Three Worlds 01 - Seduce Me In Dreams (41 page)

Ambrea Vas.

Ambrea, it meant … “daughter.” Ambrea Vas Allay meant “daughter of this realm.” In all these years, her father, though he had alienated her and stripped her of her rightful place in the succession, had never taken this step, stripping her of her name. She had always wondered why.

Perhaps there had been some part of the former emperor that had been, after all, loath to deprive himself of his spare heir while his only living son was still young and susceptible to the many illnesses and dangers of youth. Perhaps he had not, in the end, wanted to leave her without any claim to anyone. But clearly her brother had no such reservations.

To sign such a document would mean she could never, even in the event of her brother‟s death, lay claim to the throne. She would be cut loose. Set free. She could then do anything. Go anywhere. Her brother would be renouncing all ability to hold power over what she did or where she went, except that of a sovereign over his subject. He would no longer be responsible for her upkeep. She would, in essence, be her own woman.

The rush of the idea was a heady one. The thought of it, of being able to walk away, perhaps leave the planet altogether, where she could explore any part of the three worlds, it was remarkable. She could hear her blood rushing against her eardrums. She was a signature and a scan away from turning her back on this stifling existence forever.

Except …

“I beg you to forgive my hesitation, Your Eminence,” she said quickly, not wishing to anger him, knowing nothing of his temperament that she didn‟t see in the media. But all hints thus far had pointed to a spoiled, rich, and powerful youth who was used to getting his way, just like his father had been. “I am merely in shock at the news of the emperor‟s death.”

“He will be long remembered,” her brother‟s attendants chorused respectfully. But there was a decided lack of enthusiasm in their voices. The fact was, Emperor Benit had been a tyrant, and these attendants that were now flocked at her brother‟s back had been the previous emperor‟s attendants and advisors. When Emperor Benit had raged, which he had often done, these were the people that had borne the brunt of it. Now they were eagerly supporting a child they probably felt would be far more malleable than his father had been. There was power to be found by being the advisor to the boy sovereign. These vultures would be clawing at one another for the best position.

“He had been ill for some time,” her brother faltered.

There was emotion there. Genuine emotion. Despite how he was portrayed in the media, young Emperor Qua Tsu Allay had feelings. And now his insecurities were also showing.

Suddenly those robes of state looked far too big for the boy.

If you love Jacquelyn Frank‟s sensual

fantasies, look for the latest installment of her

beloved
Nightwalkers
series,

Supernatural
,

available from Zebra Books this September.

Kane burned. His mind, his every sense, but most of all his body burned with need and lust unlike anything he had ever felt before. The Samhain moon was growing heavy and full, it would be at its apex in a matter of days, but it may as well have been scorching its full influence into him in that very instant, that was how ravaged by it he was feeling.

Or maybe it was just because of her.

He‟d followed her for three days now, stalking her every step since the moment he‟d first laid eyes on her, either in person or with the power of his mind. He was Demon, a creature born perfectly into the night, born with powers beyond human understanding. Every Demon favored a specific element: Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Body, or, as in his case, Mind. He was powerful, capable of great feats … and yet always weaker than other Demons around him. They called him fledgling. A child. A nearly hundred-year-old child. He was a mere two years from earning a little more respect. Then he would be adult. Not quite the heavily respected Elder that his brother was, nowhere near the astounding Ancient that Gideon was, but it would be better than that accursed title of fledgling.

But however much or little his contemporary Demons thought of him, this young female, this human, had lived for barely a quarter of his lifetime. She was ignorant of so much, ignorant of his kind and the other Nightwalkers that lived on the borders of her world. Maybe that was why she was so incessantly carefree in the way she lived her life. Granted, she was marred with emotional scars that others had so thoughtlessly burdened her with, but in spite of that she still managed to be vivacious and earthy, as vibrant as her brilliant red hair and sparkling green eyes.

As clean and clear as her pristine pale skin.

