Genesis (27 page)

He chuckled. “Let’s get you settled
first.”

His casual tone mocked the hard set of
his shoulders. Something was terribly wrong. Maybe I should have
insisted on going to Lombarda, or maybe I should have just stayed
in Eldrea. Despite the connection with the borderlands, I liked it
there. I felt safe.

Not so here. Every time someone glanced
my way, I worried about their motives. Who ever said rumors didn’t
do their job? I sped up. The sooner I had Luke alone, the faster I
might actually get some answers.

It was a good thing fae food couldn’t
make me fat, although it did feel like cheating on a major test.
I’d eaten more scrumptious delights in the last few weeks than I
knew existed.

As it was, a nice Brownie with bright
golden hair leaned toward me offering one more helping of
dessert.

I gave a halfhearted smile and shook my
head. My stomach was only so big. When she frowned at me I said,
“Maybe tomorrow.” She beamed and carried the tray toward the
exit.

I’d never seen such a big dining hall
and this was supposedly the small one. Hoping to avoid direct
conversation with the queen, I scanned what I could see of the room
distractedly. Since the moment I walked through her doors, she had
bombarded me with questions about who I was leaning toward bonding
with. She smiled at me as if her questions were no more than
casual, but something dark lingered in her eyes when she thought I
wasn’t watching her.

Like now. I could still see her
expression although I was concentrating on a table two over and one
down. She apparently didn’t know Luke had told me how mad she was
at me and wanted to keep a casual facade. That was fine with
me.

I focused more closely on the three
ladies who leaned in whispering secrets only to glance at me
between comments. They weren’t the only ones, but they were the
most blatant. I struggled to keep from getting up and punching them
or running to my room for a good cry. The odds were fifty-fifty at
this point.

Who knew what was going on here? The
last thing I wanted to do was stay too long. In so many ways, I was
thankful to only have two days, especially because this one was
already half over.

Luke touched my hand and I smiled at
him. “Are you ready to go?” I nodded and placed down my napkin.
Luke pulled me up with him as I turned to Queen Kalista. “Thank you
for such a lovely meal. I’m kind of tired, so I hope you will
excuse me.”

She stood with the grace of a doe. “Of
course, Rayla. Get some rest because we have a show planned for
later.”

“
Oh, well, thank you, that
sounds great.” Keeping this level of smarminess brought a trickle
of sweat down my back. I nodded at her and let Luke lead me
away.

He didn’t say anything until we had
made it up a couple flights of stairs. “Well played, my
lady.”

“
That’s just it, Luke.
Acting has never been one of my greatest skills.”

He squeezed my wrist, and I glanced at
his amused face. “How can you say that? You had her, how does the
phrase go…eating off of your fingers?”

I smiled. “Close.”

He shrugged. “Your room is not
far.”

My relaxed muscles stiffened. The
thought of having my own space was nice, but was it wise
considering the rumors? “What, no harem of lords to keep me company
tonight?”

“
Interesting image,” he said
with a huge smile.

He sent a racy picture to my
mind. I choked and slapped his arm. “I didn’t mean that!” He raised
a brow, not conceding one bit. “Okay, it
is
how it sounded, but…man, I need to
shut up now.”

He patted my hand that rested on his
arm. “Not to worry, Rayla. Lords do not share.”

I cleared my throat and left it at
that.

My room was spacious by anyone’s
standard. The Tiffany blue walls blended into the creams of the
gynormous bed. Great, another one. I couldn’t stop a frown from
pulling my lips. As nice as it was to have all the room you could
ask for, there was something wrong with having one person use that
much space. There was also something discomfiting about it. Sleep,
for me, at least, came easier on a smaller bed.

My bag had been set in a closet that
housed nothing else. No hangers, no shelves, just empty space apart
from my single suitcase.

I’d gotten used to being supplied with
clothes, so I hadn’t really brought anything other than my favorite
flannel pajamas and fluffy slippers. I left my other things with
Mom because I thought it was a little weird for me to be carting my
stuff everywhere.

Because Luke watched everything I did,
I tried to keep my thoughts from migrating to my face. After
scanning the vacant space again, I gave him a curt nod and stepped
toward the door.

He caught my arm, turning me around.
His eyes held a shadow that hadn’t been there moments before. “Have
you already been shown how to use a system like this?”

I blinked at him. “System?”

He relaxed instantly. “Good. I wanted
to be the one to show you.” He clutched my hands to his chest and
looked at the ceiling. “Oh, what first?”

I shrugged and gave a
giggle.

When he looked back at me again, his
eyes were bright. “Think of this closet as your personal assistant.
It can produce any sort of fashion you can dream up.”

I laughed at the thought, my mind
sorting through the most ridiculous wardrobe I could conjure which
brought a charming smile to his lips when I shared a few of my
masterpieces. I studied him again. “Are you serious?”

“
Too, true, my lady. Many a
time I have wished there were limits placed on the system,
but—”

There was that word again. “Are you
saying this closet is a machine?”

“
Of course. Altasia is known
for leading the technicological race. In fact, you might be
surprised to learn Altasia is a machine.”

I took a double take. “Like a
spaceship? Are you telling me I’m in a frigging spaceship right
now?”

He gave me a cursory glance. “How else
would we keep our realm concealed?”

Wow. Some conspiracy theories were
true. I thought Zach told me the fae didn’t need machines. Hmm. My
own conspiracy theories solidified. Supposedly the thing that kept
us from using our power on the island had been a machine. The
connection wasn’t lost on me, which had me focused on those blasted
raiders again. “How does it work? The closet, I mean.”

