Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (11 page)

“I
won’t let her get to you, Eva,” he promised quietly.

She
shook her head, not looking away from her reflection in the dark window. “I’m
not from your Gens. You don’t have to help me. All I’ve brought you is danger.”
She hesitated. “I don’t know why you even bothered to search me out at the
park. Thank you. But I don’t understand why.”

Brand
glanced away from the road and at Eva, considering his words. He didn’t think
Eva was prepared to hear the answer to that question any more than he was to
tell her. He cleared his throat and told – if not
the
truth
– then
a
truth. “I wouldn’t have left anybody behind in your
situation.” They paused at a stoplight.

“My
Gens would have,” Eva sighed, turning to look at him again, a painful honesty
in her silver gaze. “They wouldn’t have even thought twice about it. Well, my
sister’s not like that. But almost everyone else is.” Which made Brand wonder
if Eva’s Gens had done that to her before – left her behind; he gripped
the steering wheel.

“Brand?”
she asked curiously, yawning as she snuggled down into the seat, “Why are we in
Ohio? Did you have to…make a stop or something…before going to North Carolina?
Like you did with that box you left off for Joshua?”

Fuck
. She
was so damned trusting.

He
didn’t look away from the road when he said, “Yes.”

Damn,
he hated lying to her.

“How
many hours before North Carolina? I’ll pay you back for gas mileage, I swear.
And…if Rohe is after me, you and Joshua should stay away. You could get into
trouble too.”

“Don’t
worry about that, Eva,” he murmured. “Just let me worry about that.”

It
wasn’t until after Eva curled up under his leather coat and fell asleep that
Brand parked the car in a dark alley in the warehouse district and looked at
his sleeping passenger.

The dim
light from the bar a block away streaked her abraded cheek, painting it soft
gold. He reached and brushed the strands of hair off her face, then leaned back
in his own seat and sighed.

Generally,
he was an honest man. He admitted that he wasn’t overly forthcoming with his
own secrets or the Gens’ business. But tonight he had told more lies to his
amati than he was comfortable with.

Hell,
he wasn’t really comfortable lying to Eva at all. Sooner or later all of it was
going to blow up in his face.

As long
as
later
came in a place and situation that he could control. At the
moment, Brand was far from his home, far from his Gens, and on the road with a
woman who was likely to run the first chance he got to tell her the truth
– not to mention they all had to avoid a handful of Sakai.

Hell,
so much for a routine drive back to Stronghold.

Brand
felt the headache coming on and leaned back into the seat, temporarily closing
his eyes.

He’d
made another enemy tonight. Perhaps even drawn the unwanted attention toward
Stronghold that his family had avoided for years. Because, Brand was certain,
Corin King didn’t lack for resources.

Hell. A
Strategoi
. There were only four of them in the world, and they were the
best of the best. No one dared claim the title who hadn’t earned it.

And by
aiding Eva, Brand had placed his own family in the path of one. Joshua was out
in the ice and snow somewhere, evading Sakai. Back at Stronghold, Seth was
running illegal hacks on the names Brand had sent. It seemed, Brand thought,
nothing ever stayed the same. Or stable.

He had
been born in Spain. Then wars had come and their family moved to France,
lingering until their home was destroyed yet again. After a few years, his
family scraped themselves together enough to travel to French Louisiana, where
they lost another home. Finally, they arrived at Stronghold, this time building
the structure from the ground up, constructing a goddamned fortress; they had
been determined to keep out the blood and death that had plagued them so far.

And
they had. For the most part, the Sakai had chosen to remain with their Houses
and Shadowlines in the Old World. Those few who cared to remember the Kaspian’s
existence forgot. Sometimes they were
made
to forget. Sometimes they
were killed.

So his
family had found safety in the New World. Then other Kaspians came and
established small Gens, small green pinpoints in the map Seth kept, dotted
along the American continents. And those other Gens, those younger Gens,
learned to live by forgetting.

