Hell is a Harem: Book 4

by Kim Faulks

  Really see her.

  The sight was a punch to my gut.

  Slashed jeans darkened with blood…I trailed my gaze higher, to the cut on her arm, and then to the scratches on her face…her poor beautiful face. “That’s enough, please. Do this for me.” I’m trying to save your life.

  She flinched at the ice in my voice. “You don’t have to do this. You don’t have to do any of this…”

  “Tell me, warrior,” Mab murmured, her nails digging deeper as they trailed along my shoulder. I caught the shudder as her hand cupped the back of my neck and the Unseelie Queen leaned close. “What will you give her, that you could never give to me?”

  I turned my head, stared into her cold, dead eyes and answered with the truth. “Everything.”

  Mab flinched, before hate struck with wicked fangs. Red lips curved with a smile that chilled my blood. “Then go now…give her everything that is you. Take him to the dark room.”

  There was a flash of movement. Lorn lunged with fists raised high. “Don’t you hurt him…don’t you hurt him, or I’ll fucking kill you!”

  But the guard at the Queen’s side was faster than I expected, sweeping his arm through the air to catch my red-headed fire maiden with one move.

  The other warriors strode forward, one grasped my arm, as another pushed in, and the rest formed a guard around the Unseelie Queen.

  They marched with her, not one letting me get a line of sight. They expected me to fight…expected me to attack.

  “Redemption, don’t you fucking do this.”

  I turned to meet her gaze, and took in everything…the flare of rage in her eyes, the curl of perfect full lips. Her sweat-stained hair as it stuck to her cheeks.

  She eyes bored into mine. “I’ll kill her…I’ll kill them all if they hurt you.”

  The Queen’s guard at her side said nothing, only held her back from me with one massive arm.

  This might be the last chance I had to see her. The last chance I ever got to say something worthwhile. “You are worth it, a thousand times over, you are worth it to me.”

  One hard shove at my shoulder and I was moving, leaving her behind.

  “Redemption!” Lorn’s blood-filled scream cleaved open my chest. “Redemption…no, please, no…”

  This was all I had left to give her…all I had left to bargain with.

  I moved, following the heavy thud of the Queen’s guard’s steps.

  “Easy now,” the Queen’s guard murmured behind me. I turned my head, catching his gentle touch on Lorn’s arm.

  The sight of that nagged me as I left them behind. Why would he touch her like that? Why would a Queen’s guard even fucking care?

  Because it was Lorn.

  Because she crawled under your skin in the most impossible ways.

  And she never let go, even when you betrayed her.

  Even when her impending death was all your fault.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lorn

  Redemption left me, just like that, without so much as a fight...I stared at the throne room floor, catching the shadows as they danced.

  To Hell with the consequences. I’d rather die right here than allow him to spend another goddamn second with her.

  “Easy,” Boroch murmured once more.

  I wrenched my gaze high. Through the sheen of tears, I found the warrior. “I love him. I’ve always loved him. Don’t you get that? There is no easy for me. Not now…not ever.”

  Boroch lowered his head, dark Unseelie eyes finding mine. “Is he worth losing your life over?”

  The answer was simple. “Yes,” and that stubborn sonovabitch’s words filled my head. “A thousand times over, he’s worth it to me.”

  There was a flare of pain in the guard’s dark eyes. A moment of surprise, and I had to wonder how he could endure what he did with that festering shell of a woman without feeling the same. Maybe he did…and maybe he was the only one. “You love her, don’t you? You truly love her.”

  He straightened his spine. “She is my Queen.”

  “That doesn’t give her the right to treat you like that. That doesn’t excuse the fact that she left you to crawl from her bedroom broken and bleeding.”

  Silver scars filled my mind. The criss-crossed raised edges of Redemption’s back. I stared at the guard and my heart sank. “She’s done this before…to Redemption. She’s used him…and he’s goddamn let her.”

