"It's no joke. I need to get home. My body does not function properly here."
"I'm sorry you're not well. I had noticed."
He waved a dismissive hand. "That's not important. What is important is that you believe that Taldom exists." He grabbed a key from his desk drawer. "I'll show you. Follow me."
For a moment Clare didn't move. She didn't have time for this. Although she had to admit a tiny glimmer of curiosity about how he planned to prove his incredible claim.
Luka led her down the wide stone stairs, then along a narrow corridor. Near the end, he stopped at a squat, reinforced metal door, and twisted the key in three locks. He opened the door to reveal a drop of shallow, discolored steps. "Be careful. The stairs are damp in places." He flipped a switch and three dusty bulbs hanging from an exposed wire struggled to chase away the darkness.
Clare peered into the gloom and wondered what she was letting herself in for. Nimbly, Luka ran down the stairs ahead of her. Clare followed cautiously, wrinkling her nose at the stale, damp air.
The stairs finished in a small cylindrical room. Even in the heat of summer, cold seeped from the bare stone walls. The sense of hundreds of tons of rock pressing down from above made her pull her head down. She hugged herself and rubbed her arms for warmth.
Rusting metal rings were anchored in the walls. With a shiver of trepidation, she gazed at the soot-stained metal bars of a grate in a small alcove. Once upon a time, this room must have been a dungeon.
From the corner of her eye she thought she saw movement. When she turned her head, there was nothing to see. Her skin prickled and every hair on her body stood on end. She edged closer to Luka as he unlocked a wooden door set in the wall.
As her fingers accidentally brushed his hand, a gentle rushing noise filled her ears. He jerked away from her, his eyes black and impenetrable in the shadows. "Don't touch me."
Cheeks tingling with heat, she stepped away. What was his problem? The man was seriously weird—as if she didn't know that already.
He lifted out of the cupboard a suit of armor on a wooden stand. He laid his palm against the dull metal breastplate. "You wanted proof, well here it is. This is the armor I was wearing when I was summoned across the veil between worlds."
Clare stared at it, strangely disappointed. She fingered the metal and chain mail beneath. It seemed authentic, but that didn't prove a thing. "I've seen old stuff like this in museums."
"There are many similarities between your world and mine."
"So you're telling me you were some kind of medieval knight?" Disbelief laced her words.
"No. My father wanted that for me but I had other plans. Father wouldn't stand for disobedience. When I was sixteen, he sent me out with a raiding party led by my eldest brother. I deserted and ended up here."
His explanation sounded crazy, but he delivered it with such sincerity he obviously thought it was true.
She shouldn't even waste her time asking, but she had to find out how he thought he'd been transported from his sword-and-sorcery world to modern-day Earth. "So how did you end up here?"
"A beautiful woman beckoned me, and I went to her. I didn't realize I was stepping through a portal to Earth."
"A beautiful woman?" Something about his tone and the way he glanced at her set her senses tingling.
"Beautiful on the outside, as you are." He lifted a hand as if he might touch her face but pulled back. "On the inside she was a devil."
A shiver ran down Clare's spine at the pain in his voice. Something terrible had happened to him. She'd put money on it.
"Do you believe me now?" he asked.
Her silence spoke for itself.
He gave a small shrug. "No matter, I have more to show you."
He pointed at a chair in the center of the room. "Sit there and watch the wall. It's a portal between the worlds. If you're patient, you'll see Taldom." She remembered the flicker of movement in her peripheral vision when they'd first come down. The edges of reality blurred, and her stomach dropped away.
***
Recollections of the pain and torment Luka had suffered at Monique's hands simmered just below the surface. He hated coming down to this dungeon and all the horrific memories held between its walls.
He pushed the thoughts away and instead concentrated on how he'd bested her, how he'd traded his blood for his freedom and later this château. The capital he'd raised on this place had given him a toehold in business and he'd found he had a gift for commerce—much to Monique's fury.
