Winter's Scars: The Forsaken (Winter's Saga 5) (37 page)

“You can’t play-fight and not get a little ruffed-up,” she answered dropping her hand and shrugging.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt, Meg.  Could we please keep the spar
ring to a minimum?”

Meg just looked away and reached into a garment bag to pull out a crimson dress of sheer material built around a beautifully ornate bodice.  The skirt hung floor length.

“You’re to wear that tonight,” the Senator smiled to himself, imagining her in such a graceful frock.

“Tell me about tonight,” Meg asked, holding the elegant gown to herself.

“We will be attending the Brisbee Benefit.  A lot of deep pockets will be walking around deciding if they want to back me for the presidency.  This will be a real test of your intent, Meg.  This is one of the ways you’ll prove yourself to me.”

“I will not manipulate anyone for you until the Winters are safely back in the States, Senator.  That was the deal.”  Meg leveled her gaze at the Senator.

“I wouldn’t dream of altering the rules of engagement, my dear.  Tonight, I just need you to be arm candy.  It will help everyone see that the misunderstanding between my people and the Winter Clan was truly just that.  We can also shift the attention to something juicier than you.”

“What is that?”

“My sources have confirmation that my closest opponent has fathered a child outside his marriage.  The paternity results verify it.”

“How did you get a DNA sample from him to conduct the paternity test?” Meg asked, one brow
rose suspiciously.

“The sooner you realize the unlimited resources I have, the better.”

“Unlimited?”

The Senator shrugged, humbly.  “What can I say?  I’m a likable fellow.”

“Who is coming to this event?”

“Other than the two of us, Michelle, Gideon and Ermos.  That is, if you haven’t damaged my Monarch slave too badly.”

“He’ll live.”

“Yes, but can he dance?”

“I have no idea, but I can find out, if you’d like.”

The Senator looked over at Meg with raised brows.

“Don’t worry.  I’m doing this research for my benefit, not yours.  I need to know if I should wear steel-toed shoes,” she smiled, then held silent for a moment, searching the mind of the sleeping soldier in the next room.

“Hmm,” she finally said.

“What?”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine for tonight,” she smiled to herself as she reached into the bag to retrieve the box of impossibly high heels that matched the gown.

“Good.  Good, well, I’ll leave you to put your things away.  This will be a cocktail function, so Eloise, please make Miss Meg a light meal, she’ll be eating with me at the function.”

“As you wish, sir,” Eloise curtsied deeply.

The senator turned to walk away.

“Oh, Senator?  One more thing,” Meg started.  “If you ever try to use surveillance on me in this or any other room, I will have every human being in this place—from patient to Monarch—instructed to rip out your eyes with their bare hands.  You may be able to fend off the first wave of thumb-gougers, but there are a lot of people in this asylum, most of
who aren’t terribly hygienic,” Meg just shrugged.  “I wanted to give you fair warning, you know, in the interest of our mutually beneficial arrangement.” 

The Senator’s jaw hung slack for a moment before he realized what he was doing and snapped it shut.

Meg smiled smugly.  “You see, Donovan, I know everything everyone in this building knows—except you, of course.  Nifty little trick, isn’t it?” she posed.  Her hands were clasped behind her back and she added a slight shrug of her shoulders. 

The Senator tried to fight the reflexive urge to swallow the saliva pooling in his mouth.  He couldn’t decide if he wanted to rip that smug expression off her pretty little face or kiss her like the formidable opponent she had become.

He shook his head and blinked once.  “I’ll have them removed immediately, Ms. Winter.” He nodded and turned for the second time to leave.  As he did, Meg reached down to touch the black silk scarf peeking from the top of another bag.  “I’ll know when you do, of course.  I’ll expect workmen within the hour.  It would be a shame to waste the beautiful red frock you bought for me.”  Meg made a tsking sound with her tongue and shook her head slowly in feigned lament.

“As you wish, Meg.”  He turned away for the third time and this time made it to the door without the girl stopping him.

“Nothing is ‘as I wish’,” Meg whispered to no one.  She dropped the fake smile and felt unshed tears spring up into her eyes.  Taking a deep breath, the multifaceted girl decided it was time to go wake her dance partner.

Chapter 71  Just a Flesh Wound

Meg started by sending him waves of calming emotions, then she gently shook him awake.  She had
bested the Punisher, but she was no fool.  Sleeping in the body on the floor of her bathroom was an amalgamation the likes of which few had witnessed.  She wanted to be sure she was waking the right alter.

“Gideon?” she began.  “Gideon, please wake up.  We have work to do.”  She nudged him more firmly but stopped when his eyelids began to flutter and a moan escaped his throat.

“Gideon?  Please be there.”

The beaten soldier opened his eyes.  Meg sighed with relief that the eyes she was looking into were honey yellow.

“I’m on the floor.” He looked around him.

“Yes,” she started, “Do you remember me stitching you up?” Meg nodded toward his thigh.  Gideon tried to sit up but had to
lie back down and gingerly feel his leg. 

“Nice work.  The sti
tches feel not too tight, not too loose and are closely spaced.  You had good training.” 

“If you say so,” Meg offered a half smile as she helped him sit up and lean against the edge of the bathtub for support.

Gideon sighed and seemed to melt back into the porcelain tub relaxing. 

“So will you be my date to this stupid cocktail party slash dance Arkdone wants us to attend tonight?”

Gideon’s eyes widened.  “You want me to get all dressed up and go to a party with you tonight?”

Meg nodded.  “Please?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

Meg shook her head slightly.

“I don’t even know if I can stand on this leg, let alone dance on it.” Gideon grimaced as he tried to move it.

