By a Thread

by Nyna Queen

  The floorboards whispered as he stepped over the sill of the glass balcony door, his subtle movements sending hardly any vibrations through her.

  He stopped just short of the bed, tall and golden, and so impossibly beautiful he barely seemed real.

  Alex cocked her head, letting her blond hair fall over her face and shoulder, and watched him from under the curtain of her lashes.

  “Hey,” he said. The slight huskiness in his voice sent a tingling shiver over her, like velvet running over bare skin.

  “Hey yourself.”

  There was a slight moment of hesitation. He paused. Cleared his throat. “I ordered some coffee. I hope—” He shrugged lightly, muscles rolling along his strong shoulders.

  Alex blinked. “No. I mean, yes. I mean—coffee’s great.”

  She tried to smile. Swallowed. Another couple of tense seconds trickled by while they looked at each other, none of them too eager to speak first.

  Last night, after they’d finished, exhaustion had finally speared her, and she’d passed out right there on the bed, wrapped up in his warmth. And now …

  Just seeing him standing there, so close, feeling the heat pouring out of him, produced memories of his touch all over her skin. Memories of his lips on her lips and his tongue in her mouth. His breath tingling her sensitive hairs, the salty taste of his sweat and the fire burning inside her as they clung to each other in desperate need.

  The memories evoked a soft aching pressure that ran from her toes and fingers into the sweet spot between her legs, setting off another very special kind of longing.

  From the way Darken tensed, and his eyes glazed over, she could tell that he remembered it as well. Oh yes, he remembered.

  She wanted to reach out and touch him, just to know that he was real. That last night had been real.

  She didn’t move. What had happened last night had been last night and today was today and whatever crazy rules had applied to their game last night, she didn't know how much of them still applied today.

  A web always looked different in the morning light. He’d been in a tight spot and while she hadn’t given anything she hadn’t intended to give, she had no clue how these situations were usually handled.

  The silence stretched as they stared at each other, the air between them overripe with possibilities. He was so close; she only had to reach out and she could touch him.

  The look on his face was almost … pained. Wistful, yes, that was it. Was she imagining things or was there a silent question in his eyes?

  Yet the rules … Oh, screw the rules!

  But before she could raise her hand, a rap on the door broke the awkward silence building between them. They broke gazes.

  “Wow, that’s what I call quick service!” Alex rolled off the bed and gracefully came to her feet, reaching for her torn kimono in the same fluid movement. She threw it on and tied its remains around her middle, covering herself as best as possible, not quite sure if she should be relieved or annoyed about this interruption.

  Seriously! As if they were two teenagers having their first time and then no clue where to go from there! Maybe a bit of coffee would get that stupid knot out of her tongue.

  But when she yanked the door open it wasn’t the coffee servant offering her a filled tray.

  “Morning, Alex,” Max mumbled with a bleary smile and fluffed his tousled hair. “We were looking for Uncle Darken and—oh, hi, Uncle Darken.”

  Waving at his uncle, he bopped past her, completely oblivious to the currents in the room.

  Alex wished she could say the same thing about Josy. The girl took in her attire and then her eyes darted back and forth between her and Darken, narrowing with a little too much suspicion.

  Alex felt herself blush into the tips of her hair. When she’d slipped under the covers with Darken last night, she hadn’t exactly thought about his niece and nephew being next door, less than twenty feet away. Sweet Jester, if it hadn’t been for those soundproof sigils …

  She blushed even harder, if that was at all possible. How exactly did you explain such a situation?

  She opened her mouth, but before she could stutter anything that would only make things worse, Darken brushed past her. Somewhere between her getting up and opening the door, he’d managed to slip into his socks, shoes, and shirt and buttoned it up almost all the way—you had to give it to him, the man was smooth.

  Without even looking in Alex’s direction, he closed the door behind Josy and leaned against it.

  “Good, you’re finally up. I already thought I had to send the wake-up command,” he said. “I just came over to discuss the next steps with Alex, but since you’re here now, we can as well round it up together. That way I won’t have to repeat myself.”

