by Claudy Conn
“I can’t answer that because I just don’t know. I do know that Niall and my father are at odds and have been for years. Now, why was he here?”
“Well, he says that he and your father have an understanding and are friends…”
“In a manner of speaking, that is true,” Retaal said. “But what did he want with you?”
“He brought me my new end table…” Her arm waved in its direction. “It was delivered to his loft instead of mine, and fancy that, his loft is right above mine.” Her brow moved and her voice was full of sarcasm when she said, “What a coincidence, a Cuma and a witch in the same building, and one that, at the moment, only holds two apartments.”
Retaal shook his head. “I don’t like this.”
“Right, you get the picture. He contrived that little piece of work, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he had orchestrated the delivery of my end table to his place so he could use it as an excuse to meet me,” she said irritably. She watched Retaal’s face, but he was keeping his opinions to himself, which annoyed her further.
Well, she thought, trying to dampen the rage gathering in her head, if he wasn’t going to be forthcoming, then neither was she. She gave him her back and moved to the kitchen.
He followed her and his voice reproved her openly, “Jacie, we don’t need to hash this out. He—Niall, never does anything without a hidden agenda. You realize that, don’t you?”
“Ah, duh,” she answered, not looking at him.
“We both know he needed an easy excuse to get you to open your door to him. What I want to know is why.”
“Oh, is that what you would like to know?” She glared at him.
“Damn, those violet eyes of yours—they slay me, little one, but don’t be angry. We haven’t time for niceties. I need you to bring this to the point.”
“The point? The point about everyone keeping me in the dark about everything?” She shook her head. “You got up this morning without even a note to let me know if and when you would be back, let alone, oh…like, where you might be going. Then you slam back in here, all questions and indignation. Ha!” She was all out spit and fire. “As it happens, your father should have told me I might encounter Niall…and it is very upsetting not to be trusted with all the facts. How can I plan and execute without all the facts? And by the way, you aren’t the only one that Celine seems to favor!”
“Ah, of course, he managed to mind-link with her, but how…he couldn’t have gotten past the wards from the outside?” He puzzled over this.
“Oh, the ‘all knowing’ Retaal doesn’t know?” she countered, unable to stop herself from taunting him, if only for a moment.
“He told you?” Retaal was surprised. “Unlike him. He usually keeps his own council.”
“That’s right, he told me because he wants me on his side, on his team, and understood immediately that I would never work with anyone happily if they didn’t keep me in the loop,” Jacie snapped.
Retaal didn’t answer this for a long moment and sighed before he said in a low irritated voice, “I’ll bet he wants you in his bed, as well as on his team.”
“So?” Jacie answered without denying it. “Do you think I don’t have power of reasoning? Look, he connected with Celine because he has the only coven witch who escaped the colonel when they were captured. She was able to get through to Celine. He has the other members, as you know, hidden somewhere and threatens Celine by threatening them.” She shook her head. “We have to free those witches before Celine will help us any further.”
“I don’t know why Father didn’t tell you about the rebels or Niall, but remember…I have been incarcerated, so give me a break, Jacie…this is not on me.”
She relented. He was right, so she shrugged but said nothing.
“What else did you two discuss, Jacie? I promise not to keep you out of the loop if you will promise to do the same,” he offered.
She gave him a rueful look and said, “I told you, it was all about me—joining him. And the rebel leader thinks I need romancing as well. Ha.”
Retaal’s voice was low and his silver eyes glittered. “And your answer?”
She laughed. “You already know my answer. I told him I work for Apollo…just as I told you, I take my orders from Apollo.”
“What about the ‘romancing’ you part?”
“What about it?” she scoffed.
“He will try and seduce you to get you to work with him and, Jacinta, he is an accomplished one-night stand player,” Retaal said darkly.
She laughed and the sarcasm dripped, “And I am just a naïve woman, so easily seduced?” She wagged a finger. “I am not yours to protect. I can protect myself.”
“Get that notion out of your head. You will always be mine to protect,” he said on a low growl. He frowned and said nothing for a moment and then said, “It isn’t like Niall to chase after a woman. Niall sticks to business, he says women are troublesome, besides that, I haven’t heard of him…well, it is complicated.”
“Interesting, because he kissed me and said while he doesn’t do romance, he would go through that sort of trouble for me.” Jacie knew that Niall was simply just trying to win her over. She said this to annoy Retaal, and watched Retaal’s reaction.
“What? He kissed you?” He turned and started for the door.
“What are you doing?”
“Going up to plant him in the earth. He knows you are Apollo’s ward. What the hell do you think I am doing?”
“Big brother antics don’t work for me…” Jacie snickered.
“Big brother? Is that what you think this is? Jacinta, you need to open your eyes.” His voice had gone soft.
She walked away. “Ret…tell me, why does Niall hate humans more than most of our kind hates them?” Jacie asked curiously.
He frowned. “Don’t tell me you…are interested in him?”
She laughed. “No, I just want to understand what drives him.”
Retaal sighed. “His mother was Athena, his father was a warlock…and from all that I have heard, it was a love-match. His father was killed in the Purge and Athena grieved his loss for a very long time.”
