Idols and Enemies (Amplifier 4) Page 8

  I blinked, then laughed.

  “I just wish I had eyes on the main Azar compound,” he said ruefully. “I never managed to find anyone willing to risk it.”

  “Your father is formidable.”

  Aiden raised both eyebrows suggestively. “I’ve met more powerful individuals.”

  I leaned into him. “Really? We have three sorcerers at the gate, and one in the barn loft, and you think this is an appropriate moment for flirting?”

  Aiden stepped into me, hands slipping into my hair. The next moment, my back was against the wall and his lips were crashing over mine. All the frustration and confusion he’d been battling since he’d opened his father’s letter was superseded by a hungry welling of desire. I parted my lips, flicking my tongue against his, melting into his tight hold.

  Yes, for Aiden I could soften, yield. Eagerly.

  He broke the kiss, pressing his forehead to mine and breathing heavily.

  I mewed in disappointment, drawing a half-smile, half-growl from him.

  “Later,” he said.

  “Promise?”

  “Everything that comes out of my mouth is a promise to you, Emma.”

  I cupped his face with one hand, running my other fingers through his hair. “I was teasing, Aiden. I know. Having your father here doesn’t change anything.”

  He grimaced.

  My chest tightened for a moment. I released it by pushing forward. “Am I wrong?”

  “No. Never. It doesn’t change anything between us.” He pulled away, just a step, but was already looking toward the front door and beyond, where a trio of sorcerers awaited us.

  “But you think it changes you?”

  He cleared his throat, then shook his head at whatever he was going to say. “No, just … I’m off balance. And I’d gotten used to …” He gestured with both hands, indicating the house and everything it encompassed — or so I presumed. “I had begun to believe …”

  “Believe what?”

  He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Just … that I … that I could have this …” He lifted his bright-blue eyes to meet my gaze. “That I could have you.”

  I pressed my hands back against the wall, wishing that Aiden was still pinning me against it, wishing that we were still in that moment. Words, expressions of self, were just so difficult. Both to articulate and to comprehend.

  So instead of addressing the doubt and confusion that I thought might underpin Aiden’s confession, I went on the attack. I was always better on the offensive, more confident.

  “I’m not letting you go, sorcerer.”

  Aiden blinked.

  I barreled forward. “You think you have a choice, but you already made your decision. I’m keeping you. You belong to me now. To Opal. And Paisley. We’re the ones who love you. Whether or not I deserve you, deserve this life. I …” My voice cracked. “I … I’m taking it, making it. And you … I won’t let you go. I’d hunt you to the ends of the earth if you tried.”

  Aiden cleared his throat. His eyes were wet. He inhaled, then exhaled. “Okay. Okay. Yes.”

  “Okay. Good.” Shoving down the emotion threatening to suffocate me, I turned away abruptly, prowling down the hall toward the front door. “Let’s go deal with your brother, then. I have cookies to bake.”

  Paisley joined us in the hall from the study, falling in at my side. Her spellbook, bone, and mane were tucked away under her regular pit bull aspect. I opened the door without pausing, but Aiden caught my wrist as I stepped out onto the front patio.

  He stepped around me, forcing me to meet his fierce gaze. Then he deliberately reached up and wrapped his hand around my throat, holding me gently — and mimicking the first time he’d ever touched me.

  The moment stretched between us, a myriad of emotions flickering through the empathic connection I made by skin-to-skin contact. A connection Aiden didn’t share. The only way he ever knew what I was truly thinking, or feeling, was when I told him. That was entirely unfair.

  Playing along, I reached up and brushed my fingers across his lips, giving him a kiss of magic with the touch. Just as I’d done at the diner. Then, it had overloaded his senses. Now … now it was … love.

  “Feeling possessive, sorcerer?” I asked playfully.

  “You’d better fucking believe it,” he growled, tightening his grip, then lightly brushing his thumb against the sensitive skin of my neck. “I battled through hell to find you, Emma. And I didn’t even know … I never even believed that I could find you. That you and … this … were even possible. For me. I’m not going anywhere. Throw me out, toss me away, and I’ll keep coming back.”

