Brody tugged at Veris’ uneven blond locks. “Did you cut these off with a sword?”
“Ornamental sheers. Long story, for when we’re back around the fireplace at home.” He held his hand out to Taylor. “We can go home now. There’s nothing to stop us.”
Taylor stepped up against the two of them and Veris’ arm came around her.
But Brody stepped away, breaking the circle. “We can’t.”
Taylor’s heart sank. “Why not?” she asked. “We’re all here. That’s all we’ve been waiting for, is for Veris to arrive.”
Brody shook his head. “We can’t go.” He swallowed. “Some soldiers raided the cavern today. I don’t know why. But they killed anyone who got in their way. They didn’t care who they were.” His hands curled into fists. “They were ruthless about it.”
Veris watched Brody move restlessly on the tiles, while Taylor’s mind whirled. The soldiers had been Isaac’s men. They could be no one else.
“Who did they kill?” Veris asked.
“Evaristus. They cut off his head. One slice. He couldn’t come back from that.” Brody gave a choked sound. “I found him in a tunnel. He bled out, too….” He closed his eyes and looked away.
Taylor glanced at Veris, to see if he was following this. She didn’t know who Evaristus was. She had never heard the name before. If Brody had never spoken of this time to Veris, either, then he should be as confused as she was.
But Veris seemed to be following along just fine, for his expression was tense and conflicted. “There has to be another one in the city,” he said gently.
Another one? Taylor glanced at the two of them, waiting for the puzzle to unravel.
Brody lifted his hands and let them drop. “There’s you,” he said simply.
Veris shook his head. “No.”
“You have to, Veris.”
“I can’t.”
Brody was the one to shake his head this time. “You don’t get a choice this time, big guy. You have to. Don’t you get it? If you don’t turn me, I die tomorrow or the next day and I don’t live to meet you at the siege of Jerusalem. We don’t go on to meet Taylor in the twenty-first century. That’s it. Game over.”
Chapter Seventeen
Veris seemed to have nothing to say, a moment so rare it was stunning. Instead he stared at Brody as if he could will him to undo what he had just said.
“Evaristus was vampire?” Taylor clarified, keeping her tone quiet and gentle.
Brody grimaced. “Sorry, yes. I forget you guys don’t know this stuff backwards. You know everything else about me.”
“He’s the one that turned you. Originally,” she added.
Brody nodded.
Veris pushed his hand through the rough ends of his hair at the back of his neck. “Have you ever turned anyone, Brody?”
“Why?” Brody demanded sharply.
“I don’t know how,” Veris confessed. “I wouldn’t even listen to others speak about it when they talked among themselves.”
Brody blew out a breath. “Once. A long time ago. It was that or he die. I didn’t know how either, Veris. It’s instinctive. I muddled through. You’ll have to, too.”
Veris crossed his arms. “Fine. Let’s do it now, then jump home.”
Taylor shook her head. “You can’t,” she added, just as Brody threw his hands up.
“Fuck!” Brody cried. “For a genius, you’re not thinking too fucking well, are you?” he railed at Veris. “You turn me now, then they’ll never see me die in the ring, and they won’t toss my body out with the other trash. I’ll be a slave for the rest of my fucking days…I may end up a fucking slave in the twenty-first fucking century.”
Taylor rested her hand on his arm. He was trembling, still. “Brody,” she said as gently as she could. “This is tough for Veris, too.”
Brody’s chest was heaving as he drew in deep, quick breaths. He spun away. “Ah, Criost!” he cried, pushing the heels of his hands into his eye sockets.
Veris stood like a stone, unmoving. Taylor placed herself in front of him. “All your objections to turning someone don’t hold this time.” She hesitated, then risked touching his arm as she had just done with Brody. For Veris, though, such attempts at comfort could backfire if his anger was too intense. “You have to do this, Väinämöinen, if we are to see Marit again.”
Veris closed his eyes and dropped his chin, but not before she glimpsed the flare of fear and agony there.
