Shadowstorm (The Shadow World Book 6) (2 page)

Once again, David felt a surge of anger…bordering on rage…at the elder Prime. If Deven wanted to hate himself and live in misery, fine—it was his MO, after all. As his lover David had tried for ten years to help him, and Jonathan had done the same for seven times that long, but neither had succeeded. Doing this to Nico was unforgivable. Nico had given up his entire life to save Deven’s...and this was his reward, to barely live at all, chained to someone who hated him, and the world, but nothing so much as himself.

While the others had tried various ways to talk to or otherwise engage Deven, David had stayed away from him, which wasn’t hard given he was rarely seen by anyone at all. David didn’t trust himself not to throttle Deven or at least say things that would make the situation even worse. As it was, all he had to do was think about him and his teeth started to ache with the need to tear out a throat.

“Hold on there,” Nico said quietly, looking at him with a slight smile. He lifted a shaky hand and laid it against David’s face. “Don’t do that to yourself.”

“Sorry.” David took the hand and kissed it, then rubbed it between his own, trying to warm the fingers. “It’s just…you know how I feel about seeing you in pain.”

The smile turned sweet. Nico kissed him lightly on the lips. “That’s because you are wonderful, my lord.”

“So are you.”

Nudging the books out of the way, David shifted closer and drew the Elf into his arms, trying to give him as much warmth as he could. Nico burrowed close, and for a while neither spoke.

They had found a few things that helped the Elf cope, and physical affection was at the top of the list. He had Stella, of course, who spent at least two nights a week in his room. David spent as much time with him as he could spare, though unlike Stella he wasn’t sleeping with him; and every few weeks, Kai visited from Avilon.

The Elven Weavers had banded together and generated enough power to send Kai to Earth, hoping that Nico would be able to send him back once he’d ascertained that his twin was safe. Seeing Kai had been so good for Nico that Miranda had convinced him to find a way for the Bard to come back, and Nico had gathered power from Stella, David, and Miranda to create something called a Gatestone that would open a portal directly to Avilon whenever Kai wanted one. Nico had been unconscious for five days after performing the spell.

David had thought a visit home might also do Nico a lot of good…until Kai had told Miranda privately that it would be impossible.

When they found out what Nico had done—turned into a vampire, something unheard of that went against everything Elves supposedly stood for—the Avilon ruling council declared him an abomination…and excommunicated him.

Nico didn’t know yet. They had agreed not to mention it unless Nico brought up the idea of going home, but so far, he seemed to feel the same way the council did, and didn’t want his old friends to see him as he was now.

“Maybe you should call him,” David said into Nico’s hair. “Your brother.”

Nico chuckled. “You don’t even like him.”

“That’s because he’s an arrogant dick. But to be fair people have said that about me most of my life too.”

“Well that isn’t fair at all,” Nico replied. “You’re far less of a dick than Kai. And I wouldn’t call either of you arrogant, just…extremely self-assured. You’re a powerful being who knows he is and owns every inch of it, and Kai has been an object of fascination since birth.”

“Fine, then, I’ll take back arrogant. But dick still stands.”

“No argument.”

David went on, “The point is, no, I don’t especially like your brother, but that’s irrelevant. You need him, and he obviously adores you. Whatever it is that binds twins together is particularly strong with you two, and the minute he gets here you look and sound a thousand times better. That alone is worth a bit of dickishness.”

Nico smiled up at him. “He’ll be back in a few days—there are festivals and rituals practically every night during the harvest season. As the lead Bard he has to organize all of it.” At David’s dubious expression, he added, “In our tradition the most talented Bards are ranked on par with the high priesthood…and my brother is very, very talented.”

“So I hear.” There was another pause before David said, “I should leave you to your evening.”

“You’re looking at my evening. I don’t have the energy to be up and around…and I haven’t worked on this nearly enough. I could have been finished months ago if I weren’t laying around feeling sorry for myself.”

