Beauty

by Sophie Oak

  Then Litha’s husband staggered out, a frying pan in his hand. The candlemaker had been badly beaten, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to stop. He would have fought until the guards killed him. Litha cried and ran to him. He fell into her arms.

  “Get your husband inside, Litha. Tell everyone you see to hide. We will take care of this.” She would. One way or another. She wouldn’t allow the women of her village to be rounded up and slaughtered.

  Litha nodded, tears in her eyes as she helped her husband up. “Thank you, Your Highness, but we will fight. You are our hope. Now that we have hope again, we will not give up.”

  Bron had to take a deep breath. This was what Niall had wanted of her, but he’d wanted a china doll to put on banners and keep protected. That wasn’t who Bronwyn Finn was anymore. Goddess, she wasn’t Bronwyn Finn. She was Bronwyn McIver.

  A small crowd had gathered, lending aid to Litha and her husband. Bron heard them talking about her. Calling her princess and wishing her luck. Promising to follow her.

  “Do not worry,” Litha said to the crowd. “Our princess will save us as she has saved me. Gather what weapons you have. We will follow Princess Bronwyn and her shanimal!”

  Kaja growled before changing.

  Bronwyn got the message. It was time to join this fight for real.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Shim pounded on the door, cursing the fucking sunlight that was keeping him inside.

  What in all the planes had happened? He felt stronger than he could ever remember feeling, and yet something as completely and utterly harmless as fucking beams of light were keeping him out of the fight.

  And damn it all, he really wanted to fight.

  “Where did Gilly go?” Duffy asked, his small body struggling under the weight of that sword.

  “Upstairs, though if she’s become like her charge, she’s probably tied the sheets together and run.” None of the women in his life seemed to want to allow him to protect them. And he couldn’t blame them since he was stuck in this damn house.

  There was a loud boom. The sound of a sonic weapon being discharged.

  Shim could feel his brother’s adrenaline. It pumped through his own veins.

  “They’re fighting. I thought they were doing a recon.” Duffy rushed to the door and out into the street. “Can’t see anything.”

  Of course he couldn’t. Duffy was barely four feet tall. Shim was six and a half, but he couldn’t see a damn thing since he was blinded by sunlight now.

  Gillian hurried down the stairs, holding her skirt in one hand. She rushed into the room and toward a small closet.

  “Gilly, you told Roan you would stay here.” The thought of his sister out in the battle while he was stuck here rankled.

  Gillian looked up, her dark eyes narrowed. “I’ll lie to Roan all I like. As it happens, I think I’m likely best served here.” Her arm disappeared into the closet and when it came back, Gillian was holding a bow and quiver of arrows. “Reymon likes to hunt. He’s quite good, and he’s been teaching both me and Bron. The upstairs window has a very good view. If anyone tries to sneak up the back street, I can take them out.” She stopped in front of him. “Don’t take it too badly, Shim. You’re half vampire. I’m not even a true heir.”

  Gillian was a bastard by royal terms. She couldn’t inherit since her mother hadn’t been married to King Fergus and had died in childbirth.

  “Our mother loved you.”

  Tears filled her eyes, and she looked over at Duffy as she nodded. “Queen Constance had a heart big enough for everyone. The Unseelie were blessed with her reign. Do you know how many queens would have thrown me out? How many queens would have taken in Duffy?”

  Not many, but then his mother had been an extraordinary woman. “It didn’t matter you weren’t her blood.”

  “And it doesn’t matter that Bron isn’t mine. I know what I said. I meant it. You needed to make sure your claim to Bron was unassailable, but I love that child. Child. She’s a woman, but she’s also my daughter. Not by blood or birth but by sacrifice. I seek to honor my true mother, Queen Constance, in all ways, and she would never have sat idly by while others suffered. When I spoke of taking over the Tir na nÓg, it is because I love these people. I would defend them with my life. Please tell Bron that. Please don’t let her hate me.”

  “No one can hate you, Gilly.” Duffy looked awkward standing there, looking up at the woman none of them had seen in thirteen years. Shim remembered how Duffy would blush every time the princess would say hello to him.

