Hidden Heart (12 page)

We need to talk. Please come to my suite. Ewan will lead you.

Okay, so Groot’s real name is Ewan.
And he was Nox’s lackey, not Amalia’s.
I padded silently after him down the wide, airy hallway, conscious of every closed door we passed. Doors that could open at any moment, exposing me and my destination to anyone who might get up for a drink of water or a midnight snack. Or a late night tryst.

They would certainly assume that was what I was up to. And they’d assume
I
was Nox’s midnight snack, since I was being escorted by one of his personal bodyguards. The gleaming polished stone was cool under my bare feet, but the rest of me was growing hotter by the minute. Why would Nox summon me—in the middle of the night—to his suite, the
master
suite, in every possible meaning of the term?

              When we reached the huge double doors at the end of the hall, Ewan stepped to the side and took his position opposite the guard who already stood flanking the other side. Neither of them looked at me—they were probably so used to this routine they didn’t even blink an eye. Another night, another babe. Or more likely, another hour, another babe.              

I raised my hands to push at the doors, but they opened on their own, swinging slowly inward to reveal a glimpse of Nox’s private quarters, a place I’d never seen and had tried not to wonder about.

And out stepped Robin, the kissy-face chick from on stage at the club tonight.

Well.

Nox was taking this
spreading it around
thing very seriously. He even kept up the “ruse” inside his private quarters. When she saw me, Robin’s eyelids flared and she lifted her chin, turning to look toward the opposite wall of the hallway as she passed me.

Okay.
It was like that then. I was actually glad she hadn’t said anything. What—were we going to chat like shift workers clocking in and out?

I stood outside the threshold of Nox’s suite. How was I supposed to go in there after seeing her walk out? I felt like a piece of fresh meat being delivered to the lion while he was still licking his chops from the last meal.

But then
that
wasn’t what I was here for. I was here because I’d been summoned by “the boss” and had to keep up appearances. And Nox had said he wanted to talk to me—about what I wasn’t sure. Maybe about the near-assault he’d rescued me from earlier. Considering that, I did owe him at least a civil conversation.

Besides, why should I care what he’d been doing with his evening while I’d been sharing a woozy bus ride with my fellow podsters and talking to my family on the phone? It wasn’t my business.

I stepped inside. The doors closed behind me with a click that seemed deafening to my hyper-alert ears in the comparative silence of the room. Nox was nowhere in sight. I did see an enormous fireplace set into a stone wall. Inside it, a fire glowed and colored the surrounding area a soft orange. The sofa and chairs clustered around it were all white, like the luxurious sheepskin rug on the floor in front of it. I snickered.
I’ll bet that rug’s seen plenty of action
.

Turning away before I could form any further mental images along those lines, I searched the room. Where the heck was he?

              “Ryann…” The sound of my name was soft as a whisper, drawn out in a lilting melody that pulled my attention to a pair of balcony doors across the room, standing wide open to the night.

The rush of the surf accompanied his call in perfect harmony. “Ryann…”

I moved toward the music of his voice and the balmy night as he continued to sing my name to me—damn him! Nox knew how his voice affected me, and he was using it against me tonight, though he’d promised not to. Again.

              Stepping onto the balcony, I saw him. He stood against the railing looking out, his back to me. I didn’t approach him. I said nothing. He already knew I was there, and he knew why I was there better than I did. He’d tell me when he was ready.

              Nox turned toward me. His face was shadowed, but I still saw the gleam of his otherworldly hazel eyes. I inhaled sharply and audibly before I could stop myself. I could only hope he hadn’t heard it. I hated for him to think the sight of him could affect me like that, even for a moment.

His night-dark hair was haloed by the reflection of the moon on the water behind him. He wore a snug t-shirt and a pair of loose, white, gauzy pants that reached his bare feet. If it had been the first time I’d ever seen him—if I didn’t know for certain he was a Dark Elf—I would have thought he was some kind of Heavenly being visiting our planet to weigh the fates of our eternal souls.

At the moment it seemed more likely he had originated from an opposite sort of place. A place where dark beauty like his was born with the sole purpose of tempting someone to forget there was an afterlife at all, any consequences that anything existed beyond the moment at hand.

              The ocean breeze lifted my thin white nightgown, alternately billowing it about me like a feather-light sail then plastering it against my figure. The light fabric already left too little to the imagination. I didn’t want to think about what it revealed when the warm night wind molded it over my body.

              “I’m here.” I finally spoke to break the loaded silence.

              “Yes you
are
.” Nox’s heavy-lidded gaze drifted over me. I didn’t need a special gift for reading other people’s feelings to interpret that look. Either he
hadn’t
indulged his sexual appetite with Robin… or he
had—
and it was
that
voracious.

Uncomfortable under his keen scrutiny, I looked away from him and folded my arms across my chest. “So… what did you want?”

“I think I wanted to talk to you about something, but now I can’t seem to remember what it was.”

              “Well, okay then, I guess I’ll go back to my room.”

I turned to go, but he crossed the balcony and touched my arm.

              “No. Stay. I do want to talk to you. How are you feeling? I can’t believe you were drugged. I’m so sorry.”

              “Well. It was my own stupid fault, not yours. And I guess I should thank you for what you did.”

