi visualized the images as she had done a thousand times before. “I don’t know…inner strength? Intuition? Instinct?” She patted her heart. “My strength comes from within?”
“Aye.” Keeva folded her arms as if already tired of the conversation and ready to be on her way. “And what else? Not the meanings but the pictures?”
Counting off on her fingers, Lexi named off the images, “A lion, twice. Once on the Strength card and once on the World card. A wolf on the Moon card. Then an ox, an eagle, and the stick figure of a man, even though the animals were depicted in great detail.” She narrowed her eyes, still seeing the cards in her mind. “Animals,” she muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” Keeva resettled her stance, her hands fisted at her sides. “What say ye?”
“Animals?”
“What about them?”
“I understand them better than I understand people.”
“And?”
Animals were the key. Lexi felt it more surely than if she had just been handed a guaranteed winning ticket in the lottery. Aylryd had suggested recruiting the unicorns to help her, but they understood her because of Pegasus’s mark. But wait a minute—thecathad actuallythoughtto her about a specific battle plan. That had to be more than simply knowing what he wanted because she was familiar with his habits. Would all the animals talk to her and respond to what she asked, as if she were some kind of enchanted character from a cartoon?
“Are there any other animals around here I could talk to and test a theory?” she asked Keeva.
“Have ye been to the bookshop yet? Nonie’s assistant is a black cat named Midnight.” Keeva grinned. “I know it’s a usual name for a black cat, but trust me when I tell ye that Midnight is not ausualcat.”
Aylryd hissed.
