Darkest Nyte Read online

  With the accuracy and control Nyte had shown in all his lessons to date, however, she didn’t think she had anything to worry about. Except his frustration if he didn’t do it the first time.

  Which was a very real possibility.

  He now faced the most challenging lesson so far. With every previous one, he’d exceeded expectations, but this was the first one that went beyond straight manipulation of energy. Some wizards found it nearly impossible to give up the anchor of the material world, at first, and actually shift in space. It required a different kind of mind set. A letting go of the rigid rules of physicality. Some students took months, others years, to make the mental leap.

  She strode to the middle of the room, away from both his current position and his destination. "Okay."

  His eyes became dark with the intensity of his concentration and he leaned forward slightly, focusing on the small square of blue carpet across the room. She could feel his energy building, and she leaned forward, too, silently cheering him on.

  His body rippled, then disappeared.

  A shot of excitement raced through her. He had done it!

  She smiled widely, pleased he had not been defeated by the hurdle of disbelief. She glanced across the room toward the blue carpet, expecting to see him smiling back at her in exuberance.

  The beat of her heart stuttered and she gasped.

  Nyte was not there.

  * * * *

  Darkness surrounded Nyte. Cold and hollow. He felt like a comet, flung across the heavens by a cosmic catapult.

  But where was he going?

  And where had he come from?

  When he tried to concentrate, to retrieve any images, his head ached from the absence of memory. Then he started to shake, and it felt like the top of his head opened up and pellets battered his brain. Images of faces, places, events--all striking his brain with a cruel reality.

  And then his heart.

  Cataclysmic emotions--fueled by explosive scenes of betrayal--burned through him in a maelstrom of uncontrolled fury. Like an empty sponge, his brain soaked them up, but he couldn’t make any sense of them.

  It was too much. The darkness blackened, drawing him further into its depths. One image, like a light at the end of a long tunnel, kept him from giving up to the yawning nothingness.

  The face of a woman with sky-blue eyes and hair like glimmering sunshine.

  Chapter 10

  A quivery ripple of panic shuddered through Lucinda. Why had Nyte not reappeared?

  She had to find him. She closed her eyes and pictured his face. Once she held it firmly in her mind, she pushed herself below the surface of his physical being, drawing on the memory of when she’d felt his energy pulsing through her hands. When the image of his essential being, strong and alive, radiated within her, she sent tendrils of energy fluttering through the ether, carrying her awareness through space in a gentle spiral. Seeking Nyte. The image of his essence should carry her straight to him. His personality signature should glow in the blackness like a firefly in the night sky, clear and bright.

  But all she saw was darkness.

  If he existed on the physical plane, she should be able to find him, but not a single spark of his existence triggered in her awareness.

  An icy breath of fear whispered across her skin. Where could he be?

  Logic. She had to set aside her raging emotions and look at this whole situation in a logical manner. She had to be missing something. She paced several times back and forth across the room, her arms clamped around herself.

  Time to examine her assumptions.

  She assumed he’d be on Earth. But her search had not been limited by that assumption. Even if he’d taken a wrong turn at Mars and wound up in the asteroid belt, she would have sensed him.

  She assumed he’d be in physical form. But even if he somehow re-emerged as disembodied energy, she would have felt his presence.

  She assumed he would be in the present time.

  The energy at the pit of her stomach quivered.

  Bingo.

  That assumption felt wrong.

  Could he have drifted in time?

  The morning after she’d found Nyte, Rand had told her Nyte was a powerful wizard from the past, and that he’d been missing for more centuries than she wanted to know. From everything Rand had told her, she knew Nyte must have jumped through time before.

  If he had skittered through time again, how far had he traveled into the future or past? And, more importantly, how would she ever find him?

  She knew if he’d jumped through time, especially if he had suffered another bout of amnesia, thus forgetting the past week with her, there was little chance she would ever find him again.

  She turned her shaking wrist to check the time. He had been missing for only ten minutes and already it felt like a millennium.

  Had she lost him for good? The pain of the thought, and the realization that she might have experienced everything she ever would with Nyte, burned itself to the center of her being like flaming lava.

  A sharp cry of anguish outside jarred her from her misery. At the same time, an overpowering awareness of Nyte’s presence nearly bowled her over.

  Elation propelled her toward the doorway and she flew into the hallway to the back exit, then flung open the door. She raced into the backyard and saw Nyte crouched on the ground, his hands clamped tightly over his face. She stopped a few feet from him. His body, as tense as a compressed spring, trembled uncontrollably.

  Oh, man, this was way too reminiscent of the alleyway in Paris. Had he lost his memory again?

  Had she been a fool to suggest he do anything like teleporting so early in his training? Especially since she didn’t know what had caused his amnesia, or what lingering effects he would suffer. What kind of damage had she caused with her carelessness?

  Gingerly, she stepped toward him, remembering his sudden reaction to her presence in Paris.

  At least, he was dressed this time. For some reason, she sensed that as a good sign.

  "Nyte." She said his name softly, so as not to startle him. He did not respond. She reached out her hand, slowly. "Nyte?"

