Falling Page 7

What was that supposed to mean? Yes, Hugh had bankrolled just about all of her networking opportunities for the past six months, so she could afford to spend almost every night at one of the two hang-outs on the Hill, but she’d also gotten him into a lot of staff-only events so that he could do his job. They had a pretty equal symbiotic relationship, and she wasn’t about to throw that away just because in a past life she and David had been married.

  Yes, she felt something…weird about David, but she didn’t know what that was just yet. It certainly wasn’t enough to make her ditch Hugh, no matter how annoyingly male he was at times.

  There was a very tense-filled silence as the two men eyed each other.

  “Okay, that’s enough testosterone for one night, thank you, gentlemen,” Erin said, putting her hand on Hugh’s shoulder and giving him a little push. “I’m not going to go out with you tonight, so you can leave.”

  He didn’t move. “After you,” he said, not taking his eyes off of David.

  Erin did her best not to roll her eyes. “Fine. David, I don’t think we’re going to get anywhere with our research, so if you don’t mind…?” she asked pointedly.

  He finally looked away from Hugh and back to her. He ran his hand through his hair, not looking happy at all. He gave her a slight nod before heading toward the door. “Give me a call after you’ve spoken to her.”

  Erin could only assume he meant her mother. “I will do that. Thanks.” She closed the door after him but didn’t move from the stairs. Instead, she turned and gave Hugh an expectant look.

  “What were you two researching?” Hugh asked.

  “Nothing. Now, it’s your turn.” She put her hand on the knob.

  Hugh walked up the steps and pressed his hand against the door, keeping it closed. “This isn’t smart, Erin, and you know it. Don’t let this guy and some stupid-ass idea distract you. You’ve got a budding career. You know you’ve got to nurture that.”

  Erin sighed. “Yes. I know. Thank you for the reminder. Now, I’m going to finish my wine and go to sleep early, so…” she turned her eyes meaningfully toward the door.

  “Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow night at the Lounge.”

  “No, tomorrow is the ice-cream social in the Senate Cafeteria. Come on up to my office, and we’ll go down together.”

  He gave her a smile and put his finger under her chin, tilting her head up. A quick brush of his lips against hers to remind her that she belonged to him, and he was gone.

  All Erin could do was exhale and lean back against the door with relief. This was not what she’d expected when she’d invited David over so that she could learn more about the Vallen. She supposed she should feel bad about meeting him behind Hugh’s back, but… Well, she just didn’t.

  She didn’t know what she felt for either of them just now. All she knew was that she needed more information on the Vallen and high priestesses, and she was very confused when it came to her love life—none of which were good.

  Chapter Ten

  David tossed and turned in his bed, pounded his pillow into shape, and then tucked an arm up behind his head. He had no idea what his relationship with Erin was just now.

  He wanted to be with her. He wanted it much more than he would ever admit to her—or himself, honestly. But she clearly didn’t feel the same way, or if she did, she was doing a damned good job at hiding it.

  No, it seemed that all she wanted from him was information. Information about the Vallen and the high priestess. The former he could manage to the extent that he was Vallen and had parents who hadn’t denied him his heritage as hers did. That idea still baffled him.

  Information about high priestesses was completely beyond him, though. He knew nothing about who the high priestess was, if there was one, or anything along those lines. He’d never heard that there was a high priestess, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t. He just didn’t know.

  He supposed he could call his parents and ask them if they knew anything, but it would be better for Erin to just consult with her mom. If she was descended from a high priestess, or was one—and being the seventh child of the seventh child for only goodness knows how many generations—made it really likely that she was and just didn’t know it.

  But that wouldn’t make sense! How could someone be a high priestess and not know it? And if her mother was a high priestess, why would she not allow Erin to use her powers?

  David untucked his arm and rubbed his fingers across his forehead. None of this made any sense. Not his relationship with Erin—where all he wanted was to be with her, love her, and protect her forever—nor any of this Vallen business.

  And he had to figure out some way of helping this kid, Shawn. He had to get him out of jail and into a home where he’d be cared for, encouraged to stay in school, and given opportunities to do something with his life more than just emulate his drug ridden, gang member older brother.

  ###

  “Hey!” The shout came from the far end of the great hall, followed by another exclamation from someone else, and a “Watch where—” from a third.

  I turned just in time to see that little scoundrel, Richard, the armorer’s son, weave in and out and around various people throughout the hall. He had grown at least four inches taller since the last time I saw him, but was still easily recognizable.

  David startled awake. What had he been dreaming? He tried to think, but his eyelids were so heavy.

  Richard looked to be escaping from someone, but trying to look casual at the same time—in other words, as usual, he was up to no good.

  I watched his progress through the great hall. As he neared me, I turned to look elsewhere, and then grabbed him by the ear when he tried to slip past me.

  “Ow!” he shouted, as I caught hold of him.

  “And where do you think you are going to so quickly, boy?” Just as the words left my mouth, I noticed an odd lump under his tunic. I held out my hand and gave him a deliberate look.

  The boy sighed and pulled out a slightly smashed loaf of sweet bread dotted with raisins.

