by Nora Roberts
“Where?” Brad demanded.
“I don’t know. It’ll come to me. Hell of a looker. A face like that, you don’t forget. And why should she freak over you having a dream? Because freak’s just what she did, in her own classy way.”
“She’s afraid.” Brad walked closer to the portrait. “She went from sly to scared in a heartbeat. She knows the answer to the paintings, and she was having a good time toying with us about that until Flynn dropped his dream adventure on her.”
“And I didn’t even get to the best part.” Flynn got to his feet to explore the room before Rowena got back. “Something’s off here.”
“You just getting that, son?”
Flynn spared a glance at Jordan as he opened a lacquered cabinet. “Not just the already established ‘off.’ That’s a woman in control,” he said with a jerk of his thumb toward the doorway. “Cool, confident, sure of herself. The woman who just took a flyer out of here wasn’t any of those things. Man, there’s some high-class booze in here.”
“Would you care for a drink, Mr. Hennessy?”
Though he winced a little, Flynn turned toward the doorway and spoke equably to Pitte. “No, thanks. A little early for me yet.” He closed the cabinet. “How’s it going?”
Rowena laid a hand on Pitte’s arm before he could respond. “Finish it,” she ordered Flynn. “Finish the dream.”
“Let’s talk quid pro quo.” Inclining his head, Flynn walked back to sit on the sofa. “You want to hear about the rest of the dream, and we want to know about the paintings. I show you mine, you show me yours.”
“You bargain with us?”
Flynn was amazed at the stunned outrage in Pitte’s voice. “Yeah.”
“It’s not permitted.” Again Rowena laid a hand on Pitte’s arm. But from the hot, impatient look he sent her, Flynn didn’t bank on her restraining him for long. “We can’t give you answers just because you ask. There are limits. There are paths. It’s important that we know what happened to you.”
“Give me something back.”
Pitte snapped something out, and though the language was a mystery to Flynn, he recognized an oath when he heard one. Following it was a bright flash, an electric slice through the air. Warily, Flynn looked down at his lap, and the banded stacks of hundred-dollar bills that now rested there.
“Ah. Nice trick.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Jordan had already leaped forward and now reached down and plucked up a stack of bills. He fanned them, then patted them against his palm as he stared at Pitte. “Definitely time for some answers.”
“Do you require more?” Pitte demanded, and Rowena turned on him with a kind of stunning female fury.
The words they hurled at each other were unintelligible. Gaelic, Flynn thought. Maybe Welsh. But the gist was clear enough. Their temper rocked the room.
“Okay, take five.” With three determined strides, Brad moved forward, stepped between them. “This isn’t getting us anywhere.” His voice was calm and controlled, and had both of them snarling at him. Still, he stayed where he was and glanced back at Flynn. “Our host just pulled . . . how much?”
“Looks like about five thousand.”
“Five grand out of thin air—and boy, have I got some stockholders who’d like to talk to you. He seems to think you want cash for information. Do you?”
“Tough as it is to turn down five thousand magic dollars, no.” It stung, he could admit it, but Flynn set the stack on the table. “I’m worried about three women who haven’t hurt anyone, and I’m a little worried about myself. I want to know what’s going on.”
“Tell us the rest, and we’ll tell you what we can. Tell us freely,” Rowena added as she moved back to Flynn. “I’d prefer not to make you tell us.”
Irritated now, Flynn leaned forward. “Make me?”
Her voice was winter cool against the heat of his when she spoke. “My dear, I could make you quack like a duck, but as I imagine your brave and sensible friend would say, such an incident wouldn’t accomplish anything. You think we wish harm to you, or to your women? We don’t. We wish harm to none. That I can tell you freely. Pitte.” She shifted, angled her head. “You’ve insulted our guest with this crass display. Apologize.”
“Apologize?”
“Yes.” She sat again, brushed at her skirts. Waited.
