Golden Stair (10 page)

“You are a very desirable demon, I’ll give you that. But for all your claims that incubi are about true love, I haven’t seen a romantic bone in your body.”

It took a great deal of effort to keep his face passive while inside he felt as though she smacked him in the face. He should let the comment go, shrug it off as he did so many insults from those who looked down on his carnal lifestyle. But this was Ivy. He couldn’t let that lie.

“Perhaps because I am not so masochistic as to invite what I can’t have.” He slid his hand down the side of the sculpture, idly wondering if Ivy was ticklish. If he did this to her actual body, would she laugh? He glanced up at her, catching her watching his hands. The pulse in her neck throbbed so hard he could see it, could count her heartbeats if he wanted to.

“Prince Patricio—the death angel, to you—feels much the same way about me as you do.”

Ivy jerked, her eyes a little too wide. She started to speak, but no sound came out. Part of Adonis wanted to be amused that his gestures with her sculpture had distracted her so, but the conversation had veered into territory that even he wasn’t inclined to laugh off. He gave her the time she needed to gather her thoughts.

She cleared her throat and tried again. “Oh?”

“Yes. He’s quite judgmental, very high and mighty, not out of character for someone who’s worshipped by everyone who sees him. His condemnation doesn’t bother me though.”

“It doesn’t?” Ivy’s voice had dropped to a whisper, and she wasn’t bothering to pretend she wasn’t watching his hands anymore.

“No.” He dropped his hands and strode forward. She trembled, but she didn't step back. He stopped an inch away from her, just before the brush of her body could tempt him further. “Your condemnation bothers me,” he said quietly.

“Why?” she asked, so softly he almost didn’t hear her.

“Patricio is making himself miserable, and his venom toward me is just a sign of his own unhappiness. He’s a grown man, and he has everything he needs to be happy if he would just make that choice. You, however. You are here, alone, with a mother that tells you horrible, horrible things about the outside world. Your condemnation bothers me, because it’s symbolic of an ugliness that doesn’t suit you. Hatred leaves a mark, anger leaves a mark.” He took her hands in his, pleased when she didn’t fight him. He almost smiled when he saw the paint under her fingernails, the smudges that never really came off the hands of an artist. “Don’t paint yourself with those colors if you don’t have to.”

“I… I can’t leave the tower,” she said hoarsely.

“Very well, no leaving the tower.” He closed his hands around hers. “There is another way.”

The spark of interest in her eyes made his heart ache. There was a hint of desperation to the way she held herself now, clutching her arms as if she was fighting a physical urge to dart forward at his insinuation. She was eager, willing. Whatever her mother had taught her about the outside world, she hadn’t completely managed to snuff out the flame. There was still hope.

“Can you bring me a mirror? Any mirror, it doesn’t have to be big.”

Ivy tilted her head for a moment, but strode to a small staircase between the kitchen and one of the bookcases. Adonis was tempted to follow her up, but quickly cast that idea from his mind. She was trusting him, however tentatively, and he didn’t want to push her. Why he was here instead of off finding that naiad that had gotten away from him yesterday was a subject he didn’t want to dwell on.

Besides, he had plenty of energy, he didn’t need sex. Not that he was here for something more than sex. He paused.
Wait.

“Mystery and adventure,” he said aloud, trying to block out the argument in his head.

“What about mystery and adventure?”

He whirled around to find Ivy standing behind him with a small antique hand mirror in her grasp.

“Nothing, I just—your painting supplies are in here?”

He then walked over to a small closet where he’d seen her retrieve her painting supplies last week, aware of the weight of her gaze on him as he proceeded to set up an area on the floor with paints and a fresh canvas.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve done this,” he mumbled, half under his breath. “Bear with me.”

Kneeling on the floor, he grabbed a few cans of paint and splashed them onto the canvas. Reaching deep within himself for the memory he wanted, he laid his hands in the paint and dragged them over the white surface.

Like slipping into a favorite pair of old gloves, the paint welcomed him back into the world of creation. Reality faded away and peace settled on him with the strange buzzing energy that always seized him in these moments. An image of his home, his true home on the astral plane, filled his mind. He remembered the sweet scent of the air, the way the light came from anywhere and nowhere.