Someone else had taken notice of her brilliance. He was unworthy. Even she thought so.

The inept creature had bored her almost from the outset, and yet she carried on their date trying to find comfort in his plainness and his constancy. Kane had been tracking this absurdity from a distance, pacing furiously as the ridiculousness of it all burned at his patience. But there was little he could do about it. She was human and to him she was forbidden. By all rights he should have turned his back on her days ago. He should have written her off completely. Keeping track of her, whether from near or from far, would only lead to trouble.

That trouble had come. It had come in the guise of this overwhelming burn, this savage sense of lust and ownership that could not be denied. He couldn‟t bear her being on that useless creature‟s arm another second. Now he was flying to her side in a series of raging, uncontrolled bursts of teleportation, each jump taking him closer to her and each jump leaving behind an ever more violent burst of smoke and sulfur in his wake. His emotions were out of his control and therefore his powers were also out of his control. But none of that mattered. He was close.

Closer. Soon he would put this fiasco to an end and he would rip her from the side of this clown she was trying to make worthy of her.

He materialized on the seedy New York street in a violent flash, only his power to influence the minds of others camouflaging the frightening display from those nearby. His beauteous redhead and her so-called date walked on completely oblivious to his presence.

He stalked after them quickly, his eyes tracking all the shadowy corners and alleys of their location. His distaste for her escort trebled. What male worth anything would bring a woman to a place such as this? Didn‟t the fool realize the dangers all around them? Did that weak excuse for a human male honestly think himself capable of protecting her should danger present itself?

In truth, the thought wasn‟t even in his mind, Kane realized as he gave them both a backhanded scan. The shocking fact was, he was barely even focused on the treasure walking by his side! All of this fool‟s thoughts were eagerly pointed toward the film they were going to see.

Apparently its special effects and coveted director warranted more attention that the one of a kind sultry creature on his arm.

Disgusted, Kane seized control of both of their minds at once. They stopped still for a moment and then Kane shaded out any awareness and recollection of her from the human male‟s mind and sent him on his way to the moving picture that seemed to mean so much to him.

And now he was alone with her. Mere steps away. It was child‟s play for him to beckon her to him, to bring her to him as a willing, compliant thing. Oh, but that was not what he wanted. He wouldn‟t take her as a mind-numbed slave. It was the totality of what she was that so enthralled him.

He would only alter her perceptions a little bit, just so she would forget what she had been doing, thus opening an opportunity for him to introduce his presence into her life. But first … first he needed to touch her. Just one blessed moment of contact. Something to soothe this burn within him. Something to calm it a little so he could think straight and function properly.

Kane reached for her, his hand trembling as he did so, the vibration indicative of the power of his feelings, of his weakening restraint. His palm burned just with the anticipation of her, prickles dancing the length of his long fingers so that they twitched. Her unknowing smile was soft and serene. It could be anything he wanted it to be. It could be even more beatific, it could be wildly ecstatic. For now it remained that lovely neutral as he touched the tips of his fingers to the curve of her high cheekbone.

Oh, Sweet Destiny. It practically hurt, that overwhelming sensation of rightness and relief that rushed through him. He cradled that gorgeous face against his palm and fought off an emotional wash of tears that pricked behind his lids. His. She was
his
. At last he had her in his grasp, he had crossed the line and, contrary to all the warnings pounded into him for all of his life, lightning had not come to strike him down. What was so bloody wrong about this, he wanted to know. Yes, she was human and he was Demon, but weren‟t they more alike than unalike? Were they not both made of flesh? Did they not both crave the touch and presence of that special someone … that caress of forever knowing each other, that passion that blinded the soul? The world was not coming to and end! It was just beginning!

And then lightning struck.

Like the snap of a magician‟s cape being pulled away to reveal a tiger in a cage, Jacob the Enforcer appeared before him. Dread and horror rushed into Kane from all vectors, the shock of suddenly standing toe-to-toe with his Elder brother slamming into him like a sucker punch.

