Prince of Power (House of Terriot Book 2)

by Nancy Gideon

  Colin glanced up, blinking through the burn of emotion to note the empty spot at Rico's side. He soothed the ache of Mia's absence by saying, "No. Stay. I want you to."

  Rico looked surprised, pleased. "I'll be in your refrigerator if you need me."

  Colin set Kate back from him so he could soak up the sight of her. The stiff, disapproving girl from Tahoe was gone. In her place was the image of what their mother might have been before unpleasant duty had twisted the joy from her, bearing him being that awful task. Memories bubbled up. He suppressed them. These few he'd have time to make of who his sister had become were the ones he'd cling to. Her beauty, her determination, the love shining bright in her eyes.

  "So, Sylvie arranged this?"

  "She and your brother. Momma says we should call him Prince Frederick."

  Colin snorted. "You can call him Uncle Rico," he assured her, knowing how much his half-brother would like that.

  "And Mia," Kate added unexpectedly. "She's very nice and very pretty."

  "Yes, she is," he agreed, his voice thickening. Mia and Rico. It hadn't taken her long. "So, the three of them snuck you out of Tahoe."

  "Sylvia did. Mia stayed at the airport in Reno. She said Tahoe was off limits. She told me such wonderful things about you, about the work you’ve been doing here, about how proud our father would have been of the man you’ve become.”

  Mia had told her those things? He wished they were true.

  “You're my brother, Colin. You always have been. And Momma was wrong to push you away. And now we'll never get those years back." Her arms tightened about him, her head burrowing beneath his chin. "Don't be like her," she challenged. "Don't let things that aren't important get in the way of the things you love, the people you love. That's what Sylvia told me, and I agree."

  Out of the mouths of babes. Via Sylvia Terriot. The irony made him smile. Was it a lesson his friend had finally learned as well? He hoped so, considering how truly happy his brother, Turow and his new mate seemed to be.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” he asked, courage failing. “Tell me about you and your sisters.”

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Tell me everything.”

  He closed his eyes and let stories of the lives he’d missed come alive through Kate’s vivid storytelling. How he wished he’d been there to see even a tiny portion of those events, to watch his sisters grow and blossom into lovely, strong young women. Sorrow rose to sour the moment because he’d never be able to enjoy seeing them move beyond young adulthood.

  “Why didn’t you come to see us, Colin?” Kate’s somber question pulled him from his unhappy musings.

  “It would have made things worse.”

  “How? What could be worse than losing our father and all our brothers? When you turned your back on us, it was like you died with them. We needed you, Colin. We loved you. You were our brother. Didn’t you love us?”

  “I did, Katy! All I thought of was you. Momma wanted me gone.” His excuse wavered, weak and unsubstantial in the face of her and her sisters’ pain. “I thought it would be best.”

  “You left us alone with her to be with your other family, to be a prince in the House of Terriot. June cried for you for months. Not for Dad or Anson or Henry. For you! Didn’t we mean anything to you at all?”

  “You meant everything. Everything. There wasn’t a day, not a day that went by that I wouldn’t have thrown away that title just to be your brother.”

  She put her small hand to his wet cheek. “Can’t you see how much we all love you?”

  He couldn’t find the words or the strength to reply.

  Taking his silence for his answer, Kate leaned in to kiss him, tasting his tears with that forgiving gesture. “We love you, Colin. Come back to us. We want the chance to get to know you again. We want you . . . and Mia . . . to be a part of our family. I don't care what Momma says."

  He smiled faintly at her rebellious tone. His was sad and tender. "I don't think I can make that happen, baby. I'm sorry. I don't have a choice."

  "Yes, you do! Uncle Rico said you stopped fighting. Don't just give up on all of us the way we did you. Please! Don't just let go when we need you. When Mia needs you. She told me you were the only thing worth fighting for. Don't you feel the same about her? About us?"

  He couldn't answer through the emotion clogging his throat until Rico came to rescue.

  "Kate, I'd better get you home."

