A Matter of Circumstance and Celludrones (28 page)

“I know.” He slid his hand beneath her hair, cupping the base of her
skull, his thumb rubbing gently. “I can’t promise to always act reasonably when
it comes to loving you, but never doubt that I love all that you are. Never
doubt that I see you.”

Her heart released that crippling fear.

He leaned in, brushing his lips over hers. “And if I’m ever foolish
enough to issue another ultimatum, you have my permission to shove it down my
throat.” His other hand came around her waist as he deepened the kiss.

She opened for him and he slipped his tongue inside, claiming her
mouth. Heat rushed through her veins and set her blood on fire with desire and
unbound love.

Chapter Seventeen

G
reyston
couldn’t shake the feeling of death following at his back, ghostly trails
dancing two steps out of reach. Liquid fingers seeping from the shadows,
jabbing accusations at him, snatching at his ankles, trying to reel him in.

Well, death could do its damndest. He’d been living on borrowed time
most of his life and he was still here. The accusations, however, yet another
death left in his wake, were less easy to shrug off. His mood deteriorated as
the day grew long and it turned downright surly when he entered the kitchen
anteroom and saw Kelan and Lily bent over a desk with their heads together. It
should have helped that Ana was standing right beside the cosy pair, acting chaperone.
It didn’t.

He didn’t trust Kelan, not when it came to Lily. The man manipulated
her emotions to the point that she was already half-smitten with the McAllister
cause. And now he had to leave her to Kelan’s sole ministrations while he
settled his affairs. Jean was to be laid to rest beside her husband. Paisley
had agreed to stay at
Es Vedra
for the time being and he wanted to
install her there sooner rather than later. He’d be gone for three days at the
very least.

The irony ate at him. Cragloden was the safest place for Lily right
now, and the most dangerous in the longer term.

He cleared his throat loudly. “Am I interrupting?”

Lily’s head bobbed up. “Greyston, there you are.”

She took a precise step away from Kelan, as if suddenly reminded of
whichever rule required exactly however many inches between a lady and a
gentleman. He wasn’t sure what irritated him more, that Kelan was responsible
for that lapse or that it was the sight of him that had reminded her.

“Kelan’s been demonstrating the automated butler to us.” Lily stepped
further aside and waved a hand over the black contraption on the desk. “Instead
of a bell in each room, there’s a speaking horn. Did you know the technology
that translates speech to the ink needle that records the message originates
from the mechanism Duncan McAllister invented for our celludrones? And the
entire concept of Aether Messaging wouldn’t have been possible without the
basic science of that design either,” she declared. “Isn’t it fascinating?”

He did indeed find it interesting, but only in as much as it suggested
the McAllister wealth and power extended much further than he’d imagined. They
didn’t only have their fingers in all the most important pies, it seemed they
held the patent to the bloody recipe.

“My uncle’s vocal and optical translation design was revolutionary,”
Kelan said.

Not about to give praise, even if it was due, Greyston looked at Ana.
She wore a grey dress identical to Lily’s, borrowed from the maid’s linen
closet. Without her usual white-laced bonnet, her hair fell to her shoulders in
a natural wave of thick, silky blonde. “It’s good to see you up and about.”

She smiled at him. “Thank you, Grey.”

Not that he minded the casual familiarity, but his brows shot up at
Lily. The impropriety must be itching her teeth.

“Not everything is entirely back to normal,” Lily said, without so
much as a flinch.

“Her life cell was at a critical low when Armand opened her,” Kelan
explained, “reducing the flow of her memory sap below optimal momentum. Some
memories may be lost, others jumbled.”

“Nothing that cannot be re-learned,” Lily said. “When I get around to
it.”

So, maybe her teeth weren’t itching quite that much. His eyes went to
the plump curve of her mouth and his body reacted to the possibilities of a
less prim and proper Lily. “Yes, well…” He forced his gaze off that temptation.
“We’ll be leaving shortly. That’s why I came to find you.”

“So soon?” Lily turned to Ana. “There’s a letter on my nightstand,
addressed to my aunt. Will you please fetch it?” As Ana hurried past him to do
as she was bid, Lily made her way over to him. “Is Paisley up, then?”

