Cassandra's Dilemma (19 page)

“No, a moment, please.” The rough note in his voice hushed hers, but she disentangled herself, sliding away, hugging the sheet to her.

She wanted to examine her reaction, but it didn’t seem important in the immediacy of the situation. Jacob’s hands tightened, resisting her escape briefly, but released when Cassie continued to pull away.

The bed dipped. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla competed with the sandalwood and cloves. Careful of her hands, Cassie resisted the urge to reach out to either of them. Maybe if she could keep her hands to herself, her hormones would unscramble.

“We should move on soon. We have less than five days now,” Helcyon said into the silence. “And you need a new door.”

Cassie frowned, biting her lip. Helcyon had been locked out. She ran a hand over her face, certain it must be bright red. She couldn’t imagine her hair. It had been wet when she and Jacob fell onto the bed in a tangle of naked flesh. She didn’t even know how much time had passed.

“The Feth Felen cannot track her here. The house is warded—even if it could, we have water on three sides and a gate at the front.” Jacob’s tone radiated confidence.

“They cannot cross water?” Cassie asked.

“Water slows them down, it takes more energy and more effort, and they make a hell of a lot more noise.” Jacob’s hand slipped lightly over her wrist.

“He used iron in his construction, shavings of iron are in the plaster, and he’s salted the foundation. Magic would have a very hard time penetrating the defenses. But it can be done. It’s why you have no door now.” Helcyon took a position on the bed next to her, and his hand moved along her back to rest against her shoulder.

“Dammit, Elf. You’re playing with fire!” Jacob snapped.

The world spun when they both came into contact with her.

Chapter Twelve

Cool ocean breezes washed over her. Cassie’s mouth pulled into a wide smile as she looked up at the Milky Way spread out like diamonds scattered on black velvet. It should be a sight drunk in every night. It made her feel a part of the universe, but city lights blotted it out, overwhelming this image—this sense of connection—until everyone walked alone in a personal bubble of pain, convictions, and commitments.

“Wow.”

Unease rippled through her stomach. If she closed her eyes, she could feel their hands on her bare flesh. She could feel the ripples of goose bumps as they raced across her.

Jacob folded against her left side, his body long, hard, and hot where it pressed against her. Helcyon flanked her right, his hand smoothing over the flesh of her shoulder, stroking with wild gentleness that left her breathless.

Jacob was the solid rock. Helcyon was the tireless wind.

Carefully, her eyes slanted open. The scene remained unchanged. The water beat against the shore in front of her, and overhead the stars glittered.

“You overstep, Elf.” Jacob’s growl jerked her back to her companions.

Helcyon waved airily at Jacob. “It will be easier if she can see. She can see when we are connected.”

“Stop arguing for five minutes.” The air tasted briny with a hint of honeysuckle. The plants must line the cliffs at the far side of the beach. The breeze tickled their perfume, releasing it into the night air. She couldn’t get past how this was possible. She could still
feel
their hands on her, but they weren’t even standing next to her.

A fast glance down revealed that she was sheathed in some kind of silky cotton dress. It skimmed the tops of her thighs and wrapped around her neck. Relief thumped through her heart followed quickly by wonder.

“It’s beautiful.”

“It’s you,” Jacob said simply. He stood to her right, his hands tucked into his pockets. His white dress shirt was open below his throat. His bare feet in the sand contrasted with the charcoal-gray suit pants. His ruddy brown hair ruffled in the wind while a growth of stubble kissed his face. Jacob Book was prim and primal, proper and Prospero, a dark angel come to life.

“I can taste your desire, and while I admire the thought, it would make me feel better if we could focus more on the issues at hand.” Helcyon stood a few feet to her left. His dark hair, freed from the ponytail, rippled in the breeze. He skipped a shirt altogether. His chest, chiseled from fine teak, was etched with thin white scars crisscrossing across his abdomen. The swirling tattoo on his left shoulder seemed to move in a slow, circular motion.

Her stomach tightened as his muscles contracted and released. The bloodred leggings did little to hide his lithe physique.

“Wow. This is like some kind of cosmic
Let’s Make a Deal
with a sexual fantasy come true behind door number two and crazy magical bombings behind door number one.”

“Hardly.” Jacob’s smile, although tender, touched on the edge of bitterness. He strolled forward, the breeze teasing his hair as he circled around her. “And as much as I would like to play with the idea, the Elf is right. It will be easier to explain this here.”

“Where is
here
?” Had there ever been such magnificent sights as the two of them? Only a few hours spent robbed of her ability to see, and Cassie was desperate to drink in their images. It was hard to keep her eyes on just one of them. Jacob continued to circle her, and Helcyon moved like a piece of sand grass, swaying in the breeze.

“Here
is
you. That water out there, it’s where we went the first time you connected us. Remember?” Jacob paused, his eyes boring into hers. Cassie felt the tingling in her middle radiate out.

“Yes. I thought I was drowning.”

“This is inside you—this place, the knowledge of this place. We all have a safe place, a place we can escape to—we create it within ourselves, and no one and nothing can come into that place unless we bring it.” Jacob’s words wrapped around her like a warm blanket. “Wizards call it sanctuary. Fae call it refuge. Either way, it means the same thing. It’s a mental landscape, a living dream, that is only accessible by the person who creates it.”

