Destiny Redeemed Page 14

  Before the end of November and just days after making his promise to her husband, he made his way to their home just a short distance from his home in Hinwick. As if fate blessed and aided his endeavors, as he rode his horse to their home, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour soaked him to the bone. Their maid opened the door to find the man she greeted looking like a drowned rat. After leaving his name, he was allowed entry into the home and within minutes, the lady of the house was attending to him to ensure he didn’t succumb to a cold.

  As she talked about the effect of chill on the body, she led him to a bedroom where he could change into some of her husband’s dry clothes. Other than looking forward to shedding his soaked clothes, he cared little for the polite conversation. He was far more interested in her.

  Away from the ball, she wore plainer dress, but she was no less stunning. Her red hair, pinned up, framed her oval face beautifully, and her green eyes were just as gorgeous next to a pale pink dress as they had been next to her blue ball gown.

  “Mr. Blake, if you’ll wait in this room, I’ll return with a set of dry clothes.”

  Riordan walked past her into the bedroom and began to undress after she closed the door. By the time she returned, he wore only his breeches and boots, his broad chest bare. She knocked softly on the door and when he intentionally didn’t answer, she opened the door and entered the room.

  Stepping out from behind the door, he blocked her exit and smiled at her embarrassment at seeing him half undressed.

  “Thank you, Victoria,” he said quietly as he reached out to take the clothes from her hand. Instead of merely taking the garments, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to his naked chest.

  “Victoria,” he said almost as a groan.

  “Mr. Blake, please let me go. This isn’t right.”

  Riordan heard none of the true protest or fear that would be present in her voice if she truly wanted him to let go of her.

  “Riordan. You may call me Riordan, Victoria.”

  Shyly, she lifted her eyes to his. There was desire in those beautiful eyes.

  “Riordan, please don’t,” she begged.

  He let go of his hold on her arm, and when she made no move away from him, he put his hand to her face and stroked her cheek tenderly. Closing her eyes, she sighed and a tiny moan escaped her lips.

  His hand left her cheek and trailed down her neck to the swell of her breasts. Her breathing quickened, and they rose and fell as he watched them.

  “Please, Riordan. Don’t do this. I’m weak from being alone so much and can’t tell you no.”

  Dropping his head to softly press a kiss into the tender flesh at the top of each full breast, he looked up and smiled devilishly. “That’s exactly what I want to hear.”

  Before she could protest any further, Riordan’s mouth covered hers, his desire to have her surprising even him. Her hesitancy spurred him on, exciting him to take her hurriedly right there in a bedroom of her home, only a wall separating their coupling from the rest of the household.

  To his pleasant surprise, the beautiful wife of Bedfordshire’s most tedious gentleman was a smoldering woman with a deeply passionate side. Never truly uttering any real protestations against his actions, Victoria quickly met his desire with her own.

  Their first time together was a rushed affair, but Riordan knew it wouldn’t be their last. As he left wearing the other man’s clothes, he knew he had something far more valuable of Harold Adams’.

  By the spring, Riordan no longer had to pretend to check in on Victoria to see her. Left alone so often, she basked in the attention Riordan paid her and eagerly sought him out. A tiny cottage on the outer fringes of his estate provided him with a place for their trysts. Often up to three times a week, she’d come in response to his summons, always happy to see him and thankful for their time together.

  But the reasons for her husband’s frequent absences disappeared by the time summer had begun, and Victoria couldn’t be at Riordan’s beck and call. This change angered him and his unwillingness to understand that she was another man’s wife above all else more than once threatened to expose her behavior to the world.

  Amon clenched his jaw at the thought of how he’d treated Victoria. Forced to admit his behavior at his trial before being sent to Nil and having a full year to think about his deeds, his memories now forced him to admit that his callous mistreatment and later her death were the culmination of over a year of selfish actions toward a kind heart that had genuinely loved him. The truth of who he’d been to her tormented him and turned his stomach.

  “The cottage is big enough to feel like a tiny home away from home,” he heard her say as he slipped his breeches back on.

  “Compared to Hinwick Hall, this is nothing, Victoria,” he said dismissively.

  He saw the crestfallen look cross her features and the tears begin to well up in her eyes. Too late, he realized what his words had sounded like to her.

  He fastened his breeches and reluctantly walked over to the settee where she sat looking dejected. “You know I didn’t mean that the way you took it,” he said, lifting her chin with his finger. “You know what I think of you, Victoria.”

  A pout formed on her mouth, and he frowned. He hated when she pouted—hated the effect it always had on him.

  “What do you think of me, Riordan?” Her green eyes stared at him as they did when she wanted the truth.

  “Do we have to do this now? Why do we have to ruin a nice afternoon together?”

  “Riordan, I know the reality of who we are. Harold is my destined one as Frederika is yours. I don’t expect permanence or even marriage in this lifetime, but I need to know how you feel about me.”

  She’d freely expressed her love for him often, and he’d long ago taken for granted that she truly did feel love for him. He’d never told her he’d loved her even once because he didn’t think of their time together in those terms. She made him happy and broke up the boredom of a life he was forced to live. If there was more to them, he never thought about it.

