Bound to the Elvin King (28 page)

This moment wasn’t about her selfish butt—it was about him. “I’m sorry last night’s incident increased your workload. It’s just another thing you have to worry about and handle.” She paused, not wanting to sound too mushy, and even though she settled on some pretty safe words, they still rubbed her throat like sandpaper. “I feel like…I should do something to help.” She almost rolled her eyes. How lame could she be?

He sent her a look of appreciation but shook his head. “You don’t have to do anything.” His eyes widened and then narrowed as if he were deep in thought. “Well, there is one thing.”

“What is it?” With no clue as to what to expect, she held her breath in anticipation.

“You need guards posted near you.”

She frowned. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but she shouldn’t be surprised given the circumstances. Still, it didn’t mean she’d agree to it. “No.”

His eyebrows drew together in a thunderous expression. “No?” he asked softly.

“If you assign me guards, people will surely suspect there’s more to our relationship than animosity.”

Puzzlement furrowed his forehead. “I thought we were going to act like a couple would.”

Whoa, was he saying what she thought he was? He wanted everybody to know about them? Now? It sure sounded like it. “Well, yes, but I thought we would do all our couple stuff in private. I never said I was ready for everyone to know. All the important people know. Isn’t that enough for now?”

“All those close to us know. But I’d hesitate to call them the only important people. I think the whole kingdom qualifies as that, and, based on the attack, it seems someone else may also know.”

She flushed at the chide in his voice. “You know what I mean.”

“I simply don’t see why we can’t tell everyone. We wouldn’t have to sneak around anymore, and, more importantly, you would have my full protection.”

“I’m not ready.” She’d only discovered her feelings for him, and she didn’t even know what those emotions encompassed. Once the populace knew, she’d be under intense scrutiny. How would she figure anything out, then? No, she needed time to come to terms with her about-face concerning Talion and relationships. “All I’m asking for is the time promised to me.”

“Even if I grant that, there’s still no compromise on the guards.”

Damn his stubborn hide. “Are they going to watch me while I sleep?” she taunted. Yep, there went their warm and fuzzy moment right out the window.

“Of course not. That’s my responsibility.”

She could’ve made some kind of crack about that being creepy and stalkerish, but she refrained. Instead, she settled for, “Wow, you take your job seriously, not to mention you must love a lack of total sleep.”

He turned a mighty frown on her. “Mock me as you may. My stipulations concerning the guards are not negotiable. Also, if you’ll be leaving the palace grounds at any time, you or one of your guards must tell me.”

She shot forward in bed, shouting “What!” before freezing. Her brain felt like it expanded to ten times its normal size, and throbbed with every heartbeat. She pressed a hand against the ache. “Ugh, can we not argue about this right now? Though trust me, I’ll have a few choice words for you later.”

His hand replaced hers and kneaded the area. As dissipating tension released the band constricting about her head, she moaned. “Ohhh, you have magic hands.”

“That’s not the first time you’ve told me that,” he whispered smugly in her ear.

His hand slid into her hair, where he traced lazy circles over her scalp with his fingers. She moaned at the tingles playing over her skin.

“In fact, you’re quite vocal about it at times,” he said.

“Cocky.” But true. During their more intimate moments, she loved to tell him about what his talented touch did to her. Really, what man didn’t like being flattered about his skills? Fortunately for him—and her—she didn’t need to embellish. At all.

Still, how did he relieve the pain? “What did you do to make the pain disappear?”

“Is it totally gone?”

She paused to take note of any lingering traces. “No, it’s still there, but very muted. What sort of elvin witchcraft is this?” she asked with a teasing note in her voice.

“Not any magic. Just knowledge of pressure points and how to best utilize them.”

For some reason, she doubted it was that simple. “I’ve had massage and acupuncture done before, but they never yielded such quick results. There has to be something more to what you’re doing.”

His eyes narrowed as if he were in thought, and his hand ghosted over the nape of her neck down to rest on the small of her back. “Maybe I am drawing strength from my surroundings. That might account for the difference.”

“You don’t know if you are?”

“Not unless I make a concerted effort to draw in a substantial amount.”

She shook her head. “I’ll never get used to you guys. You seem so normal and then something like that will pop from your mouth.”

“We’re not as different as you think. Some humans had the ability, at least at one time.”

“Hmm.” That was an interesting idea, one she would think on later. Right now, she just wanted to rest. But the reason for her attack niggled at her mind like a fish on a line. Who had been behind it and why? “Talion, do you have any theories about last night’s incident?”

His face darkened. “I fear someone may know, or at least strongly suspect, what you are to me.”

Damn, that was what she was afraid of. “How could the person have found out?”

He shrugged. “A spy within the palace that carefully observes my comings and goings.”

“But you restrict the amount of people allowed into your private wing and said you hand-picked all those who can gain entrance.”

“I said I hand-pick and trust them as much as I am able to. However, trust can always be misplaced. Plus, the secret passages in the palace may not be so secret to some.”

A sliver of alarm quivered up her spine. “What? How would anyone but you and those you told know?”

“Since we elves are so long-lived, any of the servants or courtiers residing in the palace who aren’t adverse to searching for new sights could have stumbled onto one. It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”

Yeah, an almost endless life could drive anyone to search for excitement. Even a new hallway or garden would be something new to them. What a sobering thought. Was that what she had to look forward to? Surely, Eria held many places to explore. And who knew what lay outside Eria’s borders besides the darkindred. So far, everyone had been notoriously closed-mouthed about this little tidbit. Just what was the big secret? It was a mystery she was determined to solve. Sometime.

