Fate Forgotten (35 page)

“How much is his debt?”

“Jeremiah, you can’t—”

He could. He would. “How much, Mr. DeLeon, does your brother owe his creditors?”

Ryam hesitated, glancing between them. Adam silently removed a stylus from his jacket pocket and presented him with the pad to write down the figure. He glanced again at Eve before making the note and passing it back to him. Adam glanced at it and deleted it. The sum was ungodly. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to say it out loud.

“Perhaps there’s another agreement we could come to?” he suggested.

You can’t, Adam. What will he learn if you bail him out? And you don’t even care for the DeLeon line!

Would you prefer to lose the estate? To have your family lose the lands you settled and nurtured because of one foolish man?

“What kind of agreement did you have in mind,
Monsieur
Carraig?”

She swore again and turned to stare at them. “You can’t be serious.”

Perfectly serious.
“A loan for the figure named, with which you may buy your brother out and keep the estate shared between yourself and Mr. Luc DeLeon. Or, if your other brother cannot be made to see reason, twice that amount to buy out both of them, with your word as a DeLeon that you’ll do everything in your power to prevent something like this happening again in the future.”

Ryam’s eyes widened and he glanced from Eve to Adam again. “
Monsieur,
it is not that I do not appreciate the offer, but I do not understand why you would make it.”

“Out of love for your Lady and respect for her family.” He didn’t look away from the man’s face. “Are we agreed?”

“Adam!”

He glanced at Eve then, biting his tongue on a curse. The way her face paled and her eyes darted to Ryam made him think the slip was accidental. Or else she had grown into a very accomplished liar in the years they had been apart. He was beginning to believe it was the latter. “Pardon?”

But Ryam had leapt to his feet, his eyes narrowed. “I knew it! There was something too familiar about you, too smooth.
Grand-oncle
. You are Ethan, are you not? Her brother, Adam?”

“Ryam, sit down.” Eve sighed when he didn’t follow her instruction at once. “Sit down!” she repeated. “I don’t know what your grandfather told you, or your great-grandfather, or what that wretched journal insists upon, but this is hardly the point.”

“But why are you in his company?”

She could look quite intimidating when she wanted to, Adam reflected, and the withering look she bestowed on her descendant made him glad he hadn’t earned the same for himself.

“If you must know, he informed me of this disgraceful sale of the family estate and offered to help by arranging my travel so that I could talk some sense into you. Though apparently it’s your brother who seems to be lacking it.”

“But—”

“My identity aside, Mr. DeLeon, my offer still stands.”

He wondered if this was what Eve had intended, by letting his name slip. He could see the play of emotions in Ryam’s face, even in his thoughts. Accepting help from him of all people was anathema to a DeLeon, but to not accept meant too large a loss. Adam suspected Ryam wanted less to disappoint Eve than he desired to stand on family principles he had never fully understood.

“You swear this is no trick? No means by which you intend to manipulate us?” Ryam asked.

“You have my word. Eve can tell you I’m not lying, though she worries that by helping you this way none of you boys will learn from your mistakes.” He offered a small smile. And it didn’t escape Ryam’s notice that a man half his age had just called him a child. “But I believe it humbles you too greatly to accept, especially from me, to allow yourself to forget what brought you to this point. I don’t believe you’ll let it happen again.”

Ryam grimaced. “
C’est vrai.
”

“Then we have a deal.”

He sighed and extended his hand. “God help me, but yes.”

Adam clasped hands with him. Neither one of them smiled. Eve shook her head and turned away, back to the window.

You should be proud of them that they kept it intact for this long, Eve. How many hundreds of years? Or has it been thousands?

A long time. And I’m sure it hurts his pride more to accept this loan from you than any other punishment I could have devised, though this is hardly Ryam’s fault. René was smart not to come. I would have had his head.

“I’ll draw up the paperwork tonight and have it sent to you in the morning.”

Ryam nodded. “
Merci, monsieur.
” He glanced at Eve, and his expression faltered. “
Madame,
if you wish to stay with us, we would be honored.”

“Not this time, I think, Ryam. But perhaps we can arrange something in the future. My name is Renata DeLuca in this life, if you wish to look for me, but I’m afraid I don’t have the means to travel from Canada often, if at all.”

He crossed to her, catching her hand and bowing over it again. “You have only to call upon us, my Lady.”

She kissed his cheek. “You have your great-grandfather’s smile, Ryam, and my first husband’s eyes. Take care of the family.”

“
Oui, madame.
” He cast one last uneasy look at Adam, and then left. Adam hoped he would go to his brother Luc and talk him into buying out René, but in the end it would cost him nothing. Asgardian gold never diminished and it was fitting that Thor’s funds would go to this. Though he would have given his right arm to know what had happened to their own treasury.

Eve was still frowning, and he moved to her side, taking her hand as Ryam had done, and raising it to his lips. “How is it that you ever tolerated the title of Lady from your Lions?”

“I can’t stand it,” she admitted, then smiled. “I had to choose my battles with them, I suppose. I didn’t argue with them when they referred to me that way in exchange for not allowing them to spoil Alexandre rotten.”

“They only want to honor you.”

“You didn’t have to do this, Adam. To help them. They’ve done little to deserve your kindness.”

He shook his head. “It isn’t for them, Eve. I think they know that too.”

She leaned against him, and he wrapped his arms around her. These moments were too short, and none of it would last. Soon she would be back home, and he knew she wouldn’t let him come with her, regardless of what liberties she allowed him now. Stolen kisses and intimacies were all he would have for the rest of this lifetime and he meant to take advantage of what time they had.

“We should have dinner.”

“We should have wine.”

