Deceiver's Bond: Book Two of A Clairvoyant's Complicated Life (28 page)

So why did it want our connection strengthened? How would it benefit from us being on equal footing? It claimed it wanted to help and protect me, but without strengthening our tie, I couldn’t know for sure whether it spoke the truth. Surely, a chicken and the egg dilemma.

After a few more seconds of pointless inner debate, I nodded at the demon. Even in my dream, my heart raced at my decision.

Its eyes widened, lighting up with surprise. If I had detected even the smallest hint of victory in its expression, I’d have shut things down right then and there, but it just closed its eyes and let out a deep breath. “Thank you,” it whispered.

“Lire.”

I frowned. The word I heard and the demon’s lips hadn’t lined up.

Paimon’s lips moved again, but all I heard was Vince’s deep voice calling to me, “Lire, wake up. Lire.”

Vince!

I swam up through the dark, my heart soaring, conscious of Vince’s presence, the echo of his voice, his warmth, and his possessive grip on my shoulders as he woke me from my dream. I launched upward from my pillow, clinging to him, and buried my face into the warmth of his chest. “Oh, babe. Thank God. Thank God you’re here. The demon … it said—” I breathed out a sigh of relief and shook my head against him. “Oh, but now it doesn’t matter. You’re here. But, how—?”

Blinking away the remaining sleep from my eyes, I pulled back to run my fingers over him, to see his face, but my relieved murmurs turned into a shriek when I realized the man tentatively holding me wasn’t Vince.

I’d been gushing like a lovesick fool to Kieran!

I scrabbled backwards, spilling out of my bed and nearly falling on my head in my haste to get away. The hardwood floor shocked the bottoms of my feet as the cool air of my room enveloped me. Deprived of my down comforter and clad in nothing but my flimsy silk tank top and skimpy boy shorts, I gritted my teeth against shivering. I backed up until I hit the opposite wall, breathing hard. I clutched at the cold, hard surface as if it might offer protection.

“Wha … why are you in my bed?” I screeched.

He stood to face me, my king-size mattress between us.
Oh, God.
He was completely nude. The darkness of my bedroom provided camouflage, but the dim light streaming through my open door behind him revealed an unmistakable silhouette.

I blurted the obvious, “And … and you’re naked!”

“You cried out in your sleep. It woke me. You were in need.”

I looked around frantically. “Where’s Red?”

He pointed at the head of the bed where a sphere of impenetrable shadow covered my extra pillow.

“Let him go!”

Ignoring my frantic babbling, Kieran circled the footboard with determined strides.

“Just … you know … stay right there.” I thrust out my right hand, palm out, but apparently he wasn’t in the mood for listening.

He kept coming until my hand hit his chest and he towered over me, our bodies no more than a foot apart. This seemed to be my night for imposing men bearing down on me. His skin felt feverishly warm against my cool fingers. I pushed at him while simultaneously pressing my back into the wall, desperate to keep our bodies as far apart as possible. My jagged breathing stirred the air between us. How the hell had I mistaken him for Vince? Kieran didn’t even smell the same, his voice was deeper and musical, and his body was less bulky.

Lord
. I’d rubbed my face all over him.
Someone please kill me.

“The creature invades your dreams. This is worse than I thought.” His stern voice vibrated my eardrums. “What does it want?”

“None of your damned business,” I snapped, pushing harder against his firm chest. “Now get out of my bedroom!”

“You made it my business. I am honor bound to protect you.” He planted one hand on either side of my head, just above my shoulders, and leaned toward me in spite of my extended hand. “If you truly wanted me out, you’d have used your power on me or called for your djinn.”

He hadn’t yet touched me, but my body trembled and I struggled to even my breathing. Whether my reaction was due to nervousness, embarrassment, or the cold, I didn’t know. Probably all three. “If you think this excites me, you are mistaken. Please leave. This behavior is beneath you.” The quaver in my voice didn’t make me sound confident.

“I only want one thing beneath me,” he said in a hoarse whisper.

I’ll admit, my breath caught. How could it not? The man was drop-dead gorgeous and his voice …
wowzers
. A recording of that last declaration could have yielded me millions selling it as a ringtone. The man’s sex appeal was worthy of worship. Even now, my insides continued to vibrate, like a church bell after the call to prayer.

