A Taste of Ice (31 page)

With two fingers, Michael gestured Lea forward. The snide look on her face should have prepared Xavier for what she hid behind her back, but, in truth, he never expected to see a neutralizer cuff again.

In the Plant, the whole place—with exception of the rooms where the Ofarians had drained the Tedrans’ magic—had been decked out in neutralizers, which prevented Tedrans from starting a glamour spell. When the Ofarians had tried to move the slaves, they’d slapped neutralizer cuffs around the Tedrans’ wrists. Cold metal, a sickly green glowing light. No magic.

Then the Plant was shut down, all the Tedrans freed, and a new Ofarian government came to power. The neutralizers shouldn’t have existed anymore, but Lea dangled one from her finger.

Hadn’t he just wished for something like this? For what made him Secondary to be taken away? He stared at the little green light, already feeling it sucking the magic from him.

He truly had come full circle.

Blank faced, he addressed Lea. “How’d you get that?”

Michael looked shocked that Xavier knew what it was.

Lea shrugged, extended the neutralizer out farther. “I have my ways.” Her eyes shifted slightly as she said it. Discomfort. Lies.

Unless she just happened to have that thing lying around, she’d had to have gotten it from the Ofarians. The technology wasn’t used anymore—no need, if he was the only Tedran left—which meant Lea had to have secretly contacted someone inside the Ofarian world to get it for her. Otherwise it would have raised a big red flag that Xavier was in some kind of trouble. A benefit to being the last of his kind.

There was only one possibility: Lea had a spy somewhere inside the Ofarian ruling class.

Xavier wordlessly held out his arm. Lea slapped the cold metal around his wrist and the sallow green light peered back at him. He couldn’t stare at it too long; the gentle pulsing of its power hypnotized him, sent him hurtling back in time to the place he’d almost—
almost
—managed to leave in the past. He rolled his long sleeve over the light. If he didn’t have to look at it, he couldn’t be reminded of what he’d lost.
Who
he’d lost.

Satisfied, Michael headed for the stairs. “Come with me.”

Xavier followed, exiting on the main floor that was filled with bright morning light reflecting off the drifts of snow piled high outside. Jase slouched on a stool at the kitchen island.

“Where are the others?” Xavier asked. “Sean? The Ofarians?”

Michael ignored him. “I want you to cook.”

“What?” Xavier shook his head. “That’s not why you took me. What you really want from me.”

Michael smirked. “No. That’s not what I really want from you. But for now, it’ll do. Remember, you’re mine.” He pushed a small pad of paper and a pencil over the island. “Dinner menu for seven. Anything you need, we’ll get. Heard good things about you.”

Then Michael and Lea left by the front door, leaving Xavier in a kitchen that was as big as Shed’s. Jase idly drummed his fingers on the countertop, then reached into his back pocket, pulled out a tiny music player, and stabbed the earbuds into place. As Xavier edged toward the pencil and paper, he could
feel currents of air surge around his body. Jase was testing him, feeling him out for any sudden moves. The cowboy, corralling him.

He wondered where Michael was keeping the other Ofarians. If they were locked up in some other part of the house, or if they were wandering free like Jase, their power knocked out by
nelicoda
and their loyalty won by some horrific bargain. He thought of this other person they claimed was watching Cat. Was he Secondary, too? Or just some hired muscle?

A deep, dangerous rumble came from behind the door next to the fireplace. More than a sound, more than a vibration, it was a
feeling
. Ominous and filled with rage, and very, very real. The scent of smoke seeped into the house. Jase threw a long look at the door, but otherwise seemed unworried. He faced the counter again, casual as ever, and Xavier knew that asking the air elemental about what was behind Door Number One would be futile.

He took the pad of paper and pencil, and switched his brain toward food. He’d hold up his end of the bargain long enough for Gwen to pull in Cat’s boat. He’d cook, because that’s what he always did to forget.

Shortly after sunset, Xavier banged and clanged at the stove.
There were sauce splashes all over the burners, dirty bowls piled on the counter and crumbs tucked into every crevice. The mess went against everything he’d been taught. He didn’t care.

