Dark Prince's Dilemma

by I. T. Lucas

  Kian shook his head. “Tim is going to work with him first, and draw from his memory. After he is done, we are going to compare the two portraits. For obvious reasons, I don’t want Lokan seeing Areana’s picture before that. He will just say that this is the woman from his dreams.”

  “But you will have Andrew there. Lokan cannot lie with him present.”

  “He can if he convinces himself that this really is the woman he saw in his dreams. Besides, I suspect that the guy is a pathological liar, and that Andrew can’t detect his lies any better than the machine could. Lokan has been lying for nearly a thousand years and even managed to fool his father, which means that he has perfected his craft and knows how to hide all the signs that give less professional liars away.”

  “Perhaps.”

  Annani didn’t share Kian’s opinion of Lokan, but she just didn’t have the energy to argue about it right now.

  “Would you like me to take you back to the village? There is no reason for you to wait. Tim is going to take just as long with Lokan as he did with you, and you’ll be bored. I’ll bring both portraits when I come back.”

  Annani shook her head. “I am not letting this picture out of my sight, and I am coming with you. I want to see the second portrait as soon as Tim is done with it, and then I want to show both to Lokan and watch his reaction.”

  “I don’t want you there while Tim is working with Lokan. Before we leave, I’m going to erase you from his memory, along with the sketch he made, so that he isn’t influenced by it when he draws the other one.”

  “I do not mind waiting in Arwel’s quarters.”

  “Very well.” Kian walked over to the door and opened it. “Tim, can you please come in and collect your things?”

  As the forensic artist rolled up the portrait and handed it to Annani, she gently hugged it to her chest. “Thank you again.”

  She wanted to add that she would cherish it forever, but in a few moments, Tim was not going to remember her or Areana’s portrait.

  12

  Kian

  As Annani entered the Lexus with the brothers, Kian walked Andrew and Tim to Andrew’s car.

  He offered Tim his hand. “I want to thank you again for the great work you did in there.”

  As the guy shook what he’d been offered, Kian looked into his eyes, entering his mind and manipulating the memory of the last several hours.

  Instead of Annani, he planted a different woman in Tim’s head. For some reason, the first female that came to mind was Edna’s human secretary, Lora. Perhaps his brain had made the connection because of Lora’s sister and how guilty Lora still felt about not stepping in to help her.

  The woman had been abused by her ex-husband to the point of sustaining neurological damage, and by the time Lora had intervened, the damage had become permanent. Feeling guilty, Lora had been volunteering in a shelter for abused women ever since. The similarities were obvious. Just like Annani, Lora blamed herself for her sister’s misfortune, and just like Annani, she was looking for ways to atone for her perceived sins.

  The problem was that Kian had never seen a picture of Lora’s sister, so planting a memory of Tim drawing her portrait was challenging. Improvising on the spot, Kian changed several of Lora’s features and created a look-alike image to put in Tim’s head.

  When it was done, Kian nodded at Andrew. “I’ll see you later.”

  The keep was just across the street, but the plan was for Andrew to drive around, stop somewhere, and put a blindfold on Tim before heading back. That way, once the forensic artist was done with Lokan, he wouldn’t have to be thralled again. Hopefully, Lokan wouldn’t blurt out anything that would later require erasing.

  Walking back to the Lexus, Kian motioned for Anandur to open Annani’s window. “I’m in a mood for a walk. Would you mind going without me?”

  Annani frowned. “I would not mind that, but I do mind you going alone without your bodyguards. We can all walk together to the keep.”

  “Are you sure? It’s a good twenty minutes’ walk.”

  “I am not averse to a little stroll.” She smiled. “But please be mindful of my much shorter legs. It will take a bit longer than if you were walking alone.”

  “That’s fine.” Kian opened the door for his mother. “Do you want me to carry the portrait?” He reached for the tube that she had tucked under her arm.

  “I cannot part with it even for a moment. Not yet.”

  Offering her a hand, he helped her down from the tall vehicle. “I can make you a copy, several in fact. And I can also scan it and send you a photo for your phone.”

  “That would be wonderful. Thank you.”

  After entering the tunnel through the hidden door inside a storage unit, the four of them walked in contemplative silence, with Kian and the brothers forcing their strides to match Annani’s pace.

  Without her long gown to hide her legs, her gait lost some of its gliding effect, but it was still smooth and graceful, her tiny ballet flats barely connecting with the concrete floor.

  “I was thinking,” Annani said after several moments. “Lokan might indeed be an excellent liar, and he can fool Andrew, but he cannot fool Edna. You should bring her to probe him.”

  “I’m planning on doing so. But Edna has her own limitations. She can assess intentions, deep-seated resentments, and malevolent intent, but she can’t discern truth from lies or read thoughts.”

  Annani shrugged. “It is worth a shot, right? It cannot hurt to let her give it a try.”

  “Absolutely. Maybe her insight would help shed light on his personality. If Lokan is rotten to the core, Edna would know that.”

