Darkest Nyte Page 18

  "I ... will not ... be ... held ... against my ... will."

  She closed her eyes and her eyelids crinkled. He knew she was pouring a last valiant effort of will into her escape attempt. She continued to sink to the ground, until she lay curled on the white carpet, her hands clutching the crystal ball.

  His heart compressed at the sight of her throwing everything she had into escaping him. No, not him. His overpowering hold on her.

  "Lucinda, stop." He knelt beside her and slid his arm under her, drawing her across his lap. "Please."

  Her fingers still hooked around the crystal sphere, but he gently, and easily, drew it from her fingers. She had little physical strength left, and once the crystal left her hands, her magical energy waned until it was barely a trickle. It would take her a long time convalescing to recharge and regain her full strength.

  Her eyes opened. The brilliant blue of her irises had faded alarmingly, but in the depths of those eyes he could see an iron strength of will. Admiration welled up in him.

  "How could you do this to me?" Her voice was barely audible. "How can you truly care for me and take away my power of choice?"

  "But, I do, Lucinda. I love you with all my heart. You cannot doubt that after--"

  She shook her head and started speaking again. He had to strain to hear the words.

  "If you love someone you help expand their choices, not diminish them." She drew in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly, as if the effort of talking had become too much for her. "And you respect them enough to let them make their own choices, even if they don’t match your own."

  His chest tightened around his aching heart. He drew her into his arms. "You’re right, my love. I am so sorry. I never meant to hurt you."

  He stroked back a tangle of hair that lay across her forehead. "I will remove the protective spell. You will be free to go anywhere you wish." Of course, she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere in her current state, at least, not under her own power, so he added in a softened voice, "I’ll take you anywhere you want to go."

  "You’ll free me?"

  His heart toppled sideways at her words. She asked to be freed from the prison of his spell, but he could see in her eyes that if she thought it possible, she would ask to be freed from their Love Bond, too.

  "I will remove the spell."

  "And you’ll promise never to overpower me again?"

  He took her hand in his and gazed tenderly into her eyes.

  "Yes. I promise."

  He felt her muscles relax and she tucked her head onto his chest. He cherished the feel of her body pressed trustingly against his.

  He concentrated and the barrier of energy around them melted away.

  "You are free now, Lucinda. Free to make your own choices. Free to go wherever you’d like."

  The dimness of her eyes brightened a little and the shadow of a smile formed on her lips.

  Then she disappeared.

  Chapter 15

  Nyte’s heart wrenched at the emptiness in his arms. Lucinda was gone. Despite his sincere promise, she had left.

  But that didn’t make any sense. She’d been too weak to teleport on her own.

  That meant Randalph must be behind this. Anger flared inside him. Randalph had tricked Nyte into lowering the protective barrier, then stolen her away.

  Nyte bolted to his feet and flung himself through space. Randalph’s living room appeared around him. He saw Randalph standing by the window staring out at the woods beyond.

  "Where the hell is she?" Nyte demanded.

  Randalph swung around. His eyes narrowed and his bushy eyebrows slanted downward. "Lucinda? Why are you asking me? You’re the one who spirited her away."

  Nyte folded his arms across his chest and glared at Randalph. "As soon as I canceled the spell, she disappeared."

  "So why do you blame me? Obviously, she wanted to get away from you."

  The words struck like an arrow straight through his heart. He turned and paced across the room. "She couldn’t have gone on her own. She was too weak." The image of her pale face and lackluster eyes tore at his insides. "She fought the restraints with no regard to her own safety." He scowled in Randalph’s direction. "Didn’t you teach her caution and restraint while you were training her as a wizard?"

  Randalph bristled. "Like you taught me? No, I taught her to extend herself. To push herself to the limit. I taught her to allow no obstacle to block her way to success. That’s why she’s as strong as she is."

  Randalph’s words stirred something in him. Had Randalph resented Nyte’s demanding method of instruction? His tough counseling?

