“Jolie, Sinjin makes a good point,” Rand piped up from his seat beside my sister. He reached for her hand and held it in his, smiling down at her warmly. “Your safety is everyone’s first priority.”
“And as I said,” Jolie started, her lips tighter, “Klaasje is well beyond capable of protecting me. And, besides, most of my time is spent with you anyway, Rand.” Then she turned to face Sinjin again. “My mind is already made up,” she finished resolutely, as she looked at me with a quick smile. “Bryn, you will be in very good hands.”
“Great,” I grumbled while shaking my head. The thought that I was going to be stuck with Sinjin now, for who knew how long, didn’t exactly thrill me. ’Course, it was definitely better than being stuck with wolfboy, or the prophetess, or the fae king who was in the process of imagining me naked, or the dour-looking vampire who looked both emaciated and sick, as if he hadn’t drunk blood for an eternity. And that definitely wouldn’t bode well for me, considering it seemed my blood was like the elixir of the gods where vampires were concerned. Well, where Sinjin was concerned anyway …
“Now that just leaves us with Bryn’s day care,” Jolie continued.
Bryn’s day care? I asked her in thought. Do you really have to make it sound like I’m all of two years old or, failing that, a dog?
Jolie’s laugh translated over our telepathic bond as she settled her gaze on me and smiled. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was coming off that way.
Well, it is, I responded sternly, crossing my arms against my chest.
Duly noted, she said as she glanced at everyone in the room again. Her attention settled on the fae king. “Odran, I would like to take you up on your generous offer to guard my sister during the day; and thank you for your kindness in offering.”
Odran smiled as he stood up, bowing his head in a practiced manner. To me, he looked completely trumped up and ridiculous. I didn’t know much about Underworld royalty, but, as for me, there was no way could I ever kowtow to someone else. “Aye, mah queen, Ah will treat her as if she were one o’ mah own.”
Jolie cocked her head to the side, as if she were suddenly alarmed by his statement. “Well, on that subject, Odran, let me just remind you that Bryn is the twin sister of the queen, and I trust you will keep that fact in mind at all times because she is …” She stopped and glanced at me with a smile while shaking her head before focusing on Odran again, “Attractive.”
“Och aye,” Odran responded with a hefty laugh as he faced me. “Aye, yer sister is quite the bonny lass, ma queen.”
“Right,” Jolie continued. “So I trust you will do your very best to curtail any…thoughts you might have about her.”
“Good Lord,” I grumbled as I faced Odran, throwing my hands on my hips. Yep, my gut instinct that he was a womanizer and then some had been spot on. “Another way of stating that, oaf boy, is that if you so much as look at me the wrong way, your testicles will be hanging around my neck.”
Odran erupted into a raucous laugh and belted his thigh with a large mitt of a hand. “I willnae so mooch as look at ye, mah wee lass!”
“Ahem,” Sinjin cleared his throat as he leaned down and whispered in my ear. “As for myself, I cannot make the same promise to you.”
“Whether it’s Scottish testicles hanging around my neck or shriveled up English ones, it makes no difference to me,” I responded in a hushed tone.
Sinjin chuckled. “I can assure you, dear heathen, that they are most undoubtedly not shriveled.”
“I don’t care,” I spat back. “I just want to make sure you and Odran are on the same page where I’m concerned.”
“Understood,” Sinjin responded. “Although as to the fae king and myself sharing the same page, I must admit there is very little similarity between the blond ape you now see before you and the distinguished gentleman who is behind you.”
I frowned. “Whatever. My point is that you touch me once, and you’ll have a stake straight through your heart.”
“Yes, of course, my little tempest,” he replied with obvious amusement. He brought his index finger to my shoulder and made a big production of touching me but I didn’t respond. I was practicing keeping my cool. “I wonder if perhaps I should enjoy having my testicles in your possession after all …”
I exhaled my annoyance audibly, but didn’t respond to his baiting. I knew better than to continue trying to provoke him. Sinjin enjoyed playing games because they were the best way to disguise himself, as well as the thoughts that ran through his head. Games were his best method of artifice and the act of distancing himself from those around him. It was as obvious as his ice blue eyes. If I’d met one man like this, I’d met a hundred. He was the quintessential flirt who couldn’t carry on a serious conversation if his life depended on it. And all in the name of self-defense.
