by Lynn Viehl
There was no kind way to do this, so Nick went with direct. “Your sister is in a coma. Someone poisoned her, probably before she left France.”
The man with the laughing brown eyes looked ready to kill something. “Pájaro did this.” He glanced at Cinq. “You heard what he said on the beach.” He turned back to Nick. “What about an antidote?”
“She’s too far gone for that now.” She looked at the faces all around her. “The truth is, she’s not going to make it through the night. I’m so sorry, guys.”
“You’re sorry? That’s it? We should have taken her to a real doctor. You let her die, you fucking snow-haired bitch.” Vingt lunged at her, coming up short when Cinq grabbed him from behind. “Let go of me. Let…go…” He sagged, and covered his face with his hands.
Cinq turned him around and held on to him. Over the spiked blond head he said, “Thank you for telling us.”
“If you guys want to start going up to say good-bye to her,” she said, “Alex said it’d be okay.”
Sensing that they needed a little privacy, Nick went to the kitchen. There she found the big German brewing tea. “Got any wine?”
“In the fridge. There’s a case of some piss water the locals call beer, too.” He carried a cup of tea to the table and pulled out a chair.
Nick grabbed a bottle that had already been opened and an empty mug off the counter, and sat down with him. “Alex fill you in on what’s happening upstairs?”
“She did.” He stirred a spoonful of honey into his tea. “I should have realized what was happening. I have dealt with some accidental poisonings among children. The head wound distracted me.”
“There was nothing you could have done for her.” She uncorked the bottle, filled the mug halfway, and took a sip, grimacing at the undiluted taste of it.
“Here.” Neuf took out a penknife and began to roll up his sleeve.
“I’m good.” Nick watched him pull her mug across the table before he made a small incision in his wrist. “What are you doing?”
“Making your drink more palatable.” As he held his dripping wrist over her mug, he gave her a wry look. “If the green-eyed man were not with you I would permit you to bite me, but I think he would object to finding us having sex on the kitchen floor.”
She didn’t know whether to laugh or slap him. “Maybe I’m not that easy.”
“Well, I am.” He handed her the mug before he pressed a napkin to the wrist wound. “We know what you and your friends are, lady, and you can trust us.”
“I’d rather do that than brain-wipe you.” She toasted him with the mug before she sipped the mixture of blood and wine. “Thanks for the donation.”
“My pleasure.” He sampled his tea. “You want to know why Simone and the rest of us came here.”
She moved a shoulder. “Would be nice to fill in the blanks.”
“We were trying to protect a cross that Simone’s ancestor buried on this island a very long time ago,” he said. “It was said to contain three flawless, priceless jewels set in the gold. Her father called them the Emeralds of Eternity. It’s the gems themselves that are said to bestow immortal life, but I don’t know precisely how. Only Helada is entrusted with that secret.”
“Explain something to me: Why do they always name priceless treasure something like that?” Nick asked. “I mean, if you want to keep them safe, why not call them the Worthless Fakes or Three Big Hunks of Cheap Glass? The Emeralds of Eternity. Please.” She made a rude sound.
“I wish we had found them.” He looked up at the ceiling. “They might have saved her life.”
“Emeralds don’t do anything but look great on red-haired chicks, my man. Doesn’t matter what you call them.” Nick heard a crashing sound from upstairs, as if large pieces of furniture were being thrown against walls. “What’s the German word for shit?”
Neuf got to his feet. “Scheiße.”
“Stay here and keep your brothers out of the way.” Nick ran upstairs to the bedroom door, ducking as part of a chair came flying through it.
“Korvel, calm down.” That was Alexandra, and she sounded pissed.
Nick stepped inside and saw her lover and the captain grappling on the floor. Gabriel came up on top, but not for long. Korvel threw him aside, rolling to his feet and going to the bed, where he picked up Alex’s case and shoved it in her hands.
“Do it, Alexandra,” he said. “It will save her. Do it, you heartless bitch, or I swear I’ll make you suffer.”
