Lord's Fall (11 page)

“Maybe I’ll get a chance to find out how they fit together,” Pia said. “Beluviel said that she and Calondir were originally from Numenlaur. I wonder why they left.”

“Do you remember, you also once asked me why Elves might not keep their word?” he asked. “You had said you’d never heard anything bad about their integrity.”

“Yes, we were just leaving Charleston after you got shot. You called my car a POS.” She frowned, thinking back. “You also said that every race has had its moments now and then, so I suppose that means the Elves had a moment.”

He played with her bracelet of bells. “They had more than their fair share of moments. They were responsible for one of the greatest wars in prehuman history.”

“Who did they fight?”

“Themselves. They fought until Elven blood ran over the land, and they finally drove themselves into a diaspora. Did you know that the Light Fae and the Dark Fae are children of the Elves?”

“I had no idea.” Pia watched him with a fascinated gaze. “I guess it makes sense since the similarities between the three races are pretty obvious. They’re all long lived, and magical in some way, and of course they all have the pointed ears. But there are some pretty obvious differences too.”

He said, “The Fae races came out of that original Elven diaspora. I believe their differences evolved because of their differences in environment. The Dark Fae are most often found in northern lands, with their pale skin, dark hair and affinity for metal. The Light Fae, with their brown skin, lighter hair, aversion to certain metals and a strong affinity to water, are most often found in more southern climates.”

“Then there are the Elves,” she said. “And they feel like no other creatures in the world. At least no other creatures that I’ve met.”

It was his turn to raise his eyebrows. For someone of her relative youth and inexperience, she had a remarkably refined sensitivity to creatures of Power. “Interesting. You sense a difference in how they feel?” She nodded. He told her, “You are correct. Their Power is different from any others. It’s elemental, literally.”

“What do you mean?”

“Their Power comes from the five elements—air, fire, water, wood and earth. Like the Wyr and many of the other Elder Races, the Elves grow in Power as they age. The ancient Elves can control weather, shift tides, cause landscapes to shift. In many ways the Earth was a different place before they warred with themselves.”

“That sounds terrifying,” she muttered.

“It was,” he said. “And I still have not forgiven them for it.”

A shudder ran through her, and she looked up at him. “Lirithriel Wood. Is it something they created?”

“I believe it is at least something they started,” he said. “It was born out of their Power and is combined with the magic of one of the strongest crossovers passageways in America. The Wood appears to have achieved a certain intelligence that is entirely wild and not necessarily safe.”

“I think it’s beautiful.”

“And I suppose it is that too.” He laced his fingers with hers.

She made a sudden moue. “That’s probably my segue into telling you that Beluviel invited me to their home in the Wood so that I can speak with Calondir.”

In an instant, his uneasy sense of peace and balance vaporized, and the dragon roared to the surface. He snapped, “Absolutely not.”

She froze, her mouth open, and stared at him. “Excuse me?”

“I said no,” he growled. “You do not go deeper into the Elves’ territory. I have allowed you to go this far, but I will not allow that.”

She blinked several times. She said slowly, “So when Beluviel invited me, and since it is the only way I can speak to Calondir on this trip, I said yes. We leave first thing in the morning.”

“Pia, I said no, dammit!”

Her expression grew cold. “I heard what you dictated the first time,” she told him, shaping each word deliberately. “I chose not to respond right away so that you could have a moment to think about what you just said, and how you said it to me.”

He went nose to nose with her and hissed, “You will not disobey me on this. I forbid it.
They are my enemy
.”

She flinched but did not back away. “Yes, Dragos,” she said. “They are
your
enemy. They are not mine.”

He said between his teeth, “That is a foolish attitude. My enemies are yours. You are my mate—if you die, I die.”

