Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (47 page)

She
flinched as frigid air and hard snow struck her skin, hot blood from her wound
burning down her leg. Eva turned back to the Asylum and crossed her arms over
her breasts, watching the trees. The sky was dark, the stars obscured.

There
was no sound of pursuit.

“Brand
wants you to use this,” Joshua dropped a large fleece blanket around her
shoulders. Eva pulled the black material tight, grateful for the warmth. “You
need to get into the vehicle, Eva. We need to leave soon.” Behind them, the SUV
started, and Eva knew that Brand was already in the driver’s seat.

“We
have to wait for Kieran,” she said softly, frowning at the too-quiet treeline
in the darkness. “I owe him. At least that.”
Much more
.

It was
Kieran who had left her in the snow for Brand, after all.

Joshua
hesitated, clearing his throat. “Eva…”

“When
we escaped, he went back for me on the road. He could have let Rohe’s guards
retake me, but he didn’t.” Eva studied the dark trees through narrowed eyes; a
hawk fluttered in them, rising and falling. She thought she saw a faint glow
from the distant Asylum, as if the generators had kicked back in. “Just a few
more seconds, Joshua.”

Her
toes were frozen. The cold wind kicked snow up beneath the blanket so that it
melted on her legs, trickling down her calves as ice water. Joshua’s hand
settled on Eva’s arm like a lead weight, and Eva heard Brand shout an order at
them from the vehicle.

“A
minute!” Joshua told him. Then they both stared at the trees, waiting.

An
explosion shattered the night, rumbling the ground beneath her feet and
smashing her back. Eva felt it with her toes, her ankles, all the way up her
legs to her spine as her hair stood on end. The low black sky above the trees
lit orange, then turned a dull throbbing red.

“
No
…”
Eva flinched as Joshua cursed and said, “I thought he might do that.”

Realization
pooled in Eva’s chest like molten lead. She shoved forward, against Joshua’s
hold. She didn’t know when he had gripped her shoulders. “We have to go back
for him,” she gasped, shock and horror pulling together into a sick sort of
realization, “Kieran went back for me. We can’t just
leave
him…”

“Eva, I
smelled explosives on him earlier.” Joshua’s voice was quiet. “I doubt there’s
anything left of him to find.”

Eva
stared at him, then turned to swipe at his hold. “He can’t
do
that.”
Distantly, Eva understood her voice was shrill – stunned. She clawed at
the hands restraining her. “We can’t just
leave
him there. We have to…”

Another
pair of hands found her shoulders. A different pair of arms wrapped around Eva.
A large warm frame bracketed her body as she struggled…then Eva pulled the
familiar scent of sunlight and freedom into her lungs, seizing onto it like an
anchor, and forced herself to steady. She was shaking. She couldn’t stop
shaking.

She
turned around and buried her face in Brand’s chest.

“We
need to leave, Eva,” Brand said. His voice was a low rumble against her.

“He
came back for me, Brand. On the road. That night,” Eva whispered, needing him
to understand.

A
pause. Then gently, “I know. But I don’t think he would want you to go back for
him, Eva.”

The
words struck Eva, lodged through her heart like a blade. She slumped against
Brand, abruptly feeling all the cold of the night, the snow in her hair. The
hot tears on her cheeks. “Why would he do that?” Eva whispered, and heard the
stark note in her own voice. “Why would anyone do that?”

Her
mother had done that. She didn’t understand. She would never understand. Life
was too important to throw away. Too amazing. It held too much, it was too
full.

Brand’s
head dipped and he kissed her neck, her cheek, as if he heard her unspoken
thought. “Because they were broken. They could no longer see life.” His warm
breath tickled her ear, pulling her toward the heat of his own body, the heat
of his comfort. She smelled the blood from his injuries. “I’m sorry Evita, but
we must go. Your sister needs a healer. We need to avoid Rohe’s remaining
guards. We aren’t done yet. Not tonight.”