But this room still spooked him and he'd rather keep the door locked tight and never venture down here. Yet right now he needed to prove to Clare that Taldom existed. Once she was on his side, he'd show her the library full of arcane books so she could research how to open the portal.
"I'll fetch you some refreshment," he said.
Clare turned wide blue eyes on him. "I'd rather not stay down here alone."
He offered a reassuring smile. "I'll only be a moment. Don't worry, even if you see something through the portal, nobody can come through unless they're summoned."
She glanced at the blank walls, her mouth gaping. "Will people on the other side be able to see me?"
"Possibly. I'll be back in a minute."
He hurried up the narrow stairway and released his breath as sunlight touched his face.
After securing lunch from Madame Rousseau, he left the laden tray by the dungeon door while he fetched a chair for himself from the entrance hall.
Pablo was descending the main staircase, looking slightly ruffled.
"Luka." His voice echoed around the high ceiling, a blend of concern and irritation. "Where've you been? I turned my back for a moment and you disappeared with the woman."
"I showed Clare the portal."
"In the dungeon?" Pablo's gaze flicked nervously along the hall.
Luka patted his arm. "There's nothing to fear now." Panic bloomed and faded in Pablo's eyes. Every emotion his friend felt showed on his face. Monique had enjoyed taunting Pablo almost as much as hurting him.
"Has Clare decided to help you?"
"I haven't asked her yet, and I meant to say, you shouldn't have threatened her."
"But she's vital to your plan. I couldn't let her leave."
"No more threats. Clare is free to leave at any time. I won't have anyone suffer on my account."
"Clare must know the score. Why else would Monique leave the business in her hands?"
"Before I met her, I thought the same thing, but I've revised my opinion. I think she's ignorant of both her family history and her powers."
"Then she's in for a shock."
"That's for sure."
Carrying a narrow mahogany chair, Luka returned to the dungeon. At the door, he balanced the lunch tray on the chair and carried them both down the stairs.
He was making progress with Clare, gradually revealing the truth and persuading her to accept it. The way she had touched his hand earlier for reassurance suggested she'd started to trust him. He regretted having to reject her touch so harshly, but he must make sure he didn't invite any intimacy.
As he lowered his foot to the bottom step, he glanced up in anticipation of seeing her.
The chair in the center of the room stood empty.
His heart jolted. Reeling around, he scanned the blank walls. The chair and tray wobbled in his hands, and he set them on the ground. She'd hadn't left via the stairs and he knew only too well there was nowhere to hide. That left one possibility.
Dread rose, a choking thickness that filled his throat. The wall appeared solid, but the veil could easily have lifted and revealed Taldom while he was gone. Surely, she wouldn't have answered a summons from Taldom. The danger she could face was…unthinkable.
He should never have brought her down here, never have left her alone. Now the poor woman would have no choice but to believe in Taldom. She could use her powers to return to Earth, but that was unlikely when she had no idea she even had the rare power to open
the portal.
Chapter Four
Every muscle in Clare's body locked painfully tight. Her breath jerked in short gasps. A rigid shaft of pure terror held her body upright. Surely, what had happened was impossible, but even as she tried to convince herself this place was an illusion, she knew it was real.
Luka had told her the truth.
Crisp, dead leaves fluttered around her legs. Beneath her feet, the mossy ground squished as she shifted her weight, making it difficult to keep her feet. With a gulp, she raised her arms to her sides for balance, frightened if she moved from this exact spot she might never get back to Earth.
She stood with her back to the mouth of a cave. Glittering white rock arched over her head, discolored with a patchwork of fungi and moss. In front of her, where a few minutes earlier the wall of Luka's dungeon had been, towered the thick trunks of mature oak and beech trees.
Clare wrapped her arms around her body and tried to shut out the smell of decaying vegetation. "I'm not here," she whispered.
Denying the truth wasn't going to change the facts. She was in deep doo-doo. She glanced behind her into the inky darkness. The cave mouth had to be a window this side…in Taldom, the equivalent of the wall in Luka's dungeon.
