Demon Demon Burning Bright, Whisperings book four (24 page)

Cicero waved at the dish. “I believe this is
one of your favorites.”

Lasagna heavy with cheese. I tried to smile,
but it slipped off my face.
Where the hell are you,
Royal?

“Tiff, let us move past this.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ryel did what is best for you and
Bel-Athaer. You will forget him and become what you are meant to
be.”

Never
. “Do you read minds, too?”

“I see you are sad. I am sure he is never
far from your thoughts, but you will put it behind you, niece. Look
to the future.”

Cicero beamed. He scooped a big slice of
lasagna from the pan and on my plate. I poked at it with a fork as
he told me children of
our family
go to their House’s Seer
when old enough to leave home. He called them aides, a nicer word
than servant. His aides lived in the village below his cavern.

I lent him half an ear, because then,
then
I remembered.

I pushed my plate away. “I understand you
work closely with another Seer. Orcus. The Burning Man.”

His brows sprang up. “Indeed I do.”

“Somebody tried to kill me. I think it was
him.”

Now his eyes widened, then crinkled as he
smiled. “I can assure you, it was not Orcus.”

He pushed his chair back, rose, and came
around the table to me.

And blue-white flames licked over him.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I’m glad I didn’t have a mouthful, I might
have involuntarily spit it out. The fine hairs on my arms stood up.
I’m sure my eyes were wild.

Cicero and Orcus were the same man.

Although I couldn’t tell what happened
inside that pillar of fire, I think Cicero mistook my expression
for he sounded smug. “Impressive, isn’t it. But don’t be afraid, my
dear, it is an illusion.”

A blazing arm lifted from his body and
waved, as if to demonstrate. “A simple projection.”

The fire blew out as if he turned off a
switch. “Technology is a wonderful thing,” he said gleefully.

He held his hand out and shook his sleeve
back. A thin wire snaked between his thumb and index finger to a
button smack dab in the middle of his palm. He turned his hand to
show me how the wire ran from his splayed fingers, over his wrist
and up his arm. Then he pushed his foot from beneath his robe as he
lifted the hem. “Look closely.”

Throat dry, I studied his foot. A wire ran
over his ankle to one of the large, glowing jewels on his
sandal.

“A marvel, is it not? My master bequeathed
it to me, he who was Seer before me. The wire goes up my sleeve,
down my body to the projector in my shoe. I activate it with the
button. Incredibly simple.”

My voice reflected the numbness in my heart.
“The long sleeves and robe hide it.”

“Correct! I must hold my robe away from my
foot and not move, which is somewhat limiting.”

“We’re not strong and fast as Gelpha, we
don’t have their hypersensitivity, but we have to live with them,”
I said leadenly. “We need an edge. All the mystery, the isolation,
instilling fear in people, it’s to protect us.”

“Right again! You are a delight, my dear
one.” He fished in a hidden pocket and produced a small metal box
with two prongs on one end. It looked like a stun gun. “And there
is always this if they prove obstinate.”

“
Who
proves obstinate?” My voice went
cold, dead. “The people of Dun Falmor?”

His delight in me blinked out. “What do you
know of Dun Falmor?”

“I stopped on the way here. I can see dead
people, remember? I saw you there, through their eyes. I saw your
assassins murder them.”

“It was necessary, for the High House, for
Bel-Athaer. You must trust me,” he said stiffly.

No.
I will never trust you.
“And I’m supposed to say, sure, Uncle, if you say so. Why did you
send your assassins after me?”

“I what?” He took one step to me and he did
seem shocked. But he stopped when he saw my Ruger aimed at his
belly.

And he
grinned
. “You are ready to
shoot me.”

“Ready, willing and able.”

“I was right, you
are
my heir!”

“You have a strange way of welcoming me. I
stopped overnight at a hostel on the way here. Three Ninja wannabes
attacked me. They wore the same get-up as your guys. They were
human. Before that, men planted a bomb in my house. My roommates
saw them. They fit the description. And someone tried to run me off
the road the other day.”

