Double Alchemy: Climax (25 page)

It is over. You saw what you needed to see.

Quinn struggled up with Percy’s help, getting to his feet and staggering to the side of his desk, where he grabbed a pile of tissue to mop up the blood streaming from his nose. The pain in his head slowly receded and he turned and was violently sick on the floor. It was mostly bile, as he hadn’t been eating, but it scalded his throat with acid and made him gag.

“Hell, Quinn, you need to sit down.” Percy guided him to the chair and Quinn collapsed thankfully into it. His hands were shaking so badly, he could barely hold the tissue where he wanted it to go.

“I saw him. I saw that bastard Edward Mistral kill my parents.”

Percy’s face was white with shock. “God, I don’t care what you bloody saw! That was a terrible thing to watch. I thought you were dying with all that blood. Here, let me hold that. Yours hands are bloody useless in their current state.”

Percy grabbed another wad of tissue and held it under Quinn’s nose. Quinn closed his eyes, his chest tight as he struggled to breathe.

“Mistral killed your parents? Because of those letters?”

Quinn nodded. “It was a crime of passion. Edward Mistral was in love with my mother and wanted my father out the way. But in the end he killed her too. They trusted him and he got close to them and murdered them both. They had no reason to think he would harm them like that. They were bloody friends, for God’s sake.” His voice was anguished.

Quinn. Are you all right?

The worried voice of his Withinner echoed in his pounding head. Quinn nodded tiredly. “I’m alive. Feeling like shit but alive. Thank you, my friend. Thank you for that.”

You are welcome. I am glad you survived. I was not looking forward to finding myself another Warlock.

Quinn chuckled tiredly. “Nobody else would put up with you, you reprobate. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”

That pleases me. Even if you have been a complete horse’s arse of late.

Quinn smiled and leaned back in his chair, exhausted by the events.

Percy laid a soft hand on his shoulder. “Is that it? Have you finally found closure on this part of your life?”

Quinn nodded. “The words Edward said to me when he died make perfect sense to me now.” His voice hardened. “I lived a lie my whole life thinking he’d saved me. I’m glad he’s dead and I’m glad I got to kill him. I just wish now it had been a more difficult death for him. Not only did he kill my parents, he killed all of Taliesin’s memories of my dad, memories I could have shared in.”

Percy sat down in the opposite chair and looked at his friend. “I know this is not the best time, but the Consortium needs you. That bastard Barton Sinclair is causing all manner of uprisings in the ranks. You need to pick up the mantle again and get back to work. We can’t do it without you.”

Quinn nodded his head. “I know I fell to pieces when Cade . . .” his voice faltered, “When Cade went. Daniel’s been telling me the same thing, believe me.”

He passed a trembling hand across his eyes. “Convene a meeting, Percy,” he said quietly. “I’ll be there.”

Percy nodded. “I’ll do that; it’ll keep your mind off Cade until he comes back. Because he will come back. You have to believe that.”

“I hope so, Percy. Because life will never be right without him.”

Chapter 24

The next night Quinn dreamt he heard Cade’s voice, calling to him. He smiled, looking around to see where he was. He found himself on the heath, in the forest, with the sun glinting through the trees and casting a dappled light on the forest floor. In his hand he held a black jacket, vaguely recognisable as one Cade had. He was walking around the quiet forest, peering behind bushes and looking up at the trees to find the source of his voice.

“Cade? Where are you?” he called out as he walked. “I can’t find you. Come on out. I have your jacket. You must be cold in that water.”

Cade’s voice disappeared and Quinn panicked that he was no longer there. He walked faster, his eyes scanning everywhere he could, feeling more anxious as he broke the foliage and swung back the branches to get deeper into the woods. He heard his lover’s voice again, clearer this time, and sensed his presence. He smiled as he turned, expecting to see him, and took a step back in horror at the apparition that stood before him. It was Cade but not Cade, some vague form of his man covered in green slime and fronds, his eyes black and flat, reaching out a skeletal hand to him with a smile from a mouth that had sunken into his face.

Quinn cried out loudly in disgust, trying to get away from him, even as he backed into a tree with branches that clutched at him, embracing him in its tight grip. He held up the jacket as if warding away the terrible sight that he faced and cried out again loudly as something shook him violently, gripping his shoulder.

“Quinn, wake up. For God’s sake please wake up!”

