Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (30 page)

They
both like their freedom
, Brand thought, giving Seth a flat look,
and from the flicker of understanding on his brother’s face, he knew that Seth
had heard.

 “Brand,
Father would remind you if he were here that you and Eva
share
the bond.
It doesn’t belong only to you, it belongs to her as well. No matter your
nature, keeping secrets doesn’t work.” Seth’s sober gaze locked with Brand’s.
“And answer this: how is what you are doing much different from what Khael did?
He shut Lis out. With Eva, you are doing the same.”

The
desire to tell Eva had been locked in Brand’s throat since he first realized
the truth of what they were to each other.
But it’s not that simple
.
Brand moved past Seth down the staircase.

“Thank
you Dr. Phil,” he growled over his shoulder, ready to end their conversation.
“But I’m not paying you for your advice.”

He had
only taken three steps when Seth said, rather disgustedly, “I can tell Eva if
you prefer.”

Brand
froze, gripping the mahogany banister.

“Or,”
Seth continued, his tone becoming a quiet threat, “I am sure Nikandria would
oblige. Though I believe Eva would wish to learn about this from her
amati
.”

Brand
spun, curling his lip at Seth as possessive fury spiraled through him. He dug
his claws into the banister. Wood splintered, chipping up from the polished
surface and Seth’s eyes flickered.

“
I
will tell Eva
,” Brand gritted, holding his brother’s gaze, “when the time
is
right
. Not you. No one else. And
not before then
. You will
not
interfere.”

He
wouldn’t risk losing her. He wouldn’t risk losing the bond.

He had
to wait until she was ready. Until she
cared.

Seth
frowned. His sharply pressed shirt gleamed in the moonlight coming through the
skylight above, his figure stark against the white carpet. “So you say, Brand.
But you are already too much like Khael. And I won’t watch you repeat his
mistakes. I will not watch another of my brothers go through that, not again.
Make sure you tell Eva before it is too late.”

“Is
that a challenge?” Brand’s jaw clenched in disbelief and more than a little
anger.

Seth’s
nostrils flared, his eyes turning as cold as the winter sky outside. “I can
beat you any day of the week, little brother, your position notwithstanding.
But I won’t fight you today. Not in this room. Not when there are family
waiting for us below-stairs, waiting and celebrating. And I certainly will not
fight you before you take your turn with mother. You only need to bleed once
tonight.”

Brand
snarled and turned his back on Seth, stalking down the stairs. He tried to work
the tension from his shoulders, the tightness from his neck.

 –
Tell her
–
Seth’s telepathic voice drifted
into Brand’
s
mind
. – Tell your amati. Tell her tonight. On your
own terms, before she learns otherwise –

Brand
growled deep in his throat.
Not until she is ready
, he threw back,
directing all his frustration and rage at Seth’s telepathic voice.

He had
no way of knowing whether his brother heard or not.

“No,
she’s going to pick tall, dark and handsome,” argued Eva as she leaned back into
the couch with a bowl of popcorn in the lounge of the Nave. She had Brand’s
spare cell phone on the table, waiting for Rainey’s return call. “He’s the only
one who’s not a complete idiot.”

Alexia,
a golden-haired blood tiger Shiri had introduced, laughed and disagreed; the
small group had split off after dinner to watch TV. Brand had kissed Eva’s
cheek and promised he would find her; Eva left the Nave with the uncomfortable
sensation that he and Seth and the silver-haired Gaviros would be discussing Rohe.

Or her.

Eva
frowned. She hadn’t met Gaviros, not really – but he unsettled her.
Perhaps it was what Brand had told her about him. Or maybe it was that while he
looked so young, everything else about him seemed…ancient.
It’s probably
that he looks like Samuel but wears a pirate’s eye patch
. Any other man
would have looked ridiculous with an eye patch, but Gaviros just looked more
intimidating.

