Malice (22 page)

“Oh no, Tristan,” I moaned. I got to my feet so I could cross the room and drop down on the couch next to him. There was a large bump on his forehead with an enormous gash through it. “I really clobbered you.”

“Yeah,” he said with a small laugh. “You did.”

“I can’t believe I did that,” I moaned.

He shrugged. “I couldn’t really believe it either.”

“I wish I could call Finola. She could whip up a healing potion in no time. Or knowing her, she probably has one ready to go.”

“We can’t call Fin. But don’t worry. It’s fine.”

As I stared at the gory gash, my stomach churned. It looked like it hurt. I couldn’t believe
I’d
done that. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered.

“It’s okay. I promise. I barely felt it. I mean, I barely felt it at the time. I was too worried about you jumping in the ocean to notice. Now it’s kind of throbbing.”

“I didn’t think you’d jump in after me.”

“Of course I was going to jump in after you,” he said, sounding offended. “Those people were after you!”

I sat up straighter as I leaned away from him. I’d
almost
put them out of my mind.

“Who do you think they were?” I asked.

“They’ve got to be with Levi, working for him or something. Bree was right. You are in danger.”

“Why would they come after me? It’s Magnolia that they want.”

“My guess is that they think you’ll be able to lead them to your sister.”

Right. Of course. I should’ve thought of that.

“What are we going to do about them?” I asked.

“I think we’re okay for now. I don’t think they followed us. If the sand didn’t put them out of commission, it at least slowed them down. The wall of fire should’ve stayed up for awhile. Just in case, I put a protective ward around the house.” I nodded as I realized that’s what he’d been doing as he stood in the doorway. “If they try to get in, I’ll know. I’ll just stop them again.”

He said it as if it was a simple fact.

I was surprised to find myself smiling.

“Okay, if we don’t have to worry about them, let me worry about you. Let me at least wash up your head.” I got up from the couch and found the bathroom. A quick foray through the cupboard under the sink provided me with a few first aid items. “Come on,” I said to Tristan. I motioned toward the kitchen with its bright, fluorescent lighting.

He followed me and obediently sat on the kitchen chair I pointed to. I quickly washed away the remaining blood. Once it was gone, the injury didn’t look nearly as bad as I’d originally thought. The bump, however, was bad enough to make my stomach twist around.

“I should get some ice for that,” I said quietly.

Tristan’s hands flew to my waist, holding me in place. Until that moment, I’d been so intent on taking care of his wound that I’d managed to ignore our proximity. Now, it was impossible. He was seated directly in front of me. He had pulled me in so that our knees pressed together, him sitting, me still standing. His fingers curled into my waist, sliding up the sides of my tee shirt. His thumbs brushed against my bare skin.

“Do you hate me?” His voice was low and his eyes scoured my face. “Now that you know? Do you?”

“Hate you?” I shook my head. “If you have to ask that, then
you
don’t know
me
at all. I thought I made it perfectly clear how I feel about you.”

“Still?”

I nodded slowly as I looked him over. Despite everything that had been said tonight, he was still the same Tristan I’d always known. He was still the same Tristan that I loved. The worried look on his face melted away. He closed his eyes and sighed in relief. When he opened them again, he tugged at my hips. I had nowhere to go but his lap, which, I realized, seemed to be exactly where he wanted me. I sat facing him. My legs loosely draped on each side of him with the tips of my toes pressing onto the floor. My hands slid to his shoulders. I felt as though I were balancing precariously. Every movement I made caused my body to sway against his.

Seated like this, his face was only inches away from mine. His thighs felt hard beneath me. I found myself distractedly wondering what else my best friend had been hiding from me. I had a hunch that beneath the subdued clothing he wore, there was a pretty impressive body. I slammed the door closed on that thought.

His thumb reached up, brushing against my bottom lip.

I closed my eyes and remained perfectly still. I was overcome with sensation and emotion. Not that long ago, I thought my Tristan was gone. But here he was, very much alive. The relief I felt was almost overwhelming. Despite everything I’d learned, that relief took center stage in my mind. Having thought I’d lost him, and now knowing I hadn’t…That was the most important thing. It trumped finding out he wasn’t exactly who I’d thought.

