Any Price

by Faulkner, Gail

  Slowly floating down from the place they’d been, both of them collapsed to the bed. Lore lay over her back, covering her with his body. Still joined, his weight was a welcome anchor. It represented safety in an uncertain world filled with monsters.

  Kenna didn’t want to move. Lore’s hands slid up her arms, covering every inch of her as their fingers entwined, his palms over the backs of her hands. He accepted her gift of surrender and met her needs in that silent confirmation. He would be the shield, the weapon, the warrior. She was the treasure for which his soul was forfeit.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lore released her hands as he eased out of her and rolled them to the side. His body curled around her, both arms holding her. The arm below her fit in the natural indentation of her waist, his forearm came up as he cupped a breast. The arm over her extended down to possessively cover her cunt with his palm, one finger buried in her. In this hold he could move her easily or stroke her. The primitive possession of the hold soothed them both.

  Her head resting just below his chin, they stared sightlessly at the window. “We are the One,” Lore commented into the night.

  “Yes,” Kenna agreed. Contentment was not possible on so many levels, but what they had become allowed peace. “You didn’t drink from me the second time.”

  “It wasn’t necessary,” he told her quietly.

  “Nothing is what we would expect,” she agreed as they both absorbed the newness of what they were.

  Lore rubbed his cheek in her hair, his eyes closing briefly. “We are more, baby. More than those who might have observed beings like us in the distant past. They couldn’t know what they were looking at.”

  “The god is like you,” Kenna murmured. “But he’s not well. Something is missing.”

  “He is not the evil that attacked Thomas. We know so little of the forces in this conflict. I’m tired of that,” Lore agreed with her.

  They checked on Thomas from a distance. The night was fading as dawn inched closer to the horizon. His pain receding, there was no doubt Thomas would live.

  Kenna smiled lazily.

  Lore’s mind turned to their discoveries. He was going over everything they’d experienced at dizzying speed. He was trying to analyze it from the perspective of discarding preconceived ideas they’d embraced before. Now it was clear that almost everything they’d thought they knew in the past was only a dim shadow of reality. Viewing events in this way, he saw a new picture.

  “In the beginning we thought you were the one changing,” he commented softly with a wry smile.

  Kenna turned over to face him. As soon as she wanted to move, he released his grip so she could. Lying in the loose hold of his arms, she looked into the face of her other half. There was no other way to see him now. A little bit awed, her hand rose to trace the contours of his cheek. “We’ve been looking at everything backward,” Kenna agreed.

  Her fingers delicately stroked the line of cheek to firm jaw, down his neck, turning over to trail up and flutter over his lips. Warm eyes watched her as she touched him. “What are you doing?” he asked, unwilling to invade her mind in this moment. In truth, he was a bit afraid that she was seeing him as the monster they both knew he was.

  New and untested, the changes in him were a promise and a sentence. There was no going back and they had no clue what going forward would bring them. Power was safety but everything in this future came with a dark side. Of course, the struggle between so-called good and evil always was one of shifting contrasts. Considering the changes they’d experienced, Lore was not quite sure what was good or evil. As she’d pointed out, they had looked at everything from a very narrow perspective. Calling it backward was an understatement.

  “I’m looking at the face of love,” Kenna whispered.

  Lore’s eyes closed in relief. She chuckled softly. He may have pulled out of her mind, but she’d done no such thing for him. She knew he had been uncertain of her reaction to him now.

  “I doubt many will agree with your assessment.” Lore looked into her eyes again and smiled. “But I don’t care as long as that’s what you see.”

  “Those who see with the eyes of the soul will agree,” she assured him. “The pledge you just made is… Are there even words for it? There might have been at one time, but not in our language.”

  Her eyes suddenly welled with tears. He would pay the price for them all. As guardian, his burden would never be laid down. The other men would help him, but they might never understand what he’d become. How could anyone understand? The only names used to describe one like him were dark accusations. Those names were the garbled fears of frightened people.

  A tear escaped down her cheek to disappear into the pillow.

  “Stop, little one.” Lore gently pushed the hair away from her face in a caress. “Tears from you are the only things that will ever hurt me. What others call me doesn’t matter. I’m listening to your heart. That’s probably the reason no one straightened humans out. There was no need. Our kind is completely focused on each other. This is all we need.”

  It was true. His focus on her was unmatched. The joining had fused them on a cellular level. Kenna suspected that was the answer to the how of it but it would take a geneticist to explain. Roughly, they were aware that the joining was codependent and involved life forces in each of them.

  Becoming One took up everything each of them were. And yet, even sliding in and out of each other’s minds, there were still surprises. Personality was not a flat plane that could be surveyed from a single vantage point. It was a mountainous terrain filled with endless valleys, caves and hidden meadows. Now they were more aware of how much they had to learn in each other.

  Kenna fell onto her back, knowing he would follow her. His big body loomed over her, resting on one elbow. A soft smile touched her lips as she blinked the tears still in her eyes. “We are this, aren’t we? A contradiction. Are we destined mates? I have never been more free than I am at this moment, but I’ve never been more connected with another being.”

