K T Harding - [Hinterland 02] Read online

  He swallowed hard. “Do something for me.”

  Her throat cracked when she tried to speak. “Anything. Anything.”

  He bent forward and kissed her, but he didn’t linger. He stood up straight to lock his eyes on her. “Leave Dax behind. We’re going down to Hinterland again tonight. I don’t care what you do with him around here. I don’t care if you want to make him into the greatest slayer that ever lived. Just do me one favor and leave him behind. Don’t let him come with us. Leave him here.”

  She couldn’t stop her arms snaking around his waist to draw him toward her. She hugged her breasts against his hips. “I promise. I swear it. If that’s what you want, I’ll do it.”

  He blinked, and his face spasmed with suppressed emotion. He stroked her cheeks. The emotion welling up out of her soul was more than she could stand. She had to explode in tears and orgasm and laughter all at once, she loved him so much. She would do anything for him. If he asked her that way, she would even give up training Dax.

  He bent down to kiss her again, and his mouth collapsed into her, never to break away. He drew her lips into his magical grip, and his tongue lashed inside to light her on fire.

  That kiss came to an end, too, though. He straightened up and put his arms around her shoulders. She laid her ear against his stomach and cuddled her head into his bulk. She held him tight. She would never let him go. He was beyond precious to her.

  He pried her arms away and pushed her back. “Come upstairs with me. I want to talk to you about the investigation.”

  She stuck her feet in her boots, even though she wasn’t leaving the house yet. He took her hand, and they crossed to the door, but the moment they left the room, he let her go. That closeness, that togetherness, stayed behind in her room. Outside it, they were partners, slayers, warriors together.

  She followed him up to his office. She knew the place well enough not to be awed by his inventions and potions and experiments. She understood half the papers on his desk. The other half, she didn’t need to understand. That was his job. She had her own business to attend to.

  He shuffled clutter on his workbench. He pushed his microscope helmet aside, and the distorted eyes stared up at Raleigh. The thing no longer bothered her, but she could never get over the sensation it was watching her.

  Bishop picked up the small leather-bound book Raleigh recognized as his father’s notebook. “Now. I’ve been studying up on the Ten Guilds. My father’s notes list their headquarters in ten different cities on the surface, but if they’re working together to create the Elixir of Life, they must have another, secret place where they meet and carry on their mystic practices.”

  “We don’t know anything about that,” Raleigh pointed out. “Whatever they’re doing together might not have anything to do with the Guilds.”

  “I know. Take a look at this.”

  He pulled out what looked like a book from under a pile of scrap, but when he handed it to her, she realized it wasn’t a book at all. A leather cover folded back to reveal a flat surface underneath. “What is it?”

  “That? That’s just a tablet.”

  “It’s not a tablet. It looks like a slate.”

  “It’s not a slate, but it’s close to it. Look.” He pressed the side of the thing, and it lit up from the inside. The surface glowed white, and a bunch of writing appeared. Raleigh touched the writing with her fingertip, and it moved. It followed her finger around the flat surface.

  She gasped aloud. “What in the world…?”

  “It’s just a projection device,” he told her. “You can read all kinds of stuff on here, but I want you to look at the article on the screen.”

  She couldn’t stop staring at the thing. The stuff he came out with boggled her mind.

  He yanked the device out of her hands with an exasperated gasp. “Just listen, all right? I need your brain working.”

  He dragged his finger around the screen and read.

  The Guild of Musicology met today in the capital city of Pernrith to elect a new Chairman after the late Chairman Morentz’s funeral last week. The Guild spokesman made a statement to the press today to say the Guild expects to introduce several new programs to its already expansive Professional Diploma course at Dunwich University. The Guild developed these programs under Chairman Morentz’s leadership, and the Guild is merely waiting on the election of a new Chairman before opening them to applications.

  Chapter 3

  Bishop tossed the slate—or whatever it was—onto the workbench. “You see?”

