Emerald Twilight: Bundled Edition

by Ashley, Celia

  “Not yet,” Hallie stated.

  He started and laughed again, this time in genuine amusement. “Where was that fire while we were married, Resa? I remember it from your youth. You did bore me so, as you grew older.”

  “Yes, I did make that mistake. I let the fire of my pride go, for the sake of yours. But as far as killing me, one of those guards within earshot of our conversation is of a clan far older than yours or even mine, Arad. She will tell the truth.”

  “Then I will have to see her silenced.”

  “And her guild brothers will seek retribution. The fact you are High Official won’t matter to them. You know that.”

  That struck home. Hallie almost smiled. Arad was well aware of the silent Guild Code of the Watchers. Surely he had known who was in his employ when he saw not only the family mark in the woman’s hair but the symbol of scar and ink upon her brow.

  Arad swore in vicious, degrading terms before he strode away and returned, shaking, not from fear, Hallie suspected, but from rage. “I really expected Conlan to come,” he said.

  “Sorry to disappoint you. I tend to try to protect those I care about.”

  She ducked aside from the swing of his hand. His knuckles only grazed her cheek. Straightening, she took a single step backward. “As you’ve pointed out, I’m not the same woman you falsely accused of treachery. You won’t get the opportunity to do that again, I promise you.”

  Consciously, she baited him, goaded him, trying to get him to play his hand. In the meantime, she could only hope Burke had found his way into the underground passage and had already located his daughter.

  Arad stared at her, eyes reflecting the tumult of his thoughts. Hallie shifted her stance once again into a subtle defensive position. Arad’s hands clenched at his side. He turned his head at the same instant Hallie heard the sound at the far side of the arboretum. Following his gaze, Hallie recognized the dark-haired woman who entered with a tiny, golden-haired child at her side. Arad’s recent favorite. Hallie didn’t know her name.

  The child’s hands flew in silent communication with the woman accompanying her, pausing only when she caught sight of Hallie and Arad. Hallie glanced at Arad. His expression in that unguarded moment shocked her.

  “Faire,” he addressed the woman. “Bring Lese here.”

  Suspicions confirmed, Hallie’s heart sank. Lese was not with Burke but here within Arad’s reach. The girl approached, blue eyes wide as she stared at Hallie. Suddenly Lese tugged on the hand of the woman who had apparently been assigned to care for her—a good sign, when Hallie considered it—and pointed in Hallie’s direction, fingers flying.

  “What is she saying?” Arad asked. The woman called Faire made a face, brows twisted in perplexity, then shrugged.

  “She says there is someone standing behind the woman with you. As we can see, no one is there. You know, Revered, how she imagines things.”

  No, Hallie thought, Lese does not imagine things. Burke had told her about the child’s gift, similar to Calypso’s but more honed, more precise, respected and revered among the community of acolytes. The skin shift between Hallie’s shoulder blades, the fine hairs at her nape lifing. She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder in case it was Burke that Lese meant, standing somewhere undetected but for the child’s quick eyes. Not likely, though. Lese’s reaction at seeing her father would not to be this.

  Hallie crouched down, looking Lese in the eye. “Hello, Lese.” The little girl followed the movement of her lips, then nodded, her eyes sliding to the vacant space over Hallie’s shoulder. Reaching up, Hallie smoothed the loosened tendrils of hair beneath her braid. The weight of the braid itself slid across her fingers like the touch of a hand. A small shiver shot along her spine. In front of her, Burke’s daughter began to visibly tremble.

  “You’re frightening the child, Resa. Stand up.”

  Not me, Hallie thought as she rose, but what? The crystals in the drawstring bag were warm against her sternum. Had they been so before?

  “Faire, leave the child here for a little while. I will call you back.”

  Although Faire made no verbal protest to the command, the expression in her eyes turned rebellious, gaze going from Arad to Hallie and back again as she departed. The look exchanged between Arad and the woman was intimate, Arad’s annoyed, the woman’s sparking with jealousy.

