Waging War (3 page)

I wasn’t going to argue with Connor, so I
turned back to his brother, who quickly flipped the pages to a
striking blue and yellow snake. “Cool, huh?”

“It’s beautiful,” I said. “But Indiana Jones
is a snake-lover compared to me.”

Logan’s grin turned sly and Connor shook his
head at me sadly, like I’d made the
dumb ways to die
list.
“Really? You just gave him
so
much ammunition.”

I winced at the look of an evil mastermind
that had taken over Logan’s features, which he instantly schooled
into something benignly angelic. Yep, I was going to pay for
that.

Connor spoke to his mom. “By the way, Uncle
Bob said he won’t be in for dinner. He wants Saira and Archer to
meet him in the lab when Archer gets up.” He rinsed his mug in the
sink, then turned to me. “I’m heading back to the manor. You
coming?”

I nodded. The light outside was dimming and
Archer would be up soon. “I’ll grab a sandwich or something from
the kitchens, Mom. And Liz, thank you for the tea.” My mom looked
settled in for conversation with Liz, and I had the feeling
Millicent might be dining alone tonight at the manor.

“Where’s Ringo?” I asked Connor as we
stepped outside the flat. He slid down the stair rail, and I jumped
over the side to land at the bottom. It should have been a tough
landing, but I’d gotten better at them since I’d been training in
Cougar skin.

Connor ticked off his fingers. “Either at
the archery range, in the garage, or in the lab. But most likely,
he’s with my uncle.”

“Which means in the lab.” Mr. Shaw had set
up a makeshift laboratory in an unused greenhouse on the grounds of
the manor, because my mom and Liz didn’t want him working on campus
at St. Brigid’s during the school holiday. “He’s turning into a
science geek like you, isn’t he?”

Connor grinned. “Worse. He’s becoming a tech
geek too.”

“What do you mean? You guys aren’t sitting
around playing video games in the lab, are you?”

“Don’t be daft. We moved a television into
the east wing library for that.”

Because … boys.

Connor continued. “Ringo found some old
radios in the attics, and between those, the toaster oven, the
stereo receiver, and the Walkman, he could practically build a
robot to clean the house at this point.”

“I thought he was just fixing that
stuff.”

He scoffed. “Like anyone would ever fix a
Walkman. Did you know there was a VCR
and
a Beta machine up
there? I mean, come on!”

I grinned at him. “That’s pretty cutting
edge for Millicent, don’t you think?”

We entered the manor house through the
kitchen door just as Jeeves, Millicent’s driver and all-around
house manager, was leaving.

“Ah, Connor. There’s enough light left for
another lesson if you’d like.” Jeeves was probably in his late
forties, though his hair was shot with enough silver that I forgot
he wasn’t old until he smiled. Which he did as he held the door for
us.

Connor’s face lit up. “Really? That would be
fantastic!”

“What lesson?” I asked.

“Jeeves is teaching me to drive a car,” he
said with a grin as he followed Jeeves outside.

I laughed and waved him away. Ever since
Jeeves had given Connor’s family his flat over the garage, he had
spent a lot of time with Liz and her kids, and the happiness
potential made me smile.

I grabbed a couple of carrots from the
cutting board and headed up the back stairs, then slipped out a
third floor window and climbed up a dormer to the pitched roof
above it. I sat with my back to a chimney and watched the sun dip
behind trees. The sky here was never the vivid orange and red that
exploded across Venice Beach. The English sky was more polite than
that. She’d blush, flare a little warm with embarrassment, and then
finally turn away, her pink and coral dresses blending into the
blue night until her light dimmed altogether. Sunsets here were
always pretty, but I missed the fire and passion of the California
sky.

A hand caressed the back of my neck and I
looked up to find Archer kneeling next to the chimney. A flush of
heat filled my chest.

“You found me.”

“Always.” His voice was quiet, but his tone
had edges, and when he sat beside me on the roof, his fingers
twined with mine.

“How?” I leaned my head back on his
shoulder. “How did you find me?”

He was silent a long moment until I turned
to study his face. His deep blue eyes found mine and he searched
them as if he was deciding how honest to be. “I felt you.”

“Felt me?” Archer was part Seer from his
mother’s side of the family, and that Seer blood had saved his life
when he was infected with the porphyria-like mutation that killed
normal humans but turned Immortal Descendants into something
resembling mythological vampires. “I didn’t think Seers were
empaths.”

“I’ve never had the true skills of a Seer,
beyond my own ability to sense lies. But since we were in France,
my sense of
you
has grown stronger, and continues to the
more time we spend in each other’s company.”

Maybe that should have freaked me out, but
I’d become pretty immune to freakouts about special skills. So
instead, I looked up at the evening sky and considered how lucky I
was that someone could find me in such vastness.

“What are you thinking?” he murmured into my
ear.

I smiled at the shiver his voice sent across
my skin. “I’m thinking that could be useful for the times I forget
to leave a note.” It was supposed to be a joke, but too much about
that statement was layered in things we didn’t talk about. “Sorry.
Forget I said that.”

Archer turned me to face him. “Why? Why is
that uncomfortable to discuss?”

I took a breath. This wasn’t going to be
easy or smooth, because I wasn’t really sure what I was going to
say. “Leaving a note is generally something people do on pillows or
nightstands, and pre-supposes that I sleep where and when you
sleep. Which is something you’ve emphatically resisted since we’ve
been home.”

“That would be mitigated if you would marry
me.” The softness of Archer’s voice was in direct contrast to the
words he had just spoken, and I stared at him as if he had just
shouted across the rooftops. Maybe because with those words, he
had.

