Master of Smoke

teeth. “Who, me?”
    David snorted. “Don’t be. She was a psychotic little bitch who eventually decided she didn’t like sharing power with me. Or sharing me with Smoke, which made no damned sense whatsoever. Anyway, she killed the whole damned village one day. Murdered everyone, including my parents, brothers, sisters, and nephews.”
    The pain on his face made Eva lean forward and cup his cheek in her hand. “I’m so sorry.”
    His bleak gaze met hers. “I killed her.”
    And it had devastated him, she realized suddenly. My God, he loved her. She searched for something to say, managed nothing more than a lame “I’m sorry.”
    “Yeah, well.” David rose to his feet and flicked his fingers. The picnic vanished. Eva looked around, blinking in surprise.
    “Come on, I’m still hungry.” He reached down for her hand.
    She let him draw her to her feet. “After eating all that?”
    “Not for food.” His grin flashed. “For magic.”
    EIGHTEEN
    Eva watched as David drew an elaborate pattern in the air with his free hand, conjuring a dimensional gate like the one Belle had created the night before. “Shouldn’t we tell Arthur and Gwen we’re leaving?”
    “It’s already taken care of.” He tugged her toward the shimmering opening. “I’m not completely rude.”
    “Do you people ever walk anywhere?”
    “All the time. But the spot I have in mind is too far.” He flashed that grin at her again, all promise and temptation.
    “Wait,” Eva protested, resisting the pull of his hand. “Where the hell are my clothes?”
    There was that grin again. “Where we’re going, you don’t need clothes.”
    “But what if somebody’s there?” Before she could get another protest out of her mouth, he’d tugged her through the gate. Magic rolled across her skin, and she was on the other side.
    They stood in a clearing in what looked like an honest-to-Tarzan jungle. Mounds of blossoms covered trees and bushes and stood in brilliant clumps of flowers—deep crimson, shimmering yellow, a dozen shades of blue shading into purple, white petals edged in pink. Leaves in every shade of green—emerald, olive, Kelly, hunter, fern, moss—blazed so vibrant they made her eyes ache.
    In the center of the clearing lay a rock-edged pool of water that foamed around the foot of a waterfall. The falls danced and tumbled down the face of a cliff, trees jutting here and there from the wet black stone. Eva tilted her head back, tracing the splashing path of the water until it passed inches beneath a rippling oval high overhead. “Is that a dimensional gate?”
    David paused and surveyed the pool, a smile curving his sensual mouth. “Oh, yes.”
    She frowned up at the oval. There seemed to be clouds on the other side, boiling and misty. “Who cast the spell to open it?”
    He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, as if enjoying the warmth of the sun on his face. “Nobody. Or possibly the gods. It’s been there as long as I can remember. And I can remember a very, very long time.” Opening his eyes again, he stared up into the rippling oval, his gaze going distant. “It leads to another universe, one where magic is even more potent than it is here, where the rules of physics are so alien, they’d rip you or me apart. Smoke’s home universe.”
    “He’s from another universe?”
    “Yep. If Cat hadn’t been drinking at this pool, Smoke would have lasted no longer here than we would have there.”
    “Then why come here?”
    A frown gathered between his dark brows. “Now, that’s a little tough to explain. I guess you could say they were having a war on his world, and his people were losing. The winners meant to exterminate Smoke and his kind, so the survivors came here. A lot of them died anyway if they weren’t able to find the right kind of hosts.” Sadness darkened his eyes. “Many of those that did survive fell prey to the Dark Ones.”
    “Okay, that sounds sinister.”
    “It was. The Dark Ones fed on life force, so they just loved the elementals, who were basically nothing but life force. There are only a few of us—of them—left anymore.”
    Eva studied him, fascinated. “What happened to the evil aliens?”
    “Merlin and the Sidhe ran them off. They didn’t care for the ugly bunch either.” David padded out onto a finger of smooth black stone that thrust into the water. He stood there a moment, morning sunlight gilding his shoulders, before leaping upward, ass and thighs flexing. Light