by Jane Kindred
The pill had dissolved. “And you think I had something to do with Aravella’s death.”
“No. No, I do not. I think you’re a suspect in the sheriff’s eyes until they determine whether it was an accident. And if they question you again and ask what motive Aravella might have had to kill herself…”
I shook my head against his chest. “I wouldn’t tell them that.” The pill was already starting to hit me, and my legs stopped shaking.
He was quiet for a few minutes, stroking my arm, and I was already getting sleepy. I’d forgotten I’d taken the medication on top of having had too much to drink. “So you’ve never stepped into a hollow,” he mused. “Never jumped?”
“No,” I murmured. “I tend to start fires.”
Chapter Seventeen
The angry sound of a fist pounding on solid oak woke me.
When I pried one eye open, Ares stood at the partly open door, and I was distracted for a moment by the perfection of his naked posterior until I heard Lukas’s furious voice.
“What the fuck is she doing in there with you? Open the fucking door, or I’m going to kick it down whether you move or not.”
Mortified, I grasped the blanket, pulling it up to my chin, though I was still wearing the silk robe, as Ares stepped aside. Lukas stared at me, his mossy eyes dark with disgust, and cast a hateful glare at Ares, who was remarkably calm. And possibly smirking.
“Konstantin was looking for you,” he told me between gritted teeth. I suddenly felt about two feet tall. “He said you hadn’t slept in your bed. I searched the grounds and even went up to the cottage, afraid something might have happened to you after I…”
“After you got her drunk and toyed with her and dumped her on her ass in the woods,” Ares supplied smoothly.
Lukas directed an icy stare at his brother-in-law. “What happened between Millie and me is none of your business. You’re the one who took advantage of her.”
I’d had enough. I threw off the covers and stepped out of the bed, tightening the sash. “I’m completely capable of making my own decisions, Lukas.” Even if my head was throbbing with the hangover and regret. “I’m not a child, so you can quit playing the protective uncle.” I said the last word with a bitter sting, and Lukas closed his mouth on whatever retort he’d been about to make.
After a moment of staring one another down, Lukas spoke again. “I really thought you were a better judge of character.” He threw a disdainful sneer toward Ares before he turned his glare on me and continued. “You and I were an accident, but everything the Apostolous do is quite deliberate. If you had any idea—”
“I know everything I need to know about the Apostolous. At least they don’t lie about who they are.”
Lukas laughed sharply. “Oh, they don’t, do they? Then I suppose Ares has been completely out in the open about his desire to appropriate the Strand. And I suppose it’s a complete coincidence that as soon as he discovered the estate and all the Strand holdings might actually belong to you and not to me, he developed an instant attraction to you.” Heat stole over my face as I realized what he was implying.
Ares took a menacing step toward Lukas, still unapologetically and unself-consciously naked. “That’s a shit thing to say.”
“You’re claiming you have no interest in the property?”
Ares folded his arms over his bare chest. “I’m saying it’s a shit thing to say. I think you should go now.”
With one hand on the door handle, Lukas spoke to me. “I came to tell you someone’s here to see you. Someone named Cole showed up early this morning demanding to know what we’d done with you.” He threw a glance of contempt at Ares. “I’ll let him know you’re being well taken care of.”
Flinching as the door slammed behind him, I chewed on a cuticle. What in the world was Cole doing here? I hadn’t thought to try to contact him since my laptop and phone had gone missing. He must have been worried sick to drive all the way up the coast to find me.
“Listen, Millie. What he said about the estate—”
“Don’t.” I turned away from Ares and gathered my clothes and my boots. The humiliating realization that I’d been played—by someone very, very good at it—was more than I wanted to deal with right now. “I’ll have the housekeeping staff return the robe to you later.”
* * * * *
I managed to find my way back to my room without running into anyone other than Roger, who steered me toward the right hallway without asking where I’d been.
“Millie?” Konstantin’s voice came from across the hall as I ducked into my room.