“I sent Evelyn to wake her. They’ll miss the last London-bound train
out of Edinburgh this afternoon if we wait much longer.”

“I’ll be up in a minute,” Kelan issued when she glanced back at him.

Standing there with his arms folded, his eyes sliding between the two
of them, he didn’t appear to have any pressing matter requiring his immediate
attention.

Then Greyston realised he was deliberately giving them a few moments to
say their goodbyes in private and didn’t give the man a chance to change his
mind. He cupped his hand beneath Lily’s elbow and swept her from the room.
“Promise me you’ll take care when it comes to Kelan,” he said in a low voice.
“Don’t blindly put your trust in everything he says.”

“You have to choose a side, Greyston. Either we trust him or we don’t.
I’m not saying he isn’t keeping secrets, but someone has to jump the fence or
we’ll all die straddling it.”

“Dammit, Lily.” He drew to an abrupt halt at the base of the service
staircase and spun her around to face him. “What have you done?”

She jerked free from his grip and glared at him. “I told him about my
visions.”

“You should have discussed it with me first,” he ground out.

“You would have insisted I wait, and for what? Will you trust Kelan
more tomorrow? The day after? Next week?”

“Don’t you understand?” He folded his arms and worked his jaw loose.
“McAllister will never let you go now that he knows what you can do for him.”

“I’m not going anywhere until every last demon is banished and that
tear is sealed, and then I’ll no longer be of any value for him to hold onto.”

“The McAllisters have been embroiled in this war for centuries, give
or take a few decades. They strategise in terms of generations, not a single
person’s lifespan.”

“Kelan believes I can learn to control my visions to probe for demon
presence anywhere in our dimension. We can end this, Greyston, and I’m talking
in terms of months, not years.”

He was far less confident. Once Lady Ostrich had been booted back to
hell, he decided, he’d find a way to make her see reason.

Her eyes softened to honey. “Maybe we can even end this before another
person has to die.”

“Maybe…” His gaze dipped to her mouth again.

The tug was irresistible.

One brief kiss.

Everything considered, what harm could one kiss do? Just one more
messy fragment discharged into the chaos.

A sluggish heat pulsed through his veins, his blood hot with desire
and tainted by a foreign sweetness that wouldn’t be rushed, demanded the time
to savour, to make the moment last. His body swayed a little closer and his
head lowered a fraction and he would have done it, he knew. Her chin turned up
to him and, from the heaviness pulling over her lids, she knew it too.

Lily jumped back suddenly, pursing her lips.

Ana was at the top of the stairs with Lily’s letter.

He didn’t know which had come first, Lily’s reaction or Ana’s
reappearance. Lily fled up the stairs, leaving him to follow a pace behind and
stifling a string of curses as he realised what had slammed his resolve. He was
looking for something to take away with him. A touch, a taste, anything to feed
the hunger that had come on slow, so slow, he hadn’t recognised each new depth
he’d unwittingly adjusted to.

Evelyn was waiting with her husband in the double volume entrance
hall. “William’s gone on ahead with Paisley,” she told him. “It would appear
he’s taken her under his wing.”

“The lad has excellent instincts,” Greyston said. Paisley was the main
reason he’d offered William a place on his crew. The two of them had formed a
bond of friendship during the long night and she seemed to draw some comfort
from him.

Lily pressed her letter into Evelyn’s hands. “Don’t post it until you
reach London.” She glanced at Lord Harchings, then back to Evelyn. “I don’t
want Aunt Beatrice to worry, and she will if she thinks I’ve made a rash
decision while on our travels.”

Greyston looked between the two friends. They were as thick as thieves
and no doubt someone was about to be deceived.

“Yes, of course.” Evelyn pulled her into a quick hug. “Paisley wasn’t
feeling up to company, but she asked me to pass on her goodbyes.”

“I feel so terrible for her.”

“Evelyn tells me you’re not returning with us.” Lord Harchings stepped
forward. “That you’ve set your heart on the church.”

The words took on a physical presence, twisting a knot in Greyston’s
gut.