  Hallie experienced a vast relief with the realization of her former husband’s relationship with the woman acting as Lese’s nurse. The fleeting, lustful expression had been directed at Faire, not her charge. Hallie had not believed Arad capable of such lowly, demented behavior and now felt some basis for that small faith in the man.

  “Just let me take her and go,” Hallie said to Arad. “I will make no further trouble for you, but will vanish from your life just as you wanted when you leveled the charges against me.”

  “That wasn’t all I wanted,” Arad said conversationally. “I wanted you to suffer. I don’t think you have enough, yet.”

  Hallie’s breath caught, then released. “Why?”

  “Why? Look at you. You’re a bit beaten up by your ordeal, but otherwise you haven’t looked this alive in years. Does Burke Conlan make you happy? Or just satisfied?”

  At the name of her father, Lese looked up expectantly, then around the arboretum. Hallie wasn’t sure if it was coincidence or if the little girl could hear speech. Lese’s eyes then came back to Hallie and the place in the air behind her.

  “I don’t understand,” said Hallie.

  “What I mean to say, Resa, is that when I thought of you imprisoned I had a picture of you in my mind, and it wasn’t this. I pictured you in torment, haunted, suffering for what you put me through.”

  “What I put you through?”

  “I hated you, did you know that? It made life quite unbearable for me, hating you that much and having to live with you day to day. Look at you! Even the bruises of my hands on your throat have faded. Did Conlan get the message when he saw them? No, no, of course not. All he appeared to have gotten was you, my wife.”

  “I’m not your wife,” Hallie reminded him, feeling her pulse race at his strangely calm demeanor.

  “There’s a choice to be made here. Myself, I believe the choice would be an easy one to make, but I think you may have delightfully complicated matters. We shall see.” Lifting his hand, he signaled one of the guards to come in. The male, face stern, entered and lifted Lese from the floor at Arad’s command. He carried her to the other side of the fountain. Hallie started after them. Arad blocked her path, shoving her roughly back.

  “Lese is leaving with me,” Hallie said.

  “No, she’s not. And no one said you were leaving either. I don’t know why you persist in thinking I will just let you walk out.” He shook his head as if bewildered, dark eyes glinting.

  Hallie measured the distance between herself and the guard, calculating the likelihood of reaching Lese before whatever else Arad had planned was carried out. There would be no element of surprise. Only open ground between the spot where she stood and the opposite side of the circular fountain where Lese sat now on the low wall, the guard hovering menacingly near. Hallie looked at Arad, who observed her closely. He turned his head to call over his shoulder.

  “If she makes a move toward me or the child, kill the child.”

  “You bastard,” Hallie hissed. “What is it that you want?”

  “To wait.”

  “Wait for what?”

  “For Conlan, naturally. You didn’t expect me to believe a man like that, a Drifter, would actually accept any instruction from you? Sit down, Resa. It shouldn’t be long.”

  * * *

  Burke watched the dark-haired woman pass. He had no idea where she originated from, but he had seen her with Lese. Now she was alone.

  Waiting until the woman was out of sight, Burke headed in the direction from which she had come. Proceeding in caution, he followed the corridor until he came near an entrance into an arboretum. Appropriate,
that this should begin and end in such a place.

  Slipping inside, he crouched low behind a retaining wall. He heard the sound of falling water and of voices, Sterne’s and Hallie’s. Neither was raised and the content of their conversation indistinguishable from the noise of the fountain. Moving a little further, he saw the two of them through the trees, Lese with them, standing near Sterne and watching Hallie. Or, rather, watching something just beyond her. Burke tried to pick out what might be there, but could see nothing.

  At that moment one of the house guards came in, whisking Lese off her feet to carry her around to the other side of the fountain. Hallie moved to follow, shoved back viciously by Sterne. Burke’s teeth clamped together, the muscle in his jaw leaping. Silently, he moved closer to scout the area surrounding the fountain to judge his chances of moving in and grabbing Lese from the guard, as she was now beyond Hallie’s reach.

  “If she makes a move toward me or the child, kill the child.”

  Burke stopped short.

  “You bastard,” he heard Hallie respond. “What is it that you want?”

  “To wait,” Sterne told her.

