Текст книги "The King"

Автор книги: J. R. Ward

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Текущая страница: 27 (всего у книги 39 страниц)

FORTY-FIVE

Xcor had never been a male of letters. Not merely untutored in literature, he was, in fact, illiterate—and on a regular basis, Throe used words either in English or the mother tongue that he did not understand.

And yet one would suppose, even at his lowest level of ability, that the four one-syllable words just spoken to him—at least, if taken individually—offered no challenge to comprehension.

His brain, however, was refusing to process them.

“Whate’er did you speak?” he asked roughly.

As Layla repeated what she had uttered, her scent was infused with the sharp spice of fear: “You may have me.”

Xcor closed his eyes and fisted his hands. His body had already translated her speech and answered of its own volition, his muscles twitching to get at her, take her down unto the cold ground, mount her to mark her as his.

“You know not what you say,” he heard himself mutter.

“I do.”

“You are with young.”

“I…” Even with his lids down, he could picture her swallowing hard. “Does that mean you do not want me?”

He took a moment to breathe, his lungs burning. “No,” he groaned. “It does not.”

Indeed, as he imagined her with another, the lance of pain that went through his chest was sufficient to make him pale. And yet, in spite of the seed of another planted within her body, he would take her, have her, keep her …

Except for one thing.

Opening his eyes, he reviewed all manner of detail about her, from her beautiful upswept hair to her fine, delicate features to that slender neck he wanted under his mouth. There was more to see, of course—but it was her face most of all that he needed foremost in his mind’s eye.

It had been a kind of madness since the beginning with her—e’er since he had been brought to her under the maple in that meadow, e’er since he had been given her wrist and taken from her wellspring, he had been infected with an illness.

“Answer me one thing.” His eyes continued to roam, measuring each nuance of her frightened, frozen expression.

“What?” she prompted when he did not immediately speak.

“But for the events that have transpired, would you have e’er offered yourself unto me?”

She dropped her stare. Tightened her arms about her heart. Hung her head.

“Answer me,” he said gently. “Speak the truth so that we both may hear it aloud.”

“But what is done is done, and—”

He reached out and tilted her chin back up with the softest of touches. “Say it. You must hear your own truth—and I promise you I have taken harder arrows than it.”

Tears welled in her eyes, rendering them luminous, like moonlight upon the surface of a lake. “No. I would not.”

He felt his body sway, surely as if it had been struck. But as promised, he stayed standing through the agony. “Then my answer to you is no. Even if there was a way to undo all this with your King—and there is not—I will never take you against your will.”

“But I choose this. It is my choice.”

Xcor shook his head. “Only through the prompting of something else.”

He took a step back. “You should get back to…” He looked around at the mist, still totally lost. “Where’er ’tis you go.”

“You want me.” Now her voice was steady and sure. “I can sense it.”

“Of course I do. But not as a sacrificial lamb to the slaughter. My fantasy … is not that.”

“Does the reasoning matter?”

“Some gifts are more painful than insults.” He went to turn away from her, and found himself immobile. “Especially when there is naught to be done about your Wrath. He has been replaced.”

“If you removed one rightful King, you can remove another. You can put Wrath back.”

“You give me too much credit.”

“Please.”

Her steadfastness angered him, even though it was a virtue, he supposed. “Why does it matter so much to you. Your life shall not change. You shall be safe here—or where’er. The Brotherhood is not dismantled—”

“They will come for you.”

“Then we will kill them. I am hoping they shall see the benefits of bowing out gracefully.”

Indeed, he couldn’t believe he was saying that. But to not disturb her, he would let them and Wrath live—provided they did not get in his way.

Layla shook her head. “Their loyalty will not allow that.” Her hands lifted to her cheeks and pressed in as if she were imagining the horror. “There will be war anew. Because of you.”

“Then hate me. ’Twill be better for the both of us if you do.”

She stared at him for the longest time. “I fear I cannot do that.”

Xcor did his best to ignore the way his heart skipped. “I shall take my leave.”

“How did you find this place?”

“I followed you home not long ago. You were in the car, returning from the clinic. I was worried over you.”

“And why … did you come tonight?”

“I must go.”

“Don’t.”

For a moment, he played out a dream whereby she said that and meant it for him personally. And not just in the hopes of persuading him over to her position.

That folly did not last. Especially as he pictured himself terrorizing that wounded human man in the deserted restaurant, for no other reason than that he could—and then remembered removing the spines of all those lessers and delivering them unto which member of the aristocracy? As if the recipient was even significant. After which he recalled decapitating slayers. Stabbing them in the gut. Breaking off their limbs …

There were so many acts of violence in his background.