Irritated, David flicked the Elf’s ear, eliciting a yelp and then a quiet laugh. “Don’t start that. You’re ill, Nico. You’re doing the best you can—and it’s not as if Morningstar has made a move lately.”

“I just have so much trouble concentrating…” Even as he said the words Nico’s voice became slightly slurred with sleepiness, and he became a greater weight against David’s shoulder. Some nights were better than others, but often it seemed almost like the Elf had been drugged. Tonight, he all but crawled into David’s lap, desperate for warmth and connection, and murmured, “Stay a little while…please.”

“Of course I will. You rest. Let me move all of this off the bed.”

He twisted so he could lay Nico down and then gathered up the books and set them on the bedside table where they usually were when not in use. David stretched out next to him, pulling him close again.

“I’m sorry,” Nico murmured.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,
caraia
.”

Nico smiled, eyes closed. “Your accent is getting better.”

“I’d be learning a lot faster if you didn’t distract me.”

“Distract you how?”

The Prime laughed quietly. “You should have warned me Elvish was so sexy.”

“You have very interesting predilections, my Lord.”

“Tell me about it.”

David waited about twenty minutes after Nico had fallen asleep to gingerly untangle himself and leave the room. He told himself the delay was to make sure the Elf was all the way under, but he had learned the hard way not to deny having feelings for someone, and he had a lot…God, did he have a lot…for Nico.

He certainly hadn’t owned up to it until Miranda had informed him quite bluntly that he wasn’t fooling anyone, not even himself—but he admitted openly now that he was…what was the word the Queen had used? Twitterpated.

The realization had left him terrified, no longer knowing how to act around the Elf, or how to talk to Miranda about it. This kind of thing simply wasn’t in his wheelhouse—he’d learned a lot from his Queen about the heart, but his own was still a willful little bastard who spoke one of the few languages he didn’t. Miranda hadn’t been upset about his flirtation with Olivia—but his feelings for the Elf were much, much worse than mere attraction. That was a whole different beast, and not one he’d anticipated they would have to deal with yet. Sex could be negotiated, could be fit into a structure of rules; love, however, was its own master, and the master of all it lay down with. He couldn’t deny it, especially not to the strongest empath on the planet.

Miranda had been right when she’d predicted his relationship with Olivia would stay at an affectionate friendship level, with neither really inclined to push things. They had the kind of close friendship both Primes desperately needed, and talked on the phone at least twice a week. He had missed that kind of friendship so much since Faith had died…but he had also learned from his mistakes, and had laid his attraction to Olivia out on the table as frankly as he could, insisting on mutual honesty.

He only wished he could have done the same with Faith—pushed for open discussion, gotten things out, so that they could have dealt with them together and grown stronger as friends. It had worked with Olivia.

He’d asked Miranda if she thought the same would happen with Nico.

Miranda had snorted and gone back to her guitar.

Those first few weeks before Nico’s strength had faded, David hadn’t really been aware of any growing attachment to the Elf, so he’d missed the opportunity to act on it. Nico no longer had the energy for sex…but that was just fine with David. He didn’t have to worry about things moving too quickly, and there was plenty of time for the Pair to figure out how they were going to deal with it.

Before he left, he added another log to the fire and another blanket to the bed, and kissed Nico on the forehead. A smile flickered on the Elf’s lips, but he didn’t stir. For a centuries-old being, he looked so young and vulnerable. David let his index finger follow the line of the tattoo on Nico’s face, then moved away with a sigh.

Then he returned to his own suite, where Miranda was awake and dressed. He had to pause and watch her for a moment before she acknowledged he was there—over their brief span of years together he’d seen her covered in blood and sweat after a battle, flushed and trembling after five hours of intense lovemaking, fierce and mesmerizing on stage with her guitar...but one of his favorite Mirandas was this one, freshly showered and wearing one of his t-shirts, wet hair held back in a large pronged clip that looked like it was on the verge of running for the hills. Her face was caught in concentration as she stared down at her laptop, the light from the screen making her green eyes glow. She always bit her lip when she was reading. Everything from her expression to the curve of her back made his heart turn somersaults.