  “Wait for what?”

  “For Conlan, naturally. You didn’t expect me to believe a man like that, a Drifter, would actually accept any instruction from you? Sit down, Resa. It shouldn’t be long.”

  Burke’s eyes darted from Hallie’s face to the place where Lese sat on the fountain wall, waiting patiently. She’d had no experience to understand the evil in the world, sheltered as she had been her whole life by the sisterhood. Bending, Burke unfastened the impulse from its sheath and palmed it. He’d always been an excellent shot, and fast. The guard first and Sterne next. Hallie should be able to hold her own until Burke was able to dispatch her former mate. He would have preferred Lese not witness the violence, but he had no choice if he was to get both Lese and Hallie out of this place.

  The element of surprise was still in his favor, no matter what Sterne thought. He wouldn’t walk into the open, but take his chances on trying for Lese first. Slowly he stood up, watching to make certain there were no unexpected moves from the men in his line of vision. Suddenly Lese’s head turned and she jumped from the wall, beginning to run straight at him where he stood hidden. The guard leapt after her, grabbing her by the arm and following the direction of her gaze before Burke had the opportunity to step back. Raising his hand to point, the guard spoke to Sterne.

  “Conlan, glad you could make it,” Sterne called. “Why don’t you join us over here?”

  Burke released a long breath through his nose. He was definitely losing his touch. In the past, he wouldn’t have been so careless. He knew Lese’s abilities. He should have known she would sense him nearby.

  Palming his weapon in a casual grasp, Burke strode out of hiding, moving his arms in such a way that he hoped the impulse would go undetected. He crossed the stone floor, eyes holding Hallie’s gaze, avoiding the small struggle taking place at the other side of the fountain as Lese tried to run to him.

  He halted several stride away from Sterne. “I want my daughter now.”

  “And my wife?” Sterne drawled.

  “She’s not your wife. And yes, I want her too.”

  “From the look in your eye, Conlan,” Sterne spat, “I’d say you’ve already had her. The question is, what is a man willing to part with for lust? Or, for that matter, to save those he cares about? I see a choice here for you.”

  “No choice,” Burke said. “I’m taking both of them with me when I leave.”

  Sterne shook his head in a rapid movement. “No. I don’t think so. And all of this talk about leaving as if you are free to do so is getting rather tedious. Would you care for me to outline your choices, to make it easier for you?”

  “Don’t bother.” Burke strode forward. That quickly Sterne yanked Hallie off her feet, the length of her spine against his chest, his arm around her throat. Hallie made no move to defend herself or break away. Burke could see she was biding her time, waiting for Sterne’s intent to be made clear. On the other side of the fountain the guard had lifted Lese up onto the wall where she continued to struggle to get free. Burke gestured with his hand and she quieted. Both Hallie and Lese now effectively shielded the two men from any direct fire.

  “What do you want, Sterne?”

  Sterne smiled. The turning of his lips knotted Burke’s stomach.

  “For you to choose. You choose and you go free. Ready?”

  Burke remained silent.

  “It will be a calculated choosing, but necessary. I want you to kill my wife, Conlan. If you do, you take your daughter and go. If you don’t, Lese will die. How’s that for options, Drifter? It might have been easier for you if you had never slept with Resa, but love and lust are two different things, aren’t they? And the love one bears for one’s child is greater than any other. Or so I am told.”

  Or so I am told, so I am told, so I am told… Sterne’s words echoed through the icy rage exploding in Burke’s head almost as if they came from outside. For a brief moment the world around him canted. He lifted the weapon in his hand.

  “That moment was recorded, just for your information. Pulling an impulse on a High Official, and you, a fugitive from the law. Choose, Conlan.”

  “What have you done to my daughter? Have you harmed her in any way?”

  “Why? Would that make the choice easier? But no. I haven’t. She’s been treated well.”

  He had suspected that. In observing Lese with the woman who appeared to be her caretaker, she had displayed no overt signs of having been abused in any manner. Of course, that didn’t guarantee it wasn’t so.

