The Quelling Tide (The Gifted Realm Book 7)

by Jillian Neal

  “They’re just a few islands off.” Fionna huffed.

  “I ordered you to start me a family!” He spat in infuriated disbelief.

  She placed her hand on his forearm and soothed him instantly. “Anyone that really knows you knows that’s about as far from the truth as the idea that either you or Garrett shot me.”

  But the Times has access to new information on this question that is only being reported here, was the next ominous statement that had Dan’s stomach turning.

  We have found out after Fionna returned to half days of practice, which is Angel policy when dealing with a long term injury, that she did not place an order for new Angel uniforms with Vindico on the back instead of Styler. She also refused to be under the field Aegis when it was being worked on for the new season. As all Summation fans are certainly aware, the Aegis can be harmful to a developing fetus as it can affect the formation of the cells, which make Gifted children Gifted.

  “Fi, how did they find that out?” Dan was furious. It was no one’s business what she’d decided about next season.

  “There were a bunch of fans there Wednesday that won ‘A Day with the Angels’ from some sports magazine. That was when they were working on the Aegis. Sarrington Sports makes our uniforms and joule meters. It wouldn’t have been hard for the Times to offer someone a little money to check the orders for next season.”

  Dan wrapped his left arm over her giving her a place to hide. The invasion of her privacy had gone several steps too far.

  So, though the Times certainly can’t yet tell you if Fionna Vindico is now carrying another of the Governor’s grandchildren, it would certainly appear so. We are in constant contact with our sources at Georgetown to find out, and when we know the Realm will know.

  “Does the Realm ever think that you and I might like to be the only ones that know at least for a little while, as it is our baby!” Fionna shrieked furiously.

  “I’m so sorry, honey.” Dan was infuriated with the dogged tenacity of the article, but also intrigued with her use of the present tense.

  “What does it say about Rainer and Emily?” She demanded.

  Before the shot of Rainer and Emily, Dan read a blurb that stated that Iodex was still working to clean up the rest of the Interfeci. The trials of the members who’d survived the takedown were concluding at the beginning of the week.

  Every trial heard thus far had resulted in lifetime sentences in Coriolis and evidence was flowing like water from sources looking to worm their way out of ties to the fallen men.

  Friday afternoon Governor Haydenshire had assigned Clarence Pendergrath to a two year rehab work program to take place in New Mexico where a new Gifted prison was currently being dug. It was an exceptionally light sentence and Dan strongly suspected that the Crown Governor had worked a deal with Pendergrath Sr. as Logan’s name hadn’t even come up at Candor’s trial.

  There was a statement from Iodex that thousands of dollars had disappeared immediately after the take down that Iodex was still unable to locate. His brow furrowed. He hadn’t heard about any missing money, and he wondered who was leaking information like that to the press.

  “That’s probably a lie too.” Fionna felt his trepidation as he read the line.

  Shaking his head, he moved down to the photo of Rainer and Emily’s wedding.

  It seems Rainer Lawson who participated in the Tantra takedown that ended with Officer Vindico quitting the force and with Fionna Styler’s severe injuries wasn’t thinking too far outside of the box when he booked he and Ms. Haydenshire turned Lawson honeymoon locale. We have confirmation and upcoming photos of the Rainer and the Crown Governor’s daughter, Emily, honeymooning on a private island deep in the Florida Keyes.

  Dan’s heart sank. He and Fionna shared a concerned gaze.

  Emily and Rainer have long been fans of the beach, and it seems Rainer purchased his bride a two-week stay in paradise. But has the honeymoon gone wrong? Has Emily Haydenshire gotten herself in over her head? Did she let her childhood affections for the former Crown’s son hide his controlling and abusive ways?

  “What?!” Fionna gasped.

  Dan shook his head. “You know, baby doll, abusive, like how I demanded that you have me a baby.” He was disgusted with everything he’d read thus far.

