Sinjin (7 page)

I frowned
. “Whatever. My point is that you touch me once, and you’ll have a stake straight through your heart.”

“Yes, of course, my little tempest,” he replied with
obvious amusement. He brought his index finger to my shoulder and made a big production of touching me but I didn’t respond. I was practicing keeping my cool. “I wonder if perhaps I should enjoy having my testicles in your possession after all …”

I exhaled my annoyance audibly, but didn’t respond to his baiting. I knew better than to continue trying to provoke him. Sinjin enjoyed playing games because they were the best way to disguise
himself, as well as the thoughts that ran through his head. Games were his best method of artifice and the act of distancing himself from those around him. It was as obvious as his ice blue eyes. If I’d met one man like this, I’d met a hundred. He was the quintessential flirt who couldn’t carry on a serious conversation if his life depended on it. And all in the name of self-defense.

“Now we must move on to introductions,” Jolie continued, clapping her hands together gleefully. She apparently thought the meeting was off to a good start. She glanced over at me with a smile before facing the fae king. “As you’ve probably already learned, Bryn, this is
Odran, king of the fae.”

Odran stood up again to his immense and impressive height. The guy was ginormous. I couldn’t help gulping with worry
because if the need ever arose, I wasn’t sure how well I could defend myself against him. And I didn’t mean in terms of an overzealous and out of control libido. I still considered everyone in this room my enemy, and as such, the time would probably come when I could or would be physically pitted against one or all of them. If that happened with Odran, I knew I’d have a hell of a fight ahead of me.

“Ah am pleased
ta make yer acquaintance, sister ta our queen,” he said in a heavy Scottish brogue. Then he just stood there and looked at me expectantly, as if awaiting my own polite greeting in exchange. I just glared at him until he took his seat again.

“This is Trent,” Jolie continued with a smile at the much shorter man sitting beside Odran.
He’s also pretty much a jerk, so you might want to avoid him,
she added in her head. Trent immediately stood up, but there was no sign of friendliness in his face. Instead, he gave me a mirror image of the glare I aimed at him.

Yeah, I picked up on that already,
I thought back to her.
He’s been staring daggers at me since I walked in. And, not only that, but he seems pretty ticked off that things between the two of you didn’t work out.

Really?
she thought back and then frowned.

Yep, his thoughts ran along the lines of picking up with me where he left off with you
only I don’t think he’d be as nice about it.

A scowl colored Jolie’s face and her eyes narrowed as she settled her gaze on
the were.
Don’t worry,
she thought to me.
I won’t leave you with him.

I didn’t peg you as the masochistic type,
I thought back.

“Trent is the leader of the werewolves,” Jolie
piped up, probably after realizing that owing to our telepathic conversation, the silence in the room was becoming obvious.

Trent studied me for another few moments before sitting down, and not saying a word. Then Jolie faced the man standing next to Trent, the emaciated-looking vampire who stood in the far corner of the room. “This is Varick,” she said. “Varick and Sinjin are both leaders of the vampires.”

At the announcement that Varick and Sinjin were
both
leaders of the vampires, I detected a spark of anger emanating from Varick. It flared up and out of him like a red flame before his gaze rested on Sinjin. Sharpening my extrasensory perception, I focused in on the pale vampire, trying to pick up anything else he might unwittingly offer. There was definitely hostility inside him, and even though I couldn’t hack into his thoughts, I sensed an undeniable hatred for Sinjin.

“Hmm,” I mumbled under my breath as the handsome vampire behind me leaned down, placing his face b
eside my ear and breathing his cold air into it.

“Consider yourself blessed that
your sister assigned me to you,” he whispered. “I doubt you would fare so well with Varick.”

“I’m not so sure how well
you
fare with Varick,” I whispered back smugly. “From what I can tell, the guy can’t stand anything about you.” I smiled more broadly as I turned around to face him but the smile faltered on my lips as soon as I gazed into his ice blue eyes. They were absolutely captivating and I forgot myself for a few seconds.

“Cannot stand anything about me?” Sinjin repeated with a grin that said he couldn’t care less.
“Interesting indeed.”

“Yes,” I responded quickly, forcing myself to hold his gaze even though I didn’t want to. His eyes were
jarring, they disrupted my focus which only made me angry with myself. “Can’t stand anything about you as in … he hates you …” I piped up, the tone of my voice heavy and heated.