  My fists clenched by my side. I wasn’t a jealous woman. My lovers were men with appetites in bed, they’d had lovers before, just as I had…but what we did in the bedroom was one hundred percent consensual on both sides of the agreement. This…this wasn’t love. This was rape, disguised as loyalty.

  A shudder tore through me as I stared into Boroch’s eyes. No more. Not on my fucking watch…

  Boroch turned then, leaving me behind, and motioned for the other guard to follow before he murmured over his shoulder. “I do not wish to clean up your blood, not after the kindness you showed me. I owe you that.”

  He left then…left me alone with the crackle and the hiss of the fire…and that cold, empty feeling that I was losing everything right in front of my eyes.

  Find another way…

  Find another way to get us both out of here.

  I waited for a second. I could follow them, and achieve what? Being locked away in a room where I couldn’t escape. I thought of the forest and the old hag. I couldn’t leave…not now.

  The stag. It was the only thing in this world that didn’t make sense. The only thing they didn’t accept. I saw it…plain as fucking day, I saw it.

  I had no powers down here, no fires of Hell I could call on. I had nothing but stony fucking walls and a goddamn apparition I swore I saw. I searched the room, and stilled at the proper damn torch this time.

  I strode over to the wall and yanked the end from the holder before I held the top to the fire, letting the orange flames catch. “No silver stag, huh? Let me just prove you wrong.”

  I gripped the torch and strode from the room. There was no slinking black mist lingering in the hallways now, nothing but emptiness and a sense of loss. I had to find a way to get Redemption out of here, without taking down the entire fucking realm.

  I’d killed before…and I didn’t doubt for a moment that by the time I was through, I’d kill again. But I refused to take those I love with me, and I sure as Hell refused to leave them here.

  I strode along the hallway, finding my way to the Queen’s bedroom and then to the dining room, where the stench of my own vomit still clung to the air. The forest outside waited. I lengthened my stride as that sense of hopelessness bloomed once more like a poisoned flower.

  I cut through the kitchen and then out to the foyer. Dark rooms waited across the entrance. But I had no desire to know any more secrets this goddamn place held for me, so I turned right and stopped at the front door.

  The metal handle was cold to the touch. I gripped the knob and twisted, but the damn thing wouldn’t give. “Sonovabitch.”

  I clenched tighter, and twisted harder. Still the thing rattled, locked in place, unable to give me the one fucking thing I needed…freedom.

  My pulse climbed as I spun and stared at the darkened rooms. There had to be another way out, some kind of door that led out into a courtyard. A place like this would be filled with them.

  “Okay, you fucking bitch,” I murmured. “You want to play cat and fucking mouse. Then this mouse is about to fucking bite.”

  I carried the torch deeper into the foyer and then lifted the flame to the room. The space was big, whatever it was…couches and small corner tables were hidden with thick shrouds—I lifted the torch higher and peered into the gloom.

  Something scurried across the heavy covering at my right. There was a guttural snarl, and then a hiss. Beady black eyes shone as the animal raced from the light. I flinched, stepped further into the open space, and lowered the torch.

  The black-and-white-checkered flooring was covered with a th
ick layer of dust and, by the looks of it, no one had been here in quite a while. “You need to find yourself a new cleaning lady.”

  I cut across the space and headed for the far wall…if there was a way outside, it’d be somewhere here. Covered furniture was stacked hard up against the wall. I lifted the torch, trying to find a gleam of glass…anything, and hit the heavy canvas covering.

  Something underneath went thud, and then a tiny chink and a clatter, like pieces falling to the bottom until they stilled. Don’t tell me I broke the damn thing. I gripped the edge of the sheet and yanked.

  Dust bloomed like a cloud until it fell away, leaving bare some kind of torture device. Black stone gleamed as I lifted the torch higher. It was a block, three holes, two smaller on either end and one larger in the middle…

  My gut clenched. I’d seen something like this before, in the old books Alma kept locked away. Books filled with the massacre of witches. A pillory. I think that was the term they used.

