Shadow Touched (16 page)

Cam got the particulars, but he was also thinking about that ring and how today was supposed to have been different. He could feel Ellie moving away from him.

Adam cocked his head. “See if you can’t get Martin to mention ally or enemy Houses. It might keep him off balance if he thinks you’re prepared to discuss the same with Brand.”

For the last couple months, Cam hadn’t wanted to pressure Ellie with a marriage proposal when she obviously didn’t want to talk about the future. It scared her, and he’d been prepared to give her all the time she needed. But she’d had seven long months after meeting his mother, and still wouldn’t even move into his rooms. Her shadow came to him, though, almost every night. And that meant something.

“Martin will have a foreknowledge of what both Ellie and I are capable of,” Cam said. No element of surprise.

What if the mages could see Ellie as he did? Thus far, everyone else saw the darkness of her shadow, but his enhanced vision revealed dazzling prismatic hues. Ellie was beautiful beyond imagination. And these mages, so learned in Shadow, would see her for what she was too. He wanted that ring on her finger to say,
Mine.
And,
Back off.
And to tell her that no matter what the scary future held, even the dawn of the Dark Age, if he and Ellie were together, they’d be okay.

“If Slight is in his employ, then yes, Martin will know what you both can do.”

Cam glanced back over at his girl, took in the rigid set of her chin, the tightness of her shoulders—a study in control determined to prove them all wrong—and he knew that there was no way in mage hell she’d wear his diamond now.

A
rmored with purpose, Ellie entered the stone gate building of Martin House, an overnight satchel in hand, cold rage in her heart. After relinquishing the keys to Segue’s car, Cam followed with the hanging garment bag—they’d heard some Houses dressed for dinner. Ellie held her shadow firmly in check, deep within her body, and hoped no one would notice that she didn’t cast one.

Fury had made her thinking razor sharp. She’d decided that she was going to find Slight, and then, per the discussion in Adam’s office, hand him over to Cam for slaughter. If her shadow, her deepest self, was a danger to others, then that’s what she
should
do. Pride had no place in this. Neither did trust, but whatever. She would put Cam’s disloyalty aside. Her anger, however, was more difficult to overcome.

He
doubted
her.

Truth: her shadow had been violent in the past. It had also saved lives, including Cam’s, but yes, it had been violent. And choosing to kill versus needing to kill was a distinction that she acknowledged. All of this made sense. Which ticked her off some more, but that couldn’t be helped, now could it?

The interior of the gatehouse included closed doors off to the left and right, but a wide open space in the middle, with two empty tables where attendants waited to “process” them. Apparently, Martin House was a compound that included a small campus ominously called the Seminary of War. Said so, right there, in sharp, spare lettering. She had no doubt that the mage Slight was a graduate of its studies.

Ellie finally had her comeback argument, too late for the meeting with Adam and Cam: Her shadow, in a fight to the death, would win because her shadow was amazingly strong, fast, and couldn’t be hurt, couldn’t be killed. Cam, on the other hand, despite being a very smart man, and having all-seeing eyes, and having trained with Segue’s best for a year, was nevertheless made of flesh and blood. Truth: he could be killed.

Martin had a Seminary of
War
. Cam had a doctorate in astrophysical sciences and applied nerdology.

But fine. He would fight Slight if they could find him. And if Cam died, not just a friend, but the love of her life, then what the hell kind of chaos did he think her shadow would wreak?
Riddle me that, doctor.

She hoped Slight was on the other side of the world, because if he was here, then this visit could only end badly for everyone.

“Ms. Russo?” A deferential older attendant addressed her. He had the narrow body of someone whose strength had long gone out of him, sparse strands of gray combed across his scalp. They’d been warned before coming that Gunnar Martin had strict security measures in place.

Ellie squared her shoulders as the attendant took her satchel, put it on a table, unzipped it, and proceeded to search her belongings. His gloved hands lifted her underwear and put it to the side so that he could delve deeper into the bag. He felt around the cups of her bra before setting it to the side as well. She supposed that this kind of search might make some uncomfortable, but her shadow walked around naked, occasionally touched herself when aroused, and was routinely lewd among strangers. Martin House could have at her underwear.

Cam was getting similar treatment at a table to her right, but he was also filling out a form to log his gun. Apparently, firearms were just fine. What the hell were they searching for then?

The luggage was passed over the tables, and the attendants began a search of their persons. Cam’s attendant found something in his pocket. A little black box. And put it on the table. What was . . . ?

