Authors: Sarah Brocious
Raina watched carefully and weighed her words. "But isn't taking me, blatantly going against Our Sovereignty? Won’t they see this as an attack against them? You went against the contract set up by your own son!" She shivered again as the black eyes held her immobile. She wished he would look away now.
"The contract was created by my son and it was signed by my daughter…not me. She is the one that went against Our Sovereignty. It wasn’t me, little sun.”
“You would use your own daughter?” Raina’s blue eyes were disbelieving. “She loves and trusts you, Richard.”
He laughed. “Oh yes, she does! She has always been a fool, especially when it came to Nolan. She even now believes without you in the picture, Nolan will fall right into her arms." His mouth pulled back in a mocking smile. "But you and I know differently, don't we, Raina? We both know that he will do anything to save you." He leaned forward clasping his hands before him. "I'm also aware that Our Sovereignty will be perturbed at me. I really have nothing to lose. You see, they are already going to try me for your attempted murder and for the attempt on Nolan's life," he scoffed at the word life. "Right now I hold the upper hand, and I intend to keep the upper hand!"
Raina knew real fear now. His words made sense. Richard had nothing to lose and everything to gain through this scheme. "You want Nolan."
Her soft spoken words caused him to grin. "Now that I know who he is? I'm very grateful I didn't kill him."
"Are you going to kill me?" Raina's voice trembled slightly.
Richard stood to his feet and moved toward her. His hands came down and cupped her cheeks. A thumb brushed across her face taking with it her tears. "I will not harm you, little sun. Look at you tremble! It almost hurts, the lack of trust you have in that!" He brushed her bangs from her eyes.
Raina closed her eyes, and indeed she was trembling.
"No, you are too precious to this cause. Nolan is a strong healer. He is the strongest I've ever heard of. His strength is even more powerful with you. So you see, little one, I need the both of you. You will both be an asset to me. If I have you in my care, in my control, Our Sovereignty can't touch me." His eyes darkened dangerously. “Otherwise I would have great joy killing you slowly.”
She felt a course the fear run through her body.
"I'm not sure when we will get Nolan. But I'm thinking not too long from now. I'm nearly certain that he is making his way to you now. What we will do with the two of you once we have you together? I'm not one hundred percent sure. But we will figure it out."
Raina shook her head at him. "What do you mean by we?"
Richard grinned. "I mean my partner and myself."
"You and Elenora are partners now?" she couldn't keep the shock from her voice.
Richard threw back his head and laughed. "Elenora? You think she is my partner?" He held his stomach and gasped for breath as he attempted to control the belly laughs that were coming from him. He wiped tears aside "No, I may be evil but I'm not stupid, little sun. Elenora has her benefits when it comes to completing tasks." He motioned toward Raina as if that were answer enough. “But I am not about to trust her with the plans that I have for you and for Nolan…no, never Elenora!” He shouted again with laughter.
Raina winced and wished that she could rub her temples. "I thought she had something to do with this."
Richard almost looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry about that. Elenora still has not mastered the art of manipulation of the mind minus the headache. She is getting better. It used to be a lot worse. Your friend Thanatos can attest to that."
A pain that was worse than this? Raina found that very hard to believe. And then she felt a stab of compassion for Thanatos.
He nodded. “It was pretty bad!”
Raina wanted to roll her eyes, but kept her eyes steady on him. "So if she is not your partner than who is?" She really didn't expect an answer but it was a question she couldn't resist asking.
"No, no, no, little sun," he chuckled. "No answers for you today. I will save the secret revelations for another day. For right now all you have to do is be a good little girl. Just remain your irresistible self and Nolan will come knocking."
Raina felt her heart drop. She prayed that Richard was wrong. She prayed she was wrong about Nolan. If they were both wrong, then Nolan would be safe.
"You will be fed and kept as comfortable as is necessary," he sighed.
"Is there any way that we could make a deal? Can I drop my charges against you and we call it even?"
Richard dark eyes bored into her. "What's done is done. There are no plea bargains when it comes to Our Sovereignty. Nolan can't take his words back. He made his bed and now thanks to you, he will belong to me. I will be his judge and jury as he chose to be judge and jury over me."
Raina frowned. "It wasn't like he framed an innocent man, Richard. You actually did the things that you are charged for."
Richard’s dark eyes blazed. "Nolan was a stupid little immortal to go against me. His life is worthless now. Well, as worthless as I choose it to be." He smiled with malice. “I will simply use him now until he’s completely used up. Until even you will not want him.”
She shook her head. “That will never happen.”
“It will when he is worthless! I will make him nothing!”
Raina's eyes narrowed and she ignored the pain that throbbed in her temples and behind her eyes. She knew her blue eyes were lit with defiance. "Worthless?” Her voice rose higher than it had since her arrival. She had been shielding herself from the pain noise was causing her, but now just didn’t give a damn. She would defend her Nolan to the death! “You don't even deserve to be in his presence. You do not deserve to share the immortality that you both have. He is the kindest, sweetest, and most worthy immortal. He has the respect of everyone around him. You sir, have none of those things."
“What is this now?” His voice dipped dangerously low.
She knew that she was treading on thin ice…she was tempting wrath at this moment but she didn't care. How dare he speak of Nolan like that! She could feel her insides shaking and she was trying to control more words from flowing from her lips. “Nolan is a worthy being. He will be loved regardless of what you do to him!”
Richard’s brows lifted and a smile crossed his lips as admiration filled his eyes. "It's a beautiful thing. this love that you hold for Nolan. I have to admit, if I actually had a heart, it would be breaking for you. This pure love is like nothing I've ever seen and it works to my advantage.”
