Stealing Kathryn

by Jacquelyn Frank

  Aerlyn gasped and dropped her teacup from nerveless fingers, the crash punctuating her reaction.

  “Adrian!” She walked through shattered shards without care and raced to take her brother’s face in her hands in a way she had not done for years. But then again, it had been years since she had seen her beloved brother. And it wasn’t because his normal face was suddenly so easy to see in the bloated features of the monster he’d been for so long now, but because she could see conscience in his eyes. Worry and guilt and all the things he had abandoned long ago as the poisonous mirror he’d used had taken him over. He had become less her brother and more a scion of that cursed thing in the basement. “Adrian, how can this be?” she asked as she ran shaking fingers over his straightened shoulders.

  “Kathryn,” was all he said, and really all he needed to say. She should have realized it herself.

  “Oh my God,” she breathed as she stared into his eyes. “The pain you’ve been feeling. She’s been undoing all the damage that’s been done! Oh, it must be agony!”

  “Never mind that,” he said gruffly, brushing her concerns aside. “You have to tell me…do you think it’s possible this is happening because…because she is my kindra?”

  Immediate doubt and disbelief crowded Aerlyn’s mind, but she realized then that doing so left her without any rational explanation for what was happening. But who had ever thought that a kindra could effect a change like this? True, one’s mate lent balance and emotional stability, but to such a degree? Was this plausible or was this wishful thinking? Would Adrian continue to change or would good and evil level out before he reached the goal of becoming who he had once been?

  And looks were only the surface of it. In other ways her brother as she had once known him was forever lost. These years of suffering would make him a changed and unpredictable man. His softness and innocence were long since traded away, all for the need of energy.

  “Adrian, only you can say for certain if she is your kindra,” she answered him at last, taking care to move out of his reach lest he lose his temper when she didn’t say exactly what he wanted to hear. The movement made him frown at her as he recognized it for what it was. “It’s something a mate feels…something he knows from deep inside himself.”

  “What I feel is need. Bone-deep need for her, Aerlyn. Is that what you mean? This out-of-control craving? It must be,” he muttered, more to himself than to her. “Otherwise why would I look like this? Why would this be happening to me now if it wasn’t that?”

  Aerlyn could only shake her head. “I don’t know. It’s said that the moment you see your mate for the first time you’ll know without a doubt. I have no idea what that really means. But…Julian would know. He has recently been through this.”

  “No! I can’t go up to one of the Ampliphi and tell him that I’m not sure about this—that I lied to them about it. The moment I admit to that I’ll be as good as dead!”

  “Well, you should have thought about that before you recklessly went behind my back and claimed her as your kindra! And truth won’t matter if you don’t bed her and prove it to be true. How are you supposed to do that?” Then it struck Aerlyn. “Oh my God, that’s what you wanted, isn’t it? You walked right into it because you wanted a death sentence! You want them to kill you!”

  “Obviously not any longer,” he said tightly, his hands clenching and unclenching. “Not if this is a permanent change. If it continues, if I continue to get better in form and temperament, Aerlyn, then life might just be willing to have me, and I it.”

  “But none of that will matter if you don’t claim her one way or the other, and frankly I’ll be shocked if she lets you anywhere near her after the way you’ve been treating her.”

  He looked belligerent, as though he wanted to argue the point with her, but to her continuing amazement, he kept his temper under wraps.

  “She likes me,” he said softly. “Despite her own common sense and despite what I’ve done to her. I-I don’t think she even minds how I look that much.”

  That surprised Aerlyn a great deal. Had she been in Kathryn’s position, she didn’t think she’d ever come close to liking her captor. But then again, wasn’t there a syndrome that humans suffered from when they were taken captive? Maybe that was what was happening to her brother’s prisoner. Regardless, if Kathryn was disposed to give her brother any latitude, then Aerlyn would help to nurture that in her. She would do anything to save her brother’s life, both from the Ampliphi, and from himself. And if all she ever got was this moment, this moment where she was looking into her brother’s beautiful, aware eyes once more, that would all be worth it.

  “Adrian,” she said softly, leaning in to kiss his cheek because she knew, at long last, that he would let her do so. As she did so, he reached up and engulfed the back of her head in his hand. Not to hurt her or hurl her away from himself, but to express return affection. Aerlyn’s eyes filled with unexpected tears, but she was all smiles when she moved back away from him. “Tell me what you need from me to help. Shall I give her sweet dreams about you? I can—”

  “No!” He shot the word out hard and fast. “I’ll not have her manipulated any more than we’ve already done. If I am going to come by this, I want to come by it honestly. No deceptions or tricks and no more hurting her. I’ll do this myself and with full truth between us.”

  “Does that include telling her everything about the dreams you’ve caused over the years? All the potential violence you may have been a party to in the waking world because of your influence in the sleeping minds of others?”

  “No. Or yes.” He shook his head and ran his claws through his hair. “She already knows what I am capable of. She’s thought the worst of me from the outset. Now it’s time for me to show her I can be more than what I was. Better. If you want to help me, then help me with that.”

  “All right. Then I think your first step should be to get rid of that nasty little man you call your Companion.”

