Immortal Trust (21 page)

The sound shot down his spine, and his cock swelled in answer. He dragged in a sharp breath, holding it as his body threatened to follow hers. God’s blood, he was no saint, and the naive pursuit of something he quite possibly imagined seemed a quest of the most ridiculous kind. ’Twas a fool’s endeavor. He would find less misery if he yielded to raw desire.

But Chloe’s body relaxed, and the stinging pressure of her nails eased. She sank into the mattress with a soft sigh. The determination to deny his own needs became easier as he eased his hand from between her legs and wound his arm around her. Gathering her as close as he dared, he dusted a light kiss over her creamy shoulder. Through a tightened throat he whispered hoarsely, “Rest, my sweet.”

She nestled close and tucked her cheek against his chest. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

His chuckle helped to ease the tightness of his lungs, and he allowed himself a faint smile. “My day has not been as exhausting.” Giving her bottom a gentle squeeze he urged in a stronger voice, “Go to sleep. I will be here when you wake.”

*   *   *

Trapped and helpless, Julian watched through the demon’s eyes as it let itself into his room. The horror of what had occurred in Chloe’s room brought the danger home. Those claws that could so easily shred metal would rip her into bits. The anger that fueled an onslaught onto her belongings could bring a hundred men to their knees. Powerless to stop the beast, Julian could do no more than shout protests that went unheard.

His weakening strength forbade him the ability to do anything the creature didn’t insist upon. It grew in strength each day, its horrific spirit rapidly overtaking what they had allowed of Julian’s to remain. Soon, he would watch his sister’s suffering if he didn’t find a way to escape before the beast captured her.

Julian didn’t delude himself with thoughts of returning to save Chloe. His broken, battered body lay in a useless heap deep within the earth. It would never harbor his soul again. No, escape came with total surrender. Leave the demon to survive on its own, or fail. Whichever fate chose, he would yield and retreat once Chloe’s fate no longer lay in question.

If the demon didn’t overpower him first.

A figure in the corner near his bed stepped out of the shadows. Dressed in a long dark robe with a deep crimson cross across the front, he bowed his dark head with a touch of respect. “Julian.”

The demon thrust Julian forth like a rock hurled off a cliff, forcing him to confront the stranger. A greater torture than merely observing. For although he’d be allowed to act, to speak, as soon as the stranger departed, the beast would cast Julian in chains, forcing him to bear witness as it drew on his thoughts and mimicked all the things that made him human.

“Yes?” Julian’s voice echoed eerily in his head. It wasn’t his own. Close, but all the same, nothing like his natural timbre.

“I am Eadgar, servant of Leofric, follower of the Kerzu’s noble ways.”

The Kerzu—Julian searched for an explanation to the familiar name. He knew it. Yet so many days rushed together that what happened hours before became difficult to remember. All he saw clearly anymore were the things that related to Chloe and the horrors. The vile, despicable horrors the demon reveled in. Each needless death gave it strength. The blood it bathed in when the château slept increased its determination. Things Julian had contributed to. Words that came from his mind, which the demon used on women to lure them into the dark.

The demon squeezed around his thoughts, forcing him to focus on the stranger. “What can I do for you?”

“I bear an important message. Leofric is aware of the relic. He bade me come and tell you ’tis of greater consequence than any other matter. You must reach it and claim it at all costs.”

Risking the wrath of his controller, Julian shook his head. “My sister holds the relic. I’ll see you get it, but I won’t risk her safety.”

Dark eyes glittered like shards of onyx. The lines of age around Eadgar’s face deepened. “The woman is unimportant! She means naught. You must understand that mankind shall suffer if we fail. One woman is not worth the sacrifice of thousands.”

“She’s my
sister.
”

Eadgar lifted his hand in a dismissive wag of fingers. “She is not a seraph. She holds no purpose beyond uncovering the Veil. If she were indeed marked with the blood of angels, ’twould be a different matter entirely. For then she would become necessary.” He narrowed his gaze. His voice took on a darker menace. “But she is not. And if you must kill her to fulfill the returning of the Veil, you will do so.”