She swallowed hard, still not quite able to believe what had happened. She'd been sitting watching the dungeon wall, waiting for Luka to return, when the outline of trees appeared as if the stones had turned to mist and she could see a forest through them.
Eager for a better look, she left the chair and walked a few steps closer. But she wasn't stupid. She didn't touch. Then the whole wall distended like a giant amoebic blob and grabbed her. For a few frantic moments everything went gray, and she couldn't breathe, couldn't see. Then she found herself where she was now.
What if she couldn't get back? Luka had told her she could only pass through the window if she was summoned, but there was no one here…thank God. She'd probably have wet herself if she'd come face-to-face with a warrior wearing armor.
Okay. Think rationally. If she'd gone one way through the window on her own, there was no reason why she couldn't go the other. The first thing to do was face the cave mouth. She shuffled around, keeping her feet on the same patch of soggy earth, and stared into the shadows of the cave. If she could see Taldom from Luka's dungeon, she should be able to see the dungeon from Taldom. All she had to do was wait for it to become visible.
The minutes dragged by like hours as she stared into the darkness, willing a vision of the dungeon to appear. The hands on her watch moved so slowly she wondered if time were different here. Fingers of purple cloud crept across the gray sky, stealing the light. It grew cooler. Her back ached, her hands and feet became numb, but she didn't dare move from the spot.
A faint shimmering in the dark cave mouth sent a spike of adrenaline rushing through her body. More alert than she'd ever been in her life, she concentrated on what looked like water, maybe waves, then a flash of color, yellow and red. What the heck? That wasn't the dungeon. Could it be somewhere else on Earth or was it a different dimension altogether?
The shimmering flowed through the shadows again. This time the image resolved itself clearly into waves breaking upon a beach with spiky trees in the background. She tensed, preparing to move, but something held her back. She didn't recognize the trees, and the sky looked a strange color.
Darkness flowed back across the scene, swallowing the sea and sand. A clench of panic gripped her belly. What if that were her only chance and she'd blown it. She closed her eyes for a moment. Lethargy crawled through her body, making her legs shake. If she had to stay in one place for much longer, she'd be on her knees.
Rustling undergrowth in the forest behind snapped her attention back and had her swiveling her head frantically one way, then the other. The sound of thicker branches cracking echoed beneath the canopy of trees like a volley of gunshots. Then she heard snorting, a grunt that rattled deep in the throat and ended on a squeal. The sound of men's voices followed. Excited and urgent, the rasped-out foreign words grated across her senses.
A short, squat creature with a shaggy brown coat burst into the clearing and skidded to a halt a few yards from her. Clare cried out at the sight of the vicious twisted tusks curling from its forehead. The tiny black eyes fixed unblinking on where she stood. It snorted, bucked its head like a bull about to charge, and drew back its lips to reveal pointed yellow canines. She should run into the cave to hide, but her brain seemed to have been disconnected from her body.
The shrill sound of a horn echoed through the forest, followed by the rhythmic thud of horses' hooves and the jangle of harness. A hunt, she thought in a strangely detached way. The beast must be the quarry.
The creature careened forward at the sound of the horn and swung around to face its pursuers. It gored furrows in the dirt with its tusks, then bolted into a hazel thicket.
Clare tore her gaze from where the animal had disappeared and forced herself to turn her back on the approaching hunt and watch the cave. They weren't close enough to see her yet. She'd watch the window for another few seconds, then dive into the darkness to hide. She prayed for a glimpse of Luka waiting in the dungeon for her.
The shouts of the huntsmen were so close she could hear their strange words clearly. She glanced over her shoulder and saw six men on horses pounding recklessly through the forest, swerving to avoid the trees. They bent eagerly over their horses' necks, watching the ground, long curved knives held ready, while a pack of dogs darted between the horses' legs.
It was her last chance to hide. Clare turned back to the cave mouth, ready to flee into the cover of its shadows. But the wall of darkness had been replaced by the view of a shadowy room containing shrouded furniture.
