by Tamsin Baker
“Okay, everyone needs to add into the pot and then we can start. The first few rounds we’ll be teaching Ella, and then when she has a good handle on the game, we’ll start properly. No cheating, you two,” Davon said.
“Since when do I cheat?” Cassius asked.
“Ever since I’ve known you. Keep an eye on him, Ella. The only way he wins is by cheating,” Davon said.
“I don’t cheat. I’m a very skilful player.” Cassius tapped his forehead. “Up here, Ella. All strategy.”
“Was it strategy when you played for clothing instead of chips with the Marquees?”
“Ah, yes, she had a lovely pair of…” Cassius glanced at me, and cleared his throat, “…hands…and when she wore nothing but her silken underthings, I took the pot without drawing another card. She couldn’t follow me out into the polite crowd without revealing her…attributes.”
“I hope you don’t mean you took her honey pot,” Davon said.
Cassius shook his head, feigning innocence. “Indeed not. She was a married woman, after all. But also very good at this same game. It was the only way I could win my hand. And I did. Brilliantly!”
I couldn’t help my giggle. I covered my mouth with my hand, but it spluttered out anyway. I tried to stop it, but the more I tried, the harder it was. Davon’s rich chuckle joined mine and soon Cassius joined in and after that I couldn’t stop.
Davon and Cassius regaled me with tales of card games and how badly Cassius tended to swindle people, claiming it was all part of the game. Their tales were getting more and more absurd and each one more hilarious, my sides started to ache with using unfamiliar muscles.
“It feels so good to laugh,” I said.
“You should laugh often,” Davon told me, his eyes still crinkled in amusement.
I sighed. “Sometimes life gets…”
“Complicated,” Xander said.
I regarded him for a moment. He hadn’t laughed with us, but his presence felt a little lighter while we were joking. He’d been listening. He understood.
There was a softer side to Xander, after all. I was about to comment on it, but stopped myself. He’d gone out on a limb to show it to me and he was a man who didn’t easily wear his emotions on his sleeve.
I just didn’t quite know what to do with the fact he’d allowed me to see it.
Chapter Sixteen
It took me some time to learn the game and I was down to one chip before I started winning some back. I wasn’t completely sure if either Davon or Cassius lost in order to keep the game afloat, but I knew that Xander wouldn’t go to those depths. He might be hard to read most times, but he was honest to a fault. I was guessing he’d take it as a personal affront to think he wasn’t playing by the book. I just had that feeling about him.
We played through dinner. Cups of tea and cake. The snowstorm outside raged in darkness. We played until I yawned so hard my eyes watered. Cassius laid down his cards. “I think we have tired our guest out.’
“I’m fine. I can keep going.” My comment was interrupted by another yawn.
“We’ll teach you a different game in the morning. Just as much fun,” Davon said.
“As long as we don’t play for clothes, I can’t wait.” To my surprise, I was looking forward to it, clothing notwithstanding.
On the other hand, it might be fun to play for clothing. Or losing it.
I didn’t voice my opinion out loud. Although we’d had fun, there was an underlying restlessness that simmered and at the slightest provocation, I knew it would erupt. Everyone was on their best behavior and I didn’t want to upset things any more than I already had.
I rose, but my thigh muscles were tight and when I moved, the bruising throbbed. I groaned and an instant later I was lifted off my feet and carried to the bed.
“I can walk!”
“But it’s so much nicer when I get to hold you.” Davon sent me such an impish smile, I didn’t have it in me to argue.
Instead I said, “That’s really nice of you, but I have to attend to some personal concerns before I can sleep.”
His brows furrowed, until Cassius snorted. “She has to use the bathroom.”
“Oh.” He spun on his toes and headed into the ensuite. Memories assailed me of what he did to me the last time he took me in here and my skin heated in anticipation. I concentrated on trying not to be so aware of him, but he only set me on my feet and stepped back.
I glanced to the toilet and back but he still didn’t move. “I can take it from here. Thanks, Davon.”