  He pushed aside the stirrings of emotion that thought triggered and flared at Randalph. "And that’s why she’s in trouble now."

  Randalph’s forehead furrowed, concern etching his features. "If she disappeared, and she was unable to go on her own, that means someone must have taken advantage of her weakened state."

  Nyte glared at him. Did the man think him stupid? "Yes. You. Now where is she?"

  Randalph shook his head. "No, not me. Damn it, she’s in danger."

  Nyte scowled. "Do you expect me to believe she’s not here?"

  Randalph flung his arm in a gesture indicating the room around him. "Do you feel her presence in this house?"

  Nyte concentrated on Lucinda and couldn’t feel her presence nearby. He focused on the bond between them and, where he should feel the connection to his love, instead he felt an open channel draining to nowhere. The feeling of emptiness, the cold pouring through him, chilled his frantically beating heart.

  Wherever she was, she’d been cut off from him completely. No one on Earth had enough power to form such a barrier between two people connected by a Love Bond.

  No one on Earth.

  Alarm buzzed through him as he realized just how much danger she might be in.

  "Randalph, I need your help."

  Randalph’s fists clenched tightly at his side. "Why would I even consider helping you?"

  "Because you care deeply for Lucinda. I know you will put our differences aside long enough to find her."

  Randalph jabbed his finger toward Nyte. "Why do you, the greatest of all wizards, need my help?"

  "Because we are not facing an ordinary wizard. The one who has kidnapped Lucinda has power that at least rivals, or even surpasses, my own."

  Randalph stared for a long moment, stroking the grey bristle on his jaw, then nodded. "All right. On one condition."

  Nyte folded his arms across his chest. "You demand conditions when Lucinda’s safety is at stake?"

  "I ask that after this is over, you explain two things to me. One, what happened between you and Clarissa, and...."

  "What else?"

  "I want to know your secret. Where you came from. And why you are so much more powerful than the rest of us."

  Nyte nodded solemnly. It was a secret too long kept. He would enlighten Randalph, as he should have done--would have done if he had not been killed--long ago.

  "Agreed."

  He swung toward the door. "Now let us go. We must find Lucinda."

  * * * *

  Lucinda’s head throbbed with a dull ache. Her eyelids fluttered open but she immediately closed them to block out the illumination that started an explosion of pain in her skull, like a shaken can of cola when the tab is snapped off.

  She pressed her fingers to her temples and rubbed.

  The last thing she remembered was Nyte’s arms around her. The man she had formed a Love Bond with, yet the one she most feared loving because not only was he more powerful than her, and knew it, but he had proven he wouldn’t hesitate to use that power to bend her to his will.

  Except that her foggy brain told her he’d promised he wouldn’t do so again.

  And he hadn’t forced her to do anything she didn’t want to do.

  Like make love to him.

  He had wanted to from the first moment he’d met her, or so it seemed to her. And, if she’d let herself admit it, she’
d wanted to as well.

  He had made his intent clear, but he hadn’t pressured her in any other way. As long as she didn’t count his being incredibly sexy and throwing her whole hormone system into an imbalance every time he came near. In fact, he’d stopped her when she’d thrown herself into his arms and started to carry them both towards paradise.

  If only she could accept her feelings for him. Overwhelming feelings. Feelings that could bring her to her knees, or long for Nyte to go to his--to propose.

  Super feelings. Faster than her frantically beating heart could race. More powerful than an intense craving for chocolate. Able to leap emotional barriers with a single touch.

  A single touch. Oh, how she longed for his touch now. She longed for his arms around her and his lips caressing hers. She longed for his body stretched the length of hers, the two of them locked in an intimate embrace.

  Damn, she loved Nyte and there was nothing she could do about it.

