Torn. Part 19

"That guy-he was using magic! And it hurt!"

She gave me a pitying look. "Rivening does, I've been told. He was invading your mind, taking control over you. It's absolutely forbidden among Arcs, but . . . you're Flat. You don't count."

Of course I didn't. "Luc left me there to be picked off?"

"No. You carried the protection of his House, until you accepted an offering-your drink, in this case-from the other one. In doing so, you stepped outside the wards Luc had placed around you."

"Wards?"

"Shields." She lifted a hand, and the air around me stirred. You carry some with you still . . . powerful ones, placed by another. But whatever spell Luc worked on you dissipated the moment you shared a toast with that one."

Luc put a spell on me? Without my permission? I'd kill him myself, once we got out of here. If we did.

Luc and Gla.s.ses Guy were grappling on the floor, everything was disintegrating in front of me, and I couldn't stand on the sidelines any longer.

"This truce-it applies only to magic people? Not to Flats?"

Niobe considered, turning the full force of her smile on me. "Any action you take here will not be held against either of them; you are entirely free. That's a unique situation among our kind. I would have thought you entirely at a disadvantage, but perhaps I was mistaken."

"Don't be so sure," I said. Luc lashed out with a kick to the side of the guy's knee, sending him into the crowd. Someone helped him to his feet and shoved him toward Luc. As the crowd pressed in, my line of sight was blocked.

"Why aren't they helping Luc? Everyone saw what that guy did to me! Shouldn't someone do something?"

"Your attacker violated no laws," Niobe said patiently. "And Luc won no friends by bringing you here. The Dauphine is considered a refuge from the Flat world. Most view your presence here as an insult."

Through the gaps, I spotted Luc as he fell backward. Gla.s.ses Guy tackled him, jamming his elbow into Luc's windpipe. I stopped thinking and pushed toward them, s.n.a.t.c.hing up a beer bottle from a nearby table. Luc was struggling to get up, but the other guy punched him in the stomach, hard, his face twisted and blotchy with rage.

"She won't be enough," he snarled at Luc. "The prophecy's been broken, and no Flat girl can restore it. She'll die before she gets the chance. The Torrent will cleanse the world and then the Seraphim will ascend. We will restore our world to its place of power, purify the lines. She won't be-"

I slammed the bottle into the back of his head and it shattered, some of the gla.s.s flying back and catching my cheek. The impact knocked him off Luc and onto the floor, stunned. For a second, Luc gasped for air. Then he rolled to his feet and grabbed the neck of the bottle from my hand. As the stranger struggled up, Luc barreled into him. The crowd parted as Luc pinned him against the wall next to the stage, pressing the jagged gla.s.s against the guy's throat. A trickle of blood welled up and he froze, eyes rolling back in his head. The crowd quieted. Even the singer had stopped, her shimmering dress falling still.

Luc's voice was quiet and lethal. It carried across the hushed room.

"I would drop you here, homme, but instead, you get to play messenger boy. Go back to your people. Explain to them how you f.u.c.king failed tonight. Tell them the girl is off-limits. Tell them that I'm comin' for them. Tell them that when I do, I will turn their bones to ash. I will bring about the prophecy, and their cause will be over before it even starts. And when they kill you for your failure, which they will, remember they're bein' more merciful than I ever would."

He pressed harder on the bottle, the blood coming faster. He ordered over his shoulder, "Mouse. Get over here."

It seemed smart not to argue.

"Grab tight," he said.

I linked my arms around his waist, and his free arm went around me as he slashed a door next to us, wrenching us Between.

CHAPTER 18.

We fell into Luc's apartment, our arrival clattering in the quiet darkness. His arm stayed firm around my waist, his hand tight on my arm, and he never broke stride, propelling me toward the couch as I stumbled over my feet, trying to catch up. He shoved me the last little distance, and I landed with an ungraceful thump and grunt. He ignored me and went to the sideboard, poured several fingers of bourbon into a gla.s.s, downed it, and poured again.

It was infuriating, his ability to go Between without a hitch. Bad enough I had to rely on him to ferry me through, but it was so d.a.m.n easy for him, like dancing, while I flailed around like an idiot. Everything was easy for him. He knew the rules, he knew the players, he knew how all the magic worked. He'd been born to it, like he'd said, while I felt like I was watching a j.a.panese movie with Swedish subt.i.tles.

I brushed at the wetness on my cheeks. My fingertips came away b.l.o.o.d.y.

Another sign of how far gone things were, that I could look at my crimson-streaked hand and feel annoyance instead of shrieking panic.

Luc came at me, gla.s.s in one hand, bottle loosely grasped in the other.

"That was stupid," he said. His voice was icy and his eyes were hot. I wanted to shrink back into the soft leather of the couch, but I was wobbly from the jump, and angry about the spell, and most of all, I was right, so I wiped my fingers on my jeans and sat up straighter.

"That was useful," I shot back. "You said we needed to find out which alliance gave the order to kill Verity. Now we know."

