Unrepentant: The Reckoning - Book One, page 15
Not questioning the sudden promotion, Lily nodded.
“You’re one of the King’s children?” Ilani approached close. Her voice lilted as if English were not her first language. Albirich, more cautious, lagged behind out of arm’s reach.
“Distant, yes.”
“Then you should take my hand. The land here will try to make time weird near you so that anything you care about in that world will get old, to make you sad.” She put out her hand. Even with her delicate build, quite slight this close, her hand was small.
With haste, Lily extended her own. Better safe than sorry. She warmed when she touched the girl’s hand, and the gloom lightened.
Ilani hurried down a path; Lily could now see where it had been trackless meadow and trees before. They passed several buildings, gathering mists rising and falling like the sea.
“I’ve never seen any of your kin survive the fog. How did you do it?” Albirich’s voice was expectedly low. He kept up with them though he warily remained where he could cut and run if needed.
“I have no idea,” Lily lied.
It must have been the baby she carried. She didn’t ever want to test it if she wasn’t pregnant.
The girl seemed disappointed by the answer, the boy skeptical.
“Were you both born here?” Lily asked.
“Of course.” Faintly scornful, the boy regarded her as if his opinion of her intelligence had lowered. “No one comes here but humans if they aren’t of the blood; and to be of the blood, you have to be born here. You’re a big puzzle, Lady.”
“But that’s good! Because something new means things might be able to change- maybe the gatekeeper will let new people out. I’d like to go to the humans’ dominion and see all their machines and stare at the sun and all the other things people do.” Ilani laughed and spun in place, loose hair fanning out.
“Staring at the sun is a bad idea, trust me.” Lily glanced down as they shifted from grass to stone.
Golden bricks and marble flagstones created a patio resembling a mosaic of light. It surrounded a mansion that stretched for hundreds of feet. The mist lapped around it, caressing and revealing it as if they were lovers. The marble stones gleamed white with shining golden trim, a bright beacon when the fog revealed it, dazzling to dark accustomed eyes. Both children squinted but didn’t break their hurried pace.
Ilani pulled her forward, up golden steps, Albirich coming closer. Both moved like small prey animals, alert and wary, ready to bolt even as they guided her through brass doors.
They ran across a huge chamber, headed for one of the four halls that intersected with it. All around, furniture made of precious wood and metal stood, reflecting in flooring so glossy it could have been used as a mirror.
The girl slid to a halt halfway through the large room, the pace on the slick flooring not permitting a clean stop, when a stranger strode down a side hall toward them. Her hand spasmed in Lily’s. Albirich sidled farther in the direction they’d been headed, movements quick and subtle enough Lily would have missed them had she not glanced in that direction, gauging whether she could pick the girl up and run.
In just the moment it took to glance, the stranger reached them, without seeming to hurry or slide.
“Well.” His resonant voice caressed the ear as sweet as a daoine sidhe’s. His hair fell in a shining cloak over his shoulders, the same shade of palest golden blond as Albirich’s. The stranger’s facial structure was very like Gaius’s but younger and far more handsome.
More handsome but less attractive, the perfection was painful to see.
The sheer force of his presence beat against Lily, and if she’d been in tiger form, she would have hackled. It was charisma wielded like a bludgeon, not permitting the others present to decide what their opinion of the possessor was, only that they should fall on their knees before him.
He didn’t stop at an acceptable distance, continuing to approach. She stood firm as he invaded her personal space, leaning toward him in aggression. She hadn’t let go of the girl’s hand. He stopped less than a hand’s breadth from her; she had to tilt her head up to keep his face in view.
20
The girl yanked her hand from Lily’s. Two sets of footsteps continued running down the hall they’d been headed for.
“Your name?” His voice, this close, stroked the skin like a rough purr.
A growl tried to leak out of Lily’s throat. “You first.”
