by Jane Godman
When they stepped outside, the storm had died down. The air was still and crisp, and thick snow lay like cake frosting over the ground. Instead of the disappointment Hollie had expected, Torque and Alban exchanged a smile.
“She’s alive.” They spoke the words together.
Chapter 14
“I don’t understand.” Hollie looked from Torque to Alban in bewilderment. “Deigh didn’t tell you anything. How can you possibly walk away from that conversation and say with certainty that Teine is alive?”
“Because Deigh told Alban how to undo the insomnia charm. It’s not her spell. Only the person who cast it knows how to reverse it. Teine must have told Deigh what to do.”
“Why would she do that?” Hollie asked. “I thought you said they had nothing to do with each other.”
“Think about it.” Torque took her arm, propelling her through the deep drifts. “Imagine you are an evil sorceress, you’ve just been burned by dragon fire and fallen into a ravine. Against all the odds, you survived. Everyone in these Highlands hates you and is celebrating the news of your demise. You need help and a place to recover. Where do you go?”
“To the only other evil sorceress in the vicinity,” Alban said. “Your icy twin.”
“But why didn’t Deigh turn her away? They didn’t love each other, but they were both in love with you.” So Hollie had noticed that. To be fair, it was hard to miss. Deigh wasn’t exactly subtle. “If Teine was her rival for your affections, why not let her die?”
“They don’t understand love. Either of them. Who knows why she chose to help her? Maybe it was, as she said, a twin thing.”
Alban snorted. “You mean foul blood is thicker than water? It’s a pity you don’t have time to take her up on her offer.”
“What do you mean?” Torque asked.
“You know. Tempt her down from her mountaintop. Sweeten her up with that Cumhachdach charm of yours. Find out what really happened.” Alban appeared oblivious of the glare Torque was giving him.
“Alban has a point,” Hollie said.
“Is this a conspiracy?” Torque growled. Why would Hollie want him to spend time with his crazy ex? Not that she knew the details about the depths of how unhinged Deigh could be.
“It’s obvious she’ll talk to you.” She stopped and looked back at the ice palace. “You should set something up.”
He tapped his watch. “We don’t have time. I have to get back for this little matter of a concert in front of thousands of people.”
“Invite her.” He blinked at her. “Not to the one we are rushing back for, but to the next one in Denver. Ask her to be your guest at that.”
“Hollie, we probably need to have a serious talk about some things. Set a few relationship boundaries, but not right now—”
She caught hold of his arm. “Torque, listen to me. I don’t want you to spend time with a mad ice witch who looks at you like she wants to lick every inch of you. But I do want to catch the Incinerator. And if you giving Deigh a VIP pass to a Beast concert and taking her out to dinner is what it takes, I can live with that.” She paused. “I’ll hate every second, but I can do it. I think.”
“I could offer to be Deigh’s traveling companion,” Alban said. “It won’t be much fun of a trip, but at least we’ll know what she is doing.”
“Do you have a passport?” Torque asked. “I doubt Deigh does.”
“I’m sure she can conjure one up for herself, but I actually keep mine up to date.” Alban grinned at Hollie. “While yon Cumhachdach deals with the icy one, you could take me out for a decent, well-done steak.”
“So you two get to go out and have fun, and I get to go on a date with Deigh? Build her hopes up and spend the night fighting her off?” Torque groaned in frustration. “Thanks, guys.”
“Isn’t it worth it to find out, once and for all, if Teine is the Incinerator?” Hollie asked.
“If there was any other way...” He gave a sigh of surrender. “Wait here.”
As he walked back toward the ice palace, Alban’s sympathetic tones followed him. “Och, you cannae blame him. Deigh is as mad as a box of frogs in a thunderstorm.”
Torque knew a moment of longing for the days when Alban was the enemy. A good dragon fight, with claws and fire-breathing...that was just what he needed right now to release his tension. He was supposed to be in charge around here, so how the hell had he ended up in this position? More time than was necessary with the very woman he had spent the best part of several centuries avoiding was not an option he liked. And tricking a sorceress? Never a good move.
At least Deigh didn’t have Teine’s legendary fortune-telling talents. If she had been able to see into the future and know what was coming, they’d be storing up a world of trouble. He frowned. He didn’t think Deigh had the same skill. She’d never mentioned them, whereas Teine boasted of her ability to predict the future.
But Hollie was right. This was about finding the Incinerator. Nothing they’d tried so far had brought them any answers. Maybe it was time for an unconventional approach. He just hoped he could keep it low-key. He bit back a laugh. This was Deigh. Back when the first King Kenneth had been on the throne, Torque had glanced her way once and she’d been ordering her bride clothes. Unfortunately, he hadn’t known about that and had worked on the assumption that she was sane when he got involved with her. It hadn’t taken long for him to discover his mistake.“You came back.” Deigh turned to him with shining eyes as he walked back through the frozen portal.