  “He is not.” Annani huffed. “I might not possess Edna’s probing talent, but I have been around for quite a while, and I know people. Lokan is not a bad man. He might have done despicable things for the Brotherhood, but so did Dalhu. And being Navuh’s son did not make it any easier. Lokan grew up under his father’s close scrutiny. That is why he is such an accomplished liar and manipulator. If Lokan had grown up in a nurturing environment, I have no doubt he would have been an honest man.”

  Kian wasn’t so sure. Even if Lokan’s mother was a pure angel, his father was as close to the devil as it got, and Lokan must have inherited many of his father’s traits, which had gotten reinforced by Navuh’s tutelage and Mortdh’s teachings.

  The question that bothered Kian was how much of what Lokan had said was lies and how much was truth.

  He doubted Lokan’s purported noble plans for the island and for his people. The Doomer had said what he believed would make him more likable and harder to torture or kill. So, all of that was probably a load of BS.

  What about his bond with Carol, though?

  It was less likely that he could have faked it, and that was something that Edna could easily verify.

  Just for that one thing, it was worth dragging her over to the keep and probing Lokan. Having a fated mate was a game changer even for a Doomer. He would be compelled to keep her safe and happy, which translated into shifting his loyalties to her and her people.

  If Lokan wasn’t who he was, Kian might have released him from his cell just based on that.

  But Lokan wasn’t a simple soldier. He was sharper, far better informed, more powerful, and more talented than most immortals.

  Navuh’s son might be the unusual immortal male who could choose his own agenda and his quest for power over his true-love mate.

  13

  Lokan

  Lokan had spent the morning thinking over the new plan to get Carol onto the island using Gorchenco. But it was a no-go, and it had nothing to do with his instinctive resistance to sending his mate into danger.

  Without him using his compulsion to ensure the cooperation of several key humans, it wasn’t going to work. He even considered having Gorchenco bribe them instead, but that was likely to work only on some. The pilots’ compulsion would prevent them from accepting bribes, and without their cooperation there was no way to get Caro
l off the island, alone or with his mother.

  But perhaps that was the part that the clan could handle. A blitz commando attack of grab and go, somehow swooping down and plucking Carol and his mother up on the wings of dragons, or rather their mechanical counterparts.

  Like Guardians wearing jet packs.

  He didn't know much about the technology, though. Was it possible to carry another person? And what was the range of those things?

  Perhaps they could parachute in and jet out? It would save on fuel consumption going in, but it precluded a stealth approach.

  Damn. He was a well-trained soldier and had led many commando units on secret missions, but that had been a long time ago, when none of those new technologies existed yet. The scenarios he was coming up with were based on movies.

  Without talking to Kian and that Turner guy, who Carol claimed was a genius at those kinds of operations, it was like trying to put a puzzle together blindfolded and with half the pieces missing.

  When the phone rang, Lokan was relieved to have an excuse to stop the frustratingly futile mental exercises.

  Arwel was probably calling to let him know that the forensic artist was on his way.

  “Is he here?”

  “ETA fifteen minutes. Kian and his bodyguards might get there sooner.”

  “Thanks for the heads up.”

  For some reason, Kian didn’t want Carol to be there while the artist worked on the sketch, and she had been instructed to leave.

  He must have his reasons. Perhaps he didn’t want the artist to see her?

  That could be it.

  Carol’s beauty and sex appeal could be a distraction Kian wished to avoid.

  Walking up to the bar, Lokan pulled out a bottle of Snake’s Venom and popped the lid. When the door mechanism activated several minutes later, he emptied the last of it, tossed the bottle into the trash, and sat on the couch.

  As Kian walked in with his two bodyguards, Lokan draped his arm over the sofa’s back and crossed his legs. “Good afternoon, Kian, gentlemen.”

  “Good afternoon.” Kian sat on one of the armchairs and his guards pulled out chairs from the dinette.

  “A few things we need to go over before Tim gets here,” Kian said. “The name we are going to use is Logan. If Tim asks why you are kept locked up, don’t answer him. The less he knows the better.”

  Lokan arched a brow. “Aren't you going to thrall him when he is done?”

  “I’d rather not. I already thralled him to forget seeing the goddess and drawing the portrait of her sister. Thralling him so soon after that might cause him brain damage.”

  “Two consecutive thralls are harmless. Especially when the memories thralled are recent.”

  “We are not as cavalier with humans as you are. Tim’s talent is too precious to ruin by carelessness.”

  “Nevertheless, he shouldn’t be left with memories of me, or you for that matter. Secrecy and anonymity are crucial for both of us.”

  “I’m touched by your concern. By the way, Tim knows me as Ken.”

  Lokan shrugged. Kian had much more to lose than he had. This was his town, wherever it was.

  When the door opened again, Andrew the lie detector walked in with a short human who was holding an artist bag under his arm.

  The guy paused at the entry and shook his head. “This must be the twilight zone. Five pretty Kens in one fancily decorated prison cell? Am I in a Barbie movie?” He walked in and put his bag on the table and then turned to Lokan. “But this one has cuffs on as accessories. How interesting.”

  Lokan had no idea what the guy was talking about. Maybe there was something to what Kian had said about thralling causing brain damage. Especially if they'd let someone with no finesse do a hatchet job on the artist.

