Chapter 16 #2
Raoul and our host shared pleasantries as if they’d shared tea and pastries just yesterday.
Of course, to Raoul, it really felt that way, but Louis had lived through the past two centuries just like Thibault had.
Eventually I couldn’t stand the normal, boring, unmagical conversation any longer. “So,” I said, “soulmates?”
Louis nodded, his mouth tilting into a pleasant grin that was very much not the kind of smile you’d expect from someone who was a necromancer.
“A magic older than anything I command. It is so very rare and inviolable.” He gestured lightly between Raoul and me.
“It is the only force that could have broken the wards I had placed.”
Raoul leaned forward, sharpening like things had finally gotten real. “You might have mentioned that before you put me under.” His eyes flicked to me, not with the arrogant distaste he’d once shown me, but with a deep, warm fondness.
“And ruin the surprise?” Louis scoffed. He had brown hair with a bit of a wave to it, neatly trimmed. Everything about him looked human, but then he shifted, and I saw something glimmer at the collar of his shirt. A stone, a glitter of something that might be magic.
“Why did you not tell Thibault you lived?” Raoul pressed. Now that was the million-dollar question, wasn’t it? Raoul’s gargoyle friend had truly seemed to think something final had happened to Louis, or else the man would have reached out. Yet here he was, alive and well.
Louis’s mouth tightened, and for the first time, I saw something flicker in his eyes—something dark. It was so cold it sent a shiver down my spine. “Not until he apologizes,” he snapped.
“He can’t apologize if he thinks you’re dead,” I pointed out, my hand trembling around the teacup, but the words slipped out before I could stop them anyway. My vampire shifted his leg, and suddenly warmth was pressing through my jeans and into me.
“Precisely,” Louis said with great satisfaction.
It made no sense, but he seemed very pleased with this arrangement.
What on earth had happened between him and the gargoyle?
Thibault had been the one to send us here, and he really had no idea that this mysterious sorcerer was actually his supposedly dead friend?
Raoul stared at him, his voice sharp and cutting, dark eyes narrowed in anger. “You are conducting a two-century-long childish tantrum.” He tsked with such derision that it made me feel scolded, that’s how good my vampire was at that lecturing tone.
“It is not childish!” Louis immediately objected, not nearly as impressed by Raoul’s tone as I was. He clanked his delicate porcelain cup down onto its saucer and scowled.
“It is profoundly childish,” Raoul insisted. “I should have known you two would muck things up without my peacemaking.” I wanted to snort but refrained. Raoul was the peacemaker? I highly doubted that.
“He knows what he did,” the necromancer said, but he already sounded less sure of himself now than he had five seconds ago. His eyes flicked to mine as if he hoped I’d take his side, and I found myself pressing a little closer to Raoul.
“He thinks you are deceased, Louis.” Raoul shifted forward, but he kept one arm behind my back, his own tea untouched. He pinned his necromancer friend in place until he actually squirmed in his seat.
“Details,” Louis muttered. It was no longer scary; nobody could look scary when they were practically pouting, sulking. Raoul hissed, his glare turning golden-bright.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “You are both exhausting. Can you guys just get over it and focus on why we’re here in the first place?
” This was about the threat looming over us—over me—because of my ex’s stupid idea to use me to smuggle that silly stone into Paris.
Even more stupid, if Logan had told me and asked me to drop it off somewhere for him, I would have, even at odds as we were at that point.
“Give him the stone,” Raoul said, turning to me, his eyes softening and his mouth tilting into a somewhat apologetic smile. I hesitated only a second before pulling the jade piece from my bag and handing it over.
Louis’s face lit up the moment he saw it. “Ahh,” he breathed, turning it over in his hands. “Magnificent.” So it was him who was after the jade stuff—the one these shapeshifters were bending over backward to please.
“People have been trying to kill us over that thing,” I pointed out.
Raoul’s hand pressed more firmly against my back, silently reminding me that I was under his protection.
Protection that had not failed. My mind briefly filled with the knowledge that Raoul was strong enough to handle nearly a dozen men, shapeshifters, all on his own.
“Yes, well,” Louis said lightly, already half-absorbed in whatever secrets it held. “They won’t be anymore.” It was a little disconcerting how unconcerned he sounded about it. He might not even care at all that I’d nearly become collateral thanks to his quest.
“They had better not, Louis,” Raoul drawled with a quiet menace that made the necromancer look up from the jade in his hand and take notice. He looked only mildly flustered, but definitely sorry he’d offended Raoul.
I saw something fall into place over his face, and suddenly he was that friendly, oh-so-human host again.
“Congratulations, by the way. Both of you,” he said, gesturing between us.
“I cannot express enough how happy I am to see my best friend happily mated.” Happily mated, like he was congratulating us on our marriage.
I mulled that over as we said our goodbyes and were ushered out the door, our little visit apparently at an end now that Louis had what he was after.
Back in the lot, it almost felt like none of it had happened.
Except it had. The evidence was still there in the damage done to concrete, steel, and asphalt.
I watched as the car rolled toward us, smooth and polished and entirely out of place.
Summoned here by Raoul’s rapidly advancing understanding of texting.
“Do you think,” I said slowly, “we should have given him that stone?” Raoul slipped an arm around me, drawing me into his side, and I savored the gentle weight of his arm pressing me close. “Was it his?” I pressed. “And what is he going to do with it?”
He tilted his head, considering my question with a thoughtful frown creasing his brow. “Will Louis do questionable things with it?” he said. “Undoubtedly.” He smirked, as if this amused him rather than worried him.
“That is not reassuring, like at all, Raoul,” I shot back. I could easily picture the mundane-looking man doing something nefarious. There was something about him that felt inherently wrong, maybe, dare I think it, evil.
“But,” he added softly, turning me toward him, “he and Thibault are like brothers to me. Whatever he does, it will not harm us.”
I searched his face and saw nothing but faith in his dark eyes. He believed it, unworried that things had changed after two centuries. I wasn’t quite as certain. “And that’s enough?” I asked.
His hand lifted, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “It is.” There was something so certain in him, so steady, that I couldn’t help but want to believe he was right. “I love you,” he said quietly, and the solemn vow that rang through those words was undeniable.
My chest tightened, warmth flooding through me. “Yeah,” I murmured. “Now that I believe. I love you too, Raoul. Crazy as this vacation has been so far, I wouldn’t change a thing.” His smile was tender, sexy, and held all kinds of promises.
The car pulled up, and the driver stepped out, composed but taking in the state of the surroundings with careful discretion. “Is everything in order, monsieur?” he asked tentatively, and for the first time his serene facade broke, giving way to a hint of nerves. It was impressive,
Raoul met my gaze, something soft and knowing passing between us. “Yes,” he said. I slid into the car beside him, my hand finding his without thinking. Everything was insane. The world had turned out to be impossible and dangerous, but somehow, my place in it felt exactly right.