  I stepped closer, and reached out, trailing my fingers along the smooth, cold surface. Energy raced along my hand, the kind of dark energy I’d felt once before.

  I closed my eyes, reliving a moment not so long ago as I’d stared at the remnants of my burned down apartment building. A figure stood behind me, head lowered, face hidden by a dark hood. Ace.

  Power moved around me…through me…power I’d never felt before. Dangerous power…dark power. And the feeling returned in an instant, that quickening of necromancy conjuring voices of those I loved, taking me deeper, into the cold, packed earth where they whispered. Don’t come here, Lorn…not yet…it’s not your time.

  Blood magic had swirled around Ace then, just as it swirled around this room now.

  The faint sound of a woman’s laughter slithered out of nowhere, breathing life into the chill that raced along my arms. I’d heard that voice before, that cruel fucking tone I’d know anywhere.

  I whirled, scanning the darkened corners as the sound came once more. The Unseelie bitch was here…somewhere. “Come out and face me, you spineless hag.”

  The laughter came again, faint, light…followed with the eerie sound of music. “What the fuck?”

  Something moved at the corner of my eye, something faint, like…pale mist. I spun, staring into the inky depths of this goddamn room as the music became louder and laughter followed.

  The white mist floated from between the mounds of covered furniture to take shape…and in an instant, the room was transformed.

  Those in the room laughed and raised sparkling crystal glasses brimming with what looked like champagne.

  Mab, he’s delightful, a woman murmured and took a step closer…she was nothing more than a vision, transparent skin, just like her smile, wearing a stunning dress beaded with what looked like real gemstones. A man stood behind her, dressed in a tuxedo, his dark Unseelie eyes glinting with the kind of cruelty that made my blood run cold.

  He is…isn’t he? The Queen’s icy words came from behind.

  The furniture was still there, covered by the thick, heavy blankets in the background, but superimposed over it was an apparition of the past…

  Others gathered around me…all smiles and beady fucking eyes. Unseelie…every one of them. But not the lowly servants, or the warriors who bled for their Queen.

  No, these were upper caste. Proud, snobbish, and fucking predatory.

  The stone pillory was pushed into the middle of the room, it’s jaws gaping, mouth wide open.

  “My Queen,” growled a male. “You sent for me?”

  I froze at the sound of his voice, unable to turn around. He sounded so…young…so innocent.

  “Redemption,” Mab murmured, and took a step.

  I lifted my head. It was her I focused on…her I saw with her curled red lips and her dark blue lace gown. She looked stunning in a way that would have made most women cringe inside—if they didn’t know her.

  But I did.

  I saw past the flawless complexion and stunning hourglass figure. I saw the disease trapped in the sheen of her eyes and the tightness of her smile as she stepped closer to the man I loved. “Yes, I did.”

  My body trembled, fighting me every inch of the way…until I couldn’t battle myself any longer. I turned my head to stare into his eyes and my breath caught. He was young and vibrant, so strong in the way he carried himself.

  My gaze drifted over his body, from his powerful shoulders to the hard swell of his chest that rose with a breath. He was dressed like the other guards…only with one exception.

  Gold glinted from the dagger sheathed in the belt around his waist. The King’s dagger. My heart lunged, punching all the way into my throat as I jerked my gaze high.

  “My love,” the Unseelie Queen murmured and lifted her hand. Long nails trailed along his arm, just as I’d watched her do moments before in the throne room. “I was just telling Demoness about you. How you refuse me every…step…of…the…way.”

  He flinched as he chest stilled, the breath trapped just like mine. There was a panicked look, like an animal cornered, as he glanced at the other woman. “My Queen…I…”

  “You,” Mab repeated. “You…you…you. You are exquisite. How about you show my friends here, just how exquisite you can be?”

  The color drained out of his face. His dark eyes widened as he looked from her to them and then back again. “My Queen.”

  “Strip him,” she snarled.

  The Queen’s guard closed in on either side. There was no fight as they slid his jacket free, and then removed his weapon and belt. Still he never took his eyes from hers, not even when the shine dulled and the man I knew seemed to slip away.

