Dark Swan Bundle (17 page)

He gave me a sidelong look. “Women who show up looking as lovely as you do after barely stomaching my presence last time do not come on pleasure. They come for business.”

“You're a cynic.”

“A pragmatist. But, business or pleasure, it becomes you.” He sighed happily. “I do so wish more of our women would wear pants like those. The warriors often do but not nearly so tight.”

“Thanks…I think.”

We walked on at a leisurely pace while the sky turned orange and scarlet.

“So I imagine you've changed in other ways since our last encounter. The very fact that you've come here so congenially indicates as much.”

“Yes.” I narrowed my eyes. “You know, I don't appreciate you telling me that Storm King bedtime story when all the time you knew I didn't know what was going on.”

“Mean, perhaps. But also amusing—were you in my place. Besides, I did you a service of sorts. I provided necessary background information, Lady Markham.”

“Don't say ‘Lady Markham.' It sounds weird.”

“I've got to call you something. Our normal rules of etiquette don't exactly outline anything for your situation. You are the daughter of a king without a kingdom. You are royalty but not quite royal. So you are addressed like a noble.”

“Well, then, only use it in public. Or stick to ‘Odile.'”

“What about ‘Eugenie'?”

“Fine.”

Silence fell between us. The orchard seemed to go on forever.

“Do you want to tell me why you're here yet? Or should I think up some other pleasantries to discuss?”

I repressed a laugh. Dorian played flamboyant and scattered, but he wasn't a fool.

“I need a favor.”

“Ah, so it is business after all.”

I stopped walking, and he stopped with me. Looking down at me, he waited patiently, his face pleasantly neutral. I shivered as another breeze stole through, and he took my coat from me, helping me slip it on.

I wrapped my arms around myself, grateful for the coat's warmth. Sexy was cold.

“I conjured a storm yesterday.”

“Did you now?” His voice held less levity and more calculation. “What happened?”

I told him the story, just as I had for Maiwenn and Kiyo.

“What were you thinking when it happened?”

At first, I thought he was chastising me. Sort of like when you do something stupid and your mom asks,
Are you insane? What were you thinking?

“Like how I felt? What was going through my head?”

He nodded.

“I don't know. I guess I went through a lot of moods. When it all started…I mean, I felt the same as for any other attack. Planned out what I would do, focused for a banishing. But once my mom got involved…I started to lose it.”

“And when Corwyn had you trapped?”

“Who?”

“The elemental. He was one of Aeson's men. The spirits you banished came back telling tales, though admittedly, no one's heard this part, seeing as you didn't leave any witnesses.”

“I felt…scared. Weak. Defenseless.”

“You don't strike me as someone who's scared a lot.”

“No, actually. I'm scared all the time. Stupid not to be. What's that saying? Only the dead are without fear? Or is that hope? Dunno. At that point, I sure as hell didn't have any hope either. I felt like I was out of options.”

“And so you chose the only option left to you.”

“I didn't choose it exactly. Not consciously.”

“No. But sometimes our souls and the secret parts of our minds know what we need.”

He walked over to a large, sheltering maple tree. Presumably it too had those wonderful colors, but the near-darkness made such things impossible to see. Taking off his robe, he spread it on the ground and sat down, leaving space beside him. A moment later, I sat down as well.

“So what have you come to ask me, Eugenie Markham?”

“You already know. I can hear it in your voice.”

“Hmm. So much for crafty subterfuge.”

“I need you to teach me how to use the magic. So it doesn't take over again. I don't want to kill someone the next time I freak out.”

“Or,” he added, “you just might want to kill someone with it. On purpose, that is.”

“Maybe.” I shivered. “I don't know.”

He didn't speak right away. The darkness around us grew deeper.

“What you did to Corwyn was akin to using a brick to swat a fly when much finer, much simpler methods would suffice. The storms you can conjure are great and powerful things, absolutely. The gods know your father made effective use of them. But I think you'll find your real power is in controlling the storm's finer elements. A child can throw paint on a canvas; a master works with fine brushstrokes. You learn the small things, and then the storms will be second nature.”

I took a deep breath. “So can you teach me?
Will
you teach me?”

Even in the dark, I knew he had that laconic smile on his face. “If someone had told me during our last meeting that we'd have this conversation, I would have flogged him for insolence.”

“I don't have anyone else to go to. Maiwenn offered, but she doesn't have—”

“Maiwenn?” he interrupted. His tone startled me. “When did you talk to her?”

“After the attack.” I explained the circumstances of our meeting. When he didn't respond, I grew defensive. “There's nothing wrong with that. If anything, it's kind of nice to have someone on my side who doesn't want to see me get pregnant and take over the world.”

“And for that very reason, you shouldn't trust her. I want to see Storm King's heir born. Therefore, I have good reason to make sure you stay alive. She does not.”

I remembered thinking how Maiwenn would have had a lot less to worry about had I died in the attack.

“She didn't seem so sinister,” I replied haltingly, suddenly struck by a thought. If Maiwenn's noble philosophy involved killing me, then would Kiyo follow her in that?

“The sinister ones never do.”

“You're just trying to sway me to your side.”

“Well, of course. I'd be trying to do that regardless of her involvement.”

I sighed. It was all plots and posturing after all. Above all else, Dorian was still one of the gentry. “Maybe coming here was a mistake.”

“Coming here was the smartest thing you've done so far. So tell me, what will you give me for teaching you to control your power?”