  Gillian got to one knee, placing her at eye level with the gnome. “Thank you, sweet Duffy. I did not say it earlier, but it is so good to see you again.”

  Duffy’s face flushed and his eyes turned down. “It is good to be able to place me eyes on you once more, Your Highness.”

  Gillian laughed. “None of that, brother.”

  She stood, the bow in her hand. “I will watch our backs. Duffy, please shout up if anyone is coming for the front of the store.” She winked down at the gnome and fled up the stairs.

  “I am not your brother.” Duffy said it so quietly Shim almost missed it.

  Poor Duffy. So in love with a woman he couldn’t have. “Duffy, are you all right?”

  “Sure thing, Shim. I’ll patrol.” Duffy cleared his throat and walked outside.

  Shim felt helpless. Gods, he was utterly useless. For the last thirteen years he’d been so weak, and now that he had some modicum of strength back, the sunlight was holding him in.

  “Shim!”

  He ran to the door. Duffy was pointing off in the distance. “That cloud is covering up the sun.”

  He was right. Sure enough there were far more shadows and shade than there had been but minutes before. He stepped out and his eyes burned, but he could walk in this. “I need to find Bron.”

  Lach would want him to. Lach would want to fight the battles while Shim took care of their wife. He felt his twin’s deep satisfaction with that idea. Since they had been on the same plane as their bondmate, he and his twin had been so much more in synch even without the deepest of bonds.

  Lach was fighting. Shim could feel it. He closed his eyes, and he could see it in little flashes. Lach bringing his sword down and skewering an opponent, strength flowing through his veins like never before. They were outnumbered, but not for long. Every foe they brought down became Lachlan’s. The enemy didn’t just lose a fighter. With every death they gained another opponent.

  Shim grimaced. Even this low light hurt his eyes. He closed them and searched for some fire. It sparked to his fingertips, but he hesitated to use it. The villagers were running. The scene was far too chaotic. If he started a fire here, how many innocents would he lose?

  Bronwyn. He needed to concentrate on Bron.

  He opened his mind and sought their connection. Even with her shields up, he knew she was alive. He simply couldn’t see through her eyes or feel what she was feeling.

  He could, however, tell that she was close.

  And she wasn’t the only one. Four guards rounded the corner and began walking down the narrow street. Shim pulled Duffy in. He was carrying an axe. No matter how small he was, the guards wouldn’t like that. Fire pricked at Shim’s fingertips. He could roast them, but the street was so narrow and the roofs around him were all thatched with straw. One errant flame and the village would go up. It had been easier in the town square. There had been room to maneuver.

  “You!” The largest of the guards shouted at Shim. “Bring out your women. The king requires all women to report to the town square for inspection.”

  Shim didn’t like the sound of that. Gillian was in the store. He had to hope she was doing what she’d said she would do, manning the rear window. “We don’t have any women. It’s just me and my brother.”

  The guards took in Duffy.

  “Well, lookee here. The mayor of this town is lax. A fucking gnome. Don’t you know your kind aren’t welcome here, you little piece of shit. No non-s
idhe. Looks like we’ll have some fun tonight. You’ll look good on the end of a pike, wee one.”

  The guard laughed, bringing the others in.

  Duffy, not one to shrink back, walked up, his axe in his hand. “Now I’d like to know what you think to do with those women. I can’t think of any good reason to call forth all the women of a town. What kind of men do you call yourselves?”

  The biggest of the guards stiffened, his limbs taking a predatory stance. “I call meself loyal is what I call me. And the king has decreed your kind to be undesirable and all who would aid you to be traitors. Now I think it’s about time to take care of this. Glannis didn’t tell us to bring non-sidhe to her so we can do whatever we like to these two the way I sees it.”

  Why the hell didn’t he have a sword in his hand? Perhaps because his father had thought him too weak to hold one. Perhaps because until he’d had first blood, he had been too weak to really wield one.

  And Duffy wasn’t smart enough to run. He hefted his axe and swaggered out into the street. “I think we’ll have to see about that. And I won’t let you hurt a bunch of women.”

