Phantom of the Wind (13 page)

It never failed to amaze Kendall how he could redistribute molecules in such a way neither he nor his clothing could be seen by others when he went into
Scaan
mode. She had always been in awe of that talent. Nevertheless, she frowned at him.

“Well now,” Kendall said. “It looks like your knee is all healed.”

His slow, infuriating grin made her want to heave herself at him and slap his handsome face. The dark blue of his eyes glittered. “Miracles do happen,” he agreed.

She nudged her chin toward the Vid-Com. “I’ve turned it off and have the quarters under blackout. Nothing we say will go any further than this room.”

Quinn nodded. “I know.”

“Then tell me what’s going on or by the gods, I’ll call Jaborn and have them come get you.”

“No you won’t,” he said softly. He held her stare.

Kendall let out an exasperated breath of air. “Are you that sure of me, Quinn?”

“I hurt you,” he admitted. “And for that I am sorry.”

“You tore the heart out of me,” she said, her gaze filling with moisture.

Munchkin jumped down and padded quietly from the room.

He didn’t say anything for a long while. His fingers were twined together in his lap, his gaze steady on her angry face. At last he looked down at his hands. “You asked why I was sending you away that day. Why I was pushing you out of my life.”

“Oh I know why,” she said.

He shook his head. “No, you don’t.” His voice was soft and filled with sorrow. He looked up. “You have no idea how hard it was for me to say those things to you, to deliberately hurt you the way I did. I…” He had to swallow before he could continue. “I still see your face in my dreams. I see the tears falling down your cheeks. I hear you sobbing and the last thing I hear is the slamming of the door when you left.”

“But you didn’t come after me,” she accused.

“I couldn’t.”

She moved away from the door to sit on the sofa. There were only a few feet separating them, but to her it felt like miles. She ached to go to him, to cast aside her pride, her self-respect, her self-worth. All she wanted was to feel his arms around her, the steady beat of his heart beneath her cheek.

“Why, Quinn?” she asked.

“I was away for those six months,
Lhiannan
. I spent those six months and four others on Hell-Twelve,” he told her.

Kendall put a hand to her breast. “You were in prison?”

“I knew where I was being sent that day at the cottage. I wasn’t about to tell you because I didn’t want you to worry about me. I knew there wasn’t any way I could protect you with me in prison, and if I didn’t make it out of there, I didn’t want you grieving for me.”

“Grieving for you?” she asked, her voice incredulous. “I spent two years grieving over what you’d said to me! I spent the first year trying to understand what it was that I’d done to make you turn away from me.”

“You hadn’t done anything,” he said.

“But you made me think I had!” she threw at him. “You made me believe I was being cast aside for a newer model!”

“I had a job to do,
Lhiannan
,” he said. “If I didn’t survive the assignment, at least you wouldn’t have been sitting somewhere waiting for me to come back to you. They told me to break it off with you and when—”

“Who told you?” she shouted. Her eyes were flashing fire.

“The Burgon, my king and Gabriel Leveche.”

“Oh!” she said, flinging out a dismissive hand. “Three powerful men all got together to tell you to break up with me. How convenient for you, Phantom!”

“Will you just listen to me?” he asked, holding out a hand to her, palm up. “I’m trying to explain why I did what I did. I didn’t have a choice, Kendall.”

Kendall thought about Quinn’s dream that Munchkin had related to her concerning three men.
“Your mate did not want to do something the powerful ones wanted him to but he was given no choice in the matter.”

“All right,” she said. “Let’s just say I believe you. Three very important men wanted me out of your life—”

“Temporarily,” he stated emphatically. “It was only to be until the assignment had been completed.”

“And has the assignment been completed, Quinn?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Not yet, but I’m close.”

“To what?” she questioned. “Being hanged, drawn and quartered in the High Council Courtyard?”

“That’s not going to happen,” he said. “I’m not going to allow it to happen. The Burgon won’t let it happen.”

“So you’re working with the Amazeen,” she said. “You’re not her prisoner.”

“No, I’m not.”

“But you are her lover,” she accused.

Quinn winced. “I was drunk and it was just the one time, Kendall. I wasn’t aware of what was going on until I woke up in her bed the next morning. The Amazeen have something they call
θερινό κρασί
. They give it to their captured males. It’s supposed to control them, to keep them docile and make them horny as hell.” He plowed a hand through his dark hair. “I told her if she ever did that again, I’d strangle her.”

“So since you threatened her, she sicced the ‘bots on you.”

His forehead creased. “What?” When he realized what she meant, he shook his head. “No, Kendall, no. She had nothing to do with what happened.”

“Then who did?”

“Will you just let me tell you without the third degree?” he asked.

Kendall draped an arm over the back of the sofa. “So tell me.”

He got up from the chair and began pacing. There wasn’t the slightest sign of a limp as he walked. “You know who my father is.”

“King Kelton of Cengus,” she supplied.

“I’m the oldest of his illegitimate sons,” he reminded her. “There are nine younger than me, no sisters, by the way. As for his legitimate children, he has four sons and two daughters. The oldest son is Aleyn.”

“A randy man is King Kelton,” she remarked.

He cast her a look then continued to pace. “When the Coalition invaded Cengus, they rounded up all of the royal bastards except me and shipped them off to Amerigen. It’s a minimum-security prison but it’s well-guarded. No one gets in or out without Coalition knowledge.”

“Where were you?”

“I was making good use of my cover as a privateer by raiding Coalition merchant ships, so when Cengus was overrun by Coalition troops, I was near Stori.”

“What do you mean your cover?” she asked. “That was what you were assigned to do, wasn’t it? Raid merchant ships?”

“Among other things,” he said. “I did whatever the Burgon told me to.”

