Читать книгу The Blood She Betrayed - Cheryse Durrant - Страница 9

Sweat trickled down Max's back. `I'll pop the boot.'

The boot with the dead body in it!

Even worse: a corpse that Ryan would recognise.

Max pulled the lever as Ryan strode to the back of the Alfa, and lifted the boot lid. It was only because Detective Sergeant O'Neal was still hovering in earshot, that Max didn't turn to Shahkara to beg for some kind of magical escape. Preferably one that would transport them anywhere else.

`Mate,' Ryan declared. `You are in deep trouble!'

Max held his breath as... the boot was slammed shut. He glanced at Shahkara.

`Your father is not going to be impressed.' Ryan's tone, as he returned to the driver's window, was stern but not horrified.

Impressed? His dad would either cut off his toes or send him to military school.

Act innocent! Who's to say he and Shah knew anything about a body in the boot? It could have been dumped there by someone else. After all, they'd given Jack the night off.

`What are you talking about, Ryan?' he managed to ask.

`Liam won't be happy when he finds out you've loaded the boot with crap. Is that gypsum? Never thought you were a greenthumb.'

`Um, it's relaxing; helps with the study.'

`Yeah? Well, I'd clean the boot before your dad sees it.'

`I doubt he'd really care what my car looked like.'

`Probably not. Be careful, okay. You have my number.'

`Thanks mate.' Max started the car, flipped the indicator and drove away. His nerves skittered as he checked the rearview mirror, just in case a police car took chase.

`A boot full of crap,' Max laughed. `I guess the body must have, you know, disintegrated.'

`Yes, but I do not understand why the process was so slow.'

`Do half-Taloners disintegrate more slowly? Maybe Jack was a half-blood like you?'

`I do not know. I concealed my bloodline on Gorias and kept away from the coven.' She had to be half-Taloner because she refused to believe she was a full-blood exchanged with the royal babe at birth. But if neither of her `parents' were Taloners, it meant the King could not have been her father.

`This Ryan Tanner presented as your friend tonight.'

`Yeah, he worked for Dad years ago but he's been a cop for the past five, says it's more fulfilling. He's done okay. He's in homicide, murder investigations.'

`If he is your friend, maybe the corpse is still in the boot and Ryan lied to protect you?'

`He wouldn't do that, not even for a mate.'

`Even so, he has links to your father too. We should look.'

The back of his neck prickled. `You want me to stop?'

`You would prefer to take the word of a friend speaking in front of police authorities?'

`He said the boot contained gypsum — that'd be the `dust' Taloners turn into, right? Ryan doesn't know about the coven so he wouldn't know to describe a corpse as crap.'

`It is amusing that you assume who does or does not know about something that you only learned about yourself this very evening. I remind you that the man who was your trusted bodyguard was exposed as a Taloner and now lies dead in your boot. So, please Max, we need to check.'

`Oh, right. You have a point.' He pulled over sharply, jerked the handbrake on, popped the boot again and turned to her. `Would you like to do the honours?'

Max barely had time to tap out a beat on the steering wheel before she slammed the boot shut and was back in the passenger seat.`Well?'

`Your friend spoke the truth. We can return to your house.'

She wasn't getting out of things that easily! `Unfortunately, our run-in with the police, Ryan in particular, means we have to go to the Laronte ball now, so we don't arouse suspicions.'

`That action is unwarranted. You can tell Ryan we changed our mind and did not attend.'

`We could. But sometime tomorrow someone's going to realise Jack's missing, and this will give us an alibi. Not that I want to spend even three minutes with my dad.'

`In a couple of days, you will be in hiding. And I am tired and not ready to meet more Eartherns tonight.'

He chuckled. `Is that what you call us?'

`It is what the Twilight Keeper calls you.'

`I suppose it's better than muggle.'

`What is muggle?'

`Long story. Well, seven of them.' Max started the car again. `How do you tell the difference between a human and a Taloner?'

`I do not believe there is a way, unless their talons are unsheathed.'

`Well, that's unlikely to happen at Brisbane's social event of the year.' He wondered if the ball could provide some clue about Jack's attack. But if they couldn't even spot a Taloner who wasn't baring his claws, then he had no idea on earth where to begin to search for clues.

