“Get off my land.”
Akane glanced out the window and had to stifle a gasp. The pebbles and dirt that made up the driveway of the Dunne farmhouse were dancing like water on a hot skillet.
Henri held up his hands. “It’s to our mutual benefit that Leo comply with our requests. I assure you, I am not my predecessors. I wish to negotiate a compromise rather than force the issue.”
“I’m truebonded, Henri. That leaves no room for compromise, I’m afraid.” Leo tugged until Ruby was safe under his arm. “There’s no way I’ll accept a second mate.”
Henri sighed. “Perhaps a meeting could be arranged between you and Constance? If you meet, the three of you, perhaps you’ll see that what we propose isn’t quite as bad as Cullen and Charles made it appear.”
Oh
Henri looked pained. “I’m afraid the vampire is not welcome in our home, but we may be able to arrange something where you are present.” He turned back to Leo. “Would such an arrangement be acceptable?”
“No.” Aileen Dunne stepped forward, tiny and fierce. “The marriage contract has been fulfilled by my daughter. You no longer have any say or sway over my children. Go. Away.”
Somehow, the front door closed with no one touching it. Akane blinked. What the fuck?
“How… Who did that?” Duncan looked as startled as everyone else.
Everyone except Jaden, who raised his hand with a wicked grin. “Mea culpa. Sue me, but he was uglifying the place.”
Akane choked back a laugh. “Uglifying? Is that even a word?”
Jaden waved at Duncan. “According to him, I’m a lord now and can do whatever the fuck I want. Therefore, I declare Henri Malmayne to be one uglifying bastard.” He held out his hand to Moira. “Cake me.”
Jaden picked frosting out of his eyebrows with a grimace. Had he truly expected any other response from his fiery mate?
Duncan ran his finger down Jaden’s shirt and licked off the frosting. “Mm. Chocolate.”
Akane stepped into Shane’s studio bright and early the next morning and peered around the vast space. He’d had a corrugated metal building erected where an old corn silo used to stand. Metal and glass working tools littered the space. In the back she could see a doorway cracked open. Shane was nowhere to be seen. Aileen had kept her from coming out here all night despite the strange look on Shane’s face as he’d left her birthday party. The fact that he was accompanied by the Hob had made her anxiety even worse. Had Robin recruited Shane? Just the thought had cold shivers running down her spine. “Shane? Are you in here?”
“Back here.”
His voice echoed wearily through the metal building, but she followed his scent until she found him. She stepped through an open doorway to find Shane, his head resting on an empty pedestal, staring at one of his sculptures. He was covered in metal and glass shavings, his coveralls ripped in places, his hands bleeding sluggishly. He looked bemused, exhausted. Beautiful. She approached him like she would a startled fawn, knowing one wrong move might send him running, or worse. If he collapsed would she be able to move him to safety? “Shane? What’s wrong?”
“C’mere and tell me what you see.”
Her brows rose but she did as asked, moving to stand beside him. Her breath caught.
On the opposite pedestal from where he stood was a metal and glass sculpture, one that sent a shiver of fear through her. It was a ball made out of razor sharp, mirror-like metallic strips, with bits of jagged glass dotting them. The cutting metal edges stuck randomly out into space, creating a chaotic feel that gave Akane the willies. Through the metal strips she could see a tiny figure standing, arms raised like a supplicant, one hand to her chest, one to the sky. “What the hell is that?”
Shane took a deep breath. “What do you
She glared at him before taking a closer look. It wasn’t until she was almost nose to sharp edge with it did she realize that, inside the ball, the curves were smooth, glistening, reflecting the figure inside over and over again. The face of the figure was serene, if vague in its features, as if Shane couldn’t quite see the person’s face well enough to sculpt it. “Whatever this ball is, it’s protecting the person inside.”
“Yeah. I thought you’d see that too.”
She shook her head. “What does this mean?”
He lifted his head wearily. His eyes were bloodshot. He must have been up all night working on this. “Follow me.” He led her over to another pedestal. “See this?”
“Yeah.” It was magnificent, but whereas the last sculpture sent shivers down her spine this one evoked a sense of loss and loneliness. A lone figure stood in shining silver, head bowed, shoulders bent. Flowing down its back, a long sweep of metal she presumed to be the figure’s hair crossed over the figure until the tips blended into glass and metal waves. The “foam” of the broken waves brushed the feet of the figure, and how Shane had gotten that effect she had no idea. The figure had no face, but even without it was obvious something dear had been lost, maybe never to be found again. One glistening hand reached toward the waves, either tossing something away or summoning something back. “What are you calling this one?”
“Incomplete.”
She blew out a breath. “Wow. Hell of a name.”
He chuckled. “No. I mean it’s not complete. The rest of the vision hasn’t come to me.”
Vision? What was he talking about?
He pointed to a small spot in the middle of the sculpture. “Right here. Something is supposed to go right here, but I don’t know who or what yet.”
Things finally clicked into place. How he’d known where she was going to be the night before, if not why. How he’d known who she was even before she set foot on his father’s land. “You have seer’s blood in you.” It was rare to find, rarer still not to find an accompanying madness underneath. Her mother’s people hadn’t exactly been prolific before they were wiped away in the war that split the Courts.
Those sapphire eyes, bloodshot though they were, pierced through her. “Where, and on what side, I don’t know, but yeah.” He shoved a filthy hand through his hair, dislodging what had to be more glass dust. “I finished the ball one last night, but this one has been plaguing me for a while now. Until I know what goes in the center, it remains incomplete.”
She turned her attention back to the glass and metal ball. “What do you call that one?”
“What would you call it?”
Dear gods, she did not want to name who it was. Shane didn’t just create art. He created
His hand reached out to her, but he pulled back. “You know, Akane.”
She walked back to the jagged ball. “Do you know who she is?”
“Are you so sure it’s a she? It could be Oberon.”
She shook her head. “I know who this is, and I know what that figure represents. It’s a she.” She pointed back to the forlorn figure. “Just like I know who that is.” She shivered. “You’re playing with dangerous visions, Shane.”
“Playing? Like I have a choice in this? Unlike you, I don’t get to pick and choose what visions come to me. I just get to watch them come alive under my hands.” The water in his tiny bathroom started up, and it wasn’t long before a pair of damp arms circled her waist. “Akane. Do you know what happens if the figure falls?”
She closed her eyes, but when she opened them, somehow Shane had toppled the figure. Thanks to the way he’d constructed the ball, now the inside only reflected the jagged edges of the outside over and over until there was nothing left but chaos and death. The position of the figure’s arms when standing were perfect for a figure lying on the ground as well, and if that happened the world itself would be in danger. “Shit.”
“Yeah.”
“We should tell Robin.”
He turned her around, his big hands gentle. “Can you take a look for me? Maybe I’m missing something.” His eyes strayed back to the fallen figure before spearing into her once more. “If this can be avoided, it has to be.”