Pitte bared his teeth. He tapped his fingers restlessly on his thighs. “Women are a plague to man.”
“Aren’t they just?” Jordan agreed.
“I’m sorry to have offended you.” Then he flicked a wrist. The money vanished. “Better?”
“There’s no reasonable way to answer that question, so I’ll ask one instead. Who the hell are you people?” Flynn demanded.
“We’re not here to answer your questions.” Pitte walked over to the silver pot, poured coffee into a Dresden cup. “Even a journalist—which I warned you would be an annoyance,” he added as an aside to Rowena—“should be aware of certain rules of behavior when invited into someone’s home.”
“Why don’t I just tell you who you are,” Flynn began, then broke off as the delighted bark banged into the room seconds before Moe arrived. “Oh, shit.”
“There he is!” Rowena simply spread her arms in welcome, and had them full of dog when the women walked into the room. “How nice, how lovely. It’s like a party.”
“Sorry to burst in on you this way.” Malory scanned the room, then zeroed in on Flynn. “But there’s an issue of certain people thinking they should take over from the womenfolk.”
“That’s not exactly true.”
“Really? And what would be exactly true?”
“Just following a lead, that’s all. You were busy rushing into business partnerships, buying houses.”
“I’ve been rushing into a lot of things lately. Maybe we should debate the fact that I rushed you into bed.”
The twin claws of embarrassment and annoyance pricked him as he got to his feet. “Sure, we can do that. Maybe we can find a more appropriate time and place for it.”
“You want to talk about appropriate when you and your testosterone team try to take over my responsibilities, my business? Just because I’m in love with you, just because I sleep with you, doesn’t mean I’ll sit back and let you run my life.”
“Who’s running whose life?” Frustration had him flinging out his arms. “You’re the one who has mine mapped out. I’m in this, Malory, whether I want to be or not. And I’m here to find out what that means. And if it’s heading where I think it is, you’re out. All of you.” He shot scathing looks at Dana and Zoe. “Out.”
“Who made you boss?” Dana demanded. “You couldn’t tell me what to do when I was ten. You sure as hell can’t pull it off now.”
“Oh, you watch me. You made it seem like a game.” He shot the accusation at Rowena. “Even some sort of romantic quest. But you didn’t tell them what might be at stake.”
“What are you talking about?” Malory jabbed at his shoulder.
“The dreams.” Ignoring Malory, Flynn continued to speak to Rowena. “They’re warnings, aren’t they?”
“You never finished telling us. Perhaps everyone should sit down, and you can start from the beginning.”
“You had a dream? Like mine?” Malory jabbed at him again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Just shut it down a damn minute.” Out of patience, he nudged her onto the couch. “Just be quiet,” he ordered. “I don’t want to hear anything out of you until I’m finished.”
He started at the beginning, with him wandering the house, with the sensation of being watched, stalked. He related the experience on the parapet, the fear and pain, and ended with his waking in his own bed, drenched with rain.
“He—it—wanted my soul, was letting me know that that could be the price for being in this.”
“This isn’t the way.” Pitte clamped a hand on Rowena’s and spoke to her as if no one else was in the room. “This can’t be the way. They aren’t
to be harmed. That was the first and most sacred promise.”
“We can’t know. If we’re not allowed behind the Curtain, we can’t know what situation now exists. If he’s broken the vow, he must believe he can escape the consequences. He must believe . . . they are the ones,” she said in a whisper. “It can be done, and they can succeed. He’s opened the Curtain to stop them. He’s come through.”
“If they fail—”
“They cannot fail.” She spun around, her face set with purpose. “We’ll protect you.”
“Will you?” Shaken, Malory folded her hands on her lap, squeezing her fingers until the pain cleared her head. “The way you protected the Daughters of Glass? Teacher and warrior. Somehow, you are.” She got up, walked to the portrait. “You’re here,” she said, gesturing to the couple in the background. “And here, in this room. In this place. And you think that what’s there, in the shadows of the trees is here too. You don’t show his face.”
