Pleasure of a Dark Prince

Chapter 23

Garreth found her on the balcony. At once, her slim shoulders stiffened.

As he crossed to her, he marveled again that she was in his keeping at last. He’d pursued her for so long, he had a hard time believing it.

Tonight, he hadn’t wanted to let her out of his sight, but his Instinct had been screaming that his mate was in danger.

He’d just confirmed how much.

Joining her outside, he leaned his forearms on the rail, gazing out at the nighttime scene. With the dense forest closing in all around them, they might as well be in a canyon—a green-walled canyon. Low storm clouds were back building, only adding to that claustrophobic sense.

How he remembered this place. How he’d hoped to forget it.

Finally she turned to him, with her lovely face wan, her expression strained.

“When was the last time you slept?” he asked. After the previous punishing year, he felt like arse. He couldn’t imagine how she felt or how she pushed herself like this.

“A week ago, I think.” Immortals could easily go a couple of days without sleep, but a week was rough. He knew this well—he’d been up for nearly a dozen days.

She’d showered and washed her hair. Now it smelled faintly sweet, like jasmine. “Showering without me, Valkyrie? Last night that will be happening.” And she’d dressed fully again. “Do you think a few extra garments will keep me from my aim?”

“I think I’m not going to be awaiting you in my skimpy lingerie.”

“Maybe no’ yet.” Before she could protest, he said, “You need to tell me about whatever little mission you’re on. Because you’re being followed. Seems quite a few Loreans doona want you to reach whatever you need to ‘attend to.’ So now it’s time for you to answer my questions.”

“Forget it, MacRieve.”

“You’ll blindly ignore that you’re in danger?”

“Because you say so? Oh wait, how did you put it in the meeting? We’re in danger because we’re in the Amazon. Wow, that specific? Really, I better protect myself from… the rascally Amazon.”

“Lousha, I slew two demon assassins just today in Iquitos—they had their swords raised in an alley you were about to sprint by.” He’d nigh missed this boat because of all the beheading he’d had to do in town.

“Then all the better that I’m on the river.”

He gave a harsh laugh. “No’ quite. You see, I’ll be forcibly removing you from the vessel at the earliest opportunity.”

“What?” Visibly making an effort to calm herself, she said, “MacRieve, let’s be reasonable about this. What threat on board has you acting like this?”

“For one, there’s Dr. Clarence Ogilvie Schecter—”

She raised a hand to stop him. “And how would you know his middle name?”

When he hiked his shoulders, her face lit with an expression of dawning realization. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You snooped through their things?”

He’d do that and more to keep her safe. “Aye, while they were upstairs drinking beers.” Turning to the bed inside, he dropped his body and the case atop it. “I dinna want you to feel that you were being singled out for my invasions of privacy.” At her glare, he added, “I’m a Lykae—if I get curious, I investigate. It’s what we do. So anyway, ole Schecter told us he’s no’ studying megafauna?”

“He is?”

“Oh, aye. He’s hunting a goddamned megacaiman.”

“What is that, and what does it have to do with me?”

“Schecter plans to trap a four-ton caiman with this rickety old bark—no’ merely to document one. He’s got that ‘sonic lure’—patent bluidy pending—and enough tranquilizer to make even your glowing sister happy.”

“Now, that is good to know,” she said, tapping her chin. “But it’s still not enough to worry me.”

“Ah, but what about Rossiter? He says he’s hunting for cures, but he’s only interested in one—for Fatal Insomnia Syndrome.”

“What is that?”

“From what I could tell from his papers, it’s an extremely rare genetic disorder. Basically, you lose the ability to sleep. You stay awake until you eventually die.”

“What does this have to do with me?”

“Doc Rossiter’s studying it—because he’s dying from it. So he’s out here with nothing to lose. He’s completely rogue, searching for some rare orchid he believes will hold the cure for the disease.”

“First of all, isn’t it always an orchid? And second of all—so?”

