Waterfall(20)
Clank.
The lock turned decisively.
Celeste lay in darkness again. He had gone daft. She certainly hoped she would not die of consumption as his first wife had. The hairs on her arms rose, and she glanced at the window once more. She was not mad enough to stay in this room alone. She would use the servants’ doors.
She threw back the covers and stood. Her head lightened, and her stomach dropped. The room swayed in a swirl of dark haze about her. She grasped for the bed pole, missed, and gained purchase on the coverlet. Shaking to her core, she sat back down on the bed. Oh, the room continued to spin. She was unwell.
“He is up to something.” Carmen’s voice echoed in Celeste’s ears. “That window was not left open by him.”
“Oh, and you think that was the peculiar moment this night? How about the fact that he knew what happened in the bath, and his saying that me being with Jordan was what he wanted? That is peculiar and frankly makes my skin shiver.” Her head pounded. Maybe leaving the room was not an option. She needed to lie down.
“Indeed, that is out of sorts as well, but the window… I know who opened it.”
And she was supposed to simply accept that answer? She pulled back the covers and flopped back into the bed. “Well, who, Carmen?” she managed to mumble.
“Jordan’s brother, Ilmir.”
Her eyes fell heavy. She needed to close them just for one moment. Carmen continued to chatter on in her mind.
“Something more than what is seen is turning the events here. Havanis.”
“Havanis? Pardon? This is all mad talk. Who is that? Who are you?” Her voice sounded distant to her own ears.
“I am the one who caused the brothers’ pain. I should have known Havanis was too clever. I was blind.” Carmen’s voice filled with sorrow.
She worked her throat, struggling to push the words from her mind.
“No sound, Celeste?”
Her heart jumped to a dull thud in her chest, but she could not move.
“You are a strong woman, Celeste. Whatever he gave to you, you will be fine. You simply do not realize the power you possess.”
The world slowly slipped from her consciousness.
Chapter Five
Jordan swung down from his carriage in front of the Duke of Hudson’s London estate. He hummed a lively tune as he went up the cobbled walk to the large front door. He would talk to Hudson, and they would make a deal, no matter how long it would take. Hudson would understand. Then Jordan would take his beauty back to Blood Cove and show her the answers to all her questions.
He would hold her hand the entire way on the carriage ride to the beach. The smell of orange blossoms and candied cherries would fill the air in the confined space. He would start on the journey of getting to know her by asking questions. Who is your favorite author, what musical instrument do you prefer, and do you like to swim? His entire being lit from the inside with happiness he could not contain. He’d found her. Her! She was his, for all time.
But first he needed to deal with Hudson. Hudson was aware of the power of the Zir brothers and of how long they had searched for their origins. He would simply explain to the duke that his new wife was the key to Jordan’s existence, that she was Jordan’s Zir soul partner, the mate he had searched five hundred years for. Hudson would understand what needed to be done. He was, after all, friends with the stranger elements that drifted in and out of the Ton. Jordan took the steps two at a time up to the porch and yanked the door pull.
He stared at a pronounced stripe of wood grain in the large door.
And waited.
Odd he had never noticed that stripe before. He pulled down on his waistcoat and cleared his throat.
And waited.
Bloody hell. He never had to wait to enter. What torture this was. Why was the butler away from the door?
He leaned to the side and with as little grace as possible peered through the tall, wavy glass window that flanked the enormous walnut door. Invisible shards of ice swirled about Jordan’s ankles and shot straight up his spine. He tensed his stomach, and visions of each room in the house rushed at him.
She was not there.
No one was.
What in hell was amiss now? Where was Celeste?
The vision of her in a carriage flashed to his consciousness.
Rough rope dug into the delicate skin of her wrists and the side of her jaw, and her shoulders ached with pain. Her heartbeat rapped a steady drum in her chest. Hudson sat opposite her with his skin snow-pale and eyes filled with the now-glowing sun.
Damn it. Jordan hated the way Hudson leered at Celeste. Her hands lay wrapped in a tattered rope and… Hudson had shanghaied her by force.
Bloody hell. This was the one time he wished he was Ilmir. Jordan couldn’t transform into air. He clenched his jaw and fisted his hands.