Damn. “I’ll be right there, honey,” I called, and closed the door, hurriedly dragging out my duffel bag and digging through it for a clean long-sleeved white T-shirt and an almost-clean pair of jeans. For once, my hair wasn’t standing up in five different directions. I must have slept like a stone after taking that pill. I wet my hands and grabbed a squirt of glosser, running my fingers through my hair to make it look less slept on, and then dabbed a bit of lip stain on my mouth and cheeks and under my brows before shoving my feet into a pair of silver-and-pink brocade tennis flats, grabbing my gunmetal-gray zip-up hoodie sweater and hurrying back out. I seriously needed to pee, but I steeled myself against it and crossed the hall.
With my hands tucked casually into my pockets, I smiled at Konstantin as I entered. “How are you feeling? Do you think you’re up to doing a few exercises after breakfast?”
“I already had breakfast.” Konstantin gave me a perturbed look. A glance at the clock on his dresser said it was nearly eleven. “Where’d you go last night?”
I’d never lied to him before, but I couldn’t think of any way not to. “I slept at the cottage. I just needed some time away from all the people that were here. I get a little overwhelmed by large groups. I came by to see you, though, around dinnertime. But you’d just fallen asleep.”
“I know,” he said, rolling his eyes. “I was awake at first, remember? And then you were talking to Aunt Alexis, and I got tired.”
“Sorry.” I came in closer and sat on the edge of the bed. “I think maybe you have some other food allergies that make you sleepy after you eat,” I suggested lightly. “I’m going to talk to Karolina about changing some things around.” I smoothed his hair. “And maybe later we can practice walking without the crutches. But right now I need to go talk to a friend of mine who’s come to visit.”
“Someone who came to say good-bye to Mamma?”
My heart twisted at the way his mouth turned down at the reminder that his mother was gone. “No, sweetie. He never got to meet your mamma. He’s just a friend from where I live.”
Konstantin looked puzzled. “But you live here.”
I bit my lip. I hadn’t even thought about how his attachment to me was going to hit him—maybe hit us both, if I was honest—when the investigation was over and I went back to my life. “I live here right now,” I said carefully, “but my home is in San Francisco.” Before this realization could sink in, I quickly changed the subject. “Maybe you and I can go have lunch in Jerusalem a little later with my friend Cole, and we can take a walk. We don’t want you to lose all the progress you’ve made getting your legs strong.”
He perked up at the mention of Jerusalem, as if I’d suggested going to San Francisco itself, and I wondered how often he got out of this house even when he wasn’t laid up. “Can we go to Lumi’s?”
I smiled. “Sure. Let me just check with your pappa and make sure he doesn’t have any other lunch plans for you.” I cringed inwardly as I said it, knowing how much fun that conversation was going to be.
“He never has plans for me,” said Konstantin, turning back to the video game he’d paused when I came in. The words were matter-of-fact, without any petulance or pouting, and the idea that it was such a foregone conclusion for him that he didn’t even seem to feel neglected rekindled my ange
r at how Lukas had been raising his son. Things seemed to have changed somewhat over the past few days, but uncomfortable or not, I was going to broach the subject of Konstantin’s needs.
* * * * *
A kid could be fooled by a quick change of clothes, a daub of glosser and some lip stain, but there was no fooling Cole. I found him waiting, awkward and anxious, in a private sun parlor at the front of the manor, a cup of tea and a plate of crumpets beside him.
He jumped to his feet and launched himself at me. “Millie! Thank God!” He squeezed me in a bear hug, and then held me at arm’s length, brown eyes narrowed at the fading bruises and scrapes on my cheek. “Jesus. What happened to you? What the hell is going on here?”
“It’s a really, really long story.” I pulled him in for another hug. “And I can’t begin to tell you how unbelievably glad I am to see you right now. Even if you are a lunatic for driving all the way here.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” He drew back and glared at me. “After all the bizarre stories I was getting from you? The fake town? Lukas Strand? And then I don’t hear a word from you for three days and your phone goes straight to voice mail.”
