The Thorndyke Trilogy 2: Dancing at Midnight (26 page)

“Good. Kristen would be pleased. I want everything for the boy. Give him what he needs to get his degree, or if he needs to retake a year, make it possible for him.”

Dalton nodded. “But you’ll be there to do it yourself.”

Nathan shook his head. “Not necessarily. There’s one more thing I can try,” he said softly.

Dalton cocked his head and frowned. “What?”

“I can convert her.”

Shock made his friend’s face blank for a split second, and then he regained his mask of smooth urbanity. “That’s a risk, to say the least.”

“I’m willing to take it on.”

“So what, you can join her?” Dalton demanded.

Since he didn’t want to go on without her, that prospect didn’t matter to Nathan. Either way, he’d be with her. “If necessary.”

“And what about the ethics?”

Nathan paused. “That’s what stopped me before. I haven’t asked her, and I don’t know how she feels about conversion. Sure, she loves dragons, she says, but it’s one thing to have a dragon pin and another to actually become one. Her whole lifestyle will change. It drives some people insane, the turning and the consequences.”

Dalton nodded. “I’ve seen it too. But you’re lucky in one way. The only way I can convert someone is if I die doing it. Still, will you take the risk? She might hate you forever, or she might go insane.” Put so plainly, it didn’t seem too bad.

“Then we’ll both go mad.” He fixed Dalton with a straight stare. He needed his friend to help like he had never before. “That’s where you come in. You’re the only person I can trust to do this. If the worst happens, if we both go into some kind of stasis, then kill us both. Just do it, Dalton. If the conversion drives her insane, what of that?” Getting to his feet, he started pacing. “If it does, then I can make sure we both go to sleep and never wake up.”

“So it’s both or none?” Dalton could have said
I told you so
, or he could have reminded Nathan of his determination not to allow a woman to bring him down. But he didn’t, and Nathan was grateful for that, although he’d eat all the humble pie in the world if Dalton would agree to help him.

“Yes, it is.” Without Kristen, Nathan didn’t want to go on. He refused to put himself through the hell of losing the woman he loved. And he loved her with everything he was. He was ready to bond with her. That was the only way he could get deep enough to wake her, and he had to convert her to do it. Sometimes Talents could reach the deepest places without taking that step, but he’d tried. And he didn’t want to watch anyone else doing it. A Sorcerer would burn his way through, put a mental blowtorch in her mind, and he couldn’t allow that.

So it was this or nothing. The only thing De’Ath had been good at was hypnotism. He was probably better than he’d thought he was.

The fire department had declared it an accident waiting to happen. The place was falling apart, the electrical wiring was dangerous, the timber rotten. Dalton, Vella, and the dragon had rescued as many of the people inside as they could and fuzzed the memories of the observers where necessary.

Nathan smiled grimly, pausing in his pacing. “So you’ll do it?”

Dalton spread his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I can’t do anything else. I know what happens when a dragon loses a mate. And I do think she’s your mate. Your reactions right from the start were so extreme, I can’t see it being anything else.”

Nathan gave a resigned shrug. “Last week I’d have fought you to the death if you’d said that. Now I know for sure you’re right. But what if she doesn’t want me that way? Mortals have problems with bonding. You are never alone again, and you can’t hide from your bondmate. I’m told you can force a separation, but if she wanted that, it would kill me.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “But I thought of that, and I don’t care. If she doesn’t want me, so be it. At least she’ll be alive. I can’t bear this.”

“Then do it. I’ll be your proxy.”

Without Nathan having to ask, Dalton had agreed to act as Kristen’s substitute in this procedure. Nathan could only think of one other person he’d consider asking, and he was on his honeymoon.

Without another word, Dalton began to strip.

Vampires were more protective of their nudity. Shape-shifters, who had to get naked when they changed form or lose their clothes as they shredded during the shift, weren’t particularly concerned.

Nathan shed his clothes without a second thought. His heart was filled with gratitude for his friend. Dalton would act as Kristen’s proxy, for the parts of the shift she couldn’t accomplish in her present state. He’d take on the task of killing them if the bond went wrong.