At the suggestion, the demon’s unholy might enveloped Julian. It tugged at him, drawing him deeper into the recesses of evil, pulling him away until he snatched at the tattered threads of his humanity just to hold on to awareness a moment longer.

“I won’t kill her,” he protested feebly.

The man turned to the window, presenting Julian his back. “In battle, sometimes it becomes necessary for innocents to die.” He looked over his shoulder, his expression laden with warning. Before Julian’s eyes, weathered features softened. Youth smoothed the wrinkles of time, and beauty crept in to replace the scars along his hands. Where a middle-aged man had stood seconds before, a more robust, more attractive version took his place.

In that moment, Julian recognized the same surge of despicable power that surrounded him also radiated off the form near the foot of his bed. He opened his mouth to rage against the opposing beast, to condemn it in all the ways he could not condemn the creature that controlled his mind.

But the thing that mastered him shoved him aside, forbidding him the ability to voice a single thought.

Eadgar’s voice rang with the same hollow emptiness Julian recognized as evil. “Should you find yourself unable to acquire the Veil, I will be more than happy to bend the woman to my wishes and see the task completed.”

“It will be done,” he heard his own voice answer.

CHAPTER 19

Chloe woke with a start. Lifting her head from the pillow, she leaned on her elbows and blinked at the dull gray light beyond dark green curtains she didn’t recognize. She’d slept through the night. Unbelievable.

Momentarily disoriented, she looked over her shoulder at the sound of running water in the bathroom. In a blink, the previous day sifted through the fog of her memory to form a clear picture of her disastrous room and one humiliating attempt at seduction that ended with her release and Lucan seemingly unwilling to go through with anything further.

Ugh—what had she been thinking? No wonder he was up at the crack of dawn and in the shower. He’d offered her a place to sleep, and she’d turned a sweet gesture into something completely uncomfortable.

She scrambled out of bed and snatched yesterday’s jeans off the couch. Stuffing her legs inside as quickly as she could, she sought to avoid the sudden stop of running water. As something metal clinked against the sink, she pulled off her nightgown and tugged on her shirt. When he exited, she’d be ready to leave. Ten minutes in her room, long enough to change her clothes since she’d showered last night, and she could flee to the site. Far away from the evidence of how she’d let things go too far and hadn’t been thinking straight.

But damn, for a few minutes, she
had
forgotten everything. And oh, how she’d forgotten how pleasant a man’s touch could be.

Heat infused her cheeks as she remembered all the rest of the embarrassing details. The pleading quality of her words. His quiet refusal. His deliberate caresses meant to satisfy her lust and nothing more. Like he honestly believed she
needed
an orgasm.

Chloe snorted to herself. She damn sure didn’t need Lucan taking pity on her sexually starved body. She’d gone a long time. Longer wouldn’t kill her.

The door opened to the bathroom, and Lucan stopped, one foot in the room. Though he’d donned jeans, he had yet to cover his magnificent chest with a shirt. Head tilted, he rubbed a towel through his long hair. Surprise passed across his face, as if he’d expected to find her still asleep. “I did not hear you rise. Would you like me to send for some coffee?”

No, she didn’t want any more of his sympathetic consideration. “I’ll wait till we go to the lobby. I want to go up to my room and change. And today I need to get to cataloguing Andy’s pictures and get this sample sent to the lab in D.C. The team needs to continue with the excavation.”

“Aye. I will take you upstairs in a moment.”

Chloe picked up her coat and moved to the door. “That’s not necessary. I’ll be fine, it’s daylight.”

“Chloe.”

The sharpness of his voice made it evident he wouldn’t accept her objections. As he hadn’t the night before. With a heavy sigh she dropped her hand. “What?” she snapped.

“Give me a moment to put on my boots, and I shall be ready.”

Glancing over her shoulder, she observed he’d already put on a dark gray-blue pullover. In less time than it would have taken her to slide into her coat, he had his boots on and his jacket over his arm. He pushed open the door, held it while she exited.