  I couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of me. No one would want to eat that now. No one but Richard himself, for certain.

  I let go of him. “Get gone with you and your bread, but if I ever hear of you stealing again it will be a week in the dungeon, do you hear me?”

  The boy gave me a big grin. “Yes, sir!” He sauntered away, pulling a chunk from his stolen goods and stuffing it into his mouth.

  I turned to find the cook glaring at me.

  “No one could have eaten it,” I said in my defense.

  She just shook her head sadly, turned, and went back toward the kitchens.

  I followed in the same direction but then spied Lady Erinne watching from the other end of the hall.

  My conscience pricked me into heading straight toward her. I had thought, when my mother allowed her to my chamber, that she was to be my intended. Why else would she allow a noblewoman to help me bathe?

  I had been horrified to learn, later, that she was not mine, but my brother Huw’s bride! I was furious with my mother for not telling me this, for allowing me to consider her mine. What had she been thinking when she’d sent the girl to my room?

  The odd thing was, I didn’t know if Lady Erinne knew who I was either. If she made a practice of bedding men she was attracted to or… No, that wasn’t fair. She had been a virgin when I took her. I had proof of it still staining my sheets.

  “Lady Erinne!” I called out.

  She stopped and turned. Giving me a sly smile, she slipped into a room at the far end of the hall.

  I couldn’t help but give a little laugh at her coquetry as I followed her.

  She waited for me and pulled me aside as soon as I entered the room. “My lord, I had hoped to see you again today.” Her smile was filled with such joy, I just couldn’t come out with what I needed to tell her.

  “And I you,” I said.

  She stepped close and pulled my head down to her own. Her kiss was fil
led with such promise and brought forth all of the incredible feelings I’d experienced the day before in her company.

  I didn’t know how she did this—whether it was magic or something else—but every time our lips touched, such a feeling of completeness overcame me. It was as if I were coming home. It felt so right. It felt so good. And my body responded immediately, knowing that this was where it was meant to be.

  “Lady Erinne,” I tried to say, hardly removing my lips from hers. Somehow, I just could not bear to part from her. And yet, I knew that what I was doing was wrong. I knew that I shouldn’t be here with her.

  She belonged to my brother! I had no right to touch her, let alone do all of the other things I had already done and wanted badly to do again.

  “My lord,” she responded, running her hands up my chest and then down to my cock, which was throbbing for her.

  I could only let out a groan as she touched me through my leggings, running her slender, delicate fingers along the length of me.

  Against my better judgment, I stepped her back to the table on the sidewall of the small chamber. I lifted her lithe body onto it and stepped between her legs, parting them and lifting her skirts at the same time.

  Her sex was wet for me. She was so ready, wanting me as much as I wanted her.

  Her fingers loosened the ties of my leggings. Cool air greeted my hot manhood as she pushed my leggings down with one hand and gripped me with her other.

  “Oh, Erinne,” I moaned. This was wrong. This was so very wrong. I kept telling myself this, but my mind and body weren’t connecting. My fingers found her sweet heat, and I played for a moment with the lovely little nub, causing her to squeak and wriggle in such a way that I burned even hotter for her.

  It took only the slightest of movements to bring us together. A gentle shove and I was inside of her. Her canal was so warm and welcoming. I withdrew slightly, only to push even farther in. Out again and farther in, once again, developing the rhythm that quickly took us both to such ecstasy that I was forced to cover her mouth with my own so that our moans wouldn’t be heard outside of the room.

  We leaned our heads together after we both had our satisfaction, panting with our excursions.

  “Oh, Huw,” she whispered.

  She might as well have struck a knife into my heart!

  I pulled away, righting my clothing. I was about to speak. I had to speak! But a sudden commotion in the great hall just beyond stilled my tongue.

  I barely even gave her a look before bolting out the door to see what was happening.

  The tables were being set up for the evening meal. Was that what I had heard?

  I looked about, but all I could see in the hall was my mother disappearing into another receiving room. I sped up to catch her before she disappeared.

  “My Lady Mother, a word, if you will?” I said, as I approached.

  She started at my voice, a look of guilt flashing on and off her face as she spied me. She schooled her expression well, clearly hoping that I hadn’t seen her first response.

  “Daffid, what a lovely surprise. What are you up to today?” she asked, walking casually back into the salon.

  “Happily catching up on all the news that I missed while I was gone,” I told her pointedly.

  Anger and frustration bloomed in my breast. If I couldn’t say anything directly to Erinne, at least I could find out what my mother was up to. Clearly, she had known what she was doing when she sent the girl up to my chamber the day I returned.

  “Oh.”

  “Why did you not tell me Lady Erinne was my brother’s intended? You sent her to me, knowing full well what would happen once we were alone together, didn’t you?”

  My mother’s gaze dropped to floor, giving me the answer her lips did not.

  “How could you do that? You know I would never have touched her had I known she belonged to my brother! I thought she was to be my intended. You led me to believe—”

  “You did not dare…” my brother’s voice growled from further inside the room, stopping my words. I hadn’t seen him there!

  “Huw!” the word whispered from my lips as I peered into the darkness beyond.

