Two Knights of Indulgence (21 page)

“Matthias has told me I can never go home. What are
you holding back from me, Nicolas?”

He saw the light blue flicker of light in her depths
and wondered how often that happened.
 
There would be no way she could have hidden this talent of hers for so
long if her eyes flashed blue whenever she had strong emotions.
 
“I don’t know how much longer it will be.”

That wasn’t a lie.
 
They weren’t one hundred percent yet on her
backstory
,
so the possibility she was going home was still there.
 
So, why did it feel like he was lying?

“The two of you need to talk over your stories since
they don’t sound the same.
 
And you need
to clue me in on the truth before I walk.”

“We don’t know all the truth, so there’s no point in
getting you upset with hearsay.”

“I want to know what you know.”

“What we know is the Illuminati are growing more
active each day.
 
There is a war
culminating and you may be a target.
 
We
need to get you to Thierry so he can help us find more answers.”

Her gaze flickered over him, and he wanted to back
away, but knew to do so would cause her to question him more.
 
“I somehow don’t think that’s all of it.”

Nicolas knew they needed to go.
 
Here and now wasn’t the place to tell her she
was potentially a goddess’ daughter.
 
They needed to get her to safety.
 
“Grab your stuff, we need to go.”

Britt eyed him cautiously, apparently not buying his
comment, but she gathered her cold weather gear and moved to the door behind
him.
 
Nicolas lowered the hatch, and they
descended into the hangar.
 
As he closed
and locked up the plane, Matthias had already uncovered the Bentley and was
revving up the engine.

Britt jumped into the backseat, seemingly angry with
them both.
 
She avoided Nicolas’ gaze
when he slid into the passenger seat and quickly lay across the bucket seats
and curled up into the semi-fetal position, feigning sleep.
 
The zip of electricity in the air charging
around her proved she was awake, but there was no point in prodding her
more.
 
Once she calmed down, perhaps they
could tell her the truth.
 
They all
needed a good night’s rest and that wouldn’t happen until they made it to the
ancient castle.

Until then, he would rest up and let Matthias take the
lead.

Chapter Nine

Matthias twisted the powerful vehicle around the
curving hills surrounding the
Rhine
Valley
.
 
It had been some time since he’d been to
Thierry’s castle hidden away in the dense forests there, but the route was
burned into his memory.
 
Driving was one
of his passions, especially given the opportunity to do it in a powerful
machine.
 
It was one modern convenience
he heartily enjoyed. The car was practically on autopilot as they moved at
speeds of seventy or more around the bends and curves.
 

The road was the least of his concerns.
 
The female in the back was.

His mind had generated every potential possibility of
her decision.
 
He knew she would refuse
to be cornered, and his challenge had done just that.
 
He was an imbecile for trying to dictate her
decision.
 
It would only push her into
Nicolas’ arms.

Flashes of their ménage moved through his mind.
 
They had exalted her, given everything of
themselves
to put her on a pedestal.
 
It hadn’t been demeaning or disrespectful in
any way.
 
They had gloried in her body
and had ensured her ultimate pleasure.
 
His upbringing had forced notions of disrespect in his head.
 
The church had called it sin, and he’d
accepted it.
 
He’d found the church had
been wrong on many occasions over the years, so why wouldn’t it stand to reason
they were wrong on this account as well?

Could they become a family of three?

He and Nicolas were already family.
 
They were practically joined at the hip.
 
If Britt chose him over Nicolas, where would
that leave Nicolas?
 
Would he would stay
with them and see the love and intimacy between them and not allow it to fester
inside his heart?
 
Matthias wouldn’t stay
to watch Britt in Nicolas’ arms.
 
It
would be torture beyond what he could compare.
 
If he walked away, he would be walking away from his brother.
 
It was a no-win situation.

Forcing her to make a decision would tear his
friendship apart.
 
They would never be
the same afterward.
 
Britt’s suggestion
would allow him to have his woman and his friend in his life.
 
But then there was also Britt.
 
She didn’t know the full truth and once she
did, she might not want either of them.
 
Making decisions in his head was pointless if the truth wasn’t yet
shared.
 

Matthias knew she had to be
Gaia’s
daughter.
 
Nicolas had left it open to
possibility when he’d spoken to Britt, but they knew the truth.
 
It stared them down in her blue swirling
eyes.
 
No human had that kind of power,
and Gaia had already alluded to the fact she wasn’t wholly human.
 
Why would Britt have been dropped in their
laps if she weren’t fated to be in their life?

There was no going back for her.
 
She would be under their protection until the
Illuminati plans became apparent and the war that beckoned was finished.
 
Britt was theirs, as long as their forever
was.
 
She just needed to see that.

A ringing phone shattered the silence, Nicolas jolting
from his sleep.
 
Darkness had fallen
around them as he drove and they’d slept.
 
Nicolas pulled his cell from his pocket and sleepily said hello.
 
Quiet conversation followed.
 
The seer had been hurt trying to save Michel,
a sword stabbed into her gut as they’d fought off an Illuminati attack at the
airport.
 