When he was excited or tired, his brogue thickened. He had stalked into the galley and was pouring himself a glass of water.

“So your brothers were jailed on Amerigen,” she coaxed. “Royal sons too?”

“No,” he said. “Three of the princes were too young to be of any threat to the Coalition and the girls were easily intimidated by the threat of being sent off to Galrath.” He downed the glass of water and poured another. “That left Aleyn and the Coalition had plans for him.”

“He is the crown prince?”

“Aye.”

“Go on.”

He was back to pacing. “To ensure my father did what the Coalition wanted him to and caused no trouble, the invaders took Aleyn into custody as a hostage. No one knew where they sent him, but we received word he was on Hell-Twelve.”

“And that’s why you were there,” she said.

He nodded. “But when I got there, he’d been moved. I learned he was on one of the penal transports.” He raked his hand through his hair again. “It was a hell of a lot easier getting into Hell-Twelve than getting out. It took longer than anyone could have imagined. By the time I escaped, Aleyn had been moved several more times.”

“The Coalition knew you were after him?”

“They knew someone was after him. It was imperative we get him back. As it was, the Burgon was concerned Aleyn would have been indoctrinated, his mind bent toward the Coalition. That may have happened for all we know.”

“Where does the Amazeen come in in all this?” she asked.

“Shanee is the daughter of the Amazeen defense queen. She volunteered to help the Alliance for the Amazeen have little love for the Coalition.”

“Yet she’s a Riezell Guardian,” Kendall said. “How did that happen?”

“I don’t even want to know how she accomplished that, but however she managed to do it, she has the respect of General Morrison and his new head of Fleet Command Louis Sturgeon. She rose up quickly through the ranks and is vying for Prime along with two other women.”

“And if she were to bring you in, she’d get that promotion hands down, wouldn’t she?” Kendall ground out.

“She wouldn’t do that,” he said.

“Why not?”

He stopped moving and met her gaze. “Because she is in love with me.”

“Oh,” Kendall snorted.

He waited for her to say something else and when she didn’t, he finished off the glass of water in his hand and put the glass on the end table. “We learned Aleyn was on the
Borstal
and that it was docked on Cengus taking on supplies. It was decided that I would suddenly show up in the Highlands of my home world and Shanee would capture me, take me to the
Borstal
.”

“Whose bright idea was that?”

“Mine,” he said, not seeing her roll her eyes. “Anyway, I had the
Lhong Shee
drop me near Grian Lostee. Paton contacted Shanee…”

“You told me you didn’t know where you were,” she reminded him.

“I lied,” he admitted.

“You?” she asked.

He waved a dismissive hand at her sarcastic tone. “Shanee flew over, dropped the two ‘bots for them to capture me. Everything was going according to plans until Primä One tripped.”

Kendall’s brows drew together. “What do you mean?”

“It was behind me,” he said. “Shanee was getting my capture on Vid so it would look as though I really was being run to ground. I was sliding down a rocky incline with the ‘bots behind me. Primä One is normally sure-footed but it must have hit a loose patch of scree for the next thing I know it’s plowing into me and we’re falling, rolling and skidding down the incline, its chassis slamming into me with every roll. I tried to stop the skid and pulverized my palms in the process, taking the damned skin off them. I could feel the shale digging into my thighs and belly. I heard several of my fingers break as I struggled to get a grip on a boulder or something to impede the slide and felt every fingernail that popped back.”

“Oh, Quinn,” she said, her eyes wide.

“When we landed, I was on my back and Primä One was stretched out atop me. I knew I had broken bones. My jaw was slung to one side and my entire insides felt like they had been squished. It sensed my pain and scrambled to its feet. The only problem was, its knees were on my knees, and when it pushed itself up, he pulverized my knees.” He sat down in the chair. “The last thing I remember doing is screaming. When I came to, I was here.”

“You were brought over to the
Sláinte
from the
Borstal
so at some point she had to have transferred you to the penal transport,” Kendall said.

He nodded. “Aye, she did. When she brought me and the ‘bots up onto her ship, she knew I was going to need immediate medical care. She contacted the
Borstal
and the
Borstal
contacted you.”

“After the Coalition announced your capture,” Kendall snapped.

“I don’t know. Shanee kept slipping me pain meds every time I opened my eyes.”

“You’re lucky we were close. Another Coalition ship could have picked you up and taken you the gods only know where,” she said. “At least the
Lhong Shee
is off our starboard side.”

He stared at her. “How do you know that?”

“I told her,” Munchkin said as she ambled through the room and went into the galley for a lap of water.

“You saw the ship?” he asked.

“I saw it in your mind,” the Elfinish replied. She looked back over her shoulder at him. “I saw a lot of things in your mind, Phantom.”

Quinn blushed. “And told Kendall all of it, didn’t you?”

“Not all of it,” Munchkin replied. “Now get on with your tale. This is fascinating.”

“So the crown prince is on the
Borstal
?” Kendall inquired.

“Shanee found him while you had me stuck in that torture chamber,” he grumbled.

Kendall rolled her eyes. “The TAOS isn’t a torture chamber and be thankful we had it or else you might still be crippled.”

“I didn’t appreciate being confined like that,
Lhiannan
, and to me, it was nothing but sheer torture.”

“Ergo,” Munchkin said, “to him it was a torture chamber.”

Quinn exchanged a grin with the Elfinish. “Thank you, Worldly One,” he said.

“You’re in contact with the walking mop through the ‘bots,” Kendall said, drawing his attention back to her. “That makes sense.”

“Walking mop?” Quinn queried.

“The Amazeen,” the feline told Quinn then looked at Kendall. “And it also explains why the ‘bot apologized to him, Kenni.”