Shadows danced with a life of their own under swaying trees. Spindly black branches waved like fingers tickling the belly of the wind, the bark shifting like the pelt of a snake as it crawls. Leaves flickered with different colors, the trees at once the bare sticks of winter, the crisp chartreuse of spring, the emerald green of summer, and the burnished gold and flaming red of fall. Majestic violet-blue mountains that rose up in the background took his breath away. Without looking, he reached for more paint, smearing it in his fingers and flinging it across the canvas. Yearning filled his heart. His home was there, hidden in the mess of colors, he just had to find it, had to dig it out.

“Adonis?”

Ivy’s voice tore him out of his stupor and Adonis sat back on his heels. The painting was an image of the astral plane, so vivid he was certain he could put his hand out and pluck a leaf from one of the trees. The image seemed to move with a life of its own and he had to look away as tears burned his eyes.

“Adonis, are you crying?”

Ivy’s voice was so soft, so concerned, that Adonis almost took the comfort she offered. But his burden wasn’t hers to share, not yet.
Not ever.
Without responding, Adonis snatched up the hand mirror and thrust it toward her.

“This is a little trick that incubi have used for centuries,” Adonis’ mouth quirked in forced mirth. “Tap your finger on the glass to imbue it with your own magic.”

“How?”

“Considering the strength of your magic, I doubt you have to do anything beyond tapping the glass,” Adonis mused. “Try it.”

Ivy hesitated, but touched her index finger to the image. The mirror’s smooth surface wavered and glowed with rays of sparkling gold strobes.

“Mirror magic is a very old magic,” Adonis warned her. “It takes very little power to access, though perhaps more power to control properly. In some cases, even the power in a wish is enough to bring a mirror to life.” He paused and fixed Ivy with a stern look. “Because mirrors are so sensitive, and so easy to activate without even meaning to, you have to promise me you won’t try to use them unless I’m with you. At least until you’re more experienced.”

Ivy’s eyebrows were furrowed, but she nodded solemnly.

“Anyway,” Adonis continued. “Over the centuries, many, many women have looked into a reflective surface and seen themselves as less than they wanted to be. They felt they were not beautiful enough, not desirable enough.” He grinned at Ivy. “No incubus would let such sentiments go unchallenged. Women are beautiful, every woman in her own way. Such longing calls to us, and if it is directed at a mirror, it gives my kind the perfect window of opportunity.”

“I know what incubi do.”

Stiffness seized Adonis’ shoulders. “I know—your mother told you,” he said tersely.

Ivy flinched, but Adonis didn’t apologize. For whatever reason, and he saw no reason to dwell on that now, Ivy’s words stung. Incubi as a race suffered from a horrible reputation fed by jealous husbands and guilt-ridden women, and he was used to it. That didn’t mean he wanted to hear that garbage from her.

He half expected Ivy to defend her mother, but she just cleared her throat.

“Are you telling me that incubi travel through mirrors to get into their lovers’ bedrooms?”

“Yes. And if you trust me, I’ll help you to use the mirror to travel to the astral plane.”

Ivy toyed with the edge of her robe, squeezing the soft white cotton between her fingers. “The astral plane? But…I can’t. Humans can’t travel to the astral plane.”

Adonis shoved a hand through his hair.
Another pearl of wisdom from Mother, no doubt.
“First of all, yes they can. Any creature with a spirit can project that spirit to the astral plane, it just takes knowledge and in some cases, guidance. Second of all…you’re not human.”

“Yes, I am,” Ivy insisted. “I know I seem otherwise because of the—”

“Intense solar energy that courses through your veins?”

“Magic,” Ivy finished with a frown. “My mother is a witch. I inherited some of her magic, that’s all. She’s much more powerful than I am.”

“I doubt it,” Adonis said dryly. “And I know an elemental when I see one. You’re too solid to be a pureblood elemental, but believe me when I say that someone in your family tree lives in a beam of sunlight.” He raised a hand, halting Ivy’s protest. “But let’s not argue about that right now. You want to see the world, but you don’t want to leave the tower. I’m going to help you.”

Ivy allowed him to take her hands. Adonis held the mirror up in front of her and propped the painting next to it.

“Look at the painting. Soak up the emotion of the landscape, feel my yearning to go back. Then look into the mirror and imagine you can see the landscape. Focus on it, concentrate. Lean into the mirror and feel yourself falling through.”

