Dane (15 page)

There‟d always been so much pressure to follow their wishes. To find a way to rise in the ranks of human society that had spurned Fantine twenty-two years ago, deeming her too lowborn for them. Sometimes the idea of exacting revenge on a society that had never done any wrong to her seemed so pointless.

“At any rate, I will be seeing him again,” said Eva. “We‟ve entered into a business transaction. I must do the work he pays me for. And I won‟t let him think he has hurt me.”She angled her chin higher. “He hasn‟t hurt me.”

“All right, bebe. All right,” Odette soothed.

“Now I‟m going to help the girls with their lessons.”

Still worried, Odette watched her go. Surely Eva wouldn‟t be foolish enough to fall in love like her mother. She was stronger than Fantine. But nothing was certain until her Eva was safely wed to a human.

The next morning, Dane found his brothers in the Forum ruins surrounded by Rome‟s seven hills, under the protection of a large white canvas tent. As usual, Bastian was toiling over some precious bits of stone and pottery set on a long table. Dane assumed the bits were more important than they looked, for Bastian was in charge of the digs and put his attention only to the rarest and richest of findings. Sevin slouched on a chair, his boots propped on an overturned crate. Behind him were shelves lined with assorted tools, urns, busts, reference books, and a scrolled copy of Giambattista Nolli‟s map of Rome. All the sides of the canvas had been rolled up save one that had been left down as a wall to cut the rays of the piercing Italian sun.

Just outside, fashionable ladies strolled gravel pathways in the areas of excavation that hadn‟t been cordoned off. Admiring eyes lingered on the tent, some hoping in vain that the three handsome men beneath its awning might notice them and pay them heed.

“I‟m fucking useless.”Dane threw himself into an empty chair, then stood again almost immediately to begin pacing. Bracing his hands high on the reinforcement bar above the tent‟s entrance, he stared out at the ruins. “I‟ve been over this entire excavation site three times in the two weeks since my return. And nothing. I don‟t recognize a damn thing. And I don‟t remember a damn thing either. It‟s as if I was never here.”

Bastian looked up from his examination of a shard of painted terracotta. He was wearing a pair of glasses Dane had never seen on him before. They were thick and greatly magnified his eyes, obviously for doing close work. He let them drop lower on his nose and stared at Dane over the tops of them. “We‟ve been over the entire site as well, many times. Especially the area where you were found wandering upon your return a year after your disappearance.”

“But the excavations have been ongoing since you left,” Sevin put in. “Things have changed over thirteen years. Digs and rubble have altered the landscape, making it near impossible—“

Dane slammed his fist on the bar under his hands, making the tent shudder. “I‟m not giving up, damn you. Luc is not dead!”

“We‟re not suggesting he is,” said Bastian.

Sevin straightened, his boots hitting the floor. “We feel him with us as well. Here.” He thumped a fist to his chest. “As preposterous as it might seem to some, we believe he‟s still alive, too. But this nebulous feeling we get from him supplies us with no direction, no clue, and no proof as to his existence or his location. What would you have us do?”

“Hell if I know.” Full of restless energy, Dane paced the carpet that had been laid as a temporary floor. He picked up a vessel from Bastian‟s worktable at random, carelessly tossing it from one hand to another. “I‟ll have to begin again. I‟m overlooking something. I know the clues are right here somewhere under our noses.” He paused, examining the urn he held more closely. It depicted an old man beating a young girl with sticks of myrtle while tempting her with wine. “What the devil is this hideous thing?”

“A priceless relic once used in the worship of Bona Dea,” Bastian informed him. A sudden shiver slid down Dane‟s spine as if a cloud had covered the sun for a moment. He seemed to lose himself in the object, floating away on a half-formed memory.

Bastian reached over and took the vessel from him, then set it back in its precise place on his meticulously organized table. Instantly, Dane shook off whatever macabre sensation had momentarily seized him, unable to recall exactly what had just happened.

“We want to find Luc as much as you do,” said Bastian. “It‟s why I was originally drawn to this sort of work, why I felt driven to uncover the Forum‟s secrets. I still hold out hope they‟ll lead us to him one day.”

