Chapter 8
I backed out of his grasp. His smirk mocked the distance I put between us. Anger stifled the part of me that had been far too focused on how good his arms had felt around me.
“Don’t let your impressive new abilities go to your head,” I said in my coldest tone. I couldn’t let Ian know how he affected me. He’d only use it against me. “I might not be able to outrun you now that you can teleport, but there are many other ways I can still escape you.”
“All involving my intense pain, no doubt.” He sounded amused. “Tempting as that may be, you won’t need such measures. Earlier, you agreed to talk with me where the council couldn’t overhear us and Mencheres couldn’t interrupt us. This meets both those requirements.”
I’d only said that to get across the villa’s threshold to spring my trap! I hadn’t truly intended to talk to him. It was pointless. I couldn’t tell him the truth, and he was too damn clever for me to get away with lying to him.
My need to stall caused me to do what I never allowed myself to do: fall back into memories of what the Parthenon had looked like when it was new, its columns whole and gleaming under the bright Grecian sun instead of highlighted by artificial lights in its ruined state.
Then I rewound to centuries before that and the smaller, far less impressive temple that pre-dated it. I rewound to several millenniums before that, when this mount was empty and the city was nothing more than some sparsely populated wooden huts.
When I blinked, the sight of the Parthenon’s long-standing ruins caused all my years to crash back into me. As I struggled between then and now, my sire’s oft-repeated warning rang in my head. You must never allow yourself to be consumed by the ancient past. Countless aged among our kind have lost themselves to madness that way. Always focus on the present. Speak the modern language. Wear modern clothing. Think with modern thoughts. That is the only way you’ll survive, Veritas . . .
I’d heeded Tenoch’s advice in all ways but one. I couldn’t let my many tortures and executions stay buried in the sands of what was now modern-day Iraq. Instead, I’d sworn that one day, Dagon would pay for all the people he’d tortured and murdered, myself included. More than four thousand years later, I was still dealing with the repercussions of that promise.
Now, so was Ian.
“There’s nothing crueler than time,” I murmured. “It stretches when you’re in pain, flies away if you’re happy, and crushes you when you remember all the years that are now gone.”
Ian seemed surprised by the change of subject. Then, his gaze became hooded. “True. And every so often, time can also be stolen from you. It was from me, and I won’t stop until I’ve recovered every bit of it.”
I let out a short laugh. “Then those ‘migraines’ you’re so dismissive of will be the least of your problems. You don’t want to know everything you’ve forgotten, but I will tell you this—Dagon has no claim on your soul any longer. It’s yours again.”
His brows rose. “Demon deals are unbreakable unless the demon dies. Are you saying that Dagon is dead?”
“I wish,” I said with feeling. Then I retreated into my icy Law Guardian persona. “Dagon’s deal with you has been nullified. The details are unimportant. What is important is that you’re free, so take your freedom and go.”
His gaze gleamed with green highlights. “There are many words I’d use to describe marriage. ‘Free’ isn’t one of them.”
“Whose fault is that?” I snapped, before composing myself again. “I have no intention of asserting my rights over you. I’m sure you feel the same way about me. That makes our marriage nothing more than an unfortunate technicality.”
He tapped his chin. “Not sure I agree. I wanted to rip Xun Guan’s head off over how she incessantly eye-humped you. The more the merrier, I usually say with lovers, but I seem to be jealous and possessive over you.”
I covered my shock at that with more chilly deflection. “What makes you think we were lovers?”
His grin was everything that made Ian unforgettable. “Oh, I have many of those memories.” Then his voice deepened. “Though sometimes, I wonder if they’re real.”
“Why?” I shouldn’t have asked. Why had I? Maybe Mencheres’s truth spell on me from earlier hadn’t worn off yet.
He came nearer, brushing my arms with the lightest of strokes, which still caused shivers to race over me. “Because nothing that good could possibly be real,” he murmured, and bent his head.
I turned away before his mouth touched mine. Then I pushed him back. Doing both took all of my strength.
