Keepers of the Flame (6 page)

“I
can take that—” she offered, pushing away from the wall, but the handsome
Faucon stepped forward.

“I
will carry the ladies’ treasures.” He took the cooler and potatoes from Luthan.
“Marian and Calli, if you would show the new Exotique Medicas the way to the
suite under Alyeka’s.”

Calli
sniffed. “We argued, all wanting you near. Thealia won, but that was when there
was one of you.” She shrugged. “Circumstances change rapidly in Lladrana.” She
shot a glance at Bri. “A lot of stairs. You hanging in there?”

“Yes.”
She had to shift back and forth to feel her feet, but she figured she could
manage stairs. The weariness would hold off for a few minutes more.

Faucon
waited for Marian and Calli and their men to precede him then took his place
between Bri and Elizabeth as they followed. Luthan, still bearing the twins’
bags, fell into step.

They
entered the keep and trudged up an endless number of stairs around a tower,
went through a door and marched singly through a narrow security corridor to
enter a wedge-shaped bedroom in purple. There was one huge bed and a smaller
one.

“My
valet has arranged for the extra bed and wardrobe,” Faucon said, sweeping the
room with a glance. “I will put the food in the dining room.” He disappeared
and Bri heard the opening and closing of more doors. When he returned he
glanced at Bri and Elizabeth and winked. “Most defensible.” So he’d seen how
Alexa had salivated over the potatoes, too.

“Where
do you want these, ladies?” asked Luthan, removing the bags and holding them at
arms’ length.

Elizabeth
gestured to a low wooden chest at the bottom of the big, curtained bed. The
room was crowded with the smaller bed, two large wardrobes, a set of chairs,
and love seat, all shoved against the large circular wall under a row of windows.

Bri
tottered a little and Elizabeth was there, wrapping her arm around her waist,
and it felt good to be with her sister again, not alone in this strange dream.

“Thank
you all,” Elizabeth said with the authority of a hospital physician.

“You’re
welcome,” Marian and Calli said at the same time.

“We’ll
leave you alone now, but if you have any concerns, just holler,” Calli said.

“We’ll
be back tomorrow morning,” Marian said.

Elizabeth
nodded at the same time Bri did.

Faucon
stopped before them and raised Elizabeth’s hand to his lips, kissed her
fingertips. “Vel-coom to Lladrana,” he said in heavily accented English. Bri
got the impression it was his
only
English and he’d been saving it.

Then
he kissed Bri’s hand and she sensed great satisfaction from him. He was pleased
he could provide the new Exotiques with amenities. She caught the thought—more
emotion really—
Which one is mine?

Uh-oh.

But
he was gone the next moment, closing the door behind him and Bri was left staring
at it and doubting what she’d thought she’d heard. Sensed. Felt. Oh, hell.

They
were alone. At least inside the suite, Bri hadn’t heard as many footsteps leave
as those who had accompanied them. Guards?

She
supposed she could send a mental probe and figure out who was there. Just the
idea that she was contemplating such a weird action made her stomach twist.

“Bri?”
Elizabeth’s voice was laden with concern.

“I’m
hanging in there. Been a long day.” She wondered if anything would happen if
she braced a hand against the wall that the bed was against. It was either that
or collapse in a heap, so she did so. The pretty pattern wasn’t paper. It was
silk. She shook her head to banish gray exhaustion from her vision and saw that
Elizabeth had checked out two doors and left them open.

“Study.”
Elizabeth pointed left. “Bathroom.” To the right. “Then dining room.”

Bri
stared at the bed. Bigger than a California king. Of course the Lladranans were
a big people, larger than American average, or American big. They pampered
themselves, with beds that big and a damask comforter filled with down atop it.

Elizabeth
sniffed. She had a tissue in her hand.

“Oh,
Elizabeth!” Bri stumbled to her, found her and they held each other and rocked,
as they’d done often when life had overwhelmed them in childhood. Privately,
because this was their own twin thing.

Bri,
I’m frightened.