“There is more to it, isn’t there?” she said.
“He cared for a human, a lovely woman…in fact, he adored her. In the end, she turned on him during that time. He hasn’t been the same since then,” Retaal said quietly.
“Oh, that explains his ‘no romance’ statement,” she said as much to herself as to Retaal.
“Jacinta…you have no idea, do you? What affect you have on a man? I look at you and…you kill me.”
She made the mistake of staring into his silver eyes.
He broke the spell by saying, “So he offered to romance you? Well, don’t trust him, don’t believe him. He wants you on his team.”
She turned away from him. “Is it so hard to believe that he might find me desirable?”
“I can’t imagine anyone who wouldn’t want you, but Niall? He just isn’t the sort to do the candy and flowers thing,” Retaal said impatiently. “Look…because of that one woman’s betrayal, he was nearly broken. He won’t allow that again.”
She said nothing to this as she stood and thought about the very near future and what she had to do. She could break Celine’s ward and contact her. Or perhaps because she had not participated in the coven rituals, she would be shut out until formally invited? She would have to check this out.
Retaal took her arm and turned her to face him. “What? I saw it. You thought of something. What?”
She wasn’t ready to tell him. She needed to explore her options first before she raised any hopes.
“Jacie…what is wrong?” he pursued. His hand slipped to her waist, drawing her closer. “Why are you always moving in the opposite direction?”
She suddenly realized she had melted into his embrace. What was wrong with her? How could she let him get to her like this? She knew she should pull away. She knew if she allowed him to flirt with her like this, in the end
she would be hurt so much more than before.
She pushed off his chest and crossed the room to her sofa and plopped into the corner, where he would not be able to easily touch her. His touch—devastating.
He eyed her for a moment and sighed heavily before he followed her to the sofa. He stood for a long moment before he took a seat, and his voice was resigned. “Okay, we’ll stick to business. So then, Niall wants you to join the rebels. You told him no, so what is next?”
“He wants Dog as well to join him,” she offered.
“Of course he does, that assures him of you.”
“Well, I put a stop to it for both Dog and me,” she said softly.
Retaal was quiet and Jacie watched him for a sign of what he was thinking.
When he spoke, he stuck to business. “What did he have to say about yesterday’s gas bomb—does he know who set it?”
“A traitor must have let Crawly know his team was there. It must have been Crawly, ‘cuz it sure wasn’t the rebels.”
“I agree. We need to know why anyone would betray his or her own. If we can discover the answer to that, we will know who it was. Niall needs to find that out before he can narrow down his list.”
She frowned. “Well, whoever set that gas bomb off had to know it would set us back. Therefore, we have to assume they are working for Crawly in some capacity. Also, the colonel hadn’t been informed of the second bomb, so it was a last minute decision.”
“Indeed. You are quite right, Jacie. You have worked it out very clearly. We must assume that the traitor takes orders from the devil,” Retaal said thoughtfully.
“Good name for him, as Dog thinks he means to use Cuma organs…to achieve immortality for himself. Devil is good, I call him Creepy Crawly.”
“I am sure Dog is quite correct. I have thought the same now for some months.” He eyed her and said, “Jacie…Niall thinks nothing of killing humans who get in his way. I get the feeling you realize this and don’t completely disapprove.”
“I approve of getting the supernaturals out faster than we have been doing. I think there is a place of compromise between Niall’s methods and ours,” she answered honestly.
“You can’t really have thought it all out. You can’t have given consideration to the sequences of the violent actions of the rebels and how much damage it does to any chance of peace with humans.”
Jacie eyed him and shrugged. “I disagree. I have watched humans in power, which has brought me to the conclusion that we can only negotiate with humans from a place of power. Supernaturals are suffering in the Lower Planet and that has to end, through any means necessary.”
He didn’t say anything to this for a long moment and when he did speak he asked, “You like him—you like Niall?”
“Like is a strong word. I found him…interesting,” she answered carefully.
“He is dangerous, Jacie.” Retaal’s voice was low and pregnant with concern. “He isn’t for you.”
“Well, as to that, when and if I choose who is or isn’t for me, it will be my decision. I don’t remember asking for your input,” Jacie answered, one brow up warningly.
He ignored this, stood and reached for her hand. “That’s it. Come on, let’s go.”
She put her hands behind her back. “No, not going anywhere, and where is it you want to go?”
“I’m taking you home. This is getting too complicated and you are getting in too deep.”
Outrage filled her. She could feel her cheeks burn as she jumped off the couch and backed away from him. “No! How dare you, Ret! You don’t get to decide what I do or don’t do. At this stage, I don’t think even Apollo could make me leave and come home. I have a mission to free our fellow supernaturals, and damn it all to hell, not leaving ‘til I do just that.”
“Then you are openly defying both of us, as I spoke with Father and he agrees with me, you have freed me and you should return,” Retaal said gently.
