Refuge (22 page)

I looked away from her and unwrapped my
sandwich. Before I could take a bite, Jordan let out a squeal. “Oh
my God! You really have no idea, do you?” When I didn’t answer, she
jumped off the bed and bounced up and down on her feet like she had
just won a prize.

“What?” I asked defensively.

She fell on the bed, howling with laughter,
and I watched her with growing irritation. After a few minutes, she
pulled herself together and sat up, wiping her eyes. “I love it!
Celine’s been throwing herself at Nikolas for years and he chose a
sweet little orphan over her. She must be positively
insane
with jealousy. Oh
how I wish she had stayed around to see him go all caveman on the
other guys over you.”

“He did not choose me, and I certainly don’t
want him.” I slumped in my chair, wondering why I’d ever thought it
might be nice to have a girlfriend to discuss girl matters with. I
was sure my face must be glowing like an ember now. “Can we please
talk about something else?”

Jordan took a drink from her water bottle
then made a face. “Sure, but it won’t be nearly as fun as talking
about Nikolas.”

Anything would be better than
that
subject. “I get why
Celine might not like me.” Jordan snorted at my choice of words,
but I ignored her. “But why do you dislike her so much?”

“Are you kidding? Unless you have a penis,
that woman is a total bitch to you. She always favors the boys in
training. Thank God she is only here a few times a year.”

“So, she would have disliked me anyway just
for being a girl?”

Her eyes sparkled. “Yes, but you are an extra
special case.”

“How long have you lived here?” I already
knew that all of the trainees here except for Terrence were
orphans. Other than Michael, I didn’t know anyone else’s story.
Jordan was brash and fearless and different from the others, and I
wondered if she had been like that in her old life.

A shadow passed over her face. “My mother
dumped me when I was four and I started telling people about the
little person in my head. I guess it didn’t help that I was also
beating up kids twice my size. No one else in her family wanted to
take me, so I ended up in our wonderful foster-care system. I got
passed around a lot. No one wants a kid with voices in her head who
has to see a shrink twice a week for anger issues.”

She flicked her blond hair back, and her eyes
filled with pride. “But I always knew I was different for a reason.
When I was ten, I ran away from the last shithole they dumped me
in. I was living on the street for three weeks before Paulette ran
across me by accident. As soon as she spoke to me, I knew she was
like me, and she didn’t have to ask me twice to go with her. She
took me to Valstrom, which is their compound in northern
California, and I lived there until I came here two years ago. Do
you know I was the oldest orphan ever reclaimed . . . until
you?”

“Nikolas mentioned that.” Jordan’s coldness
toward me in the beginning made sense now. Her old life had been
pretty rotten, and then she came here where she felt loved and
special and, according to Michael, number one in everything she
did. Then I came along and everyone was talking about the orphan
who survived out there for seventeen years. I stole her spotlight,
and even if it was unwilling on my part, she had resented me for
it. At least she seemed to have gotten past that now.

Her eyes widened. “Nikolas mentioned me?”

“He told me you were ten when they found you
and all the other orphans were no older than seven.” Seeing her
expression at hearing that Nikolas had spoken of her, I omitted the
fact that he hadn’t said her name, just that the orphan had been a
girl. The smile that lit up her face was worth the tiny
omission.

“How did Nikolas find you anyway?” she asked
around a mouthful of food.

“I was at a club in Portland with my
friends,” I said vaguely. “A few days later, he tracked me down and
told me what I was. I wasn’t too happy about it.”

She tossed me an incredulous look. “Why
not?”

“It totally freaked me out to learn I had a
demon inside me. Didn’t it bother you?”

“Are you kidding? I found out that not only
was I not crazy like everyone said I was, I was immortal and had
superpowers. I was like, ‘Hell yeah, where do I sign up?’”

I chewed thoughtfully own my sandwich. She
and I had such different pasts. I’d had my dad and then Nate to
love and care for me, not to mention my friends. Growing up in
foster care and living on the street at age ten, it was no wonder
she had embraced her Mohiri heritage. I never realized how
fortunate I was compared to people like her and Michael who had it
a lot rougher than I did.

