Cash’s death stare promised consequences I didn’t want to push.
I swallowed. If the cost of my freedom would be converting to Seraphim, then perhaps I should do it. “Okay, you win.”
“You’ll stay?” he asked, dark brows winging up.
“Can we please discuss this back at our room?”
“I think everyone at this table deserves to be part of that decision.” He nodded to our company. “Don’t you think?”
Heat flamed my cheeks. How dare he?
Well, I was going to discuss the conversion, but now… “I’m going to help Marc. A witch has my friend. End of discussion.” I added quickly to the table, “No offense.”
“None taken, love,” Marc said.
“Then I’m coming with you.” Cash folded his arms.
“You can’t. You’re needed elsewhere—”
“I agree with that,” Marc interrupted. “Let her go. We can go through the in-between. I can protect her and act as her male guardian in public if the Simons ask.”
“Mind your own business.” Cash looked to the Tribunal for help. “A little help here?”
Jacine shrugged. Lena winced, probably from the intense emotion crowding her senses, and Zebedee lifted a brow before saying, “Perhaps the hunter is right and you’re safer on the grounds.”
“Obviously not, I was attacked!”
“This is true,” Cato added.
“I’m safer where nobody knows I’ll be. I’ll return as soon as we’ve dealt with the situation.”
“I’m still coming with you.” Cash wasn’t going to budge.
“You know as well as I that a plane ride to Australia is a day away. We don’t have the luxury of time. I’ll have to travel with Marc through the in-between and, besides, you have more important things to do than to babysit me. Like put together a team to trace the lab.”
“Enough.” Cato stood suddenly. “We all heard Marc say he has to be there in a few hours, thus he must teleport. She is not a damsel in distress. If she wants to prove her worth as the queen, then let her go. Gamekeeper, what news from the Empire?”
With those words, he sat down and I did too. Cash remained a statue of defiance at my back. I was sure I could hear a faint growl come from the base of his throat.
Marc blinked. “Right. Uh. Well, you see, it’s like…” He took a deep breath then met my eyes. “You’re going to have to return with me to the Empire.”
“No.” The word came out of my mouth before I could stop it. “Sorry, not happening. For starters, I have no body to return to, and second, I—”
“Love, if you don’t, then there will be repercussions. They won’t like it.”
Everyone at the table sat taller.
“Who’s ‘they’?” I asked.
“The Queen’s Inner Council,” Marc replied. “Her Guard. The United Peace-Keeping Force. You name it. They haven’t alerted the rest of the Empire that she’s gone—yet—but they can only hold off for so long. You have to return at some point and face the consequences of leaving.”
The air in the room dramatically dropped a few degrees and I hugged myself. “Can’t we just ignore them? They’ve put up with the queen being a recluse for a long time. Surely they can put up with me not coming back for a while.” A very long while. Like, forever.
Marc snorted. “Precisely, love. It’s been a hell of a long time, even by our immortal standards, to let the queen get away with her idiosyncrasies. She was there to justify them, now there is no one. They now know you’re not there, ruling, but here, playing games. They’re restless, and a few of their key Council members are here as well. If they don’t get everyone back, they’re open wide to a hostile takeover.”
“What? Other Council members? Who?” Jacine asked.
The rest of the table leaned in with avid attention.
“I’ve said too much.” Marc rubbed his eyes. “I can’t reveal who they are, you know that, else it could sway the Game and—”
“So they’re Players?” Jacine said, looking to her companions with curiosity. “There aren’t too many Players left, so it has to be some of them, perhaps even someone at this table.”
Until now, Lincoln and Wren had stayed silent and inconspicuous. At Jacine’s words, they both sank a little further in their chairs.
“Screw the Game, Marc. It’s war, now,” Thurstan added. “Get the Empire to come now.”
“They can’t open the gate from their side, you know that. Not without the queen there.”
“Then what repercussions will there be?”
“Love, they can’t walk through a portal here, but they will find a way. Someone smart enough will find a work around to your bio-key needed to open the gate. Because most of them believe you’ll be back, and they are loyal, they're giving you some leeway. They agree for you to wrap things up here, and as soon as there’s no danger to the Empire, they’ll be ready on their end for when you open the gate here. Until then, I’ll be taking every Player’s soul back as soon as I’m done with the bloody witch.”
Silence drifted over the table in a restless wave. Lincoln and Wren glanced at each other. I knew what they were thinking. They had an expiration date.
“So that’s it, then? Players are ordered home?” Strangely, relief washed over me as the words came out of my mouth. To have the decision removed from my hands was a weight lifted off my shoulders.
“We need our Players,” Zebedee said. “What’s left of them, anyway.”
“I concur,” said Cato. “We’re in a war. We need every soldier we can get and—” His final words caught in his throat. “I don’t want to die after all this time. I want to see my home once more.”
A murmur of agreement rippled around the table.