“I won’t fit through that mirror,” Ivy protested.

“Well then it’s a good thing you’re just projecting your spirit, isn’t it? Now focus, concentrate.” Adonis talked on and on, keeping his voice soothing and low. Ivy’s eyes drifted closed, her body swaying toward the mirror. Energy trickled between her flesh and the shining silver surface as her spirit flowed into the mirror.

Adonis’ heart twisted in his chest, a stab of pain so sharp and unexpected that it took his breath away. He turned the mirror to watch Ivy’s form appear on the image of the astral plane in the reflection. Oh, how he wanted to follow her. He wanted to breathe the air of his homeland, to feel the energy unique to the plane of his birth. Before he’d possessed the dying prince’s body, he’d truly had no idea what it would mean to be bound to a physical form. It was so…limiting.

Adonis gritted his teeth and turned his cheek from the mirror. He’d been young and far too cocky when he’d accepted Aphrodite’s offer. No doubt the goddess had known that and that’s why she’d chosen him. He’d heard the goddess’ tale of the king and queen’s plight and agreed without a second thought. He hadn’t thought of what it would mean for an astral being to maintain a physical form. What it would mean to possess the dying prince’s body and then stay there, bound by the energy needs that came with maintaining that connection.

The astral plane was nothing but energy, easily manipulated by its inhabitants. For him to work magic here, on the physical plane, took so much effort, so much energy, that he very nearly had to take a woman to bed within hours of any strenuous magic.

It wasn’t a bad life. It was a life any number of men would kill for, especially men who had Adonis’ charm. But unfortunately, Adonis was not any number of men. He wanted to find one woman,
the
woman. His other half.

Well, that’s what he
had
wanted. Now finding his other half would be a nightmare. Knowing who he wanted to be with, wanting to offer her everything, but not being able to offer the most basic of marital rights—fidelity…

Yes, meeting his true love would be a fate worse than death.

“What’s a pretty lass like you doing in a place like this?”

Ivy jerked back as the gorgeous landscape she’d just been admiring vanished behind a grimy stone wall. Her hand flew to her throat and she barely kept from crying out as her first taste of the world outside her tower was ripped away from her. Gone were the enormous snow-capped mountains with their glistening white peaks that made the air taste of winter. Vanished were the hyacinth and lilacs that filled the air with their decadent perfume and painted the ground in washes of purples and pinks. The rolling emerald hills dotted with glittering flora in every shade of the rainbow haunted her mind’s eye with a landscape that had begged her to run until her legs wouldn’t carry her any farther, and she dropped into the fragrant meadows to stare up at the perfect purple sky.

In their place were trophies bearing severed animal heads with shaggy pelts as dingy as the sticky floor beneath her bare feet. Ivy’s stomach rolled and she tried not to move lest she lose her lunch at the nauseating sensation. The overwhelming stench of sweat and strong liquor only added to the problem, and she barely resisted covering her nose and mouth with her hand as she faced the source of the voice.

The
kobalos
standing beside her gave her a toothy leer. He wasn’t an inch over three feet, but somehow the air of malice that clung to him like a coat more than compensated for it. Ivy tried to force a polite smile to her face even as her heart pounded and a shiver shook her spine.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized calmly. “I was actually just leaving.”

If possible the
kobalos
’ grin grew wider, threatening to split his scaly green face. “Now you’re just trying to hurt my feelings. How could you have already decided to leave…when I’ve only just created this fine establishment myself?” His thick tail swished on the floor, sending broken glass skittering over the floor. Ivy bit her lip, even more determined not to move now that she knew what kind of debris the grotesque floor had to offer.

“
Tell him to bugger off.”

Adonis’ angry voice echoed in her head. She tentatively pictured the prince in her mind.
“Adonis? Is that you?”

The
kobalos
chuckled, standing up so that he was very nearly three-foot-one.

 
“Impressed are you?”

Ivy ignored him.
“Adonis, are you here? How is it I can hear your voice, but I can’t see you?”

“I can’t travel to the astral plane, but I can project my thoughts easily enough. Only because I can still see you in the mirror though, otherwise communication would require significantly more energy.”

