seeming to throb with irritation and curiosity.
Luthan said, “She said at least two.”
Silence draped the cloister. He let the statement hang, then bowed—with cooler—to Elizabeth and Bri. “I am Luthan Vauxveau, brother to Bastien, the pairling of Exotique Alyeka. I am also the representative of the Singer, the oracle of Lladrana, to the Marshalls. I sit on their councils to inform her what transpires here.”
“It would be good if she kept us equally informed,” Thealia said.
“The Singer is the Singer,” Luthan said.
“Not the same as the rest of us, that’s for sure,” Calli muttered. She caught Bri’s eye. “A prophetess.”
The leaden weight of exhaustion was ready to flatten Bri. Despite the spurts of adrenaline since she’d arrived, and the various sources of energy that poured into and through her, there was only so much a body could take. Except for a quick nap at Elizabeth’s that afternoon, she’d been going nonstop for too many hours.
“Where do I put this chest?” Luthan asked expressionlessly. From the faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, Bri thought he was under a mental or emotional strain. His hands were sheathed in gauntlets.
“I can take that—” she offered, pushing away from the wall, but the handsome Faucon stepped forward.
“I will carry the ladies’ treasures.” He took the cooler and potatoes from Luthan. “Marian and Calli, if you would show the new Exotique Medicas the way to the suite under Alyeka’s.”
Calli sniffed. “We argued, all wanting you near. Thealia won, but that was when there was one of you.” She shrugged. “Circumstances change rapidly in Lladrana.” She shot a glance at Bri. “A lot of stairs. You hanging in there?”
“Yes.” She had to shift back and forth to feel her feet, but she figured she could manage stairs. The weariness would hold off for a few minutes more.
Faucon waited for Marian and Calli and their men to precede him then took his place between Bri and Elizabeth as they followed. Luthan, still bearing the twins’ bags, fell into step.
They entered the keep and trudged up an endless number of stairs around a tower, went through a door and marched singly through a narrow security corridor to enter a wedge-shaped bedroom in purple. There was one huge bed and a smaller one.
“My valet has arranged for the extra bed and wardrobe,” Faucon said, sweeping the room with a glance. “I will put the food in the dining room.” He disappeared and Bri heard the opening and closing of more doors. When he returned he glanced at Bri and Elizabeth and winked. “Most defensible.” So he’d seen how Alexa had salivated over the potatoes, too.
“Where do you want these, ladies?” asked Luthan, removing the bags and holding them at arms’ length.
Elizabeth gestured to a low wooden chest at the bottom of the big, curtained bed. The room was crowded with the smaller bed, two large wardrobes, a set of chairs, and love seat, all shoved against the large circular wall under a row of windows.
Bri tottered a little and Elizabeth was there, wrapping her arm around her waist, and it felt good to be with her sister again, not alone in this strange dream.
“Thank you all,” Elizabeth said with the authority of a hospital physician.
“You’re welcome,” Marian and Calli said at the same time.
“We’ll leave you alone now, but if you have any concerns, just holler,” Calli said.
“We’ll be back tomorrow morning,” Marian said.
Elizabeth nodded at the same time Bri did.
Faucon stopped before them and raised Elizabeth’s hand to his lips, kissed her fingertips. “Vel-coom to Lladrana,” he said in heavily accented English. Bri got the impression it was his only English and he’d been saving it.
Then he kissed Bri’s hand and she sensed great satisfaction from him. He was pleased he could provide the new Exotiques with amenities. She caught the thought—more emotion really—Which one is mine?
Uh-oh.
But he was gone the next moment, closing the door behind him and Bri was left staring at it and doubting what she’d thought she’d heard. Sensed. Felt. Oh, hell.
They were alone. At least inside the suite, Bri hadn’t heard as many footsteps leave as those who had accompanied them. Guards?
She supposed she could send a mental probe and figure out who was there. Just the idea that she was contemplating such a weird action made her stomach twist.
“Bri?” Elizabeth’s voice was laden with concern.
“I’m hanging in there. Been a long day.” She wondered if anything would happen if she braced a hand against the wall that the bed was against. It was either that or collapse in a heap, so she did so. The pretty pattern wasn’t paper. It was silk. She shook her head to banish gray exhaustion from her vision and saw that Elizabeth had checked out two doors and left them open.
“Study.” Elizabeth pointed left. “Bathroom.” To the right. “Then dining room.”
Bri stared at the bed. Bigger than a California king. Of course the Lladranans were a big people, larger than American average, or American big. They pampered themselves, with beds that big and a damask comforter filled with down atop it.
Elizabeth sniffed. She had a tissue in her hand.
“Oh, Elizabeth!” Bri stumbled to her, found her and they held each other and rocked, as they’d done often when life had overwhelmed them in childhood. Privately, because this was their own twin thing.
Bri, I’m frightened.
Me, too.
You’re the adventuress. Do you think we’re really somewhere else?
Either that or the elevator crashed and we have massive trauma and are either in comas or dead and not moved on yet.
Choking, Elizabeth said, “That’s what I thought. Am thinking. I think.”
“Therefore you is. You always think. But both logic and emotion lead me to believe we’re alive and functioning and in a different, uh, realm. We’re together, you’re not in my dream. Or maybe you are. Should I say something I know that proves to you that I’m me and here?” She thought a little. “I found this really excellent rock group in Sweden and had an affair with the drummer and even followed him around on a European tour.”
“You!” Elizabeth’s head jerked as though from a blow and her arms loosened. Her eyes were wide with shock.
Heat flooded Bri from her feet to tickle her scalp. She winced and gave an embarrassed chuckle. “Yeah. I’m susceptible to lust and infatuation just like anyone else. He found someone who’d flatter him more and dumped me.” Not the whole truth.
Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed and she swept a glance up and down Bri. She raised her hands. “Hey, I’m all right. I can be sensible. No sexually transmitted diseases. No
