The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey (64 page)

Her breath began to quicken at his touch and
she closed her eyes and leaned back as his fingers nimbly triggered
the clasps on her skirt. Pushing her back gently on the bed, Finn
continued to work his way lower and her breath came in short gasps.
Digging her nails into his shoulder she followed his advice and let
go of inhibitions.

“I’m going to butcher who ever that is and
have Marrow eat the evidence,” Finn grumbled as the knocking on the
door came again.

“Mmkay,” she agreed sleepily, and burrowed
further into his arm, her cheek resting on the edge of his
chest.

The knock came again this time more of a
pounding and Finn uttered a curse that was more growl than actual
language. “One would think if I didn’t answer the damn door the
first three times that I wouldn’t answer it on the fourth.”

“How about the fifth?” Jala asked and rolled
away as he rose quickly, his speed fueled by his temper. Rolling
back over onto her stomach she looked up at him sleepily through a
tangle of curls. “Slap whoever it is for me too and come back to
bed.”

He paused in pulling on his pants and looked
down at her with almost a pained expression. “Damn, I don’t want to
open that door,” he complained and leaned over to give her a
kiss.

Pushing up onto her elbows she met him
halfway for the kiss and gave him a devilish smile. “I don’t want
you to either. As much as they are knocking it must be important
and you know you won’t be coming back to bed.” She let her arms
slide slowly back under the pillow and lowered herself back onto
the bed, stretching like a cat.

“You learn fast,” Finn said with a bit of
admiration and gave a heavy sigh. “I could almost ignore the
knocking with an invitation like that,” he admitted and finished
fastening his pants.

Eyes closed she listened as he left the room
and slowly rose from the bed herself. Listening, she recognized
Havoc’s voice and Finn’s angry response. Hearing his cousin she
knew without a doubt he wouldn’t be coming back to bed. If it had
been one of their friends from the Academy he might have simply
sent them away. Frowning, she looked down at the discarded wedding
clothes and realized she had no other clothes here. Still too tired
to summon magical ones she moved to his closet and pushed the door
back. With little discrimination other than length she chose one of
his shirts at random and pulled it on. With a cursory glance in the
mirror to make sure everything that needed to be covered, was
covered, she left the room, taking the back way for the kitchen. By
the sounds of the voices, Finn and Havoc were in the living room
and from the sound of Finn’s voice, Havoc hadn’t had a chance to
voice what he had come for.

Scanning the kitchen, she located the cold
box and peaked inside, not really expecting to find anything.
Apparently Finn had thought of everything. Three different bottles
of juice and a jug of fresh milk rested on the top shelf while the
bottom shelves of the device held various fruits and meats.
Selecting a bottle at random she sniffed daintily at its contents
and poured three glasses. She wasn’t sure exactly what type of
juice it was other than dark in color and sweet smelling.

Balancing the glasses carefully, she pushed
through the door and into the living room, her bare feet barely
making a sound as she crossed the room. Havoc was leaning against a
wall near the door and Finn was sitting on the couch his expression
torn between annoyance and anger. Wordlessly, she handed Havoc a
glass of the juice and crossed to Finn taking a seat on his lap.
They had fallen silent when she entered and both men watched her.
She offered Finn a glass of the juice and he took it. Still silent,
his gaze locked on her bare legs and slowly climbed to her
face.

“I hate you, Havoc,” he said finally, his
voice hoarse.

Havoc gave a slow nod watching her sip from
her glass. “I’d hate me too. I begged them to send someone else.
They unanimously agreed I should be the one to wake you.”

Lowering the glass, Jala licked her lips and
smiled. “Grape. I really didn’t expect something so simple. Very
good though.” Looking up at Havoc she gave him a sweet smile. “Now
tell me in a quick simple fashion why I’m not going to let Finn
kill you?” she said pleasantly.

“Because Lutheron sent me to wake you.
Because it wasn’t my fault. If Finn is going to kill anyone it
should be Lutheron. Ever heard the expression ‘don’t shoot the
messenger?’” Havoc began.