As well as the depravity of what he’d been through in the Bloodletter’s war camp.

On top of which was his face.

He meant to just start walking down the incline. Unlike her, he could not dematerialize—he had tried repeatedly to expedite the ascent thusly and failed in this fog.

Yes, he meant to leave her behind. For all the reasons he’d spelled out to her and also those he kept to himself.

Instead, he heard himself say, “Meet me under the maple tree. Midnight tomorrow.”

“For what”—she pulled her parka closer as if she were to be eaten alive—“purpose?”

“Not what you are worried about.”

Now he did pivot and start walking—until his thought processes cleared enough to stop him. Looking over his shoulder, he said, “Chosen. Do you know the way home?”

“Oh, yes … of course…” Except as she glanced around, she seemed to grow confused. “Yes, it’s right over…”

She did not pause to hide her words. She honestly did not appear to know where she was.

Closing his eyes, he cursed. He should never have come herein—ever.

For what if he left her here alone, and she did not find shelter afore the sun rose? What if they were halfway to where she needed to be?

Putting his hands on his hips, he tilted his head back and searched the heavens, thinking maybe they could offer him some common sense—because he’d clearly lost his.

Of all the ways for me to die, he thought …

He’d never once considered it would be over a female.

* * *

As Trez surveyed the Goth crowd in the Iron Mask, he couldn’t say he was thrilled to be back in the saddle again. His business had always been important to him—well, first it had been Rehv’s gig; then when the Reverend had bowed out—or more like blown his way out—Trez had taken over the whole club enterprise. And yet, whether the place had been his or Rehv’s, he’d loved running the operations, dealing with the people, planning for new sites, watching his money grow. Yeah, sure, the humans were a pain in the ass, but that was true whether you were driving in your car, shopping in a supermarket, or trying to make a living.

Granted, the drugs and drinking really didn’t help that last one, but whatever …

Tonight, though, as he watched the dozen or so working girls make the rounds, sitting on laps, flirting, taking men by the hand and disappearing into the private bathrooms … he was sickened by it all.

Especially as he thought about what he’d agreed to do for s’Ex.

Man, it was so tempting to assume that he’d solved the problem … that keeping the executioner happy was going to make it all go away.

Wrong.

The thing was, he just kept thinking that if he only had more time, he’d find a way out.

“Any chance you’re looking for me?”

The human female standing in front of him had long black hair—natch, so many of them did up in here—and a body that was curvy as a racetrack. Likely just as fast. And with skin artificially paled to the point of flour and lips painted the color of blood, she was a wannabe vampire in a world of posers, all juiced up on a persona likely birthed from a bipolar emotional landscape.

Not that he was generalizing or anything.

“No,” he said. “I’m not looking for you.”

“You sure?” She did a little turn in front of him, flashing her bubble ass. “’Cause I’m worth the search.”

In his mind’s eye, all he could see was his Chosen, laid out before him, so beautiful and clean.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he turned and walked away.

After Selena had left him and iAm in the kitchen together, she hadn’t come back: When everyone had been called down to the dining room to hear the horrible news about the King, he’d expected to see her there. No-go.

And he wanted to head up to Rehv’s great camp to see her. Things between them were too open-ended for his liking, but he had the sense that getting down to the nitty-gritty was going to make him feel worse.

Her as well.

He really just needed to let the whole sitch with her go—

From across the way, one of the professional whores, a brunette in skin-tight red leather, met his eye, and he did a quick head-to-toe on her.

Yeah, he thought. She’d do.

When he motioned for her to come over, she was more than happy to weed through the crowd and close the distance. “Hey, boss.”

Shit, he really, totally hated doing this. “I got a private client I need some special services for. You interested?”

“Always.” She glanced around. “Is he here tonight?”

“Remote location. Tomorrow at noon. I’m going to ask two others.”

“Fun. Don’t bother with Willow, though, okay? She’s been a pain in the ass lately.”

“Roger that.”

“Thanks for thinking of me, boss.” She smiled and gave him a hip check. “I’ll be sure your buddy has a great time.”

As she sauntered away, Trez thought about maybe, possibly … yeah, pretty much definitely … ralphing his dinner all over the polished black floor.

In search of fresh air, he made his way to the entrance, and fronted like he was merely checking in with Ivan and the new guy at the head of the wait line. And then he just started walking, hoofing it in no particular direction even though he didn’t have a coat on and his Ferragamos were not good on the slick sidewalks.