  The lie came so smooth, so effortless, it took Alex a moment to realize it had been spoken.

  There was an unexpected pinch in her belly. She didn’t know what she had expected him to say. Hey, I just had it off with the spider, and how did you sleep? Yeah, clearly not!

  But to act like this? Like nothing had happened at all. Like it didn’t matter. Well, of course, it didn’t matter. But—

  There was another tap on the door and Darken opened, taking the tray from the servant and setting it on a small table. He raised the can at her.

  “Coffee?”

  Oh, so he was at least aware that she was still in the same room. Well, if he wanted to act like nothing had happened, fine!

  She smiled at him. “Sugar, if I want coffee, I’ll serve myself.”

  One of his eyebrows crept up with a semblance of confusion.

  Oh, now spare me that innocent look, Mr. Nothing-happened-here.

  He looked like he wanted to say something, but then he just shrugged, a slight chill filling his eyes. “Suit yourself.”

  He poured himself a cup and leaned against the table crossing his feet at the ankles, his attention focused on his niece and nephew. “I called your father last night.”

  Josy bit her lip. “Did he throw a fit?”

  Darken snorted. “That’s to put it mildly.”

  Oh, so this man held a grudge against his brother? Obviously, they did have something in common. He seemed an interesting character. Meeting him suddenly held a lot more appeal.

  “Gist is, that they will leave the capital directly after tomorrow’s vote and come to the Family Country Estate around midday to pick you up there. So that’s where we are gonna head tonight. It’s only about ten miles from here and we agreed that this would be the best way to avoid unwanted publicity. I already made the necessary arrangements.”

  “I’m surprised that he didn’t skip the vote and come right away.” Josy tugged at the ribbon in her hair. “Not that I think he should,” she added quickly in a somewhat defensive voice. “I know this one has been a major point for discussion in the election campaign.”

  “Oh, he wanted to,” Darken replied, quiet understanding in his eyes. “In fact, he was almost on his way, before I managed to talk him out of it.”

  “Really? And he listened to you?” Josy made big eyes. “Surprising.”

  “Impressive,” Max offered.

  What kind of man was this Stephane Dubois-Léclaire character? He certainly didn’t sound like the kind of guy you wanted to put your trust in ruling your country. Maybe she wasn’t that eager to meet him after all.

  “Did you tell him about me?” she asked cautiously. Did she even want to know?

  Darken hesitated. “I told him that there is a shaper with us, and that it is complicated and that I’d explain when we got there.”

  How comforting.

  “So, if we’re not leaving right about now, can we have breakfast?” Max asked. Apparently, the generous meal from the night before was all but forgotten.

  “I was coming to that.” Darken sipped his coffee. Alex wished there was a way to go over and get herself one without appearing silly. Since she saw none, she stayed where she was.

  “Blayde assured me that you c
an go down to the breakfast hall, although regarding your current dressing habit”—he gave Alex’s torn kimono a pointed look. As if you don’t know who ruined this rag, you sleek prick!—“you might want to consider ordering something to our rooms instead. There’s a menu here.” He tapped a card on the table. “Just place an order with the vis-a and it will be brought up.”

  “What about you?” Josy frowned.

  “Since we’re here now, I need to do something—work-related.” An answer that said a lot without really saying anything. Not that she cared what he did in his fucking free time. And she also wouldn’t mind him being gone for a while, or she might accidentally drop her teeth into his insufferable neck.

  “It shouldn’t take too long,” Darken said. “Why don’t the three of you also make good use of the time and go down to the hotel mall and get yourself some new clothes?” He indicated the soiled, bloodstained clothes of the kids, which were still the ones Alex had bought for them at the second-hand shop in Bhellidor. They looked like they had spent a week in a boot camp and they hadn’t been that dressy to begin with.

  “We don’t want to give the servants a heart attack when we arrive,” Darken said. “And Alex definitely needs something more … suitable for the occasion.”

  “Shopping?” Max rolled his eyes. “Boooring.”

  But Josy’s eyes sparkled.

