Vision of Seduction (16 page)

That room had been her favorite. Whenever real life had made her cry or

feel like an outcast, she had retreated to her bedroom and then let her

imagination transport her to that room. The room where she would usually

find her prince playmate.

She studied Grayson and let out a small breath of relief as she decided he

couldn't have been her imaginary playmate. His features were too

different, even if she allowed for his growth into a man. Besides, it was the

eyes of that young boy she would never forget. It surprised her to

remember that his eyes were purple like nearly everyone she had met here.

But whereas Grayson's eyes looked like melted amethyst, her young

prince's eyes had been so dark purple they appeared nearly black.

A small laugh escaped her. Now she was chasing ghosts. She returned her

gaze to the tower and pictured the interior in which she had spent so much

time.

When she had looked out the windows, she could see for miles. There used

to be a small cot inside that her prince playmate had padded with goosedown comforters and pillows and silky, soft sheets. On the opposite side of

the rounded room had sat a small table and two chairs where they would

share snacks or just glance out the window and talk about their dreams.

They would talk for hours, and he would tell her that one day she would

have to let him rescue her. Then she would laugh, and usually punch him

in the shoulder, reminding him that women didn't need rescuing, that they

only needed a good friend to be there for them when they were sad.

Katelyn started as she realized her beliefs about men had begun even

earlier than she'd thought.

The vivid memories burned through her, and thick emotion tightened her

chest as if a giant hand were squeezing her heart.

"That room—the round one with the cone roof." Her voice sounded

strained, and she swallowed hard to chase back the emotions that still

assaulted her. "Does it have a large wooden door held together with black

metal?"

Grayson's dark brows drew together, and he leaned forward in the saddle,

the leather creaking softly with the effort. "Yes. How did you know that?"

Katelyn shook her head. She had expected the answer and could picture

the room perfectly in her mind's eye. "Next to the cot, is there also a large

chest of drawers with peeling paint, and if you shove it to one side, there is

a passageway small enough for a child that leads into the nurse maid's

room?"

Grayson looked as if she'd slapped him. "Only Ryan, Stone, and I—" His

features clouded, and then he laughed, startling her. "Of course. I forgot for

a minute that you are a Seer."

She opened her mouth to tell him she hadn't seen the room in a vision and

then stopped before the words could escape. How did she really know her

childhood fantasies hadn't been elaborate visions? She had already ruled

out the possibility that Grayson was the prince she had met and played

with, and she knew it wasn't King Stone. Once she ruled out Ryan, she

would know her imagination was playing tricks on her.

After all, even as she'd closed her eyes and lived out stories and wonderful

afternoons inside her mind, she had known that when she returned to the

real world, she would be sitting inside her room in Phoenix.

She wasn't insane—she'd only been a lonely child who had invented a

world as a way of coping. Is that what she had done now?

"Do you often see visions of the past?" Grayson's softly spoken words

startled Katelyn and her body jerked in reaction, making her horse neigh

and shift from foot to foot. "Or are most of yours from the future?"

It took her a minute for the meaning of Grayson's words to penetrate her

consciousness before she could reply. "Either or both, depending on the

energy I receive from those around me or messages of things I need to see

to understand something."

She pulled up her childhood visions inside her mind and tried to

remember how they felt—if the sensations reminded her of a possible

happening or a true vision of something that had happened. However,

time had gilded those cherished memories around the edges, and the only

sensations associated with them were happiness, security, and warmth.

Grayson reached back into his saddlebags and pulled out a Milky Way bar

and a water skin. "I came prepared, in case you had any visions on this

trip." He smiled as he passed her the candy and the water. "The guards

who cleaned up your shop after the attack found your stash." The fact that

he had remembered touched her.

"Thank you." She raised her face to him. "I have something of an addiction

when it comes to these things."

"I noticed." He chuckled. "And not to get anyone in trouble, but Rita tends

to raid your candy drawer as well."

Katelyn clutched the candy bar to her chest and laughed. "I thought I was

going through these pretty fast. I can't believe that Rita—anal, everythingin-its-place Rita—snags my chocolate." A smile bloomed over her face,

lightening her mood along with it. "Wait till I get back!"

A quick flash of disappointment flowed across Grayson's face before he hid

it. Katelyn's own smile faded as she watched him.

Disappointment flowed through her as well at the thought of leaving this

place, but she shoved it aside, reminding herself that she had worked hard

for her life and couldn't give it up so easily. "How about the rest of that

tour?" She pasted a bright smile on her face.

"Of course." He grinned, turning his face from handsome to devastating.

No fair! That's cheating.

Grayson turned his horse and started back down the path.

***

Grayson rode for several minutes in silence, wondering how they would

finally tell Katelyn about the triangle. He knew she would be angry that

they'd hidden it from her, but he also knew if he told her up front or even

now, she would run and never get a chance to know him or the planet.

He sighed and shook his head. All he could do now was enjoy his time

with her and hope it was enough to influence her future decision. He

smiled as Katelyn caught up and pulled her horse alongside his.

Her voice carried to him on the wind, but he couldn't quite make out what

she said, so he slowed, and she easily matched his pace.

Her cheeks were flushed with color, and the sun glinted off her waterfall of

red hair. He still remembered how soft her lips had been when he had

kissed her that morning on the balcony, and he couldn't help but stare at

her enticing mouth. When her lips quirked upward into a sardonic smile,

he raised his gaze to her eyes as he realized she had been speaking to him

and he hadn't heard a word.

