Bodyguards (21 page)

This was it. The moment when she
won this battle or trusted Brad to get her the hell away from there, and
quickly.

“You have to make your plea before
he even says a word,” Aedan had warned her. “If he starts to say something
negative before you ask, he’d appear weak by agreeing. He still might agree,
but he’d humiliate you first to make sure you appeared deserving of scorn and
pity.”

She dropped to her knees. The
three of them had debated this particular part of the plan for a while, none of
them happy with it, but in the end it had seemed safer. Somewhere in the room,
Aedan had said, on one of these oversized paintings, a woman knelt in front of
a king, making the same plea that now tumbled from Vivien’s lips.

“—and would beg that your majesty
grant me his protection as a child and orphan.”

Two dozen words, a couple
sentences, and the die was cast. All Vivien could do now was wait to see if it
would be enough for Rhuinn, like it had been enough, long ago, for one of her
ancestors when confronted by the last surviving child of his enemies. He had
not only granted the girl his protection, he’d courted her when she had come of
age, and ended up marrying her. Vivien would be more than happy if all Rhuinn
did was let her leave.

Complete silence had fallen over
the throne room. It felt like people were afraid to even breathe too loudly.
Long seconds passed before the king shifted on his seat and spoke in a loud
voice edged with irony.

“You claim to be a child, Dame
Vivien? You hardly look or sound like a child to me, demanding to be received
in front of the high families, striding in here with bodyguards, one of them
stolen from my own.”

Vivien had no script for this
part, nor could she take counsel from the two men at her back. It wasn’t as
easy as they had hoped, but the battle wasn’t lost yet.

“If I may explain, your majesty?”
Her knees were beginning to ache, but she tried to stay still as she waited for
a gesture from Rhuinn to continue. “These guards were sworn to me when they
were children not much older than I was myself. When years passed and I
remained away from Foh’Ran, Aedan believed me lost and entered your service,
but his first oath still binds him to me.”

Rhuinn did not react. Two feet to
his left, the woman—Ciara—jerked, and her mouth opened, but Rhuinn’s fingers
stopped their tip-tapping on the armrest, and she closed her mouth without
uttering a sound.

Vivien wasn’t sure whether she
imagined that barest nod from Rhuinn before he abruptly asked, “How old are
you, child?”

That last word was as blunt as a
backhanded slap. Vivien tried not flinch.

“My Naming Day is in eighteen
days.”

“Eighteen days to your twentieth
Naming Day,” Rhuinn mused aloud. “And still you call yourself a child.” He
stood, his coat billowing behind him, and looked to the left of the room, then
to the right, as though taking his audience to witness. “Most children would
demand to be called adults, so close to their last Naming Day.”

Vivien could feel sweat forming on
her back, making the dress stick unpleasantly to her skin. Should she explain
that she knew so little about Foh’Ran she might as well be a child? She
struggled to find words, but in the end Rhuinn started again before she did.

“Lahien the Great—” he intoned,
and Vivien held her breath.

This was good. It had to be.
Right? Unless he had realized they were trying to manipulate him, in which case
it could be bad. Very bad. Her entire body hurt from the strain of not looking
back at Brad.

“—once was confronted to the same
request, voiced by a child whose family had caused a terrible war. Like yours
did.”

Vivien blinked and tried hard not
to frown. Her family had done what, now?

“He was kind enough to forgive and
grant his protection,” Rhuinn continued. “And I...”

When he met her eyes, his gaze was
pitch black and void of any feeling. Vivien shuddered.

“I can also be kind. Rise, child.”

His large, sweeping gesture
invited Vivien to get back to her feet. She stumbled a little when she did; her
knees felt as numb as the rest of her.

“In eighteen days, you will be an
adult. Until then, you shall be under my protection, and my guards will keep
you from those who would make you pay for your mother’s mistakes.”

What mistakes, Vivien wanted to
ask, but this was not the moment to forget the last of what Aedan had told her.
He had thought the king might try to plant guards in her castle—spies that
would discourage anyone from approaching her for a potential alliance.