Jordan laid her half-eaten sandwich on the
nightstand and stood. “I think you and I are going to be great
friends. And to show what an awesome friend I am, I’m going to
prove to you that I am right about your warrior.”

“What do you mean?”

She walked into my closet. “You hide yourself
under those awful hoodies, but I saw you in that wet T-shirt and it
is a shame to cover that up all the time.”

“I am not hiding, and there is nothing wrong
with the way I look. I happen to like my clothes because they are
comfortable and practical.”

“Boring,” she sang from the depths of my
closet. “Don’t you have anything in here besides these ratty jeans
and tennis shoes?”

“Hey, I like those jeans.”

She emerged from the closet. “Let me guess,
you had all male friends back home and not one girlfriend.”

“So?”

“So a girlfriend would have made sure you had
at least a couple of decent outfits so you could dress like a
female from time to time. Thank God you have me now.”

“I thought you liked me because I wasn’t too
girlie.”

Jordan swept a hand up and down her body,
which was clad in jeans that probably cost more than three of mine
and a pretty black top with a Grecian-style yoke neck. “Do I look
girlie to you? No, I look hot. Trust me, there’s a difference.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “That is
your style, not mine. And if he . . . any guy doesn’t like me for
who I am, then he’s not worth my time.”

“Ha! You
do
like him.”

“No, that was just an example. Don’t turn my
words around.”

She gave me a sly grin. “You look awfully
flustered for a girl who doesn’t care.”

I turned to pick up my water bottle as an
excuse not to look at her smirk. “I’m flustered because you have a
special talent for driving people nuts.”

She started to laugh then yelled, “Hey!” I
spun around in my chair to find her on her hands and knees, peering
under my bed. She looked up at me and made a face. “I hate to tell
you this, but you have an imp infestation. Little bastards just
stole my sandwich.”

I put a hand to my forehead. “Shoot, I forgot
bring them something to eat today. They must be hungry.”

Her mouth fell open. “You feed them? You do
know they are thieving little rodents who would steal your mother
if they could lift her.”

From under the bed I heard outraged
chattering. “I don’t think they like to be called rodents. And if
they wanted to steal my mother, they are welcome to her if she ever
shows up.” I tore a chunk from my own sandwich and went over to lay
it under the bed. “They’re partial to blueberry muffins, but
they’ll eat anything if they’re hungry.”

Jordan sat back on her haunches and stared at
me. “You treat them like pets? You are one strange girl, Sara.”

I grinned because she didn’t know the half of
it. “You wanna see pets? Come with me and I’ll introduce you to
Hugo and Woolf.”

SARA, YOU LOOK very nice tonight.”

I tugged at the hem of my borrowed top as I
stepped into Tristan’s suite. “Jordan tried to go all Professor
Higgins on me.” My new friend was a lot bossier than my friends
back home, and it was hard to say no to her when she got an idea
into her head. Tonight, she had somehow convinced me to wear one of
her tops – a pale pink one with a pretty floral lace overlay that
was the least revealing of the ones she’d forced me to try on – and
leave my hair down for once. At least the top wasn’t as form
fitting on me as it was on her. I’d drawn the line at the heels she
wanted me to wear and opted for comfortable flats instead.

Tristan laughed and shut the door behind me.
“Well, you look lovely and none the worse for wear from your little
ordeal this morning.”

“That was nothing compared to some of the
other scrapes I’ve been in.” I sat on the couch, and he sat across
from me, sporting a furrowed brow. “Seriously, I’m fine,” I assured
him.

His face relaxed into a smile. When I’d first
met him, I wasn’t sure how I felt about him, especially with him
being Madeline’s father. Tristan was an easy person to like, and it
wasn’t hard to see that he cared about me.

“I have a surprise for you.”

I made a face. “I don’t really like
surprises. They tend to try to eat me or do some other awful thing
to me.”

His blue eyes sparkled with humor. “I promise
you’ll like this one. How would you like to meet your cousin?”