"I asked what was down the other path." Katelyn pointed east toward a

fork in the road that led to parts of the planet already dead or dying.

Grayson had spent the last several years marveling at how certain areas

seemed untouched by the blight and how other areas were completely

lifeless. Katelyn must have noticed the thinned foliage off to the east as

they rode.

"There's not much left alive that way. It's a gruesome sight." It caused him

nearly physical pain every time he went there, since he still remembered

how lush and teeming with life it had been just ten years ago before the toll

of the planet had weighed so heavily on Queen Annalecia.

"I'd like to see it." Katelyn's calm demeanor gave him no clue as to her

mood, but he sensed an underlying resolve of steel in her words. "The

queen mentioned this morning that parts of the planet weren't getting all

the energy they needed."

Grayson hid his surprise that Alyssandra had revealed even that much. But

he supposed as long as Alyssa hadn't mentioned the triangle, it wouldn't

hurt to reveal other truths. Maybe the queen had the right idea, giving

Katelyn as much information as possible without scaring her. "There really

isn't much to see, believe me. The hot springs are up ahead, and I know

you must be getting hungry."

"Is there anything dangerous there? In the nonhealthy areas, I mean?"

"No—"

Without waiting for him to finish, Katelyn flashed him a quick smile and

then reined her horse around. She rode off toward the fork in the path

before heading east.

"Damn stubborn woman." He startled at the note of respect and pride in his

voice and then laughed. "Just the way I like it."

He followed but allowed her to set the pace. Not so much as a mosquito

lived in the worst sections, so he wasn't worried about her safety. He had

hoped to show her the best before introducing her to the worst, but the

choice had just been taken out of his hands.

Sooner than he'd expected, the foliage thinned to nearly nothing and

became brown and shriveled, as though its life force had literally been

sucked out. In essence, it had.

Apparently, the deterioration was spreading faster than even the royal

family had thought.

Grave news, indeed. If the triangle wasn't put in place soon, their entire

world would die, along with their way of life. A cold fist squeezed

Grayson's heart, and he clenched his jaw against a wave of pain.

He and his people were doing everything within their power—he just

hoped it would be enough. Everything hinged on the woman before him

and some still unnamed Healer to agree to help them and to give up their

previous lives and everything they'd ever known.

His horse jumped over the remains of several fallen logs, easily clearing

them and landing on the other side. He followed Katelyn as she wound

through the increasing destruction.

Every time Grayson traveled here, he expected the stench of decay and rot,

but that would have meant that bugs and microscopic organisms still lived

here to break down plant and animal matter. No. What remained here

were dusty husks that hadn't yet disintegrated and hard-packed earth that

had been stripped of all nutrients.

Still, Katelyn continued forward. When the landscape became nothing but

barren dust for as far as the eye could see, the Seer slowed and finally

stopped.

Grayson brought his horse alongside. His mount pranced nervously, and

even when he pulled tight on the reins and patted the glossy black neck,

the horse's nostrils flared, and his eyes darted nervously from side to side.

Even the animals sensed the wrongness of this place.

"It's so silent here. It's eerie." Katelyn's voice seemed loud in the hushed

quiet, as did the soft snuffling of the horses and the occasional creak of the

leather from their saddles.

"As the plants died, the animals moved on to better hunting grounds, until

nothing at all remained."

Silence hung between them, heavy and thick, and Grayson left Katelyn to

her thoughts. A barren wind ruffled her hair around her shoulders but

failed to remove the crease from between her brows. He fisted his hands

against the urge to smooth away the line of worry. Somehow, here, in this

place, such a caress didn't seem right. "How long?"

Her quiet voice startled him. "Long?"

"Until the entire planet becomes ..." she gestured around her, "... this." Her

voice was edged with a deep pain that surprised him.

He shrugged, a short, choppy motion. "We don't know. The damage seems

to be spreading quicker than we expected, but we don't have an exact time

frame." Mental pictures of the castle grounds, deteriorated to a lifeless dust

bowl, bubbled anger through his veins, and he closed his eyes against the

onslaught of emotion.

He had been raised as a warrior, but there was no enemy to fight or evil to

banish here, and it left Grayson feeling useless.

True, the Cunts had started this chain of events by kidnapping Princess

Alyssandra a quarter of a century ago, but destroying the entire Cunt

race—while satisfying in the short term—would not repair the damage to

his home world.

"Alyssa said there were things that could be done to reverse this." Katelyn

gestured around her. "How quickly before those remedies are in place?"

Grayson couldn't quite meet her open gaze. "We aren't sure. Plans are in

progress, but these things take time, and even now the Klatch aren't all in

agreement with the actions underway."

"Surely the Klatch would do whatever it took to keep this place beautiful

and pristine. It's their home. I couldn't imagine anyone letting it die, and

I've only been here a few days." Katelyn's voice was filled with passion,

and that gave Grayson hope.

He bit his tongue against telling her more. Now wasn't the right time. It

was still too soon. But hopefully the seed had been planted, and she would

come around to the idea soon enough. "Let me show you the areas that are

still pristine, and you'll understand the full impact of what we are facing."

She nodded, her eyes still shadowed as she glanced around at the

devastation. "I'm ready."

9

Stark images of the desolate countryside she had just left behind burned

through Katelyn's thoughts until she shook her head to try to clear them.

She was very glad she wasn't driving a car in her current state, or she'd end