Dark Deceiver (15 page)

“I'm sorry.” He reached for her, then stilled, wondering if his touch would help or only cause her more pain. Could his control over her body control the fire within her? He had to know, had to try.

Kaderil laid his hand lightly over the back of hers, barely touching her heated skin, but even with that barest of touches, her tension leaped into him, stringing him as tight as a bow.

“Feel no pain, Autumn,” he murmured softly. Power, he was beginning to realize was a double-edged blade. And in the hands of the inexperienced, he thought ruefully, a dangerous and unpredictable weapon.

He lifted his hand, fearing he was doing more harm than good. “Did I help at all?”

Her lashes fluttered open, freeing tears that slid silently into her hair. “A little,” she said, her voice tight, her gaze filled with pain.

He lifted his hand and slid it over his mouth as he struggled with the sharp ache of guilt.

“Forgive me. I never meant to hurt you, Autumn. If you believe nothing else of me, believe that. I only said those things to drive your fury and raise the power, but your human body is too fragile for the energy we raised. I won't do it again.”

She said nothing, just watched him with eyes filled with a misery that called to the dark ache in his own soul. He took her hand, watching that he didn't cause her more pain as he tried to ease the fire tormenting her.

Slowly, the arch eased out of her back. Her gray eyes lost their focus, filling with an empty hopelessness that tore out his heart.

“You said those things to drive my fury,” she said softly, her words flat and hollow. “But they were true.”

Kaderil turned his head, unable to watch those empty eyes. “Yes.”

“Leave me.” Her words rang as hollow as her eyes as she pulled her hand from his and rolled onto her side, turning her back on him.

He stared at her rigid back and knew a pain unlike any he'd felt in centuries.

All his life he'd been feared. He'd thought himself immune to emotional pain, immune to hurt. He'd thought his heart's armor strong enough to withstand anything.

But he'd been wrong.

Nothing in his life had prepared him for the cutting pain of watching eyes that had once looked at him with warmth and affection suddenly slice him to shreds with loathing and fear.

He forced his feet to move, to leave the side of the woman who, for a few short days, had brought such light into his life. In the hallway, he closed the door behind him, then squeezed his eyes closed against the stunning sharpness of his own unhappiness. If only he could let her go.

For her. For him, so that he wouldn't have to continually face her hatred and misery. But he couldn't afford to be so weak. She knew he was Esri. If she warned the others, he might never get his hands on that draggon stone. His mission would be forfeit.

And his mission was all he had now.

“Y
ou'll drive us to the marina.” Kade's touch on her hand was light, but his voice was not as he handed her the car keys the next morning before they left his apartment. He was dressed in jeans and a black silk shirt that, on his muscular frame, made him look dark, dangerous and way too sexy. Even knowing he was Esri wasn't enough to stop her body's response to his potent masculinity.

Autumn's gaze roamed over the features of the man she'd thought she was falling for. The strong bones and straight nose, the brilliant blue eyes. How could she have been so blind? He still looked like the man who'd kissed her so tenderly, but there was a hard light in his eyes this morning that chilled her to her core.

Overnight, something had changed in him. Or maybe she was just seeing him clearly for the first time.

“You will keep your eyes downcast and you will speak to no one on the way to the car.” He stood in front of her, compelling her to meet his gaze. “You will drive carefully and legally and park the same way once we're there.”

“Yes, master,” she said sarcastically.

Though he hadn't said why they were returning to the houseboat, she knew. He wanted that Esri stone. And with the control he had over her now, there was nothing she could do to stop him from getting it. If only she hadn't told him about Mr. Robertson and the sculptures. If only she
had
told Jack and the others. Her foolish, foolish wish to impress the Sitheen might kill them all now.

Kade tugged on her hand, but unlike before, the feel of his strong fingers engulfing her own made fear lance her heart. He led her out the apartment door and she followed because she had to. If only she could find a way to thwart him. But the man seemed to think of everything.

The elevator door opened and they walked hand in hand to the car, looking to all the world like lovers. She was still in sweatpants and the flannel shirt she'd found last night, but in the second bedroom she'd at least found women's underwear and a pair of flip-flops that were a little short, but not too bad. She kept wondering about the woman they'd belonged to.

She unlocked the car doors as they approached the vehicle. “What happened to the owners of your apartment, Kade?”

He glanced at her over the roof of the car. “I don't know. Ustanis procured me the apartment.”

