Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

A crooked smile slipped onto Tegan's lips as he shook his head. "If you had offered us one we might have taken it. As for your assumption, I didn't hear anything but I could smell your odor from here."

The corners of her lips twitched downward. "Yes, well, it seems nothing can be done to remedy that little mistake until the games are finished."

I snorted. "I think we're planning on making sure it's a little bit longer than that."

She sauntered around us like a cat toying with its prey. "Do you truly believe you can escape us for long?"

"We're willing to try," Tegan quipped.

"And we've been pretty lucky so far," I added.

She smiled. "Luck is all you have because the time will soon come when you will have to make a choice." She stopped in front of the house and her eyes twinkled with a malevolence that made me shudder. "To join us or suffer the consequences. Just think about my proposal, will you?"

And with that, she turned back to the house and soon disappeared out of sight.

I stepped closer to Tegan and looked up to find his tense face focused on where she had gone. "We have been pretty lucky so far, haven't we? Or hiding in Glistnia."

He stared ahead as he sighed. "A bliss that couldn't last forever. Not when our blood contract demands our being elsewhere."

I lifted one hand and studied the palm. "How long do you think we'll be stuck with being Domini's dogs?"

He shook his head. "I'm not sure but this: I can promise you: the terms in the fine print won't be to our benefit."

My shoulders slumped and my face fell. "Remind me not to sign another blood contract again even under a life and imprisonment situation."

Tegan looped an arm around my waist and drew me against his side. "I'll be sure to keep you out of such a situation again, especially since I have my heightened firepower."

I smiled up at him. "And my broom skills. I could sweep anybody under the rug now."

He grinned. "That would be interesting to see you use your light and broom together, but I would warn against using them in Morrigan and the others' presence. We don't want to show all our cards when we don't need to."

I wrapped my arm around him and squeezed. "And we don't want to annoy our host by using our magic," I added. "Only for practice and tournament."

Tegan chuckled as he led me toward the house. "Right now I think some sleep is in order."

"But I'm not-" A yawn interrupted my protest. I covered my mouth while it lasted and looked over my fingers to see Tegan's eyes twinkling. I clapped my mouth shut and glared at him. "I'm not sleepy, just tired."

"One will come not long after the other," he assured me as we climbed the steps onto the terrace.

A tingling in the back of my mind made me pause. I turned toward the beach and the rightward direction where we had taken our ill-fated walk earlier. All was still and silent.

"What's the matter?" Tegan asked me.

I shook my head. "I don't know. I can't shake the feeling that there's something out there."

Tegan narrowed his eyes as he, too, studied the empty beach. He tightened his grip around my waist. "Then we had better get inside."

I lifted an eyebrow as we strode across the terrace. "We're not going to go check it out?"

"Do you remember how many angry vampires were on the road?"

"Point taken."

We hurried through the doors and into the house. The chandeliers twinkled brighter in the dusky light and the house was as quiet as the outside. We found our host in the front parlor seated with Cordelia and Conor the young Clasp. I couldn't help but look over someone who, like me, was connected to another via magic. It was so surreal knowing we were on opposing sides. For his part, the young man cut short what he had been saying and frowned at us.

"Continue what you were saying, young man," Lusio encouraged him.

Conor stood and shook his head. "I would like to be excused, sir, if you would allow me."

Lusio frowned. "I will not allow it, sir. There is no need for you to leave merely because they have entered the room."

Conor bowed his head. "My apologies, sir, but there is no kindness between our groups."

"Whatever qualms you have with them, they are nothing during the tournament. You will set aside such troubles until the games have finished and you have left my estate. Do you understand?"

The young Clasp pursed his lips but again bowed his head. "Yes, sir."

Lusio smiled and gestured to the chair beneath Conor. "Then resume your seat and your story. I'm interested to know what happened to your companion and you during your fight against the rebels." The mention of rebels made my heart skip a beat and I looked up at Tegan. His expression was impassive but I detected a tension at the corners of his lips.

Conor reluctantly resumed his seat and cleared his throat. "Yes, well, the rebels were holed up in a secret room in the ruined castle. Quinn cast his winds through the cracks and detected their location."

It was at that point in the story I realized he wasn't talking about Tegan and me, but other ‘rebels.' I wasn't relieved to listen to the tale of others who hadn't been as lucky as Tegan and I in escaping the clutches of the Keys.

"The Key and Clasp attempted to block the walls using their earth magic but we had a fire user who blew the stones apart and knocked them unconscious," Conor finished as he puffed out his chest a little. "We captured them and convinced the pair to join us."

I spoke before I thought. "I'm sure that's what happened. . ."

Conor glared up at me and I received a disapproving look from our host. "Miss, I will not have you insult any of the other guests. If you choose to be uncivil then you are free to leave my estate at any time."

I was sorely tempted to take him up on his offer but a strange tingling sensation ran through me. It wasn't the pleasure of excitement but like being pricked by a thousand tiny needles. I winced and Tegan took up the reply. "Our sincerest apologies, Mr. Lusio. We meant no disrespect to you or your guests. If you'll excuse us."

Tegan took my hand and led me out of the room. We didn't stop until we'd reached the third floor where irritation and exhaustion combined to make me stop.

"One second," I pleaded as I leaned against the nearest wall and clutched my hand over my heart. "I'm still not used to that many stairs. Isn't he rich enough to buy an escalator?"

Tegan lifted an eyebrow. "A what?"

I shook my head. "It's nothing. Just a modern marvel I'm missing a lot right now." I glanced down the winding steps and frowned. "Unlike all the trouble down there."

Tegan followed my gave and nodded. "Unfortunately. Domini is certainly testing us with this assignment."

There was something in his words that caught my attention. "What do you mean?"

He returned his attention to me. "We should finish this discussion in our room."

I unhappily obeyed and in a few moments, I had plopped myself on the bed while Tegan worked at building a fire against the chill night brought by the sea air. "So what's that about Domini making this hard for us?"

Tegan tossed a lot into the hole and lit his hand with a fireball. "I doubt he wasn't aware of who the contestants were and he's most certainly not unaware of our history with them." He tossed the flame onto the fire and the wood caught immediately.

"You mean more than just Morrigan and the others," I mused as my thoughts wandered to a certain voluptuous individual. "How well do you know Cordelia?"

"Intimately," came the reply.

I lifted an eyebrow. "In all the ways?"

He looked over his shoulder and grinned at me. "You aren't jealous, are you?"

I shrugged. "I just need to know if you'll be sleeping out in the hall or not."

Tegan stood and his eyes twinkled as he took a seat beside me. He clasped my hand in his and raised one finger from the others. "Only you bare my ring, dear Kate."

He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. I leaned for something a little more fulfilling but Tegan drew back and grinned. "You should get some sleep. I have no doubt these next three days will be very long."

Damn him and his being right.