The Treasure Keeper by Shana Abe

Author:Shana Abe [Abe, Shana]
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2010-03-09T10:23:04.073000+00:00

He didn’t follow. He wanted to; he wanted it badly enough that he drifted to the door after her to mark the colors she inflamed, the walls and furniture and ceiling brightening and fading as she passed. Only because of her did Rhys know that the curtains here were green, and the floor was beech, and the rug was Turkish red.

But her back was stiff and her knuckles were clenched; she’d flashed him a single look of black warning as she’d stalked away.

She was enraged, her fury so tangible he could practically taste it. He could scarcely blame her; James’s smug pronouncements about the council, about her, were honest-to-God boorish. It was as if her fiancé had no notion at all of who she was, the fire and passion and crazed selfless valor that burned beneath her perfect union of flesh and bones.

Perhaps he shouldn’t have provoked her with that final taunt about James. Perhaps Rhys would let her be. For the moment.

Besides, he wanted to hear what holy-gilded Hayden James had to say next.

Without Zee, the parlor settled into its gray dull façade. The fire, blazing so brightly only moments before, paled and shrank, pallid flames. Even the smattering of pops and crackles from the logs grew indistinct, smothered with the newly rising strains of the symphony he could not escape.

The young drákon named Sandu straightened. “She is very beautiful.”

The boy spoke in English, a minor surprise, but Rhys kept his gaze on James, who still stared at the empty frame of the doorway where Zoe had been, not bothering to chase after her, his hands poked deep into the pockets of his robe.

“Yes,” said Hayden James slowly. “She is. A veritable icon.”

“An angry icon. I don’t think you’re going to convince her to go back to Darkfrith easily.”

James smiled again, that small and handsome smile that made Rhys wish strongly to strike him across the chin.

“Perhaps not easily. But she will go.”

“You should tell her,” said the boy, collapsing into the chair Zee had occupied. He stretched out his legs. “She’s come all this way for you. Tell her why we’re here. Tell her what we’ve found.”

Hayden’s smile wiped away. “There’s no need to do that.”

“Why not? Don’t you trust her?”

“I trust her implicitly. I trust her intentions, at least. She’s headstrong, spirited. Brutally intelligent. Were she a male, runner or no, I’d have no hesitation about including her, but …”

“Were she a male, you’d be in a fix! And our world would be sadly lacking that face—and that figure.”

“You are impertinent, Highness,” chided James, but his tone was placid. “Zoe Lane is my wife, or soon will be, and I will not abide her in danger. Not any more than she’s in already.”

“She doesn’t seem afraid of danger,” said the boy consideringly. “She must have hazarded a great deal to find you.”

“Precisely. She needn’t hazard more.”

Sandu gave a laugh, his head dropping back against the chair, his rough hair coming undone. “You should have seen her on the street, Hayden.

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