“You expect me to believe you?”
The flecks of emerald shimmered in her eyes. “My father has forbidden his people to leave our homeland.”
“Oh aye, and a daughter has never dared to disobey her father.”
She cast a condemning glance around the barren cave. “Trust me, if I did decide to defy my father I wouldn’t choose to travel to this dump.”
His low growl filled the air. He was a true hedonist. A vampire who reveled in rare books, fine wine, and beautiful women.
And in turn, women adored him.
All women.
But this female . . .
She wasn’t the warm, willing bundle of pleasure he was accustomed to. She was rude and prickly and downright dangerous.
“Watch your tongue, princess,” he snarled. “This dump happens to be a part of my private lair.”
“There.” She pointed an accusing finger toward him. “I knew it. You kidnapped me.”
Cyn rolled his eyes. Could this farce get any more ridiculous?
“The only one kidnapped was me.”
“Why would I kidnap an oversized, ego-bloated vampire?”
Yeah. Why would she? It took him a minute to shuffle through his still fuzzy thoughts.
“To keep me from protecting my friend,” he at last concluded.
Hadn’t she pulled him out of the throne room leaving Roke at the mercy of her father, Sariel? And then she’d plied him with some wicked fey brew that had knocked him unconscious.
Aye. It made perfect sense that it was a nefarious plot to separate him from his friend.
At least it did until she glared at him in outraged disbelief.
“Are you completely mental? Your friend was exactly where he wanted to be.”
Okay. She had a point.
Roke hadn’t looked like he needed Cyn’s services. In fact, the last he’d seen of his fellow vampire he was wrapping his mate in his arms, his expression one of besotted devotion.
Bleck.
“Then perhaps you simply wanted to be alone with me.” He flashed a smile that revealed his snowy white fangs. One way or another he was getting answers. “You wouldn’t be the first female to use magic to get me into her bed.”
She muttered something distinctly unladylike beneath her breath.
“I am a fairy princess.”
“And?”
“And I don’t share my bed with—”
He planted his hands on his hips, his expression daring her to finish the sentence.
“With?”
Her lips parted to complete her insult, but before she could speak there was a sizzle of power in the air. Cyn turned toward the center of the cave, his muscles coiled to attack as there was a faint pop and then a tiny demon dressed in a long white gown appeared out of thin air.
Cyn gave a startled hiss, his eyes widening at the creature who could easily pass as a young girl with her small stature and long silver braid that nearly brushed the floor. Cyn, however, wasn’t fooled. He recognized the strange oblong eyes that were a solid black and the sharp, pointed teeth.
This was no harmless juvenile.
She had enough power to crush him and his entire clan.
Even worse, she was an Oracle. One of the rare demons who sat on the Commission, the ultimate rulers of the demon world.
“Enough squabbling, children,” she chided, folding her hands together as she studied them with an unnerving intensity.
“Holy shite.” Cyn offered a belated bow. “Siljar.”
Fallon crouched on the ground, her arms wrapped around her knees in a futile effort at modesty.
“You know this person?”
“Not person,” Cyn corrected, shivering as Siljar’s energy sizzled over his skin. “Oracle.”
The amber eyes widened. “Oh.”
“Forgive me.” Siljar gave an absent wave of her hand and Cyn made a strangled sound of shock as he found himself covered by a plain white robe that hit him just below the knees. The Oracle gave another wave of her hand and Fallon was covered in a matching robe. “I haven’t created a portal into the fairy homeland for a number of centuries.”
Cyn scowled, ignoring Fallon’s I-told-you-so glare. “You brought us here?” he demanded.
Siljar gave a nod of her head. “I did.”
“Why?”
“Because I have need of you.”
His acute hearing picked up Fallon’s soft sigh of relief as she rose to her feet and brushed her hands down the satin robe.
“You need the vampire?”
“I have a name,” he reminded the princess with a snap.
Siljar clicked her tongue, her gaze shifting from Fallon to Cyn.
“I need both of you.”
Cyn stiffened. It was never, ever a good thing when an Oracle had need of him.
“Why?”
There was the unmistakable scent of sulfur as Siljar’s expression tightened with anger.
“I fear the Commission is being tampered with.”
Cyn arched a brow. Hadn’t Styx sent word that they’d uncovered the plot by the strange demons who’d been holding Fallon’s father captive?
“Aye, we know the Nebule planted a spy to pose as an Oracle,” he said.
Siljar shrugged. “He has been destroyed.”
Oh. Cyn grimaced. “You suspect there’s another traitor?”
“That was my first thought,” Siljar admitted. “But I believe that on this occasion the Oracles are being manipulated without their knowledge.”
