pressed into it. 'This is nice,' I mumbled, but I don't think it made it past my thoughts into real words.
It felt as if the world was spinning, and I could hear the slosh of water. Snuggling into the ice, I smiled. I hadn't slept well for days. I exhaled, drifting off into nothing, enjoying the warmth of the sun that was suddenly shining on the ice. Someone curled their arms around me, and I felt my head thump into a soggy chest as I was lifted.
'Denon?' I heard myself murmur. 'Come here, Denon. I owe you a big…kiss…'
'Denon?' someone echoed.
'I'll carry her, Sa'han.'
I tried to open my eyes, swirling back into nothing when I felt myself move. I drowsed, not awake but not quite not asleep. Then I was still, and I tried to smile and go to sleep. But a faint pinch and throb kept intruding on my cheek, and my legs hurt.
Irritated, I pushed at the ice, finding it was gone. I was sitting up, and someone was slapping me. 'That's enough,' I heard Trent say. 'You're going to leave a mark.'
The pinch vanished to leave just the throbbing. Jonathan was slapping me? 'Hey, you freakin' bastard,' I breathed. 'You hit me again and I'll take care of your family planning.'
I could smell leather. My face screwed up as feeling started to come back into my legs and arms. Oh God, it hurt. I opened my eyes to find Trent and Jonathan peering down at me. Blood seeped from Trent's hairline and water dripped from his nose. Above their heads was the interior of the limo. I was alive? How did I get to the car?
' 'Bout time you found us,' I breathed, my eyes closing.
I heard Trent sigh. 'She's okay.'
I suppose. Maybe. Compared to being dead, I guess I was okay.
'Pity,' Jonathan said, and I heard him shift away from me. 'It would have simplified things if she wasn't. Not too late to slip her in the water with the rest.'
'Jon!' Trent barked.
His voice was as hot as my skin felt. I was freaking burning up.
'She saved my life,' Trent said softly. 'I don't care if you like her or not, but she has earned your respect.'
'Trenton—' Jonathan started.
'No.' It was cold. 'She has earned your respect.'
There was a hesitation, and I would have drifted off to nothing if the pain in my legs would let me. And my fingers were on fire. 'Yes, Sa'han,' Jonathan said, and I jerked awake.
'Get us home. Call ahead and have Quen draw a bath for her. We have to get her warmer than this.'
'Yes, Sa'han.' It was slow and reluctant. 'The I.S. is here. Why don't we leave her with them?'
I felt a small pull upon my chi as Trent tapped a line. 'I don't want to be seen here. Just don't get in anyone's way and we won't be noticed. Hurry up.'
My eyes wouldn't listen to me anymore, but I heard Jonathan get out and shut the door. There was another thump when he got in the driver's door and the car eased into motion. The arms around me tightened, and I realized I was in Trent's lap, the warmth of his body doing more than the air to warm me. I felt the softness of a blanket against me. I must have been swaddled up right tight; I couldn't move my legs or arms.
'I'm sorry,' I murmured, giving up on trying to open my eyes. 'I'm getting water all over your suit.' Then I giggled, thinking that had sounded really pathetic. He was already soaked. 'Your Celtic charm isn't worth a damn,' I whispered. 'I hope you kept your receipt.'
'Shut up, Morgan,' Trent said, his voice distant and preoccupied.
The car picked up speed, and the sound seemed to lull me. I could relax, I thought as I felt the tingling of circulation in my limbs. I was in Trent's car, wrapped in a blanket, and held in his arms. He wouldn't let anything hurt me.
He wasn't singing, though, I mused. Shouldn't he be singing?
Twenty-seven
The warm water I was sitting in was nice. I had been in it long enough to prune twice, but I didn't care. Ellasbeth's sunken tub was fab. I sighed, leaning my head back and staring at the ten-foot ceilings framed by the potted orchids lining the bathtub. Maybe there was something to this drug lord business if you got to have a tub like this. I'd been in it for over an hour.
Trent had called Ivy for me even before we reached the city's limits. I'd talked to her myself not too long ago, telling her I was okay and was soaking in warm water and wasn't getting out until hell froze over. She had hung up on me, but I knew we were okay.
Dragging my fingers through the bubbles, I adjusted Trent's borrowed pain amulet hanging about my neck. I didn't know who had invoked it; maybe his secretary? All my charms were at the bottom of the Ohio River. My smile faltered as I remembered the people I hadn't been able to save. I would not feel guilty that I breathed and they didn't. Their deaths were laid at Saladan's feet, not mine. Or maybe Kisten's. Damn it. What was I going to do about that?
I closed my eyes and said a prayer for them, but they jerked open when a faint cadence of brisk steps grew louder. They quickly grew closer, and I froze as a thin woman dressed smartly in a cream-colored suit clacked and clicked in over the bathroom tile unannounced. There was a depart ment store bag over her arm. Her steely gaze was fixed on the doorway to the changing room, and she never saw me as she vanished into it.
It had to be Ellasbeth. Crap. What was I supposed to do? Wipe the bubbles from my hand and offer to shake hers? Frozen, I stared at the door. My coat was on one of the chairs and my garment bag was still hanging by the changing screen. Pulse quickening, I wondered if I could reach the green towel before she realized she wasn't alone.
The faint rustling stopped, and I shrank down into the bubbles when she strode back in, house afire. Her dark eyes were narrowed in anger and her high cheekbones were red. Posture stiff, she halted, bag still over her arm and apparently forgotten. Her thick, waving blond hair was held back to give her narrow face a stark beauty. Lips tight, she held her head high, her eyes fixing vehemently upon me as soon as she cleared the archway.
So that's what it looked like when hell froze over.
'Who are you?' she said, her strong voice domineering and cold.
I smiled, but I knew it looked rather sickly. 'Ah, I'm Rachel Morgan. Of Vampiric Charms?' I started to sit up, then changed my mind. I hated the question that had crept into my tone, but there it was. 'Course it might have been there because I was naked except for bubbles, and she was standing in four-inch heels and a casually tasteful outfit that Kisten might pick out for me if he took me shopping in New York.
'What are you doing in my bathtub?' She gazed disparagingly at my healing black eye.
I reached for a towel and dragged it in with me, covering myself. 'Trying to warm up.'
Her mouth twitched. 'I don't wonder why,' she said sharply. 'He's a cold bastard.'
I sat up in a rush of water as she walked out. 'Trenton!' her voice rang out, harsh against the peace I had been wallowing in.
My breath puffed out, and I looked at the soaked towel clinging to me. Sighing, I got up and opened the drain with my foot. The water swirling about my calves settled and began to escape. Ellasbeth had thoughtfully left all the doors open, and I could hear her shouting at Trent. She wasn't far away. Perhaps as close as the common room. Deciding that as long as I could hear her out there, it was probably safe enough to get dried off in here, I wrung out the soaked towel and grabbed two new ones from the warmer.
'God save you, Trenton,' came her voice, bitter and abusive. 'Couldn't you even wait until I was gone before bringing in one of your whores?'
I reddened and my motions to dry my arms grew rough.
'I thought you had left,' Trent said calmly, not helping matters. 'And she's not a whore, she's a business associate.'
'I don't care what you call her, she's in my rooms, you bastard.'