“It’s not a fake town.” I laughed. “You obviously found it. And I misplaced my phone and my laptop somewhere when I moved my things from the cottage.”
Cole frowned. “Millie, there is no Jerusalem, California. The only way I found you was by searching on ‘Strand’ and ‘Lighthouse’—because you’d mentioned you were staying in one. Strand Winery didn’t even come up, despite what their sign says outside.”
“I don’t know what’s up with the search listings, or why the town name isn’t on the map, but you drove right through it to get here.”
“I drove through a bunch of damn trees that looked like they were going to start picking off their own apples and throwing them at me.” Cole paused and put his hands on his hips, shaking his head. “My God, girl.” He lowered his voice to a loud whisper. “You actually fucked Lukas Strand.”
“Cole!” I shot a look toward the parlor door and darted to pull it closed. “I did not.” With a sigh, I took his hand, pulled him down beside me onto the couch, and told him everything. Well, not quite everything—I left out the part where the Strands and Apostolous were mythical tree spirits and that incest was apparently a family value here. And that Lukas’s wife had once crawled around naked at his feet on the end of a leash. There was a limit to what even a San Francisco native could absorb. Although the crawling-around-on-a-leash part would have been no problem for Cole; I just didn’t want to discuss it.
“Wow.” Cole’s eyes practically bulged from their sockets. “I absolutely have to see this Mars guy.”
“God, shut up.” I shoved his arm in irritation, but it was a happy irritation, being with someone who knew me enough to make stupid jokes at a time like this. “And his name is Ares, not Mars. Greek.”
“Whatever, Xena.” He shook his head again and touched my bruised cheek lightly. “I have to give you props. You are the undisputed master of the clusterfuck. Or you’re willing to go to ridiculous lengths to make up a fantastic story. Still not sure which.”
“It’s not a story. You’re here, aren’t you?”
Cole smiled. “I’m just teasing you, Mils. Because you’ve kind of scared me out of my wits, and I’m a little pissed at you over that, but I’m so fucking glad to find you alive, I’m willing to reserve judgment on the veracity of your tale and the state of your mental health. And anyway, I may be here, but there’s no town, so there’s something wonky with your story.”
“Fine. We’re going there for lunch.” I stood up and held out my hand. “You and I and Koste.”
“Whoa. I don’t know about lunching with the love child of your psycho-ex-who-turned-out-to-be-your-uncle.”
“Oh, stop it.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. “He’s a sweet kid. None of this is his fault. And whatever you do, do not talk about my being Lukas’s ex or his niece. Koste has enough to deal with.”
Cole sobered. “Hey, I’m not an asshole. I feel bad for the little guy.” He followed me quietly for a moment as we headed into the interior of the house, and then apparently couldn’t help himself. “And I’ll try really hard not to inadvertently burst into the opening number from the South Park movie.”
I turned back, staring at him blankly for a moment.
“You know, the song Terrance and Philip are singing in the Canadian movie the kids go to see at the beginning? Uncle-F—”
I clamped my hand over his mouth in horror. “Oh my God. You did not just say that.” He shrugged, smiling wickedly beneath my hand, and the hilarity and absurdity of my situation struck me all at once. I let go and punched him in the arm, and then began to laugh so hard I could barely breathe. “You totally suck,” I gasped, near tears, when I’d finally gotten ahold of myself.
“That’s why you love me.” He grinned. “But at least I’m not an uncle—”
“Cole!” I glared at him, and he shut up not a moment too soon. Lukas had rounded the corner, and he stopped and observed us with a guarded expression. “Lukas.” I swallowed, trying not to blush. “I guess you met my friend, Cole Milner.”
Cole stuck out his hand and spoke amiably as Lukas shook it. “I’m the one who picked up the pieces after you cunt-punched her.”
“Cole.” I gaped at him, mortified, but he was ignoring me, gripping Lukas’s hand firmly as the latter tried to pull it back.
