Legacy: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 1 (31 page)

“Bay,” I moaned, elbowing him and trying to get him to move.

He rubbed his hips against me suggestively and grumbled something.

“Bahlin,” I hissed, struggling harder.

“What, love?” he mumbled, slowly waking up. “What is it?”

“Get off me,” I groused.

“My apologies,” he said, rolling over and pulling the covers over his waist. He actually looked bashful having been caught with the horse out of the barn. “I, uh—”

I laughed, reaching out to smooth his hair off his forehead. “It’s okay. I just didn’t want to let it get too far out of hand.” I blushed like mad, and he laughed so hard he wiped tears from his eyes.

“Oh, Maddy. I’ve missed you so.” He leaned over and kissed me good morning. “Let’s get put together, round up some breakfast and get back on the road. We’ve got between five and six hours left, barring any unforeseen trouble.”

“Do you expect any? Trouble, that is,” I asked, crawling across the gargantuan bed, wondering idly how horrid my ass looked as I crawled away from him.
Ah, vanity, you’re dear to my heart.

Bahlin chuckled and reached over and slapped me on the rump, hard, and I squeaked, launching myself off the bed and landing in a heap on the floor.

“What the hell was that?” I yelled, scrambling to get up.

“Alternate morning entertainment,” he said, still chuckling. “Go and have your shower first. I need a moment to, ah, collect myself.” He grinned mischievously, and I ran for the bathroom, afraid to ask what he meant.

We were in the lobby when an eloquent voice behind us said, “You should have chosen another name to register under, Bahlin Drago.”

Bahlin clamped his arm around my shoulders, stopping me as I began to turn around. He pulled me close to his side. “Fancy running into you here.”

I plastered myself even closer to Bahlin’s side, and he turned us both slowly so we faced the High Council member.

“Hellion?” I asked, looking up at Bahlin. He nodded, never taking his eyes off the wizard in front of us.

“I’ve been seeking an audience with you for days, Niteclif. Seems you’ve been avoiding me.” Hellion, rocked back on his heels, head cocked to the side as he considered me and Bahlin. “And since you won’t come to me, I decided to come to you. I do hope you’ll forgive the delay, though. I have been scrying for you when all along I should have been scrying for Bahlin.” He took a step toward me, and I instinctively stepped back. “I seek only to shake your hand.”

I shook my head, wrapping my arm tighter around Bahlin’s waist. Hellion wouldn’t cause a scene here, in public. Too many mundies about.

“If you’re so anxious to speak to her, why don’t we have a seat in the restaurant and we’ll have breakfast. It’s where we were headed,” Bahlin said, inclining his head in the general direction of the dining room without ever releasing his hold on me.

“Very well, if you’re not worried about us being overheard.”

“Oh come now, Hellion. A simple auditory occlusion spell and our voices will be muffled and indiscernible. I’ve not been around you so long without learning a thing or two,” Bahlin said, all joviality with an undertone of menace.

This time Hellion inclined his head and he turned to walk ahead of us into the restaurant. It felt like the high noon scene in a spaghetti western. Once again I found myself pinching the bridge of my nose in an effort to keep from losing my cool.

“Hold on to it, Maddy,” Bahlin said softly, gripping the back of my neck.

I nodded.

We were seated in a half-circle booth at Hellion’s request, forcing either me or Bahlin to sit immediately next to him. Bay took the hot seat and left me on the edge. I was torn whether or not to scoot closer to Bahlin’s side or sit on the edge where I had the best chance of getting to my feet if I needed to defend myself. I split the difference and sat in between the two options. Was it a good idea? I suppose that depended on whether I was in a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty kind of mood.

The pleasantly oblivious waitress took one look at the two gorgeous men I was with and nearly lost her ability to speak in coherent sentences. I wanted to offer her Hellion, but that seemed too pimpish. I giggled, fighting panic. Hellion looked at me, his black eyes knocking the inappropriate humor right on its ass. Bahlin grabbed my knee and squeezed, the pain bringing me back to my senses.

The waitress left, and Hellion took out a pen and drew a small symbol on the tablecloth and then pricked his finger with the point of the pen, dropping a fine spot of crimson in the center of the design. Suddenly the background noise of the restaurant died off and we were sitting in near silence despite being surrounded by people.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t demand my fair due of a life for a life and kill you right this minute,” Hellion asked me.

