by Gloria Craw
“Look at the two of you,” she said sympathetically. She came and knelt by the mattress. “Spencer and Katherine are coming back in their jet,” she continued, smoothing my hair. “They should be cleared to fly in a few minutes. I expect them to be here in about an hour.”
She got up to leave, but Ian called her back. “The cars and the body,” he said. “They’re still at the store.”
“I’ll call Lillian. We’ll take care of it,” she replied.
“Please call my parents,” I muttered. “Tell them I’m spending the night with you. If others are looking for me, I don’t want to drag my family into it. They can’t fight like you guys can.”
“Okay,” Brandy said and quietly let the room.
When Spencer Thane burst through the door, Katherine was right on his heels. They came straight to us. Spencer put a hand on his son’s head, and Ian pushed it away. “I’m okay,” he muttered. “It’s fading already. Work on her first.”
Spencer put his hand on my forehead. Then he closed his eyes in concentration, and a pleasant warmth spread through my body. The knots in my head untied and my breathing returned to normal. Spencer was sweating when he turned away from me.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
I closed my eyes and knew he was working on Ian when the tension in his body relaxed behind me. His arms loosened and slid limply to his sides.
“Help me lay them down,” Spencer said.
Katherine pulled me away from Ian and arranged me more comfortably on the mattress. I could feel Spencer do the same with Ian.
“We’ll just let them rest,” Spencer said as the left.
The room was lighter when I woke up. I stretched out one leg, and that was enough to tell me I was going to be stiff for a long time. My body felt bruised, like I’d been used as someone’s punching bag. With a small groan, I straightened out my other leg.
I’d forgotten Ian was next to me. He sighed in his sleep. His breath was soft on my neck. Out of nowhere his body twitched. The movements triggered a flashback of what had happened behind the Shadow Box. A crystal-clear picture of the tiger flashed onto the big screen in my mind. I saw the sadistic joy spread over his face as he mentally tightened his grip on me. I saw myself topple to the burning pavement and heard my own moans of pain. Then Ian came running toward the tiger and leaped onto his back, pulling him backward.
In the seconds that followed, I processed what I hadn’t before. In spite of a broken neck, the tiger’s mind was still active and alive. He’d withdrawn from my mind so he could engage Ian in an unseen mind warfare. The camera in my mind cut back to Ian. He radiated incredible heat as he stood over the tiger. He was fighting in a way I couldn’t see or understand, but I knew the moment it was finished, because he came to me. Uncertainty and disgust were written all over his face. He’d killed the tiger, and he regretted it.
Shutting my mind to the memory, I turned toward the boy who’d saved my life. His body twitched again and his gold eyebrows drew together in his sleep. I noticed a small worry line at the inner corner of one of them. It was definitely something new. On the inside and on the outside, Ian was scarred by what he’d done. And he’d done it for me.
I reached up to smooth the line with my finger. His eyes, still hazy with sleep, opened. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
I gently touched the line again. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Embarrassed, I tucked my hand between my body and the mattress. “Nothing. Sorry.”
“You’re so weird sometimes,” he said sleepily. “I like that about you.”
“That makes you weird, too,” I replied.
As he watched me, his expression changed from sleepy to aware. He was going to kiss me. I shouldn’t have let him, but I held still and felt the feather-soft touch as his lips met mine. My heart thumped and my stomach tensed as he did it again. I tipped my chin up and met his third kiss.
He fell back asleep, and when I knew he was too far gone to wake up again, I rubbed the worry line once more.
Sometime later, Brandy walked in carrying a tray loaded with breakfast food. “I thought I should wake you,” she said. “The Golden One’s parents will be back soon.”
Ian yawned loudly and then shifted to sit up. I watched him for the signs of the regret I’d sensed during the night but couldn’t find any. He reached for a piece of toast off the tray. “I thought they’d stay here,” he said around a bite.
“Such a forgetful boy. There aren’t any beds here, remember, and your mom didn’t want to sleep on the floor or the couch. They went to a hotel for the night.”