  “No, I don’t,” Raleigh replied. “What am I supposed to see?”

  “It’s a news article. It’s a news article about the election of a new Chairman to the Guild of Musicology.”

  “What does that have to do with our investigation?” she asked. “I don’t even know where Pernrith or Dunwich are. I never knew those places existed.”

  “That’s because they’re in Hinterland. Pernrith is the capital of the Hillfar district. It’s the academic district, and Dunwich is the largest University in Hinterland.”

  Raleigh stared at him. “You’re pulling my leg.”

  A smile pinched the corner of his mouth. “Don’t you see what this means? With the Guild of Musicology putting their activities on hold until the new Chairman’s election, the other Guilds will have to put their activities on hold, too. This could be the opening we’ve been looking for to break into their operation.”

  “Don’t you think you’re reading a little too much into this? You said yourself this Elixir of Life project must have been going on for decades, maybe even centuries. The Guild Chair positions must have changed dozens of times since they started working on the Elixir. A little hiccup like this won’t stop them.”

  He shook his head. “Don’t think that way. We’re going into Hinterland to find them, and this time, a little matter like Soto getting killed won’t stop us. We’re going to the source. That’s why I want Dax to stay behind.”

  “What do you mean by the source?”

  He ran his fingers through his hair, and his eyes flashed. “We’re going to Pernrith. We’re going straight into the lion’s den. We’re going to find their headquarters.”

  “That shouldn’t be difficult,” Raleigh replied. “The Guild of Musicology probably has a big castle set up right on the main street.”

  “Not the Guild of Musicology. I’m talking about the cabal—the secret society of all Ten Guilds working together on the Elixir. For all we know, the Chairman doesn’t know anything about it. The cabal could be rogue elements working outside the Guilds’ official frameworks.”

  “That sounds like the more likely possibility, so why are we going to Pernrith?”

  “Even if they are rogues, they’re still connected with the Guilds. Even rogues would have to be highly placed within each Guild to carry out a project like this. One of them is certain to sit in on the election to make sure the Guild elects a Chairman the cabal can manipulate for their ends. The new Chairman might even be a member of the cabal. Wouldn’t that be handy for them?”

  Raleigh shook her head. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you? You really think some secret cabal is working behind the scenes to achieve world domination.”

  He picked up the slate and closed the cover. “Someone paid a lot of money to find that unique twen. They paid hundreds of times more than they would have paid for an ordinary twen. That narrows down the list of possible suspects to a handful. These men will all be at the very pinnacle of their Guild hierarchies. They won’t leave the Musicology election to chance. There’s just one thing I can’t figure out.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I can’t for the life of me figure out who hired me to find the twen in the first place.”

  Raleigh’s head shot up. “You don’t know who hired you?”

  “It was done anonymously. I dealt with a broker who usually sends work my way. He gave me all the information, and he
paid up front. That alone tells me my mystery client must be almost as rich as these Guildsmen. He would have to be to afford my fee.”

  “It must have been someone who knew the Guilds were allying to carry out this project.”

  “Not only do they know about the Guilds’ project, they must be trying to stop it. It could be a rival faction, or it could be another rogue element within the Guilds themselves.” He threw up his hands and turned away. “It doesn’t matter now. We still have a job to do.”

  He strapped the twine around his father’s notebook and locked it in the wall safe above his desk. He took out his other notebook, the newer notebook in which he copied crucial items from his father’s notes. He tucked this notebook into a pocket in his vest. He glanced out the window. “Let’s get going before it gets dark.”

  “I better go get my armor. I left it on the nail behind my bedroom door.”

  “You won’t need that where we’re going. I’ve got something better for you.”

  Raleigh spun around. “What?”

  “Come next door. I want to give you some stuff.”

  For the second time since she came to live in this house, Raleigh followed Bishop down the hall to his bedroom, the bedroom she never slept in, the bedroom where she never kissed him or made love to him. Would she ever get close enough to him for that?

