Shadowflame (11 page)

“My Lord,” she said.

He bowed slightly. “My Lady.”

The Prime of California had arrived.

Six

“My Lady! Are you all right?”

Lali came thundering around the corner, ready to fling herself into peril on her Queen’s behalf, and nearly ran smack into Miranda. A few beats behind her, David and Faith appeared, both coming to an abrupt halt on either side of the Queen, both staring at their . . . visitor.

“Holy crap,” she heard Faith mutter.

Completely oblivious to the injured woman or the still-struggling man, David broke out into a grin and walked forward, laughing. “Sire,” the Prime said, “it’s good to see you again.”

“It’s good to be seen.”

David held out his hand, but the other Prime reached up, pulled David’s head down, and kissed him on the mouth.

Miranda felt her mouth drop open as David returned the kiss . . . for several seconds.

When they pulled back, smiling at each other far more intimately than she would have believed possible, the visitor said, “There’s my boy.”

David turned back to Miranda, who was gaping at the entire tableau and feeling rather like she’d stepped through the Looking Glass. “It’s all right, beloved,” he told her. “Allow me to present Prime Deven O’Donnell of the Western United States and its adjacent territories. Lord Prime, this is Miranda Grey-Solomon, Queen of the Southern United States.”

Prime and Queen bowed to each other, and then Miranda said, a bit tersely, “Would you care to explain what’s going on here, my Lord Prime?”

Deven looked down at the human under his foot with open disdain and gestured toward the woman. “An attempted robbery, near as I could tell. I found this thing attempting bodily harm toward the young woman, and I intervened.”

“Lali, see to the human,” Miranda ordered. Behind her Lali dove to the woman’s side and began reassuring her, checking her for injuries; the human was bawling, confused and still terrified, but didn’t look badly hurt. “Faith, call it in. Inform APD that we have a mugger in custody, and—”

She glanced back at Deven in time to see him bring his foot down hard, and with a horrible crack, the assailant’s neck snapped beneath his boot. The man twitched twice and then lay still, eyes still staring.

“For Christ’s sake, Dev,” David said, wincing. “Was that really necessary?”

Deven looked down at the corpse, then back up at them, and asked politely, “Oh, I’m sorry . . . did you need that?”

“This is a no-kill territory.” Miranda stepped forward.

Deven walked over the body and came up to her; they were almost exactly the same height, but he gave off the aura of someone twice as tall and twice as broad. There was a dare in his voice. “Execute me.”

Then he moved over to David. “Jonathan is waiting at the car a block east,” he said. “Shall we follow you?”

David looked a tiny bit bewildered by the way his Queen and the Prime were staring daggers at each other, but he said, “Yes, good idea.”

Deven gave him a genuine smile, bowed, and walked away.

Free of the Prime’s presence, Miranda felt her stomach unclench, and she took a deep breath.

There was a moment of silence before Faith said, “Okay . . . er . . . APD is on its way, with an ambulance for our victim here. Lali has altered her memory to delete us and insert a struggle with the assailant that ended in him breaking his neck as he tried to climb the fire escape nearby. We’re good to go—Lali, stay here until the police arrive and make sure she gets to the hospital, then head back with Jake . . . where’s Jake?”

Everyone looked around. Jake was nowhere to be seen. “He must have stayed with the car,” Lali said.

Prime, Queen, and Second started back toward the Bat Cave, and David went ahead a bit so he could call the Haven and get a guest suite ready for the Littlest Magnificent Bastard and his Consort.

Out of earshot, Miranda said, “So . . . that’s Deven.”

Faith grinned. “That’s him.”

“He’s . . . quite a bit to take in.”

“That is the popular opinion, yes.” Faith looked at her keenly. “What’s wrong?”

“Besides yet another Prime coming into my town and waving his dick around? Nothing.”

Faith laughed. “I promise, he’s nothing like Hart. Underneath the swagger is a very kind soul.”

“Right.”

The Second raised an eyebrow. “What else?”

“Nothing, just . . . are they always like that? Him and David?”

“What do you mean?”

Miranda made a helpless gesture. “With the . . . kissing.”

Faith, perplexed, shrugged. “I suppose so. Why?”

