“Where is she?”
“I had to lock her in her room.”
“And the other children?” Seb asked politely.
“They’re in the parlor now drinking some herbal tea. They’ll be fine. But Amber ... The tea never worked on Amber.” She handed me a brass key.
“Tea?” Seb frowned.
Matron’s smile was distracted. “It’s a calming concoction, good at removing traumatic memories when the need calls for it, and this situation ... Well, you understand that Amber’s very life could be at stake if who she is gets out.”
Seb glanced at me in confusion. Had I ever told him that Noir had a child? Was this information that had skipped being filtered into his consciousness while he’d been locked in the basement?
“Amber is Noir’s illegitimate child. There are rules forbidding her existence. Her mother died in childbirth, and Noir had no choice but to put her in Matron’s care.”
“And now she is exhibiting Arcana power,” Seb sighed. “Give me the key.” He held out his hand.
“Seb?”
His jaw hardened. “Now.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Set her free, that’s what. I refuse to allow you to lock up a child just because she has power. Just because she’s an inconvenience.”
Shit, we’d hit a nerve. “Seb, she hurt another child. She probably can’t control her power.”
“And that’s her fault how? Her father abandoned her. The mentor she should have had turned his back on her.”
“He saved her fucking life by walking away.”
We stared each other down.
“Please,” Matron pleaded. “You both have valid points, and if you can help her, then she has a place here for as long as she wants it, but otherwise you’ll have to take her with you. If there is a chance she could hurt one of the others again, reveal her ability and put herself in danger, then she can’t stay here.”
My heart sank. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“I called Noir several times, but it went to voicemail.”
Seb held out his hand again. “The key, Wila. Now.”
I locked gazes with him and took a dive into the tumultuous emotions brimming in his eyes. The darkness hovered, held at bay probably only by his concern for a child that brought back memories of his incarceration.
I dropped the key into the palm of his hand. “If you can help her ...”
He brushed past me and up the stairs.
Matron pressed her lips together. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”
I headed up the stairs after Seb, my stomach rolling, because what could we do? How could we hide Arcana ability? How could we teach a child to control it?
Amber’s door was ajar, and there was no sign of Seb. Strange how he’d known which room to go to, but then Amber’s room had once been mine, and he’d been brought to see me once, seven years ago. His kiss had saved us both, and then he’d been plunged into darkness for his efforts.
My heart contracted painfully, and a wave of nostalgia assaulted me, followed by a lance of joy. My emotions or his? It was hard to tell. But then there came determination—jagged and sharp—conviction that there would be no more victims, no more prisoners.
I stepped into the room to find Amber perched on the edge of her bed and Seb crouched in front of her. A ball of energy floated between them, gold like the sunshine and laced with electric blue lines.
Amber’s smile was tentative, her eyes bright with awe, and Seb’s expression was almost paternal.
“See, it’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s part of who you are, and you control it. You can push it away.” He snapped his fingers and the gold vanished, leaving just the electric blue magic. “Or you can pull it back.” Another snap and the ball appeared. “Try it.”
Seb sat back on his haunches. “You can feel the energy here.” He touched his solar plexus. “Can you feel it?”
Amber nodded.
“Okay, your turn.” His tone was gentle and reassuring, and something inside me melted.
Amber snapped her fingers, and the arcane magic winked out. She snapped again and it reappeared.
Seb clapped. “Perfect. See, you’re a natural.”
The magic winked out, and she tucked in her chin. “Not when I’m angry or upset, I’m not. Then I can’t control it.”
I stepped into the room. “But maybe we can teach you how? Would you like that?”
She looked up at me, wide-eyed. “You can do magic?”
Not me, but Seb could, and… “My friend Noir can. Maybe I can get him to help you.”
Her expression closed, and her jaw jutted stubbornly. “No. Not him.”
Oh, shit.
She glared at the ground as if willing it to catch fire.
“Amber?”
“I know he’s my dad, okay. Why else would I be able to ... I know and he doesn’t care about me.”
“You’re wrong, Amber, I do care.” Noir’s mellow voice drifted over my shoulder.
His heady cologne hit my senses, and I stepped out of the way to allow him into the room. Amber was staring at him in shock.
“Can I have a moment alone with my daughter, please?” Noir asked.
Seb rose from the ground and strode out of the room without even looking at Noir. With a reassuring pat to Noir’s arm, I followed, closing the door softly behind me.
Seb’s expression was pinched as he leaned up against the hallway wall.
“It’s not his fault.”
Seb rolled his eyes. “It’s always someone else’s fault, isn’t it? There’s always a big bad reason for doing shitty things.”
“The Institute would have killed her if they’d found out about her. Adam is a Noir—one of the founding families of the Institute. Offspring that aren’t pure blood are executed.”
He gave me a half smile. “So? He could have taken her and run. Changed his identity and taken up residence in another pocket. Gone from pocket to pocket if need be. You know, the kind of shit you do for your child if you love them.”
I’d never thought of it that way, but even then, there were too many risks, and dammit, Noir was one of the good guys. “Maybe he wanted to give her a normal life, not one where they were constantly looking over their shoulders. The Arcana Institute is everywhere. Every pocket is run by a branch of the Arcane. Honestly, I doubt they would have gotten far. It would have been a risk that could have ended in Amber’s death.”