In his solitude, he was far from alone: thoughts of Selena, his brother, his parents, crowded the space around him, making him consider seriously the merits of getting fucking plastered.

iAm had told him that the deal made with s’Ex was a dumb-ass fucking idea. And then promptly headed back for the kitchen to make cacciatore.

Still, all things considering, that convo had actually gone so much better than some of their others of late—

“You wanna buy some crack? H?”

Cocking an eyebrow, Trez glanced over at a white guy who was lounging up against the far side of a tattoo parlor. Classy.

Just as he opened his mouth to tell the guy fuck, no—the wind changed direction and he got hit in the face with a cream pie full of lesser scent.

It stopped him dead in his tracks.

“So what’ll it be?” the slayer asked him.

Trez looked left and right for no particular reason—other than he was suddenly interested in buying something he was never going to use from an asshole who had no clue he was talking to the enemy.

Stepping into the darkness, Trez put his hand in the pocket of his slacks like he was going for his wallet. “How much?”

“For which one.”

Trez kept up the ruse, glancing around like he was nervous. Up close, this was defo a lesser, the sweet stench so much worse than a seven-day-no-shower human working in a sweatshop—who just happened to be doused in baby powder.

And smuggling a dead raccoon under each armpit.

“Both. Hey, you mind if we step a little farther in?”

The slayer turned away and started quoting prices as he moved deeper into the shop’s side alley. He did not make it to the cash-changing-hands part of the transaction.

Trez took control easily, coming at the bastard from behind, grabbing onto the head and snapping it around so that the only thing keeping it on the spine was the skin. Catching the deadweight by the torso, he pushed the slayer behind a stack of pallets and started going through pockets.

Ten baggies of powder. Twenty or so rocks—small scale. Seven hundred in cash, roughly.

Not major leagues. In fact, hardly remarkable for this part of town—except for the lesser part.

Shoving the still-moving corpse to the ground, he took out his phone and dialed up a number. It was answered on the third ring.

“Butch?” he said. “Hey, buddy—whatchup to? Uh-huh. Yeah. Right.” He eyeballed the slayer and thought the sluggish machinations of the arms and legs were totally fly-on-a-windowsill. “Well, I got a friend I’d like you to meet. Nah, not the kind you’d want to bring home for dinner. Yeah, he’s going nowhere. Take your time.”

After he hung up, he looked at the packets in his palm. They were marked with the death symbol—in the Old Language.

Someone in the race was dealing, big-time. And they were working with the enemy to do it.

Next question? Who the fuck was it.

FORTY-SIX

It was getting close to dawn when Beth decided she just had to leave her and Wrath’s set of rooms. He hadn’t come back yet, and the prospect of spending another minute with the chaos in her mind was enough to make her want to take a bridge.

First stop? Layla’s room, but the Chosen wasn’t there. Probably a good thing as she supposed all she would have done was bug the poor female about early pregnancy symptoms—which was nuts on two accounts: One, if she had conceived, she was what, like twenty-four hours into it, tops? And two, Layla had had that horrible near-miscarriage.

Not exactly a good comp—if Beth didn’t want to drive herself completely insane.

Walking back down the hall of statues, she figured … kitchen. Yeah, the kitchen was a good next stop—assuming she didn’t want to bug Wrath down in the training center’s weight room.

He clearly needed some space.

As she hit the grand staircase, she was finding it impossible not to parallel-process reality. The first layer was what was in front of her: Wrath and the dethroning, the sad quietness in the house, the stress over what the race’s future held. The second level was wholly internal and completely physical: a twinge in her pelvis—was it implantation … or the coming of her period, which would mean no-go?; an ache in her breasts—symptom of conception … or the result of all that sex?; hot flashes—the residual of the hormonal imbalance … or flannel?

Only the severity of the situation they were in thanks to the Council’s actions kept her from devolving completely into her body’s minutiae. And meanwhile, in her heart of hearts, she didn’t know whether she hoped she was pregnant … or hoped she wasn’t.

Actually, that was a lie.

Putting her hand over her lower belly, she found herself praying that it hadn’t worked. The only thing worse than Wrath losing the throne … was him finding out he was going to be a father right afterward.

If he was already feeling like he’d lost his parents’ legacy, that was going to be like throwing him a boulder to catch while he was barely treading water: Undoubtedly, he was going to feel like he cheated his child, too.

Down at the foyer level, she crossed over into the dining room, and then pushed into the kitchen. God, the eerie emptiness—the galley was usually such an active place, even during the lulls between large household meals. To walk in as the shutters were coming down and have nothing on the stove, in the oven, or on the counters scared her.