If she woke up and rejected him, Dalton would kill Nathan because he’d broken all edicts concerning bonding. That was what his friend had taken on. To adjudicate and to ensure the bonding took place properly. Post-conversion agreement was acceptable. If she didn’t consent, Dalton would have to kill one of his oldest and closest friends. Nathan would submit to nobody else.

Tearing a loving, bonded pair apart, on the other hand, often resulted in the deaths of both partners.

She’d said she loved him. Without that, he’d never have considered this drastic step. The soul-deep bond they’d established instinctively as they’d grown closer would be deepened and enriched. They’d never be alone again, and some humans couldn’t stand the thought of that happening to them.

Kristen had the right to reject Nathan, and if she did, he’d take the consequences gladly. At least he’d have done something to compensate for putting her in danger.

Now that he’d set his final plan in motion, he felt lighter, as if a burden had been lifted. Eager to get on with it, he shape-shifted, the large bedroom suddenly smaller once it was forced to contain his dragon form. He had to curl his tail around a few pieces of furniture to get it to fit and to give Dalton access to him.

Dalton approached. He could have done this clothed, but Nathan appreciated his wish to bare himself, symbolically as well as in reality.

Dalton closed his eyes, and Nathan waited, his body tensing. Then Dalton dipped one hand under Nathan’s wing and pulled a scale away. It hurt like a bitch. Nathan rejoiced. Normally losing a scale would not hurt at all, or only a little. The moment of needle-sharp pain told him Dalton had chosen well. That scale mattered, because it carried part of his essence.

The job done, Nathan shifted back to human form. He nodded his thanks to Dalton and went to the bed, where Kristen lay in her De’Ath-imposed trance. He held out his hand. Dalton placed the scale in it. It gleamed at him, its iridescence mocking his bright ambitions. Nathan closed his hand around it, as if it was the most precious thing in the world. Right now, it was.

At this point, a proxy might leave, but Nathan wanted a witness and someone to take immediate action if this went wrong, so Dalton stayed. He pulled on his pants and went to sit in a chair by the door.

Nathan lay down next to Kristen and placed the scale on his sigil. It heated the little symbol, another good sign. He brought the scale-plated sigil to her flesh and pressed his body against hers. His sigil was on his upper thigh, on the outside. Kristen was lying on her back, so she would have one in the same place. If this worked.

The heat of the scale increased until it became a burn. Sometimes couples would bind themselves together, and now Nathan knew why. It hurt. Every branch of every vein, every tiny capillary boiled. He lay there, forcing himself to stillness.

Kristen reacted, winced, and tried to move away. Nathan held her thigh firmly. He’d leave a bruise and probably a burn. Another sin for his collection, but they must not separate their bodies during this process. That would almost certainly mean failure.

He turned his head on the pillow and watched her, trying to quell the hope rising in his heart when she screwed up her face, grimacing at the pain. An instinctive reaction. Anyone would do that.

The pain spread through his body, and he slipped into her mind to help her, shielding her pain as much as he could. Her features relaxed, grew still.

Like a tiny green bud, her mind blossomed, filled her head with sheer beauty as she broke out of the bonds around her soul. At the height of agony, when every part of his body was on fire, she called out.

She called his name.

* * * *

Kristen opened her eyes to find Nathan lying next to her. They were in his bedroom, but the sheets under her body were unusually crumpled.

No
. In a rush, everything came back to her. Stuart’s betrayal, that evil man De’Ath, and then nothing except nightmares she didn’t want to recall. All about imprisonment, fighting, and hurting.

Something throbbed on her side, and instinctively she glanced down, but her body was pressed close to Nathan’s and she couldn’t see. Without her asking him, Nathan moved aside.

A little red dragon was engraved on her thigh, the mirror of his. That was what throbbed. “Did I get a tattoo?” She licked her lips.

Immediately, Nathan sat up and stretched out a hand. Someone moved across the room and placed a glass of water in it. Dalton. She blinked as Nathan drew a sheet up over their bodies. “What…?”

Nathan curved his other arm around her and helped her sit so she could drink. “I needed a proxy and a witness,” he said. “Darling, I converted you.”

“Oh.” The realization took a minute to sink through to her befogged brain. “Good.”

Dalton scanned her mind, briskly and briefly. “I’ll say good-bye now,” Dalton said. “I’ll let myself out.” He nodded to her hand. “You might want to take that off.”