Me,
too.

You’re
the adventuress. Do you think we’re really somewhere else?

Either
that or the elevator crashed and we have massive trauma and are either in comas
or dead and not moved on yet
.

Choking,
Elizabeth said, “That’s what I thought. Am thinking. I think.”

“Therefore
you is. You always think. But both logic and emotion lead me to believe we’re
alive and functioning and in a different, uh, realm. We’re together, you’re not
in my dream. Or maybe you are. Should I say something I know that proves to you
that I’m me and here?” She thought a little. “I found this really excellent
rock group in Sweden and had an affair with the drummer and even followed him around
on a European tour.”

“You!”
Elizabeth’s head jerked as though from a blow and her arms loosened. Her eyes
were wide with shock.

Heat
flooded Bri from her feet to tickle her scalp. She winced and gave an
embarrassed chuckle. “Yeah. I’m susceptible to lust and infatuation just like
anyone else. He found someone who’d flatter him more and dumped me.” Not the
whole truth.

Elizabeth’s
eyes narrowed and she swept a glance up and down Bri. She raised her hands.
“Hey, I’m all right. I can be sensible. No sexually transmitted diseases. No
pregnancy.”

With
a final scan and a blink, Elizabeth crossed her arms. Bri held out hers again,
and they hugged, stepped back, but kept their hands linked.

“All
right,” Elizabeth said. “That sounds so you, but I never would have imagined
it. Never.”

“Your
turn,” Bri said. “You pretty much acted like I’d expect if this was all my
dream. Prove you’re you.”

Elizabeth’s
jaw clenched. She dropped Bri’s hand, looked away, blushed a fiery red, and Bri
heard her answer telepathically.
Cassidy was—is—into light bondage. And I
liked it, too.

Bri’s
mouth fell open. She stared. Elizabeth’s arms were crossed again and she still
wasn’t looking at Bri.

“You’re
right. That’s something I’d never think of.” Her turn to study her twin. “But
you were both wound too damn tight. I can see…no, I don’t think I want to see.
Just let me ask. One or both of you, um…”

“We
took turns.” Elizabeth’s voice was stifled. She finally met Bri’s eyes and
said, “And you reacted just like I’d expect you to.”

They
stared at each other, then cracked up, falling together again. When they’d
finished with the bout of hysterical laughter, Bri took a tissue, wiped her
eyes, then blew her nose.

“For
the record,” Elizabeth said in a serious tone. “Sexual preferences aren’t
necessarily determined by stress or how ‘tightly’ a person is wound.”

“Huh.
I heard that sometimes high-powered professional women such as yourself—”

“So,
tell me, Ms. Free Spirit. Haven’t you ever done it?”

Again
heat rose in Bri. “I’ll take the fifth, but I will say it never became a
standard sexual practice.”

Elizabeth
smiled wickedly. “We aren’t identical.”

“One
last thing, what’s your favorite number?”

Bri
waited a beat, then said, “Forty-two,” at the same time Elizabeth did. “I think
I have to sit down.”

“The
beds—”

“Definitely
not the bed,” Bri said. “If I hit a bed, I’m gone, and we need to talk. You got
any chocolate in your purse?”

Going
to the chest, Elizabeth took her black healthy back bag and clutched it.
“Maybe.”

“Me,
too. I’ve got a feeling that we’ll have to be careful of it or those others
will pinch it or expect us to share. Let’s see how much.” With slow steps, Bri
reached the chest, then hefted her backpack with the solar panels on it. “Boy,
am I glad I invested in this.” She carefully spilled the contents. Her music
pod, PDA, digital camera, cell, and everything else she needed for a three-day
hike.

Elizabeth
pulled items from every pouch of her bag and lined the objects in little rows,
glanced at Bri’s heap. “That’s it?” she gasped. “Two small candy bars. That is
the extent of your chocolate cache!”

Bri
winced. “I was hungry on the plane. I ate some.”

