Triple Infinity (14 page)

“Still clinging to decency, are you
?” With an audible scoff Genevieve looked back down at Skye, still struggling desperately against her grip. Genevieve smiled, wicked, while she talked to Aiden and Triaten. “I know you much prefer to hide behind your shroud of virtue. Death is fine by me. My only regret is that I won’t get to see how your decency protects you when there’s a new world order.”

“The
re’s no new world order, Genevieve. And there’s not going to be. Now. Let. Skye. Up.” Triaten demanded.

Genevieve
laughed. “You don’t even know what you’ve just started, do you?” And with a heave, she brought the dagger down at Skye’s heart.

The sword that
pillared through Genevieve’s body knocked the dagger off its target, and then stopped, the bloody tip of the steel frozen an inch from Skye’s chin.

Genevieve’s torso slumped.
Aiden lifted her impaled body up off Skye, and then kicked the Malefic off his blade, sending her over the cliff’s edge.

He looked down at Skye,
his voice flat. “That could have gone better.”

~~~

Skye stood outside on the balcony in the early evening heat. The sun was shining its last glimmers of the day across the swath of turquoise water. A gentle breeze ruffled the white folds of her tropical skirt. Aiden watched his wife from inside the villa, rented on the opposite side of the island from the earlier melee.

He leaned against the bar next to the kitchen, taking a long swallow of his beer. Triaten showed up, showered, and went behind the bar, pu
lling out a short glass and a bottle of brandy.

“She still want
s to be alone?” Triaten asked, motioning to Skye with a forefinger as he poured the amber liquid into the glass.

Aiden nodded. “She’s
barely said a word.”

“And how many have you said?”

Aiden glared at his friend. Triaten ignored it and walked around to the front of the bar, and lounged on a tall bar stool next to Aiden, elbow propped casually on the gleaming wood top as he looked at Skye.

“The
y’re alike, Skye and her sister, in that way.” Triaten pondered.

“T
hey are?”

“They both like to be alone to process things.”

Aiden took the opportunity out of Skye’s range of hearing. “So you and Shiv. Sleeping with her is one thing. But did that really go where Skye is worried about?”

Triaten
shrugged.

“How deep in are you?”

“Deep enough. Deeper than I intended.” Triaten’s finger played on his glass. “Deeper than she intended, quite frankly.”

“I’m not sure about her,” Aiden fished.

“You wouldn’t be sure about anyone who dared make Skye frown.”

Aiden tilted his head in
acquiescence. “I give you that.” 

“Shiv is okay. She’s
surprisingly normal and down-to-earth for how they grew up,” Triaten said. “And whatever is going on between the two of them, I’m guessing it’s just something they have to work through. They don’t work like us, you know. You hit me. I hit you. All is well. The females — no, they’re going to have to talk it out, and it may be a while before Shiv trusts Skye enough to reconcile.”

Aiden looked out at Skye, forehead creased. He didn’t really care for Triaten’s assessment. He’d much rather have Skye’s mind on training, than on a sister who may or may not eventually come around to forgiving Skye.

Triaten followed Aiden’s eyes back out to Skye. She hadn’t moved an inch.

“She really kind of sucked
today, didn’t she?” Triaten spoke what both were thinking.

Aiden sent him a sharp look. A sharp look that
didn’t lose its edge, even when his eyes went back out to Skye.

Triaten and Aiden had both made it through the battle unscathed.
A mere minor annoyance to them. Skye, on the other hand, was shaken. She had been stubbornly silent as they made their way by motorcycle across the island to the rented villa.

Skye had showered for a
ridiculous amount of time, and then Aiden had cleaned and dressed the deep cut in Skye’s thigh — no handy Charlotte around meant it would just have to heal on its own, and hurt a bit along the way.

After getting dressed and going out to the west-facing balcony, Skye had barely twitched a toe.

“I’m sure she thinks she failed you. You’ve been training for months and that was the result? You didn’t exactly hide your disappointment from her after you killed Genevieve.”

“So I should have been celebrating she was almost killed?” Aiden asked dryly.

“You should have been celebrating she wasn’t.” Triaten lifted his glass to his lips, and then paused. “Maybe she’s just not a warrior. Maybe shifting time is her power, and that’s it. We’re not all built to kill like you and I.”

Aiden stared
at the wall behind the bar, a stacked stone wall with an artful water trickle flowing over the rock. “No, she is built like us. She has the skill. I’ve seen it. I don’t know what happened to it today.”

“Well
, you better find out. Do you think it has anything to do with being half Malefic?”

The words were out of Triaten’s mouth before he could stop them. They both knew Aiden bristled at any mention of Skye’s
Malefic lineage.

Aiden shook his head, a scowl deepening the crinkle in his brow. “It’s because of the Malefic in her that I know she’s good at fighting. It’s natural in her body
— her limbs, her muscles — they want to move like a warrior’s.”

“Then it’s her mind?”

Aiden shrugged.

Triaten stood up and clasped his hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “Regardless, my friend, you
could do no better than to glower at her? She’s trying, but she’s not good yet. Adequate, maybe. But she’s only a mosquito against a Malefic like Genevieve who’s been a destructive force for eons.”

“Your point?”

“You figure it out.”

Triaten walked past Aiden, sliding the glass door open that led to the balcony.

Elbows leaning against the curved stone railing, Skye looked over her shoulder at Triaten as he joined her.

“I
s it time to leave?” Skye asked. The frown that had been etched on her face since Genevieve’s villa still resonated.

Triaten leaned
forward next to Skye, his forearms resting on the railing, both hands curved around the drink he had brought out with him. The orb of the sun had disappeared behind the waters, but the wispy clouds in the sky held the light, reflecting the orange to pinks, and streaking them against the sky.