Puzzled, she glanced at the bandage on her hand. Flexing her fingers, she couldn’t find anything wrong, so she unwound it and tossed the bandage aside. “What was that on there for?”

“Nothing,” Nathan said, his voice choked.

Dalton smiled. He strolled across the room, picking up his shirt and shoes as he went. He was half-naked.

“What’s going on?” she demanded.

Nathan watched her, his mind still, although to her surprise she discovered she was reading him without effort or even will. So deeply too. She could see everything, feel everything. Every moment of his life filled her head, his successes, his failures. In her mind’s eye, she saw a figure, dressed elegantly in a dark-blue formfitting coat and fancy waistcoat. His chin held high, a stiff white collar supporting it and some elaborate tie-thing underneath. A neckcloth, she recalled from her romance books. His pants were tight enough to make a rock star blush. But it was Nathan.

“You’re part of me now, my love.” He took the empty glass from her so he could hold her hands. “And I’m part of you. If you don’t want that, then I need to know.”

“Why?”

“Why did I convert you? Because it was the only way to break the thrall De’Ath put you into. I suspect he didn’t know how good he was. Otherwise he’d have used it more. He drugged you, and then you were susceptible to him.”

“The beer,” she said, remembering that night Stu came around to the apartment. “I bet every bottle was drugged.”

“Probably.” He grimaced. “It’s all gone now.”

“Good.” She felt rested. As she took mental stock of her body, her stomach grumbled. “Sorry.”

“You haven’t eaten for a day and a half. We’ll take care of that for you. But I need to know before Dalton’s out of reach. Do you want me like this? Almost entirely open to you?”

“Almost?” A smile curved her lips.

“There’s a tiny corner left. If you search your mind, you’ll find it too. It’s where you can put your secrets.”

“I have no secrets from you.” But she did. She flushed, her body heating and turning pink. “Except one.”

“Isadora?” When she would have looked away, he put his crooked forefinger under her chin, urging her head up. “I knew about her from the start. I’m sorry, my sweet. I should have stopped Dalton blurting it out that day. I was insufferable when you came in from the storm. I was out of sorts, but you weren’t to know that. I’d just gotten rid of someone so persistent it amounted to stalking, but that doesn’t excuse the way I treated you and what I said. I don’t blame you for saying what you did, but I knew you were bluffing from the start.”

“How?” she demanded indignantly.

“I just did.” He grinned. “I am so happy, I could explode.”

“But what about the club?”

“What about it? You are you now, sweetheart. You can be yourself. Dance as you. Or don’t dance; it doesn’t matter.”

It mattered to her. She’d finally found a niche she fit in, one she could excel at. “I want to keep doing it.”

“Then we will. Anything you want.”

She had so much to take in. He knew who she really was? She could dance?

“I’ll get the posters replaced, and anyone who asks, it was an unfortunate confusion on my part. Anything for you. Anything.” His mind stilled and his face grew grave. “Do you want this? Do you want me?”

“Of course I do.” He was so much a part of her, how could she want anything else?

“I had to bond with you to get deep enough so I could unlock the thrall. I could only do that one way. We’re bonded, my love. Together forever. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, you’ll know. And vice versa. It can become unbearable to mortals.”

She touched his nose with one finger, rejoicing at the freedom that she could do so. “But I’m not mortal anymore, am I?”

The dragon burned through her, turned on its back to have its belly scratched. She wanted to see it for real. Couldn’t wait.

“You’re everything you always were. Just a bit more.” He still didn’t smile but watched her carefully. “Do you want to try?”

She’d had a glimpse of the fascinating, brilliant man she was now bound to. Bonded, he called it. “To you, yes. I want it. I want everything.” Laughing, she rolled over him, pinning him down. “Do I get to be stronger too?”

“You’ll have the dragon’s strength. I’ll teach you to partially shift so you can use the dragon but not make it obvious.” He cracked a smile, and relief flooded her. He was unbending. One part of his anatomy was particularly stiff.

“So what’s bothering you about all this?”

The smile disappeared, and she cursed herself. “I shouldn’t have done it without your permission. It’s something couples talk about for a long time because it means a complete change in their lives. Even Talents think very carefully before deciding on bonding.”