Demons & Dragons

by Gina Kincade

  She refused to give him the satisfaction of her flinch. She wanted to yell at him and ask him the many questions running about in her mind. Instead, she forced her silence knowing there would be more to gain from hearing him out completely first.

  “I shall continue this conversation alone, I see. You will not be harmed here,” he scoffed as if vexed by her. Then, he seemed to find some kind of calm again. “I know you will go along with my wishes as they are most favorable to you. Facts stand that his mother was offering money to some dastardly fellows to get rid of you. I intend to let Edmund know about her intentions, and know I took you in order to keep you safe from her. You will surely tell him of how finely you have been treated while you have stayed with us. The bruises, you will explain, were of course your own fault. I have sent word to him at Dalysbury and at Sanderly as to where he will find us awaiting him. I will offer you both to share this home with me. You can be married and live freely here together. We will be a grand family, the three of us. So, tell me what you think. I shall not refuse your thanks and utter gratitude, either. I have never been accused of being a humble man.”

  His smile chilled her as the words sunk in. She gave the other man, who stood silently grinning, a quick glance. Breathing deeply, she gathered not only her courage to speak, but her hopes for the correct words to say.

  “I do not know what to say. Edmund will be angered you have frightened me and roughly handled me…tied me up here.”

  “You are wrong, my beautiful daughter. My message to Edmund explains how I had no choice but to take you as I did. You would not have come willingly, as proven by your struggles. His mother’s intentions to have you disposed of left me no choice but to act quickly, especially at the price she offered on the streets. I am grateful to have heard of it when I did. You would be dead now were it not for me. I have only tied you here loosely,” he said while running his hands lightly over her rope covered wrists, “to again ensure your safety. If you were to willfully run away while we awaited Edmund, your life would be in danger again. I did what was forced upon me given the circumstances of your precarious situation. Now, the time is near to meet my son and offer my assistance.”

  “You know nothing about Edmund. I am unsure how you found out all that you have in such a short time, but your informants could not tell you about the true man that Edmund is. He is too fine a gentleman to follow you in your ways. He will be infuriated by all of this. Surely there was another way to go about it.” She moved her hands the miniscule amount she could to prove her point.

  “No, I do not know Edmund!” His voice boomed with the same tone as his son’s when uncontrollably angry. “Forgive me, but I am still caught off guard by the news I have a grown son I did not get to raise. I am sorry if there was a better way to provide you with safety, but I was much distressed. I had little time to think before acting. Trust me, dear daughter, I intend to make the good Dowager, the Marchioness of Dalysbury, pay dearly for keeping my son from me all these years.”

  “I am not your daughter.”

  “Not yet, but I intend to see you both wed here within the next show of the moon. I have arranged for the handfasting ceremony myself. I find the ritual more in keeping with our beliefs than jumping the broomstick. You will soon come to realize all I can offer you. It is the least I can do for my son and the woman he loves. If he loves you, then surely I am to love you as well.”

  “Wed, tomorrow night?”

  “Yes, my dear. Would that please you?”

  “As much as I want to be Edmund’s wife, I do not believe here, under such circumstances, is the best timing.”

  “Maybe not, but we shall all feel like celebrating once I am reunited with my son.”

  “What if your son does not feel the same?”

  “You shall help me there. You would like me if you would only give me a chance. That is why I am here, so we can talk and get to know each other better. I am sure once everything you two desire is laid at your feet, getting to know me will be a small price to pay. Now, please, can you tell me of him? Tell me of his life, what you know of his childhood, and what it was like when he discovered his abilities on Triaill Brimuir.”

  Aubrey weighed her options, wishing she could discern his intentions better. She had no doubt he did want to know his son, but in what capacity? He wanted a relationship with him. To what lengths he would go to ensure this happened scared her. For now, keeping relations the least strained as she could may aid in keeping some calm when Edmund arrived.

  “First, tell me how you found out about him and about me in such short a time?”

  “I have eyes and ears everywhere. I have infiltrated every line of communication which exists in these parts, and it took little after Lord Sanderly’s inquiry into me to find out why he asked. Is that enough information, or do you want the trade secrets as well?”

  “No, I believe I understand.”

  “Now, please share with me something, anything, about my son.”

  “I have recently learned,” she began, wanting to first seal his anger for Lady Dalysbury, too tired to care it wrong, “about the horrors of his early childhood. When he showed his first signs of possessing your magic, his mother beat him. In his keeping from me the sordid details of what he suffered, I can only fear for the extremes of it.”

  His outrage came off of him in waves like a great storm brewing. She tried not to fear it, knowing it not directed at her. At the same time, she grew quite aware it could directly affect her stay here. Playing a dangerous game for a small amount of revenge, yet, she sat in too weary a state to analyze her downfall.