“Are you sure?”
I was sure they had all seen every inch of me when they’d looked after me when I was lost to fever, but being ill and needing help were not the same as being in a fully functioning mind and body. I nodded before I said something stupid to him, like that fact I’d like to take another shower with him.
He merely nodded. “I’ll just be outside. Only a step away. If you need me, just yell.”
“Thank you, Davon. I really appreciate it. I’ll let you know.” The fact was, if he didn’t leave me to some privacy, I was liable to need a fresh set of clothes.
I wasn’t sure whether I was disappointed or relieved when he shut the door behind him. I didn’t waste any time and used the facilities.
I looked at myself in the mirror after I’d brushed my teeth and combed my hair. The girl looking back was scratched up, a fading purple bruise on her forehead. She leveled a gaze at me. “You can do this. Ignore your body. You have to get back to Mom and the farm and the animals, not to mention your only customer. It all depends on you.”
If I didn’t provide some level of customer service it would be all too easy for him to look elsewhere. A sobering thought, but at least I hadn’t lost the Grimoire. I’d be sad to see it go if it came down to that, but survival was survival. The burden of responsibility was crushing.
I opened the door to be swept off my feet by Xander. I didn’t bother telling him I could walk. He wouldn’t listen to me anyway, but somehow his high-handedness only made me feel safe. A part of me reveled in the fact that tonight someone else was looking after me.
Oh, I knew they wanted to get into my pants. There was that little motivation for them, but I didn’t get the feeling it was only that. Why else stay up all night playing cards? Why else save me, feed me, make sure I was occupied with their vast collection of ancient books? Why else do anything for me? There were three of them. They could be just like the Trinity and take whatever they wanted. But these men didn’t.
My fingers curved over his biceps as he carried me the bed. He lowered me until I lay down on the soft mattress. I was surrounded by his particular scent, which was entirely too good when he drew the covers over me and tucked me in like I was a child.
All three men stared down at me. Xander by my head. Cassius on my left and Davon on my right.
“Good night, Ella.” Davon bent to press his lips to my forehead.
Next was Cassius. “Sleep well.”
“We shall watch over you during the night. You will be safe.” Next, Xander pressed his lips to my forehead. His lips softened. Lingered. More than half of me wished he’d kiss me where I wanted his lips. I tilted my head to offer my mouth, but he withdrew, leaving me wanting.
They left the room. The door shut with a quiet click, leaving me alone with the dancing flames and moving shadows. Sleep didn’t take long to claim me, which was surprising given how my body ached, and not just by bruises and scratches, but by how much I really had longed for them to stay with me.
My dreams were alive, filled with erotic snippets. I reached for them, only to grab at nothing. Laughter echoed in my mind, but there was nothing nice about the laugh. Not the way I’d been sharing with them all.
This laugh was malicious, happy that it tortured others, delighting in their darkness. I turned away from the voice, only to see three men writhing in mud, their clothing torn, their skin covered with mud and blood.
A woman stood over them, hair tossed i
n a breeze I couldn’t feel. Her hands were spread over them, her eyes were wide, gleeful and completely mad. Her clothes fluttered about her trim figure, her legs were braced wide beneath a voluminous skirt, her breasts spilling over a deep neckline. Her clothing, although refined, was from a different age. It was blackened, in places burned all the way through.
She tossed her head back. Energy crackled from her fingertips, blue electricity shooting the poor figures on the ground. One of them – Xander – tossed his head back and made the most awful sound. Agonizing. Crushing.
Davon opened his mouth, so much in pain that no sound came out. There was something about his teeth. Elongated canines cut his bottom lip, where more blood mingled with the rest over his body.
“Stop! You’re killing them!” I screamed, but my words faded into the roaring of their choked, miserable sounds.
Blue energy encircled their bodies, sending them into rigor. Muscles tightened like concrete, cramping and throbbing beneath stretched skin. Their backs arched up, arms pushing on the ground, jolted by untold amounts of electricity.
