“So how much time do we have?”
“Couple hours.”
Protective gear, arm and leg guards, and chest protector, now off, Shiv eyed the water with lust. "I have to get this layer of filth off me.”
Triaten eyed her up and down. "You're not even dirty — a few mud splatters, but you were out in front, that's as clean as it gets." He turned to the back of the ATV and started to dig in the gear box.
"No, I’m talking about the filth that layered up on my skin every time one of those two gawked at my body. Filth without even touching." She shuddered. "I know what I signed up for, but I don't think their eyes ever made it up past my neck, and I can guarantee they couldn't tell you the color of my eyes.”
"They're green." Triaten said, without looking up from his digging.
Shiv paused and considered him, then smiled. "Thanks.”
Triaten pulled a water bottle out and offered it to Shiv. “No problem, love. I know there’s head attached.”
She took it and gulped, then sat on her ATV, pulling her shoes and socks off. She walked over to the edge of the water.
“It’s going to be chilly,” Triaten warned.
Her toe went into the water. “Eeeee, son of a...you’re right,” she stepped away and pulled off her top. “But I’m going in anyway.”
Shiv peeled off her pants. Thumbs under the straps of her underwear, she stopped and looked at Triaten. “You mind?”
Triaten sat down on the rocky riverbank, legs bent, and leaned back against a boulder. He motioned with the water bottle in his hand. “By all means. I’ve seen it.”
She shot him a shameless smile. “Yes, you have.”
Naked, Shiv waded into the edge of the river pool on a skinny strip of sand sandwiched by sharp rocks. She grimaced as the cold water covered her toes.
“Do it fast or you’re never going to do it.”
She looked back over her shoulder at him. “Is it deep enough for a dive?”
“Yes.”
Shiv took a deep breath and didn’t waste another second. Arms above her head, elongating her form, she leaned forward and splashed into the water, part grace, part flop.
Curiosity pushed Triaten forward, his eyes fixated on the water. That they were at the river that baptized Panthenites, unleashing their powers, was not lost on him. Skye got her powers late in life, so why not Shiv? He squinted, watching for a flash of light.
The water sparkled smoothly under the sunlight, rings of waves from Shiv’s dive snaking to the outer edges. Birds cawed from the orange-gold aspen leaves above.
Nothing.
Her dark hair broke the surface, and a shocked gasp followed as soon as her mouth hit air above water.
Triaten leaned back, propping himself on the rock. Not a Panthenite. Not unless she had been previously baptized in the water, which wasn’t likely. And especially unlikely, since he would have seen any powers in her when they first met. It was pretty hard for Panthenites or Malefics to hide their powers from him. And the reason why Triaten’s reading ability gave him such a step up. Knowing exactly what he was dealing with made him exceptionally effective, whether in battle with a Malefic or negotiating the politics of the Panthenites.
“Mother of –” Shiv interrupted herself with a sputter of water. “I guess you warned me. Tell me you have a towel in that gear box.” Her hands sifted through the water, her feet kicking her back to the sandy spot in the rocky shoreline. Dark hair swept out around her, a black halo kissing the surface of the water.
Triaten got up and rummaged as Shiv stepped out of the water.
He handed her a fleece jacket. “Best I have. I must admit, I’m surprised you don’t mind the water at all. Skye told us how your parents died.”
Goose bumps blanketed Shiv’s skin, even as she wiped with the jacket. Fleece didn’t make the best towel and her teeth chattered. “I don’t remember it like Skye does. I was too young. I’ve always been amazed that she managed to pull me out. She was pretty young herself.”
Triaten handed Shiv her shirt. “Do you remember your parents at all?”
“Not really — I have occasional flashes — memories of feeling loved — nothing much beyond that.” The shirt went over her head.
“Was there other family?”