That seemed . . . unlikely.
“Why are you suspicious?” he demanded.
Siljar hesitated a second before revealing what was troubling her.
“Over the past few weeks I’ve found myself awakening as if from a trance to discover I’m seated in the Council Room,” she at last said.
Cyn blinked in confusion. That was it? He’d been kidnapped and dropped naked in these caves because the old gal was becoming forgetful?
He forced himself to consider his idea. Only an idiot implied that an Oracle might be going a bit batty.
“The past year has been stressful, especially for the Commission,” he murmured.
“It has. And if I was the only Oracle to experience the strange phenomenon then I would assume that your implication that I’m suffering from some sort of mental decay was right.” Her lips twitched as he flinched at her blunt words. “I am, after all, quite old and it wouldn’t be entirely unlikely that I would accidentally transport myself to a familiar location without realizing what I’m doing.”
Cyn ignored Fallon’s barely hidden amusement at his discomfort.
“But?”
“More than once I discovered I wasn’t alone.”
Cyn grimaced even as he heard Fallon suck in a startled breath.
Having Siljar suffering from an occasional blackout was one thing. To think of the entire Commission being controlled by some unseen force . . . bloody hell.
“The other Oracles didn’t know how they got there either?” he rasped.
Siljar gave a somber shake of her head. “No.”
When Fallon had opened her eyes to discover herself far removed from her fairy homeland she’d been more annoyed than frightened.
Strange considering that it was the first time in her life she’d ever awakened in a dark cave, stark naked, and in the company of an equally naked vampire.
Hell, it was the first time she’d ever been away from her father’s vast palace.
She should have been freaking out.
Shouldn’t she?
But while she’d tried to convince herself that he must be some sort of deranged beast who’d stolen her from her home for God only knew what sort of perverted reason, she couldn’t truly make herself believe he was intending her harm.
She hadn’t spent much time with Cyn, but while the massive clan chief was obviously a terrifying predator, she’d easily sensed he posed no danger.
No, that wasn’t true, she wryly conceded.
>
He posed all sorts of dangers, not the least of which was the unwelcome excitement that sizzled through her whenever he happened to glance in her direction.
But she didn’t for a second believe he would physically hurt her.
Not unless he believed she was a threat to his people.
The tiny demon in front of her, however, had just sent a chill of terror straight down her spine.
She knew of the Commission, of course.
Unlike most Chatri, the pure-blooded ancestors of the fey, Fallon had never been content with her secluded existence. Others might be happy in her father’s royal palace, surrounded by lush gardens and meadows that were drenched in perpetual sunshine, but for her it was all too . . . flawlessly monotonous.
There was only so much perfection a woman could endure before she became bored out of her mind. Which meant that Fallon had been driven to develop a secret life just to keep her sanity.
No one among her people knew that she’d created a hidden chamber where she honed her skill at scrying until she could not only peer into other dimensions, but she could also maintain several images at once.
Over the years she’d spent endless hours studying this world, fascinated by the rapidly changing cultures while her own life remained stagnant. She’d even kept up on the current fads and speech patterns, telling herself that she might have the opportunity to visit this world, even when she’d known deep in her heart that her father would never allow her to leave their homeland.
Now she wondered if she’d been mistaken in her belief that the powerful Oracles were both wise and fair leaders for the demon world.
“What would be the point of trancing you?” she demanded in confusion.
Siljar regarded her with an unblinking gaze. It was . . . creepy.
“My guess would be that they want us in the Council Room,” she said.
She forced herself not to wilt beneath that basilisk stare. “Why?”
“It’s the place we gather to share information, and to settle disputes between demons,” Siljar explained, abruptly pacing across the cave with jerky movements. As if she was trying to contain her emotions. “And in extreme cases it’s where we share our power.”
“Do you think it could be a demon who is trying to influence you to judge in his favor?” Cyn abruptly demanded.
“It is possible. We are currently negotiating a land treaty between the mountain ogres and the woodland sprites.” Siljar gave a sharp shake of her head. Swish. Swish. Her white robe brushed the uneven floor. “But in truth, I fear the plot is far more nefarious.”
“Nefarious?” Cyn demanded.
Siljar nodded. “I think someone is trying to force the Commission to combine their powers to cast a spell.”
Cyn grimaced. “Who or what could have the necessary strength to influence the entire Commission?”
Siljar halted her pacing, regaining her composure to turn and meet the vampire’s troubled frown.
“That’s what I need you to discover.”
“You want me to spy on the Oracles?” Cyn rasped.