  “You’re my Victoria. That’s what I think of you,” he said as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

  After she’d gone, Riordan thought about ending his time with her. She was beautiful and gave his body more pleasure than he’d had in years with his wife, but perhaps her feelings were becoming a problem. However, as he had each time he’d considered giving her up, he decided she was worth having enough to tolerate her occasional outbursts of emotion.

  Riordan continued to take her for granted while his behavior with the woman he’d known for seventeen lifetimes grew less and less acceptable. Frederika had come to him as Sevine, a young Aeveren instantly in love with a more experienced Aeveren, but his abuse of his powers finally pushed her away, and no amount of land or money would make her remain with him. Lifetimes of manipulation of those closest to him finally came back to haunt him when Frederika did what few Aeveren destined ones ever did: refuse their mate.

  Unable to manipulate her one last time, Riordan found himself alone in the world, refused by the one Aeveren biology had chosen for him. Turning to Victoria, he took all he desired, even convincing her to leave her husband and daughter for him. In love, she was an easy target, and it took few promises to make her leave those she loved for him. But she wasn’t enough. After years of nothing, he wanted everything—gambling, drinking, and women. Above all, women.

  Amon held Thea to him as his mind replayed the day he left Victoria. The vision of her standing in front of him, as she begged him to stay with her and he callously disregarded her, a woman who’d given her heart and soul to him wholly and willingly, gnawed at his conscience.

  As he thought about those last moments with Victoria, Amon’s chest tightened. His eyes closed, he saw the face of a woman who’d loved him wracked with sadness as he heard the cavalier words he’d used to let her know just how little he’d truly cared about their time together. Those words had haunted him in Nil after learning at his trial that alone, cast
aside by him and without her husband and daughter, she’d taken her own life.

  Now, as he experienced the loss of Victoria through his memories, he felt hollow inside. He looked down at Thea and questioned whether any man had ever treated her as he had Victoria.

  Had she loved unconditionally and been abused in return?

  Had the selfishness of another destroyed her sometime as his had destroyed Victoria?

  Amon felt his heart harden at the thought of Thea’s kindness turned against her like that. Holding her to him, he silently begged forgiveness from the woman he’d mistreated all those lifetimes ago and the woman who innocently lay sleeping near him.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Kiril heard the phone ring but chose to ignore it and instead rolled over and buried his head in the pillow. When it stopped ringing, he promised himself to put the ringer on silent at night in the future and closed his eyes hoping to get back to sleep. Seconds later, it rang again, and he angrily rolled onto his back and grabbed the phone from the night table.

  Before he could get the nasty words he planned to say out of his mouth, a voice came through loud and clear. “Gault, when I call you, you’d better pick up by the second ring, not the second call. Do you understand me?”

  He understood clearly the man on the other end of the line was powerful enough to rightfully make the demand, so he quietly agreed to it. He listened as the news he’d expected came through. Knowing his allegiance to the caller trumped any favor he held for anyone else, he accepted his instructions without protest and slowly closed the phone.

  Dressing quickly in a robe, he called for his aides, and as he waited for them, he considered the task just assigned to him. Messing with powerful Aeveren was dangerous and something he preferred not to do. He’d, therefore, worked very hard to ensure the Soren remained on friendly terms with them. Now he’d be forced to abandon that policy.

  His aides filed in, took their places in front of him, and awaited their orders. Kiril folded his arms across his chest and smiled. Today, he’d give orders unlike any he’d ever given.

  “Cancel the new girl for today. I’ve got another one coming. She’s not human, so I’ll let you know the particular details about how I want her handled before she gets here.”

  The group of men stared back in confusion as he finished speaking. “Not a human? Then what?” one of the aides asked.

  Kiril’s grin grew wider. “An Aeveren, gentlemen, and not just any Aeveren. A healer.”

  *

  Ryu entered the rooms of the head councilman with more than a little trepidation. He’d never been summoned to meet privately with the head of the Council at Nil and was sure this first time wouldn’t set a good precedent.

  The room he was escorted to was the councilman’s office immediately adjacent to his living quarters. It looked like any office would with a desk, bookshelves, and filing cabinets, but Ryu was struck with the opulence of the setting. He slowly ran his fingers over the top of the mahogany desk and admired the craftsmanship of the piece. His eyes traveled to the leather office chair behind the desk and the matching couch on the far side of the room before he saw the floor to ceiling mahogany bookcases full of obviously rare and expensive editions of famous Aeveren works and priceless art pieces.

  Not a bad life, if you can get it.

  “I’d trade it all for the only treasure that ever meant anything to me,” a voice said sadly behind him.

  Ryu turned to see the councilman standing in the doorway to his office. The man’s usually stern features seemed softened for a moment but quickly changed back to their usual appearance, and Ryu’s gaze was met with a flinty stare from cold, gray eyes.

  “Please be seated, Mr. Jansen.”

  Across the desk, the most powerful man in Nil sat with his hands folded in front of his face, fingers steepled. Ryu studied his pose and waited for him to explain about the offer he’d not been able to refuse.

  “I called you here to enlist your help in an additional aspect of the Amon Kalins case.”

