He completed his study of the female and turned his attention to Robin, who looked strangely small and frail. The puck’s Power felt nonexistent, and there was something wrong with his eyes as well. One of them was off-center, appearing to look off to the side. Frowning, Nikolas cupped his chin in one hand, resting the elbow on the other arm, which he crossed over his chest as he studied the puck.

In a low voice, Gawain said to him, “How long do you think we have?”

“Not long,” he responded. “A half an hour at most. We should not take any longer than that. This isn’t an isolated area, like our gathering was up north.”

“I can leave, while you two talk.”

“Oh no. No, no.” Sophie threw up her free hand in a universal “stop” gesture. She said to Gawain, “If you leave, I’m leaving too. I’m not going to stay here and talk to him alone.”

The emphasis she put on that was most distinctly not a positive one. Nikolas’s eyes narrowed. While he couldn’t care less about what the female thought of him, one way or another, she would talk with him.

He told her, “I am not leaving, and neither are you. You and I have things to say to each other.”

When she finally looked at him, her face was drawn tight with anger and distaste. “What are you going to do to keep me here? This again?” She held up her free hand, showing a pale slender wrist that was swollen and red with his fingermarks.

At the sight, Nikolas’s mouth tightened. The ghost of the man he used to be turned uneasily in its grave.

He had no illusions about himself. Once he would have been filled with remorse at bruising a female, but long ago he had turned cold and hard.

A female had killed so very many of his people. His friends. That female was hell-bent on annihilating an entire demesne, and Nikolas was capable of doing things now that he had never dreamed possible.

He said in a soft, warning voice, “I would do that and so much more if it meant we get answers we need.”

Robin growled while the woman leaned forward.

Forward, toward Nikolas, not away from him in fear. Meeting aggression with aggression. He raised his eyebrows. Usually people didn’t respond to him in such a manner.

She whispered, “You touch me again without my permission, and I will damage you.”

That face. Those mesmerizing eyes. She showed absolutely no fear even though he could detect traces of it in her scent. Surprised, he almost smiled before he remembered she was not someone he felt any inclination to smile at.

Gawain leaned forward too. “We don’t have time for this.” Looking at Sophie, he explained, “When Nikolas and I are together, we raise a discernible amount of energy between us. It is the same when we are with our comrades. The more of us who gather, the stronger the effect. We don’t do anything to generate it. It occurs naturally, although the effect also grows in intensity whenever we use magic.”

As Gawain spoke, Nikolas kept his attention trained on her. He found himself reluctant to look away. The miniscule changes in her expression were fascinating.

Her eyelids lowered briefly. “I think I understand what you’re saying. I can feel it just sitting here with you.”

“Our enemies use that to hunt us. As we are not a strong enough force to defeat them, it keeps us from banding together for any length of time.”

Her attention turned sharp and piercing. She looked interested in their problem almost in spite of herself. “What if you throw a null spell? Won’t that dissipate the energy?”

Nikolas didn’t like how she focused solely on Gawain. He said abruptly, “Yes, but the effect only lasts for a few minutes.”

“Usually, my null spells don’t last long either.” She hesitated, then said slowly, almost reluctantly, “What if I told you I might have a way to hold the null spell in place for longer than a few minutes. Would you be interested?”

“Do you mean like an amulet?” Nikolas didn’t like the sound of that.

No magic user liked null spells in amulets or jewelry. Typically, only nonmagical creatures liked to use null spell jewelry for protection, and prisons used null spells in cells and handcuffs to contain dangerous, Powerful prisoners.

Null spell amulets also worked counter to the Daoine Sidhe purpose when they gathered to cast the invocation to contact Lyonesse. Handling null amulets hampered their ability to cast defensive and offensive spells and to detect dangers around them.

“No,” Sophie replied. “What I can do is not that permanent, and it’s easily negated. Would you be interested?”

Nikolas met Gawain’s eyes. He could see the other man was as intrigued as he was. Gawain said, “Even if you could, it would have limited application. Dampening our Power also means crippling our abilities and dulling our senses. It’s a dangerous proposition to consider.”

“True,” Sophie agreed. “It would really only achieve one thing—it would give you the ability to be together for longer than a few minutes without being detected.”

He glanced at Gawain again. They could have a real conversation, maybe share a meal together. The lure was so strong Nikolas pulled back emotionally from it. In a harsh voice, he said, “What’s the catch to this?”

Sophie’s slender black eyebrows rose. “As far as I can tell, there are two catches. You already know the first. It would hamper your ability to cast spells, at least until you rinsed the spell off, which is easy to do. The second is—you haven’t convinced me yet that I should do a goddamn thing for you.”