“I’m so sorry, please, come in.” She stepped back and waited until he entered before locking the door behind him.
An idea firmed in her mind, one she’d been toying with for weeks in the event she was caught. Lies and deception worked so much better when a hint of truth worked into the mix.
“I know why you’re here,” she said in a strangled whisper, peering through her front window nervously before turning back to him.
“Excuse me?” His deep voice sent shivers through her that she worked hard to suppress. Why this happened only around him she had no idea. He was just a man, albeit the best looking one she’d ever seen.
“It’s that woman,” she whispered dramatically, pleased when he actually frowned. “I’ve seen her hanging around your house the past few days. I had a feeling I should have told you sooner.”
“A woman.”
She nodded.
His eyes narrowed. “Describe her.”
“She has white hair, stands a few inches shorter than me, and I guess you could say she’s quite pretty.” Gorgeous, really. As soon as she thought it, she wanted to smack herself in the head. Vanity at a time like this?
The Aellei wanted her dead, Arim would transform her into a spotted lizard if he knew she interfered with one of his precious Royal Four, and by now, Oxcen had told everyone the queen had ordered him away from a Storm Lord, the same queen who’d been in council for the past few weeks. One guess as to who had the gall to impersonate Her Royal Bitchiness and they’d be inscribing ’gorgeous‘ on Alandra’s burial marker.
Oh, what the hell? She might be on death’s door, but at least let her be pretty. “Yes, she was especially attractive and just lovely in white.” Alandra frowned. “She had the most intriguing eyes.”
“Violet eyes, a sensual, lustrous lavender,” he muttered, his words complimentary though his manner was anything but.
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t mention a woman stalking my house because…?”
Alandra blushed and looked down. “You and Marcus are grown men. It would have been silly to presume a woman who looked like that wasn’t invited to your home.”
“Then why the telescope?” he asked wryly, still not believing her story.
“Because she started acting strange.” Alandra licked her lips. “I know it sounds crazy, but she seemed to shimmer, to almost fade in and out. Must have been a trick of the light, I know. But then, I thought I saw her inside your room the other day, and again just now.”
She didn’t explain why her telescope was fixed on his room, or why she’d been watching. Hopefully, he’d be too concerned with an invading Aellei to focus on her voyeurism.
He rubbed a hand over his stubbled, clenched jaw. “Damn, she has no patience,” he said softly, then stared unblinkingly into her eyes. “I appreciate your thoroughness.” His gaze darkened most threateningly. “I’ll keep an eye out for her, and any other trespassers invading my privacy.”
She blinked, deliberately looking guilty. Irritated, was he? About time. Maybe now he’d move his tight, sexy, sorry ass between planes for that overdue visit he owed her.
“Er, sorry for any misunderstandings. But if you don’t mind, I have some work to do.”
He left with a grumbled thanks, leaving Alandra in a quandary. Should she stay and continue to observe, though inconspicuously this time, or should she phase between planes? She could tell she’d irritated him with mention of ’the woman in white’, but had she lit a big enough fire to head him in her direction?
Bored with being Trudy, she decided to venture back into the shadows when a knock at the door sounded. Most likely Aerolus with more questions. Damn, just when she thought she’d convinced him to seek her out.
She opened the door with a polite smile and froze.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I had a few questions of my own about my nephew’s visitor.” Arim, Tanselm’s legendary sorcerer and Killer of Shadow, stood on her doorstep with black, burning eyes that saw too much, looking every inch the dangerous Light Bringer she’d been warned to avoid since the day she could walk.
Aerolus re-entered his house with a dozen screaming warnings in his head but shoved those concerns aside when he noted Cadmus coming out of his bedroom. His brother’s face was pinched, his eyes wounded and dark with anger as he stared blankly ahead.
“Cadmus?” he asked softly, startled when his brother arched a shock of energy in his direction. Mentally calling forth a flat wind to shield him, he felt the jarring crash of elemental power a split second before it vanished.
Cadmus paled noticeably, his eyes like black sinkholes in his face. “Shit. I’m so sorry, Aerolus. Damn it.” He thrust a shaky hand through his hair and bent over, taking deep breaths to calm himself. After a moment he glanced up with a half grin. “Hey, don’t tell our watchdog about this, okay? Arim’s driving me nuts as it is. The last thing I need is him hounding my ass about my lack of control.”
Aerolus nodded and studied his brother. “You look terrible,” he said, stating the obvious. Over the past week, subtle changes had begun to affect his brother, the least of which was his preference for sleeping until late afternoon.
In tune with the earth, an Earth Lord at his core, Cadmus normally relished the predawn hours, getting his sleep later in the day before leaving to bartend at Outpour in the evening. When the sun rose, his brother could often be found outside walking around GreenLake and breathing in the rich scents of earth and pine dotting the exercise trail.
Lately, however, he’d been living almost like, well, like a Djinn. Aerolus paused, recalling the moment a few weeks ago when his brother had burst into Djinn flame, or as the Djinn referred to it, burst in truth—an unholy white blaze engulfed by a black, powerful aura.
Storm Lords didn’t burn true, not even Darius, who controlled fire. And the Royal Four depended upon one another, yet lately Cadmus had been shutting everyone, including Aerolus, out of his life.
Like you’ve been shutting out your family at the behest of a pesky, erotic Aellei? his conscience prodded, though he felt too out of sorts to be appropriately guilty over his secrets.
The minute he recalled her face he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He still couldn’t believe she’d had the nerve to appear in his house last week, disguised as a pixie, no less. Had Arim seen her, he’d have demanded an explanation Aerolus instinctively knew would bring doom to the sensual woman with wings.
By the Light, he’d had no idea the Aellei could do what she did. What the hell was she? A malevolence manipulating him to turn on his brothers, an insidious part of ‘Sin Garu’s dark plot, or an incredibly sensual woman with absolutely no patience?
Much as he’d promised her he wouldn’t tell his brothers or Arim about her aid in warding off the Nocumat, he would have liked his brothers’ advice on the matter. But with two of his siblings in Tanselm with their affai and Cadmus looking like the walking wounded, he kept his secrets to himself.
Focusing again on his brother, he covered his heart as he had when they were children and pledged, “I promise not to tell Arim a thing.”
Cadmus chuckled, lightening Aerolus’ heavy heart. So it was with no small regret that he pushed for answers he knew would send his brother crashing again. “My lips are sealed, if you tell me what’s been bothering you lately. And don’t tell me it’s nothing,” he added in a clipped tone, one that had his brother blinking in surprise.
“You’ve never explained how you lit into Djinn fire, and you’re obviously troubled by something you don’t think I can handle.”