The Queen of All Magick: Elizabeth (16 page)

Her body seemed to catch fire. She wanted him there as well. Taking her like an animal
was hard while they were out here. Kim felt his teeth scrape along her throat, and she knew a new kind of need. The thought of him biting her, drinking from her, had her own fangs drop in response. As soon as he sank his fangs into her throat, she came apart, her body erupting in a climax that took her breath away.

His command for her to come again had her screaming. She tore into his shoulder with her fangs and tasted his blood as it filled her mouth. Sucking hard on the wound
, she felt his cum fill her, and her body detonated again. This time she felt her world shatter as she cried out. As darkness took her, she felt a connection like she’d never felt before. They weren’t just a couple, she thought, but one person. Her eyes slid closed when he fell atop her.

The next time she opened her eyes
, she realized she was in bed. Where the bed was, she had no idea, but Rythen rolled to her then, and she didn’t care. Wrapping her arms around him, she held him to her as he settled beside her. She snuggled tightly against his body and heard him laugh.

“I could get very used to this.” She nodded
, just not ready to talk just yet. “Did you know that we’ve never made love like that before? What I mean is, we’ve never made love, period. It was not anything like I thought it would be.”

She lifted her head a little and looked at him. She wasn’t really sure what he meant. He held
out this hand, and she nearly jumped out of the bed when she saw what he was holding.

“Where on earth did you get that?
Did you steal that from Draco?” She touched her finger to the baseball-sized sapphire and felt its warmth. “Is it real?”

“It is. And I didn’t get it on earth. Draco gave it to me
, both of them.” She looked at him and wondered where the dragon would get such a treasure. “It’s his tear.”

“Tear?” She took the gem when he handed it to her. “I thought dragon’s tears turned to diamonds
, not sapphires. I mean, had you asked me several weeks ago if I thought that was true, I would have said there is no such thing as dragons. But now I know there are all sorts of things that I didn’t know existed.” He handed her the diamond as well, this one much bigger than the sapphire.

She
weighed the stones in her hand and was amazed at their weight. When she tried to hand them back to Rythen, he told her they were hers.

“I want to have
the sapphire broken up and a ring made for you. It would be our wedding rings.” She looked at him when he said wedding. “You don’t wish to marry me?”

“No. I mean yes.” She took a deep breath. “I want to marry you
, but don’t break this up. It’s too…I don’t know, perfect for that.”

“Well,
they’re yours to do with whatever you wish.” Hers. He might as well have handed her the moon. It was the first thing she’d owned in her entire life. She was going to think of something great to do with it.

Chapter 16

“What do you mean, it’
s for the building? I can’t take this.” Aaron looked at Logan. He needed the man’s help with this, and he sat there all smug. Young people today had no respect for their elders. When he burst out laughing, Aaron knew a new kind of aggression. “You should at least hide the fact that you’re reading my mind.”

“And what would be the fun in that
? As for you being my elder? Face it, Aaron, everyone is young comparatively speaking.” He sat up in his chair and picked up the large diamond. The thing had to weigh at least ten pounds, and Aaron was sure that the thing would fetch billions if someone were to cut it correctly.

“I want the three buildings on Jackson and the parking garage across from them.”
Aaron looked at Kim, trying to gauge how serious she was. There was something different about her yet….

“You’re breeding.”
She looked at him when he suddenly stood. “Good Christ, you’re going to have a child. How the hell did this happen?”

Logan laughed again
, and the door opening behind him was the only thing that saved him from strangling the man. The rest of the Black team walked in and took seats. Kim looked slightly nervous, but she held herself well. He wanted to pursue this thing with her having a child, but he decided later, after they were alone. Bradley came to her and hugged her tightly, as did the other. It wasn’t until they were all seated that Kim went to the large easel she’d brought in.

“The three buildings on Jackson have been sitting idle for nearly four years. I’d like to purchase them
, as well as the parking garage across the street. As far as we’ve been able to tell, there are no liens on them and no projects slated to go there for now. The tax abatement you have gotten on the buildings will expire in another six years, and then you’ll have to sell or use. I want them.” Kim turned over the first page of her large pad of paper, and Aaron could see that she’d enlisted the help of Aric on her project. He’d know her artwork anywhere. “The first stages of the renovation will begin as soon as we sign off.”

“And how did you find out about the tax abatement?
Have you been snooping in minds when you shouldn’t?” Colin popped Kyle on the head when he spoke.

“
Behave. She’s making a good point.” Colin leaned back and waved her to continue, and she smiled at him. Colin had always had a way with women. And even with a mate, he still could charm them into nearly everything.