“Just because our lives are linked together, I do not believe that makes the Elves my enemy too. When Beluviel made the invitation, she was clearly trying to help.” She pushed to her feet, and he rose too. She lifted her gaze, and the hurt, anger and disappointment in her eyes speared him. She said with quiet bite, “Now I am going to figure out how to wake myself up, and I’m going to turn off my phone. That should give you more time to think, because we have also had this conversation before. I am
NOT
your employee,
NOR
am I your servant, and I never promised to obey you. And what’s more, Dragos, you should not speak to your employees or your servants like that anyway. If what happened with Rune taught you anything, it should have taught you that.”

He sucked in a breath. Maybe to roar, or maybe to apologize. Not even he knew what he intended. Perhaps both. Whichever it was he was too late, for she turned away from him.

His mate
turned away from him
. As she did so, she faded from the dream.

The dragon woke up with a growl. He lunged to his feet, then glared at the bed.

It was so appallingly empty he took hold of one end and threw it against the wall.

SIX

“Y
ou look like something a cat coughed up,” Eva said in a helpful tone of voice.

Pia gave Captain Psycho a dirty look as she tied the laces of her new boots. “Have I told you yet how much your witty repartee means to me?” she said between her teeth. “No, wait. I believe I haven’t.”

Beluviel had told her that the Elves would provide for her group’s needs, but she had still needed to get a few things suitable for horseback riding and a stay in the Wood. She had brought only one pair of jeans, the ones she had worn on the trip down.

The group had stopped at a superstore directly after leaving Lirithriel House so that she could buy a couple extra pairs of jeans and the boots. She had brought enough sweaters, and although they seemed a bit dressy, they would do. She packed one nice slacks outfit to meet Calondir in, left her fine wool dress coat in the wardrobe and threw the more serviceable anorak she had worn on yesterday’s car trip on top of her pack.

Eva crossed her arms and lounged against the doorway, watching Pia’s final preparations. “You sick?”

“Nope.”

“Deranged?”

She gritted her teeth. “Just didn’t sleep well.” She had, in fact, lain in a furious, hurting clench for hours after she had woken up. After a brief, horrible struggle with herself, she did exactly what she told Dragos she would do, and she turned off her iPhone. Then she glared at the damn thing for the rest of the night.

She wanted to turn it on. So. Badly.

But it would be truly awful to turn the phone on only to find out he never called or texted. And it might actually be just as awful to turn it on and find out that he left a terrible message of some sort, something cold or hateful about
disobeying
him.

And it would be especially awful if she turned on the phone to find out that Dragos was remorseful and apologetic. In pain. If he did something horrendously unusual like beg her not to go. Because then she was afraid she would totally cave in, and what’s more, she might gallop back to New York, and that wouldn’t do anybody a lick of good, not the Elves, not the Wyr demesne, not Dragos and especially not her, because this was a line she had to draw that she could not back down from.

He simply had to acknowledge and treat her like his partner, and work with her to figure out what that meant. He could not give lip service to the subject only to revert whenever he lost his temper or he didn’t like how things were going, and sure, he was a dragon and a man, and that meant he had all kinds of communication issues, but
this one time
, he had to be the one who gave in.

“So,” Eva said. “There’s no reason to call off this trip.”

Pia froze as an especially, super-duper terrible idea added itself to the litany of terrible possibilities. “Why?” she bit out. “Did somebody ask you to try to stop it?”

Eva stared at her like she might have lost her mind. The other woman might have a point. “Just thought I’d double-check.”

“There are lots of reasons to call off this trip,” she said. She stood and walked over to Eva, and looked into the other woman’s eyes. “I just happen to think all the good reasons to go outweigh the others. Got a problem with that?”

Eva cocked her head. “You got a touch of bitch-goddess sexy too, don’t you, princess?”

She twitched a shoulder. “I guess I do.”

One corner of Eva’s mouth lifted an insolent notch. “Your goddess ain’t as sexy as mine though.”

“Who cares?” said Pia. “Because you’re my bitch now.”

Surprise flared in Eva’s gaze, then she burst out laughing. With that, they both went down the stairs to load the SUVs, and the group drove out of Charleston.

