Chapter Three
The Dance
While Seremela waffled over what to pack, her iPhone pinged. She hurried into the living room to snatch it up from the coffee table.
She had received a text from Duncan. Everything is set. We have transportation to Reno, also an SUV with supplies. I’ll be there at noon to pick you up.
An invisible weight lifted from her shoulders. She was intelligent and capable. She could have arranged transport. She could have retrieved Vetta on her own. But the fact that she didn’t have to, that she had the kind of emotional support that Duncan had so generously offered her, was indescribably wonderful. It spoke of serious caring, and friendship.
The fact that she also found him heart-stoppingly sexy shouldn’t factor into her thinking at all. She should be focused on the task itself, which was ensuring that her niece got home safely—whether Vetta wanted to or not.
And Seremela would be focused on the task, when it really mattered. For now, she felt young, and feeling that way at nearly four hundred years old was a kick. Her pulse raced like a giddy schoolgirl’s.
She and Duncan would have hours of time alone. She could watch him in secret. Sometimes he would smile at her in that slightly crooked self-deprecating way that he had. He would talk with her, combining his intelligence with the sound of his gorgeous voice in a way that was so seductive to her. They might have as much as two or three days together. It seemed an extravagant fortune in stolen time.
Carefully she texted him back. Thank you for everything.
His response was immediate. It’s my pleasure. See you soon.
Seremela checked her email messages and found a reply from Carling that the other woman must have sent even as Duncan drove to her apartment earlier. Of course Seremela could have as much time off as she needed, and she was to let Carling and Rune know if there was anything they could do to help.
Seremela had to smile. She didn’t doubt for a minute that Carling had known very well what she was doing when she had shared Seremela’s email with Duncan. Carling had already provided more help than Seremela could have hoped.
The weather changed drastically over the next hour, swirls of sunlit blue sky breaking through the ominous dark clouds. They would have to take care on route to the airport. Seremela had finished packing in plenty of time, and she had showered and changed for the trip into jeans and a sleeveless yellow, button-down cotton shirt.
She felt calm and optimistic by the time Duncan knocked on her door again—and then, of course, all of that went to hell. Her snakes spilled in a helter-skelter swirl around her shoulders. If they really had been dogs, she had no doubt they would have been barking and having a running fit.
Time to bite the bullet. She wasn’t about to spend the next three or four days keeping the brats constantly under wrap under extreme desert heat, even though they totally deserved it. She squared her shoulders, marched over to the door and opened it.
“Hello, Seremela,” said Duncan. “Have you had time to—?”
She caught one glimpse of him. He, too, had changed into an outfit very similar to hers, wearing jeans and a gray T-shirt that molded to his lean torso and muscled biceps. Previously whenever Seremela had seen him, he had always been the epitome of cool male elegance. It was shocking, somehow, to see him so casually dressed.
Or at least she thought it was. She didn’t get a good enough look to be sure. Her snakes obscured her vision as they swarmed around her shoulders and over her head, shooting toward Duncan any way they could. The strength of their reaction surprised her and caught her off balance. She stumbled forward a step, which was all they needed.
Duncan began to laugh as her snakes wrapped around his neck and his upper arms. He caught her under her elbows as she stumbled, and they stood staring at each other, entwined. Something electric sparked in his eyes. She didn’t know what it was, but the strength of it affected her powerfully. Her skin flashed with heat.
“I’m sorry,” she mumbled. “It’s only—you know they just like you, and—”
“Don’t apologize,” he told her in a gentle voice. He touched her cheek with the fingertips of one hand. “Like I’ve told you, I enjoy them.”
Others might thrill to the crash and thunder of tumultuous passion. For Seremela, the most lethal thing in the world was exactly this kind of gentleness, this type of moment. They stood near enough to each other that she could see how his dark eyes had dilated, a subtle enough change in color that if she had stood even a few feet away, she wouldn’t have caught it. He looked at her intently, his face sharpened with that same electric expression that pierced through his gaze, yet he touched her as lightly as snowflakes drifting down to rest on her sensitive skin.
She was intensely aware of each of the four small points of contact, even more so because she could barely feel them, and they held so steady, so steady, as he looked deep into her eyes. That single, innocent touch was almost unbelievably erotic. The steady light contact said things, and the very fact that he paused so long meant that he made sure she heard it.