“Your memories are wrong,” I said, proving Mencheres’s spell was no longer affecting me as that was a lie. So was what I said next. “During our brief alliance, yes, we had sex to break up the monotony of laying out our trap for Dagon, but it was nothing exceptional. Once we’d both gotten what we wanted from Dagon, we were glad to part ways with each other.”
Ian’s brows had risen at the start of my heartless rendition. By the end of it, they were almost in his hairline. Then he burst out laughing.
“What’s so amusing?” I asked in my chilliest voice.
“You,” he said, still chuckling. “Knew you must fancy me to convince Crispin to lie his arse off to protect me from a demon I can’t remember, but I didn’t realize this.”
“Realize what?”
He gave me a sunny smile. “You’re madly in love with me.”
“What?”
He waved away my gasp. “Nothing to be ashamed of. You’re in the company of multitudes, though none of them got me to the proverbial alter the way you did. Have I mentioned how impressive that was? Blimey, talk about making the impossible a reality.”
Outrage had me sputtering. “You are such an ass—”
“Can’t blame it on the Red Dragon, either,” he went on as if I hadn’t spoken. “I’ve been high on that several times, yet never woken up with a wife before. Means I must have wanted to marry you, too, shocking though the thought may be.”
“Your arrogance is astounding—”
“Then again, I do know you’re mine,” he continued, eyes gleaming now. “Did I tell you I sometimes feel things before they happen? Ah, I can see from your expression that I did. Imagine my surprise when I felt that you were mine the first time I saw you. Felt it again with every memory I had of you. Felt it when you were lying your arse off to the council about me, too, and I really felt it when I walked into your hotel room and breathed in your true scent.” He came close, letting me see him inhale again. “Knocked me right off my feet,” he murmured. “’Course, that also could have been the new memory it elicited, but either way, I know you’re mine. And so do you.”
“Bullshit,” I said with all the emotion I was denying.
Ian only smiled. “Keep pretending, then. I don’t need you to admit what you feel in order for you to help me recover what I’ve lost. You can show me.”
I regained enough control to ask, “How will I show you?”
“Being near you has already inspired one new memory. I expect more will come the longer we’re together.” His gaze turned knowing. “Did you realize that? Is that the other reason you’ve tried so hard to avoid me?”
“No.” But now that I did know, it would be.
If Ian remembered everything, he’d never let me pay the price for his resurrection alone. His sense of honor would demand that he hunt down the other souls along with me, danger be damned. I had to get away from him before that happened. But now that he could teleport, how could I escape?
Of course. Ian was formidable, but he did have one rather large weakness.
I came toward him and dropped my glamour. My skirt suit was already ripped from the ghoul fight and being buried alive, so my real curves almost overflowed the torn fabric, now too tight. His gaze raked me from the top of my streaked, silvery hair all the way to my feet, and his nostrils flared when he caught my real scent.
“There you are,” he said in a throaty voice.
�
��Here I am,” I agreed softly.
Then I put my arms around him, steeling myself not to get lost in the feel of him. He pulled me close, his body flush against mine. Every nerve ending I had caught fire. So much for me maintaining control. Still, I couldn’t stop now. I tilted my head back and parted my lips, an invitation for him to kiss me.
His eyes glowed emerald as he took me up on it.
Chapter 9
His mouth slanted over mine. My nails dug into his shoulders as his tongue invaded with sensual flicks that made me ache, burn, and then ache again. I wound my hands into his hair to pull him closer. He reached up and squeezed them as if daring me to grip him tighter. I needed him distracted, so with a moan, I yanked on his hair hard enough to crush his mouth into mine.
His response lifted me off my feet. I matched each deep, possessive stroke of his tongue while gripping his hair as if his arms weren’t the real things keeping me aloft. I should be focused on enacting my spell, but his taste, his touch, the feel of his body . . . oh, I’d needed this. I’d needed it more than blood.
