Gold

by Talia Vance

  Braden stands in the horse’s place, grinning. “You were really scared there for a minute.”

  “I’m pretty sure that’s what you were going for.”

  He laughs. “Maybe. There were some pretty sweet emotions in there too.”

  “A couple.”

  “I like those better.”

  “Me too.” I shiver in the cold. I’m soaked.

  He takes off his coat and sets it on my shoulders. “Come on. We’ll get a cab back to your car. You should probably lay low for a little while.”

  “So everyone keeps telling me.”

  We walk to the cab stand on the corner, right in front of the Cath Pub. “You’re nervous.” Braden picks up on the change in my emotions immediately.

  “Stop doing that. It’s intrusive.”

  “Sorry. It’s not like I can turn it off. What’s the matter?”

  I nod to the pub. “The Sons are staying here.”

  “Since when are you nervous about seeing the Sons?”

  “Not all the Sons. Just one in particular.”

  “I think we’ve ditched him for a while.” His nostrils flare and I know he’s reading something else in my emotions. It’s not Jonah I’m nervous about seeing. It’s Blake. “Ahh. No wonder I can’t make a dent. Your dance card is pretty full.”

  “If you mean my love life is already a train wreck with its fill of evil creatures who will only break my heart, then yep, got it covered.”

  Fortunately, a cab pulls up almost as soon as we get to the curb. Braden opens the door for the couple inside. Portia takes his hand and steps out. Braden glances at me with raised eyebrows as my nerves morph into heartache and betrayal.

  Portia flashes a pretty smile at Braden, but it lasts only as long as it takes for her to shift her head in my direction. “Oh my God. You are stalking us.”

  Blake steps out of the cab behind her, his face nearly as dark as Portia’s. Then he takes in my wet clothes and sees Braden and his expression changes to something darker. “What happened? Are you okay?”

  Portia’s eyes narrow, but it’s not me she turns on. It’s Blake. “Don’t. Please. Do not tell me that you still give a shit what happens to her. Not now.”

  The vein on Blake’s neck throbs, his tell that he’s furious. Why? I’m obviously perfectly fine aside from the fact that I’m soaking wet. Blake closes his eyes. When he opens them again, he looks concerned. “You sure you’re okay?” “Fine.” I push past him into the waiting cab. Braden climbs in beside me. “Wow. What was that about?”

  “You mean the uber-jealous new girlfriend of my ex?”

  “That, and the fact that she was pushing her emotions into him.”

  “What?”

  “I could feel her emotions in him. And his in hers for that matter, but hers were stronger.”

  And now my day is perfect.

  Blake and Portia are bound.

  THIRTY-ONE

  Austin is waiting for me when I get home. He barely lets me get in the door before he starts giving me the third degree about going into town alone.

  I walk past him, ignoring his questions. He’s right of course, and the last thing I want is to have to tell him about Jonah. Or Braden. Or Blake.

  I’m cold and I’m wet, and I just want a hot shower and a long, long, sleep.

  “We need to talk,” he says. “I need to know what happened in the library.”

  I left as soon as he mentioned that I was the girl he met a thousand years ago. I hadn’t even told him about Liam’s attack. Water drips on to the floor where we stand. “I’m not ready to talk about it.” Or about your secret lover in the underworld.

  Besides, he’ll throw Liam out if I tell him what happened, and we need to know more about the Gathering.

  Keep your enemies closer.

  I am letting my enemies get much too close. I move past Austin and up the stairs to my room.

  Everything is changing too fast.

  Braden is definitely fuath. But he doesn’t seem nearly as evil as Austin made him out to be. Blake and Portia definitely slept together. And now he’s bound to her. And Austin? Austin has definitely been keeping secrets.

  The only thing I know for certain is that I have to stop Liam. No way do I let that sadistic bastard take over the world.

  So I fight.

  I just have to figure out how. My options are pretty limited at the moment.