  Lore leaned down to brush a kiss across the tracks of her tears. He couldn’t look at those anymore. “Baby, you are so not free. Whatever gives you that idea?”

  “Is there anything I can’t have?” Kenna asked softly as his lips nibbled around her ear.

  “No. Tell me what you want. If it’s within my power to give it to you and it makes you happy, it’s yours,” he growled.

  “See?”

  Lore’s head lifted as he laughed in a deep rumble. “All that proves is your lover enjoys making you happy.”

  “How could anyone be more free?” Kenna asked around her smile. “Isn’t the search for freedom the pursuit of happiness?”

  They both sobered. The serious realization came that indeed, for them, happiness lived in each other.

  “But, Lore, what if you didn’t have this connection? Think what it would be like. Being what you are and alone.” Kenna turned it over as his commitment curled around her heart. “The god doesn’t.”

  “Shit. How’s that possible? What I am can’t exist without you, without us,” Lore frowned as they both explored the dark path this thought led to. Her experience with the god was clear. He’d been indescribably alone. He hadn’t been able to hide it when he touched Kenna.

  “I don’t know how, but he endures. I think he lives in pain. That’s what I felt in the hall after he left. Do you think he took my blood because…” Kenna frowned as that puzzle became dark and ugly. “Do you think I make a difference for him? He can’t take me, can he?”

  “No. No, no. I’m sure he can’t. Not now. I don’t know if he could have then.” Lore felt new instincts expand as he questioned how close he’d come to losing Kenna. The compulsion was deadly and direct.

  What he didn’t know about all of this was alarming. He was dangerous. The one individual who could possibly teach him a thing or two was extremely dangerous. How could that being exist alone? It would be like dragging himself through centuries with huge portion
s of his body sliced away, right down to the bone, the wounds remaining fresh and bleeding.

  Even if a male managed to survive the loss of his family, the pain would surely drive him to inexpressible insanity. The act of healing Kenna from whatever damage he’d caused demonstrated the being could reason, perhaps even feel remorse. And he’d been able to control his gifts in so delicate a fashion as to heal her. That indicated higher mental function.

  “Contact with the god is a risk,” Lore said, “regardless of what he can teach us.”

  Kenna yawned. Exciting though the new discoveries were, her body had not changed. Lore had gained an amazing amount of strength and stamina, becoming something they could hardly comprehend. She was as human physically as she’d ever been. Mentally she was not, but that didn’t lend her any more physical strength than she’d started with.

  “Sleep, baby,” Lore admonished. “The dawn is almost here and Thomas will be fine.”

  Kenna’s eyes were heavy and there was no resisting his suggestion.

  Lore watched her until he was sure she drifted into deep rest. Rolling over, he looked at the blush of a new day color the sky outside. Stacking his hands behind his head, he let his senses drink in the dawn. Everything was richer, sharper and more vivid.

  Assailed with new information, he struggled with how to ingest it all. He couldn’t flounder through today like a puppy sniffing at new things every two seconds. He had to get a handle on how to utilize the information without stopping to analyze every single scrap of it.

  It was frustrating to realize he suffered from overload because he was an infant of his kind. He needed to examine every new thing because he had no stored memories to tell him what the new things were. These abilities would be a crippling drawback in some ways. He didn’t have time for this. He couldn’t afford to be hampered by ignorance that might cause him to pause when he should have struck.

  Again the puzzle of the god came to mind. If that creature felt benevolent to Kenna, would he…? Lore hissed in frustration. That was a tempting but pointless train of thought. The god might be the one creature who could help, but how could Lore trust anything about him? The very fact the god lived made him a creature far removed from the natural order of things in this new reality Lore lived in.

  Lore had to scoff at his assessment. What the hell did he know of the natural order? He had only a few days’ knowledge to judge from. His own experiences were fucking phenomenal and distinctly outside his previously known natural order.

  There was a lot to be said for Yuri’s caution that just because they could do a thing, that didn’t make it the right thing to do. Learning to handle the influx of information was a trick he would have to teach himself. At least he had a few minutes to concentrate on it this morning.

  “My lord, excuse me, please. I have some news,” Yuri intruded on Lore’s thoughts.

  Lore closed his eyes, so much for time to learn a damn thing. “Yes? Continue.”

  “Janos, the caretaker of my lady’s ancestral home, has reported the castle was broken into last night. He’s never seen anything like it and is very agitated. A window was broken in the kitchen. According to Janos, they have never known a window to break in this building. He says that not only is the window broken, the stone around the window is discolored as if there was a fire.”

  Lore didn’t point out the obvious, glass and stone do not burn. There couldn’t have been a fire. “Has he checked the castle? Is everything inside as we left it?”

  “It appears untouched. However, Janos insists that the castle feels angry now. He looked in the windows but did not go in. His apprehension was so overwhelming that he left the property and contacted me.”

  “Please instruct Janos to heed his feeling. Do not enter. It appears we will be returning north to see what has occurred. We’ll make those arrangements when Kenna wakes. How is Thomas?”

  Lore asked Yuri about Thomas to be polite. Right now he wasn’t willing to share the full extent of his changes with anyone. He knew exactly how Thomas was. He was weak but recovering. Apparently he had survived the poison or the antidote. It was still unclear which.

