Black On Black (Quentin Black Mystery #3) (39 page)

When Black gave him a scathing look, my uncle aimed his stare back at me.

“He did nothing,
ilya.
He looks worried right now because a few of my seers managed to evoke a reaction out of him while he slept––a perfectly understandable response, and one he would have had to be dead not to have, particularly under the circumstances. And yes, as you already pointed out, I also forced him into several sexual encounters against his will. Truthfully, I did that more as a psychological test than one of fidelity. In terms of where he was actually
able
to consent, he did nothing. Not so much as a single oral pleasuring would he accept...
 
not willingly, at least.”

I grimaced, feeling sick, but if my uncle noticed, he didn’t pause.

“...I even made him offers while he was cut off from your light, Miri. Seer and human. Male and female, since I was unsure of his specific preferences. ‘Consequence-free’ so to speak. He didn’t take the bait. Of course, it’s possible he knew
why
I offered it, but in multiple scans, that didn’t always appear to be the case. It turns out he’s quite used to random humans approaching him for sex, but he still said no, even when my people were nowhere to be seen. He does seem to be quite focused on you, my dear...
 
and not only because you are, for all intents and purposes, a female seer. His first, I believe.”

Giving Black another assessing glance, he exhaled, then looked back at me.

“...Oh, and he still hasn’t had intercourse with a female seer, as far as I know. I didn’t take that away from either of you...”

I felt my face heat in anger, but I clenched my jaw.

Uncle Charles focused more intently on the space above Black’s head.

“...Of course, he and I both know the
real
reason he likely managed to keep it in his pants. And yes, I do understand that we now live in a modern, human world, so he might not
deign
to ask someone like me prior to doing such a heavy-handed thing. But he might have asked
you
at least, Miriam...”

I frowned, looking between the two of them.

Again, I felt a flush of nerves off Black.

“Miri,” he said, soft. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I swear, I didn’t––”

“He might be telling the truth about that, too,” Uncle Charles broke in grudgingly. “But I still want to kick the living shit out of the little bastard for doing it anyway.”

I looked at Black, then up at my uncle. “Is someone going to explain to me what the hell you’re both talking about?”

Uncle Charles gave me a humorless smile, then looked at Black. “Well, pup? Do you want to tell my niece what it is you’ve done to her?”

Anger expanded out of Black in a cloud. “I’m not about to have a personal fucking conversation with her about that in front of you...
 
so no.”

“I see. So it’s fine to do it. Just not to tell her about it?”

I looked between them, feeling Black’s hands tighten on me more.

I was still trying to understand what I could feel off either of them when Black released my arm, sliding his hand down my leg. Still leaning his head against my side, he began rubbing my calf, tugging the cuff of my pants up gently as he did. Realizing what he was doing, I felt a slight shiver of alarm, but reassurance left his fingers in a warm pulse, a more lingering calm.

He wasn’t going to hurt my uncle.

He promised he wasn’t going to hurt my uncle.

I relaxed my guard, somewhat at least. At the same time, I wondered why I cared.

“I fully intend to talk to her about it,” Black said, still caressing my leg. “But not here. Not like this. It’s a longer conversation than you’re allowing it to be right now...
 
and a considerably more delicate one. Do you truly not comprehend that, brother?”

“You mean you wanted to fuck her first?”

I winced openly at my uncle’s words.

I felt Black flinch, too. I didn’t move away from him though, or from where his fingers were tugging at the hilt of the knife in my boot.

“...You wanted to make sure there was no going back before you dumped on her what you’d done?” my uncle finished coldly. “Is that it...
 
brother?”

When Black didn’t answer, I just stood there, stroking Black’s hair where he leaned against me. The green-eyed seer returned my stare flatly.

“He’s bonded with you, my dear,” he said.

“Shut the fuck up––” Black began angrily.

“––He’s begun the process of taking you as a mate,” my uncle continued, ignoring Black as he looked only at me. “That’s why you’ve been so off-balance during this separation from him. That’s why you’ve been so immersed in his light. That’s why you’ve been witnessing his memories and thoughts, what he is experiencing...
 
his feelings. That’s why you’ve been so possessive of him...
 
and so protective of him, too.”

My uncle’s voice grew a few notches colder.

“...He’s
claimed
you, my dear.”

Black’s fingers tightened on me, even as worry left his touch.

“...If you have sex with him at this point,” my uncle continued. “If you complete the process that he’s begun...
 
you may end up mated to him for life.”

Black’s mind rose, along with that denser fear.

