The Eternity Key by Bree Despain

Author:Bree Despain [Despain, Bree]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-60684-468-7
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Published: 2015-04-27T23:00:00+00:00

chapter thirty-two

DAPHNE

I manage to make it through the song with Joe’s band, and no one in the audience seems to notice the one line I flubbed in the middle. Instead, they break into uproarious applause. I take a bow and excuse myself from the stage before Joe leads the band into a “slow song for all you couples out there” from his Saturn’s Ring album. I’ve got my eyes on the south stairway, waiting for Tobin and Lexie to make their return, when I step onto the dance floor and a hand wraps around my elbow. A deep voice asks, “May I have this dance?”

The voice sounds like Haden’s, but there’s something off with his tone, and I turn toward the speaker, to find myself in the arms of a stranger.

I try to pull away, but he grips me tighter.

“Who are you?” I demand.

“You don’t see the resemblance?” he asks, with smile. “My brother and I are twins, after all.”

“Rowan?” I say, with a gasp, seeing it now. He’s not an identical twin to Haden, but they are definitely brothers, Rowan being the blonder, brown-eyed, slighter-built one. I can feel the strength of his arms as he sweeps me onto the dance floor against my will.

“What do you want?” I ask. I don’t want to go along with the box step he tries to lead me in, but it’s preferable to being dragged, so I step in time with his movements.

He pulls me closer. “You know what I want.”

I stomp on his foot, hard, with my heel.

He loosens his grip. “To negotiate a trade.”

The hairs on my arms stand on end, and I look over Rowan’s shoulder to see Haden approaching, through the crowd of dancers. Electric heat crackles around him, and the tone ricocheting off him sounds downright lethal.

I shake my head at him, telling him to stay back. I’d like to think that Haden would know better than to start a fight in a crowd like this, but I have a feeling Rowan knows exactly how to provoke him into doing just the wrong thing.

And if Rowan is ready to negotiate, I’m not going to risk losing this opportunity.

Haden stops midstride at my behest. But he doesn’t leave, either. He stands in the middle of the dance floor, his fists clenched and red, while other dancers try to navigate around him.

“What are your terms?” I ask Rowan.

“The Compass for the talisman.” He sends me out in a twirl and then brings me back into his arms. “Plus fifty thousand dollars, cash.”

So he’d figured out that his funds have gone dry?

“You do have my talisman?”

“Perhaps,” I say, trying to sound like I’m being coy and not like I’m lying as I swing under his arm. Rowan’s talisman is still as fried as a charcoal briquette, and we are no closer to finding Simon’s talisman than before, but Rowan doesn’t need to know those things.

Rowan brings me back into his arms. “But there is one more thing that I want in addition to the money and the talisman.

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