“He has more than one.” Rowena spoke in a matter-of-fact tone that was utterly chilling.
“You painted this, and the two that we have.”
“Painting is one of my passions,” Rowena confirmed. “One of my constants. Pitte.” She turned to him. “They know this much.”
“I don’t know a damn thing,” Dana declared.
“Step over here, to the cynical side of the room,” Jordan invited.
“It’s what Malory knows that matters now.” Rowena held out a hand. “All that I have will be used to keep you safe.”
“Not good enough.” Flynn shook his head. “She’s out of it. They’re all out of it. You want your money back, we’ll—”
“Excuse me, I can speak for myself. This isn’t a matter of a refund, is it?” she asked Rowena. “There’s no turning back, no saying, uh-oh, the stakes are higher than I realized, game over.”
“The agreement was made.”
“Without full disclosure,” Brad put in. “Whatever sort of contract these women signed with you won’t hold up legally.”
“The issue isn’t legal,” Malory said impatiently. “It’s moral. And more than that, it’s destiny. As long as I am, as long as I know, I’m part of it. Until the four weeks are up. And if I find the first key, one of them is next.” She looked at Dana and Zoe. “One of them will be at risk for the next phase of the moon.”
“Yes.”
“You know where the keys are,” Flynn exploded. “Just hand them over. End this.”
“Do you think, if that were possible, we would remain in this prison?” In a gesture that mirrored both disgust and bitterness Pitte flung out his arms. “Year by century by millennium, trapped in a world not our own. Do you think we live with you out of choice? That we place our fates, the fates of those in our charge, in your hands because we wish it? We are bound here, bound by this single task. And now so are you.”
“You can’t go home.” After the boom of Pitte’s, Zoe’s quiet voice was like a hammer blow. “We are home. You had no right to trick us into being part of this without telling us the risks.”
“We didn’t know.” Rowena spread her hands.
“For a couple of gods, there’s a hell of a lot you don’t know and can’t do.”
Pitte’s eyes went to smoke as he rounded on Flynn. “Perhaps you’d like a demonstration of what we can do.”
Fists already clenched, Flynn stepped forward. “Bring it on.”
“Gentlemen.” Rowena’s heavy sigh was like a flood of cool water, designed to lower the rising temperature of the room. “The male, regardless of his origins, remains woefully predictable in some areas. Your pride and manhood aren’t at risk here, in either case. Flynn, whatever the world, there are laws woven through the fabric of it.”
“Rip the fabric. Break the law.”
“If it were within my power to hand out the keys at this moment, it would solve nothing.”
“They wouldn’t work,” Malory stated and earned a nod of approval from Rowena.
“You understand.”
“I think I do. If this spell . . . is it a spell?”
“That’s the simplest word for it,” Rowena agreed.
“If it’s to be broken, it has to be by us. Women. Mortal women. Using our brains, our wits and energies, our resources in our world. Otherwise, no key opens the box. Because . . . we’re the real keys. The answer’s in us.”
“You’re so close to where you need to be.” Emotions storming across her face, Rowena rose, laid her hands on Malory’s arms. “Closer than any have come before.”
“But not close enough, not yet. And half my time is gone. I need to ask you some questions. In private.”
“Hey, one for all here,” Dana reminded her. Malory sent her a silent plea. “Okay, okay. We’ll wait outside.”
“I’ll stay with you.” Flynn laid a hand on Malory’s shoulder, but she shrugged it off.
“I said this was private. I don’t want you here.”
His face went blank and cold. “Fine, then, I’ll get out of your way.”
With obvious regret, Rowena gave Moe a little nudge to send him along. She frowned at the sharp slam of the door behind Flynn. “Your man has a sensitive heart. More easily bruised than yours.”
“Is he my man?” Before Rowena could speak, Malory shook her head. “First things first. Why was I taken behind the Curtain?”
