Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts)

by Kita Bell

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Bring her here. I want to go through her mind. To see what she saw. Don’t take her memories until after I’ve had a chance to speak with her.”

  Take her memories? His amati’s memories? Brand jerked upright. “No.” A snarl.

  Seth’s voice, as ever, was eminently logical. “It won’t hurt her, and I need the information. I don’t wish to lose more family, Brand, and I won’t risk Stronghold. It is the first land in over three hundred years that I feel safe standing upon. That I feel safe letting my children stand upon. We won’t find another place like this so easily.”

  “Eva’s been through enough.” Brand gritted his teeth. He pushed Seth’s reference to his ability away. Brand knew taking her memories was a possibility, but…

  Fuck, she was his amati. He wouldn’t do it. Eva didn’t pose a threat to his family…yet.

  “Joshua said you were protective of her.” Seth was testing him.

  “I am.” Damn Joshua for talking.

  “Brand…” a careful pause, then Seth growled softly, and Brand could practically hear his brother slip from work mode. “Brand, this is awkward. Joshua said she might be your amati. As unlikely as that is…have you Marqued this woman?”

  “No.” Brand said irritably. “Eva has been kidnapped, imprisoned, starved, tortured, bled, shot and hunted. Not to mention lied to. By me. She’s exhausted and frightened, and wants to go home to her sister. Do you think that right now – even if that were an issue – would be the appropriate time for that?”

  “But you think she could be your amati.”

  “An amati,” Brand said harshly, “isn’t even a concept to the other Gens. You remember what Margaret went through when you Marqued her. She was terrified. Do you really think I would do that to Eva? Now?”

  A pause. “So that is a ‘yes’,” Seth said with annoying logic.

  “I have no idea,” Brand lied.

  “Try again, Brand. The truth, this time.”

  Brand growled low in his throat, resisting the urge to crush the phone. Control seemed to be escaping him as of late. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. “Seth, when I get back to Stronghold, I will make you pay for this.”

  His brother chuckled. “It is only fair, Brand. You were unmerciful when I found Margaret. I have been waiting a long time for this.” Then Seth sighed, and became serious.

  “Brand, if Eva is your amati, you have the right to protect her. But I ask you – if she is as remarkable as you think she is – then wouldn’t Eva want to volunteer the information? To help other Kaspians?”

  Brand snarled and Seth ignored him.

  “All I want is for you to ask her. If your Eva says no, then I will respect her wishes. But I think she would want to help. The amati instinct, once awakened, works both ways.”

  Brand slowly exhaled. He kept his grip on the phone careful, easy. When he spoke, his words were crisp with self-imposed control.

  “Seth. It is absolutely none of your business if Eva is my amati. Yes, I am attracted to her. Yes, I find her intriguing. And yes, my temper has been short lately. But I also drove to Boston on short notice, and haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in over a week. I am trying to keep three steps ahead of a Strategoi, and I am currently concerned for our cousin who spent the night eluding a handful of Sakai. Realistically speaking, it is very likely that Eva will leave once she learns of the bond. Furthermore, she will be less than happy when she learns that I have lied to her. At the moment, I’m just trying to run damage control.”

  There was a pause. Then, from the other end of the phone there was the sound of Seth removing his glasses, setting them on a nearby table. Finally, Seth spoke. “Brand. One word of advice.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t let the memories you carry destroy you. You are not Khael. Eva is not Lis. This situation is different. It is…on first meeting, it is unsettling to realize that your amati can ruin you so completely…but I promise, if Eva is truly your amati, then it will be worth it to trust her.”

  Brand went still; the phone creaked under the pressure of his hand, and Brand heard static in his ear before he relaxed his grip. He turned, fixing his gaze on Eva.

  He remembered. Too well. Through both his memories and Khael’s.

  Could he put up with that sort of agony? Khael’s agony? No. Hell, no.

  Not only did his family need him, but his Gens needed him. It had taken Khael centuries to pull himself back together. Brand didn’t have that luxury.

