Books by Maggie Shayne (103 page)

She shook her head against his neck.
 
"She... has to be."
 
She drew a ragged breath and lifted her head to gaze into his eyes.
 
"I'm s-sorry."
 
Stiffening, she pulled herself from his embrace.
 
She bent over the cat again, carefully slipped both forearms beneath the body and lifted her.
 
Then she turned and started for the car, her shoulders still quaking with involuntary sobs.

Roland swallowed hard.
 
Had he so alienated her that she couldn't even accept comfort from him?

He raced ahead of her, and opened the car's rear door.
 
Rhiannon folded herself into the vehicle, the cat still in her arms.
 
She scooted across the back seat, cradling the huge animal's head and shoulders in her lap.
 
Roland gently eased Pandora's hindquarters in as far as he could, and closed the door with care.
 
Tamara squeezed into the front, between the two men.

As Eric drove, Rhiannon whispered, stroking the cat's big, still head.
 
She spoke as if no one else were in the car, addressing the animal as if it were human.
 
"Don't leave me now, Pandora.
 
There is no one else, you know.
 
Only you.
 
If you go, I'll be alone again."
 
Between each few words, a sob was torn from her breast.

Tamara turned in the seat, tears dampening her lashes.
 
"You love her very much, don't you?"

Rhiannon shook her head briskly.
 
Her hair hung over her face, still bowed to the cat's.
 
Tears glued strands of it to her cheeks.
 
"Don't be ridiculous."
 
She sniffed and sobbed once more.
 
"I'm an immortal.
 
I don't believe in loving anything."
 
She stroked Pandora's head.
 
"It's just that... she has loved me.
 
Just as I am, she has loved me.
 
No one else ever has."

"Oh, Rhiannon--"

"I never had to prove myself to her.
 
I was never unworthy in her huge green eyes.
 
Never her curse."

Roland winced at her words.

"Unconditional acceptance, absolute devotion.
 
I've never known those things in all my years of existence except from Pandora.
 
She wouldn't dream of rejecting me as not good enough to deserve her attention."

Roland felt a stinging in the backs of his eyes, and he heard a suspicious sniff from Eric.
 
"Rhiannon, no one could ever see you as unworthy--"

"No one but you, you mean?
 
Ah, but you were not the first.
 
No, that honor was reserved for the man who sired me.
 
Don't think your indifference is so important, Roland The greatest Pharaoh of Egypt labeled me his curse long before you did."

Eric pulled the car to a stop at an all-night service station, and as the attendant emerged, he rolled down his window and asked in French if there was a veterinarian in town.
 
When the answer was affirmative, Roland got out and demanded a telephone and a directory.
 
He would rouse the man from sleep, if necessary.

As he waited for the veterinarian to answer his telephone, he berated himself endlessly.
 
He'd known nothing of Rhiannon's past.
 
That her father had rejected her.
 
Oh God, and with the same words he'd used in the
cimetière
.
 
He could not have caused her more heartache, he suspected, had he been deliberately seeking to destroy her.
 
Could he not inhale without hurting her?
 
How could he repair the pain he'd caused?

*
   
*
   
*
   
*
   
*

Rhiannon leaned over the table in the clinic that was no more than a room in the man's home.
 
"You ought to keep her sedated until I return," Rhiannon told him.
 
"There is no telling how she will react to strangers."

"
Oui
, I will take no chances,
mademoiselle
."
 
He rubbed his balding head, and adjusted the rectangular specs on his nose.
 
"I have treated many species, but never ze pet panther."
 
He paused, but Rhiannon offered no explanation.
 
After a moment he shrugged and let it go.
 
"She was struck by ze auto,
non?
"

"I don't know.
 
I found her in the woods like this."
 
Rhiannon glanced up into the mortal's pale blue eyes.
 
"If you can save her, I will build you a new clinic.
 
An entire hospital, if you wish.
 
I will give you more money than you can make in a year.
 
Three years."

His smile was sudden, and genuine.
 
He took her hand and patted it.
 
"I adore animals,
mademoiselle
.
 
You share zat with me,
non?
 
I will save her eef I can, whether you promise me the moon or bushel of apples as payment."
 
He released her hand to stroke Pandora's silken fur.

"I believe you will."
 
She sniffed, and swiped at her eyes.
 
She hadn't cried so much since the guards had carried her from her father's palace, to be placed in the temple of Isis.
 
She'd been a five-year-old child then.
 
She was ageless now.
 
It was ridiculous, how fond she'd grown of the cat.
 
"I don't know when I can come for her.
 
A few days, perhaps."

"I will care for her.
 
Do not fear."

"Thank you."
 
It didn't seem enough.
 
She'd meant what she'd said.
 
If he pulled Pandora through this, she would shower him with rewards.

Leaving the cat there felt like abandoning a babe.
 
Rhiannon fought her tears and forced herself to go.
 
Jamison needed her right now.
 
She mustn't forget that.

In the car, she sat in stony silence for a time, until Tamara took her hand and held it firmly.
 
"She'll be all right."

Rhiannon nodded.
 
"Lucien will not."

"You think he did that to her?"

Rhiannon nodded again.
 
"Pandora was with Jamey.
 
Now Jamey is with Lucien, and Pandora is on a cold table.
 
Yes, I believe he is responsible.
 