He chuckled and kissed the pulse of her throat. “Can you only tolerate my touch when you’re drunk?”

She didn’t respond, exactly, but turned in his arms and pulled his head down to hers to kiss him. It would’ve been so easy to fall into the sweetness of her mouth, to abandon himself to her touch, but the idea of begging her for this all over again didn’t appeal to him at all, nor did the tears he knew she would shed, and the pain he knew it would cause. He disentangled himself and set her away.

“Wine, then, for you,” he said.

She pulled open the door to the balcony and stepped outside, and he left her to get the wine she seemed so intent on. He wasn’t sure what to make of her mood, or the thoughts that kept flitting through her mind. He poured her a glass, and joined her on the balcony. She was leaning against the railing, looking out at the mountains.

“Eve?”

She blushed and he wondered what she was thinking to cause such a reaction. She took the glass from his hand and drank from it, not dropping her eyes from the view. “I always liked the mountains here.”

“I would’ve thought you’d prefer forest and richer, more fertile lands.”

“Because of the Garden?”

“It was where you were made. Where you’re from.”

She shook her head. “The Garden was never mine, Adam. It was full of bitter memories, more than anything, for me. My happiest days were the ones I spent alone with Reu in our cave with the lions.”

He grimaced and took the wine from her hand, stealing a sip of it for himself. If she was going to reminisce over Reu, he would need more than wine to get him through the night without his mood becoming foul. “That was a long time ago.”

“I’ve been dreaming about it. The Garden. When it burned. All of it.”

“I wonder why?”

She sighed and turned her back to the mountains and the view. “I just want to be here, with you, and leave the past where it belongs.”
I want to sleep in your bed tonight, Adam, in your arms. Or is that too much to ask of you?

It’s where I’ve wanted you for years.
Her eyes were sad though, haunted. For all her talk about leaving the past behind, she carried it with her still. He caressed her cheek and kissed her forehead.
I only wish I could keep you.

The pillowcase was damp. Adam’s mind registered it only groggily, until he heard Eve sob.

“No, please, no.” It was so quiet, half mumbled, but it brought him fully awake. Eve was curled into the smallest ball possible in the bed next to him, tears streaking her cheeks.

“Shh, Evey.” He wiped the tears away with his thumb, sitting up. She didn’t seem to hear him, because she didn’t stir, except for another begging sob from whatever dream she was caught within. He shook her gently by the shoulder. “Eve, love, wake up.”

She jerked away from him in the dark and then she gasped, her eyes wide.

“It was just a dream, Eve.” He tucked her hair behind her ear and pulled her against him. “Just a dream, whatever it was.”

She shuddered and let herself be held. Her tears burned against his chest. “Not just a dream.”

“Memory then?”

“I can’t.” She pulled away, throwing the sheet from her body and drawing her knees to her chest, burying her face in her arms. “Oh, what am I doing? What am I doing?”

He reached for the light. They’d fallen asleep together, the most restful sleep he’d ever had, but to wake up this way was an agony. He rubbed his face, trying to gather his wits enough to follow what was in her mind.
What’s wrong, Eve?

She rocked back and forth on her tailbone, not lifting her face. Her breathing was ragged and broken by sobbing.
I can’t Adam. I can’t. He’ll come. He’ll kill us both. He’ll kill us both, and I don’t want to die. He promised. He promised he’d stop at nothing.

Who, Evey?
He tried to touch her but somehow he couldn’t reach, as though a weight held him in place, a pressure. His mind felt thick and sluggish, but there was something familiar about it. Something—the realization was like a blow. She was manipulating him, preventing him from touching her, holding him away. She was that strong?
Eve, you’re safe. You’re safe here.

No. No, I’m not safe anywhere. He’ll find us, Adam. He’ll find us no matter where we go. And the baby. The poor baby.
She looked up and her eyes were red and full of tears.
He’ll kill us.

There’s no baby, Eve. You’re safe. I won’t let him hurt you.
He was beginning to understand what had upset her. Who she was talking about. It could only be Michael, really. Or God.
You’ve done nothing wrong, Eve.

When she released him, he almost fell into her. She hid her face in her arms again, and her whole body shook with her sobs.
But I want to.

He reached for her again, pulling her against him and stroking her hair. “It doesn’t matter, Eve. He can’t hurt us anymore. He can’t hurt you.”

How do you know?

“The sword is destroyed. He doesn’t have it anymore. He can’t harm you, or any baby.” He thought she began to calm, or at least her sobs were quieting. “God destroyed it.”

He promised me, Adam. After the Garden. After they caught you. He promised me that if I ever let you touch me, he’d kill me and all my kin. Reu’s children. He’d make me watch them die, first. He’d do anything to prevent our child being born. He made me swear never to allow it. And then after Alexandre was born, at the hospital, he came again. He threatened my son, my family.

“Was that your dream?”

Yes.

He cursed God, silently. It wasn’t fair to do this to her, to put all this on her shoulders. How long had she lived with this threat on her head? No wonder she had been so upset to see him all those years ago, envisioning her own death with his presence.

It doesn’t matter now, Eve. He doesn’t have the power anymore. You’re safe, I promise you. And even if he comes
—when he comes. But he wouldn’t tell her that. She didn’t need to be afraid anymore.
Even if he comes, I’ll protect you. I won’t let him do anything to hurt you.

“I should go,” she said.

“In the middle of the night? Eve, it was just a dream.”
Stay with me. Come back to sleep. Even if this is the only night we have.

She looked up at him, and he could tell she wanted to stay. But that impulse was what terrified her most. “This was all a mistake, staying here with you.”

“Love isn’t a mistake, Evey. This is what we were made for. You especially.”