by Jane Godman
“Can’t we talk while we travel?” When Ged shook his head, she huffed out a sigh. “Your stepbrother, Vasily the Usurper, imprisoned me and my father when I refused to marry him.”
A frown pulled his brows together. “It may be a long time since I’ve been in Callistoya, but last thing I heard, Vasily had claimed the throne. Shouldn’t you be calling him King Vasily?”
Lidi tilted her chin stubbornly. “I will never swear allegiance to that man.”
He studied her thoughtfully. “Since your words imply loyalty to my side of the family, perhaps you can give me news of my uncle?”
Could he really have cut himself off so completely from his homeland? Callistoya was a magical place situated in the heart of the vast expanse known to humans as Siberia. Visible and accessible only to shifters, it did not exist on any mortal map. Even so, Lidi had heard how close Ged had once been to the uncle who had remained in Callistoya as leader of the resistance.
“Eduard Tavisha is working hard to rally those loyal to you.” She watched his face. “It’s a difficult job in your absence.”
He was silent for long moments, his expression closed. She got the feeling he was gazing back into the past before he roused himself. “What about Vasily? How is the new king’s reign going?”
“Badly. Vasily is struggling to maintain power. There is opposition from factions loyal to you. Vasily thought he could reinforce his position if he married me. Aras is a territory in the northern part of the kingdom.”
Ged nodded. “I know of it.”
“My father has great influence over the northern nobles, most of whom are loyal to you. Vasily reasoned that a Petrov-Rihanoff marriage would strengthen his claim to the throne.” Her lips twisted into a bitter smile. “And I am a wealthy woman in my own right.”
“There seems to have been a lot going on since I left Callistoya. Maybe I should have done more to keep up with the news from home.”
“Yes.” When he started to laugh, she looked up at him in confusion. “I don’t understand why that’s funny.”
“It isn’t. It’s tragic.” He stared down at her, his gaze taking in her disheveled appearance. “How long have you been traveling?”
The swift change of subject threw her off balance and she had to think about it. “Two, maybe three, weeks.”
There was a brief silence as he registered that information. “I’ve never heard of anyone escaping from the palace dungeons before.”
“No, nor have I.” She shuddered at the memory of it. “Once I passed through the Callistoya border, I walked for miles within the mortal realm. The first town I reached was in the human land known as Russia.” She bit her lip, uncomfortable with the next part of her story. “When I was there, I stole food and I managed to hot-wire a car. A few times, I was able to fill the vehicle up with gas and drive off without paying. Once I reached Austria, security was much tighter and I had to abandon the car.”
All Callistoya bear shifters were good at hiding their feelings—mainly because they learned from an early age that emotions were a disruption to their lifestyle—but Ged took enigmatic to a whole new level. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking. “What did you do then?”
She laughed. “I did a lot of walking. Sneaked onto trains without paying when I could. Hitched a few rides.”
“What?” His exclamation startled her and she took a moment to process what had prompted it. The realization that he was being protective caused a flare of warmth to start deep inside and spread through her body.
“I’m a bear shifter, remember? I was never in any danger from humans.”
The way he sank back in his seat was an acknowledgment of the truth of her statement.
“How did you know where to find me?” he asked. “I don’t advertise that I’m the former king of Callistoya.”
“I overheard Vasily talking about you. He has spies in this world who discovered your whereabouts.” She had intended to deliver the bad news in stages, but, under Ged’s direct gaze there didn’t seem to be any hiding place from the truth. “He still sees you as a danger, and if he suspected you were going to return to Callistoya, he would have you assassinated.”
Ged had a very expressive mouth, she noticed. It was particularly evident now, as his lips curled in contempt. “Would he now? Vasily must have grown himself a spine since the last time we met.”
“All I know is he has my father locked up.” She got to her feet. “Can we go now?”
“Lidiya—”
“It’s Lidi. No one ever calls me Lidiya.” Why was she worrying about what name he was using when her father was depending on her?
“Lidi.” He ran a hand through his thick brown hair. “If you know why I left Callistoya, you must also know why I can’t go back.”
“No.” The word was almost a sob. “We can work with the resistance, get the people we need. Together with your uncle and my father’s friends, we can fight Vasily.”
He got to his feet and she felt the impact of his nearness all over again. He was too potent. His height, his presence, his masculinity...they all had the effect of driving everything out of her mind except the need to be in his arms. Determinedly, she clung to the image of her father languishing in a prison cell.
“There is more to it—”
“I know that thirteen years ago, Vasily told everyone you left Alyona Ivanov to die at the hands of the same men who murdered your father.” The words burst from her lips before she could stop them, and Ged flinched as she said the name of his murdered fiancée. “I don’t believe the story that you abandoned her...or that you killed her, then murdered the others to cover it up.”
“I can’t go back.” If Ged cared that his stepbrother had spread a rumor that he was a spineless coward, or worse, it didn’t show. There was no inflection in the words, only finality.
