Devil's Gate (Elder Races #4.6)(10)

She clenched without moving, and she knew all of her snakes were awake and coiled with readiness too. The plane’s engine ran strong and smoothly, and all seemed normal. What was it that had woken her?

Then she heard it again, Duncan speaking in a voice so cold and sharp it speared through the silence in the cabin like a stiletto. “…the fact remains, Julian, Carling’s house is on an island in an Other land. Further, you can only access the passageway to the island from the ocean. Do you think she chose any of this by accident? It is not in the Nightkind demesne, so it does not fall under your legal domain. We have been patient now for a year.”

Wow, he was really angry at this Julian guy. Then realization jangled through her. Duncan wasn’t talking to just any Julian, but to Julian Regillus, the Nightkind King and Carling’s estranged progeny.

Duncan paused, clearly listening to whatever was said on the other end of the line. Then he said icily, “That’s unacceptable. Carling’s magical library is too dangerous. She doesn’t trust anyone else to move it. She needs to move it herself, and you cannot continue to block her access to her own property.” Another pause. “It’s too late for that. She’s done waiting. We’ve already filed a petition with the Elder tribunal. It’s only a matter of time until the tribunal approves it.”

Then another silence that stretched on, until she realized that Duncan wasn’t pausing to listen but that the phone call had ended without goodbyes. Cautiously she peeked around the edge of the couch.

Anger etched the lines of Duncan’s expression, turning him into a hard faced stranger. His dark eyes glittered, shards of black in his pale face. The gentle, urbane man she had become acquainted with and liked so well was nowhere to be seen, and what was left in his place was something entirely dangerous.

Then he caught sight of her peering around the arm of the couch, and the hardness in his expression eased.

She said, “I’m sorry. I overheard some of that.”

He shook his head and sighed, running his hands through his hair until he actually looked rumpled. She frowned. Maybe that shouldn’t seem as adorable to her as it did, especially after what she had just seen in his expression.

“No, it is I who should be apologizing—again—to you,” he said. “I woke you, didn’t I?”

She didn’t bother to deny it but just regarded him steadily. “As soon as I realized who you were talking to, I should have done something to let you know I was awake, like gone to the lavatory.”

Even though he didn’t need to breathe, his humanity had not left him, she saw, as he blew out a breath. “You absolutely should not have done that,” he said. “I didn’t realize I would be transferred to Julian himself, or I never would have called. Then at that point the phone call took a dive straight into the toilet.”

“Well, since the damage is done,” she said, as she sat up. “If you don’t mind me asking, why won’t Julian let Carling have access to the island? Is it because he doesn’t want her to have her library?”

“I don’t think so,” Duncan said. “It’s useless as anything but a retreat. As an Other land, it’s illegal for anyone from Earth to harvest anything from the island for commercial gain, and Carling has filed evidence that an intelligent indigenous winged species lives in the redwoods. And Julian doesn’t give a damn one way or another about Carling’s library. In fact, he insists that Carling send librarian witches to pack it all up and transport it. On the other hand, Carling insists—and she does have the legal right of it—that she have free access to her own house and that she sees to the transportation of the library personally.”

“But he doesn’t want to let her do that,” she said.

“No, he doesn’t,” Duncan said. “Now that he’s made his stance and exiled her, he doesn’t want to allow Carling anywhere near the border of his demesne, especially at the crossover passageway for the island where it would be so easy for her to slip quietly into the Nightkind demesne. He certainly does not want to acknowledge that she has the right to come and go as she pleases.”

She sat up and folded the blanket, and he slid out from the table where his work lay spread and walked over to sit beside her on the couch. Three of her snakes slipped over his shoulder to peer at him.

He smiled and held out his hand to them. They twined around his forearm as she confessed, “I always wondered how you felt about their estrangement.”

“To be brutally fair, I can see both sides,” he said. “Julian made some mistakes and trusted the wrong person, and last year Carling really had been dangerous to be around. I think they could actually get past it all if Julian was willing to submit to Carling’s dominance again. But I also think something inside of him has broken, and he can’t do that again. And I must take Carling’s side in all of this.”

The conversation had slipped squarely into Vampyre territory, and Seremela frowned, unsure about how comfortable she felt with the subject. She looked down at her hands as she said carefully, “The bond between a Vampyre maker and her progeny is something difficult to understand from the outside. I suppose you must take Carling’s side, mustn’t you?”

“Do you mean, did Carling order me to take her side?” Duncan asked. He smiled at her, all vestiges of the hard edged stranger gone. “No, she didn’t. She wouldn’t do that. I must take Carling’s side because I love her, and I agree with her stance more than I agree with Julian’s. But that doesn’t mean I can’t see Julian’s side of things too.”