They needed the healer to save
the woman’s life.
 
They needed Britt.

“Hit the gas, Matthias.
 
The woman’s life hangs in the balance.”

Matthias punched the already racing car, allowing the
beast of a machine to coil around the twisting roads.
 
The odometer pushed past one hundred, the car
screeching around each corner as he barely slowed.

“It appears the woman is both Gabriel and Michel’s
lover.
 
They’re despondent over her
injury.
 
The fact she thrust herself on
the sword to save Michel—”

The words dropped heavily in the air, the emotion they
felt for their brutalized brother filling the car.
 
Michel had been tortured many years before by
a woman he loved.
 
Since then, he’d never
trusted enough to give all of
himself
.
 
He trusted his brothers, but he’d always
insulated himself, even with them.
 
If
Michel had finally found the woman that had unlocked his soul, she must truly
be miraculous.
 
And if he lost her,
Michel might never be the same.

Matthias thought of the potential of losing Britt, and
his chest ached.
 
He would not put
Gabriel and Michel through that.
 
He
punched the accelerator even harder, pushing the machine to his and its
limits.
 

As they barely rounded a corner, Matthias heard a
clattering in the back.
 
Britt popped her
head up moments later and looked drowsily around at the roads.
 
“Are you insane? Or are you
trying
to kill us?”

“We need to get to the castle.
 
A woman is hurt, and we need you to save
her.”

“Who is this woman?”

“Someone very special.
 
She can’t die.”

****

Someone very special.
 
She can’t die.

Britt allowed that statement to wash over her for a
second before she was thrown to the other side of the backseat as they rounded
a hairpin turn.
 
Matthias was driving
like a madmen, so apparently, the woman meant something to him, enough to risk
all their lives to get to her.
 
Was there
a woman in their lives that she didn’t know about?
 
Granted, she had only known them for a short
time, but she hadn’t sensed a connection to anyone else when she’d touched them
before.
 
Uncertainty filled her and made
her question her resolve.
 
Was this the
reason they hadn’t told her all of the truth?

She settled back into the seat and clasped her
seatbelt around her to prevent from sliding all over the backseat.
 
Britt refused to allow her mind to generate
what if scenarios.
 
It wouldn’t be
productive.
 
She would hold on for dear
life, hope Matthias would get them there in one piece, and then see what
happened when she came face to face with this someone special.

Soon after they went around another cliff-hanging
corner, a castle appeared on the side of a cliff in the distance.
 
“Is that our destination?”

Nicolas turned to her and nodded.
 
“It is owned by our brother, Alain
d’Albon
.
 
We will
find safety there.”

“I thought we were going to see Thierry.”

“We tend to fight in pairs, to keep an eye on one
another.
 
Thierry and Alain have fought
alongside one another for many years.
 
They’re both there, as well as four other of our brothers.”

 
So she’d be
meeting the family, as it were.
 
She
wasn’t sure she was ready to jump into a throng of people and have them know
what she could do.
 
For years, she’d kept
her gift a secret, something only she knew about.
 
It had been an incredible revelation for
Matthias and Nicolas to find out what she was.
 
The freedom it had afforded was comforting, but outside their small
circle, she didn’t want it broadcast to the world.
 
Apparently, her two knights had already spilled
the beans.

The car quickly closed in on the castle.
 
She wouldn’t be given time to mull over what
needed to be done.
 
They came to a
screeching halt inside a small bailey, the electric gate having opened for them
as they’d driven up the lane.
 
Four large
men strode out the front door, all with broadswords in hand.
 
The men surrounded the car, and Britt
hesitated, her hand frozen on the door handle, unsure if these were friends or
foes.

Nicolas and Matthias jumped from the vehicle, clasping
quick handshakes from the armed men.
 
Nicolas wrenched open the back door and held out his hand to her.
 
She looked at his large, powerful palm,
afraid to take it.
 
Once she left the
safety of the car, her secret would be known.
 
But a woman’s life held in the balance as well, and she could not ignore
that, either.

“We will be safe here.
 
I won’t let any harm come to you.”

She looked to Nicolas’ gaze and knew he meant it, but
revealing what she was hadn’t been in her plans. “Do they all know what I am?”

“Yes.”
 
He frowned.
 
“They are knights just as Matthias and I
are.
 
They will guard your secret with
their lives. They know how special you are.”

Britt took his hand and lifted from the seat.
 
She felt all eyes on her and wanted to fade
away.
 
All four men were covered in cuts
and blood, fresh from the fight the woman had apparently been hurt in.
 
Nicolas pulled her close, giving her his
strength.
 
One of the four came forward
and offered her a hand.

“I’m Thierry.
 
To my right is Alain.
 
This is his
home.
 
On the other side are Henri and
Lucian.
 
We are all very glad to meet
you, and I apologize for the hurried introduction, but upstairs, Gabriel and
Michel are with their woman,
Kadence
.
 
She’s been hurt badly and could use your
help.”