  Her whole body tensed as she touched him lightly, expecting him to leap to his feet, but he didn’t. She flattened her hand on his shoulder. His body shuddered beneath her fingers. She crouched beside him and placed her other hand on his arm.

  "Are you all right?" she whispered.

  It was a stupid question. Obviously, he wasn’t all right. Constant shivers shook his body. She stroked his hair, reveling in the feel of the silken strands under her fingers.

  "Nyte, it’s me. Lucinda."

  He drew his hands from his face and his dark, troubled gaze locked with hers, drawing her into the depths of some private hell. He grasped her hands and wrapped his fingers tightly around them, as though holding a lifeline.

  "Lucinda?"

  She smiled and squeezed his hands, sending him reassurance.

  "Lucinda!" He rose to his feet, dragging her into his arms as he ascended.

  She felt herself pulled against his firm, muscled body, her head cradled between his hand and his chest. She could hear the quick, steady beat of his heart pounding reassuringly against her ear.

  Thank heavens he was all right.

  His arms encircled her, holding her so tightly it almost hurt. Almost. But somehow she thought she’d never felt anything as sweet as his embrace. This was not like any of the heated, passionate encounters they’d had before. This was oozing tenderness and need.

  For the first time, she actually felt he needed her. And she realized she needed him to need her. Desperately.

  She’d thought she had lost him.

  The thought ricocheted through her head.

  Oh, God, she didn’t want to lose him. Ever. She tightened her arms around him, crushing her body against his. Her nipples hardened and poked forward, longing for his touch. She unlocked her arms from his waist and slid her hands up his chest, reveling in the feel of
that wonderful hardness under her palms, enhanced by the smoothness of his black, silk shirt. When she reached his neck, she continued around to the leather tie holding his ponytail together and released it, then ran her fingers through his silky, black hair. Her breasts ached and heat suffused every part of her body. Desire flared in her like a volcano about to erupt. She pressed her lips to the base of his throat, in the hollow between his collarbones.

  His arms tightened around her and he drew in a shaky breath. She worked her way up the column of his neck to his cheek, intensely aware of the sensuous feel of his coarse, whisker-shadowed skin under her lips and of his strong, muscular body wrapped around her. She drew back, holding his dark, desire-laden gaze with her own, then slid her fingers along his cheeks and covered his mouth with hers. For a moment his full, sensuous lips remained passive under hers. His hands moved to cradle her head as he drew in a deep breath, then his lips started moving in response to her kiss.

  A burning need scorched through her. She needed much more than this and she needed it now. She needed to join with him, to know what it was like to feel him inside her, to be together in that most intimate of ways. The desire filled her, pushing out every other thought.

  "Oh, Nyte," she murmured against his lips, then swirled her tongue inside his mouth. She drew her hands down his chest and eased them inside his shirt, ignoring the buttons popping from the fabric. "I want you. I need you."

  He stiffened and, to her complete surprise, his hands covered hers and he eased her away from him. She glanced up to see his eyes tightly closed. He seemed to be battling some inner demons.

  "What is it, Nyte?"

  His hands still shook, and she wondered if it was an aftereffect of the teleportation-gone-wrong. Or something else. Something to do with her.

  "Lucinda, we can’t."

  The temperature of her blood spiraled to zero.

  "But ... I thought you wanted this?"

  "I do. I mean, I did. But not now."

  He did? As in, he no longer wanted her? Not now? Now that she wanted him?

  Her stomach sank to her ankles and her heart felt like Merlin had used it for a scratching post.

  He raised her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles, lingering so long she wondered if he might change his mind. Then he released her and turned away.

  "I’m going for a walk. Have dinner without me."

  She stared after him. Had she lost him after all?

  * * * *

  Lucinda stroked Merlin distractedly as she munched a tidbit of chicken from her plate. She didn’t really want to eat--her stomach was too queasy from the turmoil of emotions churning through her--but it provided a way to fill the time. And she didn’t want Nyte to return and think she’d been pining after him.

  "I don’t get it, Merlin. All along Nyte has been making a big play for me, telling me I’m his woman, acting as though he wants me more than anything in the world."

  Merlin nudged her hand and she realized she’d stopped petting him. She dragged her hand the length of his silken back, the feel of his purring under her hand soothing.

  "But when I practically throw myself at him, he doesn’t want me."

  "Mrreow."

  "No, I don’t get the impression he’s the kind of man who would mind me being too forward."

  Or was he? When she’d first sensed his magical energy, she’d been swept away by the intensity of it and had fallen into his arms. The attraction had been so strong, if he had really wanted her, all he’d had to do was coax her and she’d have been his. But he hadn’t.

  Had her aggressiveness turned him off?

  She tugged a handful of hair back from her face. Maybe she was just being paranoid. When Nyte had returned from wherever he’d gone during teleportation, he’d been physically shaken. The last thing he’d needed to deal with was her and her raging hormones.

  Damn, what had happened to him?

  "That’s another thing," she said to Merlin. "Something very strange happened to him, and he was badly shaken, but instead of talking to me about it, he left."