He chuckled. “A fierce kitten. I’m called Raphael now. Why have you come here with your sunny hair and nature? The sweet smell of sunlight and sandalwood wrapped all around you?”
“Not to talk with you.” She took a careful step toward the hall, letting the knife in her sleeve fall into her hand. Shedding blood seemed a last resort here, but all her instincts whispered to be careful.
With easy grace, he matched her movement, keeping them so close they could fall into an embrace or a grapple in a moment.
Hungry eyes met hers. An icy blue but hot as the edge of a flame. “Oh, we’ll have fine times together while I persuade you to tell me how you walk these halls.” His tone made promises Lily did not want, of all types.
Her knees and ankles loose, she darted for the entrance, hoping the children had gone to fetch Gaius and she could rendezvous with him later. She didn’t want him to have to confront whoever this was.
Fast as a striking snake, he snagged her hand and yanked her back against him, chest to chest.
She punched his throat.
Raphael’s eyes widened with delight, and even as he wheezed, he twisted a fist in her hair. She cut the hank, close to the scalp, and backed away, nearly falling as she danced to the side of his grab, the slick stone a deathtrap.
She backpedaled, avoiding his lunge by a whisper, and landed against another person. Lily stabbed blindly.
She stopped the knife as a familiar scent filled her nose. The blade just pricked his skin.
“Not a good idea here, dearling.” He took her off hand in his, leaving her weapon hand free.
“Ah, the woman you’ve been pining for?” The other man strolled forward. They were of an age, perhaps cousins, though the other blazed with power in a way Gaius didn’t. Lily shifted subtly back toward Gaius’s body.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted the two children peeking from the side corridor.
Behind the stranger, Una, the daoine sidhe who Gaius had taken away, emerged from the hall he’d come down. She wore a tight blue t-shirt and leather skirt so short it barely covered her groin. She went barefoot, and her neck, elbows, wrists, and ankles were crusted with dried blood.
Her eyes widened when she saw them, and she blurred, running toward them as Gaius answered.
“Yes, Father. She is.”
The words dropped like stones, and Gaius’s eyes blazed blue as well. The tension between the two men could be cut with a knife.
“Kill me!” Una cried. Her pale wild eyes fixed on Lily, gleaming with moisture.
A long, slow smile of exquisite charm spread across the other man’s face, and he bowed. “My son, you’ve reaffirmed I need not be shamed by your taste in concubines. I see why you passed over this sidhe if a woman like this waited for you. She’s fierce and exquisite, and I will gladly see that she’s schooled in the ways of this land if she remains. As I do with the gift you brought me.”
Gaius bowed back, “Your offer is most kind. If you’ll excuse us.”
Raphael laughed. “Are you hurrying her away so I won’t taste the scent of dreams on her? Sweet Una has told me things about the daoine sidhe plans for the Oracles. Do you want to hear?”
“Please,” Una whispered.
Gaius’s father flicked Una beneath the chin. “When you’re done telling Gaius about the plans your kin have made, seek me out in the library, Una.”
He strolled away. Una stared at Gaius, tears standing in her eyes.
The silence thickened as Lily and Gaius stared at her.
“The plan is to kill the unaffiliated oracles, to gain a monopoly on the intelligence, to preserve our superior position. You are a primary target, which is why we took the contract from the house of Mists, intending to betray them and kill you and their messenger.” Each word dragged out of her as if on invisible hooks. Her fists clenched and unclenched, but she couldn’t stop the flow of words.
Gaius regarded her with a chill expression. “It explains much.”
“Kill me.” Her eyes pleaded.
“I, like others, know what’s required to make bliss. You’ll get release when you’ve paid the blood debt you accrued. Until then, enjoy Raphael’s mercy. You’ve earned your time with my father.”
Ilani and Albirich listened at the hall, flattened against the stones, eyes wide.
Gaius waited until Una had followed Raphael with lagging steps before he pulled Lily down the corridor and into a side room. A few delicate tables and chairs with embroidery frames next to them were the only ornaments, the walls bare.