Lidi had come prepared to beg, to plead, to offer her family’s wealth, her own fortune and allegiance. Anything. Nowhere in her schemes had she allowed for this scenario. One in which she faced a man who differed so completely from her expectations. She had believed the romantic folk stories about Gerald Tavisha. There were rumors about an exiled king who devoted his life to the rescue of endangered shifters. When she looked into Ged’s eyes and saw the blank look in their dark depths, she was forced to question the truth behind those legends.
Her whole body slumped in defeat. She had pinned every hope on finding Ged and persuading him to help. Now she faced a return to Callistoya and the prospect of discovering another way. Giving in to Vasily’s plans wasn’t an option, but her choices were limited to her own ingenuity.
Squaring her shoulders and stiffening her spine was hard, but she managed it. Turning away from Ged? That proved more difficult. How had she reached this point so fast? Dependence on another person wasn’t on her agenda. It never would be.
To her annoyance, she felt tears sting the back of her eyelids and burn her throat. Back home, she was known for her stubborn chin tilts. This one didn’t quite work.
“I’m sorry to have wasted your time.”
* * *
Ged muttered a curse as he crossed the room. Lidi already had her fingertips on the door handle when he reached her. Placing his hands on the wooden panels either side of her shoulders, he leaned in close.
“Don’t go.” What was happening to him? He didn’t do empathy or tenderness. He certainly didn’t change his mind. Yet, the second he had turned Lidi down, he was regretting the harshness of his response.
She turned around, the action placing her in the circle of his arms. Not quite touching, but temptingly close.
“I have no reason to stay.”
“We both know that’s not true.” Getting up close to her had been a mistake. The attraction between them couldn’t be forgotten, no matter how much they might wish to fight it. Lifting a hand, he cupped her chin, rubbing his t
humb along her jawline.
“Don’t.” Lidi turned her head away. “For the last three weeks, I’ve only been able to wash in rivers and streams. I can’t imagine what I must smell like.”
“You smell incredible.” That was part of the problem. Lidi’s scent was driving him crazy. She smelled of the forest. Of fresh air, new rainfall and pine needles with a hint of the wild honeysuckle that reminded him of home. He rested his forehead against hers briefly, fighting the temptation to do more. “God knows, I don’t want to change anything about you, but why don’t you take a bath? Then I’ll deal with those injuries to your arm and you can get some sleep. Even if I can’t come back to Callistoya with you, I can help in other ways.” He smiled. “I can book you on a flight to Siberia faster than you can steal a car.”
She regarded him thoughtfully and he could see she was weighing her options. After a moment or two, she relaxed and nodded. “A bath would be heaven.”
Ged showed her to the bathroom. Once he could hear water running, he took out his cell phone and called Rick.
“Any problems?”
“Other than the fact that you’ve got a crazy woman in your room?” Even though they were friends, Rick rarely crossed the employer-employee boundary when he was working. Now Ged could sense the anger and frustration in his voice. “Yeah, everything is très bien, as they say around here.”
“The two guys who were with you, are they okay?”
Rick snorted. “Well, Marty’s gonna be talking like an overexcited schoolgirl for a day or two, but the hotel guy’s nose isn’t broken. I managed to persuade him it was all a misunderstanding. When I say persuade, I mean I gave him a barrel full of cash to forget it.”
“Thanks.” Rick always came through for him and for the rest of the band. Although Ged had never shared the truth with the other man, Rick must know there was something unusual about Beast. Even if he hadn’t guessed they were all shifters, he had seen enough over the years to figure they were different. He had covered up werewolf attacks and dragon flights, as well as a few less dramatic supernatural events. “Can you get me a first aid kit?”
“Are you hurt?” He could hear the concern in Rick’s voice.
“It’s not for me. And bring some women’s clothes to my room.”
“What sort of women’s clothes?”
“How the hell do I know? The sort women wear.” Ged drew a breath, reminding himself it wasn’t Rick’s fault his whole world had been turned upside down a few hours ago. “Go to the boutique in the lobby. Make up some story about your niece losing her suitcase. Tell them she’s tall and slim. They’ll do the rest.”
He ended the call and went to stand at the window, looking out at the view of the Mediterranean. When he’d arrived in Cannes, his head had been full of business deals and upcoming concerts. His usual distractions. Now he was barely seeing the beautiful promenade, the dark waters and the first light of dawn streaking the sky. Instead, his mind was focused on a grander view, one that encompassed dramatic mountains and sweeping forests.
From the moment he’d been forced to leave Callistoya, he’d made a conscious effort to put it from his mind. But he would never be able to erase it from his heart.
That old expression bear with a sore paw? That had described Ged for a long time. He had been angry about everything. Furious that the places he visited weren’t the same as his home. Judgmental of the people he met because they were different to the Callistoya nationals, annoyed that he had to explain his wants and needs, when in the past everyone around him understood them. Gradually, he understood what his rage was about. He didn’t hate new people and places. He just missed his old life.
Ged had no idea what had happened to him on that awful night when almost his entire family, as well as his fiancée, and most of his father’s council were murdered. He believed he had been either drugged or subjected to a powerful magic spell. He vaguely recalled standing at the entrance to the palace with Alyona at his side as they greeted the guests for their engagement meal. His next memory was of waking at the bottom of a deep ravine here in the human realm.
