Pursued(69)

Then suddenly, the door to her room had been flung open and he had been standing there. “Well, well, well,” he’d said, leering at her in that hungry way that always made her feel like slugs were crawling all over her body, leaving a trail of slime. “Look who’s all grown up and ready to fuck.”

He started to come in the room…if Buck hadn’t come running up the stairs at my call…

She remembered his angry face, his snarl of disappointment as he was denied what he wanted yet again.

“Keep it up, sweetheart. That mangy mutt won’t always be around to get in my way…”

And then I felt so dirty, so wrong. It was the first time I realized it was my fault he looked at me that way. My fault he wanted to…to…NO!

Elise shoved the hateful memory away as hard as she could. She couldn’t think about this now—couldn’t face it, couldn’t bear it. She couldn’t!

***



“Elise? Baby, are you all right?”

She blinked and realized the worried voice belonged to Merrick.

“Okay?” she repeated stupidly.

“Yeah. One minute you were having the time of your life and the next you just kind of spaced out. Fucking scared me.” He frowned worriedly.

Merrick cares. He really cares.

Merrick who was still naked on the bed with her. Who had touched her so gently, so sweetly. Who had made her come and let one of the corpses escape from the vault.

“No,” she said, pushing him away, getting off the bed as fast as she could. “No, I…I don’t feel good. I think I need to lie down—in my own room. Alone.”

And before he could say another word, she grabbed her discarded clothing off the floor and fled.





Chapter Fifteen




“Oh my Goddess…oh no! No!” Lissa stood in the doorway of Minverna’s quarters and stared with horror at the sight that met her eyes.

“What is it?” Councilor Rast came in behind her, his half-spread wings barely clearing the doorway. He’d insisted on coming with Lissa this time, in case the confrontation with the ex-head priestess turned ugly, as it had last time.

And it did, Lissa thought dismally, staring at the stiff body lying in a pool of dried blood. So much uglier than I ever imagined.

“Shit.” The Councilor’s mouth was a hard line and his truegreen eyes were unhappy.

“What is it?” Nadiah was right behind him, trying to see over his wings. “What’s going on?”

“Back. Out. Both of you.” The Councilor shooed both Lissa and Nadiah back out of the room. “Don’t contaminate the scene. Let me look at it.”

Lissa stepped back into the long hallway that ran half the length of the holy mountain feeling numb.

“What is it?” Nadiah asked. “I couldn’t see—what happened?”

“She’s dead.” Lissa buried her face in her hands. “And oh, Nadiah…it looks like…it looks like she killed herself.”

“Killed herself? Surely not!” Nadiah exclaimed. But Councilor Rast’s deep voice confirmed Lissa’s worst fears.

“I’m afraid so. You two can come back in—just don’t touch anything.” Lissa forced herself to follow the sound of his voice and found him kneeling over Minverna’s body with a grim look on his face. “Wish I had a forensics team here to confirm it, but as far as I can see, she shoved a dagger in her eye.”

Lissa’s stomach lurched at the sight of the shiny silver hilt protruding from the ex-high priestess’s unseeing eye. One cold, dead hand was still curled tightly around it, as though she couldn’t bear to let go of it, even in death. “This is my fault! Everything I said to her—everything I did. If it wasn’t for me, she’d still be alive.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Nadiah put an arm around her shoulders. “Of course this isn’t your fault, Lissa. Minverna was a very unhappy woman long before you went to talk to her. You can’t blame yourself.”

But Lissa did blame herself—very much. She could still remember the helpless look of anger and hatred on the older woman’s face, could still hear the snarl in her voice as she promised vengeance. But I didn’t know she’d pay me back like this…pay me back in her own blood! she thought wildly.

“Looks like it happened several days ago. The blood’s mostly dry.” Councilor Rast’s nose wrinkled. “And she smells pretty ripe, too. Amazing it’s not worse, considering the heat around here.”

“She must have done it right after our confrontation.” Lissa felt tears welling up in her eyes and tried to hold them back without success. “I can’t believe this. I knew I hurt her but I never thought she’d…she’d do something like this.”