Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (37 page)

He had
his hand on Justin’s shoulder…
no
, Eva realized as the smell of blood
twined through the air. He had sunk his claws
into
Justin’s shoulder,
piercing through the leather jacket to gouge her cousin’s flesh.

“
Brand
,”
Eva hissed, and gripped his forearm. It felt like hot steel under her fingers.
She knew Justin saw her touch Brand, because he snarled, but she ignored him.
“Brand, he’s my
cousin
. We’re in an
airport
. If the two of you
need to talk, we should talk outside. Elsewhere.” Joshua and Kevin came up
behind Brand, and Kevin’s eyes widened, even as Joshua gave a mildly drunk
snort of humor.

“Hierarchy,
Brand,” he said, his voice amused as he balanced against Kevin. “It isn’t our
place to teach young cubs their lessons. Or so
someone
once told me.”

“Maybe
not,” Brand said, his face frighteningly controlled as he stared at her cousin,
his voice little more than a deadly growl. “But it isn’t too much to expect
courtesy.”

“We
don’t allow outsiders into our territory,” Justin gritted, but Eva could hear
the pain in his words. Sweat beaded his upper lip, his jaw tense and white. “We
appreciated that you returned Eva to us, but my Resh does not – welcome
–
you
.” The last was a pure hiss as Brand’s hand tightened and the
smell of blood in the air intensified. An old woman stumbled going past,
slanting them a puzzled look, then shook her head and hurried on.

“Brand.”
Eva gripped his arm, oddly embarrassed. She had never seen Brand act this way.
Never. Not once. “It’s okay. It’s just…we can say goodbye here. It’s probably
best this way…”

Her
words dwindled beneath the hard look Brand gave her. Then he returned his gaze
to Justin.

“Courtesy,”
he repeated politely, and looked at Justin as if he were debating whether to
tear him apart with his claws, “Courtesy is an old law. We welcomed yours into
our territory. It is customary that you, in turn, do the same. And we claim
that right.” His hand slid higher on Justin’s shoulder, closer to his neck, and
Eva heard the terrible sound of shredding flesh and leather.

“Beware
the jugular, Brand. There are cameras here. Seth will never forgive you if he
has to pull us out of prison. Or edit video footage,” Joshua pushed himself
upright. “You know how he hates editing video footage.” Brand didn’t even
twitch.

Her
cousin shuddered, eyes unfocused with pain. “We have no alliances with
Stronghold. No treaties. No written laws.”

“Our
laws are older than writing,” Brand said very quietly, bending his face so his
nose was a bare inch from Justin’s and, that quickly, Eva heard all of the
centuries echoing through his words. “Some have forgotten that.”

It
frightened her. And if it frightened her…Justin looked terrified. He dropped
his gaze.

She had
never seen him drop his gaze before. To anyone, that is, except his father and
the Resh.

Then
understanding hit her – Justin had challenged Brand. Challenged him for
the right to her, the right to return her to her Gens.

We’re
not in a relationship
, she wanted to shout. But the bruise on her breast
pulsed with the beat of her heart, a reminder of what she and Brand had briefly
shared. Worse, even now she was hungry for him, her body ready for his.

“Brand,”
Eva murmured, uncomfortable, yet oddly grateful. If he was at her Gens, then
that would delay…well, it would delay the repercussions of her disappearance.
Her freedom wouldn’t disappear all at once. And maybe it would give her a
chance to talk to Rainey before it did.

“We
would be honored to be your guests at the Turner Gens,” Brand said, voice a
low, soft growl as he looked down at her cousin. It was an order.

Justin
twisted, face paling, and Eva almost felt sorry for him. Almost. He was caught
between Brand and the Resh.

Until
her cousin said, “Fine. But keep your hands off
our
females.”

Eva
snarled, anger flaring as she tightened her grip on the carry-on.
She
was the one who decided who she would sleep with, and only
she
. And Eva
belonged to
no one
but herself.

And to
Rainey. Eva belonged to herself, and to her sister.