She curtsied again, and this time
didn’t feel quite as foolish. “Majesty, I am thankful for your offer, but I
would like to respectfully decline. I grew up with no guards around me, and
even two of them shadowing my every movement constrict me and make me feel like
a prisoner in my own—”

The king stilled her tongue with
one single look not at her but at Aedan. For a moment, she was certain they’d
overdone it by giving the king a line Aedan had heard him deliver to the
captain of his guard. The king was probably channeling now, even if she
couldn’t see the colors swirling around him. She’d had trouble seeing Brad
channel since the previous evening. Aedan had said Rhuinn might channel to
check whether she could see the colors—whether she could channel herself. What
if he did something more than gather the Quickening, though? What if he hurt
one of them like he’d hurt Anabel? It was all Vivien could do not to allow her
anger to burst out of her.

“Ungrateful.” Rhuinn spat the word
as though it were a curse. Was it directed at her or at Aedan? “I tire of you
and your otherworld manners, child. You may leave my court until you grow
wiser.”

The king sat again, gesturing to
the side. A red-clad servant rushed forward with a tray, a golden cup upon it.
After a last, hasty curtsy, Vivien turned away and started for the doors. She
met Brad’s eyes as she turned. When she gave him a smile, he returned it for
the briefest of instants.

Adrenaline was still pumping
through her as she crossed the throne room, unable to prevent herself from
walking faster than she had when coming in. The doors had remained open, and
she passed them without a look back.

If Vivien had dared, she would
have run down the hallway, high heels be damned. She couldn’t help feeling that
it had been much too easy and any moment now Rhuinn would change his mind and
send his guards after them. There had been an aura about him, a coldness that
she could still feel even now, like ice slowly melting down her back. She
wished she had never had to see him again, but she had a feeling that those
eighteen days would pass far too quickly.

EPILOGUE

Their Queen

Aedan didn’t let himself relax
until they had Passed Through back to the castle and Bradan let the portal
close behind them. Aedan had been sure everything would go as planned—he had
wanted, needed, to believe it—but a tiny part of him he had been unable to
fully silence had thrown dozens of ‘what ifs’ at him, each more dreadful than the
last.

From the moment they had entered
the king’s palace, Aedan’s entire body had been on alert, each of his senses
seeking threats in every noble, servant, guard, and especially the king. He’d
caught a few murderous looks from the guards, but they had been directed at him
rather than Vivien. His Maker, in particular, wouldn’t let him go as easily as
the king had—not that Aedan believed for one minute that the king was done with
him.

The observers’ looks had been
different. A few showed undisguised scorn when Vivien asked for the king’s
protection. Some were merely curious. But here and there, in the flicker of an
eye or the whiff of a scent, Aedan sensed an elusive hope. He would have bet
his best knife that Vivien would have visitors soon, and it wouldn’t be much
longer after that before she was given support.

“We did it,” Vivien breathed,
turning to Bradan and Aedan with a beaming smile.

“No, you did it,” Bradan replied,
pride bursting from his words. “You were amazing.”

He lifted her in his arms and twirled
her around the room, her long skirt billowing around her legs. She threw her
head back and laughed.

It was the first time Aedan had
heard her laugh since her return, he realized with a flash of surprise. Her
voice was different, but it was the same joy that had filled her laughter as a
little girl. How he’d loved to make her laugh then… He’d have done anything to
hear her laugh, anything to make her happy. He still would, even if he knew
she’d never believe it now.

He’d do anything, except stand in
his brother’s way.

* * * *

To Bradan, Vivien had never been
as beautiful as when she faced Rhuinn, holding her head high and keeping calm
even when she was on her knees, and Bradan knew she’d been scared and angry.
Right there, right then, she became to him the queen he’d known she could and
would be.

He knew she had a long way to go
still, and after a first burst of sheer happiness, he set her back down on her
feet. He kept her close, though, and she looped her arms around his neck. He
brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and touched her cheek, stroking the
very edge of her smile. He loved it so much when she smiled, when she laughed,
that it was all he could do not to kiss her. Later, he would. When they were
alone. When Aedan wasn’t three feet away, relief pouring out of him, mixed with
something Bradan didn’t know how to name.

“It’s a good first step,” he said,
smiling back at her. “A great first step. But there are many more steps ahead
of you, and only two weeks to get to the end of the road. Are you ready?”

Her smile wavered but did not
fall, much like Vivien herself: she had doubted, she had cried, she’d been in
pain and ready to quit, but she had confronted her fears and Rhuinn, and she
had won that first round with nothing but words.

“I’m ready,” she murmured.