He awakened with a gasp, his heart pounding and his vision blurred with stinging sweat running from his forehead. The room was dark and he was drenched, liquid pooling in drops on his body, causing his flesh to feel slick and clammy.

“Quinn, it’s me. It’s Cade.”

Quinn cried out, remembering the dream and raised his hands in front of him. A pair of warm ones took his own firmly and lowered them, murmuring quiet words of reassurance.

“It was just a dream, I’m real. It’s really me. I’m back. Ease up.”

Quinn gazed in wonder at the form that sat beside him on the bed. He breathed in Cade’s scent, sensed his unique presence and felt him as if he was part of him, but still he didn’t believe it.

“Cade?” he murmured in disbelief.

Cade leaned forward, his beloved face inches away, and Quinn felt the warmth of his breath. This was no demon covered in pond slime. This was his Cade. Quinn cried out, heaving a shuddering breath as he reached over and pulled Cade to him, feeling his warmth and his solidness, and he held him so close it was as if he was pulling him into the core of him. Cade laid his face against his, his hands wrapping themselves around his neck.

“God, Cade,” Quinn whispered brokenly. “I missed you so much. You were gone so long; I thought you were never coming back. Is it really you? I’m not dreaming, am I?”

Cade leaned back and regarded him with the smile he’d missed so much. “No, you’re not dreaming. It’s me. The new, reinvented me, but me.” He frowned. “What the hell have you been doing to yourself? You’re so thin, you look like you haven’t eaten properly in the three weeks I’ve been gone. And what the hell is this beard? Couldn’t you be bothered to shave whilst I’ve been gone?”

Quinn laughed loudly, a sound he hadn’t heard in over three weeks, as he pulled his lover to him again and rubbed his beard against his cheek. “Now I know it’s really you. Only you could give me a bollocking about something like that after coming back from the dead after so long. I missed you so much.”

He reached over and switched on the bedside light but didn’t dare let Cade go. Quinn was giddy with sheer joy and it was all he could do to restrain himself from jumping out of bed and cartwheeling around the room. The light flooded the room and he saw Cade clearer now, looking just the same as he had before. Pale, drawn and exhausted, but his Cade.

His grey eyes looked at Quinn in both love and exasperation. He wore a pair of jeans and a blue tee shirt. “You look like shit and I see those nightmares still haven’t left you. Perhaps now I’m back, we can work on that.”

Quinn reached over and claimed Cade’s mouth in a kiss that encompassed weeks of grief and loss in one single action. Cade’s arms wrapped around his neck and tears of relief fell from Quinn’s eyes at the fact his waiting was finally over. For a moment there was nothing else in the room but Cade’s mouth beneath his and finally he pulled away and cupped his face in his hands.

“Cade, what happened? How did they heal you? What did they do with you for such a long time? Why the hell did it take so long for you to come back to me?”

“Whoa, tiger.” Cade chuckled softly. “One question at a time, but not right now. I just want to feel your body next to mine and be with you. I’ll try and suppress my increased Fey instinct to ravage you, because honestly, I just want to hold you. I can’t believe I’m home. I’m so bloody tired.”

He sounded near exhaustion and Quinn resolved to let Cade find his own pace and tell his story. It was enough for now that he was home.

Cade crawled into bed fully clothed and into Quinn’s arms, facing him. Quinn drew him closer, wrapping his arms about Cade in a possessive embrace that left no doubt for wondering what he might do to anyone who tried to take him away from Quinn. They lay together quietly like that for some time, as Quinn marvelled at the fact he’d come back. He heard Cade’s gentle breathing as he lay there and felt the touch of his hands on his hips as he settled against him. He didn’t want to interrupt the magyck of the moment so he stayed silent. Cade would speak when he was ready. But for now, he revelled in the moment, content that he was home with him.

Your Cade is back. I am glad for you.

So am I, Withinner. So am I. Thank you. You saved him and I will never forget that.

*****

Quinn opened his eyes to an empty side of the bed and for one moment he had a terrible feeling that he’d been dreaming and Cade wasn’t really home. For a moment it seemed his heart stopped and he wanted to throw up but that was soon remedied by the sight of Cade walking into the room with a cup of something hot in his hands, sitting down beside him on the bed.

Cade held out the cup of coffee. “I’m still here. It wasn’t a dream.” He reached over and caressed Quinn’s cheek tenderly. His hands brushed over the thick stubble on his cheeks and chin. “It looks pretty dashing, like you’re some sort of eighteenth-century pirate. I suppose I could get used to it if you really wanted to grow it.”