  “The wee one thinks he’s a warrior.” The guards began to circle in a predatory fashion, like jackals looking for an easy meal.

  Shim stepped behind his adopted brother. “Duffy, I think we should go back inside.”

  “That option is gone now,” another guard said. “We don’t let fucking gnomes talk to us that way. And they’re certainly not going to threaten us with axes.”

  There was another sonic boom. It startled the guards and gave Shim a chance to focus. He let the fire build in his fingers. He couldn’t torch the fuckers the way he wanted to, but he could try to take them out one by one. The fire sizzled along his skin. It was so much easier now. The power was right there at his fingertips. He could tap it without losing control. It was his.

  One of the guards put a hand on him. Shim let the power fill him.

  There was a scream and the guard fell back, holding his hand up. It was already blistering. Shim could feel his power. It wasn’t just in his hands or flowing from his gut. He was his power.

  He sent out a little flame from his fingertips, catching the nearest guard’s tunic. The guard stepped away from Duffy, trying to put out the flames.

  But Duffy was too close to the others. He was wielding his axe, proving that he’d taken his training seriously. He caught one guard squarely in the chest, but he didn’t have the strength of a larger man. The axe struck, but it clanged and bounced back off, sending Duffy to his ass in the dirt.

  Shim was just about to send fire to the guard standing above Duffy when he hissed as a terrible pain caught him on the bicep. Blood flowed down his left arm, soaking his tunic.

  Duffy rolled, balling up his small body and narrowly missing the sword that descended toward his neck. He somersaulted his way to Shim and kicked out, catching the guard nearest him in the knees.

  But now they were surrounded, and Shim couldn’t feel his left hand. His right sparked, a little blast of fire, but his control was shot and his eyes were still affected by the sunlight. It peeked through the eddy cloud, causing little pockets of blindness.

  He could see vague shadows circling them.

  “That fucker is using magic. Didn’t you know we kill witches here, son?” a hoarse voice asked.

  “He burned me. Don’t touch him. He has some sort of spell on him.”

  “Aim for his heart. He might have a spell, but he ain’t got no armor.”

  Shim could feel Duffy at his side, but the gnome had lost his axe. The sun passed again, and Shim’s sight came back. He rather wished it hadn’t, since now he could see the men who would kill him. Even the ones he’d managed to burn were back on their feet.

  “Let’s have some fun with them, boys, what do you say?” the biggest of the guards said.

  “Now would be the time for you to start up with the fireballs, Shim,” Duffy said. “I think a little flame-roasted guard would do us some good.”

  Shim held out his only usable arm, and the shot went wild sending an arc of flame straight to the house across from him. The roof went up like tinder, scorching across the straw and catching both houses beside it.

  Fuck all. There were Fae in those houses. He could hear a faint screaming and wondered how many innocents he’d hurt.

  The guards looked up and then turned back, settling on their target. Shim.

  And then there was a low growl and a wolf pounced. Delicate and graceful and ruthless. The wolf leapt on the guard who had been about to charge and had her teeth around his sword arm. Hoarse shouts filled the air. Shim grabbed Duffy, prepared to run when the guard next to him suddenly groaned and looked down at the long knife in his chest. Whoever had thrown that fucker didn’t have Duffy’s strength problems.

  “Get down!” A feminine voice shouted.

  Shim sank to the ground, covering his brother as two arrows sped over him.

  When Shim looked up, all four guards were dead and he’d been saved by a bunch of women.

  Bronwyn walked through the smoke, her face a mask of willpower. She was a fucking gorgeous warrior goddess, and despite the pain in his arm and the panic in his gut, his cock got hard at the very sight of her.

  “Put those fires out, Shim.” Gillian walked from the doorstep, bow in hand.

  Bronwyn pulled her knife free of the guard’s armor, wiping the blood off on her pants. She looked down at Shim, her eyes softening a bit. “Please, Shim. If you can put that fire out, I would be grateful.”

  The fire winked out as though she had more control over his power than he did.

