Part 14 (2/2)
And she didn't want to be just an... an obligation. He was so bound to his horrible compa.s.s they would never suit. Suit? They had no future together. She was weakening enough to imagine he might care enough to stay with her. Not likely. So he might as well go and be done with it. ”Very well. Your mother will escort me.” She had no intention of waiting around for his mother to pack what would no doubt be enormous trunks and muster an entourage for a stately journey back to England. But he need not know that.
His shoulders relaxed visibly. He looked at her, once, with such tristesse in his eyes it startled her. And then he smiled. ”Thank you. Thank you for that.”
She looked away.
He hopped on one foot and then the other as he pulled on his boots. ”I'll see if Mother has received the draft,” And he was gone.
She found herself somehow sitting on the carpet in a pool of blue silk just where she'd been standing, as though she'd been deflated.
That was it, then.
Chapter Twelve.
His mother was sitting at her writing table when Gian burst into her apartments. The deep rose satin of her dress spread out around her in l.u.s.trous folds.
”Did you get the draft?”
Her quill scratched across the heavy paper for almost a minute before she deigned to answer. Gian had a premonition of trouble.
”Yes,” she said finally, sitting back. ”As you would know if you were not locked up day and night in our young guest's room doing who knows what.” She frowned at him. Then she sighed. ”Or I suppose everyone does know what.”
Gian flushed. ”I did not mean to make trouble for you.”
”You never do, cara mia.”
He took a breath. He must go carefully here. She wanted to take the stone to Mirso for him. He couldn't allow that. ”I crave a boon, Mother.”
”I suspected as much.” She looked him square in the face. ”You intend to go to Mirso and you want me to take care of your lady love.”
”Yes.”
”You are an honorable man. I'm proud of that. But in this case I must insist that I go with you.” Her eyes turned pleading. ”You are my son, Gian. Precious to me and made more precious by the fact that children are so rare for us. So I will see you through this mission of yours. Your paramour can stay here until we return. Elyta won't pursue a mere human.”
”Kate won't stay without one of us to keep her here.” He ran his hands through his hair. ”Don't you understand? If anything happens to her, my life will mean nothing to me.”
”If something happens to you, I would be the same.” Her voice was adamant.
He chewed his lip. Should he tell her? How could he not? It might be the only way to get her to stay with Kate. ”I'll be safe from Elyta.”
”And why is that? She's older.”
”I... I have been exhibiting some unusual... abilities under duress.”
His mother frowned. Then she sighed. ”Fires?”
Gian's mouth actually fell open. ”You knew?”
”You are what they call a 'firebrand.' That's why Rubius sent you to North Africa.”
”But... but I only began starting fires in Algiers. How did you know?”
”Actually,” she said, putting down her quill, ”you didn't realize it, but you started fires the moment you came into your powers at p.u.b.erty. That's why I had you train with that Zen master. To gain control.”
”Why didn't you tell me?” He felt betrayed.
”The first flush of hormones always brings it on in a powerful one. We thought it would pa.s.s. Rubius warned me that in your case it might return.”
Warned. That was an ominous word. ”So I gather it isn't the best news to have your only son declared a firebrand. Are there many of us?”
”I have known of only one. And that was long ago. He... died.”
”How?”His mother cleared her throat and looked away. ”His moods began to be... unpredictable. He started fires everywhere, anytime...” She trailed off. The vampire had gone insane.
”They killed him, didn't they? The Elders?” Of course they did. He didn't fit the Rules.
She nodded. ”But it doesn't have to be like that. I told Rubius that even if we couldn't suppress it, you could learn to control it.
It... it could be useful even.” She didn't believe that. He could see the worry in her eyes. Maybe that was why she didn't want him going to Mirso alone. Maybe. Rubius and the Elders would kill him too. And if they did not? Was he doomed to sink into insanity, starting fires everywhere he went? It occurred to him that he had lived his life for the Rules, when by his very nature he was outside them.
”At any rate,” he said. ”I can keep Elyta at bay. Keep Miss Sheridan safe until I return.”
She rose and gripped his arms. ”I can't let you go alone. You know that. Elyta will bring others. Even your abilities as a firebrand will not save you. How can I stand by and risk the stone falling into her hands?” She shook her head. ”No. You will thank me for this in the end. And when it is over, your light o' love will be waiting for you.”
He stared into her liquid brown eyes. She meant what she said. He bowed his head. ”Then be ready to leave tomorrow night, Mother. We travel light and fast. No carriages. You'll have to ride astride if you're to keep up with me.”
”I can ride you into the ground.” She smiled.
”And the draft?”
She opened the drawer to her desk and took out an envelope. ”Perhaps you should wait to give it to her until we return. That will keep her here.”
He set his lips. ”I gave my word.”
”Oh, well then, that's it.” His mother laughed. ”Your honor is a little too precious to you, sometimes.” She handed him the envelope with the draft.
He smiled tightly and turned on his heel. Not too precious. He'd just lied to his mother. He stalked out of the room and shut the doors carefully behind him. He handed the draft to the first footman he saw. ”Give this to Miss Sheridan, with my compliments.
And you,” he called to another, ”order my horse up from the stables.”
He was for Ravenna tonight, now, before his mother expected him to go. Only then could he leave without her. He'd take the jewel to Mirso by sea. He tried to keep his mind on his plans, but they kept darting to the fact that Rubius, the Eldest, had killed the other firebrand. Maybe Rubius had hoped Gian would be killed in Algiers. Was that why he had sent so few to defend it against Asharti's hordes? Mirso did have dungeons. Plenty of them. And Elyta might well be in league with Rubius. Everyone knew he was besotted with her. Who said Rubius would keep the stone from doing damage? Might he not want it for himself? It would make a powerful weapon against other vampires. G.o.d, but he was getting as cynical as Kate.
Kate thought the stone wanted to return to the desert. Stranger things had happened lately than stones wanting things. And if anyone would know what the stone wanted, it would be Kate. She seemed incredibly sensitive to forces unseen.
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