The Royal Hunter Part 7

"You say there will always be suffering in the world. You would be right.

That does not change. However, for all the suffering in the world, many could be called upon to champion the cause of those other victims. In the case of the queen, there is only you.

"No one else can help her?"

"All who could have helped have tried, and failed."

"I find it odd that you keep going on about how your beloved queen is in

mortal danger, yet you don't seem to care overmuch for her."

That took him aback. "How would you know what I feel?" His gaze narrowed.

"I thought you said your empathy dealt only with animals."

She couldn't get used to the way he talked so easily about her gift. It unnerved

her. "Just answer my question."

"I am here at the queen's request."

"So this is what, a favor? A good deed? I asked you before what was in it for

you and you didn't answer. I want an answer."

He looked her dead in the eye. "A pile of money."

She swallowed. So, there was what amounted to a bounty on her head. And

she was looking at what was probably the future's best bounty hunter. Lovely, just lovely. "So you're basically kidnapping me. And I'm supposed to go along with this willingly, to boot."

"I am not a kidnapper." He seemed honestly affronted by the notion. "I'm a businessman. Of sorts."

"You're a mercenary, you mean. A professional bully. Of sorts."

He shrugged off the sarcasm, but there was an air of supreme confidence about him now. Okay, a bigger air than usual. "I don't bully. But I do have special skills of my own. Available for a price."

Talia wasn't used to people jerking her chain, not in her quiet, safe little existence. But her chain had been jerked now and she found it impossible to remain pa.s.sive. Maybe she was too far down the Yellow Brick Road now to have any perspective left. Whatever the cause, she found herself running her gaze over him, doc.u.menting his serviceable clothing, his body's latent powerful stance, the calculating look that met hers when she came back to his eyes. "Yes, I can imagine you do."

His eyes widened a bit and for the first time a tiny spark of awareness shot into their dark depths. s.e.xual awareness. Whoa, she thought, backpedaling quickly. We won't be going there again. His mercenary skills apparently extended beyond kidnapping for his queen to... other things. Things she had little experience with and no business fooling around with. Not with him anyway.

She glanced away and caught her reflection in the pond. Baggy overalls, a T- s.h.i.+rt that was almost as old as she was, and Beatrice's fis.h.i.+ng bonnet. Oh, yeah, she was just a seduction waiting to happen. She smiled wryly.

"I'm glad I amuse you," he said shortly. The spark-if it ever really existed- had died, replaced by the cool competence and impatience that were more

typical of him.

She didn't tell him she was amused at herself, not him. She liked him better when he was on the defensive. He was still c.o.c.ky and arrogant as h.e.l.l, but he seemed more human somehow.

"You said there would always be risks, whether I went with you or not. What did you mean? Does it have something to do with Jimmy?""There are those who would like nothing better than for Wales to-"She lifted her hand. "Hold up. Wales?"

"Of course. One of Britain's three kingdoms."

"Countries, you mean. Wales, Scotland, and England. But they are united under one monarchy."

He stared at her for a long moment, then said, "That changes."

"Oh." Talia wanted to ask him more, and at the same time she didn't want to hear another d.a.m.n thing. Right now she had goose b.u.mps on her goose

b.u.mps. He was pretty d.a.m.n good at this "I'm from the future" thing and she wasn't liking it.

"Lord Chamberlain, our High Parliamentarian, would like nothing better than

for Llanfair to lose its ruler and heir to the throne in one tragic death."She stilled. Llanfair? In her mother's fairy tales King Gynan's castle was set in the magical land of Llanfair. She'd thought it had been all make-believe. She desperately wanted to keep believing that. Then something else he'd said struck her. "Ruler and heir?""Queen Catriona is pregnant with a son. The heir to the throne."

Chapter 4.

Pregnant. Talia's stomach tightened. She wanted to believe this was indeed some sort of elaborate fairy tale, a bizarre dream that she might still wake up from. But the idea that there was an unborn child at the center of it all made everything that much harder.

Archer didn't let up. "If she dies, and the heir with her, it will make those difficulties she inherited from her father look like a simple ripple of disturbance."

"Does she have enemies?" Why was she talking about this person as if she really existed? Only, technically she didn't actually exist. Not yet. Not for some unnamed number of years in the future. Talia's head began to throb.