“Take your best shot.” Alex dropped the case on the bed and folded her arms. “Because I’m not doing it.”
“Whoa. Time-out.” Nick stepped into the room and helped Gabriel up from the floor. “Alex?”
“He wants me to inject her with my blood. Because Lucan used my blood to change Sam, the idiot thinks it will save this girl.” Her expression turned murderous. “But as I’ve explained to him—twice now—she’s not Kyndred. She’s a normal, garden-variety human. The minute I inject her, my blood will attack hers, eat it, and kill her.”
“You don’t know that,” Korvel bellowed.
“Okay, okay.” Nick stepped between them and pointed a finger at Korvel. “You. Stop tearing the place apart.” She turned to Alex. “Simone is dying. There’s no hope. No coming back from this. Are you sure about this?”
“She’ll be dead in an hour,” Alex said through her teeth.
“So inject her with your blood.” As Alex glared at her, she added, “If you’re right, it won’t make any difference.”
“Yes, it will, Nick. It’ll make a difference to me. I’ll be murdering her.” She took a deep breath and released it. “I’m a doctor. We take an oath to do no harm. I can’t inject her with toxic blood.”
“Can’t, or won’t?” Nick studied her face. “What if Korvel’s right, and she changes? You’ll save her.”
“You had the change forced on you,” Alex reminded her. “You want to go thank Elizabeth for it? Oh, wait, I remember now. She’s dead. You had Richard kill her for doing this to you.”
“You finished?” Nick asked. When Alex looked away, she said, “Don’t use me and my shit to justify yours. My guess is you don’t want to inject her because you’re afraid it will work. If that happens, and the vampire king finds out? Your ass and your blood will be his.”
“Alexandra, we swear never to tell,” Gabriel said. “All of us.”
Korvel nodded. “I will take Simone away with me. Richard will never know.”
“Like I’d throw you under the bus, Alex,” Nick said.
Alex walked up to Korvel. “If she lives, are you planning to bond with her? Make her your sygkenis? After everything you did to separate me from Michael, why should I hand her over to you?”
“If you don’t want me to have her, then you can take her back to America with you.” He looked past her at Simone. “You can tell her I’m dead, or whatever you like. I will never try to see her again. Only save her, Alexandra. Please.”
Alex picked up the syringe, stabbing it into her arm and filling it with her blood. “This should go to work within a few minutes. Gabriel, I assume you know the difference between a human beginning the transition to Kyn and one who dies from Kyn blood poisoning.”
“I have witnessed both many times, Doctor,” he said.
She went to sit on the side of the bed by Simone and prepare her arm for the injection. “After I do this, I’m leaving. I don’t want to know what happens to this girl. Ever.” She slid the needle in and pressed the plunger down slowly.
When it was done, Alex stood and gathered up her things, stuffing them in the case.
As Alex passed her, Nick touched her arm. “Thank you for giving her a chance.”
“Is that what I did?” She stalked out of the room.
Korvel took Alex’s place beside Simone and focused on her face, while Nick joined Gabriel at the foot of the bed.
She curled her hand around his. “Alex was right. I couldn’t ever thank Elizabeth for what she did. S
he murdered my parents.”
He tucked her against his side. “Alex spoke without thinking.”
“If it had been different, if she changed only me, and somehow I still found you, then maybe I could thank her.” She squeezed his hand. “After I kicked her ass.”
As Alex had predicted, it took only a few minutes, and in that time Korvel must have realized what was happening, because he climbed onto the bed and held Simone against him, his cheek resting against her short hair. Nick glanced at Gabriel, who shook his head.
And then the woman who had never lost a battle finally stopped fighting.
Chapter 21
O
nly one ferry from the Scottish mainland sailed to Í Árd, and only when it was summoned by radio from the medieval villa that no one knew had been transported from Italy brick by brick to the supposedly uninhabited island. A month seldom passed without the ferryboat captain making at least one trip, but on this night his instructions were to stay away. And so he went to his favorite pub to have a drink with the lads and talk about anything but his work.