Brand
couldn’t blame the younger Gens. He would forget if he could, too.

He
exhaled and clenched his fist on the steering wheel. He looked at Eva, then
away. He didn’t have the luxury of forgetting. Remembering was who he was.

And Eva
was young. One of those born in America. Perhaps she was too young to
understand.

That
didn’t stop him from wanting her.

From
wanting her…or from remembering what a goddamned liar he was.

Brand’s
phone vibrated. He pulled it from the dash and answered without looking.

“What?”
he growled.

“It
would have been preferable if you had called me, but I need information,” Seth
said, his deep voice concise as always. There was the faint clatter of keys in
the background, and Brand could envision his brother sitting in his office
chair, typing out queries on the computers at Stronghold. “To begin with,
Rohe’s supposed to be in Rome, not the United States. And Corin King should be
somewhere in Russia. Are you certain it was them?”

“Those
are the names Eva gave me. I believe her.”

“What
kind of shape is she in? Did she give you any more information? Here…” Seth
muttered and there was a pause, a definitive set of keystrokes in the
background, then, “I have a file on both of them. King’s is inconclusive. He’s
British. Born to rich parents who disaffiliated from the Shadowlines. They
disowned him when he swore oaths to Kaine.” Seth was reading directly from the
file. “He enjoys beheading his enemies. Preferably in one stroke. He doesn’t
seem to care who cleans up the mess afterwards.”

Brand
grimaced.
Of course
.

“Weaknesses?”

A
pause. “There are rumors that he doesn’t like sunlight. But that’s never
stopped a Strategoi. I’m sorry Brand, I don’t know what his abilities are.” For
once, Seth sounded genuinely apologetic. Brand doubted it was because Seth was
actively concerned for him…more likely, his brother regretted that his files
were incomplete.

He
sighed. “And Rohe?”

“Rumored
to be Kaine’s Summerbourne daughter. She shouldn’t be stateside – I can
only assume she slipped her father’s leash. She has…” Seth hesitated, cleared
his throat, “If you run into her, don’t look into her eyes, Brand. I have odd
reports about that. Rohe…”

“Rohe
makes people love her,” said a quiet voice from the seat beside him. Brand
looked over to meet Eva’s steady gaze; she had been listening to the
conversation. Eva tightened his coat about her shoulders and pulled her long
legs up onto the seat beneath it. “The human guards did whatever she told them
to do. They didn’t even question it. She killed one once, right in front of
me…I watched her. She…” Eva’s hands shook, but before Brand could reach for
them, she slipped her fingers away from him beneath the coat and stared down at
the hole he had punched into the dash earlier. Several strands of wire hung
down from the radio. “You don’t want to know what she did to him. But she made
him enjoy it.”

Brand
growled softly.

“Her
other…the
Sakai
guards, they liked her. Maybe, sometimes, they would
disagree, but then she would look in their eyes…and they would smile like
she
smiles…”

Eva’s
throat worked. Tears shimmered in those silver eyes. Brand lowered the phone,
reached for her, and managed to pull one set of cold fingers away from the edge
of the coat. “Hey,” he said softly, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles.

She
gripped his hand compulsively – for a moment it looked like the tears
were going to break – but then she pulled away. Brand let Eva go and
wished like hell she had let him comfort her.

“Rohe
can command weaker Sakai,” Seth said from the other end of the line. “Bloodborn
and most Summerborn. Perhaps some Winterbourne. All humans seem to be fair
game.”

Brand
kept his gaze on Eva. “What about Kaspians?”

“I have
no idea. Probably,” Seth said. Brand heard his brother run his hands through
his hair, a sure sign that Seth was troubled. “It likely depends on the
Kaspian. The young ones and the weak ones might be as vulnerable as a human.”

Brand
digested that. He studied Eva’s averted face as she leaned against the seat,
and felt something more than concern, more than worry move through him.