He slammed the gla.s.s down on the table so hard I thought it would crack. "There were better ways. Quieter ways."

"I'm tired of being quiet! You're the one who wants me to save your stupid world! You should be freaking thrilled I finally did something instead of waiting around." He was still standing, towering over me, and I shoved off the couch to stand toe-to-toe with him.

"Jesus, woman! You been ignorin' every d.a.m.n thing I've said since the day we met, and tonight you decide to make some noise? I sat you down at the d.a.m.n bar and I said, *Don't move. Don't talk to anybody. Just wait here and don't make a fuss.' That's when you decide to play ball?" He shook his head disgustedly and took another drink.

"I'm not a golden retriever," I snapped. "You don't pat me on the head and tell me to stay, you a.s.shole! Why did you bring me if I wasn't supposed to do anything? Why the h.e.l.l did I blow off the newspaper? And sneak away from Colin? To sit at a stupid bar? Screw that! We're supposed to be partners!"

"That was your idea."

"You agreed! So treat me like one. Niobe said you did some sort of spell on me-and you just neglected to mention it?"

He folded his arms. "It's a small working. If you accept food or drink from someone, you're under their House's protection, like a guest. Not even a spell, really, just a custom. If you weren't in the habit of letting strangers buy you a drink, you would have been fine."

"Don't blame this on me! I can't follow the rules if you don't tell me what they are! If we're partners, you need to tell me things. And you don't get to shove me off to the side while you go after the people who did this." I paused, a sudden insight flashing through me. "That's why you're so mad. I got the information, not you. But I got it. The Seraphim, whoever they are. That's what we wanted tonight, right?"

His face darkened, a flush spreading across his cheeks like fever. "What I wanted was for you to stay out of trouble, not start riskin' your neck. You're lookin' for revenge, and that's fine. I'm all for it, Mouse. But let's be real clear-it ain't worth your life. I need you alive, even if you don't seem to care."

My stomach clenched-with anger, or shame, or some mixture of the two, and I stared at my hands, twisting them together. I sank back down on the couch, all the fight gone. Funny how I'd stopped missing Verity, just for a minute, when Luc set me off. Now it rushed back in.

"I wasn't . . . you don't . . . I promised her," I said finally, and now the dampness on my cheeks wasn't blood.

"I know." The harshness was gone from his voice, leaving behind sympathy and something else. "It won't bring her back, though. And you can't trade her life for yours. Vengeance doesn't work like that."

He handed me the gla.s.s of bourbon and I curled my fingers around it, feeling the warmth where his hands had been. I sipped cautiously, expecting the burn. Even so, I couldn't keep from coughing a little and wiping my eyes.

"Listen to me, Maura." He sat down next to me, and I froze at the sound of his voice saying my name, so different from anyone else. "You made a promise, and that's a good thing, a n.o.ble thing. It's got its own magic. But you can't risk yourself like that again. She wouldn't have wanted it."

I took another swallow of the bourbon, bigger this time, and let it sear me all the way down. Staring into the gla.s.s, I said, "I ran. In the alley that night. She stayed. I ran."

I'd expected him to be angry, or disgusted. I could even have envisioned sympathy, if he was feeling generous. Instead, he was brusque and practical. "You'd have died. You couldn't help her then. Now you can. But you need to be smart. You need to trust me."

Being smart and trusting Luc weren't exactly synonymous. Everything he'd said and done, from the moment I met him, was only ever a half-truth. More than I'd gotten from anyone else, but still not super-rea.s.suring. No, trusting Luc wasn't smart, but sitting on his couch, angry and bleeding and reckless from the bourbon, I did anyway. He smelled like salt.w.a.ter and cinnamon, sharp and spicy, and his eyes were a clear bottomless green, and all I could do was nod, because suddenly I couldn't breathe.

He touched my cheek, where the flying gla.s.s had cut me. "Looks like you caught it pretty good. Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"So I can fix it. Can't take you home looking like you were in a bar fight. What's Cujo gonna say?"

I had a pretty good idea of what Colin would say-none of it good, all of it loud. "I meant, why do I have to close my eyes?"

He shifted. "Feels strange to have you looking at me, I guess."

"I like to," I said without thinking. "Besides, it's not fair. You're looking at me."

He held back a smirk, only partway successfully. "Suit yourself."

"I will."

He brushed his fingers over my cheekbone and whispered something, words I would never be able to make out, no matter how hard I listened, and the familiar sparkling current coursed over my skin. I wanted to lean into his warmth, let it melt the frozen place inside me, but I kept my focus on Luc's eyes, luminous green and gold now, as if they were lit from within. Even his skin seemed to take on the faintest sheen-of sweat, of magic, I didn't know which, and didn't care, because he was so beautiful. I brought my hand up and traced the planes of his face. Instead of pulling away, his palm curved along my jaw. His thumb brushed my lower lip, feather light.

I shivered, the rightness of his touch making everything hazy.

