storm by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page A

you take magical training or something to transform yourself into a good har?  If you want the job of Tigron, you have to take all of it on.  You have to take me on, because I don't let you do otherwise.”
     
                Cal rubbed at his face.  “Back off, Rue.  You've had your fun.”
     
                Caeru relented.  “I'm sorry.  I really am.  I wanted this to be different, but I can't help going for the jugular.  I hope you understand why.”
     
                “Yeah.”
     
                The carriage ascended the curving driveway to the palace.  Mellow lights gleamed out from a hundred windows.  “Your home,” Caeru said.  “Isn't it beautiful?”
     
                “You are astounding,” Cal said.  “You could have just said, “don't set foot in my apartment again”.  Believe it or not, that would have worked.  You didn't need to go to all this bother.”
     
                “Strangely enough, that was not my intention.”
     
                Cal grimaced.  “Pell's not wrong about you.”
     
                Caeru laughed.  “Thanks.  I said I was sorry.  Come and have a nightcap.”
     
                “No.”
     
                “Please.”  Caeru stared into Cal's eyes, searching for some spark, some glimmer of complicity.  “I took your place.  You took mine.  Somehow, we have to let that go.  Both of us.”
     
                Cal sighed deeply.  “All right.  We'll talk.  But the minute you start yapping like a bitch, I'm out of there.”
     
     
     
    Caeru's staff had thoughtfully lit a fire in his sitting-room, because the evening warmth had slipped away to chill.  A decanter of brandy and two glasses stood waiting on a table.  Caeru detected Velaxis' hand in that.  He poured himself a glass and drank it quickly while Cal was still padding around trying to find a comfortable place to sit.
     
                “Brandy?” Caeru asked, offering Cal a glass.  “The best, imported from Thaine.”
     
                Cal shifted in his seat, took the glass and sniffed it.  “Reminds me of Saltrock,”
     
                “Once the home of your erstwhile friend, Seel, of course,” Caeru said.  “Another of my great admirers.  And yours too, now, from what I've heard.”
     
                Cal cast him a glance and Caeru raised a hand, "Sorry, I promised, I know.  I'll not say anything."
     
                "It's in your blood."
     
                "No it's not.  It's in my mouth.  I can't stop myself."
     
                Cal laughed, an unexpected sound.  "This is insane."
     
                Caeru walked behind Cal's chair and watched the back of his head as he drank.  "I'm not always like this.  It's you.  It's fear, maybe, or something..."
     
                Cal glanced round at him.  " I'm not always like this either.  Usually, I could take you out with a single well-aimed word."
     
                "So, here we are, tongue-tied, spitting out inappropriate knots."
     
                "Too much alike, maybe..."
     
                "They say Pell seduced me initially because I looked a little like you.  Not that I do, of course.  It's just the hair, but, who knows?"
     
                Cal grinned.  "You'll never be as wondrous as me, Rue."
     
                "I know that."
     
                "Aha, a concession!  One point to me."
     
                Caeru smiled, and leaned forward.  He didn't mean to do it, but somehow he was compelled to put his mouth against Cal's own.  He felt the sudden sigh of breath, saw a vague flurry of images.  He could feel how Cal's neck pained him, twisted as it was, and saw how he had been waiting for this to happen all night, from the moment he'd agreed to go to the club.