Legend of the Sorcerer (37 page)

He nodded. “We’ll have questions for her as well.”

Dilys stepped toward them keeping herself between them and Margaron’s body. “Alfred is resting peacefully now,” she said. “It’s proud ye should be of what ye’ve done.”

Jordy’s heart skipped a beat and her eyes stung again. She felt Cai tense beside her. “Where is the trunk?”

She smiled at him. “Why do ye ask me?”

Cai held her gaze. “Because I just know it, okay?”

“As well ye should by now.” Her smile faded. “Still
there are questions within ye.” She sighed. “I suppose for some, that is the way of it.” Surprisingly, she patted his arm. “The Dark Pearl is where it should be. We’ll speak of it again when the time is right.”

“That’s precisely what I’m afraid of.”

Dilys merely tsked. “Your time will come, Master Malacai.” She took their elbows and gently urged them toward the car. She cast one last look at Margaron’s body, a satisfied smile briefly crossing her face. “Come now, we must answer the good gentlemen’s questions and leave these men to their duty. It will all work out as it should.”

C
ai thought he had never seen anything as beautiful as Crystal Key. He chugged the boat slowly toward the dock, wanting to savor every tiny detail.

“It feels like we left a lifetime ago,” Jordy said.

The clutch in his heart wasn’t new. He’d been living with it for a few weeks now. He’d be living with it for the rest of his life. “It was a lifetime ago,” he said quietly. “A whole different lifetime.”

Jordy stood behind him and threaded her arms around his waist as he steered the boat gently against the pilings. “I miss him, too. I’ll help whatever way I can.”

Don’t leave me then
.

Their last seventy-two hours in Wales had been one long marathon with the special CID guys, and via phone with a very pissed off Kuhn. Most of that time they’d spent apart.

Jordy had been taken in for thorough medical examination and she’d stayed to talk to Claire, the beaten woman from the photographs. The other woman, Judith Sumner, hadn’t pulled through. Both women were single, lived in nearby areas, had friends and coworkers, but no family. Both belonged to a mail-order book club and had, over time, ordered all of Cai’s books. Margaron had made her selections carefully.

Jordy and Cai, along with Claire, had helped to arrange Judith’s funeral. Margaron’s cause of death was a mystery. Results hadn’t come back on the autopsy, but early reports said it looked like a heart attack, possibly a congenital defect of some kind. The agents never found proof that she was Isolde’s granddaughter, nor did they find where she’d hidden her victims before their final rendezvous at the ruins. Dilys had predicted correctly though. Claire’s memory was vague on her whereabouts during her captivity. Jordy and Cai stuck to their story and after repeated, separate accountings of every minute detail, the agents had closed the case.

Cai hadn’t talked about the whole thing much with Jordy, both of them having exhaustively talked of nothing else to the CID. Jordy had seemed to begin to come to terms with her role in Margaron’s death. Standing beside Claire as they lowered Judith’s casket into the ground seemed to help her move a bit more quickly along that path.

They had been cleared to go home just a little over twenty-four hours ago. Dilys had stayed behind, claiming she wanted to visit some old friends. Cai had to wonder if she wasn’t just postponing coming back to Crystal Key because of Alfred. He wondered if she wouldn’t end up staying in Wales permanently. He couldn’t blame her, but selfishly, he was hoping otherwise. He wasn’t ready to be all alone. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready.

He also was in no shape to make any further life-altering decisions. He knew Jordy’s time was almost up and she’d have to return to Virginia.

But he had no idea how he was going to survive letting her go.

At the dock, Jordy handed Fred up to Cai, then their bags, then took his hand up. She looked at the house and
felt equal parts anticipation and trepidation. She was surprised how much it felt like coming home. But home was Virginia, not Crystal Key. Cai was no longer tied here in order to care for his grandfather. She wondered what plans he might make with his new-found freedom. Or would he remain here, and stay as reclusive as Alfred had been? And did any of those plans include her?

She picked up her bags as Cai shouldered his and glanced up at him. The last few days had been rough. Hell, the last week had been no picnic. They hadn’t done much more than fall asleep together and both of them had slept most of the flight home. He hadn’t said anything to her about his expectations for the two of them, or where they would go from this point. Honestly, she didn’t know either. She had work to finish here. Cai had said that much. He would honor Alfred’s commission. He wanted the piece finished. Jordy was glad for that, and for the small reprieve that gave them both.

She had felt a bit hollow, but now that she was here, with the warm sun shining down on her, she felt the beginnings of rejuvenation. She had a little time before she had to be back in Virginia. Maybe they’d both find some answers by then.

They went in through the kitchen door. Cai paused, then flipped on the lights. Jordy hadn’t missed the slight stiffening of his shoulders. She wanted to help, she wanted to smooth the way for him. “I guess we’re eating pizza until Dilys comes back, huh?”

Cai smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I hadn’t thought about that. You figure she’s put some sort of spell on the appliances so they’ll only work for her?”

Jordy was surprised by the reference. He’d made no mention of what had really happened in Wales. It was as if, after repeating their story so many times for the agents,
he’d come to believe it himself. Maybe, now that they were home, he’d deal with it. She kept the mood light. “I wouldn’t put it past her. God knows what we’ll find in her spice rack.”

Cai just stood there, bags in his hands, staring as if he’d never seen the room before. And maybe he hadn’t. Now it was his kitchen. His house. His gardens. He looked a little lost and her heart began to break.

“Why don’t we go and unpack. I’m guessing we’ll need an incantation to make the washing machine work, too.” She paused by his side and gently touched his arm.