“It’s just strange seeing David acting affectionately toward anyone besides me. Is he like that with all his friends? He just shook hands with Tanaka.”

Faith’s mouth formed an O of surprise. “You . . . didn’t know?”

“Know what? Am I missing something?”

By now they had arrived at the parking lot where Harlan and both cars were waiting; to Miranda’s surprise, Jake was nowhere to be seen. David was talking with Harlan, and as they approached, the Prime came to them, his expression serious.

“Harlan says Jake took off after you and Lali. I tried to raise him on the coms and there’s nothing.”

“Oh, shit,” Miranda said. “Faith—”

“I’m on it,” Faith interrupted, already barking out orders into her com to get a search team to the area immediately. There should be a patrol unit nearby that could be diverted; Jake being off mission was one thing, but not answering his com . . .

David had just pulled out his phone when it sent up a network alarm. “We’ve lost his signal,” the Prime said. “That’s not good.”

“You’re not even getting life signs?” Miranda asked, peering around his arm at the tiny map of their current location.

“No,” David replied. “He just disappeared. Faith, get the team to Lake Street and Paredes. He dropped off network at the eastern corner. It’s about a block that way.” He gestured toward the right. “It looks like he started to follow you but then got distracted. He may have seen or heard something, or been ambushed.”

He turned to Miranda. “We should head back and let Faith handle this.”

Miranda agreed reluctantly and joined him in the car. Faith came over to shut the door, ducked her head in, and said, “I’ve got Unit Five coming in to search for him—ETA three minutes. I’m heading to Lake and Paredes now. I’ll com you as soon as I have news.” Her expression briefly switched from all business to all mischief: “Enjoy your ride home.”

“Do you think he’s okay?” Miranda asked once the door was shut. David merely looked at her, and she shook her head, heart sinking. “I don’t think so either.”

Neither spoke again until they were on the highway, and Miranda wrestled with the other question on her mind for quite a while before she was ready to say it: “So . . . about Deven.”

David smiled. “He just likes to make an entrance. The exterior’s a little spiky, but inside he’s really a good friend.”

“Is that all?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

She took a deep breath. “I mean, were you ever more than friends?”

David blinked, mouth opening slightly, as though he had expected any question but that one and had no idea how to respond. Then he said hesitantly, “I thought Faith told you.”

“Told me what?”

Now he looked actively sheepish. “That Deven and I were lovers.”

She knew she must look like a stranded fish, but she couldn’t help it. “When?”

“When I was in California. We both served in Arrabicci’s Elite, as co-Seconds. We got together about ten years before the assassination. Then Deven took the Signet and we stayed together until Jonathan came along.”

“Ten
years
?” She put her hand on her forehead, unable to think of anything else to do. “And it never occurred to you to bring it up?”

“As I said, I thought you knew. I didn’t realize it would be such a problem.”

“It’s not, it’s . . . God, I don’t know.”

Now he looked amused, and it annoyed her. “Would it be easier to take if he were a woman?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. Although since I had no idea you were bi, it does kind of force my perceptions to realign a little, and I wasn’t expecting that.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say bi, exactly. If you add up all the people I’ve slept with in three hundred fifty years, men account for less than two percent.”

“Except that you weren’t with anyone else for a full decade, were you?”

“Well, no.”

“So you can see why this throws me just a bit?” Miranda’s thoughts and emotions were falling over themselves, and she didn’t like it. She wasn’t going to be some jealous wife who couldn’t stand being around her husband’s ex when that ex was his best friend; it was a long time ago, and besides, he’d had plenty of women in his time, including a wife. Why was this any different?

“I understand that you’re upset,” he told her, touching her face. “I wish I’d realized you didn’t know. We could have talked about it before they got here. I’m sorry to have dropped it on you like this.”

“It’s fine,” she insisted. “I mean, it’s not fine, as in I’m a little freaked-out, but not because . . . I mean . . . it’s just . . . weird. I learn something about you every day, and I love that, but considering how significant this one is, maybe you could have
mentioned
it at some point?”

David was thoughtful for a minute, but then he said, “There are a lot of things you still don’t know about my past, beloved. I have about three hundred twenty-five years’ worth of history on you.”