  Her arms tightened about Colin. Her tears burned against his neck as his own silently rolled. He looked to his brother for rescue, murmuring, "Rico will see to you. You call him if you need anything. I trust him to take care of you for me."

  His words had Rico brushing at his own eyes. "I will. My word on it. Anything you need, anytime you girls need it."

  "Mia, too?" Kate sniffled.

  "Sure." Rico added gruffly.

  Before Colin could respond, Rico cupped Kate's elbow and lifted her to her feet, pulling her away from her only surviving brother. She took a deep, shaky breath.

  "I will not say good-bye to you." With that, she rushed to the door and out into the night.

  Rico regarded him with an angry scowl. "If you'd rather die than fight for them, I’ll do it for you. I'll see to everyone. That's on you, Col, not me or them."

  “I didn’t choose this, Red.”

  “You’re the toughest sonuvabitch I know. You’ve never flinched away from greater odds or certain death. There’s not a one of us who wouldn’t want you at our side in those situations. You’d give everything you had for any one of us, but never take even the smallest thing for yourself. I used to envy you, Colin. I wanted to be you so bad I ached inside. I put you on a pedestal so high, you cast a shadow over the sun. But now, I wouldn’t trade places with you for anything. Because the only one who thinks you aren’t worth a damn is you.”

  He had no strength to argue, no will to disagree. “Take care of them, Rico.”

  “I will. Not because you asked, but because I know if they were mine, I’d do anything to keep them. Anything! You’re a coward and a fool. I never would have rolled over and died so easily. Have a nice last few minutes of your life alone, thinking about that.”

  He shut the door quietly behind him.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Mia couldn't face the long, tragic night with just her own company, knowing it was the last one Colin Terriot would spend on Earth, and that he didn't want to spend it with her. What had happened to turn him so quickly and completely against her?

  She couldn't go to him. Where else could she find comfort with someone who'd understand her pain?

  She found herself standing on that doorstep without ever making a conscious decision. Instinctively seeking safe shelter from the emotional storm with someone she trusted.

  Her knock was answered. No words were exchanged as the warm light from inside detailed the tragedy on her face. Arms opened, inviting her into a surrounding hug, leading her inside to collapse on the sofa, unleashing the sobs tangled about her insides.

  "I can't lose him. I can't let go. What am I going to do?"

  Words poured out, unfettered and raw, in a seemingly endless flood. Confessions she’d never speak to another. Truths she’d never admitted, even to herself. Finally, exhausted, faint from the emotional purge, she silently wept. That, too, was accepted without question as the hour grew later and the shadows deeper. Gentle pats of agreement soothed until another knock drew her comforter away. Mia straightened, wiping at her eyes, wishing she'd kept her anguish to herself until she heard another familiar voice.

  "I didn't want to be alone. I know it's late, but can I come in? I'll try not to wake Evie."

  "Of course. Join the party." Amber coaxed Rico Terriot inside.

  Taking him to find comfort in another's embrace.

  Silence filled the small rooms he'd been so excited to make his home. In the unsettling quiet, there was nothing to distract him from the echo of Rico's words. Coward. Fool.r />
  This from the Prince of Fools! Who was probably busy consoling Mia at this very minute. So, who was the fool now? His brother for finally reaping all the benefits from his own unfulfilled life, or him for giving them up so easily?

  Would he be so eager to meet his Maker if he hadn't just learned of his mate's betrayal? Was the thought of facing that humiliation, and worse, her loss, so great, it robbed him of the will to fight for that next breath?

  Rico was right. He'd never had to fight for anything. When all the blessings that came with who he was were stripped away, he'd just let them go. He'd abandoned his sisters in their time of mutual loss. He'd pushed Mia away without hearing her explanation. He'd distanced himself from anything and anyone that could potentially hurt him, trying to convince himself that being a bedroom Olympian with a pedigree he despised, sitting back on those undeserved laurels, would be legacy enough.

  He didn't deserve a future when those he'd worshipped lost their chance at theirs, because he was a prince in the House of Terriot. A House now led by an unfaithful king. Better to die than watch it burn.