  “You’re right,” Adrian agreed. “He frightens Kat and has a hunger for the vileness in what I do…er…did. Being close to me and the mirror over the years has only made him worse. I’ll find him now and send him back to the Ampliphi.”

  “Good. I will see about getting us some proper servants. Then you can focus purely on Kathryn.”

  “Thank you. Have you seen Cronos?”

  “He just served me tea, so he should be around here somewhere. He might be avoiding you after your temper of last night.”

  “I’ll find him. And thanks, sis.”

  As he left Aerlyn fanned her face. She wasn’t about to start crying just because he’d called her sis.

  She wasn’t!

  Cronos breathed harshly as he hobbled and ran from the dining hall breezeway. Oh! This was terrible! Everything was terrible! They wished to banish Cronos from the house! Bad treasure! Bad treasure! He knew it was all her fault. That meant if he got rid of the bad treasure, then everything would return to what it had once been. She was responsible for the changes in the Master. She was responsible for getting Cronos into trouble! She was responsible for everything bad that was happening!

  He had no time. He had to get to her fast. He had to do it before the Master found him!

  He had to hurry!

  Kathryn had showered and then, because she didn’t want to wear her same dirty clothes from yesterday, she started to poke around in some of those magical little drawers Adrian seemed to have things stored in. She had already gone through the rest of the sideboard, finding other nightgowns even finer than what she’d seen and worn so far. She could swear one of them was made with actual gold rings to support the straps and golden thread in the weave of the lace.

  It was much too rich to be worn and she didn’t feel worthy of it, so she went to the bureau she’d seen him take his clothes from. There everything was for a man of his tremendous size. But unlike the almost threadbare things she’d seen him in yesterday, these were made of fine cloth and were well tailored. Silk shirts an
d rich, dark slacks…She wondered why he hadn’t worn these before. Then she realized it was because he hadn’t cared about what he looked like. This morning, however, she had seen him pull out a midnight blue silk shirt and dark pants, lying them on the bed before they’d started their row in the shower.

  She flushed as she thought of how boldly she’d just started touching him. It had been such an insane thing to do! But she’d been so curious for so long, and she’d never felt a man like that before. Now she wished he hadn’t stopped her. Oh, she appreciated what he’d been trying to do, and was glad for it really. But if only she’d had the chance to go further. She’d wanted to see…. She’d wanted to feel.

  Sighing, she closed the last drawer in the bureau and turned to her next victim several long paces away. A wardrobe so huge she could have stepped inside and paced circuits within. She pulled open the doors and was greeted with the heavy scent of cedar. Then she began to make out that these were all dresses in here. Gowns, actually. So beautiful! There had to be a hundred of them! Fur and silk, sequined and embroidered, daring and conservative, and everything in between. She couldn’t have dreamed anything so exotic and spoiling in all of her life. These were red-carpet gowns, not Kathryn Macdonough gowns.

  But hadn’t he let her wear that diamond-dusted creation? And she didn’t want to wear one around the house, where it’d get ruined; she just wanted to try some of them on. She glanced over at the beveled glass mirror not too far away and stopped to bite her nail for a moment.

  “They probably won’t fit my fat bum anyway,” she said as she inched closer to them. Why would he have all these here? Were they part of his one-of-a-kind collection? Were they perhaps his sister’s? She was a one-of-a-kind beauty. She was the type who deserved dresses like these.

  Slowly she began to look at them, sliding each hanger past her so she could gasp and admire the next in line. Some of them were outrageously indecent. No backs, barely any fronts, see-through and short or slit so high you couldn’t possibly wear underwear with them!

  She brushed past all of those and then, suddenly, she found one that she didn’t think she’d blush just at the thought of putting it on. She’d never had dresses, really. No use for anything but jeans and tees on a ranch. But if she had had one, this fire engine red minidress might have been exactly what she’d have picked. The empire waist would hide a world of sins, and the way it flowed it might actually fit over her backside.

  Sneaking a peek around the room first, she carefully eased the dress off its hanger and dropped her towel to the floor. Very carefully, so as not to rip anything by accident in case it didn’t fit over her butt, she dropped the dress over her head.

  It fell over her like water and perfection, as if it had been made to fit her. If this was a dream, then she was going to hate waking up. She smoothed her hands over the satiny fabric, watching it shine all around her body. Then she remembered the mirror and practically ran over to it. She tilted it so it was just right and then gasped at what she saw.

  Long, wet hair aside, she looked awesome! Not just okay or passing or like she was trying on someone else’s clothes, but perfectly tailored to her body sexy and awesome! Oh, her sister would just die—

  She cut the thought off before she could finish it. Of all the things real and imagined she’d been through these past days, she had a rock-solid understanding that she was never going to see her family again. Whatever the future brought her, seeing her family wasn’t going to happen.

  Kathryn lifted her chin and trying to leap back into the joy of the dress. As she pivoted, she wanted to enjoy it so much, but she just couldn’t stop worrying about her dad and sister. How would they get on without her? Dad was getting older now and her sister was still school age. Who would do her lessons with her? Who’d help her dad feed the stock and do the hundreds of never-ending chores the ranch always demanded?