And I believe he will wish for death long before it's granted him."
 
She closed her eyes and sent her thoughts over the miles.
 
Do you hear me, Lucien?
 
I'm coming for you, you know
.

Her eyes flew wide with surprise when she heard, echoing through her mind, the reply.
 
I'll be waiting
.

*
   
*
   
*
   
*
   
*

"It will be dawn soon.
 
We need to seek shelter."

Tamara sighed in frustration and Roland well understood her feelings.
 
"We'll do Jamey no good if we all sizzle in the sun, Tamara."

"True enough."

Eric continued driving, but turned onto smaller and narrower dirt tracks, in search of a safe resting spot for all of them.
 
Finally, an abandoned barn came into view.
 
Roland pointed to it.
 
"We can drive around to the back, to hide the car from view.
 
Better yet, get the door open and pull it right inside.
 
What do you think?"

"That would be the best idea.
 
The ground in front looks smooth enough.
 
Why don't you open the door, and see if there's room inside?"

Roland did, wrenching the door.
 
It gave way and slid on its rusted tracks until there was room enough for the car to pass through.
 
The barn was empty, save for a huge mound of musty-smelling hay and a few ancient-looking tools scattered about.
 
Roland moved a broken pitchfork and an old milk can out of the way, and waved for Eric to bring the car in.

As soon as the engine died, Roland closed the barn door, plunging them into darkness.

"This will be safe enough," Tamara observed.

"Can't be certain about cracks and crevices, Tamara.
 
We'd best burrow into that haystack before we sleep, just to be safe."

She nodded, moving closer to Eric, who slipped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her closer.
 
She let her head lean onto his shoulder and closed her eyes.
 
"What do you suppose this Lucien person wants with Jamey?
 
He's not DPI."

Eric shook his head.

"He wants immortality, Tamara," Rhiannon told her.
 
"He wants me to transform him.
 
I imagine he will use Jamey's life to bargain with."

Tamara grimaced, and turned fully into Eric's arms.
 
Roland felt his stomach clench and unclench in involuntary spasms.
 
His arms ached to wrap around Rhiannon in the same manner.
 
But he told himself the breach between them was a good thing.
 
No matter how bad it felt.
 
No matter how he longed to erase the hurt he'd caused her.
 
It was better this way.

"He knows we're coming," Rhiannon said.
 
"He has incredible psychic capacity for a human.
 
He's waiting for us."

"At least we know Jamison will be kept alive in the meantime," Roland said, seeking to comfort Tamara in some small way.
 
Unfortunately, he was about to cause her a great deal more discomfort.

"Tamara, there is something I need to tell you.
 
About Jamey."

She turned, frowning.
 
"What is it, Roland?"

Roland averted his gaze.
 
She would likely hate him for this.
 
"I've initiated a search for his natural father."

Her eyes widened.
 
"You--but why?
 
I don't understand.
 
Jamey doesn't need him.
 
He has us."

Roland shook his head slowly.
 
"I am as fond of him as you are, Tamara.
 
You know that.
 
But we must think of what is best for Jamison."

"To leave the people he knows and loves?
 
To go off and live with a stranger?
 
You think that's best for him?"

Eric touched her face, turned it toward his.
 
"Tamara, hear him out.
 
If you were in Jamey's place, wouldn't you at least like to know your father, to find out something about him?"

She frowned harder, and shook her head.
 
"He abandoned his son--"

"He never knew of the boy's existence," Roland said slowly.
 
"You said it yourself.
 
He deserves to be informed.
 
Jamey deserves to be given the options, and to make his own decision."

"If you're sick of caring for him, Roland, then Eric and I will take him!"

Rhiannon shook her head slowly.
 
"Tamara, as long as he is with us, DPI will hound him.
 
They watch us too closely, we're too easily spotted.
 
In a normal, mortal family, Jamey would blend in as just another human boy.
 
He'd be safe."

"I can't believe you're all saying these things," Tamara said, shaking her head.
 
"Especially you, Eric.
 
How could you turn on me this way?"

Eric looked stricken.
 
"No, Tamara.
 
I only--"

"I don't want to hear any more!"
 
She tugged free of his grip and raced out of the barn, through a smaller, side door, and into the night.

Eric put his head in his hands.
 
Roland felt as if he'd been saying the wrong thing at the wrong time forever.
 
"I'm sorry, Eric.
 
I didn't realize how strongly she would react."

Eric shook his head.
 
"Not your fault, old friend.
 
She'll see that it's the right thing, given time."
 
He glanced again toward the fading night beyond the door.
 
"I'd better go after her."

He did, and Roland turned toward Rhiannon.
 
"You think I'm doing the right thing?"

She sighed, and walked away from him, settling herself down on the hay.
 
"Since when does the staid and honorable Roland de Courtemanche seek the opinion of the reckless and self-destructive Rhiannon of Egypt?"

"I would like for us to remain friends, Rhiannon."
 
He crossed the barn, and sat down beside her in the sour-smelling hay.
 
"And while I do think you reckless and self-destructive, I still value your opinion."

"Do you?"
 
Her finely etched brows rose above her slanted, dark eyes.

"You know I do."

She sniffed, tilting her chin upward.

"Then you'll be interested to hear that I think you are the biggest fool ever born."