The Jade Dragon (11 page)

“Tell me about the accident.”

Perspiration broke out on her brow. Panic kicked her gut into overdrive, making her feel internally shaky. He was forcing her to recall things she didn't want to. There was no way she wanted to speak about any of it. Too painful. Too … too hurtful. Too … too …

“Why? Is that why you're here?” A terrible wave of foreboding washed over her. An image of a long forgotten memory coalesced in her mind. Gregori peering down at her, asking if she was all right. Was she? The image was elusive and as he spoke it dissolved before she could take hold and make sense of it.

If only the emotions in her heart were as ethereal.

Her breathing was shallow. She didn't seem to be able to draw in enough oxygen. She was going to throw up. She felt the color drain from her cheeks. She slapped a hand over her mouth and pushed past him and ran towards the bathroom.

“Leave me alone. I'm not talking about it.” She made it just in time. Falling to her knees, she hugged the toilet bowl and retched as a steady torrent of tears ran unheeded down her cheeks and neck.

• • •

The confrontational approach didn't work. Gregori hesitated at the bathroom door. It had been a long time since he actually cared about someone. Yes, he had Eleisha and Anton and a handful of close friends, but he'd learned to keep his heart secure and devoid of emotional entanglements for so long he was rarely moved by human emotions anymore.

Once he'd sensed his tenuous link to Alanna at her birth, he'd stopped flirting with women. He'd been waiting, knowing a soul mate would be worth the sacrifice of not having someone in his bed to warm him and to fill all those lonely nights. But that didn't mean he had to care more than he needed to. But seeing Alanna's distress caused an uncommon tug in the region where his heart used to reside.

Their future didn't bode well if he couldn't convince her of his trust. He didn't want to care. He didn't want to hand over the balance of his increasing power to Alanna before he could prove his innocence to Marylebone and the Supreme Council. But he did care and he would need to do just that in order to survive.

Getting Alanna to accept him as a permanent presence in her life was going to be a major difficulty. And how could he do that when deep down inside, she was a frightened little girl, afraid of the past, afraid of what the truth of those repressed memories might reveal.

He found himself crouching down and murmuring soothing words to her. He patted her gently on the back and bunched her wild red tendrils away from her face in one hand. “This is what repressing emotions can do. Talk to me.”

Alanna shook her head, incapable of speech. The tears continued to fall. Wiping the back of her hand across her mouth, she looked up into his eyes and he saw such anguish, such awful despair, that his heart squeezed and he felt her pain just as acutely as she.

Despite his need to know more, he allowed her time to calm down and for the tears to stop their waterfall slide down her cheeks.

Even then, he found he could not add to her distress. He rose, picked up a clean face cloth, warmed it through under the tap, wrung it out and handed it to her.

She pressed the cloth against her eyes before wiping her mouth. “Do you think you could get me a glass of water?”

So polite
. He acknowledged to himself he wasn't going to learn any more today. If he'd learned anything in the past few hours in her company, she was rarely polite. His question had definitely struck a nerve. She'd retreated into a fragile emotional shell he wagered few had ever seen.

Gregori conjured a glass of water. Alanna took it from him, and facing the mirror, she picked up her toothbrush and began to clean her teeth.

She was sad and bedraggled but when she looked up their gaze met in the mirror and held. He felt the tenuous link between them grow a little stronger. The slight flare in her eyes told him she, too, had felt it.

A grunt of satisfaction passed his lips. “Whether you like it or not,” he said bluntly, “I'm here for you. But in order for us to mate, you're going to have to let me into all the dark corners of your mind. Binding with me will not work unless you do. Don't deny you know this. You know I speak the truth.”

She shook her head and rinsed her mouth. He handed her a towel. Their fingers touched and a tingle of awareness flowed up his arm. The desire to be with her tugged at his core, and his body tightened in response. But she was scared, frightened, and he would not alarm her further. Not today, at any rate.