  “She knew full well that, as my son, he would have powers," he said, tamping down the rage that had made his voice so loud before. "She must have feared them as she had feared mine. It was the magic that drew her to me at first. She craved power, even then, at any cost. I am not sure what she wanted of me, but she disappeared from my life as fast as she came into it once she found out what she had so easily agreed to. Had I have known our union produced a son, she would have raised him here with me.”

  His ire only grew as he spoke. The room darkened, choking under the depth of his pain and rage. Surprised to find that he did not hide in any way what he felt only compounded her knowledge that she knew not of the man. No matter who he was or what he was capable of, the love of a father, and the loss he would feel at finding out he had missed out upon his son’s life, would be a blow to any, she supposed. It did give her cause to hope a true man laid within him.

  He turned his face from her, and she dared ask as her heart simultaneously ached and skipped a beat, “Are you all right, sir? You asked me to tell you what I knew. I did not intend to hurt you with the truth.”

  “No, I know you did not. I can fully sense your fear of me. I hope he will not feel the same. I have already lost so much time with him. I couldn’t protect him from her. I was not given the chance. Had I have known of him… I have gotten every single thing I wanted in this life, and yet I had a son I did not even know about. One who needed my protection and guidance. The whole situation is an outrage!”

  He stood then, and the room trembled. The ropes at her wrists burned as they moved. Tears welled up in her eyes not so much from her physical pain, but from the emotional turmoil of the man. She had no powers available to her of discernment, but she didn't need them with a man as powerful as this. She would be wise to heed how his energy affected everything around him, and try to keep him as happy as possible until a way out of here could be devised.

  His fingers spread out and a great clear ball formed, tinged with translucent blues and blacks. A massive explosion shook the bed so she thought she would fall off of it when he sent the ball into the fireplace. The man to her left grabbed for her, helping her to remain still while he reached a hand out to Aelfin. When he turned to them, everything calmed immediately.

  “I am so sorry. Both of you, I beg your forgiveness. It is all so…”

  The other man released her and resumed h
is position beside the bed.

  “I am sorry," she offered, her words trembling out of her mouth. "I should have been more careful with my words. It is all still so new to you, this information.”

  “No, I asked. I need to know! I just have to gain better control. Too much is at stake. If I may beg your pardon, I am grateful to you for enduring my ire. I would not want to act so in front of my son after being so long from him. It is a good lesson to see I am going to require more restraint over my anger, although I am sorry it was at your expense.”

  “I would do anything for Edmund, and it would not have been best for him to have seen such a display. He is so new to magic.”

  “I am again, so beholden to you. You love him much, as he deserves, I am sure. He must be quite a man to have earned such love. Please, I beg of you, tell me something good. Tell me of your time together on the island.”

  Aubrey laughed a little, despite herself. “It was something. I accused him first of keeping his magic from me, I fear, when he turned back into a man against my spell.”

  “You turned him first? Is that how you found out about his powers? You turned him into what?” Again, something resembling affliction tightened his face.

  “I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt him in any way. I was greatly confused after all of Lady Dalysbury’s manipulations and lies and threats. I did not know what to do to protect myself and those I love when he showed up on the island.”

  “You need not explain yourself to me. I have known you for a very short time, but I would suffice it to say that you would not intentionally hurt anyone without extenuating circumstances. Having mentioned the Dowager again is enough said on that account. May I know what you turned him into?”

  “Kind of a beast of my own creation using the four elements, so a mix of a sylph and salamander and undine…” she broke off, blushing.

  “He must have looked amazing, so powerful.”

  Abashed by his reaction, she chose to steel her voice again, showing no response to the man at all. Caution her safest bet, at the moment, this talking seemed to keep him happy.

  “He did. In fact, later he transitioned again with my help. I got to ride the creature up over the tree tops and down into the water.” She could not stop her smirk at the memory.

  “Ah, a smile. It is wonderful to see. But, I daresay, I have never experienced the likes of such a beast. The island must be amazing. I am jealous, I am not afraid to say. To have had such an experience with him. I can not wait to meet him.”

  She smiled at him purposefully, caught off guard by a yawn at the same time.

  “Of course, you must be very tired after your ordeal. I am sorry again for my hand in it, for the way it has to be. Please indulge me longer in the restraint, as so much is at stake. Undoubtedly, we can be honest enough to say we do not trust each other as of yet.”

  “You are right in that, although I am in some discomfort.”

  “I am truly sorry. This gentleman here will work on at least padding the binds around your wrists for you, or anything else you think might help. I thank you for the gifts you have given me in your few stories. Now, you go dream upon your wedding while I go attend to a few things. I want this house ready for Edmund’s arrival, and the grounds prepared for your ceremony. By my calculations, he should arrive here tonight if he leaves the minute he hears the news of your safety. From what I understand, he will.” He gave her that smile again, the one which chilled her to her core despite the blazing fire in the room.

  She found it too warm in the room in spite of the small chill in the night air. Aelfin, she guessed, surely a man of excess indulgences.

