No Rest for the Wicked (34 page)

then tossed me in the river.” He narrowed his eyes. “Did he hurt you?”

“No. But he did seem to make a decision about me.”

“I thought I’d only been out for a day. You’ve been out here for two days without me?”

He squeezed her hands.

“Ow!”

He peered down in horror to see he’d hurt her hands worse. They met eyes before they

both lowered their gazes to her legs. Her pants were sliced through, her skin bitten and

bloodied. She was injured worse than he’d ever seen. The sand around her was dark. It

was blood... everywhere.

“My God, why didn’t you say something?” he roared, furious again.

“Oh, pardon me for bleeding,” she muttered when she saw his eyes glued to her legs.

“Don’t want to whet your appetite.”

“You can be so coarse sometimes, wife.”

“Not your sodding wife.”

“Yet.” Against her weak struggles, he scooped her up against his chest and pulled her

tightly to him. In a gentler tone, he said, “I’ll bring you home, and we’ll bandage you.”

The other Lore beings stopped in mid-stride to stare at the Valkyrie being held by a

vampire. Cindey gaped at them in astonishment.

Kaderin didn’t seem to care. She glanced at him and back at the horizon, biting her bottom

lip, brows drawn. “The prize... ”

Even after what she’d been through, her mind had seized again on the prize. He curled his

finger under her chin, turning her to face him. Her eyes were luminous in her elfin face as

she stared up at him. He wanted to give her anything she desired.

And he couldn’t.

“Katja, I cannot retrieve it for you. I would. But I cannot see the destination.”

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“You figured out how to find me.”

“If you can help me determine how to find a moving, living whirlpool and have it open for

me, I will risk the sharks.”

Her eyelids were getting heavy, and alarm rioted within him.

“I’m sorry, kena. I’ll find another way.” He traced her back to the flat, setting her on the

bed. In a businesslike manner, he slipped her shirt off and set about cleaning and

bandaging her hands and arms. But he was sweating, dreading hurting her any worse than

she was.

When he ripped the remains of her pants from her, they both grew quiet at the damage.

“Can you... you will not die from this?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

“No, not at all,” she said in a sleepy tone. “Which is why I need you to trace me back to

the beach at once.”

Her words were ridiculous in the face of her injuries. “What truly drives you to do this?

Why won’t you tell me?”

She studied his face, gazing up into his eyes, as if searching his soul.

“You can trust me,” he said.

She looked like she wanted to trust him, but couldn’t will herself to. “I’ve known you less

than a month, but I’ve... I’ve learned harsh lessons over the last two thousand years.”

“I know. I’ve seen them in my dreams.” He could admit to himself that in her place, he’d

have a hard time trusting a vampire, too. But Sebastian knew his word was good—he just

needed to persuade her. “I vow I will never be like those red-eyed fiends. There’s no

reason not to tell me.”

“There’s also no reason to tell you,” she countered.

“I could help you.”

“Won’t you anyway?” she asked.

He scowled. “Of course. But there’s got to be something that would make you trust me.”

“Yes, my absolute belief that you would never use my trust against me.”

“You know I would never hurt you!”

“I didn’t say hurt me. I said use it against me.” Her eyelids were getting heavy. “You do

so love your leverage, vampire.”

When she was safe with him, bandaged and sleeping soundly, he showered, his worry and

fury finally beginning to dim. But he also became filled with a new resolve. He knew she

couldn’t die. But she could fucking hurt. And he was done allowing her to get strangled

and stabbed and beaten each night. He wouldn’t have it anymore.

After dressing, he slipped away, returning to the beach to see if he could do anything to

help her finish this infernal competition. After her two days of competing without

Sebastian, she was thirteen points away from the finals.

The exact number of points she’d sacrificed for him.

He still couldn’t believe she’d given up that box. He’d checked his pockets for it but he’d

lost it. Which was understandable, considering his fall and then his crawl across the

riverbank.

At the beach, he spied an opportunity, and acted on it. If he couldn’t remove the prize

from the competition, he could remove the competition from the prize. He returned to

Kaderin within fifteen minutes, shaking snow out of his hair.

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) When he joined her in bed, she nestled into the pillow and murmured, “You smell nice.”

He carefully tucked her against him, reminded that she fit him so perfectly.

Her breaths grew light and quick, but they always did when she slept. She twitched and

gave a soft moan. He petted her hair, soothing her.

When he finally slept, he dreamed her memories again. It was expected now. Yet these

weren’t memories from antiquity. Kaderin was clutching the phone with both hands, eyes

watering, as one of her half-sisters delivered a death sentence.

36

K aderin opened her eyes, confused to find herself still snuggled in her sheets that hinted at

his sexy scent.

He sat on the edge of the bed, head in his hands, much as he had the first time she’d found

him. She knew he’d gone from sorrow to elation that morning. She also knew that since

then, he’d been disillusioned by her and hurt.

“How long have I been out?” she asked, her voice scratchy.

“Two days.”

“What?” she shrieked, shooting upright.

He caught her shoulder when she swayed. “Easy, kena. You were injured worse than

either of us thought. You lost a lot of blood. Let me check your bandages.” He

unwrapped her leg. “My God, you heal fast.” By now, the gashes on her legs resembled

old scars—pink and raised but seeming to fade right before their eyes.

“It’s lost,” she said, the words breaking. “Over.” A tear slipped down her cheek, and she

angrily swiped it away.

“Katja, it is not.”

“With me out of the picture, Cindey has had all the time in the world. She could’ve gotten

a stick of dynamite and stunned the sharks, or used diving equipment—”

He reached forward to tuck a curl behind her ear. “I don’t believe there is much diving

equipment in Siberia .”

“ Siberia ?”

“I couldn’t get the prize for you. But I could incapacitate your only real competition. I

traced the siren to an abandoned coal mine in the Russian north.”

