Part 29 (2/2)
”I love him!” she cried. ”What I did-all of it-was out of love for him! Rio will be happier somewhere else, away from all of this violence and death. He will be happier in the Darkhavens, with me. Away from your d.a.m.ned war!”
Rio made the sound in his throat again, more plaintive now. It was unmistakably a sound of agony, although whether it stemmed from physical discomfort or the distress of hearing what was happening around him, was unclear.
Lucan gave a slow shake of his head. ”That's a call you can't make for him, Eva. You didn't have the right. This is Rio's war, as much as anyone else's. It is what he believed in-what I know he still believes in, even after what you have done to him. This war belongs to all of the Breed.”
She scoffed acidly. ”Ironic of you to think so, when you are only a few steps away from turning Rogue yourself.”
”Jesus Christ,” Dante hissed from where he stood nearby. ”You're wrong, Eva. You are f.u.c.king disturbed.” ”Am I?” Her gaze remained rooted on Lucan, s.a.d.i.s.tic in her glee. ”I've been watching you, Lucan. I've seen you struggle with your hunger when you think no one is around. Your facade of control does not fool me.”
”Eva,” Gabrielle said, a voice of calm was.h.i.+ng over the tension in the room. ”You are upset. You don't know what you're saying.”
She laughed. ”Ask him to deny it. Ask him why he deprives himself of blood until he is nearly starving for it!”
Lucan said nothing in response to the very public accusations, because he knew them to be true.
So did Gabrielle.
It moved him that she would rise to his defense, but this moment wasn't so much about him as it was Rio and the deception that would shatter the warrior. Perhaps already had, judging from the increased sawing of the male's bandaged limbs and his struggling to speak past his injuries.
”How did you strike this bargain, Eva? How did you make contact with the Rogues-one of your day trips topside?”
She exhaled with mocking humor. ”It wasn't so hard. There are Minions walking around all over the city. You only have to look.
I found one and told him to put me in touch with his Master.”
”Who was it?” Lucan demanded. ”What did he look like?”
”I don't know. We met just once and he kept his face hidden. He wore dark gla.s.ses and kept the lights off in the hotel room. I didn't care who he was or what he looked like. All that mattered was that he is powerful enough to make things happen. I only wanted his promise.”
”I can imagine what he made you pay for it.”
”It was just a couple of hours with him. I would have paid anything,” she said, no longer looking at Lucan, or everyone else who was gaping at her in disgust, but instead staring down at Rio. ”I would do anything for you, my darling. I would bear... anything.”
”You may have made a bargain with your body,” Lucan said, ”but it was Rio's trust you sold.”
A rasp slipped from between Rio's parched lips as Eva cooed and caressed him. His eyelids fluttered open. There was a shallow, gasping breath as he tried to form words.
”I... ” He coughed, his wracked body spasming. ”Eva... ”
”Oh, my love-yes, I'm here!” she cried. ”Tell me what you need, baby.”
”Eva... ” His throat worked in silence for a moment, and then he tried again. ”I... denounce... you.”
”What?”
”Dead... ” He moaned, his mental pain no doubt deeper than the physical, but the fierce look in his bleary, bloodshot eyes said he would not be deterred. ”No longer exist... to me... you are... dead.”
”Rio, don't you understand? I did this for us!”
”Leave,” he gasped. ”Never... see you... again... ”
”You can't mean that.” She lifted her head, her eyes darting frantically. ”He doesn't mean that! He can't! Rio, tell me you don't mean that!” When she tried to reach for him, Rio growled, using what little strength he had to shun her touch. Eva let out a sob. Blood from his wounds covered the front of her clothes. She stared down at the stains she bore, then over to Rio, who had now shut her out completely.
What happened next took only a few seconds at most, but it played out as if time itself had slowed to a merciless crawl.
Eva's stricken gaze lit on Rio's weapon belt lying next to the bed.
A look of resolve crossed her face as she lunged for one of the blades.
She raised the gleaming dagger up near her face.
Whispered to Rio that she would always love him.
Then Eva flipped the weapon around in her hand and pressed it to her throat.
”Eva, no!” Gabrielle screamed, her body jerking in reflex as if she thought she could save the other female. ”Oh, my G.o.d, no!”
Lucan held her at his side. He swiftly took her in his arms and turned her face into his chest, s.h.i.+elding her from seeing Eva slice through her own jugular and fall, bleeding and lifeless, to the floor.
CHAPTER Twenty-eight
Fresh out of the shower in Lucan's bedroom suite, Gabrielle toweled off her wet hair and slipped into a plush white terry-cloth robe. She was exhausted, having spent the better part of the day with Savannah and Danika, the three of them helping Gideon attend to Rio and Lucan. Everyone in the compound moved in a state of numb disbelief over Eva's betrayal and the tragic outcome that left her dead at her own hand and Rio clinging precariously to life.
Lucan was in bad shape as well, but true to his word and his stubborn volition, he had left the infirmary on his own motor to rest in his personal suites. Gabrielle was astonished that he had accepted any care at all, but between the other women and herself, there hadn't been any hope of his refusing.
Gabrielle felt a swelling sense of relief when she opened the bathroom door and found him seated on the ma.s.sive bed, his back propped up against the headboard with several pillows. Although his cheek and brow were st.i.tched and bandages covered much of his broad chest and limbs, he was recovering. He was whole, and in time, he would be healed.
Like her, he wore nothing but a white terry robe; it was all the women had permitted him to put on after they 'd spent hours cleaning and patching up contusions and b.l.o.o.d.y shrapnel wounds, which peppered so much of his body.
”Feel better?” Lucan asked, staring as she ran her fingers through her damp hair to push it out of her face. ”I thought you might be hungry once you came out of there.”
”I'm starved.”
He gestured to a squat c.o.c.ktail table in the sitting area of the bedroom, but Gabrielle 's nose had already picked up on the impressive buffet. French bread, garlic and spices, tomato sauce, and cheese wafted from across the room. She saw a plate of field greens and a cup of fresh fruit, even something dark and chocolate-looking amid all the other temptations. She wandered over for a closer look, her stomach growling in antic.i.p.ation.
”Manicotti,” she said, breathing in the pasta's aromatic fumes. A bottle of red wine had been uncorked beside a crystal gla.s.s.
”And chianti?”
”Savannah wanted to know if you had any favorite foods. It was all I could think of.”
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