“I’m sorry about everything that’s happened,” he continued. “He didn’t tell me about the kill switch until it was too late. I had no idea the doctor was capable of doing such a thing. If I had known…” The man ran a hand through his long brown hair. “If I had known, I can’t say I would have done any differently. I couldn’t lose you then, and I refuse to lose you now. I’d do anything for you, Del.”
Delia reached out and smoothed her thumbs across his broad forehead, trying to even out the lines. Strangely, in that moment, all she could think about was how those lines were a sign that he would someday die and she wouldn’t.
Meanwhile, Dev tried to rack his mind and figure a way out of the situation he’d put them all in. How had he missed the doctor’s break with sanity? “I agree with the mortal boy,” Dev declared, raising his head wearily as if it weighed a hundred pounds. “We will work with the doctor. It seems we have no other recourse.” He rose from his seat. “Gentlemen, let us walk the ladies back to their rooms.”
* * *
* * *
In their rooms, Jack and Dev heard Graydon’s full side of the story. He told them about some of the strange things the doctor had asked him to retrieve, items such as tonics and elixirs, unusual plant clippings from the mortal world as well as the Otherworld, metals of all description, several boxes of kittens. His hope had been that the doctor wouldn’t ask too much more. Then, finally, he did.
“He sent us on a suicide mission,” Graydon said. “The Lord of the Otherworld had stolen some technology from the doctor, and used it to create a doomsday device. The Phantom Airbus was to distract the Lord’s skyship, which was carrying the device, while one of the doctor’s own would take advantage of the distraction and steal the cargo.”
“Delia told me about this,” Dev said. “She believed that the device could separate the mortal world from the Otherworld. Is this really possible?”
“That’s what I was told, but I don’t know if it’s true. After the doctor’s ship decimated the Lord’s skyship, the doctor had me swap clothing with one of the officers and left me floating in the debris. When rescue came, they found me and hauled me out of the water. With a new identity, I was able to insert myself as a spy on board the flagship dreadnaught.” Graydon turned to Jack. “Strangely, another lantern led the charge when we attacked the Phantom Airbus.”
“What did he look like?” Jack asked, suspicion already making his pulse tick.
“His name was never given to us, but his ember was kept in his earring.”
“Rune,” Jack said. “I knew he worked for the Lord of the Otherworld. I just didn’t know he did more than recruit new lanterns or check on crossroads. It sounds like he’s even more enmeshed than I thought.” He paused. “Don’t you work for the Lord of the Otherworld too?” Jack accused Dev. “Aren’t you a bounty hunter looking for witches?”
“I did accept the assignment to find a witch in your territory, but it wasn’t the Lord of the Otherworld who sent me.”
“Then who did?” Jack asked.
“The high witch.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?” Jack accused.
“I’ll admit I’m not entirely certain,” Dev said. “But I don’t believe it is. She appears to be interested in Ember on her own terms. But that no longer matters. I abandoned my plan to turn in Ember shortly after I met her. I’d hoped to convince her to escape back to the mortal world with me.”
“Right,” Jack said, folding his arms across his chest. “So you can spend the rest of her life draining her?”
“I have no intention of hurting her,” Dev said. “I care for her a great deal, and I believe that she would come to feel the same for me.”
“Not bloody likely,” Finney muttered.
Just then, the echo of violin music filled the house. It was quiet at first. Then it crescendoed, becoming haunted and then, finally, mad. Captain Graydon’s face whitened. “He plays every evening before a surgery.” All the men swallowed. “He believes it helps steady him for the task ahead.”
Finney picked up his notebook. “Right. Come on, lads. It’s no time to act like sheep before a slaughter. Whether an escape is in the offing or no, we need to focus on tomorrow first. I say we play along. The doctor clearly likes to talk about himself and his work. We can learn more by listening than by fighting. If we’re going to save Delia, we need to find out more about the trigger he planted in her brain.”
“Agreed,” Dev and Graydon said at the same time.
