by A. Star
That was the only explanation I wanted to accept.
But as I listened, I knew that had nothing to do with it. If I had lived for a thousand years, I would never have been able to play with that much skill and conviction. I couldn't fathom the utter obsession he had to have with music to be able to play like that. I loved music. I loved playing the violin and I was one of the best young violinists in Ireland.
But I had nothing on Liam Argyros.
When he ended, the musicians gave him a respectable round of applause, but I knew they wanted to jump up and cheer. Hell, I wanted to jump up and cheer. I also wanted to kill him. It was definitely a conflict of interest.
Corrigan was clapping the loudest and I don't think I'd ever glared harder at anyone in my life. "Congratulations, Liam," he said, after shooting me a sorrowful look. The bastard. "Please take first chair as the new concertmaster."
Corrigan had actually done it. He'd chosen Liam. For a moment there, I had hoped he would ignore the fact that Liam had outplayed me and let favoritism run its course. But I realized right away that I'd been a fool to even think that would happen after hearing what Liam was capable of.
Liam accepted the win with infuriating poise. The dirty bastard. "Thank you, Conductor. But wouldn't you like me to tune the performers first?"
Corrigan smiled with pride. I bristled with murderous rage. "O' course, my boy. The podium is yours."
Liam nodded once, returned his violin to its case, then replaced Corrigan at the podium. As the performers prepped themselves for tuning, I finally turned and let Vicky have the eye contact I knew she'd been trying to capture for the last few minutes.
I'm sorry, she mouthed. Rupert seconded her with a pathetic nod.
I shrugged and put on my best "never defeated" smile, but in all honesty, I had to fight the urge to cry. This orchestra was all I had, the only part of my life that was completely under my control. At no other time did I feel as powerful as when I was leading my band through their tuning and performing solos during our concerts. But now that had all been taken away by some immortal that had absolutely no business being here. Why was he on Earth? Why hadn't he just stayed in Myth where he belonged? Why was he doing this to me?
Victoria returned to her own seat where her cello waited for her, and I vacated my chair for the one next to it. The rest of the performers followed suit. I ignored the pitiful looks I received and tried not to show any kind of emotion whatsoever. Every champion encounters defeat, I told myself, and even though I was bursting at the seams with inner turmoil, I wasn't going to let any of my bandmates know that.
Unsurprisingly, Liam had a fine ear for sound quality and we were tuned to perfection in no time. He weeded out-of-tune instruments from among us as easily as he might pick bad apples out of a barrel. He did a better job than I'd ever done in all my seasons as concertmaster and my festering hatred of him only grew more rancid.
"You really did play quite well," Liam whispered once he had returned to his, my, chair. Corrigan replaced him at the podium and started to tell us the historical background of the new score we would be learning. I tuned out the traitor.
"For a mortal, right?" I replied, struggling to keep my voice down. I wanted to yell and scream at him, then bash him over the head with my music stand. I wanted to rant about the unfairness of it all and how he had cheated by being immortal and having a lifetime to perfect his talents. "We weren' all created by the gods like you."
Liam smiled, but he didn't respond. Probably because he wanted to impress Corrigan with his attentiveness and professionalism.
But as fate would have it, that wasn't the reason at all.
II. A LOVER'S PROPOSITION
Practice let out early and Vicky, Rupert, and I walked out together. Many performers, including Brittain, stayed behind to chat up Liam and I was grateful. I wasn't in the mood to talk to any of them.
Vicky, the best friend a wan could have, was going on and on about a bad batch of fish and chips she'd had the other day, dancing all around the subject she really wanted to rabbit on about. I loved her for it because I knew it was killing her not to. I planned on phoning her that night when I was in a better state to hear her rave about how amazing and handsome Liam was, and how sorry she was that he'd outplayed me and would be our new concertmaster. Every time I thought about it, I got this sick feeling in my stomach.