  Nyte. His name slid through her brain like a strip of thick, black velvet, caressing her with soothing sweetness. Was it so bad to be in love with Nyte? He had promised he would never overpower her again. If she could depend on that promise and believe that he would respect her needs and wants, did it matter that he could overpower her? It all seemed to boil down to trust.

  A noise jerked her from the hazy blackness she’d been using as a canvas for her thoughts. Slowly, she opened her eyes. This time her head didn’t protest too much and she allowed the dim light to burn away the fog around the edges of her vision. Someone stood several meters away, his back to her, his long black hair hanging loose to his waist.

  Nyte?

  Instead of his usual black, he now wore blue jeans and an emerald green, cable-knit sweater. But of course it would be Nyte.

  She must have blacked out and he laid her down on this--what was she lying on? She glanced around and realized she was no longer in Nyte’s house by the ocean. Nor was she at her own house. She was lying on a soft, black velvet couch under a fluffy blanket. Grey with black cats around the border.

  She stretched, wishing Nyte would come join her under the soft cover.

  "Nyte?" She spoke his name softly, with just a hint of seduction.

  He turned around and Lucinda’s breath caught in her throat. The man was a complete stranger.

  He smiled. The smile of the devil himself. "Afraid not."

  Her heart began a staccato beat as she pushed herself to a sitting position. "Who are you?"

  He bowed slightly at the waist. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Remlin."

  As in gremlin? The way he stared at her with eyes the color of peridot that glittered with a roguish quality--and a knowing gleam that set her insides churning--made her wonder.

  Something about those eyes seemed disturbingly familiar. And as for the rest of him ... tall. Muscular build. Rugged features. If his eyes had been dark grey instead of intense green, he would have looked disturbingly like Nyte.

  "Remlin who?"

  He shrugged. "I don’t bother with a last name."

  "I see."

  She tightened her fingers around the edge of the blanket, trying to cling to her composure. She had to find out more about this Remlin. She had never seen him before, but she could sense a powerful aura of magic around him.

  He must be the one who had blocked her and Rand from the past. The one drawing energy from the Oracle.

  "I assume you’re a wizard and you brought me here." She glanced around. "Wherever here is."

  He grabbed a log from a large, brass bin. "Be careful what assumptions you make."

  She angled her eyebrows in a questioning slant. "You didn’t bring me here?"

  He tossed the log on the fire and it sparked and flared for a moment. "I didn’t say that."

  "You aren’t a wizard?"

  He brushed his hands against each other as he strolled away from the fireplace toward a large bookshelf. "I didn’t say that, either."

  Great. Just what she needed. A mysterious wizard giving her words of wisdom with no apparent meaning.

  She dragged her hand across her forehead. This conversation was making her head ache again. If she had to be kidnapped by some stranger, why couldn’t he simply speak in a straightforward manner so she didn’t have to think so hard.

  Kidnap. The word rattled around her brain triggering an uneasiness she wasn’t prepared to cope with right now.

  "If you’re a wizard, why haven’t I met you before?"

  "You have."

  She had never seen this man before in her life, of that she was quite certain. Why, then, couldn’t she convince herself he was lying?

  She tipped her head in a questioning tilt. "Where exactly did we meet?"

  He crossed his arms and leaned against the bookshelf behind him. "About three years ago, in a rainstorm. You invited me into your home to dry off." He grinned, a devilish twinkle in his eye. "You were really quite friendly, too. I’d never been held in someone’s arms with quite so much enthusiasm before."

  Lucinda felt her cheeks flush warmly.

  She folded her arms across her chest. "I think I would have remembered that."

  His smile broadened. "I would think so, too."

  He turned around and reached for a book on the top shelf and she glared at his back.

  No matter what her senses told her, he must be lying, probably to throw her off balance. Unless....

  She linked her fingers together and stared at them. There was that time the day after her birthday a couple of years back, she had decided to try a little of the exotic liqueur Rand had given her as a present. She had sat down with a good book and wound up finishing half the bottle without even realizing it. It had been smooth. She’d woken up the next morning sprawled on the couch with Merlin lapping at her face.