Talking about Ian’s parents brought all sorts of fears to the forefront of my mind. “What about my parents and Alex?” I asked anxiously.
“What about them?” Brandy replied.
“Fedora man said he’d been following me for days. What if he passed information about them to Sebastian Truss? What if his people have them?”
“Fedora man,” Brandy repeated with a smile. “That’s a nice nickname for that… Never mind. To answer your question, if he’d known for sure who you were, he would have had your parents or Alex stuffed in the trunk of his car when he went to get you last night.”
Ian nodded his agreement. “It would have been easier to get you to go with him that way.”
“He wasn’t certain enough to risk involving your family,” Brandy continued. “He needed to get you alone to figure it out, and Ian took care of things before he could pass any information on.”
I remembered the tiger’s words as I knelt on the pavement having my mind crushed. I’ve spent the last week piecing it all together, he’d said. I breathed a sigh of relief. Brandy was right—the tiger had had most of the pieces, but he hadn’t been sure I was dewing until he accessed my mind for the second time.
“I’ll have Lillian go to your neighborhood and feel for anything out of the ordinary,” Brandy offered. “She called me five times during the night and then again at the crack of dawn to check on you. She hates herself for leaving you alone at the store. This little assignment will make her feel useful. It might also keep her from calling me every half hour.”
“And it’s a good precaution to take,” Ian said. “If she feels anything strange around your neighborhood, she’ll let us know.”
“What did you tell my mom last night?” I asked.
Brandy smiled down at me. “Only that you were staying here with me,” she replied.
“And she was okay with that? She didn’t want me to wear a tracking device or something?”
“Nope. As long as you’re with me, she figures all is well.”
Ian devoured another piece of toast in two bites. “Brandy is great at inspiring confidence in overprotective parents,” he said, wiping his fingers on a napkin. “Speaking of which, when should we be expecting mine?”
“They were starting the drive over here when they called,” Brandy replied, “so any minute now.”
Ian glanced down at me. “You can’t sit up, can you?”
“No,” I replied dejectedly.
He patted me gently on the shoulder. “Not to worry, young one,” he said sarcastically. “My dad lives for this kind of thing. He’ll have you fixed up in no time, and you’ll be a favorite with him forever because of it.”
“I doubt that,” I mumbled.
“Why do you doubt it?” Brandy asked.
“Ian killed another dewing because of me, and one look at Spencer’s face last night told me Ian put himself in a really bad position taking my pain. They’re going to have a hard time getting over the moral and mortal danger I put him in.”
Brandy shrugged. “You’re thinking human again. Remember destiny? You were meant to live, and the tiger was meant to die. Ian was just an instrument in the process. As far as what he did by taking your pain, he knew very well what he was in for. Isn’t that right, Golden One?”
Ian nodded before downing a glass of orange juice.
I app
reciated Brandy’s reassurance, but I knew something was wrong where Ian was concerned. I’d seen it on his face last night. I cared too much for him to stand by and let remorse eat him from the inside out. I was going to talk to Spencer about it.
Brandy took the breakfast tray while Ian chewed the last piece of toast. “You didn’t leave any for Alison,” she said. “For a skinny kid, you sure can eat.”
He didn’t deny it. “Got to go,” he said. “My parents are here.”
I watched him walk away and tried to reconcile the boy in wrinkly jeans and a loose button-down with the guy who’d killed another dewing to save my life.
A few minutes later, Spencer came striding through the door like a giant bull. “How are you feeling today?” he asked.
“Like I spent the night getting kicked,” I replied. “I know the tiger attacked my mind, but my muscles are all messed up.”
“Don’t push yourself,” Spencer said in a calming tone. “The body always reacts to an attack on the mind. You need a few days to get your strength back.” He sat beside me, sending my side of the air mattress upward with a whoosh. “You got a double whammy last night. Your human thought patterns made your mind vulnerable, but the tiger attacked your essence, too.”
“He attacked my what?”
“Your essence. That’s the energy that runs just beneath your skin.”