It said his exquisite gentleness was no accident. It said he had to be intimately aware of the placement and position of her body to achieve such a delicate, butterfly touch. It said he touched her because he wanted to touch her, and that he knew how to be gentle and tender, that he was confident and didn’t shy away from scrutiny, and that he could hold steady when he needed to.
It said he knew very well that she was clever enough to hear all of the nuances in his unspoken message.
Her breathing grew ragged. Her lips trembled as her snakes held him in position and he smiled into her eyes. And all he did was touch her cheek.
“Are you ready to go?” he said quietly, his fabulous, famous voice pitched for her ears alone.
And that was it, man, she just about came right there in her pants. The fact that she didn’t was a miracle. She should be glad about it, since she could hope to maintain some semblance of dignity….
She glanced sideways at her snakes which had locked around him. One had wrapped around his biceps so far it was peering at her upside down, from underneath his arm.
Yeah well, she might not be able to maintain dignity exactly.
LET GO! she ordered. It was as stern a mental voice as she had ever used on them.
She must have startled them because they loosened and slipped back over her shoulders. Grateful, she took a deep breath and stepped back. She said aloud, somewhat hoarsely, “Yes, I’m ready.”
He inclined his sleek, dark head with a smile, stepped inside and picked up her carry-on, while she looked around her apartment one last time, checked to make sure she had her iPhone, and shut and locked the door as they left.
Internally she was flipping rapidly through her Rolodex of teeming emotions. What to label this feeling? She had roared through embarrassment several minutes ago, so nah, that wasn’t it. As they rode the elevator down to the garage in silence, she finally had to admit, she didn’t know what she felt. She had never felt it before, so it wasn’t in her Rolodex.
She did know the emotion held a large amount of shock and amazement.
Because all he did was touch her cheek.
And now all she could do was wonder, what else could he say in that silent, sensual language of his?
What poems could his fingers whisper as they danced across her skin?
What eloquent prose could he share with his body?
She had assumed they would be flying out of the Miami International Airport and was surprised when Duncan drove them instead toward Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport, thirteen miles southwest of downtown Miami. Breaking the silence for the first time since they had left her apartment, she said, “I didn’t know there were any commercial flights out of this airport.”
He gave her a brief smile. “There aren’t, but there are corporate flights. We’re not taking a commercial flight. We’re using the agency plane.”
“Oh, I see.”
The possibility hadn’t even crossed her mind, and she was frankly staggered. Rune and Carling had given her so much already. Carling had given her a papyrus sketch she had made in ancient Egypt, of a long-dead, half serpent, half human woman who, according to legend, had founded the medusa race. While the worth of the sketch didn’t matter to Carling, the fact remained that it would still fetch a small fortune from a museum if Seremela ever chose to sell it. Then there was the new job, for which they paid her an extremely competitive salary, gave her a great benefit package and even paid for her relocation expenses. Now they gave her an unspecified amount of time off and were lending their agency plane.
When they returned, she would have to thank them properly, in person. The least she could do was have them over for supper. Carling could enjoy an excellent bottle of wine, and Rune certainly had a hearty enough appetite for several normal men combined.
Her gaze slid sideways to Duncan. Perhaps Duncan could join them. She smiled, feeling warm all over at the thought.
They parked, and Seremela glanced at the sky again as they exited the car. To the north, the sky had turned almost entirely blue. She could see the rays of sunshine spilling over the edge of dark clouds like laser beams. Her stomach tightened at the sight, and she turned to Duncan anxiously.
He glanced at the sky and gave her a calm smile. “It’s all right. We’ve got a few more minutes. There’s enough time to board.”
“If you say so.” She took her case as he handed it to her. Then he took his two cases, slammed the trunk and they strode toward the building. Once they were inside, she was able to take a deep breath again, but in order to board the Gulfstream jet, they had to go back outside again.
Duncan remained calm the entire time, and he never pulled out a cloak but he did take the stairway ramp to the plane at a lope just as sunshine spilled out over the northwestern border of the airport runway.
“Good gods,” she muttered as he disappeared inside the plane. She glanced at the plane windows, noting that they were already lowered. His entire life was like this, a never-ending dance to avoid the sun. Feeling somewhat wrung out, she followed him at a slower pace up the ramp.
