CHAPTER ELEVEN
Lexi~
She could see Iliana charging the horizon on three of Aegir’s white horses. The nixie was wearing battledress and spurred her mounts onward as if to meet a foe. But what she defended them from Lexi did not know. Jareth might. He was mouth was a thin white line and he stared transfixed at Iliana’s invisible enemy.
The wind failed. The yacht was becalmed.
“Go home. Use the motor.” Jareth cried before flinging himself into the sky, heedless of his clothes. Scraps of fabric fluttered around the yacht as he flew to Iliana’s side.
Lexi hugged Sofie more tightly, protecting her from she knew not what. She only knew that she felt a crushing dread. Time seemed to have slowed down, for Theo was still looking puzzled. “Take us home,” she shrieked at him.
Finally Theo engaged the engine and they zipped away from the one-sided battle. She could see Iliana armored but weaponless confronting a black cloud. Jareth flew toward her. And then Jareth had a silvery object in his talons which he passed to the nixie.
“What is it?” Theo asked.
Lexi’s throat seized. She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Theo grinned and the yacht shot forward, skimming rapidly toward Severn Island. Her sense of impending doom diminished the closer they got to home. It was still an enormous relief when they docked. Theo tied up securely, scanning the sky with his usual calm.
He helped her ashore with his usual carefulness. “Are you going to tell me what that was all about?”
“We were threatened by something evil,” she managed. “Iliana is dealing with it.”
“Who or what is Iliana, my dear?”
“Our nixie.”
“Hmm. We have a nixie?” Theo unbuckled Sofie from Lexi’s chest and held her while Lexi removed their daughter’s life vest. The baby woke up and looked around her with guileless blue eyes.
Lexi held out her arms for her. “Yes. She guards the island, makes sure the channels stay clear and keeps intruders away.”
They began to walk back to the house. “How long have we had a nixie?” Theo asked casually.
Lexi thought. “I’m not sure. Two hundred years? Give or take a decade or so.”
“Two hundred years? I thought you didn’t like nixies?”
Lexi scowled at him over Sofie’s head. “I don’t. But I felt sorry for Iliana, more fool me, so I accepted her service and let her live in the stream.”
“Her service?” Theo opened the side door and helped Lexi out of her jacket.
“Nixies usually serve the goddess Rán. But Iliana permitted the valuables she was guarding for the goddess to fall into an abyss. Rán dismissed her and left her to wander the world. She wound up here. I accepted her as my vassal and gave her a home in exchange for her keeping the island safe from the sea.”
“And today?”
“I don’t know. I have never seen her when we sailed before. And never seen her mount Aegir’s stallions and ride into battle. I saw no foe, only a black cloud.”
“Jareth saw something,” Theo said. “I’m afraid I saw neither nixie nor enemy.”
“I hope he’s all right,” she rocked Sofie who decided she was hungry. “Let’s sit in the study.”
Theo nodded. “Sure, and you can tell me all you know about nixies in general, and Iliana in particular.”
Sofie was soon guzzling hungrily at her breast. Theo lit the fire and brought her a drink of water. He sat on the floor at her feet. “I’m all ears.”
“Nixies are the servants of Rán. She is the goddess responsible for those dead at sea. They say she drowns sailors when there are not wrecks enough. The nixies help her transport the dead to Hel or Valhalla, as the Valkyries take those slain in battle.”
“A sensible division of labor,” Theo said dryly.
She knew that tone. “You don’t believe me.”
“Let’s just say, that there are many legends associated with death. What about our nixie?”
Lexi shrugged. “When she arrived here, Iliana had a long tale of woe, but I assumed that she was simply careless and lost the goddess’ treasures and her place. She had no home. I let her live in the stream out of pure kindness.”
“A restricted life.”
“Probably. Nixies take the form of fish, so I didn’t see much of her for many years. But once you dragons built a house here and sailed these waters, she made sure the sandbars stayed put, and the winds were never too rough.” Should she tell Theo about Iliana’s treachery?
“So you were not friends with Iliana?”
Lexi stared at him. “She’s a nixie,” she repeated. “Created to do the goddess’ dirty work. Elves don’t have anything to do with such as she.”
“Oh, Lexi, this is the twenty-first century and you are now a Swede. You can’t keep vassals. Or your elven prejudices.”
“Can’t I? Let me tell you, Theo, that creature is not to be trusted. When we were married, and built this house, I let her come inside. Such a whining about being cold and wet – as if she were not a water sprite – and no sooner did she come indoors when she begin to set snares for Gunner.”