That was just the start of the nightmare. A frantic dash to his homeland had ensued, but his attempt to cross the invisible border into the magical land known only to shifters had proved futile. Somehow, the man who was the rightful monarch had, from that day forward, been locked out of his own kingdom.
Tortured by frustration and guilt, he had finally been forced to accept defeat and refocus his energy on a new life.
He hadn’t wanted this new start, but it had been forced upon him. Telling himself he had to come to terms with that, he had channeled his royal training into new experiences. He could either make the best of what had happened, or spend the rest of his long, immortal life ricocheting around the human world in a fugue of self-pity.
That was when the idea for his alter ego had been born. As a child, Ged’s favorite literary character had been Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel. The story of the society fop who led a double life as a daring rescuer during the Reign of Terror that followed the French Revolution had gripped his imagination. The palace corridors would ring with sounds of mock sword fights as Ged and his younger brother, Andrei, acted out heroic combat scenes.
Rock band manager by day, shifter rescuer by night. Ged had become his own version of his childhood hero. But the ache in his heart had never gone away. And Lidi’s presence had brought the homesickness and the memories back. Stronger, sharper and more painful than ever.
I’m a bear. We don’t do feelings. He bit back a laugh. Yeah, keep telling yourself that whenever the homesickness hits.
He looked up as the bathroom door opened and Lidi emerged. Wrapped in a fluffy white bathrobe, she had dried her hair and it hung in soft waves almost to her waist. His heartbeat stuttered at the sight of her, a new realization hitting him.
It didn’t matter what he told himself about old loyalties and past promises. He had become engaged to Alyona for the sake of his country, their union born out of politics. not love. He had convinced himself back then that he could have been content with a marriage of convenience. Right now, it was as if the fates were laughing in his face.
The moment Lidi had walked—or stormed—into his life, everything had changed. His feelings for her went way beyond anything physical. The fates had decided she was his mate. Whether he liked it or not, that meant he was responsible for her.
What he had to do now was find a way to make his past and present work together in a way that didn’t bring the future crashing down around them.
Chapter 3
Lidi viewed the first aid kit with suspicion. “I can’t take this robe off. I’m not wearing anything underneath it.”
Ged groaned. “Comments like that aren’t helping me concentrate on the practicalities.”
She knew exactly what he meant. They were sitting inches apart on the bed and his nearness was so tempting it was sinful. Inexperience didn’t count. Her imagination was going into overdrive, heat surging through her in waves that were pleasurable, tormenting and wildly inconvenient.
Since Ged seemed determined to deal with her injuries, she reluctantly slid the robe off her left shoulder and down to the elbow on that side, clutching it tightly in place across her breasts with her other hand.
She already knew the cuts on her arm were bad. When she had broken the tiny bathroom window of her prison and forced her way through, she had been aware of the jagged shards tearing into her flesh. Because she had needed to slither down a steep wall and get away from the palace as fast as she could, it had been some time before she was able to take a look at her wounds. All she knew was, as she ran, she could feel hot, wet blood soaking her sleeve. When she finally stopped, everything had swum out of focus and she lay panting on her side until the world righted itself.
“How did you keep going with injuries like these?” Ged’s hand on her elbow w
as gentle as he bent closer to examine the damage to her flesh.
“I had to.” That was what she had told herself at the time, forcing herself on, one pain-filled step at a time. “Once I had managed to get out of that cell, it would have been crazy to let anything stop me.” She managed a smile. “I was even wearing the clothes I’d been captured in. You don’t think I’d have chosen to make that journey in ankle boots and without a warm coat, do you?”
His face was inches from hers as he raised his eyes to look at her. “This should have been stitched when you did it, and you’re lucky these wounds didn’t become infected.”
“I bathed my arm in fresh water whenever I got the chance. And I’m a shifter. You know as well as I do that we heal fast.”
“Are you always this stubborn?”
Lidi started to laugh. “Let me see...my father once asked my mother if an evil spirit tricked them and substituted a mule shifter for their bear baby. Does that answer your question?”
He smiled. “After three weeks, it’s too late for stitches. All I can do is apply a balm and put a dressing on your arm.”
Lidi watched as he scooped lotion out of a tub. When his fingertips touched her arm, she flinched and Ged raised questioning brows.
“Am I hurting you?”
“A little.” It was true, but her reaction had been more about the impact of his touch. Or rather, the intention behind the contact. He wanted to heal and comfort her.
Their DNA was half-human and half-bear. While bears were solitary creatures, shifters mated for life. Until they met their mate, they were free to live by human rules. But Lidi was a Callistoya noble, constrained by centuries of formality and duty. Their land had not moved in step with the mortal realm.
Her mother, in particular, had been determined that her daughter should observe the traditions of the ancient name into which she had married. From the day Lidi was born, Olga, Countess of Aras, had sworn her only child would marry well. She would train her daughter to rise above her instincts and marry for convenience instead of love. Even if she found her fated mate, Lidi, as the daughter of an aristocrat, would not be allowed to spend her life with him. Her parents would choose her partner. With that in mind, Olga had raised her in the ways of the bear.