We were almost to my waiting chauffeured car when said immortal caught up to us. He was even more stunning dressed in his masculine peacoat with the winter wonderland Ireland had become as his background. I just could not take my eyes off of him.
"Siobhan," he said, his eyes sparkling in the frosted sunlight.
I frowned. I didn't like the way his eyes sparkled. I didn't like the way he said my name. Too soft. Too sweet. Too seductive.
"Liam," I replied, forcing myself to bite out his name just to counter it. His lips twitched with a smile he refused to fully showcase, mocking me. I glared at him, wanting to grab a handful of his thick, black hair and jerk on it just hard enough to bring his beautiful lips into kissing range. I disgusted myself. Almost.
"I'm Victoria Lennon. Marie's, I mean, Siobhan's best girl," Vicky said, extending her hand to Liam. He accepted it and shook it once. "Welcome to the band."
"Thank you, Victoria," Liam replied with a smile.
I glared harder. I didn't like the way he said her name either.
Vicky introduced Rupert and the men shook. I'd half expected Rupert to realize that something was off about Liam the moment their skin came in contact, but Rupert was just as awestruck as his girlfriend and didn't notice a thing. I wrote them both off as useless friends.
"Tha's some instrument you've got there," Rupert said, gesturing at Liam's violin case.
Liam glanced down at it. "Ah, yes, it's quite the piece. My brother made it."
Rupert's eyes practically bulged out of his head. "Your brother? Tha's amazin'."
"Indeed."
Rupert opened his mouth to say something else, but Vicky cut him off. "Let's go, Rupert love. I'm starvin' and you're takin' me to O'Connell's for boxties."
Rupert appeared irritated for a moment, but he melted the second Vicky smiled at him and batted her wide, brown eyes. "See you later, Siobhan," he said, taking Vicky's hand.
"Bye, Liam. Bye, Marie," Vicky said with a wink.
"Bye," I snarled, knowing what she was up to. I began to plot her untimely demise.
My friends scurried off and I turned to Liam, whose eyes were already on me. I let out a slow breath. His gaze was so hot and commanding. It was freezing outside and all I could think about was stripping down. I concluded right then that this man was dangerous. An absolute safety hazard. I had to get away from him.
"I should go as well," I said, backing away. It was cold and I wasn't about to spend another second alone with him. And I was indeed alone. There wasn't a single performer out there besides Liam and I.
"May I speak with you first?" he said, stopping me as I turned to walk away. "Just for a moment."
I sighed as I turned to face him again. "Wha' do you want, Liam? My driver is waitin'."
"Let him wait."
The statement sounded more like an order than a suggestion. I considered disregarding him all together, and leaving him standing there alone, just to tick him off. But for some reason, I decided against it. Not because I didn't want to walk away from the arrogant bastard, but because, subconsciously, I knew it would be a pointless thing to do. I couldn't figure out why.
"Wha' are you doing on Earth posin' as a university student?" I asked. If he wanted to talk, he'd answer my questions first. "I didn' think immortals tha' weren' servants to the families of demigods or Influentials ever even left the heavens."
"Not usually," Liam replied with a smile. "But I like to think of myself as my own man and that at any time I may venture wherever I please."
I frowned. "I'm sure Aphrodite would disagree."
Liam gave me nothing, neither confir
ming nor denying he'd been granted immortality by the goddess.
"Are you on a mission for her?"
"No. But I am doing a god's work."
"Wha' kind of work?" Demigods were usually the ones chosen to do the gods' dirty work for them, not immortals celeste. All they were good for was paying homage. The gods' words, not mine.
Liam ignored my question. "I'm here to see Ronan."
Now that caught me by surprise. Ronan was my father. "Why?"
"You know why."
I nodded once. "We're agents of the gods, a Family of Influence. But again, why would a god send you, an immortal, to handle Influential business? It mus' not be tha' important. If it was, they'd have sent a demigod, or come to handle it themselves."
"And you know the gods so well, do you?"
