Pleasure Trap Page 9

  Looking at them, Raisa felt several stabs of envy. When could she hope to find an enduring love like theirs? One hundred years. The kissing couple was so focused on each other that Raisa could say with surety no one else existed for them at this very moment. Or like Adamas and Damaon’s relationship, which lasted for more than five hundred years and was still going strong.

  Raisa was shaken out of her thoughts when Damaon said in an aggrieved voice,

  “I’ve always told you to get a room, but you just never listen.”

  His comment was the impetus the lip-locked pair needed to break apart.

  “Hello to you too, Damaon,” Esmeralda said, her green eyes dazed. She shook her head and, with a slight squeeze on Orin’s arm, stepped toward Raisa and linked arms with her. “Come, Raisa, let’s leave these overgrown boys to amuse themselves. I’m anxious to know all about you.”

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  woman caused her to have a blinding realization. She stopped in the middle of their stroll and stared at the other woman. “This is the real you, isn’t it?”

  “What do you mean the real me?” Esmeralda asked in surprise. Raisa laughed. “I think I’ve been duped. Adamas and Damaon led me to believe that you were a shrew and Orin a tyrant.”

  “I was right to call them boys.” Esmeralda shook her head and smiled, a dimple flirting about her right cheek. “They never pass up any opportunity to tease me.” There was nothing but affectionate indulgence in her tone.

  The women resumed walking.

  “Have you known them long?” If it was her hope that Esmeralda would give her further insights into the men’s character, Raisa was destined to be disappointed.

  “I only knew them because they were Orin’s contemporaries,” Esmeralda explained. “And even then, the immortals don’t socialize very much. They still hold their once-every-century meeting to discuss business, but other than that, they don’t meet at all. I tried, believe me. The year I became Orin’s wife, we threw a party to celebrate our nuptials. All the immortals came, but maybe that was because they were curious about me.” She giggled. “The next year, I threw another one, despite Orin’s objections.” She grimaced slightly. “I just wasted my time, because nobody came.”

  Raisa couldn’t believe Adamas and Damaon would be so rude. As though Esmeralda read her thoughts, she gestured dismissively in the direction behind them where they had left the men. “Oh, not them. They sent their regrets, because their star or something had brought in a woman the day before.”

  A sharp slash of pain gripped Raisa, striking her where it truly hurt. She shook the feeling away. Of course there were other women. Where were her brains? The men did say they needed a woman every fifty years. How could she have thought even for one minute that there weren’t any woman before her?

  Just as there would be even more women after her.

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  She just never spared any thought for it before and she didn’t like thinking about it now.

  “Raisa?” Esmeralda’s hands gripped hers, steadying her. She looked up into those wise and compassionate green eyes and saw understanding and a knowledge she instinctively shied away from, a knowledge that she knew if she acknowledged would only bring more pain. She labored to remember what they were last talking about. Oh yes, a party. “I’m sorry your party bombed.”

  “Bombed?” Thankfully, the other woman followed her lead, her brows creasing at the unfamiliar term.

  “Oh, that it failed. You’re not from Earth?”

  “No, I’m from Ragnon, same as Adamas and Damaon.”

  “Oh yes, I forgot. Damaon seemed to have said something like that earlier.”

  “After that fiasco, I started targeting smaller groups.” Esmeralda wrinkled her nose as she looked around them. Some steps back, they had turned a corner and branched off into one of the smaller corridors that Raisa now recalled led to the kitchens. “At first, it was just the four of us—the Emerald and Diamond Immortals and me. Then, fifty years before, I was able to convince the Topaz Immortal and his wife to join in the yearly gathering and finally about three years before, I recruited the Sapphire Immortal and his daughter.” She paused, thoughtful. “Or was that the other way around?” A dismissive sound escaped her. “No matter. My goal was to establish an active social life among the immortals, but when people’s lives are as long as eternity, they tend to move slowly.” She made a face. “No, that wasn’t fair. They’re very busy taking care of the gems and all that, as I’m sure you know.”

