Dark Flame (Flame 3)

“That’s right.”

“And has all this happened recently because Roche found out?” She flipped her hand back-and-forth a couple of times.

“I don’t think he knows about my tunnels,” Brannick said. “But he did figure out that both Mary and Juliet were helping women escape from Revel. That’s one of the reasons he took Mary. She drove for me.”

“I see. Well, that explains a lot.”

“There’s something else.” Juliet felt compelled to add the other component. “Roche was using Mary’s abduction to try to force me to work for him in his specialty sex club, the one that features dreamgliding for his wealthy human clientele.”

Agnes drew her lips tight together, compressing them and shaking her head. “There is so much beauty in being an alter fae, but Roche has made a travesty of our gifts.”

She took a deep breath then clapped her hands together as though to clear her head. “All right then. Give me a shout if you need anything. Otherwise, I’ll see you tomorrow night.” She glanced up into the night sky. “Dawn won’t be here for a couple more hours.” She headed back down the walk.

Though Brannick shoved the door wide, he waited for her to walk through. She smiled up at him as she passed by.

The interior was much more modern than she’d anticipated. The wall separating the living area

from the hall had been replaced with a couple of heavy wood supports and opened up all the way to a small kitchen and dining area in the back.

To the left was a small study that overlooked the front communal garden. Agnes had left a wall of books inside as well.

Moving toward the back, she put a hand to her stomach and turned to Brannick. “Suddenly, I’m starved. Are you hungry?”

“Yes, I am.” He set both bags next to the stairs, then headed toward the fridge. A moment later she heard the soft suctioning sound of the door opening. “Agnes provided steaks and beer. Guess she was thinking of me. But there’s some lettuce in here.”

Juliet couldn’t help but smile. “Hey, all of that sounds great right now, but I’m going upstairs to freshen up, if that’s okay. It won’t take me a minute, then I can help throw something together.”

“Do what you need to do.” He held up two beers.

“Yes,” he said. “Absolutely. Must have a beer.”

“I’ll fire up the grill. We’ve got plenty of time before the sun starts easing over the horizon.”

Juliet picked up her bag. The stairs faced the backyard so she had a view of Brannick as he stepped outside, beer in hand. She could see a gas grill as she started up the stairs.

The second floor turned out to be the sole bedroom with an attached bath. She removed a full-length lavender gauzy dress from her satchel and with her hastily put together cosmetic kit headed into the bathroom.

One look at her hair told her what she needed to know. She always had a sort of wind-tousled hairstyle going on, but right now she looked like she’d been in a tornado. Well, maybe not that bad, but she had work to do.

She got undressed except for her thong, then slid into the floor-length, halter gown. It was made of cotton, very comfortable and had a crumpled look. It felt good to be out of slacks.

Next, she tidied her make-up and for a moment even considered using cover-up to get rid of her freckles. But a sudden memory, of Brann kissing each one, led her back the other direction and she put the make-up away.

He called up to her from the bottom of the stairs. “Grill’s getting hot.”

“Wonderful. Be down in a sec.”

She headed to the bathroom once more and using her curl-calming spray worked her tendrils into a less wild state.

She put on a pair of flat t-strap sandals with lavender flowers on the ‘t’. Lifting her skirt, she headed downstairs.

When she reached the bottom, she could see Brann through the open sliding door and for a moment, her heart stopped. He had the steaks on a nearby table ready to go and the gas grill closed to get good and hot. He held a beer in his hand.

The scene was so damn homey, tears stung her eyes. Nothing but pure affection poured from her in that moment, watching him, remembering how he’d made love to her on the desk in her small canal home, then in the shower. How he’d made love to her in the dreamglide all those months.

A thought occurred to her, a very wicked one. And Brannick would have enough essential power to pull it off as well, especially since they were sharing powers.

If they wanted they could combine real-time with the dreamglide while making love. This was the same kind of erotic experience Roche wanted her to do with his upscale clients.