“As I was saying, the renovations would begin almost immediately.
The second part of the project—” The door opened again, and Aaron heard Kim say “Thank goodness” before the mates to the men in the room stepped in. Lizzy kissed Kim on the cheek and sat down next to her.

“Should we know what’s going on?”
Everyone looked at him when no one answered Bradley’s question. He had no idea and looked at Sara. She nodded his attention to Kim again.

“We’re going to use the buildings.
Our company…we don’t have a classy name like you guys do yet, but we’re working on it. We’re forming a company to bring new business to the area. Not like you guys are, but shops for entertainment.” She flushed again when Colin winked. Aaron took the file that Lizzy handed him as she picked up where Kim had left off.

“The first part of the buildings are the three here. We’re going to tear down one of them to make room for the open courtyard. There will be live entertainment in the summer at lunchtimes as well as one night on the weekend.”
He looked at the drawings and could see that they’d put a great deal of thought into this. “The Middling Building will be outfitted to have shops on the bottom two levels using the staircase that is there. The man we had looking at it told us that it’s made of mahogany and very sturdy.”

“The upper two levels
….” Another set of pictures was handed out by Shade as she picked up the conversation. “Will be changed into studios. Not apartments, but actual studios. Aric said that with the space and lighting we could easily have six artists per floor at any given time. This will be different than the artisan building we have near the school, in that this one will be for visiting artists and families. That’s what we’d use the third through fifth floors for…apartments for them.”

“Wait.” Logan stood up and spread the pictures he’d been handed on the large
conference table. There were perhaps thirty of them, each of them done so well and with enough detail that Aaron could already see the project completed. Sara handed Logan another stack of pictures, and these were added to the groups. Each of them gathered around the table to look them over.

“
When did you come up with this?” Kyle was looking at the pictures when he asked, and then looked at Kim when no one answered him. “Kim? When did you guys come up with this?”

“The day I met Mr. Gibson there.
I was nervous…I was really nervous, and to pass the time I…we started talking about how the building could be amazing for a place to shop. Once we started gathering ideas, the rest fell into place.” She pointed to the picture that showed the entire project in place. “If you don’t sell us the buildings, we’ll simply find another spot. But our thinking is that with all the businesses you guys have in the area, women would come with their mates if they thought they might have things to do. We haven’t had a lot of time to come up with a solid plan, but we’d talked about a large theater as well as a convention center for others to host things.”

“I’d say if you came up
with this on short notice, then I’m looking forward to what you could do with more time.” Aaron agreed with Logan. There was a great deal of thought and planning in this.

“What do ye think of children?
There donna seem to be much in the way for them here.” Aaron walked to where Colin was pointing and could see that he was right. All the shops they had drawn were mostly for women. Very little, if anything, to entice a man to enter. “Do you think to have a day care?”

He’d been joking
, of course, but Sara stood up and pointed to one of the later pictures. “There is a day center here. It’s not just for young children, but for teenagers as well. A place that will be manned only during shop hours, and with a doctor and nurse on staff while there are children on site. We’ve talked it over and, while there will be some infants of their own born soon, the day center is not going to take infants. It requires too many man hours for them.”

“How do you plan to pay for this?”
Aaron wasn’t going to take the diamond. He knew as well as Logan did that it would not only fund the entire thing they’d planned, but would run it for decades to come. He looked around the room when no one answered him.

“We’re going to help.”
Elizabeth appeared in the room, along with the Fates, Mel, and Morriganna. The witches and the Fates sat down, and Elizabeth went to the pictures. “Very lovely, my dear. I knew you could do this.”

“With magic
, you mean?” Aaron snorted at Elizabeth when she nodded. “And just how will that work? You know that the government doesn’t really have a space to check for magical entity on their forms.”

“Don’t be an ass, Aaron. That’s not what we meant.”
Elizabeth laid a bag on the table in the middle of the pictures. From the sound it made when it hit the table, he’d bet it weighed fifty pounds. He was almost afraid to ask what was in it. “Tears. Smaller than the one that Kim gave you at first, but gems all the same.”

Aaron went to the bag and dumped it. He was right, he didn’t want to know.
Lying there, twinkling up at them, was perhaps a thousand of the most beautiful gems he’d ever seen. Most of them were diamonds, but there were still as many colors and stones as there were in a box of the coloring crayons that he’d seen Mathew use. He looked at Mel when she cleared her throat.