  Not really. Considering that Adamas and Damaon had taken just one afternoon off to catch up on their work in the twelve days she’d been here, Raisa believed the immortals could find the time to join the parties if they wanted. Maybe the problem was that there was no motivation for them to do so.

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  Dia passed them just then, bearing a plate of steaming egg custard in a transparent bowl. She smiled and nodded at them before continuing on her way to the parlor, where the numerous dishes were set out. When Raisa had peeked in earlier, she’d seen barbequed leg of lamb, venison with blueberries and roasted trout and artichokes with almond. Her mouth had watered from the fragrant smell. It had also made her wonder just how many they were expecting for dinner. Another thing she hadn’t understood was why mainly Earth food was served, until Adamas informed her he had changed the menu to suit her taste.

  That had earned him a kiss. Esmeralda’s voice drew her back from thoughts of food.

  “So you’re from Earth.”

  Though it wasn’t a question, Raisa answered, “Yes.”

  “How’d you feel to find yourself here?”

  Raisa laughed, remembering the first day. “I was stunned. Suddenly, fiction became fact, which made me wonder if fact will become fiction,” she said. “You know, that Earth doesn’t exist anymore and that I had been sleeping in a time capsule all this time and some machine was feeding me images of my fake ‘real’ life.”

  Esmeralda laughed with her. “I don’t understand all that jargon, but I know the feeling. My mortal life had revolved around farming and taking care of my sister and nephew, then I was thrust into the opulence that was the Emerald Palace. I was overwhelmed, to say the least,” she said. “Believe it or not, Orin was very stern and forbidding in those days, so…scary, especially when I first met him.”

  “He loves you very much.” Again, that stab of envy.

  Esmeralda’s expression turned dreamy. “I know. He still can’t take any jokes when it comes to our relationship though. He’s afraid that I’ll grow tired of living the life of an immortal and leave him. Silly man.” Her tone was chiding, yet indulgent. “Doesn’t he know yet that he’s my life and I don’t want to be anywhere but with him?”

  “Maybe if you tell him enough…”

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  “Or if I stop making such jokes…” Esmeralda trailed a hand against the marble walls. “I’ve always wondered what it’s like living here.”

  “Aren’t all the palaces the same?” Raisa asked.

  “No,” Esmeralda said. “The building structure’s different and the color’s definitely unique. Mine’s green.”

  “I never wondered,” Raisa said dryly and was surprised by Esmeralda’s squeal and impulsive hug.

  “Oh, I like you.”

  “Thank you,” Raisa stammered. “I…I was just thinking the same thing about you earlier.”

  “Really?” Esmeralda’s eyes glowed. “If only—I could stay here for a time, then it would be a change of scene for me. White instead of green.” She had paused the merest beat, but Raisa had noticed and she knew what the other woman had originally meant to say.

  If only Raisa we
re staying on a permanent basis, they might become good friends, best friends even.

  But she wasn’t staying and she couldn’t. Only immortals could settle in the gem palaces and she…she was wasting her time wishing otherwise. “I think you’d grow bored before long, because Orin wouldn’t be here.” Raisa didn’t wait for Esmeralda to agree with her as she continued speaking, “I know what you mean though. Once, I was thinking that a landscape painting would look good on these walls, you know, to give a splash of color among all these pristine whiteness.”

  Esmeralda’s eyes widened. “You’re so clever. My place could do with a snowscape or one with mountains, even flowers.”

  “But Adamas—or was it Damaon?—said that they couldn’t weave any color but white,” Raisa said.

  “And my husband can only create in green,” Esmeralda said in excitement. “So—”

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  Raisa turned and stared at her newfound friend in mounting exhilaration as she caught where Esmeralda was leading. “We’ll get all the immortals to contribute a bit of color in one another’s palace, whoever wants.”

  “Brilliant!”

  “I wouldn’t have thought it without you.” Raisa shook her head ruefully. “Do you think Orin would agree?”

