Nineteen

Saben paced up and down in the dimly lit interrogation room in the South Apartments, things were decidedly less lavish in this end of Thierry's indomitable mansion. The room was dimly lit with one steel table and two chairs to match.

Perched on the edge of the icy table, she waited in silence for Tobias to come, she knew he would. He couldn't help himself. He would come alone, to avoid wider confrontation, he would speak softly, he would be wracked with regret…She could feel him drawing closer, could see it in her mind's eye: a grey cloud fraught with emotion.

Her cheek still thundered with the memory of Blaise Harman's slap, and the witch's exquisitely set features flushed with rage.

There was a polite knock at the door.

She turned at the same instant Tobias slammed the door behind him. "What the hell are you doing here?"

She appeared unmoved but she could not deny the shock that rippled through her at the harsh sound of his voice: the same shameless venom as Blaise. She did not reply at first, she could not find the words to express her fury so she swallowed it down into the pit of her stomach.

"Daniel?" She asked.

His expression softened and he was the Tobias she remembered, making love by witch light. She could see his face marked by the passing of years, the shadow across his cornflower blue eyes, the bearing of too many secrets. "It was my father's name." He explained.

She nodded and turned her face away to hide the flash of emotion on her face. "I knew a Daniel once, he was an asshole." She felt overwhelming sensations, rage, shame, love, lust, regret…

He stared at her profile as if she were a phantom come to life though he didn't move closer, even though his limbs trembled with the need.

They stood in silence and eventually, unable to resist, his hand drifted out, his fingertips lightly brushed her arm, goose bumps rose on her skin and she moved as fast and precise as a snake, grasping his wrist with a vice grip. "I think your girl friend's done enough of that for one night."

"She's my wife."

"And Daniel is the fruit of your marriage, the apple of his mother's eye?" She said with a bitter laugh. She was disturbed at how easily she had been written out of her own flesh and blood's life.

"Saben."

She shook her head, no. She didn't want to hear any stitched together explanations or excuses it would only tempt her to violence. Tobias and Blaise must have been passing Lark off as their pureblood son. Heir to the Consul of witches.

"You left and you didn't come back, I thought you were dead-"

"Let's be perfectly clear, Toby." She prodded his chest hissing each word. "I'm dead because you killed me."

"That's not true." He whispered.

She stepped close to him, so close she could feel his hot breath on her face, the shivering line of his body, the heat of his skin and rhythm of his pulse. His mouth moved to form the syllables of her name but she was entranced by the beat of his blood. "No?" She asked ever so softly.

He was mesmerised by her eyes, by the stark beauty of her face, she had truly been transformed. She wasn't the same as she had been now he felt danger radiating from her just, an icy cold chill of warning that she could take his life.

"You didn't come here to argue, Sabe." Tobias said softly.

Saben felt her fangs touch her lower lip, lust rose, for flesh, for blood. It seemed to dull the edges of the world, her vision receding to encompass Tobias alone.

"Why did you come?"

She reached up and touched his hair, Lark had hair just like his father, the shape of his face would refine into Tobias' too. She brushed her lips, the hardness of her teeth against his mouth. She could taste his beating heart through his tongue as hers slithered to touch his.

She was overwhelmed by the warmth of him and closed her eyes to share a long, lingering kiss.

*

"You helped her get away?" Blaise Harman asked in disbelief.

"Get away?" Tobias asked appalled. "She's not a criminal, Blaise."

"No?"

He shook his head, no and watched some of her anger desert her. "Did she come to take him?" She asked softly, belying her true fear to have it all taken away from her. "She can't do that, can she?"

Tobias shrugged, he truly didn't know. "I don't think so."

"No." Thierry Descourdres interrupted, he had been sitting behind his desk watching the two witches exchange. "She came with some valuable information."

"So now she's one of the fold?" Blaise hissed.

"Her loyalties are uncertain, Blaise." Thierry said gently. "We will not count her as an ally, her story will have to be checked, an investigation is already underway but it is an interesting theory."

"What was her story, my lord?" Tobias asked.

Thierry recounted a version of what Saben had said and all the while Blaise's expression of displeasure deepened whilst Tobias eyes grew wide with shock. "Daniel's in danger?" He asked.

"I'm sure you won't mind the impertinence but I've already made arrangements to have him watched." Thierry said. "If Ms Frost's story holds water-"

"I shouldn't have let her go." Tobias interrupted with a faint whisper.

"Tobias?" Blaise reached a hand but he evaded her touch.

He stood up, Saben's kiss still scorching his mouth, his cheeks flooded with colour with the memory. He mumbled some excuse to leave and moved as if caught in a daze. The more he moved the more his head filled with thoughts and a icy wedge of fear lodged between his lungs.

He was heading towards his son, his leisurely pace suddenly quickening into a jog and then a sprint.

He wrenched open the door to reveal Daniel sitting in his nanny's lap whilst she read him a story. Scylla de Coudray eyes were large, her mouth open on the last word she had read and posture filled with dread.

Relief swept through Tobias, he half collapsed against the door. Daniel's head turned, brown eyes sparkling and his mouth turned up into a smile.