“
It’s time for me to leave. You love, have some talking to do with Aiden. So you and Aiden are staying here, at least for the night. Come back tomorrow, or the next day.”

“Does he know that?”

“He will when I go back in and let him know.”

S
kye slid her hand in-between Triaten’s and grabbed the drink from his hands. With a quick tilt of her head, she threw back half the glass, her face contorting at the singeing trail down her throat.

A couple quick tongue smacks
, and she handed the glass back to Triaten. “Blah. I don’t know how you drink that.”

“A little fire
never hurt anyone.”

Skye’s eyes went out to the water. “What about Shiv? I want to get back to her.” Her hands grip
ped the rail and she leaned away, looking down at her bare toes. “That’s a lie. I don’t. I don’t know what to say to her, Triaten.”

After a moment of contemplation, she looked
at him. “I don’t think I can take another round of her hatred for me. Not quite yet.”

“I think she’ll be fine. She probably needs just as much pondering time as you. And I’ll check in on her.”

“And I’m just to let you loose on her again?” Skye hedged, eyes on the horizon. “Fine. But you’re there as a friend — my friend, not hers, if you get my very explicit drift. And I can be more explicit if you need me to be.”

“I told you I would stay away. I’ll just make sure she’s okay. If not, I’ll call
, and you and Aiden can come back right away.”

Skye took the glass back from Triaten and took the last gulp of the brandy. It went down easier this time.
She shook her head. “Man, I’m a mess. I don’t want to deal with Shiv. I don’t want to deal with Aiden. I’m failing everyone.”

The side of her mouth suddenly
rose in question at Triaten. “Was I really as bad as I thought I was today?” The smallest glimmer of hope flickered in the question, even though she knew the answer.

Triaten put a hand softly on her shoulder.
“No one expects you to fight like you were born with a sword in your hand, Skye.”

“Aiden expects it.”

“Yes, well, Aiden
was
born with a sword in his hand.”

“He’s just so disappointed in me. His face after he killed Genevieve. God...” She
tilted her chin up to the darkening sky, eyes closed, slowly shaking her head. “The way he looked at me. And he had every right. I was a complete failure and I’m disgusted with myself.”

Triaten’s hand
moved from her shoulder, to cover her fingers on the railing. “Can I offer some perspective?”

Skye opened her eyes and looked at him expectantly. “Please.”

“Today was a minor event. Don’t flog yourself over it, and don’t make the mistake of letting one moment define who you are, or who you will be in the future.”

“Mind sharing that with Aiden? I feel like I just crushed any hope he had in me.”

“Aiden already knows it.” Triaten stood straight and threw an arm around Skye’s shoulder, squeezing her as he pecked her cheek. “Don’t worry about your sister tonight, I’ve got it covered. You stay and get you and Aiden back to good.”

She gave him a quick hug around his waist. “Thanks.”

Triaten left the balcony, and after a quick conversation with Aiden, disappeared out the door. It still took a few minutes before Aiden made his way out to join Skye. Her heart plummeting, she agonized as every second slipped by — was he so disgusted he couldn’t even talk to her yet?

Half bent over, forearms resting on the railing, Skye watched as the bright streaks of color across the sky faded to deep purples,
and then the blackness quickly overtook them.

“How
is your thigh?”

Skye jumped. She hadn’t heard him walk up behind her. She look
ed over her shoulder. Aiden leaned on the frame of the sliding glass door, his large form filling the opening. She wondered how long he had been standing there.

Her head turned back to the cove in front of them. “It’s fine. Healing already.”

Aiden didn’t move to join her. “What happened today, Skye? I know you’re better than what you did this afternoon.”

Even though she knew it was what he was going to ask, the words still stung. She couldn’t stop her head from burying into her forearms.
And she couldn’t answer him. She didn’t have an answer.

The large hands on her shoulders
surprised her. Maybe Aiden wasn’t as disgusted with her as she thought. His touch slipped along her back, always gentle, always strong.

“Let me try
that again,” his voice moved softer as he talked to the back of her head. “You are the most important thing in the world to me, Skye. And I will not lose you due to my own stupidity or yours. Coming down here was my stupidity — and I’m furious at myself. What happened today...we never would have come if I had even an inkling that it would have turned out like it did. I thought you were ready, and I was wrong. Really wrong.”

With a shuddered breath of the salty sea air, Skye managed to pull her head out of her arms
. She craned her neck to look at him over her shoulder. “Really? That was your try-again?”

“I can’t afford to sugar-coat it, Skye. We don’t have time to fool ourselves about your abilities. I can’t make mistakes about what situations you are in.” His hands went to her arms and
he lifted them off the railing, forcibly pulling her into his body. Skye’s arms were stiff at her sides as Aiden engulfed her.

His chin sat
on top of her head, his voice low into her auburn hair. “Hell, Skye. You don’t know what it does to me to see you with a dagger over your heart. Crushing. Unbearable.”

At that, Skye broke, her body becoming limp in Aiden’s arms. She let him carry her weight.

“Was I really that bad?” she asked, her voice muffled against his chest.

His grip tightened around her. “
You weren’t good. Granted, Genevieve had clearly been around swords for ages, but the mistakes you made, the positions you put your body into — they were basic mistakes. Things you mastered months ago.”

He pulled back from her body, looking down at her. When she didn’t look up at him, he put his hand under her chin and tilted her face up. “What was going on in your mind, Skye?”