“No,”
Nikandria said, bringing Eva back to the present, “she’ll pick the blonde one.
John. He adores her.” Brand’s sister was studying the TV like she was trying to
dissect atoms for a high school science fair.

Alexia
snorted. “He adores the TV camera more.”

“Whatever.”
Nikandria rolled her eyes and settled back into the couch. “My money is still
on John. All fifty bucks.”

“You’re
ability doesn’t work on TV people,” Shiri grinned as he stroked a hand through
her young daughter’s hair; El-Ai was draped against her mother on the couch.
“My money is also on Eva’s tall, dark and handsome. Sorry, Ria. I’ll see your
bet – and raise it by ten.”

Nikandria
mock sighed, and turned to Eva. “They never believe me. I’m always right, but
they never believe me.”

“We
never believe you because you’ve been wrong the past five episodes,” Alexia
said, gaze narrowing on the screen. “And
both
of you are wrong. She’s
going to pick the lawyer. She’s greedy and thinks he’s rich.”

Nikandria
gave a tiny smile and plucked another maraschino cherry from the jar she
cradled against her chest; Eva watched her retract her claw with a bit of
jealousy. “Just you wait and see,” Nikandria promised. “One of these days I’ll
be right. I’ve been watching shows longer than either of you have been alive.”

Alexia
snorted. “Yeah, way to pull the age card. Like
that
has any relevance.”

Nikandria
grinned. “It’s a good card. Accepted everywhere since 1708.”

Eva
choked on popcorn as her world reoriented.

Brand
had told her he was a
few centuries
older than his sister. So that made
Brand at least 500 years old. Not two-hundred. Or three-hundred.

Five
hundred. A cool half-millennium.

Eva
stared at the screen but didn’t see it. She felt sick, disoriented.

Brand
was older than anyone in her Gens. He was older than her mother, or her uncle.
Combined
.

Suddenly,
the couch didn’t seem comfortable at all. Eva pushed the popcorn away and
pulled her legs up.
I should be fine with this. I really should
. Because
what she had with Brand…it was a fling. Soon enough, she would go back to her
Gens. And she really
shouldn’t
have any problems with his age.

Because
Kaspian were immortal. Because
Eva
was immortal.

They
would both live forever. Just because Brand was a little older…

Okay.
Not a little older. He was
a lot
older.

But
just because Brand was
centuries
older was no reason to freak out. Or
feel weirdly inadequate.
Okay, so he really has been with thousands of
women. Maybe more
…Eva’s stomach constricted, her arms tightening around her
knees as she thought about how handsome he was.
Definitely more
.

Eva
could count the men she’d been with on one hand. She wasn’t great in bed. She
usually didn’t bother to try. And those men hadn’t been great in bed. They’d
just met each other’s needs and parted ways. That was it, nothing more.

But
Brand
was
great in bed. More than great. He was…Eva shivered.
It’s
probably the age thing
, she thought,
the thousands of women
. Burning
jealousy and a strange sense of anger surged through Eva. Anger with Brand.

What
was Brand even
doing
with her? He’d had great sex before. Tons of it.
With tons of women. Of which Eva was just
another
woman in a long line.

She
wasn’t anything special. She wasn’t even a blip on the map with it came to
Brand’s sex life.

Great
. Eva
clenched her fingers. She didn’t even know why that should hurt so much.

“Eva,”
a touch on her arm, and Eva jumped, turning to meet a pair of concerned purple
eyes. Nikandria. “What’s wrong?”

Immediate
irritation and violation surged through Eva, which she tried to force down.
Nikandria
can’t help knowing
. “I’m sorry. It’s nothing.”

Nikandria
gave Eva a long look, then glanced around the room at the TV watchers. “Brand
should be here soon,” she said, and Eva shrugged… then realized that Nikandria
had been gauging her reaction.

“Okay.
Good,” Eva said awkwardly, trying to cover the fact that she wasn’t sure
how
to face Brand at the moment.