“No. I guess my parents were odd, in that they didn’t have any other family, aside from us.” She pulled up her pants. “So after the accident, it was always Skye that took care of me. We went through lots of foster and group homes — case workers would just show up all the time with no warning, and move us to a new home. It was a constant state of flux. I never knew what was going to happen next — why people didn’t want us. It’s why I still hate not knowing what’s going on around me. But still, all those years, Skye always managed to take care of me, she was mine...” Shiv’s voice trailed off as she pulled her hair tight and twirled it over her shoulder, squeezing water out of it.
She wasn’t looking at Triaten anymore; her eyes had moved on to blankly stare at the water.
“And what happened?” This, Skye had never told them, or at least never told Triaten or Charlotte — Aiden probably knew.
Shiv’s green eyes turned dark. They stayed on the water. “We were living with a family with several foster kids. One of them was an older boy. We had only been there a few months. I was 14 when he attacked me — Skye showed up, knife in hand — where she even got it, I don’t know. She stabbed him and cut his spinal cord — I begged her not to attack him — I begged because I knew they would take her away — but she did it anyway.”
Shiv’s fists were in tight balls. “She abandoned me and almost killed him — he lived, but was paralyzed from the waist down. They took her away to juvie and I haven’t seen her since.”
Her eyes darted quickly to and from Triaten. With a deep breath she walked to the bank’s edge. She sat down; legs crossed, and mindlessly fingered rocks, tossing one after another into the water. “Skye came to the apartment building once. I talked to her over the speaker, but didn’t let her up. I couldn’t.”
Triaten went back to the ATV and produced a small silver flask. He came alongside Shiv and nudged it into her hand. “It’ll warm you up.”
With a grateful crook on her lips, she flipped open the top and took a gulp. She coughed at the whiskey fire in her throat, then took another healthy swallow.
“I’m assuming you went to a new home after that?” Triaten asked as he sat down next to her.
She nodded, and her body started to relax again, her troubled eyes fading. “After that I went to an elderly couple — I was the only one there. They were good. Very kind-hearted people. They convinced me to go to college and set a plan for life. But I never really recovered from Skye leaving. And then the next person I loved was the asshole.” A handful of rocks flew from her hand and plunked across the expanse of water. She looked at Triaten out of the corner of her eye. “It’s why I not only chase, but revel in casual relationships.”
“That’s awfully cognizant of you. Not that I’m complaining, as the current recipient of poor choices.”
She shrugged. “Self-awareness has never been a weak spot with me. It was kind of the only way I could survive all the families — making myself invisible was always the best course for me. And to be invisible I had to be painfully aware of everything about myself, at all times. I also learned to never hold onto any emotion — life was always going to change in the next moment. At least I was like that until I was an adult.” Her eyes went up to the blue sky with a sigh. “Jeez, sorry I’m such a downer. Beautiful day like this, and I’m depressing both myself and you.”
Triaten looked hard at her profile. He was a bit mystified that after all she had been through, she had the sense of normalcy about her that she did. He’d met too many people that allowed their past to define their present in a destructive way. But aside from Shiv’s penchant for casual sex, he didn’t get any sense of self-destruction from her.
“Shiv, you know you don’t need to ap
ologize for having feelings? For not having a perfect life? We all have crap in our past.”
Shiv took another swallow from the flask and handed it back to Triaten. “I know. I tend to apologize for things. It’s who I am. Sorry.”
Triaten grinned at her. “Really? You’re going to apologize for apologizing?”
“Ugh. I can’t even apologize for that now, can I?” She shook her head in mock shame. “Okay, your turn. So what’s your crap? Aside from your ex, that is. Good parents or bad?”
It was Triaten’s turn to take a long draw of the whiskey. “My birth mother disappeared almost immediately after I was born. I’ve never known her. I was raised by my father.”
“Was that the man you were talking to in the study this morning? I wasn’t eavesdropping, I just passed by on my way up the stairs, and heard you talking to what sounded like an older man. I saw him in the window on the way in, and thought there was a similarity to you.”
“It was.”
“Was he a good dad?”
A wry smile touched Triaten’s face. “I wouldn’t quite classify him as a ‘dad.’ Father is truly the term for him.”
