Gates of Rapture (The Guardians of Ascension) (32 page)

“You are a hard thinker, Grace. Even the muscles of your cheeks feel tense.”

She met his gaze and touched his face with her hands. He’d shaved, and his skin felt so smooth. She could feel how warm her fingers felt to him. “I’ve always been this way. You need to know that about me. I think about everything.”

“No problem,” he said, searching her eyes. “Just try not to shut me out.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?” She set her cup on the island and shifted toward him, one knee between his legs.

He tapped her forehead with his index finger. “Here. I suspect when you think this hard you believe you’ve spoken aloud, but you haven’t.”

“Oh. You may be right.”

“So…”

She blinked, and once more felt her brow furrow. Enlightenment dawned, however slowly. “I should share more.” Maybe that was part of her ghost ways: Her life was internal, and she rarely communicated her thoughts with anyone.

“Please.” But his eyes were lit with laughter so she did the only thing that made sense. She leaned into him and kissed him on the lips. As she drew back, he followed and captured her mouth, kissing her back and catching her around the waist.

She could feel his body light up. How quickly his maleness responded to touch, to sensation, to his tongue deep in her mouth. And because she could feel the pleasure riding him so quickly, she melted against him. In a way, his pleasure had become hers.

I feel your nipples against my chest and my chest against your nipples. This is so strange. Wonderful, but strange.

She drew back and planted a hand on his chest. How quickly sex could fire up between them. She kept her hand firmly in place and at the same time set up a quick succession of blocks to stop from feeling all that his body experienced.

“I’m feeling you very low,” he said. “How your body responds to me.”

“Hush,” she whispered.

“What’s wrong?” This time he frowned.

“Leto, I could so easily fall back into bed with you, but for the last hour I’ve been thinking about the doe that I saw on the villa lawn this morning.”

“You have?”

“Yes, because the moment I saw her, that was all I could see. She’s not the usual desert sight, a deer out in the open. I kept watching, completely distracted from everything.” Her obsidian flame power vibrated from deep in the earth.

Leto gasped and even looked down at the floor. “I don’t know if it’s because you have your hand on my chest, but I can feel that.”

She smiled. “I think it means I’m on the right track.” Chills chased up and down her arms. “I have an idea that might be exactly what’s needed. It would put pressure on Greaves on several fronts at the same time.”

He overlaid her hand with his own. His lips curved. “What’s on your mind?”

“Remember how, in Moscow Two, Greaves tried to have a military review?”

“Yes. Thorne and the Warriors of the Blood stopped it right in the middle.”

Grace nodded. “What if we had something similar, only featuring obsidian flame, a large very flamboyant spectacle event. We could demonstrate the triad’s power, we would give Marcus another PR tool for holding on to Endelle’s High Administrators … and … we could do some serious folding.”

His eyes widened. “The doe on the lawn.”

Grace smiled. “Do you see? While we’re giving a demonstration in public, which would be a huge distraction to the enemy, we could also be folding your divisions wherever you wanted them.”

“Dear Creator, it’s a brilliant idea. But can the triad do something like that?”

She opened her obsidian power, letting all that rumbling power flow up and over her.

Leto enfolded her in his arms. “What you’re experiencing is incredible. So much power. I can feel the vibrations along your skin.” He drew back slightly and kissed her.

I think your idea is brilliant,
he sent.

Grace felt something deep inside her begin to warm. His praise meant the world to her. She could help. She wanted to help.

Of course, with so much power now rippling from her and with his mouth sealed to hers, Grace started forgetting about the topic at hand. Her hands slid up his back and his body curled around hers until his embrace was all that she cared about.

Leto
. She whispered his name through her mind.

Grace
.

He drew away slightly to look into her eyes. Her breathing sped up, but not just because she wanted him. His eyes were on fire, a blue fire that spoke to her. “What is it?” she asked. She wanted him to say the words out loud.

He caressed her face, kissed her lips again. “Everything seems to be changing. You are. I am. Do you think it might be possible…” He kissed her again slowly, then once more pulled away to look at her.