I stared at him, and Bahlin shifted his position. I assumed he scooted away from Hellion in case he needed to get to his feet, too, but proximity to the bad guy didn’t allow me to ask.

Instead, I employed an age-old diversionary tactic used for millennia. When put on the defensive, take the offensive.

“No, you explain to me why I shouldn’t believe you ordered Gretta to kill me.” I did my best at giving him equally cold eyes with my return verbal volley.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” he demanded. “Gretta may have been manipulative, but she wasn’t violent.”

“Not violent, huh? That must be why she attempted to poison me first. It’s a much cleaner kill. Is that it? Did my unfortunate recovery force her hand, making her act out of
character
?”

Bahlin reached over to lay yet another cautionary hand on my shoulder.

“I’d hate to see what qualifies for you,” I nearly shouted, shrugging Bahlin’s hand off and turning to him, my eyes blazing. “No, Bahlin. Hellion and I are going to settle this now. I’m tired of running scared and looking over my shoulder every time I leave a building. I’m tired of going to sleep afraid and waking up wondering if he’s in the room. Enough is enough.”

Bahlin nodded tersely and sat back in the booth. “Tread lightly, wizard.”

“Ah, so you got there first, did you? Tell me, Drago, how was she? As passionate in bed as she is right here, right now?” His words were suggestive and offensive, as if he were striving to take what Bahlin and I had and cover it in a layer of filth.

“I won’t dignify that with a response, Hellion, and neither will he. But you can answer a question for me.”

“I’d love to,” he growled, showing his teeth. “Just ask.”

“Did you kill Tarrek?”

He physically started, is eyes flashing with shock and he said, “Has the lad turned up dead then? I hadn’t heard. Damn this situation.” He took a long drink of water and then, with a mocking salute, he settled into his seat with a sense of resignation nowhere near defeat. “It’s always the good of the many over the good of the one. I
will
have my vengeance for Gretta’s death, Niteclif, but I will agree to wait until the murders are solved.” Sitting up straighter, he stiffened every muscle in his body and asked, “For the sake of the Council, how may I help?” He looked like asking to help had physically hurt him.

I sat there stunned into immobility, my face slack, and I shook my head.
What the hell had just happened?
I wondered.
The action at this table was happening faster than a whack-a-mole-with-a-hammer game.

“While that’s generous of you,” Bahlin said, “you’ll find you’ve no recourse for retaliation once the Niteclif recounts her chronicle of events.”

“Don’t you mean her version?” Hellion asked, never taking his eyes off of me though he addressed Bahlin.

“No. I meant exactly what I said.” Bahlin’s voice dropped low, and his eyes changed color.

The waitress chose that moment to deliver our food, and the moment she broke the plane of the table, the spell dissolved. The sound of the restaurant roared over me like the gut-trembling roll of thunder during a storm. The dining room patrons’ voices seemed raucous following our unnaturally silent isolation.

I profusely thanked the waitress for our food, and Hellion smirked. Bahlin dug into his full English plate with gusto, and I picked at my order of egg in the basket. Hellion touched nothing, and it made me uncomfortable. Gee, poisoned once and here I was, paranoid.

Bahlin cleaned his plate and I offered him my breakfast, which he consumed without apology. Breakfast suitably finished, I stood and the men followed suit. We walked to the lobby three abreast and out the front doors. Bahlin acted for all the world as if nothing were wrong while Hellion, and I stood stiffly to either side of him. Bahlin ordered his car from the parking service.

Once the valet was gone, Hellion said, “I demand reparation, Niteclif, and I will have it. But you have my word I’ll wait until this is done. Find the boy—”

“Tarrek?” I asked, interrupting him.

“Yes, the fae. Find him, and if you require my assistance we may meet on neutral ground.”

“Where is neutral ground?” Having to ask the mage who wanted to kill me for clarification seemed cosmically unbalanced. It was something Tyr could have covered with me and I intended to ask him why in the world he hadn’t. Neutral ground could be the best way for me to stay alive.

“Any stone circle will do.”

Bahlin smiled snarkily at the other man. “What he’s not telling you is that you must be inside the circle and at least seven stones must be standing. Finding the circles isn’t hard—getting to and from them alive
can
be.”