“It’s all so different. I didn’t think it would be. Or maybe I just needed it not to be.”

“Give yourself some time, Cai. You just got home.”

“Yeah.” He shouldered the bags up a bit higher and motioned for her to go ahead of him. “Why don’t we meet back down here. We’ll figure something out for dinner.”

She wanted to drop her bags and take him in her arms. She wanted to kiss him softly and stroke his face and tell him everything was going to be okay. She wanted to ravish him, take him hard and fast, right here on the floor, and obliterate the pain from those too soft gray eyes.

What she did was nod. “About thirty minutes? I could use a shower. Wash the airplane ride out of my hair.” It was on the tip of her tongue to invite him to join her. If he’d so much as looked at her, she would have. But he only nodded vacantly, his thoughts still miles away. Or a few weeks in the past.

Balancing Fred in one hand and a bag on each shoulder, she went upstairs to her room.

Dinner that night was a quiet affair. Cai had thawed a couple of steaks and grilled them along with a few potatoes. Jordy thawed out some frozen vegetables, put
them in the microwave, and heated a tray of dinner rolls. They ate out on the lanai.

She waited for Cai to begin a conversation, but he was lost in his thoughts. Almost finished with their meal, she couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “It’s hard to believe it was only a month or so ago that I met your grandfather. I remember thinking what a lovely place this was, so peaceful and beautiful.”

Cai nodded.

Jordy swallowed a sigh. Maybe she was pushing for too much, too soon. “I was thinking I’d like to go out and check on the cottage this evening if that’s okay with you. Make sure the clay hasn’t dried out, that sort of thing.”

“Sure, fine. I have some calls to make.” He tossed his napkin on his plate and stood. “Let’s just put these in the sink. I’ll deal with them later.”

He wasn’t even looking at her. Jordy said nothing.

They carried their dishes in, then he headed to the hallway toward his office. She really felt like she was intruding, and maybe she was, but dammit, the very least he could do was talk to her. He’d already made it clear he expected her to stay and finish the dragon.

And he might want to pretend the whole thing hadn’t happened, but when they’d joined hands on that Pearl, she’d known there was a bond between them that no other could match. And he had felt it too, dammit! She’d seen the look on his face when she’d come back, and she’d watched him risk his life to save her.

She was trying not to feel hurt, or abandoned, to be understanding of what was going through his mind. But she wished he’d turn to her for help, instead of sealing himself off like this. Maybe he just needed some time.

She wished she could believe that was all it was.

“Any idea how long you’ll be?” she asked.

He stopped at the door. “An hour or two at least.”

“Fine.” But she was talking to his back.

It was almost midnight when she finally came back inside. She hadn’t meant to stay out there so long, but she’d peeled back the plastic and been seduced into just doing one or two minor touches. That had led to one or two more, and before she knew it, she was in her zone, oblivious to the world. She was glad for it though. Not only had it kept her from brooding about Cai, but it had made her feel closer to Alfred.

Her satisfied smile faded when she noticed Cai’s light still glowing from his office window. She’d been hoping to find him out on the deck, or on the dock. While she worked she’d also decided that she wasn’t going to just sit back and let him make the calls. The days where she danced to someone else’s tune were over.

When she got to the office door, she paused just before knocking. She heard the steady tapping of computer keys. Was he working or just clearing up business stuff that had accumulated while they’d been out of the country? He didn’t talk much about his work, but she’d had the feeling that things hadn’t been going all that smoothly. Not that she could blame him. Maybe she should leave him to his work. After all, she’d found solace in hers, it was likely his writing would provide the same thing for him.

She turned away just as the typing stopped. She heard a deep sigh and the chair creaking. Just as she was about to second guess her decision, the typing started again. With a sigh of her own, she walked toward her bedroom. She paused at his bedroom door and contemplated waiting for him there. They had slept together every night for several weeks now. But in Wales it hadn’t been the same. It had been sleeping, and occasionally clinging to one another.
She wondered now if he still needed that bond, that reassurance.

She walked on to her own door and made the unsettling realization that
she
did. She didn’t want to sleep alone. Ever again.

She closed the door behind her, fed Fred, stripped down, and slipped into bed.

Cai’s fingers flew over the keys. His conscious mind was well lost in the sorcerer’s world he’d begun in
The Quest for the Dark Pearl
. He’d contemplated calling Eileen and asking if there was any way he could alter the title or get out of doing the remainder of the series. It was a painful remainder of something he’d rather not think about excessively. Alfred was gone, Dilys was on vacation, and the nightmare had come to an end. He didn’t need to seek explanations for things that likely had none. It was better left forgotten, part of his past.

But he knew his commitment to the series of books would have to be honored. He hadn’t called Eileen. Instead, he’d opened the file of the last chapter he’d been working on, and reread his work. He’d trashed half of it, then begun reworking what was left. Before long he was lost in his work. It felt so good to find that place again, that one place where everything else ceased to exist but the words on the page and the corresponding images in his head.

He gave into it willingly, with a sense of relief so profound, he didn’t question it.

He worked well into the night, stopping to brew coffee in the pot he kept in his office, then kept on going. His eyes grew scratchy, his shoulders stiff, and his wrists numb, but he never stopped. If he stopped, he’d have to think. About Alfred, about what had really happened in Wales,
about Dilys’ defection. About Jordy and his feelings for her.

About what in the hell he was going to do with his life now that the only person he had to consider was himself.

He was still typing when the sun broke the horizon.