  Hadn’t it been raining that evening? Could this Remlin have come to the door and she’d....

  No. She was certain she would remember inviting a strange man into her house and ... and ... holding him. Whatever exactly he meant by that.

  Wouldn’t she?

  The inside of her head felt like a top spinning out of control.

  Damn, he was playing games with her.

  And she was getting exceedingly tired of this one. She tossed the blanket aside and pushed herself to her feet.

  "Look, whoever you are--"

  Her knees buckled and she groaned as she crumpled onto the couch. Damn, she couldn’t even stand on her own two feet and now her head throbbed worse than ever.

  Remlin turned and strode toward her, his devil-may-care expression fading to one of concern. For her as a person, or for fear of losing a valuable pawn, she wasn’t sure. He planted his large hands on her shoulders and steered her into a reclining position, then tucked the blanket around her.

  "Lucinda, stay put. You spent all your strength trying to break free of Nyte’s force field and now you’re drained. You have to rest. Stop trying to gallivant around like you usually do."

  Like she usually did? How well did this guy know her? Or think he did?

  She didn’t like the fact he knew her name, what she’d been doing, and that she was in a weakened state.

  He loomed over her like a giant shadow, staring at her face intently. Making her nervous. Why didn’t he just go away?

  "Let me do something about that headache of yours." He opened his hand and a small vial sat on his palm. He offered it to her. "If I give you a potion, will you take it?"

  A potion? Was he nuts? She had no idea what it would do to her.

  "I didn’t think so." He flicked his hand in a circle and the vial disappeared.

  He dragged an ottoman from a nearby chair and sat in front of her. She held herself rigid as he placed his hands on her forehead. A few seconds after the initial contact, however, she found herself relaxing. Warm, soothing energy flowed through her, sweeping her headache away.

  He withdrew his hands. "Feel better?"

  Reluctantly, she nodded.

  "
Good. Now just relax and maybe it won’t come back."

  Relax? Sure, while she was being held prisoner by some unknown wizard. That wasn’t likely to happen.

  He pushed the ottoman back to its original position and stood up.

  "You know, you really aren’t in any danger from me. It’s too bad you don’t believe that."

  Darned right she didn’t. Anyone who would steal her away and lock her up somewhere couldn’t be trusted.

  Like Nyte had?

  She pushed that thought aside, knowing she’d have to deal with it later.

  She had to find some way to get out of here. She had to come up with some kind of plan. It would help to know where on Earth they were.

  She glanced around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the view outside. One of Remlin’s dark, finely cultivated eyebrows arched up.

  "Looking for something?"

  "I was just wondering where we are."

  He sat down in a large armchair by the fire as he gestured behind her. "This is my little winter place."

  She turned to see a spectacular view of a flat, snow-covered landscape through a large picture window. Jagged rocks of ice glittered in bright sunshine, and the expanse of white ground and blue sky stretched away to the horizon. She could see no sign of a tree, plant, or any living thing.

  Wisps of powdery snow raced across the ground on a sudden puff of wind. Chills coursed through her at the thought of the sub-zero temperature held outside by the thin barrier of glass. She tugged the blanket more firmly around herself.

  Well, she sure wouldn’t be attempting to walk home.

  "Why have you brought me here?"

  He leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. "Because, Lucinda, you are part of my well-laid plan."

  "Plan to do what?"

  "Now if I were to tell you that, it would ruin the suspense, wouldn’t it?"

  She crossed her arms, her lips compressing in a sullen frown. "I think the entertainment value of suspense is highly overrated."

  Chapter 16

  Nyte breathed in the fresh spring air as he concentrated, trying to sense some trace of Lucinda. Randalph stood behind him in a small clearing in the woods outside Randalph’s home. The scent of pine and cedar hung heavy in the air, blending with the pungent smell of damp earth and new growing things.