He shut the door on the children’s faces.
“What are you doing here? How? I need to get you home.” Worry etched lines on his face.
She covered his lips with her fingers. “Yes, we need to go home. Don’t go to Johann. Don’t get in his debt to sever the connection. I trust you to not take advantage. Much.”
“Even after seeing Una?” Gaius’s face was so tight she was amazed he got the words out.
“Especially, since you were so careful to try not to compel me.”
Under her fingers, his lips curved as his expression softened. “Johann told you I went to see him?”
“Yes.”
“You ran from me, Lily.” Gaius regarded her gravely. “I deserved it. While I concealed things from you, it wasn’t with intent to harm; I was caught between an oath and my feelings. I thought I could satisfy the oath without hurting you. Nor did I intend to ever take your blood. That I swear by my name. But I need to get you free of here- Raphael wants an oracle under his thumb, and we only have a sliver of time to get you out of here.”
“Not without you.”
“What’s changed?”
“I realized that having a power isn’t the same as using it. That you could have stopped me in my tracks when I left. That I gave you the blood. And that if I didn’t forgive deception, I’d never have anyone to talk to again among my friends.”
He kissed her hand. “I’m to offer you a place in this House. Keep in mind you aren’t made for shadow and that my father lives here. He will covet you.”
“Do I have to be a member of the House to have you?”
“Would you join it if that’s what was needed?” Grave blue eyes met hers.
Lily swallowed, fighting her instinct to run screaming. This dominion felt so alien… “Yes.”
“Luckily, it isn’t. This is a terrible place.” Gaius’s voice was dry.
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Then why did you ask?”
“Because I’m not a saint, and the sight of you running away from me hurt a lot.”
“Knowing you were sent to recruit me hurt me. That made your concern for Mark a lie. And I ran in an instant. I didn’t keep running once the emotion faded.”
“True, you just stayed away. As is your right.” Gaius sighed. “A helpful person from this House…Raphael… hired the triad to…smooth the way for me. Without informing me.” His mouth twisted as if he tasted something bitter. They decided to snatch Mark, since they knew I’d pursue, and then let him go by your fence. Based on what Una just said, I imagine they planned to have Firuz kill both of us.”
“Then why did they mention Johann later?”
“Trying to kill two birds with one stone. The plan was to take his territory, and the triad decided to renege on the contract with the House to eliminate you and to make him appear weak, maybe have some of his people desert. When they failed to kill either of you, they had to go big to try to destroy him and grab you since they learned the person who hired them wasn’t an amateur at bindings. They would have been in a great deal of pain during the fight, and the only way to alleviate it was to deliver you. They would have suffered eternally had they killed you.”
“So they still are being punished?”
“Rhys is. Raphael removed the binding from Una when I brought her here. He prefers his games with feisty opponents.” Gaius’s face, cold and unforgiving, reminded her of his father’s in that moment.
Lily glanced away, down to where he still held her hand. She tightened her fingers.
Gaius responded to the gesture, pulling her close. “Did Johann tell you he sold me the means to break the connection for a nickel and erasure of the favor I gained by fighting that day at his house? You’re under no compulsions, Lily. I broke the connection so you could be free.”
“No, he said…he lied flat out? Fé can’t do that.” Johann was going to pay. She would figure out exactly what he was and kick his rump as soon as the baby was born.
“Well…he can.” Responding to the rustle outside the door that Lily also heard, Gaius put a finger to his lips. He paced to the door and yanked it open. Ilani fell into the room.
“Come with us as a witness since you’re too nosy to live, little girl.”
Ilani sprang to her feet, smiling. She and Albirich had to run to keep up with the pace Gaius set as they hurried back to the gate.
The old man rose from his bench and regarded them. “Leaving so soon?”
“Yes. Don’t tell Raphael.”
A creaky chuckle answered him. “As if he could follow. Enjoy your time together.”
