Lyon (28 page)

“Ninety Hells,” muttered Nicholas. “And you are?”

“Sibela,” she said, introducing herself.

“Your wife's sister,” Lyon explained. “And Juliette's. We met in Paris.”

“Another sister? How wonderful!” Jane said. Sensing the undercurrents but not knowing what to make of them, she elbowed her husband. “Isn't it, Nick?”

He grunted.

Jane's expression slowly altered, indicating she was beginning to wonder how this affected Juliette's situation. Ever polite, she reached out to embrace Sibela, albeit with reluctant enthusiasm. But Nicholas forestalled her, drawing her back to his side. Placing a kiss on her forehead, he then urged her in the direction of their home.

“Go to the
castello
, Jane. Rest. We'll speak later.”

She yawned. “I won't be able to sleep until we determine what's going on.”

A look at his grim face had her voice dying away. “I'm fine, Nick,” she said gently. “Just let me visit the spring to wash and I'll return. Wait for me.”

With a weak smile in Sibela's direction, she departed. As if unable to help himself, Nicholas watched her go until she was swallowed by the forest.

This was precisely the way he felt about Juliette, Lyon realized. The desire to watch her and to have her near. Where was she?

“Ow! Stop that!” His gaze swung back to Sibela and saw that his daughter had woven her tiny fingers into the thatch of necklaces that graced her mother's neck and was tugging on them as she nursed.

Nick looked at him, raising his brows.
A Nereid?
his expression asked.

“It gets worse,” Lyon warned.

Nicholas shot him an incredulous look.

“I know this must be unraveled and explained, but first I have to find Juliette,” said Lyon.

“Wait,” Jane called out, having returned.

He spun around, impatient, and saw she held out the trousers he'd earlier cast aside.

“Might I suggest an altered appearance before you return to her?” she said tactfully.

“My apologies,” he told her, though she'd seen him this way many times before. There were few secrets among the family.

Snatching them on, he then located his boots and tugged them on as well. And by the time he was done, Jane had wrapped Sibela in her cloak.

Then they all departed for his home.

Moments later, Lyon bounded up his front steps ahead of the others, flung open the door, and found his beloved's scent. It was fresh.
Thank the Gods!

“Juliette!” he bellowed.

“Here,” came the soft reply. Following her voice, he found her calmly awaiting him in the main
salotto
.

Her gaze swept him, then she looked away. He could imagine what she made of his appearance. Having donated his shirt to his daughter, he was bare-chested and Sibela had, as usual, marked him during their lovemaking.

Reaching her, he took her in his arms and tilted her chin. “Look at me,” he said. When she complied, he was relieved to see her eyes weren't clouded with opium. She hadn't used it since that first day she'd come here, but he'd worried that the stresses of last night might've driven her back to it.

Gently, she tugged away from him. “It's all right. I know what happened. I understand my altered place in things.” But she didn't, for she was stiff. Distant.

He gave her a little shake, concerned at her apathy. “Your place remains the same. As my life. My love.”

Someone pushed between them.

“Here. I hope you'll know how to deal with this,” Sibela said to her, foisting a squalling baby into Juliette's arms. “I have no abilities in the arena of parenting, nor any desire to learn.” With that, she ensconced herself on the single sofa Juliette had recently ordered for the room from a shop in Florence, and she proceeded to snuggle in for a nap.

Juliette stared down at Sibela's deposit, her expression appalled. A tiny fist waved, and she instinctively captured it in her hand. The baby quieted almost immediately, but as if it had transferred its mood, her own face crumpled.

“Yes, of course.” Ducking her head, she turned to carry his offspring from the room.

Lyon bit off a curse and caught her arm. “Juliette—”

“Please. Not yet.”

“Don't roam far,” he told her, frustrated. “We have things to discuss here and your input is needed.”

She nodded, keeping her head turned from him. She was crying. “
Un moment
.”

“Stay where I can see you,” he instructed, releasing her, but not yet ready to trust her out of his sight again.

“Lyon!” Jane scolded softly, overhearing as she and Nicholas came to join them.

“Sit with her,” he said, unapologetic. “Make sure she doesn't leave.”

Seeing his worry, Jane did as he asked, settling Juliette and the child on the opposite end of the couch from Sibela and seating herself between them. At the disturbance, the baby began to cry again.

“Your daughter needs you,” Jane murmured to Sibela.

“If Juliette wants the father, let her take his child,” Sibela replied.

“Shut up,” Lyon growled. He lifted the child from Juliette and deposited her at Sibela's breast.

Sibela raised her brows, but took the girl inside the cloak where she began suckling. “A fine way to speak to the mother of your firstborn.”

“In spite of the child, I sense that your claim on my brother isn't as strong as you'd like,” said Nicholas. He turned to Lyon. “Why is that?”

“What do you mean?” asked Sibela, straightening. “What greater claim on a man can a woman have than to bear his offspring?”

“Yet Nick's right. I still feel bonded to Juliette,” said Lyon.

“But, why, when Sibela is the one you so obviously mated last Moonful?” Nicholas put in.

Lyon turned to frown at Sibela. “And how did that happen exactly?”

She smirked, studying a clawed fingertip. “Why, don't you remember, darling? You were quite ardent in your hotel that night, though a trifle lethargic.”

“You mated yourself to me while I slept?” Everyone in the room stared at her with equal expressions of shock.

Unfazed, Sibela let out a huff. “You would have died had I not. If you are angry with anyone, it should be Juliette. She deserted you.
I
saved your life.”

