Below the Surface

Chapter Five

“Sorry,” preceded a soft whisper of sound as Aerolus teleported from the room.

“It’s about time you returned. What did Arim have to say?” Cadmus badgered as Aerolus met him in the living room.

Still trying to calm his surging hormones, Aerolus thought it best not to say anything about what he’d just seen. All he needed was Cadmus teasing him about Marcus’ woman in front of Marcus to start a full-out war.

Their now-absent brother, Darius, the resident firewalker, had a short temper, the Royal Four’s renowned hothead—literally. But at least with Darius you knew to avoid the fireball sure to come your way.

With Marcus, retaliation might not come for days or even weeks. Cool and self-possessed, the River Prince’s cutting arrogance would not allow him to fly off the handle. No, Marcus preferred guerrilla tactics that would do the Djinn proud.

Aerolus shook his head, not wanting to deal with an internal problem when he had so many other issues to worry about.

“Hello, Aerolus?” Cadmus snapped his fingers. “I think you need to lay off the sorcery for a while, windboy. Your brain’s been fried.”

Cadmus had a real knack for picking up local idioms. Unfortunately, he also had a knack for causing undue aggravation.

“I’ll tell you about Arim as soon as Marcus comes down.”

Cadmus grinned. “Speaking of Marcus, I believe he and that gorgeous redhead are well on their way to creating a new Royal Four. I was going to bring them something to eat earlier when I got the distinct impression not to disturb.”

“Really?” Aerolus tried to sound disinterested, but he could feel his face heating. Images of the woman’s lush breasts and sultry features stirred uncomfortable longings he’d been suppressing since he’d taken this new path to sorcery.

“Really,” Cadmus said, sounding as if he’d swallowed a laugh. “So it probably wasn’t a good idea to barge in on them the way you did.”

Shit.

“So what can you tell me?” Cadmus sounded more than interested, and his brown eyes sparkled with mirth. “Is she even half as hot naked as I think she is?”

“Yes, Aerolus, what can you tell us?” Marcus asked in a stiff voice as he left the hallway and entered the living room.

Aerolus took a deep breath and turned to face his brother. Icy blue eyes fairly begged him to give the wrong answer. Despite Marcus’ infallible control, he seemed to be hanging on a precipice of rage.

Not good.

Shrugging and holding his hands up to protest his innocence, Aerolus spoke calmly, not needing any more headaches today. Arim’s news was more than enough to make everyone’s week sour. He didn’t need Marcus adding to the misery.

“All I can say is, I’m sorry. I had no idea she would be sleeping in your room, let alone wearing…” he paused and looked back to see Cadmus hanging on every word. Aerolus frowned, a small hint of emotion he normally kept in check, but Cadmus’ grin only widened. “Suffice it to say I apologise, wholeheartedly. I would never intentionally intrude on your privacy,” he added in a softer voice.

Thankfully, Marcus accepted his explanation as truth, for his hardened expression evened into one of familiar arrogance. “I shouldn’t have jumped to the wrong conclusion.” They both ignored Cadmus’ disappointed mutterings. “Had you been anyone else,” Marcus paused and pointedly looked to Cadmus, “I wouldn’t have believed you.”

“Well, thanks for small favours.” Cadmus huffed and shot Aerolus a pitying glance. “Unlike Saint Aerolus, I have a libido that reacts to a woman like that.” He whistled and looked beyond Marcus. “And speaking of Lady Fine…”

Tessa Sheridan entered the room with eyes as round as saucers. She stared from Marcus to Cadmus to Aerolus, then focused again on Marcus.

“You did tell her you had identical brothers, right?” Cadmus asked innocently, for which he received an icy glare.

“I didn’t have time to mention it before Aerolus burst in this morning,” Marcus said between clenched teeth,

And caught an eyeful, Aerolus mentally added. He could only be thankful that unlike Darius, Marcus couldn’t read minds.

Tessa stared suspiciously from brother to brother, and Aerolus felt simultaneous pity for her obvious shock and curiosity at how she would handle this new information. Darius’ wife had handled the news of four identical brothers in stride, a definite indicator of her potential as his affai. Would Tessa accept the Royal Four and their current predicament so calmly? Could Marcus be so lucky?

He glanced at Marcus and saw his brother trying to appear calm as he awaited Tessa’s reaction. But his clenched fists clearly indicated nervous anticipation. Well, Aerolus thought and inwardly smiled. The coolest of the bunch had finally met his match. Aerolus only wished he knew how long it would take the River Prince to recognise he’d fallen.