  “My men will lead him back. They are instructed to not dally at any time with this task. You can let me know when I return with Edmund if you have any requests for the ceremony. I have a modiste and an abigail coming in the morning for you. I have the means to provide you with your every whim, do not forget that. Please, take advantage of it. I will be offended if you do not.”

  With the warning, he simply walked out of the room. The man he left behind managed little to provide her comfort while ensuring she remained tied. Her first thoughts, once alone again, concerned Edmund’s reaction to all of this. In his anger, she hoped he would realize what a powerful and dangerous man his father could be.

  With the room locked and men guarding it, he needed not to also restrain her. She had to wonder his angle with it. He obviously had something else to prove with them. However, she could not think on it anymore as she became dizzy with her fears. Instead, she chose to concentrate on being able to freely hold Edmund again.

  She slowly began undressing him in her mind. She saw his face rise over hers. She remembered how it felt to have his tight muscles stir under her touch. This memory, as well as the thought of his palms stroking her skin, played havoc with her senses. He had a gentle, but dangerous way of teasing her to a frenzy of nearly bewildering passion. A wonderful state she found when she'd teetered on the edge betwixt losing all control and reaping the most pleasure. In her mind, his hands grasped her face while he kissed her with so deep a passion she lost the definitive lines where their bodies commingled.

  Even the most immoderate of women could not put into words the experience of a man's hardness pressing at her thighs, she darest say. She twisted in response to the torturous thought of him caressing her most intimate of areas. When her whimper answered his groan, the code between lovers of their burning surrender to the needs they had successfully created within each other unfurled.

  When heavy upon her, she knew them no accident of timing, but ones destined to battle the barriers of society as star-crossed lovers. Yet, their love had enabled them to overcome each and every obstacle thrown in their path. Surely Romeo and Juliet would have encountered more hardships had they of not died so prematurely. Aubrey and Edmund would not take so easy a road. Each stab of fear and slice of pain she'd surely pay for a moment’s pleasure in her Lord’s arms.

  Chapter Twenty

  As he followed his father’s men, he believed himself cursed, chained to this nightmare of running for Aubrey. The journey too long to emotionally endure as her absence made it hard for him to breath, and therefore he had trouble focusing upon all of these men’s words. His father had her. He was to meet the man who sired him this night. The decision had been made for him. They had all underestimated the extent of Aelfin Pendle’s powers.

  A jumble of facts swirled into a chaotic mix of opposing emotions of love and hatred, elation and despair, until his mouth grew dry and his throat sore, with the tightness in his chest only spurring on his manic energy. Moments of vengeful joy at the thought of his father vowing to make his mother pay for her crimes proved short lived. The anxiety of being separated from Aubrey had plagued him, the heat raging through his restless limbs even as he'd cut through the cool night air on his horse mere moments ago. Try as he may, he could not quite recall exactly what he'd been told of his father. The days since his return to England with Aubrey had consisted of a series of stressful events and talks. It all wore upon his mind. It cleared and cluttered and emptied again upon its own inopportune whim.

  Everyone had been forthcoming with their secondhand knowledge of this Aelfin Pendle, who he had been told was most anxious to meet him tonight. Without being given the opportunity to decide matters for himself, the meeting had been timed currently inevitable, the forecast of events bleak and bothersome.

  Be that all as it may, without Aubrey his world had been once again torn asunder. He wondered upon how when Aubrey stood beside him the world seemed all sparks and magic, whereas when the object of his affections disappeared he swore himself drowning under the waves of love. Her voice echoed in his head while his skin vibrated with the absence of her touch. A gulp for breath gained him only a fight with the pain gripping his chest, making his erratically beating heart battle for space with his enflamed lungs.

  He ached to experience again her hot breath over his neck, rustling his hair as she flirted with
the height of the pleasure he could give her when the fates let her be safe in his arms. For, in those moments, his own personal angels and devils warred for control of his person, faith fleeting at times in the face of all those around them. He had no choice but to hold onto a mix of memories and fantasies of the perfect words of love she could speak and the rapturous displays of her desires for him and him alone. He would have soon dismissed the lot of them and taken away Aubrey for his own. Living as far away from any other humans as they could sounded like paradise. Maybe, being dropped off on Triaill Brimuir for good would serve as an answer if, for once, the decisions about his life could be left up to him alone.

  With the elaborate country estate sprawled out before him, he dismounted and threw his reins to one of the other men. He reminded himself to be warily cautious of his father while trying to form his own opinion. However, first and foremost, he had to get to Aubrey. Bursting through the door without any knock he figured only the first in a long line of actions which would not heed such caution. Yet, he had to see her and to know without a doubt of her safety. He had to view her with his own eyes and feel her within his own arms. The hearsay of his father’s minions had been little, if any, comfort to him. She would be lucky after this if he did not truly resort to tying her to his person.