“He wanted to show you his power.”
“Who is he?”
Rowena hesitated, then when Pitte nodded, continued. “He is Kane, a sorcerer. The dark one.”
“The one in the shadows, the one I saw in my dream. The stealer of souls.”
“He showed himself to you so you would be frightened. There’s no need to frighten you unless you can succeed.”
“Why did he hurt Flynn?”
“Because you love him.”
“Do I?” Malory’s voice thickened with emotion. “Or have I been made to think I do? Is that just one more trick?”
“Ah.” Rowena let out a soft breath. “Perhaps you’re not as close as I thought. Don’t you know your own heart, Malory?”
“I’ve known him two weeks, and I feel as if my life will never be quite right if he’s not in it. But is it real? At the end of my four weeks, will I still feel that way?” She pressed a hand to her heart. “Or will it be taken away from me? Is it any worse to have your soul taken from you than your heart?”
“I think not, for one feeds the other. And I can’t give you the answer, because you already have it. If you choose to look.”
“Then tell me this. Will he be safe if I step away from him? If I close my heart to him, will he be safe?”
“You’d give him up to protect him?” Pitte asked.
“Yes.”
Thoughtful, he walked to the lacquered cabinet, opened it to take out a bottle of brandy. “And you’d tell him this?”
“No, he’d never—”
“Ah, so you would deceive him.” With a small smile, Pitte poured brandy into a snifter. “And justify the lie by saying that it was for his own good. Women, whatever their world, are predictable,” he said, with a mocking bow to Rowena.
“Love,” she corrected, “is a constant force in any universe. Your decisions, your choices, must be yours,” she told Malory. “But your man won’t thank you for any sacrifice you make to protect him.” She gave Pitte a mocking bow in turn. “They never do. Go now.” She touched a hand to Malory’s cheek. “Rest your mind a while, until you can think clearly with it. And you have my word, whatever can be done to keep you, your man, your friends safe will be done.”
“I don’t know them.” She pointed to the portrait. “But I know those people outside. You should know, if it comes down to a choice, I’ll choose those I know.”
Pitte waited until they were alone before bringing Rowena a second snifter. “I have loved you through time and through worlds.”
“And I you, my heart.”
“But I’ve never understood you. You could have answered her qu
estion about love and eased her mind.”
“She’ll be the wiser, and the happier, for finding the answer herself. How much can we do for them?”
He leaned down, pressed his lips to her brow. “Our best.”
Chapter Fourteen
SHE needed time, Malory admitted. She’d been on a roller coaster since the first of the month, and though there’d been a thrill in riding those fast dips and sharp turns, she needed a break.
Nothing in her life was the same as it had been, she thought as she let herself into her apartment. She’d always counted on consistency, and that single element had slipped through her fingers.
Or been tossed aside on impulse.
She didn’t have The Gallery. She wasn’t completely certain she had her sanity. On one of those dips and turns, she’d stopped being sensible, dependable Malory Price and had become irrational, emotional, fanciful Malory Price—a woman who believed in magic, in love at first sight.
All right, maybe third sight, she corrected as she closed her curtains and crawled onto her bed. But it was the same thing, essentially.
She’d taken money that could have seen her through several lean months and invested it in an enterprise with two women she’d known for less than four weeks.
And trusted implicitly, she decided. Without reservation.
She was about to embark on a business of her own, without any stock, any solid plan, any safety net. Against all logic, the idea of it made her happy.
And still her head was pounding, her stomach churning. Over the thought that she might not be in love at all. That the blissful confidence and pleasure she felt in Flynn was only an illusion.
If the illusion shattered, she was afraid she would grieve for the rest of her life.
She bunched the pillow under her head, curled into a ball, and begged for sleep.
IT was sunny and warm when she woke, and the air smelled like summer roses. She snuggled in for a moment. Warm sheets carrying the faint scent of her man, the soft drift of silence.