I fully intended to talk to you, Miri...
 
he sent softly.
I intended to talk to you, I swear to the gods I did. There was no time in San Francisco, so I just avoided sex with you until I got back and I could explain. The whole thing was a fucking accident. I didn’t even realize what happened until we got back from Bangkok. I never would have let it go far enough to––

“––Of course,” my uncle added caustically. “None of us, your
boyfriend
included, has any idea how such a thing will play out for a seer with human blood. Or even two seers living in this world, since I am unaware of any pairings where this has occurred as of yet. It is quite possible that it will not obligate you to him in the same way. Of course, it is
equally
possible that it will be just as binding for you as it would be for any other seer female. That carries a number of consequences I’m not sure you would have signed up for, Miriam, had you been given all the facts beforehand...”

Black remained silent, but I felt fury seething off him.

Uncle Charles gave him another murderous stare.

“...Either way, it’s going to be difficult for you to say no to him now, child. He’s got a hold on you now...
 
much more of one than you probably realize. It is one of the dangers of our kind, that we are so vulnerable to those with whom we connect via our light.”

He raised his green eyes from Black’s face, focusing directly on mine.

“However, it is not too late for you to reverse that process, Miri. If you ask it of me, I can break this preliminary bond you have with him. It won’t be easy, but it can be done. It can
only
be done since the two of you have not yet consummated...”

I opened my mouth to speak, but he raised a finger, cutting me off.

“...Once you have intercourse with him,” he said, his voice an open warning. “Once you complete that bond...
 
there is likely nothing
anyone
can do to change it. Not if you respond like a full-blooded seer. You will be forced to negotiate that bond with him yourself if that happens...
 
something you will most probably be doing with him until one or both of you is dead.”

His words hit me that time, like a punch in the gut.

Somehow I knew he didn’t in any way mean them figuratively.

He meant them pretty much word for word exactly as he’d said.

Seventeen

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

WE TALKED MORE after that. Argued mostly.

Words were exchanged, a lot of them heated.

I didn’t ask him much about my parents.

I did tell him there was no way in hell that he or any of his religious cult weirdos were doing anything at all to my “light,” regardless of what he claimed Black had done to me. I told him Black and I would work that end of things out on our own.

That’s when most of the arguments started, truthfully.

Moreover, I felt something in my uncle’s attitude towards me shift after I said that. I felt some part of him tangibly close to me at the same time. Not “you’re dead to me” close, but he definitely took a few mental steps back when I wouldn’t budge on the Black thing.

In the end, there wasn’t enough time to talk about everything we probably should have talked about––not for the amount of mental power I had left. My brain was finished for the night, and Black’s seemed to be too. I honestly couldn’t tell with my uncle, but at some point, he seemed to recognize that we couldn’t hear any more.

Once Black’s wounds were fully cleaned and stitched up, Uncle Charles told us there was no point in us going any further with these talks for now.

I was relieved truthfully.

I wanted answers...
 
I did.

I just was no longer sure I wanted them primarily from him.

I knew there were questions only he could answer, but before I got to those, I had other things I needed answered first, and I wanted those answers from Black, not from my estranged Uncle Charlie, otherwise known as Lucky Lucifer. I knew Black wouldn’t talk freely until we were alone––truthfully, I wasn’t sure he would talk freely even then––but I needed to start there, with Black himself.

My uncle made one thing abundantly clear to both of us before we left.

We weren’t shut of him.

Nor, in his view, would we ever be.

“You’ll keep her safe, little brother,” he’d said to Black.

It sounded less like a request than a threat.

Before either Black or I could answer, my uncle held up a hand, as if to preempt any protests from either of us.

“...You’re her bodyguard now.” His expression darkened as he looked between us. “Whatever else you might be to one another in addition to to that, I want your role in regard to her physical safety to be crystal clear, brother Quentin. Fail in that role, and you’ll be replaced. I doubt you would like that very much...
 
especially under the circumstances.”

I folded my arms, giving Uncle Charlie a disbelieving look. He scarcely bothered to meet my gaze. When I opened my mouth to respond, he once again cut me off.

“...I doubt you’ll have much choice but to keep her alive anyway,” he muttered, that anger seething off him as he glared at Black. “You both seem to have made up your mind regarding that, so I recognize this is likely a moot point. But be aware I’ll be watching you, brother, and your performance on that front won’t be graded on a curve.”

As he spoke, his eyes shifted to the right.

I followed his gaze to where Ian was being led across the courtyard.

We’d left the Richelieu a few minutes earlier, and now Black, Uncle Charles, his four seer employees and I stood at the edge of the circular drive at the front of the Louvre. In another unmentioned display of control over one of Paris’ most carefully guarded sanctuaries, they’d opened the gates of the complex to the main road.

Two white vans now sat parked at the curb.

I wasn’t looking at those, though. Instead I followed Black and Uncle Charles’ stares to where a procession approached from the Denon side of the courtyard.