Hidden Heart (16 page)

              “Oh. I didn’t think of that.”

              “At least stay until you feel better.” With a soft chuckle, he added, “We can even play Xbox if you want.”

              I shook my head. “No thanks. I’d rather just sit here.”

              Nox nodded, apparently satisfied, and lifted a remote from the side table. When he clicked a button, a fire roared to life in the fireplace. Another click and music drifted from hidden speakers at a low level, a lovely piano melody I didn’t recognize.

              “This is nice,” I said. “Who is it?” Not that I really knew my composers.

              “Oh, it’s mine,” he answered, sounding rather bashful.

              “You play piano, too?”

              “I’ve been re-learning. I learned as a kid—then I couldn’t play in Altum—no pianos there. When I came back to California, I picked it up again. It’s a great instrument for writing music.”

              I shook my head in wonder, beginning to relax as the beautiful melody drifted over and through me. Letting my face rest against his chest again, I stared at the beautiful fire. “Is there anything you can’t do?”

              “Sense people’s emotions,” he said. “It’s a great skill to have. Imagine if I could sense the feelings of an audience, and then tailor my playlist so we’re always playing the perfect song to fit the mood. Every show would be epic. And I’d
still
swear you’ve got powerful Sway. How did a wimpy quarter-Elf get two glamours, hmm?” He squeezed his arms around me playfully. “Tell me that.”

              I laughed. “Well, I’m reading your emotions right now, and I’ll tell you this—there’s no reason to be envious. I don’t even know how to use what I’ve got—
if
I’ve even
got
two glamours. They’re totally wasted on me.” I grinned against his chest, my mood lifting marginally.

              “No.” Nox kissed the top of my head. His voice was warm when he spoke again, his breath sinking into my hair. “Not wasted. They’re part of all the things that make you special.”

When he planted another kiss on my forehead, he let his lips linger a second, and a zing of excitement went through my belly at the heat and softness of them. For long minutes we stayed as we were, both staring at the fire, both silent. But his chest rose and fell in a faster rhythm now. Mine too.

Something was happening. Something that felt terrifying and yet sort of amazing, too.

I didn’t dare look at him. I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what might be there in his eyes. I wasn’t sure what he’d see in mine. Finally, Nox gave me no choice. He shifted back and angled toward me so I’d have to face him.

“You
are
special, Ryann. To me. Always have been.” He took a fractured breath and went on. “When you called to me today and told me you needed me, I was so afraid. I didn’t know where you were, what might be happening to you. I was going crazy. Then it occurred to me to call the bus driver, and I found out you were on your way back here. I was literally pacing the driveway waiting for you.” When I didn’t say anything, he continued, a new vulnerability in his eyes. “I tried to tell you this before, but you wouldn’t believe me…”

My heart thundered as I waited for his next words.

“I’m… in love with you.” His eyes widened, like he couldn’t quite believe what had come out of his own mouth, but then he swallowed hard and kept going. “When you asked me those times about my first love—it’s you. You’re the only one who really knows me, and I love you. I’m here for you. No matter what’s going on—whatever has happened—I’m
here
for you, and I’ll help you get through it. If you’ll let me.”

The unbelievable words, the exposed emotion in his voice, the impassioned look in his eyes yanked my heart out of the pit in my chest where it had been locked away since Lad’s rejection. I had taken a risk—let myself fall in love with Lad even though I’d seen from my parents’ example how badly it could turn out. And it had ended in pain. Lad was lost to me forever.

But Nox was here, offering me a second chance at love. Did I dare risk my heart again? No one else in the world felt this way about me. Certainly not Lad. And I didn’t want to be alone in the world. Mom was consumed with her new relationship. Dad would move on, too, eventually. Grandma had her family in Altum, and she’d have to leave us and join them permanently when her longevity reached the point of being suspicious.   

Nox stared at me with shining eyes, no doubt waiting for my reaction. Maybe for a return declaration. I wasn’t ready to give him one. How could I be? I’d said those same three words to Lad only a few weeks ago.

But I did care for Nox. And he certainly seemed to care for me. He heard me when I called. He was here for me. 

Very slowly, I inched toward him, lifting my chin and tilting my head in an unmistakable signal he was all-too-happy to receive. He gripped the back of my head with one hand as our mouths crashed together. He gave a pleasured groan, meeting the caresses of my tongue with his own. And then he took over, his mouth claiming mine with consuming, hungry kisses. He pulled me against him possessively, and I didn’t resist. I lifted my chest against his, needing the feel of his solid body against mine.