Joshua
snorted in amusement, shaking his head. “They’re all idiots,” he confided to
Kevin. “Every single one of them. You may be less than half his age,
gosse
,
but you’re three times as smart.”

“Not a
problem,” Brand said coolly, releasing her cousin so abruptly that Justin
stumbled back and the scent of blood bloomed in the air.

Eva
stared at Brand, saw the resolve that had formed with his words, and tried to
tell herself that what she was feeling wasn’t disappointment.

But,
she supposed, she had no one but herself to blame for
that
.

Justin
drove. Brand sat beside him in the front seat, and Eva sat in the back of the
old gray Buick between Joshua and Kevin. Joshua’s head lolled on her shoulder,
eyes closed, and Eva glanced up in time to catch Kevin’s apologetic glance. “I
can trade spots with you,” the young Tracker offered, but Eva shook her head.
The closer she was to keeping Brand from murdering her cousin, the better off
everyone was.

“Joshua,”
Brand snapped from the front seat, and Eva felt the Kaspian jerk to awareness.
“Get your head off her shoulder.”

Joshua
cursed, muttered something in French as he made a lewd gesture at Brand, then
twisted his head off Eva before resuming his sleep.

The
ride was uncomfortably silent.

At
least I’ll see Rainey
, Eva told herself, as she clenched her fingers in
her lap. That was the
one
good thing that would come of this. The
only
good thing.

Somehow,
everything at the Turner Gens seemed different. Eva peered out the window as
Justin slowly navigated the car up the long dirt drive toward the Resh’s house.
They passed James – the Gens healer’s – home to the left, and Natalie’s
to the right. Natalie had homeschooled Eva and her sister before they went to
high school. Eva glanced at Natalie’s window, then jumped as she realized she
was being watched. Natalie nodded, once, before dropping the heavy drapes.

The
Gens’ other houses – Eva’s and two of the fighter’s – were located
further out, near the border of their land. Eva and Rainey’s house was the
farthest, close to the park Rohe had kidnapped her from.

Tension
welled in Eva. She dropped her gaze to her lap and twisted her fingers as the
car came to a stop at the Resh’s house. Rainey wouldn’t be here. Rainey would
be at home, waiting for her. Probably angry with her. Probably…probably…

“Hey.
Stop worrying.” Joshua touched her wrist.

Eva
jumped; Joshua’s eyes were remarkably clear. In fact, he didn’t look drunk at
all. She narrowed her gaze. Maybe Joshua hadn’t drunk as much as she had
thought. Eva opened her mouth to ask, but Joshua winked, then laid his head
back on the seat again, closing his eyes.

“You’ll
be fine, Eva,” Joshua repeated. There was a faint smile at the corner of his
mouth as he dropped his hand, and Eva slowly closed her mouth.

It was
an act. It had to be.

Though
he
reeked
of whiskey.

“You’re
drunk
,” she hissed.

“I’ve
been fighting and drinking for more years than you’ve been alive,
cher
,”
Joshua said, eyes still closed. “More years than that idiot cousin of yours has
been alive. Likely more years than your half-wit Resh has been alive.”

Her
cousin tensed in the front seat as he turned off the car. “Joshua,” Eva said,
hoping he would stop.

Joshua
opened one eye. “What? I think Brand prefers me this way. He says the whiskey
makes me crazy but,” Joshua grinned evilly, and raised his head to look
directly at Eva’s cousin, “it makes for one hell of a fight. Don’t you agree?”

Rather
wisely, Justin refused to respond and simply said, “The Resh is waiting inside.
He has some questions for you, Eva.”

The
small white house was as cool and dark as Eva remembered it to be. She hadn’t
been inside for the past eight years; not since the day her mother died. She
gritted her teeth as she stepped across the scratched wood of the foyer and
followed after her cousin, conscious of Brand at her back. She could feel him
watching her, his eyes tracing her movements. They reached the end of the hall
and Eva deliberately tried to relax her shoulders; her mother’s body had been
laid out in the room to the left, for the burial… Her steps trailed off,
stopped. She stared at that closed door, her blood pulsing through her arms,
her legs, centering painfully in her chest. Her breath didn’t want to come.