"I'm a Law," I said, now that it had been made clear he knew exactly who I was. "I was raised on the politics of Myth. If anyone knows abou' how the gods work, it's me."
Liam grinned. "I see."
"But honestly, wha's your mission all abou'? Why do you need to see my da?"
"Heavens, woman. Do you always ask this many questions?"
I frowned. "Answer me."
He smiled and I loathed how beautiful it was. "My mission is all about fate, Siobhan."
"Fate?" I waited on him to elaborate, but he didn't. So I prompted him. "Wha' the bloody hell does tha' mean?" When it came to the divine realm, "fate" was a word with a thousand meanings. Some of them good, most of them bad.
"If I asked you to be my lover, would you?" Liam inquired, changing the subject completely.
I stared at him as if he were mad. "No!"
"Why not?" He actually had the audacity to look surprised.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "On top of the fact tha' I jus' met you and you stole principal from me today? Besides, you belong to Aphrodite." And nobody with brains purposely ticked off the ever-vengeful goddess of Love. Her jealousy and wrath was almost as legendary as Hera's, the Queen of the gods.
"Jealous, Siobhan Law?"
"Definitely not! I actually pity her and can't understand why she'd want you as a lover. I'm sure she regrets it every time she sees your face."
Liam laughed. "She feels a lot of things when she sees me, but regret is not one of them."
I knew it was true. And he was right. I was jealous and I had no idea why.
I turned on my heels and began to walk away from him.
"I don't belong to Aphrodite," he said, stopping me in my tracks. Again. "I don't belong to anyone."
I turned back to him. "Not true. You belong to the god who created you."
Liam's expression darkened. "I most certainly don't belong to him."
A male god had created this beautiful man? I hadn't expected that at all.
"Is tha' the only reason you wanted to chat?" I asked. "So you could try to get me to lift my skirt for you?"
"Yes and no," he replied, and I wondered if he had any shame at all. "To be honest, I just want us to be friends, Siobhan."
"Friends? We can't be friends. You're an immortal. After you're done with wha'ever business you've got going on with my da, you'll return to Myth. So there's really no point."
Liam shrugged. "I guess you do make a good argument."
Why did I feel so let down by that response?
I looked away from him but I could still feel his eyes on me, so heated and fierce. A tingle flittered down my spine and I liked it. Dammit.
"I would make it good for you."
My gaze flew back to meet his. "Wha' did you say?"
"I said, I would make it good for you."
I honestly could not believe the yockers on this fella. "Did I somehow give you the impression tha' I was tha' kind of girl? The kind tha' jus' hopped into bed with any ol' fella, even immortal ones?"
Liam chuckled. "I know for a fact that you're not. You're a virgin, Siobhan."
My mouth flopped open. I didn't know what to say.
Liam only grinned. "Don't be alarmed. Everyone knows Influential daughters are guarded like rare jewels until they are married off, even in these modern times. Besides, you're a good girl, just like you said."
"I didn' say tha'," I mumbled. "And I'm not tha' good."
Liam stepped closer. "Prove it. Sleep with me."
The way the request sensuously rolled off his tongue was the reason I hesitated. His tone was so inviting that I almost gave it a moment's consideration. But then I shook myself out of it. What in the bloody hell was I doing? Why was I still standing here talking to him? I should have kept walking when he'd first approached me, but I didn't. I couldn't. I wanted to be here and that was puzzling to me. Liam Argyros was an immortal celeste, here on Earth to handle some business with my da. He wasn't here for me. So why was I even entertaining the idea of him?
"Do you feel it here, Siobhan?" Liam said, causing my conscious thoughts to go blank. His hand was over his heart.
I fidgeted. "Feel wha' there?"
"The nothingness. Like you've finally lost your heart to the only one who was ever meant to find it."
Of course I did, and that was the problem, wasn't it? I had felt it the moment he struck the first chord on his violin and it had only intensified as his melody came more alive. His presence alone threw my world off balance, yet I knew he belonged in it. He was supposed to be there, right then, standing in front of me all beautiful and unflawed.