Snap out of it! The guy’s a cocky sidhe asshole.

I dropped my hand and stood up straight, calling his bluff. “Bullshit. You despise me. I’m human. You’re sidhe. Why are you doing this? Is it part of your precious duty? Are you hoping I’ll throw you out so you can claim you tried your best? Tell me, Kieran, to whom do you owe your allegiance?”

After a moment of staring down at me, our faces a tense six inches apart, he backed away and folded his arms. “I don’t despise you. And my allegiances are none of your concern.”

I made a determined effort to keep my eyes from drifting anywhere below his all too bare shoulders. “I disagree. I’ve accepted your service. I’m entitled to know. So, I ask again, to whom have you sworn your allegiance?”

Just when I thought he wouldn’t answer, he replied, “I am a loyal subject of,” he uttered a string of words, which were not only incomprehensible but also unrepeatable for a human like me. Although, I might have heard the name Faonaín.

Even in the faint light of my room, I registered his superior expression. I glared at him. “Right. In English,
s’il vous plaît
. Stop being obstinate.”

“I’m not obstinate. I answered your question.”

“You’re smirking in a very irritating way. You know that?” I let out a loud sigh. “I can’t argue with you properly like this.” I stomped to my bathroom and snatched up a bath towel. I tossed it at him. “Wrap this around your waist. When I come back, I expect an answer. In English.”

Standing in the doorway, I added, “And release Red. You owe him an apology.” I slammed and locked the door behind me before sliding to my knees, fighting to calm my racing pulse.

After a minute of trembling in the dark, I turned on the lights and then splashed cold water on my face. Squinting against the brightness, I inspected myself in the mirror, delaying my exit a few moments longer to work through the tangles in my hair with my oval brush. My bed-matted, dark-red hanks contrasted jarringly with my pallid complexion.

There was no denying it. I looked precisely how a woman with a fucked up life should look—dark under-eye circles, bloodshot whites, and a stupefied expression. My swamp-green irises stared back at me, flat and lifeless. What time was it, anyway? I hadn’t thought to check the clock before fleeing the bedroom.

As I examined myself, I couldn’t help but wonder,
What the hell would Vince think of all this?

If I was brutally honest with myself, I knew he wouldn’t care as much as I’d want him to.

Three weeks ago, when I’d swooned over his ‘I love you too’—the one and only time I’d heard him utter those words—I naively assumed he’d meant it. But I’d come to realize, although Vince cared about me, he wasn’t unreservedly devoted to me. And I’d been a fool to think, once he got past all this magic stuff, he’d eventually love and cherish me.

I sighed and threw my hairbrush back into its drawer before slamming it shut. Whatever. I’d get through this. I’d make sure Vince was okay. And I’d find out, once and for all, whether he was interested in loving me. If not, if he’d bonded himself to Maeve instead, I’d manage. The world wouldn’t fall apart because my supposed boyfriend preferred someone else, and I certainly wouldn’t be the only woman to ever get dumped. Red was right. More things were at stake besides my dateless, nearly affection-free relationship with Vince.

Suck it up …

I couldn’t finish the thought.

Back in my darkened bedroom, Kieran waited for me, sitting on the left-hand side of my bed, legs crossed and looking entirely too comfortable. Thankfully, he’d donned the towel.

Red stood at the foot of the bed, waiting for me to emerge. After slipping into my robe, which I’d left draped over my floral upholstered accent chair, I levitated him to my shoulder and hugged him.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Yes. Kieran apologized for his actions. He did not like hearing you had given me explicit instructions not to wake you and did what he thought was best with your well being in mind. I harbor him no ill will.” He patted my cheek. “I am relieved you are unharmed.”

“Thanks,” I replied before giving Kieran a direct look, “but I was never in any danger.”

Kieran folded his arms loosely over his flat stomach. “If you honestly believe that, then you are more naive than I thought.”

“Oh, shut up. Do you have any idea how condescending you sound? In my dreams, I’m the one who calls the shots. The demon can’t hurt me there and, even if I were to be so preposterously stupid, a bargain using dreamland blood is meaningless. I am not under its sway. How many different ways do I need to spell it out for you?”

