by Anna, Vivi
“It doesn’t look like a scratch.”
“It’s fine. I’ll heal.”
“Do you want me to…?” Skylar motioned with her hands.
Rhys shook his head. “Let’s just move on.”
“Where to then?” Jovan asked. He supposed he shouldn’t really be surprised that Rhys had made arrangements behind his back. Rhys didn’t discuss much of anything with him. It was obvious Jovan didn’t know much of anything about his brother.
“The airstrips. We have a ship waiting for us.”
“And how do you propose we get there? Walk?”
“Oi!” A voice echoed to them from a small river barge slowly moving toward the shore.
Jovan waved to the man standing on the bow, hailing them.
“Do you need some help?” the man asked.
“Could you take us downriver to the airstrips?” Jovan asked.
“You bet.”
The barge couldn’t anchor right at the shore as there were rocks in the water, so the three of them had to swim out a little ways and climb up the ladder. They were soaked through anyway, so no one complained. The barge was dry, it was faster than walking, and they wouldn’t be tracked.
Skylar was able to wash the river stink from her skin and hair thanks to a hot basin of clean water, and Jovan patched up Rhys’s arm with the first aid kit the captain had stowed in his cabin. All in all, they were damn lucky to have survived the drop into the river in one piece and wit piarrah the keys.
* * *
Two hours later, they arrived at the airship docks outside London proper. The whole area consisted of a series of wooden platforms on poles twelve feet above them in a complicated pinwheel. Below them were several buildings housing the cargo that would be transported out and shipped in from other countries. The buildings weren’t as large as those on the docks along the river, but Jovan imagined that would change in time. The wheels of industry kept on turning.
“There she is,” Rhys said.
Only one dirigible was docked, a decent-sized ship with two framed balloons painted with wings. The name on the side of the two-tiered blue craft was The Chrysalis.
They all got out and made their way to the docking station. When they neared, a buxom woman with long curly black hair stepped out of the shadows, blocking their path. She wore tight pants, tall boots and a big hat with lots of feathers.
She smiled. “Bonjour, mon ami.” She opened her thick arms and wrapped them around Rhys. Then she planted her full lips on his and kissed him eagerly.
Skylar glanced at Jovan. He just shrugged. He had no idea who this woman was, or how Rhys knew her. She didn’t seem like someone his brother would ever associate with.
After the woman disengaged from Rhys, she eyed Jovan and Skylar. “Ton frère?”
Rhys nodded. “Oui.”
She shook her head disapprovingly, then she smiled at Skylar and gathered her in her arms, hugging her tight. “Ah, très joli.”
“Skylar, Jovan, this is Captain Genevieve Le Blanc. Her ship will take us to Salisbury.”
After the woman relinquished her hold on Skylar, she beckoned them toward the ramp leading up to the floating vessel. “Come. I will find you dry clothes and warm drink.”
They followed her up. Skylar first, then Rhys. Jovan went last, not as eager to climb aboard. There was something about the captain he didn’t trust. Or it could’ve been the fact that he didn’t trust the logic of her and Rhys.
He caught up to Rhys. “Who is this woman?”
Rhys gave him a sidelong look. “A friend.”
“How long have you known her?”
“Why? What does it matter? We need transport to Salisbury and here it is.”
Genevieve helped Skylar aboard, then the two of them. “Come down to the cabins. I find clothes.” She gestured for them to follow her.
Jovan grabbed Rhys’s arm, holding him back. “I deserve an answer.”
Rhys whirled on him, fists clenched. Jovan could see the anger in his eyes. “You deserve? Ha! That’s all you ever think about. What you deserve. What you want. What you need. You are the most frivolous and selfish man I have ever known.”
“Even more so than your friend Hawthorne?” He couldn’t keep the spite from his voice.
“Yes, even more. At least he has values. They may be warped but he follows them.”
