“Well, that’s something,” Nica said. “Ian, I’ve been thinking. Do you think it would be better if I left Apedra?”
“Better for you, maybe,” Ian said reluctantly. “But better for me, no.”
“What about Bree?” Nica asked. “Something tells me that she’s not going to be all that thrilled to learn that you and I are developing a relationship, especially since we’re both rejecting the man she wants. Maybe we should put things on hold for a while, until Bree learns the truth about Thomas and comes to her senses.”
Ian opened his mouth to argue heatedly against that idea when their waiter approached with an envelope and offered it to him. Ian frowned as he took the envelope and read his name scrawled across the front of it in an unfamiliar hand. “Where did this come from?”
“A messenger gave it to me and pointed you out as the recipient, Sir.”
“Where’s the messenger?”
“He left,” the waiter replied. “Excuse me, Sir.” Ian watched the waiter hurry away to see to another table, then tore the envelope open, removed a sheet of paper, and read it. His face went white, then red, then nearly purple with rage. The paper crumpled in his hand as he struggled to control his temper.
Nica reached out and placed one hand on his, squeezing gently. Ian focused on her touch, surprised to find his temper cooling almost immediately. “Read this,” he said, opening his other hand and offering her the sheet of paper.
She took it, smoothed the paper out, and read it.
I meant every single word I said about marrying your sister, Ian Fadden. It’ll cost you ten times Bree’s inheritance to convince me not to marry her. If you feel like paying that much, my account number is below. Otherwise, we leave at five today, and you’ll never see her again.
She felt the blood drain from her face and for a long moment she couldn’t seem to breathe. When she looked up at Ian his eyes widened, the last of his anger slipping away. “I’m sorry,” he said, taking the note gently from her fingers. “I should have prepared you first.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. She swallowed hard and forced herself to breathe. As soon as she felt as though she could speak in a normal tone she asked, “What do we do?”
“First of all, let’s see if Bree is actually gone.”
“Excellent idea,” Nica said, leaping to her feet and grabbing her bag from the back of her chair just as the waiter approached with their food. “Charge this to my room please,” she said. “351.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” the waiter said, “but don’t you want to eat?”
“We have to leave, but thanks,” Nica said then followed Ian as he all but ran out of the restaurant. They both sat tensely on opposite sides of the carriage as it sped toward Fadden House, too worried to talk. A very long ten minutes later, the carriage slowed. Ian threw the door open and leapt to the ground before it came to a full stop, Nica at his heels. They ran up the steps and Ian threw the door open, startling Joseph as they ran across the foyer to the stairs.
“Have you seen Bree this morning Joseph?” Ian demanded as he started up the stairs.
“No, Sir,” Joseph replied.
“Bree doesn’t usually come down for breakfast this early,” Nica said as she followed Ian up the stairs.
“You’re right,” Ian said, but he didn’t slow down. They reached the top of the stairs, turned left, and ran up the hall to Bree’s rooms. Ian turned the knob and threw the door open without stopping to knock. Neither of them were completely surprised to find that Bree’s room was empty, her bed not even slept in, but Nica went into the dressing room and the bathroom, just in case. When she returned Ian looked at her hopefully but she shook her head. There was no sign of Bree.
Nica looked around the room, searching for some sign of where Bree had gone. Ian shook his head and started for the door, but Nica spotted something on the bedside table. Her heart in her throat, she crossed the room and picked up a white envelope lying beside the lamp with Ian’s name on it.
She turned around to find him right behind her, his eyes glued to the envelope in her hand. She offered it to him, but he couldn’t make himself take it. “Will you please read it for me?”
Nica didn’t want to, but the look of pleading in his eyes could not be ignored. “Of course.” She broke the seal, opened the envelope, and withdrew the sheet of paper from inside and unfolded it. The note was short and to the point.
Ian, I am marrying Quill. He loves me. You’ll see for yourself when we return tomorrow.
Nica read the note out loud, then handed it to Ian. “If I didn’t know better I’d say this was written by a defiant child,” she said. “Why would she do this? I don’t understand.”
“To prove to me that he loves her and isn’t after her money,” Ian said, then turned and walked out of the room.
Nica hurried after him, catching up just as he reached the stairs. “Shouldn’t you call the police?”
“And tell them what? That my adult sister ran away with a man she thinks she loves?” Ian asked tiredly. “It’s hardly a crime.”
“No, it’s not, but Quill’s note says straight out that…,” she trailed off, frowning.
“Exactly,” Ian said. “The note says nothing straight out. It makes no threats at all, and there’s no sign of foul play here. Bree clearly left of her own free will and her note, written in her hand, backs that up.”
Nica followed Ian down the stairs and into the morning room, her mind racing. They each got coffee and carried it to the table.
“Can I see Quill’s note again please?” she asked after they sat down. Ian pulled the note out of his pocket and handed it to her, a resigned expression on his face.
