But how the hell did I get here? Shen had told me on my last go-round with the elemental rooms that drugs were what allowed incorporeal passage into this world.
Apparently incense and a prayer wheel counted.
And what about calling forth the world in my mind? I hadn’t called Midheaven to me; I hadn’t even been thinking about it.
No. Just about someone living here. Rolling my eyes at my own stupidity, I searched for some other sort of exit while trying to forget Diana’s helpful addendum: that I needed someone to pull me back out of the world in case Solange found me here.
Flat, stone-topped lanterns were tucked amid the greenery, while topiaries and pyramid-shaped shrubs popped up like the heads of curious gnomes. Centered was a small lawn with a gravel pathway cutting the middle, while a small pond sparkling with refracted light sat to my right. Moss in every shade of green climbed boulders slick with algae, and a cluster of wild roses burst brightly from verdant thistle where berries also glistened with dew.
Yet all was not nature and silva. Curving chaises and concrete lounge chairs dotted the small space, and baroque chandeliers swung from the lowermost branches of the accommodating pines. Seductive statues cast inquisitive glances my way, and wrought-iron side tables were layered in lace and pastel spun silk.
The coup de grace was the giant stone table tucked beneath a Japanese cherry tree caught in full bloom. A tiered tray held finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, quiche, and tiny pastel petit fours tucked between slivers of white cake. A mirrored side buffet sported crystal goblets and flutes, and a perfect mismatching of gorgeous bone china.
“A fucking tea party.” My metallic mutter skipped sound waves like a rock.
“You’d prefer a latte from the drive-through, I suppose?”
I’d been anticipating an appearance by the dangerous rulers of this pretty little world, and whirled to run smack into the chest of an all-too-real, and apparently bemused, Hunter Lorenzo. He quirked a brow, and steadied me with one hand.
“Of course.” I pulled away, trying to hide my shock, my alarm. My pleasure. “I’m American.”
He merely motioned to the tea set. I looked around, waiting for ambush or at least to wake up. Nothing happened, so I inched past a fern floor and moved farther into the garden. “Tricked-out pad,” I said lightly, though my heart was pounding, making my throat tight.
“The earth room,” he said, confirming my prior suspicions. His voice was as leaden as mine. “Whatever you used to induce the dream state must have been from the dust.”
I’d been right about the incense then, I thought, frowning. And the drugs Carlos had given me the first time were disguised in drink…thus calling forth the water room. I didn’t even want to know what I needed to bring on fire.
I tried to meet Hunter’s gaze, but after working so hard to push even the thought of him away, his sudden appearance was jarring. His eyes were warmly intense, destroying the illusion that I’d let go of this man emotionally. I hadn’t. Not even a bit.
As usual, I covered my discomfort with attitude. “So why are you here?” I asked, crossing my arms.
He took in my body language, blinking fast like he too was making a mental adjustment, and lifted his chin.
“We’re both a part of this world now,” he said softly.
“So that means what? I’m at your mercy? I’m trapped and have to wait until you and your wife decide to let me go.”
He tilted his head. “Don’t you have an anchor grounding you back home?”
“I didn’t mean to come here.”
“No wonder she’s so angry.” His brow furrowed, and for the first time he looked unreal, as if the expression was pressed upon his face like putty, altering a moment after he willed it. Did I look the same? “We really are connected…”
His gaze flitted to my lips, then back to my eyes. I thought about the way he’d strung me along, pulling me in until the very end. Even in the moments before forever leaving Las Vegas for Midheaven proper, when trapped in a tunnel before the rushlight that would ferry him to Solange-his wife, his grail-he’d played on our intimacy.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. Not even in the darkest corner of that beautiful soul.
No, I thought now. There’s not. But there’s something wrong with someone who could equally want, love, two women. I didn’t believe that was possible, and getting my life back meant letting go of every impossibility. If friends were the family we choose, then it was time to let Hunter go completely. He’d been no friend to me.
“No, Hunter,” I said coldly. “We’re not even from the same world.”
His jaw clenched at that. His nostrils flared. It was a wonderful display of masculine pique. “Who’s Carlos?”
I drew back. “What?”
“Carlos. You called out his name the last time you were here. You called for him to help you.” His voice was so strained it almost made me laugh. Was he jealous? While biding in another world, locked in his new/old lover’s embrace?
“Carlos is a friend.” A real one.
“How-” He broke off and cleared his throat. I thought he was going to ask how long I’d known Carlos, but he switched it up on me. “How long have I been gone?”
“Ten weeks.” And three days.
A shudder moved through his entire body.
“Over here?” I asked, because time passed differently in Midheaven. It ran backward or sideways…by some other means than that which flipped the earth around its axis.
“I’ve counted only two days.” And the strain in his voice meant he’d been counting hard, almost as if the loss of his life on the other side of the tunnel system-the one he’d so freely left behind-pained him. It made me frown.
It made him irritable. When he opened his eyes again, the worry had already been shuttered. “Ten weeks, huh?
Shit, the weather probably hasn’t even changed, and you’ve already found a new ‘friend.’”
“Well, I’m just like the weather, Jaden. You just don’t know when it’s going to change.”
“So what’s the forecast now?”
“Cloudy,” I said. “With a good chance of fuck you.”
“So, the usual,” he said dryly.
It made me want to smile, so I bit my lip against it.
Hunter stared a moment longer before his expression cleared, and then he strode to the table…and poured me some tea.
O-kay, I thought, still casting glances into the surrounding rain forest as I followed and lowered myself to the stone bench opposite him. Inhaling deeply, I scented cloves and leaves and flowers, pressed and steamed into a pulpy death, and realized my sense of smell was still powerful over here. The strong mixture was almost as relaxing as chanting.
“Don’t you have to ask permission to enter the earth room? Get a hall pass or something from the wifey?”
His face hardened as much as it could in its strange putty state. “I stole your gem from Solange’s planetarium. All I had to do then was wait for your return.”
I gave him the same look I would have had he told me Santa was real. He’d stolen from a woman even the other matriarchs in this world feared? “And what would be worth that risk?” I asked coolly.
His returned gaze was funeral sad. It made me feel like I’d been the one to trample what was between us underfoot, which was ridiculous. I should have blurted out then what had happened to me in the time since he’d left, but for some reason I didn’t yet want to confess to him my mortal state. Maybe I’d just have some tea first.