“I did not try to kill you!” He eased back.
“I repeat, you are my heir. Why would I want you dead?” His
shoulders sagged. “A rival Seer sent his acolytes. I am so sorry. I
should not have let my desire to see you overcome commonsense.”

My gun wobbled. I lowered it a fraction, but
kept my finger in the trigger guard.
It looks like a man,
burning.
“You were in my backyard. You know I live with dead
people who’d describe you, so you hid in the flames.”

He wound his hands together. “I should have
sent my people, not looked on you in person. I was observed, my
interest in you validated.”

“But the men who planted the explosives in
my house, that happened
before
you came.”

“That night was not the first time. I have
watched you on and off since you were a child.” He frowned
miserably. “I thought to avoid discovery by inviting you here
rather than fetching you – it is why I contacted you through Ryel
and not directly - but you were already an object of interest.
Others deciphered the threat you pose to them as a new rival. They
tried to stop you reaching me.”

His face brightened. “But you are safe now.
Here, in our home, none can touch you. My warriors will accompany
you when you go abroad to fulfill your duties as Seer. I never
travel unattended, and neither shall you.”

He seemed confident I’d join him and I
wasn’t ready to disappoint him. I would be cautious with this man
who called me his niece, let him believe I went along with his
plans. I didn’t know enough about him and what I did know didn’t
thrill me. His comments about Lawrence made my hackles rise.

“So your interest in me piqued theirs, these
other Houses. They figured out who I am.”

“Unfortunately. They thought you were
nothing more than another half-blood until then.”

My brows shot up. “Half-blood?”

“Before I explain, your assimilation into
our society will be less problematic if you come to terms with the
fact Earth is no longer our home and will never be again. When I
speak of Earth and its inhabitants, it is of an alien dimension. We
are children of Bel-Athaer, not that old world.”

Not on your life, bud
. I nodded, but
only to indicate I heard him. I didn’t care where I was born,
Bel-Athaer was not
my
home.

He took his seat and settled back, making
himself comfortable. “You know the people of Bel-Athaer mate with
those in the other dimension. The children of these alliances are
commonly called half-bloods. The policy regarding them is simple:
do not acknowledge them, leave them to their human lives. What
would it serve to tell them one of their parents came from another
dimension, eh? They would suffer the turmoil which now churns in
your breast, if indeed they believed. Their mother or father did
not know with whom they consorted. The mere concept would overwhelm
them.”

Worse than how I felt now. At least I had a
basic grounding in Bel-Athaer.

“Only their physical appearance and, for
some, their ability to see the dead mark children of
our
lineage. Both of your parents were pure-blood, but the Court, not
knowing your history, assumed you were a half-blood. They do not
understand what makes a Seer. They know only a small percentage of
true-bloods
and half-bloods can interact with the dead, but
believe
only
true-bloods have the qualities required by a
Seer. Which will cement your position as my successor when I reveal
your heritage.”

I pictured the demons I saw on the way to
the High House, how they treated me. “The people I met when I went
to the High House to ask about Royal, they were awful polite,
almost deferential. Did
they
know what I really am?”

“The commoners know nothing of half-bloods,
whatever their parentage. They do not even know the High Lord has a
trace of human blood in his veins. They looked at you and saw a
Seer. They were in awe of you.”

I rubbed my brow where a headache built like
a measured drumbeat. “So all this time, since I first came here,
the Court kept quiet about what I am, or what they think I am. Not
only the Court, everyone I met?”

My mind skipped back to the beginning, when
I met Royal. Caesar and Phaid and Royal’s brother Kien. The demons
in Royal’s ancestral home Morté Tescién. Gareth. The lords and
ladies of Lawrence’s court. The councilors.

My brain tried to freeze as a question I did
not want to ask crept insidiously into my mind. I had to ask,
although I already knew the answer. “And. . . .” A fluttering in my
chest. “Did Royal know?”

I locked my gaze with Cicero’s and saw eyes
dewy with compassion. “Yes, Ryel knew. Do not be hard on him. I
know the desire to tell you drove him to distraction. The High
House decreed that enlightening half-bloods is imprudent and Ryel
is ever the obedient servant. And he acted in your best
interests.”