Tessa stared at three—not one, but three—carbon copies of the sexiest man she’d ever seen in her life. Amazingly, they all possessed the exact same haircut, same facial features and same height, but not the same eyes. Marcus’ were a clear, ocean blue, whereas the one who’d seen her earlier had silver eyes, and the grinning one on the couch possessed light brown, laughing eyes.

She was glad one of them found the situation amusing.

“Anything else you’d like to tell me? Are there any more of you I should know about?” She tried to appear nonchalant, as if she always made hot, passionate love with one of several clones after slaying demon spawn at the office.

Marcus sighed and the brown-eyed copy laughed openly. “Actually, yes. There’s one more of us, our brother Darius, but he’s not here.” She stared at him in amazement and he quickly continued. “I’m sorry, Tessa. I was just coming back to explain our situation when you walked in.” He took a breath and calmly introduced the others, as if one of his brothers hadn’t already seen too much of her earlier.

“We’ve met,” Aerolus said blandly and grasped her hand in his large palms. She could practically feel Marcus’ tension rise until Aerolus nodded respectfully and took a step back, safely out of reach.

Had Cool Blue just shown some jealousy? Intriguing thought. She gave him a surreptitious study before nodding towards the remaining brother, Cadmus. Darius, Aerolus, Cadmus—geez, was Marcus the only one with a normal name?

“What an absolute pleasure to meet you,” Cadmus said smoothly, lifting her hand to his hot mouth. He placed a chaste kiss against the back of her hand that warmed, but in no way made her feel what Marcus had.

Marcus’ eyes darkened and narrowed, and suddenly Cadmus stumbled back several paces to tumble over the couch.

“Dammit, Marcus, I’m not the one who saw her naked!”

Aerolus rubbed his forehead as a flush of red bronzed his cheekbones. “You have as much tact as a freznalian bull,” he murmured and shook his head. “I’m sorry for any duress I may have caused earlier,” he said to her in a soft, deep voice. “I clearly had no idea my brother had company when I arrived.”

Tessa nodded, accepting his apology even as it stirred new questions. “About that arrival—”

“Tessa, you’d better sit down,” Marcus deliberately interrupted and led her to the couch. “There’s a lot to explain and no way to do it gently.”

“I’m not china, Marcus,” she said firmly. “I won’t break. And with what you know about me, I don’t think my accepting the unusual will be that difficult, do you?”

Cadmus and Aerolus watched the interplay with interest.

“What does she mean?” Cadmus asked, nearing her before Marcus forcibly thrust him further down the couch. “By the Light, Marcus, I wasn’t trying to seduce her with a kiss to the hand.” He sounded exasperated but he turned to Tessa with a wink. “It didn’t work, did it?”

She couldn’t help sharing his grin. His playful antics relieved some of her stress, but apparently did little to ease Marcus’ worries. He placed a protective—or was that possessive?—arm around her and remained stoic under his brothers’ regard.

Aerolus raised one brow, an eerie likeness of the Marcus she knew at the office. But he didn’t comment on the arm, or on Marcus’ aggressive stance.

Again she studied the men surrounding her before conceding with a sigh. As much as she wanted to stand around and stare at three gorgeous men, she couldn’t ignore what had happened last night. She needed answers, some way to make sense of the unreal creatures they had fought, as well as the near-perfect lovemaking she’d experienced with the office bad boy who was way more than what he seemed.

Her gaze unwillingly sought Marcus and her entire body throbbed at the challenge in his turbulent gaze.

She cleared her throat, determined to focus, and stepped away from him. “I think it goes without saying I want some answers. This has been the strangest weekend of my life. And trust me, I know strange.”

“Explain strange,” Marcus said. “What was that vague explanation you made in my office? How is your ability to move things with your mind my fault?”

Aware of the intense watchfulness in the room, Tessa began pacing, struck with a sudden burst of nerves. No one outside her family knew of her abilities. She’d never trusted anyone enough to share her secret. Yet as she studied Marcus and his brothers, she knew they had more to hide than she did.

“My family has been steeped in the paranormal since the early 1800s, when my great-great-great-grandmother was run out of town for practicing ‘the dark arts’.”

Marcus and Cadmus looked confused before Aerolus murmured, “Sorcery.”

She nodded. “Sorcery, witchcraft, it all boils down to magic of the mind if you ask me. In any case, my entire family has flashes of insight and mental abilities that would make most people uncomfortable if they knew. We keep it quiet and live our lives as best we can. Unfortunately, we don’t always see what’s right in front of us.” Her thoughts strayed to the untimely death of her parents ten years ago.