Hellion sneered at me, his black eyes growing deeper and, impossibly, darker. “Do not think this is over.” And he walked away.

Chapter Seventeen

We drove for another five hours with little conversation, both of us reveling in our reestablished whatever-it-was and, equally, contemplating Hellion’s promise of help now and threat later. Bahlin held my hand as he drove, not even releasing it to shift gears but working our hands together on the shifter. I smiled.

He couldn’t, no he
wouldn’t
, stop touching me, albeit very appropriately at all times. He held my hand and when we stopped for fuel he knelt by my open door and caressed my face, leaning in to kiss me gently. He was so profoundly affectionate, murmuring to me in Gaelic, that I wondered how I had doubted his sincerity despite the continued weight of the prophecy hanging in the back of my mind. Words, once spoken, were impossible to take back, including if not especially the three most important words between us. So while I believed he loved me, I was scared. But there would be time for that later.

We pulled into Edinburgh and drove about until we found a hotel. Again Bahlin got a single room, despite Hellion’s assurances. We made our way to the seventh floor and Bahlin laid down on the bed while I freshened up and hooked up his laptop to the room’s Wi-Fi. When I came out of the bathroom, the computer’s screensaver drew random lines across the black screen on the bedside table and Bahlin’s eyes were closed, his body relaxed. I tiptoed to the edge of the bed and looked down at him, his hair splayed over the pillow and his hands relaxed across his hard stomach. His eyelashes brushed his cheeks and his lips curved the slightest bit, smiling as if he were already having good dreams.

He spoke and I jumped, not anticipating the deep rumble of his voice in the silence. “Won’t you lie with me,
mo chrid
?”

“Bay, we have to get going. I checked and the moon has three nights before it’s truly full. That only gives us tonight, tomorrow and the following night until the moon crests to find Tarrek, save him and solve the murders”

“And Imeena?” Bahlin asked, opening his eyes.

Holy crap, I’d forgotten Imeena
. “I want to save her as well, Bay. Where should we start do you think? What do we have to work with?”

“Tyr is a great resource and will be more helpful since you’re new. But he’s still a god, and they’re fickle creatures.” I snorted, and Bahlin grinned. “I see you agree.”

“Understatement made and duly noted. He said I could meditate and reach him.” I wandered to the balcony to look out at the new night.

“You’ve not the natural temperament or training for meditation, so sleep is your best option if you can think of him long enough before dozing off to establish the connection. It’s tricky, but you can do it.”

“Why does everyone think I’m so angry?” I asked, turning to face him.

Bahlin just arched his brow at me yet again, the physical silence which stretched between us heavily littered with conversations past.

“Okay, okay. I’m not Mother Theresa when it comes to temperament…or anything else. Fine. I’m a raging bitch, but I need help.” I stomped back across the room and threw myself on the bed, bouncing Bahlin. He used the momentum to flip over on top of me.

“Calm down, Maddy, and set your pride aside.”

“My pride?” I asked, incredulous.
He thought this was about pride?

“Yes, your pride. You are an incredibly angry young woman, and within the boundaries of your own life you’ve a right to be…to a point. But you’ve got to learn to harness the anger and stop letting it control you. Otherwise you’ll spend your time as Niteclif looking over your shoulder for all the people you’ve pissed off who now have the means, and the desire, to kill you.” His somber eyes were empathetic, and he smiled just a little trying to soften the kill shot. “Your anger at the universe won’t bring your parents back.”

I closed my eyes, unshed tears burning brutally. I remembered my dad. He’d taught me to shoot a gun. But I got angry and frustrated at not being as good as he was. He’d admonished me to control my temper and harness my frustration to make me more effective because if I didn’t, he’d warned, I’d just end up a victim of my own making.
“Dictate the terms of your anger and the actions you’ll allow on its behalf. Don’t let it dictate to you what it will and won’t do, Madeleine.”
Sometimes it felt like he’d only been gone a day, other times it seemed he’d been gone a lifetime.

I rolled into Bahlin’s chest, trying to control my breathing lest I burst into tears.

Bahlin rubbed my back, murmuring softly into my hair. I relaxed and gained control of my emotions, slowly drifting to sleep. I tried to steer my thoughts toward Tyr before I ended up a marionette to my emotions. It worked.