  “Oh, did I mention there was a time frame to adhere to?” Sterne continued. “I can’t stand here all day waiting for you to decide. Before the next hour sounds, which should be very shortly, you either kill Resa and walk out with your daughter, or your daughter dies and you walk out with my former wife.”

  “I don’t believe you.” This, from Hallie. Burke wished she hadn’t spoken. Across the fountain the guard took Lese by the leg and arm and stepped into the fountain, dropping down under the surface with his daughter, his little girl, until she began to flail for the surface and air.

  “Stop! Let her up! Let her up!”

  Choking and puking water, Lese dangled from the guards arms in front of his chest and head, shielding him again. Eyes round and frightened, the peaceful expression that had always marked them banished in her fear, perhaps the first real fear of her young life.

  “Choose, Conlan. Now.”

  Burke’s chest constricted. There was no choice. He wouldn’t let his daughter die, he wouldn’t kill Hallie. There had to something else he could do. Suddenly he remembered one of his last conversations with Shane.

  If you kill me, Conlan, Hallie dies. It’s that simple. Only I can stop you when the time comes.

  No! That whole conversation was crap. He hadn’t killed Shane. Those creatures had. And there was nothing to stop. Burke wasn’t planning on doing anything to hurt Hallie. Hallie wasn’t going to die.

  He eyed the guard’s position, then Sterne’s, and looked at Hallie again. Her gaze held his, blue-green and steady.

  “There is only one choice,” she whispered. “You know what I was willing to lose.” And her eyes said, don’t trust him.

  Burke took a step nearer, leveling the impulse to avoid Hallie’s heart. The weapon was still set to stun, but even reduced force could kill at this range when it struck the muscles around that organ. He waited, trying to determine the best way to deal with the situation.

  Sterne tightened his arm on Hallie’s throat. “What, no begging for your life? Don’t you think he’ll do it? You know he will. You’re not that good. Lese is his daughter and you are nothing to him!”

  “Then let him kill me,” she choked out. “Let go of me and let him follow through.” Even as she spoke the words, her hand crept into her tunic near her sternum. Burke saw her flinch and draw something out, leaving a s
mear of blood across the pale fabric. Sterne, in his zealousness for revenge, noted nothing. The blue-white glow of the crystal colored the skin between her fingers and the blood dripping from them to the stone floor. Burke met her eyes again. She was counting down, her lips moving silently. He understood.

  Three.

  Two.

  One.

  The razor edge of the crystal slashed across Sterne’s arm. With a howl, the man released Hallie and fell back. Burke spun on his heel, aiming the impulse for the guard’s head, revealed as that man turned in surprise at the Revered’s shout. The guard dropped unconscious into the water, taking Lese with him. Burke sprinted across the stone, leaping the low wall. From behind him came the sound of impact, followed by a thin shattering. He spared only one glance before diving under the water to release his daughter from the weight of an unconscious man, observing only that Hallie was on the floor, shards of the unknown crystal strewn across its rough surface. Sterne stood over her. And so did something else.

  * * *

  Fighting to regain her breath, Hallie rolled on the floor, away from Arad. The shattered crystal sliced into her arms and chest, the two shards that had still been contained piercing through the bag as they escaped to clatter across the stone. She heard a voice, not Arad’s, not Burke’s, not the gruff tones of the guard, like a thought, a dream, a cognitive process of sound, and knew whose voice it was.

  “Skelly,” she gasped as she shot to her feet.

  He was there, the shadow at her back no longer, filling the space between her and Arad like a wash of dark ink, insubstantial but recognizable. Arad saw nothing as he charged toward her with his arms extended and a stream of crimson droplets flying from his torn sleeve. The face, the battered body that was Skelly’s and yet not Skelly’s swirled in the movement of air, coalescing at Arad’s back. Hallie stumbled away. In the fountain Burke rose from the water, a coughing Lese in one arm as he dragged the unconscious guard out of the water with the other.

  Skelly was dead. She had seen what remained of his body when it was flung up on the ship’s shield by the creatures on Zebulon. Skelly was dead. It was an illusion or a replaying of events by some nature of the crystals. There was nothing else it could be.