Even though he knew iced water ran in her veins and she had a cruel streak a mile wide, he pitied her in that instant. If there had been another way to get this information, he’d have taken it. Recalling some of her deeds helped stiffen his spine. This was the woman who had caused a landslide and buried a whole village. The reason? She overheard someone say that one of the maidens was prettier than her. And that time when the crops failed for three consecutive summers? Deigh had been harboring a grudge because a visiting sorceress had been welcomed into the home of a Highland witch. Both the witch and her guest had been found incarcerated in a block of ice—even though it was high summer—and hundreds of people in the surrounding area had starved.
Yeah, he could harden his heart against Deigh’s hopeful smile. Particularly if she was covering for her even more sinister sister.
“I wondered if you might like to take a trip.”
* * *
Hollie hadn’t timed Torque’s last trans-Atlantic dragon flight, but she knew they were cutting it dangerously fine if they were going to make it back to Dallas for the concert. Even factoring in magic, dragon speed and time differences, Ged would be tearing his hair out and cursing Torque’s legendary unpunctuality. Leaving a dozen questions unspoken, they said goodbye to Alban on the summit of Càrn Eighe.
“Och, won’t I be seeing you again in just a few days?” Alban winked at Hollie. “Remember what I said. Steak. Well done. No sides.”
She stood on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek. “I’ll take you to the best steak house in Denver.”
Alban grinned at Torque over her head. “I think I did better than you out of this deal. At least my date is sane.”
“I knew there was a reason why we fought the Moiteil for all those years.” Torque scowled. “Just get Deigh to America in three days’ time. I’ll have someone contact you when the travel and accommodation arrangements are made.”
“Separate rooms, right?” Alban’s flippant air was replaced by a hint of nervousness.
Torque’s smile was pure mischief. “I’ll have to see what I can do. Hotels get so busy at this time of year.”
“Stop tormenting Alban.” Hollie lightly punched his upper arm. “We have to get going. Right now.”
Flying back felt different. Perhaps it was because the exhilaration was there but the fear was gone. And a whole new side of Torque’s li
fe had been opened up to her. He was a dragon, but he had spent most of his life living among humans. Those humans were also shifters, or, like Kirsty, they had additional powers. But they lived otherwise normal lives. Their hopes, fears and dreams looked a lot like Hollie’s own. Except for the wicked sorceress who had lurked in the background, of course. Even so, Hollie’s own world wasn’t very different. Instead of enchanted spells, the villains carried guns and knives.
It was still right against wrong, still ordinary people trying to get on with their lives, sometimes in the face of monumental evil. That brought her thoughts back to the Incinerator. Her world and Torque’s had collided because of the arsonist. But which of those worlds did the fire-starter come from? Had he stepped from her world of science and logic into Torque’s magical sphere? Or was it the other way around? Would they catch him with conventional weapons, or could he only be defeated with supernatural powers?
Tired of thinking, she rested her head against Torque’s neck, letting his warmth and strength soothe her. It seemed like only minutes later that he was swooping low over the dark outline of the Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve.
“How much time do we have?” he asked as soon as he had shifted back.
“The concert starts in an hour.” Hollie drew his clothes from the backpack and handed them to him.
“Plenty of time.”
She managed to stop her mouth from dropping open. “Dear Lord. You’re serious.”
He pulled her close, kissing her quickly on the lips. “Let’s go.”
Taking his cell phone from the back pocket of his jeans, he called a cab as they walked along the moonlit trail. They reached the highway and waited only a few minutes before the driver drew up at the edge of the sidewalk. When Torque gave him directions to the stadium where the concert was being held, he shook his head.
“I dropped two guys off there an hour ago and the streets were already blocked. No way we’ll get near that place now.”
“Get us as close as you can.” When the driver started to protest, Torque withdrew a wad of cash from the back pocket of his jeans. “And fast.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” He turned the cab around.
* * *
Hollie could see the arena as they approached. The huge building was located on a hill just outside the city, and searchlights positioned on the edge of the open roof lit up the night sky. As they got closer, the traffic slowed to a crawl and then came to a standstill. Police cruisers blocked the exit roads. Although there were people on the sidewalk, the lack of crowds was an indication that the concert was about to start.
“We’ll walk from here.” Torque shoved another handful of money into the driver’s hand and gestured for Hollie to follow him out of the cab.
“Torque.” She was torn between laughter and dismay. “We are still at least ten minutes from the venue.”
“Then we need to move faster.” Grabbing her hand, he broke into a run. Powering past people who were walking toward the stadium, he kept going, only pausing occasionally to check that she was okay.
Laughing, Hollie nodded. “Just get there. I promised Ged,” she panted.
By the time they reached the entrance, her lungs were about to collapse and her leg muscles had given everything they had. Luckily, the security guard on the door recognized Torque and waved him through.
“Ged?” Torque asked.
“He’s backstage. Along this corridor and turn right.”
The opening bars of the first number were playing as they dashed toward the stage. Hollie could see a stand-in guitarist in Torque’s usual position. At the same time that Khan erupted onto the stage from the rear, Torque vaulted on from the front. Grabbing his guitar from the stand-in, he high-fived the startled guy, grinned at Dev and gave one of his trademark leaps into the air. The audience, clearly believing it to be part of the performance, went wild.