“Hates me?” Sinjin continued, his eyebrows reaching for the ceiling.
But somehow I knew he wasn’t really surprised by my announcement. He was just, again, playing a game.

“Yes,” I answered immediately.
“Almost as much as I do.” I cocked my head to the side, and finally feeling like I was in control of myself again, I smiled at him. “Guess Varick and I do have something in common, after all.”

“
How very thought-provoking,” Sinjin answered with a broad smile that said he was completely unscathed by any of my comments. His gaze traveled down to my bust and paused there. “Hate is a strong word, Beelzebub.”

“Yes it is, Brutus
.”

I didn’t expect Sinjin to laugh
, but when he did, I had to admit, the sound pleased me. It was a deep, rich tone, but even better, it seemed completely spontaneous, unpolished and candid, the way a laugh should be. He quieted again and his eyes settled on Varick. “I am reminded of an old Spanish proverb,” he started, “envy is thin because it bites, but never eats.”

“Why don’t you recite
that proverb to Varick and we’ll see if he’s in an eating sort of mood,” I retorted as Sinjin just chuckled again.

“And this is Klaasje,” Jolie continued, snatching my attention with her persistent introductions. The very pretty vampire with the blue eyes and black hair stepped forward, offering me a sweet smile. Jolie pronounced her name like
“Tasha”, only with a “Kl” at the beginning.

“Pleased to meet you, Bryn,”
Klaasje said in her heavy, Texan accent. Her smile and disposition were so genuine, I had a hard time not smiling back. I didn’t say anything though but just nodded and suddenly felt like an ass for being rude.

Rude?
I scolded myself.
Don’t forget you’re surrounded by enemies, stupid! There’s no such thing as rude here!

“And I am the prophetess,” the woman whose path I’d already had the misfortune of crossing suddenly announced.

“She, who will not be named,” I responded, finding it irritating that she kept referring to herself as “the prophetess,” as if she didn’t have a real name. I heard Sinjin snickering behind me.

“My name is Mercedes Berg,” the prophetess
announced smugly. She stared me down with a pair of stunningly beautiful green eyes. I sensed a powerful magic behind her glare. Even though I didn’t think this woman was any match for Luce, she was still superbly powerful in her own right. That much was obvious.

Remind me not to upset that one
, I muttered to my sister in thought.
It seems someone has an over-inflated sense of self importance.

Jolie looked back at me in surprise. Maybe it was because I was attempting to make small talk with her
or maybe it was because she thought I had balls to say what I just had about her all-mighty prophetess.
Mercedes is very powerful. It’s better to have her on your side, than not. That’s for sure.

Well, no one in this room is on my side,
I reminded her.

Jolie didn’t answer
me but, instead, she turned to face Rand. I wasn’t sure if she planned to introduce him to me as well. Although he and I had never been formally presented to one another, I’d come into contact with him more than a handful of times so it seemed like introducing him would be a waste of time. Before my sister said anything, however, she was interrupted by a timid knock on the door.

Mercedes approached the door and opened it
, revealing a very old woman. “I apologize for my tardiness,” the old woman announced in a soft, high-pitched tone. Her gaze settled on Jolie after she smiled at Mercedes.

“I am sure you had a good reason, Mathilda,” Jolie replied with a beaming grin
that made it apparent she was very happy to see the old woman.

The woman smiled lovingly at Jolie, almost the way a mother would look at her child. When her attention
shifted to me, that same loving expression remained in her eyes. It was such a contrast to the suspicious and angry expressions I’d received from almost everyone else in the room, that it threw me for a moment or two.

“Bryn,” the woman said. Her voice sounded like church bells ringing or the soft plucking of a harp. The way she said my name instantly put me at ease; although moments later, I was right back on edge again.

You shouldn’t feel comfortable here!
I railed at myself.
You’re an outsider, you don’t belong here!
You are surrounded by your sworn enemies, stupid!

The old woman
scrutinized me as if she knew me, and the knowing expression in her eyes was very unsettling. “Who are you?” I asked while experiencing incredibly strong feelings of déjà vu. The feelings perplexed me because I’d never seen this woman before. 

“This is Mathilda,” Jolie answered. “Mathilda is of fae lineage and one of several
people responsible for teaching me everything I know.” Jolie turned to Rand then and smiled at him affectionately, as if to say he was another person responsible for helping her hone her superior skills. He smiled back at her as he ran his fingers down the side of her cheek while I tried not to gag. I wasn’t accustomed to public displays of affection. In our training camps, any sign of outward affection was strictly prohibited and punished.

