Perilous Partnership (18 page)

“And if the citizens of Dommartin are not willing donors?” the reporter challenged.

“Then we will take them somewhere where there are willing donors or find donors willing to come to them,” Raymond said. “Now, unless there are other questions—”

“I‟ve heard the partnerships are sexual, not just practical,” the reporter who had first hassled Raymond shouted. “Are you opening a brothel, monsieur Payet?”

Raymond rolled his eyes, eliciting laughter from the reporters who knew him from the weekly press conferences. “I don‟t think that question deserves an answer. Good evening, mesdames et messieurs.”

He left the dais without looking back, despite the questions shouted in his direction.

“Nice dodge,” Jean murmured when Raymond joined him again. “You know the question will come up again.”

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“And my answer will stay the same,” Raymond replied. “Until we know definitively that the partnership bond can only function when the partners are also lovers, I will continue to reply that way. We will be upfront with the participants in the seminars about the possibility—”

“The likelihood,” Jean corrected.

“The likelihood,” Raymond allowed, “of the partnerships becoming personal, but forewarned is forearmed. We resisted even the wild magic working on us. Yes, that was temporary, but it was far more powerful than the day-to-day pressure of our partnership. We won‟t make the same mistake that led to the wild magic breaking free last time, so we don‟t have to worry about that pushing people into uncomfortable situations. I know that was the first time Adèle and Jude had sex. Do you remember her reaction the next day?”

Jean remembered all too clearly. Adèle had stormed into Milice headquarters with bite marks still oozing blood, demanding to know what spell had compelled her into bed with a man she hated. Far more troubling to Jean was the fact that they had continued to have sex after the wild magic was contained. He wanted to know why she had not gone back to resisting once the Piège-Pouvoir was complete. “I wonder how many other people fell prey to the wild magic and never „recovered‟. It might be worth asking. Not to mention asking if any who didn‟t give in to the bond at that point have continued to relate only on a magical level rather than a personal one.”

“That assumes we can find anyone else who resisted that night,” Raymond said.

“Angelique did, although I‟m fairly sure she and David are lovers as well as partners now,” Jean replied, “but if she resisted and we resisted, others may have as well. Like you keep saying, this is why we need l‟Institut: to help us find answers to all our questions.”

“Good news, Raymond,” Fabienne called as Raymond and Jean neared Raymond‟s office. “I just spoke with Luc Cabalet, the chef de la Cour in Amiens, and he‟s willing to come to l‟Institut with his partner to help with the repairs. They‟ve even offered to stay on site for a week so we don‟t have to worry about transporting them back and forth, although they have a few commitments over the next two weeks. They just need two rooms to be ready.”

Raymond and Jean glanced at each other with raised eyebrows. “Two rooms?” Raymond verified. “I think we can have two rooms ready by then, particularly if we tell Thierry we need to focus on getting them done.”

Fabienne handed Raymond a slip of paper. “That‟s Thierry‟s number. You can call him and tell him now.”

Raymond looked down at the scrap of paper. “How did you know I didn‟t have his number?”

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Fabienne smirked at him. “Because you never have anyone‟s number unless I‟ve given it to you. Since he gave me a new number last week after he lost his cell, it stands to reason you didn‟t have it either.”

“We‟ll need to arrange food for Magali,” Raymond began.

“I‟ve already checked with several restaurants in the area,” Fabienne interrupted. “They‟ve all said they‟d be more than happy to help provide meals for anyone living at the abbey until we can get the kitchen staffed. I‟ve also put help wanted ads in several local and regional papers and online. There‟s no reason we need to employ wizards to cook or to maintain the property. We‟ll have far more support from the locals if we hire from the surrounding villages than if we bring people in. Not to mention that locals won‟t have to live on the property so we won‟t have to worry about having space for them before we start the seminars.”

“You‟re brilliant,” Raymond told her with a smile, grateful not for the first time that Jean had suggested the African vampire as his admin. He would be lost without her.