  The paper went on to show numerous shots of Rainer and Emily growing up from their summers at Virginia Beach. There were a few large shots of Emily lying in Rainer’s arms recently that Dan assumed were probably from their eventful Labor Day trip.

  To prove the point of Rainer’s abusive ways there was a shot obviously taken with an enhanced long range photo lens of Rainer backing Emily up to the side of the farmhouse dressed in his tux with her in her wedding gown. Though Dan loathed to admit it, Rainer was giving Emily a look that said he would devour her alive if given half a chance, at that moment.

  The Realm Times has put together a photo journal of all of the shots taken from Rainer and Emily’s honeymoon beach hideaway along with detailed accounts of some deep concerns that the wait-staff currently serving the Lawsons have shared with the press.

  As a warning to our concerned readers some of the photos that will be published in our Sunday edition photo journal may not be suitable for our younger viewers.

  The last photo was of the very villa on the very island that Dan had checked and rechecked the security of for Rainer. It was from the brochure.

  “Dan!” Fionna gasped, “I have to call Emily!” She reached for her phone, but Dan delicately took her hand.

  “Fi, baby, wait. We don’t know anything yet. Let’s not call and ruin their honeymoon when in all likelihood they have a few shots of the two of them on Virginia Beach that they’ve photoshopped, and then maybe a few more provocative photos that aren’t even of Rainer and Emily. If they found them, then the photos will be from a boat a half-mile away, and they’ll show nothing.”

  “But, Dan, you said he took her to the Keyes!”

  “I know,” he stated morosely. “But I still think we should wait. I’m certain Governor Haydenshire saw this, and we all know that Rainer is taking good care of Emily, so for now I think we should just wait and see what comes out tomorrow.”

  “But I’ve been having dreams about Rainer.” Fionna confessed.

  “What?”

  Rolling her eyes, she huffed. “Not that kind of dream!” She shuddered from the thought alone which soothed Dan’s panic. “They’re really weird dreams where something bad is happening to Emily and he can’t save her. They’re scary.” She willed him to understand how real the dreams had seemed.

  “Why didn’t you wake me up, baby doll? It usually helps when we talk about your nightmares.” Fionna often had vivid dreams. Sometimes good and some times bad, but Dan had always been able to tuck her in his shield and get her back to sleep.

  “I don’t know, I mean,” she hemmed. Her cheeks colored rapidly and she gave him an embarrassed giggle. “I’ve also had a couple of dreams about Supernova. You know, since Aida started watching the cartoon so much.” Her face was now the color of a beet. “I sort of dreamed twice that Supernova hooked-up with that pink star girl that plays his luminous assistant Wavelength. He tied her to that lab table thing, and he was did some pretty kinky things with his lightening rod of energy.” She managed to explain all of this before they were both doubled over laughing hysterically.

  “Oh my God, I will never be able to watch that show with her again.”

  Dan embraced her still laughing heartily. When he regained his composure, he brushed a kiss on her cheek.

  “Baby, when did you start having dreams like these?”

  “Just a couple of days ago. I keep waking up either with my heart racing because something horrible is happening to Emily, or because Wavelength tells Supernova to make her radiant.” She covered her face with her hands as Dan tried very hard not to guffaw again. He pulled her into his chest mainly to cover his laughter as he tried to soothe her.

  “So, I’m insan
e right?” She whimpered.

  “You’re not insane, honey,” Dan vowed in complete honesty. He didn’t comment on what he suspected that she was, but he couldn’t seem to wipe the broad grin off of his face for the rest of the afternoon.

  ~Jean Paul Fitzroy: Captain of French Iodex~

  “I have extremely good news for you my friend.” Fitz greeted Landon Portwood whom he was certain was still sitting in his new office on a Saturday beating his head against the sign on the wall that now declared him to be the new American Elite Iodex Chief.

  “I’m listening,” Portwood sighed.