“Of course not,” Siljar chided. “I want Fallon to spy on them.”
Fallon’s mouth dropped open, her blood running cold. “Me?”
Siljar lifted a brow. “You are a master at scrying, are you not?”
Oh . . . damn.
“How did you—”
“I know many things, my dear,” Siljar smoothly interrupted.
Fallon shuffled beneath the dark, steady gaze. What else did the tiny demon know about her? Not that Fallon had an exciting enough life to hoard many secrets, but still . . .
Cyn sent her a searching glance, as if surprised that she might have an actual skill.
Jerk.
“What does a master of scrying mean?”
Siljar answered. “Fallon can keep track of the Oracles, even when they travel between dimensions.”
He didn’t look particularly impressed. “How will that help?”
“She can see if there is anyone in particular who has contact with all of the Oracles,” Siljar explained. “Or if there is someplace they travel where they could be manipulated.”
“How close does she have to be to scry?” Cyn demanded of the Oracle.
Fallon muttered a low curse. Had she suddenly become invisible?
“Distance doesn’t matter,” she informed the vampire, not about to be treated as if she couldn’t speak for herself. She’d had enough of that at her father’s court. “The only thing I need is a location to start.”
Without warning, Siljar was moving to stand directly in front of Fallon, her hand reaching to press against her cheek.
“There,” the demon said, searing the image of a vast complex of caves into Fallon’s mind. “You can track them?”
Fallon hissed in shock as the location locked in her mind and she realized just what was expected of her.
Crap. What was wrong with her? She should have told Siljar she couldn’t scry. That she’d made some sort of mistake.
Instead she’d practically boasted about her skill.
As if she was trying to impress . . .
No. She locked out the disturbing thought.
Cyn was an arrogant lug with an oversized ego. Okay, he was gorgeous. And sexy. And his hard, warrior body was lickably delicious. But she certainly wasn’t going to waste her time trying to impress him.
Siljar cleared her throat. “My dear, can you track them?” she repeated her question.
Fallon swallowed a sigh. It was too late to get out of her unwelcome duty.
Besides, if her talent would help, then she surely had a duty to do whatever she could to prevent the portals from being closed.
“I think so,” she said.
“Good.” Cyn folded his arms over his chest. “Then she can return to fairyland?”
Fallon’s mouth dropped open at his blunt words. “Why you rude—”
Siljar held up a hand. “No.”
Cyn’s jade green eyes narrowed. “Why not?”
“Although it has been several weeks since you left Fallon’s homeland—”
“Several weeks?” Fallon forgot her annoyance with Cyn as she sucked in a shocked breath. How was that possible? It felt as if it’d been a matter of minutes since she was standing in the small reception room in her father’s palace.
Siljar gave a lift of her hands. “Traveling through dimensions can often create temporal fluctuations.”
She was lying. Oh, it was true that traveling through dimensions could screw with time, but Fallon suspected that the cunning Oracle had deliberately altered time for her own purpose.
With a low growl Cyn clenched his hands in frustration, clearly more pissed than suspicious.
“What’s the date?” he demanded.
“The middle of January.”
The vampire’s icy powers pulsed through the air, making Fallon shiver.
“Shit,” he rasped.
Siljar calmly smoothed her hands down her robe, pretending there wasn’t a massive vampire filling the cave with enough power to make it collapse on their heads.
“As I was saying, I brought you here so Fallon could concentrate on her task without the interference of her father and her fiancé who are both searching for her.”
Fallon sucked in a shocked breath. It made sense that her father would come in search of her. But her fiancé?
The prince barely remembered she was alive most of the time.
“Magnus is here?”
“Fiancé?” Cyn muttered, sending Fallon an oddly angry glare before turning his attention to Siljar. “You can’t expect me to be her babysitter?”
“I request that you give her your protection,” Siljar spoke before Fallon could call him a jackass. “Which will be considerably easier if you remain behind the potent magic that hides your lair from prying eyes.”
“And what about my people?” he snarled. “I’ve already been gone too long. They need their chief.”
Siljar wav
ed away his concern. “You surely have a trusted servant who can keep your presence here a secret and yet allow you to ensure the welfare of your clan?”
The chill in the air became downright frigid. “There are others more suited to taking care of a fairy.”
Fallon met him glare for glare. “Amen.”
Siljar reached into the pocket of her robe, pulling out a small scroll.
“But they would not be more suited to deciphering this.”
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2011 by Debbie Raleigh
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
Previously published in the collection Supernatural by Zebra Books in September 2011.
First Electronic Edition: April 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4201-3897-9
Darkness Eternal Page 11