  He opened the hidden weapons cache behind the wall. He handed her the cube weapon he showed her when they went into Hinterland the last time, and she tucked it in her pocket. He gave her a bunch of other stuff he never took the time to explain how to use. He filled his own pockets with weapons of all kinds she didn’t understand, but he didn’t take out the suitcase vehicle she remembered so well.

  “Aren’t we going downstairs?”

  “No, we’re going a different way. We can’t get to Pernrith through the tunnels. We’ll use a different entrance. Here. Take this.”

  He lifted a small metal rectangle off the shelf. He attached it to a sliding clip on Raleigh’s belt. He squeezed it between his thumb and forefinger, and it buzzed against her stomach. “What is it?”

  “It’s an armored shield. It’s much more powerful than the breastplate, and it surrounds you on all sides. Nothing can get through this, and no one will look sideways at you walking around the streets in a suit of armor.”

  Raleigh stared wide-eyed while he clipped another rectangle to his own belt and turned it on. “Where do you get all this stuff? Don’t tell me you invented this, too.”

  “You’ll understand better when you get to Pernrith. You’ll see all this stuff is normal in Hinterland. There’s another whole side of Hinterland you could never believe existed if you didn’t see it for yourself. That’s why I don’t want you to bring Dax. What you’ve seen and what he’s seen—it’s nothing compared to what Hinterland really is. He wants to believe Hinterland is Rekworth’s wolf people and Soto and the marketplace and Fuki’s mining operation. He wants to believe Hinterland is Underlings and ula’ree running around. Well, I say let him believe that. Let him believe Hinterland is something he could defeat someday if he only trains hard enough. If he keeps believing that, he might never find out what Hinterland really is.”

  Raleigh listened. She watched the movement of every muscle around his eyes and mouth as he spoke. She really didn’t know anything about Bishop She could only imagine the things he’d seen and experienced. She couldn’t guess the phantoms haunting him out of his past. She definitely would never understand until she saw as much of Hinterland as he had.

  “We’ll get Dax to take us downtown and drop us off,” Bishop went on. “After he leaves, I’ll show you the entrance.”

  She headed for the door. “I better go down to my room and get my weapons.”

  “You won’t need them,” he told her. “The cube is much more powerful.”

  “I know, but I don’t feel dressed without my crossbow and blade and pistols. Even if I don’t use them, I couldn’t go into combat without them. That’s just the way I am.”

  Raleigh returned to her bedroom. She found her crossbow and her blade in their usual places behind the door. She slung the bow across her back and buckled her blade and her bolt wallet to her belt, but she didn’t find her pistols.

  Then she remembered. They got wet on her last foray to Hinterland. The barrels rusted. The pistols were no good anymore.

  Never mind. She could find new ones in the armory. She skirted the kitchen and trotted down the stairs to the basement. To her surprise, a lighted lantern already hung from the ceiling joist. Dax sat on a low stool under it. He rubbed an oiled cloth over the leather straps of a cutlass scabbard.

  His head swung up, and his hair framed his angular face. “Hello.”

  Raleigh crossed to the pistol racks. “We’re going out to Hinterland tonight. I just came down to get some fresh guns.”

  He set his work aside and got to his feet. “Good. I better get ready, then.”

  Raleigh turned around to face him. “You’re not going, Dax. You’re going to drive us into town and drop us off. Then you’ll come back here, and Bishop and I will go on alone.”

  His eyes widened. “But you said…”

  “I know what I said. I’m training you to be every inch a slayer as Bishop and I are. You’re that close, but you’re not there yet. Even if you were, I couldn’t take you. I gave Bishop my word of honor I would leave you behind. We’re going into dangerous territory, and he doesn’t want you along.”

  He hung his head, and his hair cast his face in shadow. “I should have known. I should have known it was all too good to be true.”

