Lord of Shadows The Dark Artifices 2

She hadn’t known, before, on the beach, what was going to happen. What it would be like between them. Now she did. There were things in life you couldn’t refuse. No one had that much willpower.

No one.

She was nodding her head, without even knowing she was going to do it. “Julian, yes,” she said. “Yes.”

She heard him make an almost anguished sound. Then his hands were on her hips; he was lifting her so she was pinned between his body and the wall. It felt desperate, world-ending, and she wondered if there would ever be a time when it wouldn’t, when it could be soft and slow and quietly loving.

He kissed her fiercely and she forgot gentleness or any desire for it. There was only this, his whispering her name as they pushed aside the clothes that needed to be pushed aside. He was gasping, a faint sheen of sweat on his skin, damp hair plastered to his forehead; he lifted her higher, pressed toward her so fast his body collided with hers. She heard the ragged moan dragged out of his throat. When he lifted his face, eyes black with desire, she stared at him, wide-eyed.

“You’re all right?” he whispered.

She nodded. “Don’t stop.”

His mouth found hers, unsteady, his hands shaking where they held her. She could tell he was fighting for every second of control. She wanted to tell him it was fine, it was all right, but coherence had deserted her. She could hear the waves outside, smashing brutally against the rocks; she closed her eyes and heard him say that he loved her, and then her arms were around him, holding him as his knees gave way and they sank to the floor, clutching each other like the survivors of a ship that had run aground on some distant, legendary shore.

*   *   *

Tavvy, Rafe, and Max were easy enough to locate. They’d been in the care of Bridget, who was amusing them by letting them annoy Jessamine so that she knocked things off high shelves, thus sparking a “Do not tease ghosts” lecture from Magnus.

Dru, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t in her bedroom any longer, or hiding in the library or the parlor, and the kids hadn’t seen her. Possibly Jessamine could have helped them more, but Bridget had reported that she had flounced off after the children were done bothering her, and besides, she only liked talking to Kit.

“Dru wouldn’t have left the Institute, would she?” Mark said. He was stalking down the corridor, shoving doors open left and right. “Why would she do something like that?”

“Mark.” Kieran took the other boy by his shoulders and turned him so that they faced each other. Cristina felt a throb in her wrist, as if Mark’s distress were communicating itself to her through the binding.

Of course, Mark and Kieran shared another kind of binding. The binding of shared experience and emotion. Kieran was holding Mark by the shoulders, concentrating on nothing but him in that way that faeries had. And Mark was relaxing slowly, some of the tension leaving his body.

“Your sister is here,” said Kieran. “And we will find her.”

“We’ll split up and look,” said Alec. “Magnus—”

Magnus swung Max up into his arms and headed down the hallway, the other two kids trailing behind him. The rest of them agreed to meet back in the library in twenty minutes. Each of them got a quadrant of the Institute to search. Cristina wound up with west, which took her downstairs to the ballroom.

She wished it hadn’t—the memories of dancing there with Mark and then with Kieran were confusing and distracting. And she didn’t need to be distracted now; she needed to find Dru.

She headed down the stairs—and froze. There, on the landing, was Drusilla, all in black, her brown braids tied with black ribbon. She turned a pale, anxious face to Cristina.

“I was waiting for you,” she said.

“Everyone’s looking for you!” Cristina said. “Ty and Livvy—”

“I know. I heard. I was listening,” said Dru.

“But you weren’t in the library—”

“Please,” Dru said. “You have to come with me. There’s not a lot of time.”

She turned and hurried up the stairs. After a moment, Cristina followed her.

“Dru, Mark’s worried. The Riders are terribly dangerous. He needs to know you’re all right.”

“I’ll go and tell him I’m fine in a second,” Dru said. “But I need you to come with me.”

“Dru—” They’d made it to the hallway where most of the spare bedrooms were.

“Look,” said Dru. “I just need you to do this, okay? If you try yelling for Mark, I promise you there are places in this Institute I can hide where you won’t find me for days.”

Cristina couldn’t help being curious. “How do you know the Institute so well?”

“You would too if every time you showed your face, someone tried to make you babysit,” said Dru. They’d reached her bedroom. She stood hesitating, with her hand on the knob of her door.

“But we looked in your bedroom,” Cristina protested.

“I’m telling you,” said Dru. “Hiding places.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. You go in here. And don’t freak out.”

Dru’s small face was set and determined, as if she were nerving herself to do something unpleasant.