Tension eased from Ivy’s shoulders. Knowing Adonis could hear her, could speak to her, made this strange place much less intimidating.

“Can I assume that look on your face means you’re of a mind to have a drink with me?” the
kobalos
pressed.

“Ivy, hold out your right hand and picture a small sun glowing brightly just above your palm.”

“Why?”
Ivy shifted from one foot to the other, trying to resist the urge to run away from the strange little creature in front of her. She’d read about
kobalos
—her mother had provided her with many books on different creatures—but no book could have prepared her for the…experience of meeting one in person. The smell alone was quite an unpleasant shock.
“Adonis, I know you think I’m some sort of solar being, but I promise you I’m just a human with a little magic.”

“Even if that were true, you’re on the astral plane, Ivy. The very essence of that realm will bow to the whims of anyone who cares to control it.”

“Then wouldn’t the miserable cretin just call his own miniature sun?”
She tried to keep the exasperation out of her thoughts, but Adonis wasn’t making any sense and the
kobalos
was starting to look suspicious.

“He could, but his ‘sun’ would simply look like a projected sun, with no substance or warmth. Your sun would automatically draw on your power, you would be manifesting your own magic instead of weaving the magic of the astral plane into a specific image.”

“You don’t make any sense.”

Suddenly a wave of calm flowed through her. She found herself relaxing, her shoulders easing from their rigid posture. If she hadn’t known any better, she would swear she could feel Adonis smiling.

“Trust me, fair maiden
,” he said softly.

“Say, are you one of those daft women of Dionysus?” the
kobalos
grumbled suddenly. “Been into the wine, have you?”

Disgust wrinkled Ivy’s nose as she widened her stance, looking down at the
kobalos
. She raised her right hand and did as Adonis had told her. She pictured a sun, imagined she could feel its warmth and see the shadows its brilliant light would cast on the walls. Pride and satisfaction filled her to the brim as a shining, yellow globe appeared just inches above her palm.

The
kobalos
sneered, but before he could speak, the sun grew a tad brighter. He paused and stepped back, eyeing the energy warily. “No need to threaten me,” he said, scowling. “I was only showin’ polite interest.”

“As flattering as your attentions are,” Ivy said, a new confidence filling her voice, “I’m afraid I must continue on alone. If you would be so kind as to dismiss this…charming establishment?”

A second later, Ivy found herself standing alone, once again surrounded by nothing but the heart-warming scenery that she’d initially been greeted with.

“Well done,”
Adonis said, a hint of mirth in his voice.
“Now that you have escaped that pathetic lump of flesh, where would you like to go?”

Ivy fought the urge to stomp her foot in frustration.
“You know I’ve never been here before. How can you expect me to know where I should go?”

“The astral plane in its simplest form is a reflection of the real world,”
Adonis said calmly
. “Imagine a place you want to go in the real world.”

His words reached deep into the depths of Ivy’s wildest dreams. Without any effort whatsoever on her part, her mind threw out an image and Ivy whirled around as she found herself suddenly standing on a beach of warm white sand. The fine crystals tickled her bare toes and she shuffled her feet experimentally. A giggle escaped her at the wonderful new sensation and she raised her eyes to the magnificent view before her.

Tears of joy slid down her cheeks as she stared out in disbelief at the bluest, most gorgeous ocean she’d ever imagined. Sapphire waves sparkled in brilliant sunlight, a salty mist swirled on a soft breeze, and white birds swooped overhead. She wiggled her toes and held out her arms, inhaling the scent of the ocean, tasted it on her tongue. It was every bit as wonderful as she’d imagined.

She cried out a sound of pure happiness and rushed forward, determined to run right into the tempting waters. She’d always dreamed of seeing the ocean, ever since she’d seen a picture in one of the books her mother had brought her. She still remembered begging her mother to take her to the beach as a child, pleading for just one day by the sea. Her mother had responded with her usual pessimism, expounding at length upon the dangers that lurked in the water. Oh, how she’d frightened Ivy…

Ivy slowed down to a jog. The water suddenly didn’t look so much like melted sapphires. It had darkened to a midnight indigo with murky black undertones. Ivy could have sworn she saw a monstrous shape gliding just beneath the surface. Images from her books at home reminded her of the dangers her mother had always told her about, the fearsome beasts and wicked spirits that lived in the water.