His fingers brushed across my cheek.

I wasn’t sure that I even remembered to breath. I refused to let myself anticipate a kiss in case I was wrong. Instead, I let myself melt into the sensations of the moment. I was motionless as his hand slid into my hair. The warmth of his body seeped into me at all of the places we touched. The faded scent of his cologne wrapped around me.

His lips brushed against mine. I didn’t respond at first, too afraid to break the spell that had been cast. His hand cupped the back of my head, holding me close. One small kiss melted into another…and another…until I could no longer resist. Gentle kisses turned into a deeper kiss, a consuming kiss, a scorching kiss. The kiss went on and on until we both needed to come up for air.

“I thought you said you didn’t think of me this way.” I sounded breathless as my fingers dug into his shoulders.

“I didn’t,” he admitted. “Not really. Not until the day you kissed me. Since then, that kiss has been just about all I think about. My whole life I’ve figured I’d never be able to have a relationship with anyone. I wouldn’t even
let
myself think about it. I couldn’t lie to someone the way my father lied to my mom. I’ve always thought I’d end up alone.”

“That’s so—”

“Pathetic?” He asked with a frown.

“I was going to say sad. You just planned on being alone forever?”

He shrugged. “I felt bad enough about keeping secrets from my friend. What kind of relationship could I have with someone knowing that I was lying to them?”

“And now?”

“That kiss…it shook something inside of me loose. It made me realize I don’t want to be alone. I want to be with
you
. You’ve always been there for me. You mean everything to me. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about how badly I wanted to kiss you again. Only, with a different ending this time.”

Butterflies performed a ballet in my stomach.

“This time, you’re not going to tell me it was a mistake?” I asked.

He shook his head slowly. “Not a chance.”

Then he pulled me toward him and kissed me again.

The moment my eyelids fluttered open the next morning, I catapulted myself out of bed. The cottage only had one bedroom and Tristan had been insistent that I take it. I hadn’t thought I’d fall asleep. My mind had too many things to sort through. But my emotional and physical exhaustion had quickly gotten the best of me.

I pulled the bedroom door open.

Tristan had his back to me. He was standing at the door, peering out the small window pane that comprised the top half of the door.

I crossed my arms, trying to hold off some of the chill, and leaned up against the doorframe. Last night I felt like I’d had my world as I’d known it ripped out from under me. I wasn’t sure that I’d managed to wrap my head around everything that Tristan had told me. It was all so…surreal.

“So far so good,” he said, obviously aware that I was awake. After a moment he dropped the curtain he’d been holding. It fluttered into place and he turned to face me.

He looked awful. He was pale and the plum colored crescents under his eyes caused me to be suspicious.

“You didn’t sleep at all, did you?” I accused.

He didn’t bother denying it. He just shook his head and then took a seat on the sofa. I took a seat beside him.

“Did you even try to sleep?” I asked.

“Not really. I didn’t dare. I was afraid if I drifted off, I wouldn’t notice this when it went off.” He held up what looked like an ordinary rock to me. It was roughly the size of a golf ball. I suspected it was a piece of quartz.

“What is that?”

“When I set up a ward around the house last night, I incorporated this into my spell. If the perimeter is breached, it will glow.”

I took the charmed rock from his hand. “Nice touch,” I said as I turned it over. It was definitely not glowing now. Now, it looked perfectly ordinary. I handed it back to him. He leaned over and placed it on the coffee table.

“Wait,” I said, “does that mean you think your ward can be breached?”

“Of course it can. I hope it won’t, but no magic is perfect.”

“Not even yours? I find that hard to believe. You’re disgustingly perfect at everything you do,” I teased. I was trying to bring some levity into our morning. It didn’t appear to be working.

He shook his head. “Sam, I am so far from perfect. You have no idea.”

“Don’t I?” I asked. When he hesitated I said, “You’re the one that said you’re still you. So which is it? Are you or aren’t you still the same person inside? Well, the same person but with a whole lot of secrets.”

A ghost of a smile drifted across his lips before floating away. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. You know me, and now you know my secrets too. And so far, you haven’t run away screaming. Well, I mean, not since you woke up this morning.”

I laughed lightly as my stomach growled.