  Seth cleared his throat. “When Margaret came along – it was wrong of me to do so, but I looked at Khael – and I did not wait. And not once have I regretted that decision. No matter how much I despise rash, illogical action, that action is one I will never regret.”

  Brand said nothing. He heard Seth pick up his glasses from the table. His brother’s voice turned professional again. “I sent a map of Joshua’s coordinates to your phone. He has requested that you bring him a bucket of chicken for lunch, extra crispy. If there is nothing else?”

  Nothing.

  Seth sighed. “Very well, Brand. But remember my advice.”

  The conversation ended with a click. Brand glanced down, got a good look at Joshua’s coordinates, and cursed.

  Sometimes it seemed his family was bent on torturing him.

  Brand heard her shift in the back seat and glanced in the rearview. Eva looked up, startled silver eyes meeting his in the glass. She had just woken.

  “It’s…where are we?” she squinted out the window at the highway. “We’re on the interstate?”

  “We need to pick up Joshua. He traveled a bit farther than I expected.”

  “How much farther?” she frowned, and for the first time looked slightly uneasy.

  “Miles. The bastard hopped on a goddamned bus,” Brand muttered. Which, thank god, was the truth for once.

  Fuck Seth. He hated lying to her. But his brother was right on another count – they did need the information. And maybe…hell, if she agreed, then he wouldn’t have to cart her half-way across the country against her will.

  He might end up killing Seth in the long run, but getting her to Stronghold would be easier. Cleaner. And Brand could take a breath of relief at least on one count.

  “If you could do something,” Brand asked, accelerating into the second lane, “to help Stronghold better understand what happened to you, and to give us more information on what Rohe wants, would you?” Ruthlessly crushing the small voice of his conscience, he added, “This would be more important than any money you could pay us for gas mileage. There wouldn’t be any debts owed, not when you return to…North Carolina.” There wouldn’t have been any debts owed anyway.

  Nor was she returning to North Carolina.

  Eva didn’t even blink. “Of course I would.”

  “You would have to come to Stronghold,” Brand said pointedly, even as he wondered why he was trying to discourage her. “Your Gens is in North Carolina. It’s a distance, Eva. But we would fly you back. I’d make sure you arrived safely. No Rohe, no Sakai.”

  Eva stared at him in dismay, then looked quickly away. “You mean…not go home.”

  Damn it, did she have to sound so miserable?

  Fuck, he felt guilty.

  “I think…” she shook her head, giving Brand a regretful glance. “I don’t think I can, Brand. I haven’t seen my sister in far too long. I miss her. I need to see…she’s all I have…I don’t…” Eva crumbled to a stop and bit her lip, before taking a deep shaky breath and starting again. “Rainey is all I have. I miss her, and the entire time I was in that place, I swore I would see her again. I have to go home, Brand. I’m sorry, but…” she shook her head, “is there some other way I could help Stronghold? Perhaps after I return home?”

  Damn it. Brand wrestled with his distaste, gripped the wheel. “No. Stronghold supports over fifty blood tigers, Eva, all of them related to my family in one way or another. At least one hundred blood tigers
from other Gens report to us, seeking our support, our alliances, our protection. What happened to you, would not have gone unnoticed if the Turner Gens had supported a pact with Stronghold. It would have been reported, and Seth would have sent out searchers. Furthermore, it has been centuries since the Sakai have taken that sort of interest in Kaspians. We need information.”

  Eva was quiet. Brand dared a look in the rearview mirror. Her face was pale, she was…damn, she was unhappy. “Sakai have done this to blood tigers before?”

  Brand hesitated, then admitted the truth. “Centuries ago. We keep trying to convince them that we’re extinct and then,” he gave a mirthless smile, looking at the road again, “something happens. Many of the older Winterbournes know about us, but they’re not interested enough to bother. The Summerbourne are too busy trying to survive to even know we exist. But every once in a while…well, every species has a monster that crops up along the way, Eva.”

  She shuddered. “Rohe is a monster.” Then curiously, “Summerbourne. You said Rohe was a Summerbourne. And that the Strategoi was a…Winterbourne? What’s the difference – the season they were born in?”

