Legend of the Sorcerer (20 page)

She was reluctant to leave, not knowing if she’d ever get to come back in again. She looked around one last time, more to imprint the details of the room on her mind than anything else. Perhaps that’s why she noticed the book.

It was ancient looking and huge, stuffed between two of the filing cabinets. There was no title on the spine, but the sheer size of it intrigued her too much not to check it out.

“Wait a minute.” She knelt down and worked the book free without harming the ancient, cracked leather binding. She sat it on her lap—it covered the space from her thighs to her knees—and carefully opened it. She gasped.
“Incantations, Spells and Other Magicks,”
she read aloud.

“We really should leave.”

He was right. She hadn’t missed the sound of the boat
engine. She closed it gently, and tucked it against her chest as she stood up. “Do you think he’d miss this for a few hours? I can return it later after everyone is asleep.”

Cai clearly didn’t like the idea, but nodded. “I don’t think he’ll be back in here for a day or two anyway. Come on.” He closed the door quickly behind them and followed her to her room, which was closer than his office. They were less likely to cross paths with Dilys this way.

He stood in front of her as she sat on the bed and opened the book across her lap. “This isn’t exactly the way I pictured coming to your bed for the first time.”

Jordy looked up at him and smiled. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. There was worry there. And a little fear. She patted the bed beside her.

He sat and pulled half of the big book onto his lap.

She turned past the first few pages. “I don’t see any publication date or anything like that. It looks almost hand drawn.” She looked at Cai, suddenly uneasy. “Maybe we should have left this alone. It looks like an heirloom. I’m almost afraid it will disintegrate in my hands.”

But Cai wasn’t paying attention, his gaze was riveted on the page. She looked down and gasped.

The page was filled with hand-drawn symbols. Words in some other language were written beneath each one. Cai traced a finger lightly over the many columns, coming to one figure that stood out among the others.

She saw it the same time he did.

It was the symbol that had been marked on the flesh, and directly beneath it, the words:
Mae olion ar y cnawd y sawl sy’n uffuddhau
.

I
t was after midnight when Cai quietly closed the door to Alfred’s bedroom and moved down the hallway. His grandfather wasn’t doing as well as he’d hoped. He’d expected him to be bristling mad at being kept in bed. He’d also been prepared to deal with the subject that had sent him to bed in the first place. None of that had happened. Dilys had been there when he’d come in, feeding Alfred soup like one would a child.

Seeing Alfred like this scared Cai. Pale, weak, and too tired to do much more than sip down the broth, the day’s activities had obviously taken far more out of him than Cai had realized. A day or two of rest, like Dr. Fashel had said, and he should be good as new.

He clung to that hope as he went to Alfred’s office.

His thoughts turned reluctantly to the symbol and the words beneath it. Growing up around Alfred had taught him a smattering of the Welsh language, but not enough to do translations.

Jordy was standing at the door when he got there.

“I’m not surprised to find you here,” he said.

“You didn’t really think I’d gone off to bed, did you?”

“It’s where you should be.” But he didn’t push it. Truth
was, he was glad to see her. He didn’t really want to be alone. “Come on.”

They searched the shelves and found several Welsh language reference books. It took a long time to find the meanings of the words. He pieced it together as best he could. “Marked is the flesh of those who will obey.”

Jordy shivered. “Alfred’s right. She is evil.”

Cai didn’t want to think about Alfred and what he knew right now. He saw the fatigue lining her face and his concern shifted immediately to her. “Why don’t you turn in for the night?”

She stilled, then said, “What about you?”

He felt the instantaneous tension between them. He wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed with her and forget everything else except the sweet taste of her skin. “It’s been a difficult day. We both need sleep.” He reached out and ran a finger along her cheek. “If we spend the night together, neither of us will get any rest.”

Her eyes darkened. “True.”

He leaned in before he could stop himself and kissed her. It started softly, a goodnight kiss, then quickly got out of hand.

She pulled away first. “I’m not feeling restful here.”

Cai gently touched the smudges under her eyes. “But you need to. I’ve got some work to finish up.” He chanced a kiss on her forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Anything I can help you with?”

“No, it’s regular work stuff.”

“Okay.” She looked disappointed.

He wasn’t exactly overjoyed about sending her away either. “Tomorrow morning I want to run over to Key West and check out that post office box. You want to go with me?” He hadn’t heard or seen anything more of the deliveryman, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he should keep those he cared for close to him.

She immediately brightened. “Yes, I would.”

He smiled, telling himself the contentment was due to the knowledge that he could keep a close eye on her. Truth was, he wanted to spend all his time with her and it had little to do with keeping her safe.

“We’ll see how Alfred is doing in the morning. If he’s calm, Dilys can keep watch over him for an hour or so.”

She reached up and kissed him. “Goodnight, Cai.” She retreated quickly.

Cai sank into his chair. Somehow, in a very short span of time, Jordy had come to mean a great deal to him. And to Alfred as well. She was making a place here, in his home, in his life. In all their lives.

Alfred was more than fond of her, she’d become very important to him. Cai understood that feeling perfectly. It should surprise him, but somehow it didn’t. Already he couldn’t imagine waking up and not finding her here.

In a more perfect world, he’d be crawling into bed with her tonight, sinking himself into the oblivion only she could deliver.

But it wasn’t a perfect world. Far from it.