Nikandria
shook her head and sighed. “Eva…let’s go to the kitchen. I need some more
maraschinos.” Brand’s sister picked up the empty jar, then set off across the
lounge as if she just expected Eva to follow her all the way down to the first
floor of the Nave.

Rainey
did the same thing. Expected people to follow her. It was annoying.

“I’m
fine,” Eva said again, as she entered the kitchen behind Nikandria. “It’s
nothing.”

“Mmm-hmm.”
Nikandria moved to kneel beside a low cupboard near the fridge, then leaned
partway into it as she felt blindly around behind a large stack of steel pans
into the back of the deep shadowed space. “That’s what everyone always tells
me. Maybe
you’re
irritated right now, but do you have any idea how
annoying it is when people are constantly lying to you?”

Eva
opened her mouth to retort – thought of the closed expression on Brand’s
face, the expression he got when she
knew
he was withholding something
– and felt something inside unexpectedly crumble. It was her anger.

It
wasn’t just irritating. It was painful.

“Oh
Eva,” Nikandria sighed, shooting her a sympathetic look. Eva dropped into the
kitchen chair as, bizarrely enough, Nikandria pulled a small dark jar from the
cupboard. Nikandria closed the cupboard, settled herself on top of the counter
and popped the lid off. “Want one?” She deftly plucked a maraschino out with an
exacting claw.

Eva
shook her head. “No. I wish I could do that.”

Nikandria
glanced down to examine her fingertips. She suddenly smiled, her exotic face
warming. “I can show you if you’d like, but Brand’s a better teacher. Or Khael.
They took an entire week once and came to visit me at Iah’s. The three of them
showed me how. After that Iah always joked he was afraid I would scratch his
eyes out the next time I lost my temper with him.”

“Iah?”

Nikandria’s
face shuttered, and Eva had the abrupt sense of having crossed a dangerous
personal boundary.

“Never
mind,” she said hastily.

Nikandria
stared at the maraschino balanced on the tip of her claw, then quietly, almost
viciously sliced it in half before sucking it from her fingertip. She looked up
at Eva again, eyes dark. “Iah was my brother. He raised me. He’s dead now.”

“I’m
sorry,” Eva said, tucking her fingers between her knees, not sure if she should
reach out and comfort Brand’s sister, or if she should just sit where she was.
Nikandria was an empath. Eva had no idea how to act around her. She wasn’t used
to her insecurities being so exposed. Not to a stranger.

Eva
glanced at her own fingertips. She tried to imagine slender black claws there.
Nikandria had wanted to know what was bothering her. Eva couldn’t tell Brand’s
sister about her uncertainty regarding Brand’s age. Or his sex life.

“I have
a sister. Rainey,” she said, not aware of what she was about to say until it
came out. Nikandria’s eyes settled on her. “I’ve been calling her but she
doesn’t answer. Though,” Eva said after a moment, “she wouldn’t recognize this
number. And she doesn’t have voicemail. I’ve been sending her emails, but she
hasn’t replied yet.”

“You
think something happened to her?”

Pure
alarm jolted through Eva and settled like ice in her chest. She shot Nikandria
a look, then quickly shook her head. It was more shudder than anything else. “
No
.
I think she’s mad at me.”

“She’s
angry
?”
Nikandria plucked another maraschino from the jar before tightening the lid.
She settled back onto the counter cross-legged, and Eva eyed her sleek designer
jeans with a bit of envy. “Didn’t you explain in your emails?”

“She
doesn’t always read her email right away. She forgets to charge her laptop like
she forgets to charge her phone. She’s not really good with technology.”

Nikandria
was quiet, examining her claws. When she looked up her dark purple eyes pierced
through Eva. “If I had a sister…” she shook her head and gave a sad, wry smile,
“well I
did
have a sister. Ailuros. She died a thousand years before I
was born. Khael, Seth and mother are the only ones who remember her. She had
Seth’s hair and my eyes, and she could bring someone back from the edge of
death with a touch.”