“Jack?” Finney asked.
“I don’t see that we have any other choice. But there’s something more you should know about the doctor,” Jack added.
“What’s that?” Graydon said.
“There’s something off about his inner light. Finney noticed it too. When the pumpkin shone on his face, the light revealed nothing—no aura or reflection of his soul.”
“What does that mean?” Dev asked.
“It means that either he has a way to block a lantern light or…”
“Or he doesn’t have a soul,” Finney finished.
When they were all asleep, Jack left his pumpkin to guard Finney and turned to fog. He streamed down the stairs and through the halls until he found the locked door where the girls were staying. Slipping through the crack beneath the door, Jack materialized when he found the sleeping Ember.
“Ember?” Jack whispered softly. “Ember, are you all right?”
“Hmm?” Ember opened sleepy eyes and then smiled. “Jack.” Suddenly, she sat up. “Jack?” She leapt out of bed and wrapped her arms around him. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, her cheek pressed against his chest. “Oh, Jack, I’m so sorry. I should have listened to you. The Otherworld is dangerous. Extremely! My curiosity just got the better of me….” Her voice trailed off and she paced away from him and then returned. “I thought I was ready. That I’d prepared well enough. Instead, I’ve proven just how foolish and ignorant I am. I wish I could explain why I had to come when I did, but I just can’t. Whatever it was tugging me here seems to have gone away. And now I’m just left with self-doubt and recrimination. Not to mention I’ve also dragged Finney into this mess.”
Jack touched his finger to a corkscrew curl near her temple. “Technically, I was the one who dragged Finney into this. And truthfully, I don’t think he minds so much.”
Ember looked up at him with her bright eyes. “But you had to abandon your post to come after me. If it wasn’t for my willfulness, you’d be back at home right now, sitting on top of your bridge and napping in the sunshine.”
Laughing softly, a sound that made Ember’s stomach flip, Jack said, “Believe it or not, my life wasn’t all about sunshine naps.”
“Oh, I know. Your work is very important.”
“I’m not so sure about that anymore.”
His platinum hair shone although the room was dark; the only other light emanated from a tiny flickering gas lamp. Ember wanted to touch his hair, to feel the soft waves of it against her palm and fingertips. She licked her lips and said, “Part of your job was important, Jack. At least to me.”
“Which part?”
“All my life, you’ve watched over me. Even when I was a little girl.” She turned away. “When I was young, I drew your picture with a prominent brow, a hawk nose, and a craggy face—a man intimidating enough to scare off the monsters that haunted my nightmares. But then the picture changed. Over the years, you morphed into someone quite different.”
“Someone with a protruding brow, an underbite, and a bulbous nose, perhaps?” he teased. “If so, I can understand your disappointment upon seeing me for the first time as a young lady.”
Ember turned. “That’s just it. When I saw you in the mirror, when you finally showed yourself, I knew it wasn’t my imagination. That you were real. And you were more beautiful than I dreamed. Even in the private wishes of my heart. You were my friend all those years, as
important to me as Finney, but you were different. You were secret. And you belonged to only me. You can’t know how much I needed that.”
“I knew. You were alone. I could see the ache in your heart.”
“But don’t you see, Jack?” Ember said, stepping closer. “The ache is still there. It’s different, though. I thought it was just a longing to find out who I was and where I came from and that coming to the Otherworld would fix that. But the pangs of my heart have only intensified. The more I’ve learned of what it means to be a witch, the more I tap into my power, the more I realize what it is that revitalizes me.”
“And what is it, Ember? What cures your lassitude?” he asked with a turned-up mouth.
She tilted her head to look up into his pewter eyes. “Can’t you see, Jack? Of all people, you know me best. You can see into my soul, if you would just…look.”
Taking a small step back, she dropped her hands at her sides, closed her eyes, and stood very still. Jack took in her small, hourglass stature, the heart-shaped face, lips drawn up in a russet bow, and her cocoa-brown curls. Then he looked deeper. Behind the crisp white nightdress and layers of skin, muscle, and bone, he found her inner light. The warm goldenrod soul was as familiar to him as her form. He sought out her heart and was surprised for the first time to see a telltale loop around it.