Within the center courtyard of the villa a hundred men stood in facing ranks, their battle armor polished like glass, their swords drawn and held aloft, the tips touching those across from them to form a steel canopy. Richard’s black-and-gold standard had been raised, but another fluttered beside it, one Korvel had not seen since childhood, when his grandfather had carried it into battle.
Silver larkspur against a green field, the long-lost emblem of the house of Korvel. The symbol of everything he had once believed important, and noble, and good.
He walked through the ranks, holding Simone’s body so that his steps did not jar her, the fluttering white silk of her skirts caressing his arm. When he reached the gardens in the courtyard’s center, he saw the high pyre of carefully stacked wood. Someone, probably Richard’s tresora Éliane, had placed hundreds of white blooms atop the wood. On this bed of roses he placed the body of the woman he had not saved, and as the flowers’ fragrance enveloped them, he bowed his head to kiss her still, cold lips.
“If there is a heaven, I know you are there,” he whispered to her as a circle of guards bearing torches marched in formation to surround the pyre. “Surely God recognizes an angel when he sees one. I did.”
“Captain.”
“I have served you for seven lifetimes, my lord.” He didn’t look at Richard. “You can give me a few moments with her.”
“As you will.” His master made a gesture, and the men drew back.
He turned back to Simone, resting his hand on the silk head rail covering her shorn hair. “I know I gave you my word that I would go on and live for us both. But you were wrong about me, love. When I have to be, I am a most convincing liar.”
A drop of rain fell, landing to bead on the curve of her lip, and then another trickled down from her brow to the corner of her eye. Korvel reached to wipe them away, and only then did he feel the sting in his eyes and realize they were not rain at all.
He had not wept since his mortal life, and he brought her hand to his face so she could feel this last miracle.
“Korvel.” The high lord’s voice, which he could use as an instrument of pleasure or a weapon of pain, grew curiously gentle. “You must come away from there now.”
Suddenly everything became simple. He stepped down and took the torch from Stefan. “It seems that I will be breaking faith with you again, my lord. It will be for the last time. Forgive me.”
Richard seized his wrist. “You are not thinking clearly. She would not want you to do this.”
“For once the vampire king’s right, Captain.” Nicola walked up to the pyre. “I can guarantee you she wouldn’t want this.”
“You should understand better than anyone.” Korvel glanced at Richard before he lowered his voice. “You know what it is to have no more reason to live.”
“Maybe I did.” She eyed Gabriel, who came to stand beside her. “But not anymore.”
Looking at them, knowing they had everything that he had lost, proved too much for Korvel. “Let me go, my lady. I only want to be with her.”
“Oh, for God’s sake.” As he turned to the pyre, Nicola plucked the torch from his hand and tossed it away. “I’m not letting you do this. Friends don’t let friends set themselves on fire.” She turned to Gabriel. “Can’t you order him not to do this?”
“He has not yet made an oath to me.”
“Details.” She made a dismissive gesture. “You said you wanted to hang with us, Captain. I’m holding you to that.” She cringed and held the sides of her head. “Oh, shit, not again.”
Everyone in the courtyard went still, including Korvel, who didn’t try to resist. She’s dead. You can kill me now, too.
On the other side of the pyre a shadow shifted. I never harmed her, warrior. It was your intrusion that caused this. But it is done, and she was not the last.
Korvel saw Nicola walk up to the pyre and pull the head rail from Simone’s body. What are you doing?
See with your heart instead of your eyes, Korvel, and perhaps you will find an answer.
Furious voices shouted from the ranks of the men as they regained control of their bodies. Gabriel went to Nicola, who was standing and staring at the pyre, while Richard strode around it, looking at the shadows.
“Silence,” the high lord snapped, and his powerful voice rendered everyone mute. “I will know the cause of this.” He eyed Korvel. “What was that thing in my head?”