Brand’s
large hand settled on her lower back and she jumped. “I think your Resh is
waiting for us, Eva.” His gaze asked a silent question as he looked at that
door, and Eva shook her head. She straightened her shoulders, turned away, and
stepped past Justin into the Resh’s office.

The
muscles in Eva’s body went limp beneath the chill of Thomas Turner’s pale blue
eyes. She dropped into the chair closest to the door and distantly noted that
Brand and her cousin had moved past her. She didn’t know where Joshua or Kevin
had gone.

Rohe
terrified her. Brand occasionally frightened her. But Eva was afraid of the
Turner Resh in an entirely different way from either of them.

Thomas
Turner could take her freedom away. He could separate her from Rainey. He could
punish Eva for taking night classes. He could keep her from ever getting
another job. He could keep her from ever leaving the Turner lands again. He
could keep her from ever leaving her
house
again.

Just
like he had trapped her mother.

Eva
bowed her head over her hands. She ignored the tension coming off of Brand’s
body. He didn’t have to live in the Turner Gens –
she
did. He
could leave any time he wanted. Eva was…well, she was still working on that.

“I did
not anticipate guests,” the Resh said, and Eva heard the fury in his voice, the
faint whiplash of angry pride. “I’m afraid we have no place for you to stay.”

“I’m
sure we will find something,” Brand said mildly. “Eva can put us up. Doubtless
she and her sister have space at their home.”

The
Resh’s displeasure seeped through the air. “They don’t.”

There
was a long silence. Eva stared at her fingers. Her shoes. The brass feet on the
Resh’s desk.

Then
the Resh cleared his throat. “What is the nature of your visit? This is Turner
land. Not Stronghold territory. We want nothing from you, and have nothing for
you.”

“We are
always looking for allies.”

An
unamused laugh. “I know what Stronghold is.
Who
Stronghold is. But this
isn’t Europe. This is my land, and these are my people, and you can’t have
either. Others might play your games, but I won’t. I won’t play your servant
and I won’t pay your tithe. I won’t
dance
,” there was a sneer in the Resh’s
voice, “to a Kade tune.”

“We
don’t need servants.” There was cold iron in Brand’s response. “And we don’t
ask for tithe.”

“No?
Then what is she?” Eva’s head jerked; she felt more than saw the Resh gesture
at her. “Your scent covers her. At least you had the good sense to return what
you stole.”

Brand
growled, and Eva glanced at him from the corner of her eye. His eyes flickered
gold, his head was thrown back. He was pure strength, and Eva suddenly wished
she could pull some of that strength into herself. She needed it. She
desperately needed it. And she wondered, abruptly, if – perhaps if she
apologized to Brand – perhaps he would be willing to overlook the other
night enough to wait before he left. If he waited, she and Rainey could leave
with him. She wouldn’t ask him to take them to Stronghold, but it would give
her and Rainey a head start, a chance to leave and start a new life.

Because
Eva had the sudden, horrible feeling of what her punishment would be.

“I am
not
returning
Eva to you,” Brand snarled, and Eva felt an odd fondness
in her heart at the way he was angry for her. At the way the dark hair fell
over his forehead. “She wanted to come back. And we did not
steal
Eva.
She was kidnapped.” Eva wanted to reach out, to stroke that dark hair on his
forehead. To run her lips over his throat.

Yes,
she would ask Brand to wait. He might be angry, but he would do that much for
her.

“She is
a runaway,” the Resh’s voice was icy, breaking into Eva’s thoughts. “Just like
her mother was. Just like her sister is.”

Mother.
Sister.
Rainey?
Rainey – a
runaway
?

Eva’s
head flashed up and she stared at the Resh. Thomas Turner’s pale eyes
glittered, a mixture of fury, warped pride and personal satisfaction.
A
tyrant
, Eva distantly remembered her mother calling him.
Our personal
tyrant.
Back when her mother had still bothered to call Thomas Turner
anything. Back before she died.