Beauty

by Sophie Oak

  Bron ignored the fact that the slender woman seemed deeply preoccupied with eating creatures. “Who is Megan?”

  “Megan is the Queen.”

  “My brothers bonded?” Torin had done everything he could to ensure his brothers couldn’t find a proper bondmate. She’d heard rumors that great battles were being fought in the arena when a bondmate could be found. The rumors had it that vampires and refugee Fae would fight to the death in an attempt to possess one.

  The woman nodded, a small smile on her face. “A true bond. Your brothers have ascended into their powers. Beckett Finn is a Storm Lord and Cian a Green Man. Though he is not actually green. He is normal looking. I am told the title should not be taken literally.”

  Beck and Cian had formed a true triumvirate. It was beyond imagining. “I can’t believe it.”

  “They came into their powers a few months ago when they found Megan. As the Unseelie twins ascended into theirs when they bound to their perfect mate.”

  “Me.” She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but she knew it was true. It was right there, that invisible thread that she’d always thought of as an inward sign of her own insanity. She’d never seen it for what it truly was—the bond between mates. And not just any mates. Symbiotic twins. She bridged them, giving them access to the other half of their soul. And apparently giving them powers. “Shim is a Fire Lord.”

  “I think I heard the word pyromancer used. And necromancer for Lachlan.”

  Lord of the Dead. Heat and Cold. Two halves of a whole and she’d felt both powers skimming through her system. “Why are you here? Where is Dante? Where are my brothers for that matter?”

  Her family. She needed her family. They would help her sort everything out. They would talk to her and make things right. Oh, she longed to see her brothers once more.

  “Dante is back in the village. I followed you because I thought you might need some time to think about everything that has happened. I was told you were given the fire drug. I know how it feels. It is terrible and yet there was something wonderful about that first night with my Dante.”

  Terrible and wonderful. That was a good way to put it. She’d already forgotten the pain, but not the rolling need that had threatened to boil over. She could still remember how it felt to be one with them. To have Lach deep inside her pussy and Shim’s mind binding to hers as he fed. In those moments, she hadn’t been alone. She’d been loved and whole, and it had all been a lie.

  “What’s your name?” If she was telling the truth, then Bron had been terribly rude.

  The woman straightened up, her chin coming up in a polite greeting. “Kaja. I am Kaja Dellacourt. I am your cousin, and I would like to be your friend.”

  Bron couldn’t help but flush a bit. Kaja’s breasts were thrust out as she made her greeting. “And you are very comfortable being naked.”

  The woman laughed, a sweet sound. “Megan thinks it is odd, too, but I cannot wear clothes in my wolf state so I have none on when I change. Now, can we talk about all the reasons you should come back to the village with me?”

  And back to Shim and Lachlan and Gillian who wanted her barefoot and pregnant in the Unseelie kingdom? No way. Bron resumed getting dressed, pulling out her most comfortable shoes, a pair of boots Gillian had traded the last of her jewelry for.

  Kaja didn’t seem to notice her silence. She continued on. “I do not like that man downstairs. He might not be a bad man, but he seems to have plans he intends to see through with you or without you.”

  “That seems to be the order of the day, doesn’t it? Everyone wants a piece of me.” Including Torin.

  “But your family wants to protect you. I don’t think that man down there will do much in the way of protecting you. He will protect his plan, perhaps, but his protection for you will only go so far as seeing his plan come to fruition. Of course, you could simply wait until your husbands catch up to you, and then they will kill him.” Her eyes lit up. “And they will let me eat him. Yes. I very much like your husbands.”

  “Then why are you here with me and not off telling them where I am.”

  “Because Meg has taught me much. There are many rules on the Fae planes, but the one that is the most important is the Girl Power rule. The queen explained it to me. Girls must stick together because men are all idiots who often times think only with their man parts, and man parts are not smart. Girls must show loyalty to one another in the face of man part foolishness. If you are determined to follow this man, who is not your husband or your kin and will likely lead you into something terrible, then I will be forced to follow you because you are my kin, and I cannot leave you to something terrible. And besides, there might be snacks along the way.”