Hope shot through her, warm and good. Had he protected her position in the contest?

“Sh-she didn’t sing to you?”

“Yes, she warbled frantically. But I remain immune.” His eyes were intense, mesmerizing,

as he brushed the backs of his fingers across her cheek. “It seems I am completely taken.”

Emotion made her breathless and shaky. Before she could stop herself, she blurted, “I

never intended to sleep with the Colombian.”

Pain flashed in his eyes before he dropped his hand and stood. “It doesn’t matter. You

don’t have to say that now.”

“Okay.”

He stabbed his fingers through his hair. “Damn it, you are supposed to insist and then

explain anyway.”

“Oh. Well, the truth is that I never planned to sleep with anyone that night.”

“And your lack of underwear?” he asked with a scowl.

“Was the front line. I’ve found a well-timed glimpse can make men lose good judgment.”

She added, “You really need to rent Basic Instinct.”

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“Then how did you get the stone?”

“Gamboa had always wanted to be with a Valkyrie. So, I promised him a date with

Regin—the one who tried to decapitate you in Antarctica —in exchange for the ring. And

for the record, I chose that task for only one reason—the same reason Cindey did.

Because we knew Bowen wouldn’t.”

“That is... good to know.” Another one of his understatements. The relief he felt was

evident on his face.

“Now that I’m back in it, I need to leave quickly,” she said. “Cindey is clever.” Kaderin

wanted to cement her place in the finals. Bowen had earned his spot—she accepted that,

but he was weakening, and with the siren out of it, Kaderin could win.

“Lucindeya’s not going anywhere,” Sebastian said. “She must climb out of a jagged frozen

pit with slippery sheer-rock faces five hundred feet high, then walk two hundred miles

through waist-deep snow to the nearest town. She was dressed for the equator and

seemed to be limping, walking strangely.”

Kaderin tried to stifle a laugh. And failed. She startled him and herself.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you laugh.” He grinned. “What? What’s so

amusing?”

“Walking funny, huh? That’s because she did truly earn Nereus’s prize.”

“You mean she—?” When Kaderin nodded, he gave a chuckle and stroked his hand up

and down her arm. She’d noticed he couldn’t seem to stop touching her. “Do you want

me to check and see if she’s still there?”

She bit her lip and nodded. He disappeared, then returned seconds later, shaking snow

from his head like a bear.

“Well?”

His face was perfectly deadpan as he said, “I fear Lucindeya and I are no longer friends.”

She laughed again, and he grinned as if just enjoying the sight.

“I want to close this out,” she finally said. “To go and get the next prize. Where’s the

scroll?”

He pulled it from his jacket pocket. “But, Kaderin, understand that we’re doing this

together.” She parted her lips to argue, but he spoke over her in that officer tone. “I will

not allow you to get hurt again.”

She studied his face, and at length, she sighed. “Okay. We’ll work together on the next

one.”

With a sharp nod, he joined her in bed, and they read the script together.

“Not the first one.” At his questioning glance, she explained, “She’s a succubus.” Then

Kaderin clucked her tongue. “Nereus is on here again? Three scrolls in a row. He must be

hard up spawning. Poor siren.”

“What about that one?” Sebastian asked about the third.

“Only if you like spiders the size of monster-trucks. Now, where’s the highest point

value?” She scanned the list, then frowned. “The Box of the Nagas again? Why does this

say it’s on a riverbank in the Congo Basin ?”

“Because that’s exactly where it is. I’d had it in my jacket that day.”

She dropped the scroll and grabbed his hands. “Sebastian, it’s worth thirteen points. That

would get me to the finals! Can we—”

“I’ll go there directly.” He disappeared. Five minutes later, he returned.

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) With the box.

Her lips parted. “You really were there the morning after.”

He drew his head back as if he wondered how she could doubt him. “Nothing else could

have kept me from you.”

Not only had he protected her spot in the Hie, he was giving her the finals, offering her the

prize freely.

Their eyes met, and time seemed to stretch out. Momentous. He was offering her the

chance to win her sisters back. And inadvertently ensuring she would never know him in

the future.

She trembled as she accepted it, not knowing how to feel about the fact that she’d

hesitated to reach for it. When she held the box above her heart and it disappeared, they

checked the scroll. The script was fading, and in its place, the finalists were announced.

When she saw her name, her eyes watered and she murmured, “No one has ever given me

anything so dear.”

When Kaderin began running a bath, Sebastian decided to call Nikolai and ask him about

his latest dream. He picked up her phone and studied it, about to make his first call—but

she leapt forward.

“You don’t want to use that one!” She handed him another phone that seemed to have

been pried open and now had tape in places. “My coven will track where I am... and I’d

rather not see them tonight.” She smiled tightly, then dialed the number for him and

connected the call. “And please don’t tell your brother where we are, either. He’ll likely

inform Myst.”

Sebastian raised his eyebrows, but nodded. Just when she’d walked out, Nikolai answered.

Without preamble, Sebastian said, “I need to know anything you can tell me about a

Valkyrie soothsayer. I think her name is Nïx.”

“I’ve met her. She’s the oldest Valkyrie, and definitely a soothsayer, though she prefers to

be called ‘predeterminationally abled.’ ” Sebastian could almost hear Nikolai shaking his

head. “But, yes, I went to see her a few weeks ago to ask about you and Conrad.”

“Does anything she foresees actually come true?”

“Well, we can determine this exactly,” Nikolai said. “A few weeks ago, were you running

from a castle into the morning sun, yelling for someone to come back to you? And then

your skin caught fire?”

“My God,” Sebastian bit out. “She foresaw Kaderin’s death.”

“How do you know this?” Nikolai asked. “It’s usually impossible for her. That’s the one