  Alex crossed her arms. “You might remember my conversation with Valentine. I don’t really have any money on me to play shopping queen.”

  “Oh, the money won’t be the problem,” Darken said with all that suave trueborn air. “Just fill in a charge form on Dubois-Léclaire and my family will come up for the expenses later. Blayde will vouch for it, I’m sure.”

  “Thanks, but no thanks,” Alex replied stiffly. “I don’t need your charity.”

  Darken frowned a little irritated, a sort of real emotional eruption coming from him and his voice got a slightly clipped edge. “My family owes you for saving Maxwell and Josepha. The least we can do is pay for a couple of new garments since yours were destroyed in the pursuit.” His lips curved a tad, but it was more grimace than smile. “Not to mention that my brother will fry my hide if he hears that I didn’t insist on extending this basic courtesy. He is quite prissy in that regard.”

  Well, if he put it that way … It wasn’t like she would mind new clothes. Especially now that her own stock had been basically ruined. And she would find a way to pay it back, no matter what he said, and if she’d have to scratch at the Duke’s doorstep. She wouldn’t owe anything to this man and his family—especially not her new panties.

  Darken took another sip of his coffee and leaned over to Josy. “I suppose, you’ll be able to help Alex find something acceptable?”

  Oh, so now she wasn’t even able to pick her own clothing anymore? What was possibly wrong with the way she dressed?

  “I’m not sure this is a good idea,” Alex muttered. “Shopping, I mean. What if somebody recognizes Max and Josy?”

  “Even if that should happen, you’re completely safe within the wards of the Pacified Zone. Nobody can touch you here. Nobody knows we’re here, anyway, and if there is any trouble, Blayde will be there to solve it in a trice.”

  He sure had a lot of confidence in the black Custodian.

  A lazy, arrogant smile stretched Darken’s lips as he looked at her. “Don’t worry. I should be back for dinner. You think you can handle it until then?”

  In the darkness of her soul, the spider bared her teeth. In the real world, she leaned forward. “Sugar, in the last two days I’ve been shot at, assaulted with death magic, thrown from a motorway—as well as into a cold, mucky river—and stabbed with a fucking long needle. I think I can handle a little shopping tour.”

  The smile she received in reply was deeply unsettling. Really, what could be so bad about a little bit of shopping?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  WHAT could be so bad about a little bit of shopping?

  Alex stared at the set of polished glass doors and felt thick revulsion creep up in her chest.

  Just a wee little shopping tour. Couldn’t be that bad, right?

  Not that bad, my ass! Sugar, whenever you start thinking something like that again, just—don’t!

  But when she’d made this careless comment, she hadn’t reckoned with the well-nigh endless energy of an adolescent teenage girl equipped with daddy’s credit card. Well, at least now she knew why Darken had grinned like that. Fucking prick should have warned her!

  They had already scoured half a dozen of different shops in the last three hours and Josy didn’t show any sign of tiring, walking along the shelves and racks with the same bouncing enthusiasm she’d shown when they’d set out. Unfortunately, the mall was in no danger of running out of shops any time soon. Stretching over four full stories at the side of the hotel tower, the place was fucking huge, stringing noble boutique to noble boutique along their arcades, one more extravagant than the other. And if the heights didn’t give you vertigo then the prices certainly did. The whole thing was too big, too crowded, too scented and simply too … ritzy.

  Equipping herself with new underwear had proved easy enough, but from there …

  Pretending to rifle through a stack of grossly overpriced blazers she wouldn't even wear if someone actually paid her for it, Alex shot a glance at Josy, who was critically examining some sort of lavender blouse across from her with the seriousness of a battle captain inspecting his war equipment. Max, who was already fully accoutered for and bored to the rims of his stuffy new pants, was dashing through the boutique’s aisles, playing hide-and-seek with himself.

  Alex pinched one of the blazer’s shoulder pads and wrinkled her nose. Why, this was useless. She wouldn’t find anything to wear here. Only problem would be putting her darling little shopping-nanny straight on it.