“I don’t understand this, any of this. How could I bring you here? How could I create such a place?” Cassie chewed her lower lip.
Why this place, this stretch of beach with the beautiful starry sky above?

The water called to her. She’d always found solace in watching the waves. It was why she built her home in San Diego.

“It means you trust us.” Helcyon drifted toward her, fluttering a blanket out of nothingness to lay it on the sand at her feet.

Cassie stepped forward and sank down on it. The ocean waves pulsed against the sand, the tidal breezes blew, and the scent of honeysuckle wafted over her. The perfection of the moment dazzled her.

“It would seem that you
trust
both of us. You brought us both. You did not bring us individually here, but together.”

“That has all kinds of naughty implications,” Cassie mused out loud, not entirely comfortable with the concept. Seriously, she needed to get a grip. It was like her mind was shorting out on the information and emotional overload and misfiring in inappropriate directions.

“It’s not the sexual connotations you need to worry about.” Jacob slowed his pacing to study her. “Nothing can happen here that you don’t want to happen. But neither are we subject to your will.”

“Before, you said I had to let you out. That you couldn’t leave on your own.” The day’s events were blurring, running together and over each other in her mind. The harder she tried to grasp to those realities, the faster they slipped away.

Were they really just in a dream together? Were their bodies actually still sitting in that unfamiliar bedroom, connected by touch, silent and wooden?

“Yes, but that was when you brought us here, intent on escaping. You didn’t bring us here this time.” Jacob’s explanation offered cold comfort.

“No?”

“No.” Helcyon sat on the corner of the blanket. “I did it—well, to be perfectly accurate, the Wizard facilitated it. I can move between worlds. Having come once, I could come again. But because you brought both of us the first time, it takes both of us to come again, working together, because you allowed
us
here before.”

“So if I allow something here, it can come back?”
Okay, that goes in the seriously creepy column.

“Not exactly.” Jacob smiled faintly and settled on the opposite corner from Helcyon. He sat cross-legged, arms resting loosely on his knees. “Cassie—it could take a while to explain this. I want you to understand it, and we will
both
explain it to you another time. But for now, with so much nipping at our heels, I need you to just accept that this realm—this plan—this place—this is yours. Your mind, your heart, your soul, and nothing you don’t want here can come in.”

“I can try, but you’re telling me I created some magical place, and I brought you both here the first time, and because you’re in my heart, my mind, and my soul—you can now come back. That’s not the stuff of comfort.” The petulant note in her voice grated on Cassie’s nerves, but she tried to ignore it. She pressed her hands to her face, rubbing her eyes. Blinking, she pulled her hands away and looked at them. They were normal. No scrapes, no scratches, no deep grooves or burns.

She touched her middle finger to the edge of her left eye and then traced it. The eyelashes tickled. She closed them, cutting off the sight of her finger, before opening them again.

“I can see.”

“Calmly,” Jacob said softly, reaching over to capture one hand while Helcyon took the other. Strength flowed through both of them, calm, soothing strength. It buffeted her against the wild panic suddenly clawing up her throat.

“That’s why we came here.” Jacob squeezed her fingers. “It will be easier to explain things to you if you have all your senses. While your blindness will pass, it only affects your physical body—not your emotional or spiritual forms. Here, in your world, you can see the Elf and you can see me.”

“And me? Where am I really? Am I physically here, too?”

“No.” Helcyon gave her a long, measuring look. “Our bodies remain in Jacob’s home.”

“Okay.” She was going to be sick. She gripped their hands tightly, nails digging into their flesh. “Why is it hard to breathe all of a sudden?”

“You’re afraid, Cassandra.” Helcyon covered her hand so that it was cradled in both of his. “You don’t have to be afraid. We
will
protect you.”

“
We
will,” Jacob agreed, and without the bitter lines that typically crept into his eyes when he referred to Helcyon. “Deep breaths. Come on. Calm down. You don’t have to be afraid.”

“You don’t have to be afraid.” They each repeated it, like a mantra. Jacob’s thumb stroked the back of her hand while Helcyon held her left hand folded snuggly between his palms, and their ministrations were soothing and arousing by turns.

The trembling ceased, the bile in her stomach relaxed, and the burning in her throat vanished. Cassie took a deeper, cleansing breath before slowly exhaling. Had it just been a couple of days?

A couple of days since she was going through her appointments at lightning speed to clear her calendar?

A couple of days since normal had meant coffee and lunch meetings, not magic and assassins?

A couple of days since normal hadn’t included two men who turned her insides to mush?

It wasn’t the magic that was making her crazy, and if she were to be completely honest, it wasn’t the assassins or bombs, either. It was the uncontrollable surges of lust and dependence that swamped her when she was around Jacob and Helcyon.

She barely knew Helcyon, despite several months’ acquaintance in and around the negotiations, and she didn’t know Jacob at all. She could barely comprehend the excitement that rolled through her whenever their gazes touched on hers. Much less when their bodies did. She’d only managed to taste Helcyon, not feel his cock slide inside her, stretching her as Jacob’s had.