Belladonna

her now.
    The Warrior of Light must drink from the Dark Cup.
    And wasn't it inconvenient that, having warned Michael against telling stories, she would have to persuade him to tell her the story about the Warrior of Light?
    Be patient, a gentle, ageless voice whispered. When the time is right, he will tell you.
    "Lee," Michael said, "since you've got one lantern and I've got the other, why don't you give Caitlin Marie a hand up the beach? The path leading up to the village is just a bit of a ways over there."
    Before Glorianna could tell him they could see well enough, Caitlin looked back at her brother. Grinning, she pulled away from Glorianna, linked an arm with Lee, and said, "Come on, then. I'll show you the path and we'll let the lollygaggers catch up when they can."
    "Lollywhat?" Glorianna said. Then a hand closed over hers. Bigger. Warm. A little work-roughened.
    "Something I've wondered about Lee," Michael said, smiling at her. "Is he your older brother?"
    "Younger."
    "Younger?" He sounded surprised. "But we're of an age."
    "Which makes you twenty-eight or -nine. I'm thirty-one." A couple of years shouldn't make any difference at this stage of their lives, especially since it wouldn't have mattered if he'd been the one who was older. But she could still remember when those couple of years between her and Lee made a big difference.
    "Ah. An older woman."
    The laughter in his voice, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking, made her feel foolish — and that made her defensive.
    "Yes," she snapped. "Older. I'll be gray-haired and wrinkly in a few years."
    "But now you're a woman ripe with the juice of life."
    Her breath caught, her heart stumbled, and those juices warmed, ready to flow.
    "Are you going to be showing me that trick of feeling the currents?" Michael held up their linked hands.
    "It's not your landscape." Wasn't Caitlin's either in the purest sense, but she wasn't going to tell him that.
    "Ah. Well, you could still say you were trying to show me. Or you could tell your brother we're holding hands because you like the looks of me and you were wondering when I'm going to kiss you again."
    Looking into her eyes, he lifted her hand and kissed her fingers — and an odd little thrill tickled her belly and stirred those juices.
    "I have not been wondering about that," she sputtered, glad the lantern light would hide the blush caused by the lie.
    "I have."
    His smile changed. The humor in it faded, replaced by some quality she couldn't name — or wasn't sure she wanted to name.
    Because it was more than lust or desire.
    A sharp whistle made them both look up the beach to where Caitlin was ineffectually tugging on Lee's sleeve and Lee, may the Guardians bless him, was just standing there, staring back at them, not having lost the timing required to be a perfectly annoying younger brother.
    "So what are you going to tell him, Glorianna Belladonna?" Michael asked as Lee began walking back toward them. "Are you going to tell your little brother that you were helping me learn about the currents — or that you were thinking of trying me on as a lover?"
    Her body hummed. Her brain went blank.
    And his words resonated through her like a promise — and yet felt oddly hollow.
    He gave her hand a friendly squeeze and walked up the beach, passing Lee.
    "Glorianna?" Lee said as soon as he reached her, his voice sharp with concern. "What's wrong?"
    She looked at her brother and blurted out the answer. "He wants to kiss me again."
    She could hear her heartbeats in the silence that hung between them. Then Lee said, "You just figured that out? When we were in the Den last night, the man was wrapped around you snug enough to have Sebastian muttering, so it's not surprising he wants to kiss you again. At least, it's not surprising to the rest of us."
    How was she supposed to figure that out? Sure, they'd had fun in the Den last night, but since then she'd been a bit preoccupied thinking about other things — although knowing her behavior had caused her cousin the incubus to mutter was rather gratifying. But Michael being younger than her was reason enough to put thoughts of kisses — and lovers — aside. Even if he wasn't so much younger that it should make any difference.
    But there had been something bittersweet in the resonance of his flirting just now, something that hadn't been there last night in the Den. As if his feelings had changed in some way, but he didn't want anyone to know they had changed. Didn't