“These two weeks will pass very
fast,” Aedan added. “And there is a lot for you to learn. A lot for you to do.”

“I’m ready,” Vivien repeated, more
loudly now. Her eyes never left Bradan. “As long as you’re with me.”

It wasn’t a question, but Bradan
answered anyway. “I will be with you.” Quickly-suppressed annoyance flashed
through the bond, and Bradan glanced at Aedan before correcting himself. “We
both will.”

Her arms tightened, and she drew
him closer into a hug, resting her cheek against his shoulder. Bradan curled
his arms around her waist and held her tight.

This was not what he had imagined,
years earlier, when he and Aedan had recited the QuickSilver Oath together.
He’d only wanted to keep a little girl safe, take care of her as best as he
could when he wasn’t that much older than she was. She was a woman now. And,
he’d come to realize, she would truly be a queen: she’d take care of Foh’Ran,
and the channelers, and the vampires. Take care of him, too. Take care of him
and Aedan both.

EXCERPT

Quickening

QuickSilver Codex Part 2

Every time Vivien’s lips touched
his, Bradan found himself wondering if it was a dream. At the same time, he
knew it couldn’t be a dream.

Back on Earth, he’d often dreamed
of the day Vivien would return to Foh’Ran, when he and Aedan would stand by her
side, help her reclaim the throne and put an end to the usurper’s reign. But
never would he have dared hope that Vivien, his dame, the woman he’d sworn to
protect with his very life, would look at him as more than a bodyguard. Never
would he have imagined that her brown eyes would sparkle when she watched him,
or that she’d give him small, shy, happy smiles, or that she’d lean against him
like she now did, her mouth still sweet from the roseberries she’d had at
breakfast.

He ran his fingers through her
hair, gently tugging on the elastic tie until her hair slipped free on her
shoulders.

“You’re burning,” he murmured
against her mouth, and the words were all but a sigh.

“Burning, and sweaty, too,” she
replied with a grimace that wrinkled her nose.

It wasn’t what he had meant, far
from it, but before he could stop her, she was drawing away, kicking her
sneakers off, and getting to her feet.

“What are you…”

The question became useless as he
watched her undress. Her t-shirt came off first, then her jogging pants. She
was blushing when she stood in front of him in nothing but her bra and panties,
both a blue paler than the sky beyond the shields or the lake at her back. She
watched him observe her, and the hint of worry in her eyes disappeared,
replaced by pride when he made no effort to conceal how the sight of her
affected his body.

“Up for a swim?” she asked,
grinning.

The pun was terrible, but the
invitation too good to pass. It had been years since Bradan had plunged into
the lake, and the mere thought of dipping into the cool, clear waters sent a
shiver of delighted anticipation down his spine. He stripped down like she had,
and Vivien’s grin widened when his arousal became even more obvious, jutting in
front of him beneath the fabric of his boxers.

“I’m up for it. Are you?”

In answer, she approached the
lake, Bradan right on her heels. Grass as soft as silk grew down to the very
edge of the water. Vivien put one foot in the water and jumped back with a
startled laugh.

“All right, maybe not today,” she
said. “It’s too cold to—”

Her chuckling turned to a
high-pitched squeal when Bradan picked her up with a hand behind her knees and
the other at her back. She batted her legs while clinging to his neck.

“Brad! What are you doing!”

But her laughter gave it away: she
knew already what he had in mind.

“No!” She clutched his shoulders,
trying to raise herself higher in his arms. “It’s too cold!”

Ignoring her protests, Bradan
walked into the water. She was right, it felt cool, but only because they’d
been running and were still hot from the exercise. At this hour, with the sun
high and bright behind the shields, the water would be nice once they adjusted
to it.

The first four to five yards
descended in a gentle slope, and this was where they had waded as children,
unable to go further, where the soft, silvery sand gave way to dark, round
stones and greater depths. Bradan’s mother used to channel a barrier to keep them
where they were safe while she sat in the shade, watching them.

He walked right up to the edge of
the sand and stopped, grinning down at Vivien. Her eyes widened, and she shook
her head.

“Oh no, you wouldn’t dare,” she
said, breathless. “What about me being your dame and all?”

Bradan laughed. “You’re the one
who keeps saying I shouldn’t call you that.”

Without hesitation, he pivoted to
the side to throw her into the deep water. She shrieked as she fell with a big
splash, but as soon as she resurfaced, she was laughing with him.