Around the corner, in the office nook tucked into a hallway, Lea tapped away at a laptop. Behind him, Jase still sat at the island. The two Ofarians, Robert and the new “acquisition,” Shelby, sat holding hands at the kitchen table. They’d both been dosed with enough
nelicoda
to numb their powers for the night, and Robert, who was pockmarked and a little greasy at the temples, was telling Shelby that if she just did as she was told, all would be well back home.

As Xavier ran water over the cooked noodles, he felt Shelby watching him. “He’s Tedran,” she said to Robert, as though Xavier couldn’t hear her.

“Yeah,” Robert said, and cleared his throat.

“So he has to be the one who helped take down the Board and stop
Mendacia
. He has to be—”

“The last one,” Robert offered. “Yep.”

Just then, Michael entered the kitchen. Xavier would know the sound of those leather dress shoes anywhere.

“It’s ready.” Xavier snapped the kitchen towel off his shoulder and threw it against the backsplash. “Come and fucking get it.”

Jase actually cracked a smile. But Michael wasn’t looking at the food or the fucked-up little family he’d created and forced to sit around the table. He was staring at Xavier with the most disturbing expression—eyes so wide and clear and crazed. The corners of his mouth twitched into an uneven grin. His shoulders dropped, his arms going lax at his sides. He looked to Shelby, then back to Xavier.

“What?” Xavier snarled.

“Jase,” Michael said, his voice eerily distant. “Take Xavier downstairs.”

Lea appeared in the kitchen doorway, arms crossed at her waist. She eyed Michael, and though she was trying to sound nonchalant, she was clearly wary. “What’re you doing?”

Michael ignored her. Jase obediently slid off his stool, and Xavier lurched under the sudden pressure of air at his back, which steered him toward the basement cell.

Hours later, Jase came back to get him. As he ushered Xavier
through the house and up the stairs, he heard voices in the game room—Sean and Lea and the Ofarians. Someone switched on the stereo and awful dance music with a driving beat thundered through the house.

Jase took Xavier to a small bedroom at the very back of the second floor, decorated in red plaid and knotty pine. Something was up, and it had to do with the terrible way Michael had examined Xavier earlier. As presumed, Michael entered the bedroom, looking incredibly pleased with himself. Jase stood guard in the open doorway.

Xavier’s heart was pounding. “What’s this about?”

A twisted glee lit Michael’s eyes. “In a moment I’m sending Shelby up. You’re going to give her a baby.”

Xavier was sure he hadn’t heard correctly. He blinked. Opened his mouth.

Michael said, “You heard me.”

Xavier squeezed shut his eyes. This wasn’t happening. Not again. “I won’t do that. I can’t.”

“But that’s what you’re good for,” Michael said with false innocence. “Lea told me you were some sort of breeding stud to the Ofarians. That you could get any woman pregnant, even those with problems.” He lifted his hands in a praise-Jesus gesture. “Oh, ye of the magic sperm.”

The Burned Man materialized on the bed. His scarred hand smoothed over the comforter, the melted side of his lips pulled back to bare his teeth in that horrible smile. The real world spun away from Xavier as he was pitched into hell. “Fuck you,” he whispered. To Michael and the Burned Man.

“No.” Michael’s nasty grin died. “Fuck Shelby.”

Xavier didn’t have to do this. Cat should have been freed a day and a half ago. She would have made contact with Gwen by now. He had to believe that, had to trust that the Ofarians were on their way.

Xavier shoved his hair away from his face and glared at Michael. “I said no.”

In the doorway, Jase shifted on his feet.

Michael narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not having sex with Shelby. You can try to go after Cat, but here’s the thing. I don’t think I believe you when you say you put someone on her. I think that you like to carry everything, and everyone, you own with you at all times. Like her painting sitting on the mantel down there. Part of you actually believes that’s her. And I don’t think you have any other Secondaries under your control down in Florida. I think that was all bullshit just to scare me into doing whatever you wanted. So guess what? I’m calling your bluff. And I’m telling you that not only did Cat make it back to Florida safe and alone, but that she knows exactly how to contact the Ofarians. She’s already spoken to them and they already suspected she might be in danger. They protect their own, and I’m guessing that they’re already mobilizing, already on their way here. So my answer is no. There’s no fucking way I’m sleeping with Shelby or anyone else. Not while Cat’s still out there.”

Michael just stood there.
Just stood there
. And Xavier realized, with a sickness that almost doubled him over, that everything he’d guessed had been wrong.