“And if you fuck with her head again, I promise you, I will fuck your shit up.” Cole emphasized the last four words individually, while I tried to disappear into the floor.
With a firm yank, Lukas broke contact, his jaw twitching. “I hope you’re enjoying our hospitality, Mr. Milner.”
Cole’s smile managed to appear genuine, as if they were having a perfectly ordinary conversation. “It’s Dr. Milner. And you bet. The crumpets were awesome.”
“I promised Konstantin I’d take him to Lumi’s for lunch,” I interrupted, pretending the exchange hadn’t happened. “I thought we could take a walk around Jerusalem and exercise the leg.”
Lukas regarded me, his face placid but his eyes registering a storm of restrained emotion. “I’ll have a car brought around for you.”
“Mine’s parked out front,” said Cole.
With one last dark glance at Cole, Lukas nodded and continued down the hall.
“Christ,” said Cole when he’d gone. “He’s like some freakish alpha wolf. I think I peed myself a little.”
“I can’t believe you said that to him. You know I’m stuck here for the time being. In his house.”
“Why? Let’s just go. Forget the kid.”
“I can’t go. The sheriff’s department has advised me not to leave town until their investigation is over.”
Cole shook his head at me. “Only you could end up in a real-life film noir as the femme fatale.”
* * * * *
We had to pass through the salon on the way to Konstantin’s room, and I cringed when I saw it wasn’t unoccupied. The Apostolous were seated together on a semicircular stone built-in that curved around the fireplace, coffee mugs in hand. I made quick introductions as they rose, hoping Cole would keep his mouth shut.
Luckily, he had the sense not to do anything else stupid. “I’m so sorry for your loss,” was all he said as he shook their hands in turn.
Ares’s eyes flitted over me as he accepted the condolences, but he said nothing else but “Thank you.”
“Damn,” Cole murmured as we headed down the opposite corridor. “That Mars guy was totally fucking you with his eyes.”
“Jesus, Cole.”
“But that little pretty one…Aristos? Is he available?”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re unbelievable.”
* * * * *
Konstantin was skeptical of Cole’
s presence on our outing but eager enough for a trip to Jerusalem, poor kid, that he was willing to put up with a stranger. For his part, Cole maintained an appropriate level of maturity, which was saying something about my confidence in his ability to do so, considering he only had to exceed that of a seven-year-old. The fact that he was a doctor impressed Konstantin, though he wasn’t quite sure about an ophthalmologist.
Cole let me drive so I could show him just how easy it was to find Jerusalem, and the subtle motions of my feet on the clutch and the pedals were enough to trigger the sweet ache between my legs that reminded me of my indiscretion with Ares. It had been incredibly stupid, and he’d been using me, and my pride stung to realize he probably hadn’t meant even one of the things he’d said about me, but I couldn’t help but savor it a bit. He hadn’t been kidding about it having been too long for me. Cole and I hadn’t been together since our relationship ended under the pressures of medical school in his third year—and he’d just now finished his residency. Which meant I’d been celibate for the better part of my twenties. If I wasn’t careful, I was going to end up like Signe and Clara before I knew it.
An unpleasant thought shunted through my brain. What if that was what became of anyone in the family who failed to procreate according to “tradition”? It was absurd, of course. Why couldn’t they simply have relationships outside the family? It wasn’t as if the tree ancestors were really going to come after them. They were trees. What could they possibly do?
I nearly turned off the wrong way before we came to Jerusalem, but Konstantin kept me on track, and Cole gazed out the window in surprise as if he’d half expected to see nothing where Konstantin and I saw streets and houses and little shops.
“How the hell is this here?” He caught himself, glancing at Konstantin. “I mean—how the heck is it here? I swear to you, I drove for hours through nothing but gravel roads and trees.”
I shrugged. “It goes right through to Highway 254. I’m not sure where you were driving. It was a straight shot when I arrived.” I pulled up next to the café, and Cole helped Konstantin out of the car while I held the crutches for him.