  When the door across the room creaked, she looked up and saw that awful little man scurrying her way. He came right up to her, and she immediately backed away. “What do you want?” she demanded. “I thought you weren’t supposed to come near me!”

  “Cronos will not hurt you. Not ever again,” he promised in a high-pitched plea, his hands held out in supplication. “I apologized to my Master and now apologize to you. Cronos will never hit you again. I know better now.”

  “W-well, good,” she said carefully. “Apology accepted. But you shouldn’t come in here without knocking! I could have been dressing!”

  “Apologies again. I will remember to knock next time. But now, we must go. The Master wants you to come.” He curled his bony hands forward as if he wished to pull her along by a rope, leading her like a horse. Kathryn shivered and knew she was never going to like this horrid little man, but Adrian had apparently sent for her and she had a few things she wanted to talk to him about.

  She followed Cronos out of the room.

  He led her down what appeared to be back stairwells. The enormous house seemed to go on forever as they went down and down. Before long they were in the basements, and she had a feeling she knew exactly where she was going to end up.

  Sure enough, Cronos took her to the workroom, with its single torch and the black-fingered mirror standing large and ominous in its special spot. Cronos walked up in front of it and gestured with both his hands toward the mirror.

  “My Master awaits you,” he said.

  “In there?” She knew she sounded as disbelieving as she must look. “You want me to step inside that thing?”

  “Yes. He’s just inside. You won’t get lost or be alone. My Master would care for you above all other things.”

  “Then he should have stayed out here,” she muttered under her breath.

  She wasn’t certain about this at all. There were very few things that made sense to her these days, but one thing she had a certain understanding of was that this mirror was nothing to fool around with. Still, Adrian had promised he wouldn’t cause her any harm. He wouldn’t ask her to come to him if he thought she could be hurt—would he?

  Kathryn decided he wouldn’t. She couldn’t explain it, but she trusted his statements to that effect. At least she did now. He had exhibited a great deal of control lately and had made great efforts to be sensitive to her. This made it highly unlikely that he’d ask her to do something he didn’t think she could handle.

  Taking in a shaky breath, she reached to touch the mirror. To her surprise, blue electricity jumped out and struck her wrist. It didn’t hurt her, but it did tingle strangely up her arm. And it wasn’t a good tingle at all.

  “Faster is better. It hurts less,” Cronos advised, bending to look behind her for a second. She looked too, but no one was there.

  “Faster is better,” she echoed, shaking out her hands and trying to gather her courage. She had seen Adrian do it twice. All it took was a step. Just a single step. She held her breath and jumped in.

  Cronos watched as blue lightning shocked her from all sides, just as it did the Master when he went through. The difference was the Master was bigger, as well as ten to fifteen times stronger than the girl. He could tolerate and survive such a shock. With luck, she would be dead by the time she crossed planes. If she did survive, she would be immediately lost in the nightmare plane. Only his Master had the power to find the mirror and only he could step out of it. Everything else was be-spelled away from the mirror, so no dreams could cross into their plane. Yes! She is gone now! Gone for good!

  But the longer she was lost the better, so Cronos raced away from the scene of his crime and went to continue eluding his Master. All he had to do was wait until he realized she was gone for good. Then all would return to what it had once been.

  All would be well.

  Kathryn lay on her face in the strange gray world she’d been thrust into. She’d been shocked pretty savagely by Adrian’s mirror as she’d passed through, making a lie out of the theory that she would feel it less if she’d just gone through faster. She felt numbed all over and sore at th
e same time, like someone had shoved her from behind and sent her sprawling head over heels. Her heart raced erratically and her chest hurt.

  She became immediately put out. Why in hell would Adrian beckon her to come through that awful thing if he’d known it was going to hurt so badly? He had promised…

  She tried to get to her hands and knees, failing miserably. She had an awful taste in her mouth, like limes gone rotten, and this place smelled of the smoke that seemed to be everywhere. She was covered in the stuff, as it clung close to the ground for the most part, and she was most definitely a part of the ground in that moment. She worried about her pretty new dress and made another effort to get her face out of the floor. Her limbs were all wobbly from the shock and didn’t seem to want to coordinate themselves under her command, but eventually she got the unruly buggers to pay attention and go to work all at once.

  On her hands and knees, she rose above the better part of the smoky flooring. She looked around the endlessness of the dismal gray world she was in. She didn’t see Adrian anywhere. Her heart skipped a beat, her stomach sinking cold and wet within her. She whipped around to look for the mirror, but couldn’t see the portal anywhere.

  It has to be somewhere nearby, she told herself.

  There was no need to panic. Adrian was around there…somewhere.

  “Adrian!” Her voice was rough and squeaky at first, but rose strong by the second time she shouted, “Adrian!”

  Where is he? she wondered after five minutes of calling for him proved fruitless. He wouldn’t just leave her alone like this! He regarded her as a precious thing, a treasure to be carefully cared for and guarded. He wouldn’t just…

  Suddenly the cold idea that Cronos had not been acting on his master’s orders entered her head, leaving behind a soul-deep chill unlike anything she had remembered feeling before. No, she tried to convince herself, he wouldn’t dare!