His gaze drifted, pensive. “The High House
is mired in tradition which, I fear, no longer serves our modern
nation. Tradition put a child raised in the other dimension on the
Seat. I pray the boy is up to the challenge.” He shrugged.

My uncle and his cavern home took on a
surreal quality as a phantom pain gnawed beneath my breastbone. I
wanted to be alone, sink into misery in private.

He picked his fork up and dug in as if he’d
not turned my life upside down. “You’re not hungry, my dear?”

I pushed my dish away. “I’m sorry. What I
want is to get cleaned up.”

“How remiss of me. I’ll show you your room.
You will find what you need there. I know the day has been long and
exhausting, and I really should attend to your arm.”

I shook my head. “It’s doing okay. No
swelling, no redness. The bandage should stay on for now.”

We went through his den to his office, to
the passage and angled across to a door on the other side. He
pointed back to a facing door, the fourth belonging to his suite.
“That is my bedroom.”

His bedroom was directly opposite where he
put me. How cozy.

He opened the door and ushered me inside.
The room was too masculine for my tastes, but the huge bed looked
comfortable and a door opened to a bathroom with roomy shower.

“The guest suite, rarely used and rather
generic. I’ll get some of my people up here tomorrow to prepare one
of the larger suites for you. Do you want any input on the décor,
or does it matter?”

“Yes, I would.” I pasted on a smile, trying
to appear interested and enthusiastic about living here.

Cicero preceded me into the bathroom where
he pointed out the cabinet stuffed with fluffy towels, a miscellany
of personal hygiene products, and where the extra toilet paper was
kept.

I rejoined him back in the combination
bedroom/living room.

“How many people do you have?”

“A few more than two hundred.”

“The village doesn’t seem that big.”

“The younger girls and boys and my little
army live in dormitories. We have ten family homes. We also grow,
manufacture and process most necessities you find in a
self-sufficient village.” He went to the door. “I’ll clean up the
kitchen, then I will away to bed. If you need anything or want to
talk, remember my bedroom is across the way. If not, sleep well and
I shall see you in the morning.”

The door closed with a soft click. My smile
bled away. Eyes closed, forehead pressed to the door, I slumped.
Alone, at last.

I peeled my hoodie off, put my Ruger and
Derringer on the bedside table, tossed my backpack and hoodie on a
couch smothered in fat pillows and sat on the edge of the bed. The
pain was still there, familiar as an old friend, or enemy, an ache
I felt before long, long ago. I knew what would happen if I let it
conquer me. It would become the hole which opened when I dreamed
Royal betrayed me. Everything I was with Royal would seep out.

He knew. All along, he knew. He and Cicero
planned this.

I pushed my slumped shoulders up. No. I
refused to give up on Royal. If I knew one thing, he loved me. I
heard it in his voice, saw it in his eyes, felt it in his touch. I
once told myself I should look at life through Royal’s eyes and now
was the time to do it, the eyes of a Gelpha and the man who loved
me, as I loved him.

Although I knew in my gut I couldn’t believe
everything Cicero told me, some of what he said about Royal made
sense. The Court knew seeing dead people didn’t necessarily make me
a Seer and they thought I was some kind of mongrel to be kept in
the dark about my ancestry. Royal was a member of the Court and as
a Gelpha lord was bound by their laws. Maybe he’d have ignored the
law, except he knew how I’d feel - I would spend the rest of my
life yearning for the whole story, the who and wherefore. I could
see him deciding to keep my identity to himself, knowing the truth
would drive me crazy.

So far, so good.

Then Cicero enlightened him, and they
planned to bring me here so my uncle could tell me the truth. Okay,
I could see that too, at a stretch. If Royal thought my future lay
in Bel-Athaer as a Seer who served his people, he might, just
might, go along with it.

Except. . . . one thing still puzzled me.
The cell phone. Why in the office?

And then I had it. I jumped to my feet and
began pacing, back and forth beside the bed.