Seth
was right. They needed more information. But it wasn’t information about the
Sakai that Brand wanted. No. It was information about Eva. And
he
would
be the one asking those questions, not his brother.

Brand
needed to know what had happened to her.  

But not
right now. Not in front of Seth. Brand shook himself, forcing his mind back to
the Sakai. “Then it’s unlikely that Rohe’s completely in command of the
Strategoi.”

Seth
sighed, sounding weary. “Brand, if Corin King is following Rohe’s orders, then
he will
follow
her orders. It doesn’t matter if she can control him or
not. He didn’t attain Strategoi status by kissing kittens or petting bunnies.
Ask the girl if she knows anything more.”

“Eva…”
Brand started.

“I’m
not a
girl
,” Eva interrupted coolly, silver eyes flashing as she pushed
the coat away and frowned at the phone. “And I only saw him once. Before the
park. He was the one who…who…” Eva’s voice wavered, “Kidnapped me. Took me to
the Asylum. I thought at first he had hit me, or knocked me over the head,” she
said, quieting as her gaze turning inward. She rubbed her wrist. “But now I
think he used that tranquilizer.”

“Tranquilizers
don’t work on Kaspian,” Seth said sharply, and Eva looked up, her eyes clearing
as she looked at the phone in annoyance.

“
This
tranquilizer did. I remember it. It hit me
here
,” Eva pulled Brand’s
coat aside, touched a spot below her right ribcage, “and then I Changed back
because I didn’t want Rohe to have me in tiger form. When she bled me, she kept
ordering me to turn, to Change, because she wanted to see…” Eva paled, pulling
into the coat, looking away from Brand’s eyes. “She kept calling me a beast.
But I wouldn’t show her my...myself…to her.” Her words were soft, proud, and
pained.

The
rage that had simmered below the surface bubbled through Brand’s veins, quick
and hot.
Time to end this call
. Very deliberately Brand raised the
phone. “Seth, don’t call back until Joshua needs a pickup.”

There
was silence on the other line. Then, almost sympathetically, “Brand, bring the
girl to Stronghold. I have questions that need answering; she is injured and
needs healing. We will sort this out then.”

Brand
hung up, and slowly, steadily, lowered the phone. He locked his eyes on Eva’s
and spoke through his contained fury, “
Never
call yourself a beast, Eva.
You are a Kaspian, a woman, and one of the most beautiful blood tigers I have
ever
seen.”

Eva’s
eyes widened. “You don’t even
know
…”

“Beautiful
,”
Brand snarled, and claimed those full, ripe lips for his own.

Everything
disappeared. All of her questions, her anger, her anxiety, disappeared. Brand
was relentless, tender.

Demanding.

His
hand raked through her hair, fisted it as he slanted the back of her head,
pulling her closer with the strength of his arm, those fingers, his wrist. When
his mouth had found hers, it was a rough claiming that coursed through
everything in Eva’s being and left her trembling.

He made
her breathless with the force of him. He left her hungry.

And she
needed more.

Eva
gasped, arching up, suddenly tight and straining for the wild flavor of him,
and Brand nipped her swollen lips, the line of her mouth, as he slipped inside.
He tasted of citrus, of warm, sunlit leaves – and strength. So much
strength: a harshness that protected without being cruel.

He
tasted good,
right
, and Eva splayed her fingers, running them against
the wall of his chest. She traced the soft cotton fiber of his shirt as she
pressed up against his warmth. He pushed further forward, propped his hand
against the door behind her. Brand’s heart pounded beneath her palm. Her other
hand was caught in his hair, winding through that silky darkness, luxuriating
in the feel of his chest against her, his mouth on hers.

Her
breasts were heavy, aching with heat, the fine abrasion of her sweater a
torment and Eva suddenly wanted – no
needed
– Brand there,
to touch her there. She needed his mouth on her, washing her worries, her fears
away, so that – just for one moment – she could forget.