  “Well, it’s sick, but that’s Nic Wretchkinsides for you. Apparently, he knew all along about the two operatives that were killed that we’d buried in the Interfeci ranks. We had others, but it seems those were the only ones he was aware weren’t actually working for him. This also explains why we would get conflicting, information out of them. If he knew, he wasn’t going to feed them stuff to feed us. Anyway, remember the bizarre codes he sent out from his cell each night?”

  “Yeah, I remember. I’ve been trying to decode the damn things for a week.”

  “Well, they were to assure a man by the name of Gaetano Acciai that he was still alive.”

  “I’m gonna go with Name an Italian Assassin for $100, Alex.” Portwood chuckled. Fitz joined his laughter.

  “Well bet it all in Final Jeopardy because the answer is, the Italian Assassin I just arrested. Acciai had no dealings with the Interfeci organization. His job was to receive daily texts from Nic and if he didn’t hear from him to kill our operatives. That was it.”

  “All right, maybe I’ll actually sleep tonight, but what about the missing money?”

  “I’m still working on that, but nothings disappeared in two weeks. Hard to track money that’s no longer disappearing. I think we’re ready to officially bury the Interfeci for good. I think it’s really over.”

  Portwood’s relieved sigh echoed from D.C. all the way to Paris.

  “And, hey, I’m trying to talk Dan into bringing Fi out here. If you see him, would you tell him he should come? I still don’t get the feel that he’s really over this.” Fitz decided not to mention that he was planning on convincing Dan to move to Paris to work with him again.

  “If I see him, I’ll tell him, but I’m betting right now he’s pissed to hell. Times just ran an article all but proving that Fionna is pregnant again. They also seem to think that Dan might’ve been who shot her.”

  “C’est quoi ce bordel!”

  Portwood laughed. It seemed Fitz’s news had vastly improved his mood. He hadn’t laughed in weeks. “Yeah, that was my question as well.”

  “I bet he is pissed. I’ll call him. I just wanted to let you know that we got our last guy.”

  “Thanks, I think I’ll go home and actually spend some time with my wife whom I haven’t really seen since I was sworn in.”

  “Hey, Landon, a piece of advice. Don’t do what Dan did. Don’t work constantly. There will always be bad guys, but don’t sacrifice your whole life trying to catch them a day early. You only get a chance to do it right once, and you’re talking to a guy that didn’t figure all of this out until I got home one night and realized that my kids hardly recognized me.”

  “Yeah, I’m trying to find a balance. Thanks for that, though. Trust me, I’m not running this office the way Dan did. Ever.”

  Take Cover

  ~Rainer Lawson~

  “I think I’m ready to go swimming again.” Emily seemed very pleased as she made her announcement Saturday afternoon while Rainer fixed them sandwiches for lunch.

  He gave her a wry smile. “Have to see what I can do about getting you wet then.” The naughty glint in his eye made her giggle. He was thankful she was feeling better and felt terrible that neither of them had thought to pack painkillers.

  He’d had Aldus and Ximena deliver some two days before while Emily laid on the reclined lounge in the sitting area suffering from cramps.

  Trying to answer the repeated questions from Ximena about Emily’s health without actually shouting that she was menstruating and to leave her the hell alone had been rather trying.

  As soon as they’d gone, Rainer had fixed her tea and cradled her on the lounge in his arms and had used a heat cast to soothe her until she was no longer hurting. They’d done nothing but napped, cuddled, and talked for two days straight. She’d set the cast as soon as she’d started and she seemed back to full health.

  He stared at her as he added fruit salad to her lunch plate. She was stunning. Her normally alabaster skin held a healthy golden glow from all of their time in the sun. She was delighted with her lack of tan lines due to the fact that when they’d been on the beach, in the ocean, or out by the pool, she’d been topless.

  Rainer was delighted with this information as well but for entirely different reasons. The freckles on her face, shoulders, and arms, that he adored and Emily hated had made an abundant appearance. He’d taken to kissing each and every one repeatedly.

  Emily seemed so happy and relaxed that he hated they only had one week left before they would have to return to work, although he was looking forward to beginning their lives as a married couple. Having a full week without cameras shoved in their faces and their names bellowed everywhere they went had been extremely cathartic as well.