Damn … what was going to happen now?

Was the Brotherhood going to split apart? Where would she and Wrath go? Technically, they shouldn’t be staying in those overdone quarters on the third floor if they weren’t the First Family anymore.

Actually … it would be a relief to get out of there.

Although the cause for the relo sucked.

Opening up the Sub-Zero, she saw … a whole lot of shit she didn’t want to eat. But she should be hungry, shouldn’t she? She’d only snacked on the stuff Fritz had brought her how many hours ago? And she certainly hadn’t eaten anything during the needing.

She needed to pee.

Disappearing into the loo off the kitchen, she took care of business, washed her hands, and gave the refrigerator another try.

Someone had just put a big vat of something on the lower level. A quick peek under the lid and … cacciatore. Normally an entrée well worth tackling, especially because iAm must have been the one who made it. However, a quick whiff got her a big fat no-thanks from her stomach. Same thing when it came to the leftover ham. A plate’s worth of Bolognese with linguini in a Tupperware container. Tomato soup …

Giving the freezer a try, she took out a box of plain Eggos … then put them back. “Meh.”

Ice cream was a total no-go. Just the thought of that heavy-cream stuff made her want to throw up—

She hesitated as she looked down at herself. “Somebody in there?” she said to her pelvis.

Okay, it was official. She’d totally lost it.

After a trip through the pantry, which proved to be like trying to find something edible in the laundry room, for chrissakes, she doubled back to the fridge and made herself take out a Vlasic jar of butter chips.

“It’s pickles, people,” she muttered. “Pickles. Total cliché here.”

Except when she twisted off the lid and looked at the slices dancing in their little pool of sweet brine, she grimaced and had to put them back.

As a last resort, she hit the vegetable drawer—

“Yes,” she said in a rush as her hand snapped out for a grab. “Oh, yes yes yes…”

As she carried the bunch of organic carrots over to the knife drawer, she couldn’t believe she was about to get it on with all that beta carotene.

She hated carrots. Okay, not completely—if they were in salads, it wasn’t like she’d eat around them. But she had never in her life volunteered them out of the fridge.

Standing over the sink, she cut one free, got out a peeler, and made a neat little pile of bright orange strips in the stainless-steel belly. Quick rinse. Cut in the middle. Slice length-wise twice. And voilà, crudités.

Crunch. Munch. Swallow.

They were so fresh, they cracked every time she took a bite out of them, and the sweet, earthy taste was better than chocolate.

One more, she thought as she finished her last quarter. Except when she got to the end of number two, she thought … how about another.

As she worked her way through her third, she thought back to the Council’s proclamation. Her motivation for trying to do something was such a no-brainer. Even though her mother’s racial identity was not her fault, she still felt responsible for bringing the shit cart to Wrath’s front door.

If she could only figure out a way around this …

On the Council’s side, things were evidently moving ahead. An official swearing in of that Ichan guy had been scheduled—and Rehv had found out because, like an idiot, the Council’s secretary had failed to take him off their blast e-mail list.

That was taking place at midnight.

She glanced over at the double ovens. The blue digital clock read four fifty-four. So they had nineteen hours.

What the hell could be done in nineteen hours?

Turning back to her stash, she—

The sound of the security system announcing the opening and closing of an exterior door was a surprise. Frowning, she went out by the pantry, pushed through one of the flap doors that the staff used …

Layla was coming out of the library, looking like she’d been in a car accident: Her hair was windblown, her face white as a sheet, her hands up to her cheeks.

“Layla,” Beth called over. “Are you okay?”

The Chosen jumped so high she had to put both arms out to keep steady. “Oh! Oh—ah, yes. Yes, I am. I’m fine, just fine, yes. Thank you.” The female abruptly frowned. “And yourself? Are you…”

So many ways to finish that for the female, given what was going on: Are you … suicidal? Are you … taking a break between wailing sessions? Are you … pregnant, too?

“Oh, yup, fine. Yeah, just fine. Yup.”

Two could play at the deflection game.

“Well, I’m just heading upstairs. To go to bed. To have a shower, and go to bed.” As Layla started taking off her parka, her smile was about as genuine as Courtney Stodden’s. “I’ll see you at … well, later. I’ll see you later. Bye. Bye for now!”

The Chosen took to that stairwell like she was being chased, even though there was no one behind her.

As Beth returned to the kitchen, she felt bad that she didn’t follow through on the female’s obvious distress, but the sad truth was, she had so much on her plate … there wasn’t room left for anyone else’s drama-burger with a side of brain-fry.