Seb fixed his gaze on a point over my head. “Whatever the reasons, whatever the past, he needs to step up and be a father now. That child has great power simmering in her veins, rare power. And with power comes a choice, the path of good or evil, and right now Amber is vulnerable, perched on the precipice. A rejection could send her into darkness.”
“Like it has you?” The words were out before I could stop them.
He had me pinned to the wall before I could blink, his unyielding grip painful against my shoulders. “You have no idea, Wila. No fucking idea what darkness I fight every day just to stand here and not squeeze the life from your slender throat.” He pressed his groin to mine. “But then the memories surge up. Memories of the time before. Of my love for you, pure and deep and untainted, and there’s a choice, to fall into darkness or strive for the light.”
“And what do you choose?” My tone was a whisper as my breath mingled with his.
His lids grew hooded, and then his mouth crushed mine as if admonishing the words that had tripped from my lips. The contact sent white fire racing through my veins, and throbbing heat pooled at my core.
He pulled back, his pupils large and dark. “You’re still breathing, aren’t you?”
The door to Amber’s room opened with a click, and Noir stepped out. His gaze went from Seb to me and then back to Seb, who was still pinning me to the wall.
Seb merely slow-blinked at the Arcana, unmoved. I shoved him in the chest and he backed up easily, his stance loose-limbed because he didn’t care, he wasn’t afraid, not
of me, not of Noir, not of anyone. Not anymore.
Noir fixed his stunning blue eyes on me. “Wila, I have a favor to ask.”
There was only one thing he could want from me at this moment. “Yes, she can come and stay with me.”
He opened and closed his mouth in quick succession. “How did you know?”
“You need to spend time with her, teach her how to hide her ability, and my place is the safest, most logical option. Gil and Trev can keep an eye on her while we do our save the world shit.”
His shoulders relaxed, and he cracked a dimpled smile. “Thank you.”
The door behind him opened again, and Amber stepped out. “Did she say yes?” she asked her father.
Noir rested a hand on Amber’s head. “Yes. Pack some things.”
It looked like I’d be temporarily adopting a child.
Chapter 9
Gil and Trevor took Amber’s arrival pretty well. They didn’t bat an eyelid when I explained she’d be staying with us indefinitely, or when I dropped the mini bomb of who she was.
“Are you hungry?” Gil asked, forever the paternal force.
Amber focused straight on the spot where Gil was standing and smiled. “I’m starving.”
And then she walked right up to him and asked if she could help cook dinner. Noir sagged in relief and slipped into the nearest chair.
Quinn entered the room, an empty bowl in his hand which had probably contained popcorn not too long ago. “New house guest?”
“My daughter,” Noir said, and there was a definite hint of pride in his tone.
Amber glanced back at him, her smile tentative, but it was such a Noir smile that my heart ached with happiness for them both. They’d found each other, and I needed to make sure it stayed that way.
Quinn stuck another packet of popcorn in the microwave. His bare toes curled upward on the lino, wriggling as if in anticipation.
He caught me staring at them. “What? I don’t like shoes or those slipper things you all wear around the house.” He tilted his head to the side and studied his feet. “’Sides, I think I have nice feet.”
“I could paint your nails if you like?” Amber offered.
Quinn’s mouth turned down in contemplation and then he shrugged. “Sure, why not.”
Amber clapped her hands together. “Awesome!”
Yeah, she was going to fit in just fine. “Where’s Tay?”
“Upstairs,” Gilbert said. “He was exhausted.”
“Slumber isn’t real sleep,” Trevor explained. “We all thought he’d do better controlling the troll after a few hours of kip.”
As Quinn watched the popcorn packet go round and round in the microwave and Trevor launched into one of his circus tales for Amber’s entertainment, I slipped out of the room and headed upstairs to check on Tay.
***
Taylem was fast asleep on his side, in my bed. His huge frame took up the whole of the queen size. With all these large males in my life, I was going to have to get a much bigger bed. I brushed his chestnut locks off his forehead and pressed a soft kiss to the gentle frown on his temple. He moaned softly in his sleep but didn’t stir.
“He’ll be fine,” Leopold said from the doorway. “How did it go at The Gables?”
“Not great. We have a new house guest now. Noir’s daughter.” I filled him in on the situation.
Leopold nodded sagely. “She needs to be with her father. You did the right thing bringing her here.”
“I know. There was never any question of doing anything else.”
His mouth quirked. “No. I suppose there wasn’t.” He inclined his head in Tay’s direction. “I’ll stay with him, and if the troll resurfaces I’ll alert you.”
He morphed into Hound and padded into the room, lying down at the foot of the bed.
“Thank you.” I ran a hand through Hound’s thick fur.
He was much more approachable this way. In his humanoid form, with the tighter than tight jumpsuit, he was pretty intimidating. Plus, my neck ached from keeping my eyes on his face, because as far as packages went ... well ...
I left the door ajar and headed downstairs.