  “I don’t see why not, as we’re not hurting anybody.” Esmeralda grinned. “Did you know that the idea of gifting the servants with human emotions came from the Emerald Palace?”

  Raisa smiled. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

  “Orin was against it at first, but I was going crazy with all the never-ending, and at times inappropriate, cheerfulness. Once, I fell down a flight of stairs and the servants who were cleaning the ground level saw my fine tumbling act, but instead of rushing to my aid, they burst out laughing.” Esmeralda’s green eyes snapped with remembered ire. “I had to give specific and repeated instructions before one of the footmen went to the fields to find Orin. Apparently, none of the servants had ever set foot outside the palace before.”

  Raisa’s hand flew to cover her mouth. “I didn’t know such a terrible thing happened. Adamas and Damaon never mentioned it.”

  “Nobody knew,” Esmeralda said in a rueful voice. “It wasn’t hard to keep it a secret, considering the way the immortals isolate themselves from their peers. Anyway, I wasn’t too badly injured, just some scrapes and bruises. I was mostly stunned. But because of that, Orin finally gave in to my wishes. He made some changes to the servants’ programming and on the occasion of our wedding, a few months after my harrowing accident, all the immortals who came saw our “humanized” servants and they all want the same thing. I’ve never been a trendsetter back home. It was quite a new and exhilarating experience.” She then made an impatient sound. “But enough 87

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  about me. I’m eager to start redecorating my home. What say we go back and persuade the men to agree to our scheme?”

  Esmeralda’s eyes gleamed with such malevolent glee that Raisa laughed, happy and carefree. She turned back toward the way they’d come, then linked arms with the other woman. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go.”

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  Chapter Six

  “You really have a flair for this, Tap,” Raisa said, the admiration evident in her voice. “Such elegant design. I’ve never seen the like on Earth.”

  She had also never seen a painting being created in such a manner. Normally, artists produced their masterpieces first, then searched for the best frames to showcase their magnificence. But in this instance, Esmeralda had decided that the wooden frame should be generated at the outset in order to provide the boundary for the immortals’

  weaving of the landscape. Otherwise, they might let loose their doubtful creative talents and turn the pristine whiteness of the palace into a kaleidoscope of discordant colors. Damaon’s shudder of horror gave the deciding vote.

  Raisa and Esmeralda had returned to the central hall to find that the Topaz Immortal and his wife had arrived. Tap was short and rotund, pleasant and accommodating with an ever-present smile on his kind face. His wife Bronwyn, on the other hand, was his opposite, tall and thin and prone to contradict her husband on everything.

  After the introductions, Esmeralda had presented their idea with such vibrant enthusiasm that the men fell under her spell and agreed immediately. Raisa would’ve been jealous of the way the other woman had Adamas and Damaon eating out of Esme’s hands if Raisa hadn’t been busy trying to hold in her laughter. Now, at her words of praise, the portly man beamed. “I’ve always been interested in wood carving. Maybe I can take it up as a hobby.” He had used the shawl draped around his wife’s shoulders to make the frame of the painting. Bronwyn snorted.

  Sensing potential discord in the offing, Raisa interjected, “So now, Orin, it’s your turn. I want some grasses on this side of the painting.”

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  Orin lifted a questioning brow at his wife. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I’ve always wanted a gown like Raisa’s.”

  “I won’t need that much material. Maybe all you’ll get is a new skirt.”

  “Orin!” Esme exclaimed.

  “Adamas?” Orin turned to the pale-skinned Diamond Immortal, who grinned at Esmeralda’s impatience.

  “I’m ready when you are, Orin, since that lover of mine couldn’t stop smiling like a fool,” Damaon said.

  As Orin filled in the space Raisa had outlined with tall blades of lifelike grass that waved in the wind, Damaon spun a demure, knee-length skirt for Esmeralda from the pretty vase filled with tuberose that had graced the hall table. He made it all sparkly with tiny diamonds scattered like sequins against a backdrop of satin, which made Esmeralda smile with pleasure.