A guttural bellow from behind shot terror through her belly, and she looked around. The lead rider had slowed and stood in his stirrups, pointing his sword at her.
"Oh, shoot, Luka. I'm going to kill you if I ever see you again." With an incredible effort of will, she ignored the jeering cries of the men who were so close she could feel the ground shudder with the beat of their horses' hooves. Clare focused her mind on what she wanted. "Take me to the room. Please take me to the room. Please. Please—"
Abruptly, her world turned gray. The air was sucked from her lungs. Pain shot through her skull, and everything went black.
***
Luka paced back and forth, glaring at the dungeon walls. A burning hatred for the place roared inside him. Monique had used the room to summon him and keep him incarcerated. Now it had taken Clare. He would not be surprised if Monique had bewitched the dungeon to do this, causing him pain even after she had gone to her grave.
Three hours had passed since Clare disappeared and his slim hope that she might find her way back was fading. There were numerous portals on the Taldomian side, and she could have entered through any of them. Many would deliver her straight into the hands of ruthless men. A beauty such as Clare would be highly prized. He downed the glass of wine in his hand and pitched the crystal into the fireplace with a gratifying crash.
"Luka," Pablo shouted down the stairs, "you've had a call from the construction site foreman who's working on the restoration of Craigruthy Castle in Scotland."
Luka mounted the steps two at a time. "From Craigruthy?"
"Yes, a Mr. Donohue. He says they've found a woman in the drawing room. She's asking for you."
"Is it Clare?"
"She hasn't given her name."
Fear shot through Luka. "Why not? Can't she speak? Is she injured?"
"Apparently she's bumped her head, but it's not serious."
Luka strode down the corridor, Pablo at his heels. They ran up the main staircase abreast.
"Do you remember the layout of Craigruthy? Is the portal to Taldom in the drawing room?" Luka had bought so many historic properties in the last few years, it was hard to keep track of where the portals were in each one.
"I'll check the survey."
"Tell Pierr
e I want the helicopter outside the house in fifteen minutes."
"What about filing a flight plan?"
"Damn." Luka halted in his race towards his office. "Do it. I'll prepare."
A few hours later the helicopter set down on the lawn beside Craigruthy Castle in Scotland. A man in a hard hat and high visibility vest was waiting for them. As Luka and Pablo ran from the helicopter he offered his hand, which Pablo shook and Luka ignored.
"Where is she, Donohue?"
"Follow me, sir. I'll take you to her."
The construction site foreman led them down a maze of narrow stone corridors. They smelled of fresh cement and centuries of dust. Finally they arrived at a small office that functioned as the first aid room.
"Wait," Luka commanded the man when he reached the office door. "I'll go in alone." He placed his hand on the wrought iron handle. By all that was holy, he prayed that it was Clare on the other side of that door.
With a fortifying breath, he pushed open the woodworm-riddled slab of oak and ducked his head beneath the low arched doorway.
The sight of Clare filled him with relief so sharp it was almost painful. She lay curled in a fetal position on a low metal bed, covered by a gray blanket. Her long hair was tangled around her head on the pillow, and her dark lashes accentuated the smudges of exhaustion beneath her eyes. A wound dressing covered half her forehead, the white gauze only a shade lighter than her skin.
"Clare," he said softly, "are you awake?" Her eyelashes fluttered, revealing a flash of blue. With a little moan, she dragged an arm out from beneath the blanket and touched her bandaged head.
"Luka…" She gave a weak smile. "I believe you now…about the different dimensions."
He'd expected recriminations. She had every right to be angry with him, but she seemed to be taking it far better than he expected.
"That was my aim, but I never intended you to find out like this. I'd no idea you'd pass through the portal."
Clare touched her bandage again. "This hurts like hell."
"How did you bump it?" Luka took a step closer to examine the dressing.
Cursed Kiss (Paranormal Romance) Page 4