Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (13 page)

A
pause. “So that is a ‘yes’,” Seth said with annoying logic.

“I have
no idea,” Brand lied.

“Try
again, Brand. The truth, this time.”

Brand
growled low in his throat, resisting the urge to crush the phone. Control
seemed to be escaping him as of late. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.
“Seth, when I get back to Stronghold, I will make you pay for this.”

His
brother chuckled. “It is only fair, Brand. You were unmerciful when I found
Margaret. I have been waiting a long time for this.” Then Seth sighed, and
became serious. 

“Brand,
if Eva is your amati, you have the right to protect her. But I ask you –
if she is as remarkable as you think she is – then wouldn’t Eva want to
volunteer the information? To help other Kaspians?”

Brand
snarled and Seth ignored him.

“All I
want is for you to ask her. If your Eva says no, then I will respect her wishes.
But I think she would want to help. The amati instinct, once awakened, works
both ways.”

Brand
slowly exhaled. He kept his grip on the phone careful, easy. When he spoke, his
words were crisp with self-imposed control.

“Seth.
It is absolutely none of your business if Eva is my amati. Yes, I am attracted
to her. Yes, I find her intriguing. And yes, my temper has been short lately.
But I also drove to Boston on short notice, and haven’t had a decent night’s
sleep in over a week. I am trying to keep three steps ahead of a Strategoi, and
I am currently concerned for our cousin who spent the night eluding a handful
of Sakai. Realistically speaking, it is very likely that Eva will leave once
she learns of the bond. Furthermore, she will be less than happy when she
learns that I have lied to her. At the moment, I’m just trying to run damage
control.”

There
was a pause. Then, from the other end of the phone there was the sound of Seth
removing his glasses, setting them on a nearby table. Finally, Seth spoke. “Brand.
One word of advice.”

“
What?
”

“Don’t
let the memories you carry destroy you. You are not Khael. Eva is not Lis. This
situation is different. It is…on first meeting, it is unsettling to realize
that your amati can ruin you so completely…but I promise, if Eva is truly your
amati, then it will be worth it to trust her.”

Brand
went still; the phone creaked under the pressure of his hand, and Brand heard
static in his ear before he relaxed his grip. He turned, fixing his gaze on
Eva.

He
remembered. Too well. Through both his memories
and
Khael’s.

Could
he put up with that sort of agony? Khael’s agony? No. Hell, no.

Not
only did his family need him, but his Gens needed him. It had taken Khael
centuries to pull himself back together. Brand didn’t have that luxury.

Seth
cleared his throat. “When Margaret came along – it was wrong of me to do
so, but I looked at Khael – and I did not wait. And
not once
have
I regretted that decision. No matter how much I despise rash, illogical action,
that
action is one I will never regret.”

Brand
said nothing. He heard Seth pick up his glasses from the table. His brother’s
voice turned professional again. “I sent a map of Joshua’s coordinates to your
phone. He has requested that you bring him a bucket of chicken for lunch, extra
crispy. If there is nothing else?”

Nothing
.

Seth
sighed. “Very well, Brand. But remember my advice.”

The
conversation ended with a click. Brand glanced down, got a good look at
Joshua’s coordinates, and cursed.

Sometimes
it seemed his family was bent on torturing him.

Brand
heard her shift in the back seat and glanced in the rearview. Eva looked up,
startled silver eyes meeting his in the glass. She had just woken.

“It’s…where
are we?” she squinted out the window at the highway. “We’re on the interstate?”

“We
need to pick up Joshua. He traveled a bit farther than I expected.”

“How
much farther?” she frowned, and for the first time looked slightly uneasy.

“Miles.
The bastard hopped on a goddamned bus,” Brand muttered. Which, thank god, was
the truth for once.

Fuck
Seth
. He hated lying to her. But his brother was right on another count
– they did need the information. And maybe…hell, if she agreed, then he
wouldn’t have to cart her half-way across the country against her will.