The woman gasped, her chin folding onto her chest, and her body sagged as the electricity faded from her hands. She panted as though she’d run a marathon, her hair a wild mess.
At her feet, the men were limp and unmoving. Not breathing. Behind her, fire licked up a single pole, built on a pyre that set the surrounding trees awash with grotesque shadows.
She spoke, her voice low, husky and brimming with torment. “My pain is now yours.”
Behind her, a wall of flames and sparks rose and engulfed them all, until all I could see was a wall of red and yellow crackling flames.
I woke with a jolt, panting, my body bathed in sweat, staring into the flames glowing and alive, contained in the fireplace. I put my hands over my ears trying to block the sound of her laughter but even though I was awake, it still pierced my ears.
Chapter Seventeen
The door burst open and a shadowed figure strode inside. “Tu Ena. Ella. What’s the matter?”
My fingers tangled in my hair. My scream had died away, but the horror of my nightmare stayed with me, as vivid as though it had actually happened. I welcomed Davon’s arms as he sat next to me and pulled me into his embrace. I trembled, amazed that I was still scared.
I was never scared. I burrowed into his chest, concentrating on the steady thump of his heart, letting it soothe me. I slowly came back from the terror to discover one arm tightly bound around my chest and another sliding up and down my back.
Embarrassment had me pulling away from him, but his arm tightened and kept me where I was. “Let me comfort you. Take what I offer.”
I eased back into his embrace. It was clear he wasn’t going to let me go, and a part of me didn’t mind that at all. The other part, the part that was always in charge, always ready to fight, to be the dependable one, tried to resist, but his body was so warm. His touch so calming, so tempting, that the tension eased and I melted against him.
It was nice not to have to always be the strong one. Strangely, with Davon I didn’t feel the need. I curled around the strength he offered.
“I can’t remember the last time someone held me like this,” I gasped, covering my mouth with my fingers. I couldn’t believe I’d just said that. It’d slipped out and I’d hardly been aware.
I glanced up at him and was more than a little surprised to see his brow furrowed in concern. “Never?”
“I didn’t mean to say that. Forget I mentioned anything at all.” It made me sound pathetic. I drew the line at that. I was not a pathetic person.
“Then I shall remedy that and hold you as often as you’ll let me,” Davon said.
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to,” I said, embarrassed I’d drawn attention to myself. I was a suck-it-up-and-get-on-with-it type of girl.
He traced my hair behind my ear and a shiver stole through me. “What makes you think I don’t want to hold you? I might like it.”
“And do you like it?”
“I do. Very much.”
I had to admit, he was very good at pretending, if he didn’t like holding me. He eased back against the headboard, taking me with him so that I was sprawled over his chest. I remembered the way he’d held me in the shower and a shiver of a different kind stole through me. A hotter, deeper kind.
He drew the blanket over my shoulders and then returned to continue his lazy tracing over my arms beneath the warmth of the covers, mistaking my movement for being cold. I wasn’t brave enough to tell him exactly what that particular shiver was all about.
“Are you comfortable?”
That was Davon. Always wanting to make sure I was comfortable and right at the moment, I was more than comfortable. The last thread of tension slid out of my body as his scent wove around my senses, pricking my awareness of the muscles beneath my cheek, the flex and play of his biceps, the lightness of a touch I knew could raise me to sexual climax.
I’d have to watch myself. It would be so easy to full under his spell, to let my guard down and fully accept the comfort he offered. So tempting.
“What upset you, Ella?”
Thank goodness he brought my attention back to the nightmare. The tempting spell dispersed and I was left with the stark horror of the nightmare again. I burrowed against him, seeking warmth where the nightmare wanted to chill. “Just a nightmare. Nothing serious.”
“Do you suffer from nightmares?’
“Not normally.” Normally I was so exhausted, I fell into a sleep so deep the next thing I knew was my alarm blaring, waking me to start the next day. There was something about this nightmare that was absolutely chilling, though. “It was just very…vivid.”