  She couldn’t help feeling hurt about that.

  She remembered reading in the book about men being from Mars and women from Venus that a man will go off to his cave when he has a problem to solve. Or go off for a walk in Nyte’s case. A man liked to think it through by himself rather than talk it out, like a woman would. The book advised the woman to try to understand and not take it personally.

  As the woman sitting outside the cave waiting, Lucinda found it pretty hard not to take it personally.

  * * * *

  Nyte sat on a large rock staring at the stars. Lights twinkled across the lake, leaving bands of color rippling on the water’s surface.

  He liked this place. A small island in the middle of a huge lake. It was peaceful. Calm. A great place to think.

  He had a lot to think about now that his memory had returned.

  In retrospect, it made sense that teleporting would do it. The shock of separating mind from body must have jolted his system--just the way it had centuries ago--and flung his memories back into place.

  Vibrant images told him his body had been destroyed over a millennium ago. He must have been hurled through time, the trauma robbing him of his memory.

  Nyte picked up a stone and skipped it across the surface of the lake. The delicate plinking noise echoed across the water.

  Now he had to face two extremely disturbing facts. One, he and Randalph shared a far closer relationship than he had ever suspected. And, two, Randalph had betrayed him in a way far too devastating to believe possible.

  His fists clenched and he glanced upward. A shooting star flashed across the sky.

  What had happened between him and Randalph so many years ago had affected more than their lives, it had affected Lucinda’s, too. In a very fundamental way.

  Lucinda had not really received The Call to be Nyte’s mentor--and Randalph should never have been hers.

  How would he explain all this to Lucinda? Would it confuse her needlessly at a time when she needed all her focus to sort out her feelings for him? He didn’t want to slow down her progress by clouding the issue so, at this point, he didn’t know what he should tell her and what he shouldn’t.

  One thing he did know for sure, however. Having seen how close Lucinda and Randalph were, he could not tell her how Randalph had betrayed him. At least, not until he understood it himself.

  He had to confront Randalph, and soon, but right now he felt too raw, the wound too open to expose to more pain. He needed time.

  He glanced at the watch Lucinda had given him. He would have to go back soon. Lucinda would be worried.

  He shouldn’t have left her at all, but he’d needed time alone. To think. And to absorb the horrendous images that now plagued him. The jumble of feelings whirling through him had left him disoriented. If he’d stayed, he might have let something slip that he’d later regret.

  He didn’t want to hurt Lucinda. At least, any more than she would be already.

  He’d have to handle this whole situation with delicacy.

  * * * *

  Lucinda offered Merlin a morsel of chicken. He munched the tidbit thoroughly, then licked her fingertips with his sandpaper tongue.

  She wished Nyte would return. She was really worried about him.

  "I wonder what happened to Nyte when he teleported."

  It had been about fifteen minutes from the time Nyte had disappeared to the time he had reappeared outside, at least from Lucinda’s point of view. For Nyte it could have been much longer. Or shorter, for that matter.

  "Do you think whatever happened might have changed how he feels about me? Or...."

  She circled her hands around Merlin’s chest, behind his front legs, and lifted him until they stared at each other square in the face.

  "...do you think he never really felt that way about me at all?"

  The thought trembled through her.

  Merlin continued to stare, unblinking,
into her eyes and mewed.

  "He kept telling me I was meant to be his woman, and I kind of translated that to mean...."

  She stopped. Good gracious, had she been about to say love? But he couldn’t possibly have meant he loved her. He’d only known her a few days.

  She plopped Merlin onto her lap and petted him firmly, from head to tail, with first one hand, then the other, allowing the constant thrumming of his purr to settle her nerves.

  "He must have been talking about lust, that’s all."

  About wanting her in his bed. And now, for whatever reason, he didn’t even want that. What had changed his mind?

  Again, she remembered how he had pulled back the first time she had initiated a kiss between them. She petted Merlin more intensely, with long, soothing strokes.

  "Or maybe it was just a way to make me feel special, out of gratitude."

  In fact, some men charmed every female they came in contact with. Had Nyte just been sharpening his female-handling skills on her?

  She’d been fool enough to fall for it. Fool enough to believe a man like Nyte would find her attractive when even Rand, her own mentor, didn’t find her worthy of pursuing.

  Loneliness crept through her.

  Damn, now she was starting to feel sorry for herself. She picked up Merlin and cuddled him close. He licked her cheek, his coarse tongue rough against her skin. She scratched behind his ear.

  The pain she’d suffered when she thought she might never see Nyte again welled up inside her once more.

  "Oh, man, the worst of it is, I’d actually started to feel...." Her heart throbbed painfully. "I mean, I think maybe I...."

  She let the sentence trail off. Again, she couldn’t mean love.

  She hugged Merlin to her once again. All she knew for sure was this feeling she had for Nyte was a powerful force.

  "Maybe you what, Lucinda?"

  She swung around to see Nyte draped casually against the doorway.

  He looked relaxed, but she could tell there was an edge to him. Something was simmering beneath those granite eyes.