The pilot and her copilot were the plane’s entire staff, and they greeted Duncan and Seremela cheerfully as they took their luggage to stow. Duncan held onto one piece of luggage long enough to pull out a laptop and a slim briefcase. He smiled at Seremela. “I hope you don’t mind if I focus on work for a while.”
“Of course not,” she said. “This isn’t a vacation. I would have brought work too, if I thought I could concentrate enough to get anything done. Well, that, and half my job involves growing nasty things in petri dishes.”
He laughed. “Thank you for not bringing your work with you.”
She grinned. “You’re welcome.”
The plane had a couch, and after takeoff when Duncan settled to work at a table, Seremela gave into temptation and stretched out to rest. Her sleepless night had caught up with her. The copilot brought her a pillow and a blanket and she curled on her side, her snakes spilling down her body and coiling in the natural hollow made by the indentation of her waist.
She dozed, rousing slightly every time she heard Duncan’s voice. Mostly he was arranging for his time out of the office for the next several days, but once she surfaced to wakefulness with a pulse of alarm.
She clenched without moving, and she knew all of her snakes were awake and coiled with readiness too. The plane’s engine ran strong and smoothly, and all seemed normal. What was it that had woken her?
Then she heard it again, Duncan speaking in a voice so cold and sharp it speared through the silence in the cabin like a stiletto. “…the fact remains, Julian, Carling’s house is on an island in an Other land. Further, you can only access the passageway to the island from the ocean. Do you think she chose any of this by accident? It is not in the Nightkind demesne, so it does not fall under your legal domain. We have been patient now for a year.”
Wow, he was really angry at this Julian guy. Then realization jangled through her. Duncan wasn’t talking to just any Julian, but to Julian Regillus, the Nightkind King and Carling’s estranged progeny.
Duncan paused, clearly listening to whatever was said on the other end of the line. Then he said icily, “That’s unacceptable. Carling’s magical library is too dangerous. She doesn’t trust anyone else to move it. She needs to move it herself, and you cannot continue to block her access to her own property.” Another pause. “It’s too late for that. She’s done waiting. We’ve already filed a petition with the Elder tribunal. It’s only a matter of time until the tribunal approves it.”
Then another silence that stretched on, until she realized that Duncan wasn’t pausing to listen but that the phone call had ended without goodbyes. Cautiously she peeked around the edge of the couch.
Anger etched the lines of Duncan’s expression, turning him into a hard faced stranger. His dark eyes glittered, shards of black in his pale face. The gentle, urbane man she had become acquainted with and liked so well was nowhere to be seen, and what was left in his place was something entirely dangerous.
Then he caught sight of her peering around the arm of the couch, and the hardness in his expression eased.
She said, “I’m sorry. I overheard some of that.”
He shook his head and sighed, running his hands through his hair until he actually looked rumpled. She frowned. Maybe that shouldn’t seem as adorable to her as it did, especially after what she had just seen in his expression.
“No, it is I who should be apologizing—again—to you,” he said. “I woke you, didn’t I?”
She didn’t bother to deny it but just regarded him steadily. “As soon as I realized who you were talking to, I should have done something to let you know I was awake, like gone to the lavatory.”
Even though he didn’t need to breathe, his humanity had not left him, she saw, as he blew out a breath. “You absolutely should not have done that,” he said. “I didn’t realize I would be transferred to Julian himself, or I never would have called. Then at that point the phone call took a dive straight into the toilet.”
“Well, since the damage is done,” she said, as she sat up. “If you don’t mind me asking, why won’t Julian let Carling have access to the island? Is it because he doesn’t want her to have her library?”
“I don’t think so,” Duncan said. “It’s useless as anything but a retreat. As an Other land, it’s illegal for anyone from Earth to harvest anything from the island for commercial gain, and Carling has filed evidence that an intelligent indigenous winged species lives in the redwoods. And Julian doesn’t give a damn one way or another about Carling’s library. In fact, he insists that Carling send librarian witches to pack it all up and transport it. On the other hand, Carling insists—and she does have the legal right of it—that she have free access to her own house and that she sees to the transportation of the library personally.”
“But he doesn’t want to let her do that,” she said.
“No, he doesn’t,” Duncan said. “Now that he’s made his stance and exiled her, he doesn’t want to allow Carling anywhere near the border of his demesne, especially at the crossover passageway for the island where it would be so easy for her to slip quietly into the Nightkind demesne. He certainly does not want to acknowledge that she has the right to come and go as she pleases.”