  He came forward, a look of pure rage burning on his face. “Do not tell me, brother, that you dared to touch my bride.”

  I could hear my mother break down into tears, but I hardened my heart. This was her fault.

  I took a deep breath. I would not lie to my brother and lord. I respected him far too much for that. “As I just said, if I had known who she was, I most certainly would not have done so.” That I had taken her a second time, not even half an hour ago, knowing full well who she was… Well, I wouldn’t mention that.

  “But you did,” he said, with a slight growl to his voice as if his teeth were clenched together.

  My mother quieted her tears. “Huw just now returned, Daffid,” my mother said, her voice not much more than a whisper.

  “And isn’t this a warm welcome? My mother already pimping my bride out, and to my own brother no less.”

  Pain and shock covered our mother’s face. But it was shame that overtook her expression as her now silent tears continued to fall. “I had to know,” she said, finally, looking from Huw to me.

  “Know what?” my brother asked, taking a step toward her.

  “To whom she was destined,” she answered, retreating. “The prophecy only said that she was destined for a man of this house but not which one. Naturally, when her father came to arrange the marriage, it was arranged for you,” she told Huw. “But I thought there might be a chance that it was Daffid…”

  “And so you gave her to him first?” Huw asked, incredulous that she would go behind his back in this way.

  “It was a matter of who got here first, that was all. If you had arrived before your brother, I would have given her to you—after you had been properly married, of course,” my mother said.

  “But you gave her, instead, to Daffid without the sanctity of marriage?” Huw asked.

  Our mother opened her mouth to say something, but clearly, there was nothing she could say. She had done just that and knew it to be wrong. And yet for me, it had been so right—too right.

  My mother moved forward, placing her hand on Huw’s arm. “Let her go. Rip up the contract. It is not too late. Give her to Daffid and allow destiny—”

  Huw jerked his arm from her reach and turned to me. “I cannot blame you for what you did unknowingly, brother. But understand this, if you touch her again, I will be forced to take action. She is my bride and I don’t care who the fates decided she should be with. She is mine.”

  His words burned within me, and I knew he was trying to use his magic to ensure that I stayed away from her. Unfortunately for him, his magic wasn’t strong enough, and his suggestion was incinerated in my own passion for Erinne. Just the thought of him touching her, being with her, made my fingers itch with the desire to stop him. Physically if necessary, magically if need be, since I was much more powerful than my older brother.

  I swallowed my desires. “Why? Why will you not let her go?”

  My brother turned away. “Is it not obvious? She is to be the high priestess.” He slowly turned back toward me, his lips curving up into an ugly smile. “We will have powerful children. I will father the next high priestess and forever be a part of that line.”

  “But she is destined for Daffid!” my mother cried.

  He didn’t even look at her but kept his eyes on mine. “She is contracted to me. It is I who she will marry. And you will not dare to touch her again.”

  Cursing myself soundly, I bowed to Huw, knowing he was absolutely right in his insistence that I keep away from her. I would have done the same—although not for the same reason.

  The only problem was that I wasn’t sure I would be able to. I wasn’t about to admit as much to my brother, however. Having been with Erinne, having known her, I could no longer imagine my life without her.

  David woke with a start, sitting straight
up in his bed. He couldn’t live without her. It was true. No matter what her relationship was with Hugh, David knew that he couldn’t live without Erin.

  ###

  “You can’t live without her?” Ibrahim asked after David had told him about his dream and his thoughts afterward.

  David threw his hands up in the air and continued pacing around Ibrahim’s lab. “No! I can’t. And I’ve got absolutely no idea what I’m going to do!”

  Ibrahim just looked at him, shifting on his stool. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his white lab coat. “I don’t know what to tell you, man. She’s dating someone else.”

  “Yeah, and she was married to that shit in our last life, but I didn’t let that stop me then.”

  “Sooo, you’re thinking you shouldn’t let her relationship with this guy stop you now?” he said, drawing out the first word probably trying to get a handle on David’s meaning.

  “Yes. What do you think?” David finally stopped pacing and came to a standstill in front of his friend.

  Ibrahim just shook his head. “I think you’re crazy. You can’t just break in on Erin’s relationship just because you had one with her in a previous life. That doesn’t give you any rights now, you know? At least, I don’t think it does.”

  “Shit.” David resumed his pacing. He wanted her so badly, but he knew he was trying to find justification for getting involved with her. Ibrahim was probably right. He stopped. No, he was definitely right. “Then what do I do?”

  “Um, leave her alone?” Ibrahim answered, his eyes widening as if the answer were obvious.

  “I can’t! She’s perfect for me.” He put his hands on his best friend’s shoulders. “Ibrahim, she’s the one. She’s the girl I’ve been looking for— for years. She’s beautiful. She’s smart. She’s Vallen.”

  “That’s great. But she’s not available,” he said, emphasizing the last two words, clearly trying to get this idea into David’s mind, despite the fact that he didn’t want to accept this truth.

  David could hear the frustration in his friend’s mind. He was nearly ready to give up. David sighed and dropped his chin to his chest, his hands to his sides. “You’re right. I know.”