Circenn was silent, awed by the thought of Lisa’s pregnancy and what was to come. Then the enormity of what Adam had just admitted struck him. “You had such a bond with my mother?”
“I am not without emotion, Circenn,” Adam replied stiffly. “I endeavor to keep it still.”
“But she died.”
“Yes,” Adam said. “And I ran to the farthest ends of the earth trying not to feel her death. But I couldn’t escape it. Even on Morar, even on other worlds, I felt her dying.”
“Why did you let her?”
Adam gave him a black look. “At least now that you understand that what I had with Morganna is what you have with Lisa, imagine what I endured permitting her to die. Perhaps you can find it within you to be less harsh in your judgment of me.”
“But why did you let her?” Circenn repeated.
Adam shook his head. “My life with Morganna is another story and we have no time for it now.”
Circenn studied the exotic man, who would no longer meet his gaze. Permit Lisa to die? Never. “But you could have made her immortal?” he pressed, with a sense of desperation.
Adam’s jaw was rigid. He shot Circenn a furious gaze. “She wouldn’t accept it. Now leave it.”
Circenn closed his eyes. Why had his mother refused the potion if Adam had offered it? Would Lisa refuse?
He would not allow her to do so, he resolved. Never would he permit her to die. Gone were the vague feelings of guilt for his thoughts of making her immortal. After what Adam had just told him, he knew he could never endure losing the union they shared. A child! She carried his babe, and the bond would swell to include their son or daughter.
Live through Lisa’s death? No. But in recompense for taking her mortality he would give her the perfect future with her family. It would be his way of making amends.
* * *
Circenn materialized at dawn on the day of her graduation. Swiftly he scaled the wall surrounding the Stone estate. Swiftly he punctured the wheels on the small machine to prevent it from moving. Then he regarded the bigger machine irritably. Which one is a Mercedes? he wondered with a scowl. Moving quickly, he punctured those wheels, too. But what if they changed the wheels? What if they had new wheels somewhere in their keep?
He glared at the keep, then he glowered at the machines for a long moment, holding them personally responsible for hurting his woman. He struggled against an intense desire to creep into the home and peer down at the sleeping eighteen-year-old Lisa he hadn’t yet met.
“Stay away from her. You are so dense sometimes, Circenn,” Adam’s bodiless voice mocked. “You still don’t understand the power you have. Why are you trying to harm the machines, when you can simply make them go away? For that matter, why did you appear outside the gate and climb the wall, when you might have appeared within the gates?”
Circenn frowned. “I am unaccustomed to this power. And where would I send them?”
“Send them to Morar. That should be interesting.” Adam laughed.
Circenn shrugged and focused his newfound center of power. He closed his eyes and visualized the silica sands of Morar. With a small nudge, the machines disappeared.
If they landed on the isle of Morar with a soft woosh of white silica sand, only one mortal was there to see it, and she hadn’t been surprised by anything in quite some time.
* * *
“Our cars have been stolen!” Catherine exclaimed.
Jack peered over his newspaper. “Did you look for them?” he asked absently, as if a Mercedes and a Jeep could be overlooked.
“Of course I did, Jack,” Catherine said. “How are we going to get to Lisa’s graduation? We can’t miss her big day!”
* * *
Circenn tugged the cap low on Adam’s forehead, stepped back, and grinned. “Perfect.”
“I don’t see why I have to do this.”
“I doona wish to risk being seen, nor dare I trust myself to see her. I doona know that I could restrain myself, so you must do it.”
“This uniform is ridiculous.” Adam tugged at the crotch. “It’s too small.”
“Then make it bigger, O powerful one,” Circenn said dryly. “Quit procrastinating and call their number. Tell them the cab is on the way.”
“But they didn’t call for one.”
“I’m counting on whoever answers to think someone else must have.”
Adam arched a brow. “You’re good at this.”
“Call.”
Sure enough, Catherine assumed that Jack had called and ordered a cab to arrive at precisely 9:00 A.M. When it appeared, Jack assumed that Catherine had called. In the fuss over filing stolen-car reports with the police and the insurance company, neither thought to ask the other.