`Half an hour then. Not a minute more,' he said.

He headed towards the brighter lights of Mt Gravatt, but his gut tightened as it hit him why the police had been searching cars. `I wonder if the missing kid's been taken by a Taloner.'

`We will not know until he is found with his heart ripped out. Or not.'

Like Ethan. Like the four other teenagers.

`The Rip`n'Stitch must be from the coven.' Or he's a copycat.

`It is a logical assumption, but this is not my concern.'

`Oh, that's right, you have to focus on the Elnara,' he said. `I'm sorry the Taloners have hurt your people so badly. It's just, well, you need to acknowledge that they're obviously causing problems here, too.'

Problems he didn't even know existed a few hours ago.

The sight of the imposing stone mansion that was the McCalden family home churned Max's stomach, and not because the footpath outside the four-metre-high wrought-iron security gates was crowded with paparazzi and placard-wielding protestors. Too soon he'd be caught and choking inside his father's claustrophobic hive and that thought made him want to hide.

`Who are all these people?' Shahkara asked.

`Photographers who take pictures of famous people. And the people with the signs are animal rights activists protesting because there's a rumour Laronte, my father's company, is using animals for research.'

`Is it?'

`I don't know. It's not like you'd get a straight answer from him or any of his cronies on the board.'

Max wound down his window and greeted the ginger-haired man at the gate station. `Hi Alex.'

`Hello, Max.' He glanced at his iPad. `Your father thought you wouldn't be attending tonight.'

`I reorganised my diary. He wanted me here, didn't he?'

`Always.' Alex hesitated. `But who's your friend? She needs to be on the list, Max, even if she's a plus one.'

`Trust me. She's not a terrorist.' Or a journalist.

`I'm afraid I can't—'

`Alex, she's with me. That's gold card access to any McCalden event. Do you want me to phone Dad right now and tell him you're being a pain in the butt? I'm sure he'd like to be interrupted during his speech.'

Where did that attitude come from? Was it only because he didn't want to chicken out in front of Shahkara?

Alex raised an eyebrow, and the sculpted iron gates opened in front of them. `Have a good night, Max.'

Trepidation peeled Max's gut as they approached the three storeys of faux-Renaissance luxury. He had lived here all his life but it had never felt like home. To him it was merely an extravagant jail with decorative pilasters and regal arches. He stepped from the Alfa, tossed his keys to the valet and walked around to open Shahkara's door.

She obviously found plenty that was awe inspiring, as she climbed the wide stone steps. `I have never seen a more stately house. It is as marvellous,' she lowered her voice and breathed into his ear, `as our castle on Gorias.'

Like a kid at Disneyland. Max's heart thrummed at the glow in her violet eyes and the innocent flush of her cheeks. She was too young to be a warrior on a quest.

`But how curiously ugly!' She had spotted the large and eerie mascarons, with their grotesque faces and pointed ram horns, that adorned the walls beneath the first-floor balconies.

`The Romans used them to ward off evil spirits thousands of years ago. They became popular again in the 1800s as a sign of wealth.' And vulgar taste.

`Do they?'

`Do they what?'

`Ward off evil spirits?'

He grinned. `I'm still alive, aren't I?'

They made their way through the foyer, crowded with extravagantly-dressed guests, including a snake-bejewelled Cleopatra and trident-armed Poseidon, until they reached the main hall where Marie Antoinette danced with Julius Caesar and Dracula downed expensive champagne.

Shahkara's armour and weapons meant she blended perfectly with the incredible costumes, while Max's shirt and jeans made him stand out like every boring piker at a fancy dress party. Socialites cast him condescending glances: McCalden's loser son, the one who should have died instead of Ethan.

The ridicule singed his nerves and made him crave a drink to settle the doubts swirling inside him. He was tired of their judgement. He couldn't believe he'd convinced Shahkara to come here. What was he thinking? Relief appeared in the form of a waiter ahead of them. Max needed something to get him through the next half hour, but when he tapped the guy on the shoulder he realised the silver tray had appetisers, not alcohol. Half-heartedly, he grasped a vol-au-vent and popped it into his mouth.