“So you see—“Sevin began. But suddenly, Dane held out a hand, halting hi s brother‟s speech. Someone was coming. A woman. Eva.

“Excusez-moi, messieurs?” she said, stepping inside a moment later, and folding her parasol closed.

At her arrival, his brothers stood in deference. She was as beautiful as he remembered, just as fresh and fine, and dressed in a gray gown similar to the one she‟d been wearing in the grove. Its prim lines made him want to take it off of her so he could trace the curves he now knew lay beneath it. He shifted, fastening his coat—his prick had noted her arrival as well.

A knowing smile flitted over Sevin‟s lips. Dane moved behind Bastian to distance himself from her, needing time to recover. He‟d kept his lust on a tight rein all these years, never succumbing to it except during Moonful, when his baser instincts overwhelmed him. Yet the minute she‟d arrived, all restraint had departed and he was instantly hard for her. He didn‟t understand it. Didn‟t trust it.

Unaware of the nature of his thoughts, Eva glanced at Bastian‟s collection of bric-a-brac interestedly. “I do hope I‟m not interrupting. I brought my nieces to wander the ruins this morning, and I noticed your tent. I‟ve come to see Monsieur Dane on business.” Her gaze swept him and her cheeks heated.

What business? Had she come to lambaste him for attacking her yesterday? Or better yet, had she come for more of the same? He didn‟t remember the latter part of their encounter and that made him uncomfortable. When he‟d come to again, he‟d been back at the grove, standing in the center of the temple. How he‟d left her and returned home was a mystery.

Noting the tension between them, Bastian said, “Since my brother‟s manners are lacking this morning, I‟ll introduce myself. Bastian Satyr. And this is Sevin.”

“Dane‟s brothers,” Sevin added, his expression brimming with curiosity.

She smiled and nodded politely. “Evangeline Delacorte.”

“The matchmaker,” said Dane, folding his arms. Bastian‟s eyes widened as they went to him, sensing intrigue. Sevin raised his brows, smirking at him over her head, and Dane scowled. Like him, his brothers had assumed a matchmaker would be a wizened woman of advanced years.

“I prefer the term Marital Broker,” Eva corrected.

“Then Martial Broker it shall be,” said Sevin. “Welcome to our humble tent, mademoiselle.”

“Mine, actually,” Bastian murmured sardonically.

Ignoring him, Sevin took her hand and kissed it in the French way, on the wrist. When he straightened away from her, a slight frown marred his brow. He sent both brothers a speaking glance. He‟d wondered at her lack of scent as well.

“Thank you.” Eva smiled prettily at them, oblivious to the undercurrents. Then she turned to Dane, not quite meeting his eyes. “I wished to let you know that we have an engagement tonight.” She handed him a card bearing an address on Capitoline. “ A Pretender Gala.”

“You‟re inviting me to a ball?” Dane said, taking it.

She nodded. “At Palazzo Nuovo. It‟s how my work on your behalf will proceed. Over the next few weeks, you and I will attend functions and entertainments where there are sufficient numbers of suitable unmarried young ladies of human ancestry. You‟ll mingle. I‟ll observe. I‟ll facilitate introductions as needed. After each event, we will begin to narrow the list of candidates.”

She turned to his brothers. “I hope you‟ll both be coming with him?”she asked, looking between them.

Sevin started to agree, his eyes sparkling with humor at the notion of being there to witness Dane‟s courtship of a gaggle of strange females.

“My brothers are otherwise engaged,” Dane informed her, his eyes daring his brothers to contradict him.

Tenacious, she directed another question to his brothers. “Oh. By any chance, are you both looking for matrimony as well?”

“No,” Bastian and Sevin said at the same time. Without moving, each seemed to withdraw from her and her suggestion.

“Pity.” Obviously disappointed, she handed each of them her card.

“Do let me know if you change your minds.”

Eva turned back to Dane then, her gaze more direct than it had been. It was nearly his undoing. He had to find an outlet for the energy that filled him, and quickly, or he wasn‟t sure he could keep himself from doing something foolish. Something with her. Something extremely gratifying that would likely cause Dante to return.