  “Listen, Dax. You’re staying behind now so you can come later. You’re young. You’ve got years of being a slayer ahead of you. Just finish your training and let Bishop take this at his own pace. Don’t try to rush off doing anything you’re not ready for, or even anything he thinks you’re not ready for. Just let him have his way, and when you’re ready, he’ll let you come.”

  He peered at her in the dim light. “You promise?”

  “Of course. Do you think I would go to the trouble of training you if I wanted your talents to go to waste? You’re too good to be hanging around down here, polishing leather and feeding the horses. You’re a slayer, and a damn good one. You know who you remind me of?”

  He stared at her with eyes as big as saucers. “Who?”

  “You remind me of my brother Ethan. He was a talented slayer like you. You remind me of the way he used to fight. He was very agile and quick the way you are.”

  “What happened to him?” Dax whispered.

  Raleigh studied the pistol in her hand. “I don’t know. He disappeared.”

  Dax didn’t say anything for so long Raleigh started to believe the conversation was over. She’d dropped her bomb. Now she could get out of here and concentrate on going back to Hinterland.

  Now that she faced that world once again, she thanked Bishop in her heart for making her promise to leave Dax behind. She didn’t want to think about him or worry about him when she could be fighting for her life down there.

  Dax surprised her by speaking. “You love him, don’t you?”

  Her head snapped up. “What makes you ask that? You know I do.”

  He didn’t take his eyes off her face. He stood so close she could see the rays of light reflected on his pupils. His eyes burned with far-off mystery. “You could never love a guy like me, could you? You could never love me the way you love him. I’ll never be anything more than a brother to you.”

  He couldn’t have surprised her more if he’d sprouted wings and flown over the roof. He loved her! Dax loved her, or at least, he wanted to. He wanted her to love him the way she loved Bishop.

  She saw it all in a split second. The burning passion in his eyes got all mixed up with his desire to fight, to explore Hinterland, to take his rightful place in this mesmerizing world. She represented that world to him. She was the prize he would win by becoming a slayer as
strong and commanding as Bishop.

  She couldn’t smile at him. She couldn’t laugh or make light of that aching desire. She understood it too well. She laid her hand on his cheek. “I do love you, Dax. I love you for who you are. I love you as much as I can love any man who isn’t Knox Bishop. If Bishop wasn’t here, I could love you with all my heart and soul, but you’re a different person. You’re the closest thing I’ve got to family, and that is so precious. It’s more precious than all the mysteries of Hinterland, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

  He started to lower his head again. Her words didn’t comfort him. If anything, they hurt worse than if she’d said she didn’t love him at all. She didn’t let him drop his head, though. She lifted his chin and kissed his forehead. “I will always love you, just the way I loved my brother.”

  Then she kissed him on the forehead once more and hurried away.

  Chapter 4

  Raleigh found Bishop waiting in the hall at the foot of the stairs. He surveyed her up and down with her crossbow across her back, her throwing blade at her belt, and two loaded pistols jammed against her hips. “Are you dressed now?”

  She had to smile. “Yes, I am, thank you very much. You wouldn’t want me to go into town naked, would you?”

  He bit back a smile. “That could be interesting.”

  At that moment, Dax came up the stairs. He cast an anguished glance at Raleigh and Bishop before he slipped out through the kitchen toward the carriage house. A moment later, the carriage wheels rattled on the cobblestones.

  Bishop murmured into Raleigh’s ear, “Did you tell him?”

  Raleigh refused to look at him. She fixed her eyes on the carpet and nodded. She couldn’t tell him about Dax’s admission that he loved her. She would never tell Bishop she kissed Dax in the basement—not that Bishop would object. If he knew what passed between Dax and Raleigh, he would understand.

  Still, she couldn’t look him in the eye. The whole situation hurt too much. She loved Dax more than she ever thought possible, but her very existence caused him pain. She couldn’t stop loving Bishop to spare Dax’s feelings, and sympathizing with him only made it worse.