He pulled my thigh up so the bulge in his pants sensually ground against my center. Sensations burst within me and I let out a choked gasp. His kiss swallowed it as he did it again. Inner nerve endings shredded with such sharp ecstasy, I almost came.
I could no longer remember why I’d started this. All I knew was his scent, his taste, how tightly he held me, and the sound he made when I rubbed against him. His hands tightened on my hips and a coppery tang suddenly flavored our kiss. One of us had scored our tongues against a fang. When Ian stiffened in surprise at the taste, I knew it had been me. Dammit! I couldn’t explain why my blood wasn’t normal without dragging him deeper into the mess I was trying to keep him away from. Guess I had to finish that spell after all—
He grabbed his head and his whole body sagged. Fear shot through me as I caught him before he hit the ground. What was happening? I hadn’t hit him a spell yet!
I understood when blood began trickling from his eyes. He’d been hit with a new memory. I’d wanted to knock him out with a spell so I could leave, but I hadn’t intended to incapacitate him this way. More blood came from his ears, and panic cleared away my desire. Would this new memory destroy his mind? My father had warned Ian that that could happen, and . . . why were my hands still stuck to his head?
I tried to pull them free and couldn’t. What? I tried harder. I couldn’t even yank any of his hair out. How could that be . . . ?
“You spelled me.” I groaned, remembering him squeezing my hands. Ian hadn’t been encouraging me to release my inhibitions. He’d been working tactile magic on me. I’d intended to distract him with desire in order to hit him with a spell, and the sly bastard had beaten me to it!
A feminine laugh jerked my head up. The filmy body of a ghost in Puritan dress floated over me, her impish grin at odds with the severity of her drab, overmodest garb.
“He played you like a flute,” Leah said, still laughing. “What spell do you think he used on you?”
“Sampson’s Strength, probably. It’s unbreakable.” Why hadn’t I paid attention to what he was doing with his hands? I knew tactile magic was his strong suit. Now, I couldn’t even help him while his mind might be shattering from a new memory!
Leah gave the blood trickling from Ian’s eyes and nose an unconcerned glance. “Don’t be alarmed—this has happened before. It doesn’t seem to have any lasting ill effects on him.”
I was relieved, but still stressed enough to be snappy. “You could have mentioned that before, and you could have mentioned that Ian remembered me.”
Leah gave me a jaded look. “You told me never to leave his side. How could I tell you anything without leaving his side? It’s been challenging enough following him after he teleports, and as you know, the dead don’t have cell phones.”
“Couldn’t you send another ghost to deliver the message?”
She shrugged. “One ghost he might dismiss as nothing, if he glimpsed me. But two ghosts, with one of those ghosts telling the other to pass along a message about him?”
“You’re right,” I said with a sigh. “I only asked you to protect Ian if need be. I didn’t ask you to spy for me.”
Leah had been the perfect guard. Ghosts were largely ignored by vampires since they tended to be mindless energy snippets that merely repeated the same activity. But Leah’s uniqueness didn’t end at her sentience. She had also weaponized her ability to induce terrifying hallucinations.
Ian was tough, smart, and skilled, but if he were jumped by a large-enough group of demons, he’d need an edge. Leah was that edge. Now, she’d done such a good job of shadowing him, she’d witnessed me getting trapped by him. No wonder she was laughing. I might laugh, too, if I wasn’t worried about Ian while also cursing myself for getting so caught up in his kiss, I hadn’t noticed the magical handcuffs he’d clapped on me.
Leah gave me a speculative look. “He’s not going to give up on his quest for answers, you know.”
I shook my magically bound hands at her. “Starting to get that impression, thanks.”
She laughed again. “I can see why you like him. He’s always doing the unexpected, isn’t he?”
“Tell me about it,” I said dryly. “I—”
I stopped speaking when Leah abruptly vanished. Moments later, Ian sat up, shook his head as if clearing it, and wiped the blood from his face. Then he grinned as he saw my hands still stuck to his head.
“Ah, that spell worked on you.”