“I know,” she replied. “Just remember that at the end of the year when you‟re considering my bonus.”

Raymond laughed and shook his head. “I won‟t forget. I promise.”

Fortunately for Jean‟s peace of mind, Fabienne let them go after that. Jean was not sure how much longer he could contain his jealous reaction to the easy banter. He knew Raymond was faithful to him and that Fabienne had no more interest in Raymond than Raymond did in her. Usually he could listen to them with amusement, but today everything seemed to provoke his inner demon. He wondered desperately what it would take to appease the fiend.

“I‟ve been thinking about the issue of the vampires needing to feed during the seminars,” Jean said, choosing to ignore his reaction and focus on practical matters. “For the short-term, we could make an arrangement with Angelique to either bring the vampires to Sang Froid or bring some of her employees to the abbey every few days, but if the classes grow larger, that‟s going to get unwieldy after awhile.”

“Do you have a suggestion?” Raymond asked.

“I do, although it‟s up to Angelique to agree,” Jean said. “If l‟Institut grows the way we hope it will, it might be worth it to her to consider opening a branch of Sang Froid in Dommartin or Château-Chinon. It wouldn‟t be as large or as profitable as the one in Paris, but we‟d have a steady supply of customers for her once we go through the first trial seminars and start doing them continuously.”

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Raymond chuckled. “We‟d have to be very careful how we explain it to local officials. I can see a few of them balking at what appears to be a brothel opening in their sleepy village.”

“A restaurant,” Jean insisted. “All Angelique sells is blood, and she pays her employees generously.”

“I know that,” Raymond assured his lover. “I went with you when the police came to investigate a complaint against Sang Froid last summer. They didn‟t find any evidence of it being an illicit sex shop despite the allegations. It wouldn‟t be any different in Dommartin. We just have to make sure we address any concerns upfront.”

“If Angelique is even interested,” Jean added. “I haven‟t actually talked to her about it yet.” He hesitated before adding, “Have you thought any more about who you might want to name director of l‟Institut?”

Raymond sighed. “No. The problem is finding someone who can handle the administration side and the research as well. And someone who would be willing to relocate to Dommartin. I know I said distance is a non-issue for wizards, but I feel like someone needs to be on site in case something happens.”

“And you want that someone to be you.”

Raymond wanted to deny it, but even if he did, Jean would see right through him. “Yes. I don‟t want to give up our apartment here, but a part of me wants to be there too.”

“Could you hire someone to live there full time and commute during the day?” Jean proposed. “It wouldn‟t be quite the same, but even at boarding schools, the headmaster gets to leave occasionally. As you keep saying, you‟re a wizard. If the caretaker called you with an emergency, you could be there in a matter of seconds, barely slower than if you lived there. It wouldn‟t even have to be a wizard. Just someone to keep an eye on things and notify you of anything that came up during the night.”

“If I hadn‟t made a commitment to l‟ANS, I‟d jump at it in a heartbeat,”

Raymond said, “but I already have a job and a half with l‟ANS.”

“So you have a decision to make. You have to decide what‟s best for you and for the organizations involved. What you can delegate or give up that will best serve the magical community and your own heart. I know Marcel spent the bulk of his life in the service of l‟ANS, and I know you were the right choice a year ago, but could someone else do your job as well now to free you to take on the responsibilities of l‟Institut? Or is there someone else who could do that as well as you could, despite your desire to be involved, while you stay on with l‟ANS?”

Raymond let out a deep breath. “I wish I knew.”

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“You don‟t have to decide right away, but you will have to decide soon.”

He did not mention that the director of l‟Institut would be less in the public eye and would not risk his credibility by also being the Consort of the chef de la Cour.

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THE sight of Raymond‟s strong back appearing from beneath his jacket and shirt never failed to rouse Jean, particularly the scar that ran parallel to his spine, but Jean turned away from the surely unintentional show when they returned home that night. His fangs dropped the minute Raymond reached for his tie, and it had taken far too much concentration to force them back for his peace of mind. He had savaged Raymond the night before. He did not need to feed, and he had every intention of giving Raymond time to heal before making love to him—carefully and tenderly this time—again.