Both of them were mired in dark thoughts.
She turned back to Brody, who stood at the open window, his arms held stiffly at his sides. He was staring out over the city, toward the palace.
“Come and eat,” she told him, picking up one of his hands.
He made a choking sound. “I can’t eat.”
“Yes, you can and you should. This will all look a little better when you’ve eaten. Trust me.”
“Eating…of course,” Veris murmured. “I would like to see that.”
“I have more cheese,” Taylor told Brody. “Some kefalintzin, this time. And a spiced omelet with vegetables. Salad with chicken. And honey cakes.”
Brody shook his head, but his stomach grumbled. Taylor laid her hand against his abs. “You’re hungry,” she told him and pulled gently on his hand. “I have apricots,” she added.
Brody drew in a breath. “Perhaps…an apricot,” he allowed.
She drew him into the inner sanctum, where the table had been laid and picked up one of the ripe apricots from the bronze bowl. She sliced it with the small knife swiftly, quartering it and removing the pit, then lay the quarters on the platter waiting in front of the divan for Brody to eat. She picked up one of the quarters. “Here,” she said and offered it to him.
Brody took the fruit and bit into it. He gave a sigh as he chewed. “I don’t think I could ever tire of these.”
Veris had moved into the room behind them. “What do they taste like?” he asked curiously.
“Like kissing Taylor,” Brody replied. He settled on the divan in front of the remainder of the apricot.
Taylor poured wine into the cup that Brody had used for the last two nights and handed it to him.
“Then they’re addictive,” Veris concluded, “For Taylor’s kisses certainly are. It’s as well I can’t eat them.” He sat on the opposite divan and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his elbows, watching with fascination as Brody ate.
Taylor cut up the omelet, which had cooled enough to handle now and slid the bowl toward Brody. “Try a handful. This one is nothing like TGI Fridays serves back home.”
Brody swallow the mouthful of wine he had just taken and scooped up some of the omelet in his fingers. He chewed thoughtfully, exploring the herb and spice-riddled concoction.
“Brody eating…” Veris said softly. “It looks very normal. I thought my mind would have trouble accepting it, but that isn’t the case.” His gaze shifted to Taylor.
She nodded. “It was the same with you. It looked completely natural. Just something I hadn’t seen you do before. I was braced for it to look weird, too.”
“You two can talk psychology all night if you want,” Brody told them, reaching for the chicken. “Just don’t expect me to join in. I just realized I’m off my head starving.”
Taylor hid her smile and topped up Brody’s wine cup and pushed the salad closer to his hand. She sat back to watch him eat and drink.
Veris straightened up. “There’s another first. Brody making me wait while he eats.”
“Wait?” Taylor questioned.
Veris sent her a scowl that she interpreted easily and it sent a hot flush through her body as she considered all the different ways Veris intended to fill the night hours until the guards came back. He had just had his temper stirred and his pride kicked, and he could not stalk away to sulk in private like he might have at home. So he was going to reassert himself in typical Veris fashion.
“Tyra, come and sit next to me,” Veris suggested, his voice low and ripe w
ith promise and Taylor knew she was right. Veris had used Old Norse, their private language.
Her clit and pussy throbbed with potential as she rose to her feet and crossed the three feet of cool tiles to the other divan where Veris sat.
Brody paused to watch her resettle herself next to Veris. Then he took a mouthful of the wine. “There’s a sight I never thought I would see. The pair of you together, here in Constantinople.” He looked down into the wine cup. “My fault,” he muttered and took a longer mouthful.
Veris picked up Taylor’s hand. “Say that one more time, Brody and I’ll make you take it back in a way that will ensure you’ll never even think the phrase again.”
Brody blinked, looking at Veris with surprise. “You’re joking, right? You know how we got here?”
Veris looked down at the back of Taylor’s hand and smoothed his thumb over it. “I know.”