“No, he didn’t tell you that. I know Apollo probably better than you do. He wouldn’t leave it to you to call me home. He would contact me himself. Also, Ret, as it happens, you have quite a ‘tell’. And right now, it clearly says you are fibbing. Apollo didn’t agree with you at all. He couldn’t possibly wish me to leave with all those supernaturals still stuck in the Dank.”
“Why not?”
“You see, you are forgetting, this witch can do what you Cumas cannot, or have you forgotten…Celine’s goddaughter here. I am a blood relative of two inner circle leaders of Celine’s coven. I can get us in and out by breaking her wards.”
He eyed her, and all at once she saw it in his silver eyes, admiration.
She was shocked silent.
“Forgive me, Jacie. You are brilliantly farsighted, and my emotions have been getting in the way of my intellect,” he said softly.
She couldn’t meet his all-seeing eyes. She was flushed with pleasure as she looked away, paced a few steps and said, “We have to give this some thought. Plans are forever going awry, so we have to have plan A, B, and C in place.”
He grinned. “First, tell me, do you mean to use termites to relieve the others, and if so, how will you get back inside the Dank to order the little buggers to get to work?”
“Oh, termites are everywhere, aren’t they? Yes. No, I mean, yes, I mean to use them, but no, I won’t have to get inside the Dank.”
“Then what?”
“Well, I have been giving it a great deal of thought and my witchy senses tell me I can do the job right from here.” She got up from the couch and went to her window.
“How? You can cast a spell such as that from such a distance?”
“Well, we aren’t that far from the Lower Planet, are we? The thing is, I don’t have time to practice, and I have never enacted this particular sort of spell from any distance at all. It suddenly dawned on me…so simple. As I said, those little buggers—termites, are everywhere. All I have to do is send an army of them quietly down the streets in the dead of night. I direct them where to go and they will find the fastest, easiest way to get to the Cumas and supernaturals being held in the Dank. I don’t want to do it until I know we can get in and free them, as they don’t have portal power like you. So I’m also working on Celine’s spell. That is why I did want to kind of link with Niall, who has one of Celine’s witches on his team.”
“She can’t break the spell?”
“No, she was only able to get through the ward telepathically to link with Celine, and Celine won’t allow the wards to come down ‘til she knows her coven is safe.” She shook her head. “As of now, I think I know how to bring down the wards, but I figure she will put them right back up with another spell if I do…unless we rescue her witches.”
“Got it. Sweet love of Devos, you are incredible, but how do we rescue her witches unless she lowers the wards?”
“That is where Niall comes in. He allows me to work with Celine’s witch…”
“He won’t—not without you giving him what he wants.” Retaal was frowning again.
“Well, I can, in part. What if we share information? What if we work in some viable way together?”
He took her shoulders. “He will want more than that.”
She stepped out of his touch. He simply affected her way too much to allow him to hold her like that.
His silver eyes glittered, and as she didn’t speak, he added, his voice low and husky, “Jacinta, you do know that Niall will come at you in slow degrees, and I can’t allow that.”
She frowned. “I damn well don’t need you to tell me what you can and can’t allow with regards to what I do or don’t do with Niall.”
He put up his hands and anger lit across his face. “No, of course not. You are your own woman, and I damn well am not your brother.”
She chewed her lip. “Look, I need to connect with Celine’s witch. It is the only way I can hope to rescue her witches.”
“Then allow me to accompany you when you pow-wow with Niall,” he said.
Oh,
but his silver eyes burning into hers turned her heart into a glob of emotion. “Fine!” she snapped.
She moved away because all the talk about Celine brought her parents to mind and she needed a moment to deal with the grief that still rocked her when she thought of her loss.
He went to her and crushed her inside his hold.
He knew, she thought. He knew and understood, as he always had, but things were different now. He was right, he was no longer her big brother. He bent and kissed the top of her head. “You may be your own woman, just as I am my own man, but, Jacie, I am here for you always.”
She eyed him. “Thank you, but trust is a funny thing. Once it has been broken, it is very difficult to repair. You are still the same person who promised to be there for me and left for years without a word.” She put up her hand. “I know the excuses. You explained. However, your promise to me should have taken precedent. After all…you were your own man.”
He sighed heavily. “Yes. I see I have some work ahead of me. Right, let’s talk bugs. This bug invasion, won’t anyone notice them marching down the street?”
She giggled. “Sounds so funny. No. They will scurry along unseen in numbers because their march is magical. Again, can’t get them started ‘til I know Celine will be ready to drop her wards. Right now, the Dank is completely overrun with guards and contractors putting it back together. We don’t want any of the construction workers to notice the little buggers and call for an exterminator.”
“I have a notion regarding this…” Retaal paused.
“And that notion is?”
“Not all Cumas have the ability to create a portal and although many of them have the ability to move faster than humans, it isn’t the sort of speed that could get them out of the way of a round of bullets,” he said, and ran a hand through his hair.
“So what are you saying?” Jacie asked.
“We approach this from two points…but it will blow your cover with ACE,” he said.
“Oh, then we have to get Dog out of here…and he has a mate. They will have to leave and go somewhere safe.” Jacie started chewing her lip again.