  “Okay, pretty boy. Come sit over here where the lighting is not as crappy as in the rest of this bird cage they’ve stuck you in. What did you do? Fuck big Ken’s sister?”

  As Kian grimaced, Lokan stifled a chuckle and glanced at the portrait hanging over the couch. He hadn’t, but another Brother had, and it must have taken a couple of centuries off Kian’s immortal life.

  “I didn’t have the pleasure,” he said as he joined the human at the table. “But a woman was involved.”

  “Aren’t they always.” Tim pulled out a large sketch pad. “They say money turns the world around, but I say it’s pussy.”

  “Watch it, Tim,” Andrew warned.

  The artist raised a brow. “What? We are all men here. And I’m right. Guys chase money and power to get more pussy. That’s how things work. God knew what he was doing when he created Eve and made Adam lust after her.” He pulled out a pouch containing pencils and unfolded it next to the sketch pad. “She told him that the snake gave her a forbidden apple, and then she asked Adam how he was going to top that. That’s how human civilization was started.”

  “I didn’t know you were a religious man,” Andrew said sarcastically.

  Tim shrugged. “So what if I am? It’s a free country.”

  “Gentlemen, we don’t have all day,” Kian said. “Let’s concentrate on the sketch.”

  “You’re not paying me by the hour, buddy. You’ll get your portrait. And I would appreciate you all leaving me alone with Mr. Ken number five. I need to concentrate.”

  Lokan was amazed that Kian was allowing the human to talk to him like that. On the island, rude Tim would have been dead already, but not before his tongue had been cut out to teach the other humans a lesson in manners.

  “One of my guards will have to stay. You can choose which one.”

  Tim didn’t hesitate for a moment. “The blond. He’s unobtrusive like a statue.”

  “Very well.”

  As Kian pushed to his feet, Andrew and the tall redhead followed him to the door.

  “Call me when the portrait is done.”

  The blond nodded.

  When the door closed behind them, Lokan offered the artist his hand. “My name is Logan, not Ken number five.”

  Tim smiled. “Nice to meet you, Logan. So, who are we drawing today? I assume it’s a lady?”

  “Yes.”

  “Let’s start with the eyes.”

  14

  Carol

  “Something is burning,” Ewan said as he entered the apartment. “I smelled it all the way from the elevator.”

  “Oh, crap.” Carol grabbed the pan of charred onions and dumped them in the sink.

  Sometimes even cooking wasn’t enough to calm the storm, and she hadn’t been so confused and distraught in a long time. Thinking about Lokan’s strange mood swings and wondering what was going through his head had distracted her and ruined her dish.

  Pulling three new onions from the fridge, she started chopping a new batch.

  After he’d given Arwel the island’s location, Lokan had been angry and remote. At first, she’d thought he was blaming her for it, but then he’d started talking about getting her to the island with Gorchenco’s help, and she’d thought of another possible reason for his change in attitude.

  As her mate, Lokan would have a hard time with her going on a dangerous mission like that, but since it was crucial that she go, perhaps he was trying to distance himself from her emotionally?

  After making love several times last night and again this morning, he was back to his old self with her. If she had stayed a little longer, she could’ve coaxed the truth out of him, but then Arwel had called, telling her that she needed to leave. Kian’s orders.

  Why the hell couldn’t she have stayed and watched the forensic artist at work?

  It wasn’t as if she had any idea what Areana looked like and could have whispered clues in Lokan’s ear. If she did, would she have done it, though?

  It would have been tempting, that was for sure. Because if the woman in Lokan’s dreams was Annani’s sister, Carol's chances of getting to the island would have improved significantly.

  When the new batch of onions was ready, Carol scooped them up on top of
the asparagus and closed the lid.

  She’d planned on making dessert, but at the rate things were going, she’d better stick with ice cream. Chocolate syrup and some crushed walnuts on top would dress it up, making it look fancy.

  Besides, her time would be better spent catching up with friends. She hadn’t talked to Ella since the wedding.

  Taking the phone with her, Carol stepped out onto the balcony, sat on a lounger, and called her friend.

  “Hi. You must have read my mind. I was about to call you.”

  “Oh, yeah? Any new gossip? Are you or your mom transitioning?”

  “No, not yet, and I hope it doesn't start for me for another week.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m wrapping up the videos, and I want it done before I start transitioning. The fundraiser is going really well, and we don’t need any more recordings, but I want to have four more ready in case the original videos become stale.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. So, what’s next for you, any college plans?”

  “I’m going to do it online, and in my free time I plan on working in the café. Wonder is practically begging me to help her out, but I told her that it doesn't make sense for me to start before I transition.”

  “That’s true. But with you busy doing other things, who is going to manage the fundraiser?”

  “With the videos done, I don’t expect there will be much to do, and my mother offered to help.”

  “It seems you have everything figured out.”

  Ella chuckled. “I wish. What about you? Are you ever coming back to run the café?”

  “Probably, but I don’t know when. Everything is up in the air right now.”

  “Can you talk about it, or is it classified?”