The ring encircling it was nearly complete. Such a phenomenon spoke to a soul’s connection to another being. When Jack looked at Graydon, it was quite obvious that his heart belonged to Delia. The ring was thick and red, the color representing the vampire captain. But when he’d looked into Delia’s heart, the gray ring was thin and broken.
“You…you love someone,” Jack said, his own heart thumping like a bird trapped in the rafters of his bridge.
Her eyes fluttered open. “Yes. I think I do,” she said softly.
“And it’s not the vampire,” he said.
“No,” Ember admitted. “It’s not.”
Jack felt like his mind was floating in a barrel of whiskey. He felt useless and drunk and not quite right. “F-Finney will be happy to hear of your budding affection,” Jack said finally.
“But Jack, it’s not Finney I have feelings for either. Look again. Can’t you see it?”
Taking Jack’s hand, Ember nervously pressed his palm against her chest. His fingertips grazed her collarbone and he felt the hummingbird clip of her pulse. His eyes glowed silver as he looked again. This time his eyes stayed focused as he spoke. Lips parting, he studied her golden gleam and the band circling her heart. It was…it was white. He’d never seen a band like that before. It looked almost like…like a lantern light.
His eyes flew to hers, and the gleam in them dimmed. “What does this mean?” he asked.
“It means,” Ember said, “that I’m falling for my guardian.”
Jack’s mouth snapped shut, his jaw tightened making the angles of his cheekbones that much more prominent. “That’s not possible, Ember,” he said, though everything inside him wished it was.
“Why not? Is it because you can’t see me as a woman?”
Turning away, Jack said, “Believe me, that’s not the problem.”
“Then why did you tell Finney that you couldn’t love me back?”
Jack froze. “You heard that conversation?”
“Some of it.”
“Ember.” When Jack turned back, her eyes wouldn’t meet his.
Hearing him say her name in such a disappointed way was a sharp enough blow to slash Ember’s heart. She couldn’t stop the tears that filled her eyes. “Then…then just forget we had this conversation,” Ember said. “We have more important things to think about right now anyway.”
He took hold of her arms and shook her lightly until she looked at him. When he noticed the wet sparkle in her eyes and a fat tear rolling down her face, his heart melted. He swiped the tear with his thumb and then stroked her satin cheekbones. “My stubborn little witch,” he said softly. “Don’t believe for a clockwork minute that you are unlovable. You are not at fault. Not at all. If I were a mortal, a man not doomed to walk the earth as a haunted specter, I would be the first suitor in line. Please believe that.”
She hiccupped. “You…you’d want to court me?”
Jack laughed. “Court you? I’d follow you around like Finney and stare at you all moony-eyed. I’d spend my days fending off your other would-be suitors, my evenings charming Flossie, and my nights stealing kisses at your window.”
Ember had stepped closer and boldly touched her palms to his muscled stomach, bunching the fabric of his loose shirt in her fists. Jack sucked in a breath.
“You would?” she asked. The dark lashes framing her wide eyes were full of wanting.
Her hands were like hot brands on his abdomen, which, technically, shouldn’t have been possible. Jack felt the fire that lived inside him spark to life. It meant his skeleton was becoming visible through his skin. He looked down at his little witch, expecting to see fear.
What he saw was much, much worse. She lifted her chin, gazing up at him with all the wonder and want of a woman caught in the throes of first love. It was heady and addictive. Ember’s rosebud mouth was the devil’s own temptation. His fingers slipped into her glossy hair before he could stop himself.
“I would,” Jack replied finally. Giving in just the tiniest bit, Jack kissed her eyes. The thin, translucent lids were baby-soft. Her lashes fluttered, tickling his lips. She sighed, and in that breath, he could hear satisfaction and deep pleasure. He longed to give her just a bit more and kissed her cheeks, softly, slowly.