Raina scowled at him.
His smile grew. “I call you little sun because of the light and the warmth that emanates from you. It's a constant halo around you. But when you speak of Nolan, I can hardly bear to look at you. It's like trying to look into the sun.”
She blinked disbelief. "What do you mean? I mean, I understand that I appear differently to an immortal but what you mean by looking into the sun?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "Elenora had told me before I meet you that you were one of “those” type of mortals…with the halos and that you that you were sweet and you were good. I thought that she had lied to me when you first appeared. You lit up the entire night. I thought that for sure there was some magic involved. This is why Thanatos little trick worked so well. I had never seen a mortal with such brilliance. I now know that you were like that because of your concern for Nolan. You were so worked up and so desperate over him. Just now, as you spoke of him, you started to light up again. Not like that night, but brighter than usual."
His words disturbed and pleased her all at once. It meant that her love was evident to others and that made her happy. It also revealed to others her great weakness for Nolan. And that could be a weakness to him.
"You feed him and he feeds you," Richard said in a singsong voice. "It is sort of magic isn’t it? You have a magic that is going to make me and my partner very powerful. It will change the way we immortals live. You…a little mortal have the ability to knock us all on our ass when teamed with an immortal I had barely even glanced twice at before this. You are the catalyst of all this."
Raina shivered again for the umpteenth time tonight. She wondered if anything could shock her anymore that she was already shocked. Guilt washed over her. If she had left Nolan well enough alone, he would still be safe! She felt the tears wash warmly down the sides of her face and into her ears.
"Why don't you try to sleep? You are feeling it all catch up with you! Close your eyes! Recover from your ordeal," Richard sighed, seeing her tears. ”No more crying,” he growled gently. He was an evil son of a gun, but he still hated a female tears. "Once Nolan is here, we will be very busy."
"What are your plans for us?" Raina sobbed. She felt a wave of exhaustion roll over her, and the tears increased. She could barely keep her eyes open now. She was sure because of the light outside that she had already slept for hours but he was right, the shock was catching up with her.
"I'm going, at this very moment, to discuss such matters with my partner. Don't you worry your pretty little head."
"I want to know , Richard."
"It's not time for that now little sun. When Nolan is here, then we will discuss your future."
She protested, but he ignored her.
He moved toward the door and paused with his hand at the knob. His eyes glinted, and he gave her a small smile. "We'll discuss the part that both of you will play in the near future. I look forward to working with you."
Raina wanted to argue. She wanted to shout at him and call him every name in the book but her eyelids were growing tired and heavy. Her head was still throbbing with the effects of the mind manipulation. It all became too much for her and she gave in to the bliss of unconsciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, the room was dark. The blinds to her only window were pulled shut. She could see the light of the moon attempting to penetrate the blinds. It gave her little comfort.
She blinked against the darkness, happy that the pain had lifted from her attack. But her face felt stiff from the dried tears on her cheeks at the corners of her eyes. Her eyes felt swollen and she was sure they were red and bloodshot.
"Keep calm," she whispered to herself. The darkness and the restraints tempted a panic attack. Her heart was already doing funny things. That was the last thing that she wanted and the last thing that she needed now that she was alone and could think.
She ran over in her mind all that had transpired since she got here. Richard and Elenora were part of this. That was something that she could wrap her brain around. What she couldn't wrap her brain around was the presence of a partner. Who was his partner? He had referred to it as a secret. Elenora had brought up the secret. Did it have anything to do with what Nolan and Thanatos were hiding from her?
"Well I am going to find out whether they like it or not." She felt a little bit of self-satisfaction over this. Her boys were always trying to protect her from everything. They left her out of most of what was going on. Now it would be impossible for them to hide it from her.
The room grew dark as a cloud moved in to cover the moon's surface. She shivered. Soon after this she heard the falling of rain.
In the summer and in the spring rain always brought her comfort. Right now, in this place, it only brought her dread. Rain at this time of the year meant ice and it also meant traveling would be a bit harder. It meant that it may take longer for Nolan to get to her. If he could get to her….if he wanted to get to her.
Would he come for her? The surety of Nolan being her rescuer just a few hours ago was gone. She suddenly had doubts.
"Why would he even bother to come find me? I'm just a little mortal. Why would he love me enough to come after me?" Raina felt shock at the words that were coming out of her mouth. Why was she feeling this way? How could she believe these things with such conviction when in her heart she knew them to be untrue?
Her heart stammered a bit and then she felt anger flow through her veins. She glared into the darkness.
"What do you want, Elenora?" She said through clenched teeth.
A laugh came from the bunk across the way.
"Oh you are too easy," Elenora laughed again. "You are an open book Raina. If I want to get inside of that little brain of yours I merely have to suggest Nolan and sometimes even Thanatos works. You are a little goodie two shoes and your brain is weak."
"I will never expect you to understand compassion or love Elenora. My brain is not weak. I just have the capacity to care."
She heard Elenora move across the room to the window.
"I used to have the capacity for all of that. But when you have been burned so many times you begin to understand that those things can only bring you harm."
“It has brought me nothing but good,” Raina argued.
Elenora laughed. “Really? Look where you are now! It’s your caring that got you here. Oh you are all rainbows and butterflies…aren’t you sweet Raina?” She opened the blinds and allowed a little bit of the light to come in. She frowned out the window. It was still overcast, but the rain was letting up.
Raina studied the profile of the woman before her. She actually felt compassion and this surprised her. She had never ever imagined she could feel compassion for that she devil. But after hearing what her own father said about her, Raina knew that even Elenora had her reasons for being evil.