  Bron stared at her new cousin, unable to keep the smile off her face. Snacks? Dante, it seemed, kept his bride on a short leash. “I don’t think I can go back. Do you understand that they want me to go back to their plane and pretend like nothing is happening here in my home? What would you do if the place of your birth was being destroyed?”

  “I would warm myself by the fire and pray it took several of the wolves of my pack, but if my new family was being harmed, then nothing could keep me away.” She studied Bron for a moment. “And I can understand where a good princess would see her people as her family. You could try talking to Lachlan and Shim.”

  “I don’t think they want to talk.”

  “I have found that my husband will agree to many things when his man parts are in my mouth. You see, Meg is right because many times Dante should not have agreed to such things, but he did agree so I would continue.”

  Bron stared at her cousin. “I don’t think I wanted to know that about Dante.”

  Kaja sighed a little. “Megan also told me I must use a thing called tact. I struggle with tact. So we’re going to this Sir Giles’s home?”

  “Kaja, you don’t have to come with me.”

  Kaja got off the bed and shook out her hair. “I do. I cannot break the sacred code of chicks before dicks. Dante will understand. Or he will not and he will spank me. The good news is we are no longer on his plane, and it was so sad that someone forgot to pack the torture device that makes my poor asshole burn.”

  “Goddess, Kaja!”

  Kaja’s brown hair shook. “Yes, see. Tact. I do not have it. But I was smart enough to leave that thing behind.”

  Bron was just about to explain the meaning of the word discretion to Kaja when she heard an odd cracking sound. She went to the window. She could see a huge, dark cloud approaching the village. It moved swiftly and with great purpose.

  “What is that? A storm?” Kaja stood beside her, her eyes on the cloud as it stopped over what Bron would bet her life was the town square.

  “It’s not a storm.” A sick feeling hit her gut as the cloud hovered and began to rain down. But it wasn’t rain drops cascading to the ground. It was soldiers. “It’s an eddy wind. Fae who are very skilled at magic can ride them and take others along. It’s a way to get large groups of people somewhere very quickly. We need to get to the village, Kaja.”

  She turned, satisfied when Kaja changed from woman to wolf in an easy shift that happened so fast Bron barely noticed it. One moment Kaja was a woman and then next a graceful wolf following behind her. The wolf looked up at her with questioning eyes.

  “No, Kaja, we’re not leaving.” She couldn’t leave them now.

  Because Torin had found her and she couldn’t run anymore.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Lach had his hand on his sword as he strode out the door. The light hit him, and he realized he’d forgotten his protective glasses. The light on this plane was too damned bright. It had been fine when they had traveled at night, but the full glare of afternoon reminded Lach of his vampire DNA.

  “And just where are you planning on going?” Roan asked.

  “Bronwyn is gone.”

  Roan cursed and pulled out a small box he used to call his men in from their duties. “I don’t suppose you know whe
re she’s gotten off to?”

  Shim stalked through the door. He stopped on his heels as the sunlight hit him. He slapped a hand over his eyes and stepped back into the shade of the house. “Damn me. What is that?”

  Roan stood in the sunlight looking infinitely superior in his full military gear. His body was covered with lightweight clothes that protected his skin from the sun’s rays. As with many vampires he had implants that protected his eyes. They flowed around his face when in the presence of ultraviolet rays and disappeared when there was no longer a need for them.

  Lach had not needed them before, but the sunlight in Tir na nÓg was taking a toll. He could stand outside, but his eyes ached. Shim, it seemed, couldn’t even stand to be in the sunlight at all.

  “I should have known. Stay inside, Shim. You’ve had first blood, haven’t you? It’s why you’re stronger. I saw it the minute you walked downstairs. You feel it, don’t you?” Roan asked.

  Shim put a hand over his eyes, staring out at the vampire. “I’ve never felt so damn healthy. Well, not since I was a child.”