“I already dug through the cupboards,” Tristan said. “There’s not much but I did find some of those brown sugar toaster pastries that you like so much. I saved you a package.”

I was going to deny being hungry because there were other matters that were a lot more pressing. When my stomach growled again, I didn’t dare. I slid from the couch and headed to the tiny kitchen.

I found my breakfast waiting on the counter for me. I realized then that neither of us had eaten dinner last night. I tore the packaging off my breakfast. When I tossed it in the trash I noticed several other shimmery wrappers at the bottom. There was also an empty can of soup. I was glad to see he’d managed to eat something.

Out of curiosity I took a quick peek into the cupboards. He was right. There wasn’t much here. A few cans of soup, some canned fruit, a bag of rice and two bags of pasta. The owners must be gone for the season. It would be enough to get us through today, possibly even tomorrow, but the food wouldn’t last much longer than that.

I tried to tell myself that didn’t matter.

We wouldn’t
need
to be here any longer than that.

I wandered back into the other room.

Tristan was staring at the quartz on the table. He yawned hugely. His body seemed to be even more slumped into the cushions than it had been when I had walked out of the room.

Using our magic in small amounts didn’t really affect us. What Tristan had done last night had to have taken a huge effort. It was amazing to me that he’d even managed to keep himself awake all night.

I wandered back into the room.

“You need to get some rest. Seriously,” I said before he could argue. “I’m awake now. I can keep an eye on things. Everything is quiet now. You need to be rested in case…in case there’s another attack.”

He frowned but apparently I’d said the magic words because he didn’t argue. We both knew I was right.

“Okay, if you’re sure,” he said. “But if anything—”

“If anything happens, if I hear from Mom or Cecily, or even Fin and Alex, I’ll let you know,” I assured him.

He slowly hoisted himself from the sofa.

“Don’t let me sleep too long.” He paused as he walked past me, stopping to plant a kiss on my cheek. I smiled briefly as I savored the moment. Then he kept on walking, disappearing into the bedroom.

I returned to my seat on the sofa. I pulled my toaster pastry out and ate it absentmindedly. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the charmed object on the table. I suddenly understood Tristan’s obsession with it. Now that I was the one in charge of monitoring our safety, I was afraid to look away too long. Afraid I’d miss something.

The seconds audibly ticked by, courtesy of the clock on the mantel. I had a newfound appreciation for Tristan. How he managed to stay awake all night, listening to that clock, staring at that stone…and not succumbing to boredom was beyond me.

I got up from the sofa and walked over to the bookshelf. A quick scan led me to believe the books were for aesthetic reasons only. The majority of the titles were nautical in nature. There were a few historical tomes. Nothing I was interested in. Nothing that would help me to pass the time.

I didn’t know how I’d make it through the next hour, let alone the rest of the day.

~*~*~

I found it was easier to pass the time once I’d carefully edged my way onto the bed next to Tristan. He was on top of the covers, lying on his stomach, arms wrapped around his pillow. His slow, steady breathing was calming.

Hours had passed and nothing had happened. I was a bundle of nerves, waiting was the
worst
.

Cecily had called to check in. She also let me know that the last of the guests had checked out. I had a feeling that Cecily had a subtle hand in their early departure. I knew it was probably for the best. It was most likely safer for everyone if The Bella Luna remained unoccupied for the time being. She asked me to pass along to Tristan that she planned to spend the next few days at her sister’s. She strongly encouraged me to convince Tristan that we should meet her there. I told her I’d pass the information along, but I wasn’t making any promises.

Tristan hadn’t given me a timeframe for his nap but I was determined to let him get as much sleep as possible. I hadn’t wakened him to tell him about Cecily’s call because it was nothing of dire importance. He needed sleep more than he needed that bit of information. When he began to stir, I held myself perfectly still, hoping he wouldn’t fully awaken.

No such luck.

After a stretch and a yawn, he turned his attention my way.

“Hey,” he said, his voice raspy.

“Feeling better?” I wondered.

“Too soon to tell,” he admitted. He glanced at the clock beside the bed. “It’s nearly dinner time.”

“Do you want me to make you something?”

He sat up and his lips quirked into a half smile. “That isn’t what I was saying. I just didn’t think I’d sleep so long.”

“You needed it.”