  Brand snorted, rounding a curve in the dark road. “No. They’re different…types, if you will. Just know that if you have to pick a fight with one, you’d rather fight a Summerbourne.” Usually.

  Eva shuddered, pulling his coat tighter about herself as she sat up in the seat. “I don’t think I would want to fight either of them,” she said quietly. “I think…” she shrugged and looked away, and their conversation lagged for a few miles.

  Brand clenched his jaw and studied the gas gage as he considered his options. Time for more truth. “The Sakai want you back, Eva. You have one Winterbourne following you. Likely more. They could have easily taken you at the park, if Joshua and I weren’t there. If you return to North Carolina, they will easily take you again – or worse, track you back to your home. Then Rohe won’t just have you – she will have your sister and the rest of your Gens. And I won’t know a thing about it, I won’t be able to do a thing to help you. Because Stronghold won’t have the information you could have provided.”

  Eva flinched, gave him a pained look in the rearview mirror. “You wouldn’t look for me?”

  Brand sighed, gripping the wheel. “I would look for you, Eva. Because I know you.” Because you’re my amati. Brand clenched his teeth on the words. “But what about any other Kaspians Rohe has captured that I don’t know about? We don’t even have the information to look for them. Information that you could provide.”

  “Brand, it’s not – I want to. I would love to help. It’s just…Rainey. My sister…”

  He didn’t respond, letting the silence inside the car and the guilt eat at her.

  Just as it was eating at his own heart.

  Fuck, if he ever caught someone manipulating Eva like this, he would kill them. She was too damn trusting and he was too damn…well, he was a bastard.

  “How long would it take?” she asked, and he hated the choking sound to her voice.

  He wasn’t just a bastard. He was a class-A bastard.

  “Not long,” he lied in as soothing a voice as possible. “Perhaps a week. Maybe two.”

  Perhaps he would Marque her. It wouldn’t take much to get Eva to Marque him in turn. Two weeks – surely that would be enough time to get her to complete the bond with him? Enough time to get her to open to him completely?

  If they could complete the bond, then he wouldn’t have to worry about going mad like Khael had, when she left him.

  Brand wasn’t fooling himself. Sooner or later, Eva would wake up and see him for what he was. And no matter how hard he tried to hold her, she would be out that door faster than he could catch her.

  Hell, she’d escaped from a locked prison cell buried beneath a frozen Asylum in Vermont.

  He glanced in the mirror. She was biting her nails, her brow furrowed. “Let’s say…I consider this. What will keep Rohe from coming after Rainey and me when I return to North Carolina?”

  “We will. The information you provide will help us take care of her.”

  “Take care of her? Of Rohe?”

  “Stop her, Eva.”

  “Kill her, you mean,” Eva said quietly, understanding in her voice.

  “If she’s dead, she can’t come after you.” And Brand would give a good amount of money to know just why the Sakai woman had decided to start delving into both Kaspian lives and Kaspian secrets. “You and your sister would be safe, Eva. Completely safe.”

  She only hesitated a moment longer. Then nodded, sucking in a sharp breath as a determined light coming into those beautiful silver eyes. “Okay then. I’ll help. But I want to go home as soon we’re done.”

  Her relief was like a knife through his chest. She had to know. Brand wasn’t going to deliver her to Seth unsuspecting. He gripped and wheel and said bluntly, “Fine. But would you still want to do it if someone had to go into your mind for that information?”

  Eva paled. He saw her hands shake. “Who?”

  “My brother Seth. He manages information at Stronghold. He likes to keep files on Sakai.” And on humans, Noan and other Kaspian. Anything that’s ever walked, breathed or crawled he keeps his goddamned files on. “When Seth tries, he can hear people’s thoughts. And if someone concentrates, they can take him into a memory. They can show him images they saw, sounds they heard.”

  Eva shuddered, her face twisting. “He can…I don’t…I’d rather it was you.”

  Brand flinched at her wording. “No you don’t.”

  Eva went quiet. “What would Seth do with…with what he learned?”