“We’re not supposed to,” Cadmus said. “Some things are meant to happen without our interference.”

She blinked and stared at Cadmus, surprised at his insightful observation. “That’s what I told my brother Tom. He’s the one in the family with a gift for precognition.”

“Cadmus also possesses the ability to foretell the future,” Marcus said.

“And what about you?” she asked. “What exactly can you do besides move things with your mind and drown people in the middle of a dry room?”

Silence settled over the room until Aerolus sighed. “You might as well tell her all, Marcus. It’s not as if she hasn’t seen you use your elemental powers.”

“Elemental powers?”

“I, we,” Marcus corrected, nodding to his brothers, “are the last remaining Storm Lords, along with our brother Darius. We are the Royal Four, identical princes with the powers of the elements.”

Storm Lords? Princes? That explained the arrogance, she thought as she stared at him, dying to know more.

“We come from a parallel world called Tanselm, a land that, as we speak, is under siege from evil, from the creatures you met last night, and worse.”

“Of course you are. Good versus evil, magic powers, royal princes, this just keeps getting better.” She couldn’t help but laugh. Despite the absurdity of his story, she believed him. She’d seen evil up close, had witnessed Marcus’ awesome victory over the creatures. And her gift for telepathy not withstanding—

“Ow! Dammit, where did that come from?” Cadmus scowled at the coffee cup that had smacked him in the side of the head. “Watch it, Marcus.”

Marcus’ lips curled. “That wasn’t me.”

Three pair of eyes trained on her.

She shrugged defensively, embarrassed. “It’s not my fault. It’s his.” At Marcus’ impatient sigh, she explained. “I call it my ability to siphon. Since as far back as I can remember, people with strong extrasensory gifts affect me. Without knowing how I do it, I, well, I siphon their abilities.

“Friday night I scared myself silly by moving a bottle of water with my mind. I didn’t think about it. I was thirsty, and the bottle flew towards my hand. I knew someone I’d come into contact with had to be gifted with telekinesis. I just never thought it would be Marcus Storm,” she ended wryly.

“Why not?” Aerolus asked, interest glittering in his eyes.

“Because he’s so, I don’t know, Lord of the Manner-ish. He seems too proper to do anything out of the ordinary. I mean, at work everybody loves him. The men think he’s in line to become the next head executive, the women all want to bear his young,” she said sarcastically, aware she now had to add herself to this category, though she’d die before admitting it to him. “He just seems incapable of doing anything wrong.” She stared at Marcus, amusement lacing her frustration when he arched a brow at her. “See? Even when he’s annoyed he goes about it elegantly.”

Aerolus’ lips curled slightly and Cadmus laughed. “Yeah, Marcus, I told you you had a stick up your ass. Even Tessa noticed it.”

“Anyway,” she cut in hurriedly when Marcus’ eyes darkened to a dangerous blue-black, “imagine my surprise to find that Marcus was the source of my newfound power. I even controlled a bit of it against those creatures we fought.”

“Yes, you did,” Marcus replied tightly. “I was reluctantly impressed that you had the gall to fight the Netharat, considering how strange and frightening they must have seemed.” She opened her mouth to refute him, but he held up a hand to ward her off. “Frightening is not an insult, Tessa. Grown spellcasters fear the wraiths.”

“He’s right,” Cadmus agreed. “That you two survived a surprise attack is a blessing. How many were there?”

Marcus described the attack, and Tessa relived it along with him. Once he finished, several pending questions she’d had swam to mind.

“Explain to me how you drowned those wraiths. You said you were a Storm Lord?” The more she heard about him, the more she needed to know. Fascinating didn’t begin to describe Marcus. The hot sex was incredible, but finding someone with an odder past than her own was worth its weight in gold.

“Storm Lords possess elemental magic, an ability to command the elements. For example, I control water.” Marcus cupped his hand and held it out to her. She dipped her finger in and felt a tingle race through her where water lapped the digit. “Water responds to my call, from a well inside of me. I command it whenever the need arises.”

“I control the earth,” Cadmus added, his mood quiet, clearly indicating his respect for the discussion. He held out a hand and she felt a ripple of, well, something, nearing her. “Normally I cause shocks in the earth, in rock, anything to do with the land. But lately I’ve been experimenting with the gravitational forces intrinsic to the earth. Did you know how much potential energy is just waiting to be tapped? If I curl my mind around it just so, I can—”

“Cadmus, we get the picture,” Marcus drawled. “We don’t need a science lesson.” He continued. “Darius, our absent brother, controls fire. And as you can see, Aerolus summons the winds.”