“Now we must move on to introductions,” Jolie continued, clapping her hands together gleefully. She apparently thought the meeting was off to a good start. She glanced over at me with a smile before facing the fae king. “As you’ve probably already learned, Bryn, this is Odran, king of the fae.”
Odran stood up again to his immense and impressive height. The guy was ginormous. I couldn’t help gulping with worry because if the need ever arose, I wasn’t sure how well I could defend myself against him. And I didn’t mean in terms of an overzealous and out of control libido. I still considered everyone in this room my enemy, and as such, the time would probably come when I could or would be physically pitted against one or all of them. If that happened with Odran, I knew I’d have a hell of a fight ahead of me.
“Ah am pleased ta make yer acquaintance, sister ta our queen,” he said in a heavy Scottish brogue. Then he just stood there and looked at me expectantly, as if awaiting my own polite greeting in exchange. I just glared at him until he took his seat again.
“This is Trent,” Jolie continued with a smile at the much shorter man sitting beside Odran. He’s also pretty much a jerk, so you might want to avoid him, she added in her head. Trent immediately stood up, but there was no sign of friendliness in his face. Instead, he gave me a mirror image of the glare I aimed at him.
Yeah, I picked up on that already, I thought back to her. He’s been staring daggers at me since I walked in. And, not only that, but he seems pretty ticked off that things between the two of you didn’t work out.
Really? she thought back and then frowned.
Yep, his thoughts ran along the lines of picking up with me where he left off with you only I don’t think he’d be as nice about it.
A scowl colored Jolie’s face and her eyes narrowed as she settled her gaze on the were. Don’t worry, she thought to me. I won’t leave you with him.
I didn’t peg you as the masochistic type, I thought back.
“Trent is the leader of the werewolves,” Jolie piped up, probably after realizing that owing to our telepathic conversation, the silence in the room was becoming obvious.
Trent studied me for another few moments before sitting down, and not saying a word. Then Jolie faced the man standing next to Trent, the emaciated-looking vampire who stood in the far corner of the room. “This is Varick,” she said. “Varick and Sinjin are both leaders of the vampires.”
At the announcement that Varick and Sinjin were both leaders of the vampires, I detected a spark of anger emanating from Varick. It flared up and out of him like a red flame before his gaze rested on Sinjin. Sharpening my extrasensory perception, I focused in on the pale vampire, trying to pick up anything else he might unwittingly offer. There was definitely hostility inside him, and even though I couldn’t hack into his thoughts, I sensed an undeniable hatred for Sinjin.
“Hmm,” I mumbled under my breath as the handsome vampire behind me leaned down, placing his face beside my ear and breathing his cold air into it.
“Consider yourself blessed that your sister assigned me to you,” he whispered. “I doubt you would fare so well with Varick.”
“I’m not so sure how well you f
are with Varick,” I whispered back smugly. “From what I can tell, the guy can’t stand anything about you.” I smiled more broadly as I turned around to face him but the smile faltered on my lips as soon as I gazed into his ice blue eyes. They were absolutely captivating and I forgot myself for a few seconds.
“Cannot stand anything about me?” Sinjin repeated with a grin that said he couldn’t care less. “Interesting indeed.”
“Yes,” I responded quickly, forcing myself to hold his gaze even though I didn’t want to. His eyes were jarring, they disrupted my focus which only made me angry with myself. “Can’t stand anything about you as in … he hates you …” I piped up, the tone of my voice heavy and heated.
“Hates me?” Sinjin continued, his eyebrows reaching for the ceiling. But somehow I knew he wasn’t really surprised by my announcement. He was just, again, playing a game.
“Yes,” I answered immediately. “Almost as much as I do.” I cocked my head to the side, and finally feeling like I was in control of myself again, I smiled at him. “Guess Varick and I do have something in common, after all.”