“Right, right, so what exactly was so bloody
damned important that we needed to be woken less than three hours
after we actually went to sleep the day after our wedding? Bear in
mind that if Finn is too tired, I do have a Bendazzi somewhere
nearby so make the answer a good one,” Jala asked, her tone still
sweet.

“I love you so much right now,” Finn murmured
and kissed her on the cheek.

Havoc sighed and looked at the two of them.
“I’m sorry, I really am. Symphony spoke with your friends from the
Academy last night after the wedding feast. Somehow during the
conversation she arranged for a meeting of the High Lords here
today. Well, some of the Lords anyway, one of them being Lord
Zachary from Oblivion. I believe you needed to speak with him,
Jala, from what Wisp says anyway. She wants you there and these are
not the sort of people you gather often,” Havoc explained.

“Damn.” Jala sighed the word and leaned back
against Finn. “We can’t kill him now, love, or Lutheron. He is
right, I do need to speak with Lord Zachary,” she said, the
sweetness gone from her voice and replaced with disappointment.

“You don’t have to sound so unhappy about not
killing me,” Havoc complained.

Finn let his head fall forward gently resting
it against her shoulder and let out a long sigh. “She is upset that
we do actually have to leave the house. So am I. I was very close
to telling you to go bugger yourself at the door. The only thing
that stopped me was guessing you would just start knocking again,”
he said, his voice muffled slightly by her shirt.

“When are we expected to be there?” Jala
asked in resignation.

“Lunch, it’s to be held at the palace,
obviously, and not many know about it. Arjuna doesn’t want to
explain why High Lord Arovan is here to any of his people,” Havoc
replied.

Finn’s head snapped up and he looked at Havoc
in shock. “Arovan? Who else?” he asked.

“Han’shy, Delvayon’s Heir, Faydwer, and
that’s it as far as I know, aside from the Lord of Oblivion,” Havoc
explained.

“And they want her to let all of those lords
know she is Lady Merrodin? Are we supposed to simply trust them
with that knowledge?” Finn demanded.

“From what I understand, there will be an
Oathkeeper present,” Havoc said in a calming voice.

“A Temple Oathkeeper?” Jala asked in shock.
She had only met one before and that was a brief meeting. According
to what Father Belson had told her, an Oathkeeper served all of the
Aspects and to give your word before one was to hold to it or anger
all of the gods. To be out of favor with one Aspect was one thing,
to have all of them out for your blood was something most people
could not survive.

Havoc nodded. “An Oathkeeper from the Temple
of Honor in Faydwer, if I have it correctly,” he clarified.

“Well, I can’t really argue with that. If
anyone is fool enough to lie to an Oathkeeper, I won’t have to
worry about them long,” Finn relented and rested his head against
Jala’s shoulder again.

Taking another drink from her juice, Jala
considered his words and glanced outside one of the windows.
Realizing she couldn’t get a good look at the sun’s position
without moving from Finn’s lap she looked back to Havoc. “How long
does that give us before the meeting? I’m not even sure what time
it is now,” she asked.

“Roughly three hours. Lutheron wanted you to
have plenty of notice. He wanted me to come earlier but I refused,”
Havoc answered.

“Get out. We love you Havoc, but get out
now,” she said pointing toward the door. “We will be there when we
are supposed to, but I’m not sacrificing anymore of my time to this
than I have to,” she added as Havoc sat the glass of juice down
with a muffled chuckle. He gave her a nod and left quickly and
quietly.

She felt Finn shaking slightly behind her and
realized he was laughing silently. Lifting his head from her
shoulder he gave her a huge grin. “You are so perfect,” he said and
carefully took the juice from her hand. Setting it down on the
table beside him, he leaned back fully against the couch.

Turning to face him she straddled his lap and
gazed down at his tanned chest and tousled hair and smiled. His
green eyes were alert but slightly bloodshot and there was a faint
trace of darkness under them from lack of sleep, but he was still
perfect in her eyes. “That sentiment is shared completely,” she
said tracing a finger down his chest. Raising her hands to her
shirt she began to slowly undo the buttons, his eyes following her
every movement. “We have to go back to Sanctuary tonight, don’t
we?” she asked quietly.