Tomorrow, he would broach the subject of her parents again. If she knew something, then that very same something could well be the thing that would prevent him from failing to meet what the Bells of Marylebone had decreed; that he must bind his life and magic with Alanna's in the next two weeks, or his life would be forfeit.

Perhaps that was why his hunt earlier had eventually led him back to her studio. He had found nothing following any of the travelers driving down the old road this morning. His instinct, honed from thousands of years, told him the answers were here, in the studio.

He studied Alanna and wondered what memories held her emotionally shut off from the world? What could make her so afraid? She'd built a shell of indifference to the world in her heart and head, with no reflection of that indifference shining in her aura at all. She didn't realize just how special she was. Very few could control their own aura.

She'd fooled everyone. Everyone except him.

Not twenty-four hours had passed since Gregori's escape, yet her world was upside down and inside out. Alanna's body was weary beyond belief. Her calf muscles hummed as if she'd walked a marathon and her head ached from over-thinking everything.

Silence descended as Alanna switched off her bedside light and rested her head on her pillow. With no air conditioning in the room and no workable spells to keep her body temperature cool as she would have done in the past, she splayed her arms and feet wide like a starfish. It was hot, humid. Perhaps she could ask Gregori to whip up a cooling spell, seeing he was hell-bent on remaining with her. Her eyes stung behind her eyelids, her body restless as she shifted her legs and arms, trying to cool herself as well as her agitated thoughts.

Despite the quiet, despite knowing Gregori would keep his word and not come into her room uninvited, she felt the link between them pulsing with a life of its own. She could almost see it, trace it, follow it all the way to the office where he had retreated earlier. There he was, in her mind's eye shifting uncomfortably on the daybed. Why hadn't he changed that to a bed as well? He could have moved everything out as he had done in her studio. He rolled over in his sleep, to lie on his stomach, revealing the wide expanse of his shoulders and back, a crumpled sheet covering his butt, the rest of him all skin, and muscle, a silhouette of magnificence that sent Alanna's libido soaring into overdrive.

Her eyes popped open. Witches' Warts! She couldn't get rid of him physically and now he was in her head as well. She tossed to the other side of the bed, sat up and walked to her window and stared out. The moon was high in the sky and with little cloud to mar its light, she could see the stars twinkling above.

She only wished she could see so clearly into her heart.

With sleep elusive, she padded softly out into the studio, closed the door that led down the stairs to the Gallery, and the office where Gregori slept, and flicked on the studio light. All her things were back.

Her work, the Hinuera stone that had taken on the strange likeness of Gregori, was back to taunt her. She walked over to her workbench, picked up her smallest chisel and hammer and focused solely on the stone, allowing her instinct to guide her and before long, she forgot about the warlock sleeping in the room downstairs, about how tired she felt, about how her life had turned upside-down. All she felt were the tools in her hands and the need to free the image within the stone.

• • •

Early the next morning, Gregori stood in the doorway watching. He'd crept softly up the stairs, not wanting to wake Alanna, but instead, as he pushed open the door, he'd discovered her hunched over her work, deeply focused, lost in her world.

Surprisingly, he'd slept. But his dreams had been a strange mix of images. He could have sworn Alanna had traveled to him along their connection and watched him sleep. His lips tilted upwards, pleased at the thought. She was attracted to him. He'd been around long enough to recognize the signs, but to have her visit in his dreams was good. Their connection was strengthening.

He only hoped she grew to care for him before his fortnight was up. She was his salvation. But he would not force her to choose. He would allow her decision to come naturally.

His skin prickled with awareness, his body hardened and he fought to quell the increasing desire thrumming through his veins. It was too soon. He had no inclination to be rebuffed this morning or to alarm her any more than he already had.

He cleared his throat, signaling his arrival. “Good morning.” His voice was still raspy from years of not being used.

She remained focused on her work. He spoke again, this time louder. “Good morning.”