I got to my feet. “Let’s go then. I’ll go with Marc to deal with Eve. Cash, you go and find the lab and do whatever you have to do to secure the gate. I don’t even know where it is but let’s be proactive about sending you all home. Eliminate the danger first, then the gate.” Then a simple life with my friends. Speaking of which, time was ticking away, and I had to get to Kitty.
I expected defiance on Cash’s face, but instead found despair.
“Walk with me to our rooms,” I asked him, hoping to temper the situation. I glanced at Marc. “Meet me at the lab in five. Then we’ll go.”
“Make it twenty, love. I’m hungry and need cake. Hmm. Maybe thirty, depending on what cake the cook has made.”
“But—”
“Your friend is safe for now. No need to rush. I told her we’d be there in a few hours.”
“We’re not done here, Marc. You can finish explaining some things before you go,” Jacine said.
Marc opened his mouth to protest but was stopped by the questions of his fellow Tribunal members. I walked out.
Chapter 5
I walked through the cool castle halls to our suite. The further I walked, the more my heart grew heavy. Cash hadn’t followed. By the time I made it up two flights of enormous stairs to our room, I had talked myself into him not coming at all. He was too angry. The last time I’d gone against his wishes, I left him to spy on my father, Bruce. Cash hadn’t been happy. Furious, in fact. I ended up dying a few times (yes, actually dying) and he blamed his not being there for that. If it weren’t for the souls sacrificed inside me, I’d have been a goner. Now I had no souls inside me to sacrifice and if things went pear-shaped with Eve, it could be the end of me. But this was Kitty. He had to understand. I’d do the same for him.
Outside our large wooden doors, I pinched the bridge between my nose and took a deep breath, then entered.
The room was large, opulent and covered in maroon tapestries and antique portraits I was sure someone famous had painted. Many faces stared back at me, but not the one I truly wanted. I wasn’t even sure if Cash would come. My vivid imagination had him broodily staring out the window downstairs, watching the rain make muddy puddles in the ground, contemplating our relationship as much as I. The door opened.
Cash walked in and my heart skipped a beat.
His fierce gaze locked onto me.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi yourself.” He closed the door behind him and shrugged off his leather jacket. “You thought I wouldn’t come didn’t you?”
I scoffed. “No.”
He scanned my face with a small smile. “Sure you did. You were imagining the worst. Probably dreaming up some wild scenario about me brooding and eating a bucket of ice cream or something.”
“Close. You were watching the rainfall. From a window.” I grinned. “You know me so well.”
“That’s right. I do. And you can’t get rid of me that easy.” He placed his warm hands on my shoulders. “You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”
“That you don’t know how our room stays so immaculate when we never see a maid in here?”
“I’m serious, Roo.”
My hands circled his wrists. “I will be fine with Marc.”
That despair I sampled earlier flickered again in his eyes. “You’re not at full power. You’re a sitting duck. There are plenty of Players—even Watchers—out there who want to make a name by killing you. I don’t even trust the Tribunal. I can’t lose you again.”
“You aren’t losing me. I’ll be back in a day. Two tops.”
“No, you don’t understand. You don’t remember, but I do.”
“Remember what?” Then it hit me. “Oh. It’s because I’m going with Marc, and that was like the last time you saw the queen—I mean me—before you lost me for good. The last time before I made you do those unspeakable things.” I cupped his face and rubbed my thumb along his rough stubble. “Cash. I’m coming back, and you know I’ll never do that again, but I have to make sure Kitty is okay. Please tell me you understand that.” A burst of fear froze my lungs, and I had to force myself to calm. Marc said Kitty was fine, I had to hold on to that.
But fine for how long?
He stepped away from me to a small tray near the arched window that held a crystal decanter and glasses. He poured himself a drink. The dull light from the window hit the amber liquid as it sloshed into the Old Fashioned glass. Little brown sparkles danced around the whiskey. He took a deep breath and I could see him struggling to keep his emotions in check. He shot the drink back and then poured a second glass, which he held out as an offering. “So why are you afraid to convert?”
I accepted and swirled the liquid. There were so many feelings his words conjured. I couldn’t drink. I didn’t have the taste for it.
“Are you sure you want to know?”
His steady gaze answered me.
“Okay. I guess I am afraid of the unknown, that I’ll change, that if I remember more than they say I will, I won’t be able to handle it. The queen caused a lot of pain. It’s not just the people in this world, it’s the land and the oceans and the horrible mess humanity is making. Did you know that one of the biggest contributions to global warming is the methane from cows bred for human consumption?”
Cash’s eyebrow arched. “You’re worried about the cows?”
“No, I mean, yes, but… it’s the effect humanity is having on the planet. Don’t you see it’s all my fault if I brought people here in the first place?”
“You don’t make every choice for every person, so don’t feel guilty for their mistakes.”
“But they’re my mistakes. I just don’t remember them. Once I convert, I might start remembering, and then I’ll have nowhere to hide except to answer for my original choices. Do you know what I mean?”
“So are you going to run away from your life forever? Lena said the probability of you remembering is slight. And… You’re the fucking queen, Roo. You answer when you want to answer, if at all.” His temper flared, and he gave a deprecating flinch then retrieved the still full glass from me and put it on the table.