This was Jacob at his most frightening. His most terrible. Yes, it was still the same brother who had raised him and loved him all of his life, but it was the side of Jacob no Demon saw until they had crossed Demon law. It was the Enforcer. And he had come to punish Kane.

Kane‟s throat went suddenly and brutally dry, his heart seizing in what he had to confess was fear. The punishment for what he had just done was the most severe a Demon could face, next to being put to death. His hand jerked away from the redhead‟s cheek as if she‟d burned him and his concentration broke from her. She blinked, suddenly becoming aware that she was sandwiched between two strange men and had no idea how she had gotten there.

“Take hold of her mind, Kane. Do not make this worse by frightening her.”

Kane obeyed instantaneously and his precious fixation relaxed. The resulting peaceful beauty that washed over her was enough to distract him even from the knell of Jacob‟s presence.

He marveled at how soft and sweet she looked. He knew her mind and nature were matched to her looks. It was only the cold warning look from his sibling that kept him from touching her again.

“Jacob, what brings you out on a night like this?” he blurted out, unable to think of anything else to say. After all, they were blood brothers. If Jacob was going to give anyone a pass, wouldn‟t it be him?

“You know why I am here,” the Enforcer said, nipping that thought right in the bud with a chill disciplined tone that warned Kane not to test his mettle.

“So maybe I do,” Kane relented. And still, it didn‟t seem to be getting through to the rest of him. It was taking everything in his power to keep from reaching for her again. Even though it made him look ever guiltier than he really was, he lowered his gaze to the spotted, dirty sidewalk and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. He gripped hold of the fabric on the inside of those pockets and forced himself to hold on. “I wasn‟t going to do anything. I was just … restless.”

“I see. So you thought to seduce this woman to appease your restlessness?” Jacob asked bluntly as he folded his arms across his chest. His entire manner radiated the image of a parent scolding a wayward child. It could be an amusing thought, considering Kane was just about to enter his second century of life, but the matter was too serious by far.

“I wasn‟t going to hurt her,” Kane protested. He could never hurt her. She was precious.

She was everything. He would love her as deeply and as thoroughly as he could.

“No?” Jacob asked, his sarcasm very obvious. “Just what were you going to do? Ask politely if you could visit the savageness of your present nature on her? How does one word that exactly?”

Kane fell stubbornly silent. He knew that the Enforcer had read his intentions from the moment he‟d decided to stalk his prey. Arguments and denials would just worsen the situation.

Besides, the incriminating evidence of his transgression was standing between them.

For a brief, passionate moment, Kane‟s thoughts filled with vivid mental imaginings of what could have been more incriminating. He suppressed a shudder of sinful response, his eyes falling covetously on the woman standing so beautifully serene before him. Had Jacob been even slightly off his irritatingly perfect game and come into the picture a half hour later …

“Kane, this is a difficult time for our people. You are as susceptible to these base cravings as any other Demon,” the Enforcer said with implacable resolve. It was as though Jacob were the one who could read Kane‟s mind, rather than the other way around. “Still, you are a mere two years from becoming adult. I cannot believe you have me chasing you down like a green fledgling.” There it was. That word again. That …
term
. “Think of what I could be accomplishing if I were not standing here saving you from yourself.”

The remark was like a kick in the pants, and it smarted both shamefully and painfully.

Sweet Destiny, it was true! Near Samhain his brother Jacob was weighted down by his responsibilities even more than usual. The last thing he had needed was to be chasing after his own baby brother. Jacob had never asked for his mantle of responsibility. He had inherited it suddenly and unexpectedly when their eldest brother Adam had suddenly gone missing, presumed dead at the hands of some necromancer and his nefarious summoning spell many centuries ago. Jacob had lost a beloved brother and inherited a ponderous duty in one fell swoop.

Now he was the pariah of his people. A necessary evil, as it were. Sort of like the internal affairs division was with the human police. They were necessary, they were members of the same brotherhood, but oh, how they were held in such contempt.