Nica read the note again, then shook her head. “This is clever, Ian. Too clever. We know what he means, but anyone else who reads this will just think you tried to buy him off. You’re right, we can’t go to the police with this.”
“I agree,” Ian said after a few moments of careful thought. “This is far too clever for Gordon Thomas. Do you think Bree could be in on this?”
“No, I don’t,” Nica said. “She’s confused and mixed up, but I can’t believe she’d do something like this.”
“I’m not so sure,” Ian said. “Look at all the other things she’s done and said that are so unlike her. Throwing you out of the house, for instance. Refusing to believe anything either of us tells her even though she has no reason to think we’d lie to her. Getting furious with me for coming home, as though I had no right to be here.”
“Yes, I know all of that, and I understand how out of character she’s been acting,” Nica said. “But don’t forget that Bree left this house intending to marry Quill in order to prove to you that he doesn’t care about the money. She’d be far too hurt and angry to find out he does care about it to go along with a blackmail scheme.”
Ian nodded in agreement. “So, we can’t go to the police and we have no idea where they are or how to find them. What do we do?”
“You’re going to have to pay the ransom.”
“I can’t,” Ian said.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t have it,” he said. “The demand is for ten times the amount of Bree’s inheritance. While I can certainly withdraw the funds from her trust, I can’t come up with the rest without selling everything, including this house, Fadden Fields, everything in both of them and all of the land. Even if I could manage that in the time frame Quill allots, which I can’t since no one is interested in buying Apedra land right now, I don’t think it would be enough.”
“I’ll pay it,” Nica said. She saw Ian stiffen and reached out to place a hand on his forearm. “Please, Ian, let me do this. It is no hardship to me, especially compared to Bree’s life. She means far more to me than money.”
Ian opened his mouth to speak when suddenly Nica’s face paled again and her eyes widened. “Oh no,” she gasped.
“What is it?”
“He’s not doing this for the money at
all,” she said. Her hands were shaking but her voice was firm. “He deliberately set the ransom so high that you couldn’t possibly pay it in the time he’s given you.”
“Then why bother asking for it?” Ian asked. “It makes no sense.”
“Sure it does,” Nica said. “You spend an entire day in fear for Bree’s life while you scramble around trying to sell everything you own to save her. You’ll fail, he’ll kill her or torture and maim her, and you’ll spend the rest of your life feeling like you’re responsible.” As soon as she finished speaking a sharp pain spiked through her head, taking her breath away.
“You just convinced me that Bree isn’t in on this, and to let you pay the ransom,” Ian said, suddenly so terrified for his sister that it took him a moment to notice Nica’s distress.
“Nica?” he asked, his mouth going dry at the sight of her pale face. “What’s the matter?”
“Another damn headache,” she whispered, afraid that talking would increase the pain. “Worst one yet.”
“What can I do?” he asked, staring helplessly at her as she rubbed her temples, her eyes closed.
“I’m not sure paying the ransom will help,” Nica said, still whispering. “But it’s worth a try. Let’s go.” Nica lowered her hands to the table and started to push herself to her feet, gasping at the pain but not letting it stop her. It was Ian’s hands on her shoulders, pressing her down gently but firmly, that did that.
“You can’t go anywhere,” he said. “Except to bed.”
“You can’t do this alone, Ian,” she argued, trying to see his face through the bright flashes of light going off behind her eyes.
“Yes, I can, and I will,” Ian said. “I’m not risking you, Nica.”
The pain, incredibly, increased, forcing Nica to admit that her presence would only hinder Ian. “Okay, Ian,” she gasped, reaching for the bag hanging on the back of her chair. “I’ll give you my pay card and I’ll write down my pass code. Go to the nearest Tech Center and transfer the money into Quill’s account.”
“You have that much in your pay account?” Ian asked, surprised.
“Yes,” Bree said as she wrote the fifteen digit passcode down. When she was finished she handed it, and her pay card to Ian. “Go save Bree.”
“Not until you’re upstairs and have some of Nance’s elixir in you,” he said.
“Call Nance,” Nica said, struggling to hold the small amount of coffee she’d drunk that morning in her stomach. “Then go. She’ll help me.”
Ian called for Nance, then leaned down to press his lips to Nica’s forehead. “Take care of yourself, Nica Vinia,” he whispered. “I need you.” Then he was gone.
***
A few minutes later Nica was lying in the same guest room she’d used before Bree had tossed her out, the drapes drawn and her shoes off. She refused to undress completely, worried that Ian would need her if something went wrong. Nance had gone down to the kitchen to mix up some of her magic headache cure and Nica was trying to decide whether or not she should drink it. It certainly helped with her headaches, but it also made her sleep and she didn’t want to do that.
“Bright Lady?” Min asked. “Are you unwell?”
