Her arms went around him, her cheek pressed against his back. After you’d already lost your Beloved. I’m sorry, Alec. Sorry that I wasn’t around for you when I should have been.
It wasn’t your fault, querida. It was just one of those cruel accidents that fate deals us sometimes. He wanted to add that it would be worth it if he knew he had found his Beloved at last, but he kept his thoughts to himself, wanting her to make the decision for herself and not be swayed by his need.
“What’s a lichmaster?”
“Hmm?” Cora’s question interrupted his contemplation of how much time they had, and whether he could convince her that the room was mouse-free enough to make love to her. “It’s someone who controls liches.”
“Like Ulfur?”
“Yes. In fact, it’s Ulfur that Kris and Pia are trying to save.”
“Ah, is that how you knew who he was?” she asked, snuggling up against his back.
He might be hungry, object to being hidden like he was a criminal, and dislike the closed-in feeling of the small room, but he’d happily stand there to the end of his days to protect Cora, if she continued to rub herself against his back that way. She was so obviously his Beloved, the one woman put on the earth to be with him, he was surprised he hadn’t recognized her from the first. “Yes. He was in Pia’s charge before de Marco stole his soul and used it to have him resurrected as a lich bound to him.”
“Poor guy. Do you think that monk can summon Diamond, too?”
“From the Akasha? No. That would take a Guardian, and unless he has one on call, he wouldn’t be able to organize a rescue for your friend.”
“Well, I’m going to have to do something about her soon, Alec. She’s been in there for some time now, and if nothing else, my ex-husband will be worried about her.”
“Time passes differently in the Akasha than here,” he said, not liking the feeling of obligation she felt toward the other woman, but aware that it was now his problem, as well. “We will contact the Guardian who summoned us to have her do the same for Diamond.”
She pressed her face against the back of his neck, her breath warm on his flesh, sending little rivulets of fire into his veins. “That’s got to be expensive.”
“It is.”
“You’d do that for me?” Her hands slid around his sides, her fingers spreading wide on his belly.
“Of course. You’re my—” He stopped, but she knew what he was going to say.
“That’s still nice of you. Alec, do you think we could go to a mouse-free room? You’re driving me wild with all those thoughts of licking me, and tasting me, and biting me, and oh my god, yes, I really like that one! Can we do that? Right now?”
He laughed, turning to face her, about to say that he would be happy to indulge her every fantasy, but at that moment, the door behind her started to move with a low grating sound.
“It’s just me,” Kristoff said, heaving the door aside before waving them out. “Julian’s gone. You can come out.”
“Oh, thank god. There’s a mouse in there!” Cora said, giving a visible shudder before hurrying out of the room.
Kristoff looked past Alec to the shadows, where the rat stopped cleaning itself to consider them. “Indeed,” was all he said before Alec helped him push the door back into place.
“I assume, since you’re not escorting me out in handcuffs, that the messenger didn’t convince you to turn me over to them?” Alec asked as they trooped back upstairs.
“Did you think I would?” Kris asked, a smile on his lips.
“It would have been sweet revenge.”
“We don’t want revenge,” Pia said as they entered the same sitting room they had been in earlier. She held out a cup to Cora, plying her with food as the two women sat opposite each other. “We never have. That’s why we had Eleanor’s remains found and brought back to life. Even before that, we didn’t want it. Kristoff spoke on your behalf after the council had you banished, but those new vampires who took Rowan’s and Andreas’s places on the council are bastards. Well, and that Sebastian guy, who I have never liked.”
“He’s had a hard time of it. He’s still recovering from being tortured by a demon lord,” Alec said with a little smile at Cora as he sat next to her on the couch. She ate three ginger cookies rapidly. I’m sorry, love, I didn’t know you were hungry, or I would have asked Pia to feed you.
It just kind of hit me when I saw all the goodies. Is that lemon pound cake? It is! I love lemon pound cake!
Alec pushed the plate of cake closer to Cora, who murmured something to Pia before taking two slices.
“Oh, Kristoff told me why Sebastian’s such a big pain in the butt, but that doesn’t make him any easier to take. Cora, if you like the pound cake, you have to try the cream cheese pinwheels. I get them from a little bakery in town, and they are to die for. I’ve always said that if you’re going to eat for two, you might as well eat what you like. And by ‘eat for two’ I don’t mean I’m having a baby, so you can just put your eyeballs back in, Alec. I meant being responsible for feeding a vamp gives you a bit more license to indulge.”
“My eyeballs were in no danger of popping out, thank you,” he said drily, leaning back, one arm draped over Cora’s shoulders as she and Pia consumed just about every last bit of food. “Where is Eleanor?”
“Still pouting in her bedroom. She had some not very nice things to say about you, which I’m afraid I encouraged.”
Cora looked surprised. “Why did you encourage that? ”
Pia smiled at them both. “Because she didn’t know that Alec wasn’t down here, so she was more than happy to stay upstairs and nurse her grudge in private. Which meant she didn’t see the messenger.”
“What did Julian say?” Alec asked, needing to know the worst. He had to protect Cora from whatever penalty the council would mete out on him.
“The council knows you’re out, of course,” Kristoff answered, sitting next to Pia on the love seat. “They assume you’ll come here. I told them I would tell them if I saw you.”
Alec’s eyebrows rose. “You lied?”
“Of course. But that’s not going to fool them for long, Alec. Julian didn’t outright accuse me of having you hidden away, but he did notice your car, and he’s not stupid. He’ll be back. And when he does . . .” Kristoff’s gaze shifted to Cora.
“Why do I have a feeling that what you’re not saying is something I’m really going to dislike? ” she asked him.
Alec tangled his fingers in her hair, idly stroking her neck as he mulled over the possibilities. “I will have to leave.”
“Yes, but that’s not the answer,” Kristoff said, meeting his gaze with one that spoke volumes. “They’ll simply follow you.”
“Do they have some sort of special vampire tracking ability?” Cora asked, worry uppermost in her mind. “Will they be able to find you quickly, I mean?”
“Not if I don’t wish to be found, no. But Kristoff is correct that they won’t give up—they’ll continue to track me until they find me and return me to the Akasha.”
“Well, don’t let them,” she said, sounding indignant at the thought. “I went to a lot of trouble to have that Guardian pull you out of there. Maybe if you talked to them—”
Pia and Kristoff were shaking their heads right along with him. “We tried that,” Pia said, wiping her fingers on a linen napkin before sitting back. “We talked ourselves blue in the face, but they absolutely would not listen. They maintain that Alec’s actions have indirectly caused the deaths of Dark Ones, and that he should pay for that. That’s why we resurrected Eleanor.”
Cora’s shoulders dropped as she leaned into him, delighting his senses with her warm, feminine feel and scent. “Maybe you could hide, then, somewhere that they won’t find you.”