  Bare skin shuddered under her touch. I couldn’t bring myself to follow her fingers. But I knew where they trailed, over his bare chest, and down his stomach.

  “And his pants,” she commanded. “I want them to see every stunning inch of him.”

  His hand went for his zipper. “No, don’t do this…”

  The corner of her lips twitched. “By force if you have to.”

  His hands were grabbed from either side and yanked away from his belt, and the sound of tearing fabric filled the room. Heat rushed to my cheeks at the sight of him. But he just stared at her, never once turning away.

  “I have a surprise for you,” she whispered. “Put him in the shackles, but only his hands.”

  The guard at his side wrenched him forward and he followed.

  “Why don’t you fight her?” My voice echoed in the room. “Scream, claw…fight her.”

  But there was no howl of protest, no battle to the death. Redemption was frozen…no, he was dead inside. My body tightened, clenching deep in the most vulnerable of places.

  Rage spilled into the back of my throat. I swallowed and tasted blood. I wanted to fight for him…wanted to save him from this…no, not a woman…no woman I knew would treat a man like that…

  I stepped closer, but not toward him…toward her.

  I’d been around bottom feeders before. Men who thought they were somehow important in the scheme of things…men who thought they had some whisper of power. And I’d seen what power did to someone like that, how it played games inside their head, telling them they could have, and take, whatever they wanted.

  But this wasn’t one of those times. This was a woman with everything…power, people…men under her command who would do anything…who’d suffer anything.

  It’s the Unseelie way…the words were resurrected from the cesspool of this place. A tremor tore along my spine. There was no cure for this disease, nothing that could change the infestation of the mind.

  Show me, the vile piece of fucking shit murmured. Show me just how exquisite you are.

  The Unseelie Queen reached into her pocket, and drew out a tiny crystal vial. Clear liquid shimmered inside.

  “That’s enough,” the words burned as they escaped me. “No more, I’ve seen enough.”

  And with the words, the apparition inside the room melted
away. My heart hammered, filling my head with the deafening roar. Heat raced, tearing through my palm and into my hand.

  I looked down, and slowly unfurled my fingers of the hand at my side, tearing my nails from the skin. My knees trembled, but still my feet were unable to move. I was trapped between the terror of the past and what was happening to him in the present.

  He was with her once more.

  In the dark with her guards at her side, prepared to do her bidding, even if it meant sacrificing one of their own.

  I would’ve escaped, too…or died trying. “Hold on, Redemption. I’m getting you out of here.”

  Orange light flickered as I lifted the torch higher and scanned the rest of the room. There…something glinted behind the mountain of covered furniture.

  Glass…there was glass…I stumbled forward, smacking into something hard. I hissed through my teeth at the flare of pain and then shoved, driving my body between the packed furniture.

  Right now, I couldn’t give a fuck about the antiques. I didn’t care about the noise. Couldn’t fathom a flying fuck about who would come running.

  I clenched my fist and ground my teeth. This was a dangerous mood. A very fucking dangerous mood. I’d been here before…actually…I don’t think I’ve left.

  It was the same mood that made me drive across states hunting the pieces of shit called the Nine. My pissed off attitude served me well then, and it’d serve me again.

  My muscles trembled as I shoved. Whatever was under here weighed a fucking ton. A squeal ripped through the room. I winced at the sound and kept on shoving, pushing my way through to get to the other side.

  I didn’t have time to look. God knows I’d witnessed enough secrets in this place to last me a lifetime. I shoved the torch higher, reaching over what felt like stacked dining chairs to claw the metal handle of the doors behind.

  Cold touched the tips of my fingers on the second sweep, before I pulled backwards. I gripped the towering outside of the stack and shook. The thing swayed like Rival after a couple of beers. Goddamn lush. There was no way I could get over it, not without bringing the entire fucking Queen’s guard at a rush. I didn’t have the time to unstack and carry them elsewhere.