“When the time comes, I will do what must be done,” Judah told his people.
Sunset colored the evening sky as Mercy searched for Judah. He had left the house shortly after supper and had not returned. While she had been giving Eve her bath, Eve had stopped splashing her array of tub toys in the waist-deep, lukewarm water and grasped Mercy’s hand.
“It’s Daddy. Something’s wrong. He’s very sad.”
“Are you talking to your father? Didn’t he tell you not to-”
“I’m not talking to him,” Eve said. “I promise.”
“Then how do you know that he’s sad?”
“I just know.” She placed her hand over her heart. “In here. The way I sometimes just know things. He needs you, Mother. Go to him.”
So here she was, sent off by her daughter on a quest of compassion. But when she found Judah, would he accept her comfort, or would he turn her away?
There was no point in wasting time taking useless routes that wouldn’t lead her to Judah. She used all her senses to home in on his location. Once she picked up on his presence, she followed the energy trail left by his powerful aura.
She found him alone and lost in his own thoughts, sitting on one of several stone boulders in an isolated clearing deep within the woods.
“Judah?”
He turned his head and looked at her, but said nothing.
She took several hesitant steps toward him. “Are you all right?” she asked.
“Why are you here?”
“Eve sent me. She’s concerned about you. She said you were sad.”
“Go back to the house. Tell Eve that I’m fine.”
“But you’re not. Eve is right, something is wrong, and-”
Using a psychic thrust, Judah shoved Mercy backward, just enough to warn her off but not knock her down. She staggered for only a second.
“I get the message,” she told him.
“Then leave me alone.”
“Is it Cael? Has something happened? If you’ll tell me, I can help.”
“Leave me!” Judah shot up off the boulder, hell’s fury in his eyes. “I don’t want you.” As he came toward her, he pinned her to the spot, and she didn’t try to break through the invisible bonds that kept her from moving. “I don’t need you. Damn you, Mercy Raintree!”
Judah grabbed her shoulders and shook her as frustration and anger and passion drove him hard. She felt what he felt and realized that he hated her for making him care.
“My poor Judah.”
He clutched her face between his open palms and ravaged her with a possessive kiss. Swept up by the passion neither of them could deny, Mercy surrendered herself. Heart. Mind. Body.
And soul.
FIFTEEN
Sunday, 11:08 a.m.
The Summer Solstice
Eve bounced onto the foot of Mercy’s bed and whispered loudly, “I’ve been up for hours, Mommy. Are you and Daddy going to sleep all day?”
Mercy’s eyes flew open. Startled by her daughter’s cheerful greeting, she woke from a deep, sated sleep. “Eve?”
Wiggling around, making her way up the bed to position herself between Mercy and Judah, Eve spoke a bit louder now that she had roused her mother. “Sidonia told me not to disturb you, but I got tired of waiting, so I sneaked up the back stairs when she wasn’t looking.”
“What the hell?” Judah cracked open one eye and then the other. “Eve?” He shot straight up in bed, exposing his naked chest.
As Mercy lifted herself into a sitting position, the sheet covering her slipped, and she suddenly remembered that she was as naked as Judah. She grabbed the edge of the sheet and yanked it up to cover her breasts.
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Hello, Eve.” Judah glanced at Mercy, as if asking her how they were going to handle this rather awkward situation.
“You’re not going to stay in bed the rest of the day, are you?” Eve looked from one parent to the other.
“No, we…er…uh…” Mercy stammered. “Why don’t you go to your room or back downstairs with Sidonia, and Daddy and I will-”
Sidonia’s voice bellowed, “Eve Raintree, I thought I told you not to disturb your mother. Come here right this min-” Sidonia stopped abruptly in the doorway, her eyes round and her mouth agape as she stared at the threesome in Mercy’s bed. “This won’t do,” she muttered. “This just will not do.” She shook her head disapprovingly.
“Eve, go with Sidonia,” Mercy told her daughter.
Eve eyed her mother from tousled hair to bare shoulders. “Why aren’t you wearing your gown?” She turned her gaze on Judah. “Daddy, are you naked, too?”
Judah cleared his throat but couldn’t disguise the tilt of his lips.
How dare he find this amusing! Mercy glowered at him. He smiled.
“Come along, child.” Sidonia held out her hand. “It’s already summertime weather, and no doubt your mother got hot last night and removed her gown so she could cool off.” If looks alone could kill, Sidonia’s outraged glower would have zapped Judah. Thank goodness her old nanny didn’t have the ability to shoot psychic bolts.
Making no move to leave her parents, Eve asked, “Did you get hot, too, Daddy?”
“Uh, yeah, something like that,” Judah replied.
“Eve, go with Sidonia,” Mercy said. “Now.”
Puckering up as if she were on the verge of tears, Eve scooted back down to the foot of the bed, then slid off and onto her feet. “I woke you up because I needed to tell you that something’s going on. I thought you and Daddy would want to know.”
“Whatever it is, it can wait for a few minutes,” Mercy said.
When Eve dawdled, her shoulders slumped, her head hung low, Sidonia grabbed her hand and marched her toward the door. Dragging her feet at the threshold, Eve balked. Glancing back over her shoulder, she said, “I’m going. But can I ask Daddy one question first?”
“What do you want to ask me?” Judah focused on Eve.
“Well, actually, it’s two questions,” Eve admitted.
When Sidonia jerked on Eve’s hand, she issued her nanny a stern, warning glare.
“Ask your questions,” Judah said.
“Uncle Dante doesn’t have a crown even though he’s a Dranir.” Eve’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. “I was just wondering if you have a crown?”
What? Huh? Mercy’s mind couldn’t quite comprehend her daughter’s comment and question. “Eve, why would your father have a-”
“Actually, I just wanted to know if, since I’m a Raintree princess and an Ansara princess, do I get to wear two crowns? Maybe a solid gold crown and another one that’s all sparkly diamonds. Or maybe just one really big crown.”
Mercy snapped around and stared at Judah, who had gone deadly still. “What’s she talking about?”
Unclenching his jaw, Judah ignored Mercy and answered his daughter. “I don’t have a crown. But if you want a crown or two crowns or half a dozen, I’ll get them for you.”
Lifting her shoulders, tilting her chin and smiling like the proverbial cat that ate the canary, Eve turned around and all but pulled a stunned Sidonia out of the room.
Mercy got out of bed, found her robe lying on the floor, snatched it up and slipped into it hurriedly. Then she confronted Judah, who had gotten up, found his discarded slacks and was in the process of zipping the fly when Mercy headed toward him. She marched up to him and looked him right in the eyes.
“Why would Eve think you might have a crown, and why would she think she’s an Ansara princess?”
He shrugged. “Who knows what puts ideas in a child’s head?”
“Uh-uh, mister. That’s not going to work with me.”
“I’m starving. What about you? After the workout we had last night…all night-” he tried using that cocky, aren’t-I-sexy? grin on her “-I need to rebuild my strength.”
Mercy grabbed Judah’s arm. “Answer my question. And so help me, you’d better tell me the truth.”
He didn’t try to veil his thoughts completely, allowing Mercy to momentarily use her empathic ability.