Elizabeth
took Bri’s pack, shook it. Rustling came. She rolled her eyes. “You just dumped
the bag, didn’t check the compartments.” Nimble fingers delved and found the
unopened bag of the miniature bars Bri had purchased as well as two credit card
holders and a lucky koala bear key chain.

“Oh,
thank God!” Bri snatched the chocolate bag. Tears welled in her eyes. “You are
a wonderful woman, twin.” The words were out of her mouth before she realized
that Elizabeth’s chocolate stash was about twice the size of her own. Elizabeth
still had the unopened bag of her dark chocolate treats, too.

“I
wonder whether the others prefer milk or dark,” Elizabeth said.

Putting
down her bag, Bri sorted her stuff. Electronics, pens and paper, food, water
bottle, wallet and coin purse and loose change, keys, instant coffee, herbal
tea bags…. “I bet it won’t matter. Chocolate is chocolate after all. We don’t
let them know we have it.”

“You
don’t think they have chocolate here?”

“I
don’t want to take the chance.”

Elizabeth
was packing her purse up again, sliding things in their proper pockets. “You’re
right, and my chocolate is mine and yours is yours.”

Bri
sent her a wounded look. “Would I take your chocolate?”

“Yes.”

Sniffing,
Bri said, “You’re right. Better hide it.”

“When
I get home—” Elizabeth stopped, choked, dropped her bag, put her hands over her
face and folded onto the love seat.

“Oh,
honey.” Bri grabbed her own packet of tissues and sat next to her sister. “I
know you’re scared. I am, too. But we’re in this together.”

“I
don’t want to be in anything. Even if you are here.”

Bri
rested her head on Elizabeth’s. She didn’t dare let go of her control or she’d
be asleep in two seconds. “I’m sorry.” She blinked and blinked again to keep
her eyes open.

Elizabeth’s
muscles tensed as she gathered her own control. It wasn’t often Elizabeth broke
down, and Bri could only imagine the emotional roller coaster her twin had been
on lately. Not surprising this hit her hard. It might be hitting Bri equally
hard if her mind wasn’t so fuzzy.

“I
love you, sis, but I don’t know what to say,” she said. “I don’t know how to
help you.”

After
wiping her eyes and blowing her nose, Elizabeth threw away their tissues in a
wastebasket, then said brusquely, “Just weariness. Now let’s get serious. What
sort of meds do we have?” Once again she opened her bag and brought out a small
gold-toned pill box that Bri had given her on their last birthday. She flipped
it open and showed a few over-the-counter analgesics.

Bri
winced. “That’s it?”

“You
know I don’t carry any sort of drugs on my person, and make sure everyone in
the hospital knows that.”

“Yeah,
yeah, good idea.” Bri fumbled through her stuff, withdrew a generic mega-bottle
of American aspirin. “I used local remedies in Sweden.”

“That’s
good.”

Bri
separated a few baggies with a mixture of pills. “Herbs and vitamins.”

“What
kind of herbs?”

“Um,
Rhodiola Rosea.”

“Excellent,”
Elizabeth said.

The
only thing that looked remotely mainstream medical was a series of
tin-foil–wrapped packets with little bumps of pills in them.

“What
are those?” Elizabeth asked.

“Swedish
cat antibiotics. I was taking care of a friend’s cat. It got better after one
week instead of two.”

“What
are the ingredients?”

“I
don’t know.”

They
stared at each other.

“We’ll
have to keep them for emergencies.”

“How
can you think of using—”

“If
it came down to cat antibiotics or death, what would you chose?” Bri said
brutally.

“You
have a point.” Too anxious to sit still, Elizabeth stood and paced along the
lined-up furniture, looking at the night-dark windows facing…what? She’d lost
her sense of direction.

But
the rooms of the Castle didn’t bother her as much as the people, the suffering
people, she’d found here. “Do you really think we can turn this epidemic
around?” Elizabeth asked, not at all sure, frightened of failure.

But
Bri was asleep. She slumped against the back of the love seat, listing toward
where Elizabeth had been sitting.