  Bronwyn held out a hand. “Now let’s go use that power of yours on someone who deserves it. What do you say, Shim? Do you want to help me kill a hag?”

  Gillian was at his side, her hand on his arm. “I don’t know if he’s going to be doing much of anything for a while. That arm is bad. He’s lost a lot of blood.”

  “I’ll be fine.” Shim struggled to get up. His brother was starting to get into trouble. Shim could feel it. He couldn’t let Lach down or Bron. She’d come back when it would have made more sense for her to run. Perhaps she’d only come back to save her village, but it didn’t matter. She was here, and Shim wasn’t about to let a little thing like massive blood loss stop him from helping her. He tried to get to his feet.

  Kaja shifted, her body forming into her two-legged state. Gillian took a step back.

  “She’s fine, Gilly,” Bron said in a stiff-sounding voice. “She’s Dante’s consort.”

  “Damn me, she’s naked.” Duffy just stared. His brother wasn’t one to let near death interrupt his deep appreciation of the female form.

  Kaja looked down at his arm. “I am Dante’s consort so I happen to know that anytime Dante is injured, he feeds. Consort blood heals. Cousin Bronwyn, if you want your husband in this fight, you’ll have to sacrifice a little blood.”

  Bron sighed, but she rolled up her sleeve. “Fine, but don’t do that thing where I end up a heap of boneless flesh at the end. I need to fight, too.”

  Shim knew Lach would argue. Lach would tell him it was the perfect solution. Shim would get his strength back and the very act of pulling Bronwyn in would rob her of hers.

  And she wouldn’t trust him again. She’d saved him. She’d returned when she could have run. Perhaps it was time to start trusting his bondmate.

  He let his fangs pop out. Yes, the naked girl was right. He could feel it now. Bronwyn glowed for him, a sweet golden aura around her body. It made her stand out. He looked up, his every vampire sense open now. Kaja glowed, too, and damn him if Gillian didn’t glow.

  “Roan is right about you, Gilly.”

  Gillian frowned. “Roan can be right all he likes, it won’t help him.”

  And then Bronwyn’s left wrist was right at his mouth. Shim couldn’t help it. He brought it to his mouth and bit down. When the blood hit his tongue, he knew the true sweetness of life.

  He sucked and dra
gged her pure blood into his body, health flowing into him. Power encompassing him. More than just blood filled him. She invaded his veins, her life, her heart, her spirit. They all soared inside him.

  She was shaking by the time he let go, but she straightened up quickly. She rolled her sleeve back down. She’d obviously felt the connection, too.

  Shim stood, feeling his strength like the sweetest drug. He grabbed Bronwyn’s hand and pulled her to him. Her face fell.

  “And now you’re going to shove me off to the side, aren’t you, Shim?”

  He shook his head. Gods, but he loved the feel of her so close to him. “I’m going to kiss my wife before we go and save Lach. Just be careful, love. I don’t want to lose you.”

  Finally, he’d managed to say something she didn’t have a comeback to. He brushed his lips against her and turned.

  Lach was in trouble.

  * * * *

  The hag wouldn’t stop. Lach skewered her soldiers. The minute he felt death descend on the fallen, Lach brought his power to grip them and reanimate their bodies. The dead rose and fought against their former brethren.

  But the hag had other plans.

  Lach hissed as a searing pain hit his chest. He felt a squeezing sensation as though someone had reached right through his skin and bone and caught his heart in their hand.

  He fell to his knees, Roan sliding down beside him. “Your Highness, we should think about retreating. She’s got a heavy shield around her. She’s letting the soldiers die, but we can’t get to her. I’ve tried sonics on her three times now and they bounce off. Two of my men are down because the bounce back hit them. One’s dead and the other is out cold.”

  Roan’s words hit his ears, but they sounded distant.

  You can’t win, Death Lord.

  The hag’s voice seemed to be the only thing he could hear. It filled his ears, crowding out everything else.

  Your power is too close to mine, and I’ve been using mine for far longer. I’ll let these sheep die in my place. I’ll focus on you. You’re the important one here. Tell me where Bronwyn Finn is.