Next to her was the cat she had rescued two years ago, whom she was rubbing absently with her purple-polished toes. The grey tabby, no longer tiny and adorable but rather enormous and ill-tempered, ignored everyone but the Queen, though she acknowledged David on occasion if she was feeling magnanimous. They had a sort of détente in which he pretended not to notice when he woke up with a cat on his stomach, and the cat pretended not to know how she got there and walked off in a huff, digging her claws in when she jumped down for good measure.

David hadn’t been thrilled when Miranda brought the cat home—even knowing how she had come to do so. The Queen hadn’t been able to heal anyone again since; that power seemed to be partly asleep, much the way Nico was constantly partly asleep. Once David explained that he didn’t really like cats, but if she really wanted the sorry little creature he’d learn to live with it as long as he didn’t have to deal with the litter box, Miranda had let him name the cat as a peace offering.

She really should have known she’d regret it. She now had a cat named Jean Grey.

“You can’t keep that shirt,” he said with a grin as he closed the door behind him. “It’s part of my fictional educational institutes collection.”

Still looking at her screen, she smiled. “I know, I know.” She glanced down at the shirt, which boasted the crest of Ravenclaw House, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. “This one, the Jedi Academy, Starfleet Academy, Top Gun, Sunnydale High, Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters...oh, and the University of Gallifrey, which doesn’t exist.”

“Well, none of them exist, that’s the point.”

“You know what I mean, you dork!”

He laughed, but his frustration from earlier crept into the sound. Miranda looked up, saw his face, and cringed sympathetically. “That bad?”

He sighed and dropped into his chair. “I don’t know what else we can do.”

“He’s strong,” she said. “He’ll make it through this…something has to give, and I don’t think it’ll be him.”

“I don’t know where you get that much optimism.” He sat forward and leaned elbows on knees, shaking his head. “I want to think things can get better, but…I know Deven. He doesn’t get over things. He’s his own archenemy…and you know what he’s like in battle.”

“Then we need to try something different,” she said. “If there’s any part of him that’s still alive on the inside, there has to be a way to reach it. Now that it’s been a few months since we tried, we might catch him off guard. Even if all we do is make a tiny crack, create a weak spot, maybe he’ll do the rest.”

“How do you suggest we do that?”

Miranda set aside her computer and pulled the cat onto her lap, who promptly rolled onto her back and stuck both back feet in the air, demanding belly scratches. “I don’t know,” she said. “We can start by figuring out what he’s doing every night. I know he’s going into town—Chris is driving him. She says he gets out at the same place every night, but knowing him he has her drop him off a long way from where he’s actually going. We can track his com from that point.”

“And then we follow him?”

“I will. Whatever he’s out there doing I want to get an empathic read on it. That might tell us where to go next.”

“You’ll need to do it soon,” he pointed out. “You’ll be awfully busy after this week.”

Miranda’s second album had debuted at #1 on the charts and stayed there for weeks; her management had all but begged her to tour, so after a good deal of discussion she and David had decided she would go out for three weeks, playing in small intimate venues where security could be easily handled, with quick runs home every few days so they could rebalance their bond when necessary. The new jet was extremely fuel-efficient, so it wouldn’t be as impractical as the idea had been last time around. She’d stop off in the Haven cities of each of their territories while she was out and make her presence known. David had done much the same earlier in the year, but this would be the first time she’d been to all four.

It was going to be arduous for them both, but Miranda was determined to do it for her fans, she said, the people who had given her such an amazing career. He had about a thousand misgivings, of course, but how could he argue with that kind of love?

Needless to say she would have guards. Lots of guards. Every sword he could spare. The whole thing would be tightly coordinated from start to finish.

Miranda grew silent, thoughtful, hands absently attending to the cat but her eyes on the fireplace, attention somewhere else. The last two years had been hard on her, though that deep inner well of strength she had found had yet to run dry, and despite the fact that her empathy should have made every moment torture, she seemed to be weathering the storm better than any of them.