Grace’s heart thumped heavily in her chest. He hadn’t finished his thought, but she understood him. Would love be possible between them? Something deep and real, something not clouded by the war or his fractured state or her ghostliness. All these years, all these centuries, she had moved like a spirit through the world, much like her apparition-self, always studying and hoping, but for what she didn’t know.

Yet as she looked into Leto’s eyes, hope soared. Could she become real in his life? Could he give himself to her despite the ugliness of the war or his guilt over the past century of serving a monster?

If every step she took from this point forward brought her closer to a true union with Leto, she vowed that if called upon, she would throw herself into the depths of hell just for the chance.

“Let me call Thorne,” he said, releasing her. “We have a strategy to put in place, but at some point, I want to sink inside you, all the way, to find out what this can be between us.”

“All the way,” she returned.

Beware the dog twice bitten.

—
Collected Proverbs,
Beatrice of Fourth

CHAPTER 13

Leto watched Thorne pace Endelle’s sitting room. This time Endelle sat in one of the large purple chairs opposite Leto. Grace stood behind him, her hands resting on his shoulders. He loved it.

Thorne shoved a hand through his hair, stopped mid-stride, and turned to Leto. “I don’t like it. Obsidian flame is untried, and you’re talking about combining a spectacle event with a series of massive folds?”

“You’ve got it,” Leto said. He took one of Grace’s hands in his. “Your sister has got some serious chops. And even you, as the anchor to obsidian flame, must have a sense of what the triad is capable of. Remember what it was like when Grace, while in possession of Fiona, battled Jean-Pierre with the sword?”

Thorne shook his head. “I am remembering. But the timing would have to be so precise, the locations fixed. Do you have any idea of the sheer logistics that we’re talking about? Obsidian flame would essentially be in flight during the military part of the review and at the same time doing all this secret folding of masses of warriors. How could it possibly work?”

Leto would have answered him, but Endelle rose to her feet. She still wore her leathers and a weapons harness, no octopus tentacles or badger pelts. She was strangely subdued and serious. “Thorne, what the fuck is the matter with you? This plan is genius, and you’re acting like a little girl.”

At that, he turned to her and laughed. He put a hand to his forehead. “Shit, I think you’re right. I guess it doesn’t help that we’re talking about my
breh
and my sister being involved in something incredibly dangerous.” He threw his hands in the air. “We’ll make it work.” His gaze slid to Grace. “You think you’re up for this?”

Leto rose to his feet at these words. “Hell, yeah, she’s up for this. You’ve been her overprotective brother too long. Grace can do anything.”

Thorne’s brows rose. He looked from one to the other.

Leto felt Grace’s hand slide into his, warmth against his palm. She gave his fingers a squeeze. He looked down at her and winked. She grinned. My God, had he ever seen her smile like that? He got lost for a moment just looking at her until he heard Endelle make a gagging sound.

When he glanced her direction, she said, “This goddam
breh-hedden
shit gives me the scratch. If I see one more couple making goo-goo eyes at each other, I’m gonna toss my cookies.”

“Goo-goo eyes?” Leto asked. “Really?”

She jerked a hand to encompass both Leto and Grace. “What would you fucking call that?”

“I was letting her know that I respect the hell out of her.”

“Fine. Whatever.” But a smile replaced all that disgust as Endelle held Leto’s gaze. “It’s a good plan. And do you really think half of Greaves’s force will come with you?”

Leto didn’t quite recognize the sensation that sped through him, but dammit, it felt like pride. “Yes. I do.”

“Hot damn. Well, it seems to me we’ve got some work to do, and I want Marcus in on this pronto.” She laughed. “He’s gonna have a field day with this one.”

The next hour was spent conferring with Marcus via video cam. As predicted, Marcus went into hyperspeed. Even while on the line, he left his station and started barking a dozen orders at his staff.

Leto sat beside Endelle, sharing in the conference. He met her gaze. “See what I mean?” she said. She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled some more, turning once more to stare at the screen as she waited for Marcus to come back.

He had never seen Endelle so relaxed. He got it. He really did. Much of the past twenty-plus centuries had been spent building to this moment.