  “Consort blood. I’ve heard there’s nothing like it, but almost every royal taking consort blood knows that the ultraviolet effects get worse. Shim, you’ve had blood, but Lach hasn’t yet, has he?”

  “No. I didn’t think we should both bite her,” Lach replied. His brother did look healthier, a fine flush to his skin where he’d been a pale white for years. After that terrible day so long ago when the connection had been cut between them and Bronwyn, and Shim had slipped into his long coma, he’d worried that Shim would never fully recover. He’d gotten healthier, but he’d never regained his full strength until this morning.

  And now she was gone.

  Dellacourt jogged up. “I can’t find Kaja. I’m worried she’s out there eating crap she shouldn’t be eating.”

  Roan smiled. “I bet she’s run with our princess. Your Kaja is a smart woman, and she has a definite nose for trouble.”

  Duffy stood beside Shim, his axe at his side. “I checked out the window. It looks like she used the sheets to climb down the side of the house. Why do you think she would do that?”

  “Because she’s probably scared,” Dellacourt said, his irritation obvious. He pulled out his tablet and punched in some numbers. “You should have let me talk to her first. But no, you two had to jump in. I would assume at this point that the marriage has been consummated.”

  “It wasn’t properly witnessed, but she is our wife and I’ll kill the man who tries to take her from us,” Lach snarled.

  The vampire made a gagging sound. “Who thought it was a good idea for an Unseelie king and a royal vampire to get it on and create symbiotic twins? They should have known damn well it would produce a ridiculously over-the-top asshole. You don’t have to kill me, Lachlan. Bronwyn already got away. You might have taken a little time to talk to her. Introduce yourselves.”

  “The mating fever did not allow for much talk,” Shim admitted.

  The vampire’s head shook. “Well naturally. Are you part troll, too? I’ve heard they sometimes go insane and start eating brains.”

  Lach felt himself flush. His cousin was a troll.

  “I should have known. The Unseelie are not known for their pickiness when it comes to mates,” Roan said with a laugh. “Most Unseelie Fae have a little bit of everything in their family tree, unlike your Seelie brethren where there is a stigma attached to having mixed blood.”

  “Do you think she ran because she was disturbed that we are Unseelie?” She would have been raised to think less of the Unseelie and their acceptance of the dark things of the planes.

  Dante shook his head. “I think she ran because she woke up and found herself married to two strange men with very little explanation. Also her parents always thought she was a little touched in the head. She spoke of boys who played in her dreams. I suppose she meant the two of you.”

  “Yes.”

  “What would you think if you had spent the majority of your life believing in one thing and you wake up and find out you were completely wrong and what you believed was imaginary is real and has two penises and two sets of hungry fangs? I think Bronwyn can be forgiven for running.” He turned as the tablet beeped. “My Kaj, on the other hand, is going to get her sweet ass spanked. She’s to the northwest. What’s up that way?”

  “Our land,” Gillian said, her face deeply sober as she stood under the awning. “She’s gone back to the tower. She wouldn’t leave without her knife.”

  “She has her father’s knife?” Dante asked. “The one that matches his sword?”

  Gillian nodded, taking a moment as she looked on the edge of some unnamed emotion. “She does. It was next to her body. I recognized it. I took it with me because I thought it would prove her identity. She’s protected it ever since. She would never leave it behind. She intends to kill Torin with that knife.”

  Lach stared at his sister. “Gillian, why would she have that thought in her head? Bronwyn is a princess. She doesn’t know how to fight.”

  Gillian snorted. “I assure you, she does, and so do I. What was I supposed to do, Lach? Was I supposed to hire servants and continue to live as a royal? We were on the run and we had nothing but the jewels I managed to smuggle out. We worked for our food, and I wasn’t about to be at the mercy of any man. Before Torin started killing non-sidhe, I paid a couple of goblins to train us how to fight. They were the first. Wherever we would go, we would find someone to teach us. She’s quite good with a staff and knives and a bow. She needs work with a sword.”