He seemed pleased with my question as
if he was the one who made it. “It picks up your brainwaves and
transforms the images you send into matter.”

“
Sounds amazing, but don’t
all of you have the capability to change clothes whenever you want?
I mean, you’ve done it for me a few times. And several Ignisians
were able to help me out like that, too.”

“
Oh! I’d hoped you would ask
that question. We are working on a wireless system that allows
access to the machine from all corners of Faeresia. Soon, we will
not need laundry service as the dirt is cycled out through
metamorphosis.”

“
Wow, I thought it was just
part of fae power.”

“
My lady, we only have
access to one element, and I hardly think it would be reasonable to
clothe an entire kingdom in water.”

Might as well be water for
the kind of things these people
wore.
“Interesting, so you really can
only manipulate the elements. You can’t use them like
magic?”

Giving me an eye roll, he laughed. “The
things you think up. I am mystified. You could be a priceless asset
to our team if we could put your ideas to use.” He smiled down at
me and brought my fingers to his lips. After a brief kiss, he
asked, “Would you like to try it out?”

I couldn’t exactly explain why I
hesitated. There was just something lingering in my mind that
wouldn’t let me jump at the chance to play with my unexpected gift.
“Is there a catch?”

Luke’s eyes danced with shadows. “How
do you mean?”

I leaned against the bare wall. “If I
start thinking to this thing, will it be able to read other
thoughts of mine?” Thoughts someone else could then use against me?
Or worse, give them access to plant thoughts into my mind. I wasn’t
going to ask that part. It might offend him.

He shrugged. “I am not sure if it is
capable. It is only a machine without the capability of real
thought. I had this unit specially built for your use. No one else
has access.”

Why was he playing this down? “Yes, but
could someone else besides me program it if they happened to gain
access?”

He glanced at the floor and then back
at me after a moment. “No.”

“
Are you sure?”

His tone took on a fatherly twist.
“Rayla, I designed this particular device myself a few years ago.
It was the predecessor to the one we use now.”

“
I thought you said it was
made today.”

His skin darkened slightly. Was he
getting angry with me? “The design is mine. I did not hand craft it
for you, although, I would have if I had not been otherwise
engaged.”

I frowned at him. “Couldn’t you just
fill it up with stuff for me to use?”

Warm fingers brushed my upper arm. “I
know you have heard rumors about the raiders, but I assure you they
are only that. The rebels were disbanded millennia ago.”

Not from what Mom said. “What about the
people that follow the same line of thinking as a certain princess
I would rather forget?”

His voice went flat. “She doesn’t have
as many followers as you might imagine.”

“
It doesn’t always take a
majority, Luke.”

He grimaced. “I understand your
concerns, and I will have the machine tested for tampering. In the
mean time, I will choose some items for you. Sound
okay?”

I nodded. Within two seconds shelves
and racks hung against the walls. It didn’t take much longer to
fill them.

I nudged his arm and laughed. “I had no
idea you were such a clothes fanatic.”

His expression turned wistful. “I’ve
had plenty of time to imagine exactly what I want to see on
you.”

Um…total awkwardness. I pulled the
nearest shirt, if you could call it that, from the rack.
“Silk?”

He nodded.

“
And blue.”

He grinned.

All that time ago in the tunnels under
St. Mary’s College, he had told me he wanted to drape me in fine
silks. The slick fabric flowed through my fingers like water. His
element. When he edged closer, I backed away until my back hit the
wall behind me. The shirt fluttered to the floor, but I couldn’t
bring myself to pick it up.

Images of him as I’d sketched his naked
form at school resurfaced. His bright eyes pinned me where I stood.
He leaned in and brushed a kiss along my jaw toward my
lips.

“
Luke…”

He stopped, only pulling back slightly.
His sultry voice told me where he was going with this. “Yes,
Rayla?”

I held my breath for a minute to clear
my head. “This isn’t a good idea.”

A hearty laugh jolted my ribcage. “I
quite disagree.” His hands found my waist, anchoring me. “In fact,
this is the best idea I’ve had in a very long time.” His breath
tickled my neck as he made his way lower where he placed a
lingering kiss at my collarbone, his smooth skin making my own jump
with heat.

“
I just…I don’t
think—”

He stood up straighter, pulling me
closer to him. “No. Don’t think…feel.”

How could a lord of the Seelie court
bring to mind such wicked pleasures?

“
Give in to it,” he
whispered, his voice dark. “Give in to
me
.”

I closed my eyes and sighed, my body
melting at his command.

I had to stop this. I had too, but oh,
his lips were warm and his hands working along my spine shot
strange jolts of need straight to my belly.

I had to stop this. He had to move away
from me. I needed…space.

Too much space between us. I inched
closer.

A loud bang brought me out of the spell
I was under. Luke gritted his teeth, but he let me slide past him.
I straightened my dress and went to see what the commotion was
about.

My heart drummed against my chest. That
was close. Too close. As much as I craved being near him, something
felt completely off. Wrong even, now that we had some distance
between us.

I found a picture on the ground with
glass shattered all around it. Avoiding the shards of glass, I
picked up the frame and turned it over.

A girl about my age stared back at me.
Her shocking green eyes appeared nearly as translucent as her pale
skin, which was quite a striking contrast to her black hair. Her
clothes were strange and her hair fashioned in tight braids that
curled into two buns on either side of her head. Her lips were
tilted slightly, reminding me of the mischief I had seen in the
Mona Lisa. In a word, she was beautiful.