“How very thought-provoking,” Sinjin answered with a broad smile that said he was completely unscathed by any of my comments. His gaze traveled down to my bust and paused there. “Hate is a strong word, Beelzebub.”
“Yes it is, Brutus.”
I didn’t expect Sinjin to laugh, but when he did, I had to admit, the sound pleased me. It was a deep, rich tone, but even better, it seemed completely spontaneous, unpolished and candid, the way a laugh should be. He quieted again and his eyes settled on Varick. “I am reminded of an old Spanish proverb,” he started, “envy is thin because it bites, but never eats.”
“Why don’t you recite that proverb to Varick and we’ll see if he’s in an eating sort of mood,” I retorted as Sinjin just chuckled again.
“And this is Klaasje,” Jolie continued, snatching my attention with her persistent introductions. The very pretty vampire with the blue eyes and black hair stepped forward, offering me a sweet smile. Jolie pronounced her name like “Tasha”, only with a “Kl” at the beginning.
“Pleased to meet you, Bryn,” Klaasje said in her heavy, Texan accent. Her smile and disposition were so genuine, I had a hard time not smiling back. I didn’t say anything though but just nodded and suddenly felt like an ass for being rude.
Rude? I scolded myself. Don’t forget you’re surrounded by enemies, stupid! There’s no such thing as rude here!
“And I am the prophetess,” the woman whose path I’d already had the misfortune of crossing suddenly announced.
“She, who will not be named,” I responded, finding it irritating that she kept referring to herself as “the prophetess,” as if she didn’t have a real name. I heard Sinjin snickering behind me.
“My name is Mercedes Berg,” the prophetess announced smugly. She stared me down with a pair of stunningly beautiful green eyes. I sensed a powerful magic behind her glare. Even though I didn’t think this woman was any match for Luce, she was still superbly powerful in her own right. That much was obvious.
Remind me not to upset that one, I muttered to my sister in thought. It seems someone has an over-inflated sense of self importance.
Jolie looked back at me in surprise. Maybe it was because I was attempting to make small talk with her or maybe it was because she thought I had balls to say what I just had about her all-mighty prophetess. Mercedes is very powerful. It’s better to have her on your side, than not. That’s for sure.
Well, no one in this room is on my side, I reminded her.
Jolie didn’t answer me but, instead, she turned to face Rand. I wasn’t sure if she planned to introduce him to me as well. Although he and I had never been formally presented to one another, I’d come into contact with him more than a handful of times so it seemed like introducing him would be a waste of time. Before my sister said anything, however, she was interrupted by a timid knock on the door.
Mercedes approached the door and opened it, revealing a very old woman. “I apologize for my tardiness,” the old woman announced in a soft, high-pitched tone. Her gaze settled on Jolie after she smiled at Mercedes.
“I am sure you had a good reason, Mathilda,” Jolie replied with a beaming grin that made it apparent she was very happy to see the old woman.
The woman smiled lovingly at Jolie, almost the way a mother would look at her child. When her attention shifted to me, that same loving expression remained in her eyes. It was such a contrast to the suspicious and angry expressions I’d received from almost everyone else in the room, that it threw me for a moment or two.
“Bryn,” the woman said. Her voice sounded like church bells ringing or the soft plucking of a harp. The way she said my name instantly put me at ease; although moments later, I was right back on edge again.
You shouldn’t feel comfortable here! I railed at myself. You’re an outsider, you don’t belong here! You are surrounded by your sworn enemies, stupid!
The old woman scrutinized me as if she knew me, and the knowing expression in her eyes was very unsettling. “Who are you?” I asked while experiencing incredibly strong feelings of déjà vu. The feelings perplexed me because I’d never seen this woman before.
“This is Mathilda,” Jolie answered. “Mathilda is of fae lineage and one of several people responsible for teaching me everything I know.” Jolie turned to Rand then and smiled at him affectionately, as if to say he was another person responsible for helping her hone her superior skills. He smiled back at her as he ran his fingers down the side of her cheek while I tried not to gag. I wasn’t accustomed to public displays of affection. In our training camps, any sign of outward affection was strictly prohibited and punished.