“I know,” she said. “I think about that a lot.”

He met her eyes. “Then ask,” he told her gently. “Whatever you want to know, just ask. I don’t ever want you to think I’m keeping secrets. There are some things I don’t like to talk about, true, but if you want to know, you deserve to. We’re going to be with each other a long time, and that means we have to be honest. No hiding.”

“Thank you.” She leaned over and kissed his nose, smiling a little. “I take it since you never talk about that part of your past, and you’re not together anymore, it’s not an entirely happy story.”

His eyes flicked away from hers just long enough for her to know she was right.

“It didn’t end well,” he said. “At least, not for me.”

“Wait . . . you mean he dumped you?”

David’s smile was touched with regret, and it made her heart hurt, realizing how much pain was underneath the words as he said, “Unceremoniously and resoundingly.”

“But . . . why?” Even before the question was out, though, she knew. “Because of Jonathan. That’s why you left California. It wasn’t about getting your doctorate as much as it was about getting away from Deven.”

“Yes.”

“Were you in love?”

Again, the smile, but it faded quickly. “Very much so. But everyone knows that a Prime is destined only to be with his Consort. Everyone in the Court thought that the Signet would choose me, but it didn’t, and within six months, it chose someone else that Deven had known for all of ten minutes. The two of them fell for each other instantly, as if they’d been struck by lightning, and I . . . I ceased to exist.”

“That little bastard!”

He made an indefinite move of his head: half a shake, half a nod. “He was as confused by it as I was, I think. I pretended everything was all right between us and that I understood, but of course I was a wreck. Jonathan was the one who realized I was lying, but by the time Deven grasped how badly he’d hurt me, I had fled California, and I never went back.”

There was old, old grief in his voice, and she took his hands and kissed them, almost regretting bringing the subject up at all. “I’m so sorry.”

“It took years to repair our friendship,” David went on, staring down at their joined hands, stroking her palm with his thumb. “As soon as Jonathan had the vision that I would take the South, I began to understand why Deven and I had never Paired, and that helped. I had my own path to take and I couldn’t do it with him. Not to mention,” he said, smiling again, this time without such sadness, “I had you to look forward to.”

“But it still hurt,” Miranda said, moving closer to him. “You still had your heart broken.”

He put his arms around her and said with a sigh, “Yes. Worse than I think I ever had in my life . . . except for when I thought you were dead.”

She leaned back enough to look him in the eye. “And I’m supposed to like this guy?”

David chuckled. “I hope you do . . . although I imagine it will take the two of you a while to get there. Dev is hard to know at the best of times. I think you’ll find Jonathan much easier to get along with. He’s more open, friendlier. But please, Miranda . . . give Deven a chance to win you over. For my sake.”

“I’ll try. But I’m going to have a hard time not kicking him in the balls for hurting you.”

His smile broadened. “If you want to kick him in the balls, you have my blessing. God knows I wanted to for a long time.”

“Can I ask you one more thing?”

“Anything, beloved.”

“How the hell does he put on all that eyeliner without a mirror?”

David laughed, but before he could reply, his com chimed. He sobered, sighed resignedly, and said into it, “Star-one.”

“Sire, it’s Faith. I have news about Jake.”

Prime and Queen looked at each other. Faith sounded unusually subdued. “Go ahead,” he told the Second.

“He’s gone, Sire. Someone took him—without his com.”

“How is that possible? They can’t come off.”

“They can if the hand comes off, too.”

David closed his eyes. “You found his hand.”

“Yes. It had been severed at the wrist and left in the middle of the sidewalk. There’s a lot of blood. The team had a forensics kit so they were able to determine it was Jake’s. But there’s no other evidence we can see. We’re trying to track them, but so far there’s just nothing to go on. No footprints, no fingerprints, nothing on the sensors. No body. He could still be alive.”

“God,” Miranda whispered, resting her head on the cool glass of the car’s window. “Poor Jake. And poor Lali . . . they were friends.”

“Keep looking,” David said. “I’ll run a search and review activity in the area. Return to the Haven before dawn and give me a full report.”

“As you will it. Star-three, out.”