“So they could be dead.”

“They could also be on vacation. Don't automatically think the worst, Autumn.”

“Thinking the best certainly hasn't worked.” Bitterly, she remembered thinking he was a kind and gentle man. She'd imagined she'd seen a loneliness inside him, and a need for connection that had called to her.

Foolish, foolish Autumn.

“Get in the car,” he said, and she did, unable to do otherwise. When he told her to start the car, she fought against the command with everything she had.

She wasn't going to drive this car!

But though her mind refused, her body obeyed him, starting the ignition, easing out of the parking space, shifting to drive.

Her hands gripped the steering wheel until her knuckles turned white as she tried to turn the wheel toward the parked cars. Sweat broke out on her brow. A groan of sheer effort escaped her throat.

“You can't fight it,” Kade said beside her, his tone flat.

With a low cry of frustration, she quit struggling as her unwilling self joined the heavy morning traffic. “Why is this necessary? What are you going to do with those stones? The least you can do is tell me what I've done.”

“You already know what they do. The draggon stone opens the gates. The others will revitalize the magic in my world.”

“Is the magic in your world low?”

“Not desperately so, but yes. Lower than it should be.”

He didn't say any more and didn't look at her again as she drove to the marina and parked. As she pulled the key out of the ignition, his hand covered hers. The brush of his warm flesh on hers sparked a quick rush of excitement before her mind recoiled and doused the pending fire.

“When I release you, you'll get out of the car and wait for me silently.”

“Do you really think I could escape you?”

“No. I'm still faster than you. But we'd attract too much attention.”

Her gaze flicked to his. “Two giants chasing one another at superhuman speeds? Go figure.”

For an instant, his expression softened to something slightly shy of granite, then hardened again. “Let's go.”

Autumn got out of the car and couldn't move until Kade slid his warm fingers around her wrist. Angry frustration flared inside her. “I
hate
this. You might as well put a choke collar around my neck and attach a leash.” Her gaze rose to his. “I used to love it when you touched me. Now I hate it.”

His eyes flinched and she thought her barb had hit its mark, but the look was gone a second later and he pulled her with him to the marina office.

“We're going to check your mail in case one of those stones has already arrived. Act natural.”

“Yes, sir, master, sir,” she muttered.

He opened the door for her and ushered her inside.

“Good morning, Kade!”

Autumn's head jerked up in surprise, a chill raising her skin to gooseflesh. How in the
heck
did the desk guy know the Esri? Had Kade enchanted him, too?

Kade lifted a hand in greeting, but said nothing to the man, whose name even Autumn didn't know. “Retrieve your mail and bring it to me, including packages.”

She silently wished that none of the sculptures had arrived yet. But when she opened Larsen's mail slot—hers for now—she found a telltale slip of paper announcing that a package was being held for her at the front desk.

Led as if by unseen puppet strings, she marched to the counter and retrieved a small box that was about the size of a tissue box. A quick glance at the label said the sender's name was Robertson.

Hells bells.

This son had spent a considerable amount of money to overnight the sculpture for morning delivery. Poor Mr. Robertson was so anxious for this exhibit. If she managed to get out of this alive, that exhibit was going to happen if she had to tie up her boss and do it herself.

Against her will, she took the box to Kade, afraid she was turning over another power stone to the enemy.

“See you later!” the man behind the counter called as they left the office.

They walked down the path to the docks, the river-scented wind whipping loose tendrils of hair into her face. The day was as gray as her mood. Was it only a week ago that she'd dreamed of walking hand in hand with this man she'd fancied herself in love with? Now here she was, she thought bitterly. Hand in hand. But their closeness had nothing to do with affection and everything to do with control. And her dream had turned into a nightmare.

When they reached the houseboat, Kade helped her on board, then handed her the box. “Hold this and wait here.” Then he turned and went to the rail where she'd tied the lead-lined box. Out on the river, a lone sailboat bobbed as it cut through the rough water. Free.

Beneath her, she could feel the gentle sway of the houseboat, but for once the movement didn't unbalance her. What if she fell and the box landed in the water? Could Esri swim? She tried to fall, tried to
move,
but his words, no matter how casually stated, bound her. It wouldn't matter anyway, she thought with a soft snort of resignation. He'd simply tell her to go in after it. And if she drowned trying to retrieve the thing? At least he wouldn't be able to control her anymore.