The
reminder of Rainey jolted Eva. She straightened, fighting the horrible wooden
feeling that was slowly invading her body. Eva took a grip on Brand’s coat,
fisting her fingers into the soft leather and breathing in his necessary
closeness. She tried to wrap that sensation around herself, through her.

She needed
him. She
needed
him.

But
right now, not for sex.

“Okay,”
Eva breathed, a bare gasped breath as she pushed away and forced her
half-frozen legs to steady. She climbed into the SUV, reaching through the
blanket to grip her sister’s still, thin fingers. “Okay.” Her voice shook. “I’m
ready. Let’s go.”

They
dropped the human woman and the Kaspian male off at a bus stop in Buffalo. The
human woman insisted that she return to Chicago, and the male promised to get
her there. Joshua had passed the man spare clothes from Brand’s luggage as they
drove.

“You
need anything?” Brand asked, and Eva watched as he sized the large male up. The
pants were a bit too short, the shirt too tight. He had wrapped his feet in a
shredded blanket, binding them against the snow, but they looked awkward.

The man
snorted. “A hundred bucks and two tickets to Chicago. And perhaps a visit from
the toothfairy so I can get this god-awful taste out of my mouth,” he grimaced,
and Eva gave a small reluctant smile at his expression. “Take care of your
sister, silver eyes,” the male nodded at her, and Eva gave a cautious nod in
response.

“Take
this instead,” Brand pulled out his wallet and passing something over.

The man
looked down, and his gaze narrowed. “It’ll be a while before I can pay you
back.”

“No
payback necessary. Buy yourself some shoes. And some different clothes. If you
live, we’ll meet again. You can worry about paying me back then.”

The
male flashed a dark grin. “Yeah. I’ve heard that one before. Usually from my
mother, though.”

Joshua
snorted. The male turned and extended his elbow to the tiny human woman. “You
ready to go, little
bruxa
?”

She
patted his arm and gave a vague, fey smile that still managed to be wicked. “Of
course, big man.”

The
male choked, Joshua laughed, and Brand shook his head as they drove away.

They
took the small private jet Seth had sent to Buffalo International. Samuel was
waiting for them on board; Eva almost didn’t recognize him in his dark hunting
boots, black military pants and a gray canvas coat. It was zipped up to a red
scarf. Eva stared at the scarf before she felt Samuel’s golden eyes rake over
her to settle on the boy, then Brand, and finally back to Rainey.

Samuel
cradled her sister against him as they strapped in for take off. A Kaspian
female that Eva didn’t know moved to fasten the boy in, but Eva mostly ignored
them; instead, she watched as Samuel peeled off a glove and wrapped his fingers
around Rainey’s cold thin wrist, then his gold eyes went distant and unfocused,
almost seeming to burn.

For the
first time in days, Eva relaxed. Somehow, she
knew
Samuel was helping
her sister. He might not be friendly, he might not
look
like he was
doing anything, but he
was
a healer.

Brand
came out from the front of the jet where he had been speaking with the pilot.
“You warm enough?” he asked, crouching before Eva to run a hand over her thigh.
She was wearing the spare clothes she had managed to wriggle into in the SUV
– Eva nodded.

She
wasn’t really. But right now, she wanted to feel the cold.

She
needed
to – because she needed to think.

Brand
looked at her and seemed to sense the lie. He touched her cheek, then sat in
the seat to her right, pulling her hand into his larger one as he looked out
the window.

There
was a distance between them, as tangible – yet surmountable – as
the plush armrest. But the decision to cross that distance, Eva knew, was hers.

As the
plane took off, bumping steadily down the runway, Eva studied Brand’s profile.
She noted the clean sculpted lines of his jaw, the strength of his arms and
face as he sat beside her.

Eva
contemplated. She examined herself, her life, and compared it to the past
weeks.
What do I want? Really, truly want?
No, not want –
need
.

Eva
leaned back and closed her eyes. She touched her fingers to the Marque on her
breast and tightened the fingers of her left hand within Brand’s own.

Stupid
question
. She already knew.