With a lusty growling sound, Nox gripped my hips and lifted me onto his lap so I faced him, my knees straddling his hips and pressing into the soft cushion behind him. His hands dragged up to my ribcage and slid around to my back as we kissed frantically.

I didn’t even have to try to read his emotions now—my response to his touch was driving Nox wild. He was fighting for control, and I was doing nothing to help things.

Lifting my hands, I held his face and kissed him back, matching his intensity stroke for stroke. My body melted into his, loving the way his skin felt under my hands, the way he made me feel small and delicate next to his vastly superior size and strength, the way he made me forget about my issues with Mom, Emmy, everything outside this room.

Sliding his hands lower, Nox pulled me tightly against his lap, and there was a moment I considered throwing all caution to the wind and letting it happen. Being close to him like this, being the recipient of his experienced touch was the best thing I’d felt in a long time.

I didn’t want to think about the future, and he certainly didn’t seem worried about the consequences of what we were doing. In fact, he pushed things further by breaking our kiss momentarily and stripping my tank top off in one swift move that left me slightly surprised and completely turned on.

Leaning back, he drank in the sight of me sitting astride his legs in only my bra and hiked-up skirt.

You are beautiful Ryann.

And then his lips were on my neck, and his hands were exploring all the new skin he’d uncovered. It felt incredible. But as his mouth worked its way down and his fingers moved upward, a fragment of common sense intruded.

Nox.
I silently messaged him and leaned back. He only leaned forward and followed me with his mouth, not breaking delicious contact with my skin. He was
not
listening.

“Nox. We have to stop.”

He lifted his head and our eyes met, his burning with unsatisfied desire, mine only barely more controlled, I’m sure.

“We
have
to,” I repeated.

He closed his eyes and breathed, his fingers still clenching my sides. Finally his eyes opened. “I know. You’re right.” He smiled at me, wearing a look of wonder.

I smiled back, suddenly feeling shy and very exposed. Reaching for the throw blanket, Nox wrapped it around my shoulders and covered my chest.

He gave me another soft kiss. “I’m glad to see that pretty smile again. Feeling better now?”

              I nodded, still amazed at what had transpired between us. “Yes.”

Studying his face, I allowed myself to believe I really did have the glamour-gift of emotional IQ. I actually tried, for the first time in my life, to read another person’s emotions. And they came to me with an unshakable sense of certainty. Patience. Concern. Still some barely leashed passion. And love. He really did love me. He did intend to stand beside me, no matter what came. He would do anything in his power to help me.

“Do you want to tell me what happened today?” he prompted.

To my surprise, I did. I couldn’t handle all the crazy changes happening in my life all alone. In the past I would’ve turned to Emmy. But she wasn’t here. Nox
was
here. Not only was he my friend, now I knew he loved me. I wasn’t yet entirely sure how I felt about him, but as I’d admitted in that desperate silent call this afternoon, I needed him.

“I called my mom today, and she admitted she is engaged. And she also told me…” I closed my eyes and took a breath. “She told me my dad’s not my biological father.”

“Oh. No wonder you were upset. Did she say who is?”

I rolled my lips inward, pressing them tightly against a new round of sobs I could feel rising in my chest. “Her new fiancé—Davis.”

“Wow.” He blinked. “That is—that is weird. So… has she been having an affair then? During your parents’ whole marriage?”

“No. She
says
no. She knew him when she was really young, in college. She was with him for a short time back then when my parents were broken up. But he was much older, and he was a senator running for re-election. He said he couldn’t acknowledge her publicly, and so she broke it off with him. She and my dad got back together, but she was already pregnant with Davis’s baby—with me.”

Nox’s body went rigid. “Did you say he’s a senator? Named Davis?”

“Yeah. Davis Hart. Why do you have that look on your face?”

He did look strange. His normally tan skin had gone pale, his eyes wide and dark. He lifted a hand and cupped my face, his eyes filled with pity. “Because now I understand. Ryann… Davis Hart is—”

The double doors to Nox’s suite crashed open. We both leapt to our feet, and his arms went around me in a strong protective grasp, covering my body from view.

Good thing, too. If he hadn’t been holding me up, I might have dropped to the floor when a beautiful platinum-haired Elven girl strode into the room.

Followed by Lad.