Alanna jumped and her chisel dropped to the floor. She spun round, her hand out as if ready to zap him, her eyes unfocused. She was still lost in her world of sculpting and it took a few seconds to register she was no longer alone. Her hand fisted and she rested it on her hip and shot him an exasperated glare.

“What's good about it?”

“It's a new day and the world is full of possibilities,” he uttered. “I'm free and I'm with you.”

She flushed, the tide running up her neck to her cheeks. She flicked her long fiery locks over her shoulder but she held his gaze.

The link between them pulsed with a new thread, that of lust. He knew the instant it reached her and she felt his desire. Her deep, dark brown eyes coalesced into glowing onyx-like embers, and her aura deepened in color to a rich rosy hue, enhancing the flush on her cheeks.

“Well aren't we Mr. Positive today,” she muttered and spun away so he could no longer see her face.

But he wasn't fooled. The awareness between them had increased yet again. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before she could no longer deny its existence, even with her powers bound.

She picked up her chisel and placed her tools on the workbench, putting more distance between them. She looked as if she hadn't slept and when her hands fisted and she rubbed her eyes, he knew she was exhausted, ready to drop at any minute. His desire morphed into concern. He closed the distance between them, and she backed up against the workbench, alarm flaring in her tired eyes.

“Did you not sleep?” he asked gently and reached out to tuck a lock of her amazing hair behind one ear.

She tilted her head away from his hand. “I'm a night-owl,” she said. “I sleep while others are awake.”

Gregori was amused at her attempt to evade him. “It's obvious you are exhausted. Go sleep. I'll ensure you are not bothered by your sisters.”

Alanna shook her head. “I'll sleep tonight.”

“You
will
sleep now,” he insisted. “You are ready to drop where you stand.”

“No.”

He frowned as he inspected her work. It was definitely a man. Jealousy crawled its way into his head. “You will rest for a couple of hours.” He inclined his head towards the windows. “It's barely daylight. There's still time for you to rest, energize your body. If you don't, I'll place a sleep spell on you and it will be for much longer than a couple of hours.”

“It's too humid,” she declared and pushed at his chest, shoving him backward. “Get out of my way. I've a million things to do today, plus it's my turn to work in the Gallery.”

Gregori paused and sent out a silent message to Aden. Within a heartbeat, he smiled. “Rosa will work today in your place.”

“Arrgh!” Alanna marched over to the kitchenette and snatched a glass from the sink and rinsed it out. She drank the entire glass in one burst and wiped the remaining moisture away with the back of her hand. “I'll sleep when I want. I'm perfectly capable of organizing my own life.” She waved the glass at him. “Do not presume to do it for me.”

“You are tired, dead on your feet. Standing in the Gallery for eight hours will not be conducive to your health.”

She slammed the glass down on the sink, her eyes cloudy with frustration, what was left of her remaining energy firing her aura to a dark muddy gray. He was going to have to use force. He advanced and cornered her in the little kitchenette.

“I love your headstrong, fiery nature, but sometimes it's wise to heed advice. Since you're not doing so, I'm going to ensure you rest.”

Before she could protest further, he twirled a finger in front of her face, uttered the word
sleep
and her eyes drifted closed. He caught her as she fell. Although she was tall and strong, she was light in his arms as he carried her to the doorway of her room. The mess of tangled sheets on the bed was evidence enough she had tried to sleep and failed. A quick spell and the bed was made. To ensure she was comfortable, he crafted another spell to acclimatize the room before levitating her onto the bed from where he stood. Hopefully, the much-needed rest would also go some way to soothing that temper of hers. Satisfied she would sleep for a few hours, he translocated to the bathroom.

It wouldn't do to enter her room less than twenty-four hours after making a promise not to.

The morning was barely begun when Rosa made her way to the Gallery and upstairs to the studio. A trail of others concerned about Gregori's presence in Alanna's world converged in her studio shortly thereafter. First there was Beth. Then Goran, Zelda, and Aden. It was practically a party.

“If I'd known you were all coming, I'd have prepared a feast,” sarcasm dripped from Gregori's tongue.