Theo laughed. “He’s barely sixteen.”
“He was fifteen last year. She didn’t care. And when Sofie was born, she asked me for her. As a boon, if you please.” She cradled the baby’s head as if to shield her from Iliana’s mischief.
“Asked for Sofie?” Theo was incredulous. As well he might be.
“Indeed. Heaven only knows what Iliana wanted to do with her. But whenever she looks at Sofie, I am afraid. I sent her back to live in the stream. And now she wants Jareth.” Surely Theo would understand that the nixie had to be stopped?
“You are afraid of her, yet you say she has protected the island for you for the bare reward of a home in our brook. It doesn’t seem as though she is much of a threat. Do you think she was trying to ensnare Jareth out at sea?”
Lexi swallowed hard. “I don’t know what she was doing. But Jareth saw whatever she was fighting. And I too felt the evil.”
He patted her knee. “I believe you. I wonder if I should go provide some backup?”
“Fight an enemy you can’t see?” Her voice was a screech. “Don’t even think of it.”
“And yet this nixie you so distrust is fighting what frightens you, on our behalf.”
“She is sworn to do so,” Lexi said stiffly. “She is my vassal.”
“Hmm. I wonder if your nixie is why the Eldest sent Jareth to stay with us?”
“I thought that was so he could ask you to dress him for his declaration,” Lexi said.
Theo shook his head. “Jareth could have asked me in a text. It’s true a more formal approach is traditional for such an important task, but it took him twenty seconds to ask, and me one to say yes. Nope, for the Eldest to intrude on my leave in such a way, there had to be some other purpose.”
She looked at him in exasperation. His bulk at her side was such a comfort always. But his reverence for Lord Lindorm was perplexing. “Didn’t you ask Uncle Thorvald?”
“If he had wished me to know, he would have told me.” Theo shrugged. “Jareth’s a nice kid. Smart. Brave as bag of wild cats. He’s welcome. Isn’t he?”
“Your family is my family,” she answered dutifully. “I too like Jareth. But you are the one that is brave, Theo. Didn’t you see Jareth’s face before he took dragon? He was terrified.”
Theo laughed. He shook his head. “Yet he flew off to deal with the thing that terrified him. Bravery consists of doing things that make you shudder. You see your peril, but you do your duty anyway. By that measure, I’m not brave at all and Jareth is.”
“You certainly are. And you have a chestful of medals to prove it!”
“I always feel like such a fraud to be honored for doing things I thoroughly enjoyed. Do you know why I’m good at Special Ops, Lexi?”
“You like the danger,” she said in resignation. She wished he did not, because she missed him when he was gone, and worried about him constantly.
“I like the action,” he corrected. “And I know the things I’m asked to do are often dangerous. At least, I know it intellectually. But I don’t feel the danger.”
He laid his huge hand over his heart. “I’m good at our operations because I can coolly weigh my chances and pick the best course. And then carry it out. If I were scared it would interfere with my ability to perform.”
She sighed. “I’m scared enough for both of us.”
He patted her knee again. “I’m like a bad penny. I just keep turning up. You won’t be rid of me anytime soon.”
She smiled weakly. “I’m glad to hear it. Do you think Jareth will be all right out there – or will fear make him seize up as he did when he tried out for Special Ops?”
“You know about that?” he sounded surprised – and disapproving.
“Your cousins talked of nothing else at Christmas!”
Theo looked even more disapproving. “They shouldn’t have been gossiping in front of you. Jareth had the misfortune to run into a series of tiger sharks while he was doing his night swim. Do you know how unusual it would be to encounter two? Let alone dozens?”
“They don’t school?”
“Tiger sharks are top-of-the-food-chain predators. They hunt alone. The Eldest believes someone, or something, is trying to kill Jareth as his parents were killed.”
“He’s an orphan?”
“His parents and brother all drowned at sea when he was six. He came to live with Uncle Thor and Aunt Inge. It wasn’t ideal, because they were so old and their own children were already grown, but Uncle Thor’s island was the safest place for him.”
“But who wants him dead?”
“We don’t know. The Eldest has his suspicions, but no proof.”
She felt sick. “He trusted us to take care of Jareth, and we’ve left him to deal with some malevolent magic on his own.”
“With your nixie by his side,” he reminded her.
What if her worst fears about the nixie were true? What if Iliana was in league with that malevolent force? Jareth could be dead or worse.