I
focused on the old woman again. She was very old, but strangely enough, very beautiful too. I sensed that the way I saw her wasn’t really how she appeared—well, not to everyone anyway. As a sensitive, I had no problem reading people easily—as long as their walls were down, and most of them were. With this woman, however, there was a trace of façade that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I didn’t know whether it was a feeling she was sending me, or just an opinion I’d formed on my own. One thing I could see, however, was the enormous amount of magic that flowed through her. It surrounded her in a whitish halo.

Her eyes grasped mine and wouldn’t let go. They were faded green in color, but great depths of power emanated from them. Her hair cascaded about her small frame in silver waves that reached all the way down to her knees.

“You are the spitting image of your sister,” the old woman said as she reached for my hand. Still feeling awestruck by her, I didn’t even flinch when she touched me. Instead, I allowed her to hold my hand between her much smaller ones. Instantly, a feeling of warmth and calm overtook me. “Welcome home, child.” She looked at me as if she’d known me my whole life.

“This isn’t my home,” I said as soon as I remembered myself and my hostile surroundings. I pulled my hand away, but the old woman continued to smile at me, as if I hadn’t offended her in the least.

“You have the courage of your mother and the will of your father,” she said softly.

At the mention of my parents, a bizarre yearning to know more started to fill me. Neither Jolie nor I ever knew our parents. Jolie was adopted as a baby and raised by a foster family, and I was raised by Luce and my people.
Feelings of ache and longing began to billow up inside of me as I thought of the family I’d never known.

Stop, Bryn,
I told myself.

“If you wish to know about your parents, I am eager to inform you,” the old woman continued.

But I immediately shook my head.
Whatever contrived story this old woman tells you, it’s not the truth,
I reminded myself.

No, the truth could only come from Luce, despite how bitter and hard to
accept it might be. Luce had already informed me that my mother was of fae descent, and therefore, a member of the Underworld. In my eyes, my mother had been one of them, one of my enemies. My father, however, was an Elemental.

“I’m ready to return to my room,” I said with calm reserve
as I faced my sister again, feeling like I couldn’t stomach another bald-faced lie from the old woman. All this untrustworthy magic was starting to make me doubt myself.

Jolie nodded at me sadly.

FIVE

“Meeting is adjourned,” Jolie announced. I started for the door, wanting simply to retreat into the solitude of my makeshift sleeping quarters so I could close myself off from the world around me, but Jolie’s voice stopped me. “Bryn and Sinjin, would you mind remaining behind? There’s something I wanted to discuss with both of you.”

With a long, deep sigh, I realized my plans to escape had been thwarted, but I waited behind all the same. I sensed Sinjin’s presence as he walked up behind me, the coolness of his body enveloping mine even though he didn’t so much as touch me. Somehow, Sinjin’s coolness didn’t bother me though.
His body temperature was definitely lower than mine but it wasn’t as though he was ice cold to the touch.

Rand steadfastly remained at my sister’s side, watching her with loving adoration.
Her attention, however, centered on the rest of her council, all now hastily emptying from the room. Odran was the last to exit and closed the door behind him, leaving us to our privacy. Once we had the room to ourselves, Jolie faced Sinjin and me again. “Sinjin,” she started with a warm smile.

I stepped away from the vampire, uncomfortable with
his nearness. I turned back around to face him and caught him looking at my sister. There was something in Sinjin’s eyes that immediately responded to Jolie’s smile. It was no more than a tiny flinch in his otherwise unwavering gaze, but it was very telling all the same. Honing in on him, I attempted to discern his feelings, but, of course, only butted headlong into the steel wall of his defenses. He protected himself well—so well that getting into his psyche was like trying to breach a medieval fortress. Even though I failed to access his innermost thoughts and feelings, I could still detect the remnants of his emotions even though he did his best to keep them bottled up inside, hidden safely beyond a defensive bulwark.

I knew Sinjin was fond of my sister; that much was obvious. His feelings of admiration for her surrounded him like a fog. But when partnered with that flinch I
’d noticed earlier in his eyes, I could tell that fondness wasn’t where his feelings for Jolie ended. No, they went much deeper than that. I continued to study Sinjin: watching the way he eyed Jolie, and how his gaze remained steady and unwavering whenever he stared at her. Meanwhile, I also continued to pick up subtle clues as to his innermost thoughts regarding her. Although I still couldn’t receive very much, owing to Sinjin’s refined skills at keeping his feelings captive behind the barricade of his overt defenses, a warm feeling suddenly overcame me.