Michael ambled toward the TV parked in the bedroom corner.

Oh, please, no…

Picked up a remote and switched the TV on.

Please…

Up popped the black-and-white image of Cat. Gagged and bound at the ankles and wrists, she was tied to a post in the middle of a bedroom. A bedroom decorated almost exactly like this one.

“You’re right,” Michael said. “I do like to keep everything I own with me.”

Xavier roared and charged Michael, forgetting about Jase until the great gust of air swept around and threw him backward. Xavier didn’t care. His fists flew, his arms striking nothing but gale force winds.

Michael just said, “I know how you feel. I don’t want to give her up either. Look what she’s become since I met her. Beloved, respected, successful. And now I know she’s special in ways I never even imagined.”

Xavier finally collapsed back, chest heaving, arms aching. Nora had made him kill once. He’d fed a homeless man
Mendacia
, made him look like Gwen, and then stabbed him in order to make her people believe she was dead. After that, he’d vowed never to kill again. But staring at Michael, he wasn’t so sure he could honor that vow.

“You know what you have to do, Xavier.” Michael slid his hands in his pockets. “And it should be easy. You were born for this. I won’t even tell Cat.”

“You think this will make me? You think keeping Cat tied up is going to make me do what you want? You’re delusional.”

Michael leaned forward. “I haven’t touched her. Yet. If you do this with Shelby, I won’t ever touch her.”

Xavier scrubbed his face, feeling the itch of the skin he was dying to crawl out of. “You’ve already double-crossed me. I don’t believe you.”

“Are you really willing to take that chance?”

Fuck Shelby so Michael wouldn’t fuck Cat.

It’s just once
, said the Burned Man.
Sex hasn’t meant anything to you for years. You expect that to change in a week?

Xavier stumbled to the TV, touched the image of Cat. Her
eyes were filled with anger. She hadn’t given up. Not his Cat. She was aware and strong and smart.

“Why?” Xavier croaked. “Why Shelby? What’s the point?”

Michael’s fist flew to the side, struck a print of the mountains hanging on the wall. Glass shattered. “Because Raymond Ebrecht may have ignored me, he may have tried to hide my powers from me, and he may have been the most successful studio head in Hollywood history, but he didn’t create new races. I can. And I will. I’m going after fucking
godhood
.”

There was no reasoning with insanity.

The music coming from below wasn’t stopping. The same beat over and over, driving into Xavier’s brain. He knew for a fact that mating a Tedran and a Primary produced no magic—Adine was proof of that—but Tedran and Ofarian? Or Tedran and another Secondary? Even he couldn’t predict what would happen.

The Ofarians had no idea where he or Cat were, not even that they were in danger. Because he’d been blind and desperate while he’d searched for Cat, and Gwen hadn’t entered his mind. The Ofarians weren’t coming. Xavier and Cat only had each other. They’d get out of this, away from Michael and Lea, but to do that, they had to remain alive. And Michael had to believe they were his.

“For you, sweetheart,” Xavier whispered to the TV in Tedran. “Everything, for you.”

“That’s a ‘yes,’ I take it?”

Xavier just bowed his head.

“Bring Shelby up,” Michael told Jase on his way out. “Make sure it happens.”

Jase watched Michael leave, then with a final glance at Xavier, he shut the door and locked it from the outside.

Xavier rushed to the TV, gripping its sides in his hands. Cat was jiggling her ropes, trying to figure out the knots, trying to get free. Her mouth worked against the gag. Suddenly she went stiff as though she’d heard something. From the left side of the screen, Michael walked in. Xavier gripped the TV harder, his nose almost to the glass.

“Don’t do it, asshole. Or I won’t.”

Michael walked slowly toward Cat, saying something to her that made her eyes bulge. His lecherous gaze slid down
Cat’s immobile body and Xavier almost put his fist through the TV.

Michael loosened his tie. He looked right into the camera lens—right at Xavier—then turned, walked past Cat and sat on the edge of the bed. Waiting.

Don’t know why you’re so worked up
, said the Burned Man from the bed.
This is you. You’re home
.

“This is not my home!”

The lock clicked. The door swung open to reveal Shelby and Jase in the hallway. Xavier slapped off the TV. Whatever was about to happen, he didn’t want Cat in the room with him, not even in two dimensions.