“She's right in that at least,” said Juliette.

“You knew she had come here,” Lyon accused, his gaze finding her. “And you purposely left me to her last night.”

“She's my sister and carried your child,” she replied, pleading for him to understand. “You'd told me how your children must be birthed, so I let her go to you. It seemed best that I hide away from you under the circumstances, until the necessary things were…done.”

“You left me to another woman as easily as that?” Lyon shook his head, surprised by how this wounded him.

“Elise has the greater claim on you,” Juliette insisted. “And I owe her. She was nearly killed and has been lost for three years because of my folly.”

“Wait!” Nicholas held up his hands. “Who the hell is Elise?”

Looking confused, Juliette gestured to where Sibela sat on the couch. “My sister.”

“There's yet a fifth one?” Lyon asked in horror.

“She's dead,” said Sibela at the same time. “Or as good as.”

Seeing the deceit in Sibela's eyes, Juliette became suspicious. “But you said—”

“I suppose I omitted a detail or two when we last met,” Sibela admitted slyly. “Actually, I'm not your sister, but am in fact only a caretaker of her body. I'm originally of the sea, but lost my own shell long ago and must make do as I can. That day you and she were attacked by hounds in Burgundy, I happened along quite by accident. My host was aging and I'd been searching for another. Your sister was injured and dying, so I took her body for my use and kept her from such a dire fate. A symbiotic relationship.”

“You seem to be in the business of saving lives in unorthodox manners,” murmured Nicholas.

Juliette's voice was thready as she searched Sibela's eyes. “Is there anything left of her in you?”

Sibela shrugged. “She's here, but sublimated.”

Seeing that his daughter was done with nursing and Sibela looked at a loss as to what to do next, Lyon lifted the bundled newborn from her and cradled her in his arms.

The sight of him holding his tiny daughter obviously made Juliette's heart squeeze. Seeing this, Jane gave her a comforting pat. “Tell me about her—our sister.” And then Juliette seemed to realize this affected not just her. Though she may have lost one sister, she'd recently gained another.

“I met our sister—Elise—the summer we were both sixteen,” she began. “I'd been living with a foster family in Burgundy. She didn't like to talk about her past, so I don't know much of that. But we became friends and she taught me things. Unearthly things.”

“How to transform,” guessed Lyon, swaying side to side as he gently rocked his daughter.

Juliette nodded. “We had to keep it secret because my foster mother was superstitious and condemned magical practice. We used to rove the countryside experimenting with our gifts. I learned to fixate on something so thoroughly that I would become it. This didn't work with everything. Only with natural objects. A flower. A tree.”

“What happened to her?” asked Lyon.

“Yes, I'd like to hear your version of that myself,” said Sibela.

“There was a boy. A man really—older than I,” said Juliette. “I foolishly agreed to meet him in a tryst one afternoon, but Elise intervened. We all argued, but she prevailed and we left together. On the way home we were attacked by hunting dogs. To escape, she dove into the Loire to become a nymph—what we called a mermaid back then—and I joined with the nearest oak. Though I was present when she was assaulted, I couldn't see from my vantage point. I could only hear. Everything.” She shuddered and touched her hands to her ears as if to block out sounds that still tortured her.

“Which is no doubt why you're wary of animals,” Lyon murmured.

“There's something I wonder at,” Sibela mused. “Unlike you, I
did
see the attack that day and it seemed to me that the dogs had come hunting specifically for your sister. I pulled her deeper than they could swim, and they eventually, and very reluctantly let her go.”

“You think it was murder?” asked Jane.

She shrugged.

“Many did think so at the time,” said Juliette. “I was accused of it because I was found by the river, with her blood everywhere. There are still warrants out for my arrest.”

“You went on your merry way and let Juliette bear the guilt and stigma of being a murderer? Knowing she was innocent?” Lyon asked Sibela.

“How was I to know what goes on in the Human system of justice?” Sibela protested.

“There's still something off here,” said Lyon. “In spite of everything, I feel bonded to you, Juliette.” His eyes narrowed on her. “Why is that?

“Did Lyon mate you after you bespelled him in his hotel?” Nicholas demanded, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary to ask such a question of a lady.

“No!” said Juliette. She looked daggers at Lyon. Jane and Sibela had closed their eyes again, leaving her to deal with him and his brother.

“Yes, I told him about your magic that night,” he said without a trace of regret. “Of necessity, there are few secrets among the members of this family.”

“Did you touch him in any way that could be construed as carnal?” Nicholas pushed.

Juliette stared at her lap.

Still in charge of his child, Lyon came to kneel beside her and nudge her with his elbow. “What happened?” he coaxed.

Her tongue crept out and she licked her lips. “I know it was wrong, but I couldn't help myself. I swear to you I've never done anything like that before.”

“What?”

“She tasted you,” grumbled Sibela, adjusting her position on the couch, so that Juliette and Jane were forced to stir as well. “I scented her on you that night in your hotel. But that doesn't release you from your obligation to me.”

Juliette covered her face with her hands.

“Let me be clear,” Lyon said to her. “You're saying that before you left my hotel, you imbibed my seed?”

“Lyon! Must you be so blatant?” mumbled Jane.

“Answer him,” Nicholas said grimly.

Juliet ducked her head still lower and nodded, blushing with embarrassment at having to admit it in front of everyone.

“This changes things,” Lyon said in a satisfied voice.