Impulse (13 page)

But my sleep was chaotic and filled not only with torturous images of Marko and Lauren kissing, but also of Robbie trying to find his way to me, stumbling through the streets, eyes wide and frightened as he called my name. But worst of all was Sylvia, looking at me through the glass walls of the Colosseum tank, her lush red lips in a sneer, as a shark thrashed its way towards me, razor teeth bared and ready to sink into my flesh.

I woke up with a start, sweat beading down my forehead. The new bedside clock Jilly had left me told me it was just after midnight, the witching hour. After the frightening dream and waking in the cool, dim room, and feeling the full weight of the Pacific Ocean above me, I wanted my sister.

I slipped out of my room in my nightgown. Jonathan blinked at me with sleepy eyes from his post. The castle air
at night was cooler, so I walked briskly down the corridors to Lauren's room. I tapped on the door twice and, after she didn't answer, opened the door.

A cold chill washed over me when I found her bed, and the room, empty. Where on earth could my sister be at this time of night?

I needed to tell Marko. We had to find her. Or…perhaps she was still in Marko's room?

After racing back to my room, and pacing in front of the adjoining door for about five minutes, I finally mustered up the courage to open it.

Marko was alone, sprawled out on his side, a pillow clutched to his bare chest. But where was Lauren? Her not being here actually made me feel worse than if I had found her here. The fact that she was somewhere, in this castle, without Marko or me watching over her, sent cold fear trickling down my spine. I had to find her.

As I backtracked through the door, deciding not to wake Marko, he stirred and whispered my name.

‘Sorry,' I whispered. ‘I'm looking for Lauren.'

He scratched his head and sighed. ‘She left not long after you did. She was curious about the city and, since you had fallen asleep, asked if one of my guards could take her on a tour.'

‘A guard you'd trust with your life?'

‘Yes. His name is Jordon.'

I sighed, glad my sister was with somebody I knew and felt I could trust.

‘Come here.' Marko sat up and drew the bedcovers around his waist and patted the place beside him on the bed. ‘I can't sleep. I've been thinking about you.'

After a few seconds' hesitation, I sat on the bed. It creaked and groaned beneath me.

My pulse quickened. I was in bed with Marko, with only a flimsy nighty and…I stared at Marko's bare chest…nothing much else, between us.

‘I haven't been able to sleep much, either.'

Marko swallowed thickly.

‘Are you happy to have returned to Marin, Miranda?'

I chewed on my bottom lip and twisted a handful of satiny black sheet into a ball.

‘I am happy. But I still think something's wrong here. I saw Anne this morning. She looks terrible, all skinny and sickly and pale.'

‘Everybody is pale, here,' he said, his blue eyes soft and dilated in the dimness of the room.

‘But have you seen her lately? I mean, really looked at her?'

He leaned against the bedhead and sighed. ‘Not for a couple of weeks. But when I last saw her, I asked how she was faring in the dungeons and she smiled and said she was happy; the happiest she's ever been. She even went as far as to say she didn't want to be moved. She wanted to work with the prisoners.'

I shook my head and gathered up another fistful of Marko's sheets.

‘But something's not right. She used to be a little bit shy, but now she's like a frightened animal. And she's not happy—not in the true sense.' I met Marko's eyes. ‘I can tell.'

He stared at me for a long moment.

‘If it would make you happy, I can make some enquiries. But I can't force her away from the dungeons. I'm not that sort of king, Miranda. She has her free will.' When he said ‘free will' he gave me a pointed look.

‘Thanks,' I said, before sliding off the bed and heading for the door. ‘And please let me know what you find out.'

‘I will,' he said, before he added, in a gravelly voice, ‘wait. Don't leave yet. I need to ask you something.'

My fingers trembled as they gripped the doorknob. For some reason, I couldn't turn around and face him. I knew what he was going to ask me and suddenly I wasn't ready to answer it.

‘Did you return to Marin for any other reason besides making sure we're all safe from my brother's evil clutches? Any other reason at all, Miranda? I need to know.'

‘There is one other reason,' I whispered. ‘And it's the most important one.'