“Want to tell me about it?”
I scoffed. “You want to hear about it?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I? You were distressed enough to wake. I told you I would do anything to provide you comfort. Sometimes that means more than mere physical comfort,” Davon said.
My fingers curled slightly in his shirt. “I don’t want to put you out. I’m fine. Really.”
He tipped my chin up so I had no option but to look at him. His grip was gentle, yet firm. “You can never put me out, remember that. The other thing I want you to know is that sometimes you need to let others care for you. It’s okay to lean on others when it is needed. Just as you care for people, allow them to do the same for you. It is a gift when offered. Accept it graciously.”
I had to wonder how he became so wise. His eyes gleamed as something deep within shifted. He’d known pain as well as anyone, yet he was still offering me comfort. A stranger. Contrite, I finally nodded. Where others simply didn’t care, for him it was an insult.
My heart tripped over its sudden swelling. I ducked my head, fearing he’d read any vulnerability on my face. I told myself to stay strong, waiting to rise and fall over the wave of raw emotion that came from nowhere. How could he know that his words had affected me so deeply?
I drew in a deep breath. “It didn’t make any sense. There was this woman, a crazy woman. And you three were all there. She did something to you, something not nice. You were…all in great pain and she kept laughing and laughing as though causing you pain made her happy.”
His hand faltered before picking up his stroking again. “What did she look like?”
“She was dressed in a historical costume. A dress like a pioneer might wear. Someone from the eighteenth century but it was charred and burned in places. There was this pyre behind her, burning and falling apart. It really doesn’t make much sense, but what nightmare does.
His hand has stilled, cupping my shoulder. “Did she say anything to you?”
I didn’t think I would ever forget. “She said ‘Now my pain is yours.’ Like I said, it didn’t make sense, but what nightmare does?”
Davon drew in a sharp breath, his fingers tightening slightly. I rose so I could look at him. He let me slip from his grasp. His lips were straight and tight, his eyes unfocu
sed. He was taking this a little seriously. “Davon? It was just a dream. It’s nothing to worry about. It’s gone now. I’m fine, really I am.” His reaction left me a little unsettled and I had to wonder if being out here in the wilderness was making him – them – all a little crazy. “It’s okay, Davon. Really.”
I shifted to release myself from his embrace. He stirred, his eyes sharpened and focused on me before his arms tightened, pinning me against him. “Forgive me. I became caught up in my own thoughts.”
I regarded him for a moment. “What were you thinking of? It looked serious.”
“Just something that happened a long, long time ago.” He sounded tired. I understood that thread in his voice. I wanted to say something to him to make him feel better, to make him sound as energetic as he usually was. This was a side of Davon that hurt my heart to see.
“Sometimes you have to forget about things, because if you let all of the bad things in the world drag you down, you’d never be able to get up in the morning,” I said.
He smiled, little lines fanning from the corners of his eyes. “A philosopher, I see.”
The warmth in his gaze melted my heart that little bit more. I did wonder, that when the time came, whether or not I’d be as enthusiastic to leave as I thought I might be.
“Not a philosopher. Just a realist.” I wish I’d had the opportunity to be more of a philosopher. To think and create, but a girl like me in a town like Conway didn’t have that sort of chance.
I’d denied a big part of me but just being here, having a few days of reprieve, brought it all back. That yearning for more.
And now that I’d had that taste, how could I ever go back to living life in the vacuous life of Conway?
Chapter Eighteen
“Is Ella all right?”
Cassius stepped through the door, followed by Xander. Both men studied me. I tensed, not understanding what they were doing here. As though hearing my thoughts, Xander said, “We heard you cry out.”
“We were worried,” Cassius said.
A part of me eased while another part, the part closer to the surface, remained uncomfortable. I really was extremely vulnerable and they filled the room with such strength. A strength my deepest femininity responded to. I did my best to ignore it, shoving it aside. I pushed up on one arm and moved my legs to sit up. “Stay with me, Ella,” Davon said.