“He’s back?” I tried to remember if I’d seen
any new faces today, but I couldn’t think of one.

“He got back a few days ago. We talked today
and decided it was time you knew who he was. I thought it would be
nice if the three of us had dinner together – if you are ready for
that.”

“O-okay.” It took me less than ten seconds to
figure out who had returned to Westhorne a few days ago. My mouth
suddenly felt very dry and a pit opened in my stomach. Cousins?

Someone rapped firmly on the door, and my
stomach dipped.

“Ah, perfect timing.” Tristan went to the
door. I stood, my hand nervously touching my hair.

“Hope I’m not late. I wouldn’t have missed
this little family get together for the world.”

My mouth fell open as Chris sauntered into
the room, his grin aimed at me. He strode over and pulled me into a
hug. “My little cousin.”

Recovering from my shock, I pushed him away,
which only made him snicker.

“You’re
my cousin?”

“Yep.”

I burst into laughter.

After a minute, I was in tears and holding my
sides, and Chris was starting to look affronted. I honestly didn’t
know if I was laughing so hard because out of all the Mohiri in the
world Chris was my cousin, or because I was relieved it had been
him and not someone else on the other side of the door. If I hadn’t
been so anxious, I would have realized that I hadn’t sensed Nikolas
nearby.

“Sorry,” I said, composing myself. Looking
from Chris to Tristan I saw a resemblance I couldn’t believe I had
not noticed before. Chris’s eyes were green whereas Tristan’s were
blue, but their hair color was almost identical and they had
similar facial features, especially around the nose and mouth. “So,
you are Tristan’s nephew?”

“We call each other kinsmen. He and my mother
are brother and sister.”

“Did you know we were related when you were
in New Hastings?”

Chris made a face. “Not at first. And once I
did, you have no idea how many times I wanted to take you over my
knee for your little antics.”

“Ha! You could have tried. If I recall
correctly, you were too busy fending off girls to do much
else.”

“Human girls are a lot more aggressive than
Mohiri women, and you were no help at all. In fact, I think you
encouraged some of them.”

I couldn’t hold back a smirk. “I use any
weapon on hand to get the job done.”

Tristan smiled at both of us. “Well, at least
I don’t have to worry about breaking the ice between you two.”

I helped him carry roast chicken and salad to
the table and filled the water glasses. Tristan’s suite had its own
kitchen, and he had confided to me on my last visit that he liked
to cook but rarely had anyone to do it for. Now that I was here, he
was enjoying using his stove again.

It was the first time Chris and I had ever
eaten together – or spent any amount of time together when I was
not in danger – and I found myself enjoying his company immensely.
I already knew he was charming and had a great sense of humor, and
over dinner I learned a lot more about him. He was born in eighteen
seventy-six, and he told me all about growing up at a compound in
Oregon. He was an only child, and he didn’t see his parents much
because they lived in Germany now. Not long after he became a
warrior, he came to Westhorne to serve under Tristan and had been
there ever since. It was clear that Chris was very loyal to Tristan
and not just because he was family. Tristan had a way of commanding
the respect of the people under him. Watching my cousin and my
grandfather together, I saw the closeness that Nikolas had told me
existed in Mohiri families. If only Nate was here, my family would
be complete.

After dinner, Chris and I cleared the table
and tidied the kitchen together, and I couldn’t help but think that
a few weeks ago, the last thing I’d expected to be doing was having
dinner with family or washing dishes with my cousin. They were such
normal family activities, and they made me smile to myself as I put
the dishes away.

When the dishes were done, Tristan poured
drinks for him and Chris and we went into the living room where
they told me more of my family history. They mentioned a lot of
people, some living and some dead, and it was hard to keep up with
the conversation at times. Inevitably, Madeline’s name came up, and
I tensed when Tristan asked me about her.

“You’ve not asked me anything about your
mother or what her childhood was like. Do you ever wonder about
her?”

“No,” I said more abruptly than I’d meant to.
“I know Madeline is your daughter and you’ll love her no matter
what, but she means nothing to me. I’m sorry if that sounds
cold.”