Ilani spoke fast. “Gaius, how can you travel when Raphael can’t?”
Gaius smiled down at her. “Because the Gatekeeper permits me to.”
“Can I?” Hope shown in her eyes.
“When you’re powerful enough, yes. Until then, you’re stuck here, child.” The gatekeeper laughed.
Ilani’s lower lip thrust out.
“Will you have me to wed, Lily?”
Ilani squeaked, eyes wide. Albirich sucked in a silent breath. The gatekeeper regarded all of them with an air of amusement.
“Yes. But not today.” Lily eyed the children, unsure why Ilani jumped up and down before she and Albirich ran back toward the house. “Do I want to know?”
“Not really. They’re running to tell people that I’ve finally fallen for someone. There are bets that it would never happen.” Fingers entwined with hers, she and Gaius stepped into the gate. They passed through the clinging fog, still holding hands. Without any fanfare, they emerged on a street near the university’s campus.
“Do you have a house here?”
“Yes. You never gave me a chance to invite you.”
She inhaled. “I’m pregnant. So I can’t change. And I don’t want you doing that without me to watch your back.”
He smiled, dark blue eyes intent on her. “I thought you might be. You lived to get to the House. Please never try to do that again, dearling. The defenses will kill you.”
“I don’t plan to.” Lily shivered. She did not wish to see that dominion again.
Gaius pulled her close and kissed her, letting go of her hand to wrap his arms tightly around her.
“Are you quite done objectifying me?” she asked in echo of him.
He kissed her again. “No, I need further samples in bed. We lilim do one thing, but we do it well. And I want to make sure I get my due. We’ll talk with the rusalki. I have some treasures they’d covet, enough to buy safety for the time you’re pregnant. Even a daoine sidhe would think twice before setting foot in their territory uninvited and unwanted. I can find us another place to live while we wait for you to be able to shift again. Then, we’ll take time to make that house a home.”
“With sex?” Lily laughed.
“That too.” Gaius lifted their hands, fingers entwined, and brushed his lips against her knuckles.
21
Pressing her gloved fist against her aching lower back, Lily stood in the snow at the edge of the rusalki’s property where a stand of trees and tangled brush concealed the grounds from water and neighbors alike.
The rusalki had watched the pregnancy advance from afar with fascination. Lily often found magazines, books, and infants’ toys on the doorstep come morning. She took each offering, called her thanks to the air, then stored it with the others inside the house.
She’d become so popular partly because of the assassins that had followed her. Johann had ruled the rusalki could kill them, and many of the younger members of the kin now had bones with which to decorate their homes. The older ones enjoyed collecting new ornaments as well.
Ana had told her that the consensus was that Lily could stay as long as he liked.
Her breath puffed in the cold air. “I know you’re out here, Storm. There’s no way they could have kept you off the track for nine months. Though they’re happy believing it.”
The gentle breeze sprayed her with bits of snow shaken off bare branches. Pain in her belly- the intermittent contractions reminded her she didn’t have time to dawdle in talking to him.
To her left, her brother emerged from the brush, not disturbing it in the least. Though in human form, he moved with the same lethal grace as the tiger, barely disturbing the snow. Taller than her by half a foot, lean and muscular, his black hair striped with threads of dark red and white, he made for an imposing figure. The mild expression in his amber eyes belied the deadly warrior he’d trained to be.
He wore a brown leather jacket hanging open, revealing a university sweatshirt and jeans. Sneakers completed the picture of a young man, probably in college, who had indulged in an intricate hair coloring experiment.
Storm surveyed her belly, round as a barrel, and shook his head. “Really, Lily?”
“Really, Storm. And thanks for not making us have to fight.”
Broad shoulders shifted in a shrug. “Eh. Large town, big university, lots of young people…all pretty. There’s been some interesting events, too. When you’re not so vulnerable, I’ll bring company I ant to meet you,”
