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Mircea reentered the bedroom and started throwing on clothes without his usual grace. I followed, sitting in the teepee. “When will you be back?”
“Not for hours.” He paused to kiss me quickly. “Get some sleep.”
“I’ll try.” I was exhausted, but my brain didn’t seem to know how to cut off anymore. When the endorphins wore off, I’d probably be wide awake, staring at the ceiling, thumbing through my ever-growing catalogue of horrors. It wasn’t a pleasant thought.“Do you want some help?” he asked, sitting beside me.
I nodded. Anything to avoid replaying today’s events or seeing Rafe like that again . . . Mircea’s arms slipped around me and a wave of peace flowed over me better than any drug. I hadn’t expected it to take hold so fast. I had a dozen things to talk to him about, to ask . . . and suddenly I couldn’t think of even one. Sleep was dragging at my consciousness, my body going thick and heavy, and I couldn’t make myself open my eyes again.
“It’s over; everyone’s safe,” I heard him murmur. The arms tightened abruptly. “Even you.”
I had no idea what that meant, but I was drifting. Mircea’s hand was running slowly up and down my spine, the other heavy on the back of my neck. I breathed out and let the weight pull me under.
Chapter Fifteen
I woke up chained to the bed. “Goddamnit!”
Mircea was standing by the vanity, pulling on another sinfully expensive shirt. This one was crisp and white with French cuffs and unobtrusive links. The tie he looped carelessly around his neck was the perfect shade of gold to bring out the flecks in his eyes. I glared at him.
“I have finally found a way to ensure that you will be here when I return,” he murmured.
“This isn’t funny,” I told him, tugging uselessly on the cuff. It was a little hard to look serious when I was naked and my hair was plastered to my face and I was in a freaking teepee, but I was damned if I wasn’t going to try. “I mean it, Mircea! Let me go!”
He gave me a slow smile in the mirror. I hated when he did that. “I will make you a deal,” he said, coming over to the bed.
“I don’t want a deal! I want out of these!”
He ignored me. “I have to fly to Washington briefly on Senate business. I will be back late tomorrow night or the next morning. I would like to know that you are safe in my absence.”
I sighed in frustration. “What do you think I’m going to do? My power is still bottomed out from yesterday, I’m worried about Rafe and, in case you haven’t noticed, I don’t have any clothes!”
“Your clothes are there.” He indicated a matched set of Louis Vuitton luggage sitting by the bathroom. I’d assumed they were his, although they weren’t his style. Probably something Sal had picked up in an attempt to mold me into less of an embarrassment. “And I think a day or so of rest before you meet the Circle would be wise.”
“I agree! So let me go!”
“I have your word that you will stay here until I return, resting and visiting with Raphael?”
“I was thinking about going shopping.”
“As long as you take Marco.” He extracted a credit card from his wallet and handed it to me. It was a platinum AmEx with my name on it. I could probably charge a house, and he wouldn’t care. Of course, I didn’t need a house; I already had a very nice gilded cage.
“I don’t want your money, Mircea. I want to talk about this.” I rattled the cuff. It made an ominous clanking sound, which perfectly fit my mood. “We need to come to some kind of understanding.”
“I agree,” he said smoothly. “You must understand that you are a target.”
“I’ve been a target all my life!”
“Not like this,” he said emphatically.
“What about the Consul? I don’t see you locking her up!”
“I think Kit would like to try.”
“So did he bug her, too?”
“Bug?” He looked momentarily confused.
“The trace charm. Pritkin says I have one from Marlowe and one from you!”
“How kind of him to mention it.”