The walk to her room seemed never-ending, the silence that spanned between them, intolerable. Her mind wouldn’t let go of the uncomfortable turn of events the night before, and striking casual conversation didn’t fit. Yet beneath all the awkward glances they shared, a deeper intimacy flowed that Chloe couldn’t hope to ignore. She’d let him through the barriers, even if he hadn’t reciprocated. Allowed him to cross that oppressive boundary of professional associate. He’d brought her to passion she hadn’t experienced in so long she’d begun to forget the meaning of the word, and in the mere act of sleeping beside him, shared an indescribable closeness.

Deep within her, Chloe couldn’t deny satisfaction thrummed. If she hadn’t blundered everything, she might have allowed herself to enjoy the weighty feeling in her limbs. The lack of grit in her eyes that spoke of a full night’s rest. She
had
found escape in Lucan, even if it differed than what she’d intended. For that alone, she owed him her gratitude.

At her door, she inserted the key quickly and hurried inside. “I’ll just be a minute.” Stepping over the clutter, she made her way to the bathroom and locked herself within. With Lucan out of sight, she leaned against the door frame and blew out a hard breath. Eight hours, she must face his nearness. A full day of working beside him—these few moments of solitude she intended to treasure.

*   *   *

Lucan sat on the arm of the couch and drew his first deep breath of the day. It helped a little to relax the tightness in his limbs—tension that had grown roots since he awakened to find Chloe tangled around him. He found he rather enjoyed sharing his bed with her. She did not distance herself in sleep, did not steal the covers, and she did not snore like a man. Nay, indeed, she slumbered as if she found equal contentment with his presence.

Although, whilst he took pleasure in the way she wound her legs through his and laid her head atop his chest, waking to such an innocent display of trust made it more difficult to recall why he had ceased their love play during the night. He was so stiff and sore he felt as if he had been thrust back to the days of battle amidst the desert sands. She may have found rest. He, however, had not.

A furious banging on her door brought a concerned frown to his face. He glanced at the bathroom to see if she would answer the beckoning. When the door remained firmly shut, Lucan went to answer the knock. He cracked open the door to find Julian on the opposite side.

Julian flattened a palm against the wood and barged inside before Lucan could offer a greeting. His eyes darted wildly around the room. “Where’s the relic?”

The hair at the nape of Lucan’s neck lifted. No word of concern about his sister? No comment on the state of disarray surrounding him? He arched a mistrusting eyebrow. “’Tis safe.”

Agitation flicked across Julian’s expression. He passed a hand through his short hair and walked a tight circle. He stopped in front of Lucan. “What are the plans for it? Are we working with it in the field? I want to see the cloth again.”

Though Lucan knew Chloe had no intention of taking the relic to the trailer, he did not trust Julian’s overeager questions. He resumed his seat on the couch’s arm and folded his arms across his chest. “I am not certain what Chloe intends to do with the relic, or the cloth inside.”

The younger man whirled around and thrust an accusing finger at Lucan’s chest. “You control what happens to the relic. Insist she bring it to the site. I must see the cloth. Today.”

“Julian,” Chloe scolded as she opened the bathroom door. “Would you knock it off? We’ll handle the artifacts as usual. It’s safe right now, and today we’re going to document all the things we should have yesterday.”

Julian stalked to where she stood by the dresser. “What about the cloth? We haven’t done anything with it, other than take a couple pictures and unfold it. We need it present so we can document it appropriately too.”

With every anxious word Julian uttered, Lucan’s suspicions deepened. Excitement he could understand. To an uninformed archaeologist, the find was impressive. Rather like discovering an unopened sarcophagus hidden beneath Egypt’s sands. But Julian’s rapid-fire questions and veiled demands did not align with mere excitement. The urgency in his voice held a note of desperation. Like a guilty man, condemned to die, who pleaded for his family to be spared the same punishment.

“Chloe, please.” Julian grabbed her shoulders and brought his face even with hers. “I
must
see the Veil again.”

At that moment, Lucan realized Julian knew more than he let on. Lest Chloe had explained—and she had sworn she told no one—no one on her team knew they handled Veronica’s Veil. But Julian had just referred to it specifically. Had Chloe lied? Did Julian know the same secrets she did?

“Julian, really, this is getting stale.” Chloe picked up her coat and crossed to the door. “You know policy and procedure inside and out. Why would I deviate from it this time?”