He didn’t argue. He was too busy giving me a strange look.

“What?” I asked, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

“We need to talk about last night. Those people were either after you, or me. I really don’t think they were after me,” Tristan said.

“So they were after me,” I finished for him.

“I think so,” he agreed. “And they were obviously determined. I have no doubt they’ll be back. Probably sooner rather than later…but at least we’ll be warned this time.”

I slid from the bed. “I really hate this. I feel like we should be out doing something. I just don’t know what.”

“I think we’re safer here,” Tristan said. “I think we’re better off staying here and letting Councilwoman Lebeau handle it.”

He slid from the bed as well. We both wandered over to the window. It was on the backside of the house. When he spread the blinds a bit, all we could see were trees. It was late afternoon and the backyard was filled with the orange glow of the sun as it began its descent.

Everything looked so peaceful. So calm.

He took off toward the living room and I followed.

“I talked to Alex last night, after you went to bed,” he admitted. “I thought someone should know what happened. I didn’t tell him where we were staying, just told him we were somewhere safe. But I did ask him to pass on what happened near the marina. It will give The Council a starting place.”

“Oh, right, okay,” I said.

“He said he’d keep us updated but I’m sure nothing has happened because we haven’t heard from him.”

I nodded because I thought he was right. “So we continue to wait,” I said irritably.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

We were both silent, the ticking of the clock seemed absurdly loud.

“Let’s go find some dinner,” I suggested. I was starving again and knew he had to be too.

We worked together in the kitchen putting together a meager meal of soup and canned pears. As we ate, I told him about the call from Cecily. We debated whether or not it would be wise to join her a few towns over, or whether we were better off staying put. It was a tossup.

My last bite of soup was barely scooped onto my spoon when an unexpected sound filled the air.

“What is that?” Tristan asked. His eyes darted about the small kitchen.

“My phone,” I said as I slid back from the table. I darted to the coffee table where I left it.

Mom’s face lit up the screen.

“Mom!”

“Sorry to disappoint but your mother is a bit…preoccupied.”

I knew that voice. My stomach twisted in fear and dread clawed its way up my spine. My knees felt as though they turned to mist.

“Levi.”

“Hey, Sammy. I’m sure I’m not the one you’ve been waiting to hear from. But I’m calling because I’d like to make a deal with you.”

“Making a deal with you? That doesn’t sound like a very good idea,” I said with more bravado than I felt.

“Oh, I think it is. I have someone who’d like to say hello.”

The feeling of dread morphed into one of absolute terror.

“Sam! Sam, come get me!” Magnolia cried into the phone.

“Magnolia?”

“I thought that might get your attention,” Levi said.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“A trade.”

I let the word sink in. When I said nothing, he continued.

“I would really like to let your sister go. She’s far too young to be of much use to me.”

“You want me to take her place.” That was what he meant by a trade.

Tristan’s expression became apoplectic. He gave me one sharp shake of his head. I ignored him, turned my back on him and absentmindedly walked to the window.

“Sam,” Tristan said, his voice low, “whatever he wants, don’t do it.”

“You got it,” Levi said. “So I guess the next question is, how much do you love your little sister? And your mother. I’m willing to let them both walk if you come to me. Doesn’t that sound more than fair? You…for both of them?”

I grit my teeth for a moment and exhaled through my nose. My heart was rattling at a rate that I thought might be dangerous.

“I’ll do it, just…tell me how. Where.”

“I know you’re more familiar than most with the cemetery. Meet me at the mausoleum. The one closest to the west gate.” A picture of it formed in my mind. It was the biggest building on the premises, also the oldest. Its bricks were crumbling and its roof was covered with moss. “I want you there in half an hour.”

His tone was so calm, so conversational. It made my stomach twist into painful knots to hear him speak so casually.

“Oh, and Sammy, one more thing. I heard your friend Tristan put on quite a show last night. Be sure to bring him along.”

My body jerked as if I’d been slapped. Of course Levi would’ve heard about that by now.

I scoffed. “Do you think Tristan stuck around?” I lied. “You saw for yourself how things are between us. He dumped me off and I haven’t heard from him since.”

I stared at Tristan while I said it.

A muscle in his cheek twitched.

Levi chuckled.