“The only reason I haven’t shaved is because I didn’t see the point.” Quinn sat up, leaning against the headboard, holding the coffee in his hands. “I haven’t really been out much and with you not being here, I couldn’t really be bothered.” He shrugged guiltily.

“And you losing so much weight? I suppose you didn’t see the point in eating either?” Cade’s voice was sad.

Quinn looked at him guilelessly. “No, I didn’t. I thought if I didn’t eat, nature would take its course sooner or later and devour me from the inside. I didn’t really care.”

Cade’s eyes narrowed in pain. “God, I’m so sorry you had to go through all this. The waiting and not knowing must have driven you crazy.”

Quinn shook his head. “It wasn’t your fault. You had no choice in the matter. You were virtually dead by the time I finally found the courage to lay you in the water.”

Cade reached up and clasped Quinn’s face gently. “I can’t even imagine how that must have felt. God knows what you went through that night. I don’t remember much after that bastard stabbing me, it was all such a blur.” He held tightly onto his hand and Quinn rejoiced at seeing Cade still had his engagement ring on his finger. “At least tell me you killed him, the man that put us through this bloody ordeal.”

Quinn had never heard such a tone of hatred in Cade’s voice before, not even for Mary-Sophie or de Vere. Quinn nodded quietly. “Yes, I killed him.”

His lover nodded in satisfaction. “Good.”

An unpleasant frisson of cold traversed Quinn’s spine. Cade saw the look on his face and he sighed. “I know, that doesn’t sound like me. But I’m a little different now to who I was when I left you that night.”

“What exactly happened to you when they took you away from me?” Quinn asked quietly.

Cade regarded him thoughtfully and sat back on the bed, his head against the wall, jeaned legs stretched out in front of him. “I don’t remember anyone putting me in the water. The last vision I have is of your face leaning over me, just after I was stabbed. You looked so anguished and I don’t want to remember that bit. The next thing I knew, I woke up in some room somewhere, a very cool, tranquil room, like one of those places you’d go when you go on a spa day? There was a woman there, a very tall woman. Her name was Nydra and she was a Sprite of the Pond on the Heath. She said I’d been ill for a while and explained what had happened but that I was better now and she had a lot to tell me. And they did far more than that, Quinn.”

Cade stood up and in one swift movement, he removed his shirt. He lifted his arms and turned around for Quinn to see. Quinn gazed at Cade in wonder, not just because he was seeing him half naked after a period of abstinence, but because the livid scar on his back from Andrew’s savage cutting and the other one on the chest that Quinn healed—even the final cut delivered by Rowan—was gone. Cade’s body was pristine, as if nothing had ever happened. Quinn moved swiftly out of bed, dressed in his pyjama bottoms and examined Cade with an air of disbelief. He was pleased to see Cade’s nipple ring sill remained.

“All the scars have disappeared! That’s incredible.” He ran his fingers down where the scars had been, and Cade shivered at his touch. Quinn felt an intense surge of desire himself and took a deep breath.

Cade smiled. “They healed me. They told me I was just like them and they wanted to show me who I was.” His voice sounded far away as Quinn sat down on the bed and drew Cade down next to him as he continued his story.

“Nydra showed me around what they call the Presusa, which is the place they all live. I still don’t really know where it was, if it was under the water, in some parallel universe or what. I asked and she laughed and said it didn’t matter. It was wherever there were Sprites. I told her I wanted to come home. I knew you’d be out of your mind with worry but she wouldn’t let me. She said I had to learn first about myself before I came back to you.”

Cade looked guilty. “I tried to sneak out one time to see if I could find my way home but I ended up going around in circles, the same place over and over again, and finally I gave up.”

Quinn stroked his cheek gently. “That doesn’t sound like my Cade.”

Cade chuckled. “You try having a Groundhog Day and see how far you get. It was the most frustrating thing I’ve ever been through. So I had to learn some patience and Nydra taught me a lot about my great-great ancestors, Hester included. She told me the memories of my Sprite line died out after my mother died. Mum had been the one holding it all together, keeping the family heritage going. When she went, the others apparently just drifted and after a while, they forgot who they were. Some of them, Nydra hasn’t been able to trace. She says the desire to be a Sprite needs to be there for them to connect.”