is it, Noah?” Hannah asked quickly, her hand lifting to her throat, where she nervously tugged on the lovely ruby choker her husband had given her on their wedding night. She was not one to get rattled easily, but the habitual fingering of the jeweled choker was a dead giveaway that she was disturbed.
Each of the three Demons standing in the flourishing arboretum was well aware of the recent troubles that had begun to plague the Nightwalker races. Legna herself had become a victim of these happenings when she had been Summoned by four necromancers intent on stealing her powers and those of her fellow Demons for their own ends and uses. If not for Providence’s divine intervention and the newly birthed skills of a befriended Druid, Legna would be dead. Or worse. Hannah’s fear was well founded under these circumstances.
“There is no new news for you to feel threatened by at this time, Hannah, so do not fret overmuch. However,” Noah continued, “we were discussing methods of dealing with necromancers should we encounter them in the future. I do not need to tell you that listening to the Enforcers and warriors debate the best tactics to rid us of this threat was not the thing for six-year-old ears.”
“Yes, you are right, my brother. I am sorry. I will go to Daniel at once.”
“Hannah.” Noah took his sister’s arm as she went to hurry past him, turning her gently to him so he could brush a fond finger down her cheek and kiss her forehead warmly. “I love my nephew, you know that. I am worried for him. I do not mean to be harsh.”
“You are King, Noah. It is your duty to worry for us all. And I know that, at this time, it is a heavy burden. I will see to Daniel.”
“And in the future, I will look under the Council table before we begin our meetings,” Noah added, winking at her with humor so that she laughed. Hannah kissed her brother’s cheek and then, with a sudden blurring of the lines of her statuesque figure, spun herself in a collection of smoke that promptly funneled out of the castle via an open space in one of the high stained glass windows of the Great Hall.
Noah turned to face his younger sister, arching one brow to a fairly smug height. Legna lifted a brow back at him, giving him a delicate smattering of applause.
“And I was afraid you would never learn the art of diplomacy,” she remarked, her lips twitching with her humor. “It merely took you the entire two and a half centuries of my life. Longer, actually. You had a few centuries’ head start.”
“Funny how you seem to recall the fact that I am far older than you only when it suits your arguments, my sister,” he taunted her, reaching to tug on her hair as he had been doing since her childhood.
“Well, I can say with all honesty that this is the first time I have ever seen you forgo a good argument with Hannah, opting for peace instead. I was beginning to wonder if you were my brother at all. Perhaps some imposter…”
“Legna, be careful. You are speaking words of treason,” he teased her, tugging her hair once more, making her turn around to swat at his hand.
“I don’t know how you convinced the entire Council that you were mature enough to be King, Noah! You are such a child!” She twisted her body so he couldn’t grab at her hair again. “And I swear, if you pull my hair once more like some sort of schoolyard bully, I am going to put you to sleep and shave you bald!”
Noah immediately raised his hands in acquiescence, laughing as Legna flushed in exasperation. For all her grace and ladylike ways, Noah’s little sister was quite capable of making good on any threat she made.
“I mean really, Noah. You are just about seven hundred years old. One would think you could at least act like it.”
“Legna, these past months I have been doing nothing but act my age. You are the only one who relieves that for me. It is my belief that we should never completely give up that part of us which is childlike, fun loving, and mischievous. And,” he said, moving close enough to brush back a strand of hair that had become mussed by his abuse, his affection for her shining clearly in his eyes, “so long as you continue to keep me young at heart, I will never let you forget to stay that way as well, little sister.”
Legna smiled softly at him, reaching to kiss his cheek warmly in a return show of tenderness and support. She had been teasing him, but she suddenly regretted it, knowing he had been heavily burdened for a very long time with the crying needs of their race. She would let him tease every last hair from her head if it gave him some peace and happiness to balance out his stresses and duties.
“You tell me this and other things like it on a daily basis, my brother.” She paused long enough to take his hand from her face in order to wrap it between her own. “In fact, you have been most attentive for these past five months.”
“There is no harm in a brother showing his beloved sister the measure of his affection,” he countered, following her lead as she led him out of the misty greenhouse.
“True. And you have always been quite attentive to me over the years,” she agreed. “However, Noah, since the Summoning—”
Noah stopped short, pulling his hand free of hers abruptly.
“I do not wish to discuss it.” His voice dropped several dark octaves, a chill of rage lacing behind the low tones. “It is over. The monsters who dared to steal you from me are dead. You are safe and that is the end of the matter.”
“Who is it you are thinking to protect by refusing to discuss this?” Legna confronted him suddenly, finally feeling as if she had dodged the topic for long enough. “Me? As you say, I am safe now, so what does it matter? Do you still think to hide behind Isabella, the one who saved me from becoming Transformed? We must protect Isabella. Isabella is a precious commodity. Isabella, the Enforcer, and her special Druid/human hybrid powers! Oh, let us not reveal how she saved me, or it will give others false hope, possibly put our Bella in danger.” Legna’s tone had gone way past sarcasm at this point, her gray-green eyes flashing with her frustration. “Noah, no one is here but you and me. No one! I want you to turn and look at me and talk to me about why you are avoiding this discussion when there is no one here but me.”
“Legna.” Noah paused, holding his silence while some sort of internal struggle went on behind the green and gray eyes that matched hers in expressivities as well as color. “Words will never satisfactorily describe the profundity of the loss I felt that day you dissolved into nothingness right before my eyes. I swore in that moment that if by some miracle I had you safe in my reach once more, I would never allow anything to put your existence in jeopardy ever again. If I do not discuss these things with you it is because I cannot bear to relive the pain of that moment, nor can I entertain the fear of it happening again without it paralyzing me.” He finally looked up at her, meeting her wide eyes. “This family, as well as this kingdom, cannot function beneath a King paralyzed with fear and pain of such magnitude. I beg you to let this topic rest from now on, Magdelegna. If not for the safety of you and others involved, then for my peace of mind.”
Legna remained still for a moment, her natural senses picking up on Noah’s keen distress, her heart pounding in rhythm with the slightly panicked beating of his. His fear was palpable, and so alien. Noah was the bravest and most steadfast male she had ever known, and it shook her to sense the debilitating emotion from him. But what endangered her feelings more was the realization that he was keeping something from her.
In effect, it was like lying to her. Even if she had not been able to empathize with his feelings, the way his eyes dilated slightly, accompanied by the spike in his pulse and blood pressure, would have given him away. Add to it the fact that she very easily could feel a strong