He
might end up killing Seth in the long run, but getting her to Stronghold would
be easier. Cleaner. And Brand could take a breath of relief at least on one
count.

“If you
could do something,” Brand asked, accelerating into the second lane, “to help
Stronghold better understand what happened to you, and to give us more
information on what Rohe wants, would you?” Ruthlessly crushing the small voice
of his conscience, he added, “This would be more important than any money you
could pay us for gas mileage. There wouldn’t be any debts owed, not when you
return to…North Carolina.” There wouldn’t have been any debts owed anyway.

Nor was
she returning to North Carolina.

Eva
didn’t even blink. “Of course I would.”

“You
would have to come to Stronghold,” Brand said pointedly, even as he wondered why
he was trying to discourage her. “Your Gens is in North Carolina. It’s a
distance, Eva. But we would fly you back. I’d make sure you arrived safely. No
Rohe, no Sakai.”

Eva
stared at him in dismay, then looked quickly away. “You mean…not go home.”

Damn
it, did she have to sound so miserable?

Fuck,
he felt guilty.

“I
think…” she shook her head, giving Brand a regretful glance. “I don’t think I
can, Brand. I haven’t seen my sister in far too long. I miss her. I need to
see…she’s all I have…I don’t…” Eva crumbled to a stop and bit her lip, before
taking a deep shaky breath and starting again. “Rainey is all I have. I miss
her, and the entire time I was in that place, I swore I would see her again. I
have to go home, Brand. I’m sorry, but…” she shook her head, “is there some
other way I could help Stronghold? Perhaps after I return home?”

Damn
it. Brand wrestled with his distaste, gripped the wheel. “No. Stronghold
supports over fifty blood tigers, Eva, all of them related to my family in one
way or another. At least one hundred blood tigers from other Gens report to us,
seeking our support, our alliances, our protection. What happened to you, would
not have gone unnoticed if the Turner Gens had supported a pact with
Stronghold. It would have been reported, and Seth would have sent out
searchers. Furthermore, it has been centuries since the Sakai have taken
that
sort of interest in Kaspians. We need information.”

Eva was
quiet. Brand dared a look in the rearview mirror. Her face was pale, she
was…damn, she was unhappy. “Sakai have done this to blood tigers before?”

Brand
hesitated, then admitted the truth. “Centuries ago. We keep trying to convince
them that we’re extinct and then,” he gave a mirthless smile, looking at the
road again, “something happens. Many of the older Winterbournes know about us,
but they’re not interested enough to bother. The Summerbourne are too busy
trying to survive to even know we exist. But every once in a while…well, every
species has a monster that crops up along the way, Eva.”

She
shuddered. “Rohe is a monster.” Then curiously, “Summerbourne. You said Rohe
was a Summerbourne. And that the Strategoi was a…Winterbourne? What’s the
difference – the season they were born in?”

Brand
snorted, rounding a curve in the dark road. “No. They’re different…types, if
you will. Just know that if you have to pick a fight with one, you’d rather
fight a Summerbourne.” Usually.

Eva
shuddered, pulling his coat tighter about herself as she sat up in the seat. “I
don’t think I would want to fight either of them,” she said quietly. “I think…”
she shrugged and looked away, and their conversation lagged for a few miles.

Brand
clenched his jaw and studied the gas gage as he considered his options. Time
for more truth. “The Sakai want you back, Eva. You have one Winterbourne
following you. Likely more. They could have easily taken you at the park, if
Joshua and I weren’t there. If you return to North Carolina, they will easily
take you again – or worse, track you back to your home. Then Rohe won’t
just have you – she will have your sister and the rest of your Gens. And
I won’t know a thing about it, I won’t be able to do a thing to help you.
Because Stronghold won’t have the information you could have provided.”

Eva
flinched, gave him a pained look in the rearview mirror. “You wouldn’t look for
me?”