He gave a wordless nod, his eyes still locked
on her progress with the buttons. His own hands rose to rest on her
bare hips and she could feel his anticipation and lust through the
link they shared. “School tomorrow, lots to catch up on,” he said
absently.

“And these meetings will likely take the rest
of the day once they begin,” she said shrugging her shoulders from
the shirt and letting it fall to the floor behind her. “So all we
really have is about two hours before we have to get ready to go to
the palace.”

His hands slid up her sides and then back
down to her hips pulling her closer to him. “Two and a half, maybe
two and three quarters. I dress fast,” he murmured and began
unlacing his pants far more quickly than he had put them on.

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed
him lightly just below the ear. “Two and a half then, I need time
to summon clothes,” she whispered in agreement.

They headed up the steps to the palace side
by side. Finn was moving far better than she had expected him to,
given that his eyes seemed fixed on her rather than where he
walked. She had chosen a more Firym style of clothing when she
summoned the new clothes and the dark purple dress was split to the
hip on both sides fastened with silver lacing. The top part was
sleeveless and cut far deeper in the front than anything she had
ever worn before, giving an ample view of the mark of Fortune as
well as her other gifts from Fortune.

Sovann was waiting for them at the top of the
stairs but remained silent as they approached, his gaze going from
the high heeled boots she wore that rose to just above her knee to
the top of her head. She had left her hair down, not wanting to
bother with pins and such with so little sleep. He seemed about to
speak but closed his mouth again.

“Have you seen Marrow?” she asked when it
became apparent that he was going to simply remain silent.

“He is inside sleeping by the fountain. He
stayed near me for most of the night,” Sovann replied and cleared
his throat. “You…uhh…you look very nice,” he said at last as if
finally giving up on searching for proper words.

“She looks too bloody good to take into a
room filled with men,” Finn agreed with a bit of a frown.

Glancing back at him, she smiled. “Neph says
nine tenths of power is the appearance of power. He also says when
you cannot portray power you should distract them from your true
nature. I do not radiate power yet, Finn, so I’m distracting.
Judging by your reaction it should work nicely,” she explained and
moved past Sovann to locate Marrow.

“Very distracting,” Finn agreed, following
her in.

“They are gathered in the war room,” Sovann
said as he followed into step by his brother. “What did you do to
her, Finn? She was sweet when I left her yesterday,” Sovann
whispered, obviously not expecting her to overhear.

“He did about what any man does on his
marriage night, Sovann,” she replied with a smile. “And he did it
very, very well,” she added, amused to see the blush on Sovann’s
face at her words. It was rather nice to see someone other than
herself blush.

“There is always room for improvement, I’d
like to prove I can be better,” Finn offered with a smile. “Let’s
skip this meeting and I’ll get right to that,” he suggested with a
nod back toward the way they had come.

Stopping by where Marrow was sprawled on his
side, Jala leaned over and scratched the Bendazzi behind the ears.
Wake up, I need you with me, Marrow
, she said gently.
Opening one yellow eye to regard her, the Bendazzi yawned and
stretched, flexing his long claws as he did so. With a muffled
grumble he rose to his feet and stretched again.

Need me for what?
he asked
curiously.

We have a council meeting with the High
Lords. I need you beside me for it
, she explained.

To scare the bloody hell out of them if
needed,
Marrow reasoned and seemed amused when she nodded her
agreement.
Between myself and your mate I believe we can
intimidate, though he doesn’t look too intimidating right now. What
did you do to him?

Jala glanced back at Finn who was leaning
against a wall waiting patiently, a look of remorse on his face.
I told him we had to get out of bed
, she answered quietly
and shrugged.

My sympathy would be much greater if I
hadn’t had to spend the night watching Sovann play with little
glowing rocks. At least the two of you enjoyed the night,
Marrow said with another yawn.

“You have been playing with glowing rocks,
Sovann?” Jala asked as she crossed the room to stand by the
brothers once more.