  “Oh, Boo Hoo!” He could almost hear those reproachful words issued from Mia Guedry's lusciously pursed lips. He shook his head to clear the roil of confusion.

  “Coward! Such a disappointment to everyone who believed in you!” His mother's voice. So clear. So harsh with condemnation, as if even now she glared down at him in disgust. Why hadn't she loved him? He couldn’t help that the father who spawned him wasn’t the father he loved.

  Stop, please. But he lacked the strength to deny his demons.

  “You stop. Stop crying, stop hiding, stop blaming everyone else because you can't accept the fact that you lived and they died.” Sylvia, so patient, so gently punishing as her voice whispered through his hazy consciousness, forcing him to call out in depthless sorrow. “I should have been with them!”

  “You weren't. They're gone. You're here. Don't shame their memories by making so little of the life they didn't get to live.” Cale’s conclusion, shredding away his every argument with brutal clarity.

  What can I do now? I'm dying here! I didn't choose this!

  “Who chose it for you?” Silas, calm and reasoning. “Don't you want to find out? There's a way. Cale knows. . . Ask him about Savoie.”

  Colin sat up on the couch, grabbing a startled breath. He shivered all over, so cold inside and out he wondered for a second if he'd already passed away. He must have zoned out. That would explain the voices.

  He heard his phone ringing in the kitchen from the jacket he'd left hanging on one of the stools. A connection he suddenly, desperately wanted to make. It took him half the lifetime he hoped to have left just to reach it. The message light blinked. Resting his elbows on the top of the bar while his legs trembled, he listened to the recording.

  "Don't you do this, Colin." Cale. "Don't you crawl off under a porch and just die, not when we have things unresolved between us. Call me so we can make it right."

  Hearing that forceful voice brought back the surge of hopefulness he'd felt standing beside his brother as he proclaimed himself their king. When had that optimism fallen to despair?

  He was going to fall if he didn't sit down. Slowly, carrying the phone, Colin made his way from kitchen to bedroom, collapsing on the edge of the bed to strip out of his sweat-soaked clothing and into the comfy gym shorts he slept in on those occasions when he was alone. He'd never been more alone than at this moment. Suddenly, that wasn’t okay anymore.

  “It’s Colin.”

  Cale froze, a horrible panic filling his throat with acid. “How does he sound?”

  Kendra’s gaze swam, but her reply was steady and gentle. “Not good.”

  Taking the phone from her was one of the most difficult things he’d ever done. He couldn’t lift it to speak until Kendra stepped up against him, head to his shoulder, arms tight about his waist in their quiet French Quarter hotel room. Her tender compassion called him on his vow to have the same for his brother.

  “Hey, baby,” he said at last, smiling so Colin could hear it in his voice. “How ya doing?”

  “Yo, bro. Same ole. Dying fast and ugly.”

  His eyes squeezed shut. “What can I do?”

  “I’m calling you on your promise to take care of me.”

  His heart dropped. “Aw, hell. Is it that bad?”

  “It can’t wait.”

  “Are you sure, Col? You gotta be sure.”

  “I’m sure. Can I count on you, Cale? I’ve always been able to. Don’t let me down.” A long pause. “Cale? You there?”

  “It can’t wait? It’s not something that can be undone, and I’m gonna have to live with it for the rest of my life. I’ve got so many souls hanging on me already. I know I said I would, but I don’t—I don’t know if I can.”

  “Well can you or can’t you?”

  Colin’s impatience surprised, hell, shocked him into a temper of his own. “It’s not an easy thing you’re asking.”

  “I’ve never asked you for much, if anything. Why did you offer if you didn’t plan on following through? Dammit, Cale, this is important. It’s not like I gotta lot of time on the clock I can afford to waste.”

  “Then why the rush for me to stop it?” he demanded angrily.

  “Stop what?”

  “The clock.”

  “What are you talking about? What clock?”

  “Yours.” A long silence. “You’re calling me on my promise to—to let you go peacefully. Isn’t that why you’re calling?”

  “No!”