She watched Kade lean over the rail, the leather jacket stretched taut across his broad back. Her fingers remembered all too well the planes of that back, and the hard muscles of his arms and chest. Heat rushed through her as her body warmed and readied itself to welcome his. She tore her gaze away and forced herself to look elsewhere.

How could she still want him, knowing what he was? She didn't, not consciously. But her body was not so particular and her gaze wouldn't be denied, following him as he lifted the dripping box over the rail and opened it, pulling out the stone she'd worked so hard to find.

His expression closed, he came to her, taking the box out of her hands, then ushered her inside.

The houseboat was as she'd left it yesterday, the blinds open, muted daylight filling the living room with a gray gloom.

Kade set the box on the kitchen counter. “Would you like to open it?” There was no softness in his voice. No kindness. Yet his words offered a measure of consideration completely at odds with his role of evil Esri.

He was letting her be the first to find the stones if there were any.

“Why do you do that?” she asked, frustrated.

“Do what?”

“Pretend to care how I feel.”

He turned away. “Do you want to open it or not?”

“Of course.”

“Then do it.” His voice remained without heat, without warmth. Without any inflection at all.

She crossed to the kitchen, able to move freely for the first time all day. Her pulse leaped as the breath of opportunity pricked her scalp. What if he
couldn't
swim? What if she could grab the stone and dive into the water before he grabbed her? Before he gave her any orders? If he couldn't follow, she'd be free.

But she'd never outrun him. Not unless she could figure out a way to slow him down.

The blood began to pound in her ears as she opened the drawer to grab scissors to cut through the tape. She stared at their sharp, pointy ends.
A weapon.
They wouldn't kill him. From what she knew of Esri healing powers—and the little bit she'd seen for herself—the stab would barely hurt him at all. But it might slow him down enough to give her a chance to escape.

Her mind leaped in an excited panic from one thought to the next. She needed time to think this through.

There was no time.

Kade stood by the counter, watching her. She moved around behind him, gripping the scissor handles in her fist. But as she lifted the weapon, intending to aim for his heart, the boat rocked, knocking her into him. The scissors slipped from her fingers, landing with a glancing blow that sliced a painful cut along the top of her bare foot.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Her fingers curled into the silk of Kade's shirt as she tried to get her balance. Blood oozed from the shallow, burning cut.

Kade's shirt slid out of her grasp as he turned to face her. “What happened?”

“I dropped the scissors.” And lost her one chance to stop this travesty and get away. Tears of pain and frustration swam in her eyes. She was
such
an idiot.

She gasped as Kade swung her into his arms. “What are you doing?”

“We have to stop the blood.” His voice sounded so dire, she might have laughed if she'd had any laughter left in her.

“It's just a cut. Not a big deal.”

He looked at her with solemn, worried eyes. “A human cannot withstand too much blood loss.”

She knew he was remembering Larsen. The memory jarred her. Why had he helped
save
Larsen? To keep from blowing his cover? Probably.

“The human body is designed to stop the blood loss on its own if the cut isn't too deep or the damage too extensive,” she told him. She thought of the way her fingernails had torn his cheek, and shivered. “My cut won't heal as fast as yours, but it will heal.”

His eyes narrowed in concentration as if he were thinking about something carefully. “You need a bandage.”

“There's a box of them in the bathroom medicine cabinet.” She grimaced. “I don't go anywhere without them.”

He set her down on the sofa and patted her hand. “Wait here.”

Damn. She wondered if he even knew he'd given her another order. She tried to rise and couldn't budge. With a defeated sigh, she let her head fall against the sofa back as she waited for him.

Kade returned with the bandages and a sterile gauze pad and knelt at her feet. With big, gentle hands, he lifted her foot onto his lap and gently dabbed at the blood.

She stared at the top of his dark head in bewilderment. “I don't understand you.”

His gaze lifted. “What don't you understand?”

“Why you're being so gentle.”

Emotions flickered through his eyes, but she couldn't read them. “I've hurt you enough.” He bandaged the cut then rose and looked down at her, his eyes shuttered. “Does it hurt?”

“A little.” It was hard to remember he was Esri when he was being kind like this, when he was acting like the man she'd fallen for. “Thank you.”

He nodded, then he went to retrieve the box and the scissors. He sat beside her and cut through the tape himself, then handed the box to her for her to open.