Artistic Vision

adequate job.”

Jaden’s gaze roamed over her, but whatever he was looking for he didn’t seem to find. “Remind me to have a little chat with him.”

“Remind me to kill Tristan when I see him again.” No one poisoned her with gold and got away with it.

“Any idea why he wanted us gone?” Etienne was frowning, ignoring the antics of Jaden, who’d picked up one of Duncan’s pens and begun twirling it between his fingers. It appeared he’d taken a severe dislike to the vampire, much to Jaden’s amusement.

They’d decided to hold this meeting at Jaden’s home. Moira and Duncan had graciously agreed to stay out of the way, but Akane wouldn’t be surprised if Jaden wasn’t mentally keeping them in the loop. They’d agreed way too easily for it to be any other way.

“He probably believed the two of you would be an obstacle to completing his mission.” Robin sat, one leg crossed over the other, and swung his foot lazily. He perched on the edge of Duncan’s desk and watched them indulgently. He seemed highly amused by the fact that Etienne stayed as far as he could from Jaden. The Gray Court Sidhe had a reputation for avoiding the vampires of Oberon’s court. Being forced into the position of working with one, and worse, one who held a higher rank than he did, had to be sticking in his upper-crust craw.

“If he really is Glorianna’s agent it would be better to get him to work with us rather than against us.” Jaden held up his hand to forestall Etienne’s instant rejection of the idea. “Look, don’t make me sing the Barney theme song. Moira hates it when I do that.” He leaned back in his chair, balancing on two legs. “I know you don’t love me, and I sure as hell don’t love you, okay?” Jaden grinned at Robin. “We could always have Akane try again to seduce Tristan to the dark side.”

“Won’t work. He said any Sidhe could tell I’d been Claimed.”

Jaden’s chair hit the carpet. “Ow.” He pushed up on his elbows, his brows in his hairline. “You mentioned sexual spelunking had happened. You left out the part about the fireworks. Hell, I wasn’t sure Shane was capable of fireworks.”

She shrugged and kept her voice even. “He took advantage of my weakened state.” She blinked slowly. “As I said, he was adequate.”

Jaden’s lips twitched. “Welcome to the family.” He leered at her. “You realize mating Shane puts you in my clan, under my rule, right?”

Shit. No, she hadn’t thought of that. She wrinkled her nose and dropped the Vulcan act. “I want a divorce.”

Robin threw his head back and laughed.

Etienne waved impatiently. “This is irrelevant. We have more important things to worry about than whose clan Akane belongs to.”

Considering she’d avoided joining a clan like the plague, Akane felt it was very relevant. Thanks to who her mother was, Clan Blackthorn might now be perceived as having an advantage most other clans would kill to have: unlimited access to the Seer. But Etienne had a point. She could hash out the details with Jaden later.

Besides, if she absolutely had to belong to a clan, Clan Blackthorn was the one she’d pick anyway. “There has to be another way to get Tristan to work with us.”

Jaden got up off the floor and righted his chair. “Maybe we can have Duncan talk to him? As former head of Clan Malmayne, he might be able to persuade him.”

Akane bit her lip. “Unless he feels the same way toward Duncan and his bond with you that most of the White Court Sidhe feel.”

Jaden growled. “Stuck-up, prickless bastards.” His head tilted, his expression distant, His mates had to be speaking to him. A shy smile crossed his lips before he snapped back into the present. “He’s willing, but he’s not sure it will work.”

Would she share the same kind of mental link with Shane? Was it a Sidhe thing or a vampire thing? Dragons didn’t share that sort of mental bond, and Seers… Well, her mother said she’d always known her love would be brief, but the love the Seer held for her fallen mate couldn’t be denied. Akane’s father had been killed by a member of the Black Court a long time ago, leaving his mate and infant daughter to the tender mercies of the Courts. She stared into Jaden’s eyes, that quirky little something that made them such good partners kicking in. “We could just break into his room—”

Jaden began to pace. “Have Red go through his computer files—”

“Sack the place—”

“Maybe even leave a little present for Henri.” Jaden rubbed his hands together gleefully. “Daddy likey.”

“It’s too risky. If Henri or Tristan discover what you’ve done they could move on Ruby before we’re ready, or worse, come up with a completely different plan.”

“Tristan is Glorianna’s agent, I’m almost positive of it.”

Etienne glared at Akane. “I’m not.” He turned to Robin. “I would suggest further investigation into Tristan’s background. Perhaps there’s something there that we can use against him or, even better, Henri.”

Robin hopped off the table, light as a cat. “You do that.” He turned to Jaden. “Are you ready to get back to work, Jaden?”

Jaden cracked his knuckles with an evil laugh.

Robin smiled serenely. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He turned to Akane. “You’ll be working with Jaden on this from here on out.” He patted her cheek, then Jaden’s. “Make me proud, children.”

With that Robin was gone in a swirl of wind and blowing papers.

“Shit.” Jaden sighed, his hands on his hips. “Duncan’s going to be pissed.”

“Over being assigned this job?” Akane reached down and picked up one of the papers Robin had accidentally blown to the floor.

“Nope. He’ll have to go through all that paperwork again.” Jaden scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Oh wait. That was my paperwork. Guess my mate will have to lend me a hand since I have to work for the foreseeable future.”

“Why does Robin place such trust in a vampire?” Etienne was glaring at them both.

Akane almost laughed in his face. “You weren’t there when Clan Blackthorn was formed, were you?”

Etienne shook his head.

Jaden merely smiled, but that echo of Robin’s green light flashed once more through his eyes, there and gone again.

“Jaden shares blood with Robin, confirmed by both Robin and Oberon himself. Robin claims him as blood of his blood.” Where was this animosity was coming from? Etienne was Gray Court; he should have gotten used to the vampires in the Court by now. “That means Robin Goodfellow considers Jaden family.”

Etienne paled. “Ah.” He stood and bowed. “I will get to work gathering the background information we need.”

“Something that should have been done before you two even started. Seriously, Akane, where was your head? Up Shane’s ass?”

She growled at Jaden. “Shut up. My primary objective was to protect Shane. My secondary objective was to fuck with Tristan Malmayne.”

“You might want to discuss that last one with Shane. He might have an objection.”

She let the star in the center of her eye grow, looking for Shane. His incandescent power danced across her senses, warming her. “Two completely different kinds of fucking.” She grinned. “Trust me. I know the difference.”

“Freaky dragon bitch.”

Akane tilted her head. “Remind me some day to tell you how you got Robin’s blood in you.”

Jaden shuddered. “Please don’t.”

They barely acknowledged Etienne leaving the room. “You know?”

“I have…nightmares. Duncan tried to help me see what had happened, but when we were done he was… Gods, he was destroyed, and I still didn’t know for certain what Robin did to me.”

“Meaning Duncan turned around and re-blocked the memory.” It was Akane’s turn to shudder. “Jade, remember when you kidnapped Shane?”

“How could I forget? I still taste Kaitlynn occasionally when I burp. Blech.”