  “I—I don’t understand. Why then?”

  “I don’t want you to help me check out, Cale. I want you to save my ass. I got things to live for!”

  Amber paused after draping a comforter over her two guests, both exhausted by grief and now slumbering half-reclined on her sofa. They looked good together, comfortable in each other’s arms. She wished she could hate them for that, but she couldn’t. No one could fault who they loved. Wasn’t she a prime example?

  Leaving on a dim light for them, she went to the celibate bed she’d share with her precious daughter. Her reminder of how foolish and fruitless love could be.

  Evangeline wasn’t a regret. She was a blessing. The only one she’d ever had to cling to. The only one who wouldn’t play carelessly with her heart then abandon her. She should have already learned that lesson. This new reminder carved it deeply as she cuddled her child close and let her tears fall for Colin Terriot.

  A light was on in his living room.

  Drowsy, brain sluggish, Colin blinked his eyes into focus and lifted on his elbows in alarm. A shadowy figure stood in the doorway between kitchen and bedroom. The thought that someone might have broken in to kill him almost made him laugh.

  “You didn’t answer the door, so I let myself in.”

  “Geez, Savoie. You ’bout gave me a heart attack!”

  “That’d be ironic since I’m here to save you.”

  Colin fought against the treacherous weakening of his system, a struggle as effective as trying to brace up a landslide with a tooth pick. By the time Max hunkered down in front of him, Colin was a shivery raw nerve.

  “I’m sorry you had to cut your trip short. Cale said you might be able to help me.” Was that his voice, so shaky and fragile?

  “Don’t be sorry. Sitting around in a hotel full of cops at a conference teaching them how to bring down bad guys like me is not what I’d call a relaxing getaway with the missus.” He smiled at his use of that word Colin had taught him. The missus. He liked it but wasn’t sure his other half would agree. “What did Cale say I could do?” he asked conversationally while examining the fever-bright eyes and disfigured hand.

  “Some kinda Shifter hoodoo bullshit, is what he called it. I didn’t believe him at first.”

  Max smiled. “And you do now?”

  “I have to. I’m kinda out of options. And time.” Those precious hours, minutes, were draining away fast. Beneath the gnawing pain, a s
tealthy cold seeped through his body like a relentless evening tide, drowning sensation, slowing his system. A clock running down. Still, he was wary enough to ask, “You’ve done this kinda thing before, right?”

  “I brought my mate back from the dead, and now she’s carrying my child.”

  Colin raised a brow, impressed. “Coming back sounds good, but I’d just as soon not be knocked up.”

  Savoie gave him a scary wide smile and chuckled then moved quickly to catch him as he started to topple forward in a swoon. Max brought him around again with light slaps to his cheek. It was harder to focus, harder to breathe as his pulse staggered and stuttered. He gripped Savoie’s arm, his hold pathetically feeble as he whispered, “Don’t let me die. Don’t let those bastards kill me like this.”

  “We’d best get busy then.”

  Savoie went to throw open the windows, letting in the chill night air. Colin clutched at his damp, twisted covers, tremors shaking through him, time trickling away. “You’d better hurry.”

  The Shifter king of New Orleans sat on the edge of the bed and held Colin’s good hand in his. The transfer of heat came with a prickle of energy his nervous system sucked up like a battery charge.

  “Since we’re kinda pushed for time, I won’t bore you with the philosophy behind what we’re going to do.”

  “Do it quick,” Colin panted, unable to draw in enough air.

  “Close your eyes. Let everything go around you. Focus on your heartbeat and the feel of the night on your face.” When Colin did so and calmed, Max continued in that same compelling tone. “From this state, you can harness the power of the Ancients. You can do amazing things-bend time, cross space, see the future. But for now, we’re going to concentrate on reaching in, not out. In, where the soul of our ancestors beats with the rhythm of our kind. Can you feel it, Colin? That stirring inside you, that quickening that comes when you let your inner beast free?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. That’s the well our kind returns to to drink of the past, to commune with the ages.”

  Now very still, Colin’s chest barely moved.