And all the while he'd pause to remind her that he'd never let anyone hurt her, that she was safe.
As time passed, Ellie's gaze began to focus on him. She could tell he was tall, muscular, and dark-haired. Handsome.
"You're coming back, Ellie." He grinned.
Oh, that smile! With dimples. So genuine, so open.
"You've just got to come back a little bit more. Not gonna let anything hurt you."
She tried to speak, to move. Struggling . . .
I can do this. Mind over mind. Just like kicking Saroya offstage. Ellie began shoving her way through.
"That's it, sweetheart. Come back to us."
Fight . . . fight . . . deep breath. "Hi?"
"Welcome back!"
"Oh, thank gods," Hag said, adding in a murmur, "Now we all get to live."
Chapter 38
When Ellie got out of the shower, Hag was waiting with a change of clothes. "Thad has refused to leave until Lothaire returns, thinking you might need some 'watching over' until his 'bro' gets back."
"Clearly Thad's never seen you wield a machete." Ellie took the clothes-a T-shirt and a pair of cutoffs that she'd left over here.
"Not that the code would allow him to leave anyway. Without a portal or escort, no one but Lothaire can trace in-or out. I'd planned to hold him here until Lothaire decides what's to be done with him."
"Where did Lothaire take me earlier? What was that horrible place?"
"He accidentally traced you to the Horde capital of Helvita."
"The one I read about. That's where he was tortured?"
Hag didn't confirm or deny. "Now, about this boy. If you tell him
anything about your current situation, Lothaire will kill him. One
word of it will equal his death decree. You can't ask for his help to
escape."
Ellie dragged on the cutoffs. "I won't say anything."
"I saw you look at Thad's cell phone before you excused yourself to shower."
"Yeah, well, I saw you see me looking at his phone."
Hag crossed her arms over her chest. "Is that why you didn't ask him to use it? Because you feared my reprisal?"
"True, I didn't want you to cut off his hand. But I also held back for another reason." At Hag's questioning expression, Ellie said, "I'm Lothaire's Bride, aren't I?"
She abruptly turned to arrange a towel on the rack. "Why do you ask me this again?"
Ellie pulled on her shirt. "There was a moment in the fray when he seemed . . . dumbstruck as he looked at me."
The last twenty-four hours had been a roller coaster for Ellie. Last night, she'd accepted her end. Now, something had changed.
How could Ellie believe Lothaire would condemn her after his obvious worry, his panic?
"It doesn't matter whether you are or not, Elizabeth. He needs Saroya to claim the Horde crown."
"Because he's illegitimate."
Hag hesitantly nodded.
"Why can't he just use the ring to get it? Lothaire told me it could do just about anything."
"You can only use it so many times before your wishes begin to go awry. Besides, without Saroya by his side, there would be countless rebellions."
"I don't understand. Saroya has no powers."
"The Horde will only accept a royal vampire heir, or one married to a royal. . . ."
"Or a former vampire goddess."
"Exactly. And since he plans to use the Horde to take over the Daci, Saroya equals two crowns."
Ellie equaled nothing.
Doesn't matter if I'm his Bride. He'd have to want her more than he did those thrones.
When Ellie finished dressing, Hag said, "Again, you can't tell Thad anything that might get in the way of Lothaire's plans."
"I've got it. But hey, you don't tell the kid that I was in prison for murder, okay?"
Hag nodded in agreement, and they returned to the kitchen.
At once, Thad stood up from his seat at the counter. What a gentleman.
He was dressed in worn jeans that highlighted his powerful legs and a plain black T-shirt that stretched over his well-developed pecs.
The kid was built like a linebacker.
"You got your color back, Ellie. You'll be right as rain by the time
Mr. Lothaire returns."
As Hag continued her work on the new potion base, Ellie took a seat beside him.
"Tell me how you and my bro met," Thad said, his eyes excited.
Up close, she could see they were hazel with vivid blue flecks. "Um, Hag brought us together," Ellie answered vaguely.