  “She needs to get to a place where she doesn’t have to defend herself,” Lach said. He turned back to his brother. “Why didn’t we know any of this?”

  They had been in her dreams for years, and she’d never given a hint of the horrors she was facing.

  “They were her dreams, Lach. She was exactly who she wanted to be in those dreams. You should know that.”

  In his dreams, he was whole. Bron had never seen the real him until earlier this day. She’d seemed all right with his lack of beauty, but it couldn’t have helped.

  Bron had been on her own with only Gillian to help her survive. And now she didn’t even have Gillian with her. How much had she heard of his sister’s little speech? “Do you think she heard you, Gilly?”

  Tears squeezed from her eyes. “I do. I think she’ll never trust me again, and it’s my own damn fault. If she dies out there, it will be on my head because I’m so bloody arrogant.”

  “You’re a princess, Your Highness. You are everything you need to be, including arrogant. If you didn’t believe in yourself and your mission, you and Bronwyn would be dead. You did everything right.” Roan watched her intently. “Now let us do our job and get you all to safety. We need to get to Aoibhneas, and then we can have all the fights and recriminations you like. And we can all decide what to do from there.”

  Gillian watched him warily. “I thought you’re being paid to get Bron and me back to the Dark Palace?”

  “I’m being paid to take care of you and to do what’s in your best interest. Your father hired me to find a child. I’m in the presence of a woman with a mind I admire. You and Princess Bronwyn have survived here for a very long time. I will listen to any plan the two of you have so long as you allow me to listen to it from a safe location. I don’t intend to drag either of you kicking and screaming off the plane. You’re smart women. You have a say in your future. That’s something Princess Bronwyn’s husbands should remember when they’re dealing with her.”

  “You’re a dangerous man, Roan.” Gillian said the words with a small sniffle, but it was plain to Lach that his sister was taking the vampire seriously.

  “Don’t you forget it for a second, Princess.”

  Gillian stared at him for a moment. “Don’t think flattery will work with me.”

  A smile tugged that vampire’s lips up, revealing just a hint of fangs. “I wouldn’t imagine it. I suspect rope and long days of training will work on you.
”

  “Roan, you go too far.” Lach wasn’t about to let his sister be abused. Though he was thinking about tanning his mate’s ass red. It made him a horrible hypocrite, but it felt odd to listen to the vampire talk about his sister in such a fashion. She was his sister. She wasn’t supposed to do things like get tied up. That was sexual, and he just didn’t see it happening.

  Gillian laughed a little. “I think I can handle one vampire, though he is overly large. Roan will discover soon enough the depth of my training. And the lengths I’ve gone to. I assure you, he’ll find another consort.”

  Dellacourt started walking to the north. “Kaja is this way. I put a locator device under her skin a long time ago. That sweet little shanimal isn’t getting away from me. I recommend you all put locators on your women. They walk off all too often. Now, can we stop the whole sexual tension thing between the princess and the mercenary? Either fuck each other or let it drop. I have a cousin and a wife to find.”

  Roan’s men gathered around, the big lieutenant stopping and staring at Gillian with unabashed interest. Was this the vampire Roan intended to share Lach’s sister with?

  Was he going to have to kill two vampires? Or should he do exactly what Roan had said and assume that Gillian had a brain and could handle herself? Roan wouldn’t rape her. He might tie her up and attempt to persuade her, but he wouldn’t rape her.

  He was just about to follow Dellacourt when there was a popping sound and the sky darkened. He looked overhead and clutched his sword. He couldn’t mistake that cloud. It was an eddy cloud.

  “Is that what I think it is, Lach?” Shim asked. He tried to walk out, but his eyes closed. The light was too much for him.

  First blood was supposed to give him strength, and it seemed it had. Shim was stronger than he’d been in thirteen years, but it also seemed to have enhanced his vampire half. Shim closed his eyes and tried to step out. Lach shoved him back.