“After the horrific events of yesterday, I feel a yearning for a
deeper, spiritual connection,” Lily confirmed. “Lord Perth is a substantial
benefactor to several abbeys further north and has arranged an interview for
the morning. The Mother Superior indicated I’d be welcome to join them
immediately as a guest while we determine if I’m suited.”

“You’re a dear friend to Evelyn and will be missed. I do hope you find
temporary sanctuary sufficient and feel able to resume your life in London
after a short stay at—” His blue gaze sharpened. “What did you say the name of
the abbey was?”

“Enough of this morbid talk,” Evelyn burst forth, wringing her hands
dramatically. “I can’t bear to think of how much I’ll miss you, Lily. I don’t
want to hear another word about this abbey.”

Lord Harchings’ gaze shot to him. Greyston met the demanding stare and
answered nothing. He was neither the man’s friend nor confidante. What he was,
was a bloody fool. What in damnation had he been thinking?

He looked at Lily, standing with her back to him in that ill-fitting
dress that revealed the top of her boots and inches of bare skin. If she’d
noticed half of her hair had escaped the odd pin she’d clearly jabbed in at
random, she didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.

That’s
what he’d been thinking. Demons walked amongst them.
Their world had been turned upside down and inside out. Nothing would ever be
the same.

That’s what he’d been thinking. That no one could see what they’d
seen, know what they knew, and not look back through different eyes.
He
had started thinking he might get to keep her, while
she’d
been plotting
her re-acceptance into Polite Society. How could he not have known what
foolishness had been festering in his heart?

His anger built, at his own silly delusions and, fair or not, at
Lily’s stubborn refusal to change with the tide of this new, crazy world.
Instead she thought she could set the old world right side up again and step
straight back into it. He had no right to demand anything of her. He should
leave it be. He could not.

As soon as Kelan arrived to see his guests out, Greyston pulled Lily
aside into the library.

 
“You want to return to the
pompous strictures of London so badly,” he accused in a blistering tone,
“you’re willing to go to war to fix it.”

“You say that as if I have a choice. When Lady Ostrich is gone, the
next one will track us down and they won’t stop coming. Nowhere is safe while
demons roam free.”

The edge drained from his anger. “
Es Vedra
is surrounded by
miles of demon-toxic ocean.”

Her nose wrinkled. “I meant nowhere in England.”

“And I’m asking if you could ever consider
Es Vedra.
”

“That’s not all you’re asking,” she said softly after a significant
pause. “You’re asking me to exile myself from the life I was born into, from
everything I know. Family. Friends. You’re asking me to ignore the fact that
I’d be leaving them to the mercy of demons, to pretend there’s nothing I could
have done.”

Greyston had never considered himself a selfless person. There were,
however, a handful of people he’d die for. He didn’t have to like it, but he
understood. “So, we go to war.”

“We will finish this,” she said, her smile warming through him and
damned if he didn’t believe her.

And when no more demons remained in England, there’d be no reason for
her to leave. He could beg anyway, but that would still be asking her to exile
herself from the life she’d been born into, from her family and friends. There
was no happy ending here. He’d known that from the start and clearly nothing
had changed since.

“We finish this.” He dredged up a grin as he looked into her eyes. And
saw the fear that hadn’t touched her smile. The sadness and regret for that
which had already passed and, likely, for what she guessed still lay ahead.

She wasn’t going into this fight a courageous warrior, but she was
going. Her heart called for her to do the right thing and she followed without
a second thought. That inner strength she always denied was a hundred fold stronger
than he’d ever be.

If he were lucky enough to claim a piece of her, she wouldn’t think
twice about not only following her heart to
Es Vedra
, but to blaze a
trail through the Aether on the Red Hawk with him. She’d do it, no matter how
scared she was, no matter how much she had to give up. And that’s why he
wouldn’t ask.

His grin turned to dry amusement on that thought. When had he become
so bloody noble?

They’d been in the air for less than fifteen minutes when a knock came
at the door of the pilot cabin. Greyston brought his frown up from the damage
report he’d been studying. Ferdie had replaced the sections of mangled pipe,
but the ship would need to be taken into the Frankfurt workshop for repairs to
the anodised aluminium alloy shell.