She watched in awe as Aerolus channelled air, waving it past her and around her in lapping touches of wind as he flexed his hand.

“Amazing,” she said, thrilled at their gifts. While hers hadn’t been an easy life, she’d never taken her talents for granted, or failed to appreciate her extraordinary abilities. She could truly value what the Storm Lords could do. “So does that tie into your telepathy?” she asked Marcus.

“Actually, that’s something else entirely. A gift from my mother’s people,” Marcus said.

“Since arriving in your world, we are each discovering the fulfilment of our latent abilities,” Aerolus added.

Your world. Her euphoria at finding kindred spirits, people who would understand what it meant to be different, faded. Though Marcus could equate with her abilities, he was completely out of her league. She could deal with the whole royalty angle—hell, she considered herself the queen of weird—but she couldn’t compete with another world. She ignored the wrenching emptiness that suddenly yawned before her.

“Then you all have different abilities?” Tessa clutched at the new thought, anything to distract her from an unwelcome attachment to Marcus. As if he sensed her withdrawal, he narrowed his gaze on her and she hurriedly continued. “I’m just wondering if I’ll be able to pick up on them, like I did Marcus.”

“Can you focus on an individual and deliberately pull his or her powers?” Aerolus seemed to ponder something. “Try me.”

“And what is it you do, exactly?” she hedged, not as comfortable with Aerolus as she was with the others. Despite the fact he’d seen her half naked, which she was still coming to grips with, Aerolus seemed more intent, somehow set apart from his brothers.

“Just try it, Tessa,” he said, his calm soothing.

“I’m not sure—” Marcus began, when Tessa interrupted.

“Okay, but control has never worked for me in the past.”

She closed her eyes and looked inward, focusing on her inner self. As she did, she sent out a piece of her being, a tendril of thought to grasp at Aerolus. Something clicked and she felt heavy, as if a sudden weight pulled her down.

“Now think hard about Marcus’ bed, envision it in your mind. Don’t question it, just do it,” Aerolus said, as if from a great distance.

The minute she did, her body and mind snapped free of Aerolus. She felt a large pressure squeezing, making it hard to breathe. Everything grew dark, a flash of light caused her to blink, and then…whamo. She stared in astonishment at Marcus’ bedroom.

Footsteps sounded and the door burst open. Marcus and his brothers entered quickly.

“Excellent, Tessa,” Aerolus said with a wide grin. Caught off guard by his enthusiasm, she smiled, trying to catch her breath. Her heart was still racing from the odd experience of being ‘squeezed’ between places, and she was sure she had more questions if she only knew where to start asking.

“Nice going.” Cadmus gave her a thumbs up.

When she turned to Marcus, however, he wasn’t smiling. In fact, his eyes were downright icy. The look made her blood hum, her nervous excitement churning into anger.

“That was foolish,” he said coolly. “I’m surprised you didn’t land on the other side of the state.”

“Oh really, prince charming?” she asked sarcastically, still unnerved by what she’d done. She didn’t need his help wondering what might have gone wrong. “Want to show me how to do it better?”

“I don’t teleport.” He enunciated each word and closed the distance between them. “And neither do you. You’re merely borrowing Aerolus’ talent. Don’t forget it.”

Gone was the lover who’d sensually fulfilled her every desire. Marcus Storm, Cool Blue, had returned with a vengeance—the golden boy from the office trying to remind her of her ‘place’. It shouldn’t have surprised her, but it hurt to feel betrayed by the return of his distant personality.

Did the smug bastard have to sound so degrading? At least if they’d been alone she might have handled it better. But he’d insulted her in front of his stunned brothers, and she could feel her temper spiking exponentially. Mess with a redhead, feel the burn.

“You know, Marcus, you might be hot shit at the office, but having met your brothers, I can see you’re not as special as you like to think. To me, you’re just a…” she paused as energy slithered over her.

“Pray continue.” Marcus folded his arms over his chest and watched her with icy rage. “I’m dying to know what you really think.”

She grappled with the foreign sensations running through her. “Don’t you feel it?”

“Feel what? Foolish for allowing this trite conversation? I shouldn’t have allowed this to go as far as it has,” he murmured as if to himself.

He rambled something else but the energy surrounding her made it hard to hear.

“Tessa.” She saw Cadmus mouth her name. “Don’t worry, it’s only—”

“Get down,” she yelled at Tomanna’s golden boy, her once-in-a-lifetime lover. Mentally shoving him to the floor, she teleported instantaneously to the dark plane coalescing to solid form and psychically attacked with all her will.