  I swallowed a sharp spike of emotion in my throat — an odd manifestation of extreme happiness, I thought. “That’s settled, then. We’re both completely trapped.”

  He grinned. The expression was edged with that same fierce possession that still fired his magic. “And utterly free to be who we want to be. With each other.” He loosened his hold on my neck, stepping back as if giving me a moment to reconsider, to think.

  But I just held his gaze. Agreeably — and utterly truthfully — I said, “Yes.”

  Aiden held out his hand.

  I took it.

  And together, for the second time that day, we crossed toward the front gate. We kept to the grass in deference to our bare feet, our pace unhurried. Paisley prowled along on my left.

  Three figures stood beyond the gate at the top of the drive, near the farm stand, but not tucked into the shade as Kader had been. All three were wearing dark suits. Two of the sorcerers were dark haired with deeply tanned skin. The other was broad shouldered and dark-skinned, with short-clipped hair. All looked shorter than Aiden.

  Isa Azar, standing at the far left, waved off a taxi that he must have kept waiting in case there was no one home. But unless they’d been on their way or already nearby, it seemed unlikely that they’d travelled to Lake Cowichan by conventional means. I already knew that Isa was capable of teleporting.

  “There are a lot of declarations going on today,” I said conversationally. “Between us.”

  Aiden nodded. “Circumstances, perhaps. Our first time really being alone with each other, plus the need to confirm things.”

  “Because everything else feels a bit shaky?”

  “For you as well?”

  I nodded. “I’m … navigating my impulses around your father, factoring in your needs …” I shrugged. “I rarely take other people’s feelings into account.”

  “That’s not true at all, Emma.” Aiden tightened his hold on my hand.

  “I’m not saying I’m a sociopath. Well … I’m unlearning my training, just not particularly quickly …”

  “Emma.”

  “No, Aiden. I’m not being down on myself. I’m just trying to say that I’m a little off kilter with your father. Not because of me. Or him. But because I love you.” I glanced at him.

  He kept his attention on the trio waiting for us at the gate. “I loathe him. I would never question your judgement.”

  “Because normally I’m rational.”

  He nodded.

  “I’m not feeling so rational right now.”

  “Okay.” He looked at me. “Okay.”

  “And, Aiden … you don’t hate him as much as you wish you did.”

  The sorcerer’s jaw clenched. “Yeah. I know. But I’m just going to keep denying that. Because the person I want to be, for you, and Opal, and Paisley, and all the other people who belong to us, should hate him. Okay?”

  I wasn’t sure what that said about me. I also didn’t hate Kader Azar. But for a long time, I hadn’t thought myself capable of loving anyone who hadn’t been forced upon me with a blood bond, so maybe hate was an emotion born from a similar place. “Okay.”

  Isa Azar and the two other sorcerers watched us as we approached. Aiden’s eldest brother was frowning slightly, his gaze flicking between Paisley, Aiden, me — and our entwined hands.

  The taller, dark-haire
d male in the center of the trio stood with his hands shoved in the pockets of his pants, rucking up his navy suit jacket at the sides. His expression was carefully blank, his hair long enough to fall over his brow and curl slightly at his collar. He was in his mid-thirties.

  “Khalid,” Aiden said quietly, pronouncing it KHA-leed. “Younger to Isa, elder to me. His mother was a sorcerer as well, but she let Kader raise him and set up his training. They had some arrangement.”

  The third male was grinning at Aiden. He was shorter but broader through the shoulders than Isa and Khalid. His hair and skin were almost as dark as Samantha’s. Light-brown eyes. Dark-gray suit. No tie. In his early twenties.

  “Grosvenor,” Aiden murmured. “Cousin to all of us.”

  “The curse breaker?” Kader had mentioned him already. So presumably whatever reason the trio had for showing up here, it wasn’t to kill the patriarch of the Azar cabal. “What kind of name is ‘Grove-ner’ anyway?” I asked, pronouncing it as Aiden had.

  “Very English. Spelled ‘Gros-ven-or,’ ” Aiden articulated, clarifying. “We call him ‘Grover.’ ”

  We paused at the fence, still on the grass, forcing the three to step over to us. Paisley placed her paws on the top rail, surveyed the sorcerers, then huffed dismissively.