“Marry you? I’m eighteen years old, Archer.
I’m not getting married right now, or maybe even ever. What does
marrying you have to do with getting to sleep next to you?” My
heart was pounding and I wasn’t sure why. It didn’t matter though,
my brain was overriding anything my heart might have to say in the
matter.

There had been something vulnerable and
searching in his eyes when he had spoken so quietly, but whatever
that was had quickly shuttered. “I apologize, Saira. That was
clumsy of me.”

He was backing away – not physically, which
would have sent him off the roof – but he was building a quick and
effective wall against whatever emotions had just been raw, and I
didn’t like it.

“Stop it, Archer. Clumsy is falling off a
bike. Clumsy isn’t tossing a marriage proposal into the wind to see
what sticks.”

He took a breath. “It was clumsy of me to
challenge you with it, rather than present it as a hope and a wish
that you might someday fulfill. Saira Elian, I would stand by your
side until the end of time, and it is my deep desire to one day do
so as your husband.”

Cue the pounding heart again. I inhaled to
steady my emotions, which raced in every direction at once, then
took a breath and tried to explain myself in a way that didn’t hurt
him. “I feel too young to be married. It feels like a thing settled
people do when they’re ready to have a house, and a dog, and kids.”
There was an argument starting on his face and I cut him off. “Be
clear. You are my future. I don’t want any other future than one
where I’m standing right next to you.”

A huge, unspoken conversation sat there
between us, but instead, he kissed me. “I’ve always moved too fast
with you. I apologize.”

I smiled at him and kissed him back. “Not
always. But when you do, you do it spectacularly. But back to my
original point, when do I get to sleep next to you?”

Archer had been resting during daylight
hours in the Elian Manor keep, which was a windowless room in the
center of the manor house. It also had the benefit of being warded,
so when it was locked, he was protected from anyone who would do
him harm. The arrangement worked pretty well for his safety, but
since Millicent and my mom had keys to the place, there wasn’t a
lot of privacy that could be counted on if I wanted to join him for
a nap.

He looked very serious as he answered me.
“You know my feelings about this. It is inappropriate for me to
come to your bedroom in your mother’s house. The keep belongs to
the house, and it is only through her generosity that I’m welcome
to sleep there. And unless our commitment is formalized, I am
uncomfortable asking for another bedroom where you could visit
me.”

“You’re so Victorian,” I whispered, as I bit
his lip softly.

He kissed me with an intensity that left me
breathless. “And you make it very, very difficult for me to be
honorable.”

The kissing went on long enough that I was
ready to drag him into the attic just so I didn’t accidentally fall
off the roof. When he finally pulled away from me, I could tell he
was trying to get a grip on his feelings, and it made me glad I
could ruffle his perfect Victorian composure. He studied the view
over fields and forests while I studied the hard lines of his jaw,
the softness around his mouth that was so quick to smile at me, and
the deep blue of his eyes that matched the nighttime sky.

“Have you ever …” I shut my mouth quickly.
What kind of idiot asks her boyfriend about the love life he had
before her?

He turned a confused gaze to mine. “Have I
ever … what?”

I winced. I was going to do it. It was like
watching myself dip my hand in boiling water, knowing it would
burn, but also knowing if I didn’t, the unasked question would burn
just as hot.

“Have you ever … been with anyone else?”

I looked away, horrified at myself for
having asked the dumbest question on the planet. The man was more
than a century old. We had only known each other for a year, which
left a whole other lifetime – several lifetimes – for him to know
other women.

I buried my face in my hands. “Ugh. Don’t
answer that. I don’t want to know.”

Archer gently pulled my hands away and
cradled my face as he looked at me. “Saira, no matter what else has
happened in my life, I’ve only ever loved you.”

I cracked my eyelids open and returned his
gaze, suddenly feeling very young, and oddly, a little annoyed too.
“I’m sorry I asked that question. It’s not my business, and it
would be ridiculous for you to have been celibate your entire life.
Just forget I asked.”

He touched my cheek gently. “You are the
woman of my dreams.” He helped me to my feet and I sank into strong
arms as he kissed me. “Come. Shaw’s been waiting for us. He left me
a note.”

The cheeky grin on his face made me want to
poke him, and it wasn’t until we were almost to Mr. Shaw’s lab that
I realized Archer hadn’t answered my question.

Experiments

The greenhouse glowed like a beacon under
the tarps Mr. Shaw and the gardeners had rigged to keep the hot sun
out during the day. I was suddenly very happy for the security
cameras and extra groundspeople Millicent and my mom had installed
around the property as Monger deterrents during the past couple of
months. I hadn’t seen Mongers or their minions at all since we’d
come back from France, but that didn’t mean they weren’t out there
watching us.

Archer held the door for me, and I stepped
into a space that was like a cross between Mr. Potts’ workshop in
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
and the mad scientists’ laboratory
in
Young Frankenstein
. Ringo sat in one corner at a table
that was covered in radio and television parts, while Mr. Shaw,
surrounded by test tube holders and trays of glass slides, had his
face buried in a microscope. Both of them looked up at the sound of
our entrance.

“’Eard young Logan took down a Cat tonight.”
Ringo grinned.

“He didn’t quite take me down, so much as
rode me like I was a skateboard.” I couldn’t keep the sigh of
resignation out of my voice.

Archer barked a laugh. “He rode you? As
what? A Meerkat or a baby Monkey?”

“No, as a Falcon.” I demonstrated with an
action pose, and all three of them cracked up. “The kid needs his
own theme song; he’s that good.”

“He’s fearless,” said Mr. Shaw, “which is as
astounding as it is horrifying. My sister thought it was difficult
to keep Connor out of trouble from boredom – but keeping Logan
unscathed is going to take an act of God.”