And it was at that moment that
I had an epiphany. Jolie was essentially the sun in the abysmal darkness that comprised Sinjin’s life.

Yep, there was no doubt about it—
Sinjin was in love with my sister.

That piece of news stirred a slight jarring feeling deep inside my gut, something that strangely resembled jealousy. Confused and angry over my initial reaction, I immediately shelved the jealous feelings, hoping to use this weakness of Sinjin’s against him. How I would do that
, and when the opportunity might present itself, I wasn’t sure, but I definitely recognized a chink in Sinjin’s armor that begged to be explored and revisited later. I filed this bit of information into the back of my head, to be investigated at another date.

One of the first lessons,
and one of the utmost important, that I’d ever learned in my training as an Elemental was to discern any weaknesses in my enemies. And once I identified said weaknesses, I was to exploit them.

I had to smile when I thought that I was well on my way to discovering exactly what made Sinjin tick and using that confidential information to my advantage. 

“I would like you to assume responsibility for Bryn as her guardian as of this evening,” Jolie addressed Sinjin. He immediately nodded, his eyes still transfixed on hers and unwavering. I watched Rand cover Jolie’s right hand with his own, his attention also captured by the vampire. However, whereas Jolie looked at Sinjin with an expression of happiness and sincere friendly love, Rand’s eyes were narrowed into a hard expression. Maybe there was more to this triad than I’d previously considered. Honing in on Rand, I accessed my powers of telepathy. I was immediately blasted with heat, as if I’d just walked from an air-conditioned room into a hot Las Vegas summer day.

“Of course, my
queen,” Sinjin respectfully answered. “I will happily assume my post as of this very evening.” The vampire smiled at my sister, but it wasn’t a friendly smile. It was laced with sexual innuendo, pompous self-confidence and libidinous thoughts. It was the same expression Sinjin wore whenever he was in my company.

Glancing back at Rand, I had to ignore the anger I felt coming from him because it only clouded his innermost thoughts. Weaving through his self-imposed cloud of resentment, I focused all my concentration on him, attempting to read his emotions. As soon as I became rapt in my efforts, his thoughts completely engulfed me. His anger was commanding him, and he wasn’t doing a very good job of hiding anything, really.

I detest the way Sinjin looks at you
, Rand said to Jolie through the bond that united them.
You are his queen, but he looks at you more like you were his prey. It is highly presumptuous and insolent.

Rand, we’ve been through this,
she telepathically replied.
Sinjin already knows where I stand where you’re concerned.

Yes, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have ulterior motives. Sinjin seeks power, Jolie, and
he always has. Despite the ‘friendship’ you believe you have now with him, a leopard can’t change its spots. Sinjin has been and always will be out for himself; although I’m convinced he still harbors passionate feelings for you.

Don’t be silly,
Jolie answered as she figuratively waved Rand’s concern away.
Sinjin knows I’m pregnant with your baby. He knows we’re bonded, too; and most importantly, he knows I’m truly, madly and deeply in love with you.

Rand inhaled audibly and smiled with tenderness and love at his mate. She patted him on his knee with the hand that wasn’t currently taken beneath his. Tugging my attention away from
them, I began pondering the information I’d just uncovered. The candor in Rand’s thoughts actually surprised me, since I figured Jolie must have briefed everyone that I could read minds.

The sooner I can call you my wife, the better,
Rand continued
. Perhaps our marriage would dissuade the bloody vampire from looking at you as precociously as he does!

Rand, it’s just the way Sinjin is. I don’t believe he knows how to interact with women in any other fashion. It’s just his way.
Then she smiled with delight.
And as to the subject of our marriage: Christa is advocating that the four of us have a double wedding.

I wasn’t sure who Christa was, but figured I’d probably find out at some point, not that I really cared to.
Anyhow …

Well, perhaps, you can convince her to speed up the date of her nuptials,
Rand added as he glanced at Jolie and offered her a sexy smile
. I am an impatient man!