Back at the sink, she peeled another carrot. Cut it in half and turned it around to—

The solution came to her with such clarity, she nearly sliced the pad of her finger off.

Putting down the knife, she picked up the two halves … and held them together, finding the puzzle fit that made them seem as if they were one.

Then she deliberately separated them. Reunited them. Separated them.

In both incarnations … the halves were still carrot.

Throwing the pieces on the counter, she took off at a dead run.

* * *

It was a fat round hedge that saved them both.

As Xcor materialized in the front yard of his suburban abode, he had to take a moment to collect himself—even though the sun was threatening in the east.

Talk about close calls … he’d barely gotten Layla back in time. And even the now, he was not sure he had succeeded.

But he had done his best.

Once it had become obvious that she suffered the same disorientation as he in the mist, he had taken her hand and started her up the hill. He did not ask her for confirmation that the Brotherhood’s hidden compound was in fact at the top—for that information, he relied on the same principles that had constructed his far more appropriate lair back in the Old Country.

The higher the position, the more defensible it was.

Hustling her as fast as he could, he had ended up running them straight into a twenty-foot-tall stuccoed retaining wall—a very good sign that they were close to her homestead. The problem was, she’d been too turned about to dematerialize over the damn thing.

Confronted by the choice of right or left, he’d been well aware that upon his decision rested her safety.

On so many levels.

He’d been well aware that even if he could construct a suitable shelter for them, something capable of shielding them both from the sunlight all day long, her absence would be noted and questioned when she returned at the following sunset. How she would be able to present answers that would not complicate her life irreparably, he did not know.

He had picked to the right—on the theory that he wanted to do right by her, and therefore, that was the direction he would take.

When they’d found that well-trimmed, well-cared-for little bush … and then a number of its identical siblings, it was clear they were on the trail of the main house. He did not take her all the way. He went far enough to find the first planting bed, and then had released her hand and hissed at her to go—go fast.

He, too, was out of time.

Xcor had watched her hustle forth for only a moment, and then she was lost into the mist, not even the sounds of her footfalls reaching his ears anymore.

It was as if she had disappeared forever.

And as much as a part of him had been tempted to sit and let the sun take him, he had forced himself away, triangling downward until he had tripped over, quite literally, a ploughed drive.

Although he’d only been able to see five feet afore him, the level surface provided him with an opportunity for alacrity unparalleled by the uneven ground. He had run flat-out, gravity in his favor, his only concern that someone would come barreling up the mountain and see him in their headlights.

That had not come to pass. He had made it to the leveling-off part and had eventually broken free of the misted, scrambled landscape.

The sense of dread he’d first experienced upon penetration stuck with him, however. What if Layla hadn’t made it inside in time? What if someone had found her and questioned her? What if …

He had checked his phone to no avail and then been forced to close his eyes, concentrate, and pray that he had enough remaining strength and focus to ghost himself away.

The only thing that had made disappearing possible was that he couldn’t die not knowing what had happened to her.

Taking out his phone once again, he had some errant hope that she had called and he hadn’t heard the ring in his escape down the mountain. Alas … no.

Stalking to the colonial’s front door, the faint glow in the sky made his skin prickle with warning and his eyes water—which ended as he burst into the house.

To a scene of abject debauchery.

The only thing that would have made it more complete would have been the presence of females. As it was, the air was spiced thick with rum and gin, crowded with hearty laughter, heavy with the kind of male aggression that surged after victory.

“You return!” Zypher called out. “He returns!”

The bellowing would have been loud enough to rouse the neighbors, if there had been any. As it was, it filled the house.

“And we have news,” Throe said with satisfaction mildly tinted with drunkenness. “The induction ceremony is at midnight this coming eve. In Ichan’s library hall. We have been invited, of course.”

The temptation to tell them to go in his stead appealed. But he kept his voice quiet. With naught but a nod, he disappeared upstairs.

Fortunately, his soldiers were used to him retreating into his own counsel—and let him go.

As he shut the bedroom door, the noise below was dimmed, not extinguished; however, he was accustomed to tuning out that group of males.

Going over to the bed, which was a mess of sheets and tangled blankets, he sat down, disarmed, and took out his cell. Cradling it in his hands, he stared at the screen.

There was no way to dial her: Whatever phone she’d used had a scrambled account.

Lying back and looking up at the ceiling, he knew an emptiness that was a revelation.

The idea that she could be dead and he didn’t know it hit him so deeply, he felt as if his personality had split in two.

Never to be united again.