Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

don’t want me to see to your husband?”
    “What?”
    “I could examine him.”
    “Oh. MacRieve. He’s fine. It truly was only a graze. But thanks for the offer. And thank you again for keeping the ship afloat.”
    He gave a rueful grin. “There was an element of self preservation at work.”
    If he’d ever needed to rest, it’d be after that hellish night he’d just spent. But for him, there would be no succor in sleep, no oblivion. Again, sympathy rose in her. “Look, I’m sorry this expedition didn’t work out for you.”
    With a shrug, he said, “Hey, I’ll live.” Then he almost stifled a grimace.
    No, he wouldn’t.
I don’t like humans, I don’t like humans….
As much as she inwardly chanted that to herself, she still had the mad urge to help this one.
    Before she did something she’d later regret—like telling him
Psst, you wanna become a myth like us?
—Lucia said, “Um, got to go make a call.” Then she brushed past him.
    As she headed for the stern deck, she dialed Nïx—and actually got her. She found the soothsayer lucid. Mostly.
    “Nïx, I have some good news and some really shitty news,” Lucia said. Then she explained everything that had happened, finishing with, “So, uh, a jot of water might’ve gotten in the tomb.”
    “Now
who
did you wake up?” Nïx asked in a confounded tone.
    “The great evil. Gilded One. Ringing a bell?”
    “We’ll worry about that later,” Nïx said. “For now, let’s stop at least one apocalypse. Aren’t you on the books for an attempted assassination soon? Where
is
that Post-it… ?”
    “Yes, Nïx, I’ll be back to port in four days. I need transportation, warmer clothes, jeans, and boots.”
    “I’ll have a helicopter standing by in Iquitos, then a jet to the Northlands fueled and waiting with clothes and gear for you. Assuming I remember any of this.”
    “Nïx!”
    “Oh, oh, I do remember this one bit. You have to get the dieumort and get away from MacRieve.”
    “I was already planning on ditching him, but why do you say so?”
    “Because he’s intending to do just that to you. To go face Cruach—without you.”
    “No, he wouldn’t!” He didn’t even know of her involvement. She’d thought if she could keep it hidden, she’d prevent something like this.
    “Oh, but he would.”
    Probably for some stupid noble reason like keeping her safe! Bastard! Besides the fact that this was
her
fight—and she’d waited a
long
time to destroy the Broken Bloody One—Cruach could infect MacRieve.
    A plan arose for how to deal with the Scot. In fact, he’d been the one who’d given her the idea.
I just have to break into Schecter’s cabin in the next four days….
    “Nïx, put Regin at the ready,” Lucia said. As per usual, it would be Regin with the assist and Lucia shooting for the goal.
    Not some werewolf with high-minded ideals. When all this was over, Lucia would come back to him and explain…
something
.
    “Sadly, Regin’s going to have to rain-check the god killing and after party,” Nïx said. “Seems she’s just been abducted.”
    “What?”
Lucia stumbled. “Who would—who
could
—take her?”
    “The details are unclear, but I’ve narrowed it down to about fifteen suspects, among them: aliens, a boy band, the CIA, and a berserker.”
    As the rain poured outside the
Contessa
, Garreth dragged Lucia across his chest, her body relaxed from hours of sex. “It’s hard to believe we’re nearly to Iquitos,”he murmured. He’d gotten all his strength back—just in time. They’d arrive in port at first light.
    “I’m almost sad to leave this ship, even after all we’ve been through.” She lazily traced her fingers over his mended chest. “And I already miss my butterfly.”
    Though he’d assured her he could figure out a way to keep it, she’d gotten a strange look on her face.
“I think Lucia Incantata needs her freedom.”
    “I’m partial to this ship, too, lass,” he said. “I’ve spent some of the best nights of my life on this boat. And in this bed.”
    She nodded against him. “Most definitely in this bed.”
    He sifted his fingers through her hair, so wrapped up in her that he almost forgot his plan. Garreth intended to take her so long and hard this night that she’d pass out toward dawn, slipping deep into that near comatose state. Then he’d go to take care of business. “But you’ve been pensive for the last four days.” And the nightmares had been as bad as ever. He needed