“You can do all the spelling you want. It doesn’t change the fact that the demon has your blood—the first step toward possession. Discount this at your own peril.”

My spine tried to shrink, but I pulled myself together and stalked to the foot of my bed. “We can discuss this later. You’ve distracted me from the previous subject. To whom do you swear allegiance? To your king?”

“Yes. I have not sought to hide it.”

“No, you just enjoy making me jump through hoops to learn it.” Without giving him time to argue, I continued, “As Maeve’s bodyguard, you are fulfilling your oath to the King because she’s his daughter. Is that correct?”

“How do you know this?” he asked, voice sharp.

“I have a brain.”
Sometimes
. Anyway, I sure as hell wasn’t going to admit that Paimon told me. “It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Yes.”

“Does that mean you also owe her fealty?”

“Yes.” He shifted on top of my comforter, re-crossing his ankles to make himself more comfortable. The light from downstairs filtered up through my open door, providing just enough illumination for me to appreciate his lean, muscular form.

“And if she gives you an order, you must fulfill it, regardless of your personal feelings.”

“Yes,” he sounded impatient. “As long as the order does not violate any of our laws.”

“And both of these oaths supersede your offer of service to me. Is that correct?”

“Yes, of course, but since neither Maeve nor the King are present, they render no direct conflict.”

“Okay.” I folded my arms. “Tell me. What was Maeve’s last order to you, before she took Vince and broke the circle?”

He averted his gaze to stare at the opposite side of the room. In the dim light, it was impossible to read the subtle details of his face, other than he wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t seem to be angry either. After a moment of silence, he looked back at me and replied, “Please accept my word when I say Maeve’s command in no way counteracts my oath of protection to you.”

“I believe you.” I camped on the opposite side of the bed, folding my knees so my feet were off the floor. “But I also think her order will help explain some things. I think it directly concerns
me
. With you sleeping in my home, sharing my food, and possibly putting your life on the line to protect me, I think I have, at least, some right to know her directive. Is that really so much to ask?”

For a moment, he simply stared at me, unmoving, except for his left index finger, which he tapped against his right arm. “Her plan was to take both you and the part-blood back home. She informed me of her intent to bond with him. She ordered me to take you for the same purpose.”

His revelation wasn’t exactly what I’d expected. I’d assumed she ordered him to do his utmost to get me pregnant. Maybe it ultimately led to the same outcome, but bonding implied a level of permanence that seemed ridiculously high handed. He’d given me the impression that bonding was more meaningful than marriage since it involved one’s soul. No wonder he’d been so dismayed by her order. It also explained his erratic treatment of me. No doubt part of him wanted find any way to avoid this ‘impossible duty.’

“That explains a lot.” I scooted myself backward to lean against the footboard, mirroring him but staying on my side of the bed. “Why would she order you to do such a thing? Humans aren’t exactly a prize for you guys.”

“She intended to punish me. And there is a need.”

“For more half-bloods.”

He shrugged. “Not simply that. Recently, a number of our emissaries have died. Maeve seeks to replace them as soon as possible.”

“Emissaries? You mean like the contacts Daniel mentioned? The ones he calls to set up a meeting with you guys?”

“Yes.”

“And, our offspring would yield such individuals?” Talking to him about the two of us having babies, in the dark, on my bed, almost felt indecent. I rubbed my arms, staving off a shiver.

“No. The emissaries are each bound to a sidhe,” he replied, sounding as if he’d just realized I was particularly dense. “Their essences are joined. This is how they communicate without an active gateway.”

“They’re soul mates, but they live apart? The sidhe stays in the Otherworld?”

“Yes.”

“That sounds—” I frowned and bit my lip. “That sounds … sad. Or does being a soul mate not necessarily imply any kind of emotional attachment?”

He looked away. “It does. To what extent, depends upon the individuals.”

“Oh.”

What a mess. I felt like apologizing, but I didn’t know precisely what I was sorry about. Sorry your boss is a bitch? Sorry I don’t love you and want to bond and have babies with you? Sorry your loathing of humans makes this impossible for you? I’d only sound ridiculous for voicing such things.