The early morning was cool, damp and gray. Low-hanging clouds blanketed the sky, dark and lowering. They might be in for a wet, uncomfortable day’s ride. Pia flipped her cell phone over and over in her hands, scowling at it for the duration of the trip. She only looked up when they drove the final approach to Lirithriel House. As they pulled up to the front doors, an Elven male stepped outside to direct them to follow the drive around to the back of the property where they could leave their SUVs by the stables.

The drive took them around the edge of the garden, which was lush from every angle. Between the magnolia trees, Pia caught a glimpse of a gap in a high green hedge, bordered by two elegantly carved marble pillars. That looked like the opening to the labyrinth.

The stables were already a hive of activity. A couple of the Elves smiled at the newcomers. Several of them walked horses that were already saddled. Their horses were gorgeous, thoroughbred-sleek with gleaming coats, long, slender legs and intelligent eyes. Pia saw one horse mouthing affectionately at the hair of the Elf attending it, who bore the attention with a tolerant smile. They clearly loved their horses, and their horses loved them.

The animals were also quite large up close. While the rest of her group double-checked their packs, Pia took a deep breath and turned to Hugh, who carried her pack slung over one shoulder along with his. “I suppose now’s the time to mention that I don’t have a lot of horse-riding experience.”

“Not to worry,” Hugh said. His smile transformed his rather plain, bony features. “I’ll make sure they give you a suitable mount.”

“Thank you.”

Pia fingered her phone again as Hugh left to talk with one of the attendants. Her stomach was a tight knot of nerves. She ran her thumb over the power button, looking down at the black screen. She would take just one quick peek. She never said she would leave it off forever. And she ought to check on things anyway, since the phone probably wouldn’t work when they went into the Wood.

She couldn’t go all day without some sort of contact, she just couldn’t, not with how they . . .
she
had left things. She thumbed the power button on at the same moment that Beluviel walked out of the stables, caught sight of their group and walked toward her.

Beluviel looked even more exotic than she had yesterday, her long, dark hair braided for travel. She wore leggings and a tunic of a rich, soft green cloth, with a bronze jacket so intricately embroidered, it could have been a museum piece.

She was also more luminous and vibrant than ever, and a sense of refreshment wafted over the scene at her arrival, bringing with it optimism and hope. At first Pia thought she had imagined it, but then she noticed how the other Elves looked to Beluviel as well, smiling. Even the other Wyr did, although they didn’t lose their sharp-eyed alertness.

A useful attribute, that. It had to be much better than looking and feeling like something a cat coughed up.

Her phone pinged. The small sound sent a hot prickle over her skin, and her stomach clenched. She glanced down at the screen. She had several text messages.

“Good morning,” Beluviel said. “I’m so glad you were able to start early. We can make the journey in one day, but there is quite a lovely resting area where we can stay the night if you find yourself getting too tired. Please don’t hesitate to say something if you feel the need to stop.”

“Thank you, that sounds terrific,” said Pia. She tried to smile too, but the muscles in her face felt rigid. She hoped her expression didn’t look as ghastly as it felt. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but these messages won’t wait. I hope you don’t mind if I take a few minutes to check them.”

“Not at all,” Beluviel said. “Your phone won’t work in the Wood, so take the time you need now. We can leave whenever you’re ready.”

“I appreciate that,” Pia told her. “I’ll be as quick as I can.” She turned away, her heart knocking like a crazy thing.

Suddenly Eva was right beside her, asking telepathically,
You all right, princess?

Pia’s stiff smile died a miserable death, and good riddance to it.
I’ll be ready to go in a few minutes, Eva.
Even to her own mind, she sounded tired.

Like the lady said, take your time
, Eva said quietly. The captain stopped at the rear bumper of their nearest SUV and took a casual position, relaxed yet unmistakably standing guard.

Pia nodded in Eva’s general direction as she stepped between the two vehicles for a modicum of privacy. She was an idiot. She shouldn’t have waited so long. She should have checked for messages in real privacy when she had the chance.

As soon as she was a few feet away from the other woman, she looked at the screen of her phone again. She had nine text messages from various people. Most of them were from Stanford, who tended to be high maintenance.