“You tricked me.”
I tried to summon up my anger over it, but it had vanished. That’s how great my relief was that whatever memory he’d recovered hadn’t broken his mind.
He wagged a finger at me. “You tried to trick me first. Or am I supposed to believe you were struck with a sudden urge to kiss me that had nothing to do with an attempt to hit me with a knockout spell?”
Arrogant ass. “Maybe I did want to kiss you.”
His grin disappeared, replaced with an expression so intense, I had to look away. “Then prove it. Kiss me again.”
I was suddenly aware of how my legs were pressed against his and his mouth was only inches above mine. Worse, I could still taste him on my lips, smell his scent clinging to my body, and feel every flex of his muscles. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on anything except the near overwhelming urge I had to relinquish my control until we broke many of the long-standing ruins around us with our passion.
“Let me go, Ian.” The words were more than a request. They were practically a prayer.
My hands fell from his head as he broke the spell on me. At once, I was up and moving away, but he was faster.
“You know running from me won’t work. Besides, you owe me a date.”
That stunned me into stopping. “What?”
“A date,” he repeated, an impish smile curling his mouth. “A platonic one, though I can’t imagine how you got me to agree to that. Still, a promise is a promise, and you promised to let me show you a good time if we both survived.”
I stared at him. A new memory had almost split open his head, and he was talking about a date? “You can’t be serious.”
His eyes gleamed a richer shade of turquoise. “Never been more so. Still, if you’re not the type to honor your word—”
“I always honor my word,” I interrupted, then stopped when I caught a glimpse of Leah over Ian’s shoulder. She was doubled over with laughter. Trapped you again! she mouthed at me.
She was right, but Ian wouldn’t keep trapping me if I didn’t want to be caught. That was the simple, brutal truth.
And how could I leave him alone, anyway? He’d shown an absolute lack of interest in staying out of danger. Maybe agreeing to go on a date would get him to leave Greece, at least. Still, I couldn’t give in too easily. He’d smell a trap.
“Come on, Ian, I’m almost embarrassed for you,” I said. “You used to have thousands of people lining up to be with you. Now, you’re reduced to callin
g in an old promise for a date?”
He smirked as he came nearer. “That would be much more insulting if the scent of your desire wasn’t still covering me.”
“I kissed you to distract you,” I countered. “You just dropped from a memory before I could cast a spell on you.”
“Oh, you cast a spell on me, make no mistake.” All at once, his voice was a deep, sensual rasp. “One that’s more powerful because no magic was involved. I might not remember all of our time together, but I’m calling in your promise of a date because of what I do remember.”
I had to fight to keep my body from reacting to the new, rich timbre in his voice. He sounded that way in bed, and it made me feel dangerously weak.
“What do you remember?” I asked, my voice throatier than I intended it to be.
He leaned down, bringing his mouth next to my ear so that his words were a warm caress. “That’s for you to find out only if you accompany me on a date tonight.”
I should refuse. I should, but . . . again, I couldn’t trust him to stay out of trouble on his own. At least if I was with Ian, I could mitigate the amount of danger he could put himself in. If that didn’t work, I could always hit him on the head hard enough to knock him out, then imprison him in a suitably escape-proof dungeon. Vlad had one of those. I’m sure he’d save a space in it for Ian . . .
“One date,” I said.
His smile was a satin-lined trap closing around me. “You won’t regret it.”
I doubted that. I just didn’t know if I’d regret it sooner rather than later.
Chapter 10
Ian had already booked us on a flight to Paris. That’s how confident he’d been that I’d agree to this date. He hadn’t remembered to include Silver, but Ian mesmerized the flight attendant into adding Silver as my “emotional support” animal.
Then, he left me alone after checking the three of us into the Hotel Plaza Athenee. Our suite had two bedrooms, giving me privacy while ensuring that Ian and I were still under the same roof. He didn’t need such measures. I wasn’t going to sneak away. I’d decided on a new strategy for tonight.
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