`What is this?' Shahkara managed to snatch something before the waiter darted off towards the next cluster of guests.

`A spring roll,' Max mumbled through the hand that covered his mouthful.

`Interesting.' She nibbled at one end. `Is it named thus to celebrate the Spring season?'

`No, it's…' He stopped and swallowed. `Actually I don't know why it's called that. Do you like it?'

`It is edible but not my preferred sustenance.'

`Well, this gig doesn't offer raw—'

`Not here! Others could be listening.'

`Seriously? It's as loud as a rock concert.'

`You are impeded by your human senses.' She ate the rest of the roll.

Ah champagne, finally! Max reached for a glass as the waiter approached, but Shahkara snagged his elbow. `It is ill-advised to drink before battle.'

The waiter raised his eyebrows.

Please don't let us look like a security risk! He flashed a smile. `She's right. Who needs a drink with a costume as good as hers?'

The waiter nodded and kept right on moving.

Max turned towards her. `We are not about to charge into battle. So I can drink if I want. And I think I'll need to before the night's over.'

She shot him a steely glance. `It is precisely because tonight is not yet over, that you should remain alert.' Her gaze softened. `Is it your brother's recent death that makes you crave alcohol?'

Sure. Ethan, and the emptiness, and my whole stupid life. He glanced at the floor. `It's just an escape. Everyone my age drinks.'

`You are the son of a wealthy merchant, you have vehicles that outpace carriages drawn by teams of the best horses, lights that illuminate your entire city, story-images that move on your wall, so many scientific wonders. So, apart from bodyguards and demons, from what do you need to escape?'

He smiled at her almost joke and his empty soul quivered with hope. `Dance with me,' he whispered.

`What?' Surprise lit her eyes. She glanced around, as if he were asking someone else.

`Give me something to do that doesn't need alcohol.'

She glanced at the other waltzing guests. `Your dancing differs vastly to my world's. I would need instructions.'

`I'll teach you.'

`I… very well.'

Grateful for the ballroom classes his mother had forced upon him as a child, he guided her to the floor and placed his hand at her waist.

She stiffened.

`Something wrong?'

`You invade my personal space.'

We were closer than this when I fell from the balcony. `It's how this dance works. See?' He nodded at the other dancers.

Copying the other women, Shahkara placed one hand awkwardly on his shoulder while the other clutched his wrist. `This is inelegant.'

`You're not fighting monsters. Just relax and have fun.'

She released a breath and some of her tension seemed to dissipate. She stepped on his toes, twice, but neither he nor his feet cared.

`I do not wish to—'

`You just need practice.'

Her lips compressed, as she concentrated on what her feet were doing, but within minutes she was reflecting his moves and their dancing became fluid.

`There you go! You're getting the hang of it.'

Her eyes were aglow and her steps light `It is almost enjoyable.'

Pleasure coursed through his body as they moved elegantly together. They danced through three waltzes before the music ended, as the small live orchestra took a break.

A smile curved her lips and his chest expanded. He lifted his hand upwards to tuck a few errant strands of her hair back behind her ear.

Their eyes locked. Max so wanted to kiss her; wanted to make her breathless. He'd give anything to taste her sweet, full lips.

This woman was dangerous. Not because she was an other-world warrior whose talons could rip his heart from his chest, but because he was sure his pulse stopped every time she looked at him.

Was Shahkara what was missing from his life? And if so, how could he stop her from leaving him once her quest was fulfilled?

His index finger glided down the slope of her neck and rested on the cord that hung behind her cuirass, between her breasts. He wanted to draw it up and find out what hung from it. He couldn't imagine her wearing girly trinkets.

`You pay undue attention to my chest.' Her fingers gripped his shoulder, forcing his gaze back to her face.

`I was curious about your necklace.'

`Your curiosity will prove dangerous.'

`Does it need to stay hidden?'

`That is not your concern.'

He was about to remove his fingers from her neck but, instead, his thumb hooked the cord and he lifted the unexpected weight to reveal a figurine dragon, its silver wings and legs wrapped around the heart-shaped bow of an ancient key.

`Beg Danu!' She snatched it back before jamming it beneath her armour. `Do not touch it!'