I stopped breathing, stopped moving, afraid it was only the magic making everything happen and I didn't want to disrupt it. He leaned toward me, sliding his hand behind my neck, pulling me in as inexorable as gravity, and kissed me. His lips were soft-softer than I expected, and even warmer than his skin, and he tasted like bourbon and burnt sugar and secrets, sweet and a touch of bitter, and completely Luc. He was gentle at first, slow, easy kisses, but I nipped at his lip, once, and then there was nothing slow or gentle, only his mouth crashing against mine, lips and tongue and teeth, one hand tangling in my hair, the other one bringing me closer, and I forgot there was any world at all outside of Luc, here with me.

He pushed my hair back, his lips tracing down my neck, and I wanted to laugh, but all I could do was gasp, because it was like fire, a line of heat wherever he touched, and his other hand was sliding down my throat, reaching for the b.u.t.tons of my shirt. They practically melted away, and his fingers slowed, tangling in something....

Verity's ring.

All the heat fled, like a flame doused with ice water, and we both stopped at the same time. Our breaths were deafening. He let go, and I missed him instantly, hating myself for it.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so sorry." Was I apologizing to him or Verity? He was her boyfriend. She'd been dead less than a month, and I was jumping her boyfriend, because apparently my failures as a best friend weren't limited to leaving her to be slaughtered by Darklings, I needed to poach the boy who loved her, too. Luc looked poleaxed, motionless except for his hands, clenching and unclenching at his sides.

"Don't apologize." His voice was rough and dark. He reached for the bottle of bourbon, ignoring the gla.s.s, and took a swig, gripping the neck of the bottle so that his knuckles turned white.

"I can't do this," I said, not looking at him.

"It's not . . ." He scrubbed a hand through his hair, studied the label of the bottle as if it held answers. "It's not wrong, Mouse."

Mouse again. The distance was good, I told myself. We needed that distance. Bad things happened when he used my real name. I didn't miss the sound at all.

"I should go." I pushed up, only a little unsteady, and grabbed for the arm of the couch, curling my fingers around the soft black leather.

He stood up but didn't move toward me. I didn't know if I was grateful or disappointed. "Don't."

"Really, no. This was a mistake." My shirt gaped open, and I b.u.t.toned it up again, my fingers clumsy in their haste, knocking into the ring.

"Because of Verity?"

His hair had felt cool and gla.s.s smooth under my fingers when we kissed. I watched it fall into his eyes again, the urge to push it back somehow painful. Had Verity done that? I could picture them, heads together, hers shimmering fair and his so dark it seemed to absorb the light. Had they slept together? I shook my head to keep the image from coming into focus.

"We weren't like that," he said, breaking the silence. "Me and Vee."

Could he read minds now? Magic sucked. Even if they weren't sleeping together, there was no denying they had some kind of connection. It was written all over Verity's face in her New Orleans pictures; it rang out like a bell every time he spoke about her. Only an idiot would have missed it. Only a fool would try to compete. "You cared about her, though."

A slow, cautious nod. "I did."

"You miss her." It was like pressing on a bruise to see how much it hurt.

"I do." The answer: It hurt like a b.i.t.c.h.

"You said . . ." My throat closed up. "You said you needed her."

"Not the only one who said that."

He took a step closer, carefully, like I would bolt if he moved too quickly. Never let it be said Luc couldn't read women.

"You liked it. Kissing me."

I ducked my head. "That's not the point."

"The h.e.l.l it isn't! You liked it, and so did I, and that's somethin'. That matters."

"Not enough," I whispered. Too much, and not enough, all at once, and the unfairness of it made my heart start to crack. I could feel it inside me, a new fresh ache crowding in with the old. He took my hand, laced our fingers together.

"So, we're gonna fight this? Christ, there's not enough trouble comin' our way? You want to make it harder?"

"It was a mistake," I repeated, shaky. "Please, Luc. Can't we just go back to the way it was before?"

"No. And I wouldn't want to, Mouse, even if we could. Remember that, later." He looked, for a moment, regretful. "Kisses change things. No gettin' around that."

I tugged my hand away, and he nodded slowly. "I'll take you home. But don't think we're done. I keep telling you-no point in fighting fate."

"You're saying this is fate?"

He grinned at me, the way he always did when he knew more than me. "You're saying it's not? Let's get you home."

CHAPTER 19.

When Luc brought me back to the school, he said nothing more than " bientot." Before I could respond, he brushed a light kiss over my cheeks, turned, and vanished.

I trudged back upstairs, fighting back tears. I needed to believe Luc about a lot of things-the Torrent, the Darklings, his ability to take me Between safely-and now all of them fell away. What I most needed to believe was that he and Verity weren't in love. I couldn't betray her by falling for him, and I couldn't trust his feelings for me otherwise. I hadn't decided yet if I'd take Verity's place in the prophecy, but I sure as h.e.l.l wasn't interested in filling her place with Luc.