He frowned at the word Hag.
"I mean, Balery used her foresight and all."
"Those oracles"-he smiled over at the fey-"always helping folks out."
Bite your tongue, Ellie. "So you . . . you can't truly be friends with Lothaire?"
"I am, ma'am," he replied proudly, his chest bowing. "I'm fairly sure I'm his only friend."
Why did that make her heart clench? She hated Lothaire more than ever after last night. Didn't she?
Surely she did. Yet something else was stirring inside her. Ellie didn't dare name it because that would confirm she was a fool.
I'm nobody's fool, least of all Lothaire's.
He might have changed the way he looked at her, but she was still fresh from sobbing about her upcoming execution. Not to mention this morning's trip- "Wait, did you call me ma'am? I'm not much older than you are. You look like you're twenty."
"Just turned seventeen." In a matter-of-fact tone, he said, "Everybody thinks I'm older 'cause I'm so tall and built."
Hag muttered, "That you are." After clearing her throat, she asked, "How did you meet Lothaire? We find you an unlikely acquaintance for him."
"He and I were both captured by these human soldiers, then imprisoned on this island to be tortured and experimented on and everything."
"Oh, my God, that's awful!" Ellie said, briefly clutching his brawny arm. "Why would they do those things to you?"
"They're called the Order. They consider immortals miscreats-miscreations. Abominations and all. They plan to exterminate every last one of us."
"How did you get taken?"
"It's the damnedest thing. I'd just gone to pick up a girl to take to the movies, worried about nothing more than Eagle Scouts, my curfew-and maybe stealing a kiss from my date." He winked at Ellie, and she felt like fanning herself. "Next thing I know, I'm waking up in a holding tank with all these creatures. That's when I flipped out."
"It must have been terrifying."
"Well, it wasn't a June picnic, that's for sure. And the cell! You can't imagine what it's like to be caged for days on end."
Can't I? Your friend put me in the big house for five years.
Rubber band snap. Snap!
"I only got one torture session, not too bad, but Mr. Lothaire? They
burned him until his skin charred away and you could see his bones.
They starved him. He just laughed, messing with the humans' minds and all."
Ellie could easily imagine him doing that.
"When all the prisoners broke loose, he saved my life, repeatedly. And all the while, he was desperate to get off the island. We figured he had someone to get back to. Didn't know it was you!" Clearly recollecting some memory, Thad said, "Mr. Lothaire sure is wild for you."
Not for me.
"So, what do you do, Ellie?" he asked.
Well, previously, I held a position on death row, but lately I've been a vampire's plaything. Soon I'll be sacrificed so the Soul Reaper and the Enemy of Old can make babies.
"What do I do?" Ellie caught Hag's look of warning. In a feigned bubbly tone, she said, "Hey, you want a drink, Thad? I could use a drink. I've gotta show you this chest. . . ."
Three hours later, Ellie slurred to the chest, "Hos-say Kvervo tee-killer, please."
Somehow she, Thad, and Hag had already finished two buckets of Coronas.
Thad had told her he'd never tasted tequila. Ellie scarcely remembered it. One way to remedy that!
"Lime. Salt. Another bucket of Coronas. And chips, thanks."
When Ellie dragged her score out to the deck, she found Thad buzzedly tightening a shutter hinge with a multipurpose pocket tool. So the Eagle Scout.
She and Hag were in bathing suits, and he'd removed his shirt. Though it was a cloudless day, Thad had no problem with the sun, and he had the tan to prove it. "Guess it's my phantom half," he'd explained with a shrug.
Behind his back, Ellie mimicked a kitty-cat clawing him; Hag grinned into her beer.
After popping open a round for the three of them, Ellie sank down on the lounge chair to watch sweat trickle along the rises and falls of Thad's cut torso muscles.
Am I feeling lust for him? Or just appreciating his amazing hotness?
It occurred to her that he was exactly the type of boy she'd always imagined herself with. Good-natured, handsome, considerate.