“You can't get something for nothing, huh?”

“Oh, please. Don't sound so superior. I helped you last time without asking anything in return, and now here you are again asking more of me. You demand a lot of the gentry you consider so greedy.”

“Fair enough.” I leaned against the tree a little. “If you'll help me…I'll let…I'll let people think we're, you know…”

There was a pause, and then his warm laughter filled the orchard. “Sleeping together? Oh, you really have made my night. That's not fair. Not fair at all.”

I blushed furiously in the dark. “You'll one-up Aeson. He'll think I'm willingly giving you what he tried to take by force.”

“And all the while, I'll actually be getting nothing except tantalizing glimpses of you in outfits like this.”

“I'll cover up more if it makes a difference.”

“What would make a difference is if you were sleeping with me for real.”

“That's not fair either. Not for a few magic lessons.”

“‘A few'?” He laughed again, his voice carrying the kind of incredulity that seemed to amuse rather than upset him. Jesus. Did nothing bother this guy? “My dear, it's going to take more than ‘a few' lessons to quell that storm in you, pun intended. Especially with your temper. It's going to make focus hard.”

I felt indignant. “Hey, I've been focusing since I was a kid. I can clear my mind in the middle of a fight to banish spirits. I go to trance in seconds.”

“Perhaps,” he conceded grudgingly. “But I'm still not sure this is fair. You'll be getting more than lessons. Assuming you are my ‘lover,' people will be hesitant to assault you. You'll find your status soaring.”

“Christ. Nothing gets past you, does it? Apparently Volusian and I have a lot more to learn about subterfuge too.”

“Who?”

“My servant.”

“Ah. The sullen one with red eyes?”

“Yes.”

He made a disapproving click with his tongue. “He's both dangerous and powerful. You're brave to keep him.”

“I know. I couldn't send him to the Underworld, so I bound him to me.”

“If I helped you, we could probably send him on.”

The thought astonished me. With Volusian securely in the world of death, I'd probably be a lot safer.

As though reading my mind, Dorian added, “Things will get nasty if he ever breaks loose on you.”

“I know. He tells me on a regular basis—in graphic detail. Still…he's been useful. I think I'll keep him around for a while.”

We sat quietly in the darkness again. I realized it must be getting past the castle's dinner hour. Part of the reason for showing up at this time had been to get invited to dinner. With gentry pride in hospitality, Volusian had thought it would please Dorian to show off his resources, especially since being half-gentry meant I could safely eat in this world now. Finally, a legitimate perk to all this insanity. I half-smiled imagining a hall full of hungry gentry, pounding their silverware on the table. With the way everyone danced around Dorian's moods, however, I had no doubt they'd wait hours if need be.

“If you're going to pretend to be my lover, it will involve more than just say-so. You've seen how free we are with our affections in public. If you keep ten feet away from me, no one's going to believe it.”

I froze, suddenly remembering that other dinner. I hadn't entirely considered the implications.

He chuckled softly, a low and dangerous sound beside me. “Oh, yes, you didn't think about that, did you?”

He was right. I'd figured Dorian and me disappearing into his bedroom for lessons would be convincing enough. But now I had to picture sitting on his lap, letting him touch me and kiss me. I had trouble with the image. He was one of the gentry, the beings I'd hitherto kept a wary eye on and tracked down my whole life. Discovering Kiyo's true nature had been a shock to my system, one I was slowly starting to reconcile. How could I handle someone who was completely of the Otherworld?

Yet…the more I hung around Dorian, the easier it became to think of him as just a person. Weird or not, there was something comfortable about being with him. So, yeah. I could handle this. Maybe. It was just a little making out, right? It wasn't sex. And wasn't it a small thing to ensure I didn't tear anyone else apart inadvertently?

“I'm not going down on you or anything,” I warned, using flippancy to cover my discomfort.

He laughed again. “As saddening as that is, it might actually be too much. You're human enough that they'll expect some modesty.”

Small blessings. “All right. I'll hold up my half if you hold up your half.”

“Well, in distribution, I think I'm actually doing three-quarters of the work here. But yes, I'll do the same. Shall we shake on it? Isn't that how you humans seal a deal?”

I extended my hand in the darkness, and he took it. Suddenly, he pulled me to him and kissed me. I immediately pulled back, aghast.

“Hey!”

“What? You don't expect to have our first kiss in public, do you? We want to be convincing, remember?”

“You're a sleazy bastard, you know that?”

“If you truly believe that, then maybe you'll feel better finding another teacher.”

I thought about that. Then I leaned forward and tried to find his lips in the darkness. I didn't realize I was shaking until his hands gripped my arms.

“Relax, Eugenie. This won't hurt.”

I took a deep breath and calmed myself. Our lips found each other. His reminded me of flower petals, soft and velvety. Whereas Kiyo was all about animal passion and aggression, Dorian seemed more about…precision. I suddenly remembered his metaphor about the difference between slapping paint on a canvas and fine brushstrokes.

Don't get me wrong, Dorian wasn't exactly sweet and chaste. There was heat in those soft lips. He seemed to want to draw out the experience, almost in a taunting way, so much so that I found myself impatient and eager when his tongue finally darted in between my lips. He pushed it farther into my mouth, the rest of the kiss intensifying. He smelled like cinnamon and cider, like all the good things in an autumn night. Finally, he pulled away.