              His mouth formed a slight close-lipped smile. “There’s no need to thank me. Protecting you is my job. I only wish I’d done it a little better, gotten there sooner, before that scumbag had a chance to put his hands and his filthy mouth on you.”

              I waved a tired hand through the air. “It’s okay. I barely remember it—apparently one of the
lovely
after-effects of keta poisoning.”

              “Well, I remember it. In detail. That guy won’t be coming back to the Viper Room anytime soon—I’ll tell you that.”

              We stared at each other silently for a moment. Finally I spoke up. “So, is that what you wanted to talk about? Or is there something else? I’ve had a really crappy night, and I’m exhausted.”

              Nox used a finger to tip my head back, giving him a clear view of my face in the light from the bedroom. “You’ve been crying. Are you sure you weren’t injured?”

              I twisted my chin out of his light clasp. “No. I talked to my family tonight.”

              “Oh.” He nodded in understanding. “Homesick?”

              “Yes, but that’s not the main problem.” The main problem was that Lad was moving on for good—not that I could discuss it with Nox. “It’s my mom. She’s—oh never mind—I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.”

              “Because you need a friend right now. And I’m your friend.”

              Was he? In this whole crazy-big city, he
was
the only person I really knew. I did need a friend, but could I really talk to Nox about something as personal as the death of my parents’ marriage? My father being drunk at six a.m.? The end of our family unit once and for all?

Allowing myself to think about it all again was re-starting the waterworks. Nox’s astute glance told me he’d spotted the telltale moisture in my eyes. I turned away from him and walked to the balcony railing, staring out at the ocean and night sky.

              “I think my mom got engaged to her new boyfriend.”

              Nox’s voice behind me was level, full of concern. “That must be strange for you—a big change. I never met him—do you dislike him?”

              “No—I mean I haven’t met him in person yet, either. We’ve talked on the phone. He’s okay I guess. A bit overeager to be my ‘friend,’ but he seems like a pretty good guy. It’s just… well… this is going to sound stupid, but I guess I was holding out a tiny bit of hope my parents would still get back together…”
And here come the tears.
Wonderful.

I swept my fingers under my eyes, trying to remove the evidence of my wimpiness, but the choked sound of my voice gave me away. “… hope that maybe love really
can
last a lifetime. But now that’s just… it’s over.”

Mom and Daddy. Lad and me. Over. I sniffed and wiped my face again, feeling childish and highly exposed.

              Nox didn’t respond at first, but when he finally did, his voice was close behind me, soft and gently comforting. “It can, you know. I’ve seen it.”

              “Seen what?” I sniffled again, swallowing the uncomfortable lump in my throat.

              His hands came to rest lightly on my shoulders. They were large and warm and gentle. “Love. It can last a lifetime—it
does
where I’m from.”

              As good as his touch felt, it wasn’t good to allow it here and now, late at night in his room while I was emotionally torn open. I shrugged off his hands and stepped to the side then turned to face him.

“You mean in Altum, with the Light Elves? I guess so. But you don’t believe in that, do you? You’re a Dark Elf. You guys do things… differently. You don’t bond with one person for life like the Light Elves do.”

              He crooked an amused grin at me. “Why is it you think you know everything about Dark Elves… and about me?”

              I gave him the
oh please
look. “Are you saying Dark Elves have lifetime mates as well?” I shook my head, baffled. “What about all the celebrities hooking up with girls in the fan pods and all the groupies? What about you? If it
was
the same for Dark Elves, you’d have the mark.”

I’d learned from Lad that when a bonded Elven pair is forced to part for good, for instance if one of them died, the one left behind would bear a visible mark of mourning for eternity. It was the reason Grandma Neena’s hair had gone completely white in her mid-twenties when she was widowed.

              “Ryann… are you trying to get me to kiss and tell?” Nox teased.

              My face went hot in spite of the cool night air. “No… I uh… assumed you had… been with a lot of girls. I mean, back in Deep River, and now here…”

              His grin widened and one eyebrow lifted. “Well, we know what happens when we assume, don’t we?”

              I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest again. “So you’re actually trying to tell me you’re not having sex with these girls? With Savannah back in Deep River? With all those groupies? With Robin, whose tonsils you were inspecting with your tongue up on stage tonight, who just walked out of your
bedroom
? I suppose you two just had a nice little fireside chat in here?”

              He lifted one dark eyebrow, the side of his mouth quirking in apparent amusement. “Yes. That’s what I’m telling you.”

              I stared at him, incredulous. “What about the blonde from the other night? She was telling everyone about your
amazing
bed.”

              “Which she saw from across the room. We had some ice cream and played Xbox.” He gestured toward a large TV with a gaming setup inside the room.

              I stood with my hands on my hips, shaking my head. “Suppose I actually
believed
that horse puckey—why exactly would you have beautiful young girls in your house—in your room
alone
and
not
have sex with them?”

              He smiled. “You’re in my room alone with me, and I’m not having sex with you.”

              I dropped my chin and gave him a
get serious
look.

              He released a long sigh. “Because I’m only going to bond with someone once, and I have to choose carefully. Dark Elves and Light Elves are different in some regards, Ryann. But not in that one. I’m not saying these other celebrities, like Vallon Foster, are altar boys, that they’re
all
playing Xbox and watching movies with their fan pod members like I’ve been doing. But I can guarantee they’re not sleeping with the girls. I assume they’re enjoying their fan pods… in a different way.”