Jovan flinched as if struck in the side of the face. To be compared to their enemy and found lacking—it hurt to know that Rhys thought of him that way.
p wd as if “You give no value to anything. Not to your family, to those who should mean something.” He glanced at Skylar.
“I value those around me.”
Rhys chortled. “Ha! You tossed those people aside when you acted as if you were above everything and everyone and used your magic whenever and for whatever reason. Because you wanted to.”
“If you’re speaking of the council…”
“I’m speaking of those you betrayed.”
“Who have I betrayed?”
“You betrayed me, Jovan!” he yelled. “You used me to steal from Patricia. Right there under my nose. And Father never did anything about it. It was brushed under the rug, like all your other transgressions.”
His face was red, and tears welled in the corner of his eyes. It was then Jovan realized how much he’d hurt his brother. His brother, whom he always thought cold and unfeeling, an unflinching rock. But a rock could bleed if cut deep enough. He finally understood that now. It was obvious that Rhys had been bleeding a long time.
His first instinct was to argue, to fight, but looking at his brother now made him accept the truth. He sighed. “You’re right.” He rubbed a shaky hand over his face. “I’ve been all that and worse. I’ve been ignorant about many issues.” He risked a glanced at Skylar, wanting her to know he spoke to her as well. “I can change, Rhys, and I have, I think. And I will even more for my family, for those I love.” He looked his brother straight in the eyes. “Can you forgive? Because I would ask it of you. I am sorry, my brother. More sorry than you could ever know. For that and for abandoning you after Sebastian left. I know you would never say it out loud but I knew you needed me.”
Rhys’s eyes widened, likely not realizing Jovan had known. Had always known that Rhys had suffered deeply when their elder brother vanished. It weighed on his shoulders. He had to deal with everything that went with being the eldest, without having anyone to turn to, to help carry the load.
Not waiting for a response from Rhys, maybe fearing it, Jovan shuffled wearily to where the two women stood, watching and waiting. “I would welcome that cabin and clothes, Captain, if you should still want to provide it.”
Before he could leave, Rhys said, “Jovan, I’m not sure…”
Jovan shook his head. “It’s all right. You don’t need to say anything.”
As he passed Skylar to follow the captain, she touched his arm. But he didn’t stop or meet her gaze. He was too cowardly, afraid he’d see judgment or resentment in her eyes. Two things he couldn’t handle coming from her. He’d just finished wrestling with one of the most important people in his life; he didn’t want to do it with another one.
Once they reached the cabin, Jovan thanked the captain and shut the door behind him. He sank down onto the berth, too exhausted to stay on his feet. Events from the past few days were quickly catching up to him. If his mind wasn’t still troubled, he’d probably be able to sleep the entire eight-hour trip. But troubled it was.
The stink of river water filled his nose. He stripped off his sodden overcoat and tossed it aside, then pulled off his boots. He hoped the captain would return with warm dry clothes soon. The chill of the night was starting to finally sink into his body.
There came a soft knock at the door.
Expecting the captain with his clothes, he opened it, but it was Skylar who stood in the doorway. She handed him a new shirt and trousers and waistcoat. “Not the highest of quality but it will do.”
He stood
back to allow her entry. She stepped into the cabin and shut the door, leaning her back against it.
He unfastened the buttons on his shirt and stripped it off. Before he slid on the new one, he watched Skylar’s face. She didn’t avert her gaze but raked him with those intense eyes of hers. A shiver raced over him and it wasn’t from the chill in the air.
“How are you?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I apologize for my earlier outburst. Rhys and I should’ve done that in private.”
She ran her fingers through her hair, while still watching him. “No apologies needed. I’m quite certain that all had to come out. For Rhys’s sake and for yours. You’ve both been harboring it for too long.”
She pushed away from the door and gently placed her hand on his bare chest. Her touch sent a flare of heat shooting through him, like fireworks. His pants were quickly becoming uncomfortably snug.
“Skylar,” he breathed, covering her hand with his own. “I’ve waited so long to have your touch again. I feared I’d never earn it.”