“So no ball throwing in the backyard for you?”
“No, there was definitely not a game of catch with pop going on in my childhood.”
“Was he the only one around?”
Triaten’s face softened. “I was lucky for a while. There was a woman, Susan, that raised me until I was five. Father was not around much. She was a nanny, but I called her ma. She was the best.”
“Looks like you loved her.”
“I did.”
“What happened to her?”
She was pregnant with a half-breed and Panthenites don’t always play well with humans, Triaten thought.
“She moved on.” He could only produce a short answer for Shiv.
Given what happened with Mary a few months ago, and her involvement with the disposal of half-breed babies, Triaten now wondered what really had happened to Susan. While he knew he had several half-siblings throughout the world — all born to his father and various Panthenite mothers in effort to rebuild the race — he had always wondered if Susan had given birth and he actually had one more half-sibling. He looked for records of her several times throughout the years, but it was as though she had disappeared after leaving the mountain. Not that the records were particularly good in the late 1800’s.
“It was hard, I take it?” Shiv’s eyes were brimming with compassion.
Triaten’s head cocked to the side. The wind had picked up and golden aspen leaves began falling, gently twirling to the earth around them. “It was. At the time I thought my life was ruined. But it was a long time ago. And I learned who to love and who to avoid in the process.”
She leaned into him with a chuckle. “Ah-ha. There it is. Which makes you good at casual relationships too, huh?”
“I am, aren’t I?”
“So far, not too shabby. I kind of knew I had a kindred spirit in you in that regard.”
They both watched the dancing leaves, hypnotic as they landed on the water, creating little boats before saturation sunk them. The crushing sound of the waterfall filled the silence, affording each a spell of quiet contemplation.
Eventually, Shiv grabbed the flask sitting between them and took another sip. “How much more time do we have?”
Triaten’s hand covered his eyebrows as he tilted his head upward to take in the sun’s angle. “Another hour should do. It’ll give us enough time to get up there and back down to the ranch before dark. Why? Do you need to get back?”
“No,” her hand slipped over his leg, fingers trailing down along his inner thigh, “I just didn’t want to start something that couldn’t get finished. You game?”
Triaten watched a crimson leaf helicopter onto her head. She laughed at it, draped half over her forehead, and plucked it off. She tucked it behind her ear. A mountain version of tropical beauty.
“Always, love.” His arm went around her waist, picking her up and situating her on his lap.
Her fingers curled into his hair as she bent over, her mouth almost touching his. “Before we do this. It doesn’t mean a thing?”
Triaten smiled. “For me, no. You?”
“No, not a thing.” Her lips touched his, soft and still cold from the swim in the river.
It turned out that Triaten’s ravishing of Shiv’s body took two hours, so they had to book it up the mountainside. Before the clearing even entered into sight, Triaten could hear the drunken sounds of DeLisio and Shafar. He had given them one too many bottles of wine. Their brashness, invading all corners of the forest around them, only expanded once Shiv and Triaten pulled into the clearing.
They were sitting on a few large boulders, and at first, Triaten wasn’t sure if they were arguing or jovial, as both men’s arms were flailing wildly at whatever they were talking about, half in French and half in English.
When Triaten pulled closer and cut the engine of his ATV, he realized they were talking — passionately — about an Italian soap opera. Triaten stifled a laugh. Never would he have guessed that one. He could have saved everyone a lot of trouble, and just turned on the TV to get these two talking.
Neither acknowledged Triaten’s presence as he came to a stop directly in front of them.
“Shafar, DeLisio,” he interrupted briskly, with a nod to each, “You made it up here without too much trouble, I presume?”
DeLisio patted Shafar’s shoulder. “Fine, fine. Shafar is a mastermind when it comes to your machines over fallen trees.”
Shafar, a powerful billionaire, glowed at the complement like a teenage girl that just got asked out on her first date. “And DeLisio is a mastermind at keeping bottles of wine unbroken.”