  “Ooooh, you’re all here!” an exuberant, girlish voice exclaimed from the doorway, interrupting their intense study of the “painting”.

  Raisa turned in time to see a child—no, a teenager—run toward them and throw herself into Damaon’s arms. She gave him a smack on the cheek, then bestowed the same energetic greeting on Adamas. Raisa was amused to see the two men greet the girl with avuncular affection before they strode forward to shake hands with the man who had appeared behind the girl.

  “Hello.” Inquisitive sapphire eyes regarded her from a gamine face. “I’m Iderea.” A slight grimace. “Or Ida, for short. I do so prefer Ida, though.” This was said with an eager, persuasive smile that Raisa couldn’t help smiling. “I’m the daughter of the Sapphire Immortal, that’s my father over there,” she said with a casual gesture over the congregated men, “and I’ll be sixteen in three more months.”

  That couldn’t be possible. Raisa stared at the male newcomer in a daze, her gaze roving over the straight physique, the hint of taut male flesh underneath his cerulean 90

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  robes and the attractive features with a bluish cast. On Earth, he could’ve passed for a man in his early thirties, not a man with a teenage daughter, though the numbers were possible if he’d sired a child in his late teens.

  The other women, Iderea included, laughed merrily at her reaction. Raisa supposed the astonishment and disbelief she was feeling was reflected on her face.

  “Sapphire has already been around for two millennia, but immortals age slowly, if at all,” Esmeralda said, taking pity on her.

  “Wow,” Raisa said weakly. Even if Sapphire aged, he’d still be a handsome man. The intense melancholy in his azure eyes only made him more appealing, she decided as she was introduced to him. He nodded politely at her, aloof. She didn’t miss the noticeable lack of a wife, or Iderea’s mother, for that matter. But since she didn’t know if she would be opening old wounds by asking, she kept her mouth shut. Esmeralda laughingly cajoled Sapphire into contributing his thread for the painting and he spun a wide, flowing river beside the grassy embankment from Iderea’s decorative belt. Everyone oohed and ahed at the resulting picture, w
hich was a simple, yet amazingly lifelike landscape that could’ve used an image of a distant black mountain with snow caps. Adamas or Damaon could’ve done the snow caps, but there was no one to “paint” the mountain, unless the Onyx Immortal was coming. Which he wasn’t.

  Adamas clapped his hands and the chatter stopped as they faced him. He grinned.

  “I didn’t know so many of you are artistically gifted. We have to thank Raisa for pushing your otherwise hidden talents to the fore.” Everyone laughed. “We can make more paintings later, but for now, dinner’s ready and I, for one, am famished.”

  Dinner was a warm, boisterous affair, full of laughter and conversation. Even Sapphire, who was seated across from Raisa, relented enough to smile every now and then. When Damaon would have led Raisa to sit between him and Adamas, Iderea had inveigled them into letting her take Raisa’s place, relegating Raisa to Damaon’s right side. Damaon had sported a huge frown on his face at this maneuver, but Raisa 91

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  shushed him, proclaiming she didn’t mind. The girl was obviously something like a favorite niece and it was equally obvious she adored her unofficial “uncles” as she chattered first to Adamas, then to Damaon at regular intervals during the meal. As for Raisa, she enjoyed sitting next to Esmeralda, who regaled her with the story of her romance with Orin.

  When they were finally lingering over coffee and tea, their bellies filled and the atmosphere relaxed, Raisa escaped to the washroom, feeling the effects of a full bladder. The food was sumptuous, every last dish, and she felt as though she were in gastronomic heaven the entire time.

  The washroom was designed like those in five-star hotels, with plenty of space for a waiting area complete with comfortable cushioned chairs and mirrors. Going further in, she found a row of cubicles and taps. There must have been a lot of parties held in the palace in the old days.

  As she was washing her hands, the door opened and Adamas and Damaon sauntered in. She smiled, pleasure coursing through her at the sight of them, but her heart really speeded up when Damaon locked the door.