Hollie sidled around to the rear of the stage to where Ged was standing with his arms folded across his huge chest. His expression was unreadable as he glanced down at her.
“Thanks for getting him back on time.” Even though he had to yell to be heard, she picked up on the sarcasm in his voice.
After a minute or two, Ged nodded toward the stage, where Torque was on his knees. He was bent backward so his head touched the floor and his flame-colored hair fanned out around him. As they watched, he jumped to his feet and powered across to the other side of the stage. Explosions followed in his wake. Even from a distance, Hollie could feel raw power coming off him in waves.
“I didn’t think it was possible for Torque to have even more energy,” Ged said. “But something has invigorated him.”
Hollie nodded. She had seen the love he had for his Highland home. Now that he had been back there and accepted that it was part of him, could he continue to stay away?
* * *
The following morning, over breakfast, Ged brought them up to speed with the police inquiry into the bus fire.
“There is very little to tell. What was left of the vehicle was in such a poor state the fire investigation team didn’t have much to work on.” Ged turned to Hollie. “You’ll probably already know what I’m about to say next. There was no trace of an additional accelerant, so it was likely he used gasoline. Since there was gas in the tanks, however, that can’t be taken as conclusive. They are working on the theory that a container, probably a bottle, of some sort was thrown through the front window and then the same thing through the rear window.”
“A Molotov cocktail,” Hollie said. “The simplest and most effective way of making a firebomb. You fill a bottle with gasoline, or another accelerant, stuff a rag in the neck, light the rag and throw the bottle through the window of the building or vehicle you want to set fire to. As the bottle breaks, the accelerant spills out and catches alight.”
“There was a lot of glass and fabric remnants at the scene, as you’d expect from a bus that was a home on the road, but it hasn’t been possible for the investigators to get anything useful from them.”
“What about the person who did this?” Torque asked. “Have the police come up with any ideas, even any suspects?”
He had told Ged about Teine and the plan to bring Deigh to Denver in an attempt to get more information from her. It was always helpful to have Ged on his side and Beast as backup, particularly now that Hollie’s safety was at risk.
“Nothing so far. Obviously, they don’t think it was a random attack. Their advice was to increase security, which I’ve already done. From now on, Rick’s security team will be following the new bus. When we stop, they’ll patrol the exterior.”
Hollie slumped back in her seat. “So we are no closer to knowing who is responsible?”
Torque leaned across the table and took her hand. “All we know for sure is that this is escalating.”
Although he couldn’t say why, he felt like the end was approaching. A final confrontation was looming and he had to put himself and Hollie on the right side of it. It was just so hard to achieve that goal when their opponent remained faceless.
The encounter with Deigh had brought him an answer...of sorts. It seemed his conviction that Teine was alive had been proved correct. There was still a long way to go before he could confirm the connection between Teine and these fires. And then he had to do the hardest thing of all. He had to stop her...
Even if Teine wasn’t the Incinerator, if she was alive, she was trouble. One day, Torque would have to face her again. Since he was never going back into captivity, that meant he had to defeat her. Or die trying.
When Ged left, Hollie regarded him over the top of her coffee cup. “We never did talk about you and Deigh.”
“Does that bother you? It shouldn’t.”
She tilted her head to one side as she considered the question. “No, it doesn’t bother me in that way. How could I be jealous of something that happene
d in your past? I suppose I’m curious. You and her?” She shook her head. “I can’t see that.”
“I’m not going to pretend to be a victim, but the Deigh I became involved with wasn’t the woman you saw on that mountaintop. We met in the valley—yes, she left her ice palace—and she appeared normal. Did I think she was the love of my life? No. Was I attracted to her? Yes. I was stupid, or horny. I guess the two things can often be the same. I got into a relationship with her without knowing anything about her. It didn’t take me long to realize she was insane. And, of course, I discovered she was a sorceress, who just happened to be Teine’s sister. While I was backing off, Deigh thought she was in the middle of the greatest love affair of all time. Our breakup wasn’t pretty.”
“Did she leave her ice palace specifically to seek you out?” Hollie asked.
“I never thought of it that way.” Torque considered the question. It was so long ago, and some memories were better left in the past. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m not sure. It just seems strange that both sisters had this intense thing for you.” She gave him a teasing smile. “Not that I don’t get it, of course. But I wondered if Deigh came looking for you as a way of getting at Teine. You said they hated each other, and it would be the ultimate way to hurt her sister. Steal the guy she’s crazy about. How did Teine react when she knew you and Deigh were together?”
“I don’t know. I can’t imagine she took it well, but I never saw the two of them interact. Like I said, it was well known in the Highlands that they kept well away from each other.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “God, this is hard.”
Hollie returned the clasp of his hand, anxiety in the depths of her eyes. “What is?”
“All of it.” He raised her hand to his lips. “I’m a dragon. I should be able to control this. Whatever the hell this is.”
“If we hadn’t met, none of this would have come your way...”