“Look, I stitched you up beautifully.  You said so yourself.  The bleeding has stopped.  All we have to do is add a bit of skin glue and wrap you up.  You’ll be right as rain.”  Meg smiled winsomely.  “Please don’t make me do this crappy social alone with the Senator and Michelle.”

“I’ll go, but I doubt I can dance.”

“Sweet, thank you, Gideon.”

The metamonarch nodded shyly and looked down at his leg again.  “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“Do you really want to know?”

He nodded hesitantly at first then looked up and answered, “Yes” decisively.

“I’ll tell you what—I’ll help you make your way back to your quarters so you can get cleaned up.  I’m going for a run.  I’m hoping by the time I come back, the cameras will have been removed from my room.  I’ll get dressed and meet you in the foyer in two hours.  It might do you well to take a nap.”

“I’m supposed to be protecting you,” Gideon frowned.  “Going for a run around the complex could be dangerous.”

“Who is more dangerous than me?” Meg shrugged.  “Maybe the Winters were right to fear me.  Sometimes I scare myself,” she confessed softly.

“Sometimes I scare myself, too.”  Gideon’s eyes darkened one shade as he looked up. 

“We aren’t so different, you and me.” Meg offered a half smile, reached down to grab his hand and helped him to his feet.

The tough-guy in Gideon refused to allow himself even a grimace, but he couldn’t stop his face from turning pale. 

“Do you want me to help alleviate the pain?”

“How would you do that?” he looked skeptically down at her.

Meg just shrugged, “I guess it’s kinda like hypnosis.  I would distract your thoughts from the pain.”

“What kind of distraction?”

Meg felt him lean in toward her.  The heat pouring off his body made Meg feel flush.  She didn’t know whether she wanted to lean in to him or step back, so her indecisiveness held her tense and still.  His honey eyes searched her face then lingered at her lips as he waited for her response.

“I, um…” she stammered, “see there are brain-inhibitory pathways from the brain to the spinal cord.  I would just access your emotions in your frontal lobe and…”

“Distract me?” his face was inches away from hers
, his breath warm and sweet on her face.  With her arm still wrapped around his waist steadying him, she was feeling very torn. 

What am I doing?  Do I let him?  Do I want this?  Is it fair?  I can’t get involved with a
metamonarch. 

Then there’s that pull I felt for Creed—the one that tugged at my heart hard enough to pull me off the mountain side to find him.  That means something.  Creed means something to me.  At least he did,
she scowled inwardly
, before I gave him back his ring and left the family to fend for themselves. 
Meg bit her lip hard enough to taste blood and stepped back away from Gideon’s advances.

“Just hold still for a moment.”  Meg’s voice went from breathy and soft to clipped and all business.

She closed her eyes and reached up to place her hands on his forehead. 

Reaching inside herself, she found her white iridescent blanket, and though she knew it would work on Gideon, something in her heart told her it wouldn’t be right to use with him. 
Creed’s blanket,
she whispered in her mind and set it back in place. 

She waved her imaginary hands and dreamed up a different cloth to use with Gideon.  This blanket was deep red and felt warm and fuzzy under her visualized fingertips.  She unfolded the large blanket and focused on the pulsing kaleidoscope signature in front of her.  Gently she tossed her warm, red blanket over his pain filled aura, gathered the corners of the blanket around it and skillfully pulled the pain away from him.  With a firm push
and an ardent prayer, she sent the bundle into the imagined night sky.

Under her fingertips, she felt the muscles in his face relax almost as though he had fallen asleep. 

“There,” she said, dropping her hands and stepping away from the metamonarch.  “How do you feel?”

“Wow,” he said as he struggled to open his heavy-lidded eyes.

“Good,” she nodded.  “Let’s get you back to your room.”

“That was amazing.” Gideon hadn’t moved an inch.  He just stood with a look of awe on his face.  “What did you do?”

“I distracted your pain,” Meg shrugged and motioned for him to follow her out of the bathroom.

He walked like a man waking from a deep sleep to answer a knock at the door.

“Now
that
is some powerful gift, Meg.”  His voice was gruff as if holding back a wave of emotions.

“I’m glad I could help,” she smiled and led the way out of her room.  She couldn’t stand the look of admiration in his eyes.  It made her feel even more
like a fraud. 

When this is all over,
she promised herself
, I’m going to try to reintegrate Gideon.  He deserves to live a happy life as a singular personality.  He never should have been shattered.  No one should be.
 

Then Meg thought of the Senator who so carelessly used and discarded human beings.  It made her feel a surge of anger demanding she run into his room and beat the crap out of him.  She took a deep breath trying to calm down.  She
was only vaguely aware of Gideon’s eyes searching her stoic face as they walked the corridor.

She stopped abruptly when she sensed Gideon’s thoughts about getting her in his private quarters. “You’ll be able to make
it the rest of the way on your own,” she said, not offering him an out.

“Sure,” he said.  That sleepy, puppy-dog look defined his eyes.  Meg nodded once and forced herself to ignore the urge to reach out and rub away the worry lines in his brow.

She smiled stiffly and turned to walk back to her room, leaving the metamonarch to watch the natural sway of her hips as she went.

Chapter 72  Uninvited Guests

Two hours later
, a cleaned up Gideon was seated in one of the uncomfortable, ornate chairs in the newly remodeled foyer.  He was fidgeting with the cuff on his sleeve when out of the corner of his eye he saw red.

Meg couldn’t help but giggle at the look on Gideon’s face.  His jaw went slack and his honey yellow eyes were as wide as saucers taking in her image.

“Wow!”

“Wow?”

“You look—wow!”

“You have quite a way with words,” Meg laughed.

She moved to sit beside Gideon while they waited for the Senator and Michelle.

“How are you feeling?”