  After their late lunch, Emily donned a pair of cut offs over her bikini bottom and a white button down shirt. She tied the shirttails at her waist but never added the bikini top.

  She breezed by Rainer carrying her book and seated herself on the lounge by the pool. The unspoken invitation to join her whispered in the humid air.

  “So, my beautiful wife wants to go swimming.” He paced to her quickly.

  With a flirtatious grin, Emily nodded.

  He leapt and quickly hoisted her up in his arms. She shrieked. “Rainer, stop!”

  “You just said you wanted to swim, baby?”

  “Not in my clothes, which I’m running out of because you won’t leave them on me, and I don’t want those people doing my laundry!”

  “Poor thing. You might just have to start going naked.”

  “Rainer, put me down and let me take this off!”

  “I think not.” He waggled his eyebrows.

  “You won’t throw me in. I know you won’t.”

  “Oh really?” He moved to the edge of the pool. “Hold your breath.” He couldn’t quite do it without making sure she didn’t inhale pool water. He tossed her in, but his warning gave her enough time to take firm hold of his t-shirt. She and pulled him in with her.

  Laughing hysterically as she emerged, she threw handfuls of water in his face. He dove under the water, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her under with him.

  They surfaced a moment later. She swam away from him playfully. Everything about the look she gave him dared him to catch her.

  As the shirt she was wearing was thin, white, cotton, it was now entirely see through. He wolf whistled as she headed up the steps.

  With her hands on her hips, she sassed, “If you don’t stop, I’m gonna make you my sex slave.”

  Growling, he lifted her into his arms again. “Yum, what’s my first assignment, taskmaster?”

  He spun her around as she shrieked, but then he held her waist and lowered her lips to his mouth.

  “See, I did throw you in the pool.”

  She laughed in his face. “Oh yes, you’re so mean. I grew up with seven older brothers remember, sweetheart? You told me to hold my breath. They never did that. If I swam with them, I was blue for days.”

  As they climbed out of the pool, he shook his head. “I think I should probably help you out of those clothes, Mrs. Lawson.”

  “Do you think?” She poked her lip out in a delicious pout.

  Grasping the loosened ends of her shirt he guided her into his arms. “Come here to me, baby.” He crushed her mouth to his and peeled the shirt off of her shoulders.

  She shivered but not
from being cold. The effect made Rainer want to lean her over the lounge chair and make her take him hard and rough.

  “But then I’ll be cold and naked.”

  “No,” he shook his head, “you’ll be naked and wrapped around me, baby.”

  “I do think I need a shower.” Her eyes closed in an extended blink as he unbuttoned her shorts.

  “I can take care of that.” He stopped abruptly, however. He was staring into the villa to check the path to the shower that he was about to carry her to and found Aldus and Ximena staring back at them.

  “Oh my God!” Emily choked as Rainer immediately pulled her tightly to his chest keeping her breasts and everything that he considered to be his and his alone pressed tightly against him.

  “What the fucking hell are you doing here?” He demanded but was unable to move without revealing his wife to the hotel staff.

  “We’ve come to deliver your anniversary lunch and your champagne, Mr. Lawson. It’s complimentary to our guests who stay longer than one week of course.” He stated this as if Rainer should have known they were coming.

  Emily’s face burned with her embarrassment and she kept her eyes shut tightly in her terror. Fury lit through Rainer as he stared Aldus down.

  “I never ordered lunch, and I’m getting really tired of your constantly showing up here. And what the hell do you mean anniversary lunch? We’ve only been married a week!” His argument drowned out immediately.

  They’d been married a week. He wondered if that was something he should have remembered as momentous.

  Lost in infuriated confusion, Rainer wrapped Emily tighter in his arms. “Leave whatever the hell you came to bring and go!”

  “Yes, Mr. Lawson.” Aldus looked deeply concerned as they laid a bottle of chilled champagne on the counter and a large platter of food.