Brand
sighed, gripping the wheel. “I would look for you, Eva. Because I know you.”
Because
you’re my amati
. Brand clenched his teeth on the words. “But what about any
other Kaspians Rohe has captured that I
don’t
know about? We don’t even
have the information to look for them. Information that you could provide.”

“Brand,
it’s not – I want to. I would love to help. It’s just…Rainey. My
sister
…”

He
didn’t respond, letting the silence inside the car and the guilt eat at her.

Just as
it was eating at his own heart.

Fuck,
if he ever caught someone manipulating Eva like this, he would kill them. She
was too damn trusting and he was too damn…well, he was a bastard.

“How
long would it take?” she asked, and he hated the choking sound to her voice.

He
wasn’t just a bastard. He was a class-A bastard.

“Not
long,” he lied in as soothing a voice as possible. “Perhaps a week. Maybe two.”

Perhaps
he would Marque her. It wouldn’t take much to get Eva to Marque him in turn.
Two weeks – surely that would be enough time to get her to complete the
bond with him? Enough time to get her to open to him completely?

If they
could complete the bond, then he wouldn’t have to worry about going mad like
Khael had, when she left him.

Brand
wasn’t fooling himself. Sooner or later, Eva would wake up and see him for what
he was. And no matter how hard he tried to hold her, she would be out that door
faster than he could catch her.

Hell,
she’d escaped from a locked prison cell buried beneath a frozen Asylum in
Vermont.

He
glanced in the mirror. She was biting her nails, her brow furrowed. “Let’s
say…I consider this. What will keep Rohe from coming after Rainey and me when I
return to North Carolina?”

“We
will. The information you provide will help us take care of her.”

“Take
care of her? Of Rohe?”

“Stop
her, Eva.”

“Kill
her, you mean,” Eva said quietly, understanding in her voice.

“If
she’s dead, she can’t come after you.” And Brand would give a good amount of
money to know just why the Sakai woman had decided to start delving into both
Kaspian lives and Kaspian secrets. “You and your sister would be safe, Eva.
Completely safe.”

She
only hesitated a moment longer. Then nodded, sucking in a sharp breath as a
determined light coming into those beautiful silver eyes. “Okay then. I’ll
help. But I want to go home as soon we’re done.”

Her
relief was like a knife through his chest. She had to know. Brand wasn’t going
to deliver her to Seth unsuspecting. He gripped and wheel and said bluntly,
“Fine. But would you still want to do it if someone had to go into your mind
for that information?”

Eva
paled. He saw her hands shake. “Who?”

“My
brother Seth. He manages information at Stronghold. He likes to keep files on
Sakai.”
And on humans, Noan and other Kaspian. Anything that’s ever walked,
breathed or crawled he keeps his goddamned files on.
“When Seth tries, he
can hear people’s thoughts. And if someone concentrates, they can take him into
a memory. They can show him images they saw, sounds they heard.”

Eva
shuddered, her face twisting. “He can…I don’t…I’d rather it was you.”

Brand
flinched at her wording. “No you don’t.”

Eva
went quiet. “What would Seth do with…with what he learned?”

“Databases.
Assessment. Trace out information on Rohe’s activities and assets. Evaluate her
threat level. Send out watchers to keep tabs on her. Keep Stronghold safe.”

“And
other Gens as well?”

“If we
can,” Brand said. “If they’re willing to work with us.”

He
glanced in the mirror, saw Eva staring bleakly out the window. “Seth. He’s your
brother,” she said. “You trust him.”

“Always,”
Brand replied, because it was true, then realized it hadn’t been a question. He
tried to imagine the bond she must share with her sister Rainey. Unbreakable,
probably. Like the bond he shared with his own family.

“I’ll
do it.”

They
rode for a long silence. Brand didn’t know what to feel. Eva had been through
enough. She needed her sister, she didn’t need this. But he also wanted her to
come with him willingly. Brand growled softly. “I’m sorry I asked you that. I
didn’t want to.”