Nica opened her eyes to see Min and Nim hovering just above her, their little faces creased with concern. “Just another damn headache,” she said.
“Head-ache?” Nim asked.
“Yeah,” Nica said. “It feels like my head is going to explode.”
“Do you always have these…head-aches?” Min asked.
“Not until I came to Apedra,” Nica said. “I don’t know what’s causing them, but they’re getting worse and worse each time.”
Nim and Min looked at each other, nodded, then looked back to Nica. “We know,” Min said.
“Know what?” Nica asked, confused.
“Why you have this pain in your head.”
“You do?” Nica asked in surprise. “What is it?”
“It is you, Bright Lady.”
“I don’t understand.”
“It is time to shed your protection,” Nim said. “Your change is complete now.”
“What?” Nica asked, struggling to focus on what they were saying. “Change? What change?”
“We can explain no further,” Min said sadly. “The truth must come from within you or you won’t truly believe it.”
“We can tell you one thing,” Nim said, earning a startled look from Min. “It’s all right, Min, I will not say that which is forbidden.” Min nodded and they both looked back to Nica. “Bright Lady, the time has come for you to make a decision,” Nim said carefully. “Will you try to save your friend, or will you allow her to die?”
“What has this to do with my headaches?” Nica asked.
“Something within you is fighting for freedom,” Min said. “That is what’s causing the pain.”
Nica was struggling to concentrate, to understand what it was they were trying to tell her with their cryptic hints. Only Nim’s last words weren’t cryptic at all. Bree would die if she didn’t do…something. But what?
She raised her right hand slowly and stared at the ring. That was it. She knew it. And once she knew that, she knew something else as well. Her psychic ability had been causing her headaches. It had been trying to break through the wall she’d built around it, or that the ring had put around it, or maybe both. Whatever it was, the harder she fought it, the more pain she felt.
If she wanted to save Bree, she had to remove the ring. She knew that suddenly and absolutely. The money wouldn’t matter. Oh, Quill wanted it, and would certainly be pleased to get it, but it wouldn’t help Bree. Only she could save Bree, and only if she took the ring off and freed her mind so that it could show her how.
Nica forced herself to sit up. “What if I get trapped again?”
“That is up to you,” Min said. “The power is yours, Bright Lady. You control it, not the other way around.”
Nica frowned. There was more to what the tiny sprite said than it seemed, but she just couldn’t concentrate well enough to figure it out. “I’m really scared to do this,” she whispered. “But I’m more scared of what will happen to Bree if I don’t.” Then she grasped the ring and pulled it off.
The Dracon-Bats, the second highest ranked male-set of Clan Dracon next to the Princes, transformed from three enormous dracons into their humanoid forms just as their feet touched the thick padding on the floor of the Roar Room of their ship, the Nica. For a long moment they stood facing each other in a tight circle, their slanting eyes so dark they looked liquid.
“Better?” Quenton, the eldest of the three nearly identical triplets asked.
“Not really,” Karlson, the youngest, replied. “I might be able to sleep now, so that’s something.”
“Three years,” Samson said, shaking his head. “I don’t want to think about how hard this is going to be in another three years. Or five. Or seven.”
“What choice do we have?” Quenton asked tiredly. “She is but fifteen. We must allow her to complete her childhood.”
“I wonder if it would be easier if we returned to Jasan,” Sam said. Quenton frowned, but Karl’s eyes lit up.
“Good idea,” he said. “We could stay in the Hidden City, or build a home near the mines and stay there. We could even move to the farm. They’re all on the opposite side of the planet from Nica. We could ask the Vulpirans to let us know whenever she goes to Berria to visit Michael, so we’d never run into her.”
“What will we do there?” Quenton asked. “Sit around and wait for time to pass? At least now we’re doing something productive.”
“We can keep busy with the farm and the mines just like we always have, Quenton,” Karl said. “We don’t need to have an entire galaxy between us and Nica. Just knowing we can get to her in hours instead of weeks if she needs us will help.”
Quenton locked eyes with Karl, then Sam before blowing out a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Brothers. I had no idea it would be this difficult, this pain
ful, to be so far away from Nica for so long.”
“No one did,” Sam said. “I think we should consider this a failed experiment and go home. We can let everyone know it doesn’t work when we get there.”
“I agree,” Karl said in a low voice.
“It’s decided then,” Quenton declared, the tension in his broad shoulders relaxing as he spoke. “Let’s go to the bridge and tell the captain to make course for Jasan.”
Karl and Sam grinned widely, and Quenton laughed, all three of them suddenly happy for the first time since leaving Jasan, and Nica, three years earlier. Quenton turned toward the door, then froze when the sound of an explosion reached their ears. Even through the thick padding of the Roar Room their sharp dracon ears heard it clearly enough to know where it was coming from.
Nica's Legacy (Hearts of ICARUS Book 1) Page 26