  Aiden laughed.

  Paisley looked over at the dark-haired sorcerer, chuffing. He reached behind me, patting her soundly on the shoulder. She grunted appreciatively, then wandered off to the west, patrolling the fence line.

  “Is he still alive?” Isa asked, practically biting off each word. He clearly wasn’t going to bother with the stilted, formal introductions he’d insisted on the first time we met.

  Aiden tilted his head, as if deciding whether or not he was actually going to acknowledge his elder brother. Then he bared his teeth in a nasty smile. “You think I’m capable of killing him?”

  Isa’s dark-eyed gaze shifted, eyeing me through the simmering barrier of magic that I could feel cutting between us.

  The other two sorcerers followed Isa’s gaze, frowning, confused. At a guess, Isa hadn’t explained where he was bringing them. Or who I was.

  I let them look.

  Isa shook his head, grimacing ruefully.

  Aiden laughed joylessly. “Emma hasn’t murdered our father, Isa.”

  I bared my teeth, smiling. “Yet.”

  Khalid’s frown deepened, glancing between Isa and Aiden as if he could uncover the truth of the assertion — of what I was capable of doing — from them, rather than me.

  Inexplicably, a wide smile spread across Grosvenor’s face. “Really? Excellent.” Unlike Isa’s cultured, smooth tone, his accent was so specifically British that even I recognized it. But then, I did watch a lot of Downton Abbey.

  Isa shot him a look. “Don’t be an idiot, Grover.”

  “No,” Khalid said, his tone clipped but overlaid with a French blur. Just like the late Ruwa. “We’ll leave that to you, Isa.”

  The Azar cabal schooled their children differently, presumably according to skill set. Aiden and Isa were proficient in runes, like Kader. And as far as I could tell, they’d been trained by their father. But perhaps Khalid’s skills were less prized by the sorcerer Azar? I found myself wondering if he’d been sent away to be raised with whoever had trained Ruwa.

  Isa clenched his teeth. “I’m not the one who cursed him! And I’m not the one who then misplaced him!”

  Khalid sneered at Isa, just tall enough that he could look down on his elder brother. Then he turned his attention to Aiden. “Grant us safe passage. If Father is going to die, he’ll do it on his own land and buried with full rites.”

  “No matter where he dies,” Isa spat, “his power isn’t going to transfer to you.”

  A muscle in Khalid’s jaw twitched.

  I glanced at Aiden. He looked utterly bored.

  “The power of an elder sorcerer transfers to a successor when they die?” I asked.

  “It does when you’re Kader Azar,” Aiden said drily. “And you want your children fighting among themselves, rather than trying to usurp you.” He glanced at me. “It’s bunk. Propaganda.”

  “But it will still be one hell of a party,” Grosvenor said, still grinning.

  Isa closed his eyes, muttering, “If I have to spend one more moment with Grover … I’m going to kill him.”

  “Get in line,” Khalid said.

  Grosvenor leaned forward onto his toes, grinning at me. “Don’t worry. I’m hard to kill.” Then he winked.

  “So am I,” I said.

  Isa muttered something under his breath — what sounded like a curse in that arcane language of the Azar sorcerers. Whatever he said wiped the smile from Grosvenor’s face. The young sorcerer frowned, glancing disconcertedly between Aiden and me.

  “Is that a curse or a benediction, Isa?” Aiden asked, his tone neutral. Though his hand had tightened on mine.

  Isa eyed me, then shook his head, speaking to me. “Why stand between us? Falling back on your programming?”

  Before I could remind the pretentious sorcerer exactly what my programming had entailed, Aiden’s magic shifted. He released my hands, clenching both fists. The other sorcerers each took two deliberate steps away from Isa, clearly indicating that although they’d followed him here, they didn’t stand with him.

  I always appreciated it when battle lines were clearly drawn. I gifted the two with a smile. They didn’t reciprocate.

  Isa stuffed his hands in his pockets, tilting his head. “Do you think if you amplify him, he’ll be able to break the curse?”