Gales of slurred laughter overtook both men. Triaten sighed. All he could read in either’s mind at the moment were jumbled, jabbing thoughts that skittered around like jackrabbits. Typical drunken minds. Triaten didn’t know how much progress the two had made in the negotiations over the land. But at least they knew how to drink together. That was a step in the right direction.
Now the only problem was getting them back down the mountain safely. Darkness had started to move across the sky, and he wasn’t going to let either drive down the mountain.
Shiv walked up to stand next to Triaten, staring at the two. The frown had already set her face long as she watched the two men.
Both were gawking stupidly at Shiv. Triaten stared at them, debating as to which one would be less handsy.
“All right, we need to get down the mountain right now. So Shafar, you’re riding with me. DeLisio, you ride with Shiv. We’ll have your ATVs brought back down in the morning.”
Triaten could feel the glare Shiv fired at him, but he resisted looking down at her. He’d just have to deal with her ire later.
“Come, come, my flower.” DeLisio grabbed Shiv’s arm and pulled her to her ATV.
Shiv walked woodenly along with him, her eyes still trained with fury at Triaten. All he could do was give her a pleading look and mouth the word “sorry.”
If Shiv’s anger hadn’t been so palpable, it would have been comical how quickly DeLisio settled himself on the back of Shiv’s four-wheeler and wrapped his arms tight around her waist. It was a small favor she wore a chest protector, so DeLisio could only get so far in groping her. Or so Triaten hoped. He cringed as it looked like DeLisio was about to lay his head down on Shiv’s shoulder. But at that moment, Shiv started the ATV and jerked it forward, snapping DeLisio’s head backward.
Triaten chuckled to himself as he put his helmet on. Shiv would handle him just fine.
~~~
They were down the mountain quickly, taking the easiest trail. Triaten led, but was pushed at every corner by Shiv. She wanted out of the situation, and away from the drunk Frenchman, as swiftly as possible. Not that Triaten liked Shafar nearly passing out on his back. And he wasn’t so convinced he wasn’t going to get puked on.
It was du
sk when they finally arrived at the front door of the well-lit ranch. After skidding to a stop, Shiv flew from the ATV’s seat, stepping widely around DeLisio as he followed her off. She avoided his hands trailing after her body, and went to stand next to Triaten as she removed her gear. Triaten took a step forward, positioning her slightly, but pointedly, behind him.
DeLisio looked momentarily stunned, then shrugged as his attention turned over to Shafar.
“Come, my friend,” Shafar said, walking over to DeLisio and throwing his arm over his shoulders. “We must go and drink more wine. This company does us no good.”
“Excellent idea,” DeLisio replied, but he still gave one last longing look at Shiv. But then he turned, and with wide grins, the two stumbled up the porch and into the ranch.
Triaten watched the two, hope growing for the possibility of a peaceful accord by the two of them. He was not looking forward to cleaning up the mess if the two couldn’t come to an understanding.
Shiv’s obvious throat-clear brought his attention back to the current storm waiting right next to him. Even in the fading light, Triaten could see the scarcely controlled rage pulsating through Shiv’s body.
Yet she managed to gently set down her helmet and protective gear on the back of Triaten’s ATV, belying the fury that shook her hands. She wouldn’t look up at him, even as she spoke, but her voice was casual and light.
“Let’s just say, Triaten, that after that ride down the mountain. Me staying here, for free…” Her face finally tilted up to him, and her eyes were hard. “We’re even. Actually...you owe me big-time after that.”
Triaten couldn’t fight it. “You’re right. I ran out of options and you paid the price. I thought he would be the better of the two. I hope it wasn’t too horrible, love?” His hand went to her shoulder.
She jerked out from his grip. “His hands were in places yours have never been.”
“Ouch — well, I could find the places and apologize.”
The levity wasn’t welcome. Her hands clenched, and Triaten thought for a moment he was about to get slapped. Instead, Shiv took a step away.
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