“So what do you think he’d do if he discovered immortality existed? If he determined that we can potentially live forever—or that I could possibly make him immortal?” Not that Garreth ever would. Of all the species in the Lore, the Lykae turned others the least—because of the devastating side-effects.

“And what about Damiãno?”

“He’s got doctored medical records. Definitely no’ human.”

“Then what is he?”

“Maybe a shifter or warlock? Or a demon? If he’s into shamanism, he could be a bluidy witch doctor for all we know.”

“Do you think he lied about what he’s here for?”

“Doona know what his real aim is—but if it’s truly to stop the oil companies, then we’re already being followed. They’ve got mercenaries cruising up and down the river, scanning CBs and sat-phones. A basin-wide intelligence net. Any uncontacted tribe would cost them billions. No one will be reporting a sighting,” he said. “Lousha, those three all know this is dodgy. It’s why they’re on a shite boat like this, hiring a drunk captain who’s ruled by the dollar. So unless you give me a damn good reason to allow you to stay aboard—”

“Allow me?”

“Aye. Second lesson about the Amazon? Might makes right out here.”

“I have to be on this ship. This one in particular.” At his unbending look, she said, “This isn’t about me and you. This is much, much bigger. End of the world big.”

“Then tell me,” MacRieve said, “and I’ll help you.”

Seeing no way around it, she decided to reveal some. “Fine, let’s make a deal. You keep my cover, and no more ordering me to strip—”

“Which you loved and were aroused by.”

“Do you want to know or not?”

He held up his palms. “Agreed and agreed.”

“And we won’t be having sex.”

“Disagreed. You’re acting like you have some bargaining power—I can force you from this ship.”

“Don’t put my back up against the wall, MacRieve. I might strive to be reasonable, but you have no idea what I’m capable of when cornered.”

“Ah, but what are you capable of without drawing human attention? Tomorrow morning, we’re gone.”

“Very well! I’ll tell you,” she said, beginning to pace yet again. “You’ve met Nïx, I’m sure.”

“Oh, when I was locked in the Valkyrie dungeon? After you trapped me?”

She pursed her lips.

“Go on, then.”

“She contacted me just a day ago, told me the world was on the verge of apocalypse. I was to find Rio Labyrinto. The river would hold the answer to our salvation. And before you ask, I don’t know much more. Nïx won’t divvy the details. You don’t know what she’s like.”

“I doona? She would no’ tell me why I had to be in Iquitos at precisely three. All she’d say is ‘Do you want to see your mate or no’, werewolf?’”

“That’s how you got here so fast!” Rotter! “No, she wouldn’t.”

“We both know she would and did.”

Nïx had planned for Lucia and MacRieve to meet. The soothsayer had done him a favor. Why? Nïx might be mad, but she could also be calculating.

A niggling suspicion had been building in Lucia over the last few months. The three-thousand-year-old soothsayer had begun telling people she would soon be a goddess. And that wasn’t just an insane musing—it was actually a possibility.

Nïx had been born of gods, and she’d attained the requisite age—ancient. But most importantly, she was collecting lifelong loyalties, which doubled as worship.

If gods derived strength from the number of worshippers they acquired, then Nïx was growing more and more powerful. Here was Garreth MacRieve, another being who owed Nïx a favor, who’d be thanking her daily for the rest of his immortal life for her help. Like a prayer. Humans might thank God—MacRieve would thank Nïx.

Nucking Futs Nïx a goddess? Lucia wondered if she’d be a benevolent one.

“Doona be angry with the soothsayer,” he said. “If she had no’ helped me, I would’ve eventually caught you anyway.”

“You sound confident. Makes me wonder why you hadn’t before.”

“I had an ace in my pocket that I had no’ yet played.” Before she could question him about his ace, he asked, “So did Nïx happen to give you any directions to Rio Labyrinto?”

Lucia shook her head. “She said I’d have everything I needed aboard this ship.”

“That so?” he replied thoughtfully. “Then she must’ve meant that you’d need me.”

“Why on earth?”

“ ’Cause I’ve been there, lass.”