So why was she so attracted to a deadly, forbidding bloodsucker like Lothaire?
Because of mental trauma and sexual desperation?
Or because of his brilliant mind and seductive touch? That molten gaze . . .
Maybe she should test out whether she truly desired Lothaire or if she simply needed a male-any male.
Maybe test this with Thad? Countless Coronas said this was the best-plan-ever.
When her timer went off, Hag wobbled to her feet, pointing to the sky. "Potion!" she said, like she might say, "Eureka!" Then she veered off to the kitchen.
Alone with Thad, Ellie said, "Thank you so much for bringing me back this morning." Taking yet another swig of liquid courage, she stood, crossing over to him. "You're my hero."
Still concentrating on his chore, he drawled, "Anytime, darlin'." She'd found out that he was a born-and-bred Texan. A long, tall, gorgeous drink of Texas . . .
"You mind if I give you a hug in thanks?" Her voice had gone
throaty.
He turned toward her with a frown, scrubbing his palm over his chin.
Before he could say anything, she laced her hands around his neck, her nails sifting through the hair curling at his nape.
God, he smells incredible. The muscles of his chest flexed against her br**sts, his damp skin so hot she could feel it through her top. "Or how about a thank-you kiss?" She stood on her toes.
He blushed deeply. "Uh. You're Mr. Lothaire's female, which means you're taken. Really taken. And as for me, I'm-"
Ellie pressed her lips against his, tightening her embrace while he froze in shock.
But his lips were firm, tasting of lime with a hint of salt. Nice. She kissed harder, and his lips finally parted on a breath.
He smells, feels, and tastes wonderful.
So where's the lust?
Dang it! Now she could admit what she'd instinctively known. Without Lothaire, I'll never feel such passion again.
She was just about to break away when Hag walked out. "Dark gods! What is this, Elizabeth?" she cried. "You want this boy dead?"
Thad and Ellie both stumbled back mumbling apologies to Hag, to each other.
The fey pointed Ellie toward the bathroom. "Go wash your face now!" To Thad, Hag said, "Sit. You're next."
Inside the bathroom, Hag slammed the door behind Ellie. "Wash! Get his scent off you."
Ellie dutifully scrubbed her face. Okay, maybe the beers were wrong and that hadn't been the best idea. "You're not going to tell Lothaire?"
"This happened on my watch. I left two drunken, postpubescent beings alone. Lothaire can never know. Why in the gods' names would you do this?"
"I just . . . I had to know why I feel things so strongly with Lothaire. If it was me being straight out of prison, or if it's him."
Hag's disapproving mien softened. "No matter how ill-advised your experiment, I can't fault you for your curiosity." She exhaled. "I can only imagine what you must be feeling. But did you at least make a determination?"
"It's only Lothaire for me. Passion-wise, at least." Nobody's fool.
Then Ellie frowned. What if there was actually a future with a vampire like him? Somewhere-and somehow-to be found?
To save herself, she'd been seducing his body and his mind, with some success. But she'd left his heart out of it.
What if she set out to win the vampire-because she wanted to try a life with him?
"I'm gonna make Lothaire fall in love with me. I mean really in love." Gonna put his heart in my sights. Trace, vampire, but you can't hide.
"And what if he still sacrifices you for Saroya, for his crowns?" Hag asked. "All you'll be doing is making it hurt worse for both of you."
Ellie would be guarding her own heart the whole time, determined not to fall for Lothaire. And once she made up her mind, she couldn't be moved from her decisions. "Then I've got to make him love me more than two vampire kingdoms."
"And precisely how are you going to do that?"
Ellie grinned. "I'll figure it out over more tequila. Now, let me go smooth things over with poor Thad. . . ."
Chapter 39
One love, one heart . . . let's get together and feel all right. . . ."
When Lothaire traced back to Hag's, reggae music and laughter sounded from her deck. A bottle popped open, glasses clinking.