I could hardly believe my eyes. What were they doing here? Together? My heart simultaneously exploded with joy and crashed painfully to the soles of my feet. I’d never expected to see Lad again—anywhere—least of all here in Los Angeles.

In Nox’s bedroom.

              “Ryann?” he gasped, probably in disbelief himself at where he’d found me.

And in what condition. 

              I glanced down at myself, realizing what he saw. I had on a mini-skirt… and a bra. The tank top Nox had removed minutes earlier lay a few feet away on the floor where he’d tossed it. Wiggling from Nox’s hold, I grabbed the throw from where it had fallen onto the sofa and held it against my front.

              Nox stepped over, picked up my shirt, and tossed it back to me as he went to stand in front of Lad and his companion—Vancia, the daughter of the Dark Elf leader and Lad’s former (and once-again) fiancée.

She was completely silent and also appeared to be in shock, though her eyes were fixed on Nox instead of on me.

              “What’s going on?” Nox demanded of Lad. “Why are you here?”

The level of alarm in his tone surprised me—and then I got it. Only something of the greatest magnitude could have drawn Lad so far away from the center of the Light Elves kingdom, could have made him leave his people.

              Lad still looked a bit stunned. I wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find when he came through those doors—certainly not me sitting astride his adopted brother’s lap, partially undressed.

He glanced away from Nox’s face toward me, and those green eyes filled with pain. “I came looking for Ryann. Her grandmother said she would be here…” His gaze went back to Nox and turned murderous. “…with you. You were
supposed
to be keeping her safe.”

              Now Nox’s tone hardened, and his jaw jutted out. “She is safe. And she’s
happy.
If that’s all you needed to know, you can go on back to the woods now. We’re doing fine here,
as you can see
.”

              Lad’s hands clenched into fists as his eyes drifted over to me again. I’d slipped the shirt back on, but I still felt utterly exposed. He’d told me to forget about him and move on with my life, said I’d never see him again and there was no hope for us. He’d acted like he no longer cared.

              But standing in front of me now, Lad looked like he still cared very much. In fact, he looked like his heart had been ripped out and stomped flat in front of him. Mine on the other hand was detonating in a rapid succession of blasts like the grand finale of a fireworks show.

              Vancia had stayed silent, staring at Nox. When she finally spoke, her voice was choked with emotion. “We’ve… come with important news.” Her eyes slid to me and narrowed.” It concerns… the half-breed.”

             
Oof.
The term nearly knocked the breath out of me. It wasn’t just the inaccuracy—I was only a quarter Elven, not half—but the disdainful tone she’d used. Clearly she knew about my history with Lad. But she had nothing to worry about. He was hers now. They were engaged. I was no longer a threat.

              “What news?” Nox demanded.

              Lad answered. “Ryann needs to come home. Her mother is in danger.”

              “What? What’s going on?” I said.

              “Yes,” Nox agreed. “She’s already been informed, and I’ve just learned of it myself.”

              My gaze bounced between the two of them, so clearly in the know, and I felt pitifully ignorant. And scared. “What? What did you learn? Why is Mom in danger?”

              Vancia answered before Nox could, her eyes widening as if trying to impart some significance. “She’s about to marry
my father
.”

Lad finished her thought. “The leader of the Dark Elves.”

Now my legs did fail me. I half-sat, half-fell onto the sofa. “Your father?” I whispered. “Dark Elves? But she’s engaged to…”

And then it all made sense—the way my mom had been instantly smitten with Davis after seeing him in Atlanta. The likelihood that I possessed two different forms of inherited Elven glamour—emotional IQ and strong persuasion. I’d gotten them from
both
my parents—my mother, a half-Elf, and my father—Davis. A Dark Elf.

I wasn’t a quarter Elven. I was
three
quarters Elven. More Elf than human.

More Dark than Light.

“What’s the matter with her?” Vancia said, sounding aggravated. “She knows Elves exist, right? Why’s she acting like she’s seen a ghost?”

Lad stared at me in confusion. He wasn’t aware of my parentage yet. Nox looked at me with compassion because he did know the truth.

Nox turned to Vancia—my sister. “Because your father… is
her
father.”

She jerked and took a step back. “That’s impossible. My father said he could not marry and sire children—that’s why he adopted me when my parents died.”

“Adopted?” Lad asked, looking like he wasn’t quite sure where he was anymore. Apparently he didn’t know
everything
about his fiancée. And apparently she
wasn’t
my half-sister. I was strangely relieved—for someone who’d never actually met me, she seemed to
hate
me.

