Sentinel: A Light Mage Wars Novella (The Light Mage Wars) (15 page)

#

What a lovely feeling this was, drifting awake spooned back against the warm, solid body of a trusted lover. Caro sighed, and Rick's arm around her waist tightened. The low hum of his magical energy meant he still slept.

Maybe she should go back to sleep, too, but her mind was starting to bubble, ideas for new work rising to the fore.
Happiness could do that to a person.

T
he dinner at her parents' the night before last had been unbelievably good. She'd made amazing progress yesterday on her new, abstract tapestry, and Rick had turned out thirty pages of Max Grant's latest adventure.

They
'd slept for only a few hours last night, talking and making love instead. There wasn't an inch of his tall, muscular frame she hadn't touched or tasted. She had a good mental map of it now. Caro grinned in pure happiness.

Unable to see the light coming through her curtains, she relied on her internal time
sense. That and the lack of birdsong implied it was still very early. Her brain was shifting into gear, though.

Too bad.

Or was it? She could seduce him awake...but he was tending bar at the roadhouse tonight. That meant he'd be out very late. He should sleep a while longer.

She
'd get up, make coffee, and bring it to him in bed. Maybe then do the seducing. Yeah. That worked.

Caro lifted Rick
's arm carefully and slipped out from under it. He made a vague sound, turning into the pillow, but didn't rouse.

There were clothes all over the floor, and she didn
't have her cane. Feeling carefully with her toes, Caro made her way to the closet to grab her robe.

In the kitchen, she started the coffeemaker
–at least they'd remembered to set it up last night before more fun things took over the evening–and drew out two mugs.

The water would need a few minutes to heat
. She turned on her computer and directed it to MageWire.com.

The voice
app read the menu for her, and Caro chose the op/ed page. She cared little about shire politics, but there was always a chance something interesting could turn up.

"'
Southeast Collegium Weighs New Support Tariffs,'" the computer voice read. "'Vigilance Toward Dark Magic'...'Teaching Auras–New Method or Old Mistake?'...'Furthermore: Shrine to a Traitor'...'Ghoul–'"

"
Stop," Caro snapped. Her heart pushed into her throat. It was probably nothing. But what if it wasn't?"

"'
Furthermore: Shrine to a Traitor,'" the computer read. "The mage world has long wondered why Griffin Dare, a respected, even heroic shire reeve, would throw in his lot with the ghouls. The answer may lie in the shrine his parents maintain–"

"
No," Caro choked, groping for a chair. "No. No. Rick, no." She missed the chair and plopped onto the floor beside it.

The computer droned on, describing Griffin
's room, his bookshelf, the contents of the closet. The photos in the hallway.

Every word stabbed into Caro
's heart. Her chest tightened until she was gulping for air.

"'
Furthermore' will be syndicated on all North American MageWire.com sites, starting–"

"
Stop," she ordered the computer. "Who writes 'Furthermore'?" She used the arrow keys to go up and across the screen, with the computer reading lines, until she found the byline.

"
Bradley Richardson," the computer read.

Richardson
? As in Rick, for short? Please, no.

But the sick feeling in her gut said yes.
The man she'd slept with, made love to, was maybe falling in love with, damn him, was the only one who could've done this. But she had to be sure.

Fighting nausea, Caro stumbled back to the bedroom.
She groped on the floor until she found Rick's jeans. His wallet would have his driver's license in it. Her hands shook as she pulled it out of its plastic window. When her thumb found the black letters on the peach and green logo, allowing her to make out the words, her heart stopped.

Bradley Richard
son Moore. Bradley Richardson.

Shuddering, Caro swallowed hard.
She was really going to be sick. But not until she got him out of here.

Fabric rustled from the direction of the bed.

"Sunshine?"

Low and rough with sleep, Rick
's voice ratcheted up her queasiness.

His
tone sharpened as he demanded, "What's wrong?"

Chapter Thirteen

Tears streamed down Caroline
's ashen face, and she was trembling. Adrenaline shot Rick to full alertness. Something awful must've–

"
You bastard." She flung something at him. He snagged it an inch from his eye. His wallet. Open but with his driver's license gone.

Hell.
She knew about his column. "I can explain."

She hurled his driver
's license, though it wasn't heavy enough to go far. "Fuck that." Her voice shook, and her fists clenched. "Get out. Get out.
Now
."

Rick
rolled out of bed and scooped the license off the floor. Pain and rage rang in her voice, in her rigid posture. This was more than his not telling her that he wrote the occasional column. "What happened?"

"
Like you don't know," she choked, scrambling to her feet. "You fucking bastard."

"
I don't know. Caroline, talk to me." He reached for her.

She slapped his arms aside.
"Don't touch me."