I could hear Marko's laboured breathing behind me, and it sent my heart banging against my ribcage.

You,
I wanted to say, but instead I scurried from the room and shut the door behind me, like some frightened little mouse.

W
HEN
I
ENTERED
Lauren's room around lunchtime the following day, she was sitting up in bed, clutching a bucket and looking green.

‘What happened? Are you okay?'

She grinned, but it quickly turned into a grimace. ‘Remind me to stay away from the wine here.'

I shook my head. She was unbelievable.

‘Don't expect me to be your babysitter while you're here. I've got a ton of other things to worry about.'

She rested the bucket on the ground and sank beneath the covers. ‘You act like I'm only here for a short stay.'

I paced the room, filled with an anxious energy I hadn't been able to shake off since I'd left Marko's room last night.

‘What, so you plan on staying here forever?' I asked. ‘Surely you'll miss your friends and your job.'

She sighed and twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

‘I don't know. It is fun here, that's for sure, and there are loads of cute guys,' she paused and sighed again, ‘but the most interesting one is hooked on you.'

I rolled my eyes at her, but secretly loved what she'd just said.

‘So, I don't know. I'll have to see what happens, maybe after a few more months.' Resting her head against her pillow and stretching her arms out wide, she added, ‘You're right in saying that you leave your problems behind down here. It feels great to wake up and not have to worry about anything.'

I stopped pacing and took a good look at Lauren. She looked anything but relaxed. There were dark circles under her eyes—possibly a result of the hangover. And she looked seriously off-colour now, when last night she'd looked radiant. Normally Lauren looked good, even after a huge bender of a weekend. Maybe the lack of sunlight was getting to her complexion.

‘What about you?' she asked. ‘Are you going to stay forever?'

Her mattress creaked beneath me as I sat down and wrapped an arm around the wooden bedpost, the intricate carvings of mermaids and mermen digging into my skin.

‘I'm not really sure.' The mixed messages Marko had been sending had me confused.

‘Do you think you'll marry Marko?' Lauren suddenly blurted.

‘I didn't come back to get married. And anyway, last year's engagement was all fake.' A stupid blush crept up my neck and into my cheeks.

‘Oh, I'm sure there'll be a real engagement soon. Marko's spent nearly every day visiting me to quiz me on you.'

‘What kind of questions?'

‘Question questions; you know, your favourite food, who your friends are, what you like and dislike…' her voice trailed off. ‘Don't worry, he didn't ask me about your cycle or anything like that. I think with Damir locked away you don't have to worry about Marko wanting to have sex with you anymore,' she grinned wickedly, ‘other than for pleasure, that is.'

A smile tickled the corners of my mouth, but then I remembered something else she'd said.

‘He's been in your room every day since we arrived?'

She stared at me for a few seconds, her eyes travelling down to my hands, which I'd balled into fists, before nodding. ‘Just to check if I was healthy. He had this doctor come in and look me over.'

‘Robbie?'

‘Duh. No. Some ugly lady.' She grinned wickedly. ‘By the way, I really want to meet Robbie today.'

Within seconds she was out of bed and fishing for clothes in her wardrobe. Lauren was long, lithe, lettuce-eating-model thin, but somehow the top she put on made her boobs look like they were spilling out.

I shook my head. Trust Lauren to plan a seduction on Robbie. The joke was on her, though: unless he reached out and felt her cleavage, he wouldn't know it existed.

‘Okay. Let's go.' I sighed, resigning myself to the fact that even my visits with Robbie were no longer private. I'd have to share him with Lauren, too. I guessed that I'd have to get used to it.

Lauren groaned and clutched at her stomach.

‘Bloody wine,' she said, eyeing me warily and, weirdly, blushing. ‘I think I'll have to lay off the booze for a while.'

‘Yeah, right,' I said, rolling my eyes. We left the room and started down the long, stony corridor. I had to admit it was kind of nice having my sister with me when I ventured out into the city. We could plan picnics out in the countryside and trawl the markets together. And it would be nice to have somebody back me up on the whole ‘Sylvia is evil' argument.

‘Have you met Sylvia yet?'

‘Yeah, a few times, actually.'