Marcus returned, his eyes almost feverish. He demanded specifics, and Leto told him what he needed to know.

“We’re moving fast on this,” Marcus said. “Tomorrow night at eight, the triad will be in the air.”

Marcus then stated exactly what he needed to have happen before anything else. “I’ve got to have a photo op with the triad in full mount. A back view of the wings with the different-colored flames.”

“I’ll get on it,” Leto said. “We’ll use the Apache Junction Two workout center.”

“Good. That’s all for now.” Without saying anything more, he clicked off, and the screen went blank.

Endelle snorted then laughed. “Marguerite’s going to love this,” she drawled.

Leto frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Have you been around many pregnant women before?”

“Not really.”

“My suggestion, then, is that you stay the hell away from that photo op.”

Leto wasn’t sure what she meant, but he wasn’t too concerned. Not when right now he had to grapple with where to move a million warriors during a spectacle review.

*   *   *

An hour later, Grace hid her smiles behind her hand. She stood in the large workout center of the Militia Warrior HQ with her obsidian sisters, and Marguerite was very unhappy.

The meeting with Thorne and Endelle had ended with Endelle barking her orders. Obsidian flame would train at the workout center, Marcus and Havily would put the spectacle event together and begin a PR web-release campaign, Leto would contact his Division Leaders, and Thorne would help Leto establish endpoint fold locations for the troops.

But before the triad could begin practicing, Marcus had commandeered the women, insisting on a visual spread that focused on the triad’s unique wing coloration. Grace knew he was right to insist on it. The dark flame pattern and colors of each woman’s wings would make a striking display.

“I know I shouldn’t care,” Marguerite said, fluffing her short platinum curls, “but right now my pregnancy ass is the size of Arizona, and Marcus wants the wings photographed from
the rear
. Hell, no one will even see the wings. They’ll just ask why there’s a blimp supporting the black and red flames.”

Grace tried not to laugh, but Marguerite was so funny. On the other hand, when had a pregnant woman ever not been extra conscious of her figure?

Marguerite had on maternity flight gear that showed the full curve of a six-month-pregnant belly that held twins. From Grace’s point of view, she looked beautiful.

Marguerite splayed her fingers over her stomach. “And what about this? What’s Marcus going to do about this?”

“Marcus said he just wanted a shot of the wings from behind.”

“Ugh.”

The photographer set up her tripod and had a team with her who managed the lighting and staging. They’d brought a dark backdrop lit softly from below with a row of dim lights.

Grace took both of Marguerite’s hands. “You look more beautiful than you know, my idiot obsiddy sister.”

But Marguerite just rolled her eyes. Very much in Endelle’s mold she said, “Whatever.”

The photographer called out, “If Ms. Dresner will stand on the center box, Ms. Albion and Ms. Gaines can stand to either side. First, however, you’ll want to mount your wings.” Grace understood the need for the box for the picture. Marguerite was much shorter than either Grace or Fiona; having her elevated would give the photo a more balanced look.

Grace stepped a good ten feet away from everyone in the room, as did both Marguerite and Fiona. With advanced powers came enormous wings. She also turned away from everyone from a certain amount of natural embarrassment. Mounting wings was similar to sexual release; even thinking about it had her heart rate climbing, her wing-locks weeping fluids, and her skin breaking into a sheen of sweat.

Her thoughts turned to Leto, of course, which so did not help. Desire began to spread through her. She was about to release her wings when Leto’s voice was suddenly in her head.
Are you okay? Oh, my God, Grace, what are you doing over there? I can feel your wing-locks, and I had to excuse myself from this latest meeting. Should I come to you? Do you need me?

Uh … no. we’re getting ready for the photo shoot. Marcus wanted a back view of all our wings, since they’re uniquely flame-based. We’re in black leather flight suits. Leto?

He didn’t respond right away, but she could sense that he was breathing hard. As she lowered the blocks, she kept in place so that she wasn’t always experiencing his external sensations, she was hit with what she could feel was a painful erection. Which aroused her even more. When she felt his forehead suddenly hurt, she asked,
What was that?