Her mind turned back to their original topic. “What made the statue shatter?”

“We think an explosive.” He briefly outlined what he’d discussed with Cal, Relian, and the others.

Maggie bit her lip. “So the explosive was more than likely made here and not on Earth?”

“Yes, though I suppose with the thinning and rending of the veil in places it is possible that someone from this side could’ve crossed over to Earth without much, if any, notice.”

“Without any notice?”

“You remember learning about how the veil has chosen to come and go as it pleases.”

She nodded, though truthfully her whole remembrance of it was a fuzzy tangle of yarn—pretty much good for nothing.

“That’s largely true. As it has lost power, the veil’s appearances are more sporadic, as though it can no longer control the timing of its visits. When the veil does appear, some of it is no longer completely opaque. Those areas allow easy entry to Earth, and since it often winks in and out of existence in a matter of minutes, someone could sneak across easily before being seen.”

Maggie kicked the covers off one leg. “But how would someone know when to predict its arrival?”

“I said it’s largely true the veil comes and goes as it pleases. It can be influenced, and as it gets weaker, the more easily so it is.”

Well, that sucked. “So basically the veil can act as an unguarded border?”

“Essentially. As I said, it’s more than likely he didn’t cross over to Earth to obtain the explosive. The person either made it himself or purchased it from someone who could. Just because I’d like all my subjects to be law-abiding citizens doesn’t mean they are.”

She released her breath in a huff. “So catching the culprit is next to impossible unless he makes another move that gives us some clues. How frustrating. I hate waiting.”

He laughed softly. “You’ve never been the most patient person.” His voice lost its teasing air. “We will find the culprit, and he will pay.”

“You’re so sure it’s a male?”

“Since I feel that the attack was a message ultimately aimed at me, I’m sure it is.”

“A message for you? It could be one of your jilted lovers, then.”
Alalise, anyone?
But Maggie hadn’t pegged her as the cloak-and-dagger type. If anything, she was the type to flirt and try to sleep with a taken man.

“I don’t think any would be so bold. All my former companions have enough sense not to commit treason, anyway.” A faraway look sprang up in his eyes, and his face darkened. “At least I hope.” His voice dropped to a whisper as if he were speaking to himself. “Betrayal can come from within my ranks just as easily as from outside them.”

Within his ranks? “What do you mean by that?” Was he talking about a previous lover, or someone who’d been even closer to him? Whoever it was, she knew with a surety that shook her soul this person had betrayed Talion in a way few would ever be in a position to do.

He shook his head as if to clear it, and the clouds marring his face left. “Nothing.”

She rolled her eyes, but she hadn’t expected anything more from him. “I know there’s more to the story than that, but getting it from you is like trying to get blood from a rock.”

An impassive stare brick-walled her, and she held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. You win.”
For now.
“So who do you think it could be?” Alalise’s warning about her brother came back to Maggie, but she shoved it aside. He seemed harmless, and he had his own concerns about his sister.

“One of many possible suspects, many known to me and quite a few undoubtedly not. I’ve ruled long enough to know I don’t lack enemies. Most of the time, they’re content with stirring up small fires, but sometimes….”

As he trailed off, she filled in what he left unsaid—that dissenters sometimes caused such a stink they needed to be wiped out before they could wipe out Talion and his rule. She shivered, not only because of the danger he found himself in over the centuries, but also because she was downright spooked she could read him so well. It was almost like telepathy, but not—the way her mind could finish his sentences.

But what seared her the most was his gaze, where the weight of his age shone clearly. She’d never noticed just how weary he appeared. Not only physically tired, but mentally and spiritually. When Talion and some of the other elves had talked about the bone-deep tiredness they could experience in their long lives, she hadn’t really taken it to heart. Now, it stared her in the face, and it scared her like nothing else. Pure fright pumped through her veins.

All she knew was, she didn’t want him giving up his life. She didn’t want him going anywhere for a
very
long time. Her heart beat as fast as a hummingbird’s wings until she remembered something that calmed her alarm. Talion always said she made him feel young, invigorated him even. Could she be the thing that would keep him firmly planted in life?

Every fiber in her body shouted yes. She challenged him by her very humanity. She was something different in a land where everything was essentially static, at least until circumstances forced those things to change. Like the veil and the fading magic, like her and Cal’s arrival. The elvin world was changing, the circumstances beyond the elves’ control.

The feeling she’d just discovered something momentous hit her, but she couldn’t quite pin down what she’d found. It itched at her mind, but no matter how she tried, the reason escaped her. With an internal shrug, she told herself she’d figure it out later. Right now, she had to worry about the attack and Talion’s old age—and her role in keeping him “young.”

Just what his age was she didn’t know, but it would be old, older-than-dirt old. Okay, maybe not that old. She couldn’t imagine him already having lived millions of years—and wouldn’t entertain the idea of it. Did she even want to find out his age? With a lift of her chin, she decided she wasn’t a wimp, so she’d meet the answer head on when the time came. But now wasn’t the time to ask. Cal would probably know the information and tell her, anyway. After all, that was what best friends were for.

She stared at that youthful, impossibly ageless face and tried to ignore the yawning divide their races had set in stone. Told herself they weren’t so different, though their dissimilarities stood in stark relief against the backdrop of her consciousness. She forced herself to speak, acting as if she hadn’t had her world rocked off its axis yet again. “So, it could be one of many, someone you might not suspect or even know?”

He stared at her, his gaze seeming to see right through her and her act. “It could be, but I have my eye on someone much closer.”