  “He recovers, my lord. Julie is with him.”

  “I’ll meet you in his room,” Lore instructed.

  Frustrated with being forced to react to an aggressor again, Lore rolled out of bed. Whatever had occurred at the other castle was a worry, and this time smacked of being led around by the nose. Rushing up to investigate was exceedingly predictable behavior but could they afford not to?

  Showering and dressing quickly, Lore stood looking down at Kenna a few moments. Exhaustion hovered around her and Lore couldn’t bring himself to wake her. He left the royal apartment to join Yuri and Julianna in the medical unit. Soon after he arrived, Boris and Celina entered the room. Thomas was awake but groggy.

  “Ah, my torturer and his angel,” Thomas greeted Boris and his sister.

  “You lived. Stop whining.” Boris raised a brow. “I was expecting thanks.”

  “I’m not convinced you saved me. Whatever the poison was, could it really have been worse than the cure? Your family dreamed up both and they probably accomplish much the same things.”

  “Speaking of my family…” Boris paused and glanced at Lore. “Celina is convinced they are here.”

  Lore smiled and nodded to his executive secretary. “It would be best if we did not mention your rightful position in word or thought,” Lore said quietly. “Currently, none of us have figured out how to quiet our collective power signature. We don’t know if the opposing force can connect with us and listen. Our ignorance is no excuse for lack of caution. We will not be given any quarter for it.”

  “My lord, you are correct,” Celina agreed. “I’m sure her highness feels it also. There is another pushing into our…space. I do not know another word for what we all share. The one pushing on us is crafty and slithers away as soon as there is a hint of disturbance. I feel they are sensitive to our unusual method of communication. Also…”

  Celina’s eyes shot to Boris who casually went to the left wall of the room. It was an interior wall that divided the space from the next room. As Boris laid a hand on the wall, Celina continued. “I feel we must continue to examine the construction contracts for the new school north of the city. Some of the language in them is not standard and I suspect it might compromise the project. As I understand it, you wish our schools to be showplaces of education and undesirable contractors will not be tolerated.”

  Lore nodded. Boris laying a hand on the wall as Celina switched to talking about mundane things said the two of them had felt a shift that the others hadn’t. The hand on the wall was a reference to the secret passages.

  In Celina’s choice of subject was a swiftly constructed code. Putting the words in a different order than she’d said them was a simple matter for Lore. “North of the city I feel the construction was examined. I suspect the language might be compromised. Undesirables will not be tolerated.”

  Thomas glared at Boris. “I need to go to the bathroom. Since it’s your fault I’m weak, help me up, Boris.”

  They dare not use the mental communication and Thomas needed to feel the wall Boris felt. He was aware of the passages and how the others had found them while he was in New York. His aptitude for feeling structures was much more acute than anyone else’s, and Thomas felt he should be the one touching the wall.

  Struggling up as quickly as he could, Thomas ignored Julianna’s jerking movement to stop him. Boris immediately leapt to his side, gripping Thomas’ arm. Thomas stiffened in reaction to what he felt through Boris. “The wall!” he rasped, reaching for it on lurching, unstable feet. Boris wasn’t quick enough to catch Thomas as he fell against his goal. Leaning heavily on the structure, Thomas’ reaction to what it told him was swift.

  “Someone in the passages.” He frowned in concentration. “My lady! Is she alone?! Go!”

  Before Thomas finished the first sentence, Lore realized his mistake. Again he’d
assumed safety where none was to be found. Lore was out the door running toward the room he’d left unprotected. A guard outside her door was useless if the passages let the aggressor in. Yuri and Boris were behind him, unable to catch up.

  Lore could feel Kenna. Her signature was still there. But she didn’t wake to his call. He was screaming at her in his mind and she didn’t respond.

  Bursting into the apartments, Lore was instantly aware of the god. A very large, dark figure bent over Kenna. His hand wrapped around her neck, he turned his head to glare at Lore. The figure bared his teeth in a low hiss between long incisors.

  “Drink from her. Quickly! Take the poison into your body and save her!” the creature commanded.

  Lore paused, unsure of his next move. Was this being hurting Kenna or saving her? Were his commands the product of knowledge or threat?

  “She is my sister! I cannot hurt her. If I were going to, she’d be dead and you’d never have seen me. Do it! We don’t have time to discuss it, little brother! I cannot heal her as I did before. If the poison travels to all her organs, there is no hope.”

  Lore’s own instincts were screaming at him to do exactly what the being suggested. The impossibility of a family relationship between Kenna and this creature was inconsequential as he felt her suddenly gripped in pain as a toxin rushed through her system.

  Behind Lore, Yuri and Boris burst into the room. Lore flashed to Kenna using speed that made him appear to be in one place and an instant later, another. Lifting her, he did the natural thing. His head whipped back, his grimace exposed elongated incisors the moment before he buried them in her neck.

  Drawing her blood into his body, he could feel an acid burn instead of the sweet brew it had been this morning.

  The large being on the other side of the bed held up a hand without glancing at the two men in the doorway. The slight gesture immobilized them into frozen witnesses.