Her heart thumped as the attendant flicked the lid open.

Ellie caught a glittering flash, then had to look away as a rush of emotion racked her body.

Cam had warned her that she might lose control, and he was right. But if she did, then it was entirely
his
fault.

What was he doing with
that
?

She looked back at him and bored her gaze into his profile, but he would not turn his head.

Her attendant stepped back from patting her down. “Do you wield Shadow?”

The black box went back into Cam’s pants pocket.

“No,” Ellie said in a strangled voice. She had a shadow, but it wasn’t made of the magic stuff. Actually, she didn’t know what it was made of—a bit of her soul, perhaps—which was the opposite of what the attendant meant. “No,” she said again.

Cam had a ring, and she guessed it had to be for her. If she let her shadow go right now, her dark self would dive for Cam’s pants, which was not the way she wanted to meet Gunnar Martin or his murdering lackey Slight.

“Very good,” the attendant finished. “If you will just pass through these doors, you will find another car waiting to take you through the wards and up to the main house. Enjoy your stay at Martin House.”

Cam had obviously chosen to ignore that the attendant had exposed the ring. He was coolly explaining that only his eyes were touched with Shadow, augmenting his vision, and that the rest of him was human. The explanation didn’t move his attendant until Cam went into the story of how his eyes had gotten that way, at which point, a call was made.

The attendants waited silently for the reply.

Ellie looked to Cam, at a loss about so many things and yet on the brink of such danger. A murder. Talion. Martin House. The Dark Age. And now a diamond ring.
Ummmm?

Cam shrugged, finally brought his black gaze over. “My grandmother’s. I had it sized to fit you months ago. Been imagining you showing it off, you know, like girls do when they’re happy.”

She shook from the inside out. “You get that this is not the time, right?”

“Yeah, well, tell me a better one,” he argued back, right there in front of the attendants of the enemy. “I didn’t mean for you to find out like this, though.”

What was he thinking bringing
that thing
along? He’d gone insane. They had
work
to do. Dire, ugly work.

Cam’s attendant was back with his answer. “Your altered eyes have been approved.” The attendant turned to Ellie. “If you are the woman who was accompanying Dr. Kalamos when his vision was altered, then we’re told you
do
possess Shadow. Please declare it now.”

Ellie shook her head. “I don’t have a drop of Shadow inside me.” She was tempted to mention Brand’s name just to get them through, but didn’t want to spend that currency before even getting inside the main building.

Cam stepped to her side. “She doesn’t have Shadow. If she did, my touched eyes would see it.”

The attendant bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment. “I’m sorry. We have other information.”

Slight-gathered information, no doubt. How else could Martin House know?

Ellie kept herself still, but she was squirming inside. “I have
a
shadow, but not Shadow, as in magic.” But they weren’t going to buy it. No one did without seeing her shadow for themselves.

“Ma’am, surely you understand that with tensions as they are in these dark times, we cannot let you pass without declaring.”

She sighed in exasperation. Sooner or later her shadow was going to make an appearance anyway.

“Fine,” Ellie said. “But I really don’t know what she’ll do right now.”

Go after Martin or Slight? Dive into Cam’s pants? Or worse? This never got any easier.

Ellie let herself go, and her shadow stepped out of alignment, bare breasts leading. The intensity of Ellie’s anger diminished, her mind becoming clearer.

The two attendants’ expressions remained remarkably controlled. But then Slight could be invisible, so maybe a naked shadow wasn’t that big a deal.

Her shadow climbed up on the table, knees open, crouching to pounce like a feral cat.

Her deepest self was interested in the attendants, even trumping Cam’s ring. Interesting.

A flush of mortification heated her face. Her shadow never felt shame. But she’d had more than a year to get used to this. So she was naked, so what? At least her shadow had decent tone and a fairly nice rack.

Cam, of course, knew what she was really feeling. “You don’t see what I see.”

She saw the naked woman with the parted legs just fine.

Hurt, Ellie looked over at Cam, but found him looking right back at her, the part of
her
in the flesh who was all mixed up and forever would be. He always knew right where she was, the part that counted.

Damn it. Her mouth started to shape the word
yes
. Yes to everything—the ring and whatever else he had planned. She was defenseless against Cam’s ruined black eyes.

But a shot was fired.

