Shadow Touch
Page 32
“Are we expecting anyone?” Elena asked. She knew the answer before she asked, but the question was for Amiri’s and Rik’s benefit. Everyone stood, and it was as though they were back in the facility or in the woods or on the train: ready for fight, for flight. Maybe they would always be like that, for the rest of their lives. Primed for the worst, hoping for the best.
They followed Artur to the foyer like children, crowding at his back. He opened the door.
“Hey,” said Rictor, holding a potted fern. “You guys miss me?”
Artur almost shut the door in his face. Elena grabbed his arm.
“Yes,” she said, giving her husband a stern look. “We did.”
“I didn’t miss you,” Rik said, picking his teeth with a fingernail.
“That’s okay,” Rictor said. “I really didn’t come to see you.”
Elena made a place for him at the table. Rictor handed her the fern. She put it down in the center of the table, alongside a vase of white tulips, a gift from Mikhail, who had just recently arrived in Boston with his family.
Rictor sat down. There was a long moment of silence. Elena was glad for the quiet. It gave her time to adjust. It was bizarre, seeing Rictor, remembering him cutting her hair, dragging her through halls … and his body wracked with sobs.
He looked at her, and it was impossible to say what he was thinking. Only that he had heard her thoughts. Only that he had come back.
“So,” Artur said. “How is it they say? Long time, no help?”
“I helped,” Rictor said, tearing his gaze away from Elena. “If you remember.”
“I do,” Artur admitted. “And I am very grateful. I just thought we would see you again before the actual fighting was done.”
“I couldn’t get involved,” Rictor said, which invited derision from the other men at the table.
“That does sound pretty weak,” Elena said. “Especially coming from you.”
“I did what I could,” he said, quieter, and Elena was again reminded of the facility, that cold, hard man who had turned into a friend. She could give him the benefit of the doubt. Rictor was as Rictor did, and it was nothing more nor less than that.
“All right,” she said. “I believe you.”
“Elena,” Artur said, but she gave him a look and he shut his mouth.
“She’s training you,” Rictor said. “Be afraid.”
Artur said nothing. Elena knew very well he did not mind her “training” in the slightest. Rictor quirked his lips, but fortunately, said nothing.
The five of them sat at the table and talked until the night grew long and the dawn was near enough to taste. It was nice sitting with these men, whom she had known only under extreme circumstances, and discovering that she still liked their company, that she still trusted them to be near and dear.
In the end, as they were readying themselves to leave, Elena went to each man for a hug. She was not the hugging type, but it was a gesture she wanted to make. She saved Artur for last, but he—unlike the others—did not let go. She turned in his arms with her back pressed against his chest, his strong arms loose around her waist, and savored his comfort—his first true comfort in years: he was not alone, he could touch without pain, and it was good.
“I haven’t had a single friend since my grandfather died,” Elena told them all. Her throat felt tight. “Not a friend I could truly be myself around. And now … now I have four. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much.”
“We are the family you make,” Artur said. “And that is a tie stronger than blood.”
“Because it involves choice,” Rictor said. “Beautiful, sweet choice.” He picked up Elena’s hand and kissed the back of it. “I still owe both of you. I’ll be around.”
“Rictor,” Elena called, before he could walk out the door. “What the hell are you?”
He stayed silent, just looking at her. Elena shook her head. Typical.
He smiled, a devil in his eyes, and left the normal way, without vanishing into thin air. Amiri and Rik followed on his heels, saying their good nights and good mornings. Artur closed the door behind them. He turned around and leaned against the hard wood, his arms folded over his chest. His gaze was hungry, hot, and she felt the fine thread of his amusement as he studied her body and imagined all the different ways he could take her clothes off.
“It’s so late,” she said. “I’m tired.”
“I do not care,” he said.
“I know,” she said, backing slowly away. “You’re a bad man.”
“Yes,” he said, following her. “I used to be a thief. A gun for hire. I am very dangerous.”
“So am I,” Elena said. “Or so I’ve been told by dangerous men.”
“Ah, but you know how I feel about dangerous women.”
She moistened her lips, loving how his gaze moved to her mouth and stayed there. She kept retreating. He continued to follow. Elena backed right up against the dining room table. Artur picked her up and set her down, pushing between her legs until he stood tight against her body, hot and ready.
“You know how I feel about you, right?” Elena peered up into his old-soul eyes. She knew, now, what gave a man those eyes, and it was a hard and beautiful knowledge, sacred between both of them.
“I know,” he said. “Just like you know.”
And then he kissed her, gently, and she felt herself wrap tight around his spirit, spin slowly into his soul, and he said, “You and I, Elena. We will keep each other whole and safe until the end of our days.”
“Sure,” she murmured. “But you’re asking for trouble.”
“Always,” he said, and then laughed as she gave him some.
MORE PRAISE FOR MARJORIE M. LIU!
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Other Love Spell books by Marjorie M. Liu:
A TASTE OF CRIMSON (Crimson City Series) TIGER EYE
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author's imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SHADOW TOUCH. Copyright © 2006 by Marjorie M. Liu. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or b
y any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition JUNE 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-201362-0
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