The dreams haunted him nightly. Dreams of a dank, dark place, far from here. A place where evil flourished. He heard screams echoing through the night and saw all sorts of unspeakable horrors. It was the curse of his vivid imagination that it only worked to torment him, never to help him. His book sat unfinished, his current chapter barely touched.

He swore under his breath as the other pressures he faced crowded in on him. He punched up his internet account and signed on. He had to send Eileen an e-mail asking for more time, something he wasn’t looking forward to.

His mind went to the investigation and its lack of progress. He spent a moment or two entertaining the idea of
going ahead with his plan on his own. But even if he contacted her on his own and agreed to meet her, made up some fake Dark Pearl … Margaron was in Wales. He couldn’t race off halfway around the world. Not with Alfred in such bad shape.

The incoming e-mail filtered onto the screen and Cai froze. There was another e-mail. From Margaron.

His fingers trembled as he shifted the cursor … and pressed the icon to open it.

Cai sank slowly back in his chair, icy fingers of fear clawing at him. She knew about Jordy. He remembered the haunted screams of those women in his nightmares. He squeezed his eyes shut to block them out, but they wouldn’t go away. And in their place, he saw Jordy and heard her screams, which were much too real. No. No way in hell was anything going to happen to her!

The ferocity of his reaction was not lost on him. And it went beyond the horror he’d felt on behalf of the women already put in that position. That she might walk out of his life in six weeks was something he could shove aside, deal with later. That someone could mean to remove her permanently from his life or anyone else’s shook him badly.

He swore long and loud. “How in God’s name could she know—” The deliveryman. Jordy had been on the dock. He’d obviously reported back to Margaron. Cai slammed
his fist against the desk, scattering papers. He jumped to his feet and stalked to the window. Lights flickered in the distance on Mangrove Key.

“Are you out there watching me now, you bastard?” he murmured under his breath. Cai wanted to take the boat out, search for the sneaky son of a bitch, and beat answers out of him. But even though he knew the mangroves well, the middle of the night was no time to go on the hunt.

Fine. As soon as the sun rose, he’d be on the water. He’d still take Jordy with him and keep her close. Alfred would be safe here with Dilys. After they checked the mangroves, they could head over to Key West.

Armed with a plan, he should have felt better. Instead he felt vulnerable. Too damn vulnerable. Damn, damn, damn. He was only one man. How was he going to protect them all?

He turned abruptly and left his office. He needed to sleep, be sharp for the morning, but adrenaline was a live thing inside him now. It took every bit of self-control to keep from going directly to Jordy. He wanted her within arm’s reach, so he didn’t have to live in fear of losing her. But she needed her sleep and wouldn’t thank him for disturbing her. He almost smiled thinking of exactly what she’d say about him needing to protect her.

He paced the hallway outside her room. He told himself that she was fine, safely tucked in a bed under his own roof. He thought about sending her home, back to Warburg, but he knew she wouldn’t go.

And, he had to admit that he wanted her here. Close. He only hoped to God he could keep her safe. If anything happened to her …

He ended up on the dock. The moon ducked in and out of the clouds. The air was breezy but warm. He barely noticed. He paced the planks. There had to be something more he could do. Logic said he should contact Kuhn.
Instinct told him it would be a mistake. Kuhn would invade Crystal Key. Cai wouldn’t have that. Maybe he should move them all off the Key, temporarily. But Alfred was in no shape to deal with something like that right now.

He paced to the end of the dock and stared out at the water, but no other solutions were forthcoming. Worry consumed him, the sense of helplessness was enough to make a man insane. Then the air shifted, and he felt her. She’d made no sound. But when he turned, Jordy was there, at the end of the walkway leading to the house.

Soft, thin cotton clung to her lean curves, the flicker of moonlight silhouetting them as she lifted her arms to him. “You’re not resting either. Come inside, Cai.”

It was a different sort of insanity, what she did to him. But this insanity he could do something about.

They didn’t make it to the house. He pulled her against him and took her waiting mouth. She opened for him, took him in, reached for more. The frustration and helplessness that had come so close to consuming him took on a different course, that of devouring her, claiming her, exerting some control in a world that he no longer commanded.

He filled his hands with her, touching, tasting, reveling in her scent until he thought he would drown, could drown, and finally find peace. Or oblivion.

She writhed against him as his demands intensified. He slid a hand up her thigh, pushing her nightshirt up, sliding fingers over her bare hip and around back … and down. She crumpled against him in a deep moan of pleasure as he found her, wet and wanting him.

He wanted, too. Now. Here. Deep and fast, hard and forever. He pushed her back against the dock railing and shoved at his pants even as he lifted her up so he could take her.

She gripped his shoulders and flung her head back as he pushed inside her on a deep, shuddering groan. “Yes, Cai.
Now! Yes.” He did as she demanded. She dug her heels into him and climaxed instantly, ripping him over the edge with her.

He held her close as they both shivered and shuddered around each other. He buried his face in her neck, knowing he should be feeling some shred of remorse for taking her like a wild animal, with no thought to modesty; his or hers.

Then she kissed his neck and nipped his earlobe and chuckled against the damp heat of his chest. “We’re dangerous, Malacai L’Baan,” she said. “Totally and completely irresponsible.”

“Totally and completely.” He carefully shifted her to her feet and helped her straighten her clothing, then took care of his own.

“Wow,” was all he could say.