“Jean?” Raymond said, his voice breaking into Jean‟s pensive thoughts.

“Are you coming to bed?”

Jean turned, intending to make some excuse about not being tired, an excuse he was sure Raymond would have seen right through, when he saw his lover‟s chest. “You kept them.”

Confusion marred Raymond‟s features for a moment as he looked down at himself. “What, the bites?” Jean nodded. “Of course I kept them. I only asked Thierry to heal the visible ones because I had the press conference tonight. If we had simply been working at the abbey or in the offices, I wouldn‟t have done even that. I certainly wasn‟t going to ask him to heal the ones no one can see.” Raymond crossed the room to Jean‟s side. “Or did you not believe me last night when I told you I‟d never been so thoroughly ravished?”

Jean had believed that part, but he had not believed Raymond would not regret it later. Tenderly, he drew Raymond into his arms. “You are a marvel to me,” he said softly. “Let me show you?”

“You show me all the time,” Raymond demurred, but Jean refused to take no for an answer. Keeping his fangs firmly withdrawn and his beast totally in check, he scooped Raymond into his arms, giving no heed to the differences in their size, and lay his lover on the bed. He took a moment to stroke Raymond‟s hairline, admiring the breadth of his forehead, lightly creased now by the lines of worry that came from the stress of his job. He smoothed them with his fingers, wanting irrationally to lift every care from his lover‟s shoulders.

Lowering his head, he ghosted butterfly kisses across the bridge of Raymond‟s nose, his high cheekbones, and finally over his lips. He was tempted to linger,

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but he had other goals in mind, namely the bite marks all over Raymond‟s body.

Jean kissed his way down Raymond‟s neck, lingering momentarily where he knew he had bitten the night before, sucking lightly on the skin so as not to raise new bruises. The desire to mark and claim was no less intense than the night before, but this time Jean was ready for it, consciously keeping his touch light and loving rather than letting it turn feral as it had the night before. When he reached Raymond‟s collarbone, he no longer had to remember where the bites had been because the incisions remained. He tarried over each one, laving it with his tongue to help it heal since he had not taken as much time to lick the wounds closed as he would normally have done. Each mark provided proof of the unfathomable, as far as Jean was concerned. Raymond wanted him, every part of him, even the beast that lurked beneath his control. Working his way down his wizard‟s body, he found and worshipped every mark he had left the night before, on Raymond‟s chest, on his belly and hips, on his thighs and calves.

His cock throbbed in his trousers, but he ignored it. He had given in to his darkest desires yesterday. Denying himself now seemed a fitting penance.

Raymond lay quiescent beneath the tender assault, nearly as overwhelmed with tenderness as he had been with savagery the night before. His heart swelled almost to bursting as Jean kissed and licked every bite mark, his lips and tongue teasing around Raymond‟s nipples without ever actually touching, Jean‟s fangs not having pierced him there. When his lover moved lower, he held little hope his cock and balls would receive any more attention, but he barely missed it, so caught up in the feeling of being cherished that the arousal simmering in his blood took a back seat. He closed his eyes and let himself drift on the tenderness. Jean was always an attentive lover, but this felt different.

Usually when they made love, even without Jean feeding, there was an edge to their interactions, a need to find their release, but Raymond felt none of that urgency this time, content to lie still and let Jean take care of him.

Raymond had relaxed so much that the sensation of Jean‟s tongue on his sac surprised him, adding a sudden layer of need to the welter of emotions running through him. He gasped, lifting his head to stare down at the dark head between his thighs. Jean looked back at him, his eyes glittering, as he extended his tongue and lingered over Raymond‟s groin the same way he had lingered over the rest of his body. Raymond‟s head fell back with a deep groan as Jean licked and sucked his most sensitive flesh, working his way from root to tip and then taking him inside.