  I keep going back to the idea that I can stop everything before it starts. So the next morning, I take Panda back to the ruin.

  I rub the little horse between my fingers. The carvings in the stone look softer somehow. Are they fading? That doesn’t make sense. They’ve been here for hundreds of years. The last few weeks would barely register on a timeline. Unless I’m the one who is running out of time.

  The charm still fits into the carving perfectly.

  The sun gives way to clouds. The fog is less disorienting now that I know what’s on the other side. I close my eyes and wait until I feel the grass beneath my feet. Sun warms my skin. The wind is quiet.

  There’s a rustling to my right. I open my eyes, expecting to see Austin. But it’s Gwyn who meets my gaze and strides toward me.

  She lifts the wide skirts of a dress that is a shade deeper than the blue sky overhead, “Who are you?” It’s more accusation than question.

  “Your heir.”

  “Is that so?” Her accent is thick, and I have to strain to understand her. “You believe you can just appear out of nowhere and claim my birthright?”

  “I don’t know why I’m here.”

  Gwyn puts her hands on her waist. I can’t help noticing the chain around her neck, the wolfsbane pendant is identical to the flower charm on my bracelet.

  “Look.” I hold out my wrist. The setting is different, but the flower is only differentiated by the centuries of tarnish and wear.

  Gwyn’s fingers fly to her neck. “A good replica.”

  I shake my head. “It’s the same. A thousand years from now.”

  She moves closer, examining the charm that dangles from my wrist. She wrinkles her forehead, her eyes narrowing. “Why are you here then?”

  “I don’t know. To change things, I think.”

  “Perhaps it is so you can fulfill your plot to kill my mother.”

  “My plot? I don’t want anything to happen to your mother. I’m trying to stop it.”

  She waves me back. “False modesty flatters no one. We have avoided the inevitable for too long. If we are to rise to power and take our place among the gods, we must act.”

  “You’re not even making sense.” She can’t possibly thing that I am here to kill her mother. She’s much too calm.

  “I said we must act. You were right to come and shake things up. The path we are headed on will assure our destruction. My mother has forgotten our purpose. But she may still be of use. Her death will ensure a war with the Sons, will it not?”

  Can she seriously think that killing her mother is a good idea? “No. I mean yes. But it won’t work.”

  “You know it will. Her death will be blamed on Killian. We will spark a war. That’s what you told Aaron, isn’t it?”

  “She’s your mother.”

  Gwyn takes another step, invading my personal space. “She is a pawn when she should be a knight. When she could be queen.”

  “A war won’t change anything. Killian’s Sons are winning.”

  “His sons claim victory now.” Gwyn practically spits out the words. “My mother is married to one of them.”

  Austin, Aaron in this century, rides into the clearing on a huge bay warmblood. He brings the horse to a halt in front of the ruin, dismounting with the ease of someone who has been riding all his life. “I see you two have met.”

  Gwyn grins at Austin. “We were just discussing the reason she might be here.”

  “And what wicked ideas have you concocted in my absence?” Austin looks from Gwyn to me with a gleam in his eyes.

  I want to hit him.
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  Gwyn just laughs. “We can’t share our secrets with every handsome boy who wanders up the trail.” She puts a hand on his arm, claiming him. “But for you I might make an exception.”

  Austin lowers his eyes so his lashes nearly brush his cheek. “Is that so?”

  I look out at the trees, doing my best to curb the tide of envy that rises in my chest. I have no claim on Austin here. I’m not even sure I have any claim on him in the present.

  Gwyn glares at me over her shoulder. “She dresses to provoke. Perhaps you should see how far she means to push it.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” I stare down at my jeans and bulky sweater. I am dressed for comfort, not seduction.

  Gwyn’s smile is smug. “The daughters of Danu are indebted to you. I am sure the gods will reward you.” She winks at Austin and walks away.

  Austin doesn’t say anything until Gwyn disappears down the trail. “What was that about?”

