Me and My Shadow - Katie MacAlister [71]
I let my gaze feast on the house. It truly was superb: a lovely example of Tudor architecture at its finest, all stone quoins, parapets, and a solid, sturdy square center that rose three stories. I’d seen some lovely houses during the last few months with the dragons, but this one made my mouth water. The parkland rolled away from it like green velvet pouring down toward us, the right side ending in what looked to be a yew maze, while the left was a formal garden, right now abloom in a riot of bronze and orange and pink flowers. I fell madly in love with the garden, the grounds, and the house at that very moment.“It’s so perfect. So exquisite. I wonder if Gabriel would like it. It’s very earthy, don’t you think? He likes earthy. I’m willing to bet he likes velvety green lawns, and lovely flowers, and hedges and trees, as well.”
I caught a glimpse of the look Cyrene was giving me just as Jim said, “Great. May’s mind has snapped. Gotta be the voices.”
Fiat continued to ignore us, so I addressed Cyrene and Jim as I gazed with wonder out of the window as we approached the house. “My mind is perfectly sound, thank you. Merciful deities, is that a folly in the distance? Could this property be any more perfect?”
“Mayling!” Cyrene nudged me hard in the ribs. I dragged my gaze off the white iron filigreed structure in the distance, beyond the flower gardens.
“What?”
She glanced significantly toward Fiat. I looked at him. He stared out of the window as if we bored him to death. My gaze slid past him to the sight of a silvery stream that curled around the yew hedges and disappeared around the back of it. “A stream. Of course. Not too deep, but deep enough to splash around in on a long, hot summer afternoon. Just before you stroll behind the yew maze and take a refreshing dip in the lake.”
“Stream? Lake?” Cyrene was momentarily distracted enough by the thought of freshwater sources to shove me backwards so she could peer out of the window. “It does look like a very pure stream. It probably feeds into the lake. I bet the water isn’t too cold to swim in. . . .” She paused and gave me a dirty look. “You did that deliberately. Stop trying to divert me.”
I sighed and made sure Fiat was still ignoring us before I answered in a low voice, “I told you that it’s me Fiat wants to use as a bargaining chip. I’m sure he has some evil plan under way that requires the use of me as hostage to get Gabriel to do whatever it is he wants done. OK? Happy now? Good. Are those mullioned windows? Oh, my, they really are outstanding. Fiat’s taste certainly has improved from that house in Italy. I wonder if he’d consider selling?”
“He wants to steal me for his mate,” Cyrene whispered as we pulled up outside the front doors. I whimpered softly to myself at the sight of the fluted white columns and cut-glass panels on either side of the doors. I wanted this house with an overwhelming need that was almost alien to me, and yet was so familiar I wondered why I’d never felt it before with anything but Gabriel.
Fiat’s two blond bodyguards leaped out of the front to open the car door.
“May!”
The worry in her voice filtered through the house lust that held me in its grip. I shook images of myself strolling through the house from my head, and focused on my distressed twin. “Cy, we’ve been over this several times already—you’re not a wyvern’s mate.”
“I am mate lite. I told you that! And besides, if I wasn’t, why would Fiat want to steal me away from Kostya?”
“Gotta pee. Back in a mo. Don’t go completely wacko until I’m back to see it,” Jim said, leaping out of the car and heading for a shrubbery.
Fiat exited the car. Magoth, still unconscious, rolled off the seat and onto the limo floor, his head thumping like a ripe melon on the floor.
“I can just about guarantee you that Fiat isn’t going to try to steal you for his mate,” I said, patting her on the arm. She was truly worried about such a possibility, I knew, which didn’t ease my exasperation with her, but it did let me temper my voice so it wasn