The words stabbed into his heart.

"Okay. No touching." Automatically, he raised both hands, palms out, then realized she couldn't sense more than a vague outline of the gesture. "But please, love, I swear I don't know what you're talking about."

His gut tightened.
Was he going to lose her? If so, why? Only something about her family, some betrayal–

She made a choked sound that might
've been a laugh. "I've obviously been blind in more ways than one, but I hope I'm not totally stupid. I read your damn column, you lying sonofabitch."

"
I haven't run a column since last month." That had been on equality of opportunity in magical education. Surely that wouldn't trigger something like this.

"
So you admit it. You write 'Furthermore' for MageWire.com."

"
Yeah. Occasionally. It's part of my freelance work for them. It's no big deal."

Her eyes narrowed, steely gray now.
"Do not bandy words with a lawyer's daughter. If it were 'no big deal,' you would've mentioned it. Instead, you've fucked over my entire family."

"
I've never written about your family." Nor had he told anyone what she'd shown him.

Regardless,
he'd had enough of vague accusations. "What the hell's gotten into you?"

"
Today's 'Furthermore.'" The words ended in a sob. Caro wrapped her arms around her waist and took a shuddering breath. "Get. Out. Now."

"
Caroline, I don't have a column on the site today." Because he'd been loyal to her. Pulling on his pants, he started, "Whatever you read–"

"
Then I guess little green men wrote it. But my computer doesn't make things up,
Bradley
. It read me the column and your byline."

That was flat-out impossible.
But she'd obviously read something. He scooped up the rest of his clothes. "Show me."

Caro wheeled and marched
out of the bedroom, straight to the desk between her dining area and living room. "Look for yourself."

Tiny tremors ran through her frame.
She scrubbed at her cheeks although the tears continued to stream down them. He ached to hold her, to fix what distressed her.

He looked at the screen, at the headline,
Shrine to a Traitor
, and his gut knotted. As he scrolled down the screen, a sick hollowness opened inside him.

No wonder she was so pissed.
So hurt.

But he hadn
't done this.

H
ow could he convince her? It sure as hell looked as though he'd blabbed, and that meant someone had used him.

The Dares had the usual screens to prevent scrying on their house, reinforced, even.
Yet someone had defeated those screens, apparently while Rick was there. But how?

Easily, he realized with a
painful lurch in his gut, because he'd been carrying his press pass. As usual. And it was bespelled to defeat screening.
Stan, you fucker.

"
You don't need to read it again," Caro ground out. "Now that you have proof I've uncovered your lie, please go. You won't have to pretend to care about me anymore."

The soul-deep pain crackling in the magic
around her slammed into him. "I wasn't pretending."

But he was going to make someone pay for leading her to think he was.
For hurting her through him.

Her lips compressed into a line.
Caro shook her head.

"
Caro, honey, I was with you all night after that dinner and most of the next day. And last night. The rest of the time, I was working on Max Grant. When would I have done this? Why would I?"

"
So you could get a syndicated column, obviously."

She wasn
't listening to him at all. Wasn't trusting him. That burned like acid in his throat. All the more so because it wasn't fair.

The syndication bit
underlined his guess about who'd done this. But before he could ream Stan out, he had to talk Caro down. "But I didn't do it. Did I want the column to go national? Not especially."

He hesitated, but he was up to his jaw in shit because he
'd lied to her. If Stan saw this story as big enough, he'd push for that investigation into Rick's dad's case. Then Caro would put two and two together. Best to tell her the truth.

"
What I wanted," he said, "was to vindicate my dad. My editor said that if I turned in a good story on Griffin, he'd push for an investigation."

"
So you decided the blind chick was an easy mark," she said bitterly.

"
No." He reached for her but remembered the
no touching
part as she recoiled. "I figured you'd be wary, but if you believed in your brother, you might want to get your side of his story out. That's all."

"
It's out all right," she snapped. "Out and twisted beyond recognition."

"
But not. From. Me. Caroline, I care about you."

I love you
.

Stunned at the thought, he paused.
Oh, God, he did love her.

He
swallowed the words, though. Saying them now would only infuriate her.

"
Please, Rick," she said wearily, "just go."

"
Once I knew you weren't helping Griffin, I couldn't do an exposé. That left a feature, which I wouldn't do without your consent, and you wouldn't give it. I told my editor there was no story. Touch me. You'll see I'm telling the truth."

"
I've touched you before without realizing any of this." She folded her arms across her stomach. "You're obviously very good at hiding what you don't want known. I can't deal with that." She marched toward the door.

"
So that's it? After we've fought together and made love together and shared the things that matter to us, you won't even let me prove I'm telling the truth?"

"
Not when you've deceived me that way already."