  “She knows about me?”

  “She heard us talking. Don’t worry about her. She’s just a gossip. And it is not every day you meet a girl from the future who accuses you of murder.”

  “Did she tell you she thinks that killing her mother is not necessarily a bad idea?”

  “No. Is that what she told you?”

  “That girl has some serious issues.” I can’t believe she could seriously think about killing her own mother.

  “I’m sure she was just trying to get your dander up. She’s less than pleased that my attention has been diverted.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Austin moves a step closer, so close I can feel his body heat. “It means that since you appeared, I have been preoccupied.”

  “With what?” The words are strangled in my throat.

  Austin lifts a hand to my cheek. “With a beautiful lass from another time who is not meant for me.”

  “Remember that last part when you see me a few centuries from now.”

  The gold flecks in Austin’s eyes radiate light. “Do you know me, then? In the future?”

  I nod. His hand slides to my throat, gently. His thumb strokes the sensitive spot where my pulse beats. His lips curve into a crooked smile. “Ah. But do you know me?” His voice is laced with innuendo.

  My pulse races against his thumb. “I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you the future.”

  He leans closer so that if I stretched onto my toes our lips would touch. “I would very much like to know you now.”

  I freeze. On the one hand this is Austin. It’s not like we’ve never kissed. On the other hand, we are strangers to each other in this place. I wish I knew the protocol for meeting the guy you are kind of seeing a thousand years in the past. Is this cheating?

  What about the girl in the underworld? I step back.

  He brings his hand to his side. “Forgive me.”

  “It’s okay.” I take another step away. “What are you doing here? At the ruin?”

  “Exercising my horse.”

  “Oh.” I don’t know what I expected him to say. That he was looking for me? It shouldn’t matter.

  He raises an eyebrow, mocking me. Am I that obvious? Or does he just expect girls to throw themselves at his feet and worship.

  I turn toward the little wall. “I shouldn’t be here.”

  Austin steps up behind me. “Yet you are.” His breath whispers along my neck.

  I spin to face him. “I think I’m supposed to stop you from killing Danu.”

  He holds up his hands in mock surrender. “You have succeeded then. I have no intention of killing anyone.”

  It can’t be that easy, can it? And what does that mean for the future? “Just like that?”

  “Just so.” His eyes drop to my mouth.

  I feel dizzy. Mist starts to curl around my feet. “I think I need to go.”

  “Perhaps you can give me just a little hope for the future?”

  I reach for his hand, lacing our fingers together. “I know you,” I say, and I wonder if it’s true.

  Austin blushes, and my heart melts with the blue sky as it turns to mist.

  THIRTY-TWO

  “Just in time to practice,” Sherri says from behind me. I gather Panda’s reins and turn around to see Sherri and Liam riding up the trail on horseback. “Practice for what?”

  Sherri swings off a large bay. “Liam wanted to run through some drills.” She holds out her palm. A ball of blue fire dances along her fingers.

  Great. Just what we need, Sherri burning down another hundred homes. “Easy on the fire.”

  Sherri laughs and hurls the fireball at a bush. It ignites and goes out just as quickly. “Everything here is soaking wet. It’s perfectly safe. Come on. Try it. It’s fun.”

  I put my foot in the stirrup and swing onto Panda’s back. “Maybe next time.”

  Liam watches me from atop a dapple gray mare. “You need to be prepared to fight. You were useless yesterday.”

  I clutch the reins, trying to hide my shaking fingers. “I’ll be ready when the time comes.”

  And you’ll be the first one in my sights.

  I ride past them, urging Panda into a trot. It’s not until we get back to the barn that I let myself breathe.

  I find Austin in the blue room. He looks up from a soccer game on the flat screen.

  He removes a pair of black-rimmed glasses and takes in my riding clothes, smiling. “Are you ready to talk?”

  “I just saw you again. A thousand years ago.”