She sat up and folded the blanket, and he slid out from the table where his work lay spread and walked over to sit beside her on the couch. Three of her snakes slipped over his shoulder to peer at him.
He smiled and held out his hand to them. They twined around his forearm as she confessed, “I always wondered how you felt about their estrangement.”
“To be brutally fair, I can see both sides,” he said. “Julian made some mistakes and trusted the wrong person, and last year Carling really had been dangerous to be around. I think they could actually get past it all if Julian was willing to submit to Carling’s dominance again. But I also think something inside of him has broken, and he can’t do that again. And I must take Carling’s side in all of this.”
The conversation had slipped squarely into Vampyre territory, and Seremela frowned, unsure about how comfortable she felt with the subject. She looked down at her hands as she said carefully, “The bond between a Vampyre maker and her progeny is something difficult to understand from the outside. I suppose you must take Carling’s side, mustn’t you?”
“Do you mean, did Carling order me to take her side?” Duncan asked. He smiled at her, all vestiges of the hard edged stranger gone. “No, she didn’t. She wouldn’t do that. I must take Carling’s side because I love her, and I agree with her stance more than I agree with Julian’s. But that doesn’t mean I can’t see Julian’s side of things too.”
His ability to see all perspectives of a situation would be one of the things that made him such an outstanding attorney. She had to smile. It could make him an outstanding friend as well. Or enemy. It was one more thing that she liked so much about him. His quiet, incisive intelligence had its own kind of bite.
He was still speaking. He said, “And there’s also a big difference between me and Julian.”
“What difference is that?” she asked, growing fascinated despite her initial discomfort.
A thrill ran through her nerve endings as Duncan took one of her hands and played with her fingers. “Thousands of years,” he told her. “You see, I accept Carling’s rule over me. She made me, and I’m young enough to remember how I felt when I agreed to that. Yes, she has the Power to force me to her will, but in the last hundred and seventy years, she has almost never done so, and she never has without having a compelling reason for it. But Julian was turned at the height of the Roman Empire. He and Carling, and Rune too—the three of them are different from us.”
“Us?” she repeated in surprise. “As in you and me?”
“Yes, as in you and me,” he said.
She smiled at him, amused. “Do you realize I’m probably close to two hundred years older than you?”
He grinned. “I was thirty when I was turned, so if you’re over three hundred and fifty, then yes, you are. But the age difference between you and me is a drop in the bucket when you look at millennia. They are all so much older than we are. I think it makes them fundamentally different in some way. And Julian is very dominant. Carling has never changed anyone against their will, so he must have once, long, long ago, agreed to her dominance, but I think he has chafed under her Power for a very long time. Imagine what it must have been like for him when it looked like she was dying.”
She frowned. “I suppose, even if he cared for her, in some ways it must have felt like a relief.”
“That is how I see it,” Duncan said. “For many years they worked well in partnership with each other. They played off each other’s strengths very well. But she didn’t die when she was supposed to, and he wasn’t freed. Now he can’t stand the thought of being under her Power again. And if they ever saw each other in person, she could potentially force him to her will—he is her progeny, after all. I don’t think Julian ever hated Carling before. But I think maybe he has learned to hate her now.”
“The way you describe it, it sounds like they’re in the middle of some kind of duel.”
“That’s a good way to describe it,” Duncan said. “Only this duel may take centuries to play out.”
She shuddered and curled her fingers around his. “It disturbs me to think about you possibly getting caught in the middle of their—” What should she call it? Disagreement sounded far too simple. “Their clash of wills.”
“Oh well,” he said wryly. “‘Every family has its ups and downs.’”
Seremela went into delighted shock. “Did you just quote Katherine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine from The Lion in Winter, or was that an accident?”
He smiled into her gaze. “What if I did?”
Under the full bore force of such close contact, her breathing grew restricted. “I loved that movie.”
“I did too. I’ve also had a lot of reason to quote it through recent years.” He pressed a kiss against the back of her hand. “Speaking of families, I think we’re getting ready to land. Once we get the SUV and our supplies, it should take us about an hour to get to Devil’s Gate. Then we can collect your niece and take her home.”
She chuckled. “You make it sound so easy.”
“After Carling and Julian? You bet, this is easy,” Duncan said.
Seremela shook her head at him and gave him a pitying grin. “You say that only because you haven’t met Vetta yet.”