I nodded and tried to show no reaction.

‘And what do you think?' Lauren knew all about my time here last year—I'd told her everything. And she knew I was worried about what Sylvia could do to Marko.

Lauren chewed on her bottom lip before answering. ‘Don't hate me, but…' She had a half-fearful, half-excited expression on her face before she smiled.

‘But, what?'

‘I kind of like her.' Lauren squeezed my hand with her cold one. ‘She's actually alright. And
gorgeous.
If I was a lesbian I'd so be into her.'

We stopped, in the middle of the corridor, me leaning against the wall, trying to control my shock, and Lauren, staring at me quizzically, like I'd grown an extra nose.

‘What's the matter?'

‘Are you serious? Sylvia is
the
Sylvia I've told you about.' I felt like tearing chunks of hair out of my head and clawing off my own face to emphasise the point.

Lauren snorted. ‘Don't be stupid. She can't be that bad. I've had dinner in her room twice.'

After making sure the trailing guard was a decent distance behind us still, I stepped closer to Lauren. ‘Don't go there again, promise me,' I whispered. ‘She's dangerous.
God,
I can't believe you went there, alone, even after all the stuff I told you.'

Lauren stepped forward and thrust her face in mine. ‘Hey, don't get all preachy on me; it was your precious Marko who told me how wonderful Sylvia was. So if you have a problem with my hanging out with her, you should take it up with your future husband.'

‘He's not my future husband,' I said, walking again.

‘Well,
he
thinks he is. Gosh that guy has it bad for you.'

My stomach somersaulted and my legs went all wobbly.

‘Did he…did he actually say it?'

‘Pretty much.' Lauren laughed and rubbed her hands together. ‘Righto, so Robbie's fair game then?'

‘Robbie is not
game,
okay? He's a human being.'

We both greeted the guards at the main doors, but they looked straight over my head and grinned at Lauren, who high-fived them.

‘Everyone here is so cool,' she said, gushing, as we descended the castle steps.

‘Yep. The coolest,' I said, deadpan, but she was too busy smiling at a passing male guard to hear me.

We travelled to Robbie's in silence, finding him outside one of the glass greenhouses washing his hands in a bucket of water. Just before we approached him, I spoke up to warn Lauren that he wouldn't be able to see us properly.

‘What? He's blind? You never said that,' she said out loud.

‘Shut up.' I slapped her arm, lightly. ‘He's half blind. It happened after I left. I only found out a couple of days ago.'

‘Miranda?' Robbie called out, staring in my direction.

‘Oh my God, he is beautiful!' Lauren dug her fingernails into my arm and made a squealing sound. I shrugged her off.

‘Hi, Robbie.'

‘I was hoping you'd come today,' he said, before drying his hands on a blue towel and reaching out for me. I took his hand in mine.

‘Robbie, I've brought somebody to meet you.'

He moved his head slightly to the left of me.

‘Here.' I dragged Lauren forward and stuck out her hand and placed it on Robbie's. ‘Meet my sister, Lauren.'

Robbie's brown eyes widened when he shook Lauren's hand. ‘Lauren?'

‘Yes!' Lauren gushed, ‘So great to finally meet you. Miranda went on and on about you for, like, a year.'

I elbowed her in the ribs.

‘Ouch, Randy.'

Robbie smiled and a light blush crept into his cheeks. Lauren, her hand still gripping Robbie's, fanned herself and mimed the word ‘hot' at me.

After tugging his hand free, Robbie picked up his bucket of tools.

‘So, what can I do for you both?'

Lauren reached out and linked her arm through Robbie's. ‘Show me around, please. I just love gardening.'

It wasn't a lie. She hated housework; but if there was one domestic thing Lauren enjoyed doing it was gardening. She and Pop shared a vegetable patch at home. Perhaps meeting Robbie would be good for her. Hopefully some of his calmness would rub off on her and she might not party so hard at night, which she seemed to have dived right back into here in Marin.

My guard watched Lauren and Robbie from the doorway of the largest greenhouse. They were giggling because a butterfly, looking suspiciously like George, kept flying at her face as if it was attacking her.