I was already in over my head and was well aware of it.
That's what ticked me off the most. I didn't want to feel like this, like I was falling for someone I'd only known a few hours. What kind of girl declared herself "in love" at the first meeting? A foolish one, I told myself. Only a complete fool believed in love at first sight.
"My car is waitin'," I said again, praying that this time he let me go without any argument.
Liam nodded once. "All right. Go, then. But only if you promise to let me take you to lunch some time this week."
I shook my head. "No."
"Why not?"
"'Cause I said no."
Liam laughed. "Fair enough. At least let me walk you to your car."
I shrugged. "If you want to."
We walked in silence to the black car waiting for me. I felt silly for being disappointed that Liam didn't try to take my hand or put his arm around me. Hell, he'd already asked me to sleep with him, and what could top that? He simply strolled beside me with his eyes cutting glances at me each time I wasn't shooting glances at him. If we were children, this would have been funny, but since we weren't, I wasn't laughing. I was shivering in my precious, little boots. The way Liam looked at me...it was like being devoured. Vicky's earlier words came back to me. Liam did indeed appear to want to dine on me. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Every day for the next century.
My driver, Conor, climbed out as we approached. At seeing Liam, his eyebrows shot up.
"It's okay, Conor," Liam said. "I'll take care of the door."
Conor's squinted gaze shifted back and forth between Liam and I. Then he reluctantly bowed his head and climbed back into the car.
"You two know each other?" I asked.
I wasn't surprised when Liam replied, "Yes, though I don't think he expected to see me here today."
I nodded, figuring my father must have introduced them. Conor knew most of the ins and outs of my father's business dealings, so it made sense he would know Liam. "Well, I really do have to go now. My mother will start to think the worst if I'm not home soon. But is it likely you'll be at my house any time this week?"
Liam smirked and I blushed when I realized why. I sounded eager to see him again. Damn him.
"Anything is possible, Siobhan," he said. "But it's more probable that Ronan and I will be conducting our business elsewhere."
"Oh," I replied. Then I cursed myself. Now I sounded disappointed. Damn him again.
"Maybe we will share a forum or two, and we can talk some more."
"You're actually going to attend
classes?"
"Of course. It would be rather strange for me to play principal in the orchestra and never attend any of the forums."
"How long do you plan to be here then?"
His expression grew serious. "For as long as it takes." He then reached for my hand and started to raise it to his lips. "May I?" he asked first.
I shrugged, then nodded. As a member of an Influential family, I was used to this sort of propriety. My hand was kissed nearly two dozen or so times at each Influential gathering. My cheeks? Twice that.
Liam brought my hand up the rest of the way.
I shivered, but not from the cold. Liam's lips were warm and soft against my hand, and when I felt his tongue swirl over my skin, I nearly came out of my boots. I snatched my hand away.
"Why did you do tha'?" I snapped.
"Do what?" Liam smiled shamelessly. I just shook my head at him.
"I have to go." I reached to open the car door. Liam beat me to it.
"To answer your earlier question," he said, staring right into my gray eyes. "You didn't just play well for a mortal. You were amazing, period. It was one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever heard, and judging by the passion with which you played it, I know you are its composer. You create music and that does things to me, Siobhan Law. That does insane and wonderful things to me."
We stared at each other for a moment while I processed that, then Liam pulled the door open. Without another word, I climbed in and the door closed softly behind me before I could say goodbye.
I opened it again, if only to catch a glimpse of his perfect form walking away from me.
But he was already gone.
III. A LOVER'S GAZE
"I lost principal today."
Dinner had started promptly at seven, same as every other night at the Law estate. I'd hardly eaten any of my roasted lamb and boiled potatoes when I finally admitted my defeat to my family.
"Oh, Marie. I'm so sorry." My mother, Eileen, reached out and patted the table since she couldn't actually touch me.