It was good of Leopold to keep an eye on Tay, but the only way to keep Taylem safe was to mate with him, to allow him the security of the bond which would act as a substitute knell, and the only way to keep all of them safe was to get Azren back and find the key.
The smell of frying onions drifted up the stairs as I made my way down, and the tinkling sound of Amber’s laughter swelled in the air. The clank and clink of pots and pans greeted me as I stepped onto the first floor landing overlooking the foyer, and then Noir and Seb wandered out of the kitchen. From my vantage point, their defensive postures were impossible to miss.
“How are you finding things?” Noir asked Seb.
“As opposed to being locked up, you mean?” Seb said dryly.
I knew that look on Noir’s face, it was his I’m-about-to-lose-my-patience look. Seb would really have had to push his buttons to get the Arcana to this point. Urgh, great. Would I need to get them to hold hands and sing Kumbaya? Seb may be all-powerful with his command of the ether and elements or whatever, but social interaction was something we’d need to work on. Noir was clearly trying to be polite and make small talk, but Seb wasn’t reciprocating.
I cleared my throat, catching their attention. Noir glanced up, but Seb kept his back to me. Yeah, he’d known I was there, no doubt about it. We were connected, after all.
“You have your thinking face on,” Noir said with a smile that was part relief.
“Just thinking where to put Amber. We’re beginning to fill up pretty quickly, and once Valance gets back and Azren returns, we’ll be at full capacity. I think Taylem needs to stay here too, at least until we’re mated and he can benefit from the connection.”
“She can have my room,” Noir offered. “I’ll sleep on the couch in the lounge area of the fourth floor.”
We’d have to juggle things once everyone was back.
“I’m going to drift for a while,” Seb said in a bored tone.
“Is that your equivalent of sleeping?” Noir asked.
Seb looked at him coolly. It was obvious the whole Amber revelation had put his back up when it came to Noir, but like fuck was I going to have animosity in my ranks. We were a team, and we needed to act like it.
I joined them in the foyer and lifted my chin to look up at Sed. “I get you’re pissed. You have every right to be ambivalent about a lot of shit, but this is my home, and Noir is my friend, and honestly, I don’t give a shit how powerful you are, if you’re hostile toward the people I love, then there’s no place for you in my life.”
He snorted derisively. “And you’ll get rid of me how?” He arched a perfect brow, his turquoise eyes darkening with dawning anger. “You’re stuck with me, Wila, whether you like it or not.”
A shiver of foreboding skated over my skin. Had he felt that? His gaze was probing, searching, and I squashed down on the doubt, shrugging a slender shoulder in a nonchalant manner. “Maybe I am stuck with you, but I don’t have to interact with you.”
His bark of laughter was mocking. “What? You’re going to give me the silent treatment? Are we children now?”
This whole encounter was giving me a headache. “No, we’re not. So stop acting like one. If you have a problem with someone on the team, then air it. Deal with the issue and move on. That’s how we do shit in my world, and like it or not, Seb, you’re in my world now.”
Noir blinked down at me in surprise.
Seb glanced away with a sigh. “Fine.” He locked gazes with Noir. “I don’t like the way you’ve treated your daughter. I have no time for parents who refuse to take responsibility for their children.”
Noir’s shoulders sagged. “And neither do I. I understand it probably doesn’t look great that I put her in an orphanage, but believe me, it wasn’t a decision I came to lightly. Arcana are like piranha, circling each other, waiting for the best
time to attack, and I couldn’t allow them to discover her existence. Running wasn’t an option because they’re everywhere, and my pure Noir blood would have been easy to track and locate. She would have been killed if I’d kept her with me.”
Seb studied him, assessing. “But you’ll do right by her now.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a demand. And not for the first time, I wondered what Sebastian would have grown to become if he’d been given the free rein to do so. Instead, he’d been sheltered, locked up, and now he was all grown—a man with an abundance of power at his fingertips and a dark temper eager to take charge. Fear gripped the back of my neck with chilly fingers. What if the darkness won? What if it claimed him?
Seb was staring at Noir, waiting for a response.
“I’ll continue to protect her, yes,” Noir said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe.”
Seb inclined his head. “And I’d like to help.”
Noir looked up in surprise. “I’d like that.”
“And to answer your earlier question, yes, drifting is like sleeping. It allows me to re-energize.”
Okay, now we were getting somewhere. “When will you be back?”
He placed a hand on the side of my face. “Soon, and if you need me sooner, then just call. I’ll hear you. I’ll always hear you.”
There was no frost in his gaze, no irony in his words. This was the Sebastian of before, the one who’d loved me without darkness tainting his soul. I reached for his hand on my face, but he melted away, leaving a brief residue of sunlight in his wake.
A soft silence followed, punctuated by Amber’s laughter and Gilbert’s soothing timbre.
“What does it feel like?” Noir asked softly. “To be connected like that?”
What did it feel like? I blew out a breath. “I expect it’s similar to how you feel being connected to Arcana magic, except my fount of power talks, walks, and demands.”
He inhaled, close-lipped, through his nose and nodded. “Unrelenting, inescapable, and intoxicating.”
Chronicles of Arcana (The complete collection books 1-4) Page 59