“You are so going to pay for
that!”

Without answering, Bradan dived
in. The shock of cool water sent a jolt through his body, awakening each and
every one of his nerves. He broke to the surface right next to Vivien, only to
have her press down onto his shoulders and push him back under. He let himself
go down, folding his legs when his feet hit the bottom. He then caught her
ankle and pulled, not hard but enough that he could hear her cry from under the
water.

He came back up again. For all of
two seconds, she glared at him, but soon her eyes twinkled with a mischievous
gleam.

“Catch me,” she said, and already
she was swimming away, the long strokes of her arms taking her toward the
center of the lake.

Bradan gave her a few seconds’
head start before going after her. Just as he was catching up with her, his
fingers within reach of her feet, she dived and disappeared under the water.
They were far enough that the rocky bottom was a long way beneath their
feet—far enough that, looking down, Bradan could only see shadows that might
have been rocks or maybe Vivien.

He bobbed up and down in the water
for a second or two, took a deep breath to go after her, but all of a sudden
she emerged right in front of him, her arms encircling his shoulders. Her grin
was wider and brighter than the sky above them.

“Got you!” she said. “I win.
What’s my prize?”

Bradan’s hands brushed against her
sides; he could feel her shivering and couldn’t tell if it was from his touch
or the chilly water.

“What do you want?” he asked,
though he had an idea what she would ask.

And indeed, she quickly said, “A
kiss.”

Leaning forward, Bradan laid his
mouth upon hers. At the same time, he stopped treading water and let himself go
under. Vivien closed her eyes and clung to him as they were submerged in the
water and their kiss deepened.

To feel her warmth against him,
the delicate caress of her tongue, and the possessiveness of her hands on his
shoulders sent wave after wave of desire through Bradan, and when he kicked
once to bring them both back to the surface, his cock had reawakened despite
the cool water, and it arched toward Vivien’s stomach.

They broke the kiss to gasp for
air, and Vivien gave him a look that managed to be both knowing and coy. She
didn’t say a word, but she curled both her legs around his, trapping his cock
tightly between their bodies. The pressure was exquisite, but all too brief.
After only a few seconds, she pushed away from him again.

“Rematch?” she asked, already
swimming away.

This time, Bradan didn’t wait
before he went after her. With a powerful kick, he swam right under her and
turned up to face her. Through the clear waters of the lake, her body seemed to
be surrounded by the glow of the sky. He put both hands on her waist, gave her
a second to realize what he was about to do and take a breath, and pulled her
underwater to him.

His face ended up against her
breasts, and the thin fabric of her bra did little to disguise that her nipples
had hardened to tight, puckered points. The thought came to him to take one in
his mouth and suck on it, but reserve held him back. Vivien hadn’t come back to
his bed since that first night, and for him to go to hers was unthinkable. The
first step was and would always be hers to make; he would follow wherever she
led.

When they emerged, Vivien clung to
his shoulders again, sputtering as she blinked water out of her eyes.

“That was totally cheating,” she
informed him.

Bradan didn’t hide his grin.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize there were rules.”

She nodded gravely. “Oh yes, there
are. And breaking them means you incur a penalty. So go ahead and kiss me.”

He was all too happy to oblige,
and didn’t point out how convenient it was that both rewards and penalties were
the same.

For the next few minutes, they
chased each other, splashing and laughing like kids, but the kisses were
entirely grown-up. Each one of them grew a little longer, a little fiercer, and
as time passed Vivien didn’t only cling to his shoulders. Her right hand found
its way to Bradan’s cock, and fleeting touches soon gave way to more insistent
stroking, first through the fabric of his boxers and then inside them, flesh
against flesh.

Every caress fanned the flames of
his desire, and it became more and more difficult to restrain himself when all
he could think of was the softness of her skin, and how, that one, beautiful
night, it had yielded under his fingers and mouth.

He’d dreamed of her every night
ever since—dreamed of kissing her, making love to her, and even of taking her,
hard and fast, for nothing but his own pleasure, the way he’d never dare do
outside of his dreams. Aedan’s knowing, slightly reproachful looks in the
morning didn’t help anything.

“Why aren’t you touching me back?”
she asked then, her wet lips brushing against his with a quiver of self-doubt.

It was the invitation Bradan had
been waiting, hoping for—and craving.

…