“I relaxed, is what happened,” Brody said. “We got the tapes, we had Tira where we wanted her and we were on our way home and I let down my guard, because the journey was as good as over. I was stupid.”
“Brody,” Taylor said sharply. “Stop judging yourself that way.”
Brody scowled at her. “You asked me to take you home. Remember? I apologized for dragging you through yet another of our dark secrets, and you said ‘take me home’, and instead of thinking about home as I kissed you, I thought about this dark fucking secret of mine.” He gripped the wine goblet between both hands and stared down into the contents, a deep furrow between his brows. “Guess it’s not so secret now,” he muttered.
“Look at me, Brody,” Taylor commanded.
He drew in a breath deep enough to raise his shoulders and lifted his gaze to her face.
“We all jumped together because we all wanted to be together if exactly this happened,” she reminded him.
His frown deepened. “I never really thought it would, though. I didn’t think…I thought Veris would hold us together and steer us straight. He always has.”
It was Veris’ turn to draw in a deep breath. “There are some things even I cannot overcome,” he said, his voice deep and low. “This is one of them, Brody. For whatever reason—call it fate, if you want—this part of your past was something you were destined to face again and it was too powerful a draw.”
Brody compulsively gulped a mouthful of the wine.
“If Veris is right,” Taylor added, “And you were bound to face your past again one way or another, aren’t you glad it happened this way, Brody?”
“This way?” He seemed horrified.
Veris glanced at her and the corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “Revisionist history, hands-on style. She’s right. You’re re-writing your past with us in it. Don’t you prefer it that way?”
The furrow between Brody’s brows disappeared as he looked suddenly thoughtful. “I’ve been pathetically grateful for Taylor’s interference, these last three nights, but I hadn’t thought of it as re-writing my history until now.”
“Eat,” Veris told him. “You have to keep up your strength, you puny human.” He didn’t smile, but there was humor in his eyes.
Brody laughed and reached for one of the honey cakes.
Veris reached for her instead and Taylor caught her breath. His big hand tucked around her waist. “There was an elegance about these older fashions, but I do like to see a woman’s legs,” he told her, pulling her closer to him.
“If you had your way, I’d walk around naked all day,” she told him.
“Half-naked,” he amended. “Naked takes away the fun of undressing you.”
He kissed her with the same care and attention he always did; like it was the first time they had ever kissed. Taylor’s breath whooshed out of her and her body tingled as she was caught up in the same power as that first kiss had provided. She trembled now as she had then.
She became aware that Veris was undressing her when her belt loosened and the top of her tunic dropped into her lap, exposing her from the waist up. Her nipples, already erect, hard nubs, tightened even more, with a painful rush of sensation.
Veris rested his hand under one breast, the big thumb against her breast bone. The teasing touch, so near to cupping her breast, made her back snap straighter, thrusting her chest out and the breast toward his fingers. She needed his touch. She wanted both of them to touch her.
She glanced at Brody, to see what he was making of this petty teasing.
He was already on his feet and padding over to the divan, his eyes narrowed as he watched them.
“I thought you were hungry?” Veris asked and leaned down to slide his lips along her throat.
“I am,” Brody growled. “But not for food, anymore.” Taylor felt his weight settle on the sofa behind her and her heart thrilled at his nearness. She was half-naked, as Veris had intended and it had been far too long by her standards since she’d had both of them.
Brody’s lips pressed against the back of her shoulder, hot and moist, as he slid his hands around the curve of her hips, following the channel where her thighs met, that swept over her thighs to meet at her pussy. The backs of his fingers pushed aside her tunic as they stroked.
Taylor leaned back against him, her breath catching.
Veris watched, his blue eyes missing nothing. His lips were parted as he drew in long, steady breaths. He was aroused.
He reached out and pulled the tunic aside so he could better see what Brody was doing to her, just as Brody’s fingertips reached the sensitive opening of her pussy, making her thrust her hips forward in a hard jerk.
Veris lifted her thighs and turned her so she was sitting facing him on the divan. He spread her legs open.