Tuning out of their private conversation, which was venturing into vomit-inducing territory, I considered the nature of Sinjin and Rand’s relationship. As far as Rand was concerned, he didn’t like Sinjin and certainly didn’t trust the vampire.
Initially, I found it curious that Rand was so convinced the dapper vampire was only out for himself, but the more I thought about it, the more his opinion immediately made sense to me. In my experience, most vampires were out for themselves. More importantly, Rand was exactly right about Sinjin harboring feelings for my sister because even I knew he absolutely did. Jolie was either hopelessly naïve to deny it, or maybe it was more a case of wishful thinking on her part. Clearly, she cared for the vampire in some fashion, even if she didn’t reciprocate his ardor.

Despite the extent of Jolie’s feelings for Sinjin, or his for her, one thing I knew was that Sinjin absolutely couldn’t be trusted. He was a snake if ever I’d met one. His easy manner and cool, calculating confidence were purely facades. Even though I couldn’t penetrate the safeguard of his defenses, I’d already received enough clues to learn that what existed in Sinjin’s mind was very different to how he tried to present himself.

Hoping Rand and Jolie’s vomit-inducing mental conversation was finally terminated, I concentrated on Rand again. I hoped to glean more clues regarding the impenetrable vampire from Rand, since Sinjin clearly refused to allow me anything. Although I didn’t get actual words or images from Rand’s mind, I sensed there was a long history between the two of them; and I also deduced that their shared history wasn’t a particularly happy one. I was offered no clues regarding the specifics between Sinjin and Rand from Rand’s bank of memories, but I definitely felt that Sinjin had to have wronged Rand at some point in the past. That notion came from the deeply embedded anger that flowed rampantly through Rand whenever he thought about the vampire. That anger hinted to a long and difficult former relationship with Sinjin. Whatever had happened between Rand and Sinjin was a mystery; one I definitely intended to solve.

With an inward smile, I realized the creatures of the Underworld weren’t quite as much of a united front as I
’d previously thought. It seemed as though each faction of creatures was somehow prejudiced against one another and allowed that disharmony to exist even in Jolie’s council of advisors. And warring factions from within a kingdom were definitely a weakness, if ever I’d seen one.

Do you really think you’d actually be able to use all this information against Jolie?
Your own sister?
I asked myself.
If it comes down to it, Bryn, whatever you’re learning about her people now could mean the destruction of not only them, but her too!

I am fully aware of that,
I retorted mentally before that irritating voice inside my head decided to pipe up again.

Jo
lie is your own flesh and blood …

But I had to force those thoughts aside because I knew if Jolie were in my situation, she would do exactly the same thing I had to do. She would devise a way out of her predicament and her plan would, no doubt, include a report of all our comings and goings to her own people. Even though I didn’t know how or when I would see my
tribe again, my plan remained the same. At the end of the day, the ties that my sister and I had to our own people were much thicker than the blood she and I shared.

My attention centered on my sister and Rand as a wave of melancholy snatched me momentarily. Despite my acknowledgment that Jolie and Rand were my sworn enemies, I had to admit Rand was a good man, even if his convictions were wrong. It was clearly obvious that he loved my sister. Although I didn’t know why, I felt a bit grateful to Rand for loving Jolie as much as he did. The feelings didn’t make sense to me right away; but after I thought about them longer, I knew that even if Jolie were on the wrong path, in her heart and core, I believed she was a good person. Who knew? Maybe with enough training, we could wash her head of the lies and propaganda that the Underworld had forced her to believe all this time. Maybe there would come a day when Jolie could be one of us, an Elemental. Maybe
, for that matter, there would come a day when we could truly be the sisters we were born to be.

Jolie faced me with an expression of concern, as if whatever she had to say wouldn’t please me. “With Sinjin now serving as your guardian, Bryn, he must be able to track you in case you should
decide to try and escape,” she started hesitatingly with a deep exhale. Immediately, I knew where she was going.

“He already drank my blood,” I nearly interrupted her
, fully aware that the only way for a vampire to track someone was by drinking her blood. Throwing my hands on my hips, I scowled at her. “And that was the first and last time a vampire will ever feed on me,” I added.

“Unfortunately for you, beautiful heathen,” Sinjin
interrupted as he stepped in front of me to make sure he had my attention, or so I assumed. He stared down at me before a pleased smile appeared on his full lips. “Having sampled your blood so long ago, my tracking instincts could be quite impaired … that is, were they put to test.”

“I don’t give
a sh—” I started.

“I’m sorry to have to do this, Bryn,” Jolie interrupted. She faced me with a pitiful expression in her big blue eyes. They were exactly
the same as my own eyes, an observation which suddenly filled me with ire. It was unfair that my own flesh and blood would subject me to something that clashed against every fiber of my being!