“So my energy got beat up?” I asked, to clarify.
“Yes. I was able to fix the damage in your mind last night, but there’s only so much I can do to heal your essence. I’ll help you a little more now, but you’ll probably be stiff and sore for a few days.”
I tried to figure out how to ask all of the burning questions in my mind. Finally, I decided on a direct approach. “Before you fix me, can I ask you some questions?”
“Sure,” he responded kindly.
“I understood enough of what happened last night to know Ian put himself in a bad position when he took my pain. I’d like to know exactly what the danger was.”
“He took your pain just as he might have done for any human,” Spencer explained. “The process isn’t difficult. It’s a simple redirection of a human’s thoughts toward ourselves.” He chuckled. “We don’t do it often, because when we redirect the pain, it comes back at us with twice as much force.”
“So there was no risk of him dying or anything?”
Spencer laughed again. “No, just a lot of pain.”
Glad to have that cleared up, I launched into the next topic on my list. “Ian killed the tiger to save me. Obviously, I’m more grateful than I can say, but he’s suffering because of it. It haunts him that he killed another dewing. I think he’s going to need therapy or something.”
Spencer paused. “This is going to sound cruel to you, but it was crucial for Ian to stop the tiger last night. He knew if he didn’t, you’d end up dead or the tiger would tell Sebastian about you. If you haven’t guessed it already, Ian has remarkable energy. After the Laurel clan was massacred, Katherine and I had him trained to fight as humans do. He’s been honing those skills most of his life. The tiger would have known the instant Ian engaged him that my son was capable of killing him. If he had backed off, Ian would have backed off, too, but he didn’t. In a way, the tiger chose to end his life last night.
“As far as Ian’s mental health goes,” Spencer continued, “I don’t consider what happened last night a bad experience for him. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but he’s headed toward a violent confrontation. Feeling some of the emotions he did last night might serve him well when that time comes.”
I still thought it was crazy that Spencer and Katherine were okay with their son risking his life in a fight with Sebastian. “I don’t understand how you can you let him go ahead with what he plans,” I said.
“It isn’t a question of what I want anymore. It’s about the greater good.”
“Even if it means you lose both of your sons?” I pushed.
Spencer looked at his hands. “I received confirmation yesterday that Sebastian has control over another cabinet member in the administration. At the rate he’s manipulating the political powers of this country, we’ll have to go to war against him within a year. The best option is to have him replaced as clan chief, but that doesn’t seem likely. It would take an internal uprising, and most of the Truss are completely dedicated to him. We’re working that angle, but it will take time. More than we’ve got, I fear.”
“Couldn’t you just send him a box of poisoned chocolates or something?” I asked.
“We’ve considered all our options,” he replied with a small smile. Then he passed a hand over his eyes. “Unfortunately, they’re limited. Not only is the Illuminant clan showing signs of joining with the Truss, the Ormolu clan is too. To top it off, we’ve got a mole to deal with. The time and location of our last clan chief meeting was leaked.”
“I heard about that,” I said. “Maybe your mole is a blessing in disguise. Maybe he or she could be coerced into giving the clan chiefs some information to use against Sebastian.”
Spencer shook his head. “It may be months before we catch the mole. I want to stop this thing before the next presidential election. But the clans can’t agree on how to do it. Every day that we let Sebastian go, he grows stronger. I’ve already lost one son, Alison. Believe me, the last thing I want is to lose Ian, but I’ve had to accept that for the good of our kind, Ian, Brandy, and you will fight Sebastian Truss in the very near future.”
“And it has to be us because Katherine saw it in a vision? It sounds so crazy to me.”
“I’m sure it does, but Katherine’s visions are flawless. She saw it a few weeks after Jack died. In her vision, Sebastian was killed by someone in the line of succession for a chiefdom, a fading likeness, and the daughter of the White Laurel.”
In my opinion, only one of the three he mentioned was a certainty…me. “Ian said she couldn’t say if any of us would make it out alive?”