“Don’t think I haven’t suffered as well. With every angry thought over the past years, there was longing too.”
He gave her a small smile, rubbing his thumb over the soft skin of her hand. “Oh, my love. I don’t deserve you. Rhys is right about me, as was your father.”
“Rhys was angry and hurt, and my father may be a great man but he’s flawed in many ways when it comes to his only daughter.”
“He only wishes you to be with the best man. A man who can honor and love and protect you.”
“I know.” She leaned forward and covered his lips with her own. The kiss was soft and gentle, and it drove a spear through his heart. When she pulled back, she cupped his cheek with her hand. “Have I not found that man?”
He wished to yell, “Yes! Yes, you’ve found him,” but in reality he wasn’t so sure. Love and protect were easy to do. But honor. He wasn’t sure he had any of that left. It had been seven years since he’d lost his and he’d been trying ever since to gain it back. Had he succeeded? He didn’t know.
His hesitation had her pulling away. She dropped her hand and took a distancing step back. “Seven years is a long time to wait for someone, Jovan. I may be a Druid and will certainly live to be over a hundred, but my heart is human and is not as patient.” She opened the door and walked out.
He stood there, unmoving, staring at the closed door, willing her to return, until the bite of the cold in the cabin forced him to slip on the dry shirt and button it up.
Chapter Nineteen
After changing into a simple frock and stiff overcoat, Skylar spent most of the trip to Salisbury wandering the top deck of the ship. She was tired, to be sure, but she couldn’t sleep. Especially since a constant wind up high sent the ship rocking back and forth. It was enough to make her nauseated.
She was leaning over the side of the bow, watching the darkness of the land below, speckled every once in a while by a torch or ca the nt>
“C’est magnifique, non?”
“Yes, it’s quite beautiful.”
Genevieve took in a deep breath of crisp cool air. “Here in the sky is the only place I feel truly free.” She gave Skylar a sidelong look. “You know this feeling?”
Skylar nodded. “I do, but it must be difficult for a woman to stay that way up here.”
The captain eyed Skylar intently. “This is true. But I have my ways and wiles.” She wiggled her thick eyebrows.
This made Skylar laugh. She liked this woman. She was full of life and devoid of fear, it seemed.
The next few minutes, they stared out the vast dark land spread out before them in a comfortable silence. Then Genevieve asked, “You love this Jovan, no?”
“Maybe.” She didn’t meet the woman’s direct gaze.
“That is a yes, I think.”
Skylar remained stoic on the subject.
“He loves you too,” Genevieve said. “I see it in his eyes.”
“It’s complicated.”
She sighed. “It always is.” And she gave Skylar a cheeky grin. “This makes it worth fighting for.”
Skylar completely agreed. She just wished Jovan felt the same way. She’d been waiting years for Jovan to find his way back to her. But he was so bogged down in guilt that he’d lost all the fight inside him.
“You and Rhys are?”
Genevieve laughed. “Oh no, ma chère. We are just friends. I am not the right type of woman for him.”
“How did you meet?” Skylar was surprised that Rhys and this woman were acquainted. She didn’t seem like a person Rhys would normally associate with.
“Through a mutual friend.” She pushed away from the ledge. “I must return to my duties. Do not fall out, d’accord?”
Skylar nodded as the fiery captain marched back to the middle of the ship, the enormous ostrich feathers in her tall hat bouncing as she walked. She wondered if the captain had another hat so she could cover the disaster that was her own hair. Her flat tangles paled in comparison to the woman’s vibrant curls. She felt naked without her hat, it was too bad she’d lost it in the river.
Jovan had yet to come out on deck. Rhys was absent as well. She assumed he was stewing in his own cabin too. For two grown men, they both acted like petulant children. She was glad to have the deck to herself. She needed some peace. She hadn’t had any since stepping back into the Davenports’ lives. And she suspected even after this quest was finished, she wouldn’t find any for the rest of her life. Her feelings for Jovan were evident of that. Like it or not, she was bound to him for an eternity. For a Druid, that was an awfully long time.