Brody mirrored her movements and his hands returned to her thighs, to stroke and tease the entrance to her pussy and make her thrust and moan and squirm, while Veris watched. Veris’ observation made it harder to keep still or stay silent, especially when he started to undress in hurried movements, his gaze not shifting by an inch.
“Inside her,” he told Brody. “Push inside her.” His voice was rough and low.
Brody’s breath fanned against her in a hard gust. “With what?” he asked and his voice was just as thick with excitement as Veris’.
Veris shrugged out of the last of his merchant clothing, dropping it to the floor with an impatient toss. He stood, gloriously naked, tanned, rippling with muscle and tendons. Even his shorn locks seemed to glow.
His cock was rampantly upright and his balls tight sacs beneath.
Brody let out another unsteady. “Now I don’t know which one of you to fuck,” he muttered.
Veris moved back to the divan and pushed on Brody’s shoulder, tugging his hands away from Taylor. “Both of us, of course.” He lifted Taylor up and laid her on her back next to Brody’s hip.
“Show off,” Taylor told him. “Just because Brody has only human strength right now.”
Veris grinned. “Let me enjoy the superiority while I can.”
She rolled her eyes. “Men. Who cares who is stronger?”
Brody slid his hand over her waist. “He’s stroking his own ego, anyway. He’s always stronger, even when I’m vampire.”
“And I’ve always told you strength is mostly a mental thing…” Veris drew in a breath and caught Brody’s face between his hands. “Guds, I missed you.” He kissed him, slowly and deeply, and Taylor’s body fizzed and bloomed as she watched them share the intimate expression. She loved this side of their three-way relationship. She loved watching them together and she loved catching hints of their long, long past together.
Both of them were typical males; they didn’t share intimacies and didn’t like talking about themselves except for moment like now when their guard was down and they felt completely secure and safe. Taylor pieced together the story of their relationship before she had met them one fragment at a time and she still didn’t have the full picture for it was a story that stretched over a thousand years.
Brody pulled away from Veris’
kiss and looked at Taylor. “He tastes like wine, sort of. But not. Wine isn’t quite right.”
Veris took advantage of his momentary distraction to slide Brody’s tunic up the length of his torso, gathering it in his hands so he could take it off.
“Brandy. That’s the taste you’re reaching for, that you can’t possibly know,” Taylor told Brody. “Veris tastes like brandy, especially when he’s human.” She smiled at Veris and he drew in a deep breath. Then he lifted Brody’s tunic over his head as Brody cooperated by lifting his arms and threw it onto the other divan.
“Apricots and brandy,” Brody said. “No wonder I can’t get enough of either of you.” He rolled over on his hip, propping himself up on one arm, so he was leaning over Taylor where she rested on the divan. His knee nudged her thighs apart, which caused his thick, pulsing cock to brush against her mons.
Taylor slid her leg over his hip encouragingly, looking up at him. Her breath was already hurried.
Veris picked up the flask of oil sitting on the table next to the food tray. “Someone was anticipating,” he accused.
“It was for the oohh—!” She sucked in her breath as Brody rammed his cock into her, the full length of him coming to rest as deeply as he could drive himself. She adjusted around his girth and looked up at him.
“Now I have your attention,” he said, the corner of his mouth curling up.
“Completely,” she whispered back. “Do that again. Please.”
His smile broadened. “With pleasure.” He withdrew, until his cock was almost completely removed from her pussy. Then he drove into her again and Taylor gripped the edges of the divan, a groan emerging from her lips. She was slippery with moisture and oh, so ready for this. She could feel every inch of him enter her.
Brody caught his breath, his eyes drifting slowly closed.
“What is it?” Taylor asked.
The black eyes behind the half-lowered lids focused on her. “I’m the meat in the sandwich, it seems.” He gave a soft groan, his body tensing and Taylor knew then that Veris was behind him, using the oil to prepare Brody.
Kiss Across Chains (Kiss Across Time Series) Page 20