  “Databases. Assessment. Trace out information on Rohe’s activities and assets. Evaluate her threat level. Send out watchers to keep tabs on her. Keep Stronghold safe.”

  “And other Gens as well?”

  “If we can,” Brand said. “If they’re willing to work with us.”

  He glanced in the mirror, saw Eva staring bleakly out the window. “Seth. He’s your brother,” she said. “You trust him.”

  “Always,” Brand replied, because it was true, then realized it hadn’t been a question. He tried to imagine the bond she must share with her sister Rainey. Unbreakable, probably. Like the bond he shared with his own family.

  “I’ll do it.”

  They rode for a long silence. Brand didn’t know what to feel. Eva had been through enough. She needed her sister, she didn’t need this. But he also wanted her to come with him willingly. Brand growled softly. “I’m sorry I asked you that. I didn’t want to.”

  Eva didn’t say anything. Brand glanced in the rearview. Her eyes were dark. As Brand wished he could take those shadows away, a deeper, darker weight settled on his chest.

  “Eva. Your memories of Rohe. Would you would give them up if you could? Go back to your sister, your Gens? To everything as it was before?”

  Eva blinked at him, tired and haunted. And so damn beautiful he would have ripped his heart from his chest, if it could have made a difference.

  “In a heartbeat,” she replied.

  That’s what he was afraid she would say.

  They found Joshua sitting on a graffitied bench at an abandoned bus stop in Morrison, Pennsylvania, thumbing through a day-old copy of the local paper. He glanced up when Brand pulled the car to the curb, then slowly finished perusing his article before tucking the paper under his arm and climbing into the front passenger seat.

  Eva watched those gray eyes flick from the crushed dash to the ruined headrest as Brand pulled back onto the road. Then Joshua turned in his seat to offer her a charming smile – it was the first time Joshua had smiled at her. Wicked, Eva thought, and quelled a return smile. “Brand lost his temper, didn’t he?” Joshua asked.

  “I, ah…”

  “Never mind,” Brand interrupted. “Joshua, how the hell did you end up here of all places?” He stopped at the light, then turned to scowl on his cousin.

  “Hitch-hiked,” Joshua said
succinctly, offering Eva the paper. She shook her head. “First with an insurance salesman, then with a trucker. I burned the socks in case they had a tracker like Khael. I haven’t seen any Sakai on my trail since Cincinnati. Got a ride with a little old lady from there, then took a bus.”

  “They followed you to Cincinnati?” Eva was horrified.

  “That was the point,” Joshua said. “To lead them away from the two of you.”

  “I thought you meant to stay in Bockoven,” Brand said tightly, then turned away as the light changed. “It would have been safer.”

  Joshua grinned. “Yeah. But my way was more fun.”

  Brand growled, taking an exit toward the interstate. Eva shifted in the back seat, so that she sat behind Joshua, and studied Brand’s profile. He’s tired, she thought, feeling guilty. She had slept last night, and Brand hadn’t. He had stayed awake, on watch, and she hadn’t contributed anything.

  Anything, that was, but trouble.

  “Have you spoken with Seth?” Brand said abruptly.

  Joshua frowned. “Just briefly.”

  “So you didn’t know who you were evading.”

  “No. But if it’s important, you had best tell me now.”

  And then they switched to French. Eva had had the basics of it in high school, but that had been a long time ago. She meant to take a refresher course at the college, hoping she could make it count toward a program, but those plans had fallen through.

  Eva swallowed, then looked around – oddly enough – for her iPod. Before her kidnapping, she had always had it with her. Jogging, running errands, even when she worked her night clerk job at the hotel she had always had at least one earbud in her ear. Rainey teased her about it. In fact, Eva had been using her iPod when she was kidnapped.

  She didn’t know why she expected to have it now.

  But even with Brand and Joshua speaking, the car felt so quiet. Lonely.

  Eva ran her fingers across the leather coat gathered over her lap. It was soft, expensive. Certainly not something she ever could have afforded. And it smelled like Brand. It smelled like strength, sunlight and freedom, all mixed in with the perfect hint of laughter.