“I cannot say, my lord.” Korvel took the head rail from Nicola’s hand and carried it back to Simone’s body. “But I do wish you luck with it.”
Nicola finally moved. “Captain, you heard him. Look at her with your heart.”
Korvel didn’t want to look at anything but her. In death she had the peace that she had never known in life. He brushed her hair back from her brow, lifting the head rail to drape it back in place. The fabric slipped from his fingers as he touched the top of her head and drew the hair back down over her brow.
The hair that she had cut off two days before had grown six inches.
The sound of Nicola arguing with his master made him look over at them.
“What has any of this to do with your ability?” Richard demanded.
“I can always tell how many humans and vampires are in one place. Dead or alive.” She flicked a hand at Éliane. “I’m telling you, the only human on this island is your honey over there.” She came over and climbed the pyre.
He caught her arm. “What are you doing?”
“Ruining the bonfire party.” She bit into her forearm and then held the open wound to Simone’s lips.
Korvel stared. “You can’t revive her, Nick. She’s dead.”
“No, she’s not.” Nicola grinned and took away her arm as Simone’s eyes opened. “Hey, girlfriend. Welcome back to the land of the never-dying.”
Simone touched her mouth, and then looked all around her. “I’m alive?”
“Yes, and you’re going to stay that way. For a very, very long time.” As Simone sat up, Nicola put an arm around her and helped her down from the pyre. “Easy, sister. You’re still weak.”
Rose petals floated down onto Korvel’s shoulders and chest, but he could not move, or blink, or breathe. “Simone?”
She nodded, pulling away from Nicola as she came to him, her steps unsteady but her gaze unwavering. “I could hear you, but I couldn’t move.” She touched her mouth. “I’m Kyn now. How can that be?”
“You’re alive.” His hands shook as he reached for her, pulling her against him, wrapping his arms around her. “That is all that has to be.”
Richard joined them, studying Simone before he spoke to Nicola. “There was no spark of life left in her body when Korvel brought her to the island. We would have felt it. How did this happen?”
“Sorry, I’m the thief.” Nicola looked past him. “You’ll have to ask the doctor.”
As if on cue, Alexandra Keller came into the garden. She
carried a medical case and looked highly annoyed. “I hate Ireland. I hate planes. I had to haul a drunk ferryboat captain out of a pub to get here. He almost took me to Greenland.” She finally saw whom Korvel had in his arms. “So this is how you keep your promises?”
“You were right, Doctor,” Korvel said. “She died of…the poisoning.” He looked down at Simone. “But she has become Kyn.”
“We need a room,” Alexandra said to Richard. “And a lot less audience.”
Korvel carried Simone inside the castle and to his chambers. Once there, Alexandra chased out everyone, including Richard.
“I know this girl is not Kyndred, Alexandra,” the high lord warned. “I want to know what caused this to happen.”
“Absolutely. I’ll get right on that.” She shut the door in his face and bolted it. “Nosy jackass.”
Korvel glanced at her. “He can hear you through the door.”
“Why do you think I said it?” The doctor came over to the bed where Korvel had placed Simone, and set her case on the lamp table beside it. “Since no one has bothered to ask, how are you feeling?”
“I don’t know,” Simone admitted. “A little tired. Hungry. Mostly confused.”
“That’s par for the course.” Alexandra took out her stethoscope and used it to listen to her heart, then wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her right arm. “Korvel, how long did it take for her to die after I injected her?”
“Only a few minutes, just as you said.” He couldn’t stop looking at Simone. “Alexandra, what are you doing here?”
“Last night this voice got inside my head and said I had to come here.” She pulled the stethoscope from her ears. “When I told it to go to hell, it took over my body. Next thing I know, I’m on a plane. How long has she been in transition?”
“She was not. She was dead.”
“Her heart rate and BP say otherwise.” She put an electronic thermometer against Simone’s ear and then checked the display. “Borderline hypothermic, but Kyn-normal.” She removed a penlight from her coat. “Okay, sweetie, look at the annoying light for me. That’s it.”