  “And?” He looks expectant.

  “And what?”

  “I hope I was a gentleman.”

  “You remember it. All of it. You knew exactly who I was when we met at Blake’s party. How come you never told me before?”

  “This from the girl who told me absolutely nothing about what was going to happen in the future.”

  “You said you didn’t think we could change anything.”

  “We can’t.”

  I let out a growl of frustration. “What’s the point of any of this then? So many people die.”

  “Everyone dies, Brianna. You want to know the meaning of it? It is love and heartache, art and science, dreams and sacrifice, all rolled up into one messy, tangled package.” He walks over to me. “Take it from someone who was alive for thousands of years, yet never lived. Death is what makes life matter. Perhaps life can only be appreciated because it ends.”

  “You still don’t know what to do with those human emotions, do you?”

  He laughs. “Too much?”

  “A little.” It’s all too much. Seeing Austin all those years ago. Before he became a killer. Before he made me one. “Tell me what happened.”

  He glances up at the screen. “Manchester tied it up just before the half.”

  “With Danu.”

  “Ah.”

  I wait, but Austin doesn’t say anything. “Why won’t you tell me?”

  “You already know how it ends.”

  “That’s not the same thing and you know it. You told me you weren’t going to kill her and I believed you. Did I stop you? Is everything different now?”

  Austin shakes his head. “Everything is as it should be.”

  “But I went back. I could change it.”

  “You tried.”

  “You remember? What did I try? Maybe there’s still time for me to change it. To try something else.”

  Austin gets up and walks over to me. “Knowing doesn’t help Brianna. It is just another burden to carry. No one wants to know how or when things end. It changes nothing and steals something even more precious. Hope.”

  “What’s the point of my being there then?”

  “Must you always have an answer?”

  “Quantum theory allows for someone to change the past. For there to be paradoxes in alternate universes. I could change it.”

  “The past has already happened. Your part in it has been written, whether you’ve experienced it yet or not. Your energies might be better served pl
anning for the future.”

  “You already know what happened.”

  He smiles. “I was there, remember?”

  “Like it was this afternoon.” I close my eyes, remembering. “You wanted to kiss me.”

  “I always want to kiss you.”

  “Not now.” I open my eyes and Austin stands in front of me. “A thousand years ago.”

  “And did we kiss?”

  I shake my head. “It was weird. It was you, but not you.”

  Austin leans toward me. “It was most definitely me.”

  “So you wouldn’t be upset, if I kissed you, back then?”

  “Did you want to?”

  “Yes.”

  He takes my wrist and pulls me the rest of the way to him, until our chests are touching. “When I found you with Gwyn?”

  “You remember the day?”

  “God, you looked just as you do now, beautiful and wild.” He raises his hand to my cheek. “I touched you here.” He lets his hand slide down to my neck. “And here.” Austin lowers his face until his lips nearly touch mine. “I wanted you nearly as much as I want you right now.” “Nearly?”

  “Very, very nearly.” His breath mixes with mine, warm apples and spice. “Promise me something.”

  “What?” My stomach tightens into a ball of string.

  “Next time, let me kiss you. Please.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “God, yes.” He smiles and steps away. “If you must know, your coming back did have a purpose.” He looks down at the floor and rubs his eyes. When he looks up, there are traces of tears at the corners of them. “Those moments at the ruin?”

  “Yes?”

  “Made the next thousand years bearable.” Austin walks back over to the couch and puts on his reading glasses. It’s all I’m going to get.

  THIRTY-THREE

  It’s another week before I make my way to the ruin again. I walk past the stable and through the field, ignoring the dampness that clings to the bottom of my jeans where the grass brushes against it. It’s a long walk on foot, but I press forward.

  A blue flash lights up the trees in front of me. Sherri is still practicing the fine art of warfare. I step into the trees and move forward for a closer look. If I can’t go to the ruin, I may as well get in a little recon.