“She couldn’t. But she saw Sebastian dead. As horrible as the outcome might be, it’s enough to justify the risk. This isn’t about me and what I want. This is about what is right. I know it’s small comfort, but Katherine and I will give the three of you whatever assistance we can when the time comes.”
I’d already accepted the only hope for my family’s safety lay in killing Sebastian Truss. I wanted to argue for Ian and Brandy’s sakes, but I didn’t, because I knew their devotion to the cause.
“Trust destiny,” Spencer said with a small smile.
“I don’t like destiny very much.”
“Everything happens for a reason. In time, you’ll find destiny is your friend.”
I doubted it. “How long am I stuck lying here?” I asked. “I need to, um, go to the bathroom pretty bad.”
Spencer’s good humor came back, and he laughed. “It will only take a few minutes to get you fixed up enough for that.”
Chapter Fourteen
When Spencer left, I went to the adjoining bathroom and found a clean towel in the linen closet. Turning the water on, I stepped under the rain shower faucet and let hot water work on my stiff muscles and joints.
Ian’s hygiene products didn’t include hair conditioner, so I was left with a tangled mess to comb out afterward. I found a flimsy-looking black comb in his shaving kit and did the best I could with it. The poor thing bent and lost a few teeth as I ran it through my snarls. By the time I was finished, the comb was ruined. I said a few words of respect and then buried it in the trash can.
After getting dressed again, I opened the bathroom door and found Ian lying on the air mattress with his arm over his eyes.
“Nice shower?” he asked in a weary voice.
“Yes. I’ll have to buy you a new comb, though. I killed the one from your shaving bag.”
He moved his arm to look at me. “You’d better.”
“Where is everyone?” I asked, going to sit next to him.
“It’s Saturday. We have people coming over, so Brandy is ou
t getting more stuff for the house. My parents have gone to the grocery store, and I just finished hanging the flat screen. I have a list a page long of other stuff I’m supposed to get done before zero hour.” He checked his watch and sighed. “But I had a pretty rough night, so I’m taking a break right now.”
“Does Brandy allow breaks?”
“No. Please don’t tell her.”
I looked for the worry line near his eye. It was still there. “I’m sorry you had to kill the tiger last night,” I said. “I mean…I’m grateful, but I know it was a terrible thing for you to have to do.”
He didn’t respond immediately, but when he did, he was firm. “I’m not sorry for what I did, and I would do it again if I had to.”
“You look very sorry about it in my memory.”
“I was confused, but I didn’t regret it. It was easy for me to kill the tiger. In the moment, it was as easy as breathing. I’d expected to struggle with the concept at least, but I didn’t. How messed up does that make me?”
“So you think there’s something wrong with you because it didn’t bother you to kill someone who was going to murder me? That makes you the weird one. You came thousands of miles from your home looking for me, and when you found I was a poor excuse for a dewing, you didn’t abandon me. I know you wouldn’t have, even if I hadn’t agreed to help you. You could easily ditch this plan to fight Sebastian and fly back to Australia to live your life, but I’m pretty sure you won’t do that, either. Maybe you’re full-on crazy, but you’re not a heartless killer.”
“I hope you’re right,” he said with another sigh. He took a lock of my wet hair in his fingers. “It was pretty nice of me to save your life, wasn’t it? Is that why you kissed me?”
There were a lot of reason why I had kissed him, but I wasn’t going to tell him all of them. “I am grateful,” I said. “But in general, I don’t kiss guys for that reason.”
“So you kiss a lot of guys?”
“No, you’re the first one, but we can’t do it again.”
“Ouch,” he replied.
I smiled down at him. Our kiss had been a mistake. His plan to leave Vegas when we finished with Sebastian hadn’t changed. And we had other more important things to be concerned with. “I think it was probably pretty good for a first kiss,” I said, “but I don’t want to be kissing anyone right now. I don’t need or want to be distracted while I learn what you and Brandy can teach me. You should limit your distractions, too. We need to concentrate on confronting Sebastian right now.”