"
Fuck that. You really are the queen of avoidance."

"
That's not fair."

"
Neither is your lack of trust." He stalked to the door but stopped in front of her. "I gave up the best shot I've ever had at clearing my dad. Gave it up for you. And you don't have the decency, or maybe the guts, to listen."

"
Try the stupidity." Caro fumbled with the locks. "Good-bye, Bradley."

Even in his anger, he couldn
't believe she was letting him go so easily. That she was so ready to believe the worst. He should walk and count himself lucky.

Except
he understood why she was insecure and wary and protective and suspicious. How could he not, when he really did love her?

So he had to fight for her, but now wasn
't the time. Let her think about what he'd said first.

"
Good-bye, Caroline," he said.

Fresh tears welled in her eyes.
Biting her lip, she jerked her head toward the hallway. Rick walked out, and the sound of the door closing felt like an anvil dropping onto his soul.

Fighting with Caro wouldn
't get him anywhere at the moment, but there was another fight ahead that would.

#

Caro shoved wet sheets into the dryer. She hadn't been able to stand them on the bed another minute. Probably wouldn't for a long time, but damn it, she'd loved those sheets with their splashes of pink and green and teal and yellow.

Bastard.

Her throat tightened, and she swallowed against recurring nausea. She'd had sex with that lying sack of shit. How had she been so incredibly stupid?

"
You okay in here?" Mindy, who'd come over as soon as Caro called, walked into the bathroom.

"
Yeah, just...I wish there was a cure for stupidity."

"
You had no reason to question anything he did." Mindy squeezed her shoulder. "Your color's not good, girlfriend. Go sit in the living room, and I'll fix you some ginger ale and crackers."

"
I knew better, Mindy. I knew not to trust anyone who'd ever been anywhere near journalism." Tears welled again. Pressing her fingers to her eyes, she said, "He was just so nice. So interesting."

"
So interested."

"
He pretended to be, anyway. Shit, am I so desperate that I'm that easy to fool?"

"
Hey! Cut that out. He fooled us all. Now let's go in the living room and figure out a really good way to make him miserably, agonizingly sorry."

Caro started the dryer.
"I don't want to think about him anymore, but I can't help it."

She
fished a tissue from her jeans pocket and blew her nose. "I sit down to weave, and I think how he supported me that awful day of the demo, how he encouraged me. I put on music, and I remember dancing with him, and now..."

Mindy
hooked an arm around Caro's shoulders and drew her toward the living room. "Go sit down. I'll bring you something to settle your stomach."

Mindy
's touch carried currents of sympathy and love. No pity, thank God.

Curled in the armchair,
Caro clutched a nubby, green silk pillow to her chest and tried to level her breathing. Her phone chimed, signaling a text from her mom, but it could wait. She'd emailed telling her parents she was okay–yeah, she'd lied a little, but she absolutely would be okay...someday–and that she wanted to handle this, at least as far as Bradley Richardson Moore was concerned.

Too bad she had no idea how to do that.

At least Dad had a plan, suing MageWire.com and its gigolo reporter for everything they had, and to hell with the fallout. That wouldn't do anything to erase Caro's sense of betrayal, though.

Mindy walked in and set something on the table at Caro
's side. "Ginger ale at one o'clock," she said. "Crackers at six."

"
Thanks." Caro sipped the fizzy drink. It did seem to help. "You're the best, Mindy."

"
Just paying back what you've done for me." Mindy patted Caro's leg and walked across to the loveseat.

"
He seemed shocked," Caro mused. "I didn't think about it at the time. Didn't believe it, but he seemed angry and hurt. I guess he figured he had time to get home before I learned about his column."

"
Hmm." Mindy hesitated. "Or he could've been truly shocked. Is there any chance at all he was telling the truth, that he really didn't write that or share what he learned at your folks' place?"

"
I wish." Oh, how she wished. "But no one else was there."

Caro punched the pillow in her lap
. "He wanted me to touch him, let him prove he was telling the truth." If only she could forget that. "But I touched him before, and I didn't see that he was playing me." She pressed her fingers to her stinging eyes. "I can't trust my judgment."

"
You could let your dad grill him. If Rick does care about you, he'd go for that. And honestly, Caro, if he didn't care, he's a hell of an actor. When he walked into the hallway at the gallery and saw Will hug you, I thought for a second that he was going to hit something."

How foolish was this, feeling pleased by Mindy
's observation? Wanting it to be true?

With Mindy, she could be
open, or mostly so, anyway. "I think...I was falling in love with him. When all he wanted was a story."

"
I don't think that's all he wanted."

Caro shrugged.
"I've been down this road before, after all. I just managed to catch on before my heart got all twisted up. Too bad I didn't learn my lesson."