  “Additional?” Ryu asked confused. “Is there something more the Council would like me to do beyond capturing him and returning him to Nil?”

  “Mr. Jansen, your file indicates you spent a lifetime in the British Isles. How did you find that life?”

  Unsure of where this was leading, he generically answered, “Fine,” and waited for the councilman to continue.

  “Nineteenth century England, if I’m not incorrect.”

  Uneasily, Ryu’s mind ran through the major events of that lifetime as he nodded in agreement. A lifetime as an industrial worker, it had been nondescript compared to others he’d had and certainly not a worthy topic of discussion for his first private meeting with the head of the Council of Nil.

  “I so wish I could have seen the greatness of the empire,” the councilman said in a faraway voice.

  The men sat in silence, and Ryu watched the other man’s features soften and then harden once again. When the councilman spoke again, his voice sounded as harsh as his expression looked.

  “In addition to capturing Kalins, you are to take his destined one to a location to which I’ll provide directions.”

  “The healer?” Ryu asked in a voice that only partially told how shocked he was.

  “Yes. You will transport her to the location I give you.”

  “Before or after I capture Kalins?”

  The councilman smiled. “This is why I had you recalled, Mr. Jansen—for your superior abilities. Before you get Kalins, if you will.”

  Ryu took a moment to once again go through the list of advantages Kalins possessed. Sighing, he wondered why the councilman seemed intent on making the job harder than it needed to be.

  The councilman squinted his eyes angrily and answered Ryu’s unspoken question.

  “Amon Kalins needs to feel the pain of losing his destined one because of something other than his return to Nil.”

  Ryu chastised himself for forgetting the man’s ability to read thoughts, and the councilman’s face broke out in a smile.

  “Mr. Jansen, there is really nothing I can’t know about you with the power I’ve been given here. It’s an indispensable tool for the head of the Council to possess.”

  Lulled into forgetting where he was for a moment by the man’s change, Ryu asked, “You didn’t possess this power in your lifetimes before here?”

  “No. I was a very common Aeveren for my time before I was offered a position on the Council of Nil. As many of us even after the twentieth lifetime, all I could boast of was a heightened sense of awareness with others, but even that I can’t say I used as effectively as I should have.”

  As he listened to the man, Ryu felt as if he were intruding on a memory. Hoping to escape what had become an uncomfortable situation, he carefully guided the conversation back to the new requirement that had been imposed.

  “Other than finding the healer and taking her where you want me to, is there anything else I should do?”

  The councilman shook himself out of his thoughts and rejoined Ryu in the present. “Make haste, Mr. Jansen, in your fulfillment of this council’s demands. Get Amon Kalins back to Nil where he belongs.”

  When he finished, he slid a paper with the location Ryu was to take Thea to. As Ryu took the paper, the councilman rose from behind the desk.

  “Mr. Jansen, complete this assignment quickly and I’ll ensure your future with the Aeveren council of your choosing.”

  As Ryu left the Council of Nil, he removed the paper from his jacket and looked at the address.

  London.

  *

  Amon opened his eyes and looked over at Thea still sleeping quietly next to him. Hours of tossing and turning over his past left him exhausted, but worse was the fact that today was the day he was to take Gethen home. This day had been a long time coming, he knew, but that didn’t mean he didn’t dread it all the same.

  Thea awoke and took his hand in hers. Raising it to her lips, she kissed the back of it as s
he looked into his eyes. “What’s on your mind that’s bothering you?”

  Amon remained silent for a moment and then said, “We leave soon to take Gethen back to his people.”

  Stroking his cheek, she seemed to understand his pain. “I’m sorry, Amon. I know Gethen is dear to you.”

  He smiled briefly and let out a sigh.

  “Amon, what else is bothering you?”

  A dozen things ran through his mind that he couldn’t tell her. He’d always heard that at some point everyone’s past catches up to him and for the first time in forty-seven lifetimes, he saw how true this was. And it was different than having to answer for his crimes to the Council. Then his biggest fear had been the loss of his freedom. Now with Thea, he felt a different fear. Now he feared losing her—her love—because of who he’d been all those lifetimes.

  How could she remain with a man who’d done the things he’d done?

  He couldn’t let her find out. Now, more than ever before, he needed the present to be more important than the past.

  He ran his fingers gently over the lock of hair that rested near her cheek and silently pledged to do whatever he had to do for her to never know the truth of whom he’d actually been.

  “Nothing else, Thea. Just Gethen’s leaving.”

  Slowly, he rose to his feet and extended his hand to her. “Time to get ready.”

  Pulling her close to him, he kissed her head and hugged her. The feel of her arms around his body made him forget for just a moment everything that tortured his mind.

  “I’d stay here, like this, holding you for the rest of time if I could,” he whispered.

  As Thea left for a shower, Amon thought about where they’d be going, a place he hadn’t been since right after he’d left England lifetimes ago. Almost two hundred years had passed since he’d set foot in the Irish countryside, and while the land of humans and Aeveren had changed greatly, he knew the world of the Sidhe had remained as it had been throughout time. A place of magick, the kingdom of the Sidhe was forever untouched by the changes of the outside world.