"On the surface, things seem in line, but there is an undercurrent of corruption that I know to be fact. Chamberlain has organized his opposition well. They are simply waiting for word of her death to overthrow what would remain of the monarchy."

"And you know all this firsthand? High-level access for a businessman, wouldn't you say?" He didn't so much as twitch a muscle. "There are all sorts of commodities one can broker in. Information being one of them." He held her gaze. "Baleweg, it appears, isn't the only one who has mastered time travel. Chamberlain had Dideon sent here to stop you from returning."

This was the part that Talia had the hardest time explaining away. Archer and Baleweg could be two flakes or con artists who happened to know her mother and somehow knew about her make-believe tales. However, Jimmy's threat and a.s.sault, and the fact that he knew Archer... that one was a bit harder. Too many people seemed to know all about this. And believe it. "How did you recognize Jimmy?"

"Dideon. His name is Dideon. I knew he worked for Chamberlain. Or he did."Talia's eyes widened. "What does that mean?""It means he's no longer a threat to you.""You-" She couldn't say it. All of a sudden this was no longer a joke or an elaborate charade. The man was a mercenary, after all. No matter what t.i.tle he gave it. Didn't mercenaries kill people? "Is he... ?"

"Gone."

Talia swallowed hard. So that was the business he'd been taking care of. A shudder crawled down her spine.

"But trust me," Archer said, "there will be others. Better for you to come with

us. We can get you to the queen, put you under her direct protection."

"Wait a minute. If Jimmy wanted me dead, why am I still alive? He certainly had ample opportunity." She thought of the long hours they'd spent alone in the kennels when she'd first trained him and shuddered again.

"We questioned him on that. Apparently, Dideon was originally sent here to observe you, find out if there was a way to subvert your powers, use them for their good against the queen. He was as much your warden as your hangman."

Talia was trying to sort it all out in her mind, but it was such an impossible thing to truly comprehend. One indisputable fact was that Jimmy hadthreatened her. "So if they send someone else, can you recognize him?"

"I know most of the players, but I don't intend to stick around here and find them all out. It is best if we move quickly. The faster we get you back, the faster this will come to an end, and you can return to your life here, safe and sound."

He was wrong. Safe was no longer an option. Her life was suddenly filled with insanity that she was supposed to accept. And she simply couldn't stand there one second longer. She'd hit maximum stress level. Without another word, she turned and began marching back to the house.

Archer immediately caught up to her and grabbed her arm. "We don't have

time for this."Talia yanked her arm free and poked a finger at his chest. "Correction, youdon't have time for this. I, on the other hand, have as much time as I want. So why don't you just let me go and return to wherever you slithered out from."

His eyes widened with real surprise. "Slithered?"

"Isn't that what kidnapping mercenary snakes do? Slither?"

His jaw clenched. "I'm not a mercenary or a kidnapper. And I'm not a snake."

She almost laughed. "That offends you? Tough guy like yourself? I imagine

you've been called much worse."

It didn't help matters that this close up, she noticed he had a tiny cleft in his

chin. And that when he got angry, his accent was stronger, flatter. No, she shouldn't be noticing stuff like that. She had an escape to make.

"Oh, I've been called many things, sweetheart.

But snake? Slithered?" He shook his head. "I really must be losing my touch."

Now she c.o.c.ked a hand on her hip. "You have a touch?"

His eyebrows lifted.

Talia caught herself wanting to smile. Adrenaline was pumping through her, along with something else that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She wasn't actually enjoying this little heated interchange. Was she? It was just some sort of weird stress transfer that suddenly had her hyperaware of him. "Did you really think you'd just pop into my life, drop this amazing little fairy tale of yours in my lap, and expect me to go dancing off behind you, all because you twinkled those eyes and showed off that little cleft in your chin?"

Oops. She'd been doing fine up to that last part. What had been the vaguest suspicion of a smile became a blinding grin. As it turned out, the man had touch. In spades.

"You noticed the cleft, huh?" Gone completely was the impatient, frustrated mercenary. In the short time she'd known him, she'd never have guessed him capable of anything resembling charm. She immediately decided he was safer when he was cold and mercenarylike.

"Okay," she managed, her throat tight and strangely achy. "So you might have