“Would you care to stroll the ruins with me for a bit?” she asked, as if they were only passing acquaintances, ignoring the fact that he‟d been inside her only yesterday. It made him want to drag her off behind one of the tumbled ruins and remind her of exactly how close they‟d been. “The weather‟s fine today and there‟s another matter I wish to speak to you about.”

Glad of the chance to direct his mind to something other than fornication, Dane lifted the flap of the tent for her to precede him. He glanced at his brothers over her head and shifted a shoulder in answer to the curiosity he read in their faces, for he didn‟t know what she wanted of him. Then he was outside with her and they were walking among the ruins, as if they were humans without a care, both out to enjoy an autumn afternoon together.

“I want to thank you for your gift of the olives,” she began once they were alone. “And for your payment.”She opened her parasol with a distinct snap.

Dane glanced at her. She sounded oddly miffed regarding the payment, but he smiled to himself, imagining that her pixie financier had been thrilled. “You could have thanked me inside.”

“Yes, of course.” Her hands gripped the stem of her dainty parasol tighter. “Well, the truth is that there is another reason I wished to speak to you privately. Two reasons, actually.”

“And they are?”

“Most importantly, I wish to ask that you keep my species a secret.”

“From humans, do you mean?”

“From anyone.”

“Why? Are you ashamed of being a fey-human blend?”

She looked at him beseechingly. “Oh, please. Consider what might happen to my girls if.. fey-human?” She darted a look at the tent behind them. Then her glance bounced off his to study the horizon, an intent frown marring her brow. “Your brothers know I‟m.. a blend?”

What was going on here? Dane glanced over his shoulder toward the tent. Bastian and Sevin were standing shoulder to shoulder unabashedly observing them. Having them nosing about in his business was taking some getting used to. He‟d been alone half of his life and had forgotten what it was like to have family meddling about in his affairs.

He took her chin in his hand, but she wouldn‟t hold his gaze. “First lesson a Tracker learns is that when a suspect avoids your eyes, there‟s a lie hovering on her lips.”

Eva pulled away at that and stared him straight in the eyes. “It‟s true that my mother gave her fey blood to me. However, she was a courtesan and would never say who my father was. He may not have been human as I‟ve claimed, but I do believe he is here in Rome. It‟s one of the reasons I came here. I‟m searching for him. There, was my gaze direct enough to assure you I don‟t lie?”

That explained her odd reaction when she‟d told him she was human-fey. She had been fudging the truth as he suspected. But that didn‟t explain why he couldn‟t scent her. Maybe it had something to do with his attraction to her. Or with Dante‟s involvement.

“I‟ll tell you a truth of my own. You‟re the only person I‟ve ever been unable to scent. It makes me curious.”

“Oh?” she said, sounding a trifle alarmed. The pace of her footsteps increased, as if she wished to run away from his words.

He caught her wrist, detaining her. “You said you had another reason for wishing to speak to me in private.”

Her other hand tightened on her parasol and she sent him an inscrutable look. “Yes, of course. Well,” she tugged away and took a fortifying breath, gazing off into the distance. “After the way you left, I wasn‟t sure. Umm. That is.. Was all to your liking yesterday?”

Did she mean—? Yes, her blush told him she did. How could she doubt his enjoyment? He‟d gone at her like a ravenous beast. “Yes,” he growled. “You were to my liking, Eva very much so.”

She darted another glance his way and flushed again, beginning to twirl her parasol. “Well, in that case.. I was going to ask if you might possibly be interested in... in entering into an arrangement with me, separate from the brokering of your nuptials. It‟s completely up to you, of course, and I won‟t harbor any ill will if you refuse. And we‟ll just forget I mentioned it if—“

He interrupted what appeared to be a never ending sentence.

“What sort of arrangement?”

“A liaison,” she blurted.

9

Eva pressed her gloved fingertips to her lips as if hardly able to believe she‟d actually uttered the words.

Dane could hardly believe it himself. She was offering him exactly what he wanted. The desire for her that had kindled in him since he‟d seen her in the tent leapt higher. He was sorely tempted to take her up on her offer and even found himself eyeing nearby monuments, weighing their suitability as locations for a clandestine rendezvous with her this very minute. But he‟d learned past lessons well, and his first instinct was always to mistrust. Any kindness was suspect, any offer potentially nefarious.