In a blur of swift darkness, Ellie found her shadow fully opaque and straddling the older attendant’s neck—though he didn’t quite look like an old man now. In fact, he appeared wiry, agile, ageless. His pinned outstretched arm and hand held a gun. He must have drawn and pulled the trigger very quickly.

Her shadow leaned in to kill, her expression wild, but Ellie kept her dark self from committing murder. She’d come a long, long way since she’d first begged Segue for help. Why couldn’t they see that?

Cam pressed his hand into her back. A signal.

She glanced over to see why and found the other attendant growing in size and muscle, bouldering himself up to near seven feet and rounding out like a mountain. His clothing accommodated his transformation. A club had appeared in his hand, and as he grew, he brought the club up to strike at her shadow.

The club licked downward, aiming for her shadow’s head. Her dark self kept one hand on the attendant at her crotch and caught hold of the club with the other, bringing the second attendant booming down to the floor with what had to be herculean strength condensed into a dark female form.

Cam cleared his throat and said, “You will note that Ms. Russo’s shadow is not made from, nor does it wield, Shadow.”

Soul,
Ellie thought.

Ellie forced her shadow to merely put a foot on the other attendant’s neck, not snap it. But it was hard to keep herself in check. The deep part of herself relished the way the two attendants’ faces turned purple and wanted the satisfaction of the crack of bone.

Most people got to smooth over the raw aspects of themselves; hers were frequently on display. Deep down, this was who she was. Maybe Cam was right about how dangerous she was after all. And he wanted to put a ring on her finger? She was living a nightmare.

The attendants both heaved for breath.

“Although,” Cam continued, “the event that split Ms. Russo into her physical and shadow selves might have had something to do with magic, but we can’t know for sure. Are you satisfied?”

“No hard feelings,” Ellie said, to make it easier. “Mr. Slight couldn’t beat my shadow either.”

A moment of silence, then . . .

“I yield,” said the first.

“I yield,” echoed the second.

Good enough, and better, the attendants’ submission felt right for Segue’s arrival at a place that housed a Seminary of War, as if they’d passed a test. Ellie brought her snarling and snapping shadow back with a hard tug that returned her to her perch on the table. “Cam,” Ellie said, “I’m told a car is waiting outside to take us through the wards and up to the main house.”

“Excellent.” He shouldered the garment bag and took her satchel with his free hand. “After you.”

 

Cam followed Ellie toward the waiting car, but he kept himself alert and ready. Her shadow was good in all sorts of situations, but it had its limitations. It could always deter direct hostility. Always. Puzzles, however, eluded its instinct and put Ellie on the same playing field as everyone else. And that’s when they would have to depend upon his eyes, his
sight,
and Segue’s training.

Was Martin’s car going to take them to the house after Ellie’s display? Cam guessed the next few minutes would answer his question.

A narrow driveway threaded around the back of the gatehouse. High walls made from pruned bushes blocked the view. A black SUV waited.

Ellie lifted her hand in a casual gesture that only Cam knew was unnecessary. He glanced over his shoulder to find the shadow leaping through the air, phasing momentarily through the wall of the gatehouse, phasing through him as well, as it rushed back into union with Ellie’s body. He tried not to grin and spoil Ellie’s swagger, but God, what a woman.

She satisfied his restless mind, awed him with her courage, and made him blood-drumming hard all at the same time.

Bringing the ring had been a last-minute impulse. It wasn’t supposed to be this way, none of this, so he’d snatched up the ring in case there’d be a moment when he could choose—no, seize—the destiny he wanted, a forever with Ellie. Every goddamn time they’d gotten close, some nightmare had ruined their chance at happiness and peace. He didn’t have the patience to wait anymore.

He opened the back of the SUV and loaded their bags. Ellie was already seated inside the car when he climbed in the other side.

She carried herself differently now than she had when she first started working with Segue, as if she had a sense—albeit a tentative one—of how amazing she was and what she contributed. And yet she was the same too—the girl whose parents had run out on her when they couldn’t cope with her shadow. Ellie’s care had been left to her grandmother, for whom Cam would be forever grateful. Gran, and Gran alone, had stood by Ellie when her shadow was wild, unrestrainable, potentially homicidal. Gran had kept Ellie safe and loved. She’d passed away when Ellie was still a teen, and that’s when the real trouble began.

The SUV eased along the drive, farther inside the compound, so Cam guessed they were to be welcomed after all. Maybe the guards just wanted to know what Segue was capable of. He hoped they were getting the picture.
Mess with us at your peril.