“Yes,” she answered, but she wasn’t looking at Lad. Her gaze returned to Nox and didn’t waiver. “My parents are dead. My biological father was the Dark Elven leader, but he and my mother died in a plane crash when I was twelve along with his second-in-command. Davis was third in line to the throne. He became the Dark King and took me in and raised me.”

“A plane crash…” Nox stared hard at Vancia as if seeing her for the first time. His voice was low and urgent. “Who were your parents?”

Tears filled her eyes as she answered. “They were well-known musicians, but you’d only have been a kid when they died—about twelve I think.
My best friend
and his parents died with them—or at least that’s what I was
told
.”

“Who
were
they?” Nox grabbed her arm, his voice ragged, his expression fierce.

Tears streamed down her face from eyes burning with recognition. “Calder and Eira.”

Nox staggered backward and collapsed, sitting on the floor with his knees bent and arms across them. I got up and ran over to him, squatting beside him and touching his hot skin. He was sweating all over.

“What did you do to him?” I glared up at Vancia without taking my arms from Nox’s shoulders. 

Her face was blank, the skin pale and growing paler all the time. “Pappa said Gavin and Sylvie Jerrik’s son died with them in the crash that killed my parents.” Her gaze turned to Nox, and she stared at him
as if
she
was the one seeing a ghost. Maybe in a way, she was. If their parents had worked together, had died together, she and Nox had probably met as children. In fact, it was clear they had.

Suddenly Vancia dropped beside us and threw herself across Nox’s body, wrapping her arms around him and weeping. “It
is
you. I knew it.”

He returned her embrace, pulling her close. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “I thought you were dead.”

She pulled back slightly and nodded, sniffling. “That’s what I believed about you. Pappa told me you were on the plane—he said you went down with them. How are you still alive?”

“My mother and I never got on the flight,” he said. “And you?”

“I spent that weekend with a friend. Afterward, Pappa—Davis—came to get me and told me what had happened. He said everyone had died instantly in the crash and took me to live with him in Atlanta.”

“It seems your Pappa has said a
lot
of things that aren’t exactly on the up-and-up,” I said, finally putting it together that Davis Hart and the leader of the Dark Elves were one and the same man—same Elf—as it turned out.

She glanced over at me as if just remembering I was there. “Are you saying he lied to me about what happened to my family then? Nox—what does your mother say about it?”

Nox spoke up now. “She’s dead, too. We went into hiding after the crash. She took me to Altum—I guess it was the safest place she could think of for me. She left me there with her sister and never came back. I was raised with Lad’s parents as his foster brother. How…” He shook his head, his eyes filling with wonder. “How did you find me?”

“I visited L.A. a few months ago—Pappa sent me here to have a portfolio done so I could begin modeling. I was at a nightclub and saw a poster for your band. But I didn’t really believe it was you. It couldn’t be you.”

“Because you thought I was dead.”

“Yes. And your last name was different. And you
looked
so different in the picture—I mean, kind of the same, but you’re so…” Her voice trailed off in a whisper of wonder.

He nodded, understanding her unspoken words. “I know. You, too.”

They looked at each other now like two children seeing Disneyworld for the first time. Lad watched them, his face unreadable. What could he be thinking now, witnessing the intimate reunion scene? Seeing his fiancée so overjoyed about another guy? Did he
know
she’d been searching for Nox?

Finally, he spoke up. His voice was soft, his expression filled with sympathy as he touched her shoulder. “Vancia, why do you think your father lied to you about Nox and his mother being on the plane?”

“Maybe…” She looked up at him wearing a stricken expression. “Maybe he believed it. He said he’d thought
I
was on the plane until later when my friend’s parents called, wondering what to do with me.”

“Or maybe he knew all along and he lied so you’d go with him peacefully,” Nox suggested. “He’s reported to have the strongest Sway of all our people. Maybe there was more to the
accident
than either of us were told.”

Vancia looked like she might vomit. “I’ve always known he would do almost anything to get what he wanted. But this…” She shook her head, staring off into the distance before training her eyes on Nox again. “So then, you don’t think our parents’ deaths really were accidental. You think… you think my father is a murderer.”

“No,” I said, watching the room spin crazily around me. “
Your
father was a talented and beloved singer-songwriter.
My
father is the murderer.”