Eva
woke to the sound of her sister screaming, and immediately pulled herself out
of the chair and into the infirmary bed to wrap her body around Rainey’s. She
had fallen asleep.

Rainey
cried out, jerking away, and Eva shushed her, stroking her fingers over her
sister’s short, cropped hair. It was cut even closer than hers had been.
“Rainey. Rainey, it’s me.
Eva
. Smell me, see, it’s my scent,” she waved
her wrist before her sister’s nose, waiting until Rainey found her scent, then
caught her sister as Rainey convulsed, groaning as she almost rolled from the
bed.

Her
sister’s eyes were half-open, glazed with a dull misery that caught and ripped
Eva’s heart. Rainey didn’t know her.
Her
.

“
Rainey
,”
Eva hissed again as her sister whimpered and rolled away. God, Rainey looked so
much like their mother.

Terror
flooded Eva. It was acidic, powerful. Frightening.

Eva
closed her eyes, tears burning behind the lids.

She was
so
tired
of being afraid.

There
was a clatter on the other side of the bed, startling Eva so she looked up into
the pinched white face of Brand’s sister. Nikandria gave a bare ghost of a
smile. “Glad you’re back,” Nikandria whispered as she raised the arms on the
hospital bed, locking them into place around Eva and her sister.

Rainey
was still now as she stared blankly up at the ceiling. It was obvious she
wasn’t aware of anything. Eva shuddered at that look, then sat up to kneel
beside her sister; she raised her fingers to close Rainey’s eyes.

“What’s
wrong with her?” she dropped her hand to tug aside the cotton gown. Rainey’s
skin was fresh pink where Samuel had healed her. “Is she…does she need more
healing? More rest or time? What does she need?”

Eva had
never needed to be healed like this. She’d never had injuries like Rainey had.
Not even from Rohe. She didn’t know what to compare this to.

Nikandria
hesitated, looking as if she were about to speak, then reached out and tugged
Eva’s fingers into her own. “Come on, Eva. This isn’t a good place to rest.
Let’s take you back to your room.”

A stark
dread crystallized in Eva’s chest. “What did Rohe do to my sister?”

The
words emerged a thready hiss, not the growl Eva intended. She tightened her
grip on Nikandria’s hand, fingernails sinking into flesh so she smelled blood.

“Tell
me.
What did Rohe do
…”

Nikandria
raised her free hand, cradling Eva’s face in the same way Rohe had.

The
gesture sent a jolt of pure white fear through Eva’s mind, so that her breath
choked in her throat and everything spun to a halt.

The
next she realized, she was half out of the bed, gripping Nikandria’s silk shirt
in her fist so the neckline was torn. The old fear clawed like a feral beast
through the pit of her stomach, fighting to escape.

“I’m
sorry, Eva,” Nikandria whispered, sounding so genuine that it arrested Eva’s
thoughts, and then Brand’s sister stroked her thumb along Eva’s cheek in a
gesture that –
wasn’t
– Rohe’s. No, the gesture was so like
Brand that Eva found herself caught in an entirely different way…

Nikandria
closed her purple eyes, tightened her grip on Eva’s jaw – and all of
Eva’s terror drained away until all she was left with was a dull, numb, achy
feeling in her heart, as if she had just finished a long bout of crying.

Nikandria
had taken Eva’s fear.

Eva’s
breath rasped from her lungs. She sat, half-hanging over the rail of the
hospital bed.

Maybe
it should have frightened her. But, in that moment, Eva was just relieved.
Because,
finally
, she could think.
I haven’t been able to think in so
long…
she needed to think. It was like she was
awake
, like all of the
fear and worry that had been blotting out everything else in her life had faded
enough that her own thoughts could just…fall into place.

She
knew what she wanted. She knew what she needed. And she
knew
, with a
dreadful clarity, what she had to accept.

Eva
shot one sharp appraising glance at Rainey – saw
truly
what Rohe
had done – and crumpled. She swayed against the rail of the bed before
she climbed down, wrapped her arms around Brand’s sister, and sobbed.