Ember had never imagined a kiss to be so innocent and so wanton at the same time. Her whole body trembled, and she felt as if she stood on the cusp of something wonderful. That if she was just brave enough to step over the edge, she’d experience the most exhilarating moment of her life.
Her witchlight flowed to every cell of her body, igniting and making her senses hyperaware. The rasp of his unshaven cheek, the texture of his lips, the silky feel of his hair where it touched her skin, the warmth of his body, and the grip of his hands on her arms, were like tiny explosions of knowing.
Jack was about to draw away when he felt the whisper of her breath on his face. She reached up and held his face still, pressing reciprocating kisses on his own angular cheekbones. Jack smiled at the gesture but before he could pull back, her sweetly open mouth was on his. For what felt like a long moment, he froze with indecision, unable to either pull away or return the gesture.
Then something in him broke and he folded her in his arms, kissing her back with an equal measure of passion. When her fingers dug into his arms, kneading impatiently, and her searching mouth moved too quickly, he captured her hands and pressed them against his chest. Then he cupped her face and kissed her deliberately, languidly, as if they had thousands of such moments to experience and enjoy.
He stroked the soft skin just beneath her ear, and his mouth trailed down the arch of her neck. When his hand circled her waist, drawing her closer, she groaned and sought out his lips again. They were melting together like butter and sugar in a hot pan, and Ember could feel the sweet effervescence lick her skin from the inside out.
Ember’s hands finally knew the texture of his hair and the feel of the stubble on his cheek as she touched his face. It tickled her fingertips, and she found she quite enjoyed the contrast between the tiny, prickly hairs and his oh-so-soft mouth. She never wanted to stop kissing him. Jack was addictive. The more she caressed him, the more she wanted to. Suddenly, his hand caught hers, stopping her progress.
Lifting her head, Ember looked up at the man she trusted more than anyone else in the entire world, the man she’d do anything to be with, the one she’d do anything for. Both of them were panting and flushed, and Ember couldn’t wait to hear what he was going to say. Maybe he wanted to express something lovely and meaningful. Maybe he wanted to know if he was moving too fast for her. Ma
ybe he wanted to talk of their future together.
She waited for what felt like forever, gazing into his eyes with hope and burgeoning love. Finally, he spoke.
“Ember,” he said, his voice husky.
She liked the way he said her name, especially at that very moment. “Yes, Jack?” she answered; her own words sounded throaty and thick and full of longing.
“This was a mistake.”
Ember sputtered. “What…what…what do you mean ‘a mistake’?”
“I mean that we can’t be together like this.” He took her hands and stepped back from her. “Look at me, Ember. What do you see?”
“I see a man. A very handsome one. A man I…”
He shook his head. “No. You’re not seeing everything. Look again.”
This time Jack called upon all the strange and different light that lived inside him. His entire body filled with a pulsing force and it lit his bones until his outer layer nearly vanished. When he spoke, his skeleton moved, clacking his teeth together in a frightening way. The hands that held Ember’s were white bones and his pale heart beat inside his rib cage.
Stepping back, Ember took in his appearance. He wasn’t hiding it from her; he held nothing back. Arms wide, he released her hands and turned in a slow circle. With fascination, she watched his boney hips and legs shift and move beneath his skin. When he was finished, he dropped his arms and waited for her verdict. Now she could see what he truly was. Now she would know their being together was impossible.
“Interesting,” Ember said.
Jack was so shocked at her steady, slightly curious tone, that he felt the light fade.
“Can you control it?” she asked, walking around him. “Finney would love to study the internal bone structure of a person without, you know, killing him.”
“What?” he mumbled, shocked and confused. “No, Ember. You’re missing the point.”
“Then what is your point? You think this”—she waved a hand, gesturing to his body—“is a reason for us to remain apart? It’s just light and a skeleton, Jack. I have those in me too, or are you forgetting that?”