The Nemesis Blade by Elaina J Davidson Read Free Book Online

including
animals, useful in frightening off intruders in her past. Humanoid
guises she could maintain for extended periods without it sapping
much energy, but imaginative guises were briefly held. It had to do
with biology, she once explained to the Kaval. As she was of the
human form, with generally common organs and brain function,
shifting into another shape was akin to a glamour.
    Torrullin
decided she was vital to his ferreting expedition and asked her to
take on Lowen’s appearance for their meeting with Teighlar.
    He did not
enjoy having to fool his friend, but hoped to shock a reaction from
the Senlu.
    Jimini could
not duplicate Lowen’s aura and Teighlar had a nose like a
bloodhound when it came to etheric signatures. Torrullin would
therefore mask her and explain it away as precaution against threat
to Lowen’s life. Jimini stood before him in his bedchamber on
Sanctuary wearing Lowen’s discarded clothes. It was uncanny and he
had to force reaction for the immortal underneath the guise, not to
the form she represented.
    “Perfect,” he
managed.
    “Are you all
right, my Lord?”
    Lowen’s voice.
Lowen’s incredible blue eyes, her dark, silky hair. “It is a shock,
I admit. I will be fine. Now, Jimini, I am Torrullin to Lowen, not
‘my Lord’. She uses that only when she seeks to … well, never mind.
Stick to Torrullin.”
    “I won’t fail,
I promise.”
    He studied at
her a moment longer, feeling the terrible desire for the Xenian
seer churn in his gut, and then forced himself to turn away.
    “Torrullin, I
…” Her voice petered off.
    He folded away
clothes. “Something wrong?”
    “Um … no.” She
went to the full mirror.
    Jimini, as
herself, was an attractive woman with chestnut hair and eyes, a
rounder figure than Lowen, and shorter. She seemed human, until one
touched her. There the parallel ended, for Jimini had a cold,
clammy and hairless skin, almost white in its pastiness. Her heart,
soul and mind, however, were no different from that of a
hot-blooded woman, and she adored Elixir … as a woman. She stared
at herself, saw what he saw, wondered, and pushed the notion
aside.
    “What is it,
Jimini?”
    “Just
checking,” she said brightly. “A thought, however, I’m not sure how
warm I should make her skin.”
    He muttered
and came over. A hand settled on her cheek and he frowned.
“Warmer.”
    She did so and
he nodded. His fingers rested there a few moments longer than was
necessary.
    “Do you love
her, my Lord?”
    He stiffened.
“I do not want to discuss it. And it is Torrullin.”
    “Sorry.
Torrullin, yes. But I’m thinking, you’re reacting to Jimini, not
Lowen, and the Emperor will know the difference.”
    “There is
nothing normal in my relationship with Lowen, and he knows that. No
matter how I act towards you, it would be in character.”
    “Hell, how
unsettling.”
    A mirthless
smile. “There you have it. Part of the attraction. Now, are you
ready?”
    “Yes,” she
whispered, her heart fluttering.
    “It will be
evening in Grinwallin, a good time to catch him unguarded.”
    “Is he not
your friend?”
    “My dearest
friend. But Teighlar can keep secrets better than anyone I know,
and we need to discover whether any of them aids us.”
    “He’d tell
Lowen?”
    “No, but if he
knows something he thinks she already knows, he may let it slip.
Come, let us surprise the Senlu Emperor.”
     
     
    Grinwallin
     
    Teighlar
returned from a jaunt on his new favourite horse when Torrullin and
Jimini arrived.
    In the act of
unsaddling the mare, he paused. Torrullin had come. Good; he needed
to build some bridges there. And … who was that? No signature, but
it could not fool him. Why was this … ah, masked. Torrullin masked
her. Why?
    Intrigued, he
asked the groom to finish with his horse and hastened up to the
Great Hall.
    The sight of
Lowen arrested him.
    Torrullin
masked Lowen?
    He put a smile
on and went to embrace her. “Lowen, it is good to see you. You