  With a sigh, she let go of the sleeve and turned away from the rack, and flinched when the movement sent a stab of pain through her neck. Automatically her hand wandered to the back of her neck, where the needle had penetrated her skin to enter the gland. The memory made her shudder.

  “Does it still hurt?”

  Alex glanced up. Josy had lowered the blouse and was studying her intently over the top of the shelf.

  “What?”

  “The wound.” The girl pointed at her neck and bit her lower lip. “It still hurts, doesn’t it?”

  Force of habit tried to wedge a prickly reply into Alex’s mouth, but the way Josy looked at her didn’t seem to imply that she thought Alex was weak or whiny. No, there was actual concern in her gaze. A healer’s interest, perhaps?

  So, she swallowed the remark and instead made a so-so-gesture. “It’s more sore than actually painful.”

  Although it was the truth, Josy gave her a reproachful I-know-you’re-just-playing-things-down-again gaze. Not that that was beyond her.

  The kid swallowed and came around the shelf. “I could heal you. Actually, I should have offered it earlier. That was very unthoughtful of me.”

  Alex waved a dismissive hand. “Really don’t bother, sugar. We heal very quickly. Shapers, I mean.”

  When the sharp skepticism on Josy’s face didn’t wane, she pushed her hair aside, revealing the back of her neck. “See?”

  A gasp. “It’s—it’s almost gone!”

  Alex shrugged one shoulder and winked. “Being a shaper does have some ups.” Though certainly not too many.

  “Astonishing,” Josy whispered, raising a hand as if to touch, but didn’t. Her brow furrowed. “Is this a metabolic process or do you have an altered form of cytokinesis?”

  Alex raised an eyebrow. “Shaper physiology isn’t at the top of your curriculum, huh?”

  “Um, well … no,” Josy muttered ruefully, clearly missing the irony. “Not really.”

  Alex settled her hip against the corner of a shelf and crossed her arms, ignoring the fact that she was wrinkling a couple of frilly skirts. “Well sugar, you probably still know a lot more
about that kind of stuff than I do. In fact, I’m a lot more proficient at beating the shit out of people than in the healing business.”

  Two days ago, the girl would likely have fainted at a comment like that, but now she didn’t even flinch. They really were making progress.

  “It’s not like I have any advanced knowledge either,” Josy admitted meekly, curling a strand of hair around her little finger. “I am still very much a novice myself.”

  “Don’t listen to her.” Max poked his head out of an aisle. “She’s a natural. Like, eeeverybody says that.” He drawled on those words and rolled his eyes. “They can’t stop getting over how talented she is. Such a special girl,” he mimicked. “Our little staaaaar!”

  Josy blushed deep scarlet. “He’s exaggerating.”

  “Am not!”

  “Oh, shut up!” Josy swatted at her brother, but he ducked out of the way and stuck his tongue out her.

  “They even say she might be accepted at St. Celestine’s College of Medical Arts,” Max told Alex importantly.

  Ignorant shaper-mongrel or not, this name was a landmark even to her. Why, it was just the biggest and most renowned medical college in the whole Republic—the same one that had refused her sire for a test treatment.

  Swallowing her resentment, Alex tried to smile at Josy. “Wow, that’s quite impressive.”

  To her surprise, Josy stared down her shoes. “It’s really hard to get accepted,” she mumbled into her hair.

  “Oh, she’ll ace it,” Max said. “Everybody is sure of that.”

  His sister gave him a slashing look. “I’m just saying.” She linked her fingers together so tightly, it looked painful. “The entrance exams are supposed to be very tough.”

  Alex tried to figure out if Josy was just playing coy or if there was something else behind her sudden shyness.

  “Well, Celestine’s is not the only college out there.” She shrugged. “I’m sure there are a lot of other options in the case of the cases.”

  “Not for me.”

  The words were so soft, Alex probably wouldn’t have heard them if not for her advanced shaper hearing. It made her think of what Darken had told her about Josy earlier, about all the pressure and the expectations … and about what wasn’t said behind all those words.