“He would like us to name it for him.
That’s what he said…Draco died this morning.” Aaron sat down hard. The rest of them said nothing as Mel continued. “He’d come to see me last night. He knew of this project, you see, and was happy that his tears were going to go toward making it happen for so many. After a while he told me that he was tired and that…he said that he wished to end his life. I begged him to stay, promised him so much. But it was Rythen…Rythen found his father, and Draco said he was at peace now and wished to die.”

Aaron felt his heart break into so many pieces he
knew that he’d never feel it beat the same again. Draco had come to mean so much to him and his family. He would miss him the most of all the creatures that lived at the castle. As they all seemed stunned by the news, Aaron knew that this project would go through even if he had to fund it all on his own. He stood up just as Phillip, James, and Rythen appeared in the room.

“We’d like to be a part of this project as well.” Another bag was set on the table
, and this one was bigger than the last. Kim picked up the diamond she’d given him and put it on the table with all the other gems.

“
If you turn them down, Aaron Xavier MacManus, I shall never speak to you again.” He smiled at Elizabeth. This wasn’t really a threat because they’d been using it the entire time they’d known each other.

“Now you’ve made it nearly too tempting for me to want to go ahead with it.” When she stood up
, he hugged her to him. “I’m kidding you. I don’t know how we can not sell the building now. We’ll take a vote and see—”

“I say we sell.”
Bradley nodded to the rest of the men. “All who agree, raise your hands.” Everyone raised their hands, including Phillip and James. Rythen pulled Kim into his arms and lifted her up. It was settled.

“And what shall we call this project of yours?”
Everyone looked at Mel when Aaron asked. He’d only meant it to be a way to seal the deal, but he realized then that the name was as important, if not more so, than the project itself. She smiled at him. Oh, he didn’t think he was going to like this.

“How about simply ‘Draco’?”
He smiled at her. He’d been thinking she’d say something like “Dragon’s Tears” or “Draco’s Last Stand.” Both said what it was but were such…well, downers.

Aaron sat down and watched the rest of them as they started
pooling their knowledge together. Elizabeth sat next to him, and he glanced at her. She had something to say to him, and Aaron had a feeling it was going to piss him off.

“Why is it you always think the worst of me?” He looked at her
, and she smiled. “I guess I deserve that. We’ve been frienemies for a long time, haven’t we?”

He laughed at her use of the words. They had been
friends and at times enemies, too. He pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed it. He really did like the old bag.

“I’ve been thinking about the day at the hospital. The day you asked me to sign for her. Why did you do that?”
He looked at her, then at Kim. “You knew then, didn’t you?”

“I’d been…
let’s just call it ‘coached’ into making it happen.” He looked at her again. “You love her, don’t you? Like your own child? I wasn’t told incorrectly, was I?”

“No. You weren’t.
And I do love her. She is…I was going to say she is saving my life, but we both know that you did that all on your own.” Elizabeth looked at him, and he waited. “You saved my life.”

“No. You did.” He shifted on his chair and tried to think how to tell her what had been in his heart for too long without being said. “I love you to
o, as I’m sure you know. But the way you are with everyone…I don’t just mean magic beings, but everyone. You’re the kindest, most gentle person I know. You’ve the heart of a warrior when you need to have it, and more compassion in one finger than most people have in their entire body. I’ve never met a more giving and understanding woman, who could, in a heartbeat, come down on someone hard enough to have them pray for death.”

“You make me sound like some avenging angel. When we both
know that I am not.” He grinned at her, and she slapped him. “I guess I just, like most people should, wanted to treat people as I wanted to be treated.”

“Rythen told me he
wanted you to rule with an iron fist, and that there were no gray areas when it came to ruling.” He smiled at her again. “I’m very glad that you did things differently. I don’t think…no, that’s not true—I’m sure…that Mel would have been a much different queen had you been that way.”

“She would have been like Sherman.”
Aaron nodded. He’d been thinking the same thing. “I remember the day that I had to rule against one of the families that went against all that I tried to instill in the world. The man and his family had been taking the faerie in the land and selling them to the highest bidder. Can you imagine what would have happened had there been Internet at that time? I would never have gotten as many as I did back. But I did lose a few of them, and to this day it still breaks my heart.”

“What di
d you do to him?” He watched her face and knew that she hated the memory as much as she did what the man had done to her.

“His family was not without guilt.
His mate had been the lure, and his mate’s family was his couriers. The man would seal them up in a crock and have them delivered to earth. They would…some died in the crossover because the fool hadn’t given them proper ventilation. And those that survived had been…scarred. Two of them, after they returned, decided to fade. The rest I put to work in jobs that would keep them away from others. He’d marked them, you see. So I marked him before having his head removed from his body.”