  Grosvenor sighed heavily. “I’ve told you over and over, it’s not a curse. I break curses. I’ve broken every curse I’ve ever —”

  Isa held up his hand, cutting the curse breaker off. “Emma?” he prompted. “What is your assessment?”

  He was truly interested. Weighing his options, I presumed. Trying to figure out if I was loyal to his father, and whether or not he’d have to go through me to get to Kader. If he did, it would be the second attempt he’d made on his father’s life. I could understand him wanting to survive it.

  A power grab. Assuming that Aiden was wrong, and that Kader’s assertion that his power would transfer to a successor upon his death wasn’t a lie.

  The situation was about to get even more messy, more convoluted than it already was. The anticipation that had waned as I watched Aiden interact with his father started bubbling in my stomach again. I really was a creature born and bred to fight, and few opportunities presented themselves as nicely as the sorcerers were currently doing.

  I glanced at Aiden.

  He tilted his head toward me, not taking his gaze off Isa.

  “Do I have your go-ahead to kill them?” I said. “All of them?”

  Aiden cast a dispassionate gaze across the three sorcerers on the other side of the property ward. “Yes.”

  Khalid flinched, but quickly covered his reaction. Grosvenor’s jaw dropped.

  I looked at Isa.

  He smiled at me grimly.

  “It’s almost time for dinner,” I said, already knowing that I was traversing some version of the future Christopher had gotten a glimpse of — as evidenced by the prepared meals and the extra beds.

  Isa nodded, once. “So it is.”

  “Christopher made a Dungeness crab casserole. You can make the salad.”

  “I make a great dressing. Do you have a lime?”

  “Usually.”

  “I’d be delighted.”

  The wards opened around the front gate. Isa stepped off the grass onto the gravel drive, reaching for the latch. Khalid trailed behind his elder brother, looking confused.

  “What the fuck?” Grosvenor exclaimed. “She just asked for permission to kill us!”

  Aiden laughed darkly. “That wasn’t permission, Grover. Just clarification.”

  Paisley appeared at the gate, blocking Isa’s forward progress. Khalid flinched. Grosvenor scrambled to catch up to the other two, latch
ing the gate behind him.

  Isa looked Paisley in the eye. “It was just business, you understand. A difficult partnership. I never meant to hurt … anyone …” He cleared his throat, glancing at me, then back at Paisley. “Not here, anyway.”

  The demon dog huffed.

  “Those under your protection have nothing to fear from me.” Isa held his hands out, palms forward.

  Paisley opened her mouth. It was suddenly far too wide for her pit bull face, flashing spiked teeth at the sorcerer. Then she chomped the air only a couple of centimeters away from Isa’s hand. He would have felt her hot breath. Even some spittle.

  Khalid muttered in that language the Azars used, and magic shifted around him. I assumed he was only calling forth a shield, by the way Aiden remained impassive at my side.

  Isa, to his credit, barely flinched.

  Paisley chuckled darkly. Then, swishing her suddenly long tail like a cat, she turned her back on the sorcerers, dismissing them completely as she wandered back to the house.

  “What the bloody hell?” Grosvenor muttered.

  I followed Paisley. But as the demon dog veered off toward the barn, I continued on to the main house. Aiden was at my side, our shoulders and fingers brushing as we walked. The sorcerers kept a few steps behind us.

  “I thought you said she was an amplifier,” Khalid whispered to Isa.

  “I did. I just didn’t elaborate on what that meant.”

  I glanced at Aiden.

  He was smirking.

  “Sorcerers and their secrets,” I said.

  “Indeed,” Aiden said agreeably. “Always playing the advantage, hedging their bets.”

  I didn’t play games. I just didn’t enjoy doing so. Perhaps I was afraid of losing.

  Aiden chuckled as if reading my mind. “I look forward to you utterly destroying their plots and machinations, my darling, just by refusing to play.”

  I traversed the steps to the front patio, my thoughts turning toward the sorcerer napping in the barn. And for the first time ever, I worried that Aiden might have been overestimating my abilities. I might already have been caught up in some plot of the elder Azar sorcerer. Just another player to be moved and used as he accumulated power.

  What if Isa was right? What if there was something embedded deep inside me, by training or by conditioning? Did I have an instinctual need to protect the sorcerer Azar?