Duplicitous merfolk who would lure you into the water with their beauty and laugh while you drowned. Scylla with her six wicked heads all starving for the taste of human flesh. Charybdis and its churning waters that would suck you into the deepest depths of the sea. Or worse, the Kraken, reaching out with its sinewy tentacles to crush the life from your body as it pulled your corpse beneath the waves…

She felt eyes on her, could feel cold, scrabbling limbs against her legs trying to pull her into the water. The sun that had been shining down on her only moments ago had vanished beneath the encroaching darkness of the blackest storm clouds she’d ever seen, each one roiling like a mass of obsidian snakes. Lightning flashed and Ivy screamed as a shadow rose from the water, bulging silver eyes in a sunken ebony scaled face piercing her soul…

Not real, not real, not real. It’s not real…
Ivy tried to halt the tremor wracking her spine, but it only seemed to grow worse, shaking her violently with every new sinister image that leapt so readily to her mind on the back of her mother’s voice.

“Ivy! Stop it! You’re creating your own nightmare. You have to stop or you’ll summon true danger!”

The blatant panic in Adonis’ tone only fed her fear, shrouding her surroundings and ripping a sob from her throat. She ran away from the water, back toward the beach. No matter how far she ran, or how hard she tried to get away, she could practically feel the icy tentacles of a sea monster sliding over her back, preparing to seize her and drag her into its watery lair.

Desire sparked deep in her belly, a white hot flame in the chaos threatening to choke her. It was so strange, so completely unexpected, Ivy stumbled and landed hard in the sand. Something feathered across her mouth and she raised one hand to her lips. Before she could concentrate on the sensation enough to determine where it was coming from, a flock of birds swooped down, their playful cries from before having turned to blood-curdling shrieks.

Ivy dragged herself to her feet, sharp fragments in the sand slicing into her fingertips as she sought traction in the sand. Sobbing, she ran.

“Ivy…”

Adonis’ voice whispered her name in her head. Something brushed up her thigh, tickled over her ribs, and settled on her back. The pressure at her lips was suddenly there again, pleasure feeding the flame inside her until her entire being was infused with warmth. The scent of cloves tickled her nose. The sweet herb brought a memory of Adonis’ smiling face into her mind and she tripped again, crashing down into the sand. This time she stayed there, closing her eyes to better concentrate on the ghostly sensations.
 
Liquid heat pooled low in her body and Ivy’s breath hitched. She arched into the weight she could feel hovering just above her and was rewarded with a groan and the delicious pressure of a solid, muscled body pressing her down onto the floor.

Suddenly, the weight lifted and cool air caressed her heated flesh. A soft sound of disappointment escaped her and she opened her eyes, blinking at the sudden light.

Adonis sat beside her where she lay on the floor, back in her tower, his cheeks flushed and his eyes smoldering scarlet gems. He studied her like a predator considering his prey, as if he was even now fighting the urge to leap on her. A blush scalded her cheeks and she sat up with a scowl.

“Why did you kiss me?”

Adonis quirked an eyebrow. “After everything that just happened, that’s the first thing you ask me?”

“You would rather skip right to the question about how could you send me to someplace so terribly dangerous?”

“The astral plane is not dangerous. Not unless you make it that way. I told you, the essence of the astral plane responds to your thoughts. It takes practically nothing to shape the landscape to your will.” Adonis narrowed his eyes. “You could have created very real danger.”

Ivy bit her lip and looked away. “I couldn’t help it. I just kept remembering my mother’s stories—”

“Has that woman given you nothing but nightmares?”

The vehemence in Adonis’ voice lashed against Ivy like a physical blow and she shot to her feet. Anger vibrated from him like a ward. For a second he almost looked like the demon her mother had always described, his lips swollen from lust-fueled kisses, his eyes burning with an unholy light. Her heart pounded at the dark, decadent image he presented, but she refused to cower away from him. She was in her tower now, her sanctuary. She straightened her spine.

“What kind of a mother fills her child with such terror,” Adonis ground out, shoving a hand through the mess of brown waves tangled in front of his eyes. “How can she frighten you so badly that even on the cusp of realizing one of your most precious dreams, all your wonder turns to horror?”