“Let’s be honest,” I continued, “the Tribunal tolerate me. They don’t need me there. I can sense their power. Each of them is strong enough to rule instead of me. There’s just so much that doesn’t add up and I don’t think I’m capable of figuring it out. Anyway, we don’t really have time to talk about this now.”
“No one said you had to do it alone. You don’t have to do it at all.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t leave you to deal with this all on your own. Not when I created it. I just… never mind.”
Eagerly he closed the gap between us. “I don’t want you to hurt. I want you safe.”
“But I have to go and see Kitty. Nothing’s going to happen to me. Don’t worry.”
“It’s not the things you intend that happen, it’s always the unexpected that gets in the way.”
I kissed him gently on the lips, hoping to placate him, because I’d run out of words and my stomach was being pulled into knots with each passing second that I waited to leave for Kitty.
“If you converted, I’d feel better,” Cash said, looking down on me. “You’ve only scratched the surface of your true abilities. You need more training. More protection. As it is, every time I think of being separated from you, I can’t breathe for fear of losing you. The two weeks I spent hunting down those rogues with Jed, I thought of you every minute of the day. Then this morning happened and now I can’t even leave you alone in this supposedly safe fortress.”
“Cash—”
“Don’t go. Stay here. With me.”
For a minute, I thought we’d never agree. A flicker of doubt flashed before me. What if this was it? What if we were too different now?
“Don’t start imagining the worst again.”
My eyes widened, caught in the act.
“Roo, you’ve never been in love the way I am. You don’t know how this feels.”
I frowned. “I love you just as much as you love me.”
“It’s not the same. You’ve never felt this debilitating”—he hit his chest with his palm—“intensity of emotion. You’ve had one-night stands and childish crushes. You think you know what love is, but you’ve got nothing to compare it too.”
I stepped back. “Don’t belittle my feelings.”
“I don’t mean to offend, but it’s the truth. I remember everything we went through, ever. You’ve only got the last few months to draw on.”
He lifted a finger and trailed it down the vein in my neck, lighting the fuse that shot straight to my core. My eyes fluttered closed at the warm spread of pleasure and my body rocketed into turmoil. Part needed more touch, part churned to go and save my friends.
“I remember everything about you,” he whispered. “How you like to be touched. Where you like to be kissed. The mewling sound you make when I—” He leisurely stroked his hand down my front, fingertips tracing the curve of my collarbone, down, down, to the swell of my chest where he rolled my nipple through my clothing. That fuse he lit earlier sparked again and I arched into him.
“Not fair, Cash.” Chagrin warmed my face, and I glared at him. Pure want echoed back at me. My reaction only spurred him on.
He snapped our bodies together and leaned down, hot breath near my ear. “You love me to tease you, and you pretend not to like it, but you do.” He nipped my jawline. “I know this because I know you. You’ve only begun to know me.”
Despite myself, I softened against him. He had a point. I thought he was the love of my life, but it was a short life. His was immense. Not just the one as a god, as the Queen’s Enforcer, but the thousands of past lives as a human on Earth. I didn’t know all his idiosyncrasies yet, but he knew mine. “You’re right.”
He stared. “I am?”
“Yes.” I snuggled into him, my breath coming in hard, ready and eager to make peace. I’d had enough fighting.
“So, you’ll stay.”
“No, I meant, I’ll do it. I’ll convert.” It was my turn to nip along his jaw, prickly and hard.
“This isn’t a trick, is it?”
I licked. He shivered.
“No. I want to live a long
life with you. I want to learn everything about you. You proposed to me wanting the same thing, and this body will pass its use-by date long before yours. You’ll outlive me by far. I want the chance to fall in love with you, over and over again. So,” I brushed my fingers on his torso, under his shirt, “baby steps, okay? Let me go with Marc and as soon as I’m back, I’ll convert.”
“Baby steps?” He captured my teasing hands and pulled them away from him. “Why not convert now?”
“You know very well the blood infusion takes time we don’t have. We’re late as it is. There’s no telling what Eve is doing to Kitty. The last time she faced a witch, she barely escaped with her life, remember? Remember her crisp skin and singed hair?” I still had nightmares about the cracking sound the knife made when Sabina sliced her skin to open up her flesh for the healing hex.
My heart leapt into my throat thinking about it.
“Okay. I can live with two days,” he conceded.
“I love you.” A weight lifted off my shoulders.
“Two days. That’s all.”
“And when I come back, we can talk wedding. You and me.”
“I can’t wait to be married to you.” His lids grew heavy and he tugged me in tight. “Then I will have all the time in the world to explore baby steps with you.”
A grin split my face and I kissed him, unable to pull my smile. “Thank you.”
“You will be thanking me in a minute.” His voice, so close to my ear, all masculine and hot, shot sparks into my nerve endings. I melted into him, compliance he took well advantage of as he directed me backward to the bed.
“You know what I mean,” I said. “For being okay with me going.”
The Game of Gods: Series Box Set Page 76