* * *
By the time Jovan emerged from below deck, dawn had washed the horizon with a pale pink and yellow glow. Facing east, Skylar was sitting cross-legged on the deck, her eyes closed, communing with the sun. But she still knew the second his gaze was upon her. A shiver of awareness brushed over her skin.
“Why is it you’re always sneaking up on me when I am in communion?”
“I suppose it’s the only time I can.”
Smiling, she opened her eyes and glanced over her shoulder at him. He’d changed into the other clothes the captain had provided him, a pair of plain trousers and a linen shirt and black waistcoat. His hair was a bit unruly and her fingers itched to touch the soft waves.
To finish her ritual, Skylar turned back to face the sun, bent her head and chanted the ancient Druid closing prayer. Then she got to her feet and joined Jovan at the rail. A flood of sunlight swept over the green fields. It was a beautiful sight, and Skylar soaked it all in, filling her soul. “We should be there soon.”
“The captain said we should be descending within the hour.”
“What do you make of our captain?”
He frowned, scratching the whispers growing on his chin. “Surprising. Especially that Rhys knows her, and well, I take it.” He shook his head. “I’m beginning to realize I don’t know my brother like I thought I did.”
“If by well you mean carnally,” Rhys said from behind them, “then no, not all that well.”
He joined them at the side, sliding in next to Jovan. It was an acceptance of his apology, she thought. Too proud to say it out loud.
She took him in, rumpled clothing and hair and all. She had never seen Rhys unkempt. He had always been impeccably dressed and groomed. But she had to admit, seeing him like this made her smile. It reminded her of the early days.
He noticed, and it made him even more miserable. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“No reason,” she said, hiding her grin, “Did you sleep at all?”
“A little. You?”
She shook her head. “Too much rocking.”
Jovan put his hand on the small of her back like he used to when they were together. He did it all the time then, especially at reflective moments. She glanced at him and smiled. He returned it, and she began to feel that maybe everything would work out the way it was supposed to.
Genevieve s
houted from atop the deck. “Prepare to land!”
Her crew scattered about, pulling ropes, changing the slope of sails and releasing the gas from the two balloons that kept the ship afloat.
Skylar was mesmerized as they descended and the town of Salisbury came into view in the distance. With a number of buildings and proper streets, it was a large settlement. Thousands of people. Finding someone who had met Sebastian five years ago wasn’t going to be easy.
The ship docked at a small landing strip just outside the town proper. The crew tied off the main ropes then a ramp was lowered for them to disembark. On the ground Genevieve wished them luck, going as far as generously offering them transportation into town. What she had in mind threw Skylar for a loop, but the glee on Jovan’s face was well worth it. He was like a little boy eager for the prospect of riding his first horse.
But this was no horse.
It looked like a bicycle with two big wheels, a handle bar for steering and a seat in the middle. But under that seat was a steam-powered engine, and jutting out on either side was an open boxlike compartment with little wheels underneath. The captain told her that was where she would ride unless she wanted to be the one who drove it.
It was tempting but Skylptid the townar opted for one of the sidecars. Rhys was relegated to the other as Jovan had every intention of driving the contraption.
“It’s called a motorcycle,” Genevieve said, a trace of pride in her voice.
“How fast can it go?”
“Faster than horseback.”
“Wonderful.” Jovan mounted the seat.
Skylar and Rhys got into the sidecars. The fit was a little snug. For Rhys it was even more so. His bent knees nearly touched his chin.
“How does it work?”
Genevieve pointed to the button on the tank. “Push this to start.” She touched the right handle. “Squeeze this for the brake. Crank this for speed.”
She then handed them each a pair of goggles. “To keep bugs out of your eyes.” And to Skylar she gave a brown leather hat that fit tightly on her head and had ear flaps. “So your hair doesn’t fly around.”