I focused on the old woman again. She was very old, but strangely enough, very beautiful too. I sensed that the way I saw her wasn’t really how she appeared—well, not to everyone anyway. As a sensitive, I had no problem reading people easily—as long as their walls were down, and most of them were. With this woman, however, there was a trace of façade that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I didn’t know whether it was a feeling she was sending me, or just an opinion I’d formed on my own. One thing I could see, however, was the enormous amount of magic that flowed through her. It surrounded her in a whitish halo.
Her eyes grasped mine and wouldn’t let go. They were faded green in color, but great depths of power emanated from them. Her hair cascaded about her small frame in silver waves that reached all the way down to her knees.
“You are the spitting image of your sister,” the old woman said as she reached for my hand. Still feeling awestruck by her, I didn’t even flinch when she touched me. Instead, I allowed her to hold my hand between her much smaller ones. Instantly, a feeling of warmth and calm overtook me. “Welcome home, child.” She looked at me as if she’d known me my whole life.
“This isn’t my home,” I said as soon as I remembered myself and my hostile surroundings. I pulled my hand away, but the old woman continued to smile at me, as if I hadn’t offended her in the least.
“You have the courage of your mother and the will of your father,” she said softly.
At the mention of my parents, a bizarre yearning to know more started to fill me. Neither Jolie nor I ever knew our parents. Jolie was adopted as a baby and raised by a foster family, and I was raised by Luce and my people. Feelings of ache and longing began to billow up inside of me as I thought of the family I’d never known.
Stop, Bryn, I told myself.
“If you wish to know about your parents, I am eager to inform you,” the old woman continued.
But I immediately shook my head. Whatever contrived story this old woman tells you, it’s not the truth, I reminded myself.
No, the truth could only come from Luce, despite how bitter and hard to accept it might be. Luce had already informed me that my mother was of fae descent, and therefore, a member of the Underworld. In my eyes, my mother had been one of them, one of my enemie
s. My father, however, was an Elemental.
“I’m ready to return to my room,” I said with calm reserve as I faced my sister again, feeling like I couldn’t stomach another bald-faced lie from the old woman. All this untrustworthy magic was starting to make me doubt myself.
Jolie nodded at me sadly.
FIVE
“Meeting is adjourned,” Jolie announced. I started for the door, wanting simply to retreat into the solitude of my makeshift sleeping quarters so I could close myself off from the world around me, but Jolie’s voice stopped me. “Bryn and Sinjin, would you mind remaining behind? There’s something I wanted to discuss with both of you.”
With a long, deep sigh, I realized my plans to escape had been thwarted, but I waited behind all the same. I sensed Sinjin’s presence as he walked up behind me, the coolness of his body enveloping mine even though he didn’t so much as touch me. Somehow, Sinjin’s coolness didn’t bother me though. His body temperature was definitely lower than mine but it wasn’t as though he was ice cold to the touch.
Rand steadfastly remained at my sister’s side, watching her with loving adoration. Her attention, however, centered on the rest of her council, all now hastily emptying from the room. Odran was the last to exit and closed the door behind him, leaving us to our privacy. Once we had the room to ourselves, Jolie faced Sinjin and me again. “Sinjin,” she started with a warm smile.
I stepped away from the vampire, uncomfortable with his nearness. I turned back around to face him and caught him looking at my sister. There was something in Sinjin’s eyes that immediately responded to Jolie’s smile. It was no more than a tiny flinch in his otherwise unwavering gaze, but it was very telling all the same. Honing in on him, I attempted to discern his feelings, but, of course, only butted headlong into the steel wall of his defenses. He protected himself well—so well that getting into his psyche was like trying to breach a medieval fortress. Even though I failed to access his innermost thoughts and feelings, I could still detect the remnants of his emotions even though he did his best to keep them bottled up inside, hidden safely beyond a defensive bulwark.
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