All That Shimmers

by N. J. Nielsen

  “I told you. Someone will come for us. I have a feeling they’re looking for us even now. We’re not going to be here forever. We’ll be free.”

  “You need to stop filling her head with that garbage,” Leon snarled.

  Jory knew Leon kept lashing out because he’d not long been returned from his assigned room. None of them ever felt happy after being out. It usually meant pain in one form or another. Leon probably also felt bad because they’d been refused food yet again. Apparently, Leon’s buyer hadn’t been pleased by his performance.

  “It’s not garbage. I just know they’re coming.” He didn’t want to admit he’d been dreaming about a guy he’d never met. He was already enough worried that his mind was failing from being here for so long. At times like these he missed his first owner. At least Carlton had seemed to like having him around and he’d always been clothed and fed. In the same way, it also made him hate his mother and stepfather all the more. He’d been only fifteen when his stepfather had orchestrated his disappearance. More precisely, the evil bastard had sold Jory to the highest bidder. The man had always been a douchebag who gambled too much and his mother had hated Jory simply because he resembled his father. She’d often told him she wished he had died and his father lived. His three years with Carlton had given him a sense of family. That had been until some asshole had come in the middle of the night and murdered the man.

  Only then had Jory seen a worse side of people. His new owners hadn’t known what to do with him until they’d crossed paths with Gideon Bane. Gideon had paid to take him off the hands of Carlton’s murderers, who he’d only ever known as Buddy One and Two. They’d been too scared to let him know their real names in case he’d been lucky enough to escape. They hadn’t wanted him going to the police and giving them up. Jory wished he had escaped instead of being sold to someone else. Gideon was an extremely wealthy man who financed some very special establishments for other people. Jory had always wondered if that made the man more of a loan shark.

  “No one is coming for us. We’ll die here, or they’ll sell us on.”

  “Eric will be here.” Shock filled him as the strange name fell from his lips. He didn’t know an Eric, but yet he knew it was the dream guy’s name. “Eric will be here, or he’ll send people. We just have to be patient,” he told Leon.

  Silla squeezed his arm. “Who is Eric?”

  Jory knew he’d have to tell them something. Being fey, they might just believe he had the sight. His father’s grandmother had had it, but the ability had died right along with her.

  “You know I’m fey. I’ve been dream walking,” he said as he recalled the name his father had once given the ability. “Eric Meyers”—and again he knew the name belonged to his dream man—“answered my call.”

  “He has the sight,” Aileen whispered.

  Leon frowned at Aileen. “Do you believe him?”

  “Aye, me mam had a fey friend who had a touch of the sight. She could contact those closest to her in their dreams.” Aileen nodded. “So, aye, I believe him.”

  Nadal, Dimi, Rena and Trent moved closer. Each of them seemed hopeful Jory could be all he promised to be, and Jory felt bad. He just didn’t want to let them down. At least the hope stayed only within this cell. Thankfully each glass cage had been soundproofed before Jory and his fellow inmates had been placed in one. Jory had no idea how they’d accomplished that feat.

  “Look, I don’t know when they’ll be coming. I just know that they are. At least someone out there knows that we exist. They won’t just leave us here to rot.”

  “Why not? Everyone else has. No one gives a flying fuck whether we live or die. All they care about is if we can still fuck,” Leon growled, and Jory felt for the man—he truly did.

  Not knowing what to say, Jory walked over and lay on his mattress. He tried not to envy the occupants of the other cells who’d been allowed their daily rations. They were the lucky ones. Hopefully, tomorrow they’d be permitted to eat, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

  It didn’t take long before Silla curled her body against his back and whispered, “He’s hurting. He hates that we have no food. He blames himself.”

  “We all know it’s not his fault. The master likes to starve one cell a night and tonight just happens to be ours.”

  “I know that and you know that, but it doesn’t make him feel less guilty,” Silla replied.

  The dreams came as soon as Jory closed his eyes. One minute, he lay talking to Silla and the next he stood in the same room he always went to as he watched Eric sleep. He hated to wake him, but he needed to find out if Eric had started looking for them yet. He sat on the edge of the bed and gently shook Eric awake. “Eric, wake up. I don’t know how long I’ve got here tonight.”

  “You’re back. I thought I dreamed you.” Eric sat up and yawned.

  “This is a dream. Have you sent people for us yet? I don’t know how much longer some of us can last.”

  Eric frowned, “Who are you?”

  “My name is Jory, and we need your help. We need you to come and free us.”

  “I don’t know where you are. How can I send help if I don’t know where to send them?” Eric asked.

  Frustration flowed through Jory. “I don’t know where we are. All I can tell you is that we are not in the city. The house is large and there are trees all around us. There isn’t anything else I can tell you. I only see inside my cell. There are eight cells in all, and as far as I know there are eight people in each cell. We’re overcrowded and underfed. Some of us aren’t in the best shape. Promise me you’ll send us help.”

  “I promise. I’ll talk to the princess—she’ll know what to do.”

  “Thank you.”

  Although the dream seemed to last mere minutes, the next time Jory opened his eyes, the light in the room had taken on a natural glow, so he knew morning had come and he had survived another night—damn.

  “Did you dream?”

  Jory shouldn’t have been surprised to find his cellmates all gathered around him. “So you believe me now?”

  “Yes, we watched you last night,” Leon admitted. “Your skin glows when you sleep. Did you know that?”

  Aileen shook her head. “Not when he sleeps. He glows when he dreams. If it only happened when he slept, the other fey here would glow, as well and, so far, only Jory does.”

  “Did you see your Eric?” Leon asked.

  Jory nodded. “Yes, he said he’d talk to the princess because she would know what to do.”

  Leon scoffed. “Do you honestly think a princess is going to help save the likes of us? She’d more than likely let us sit here and rot.”

  “Eric’s not like that. If he says she’ll help, then she will. I have to believe that.” Jory couldn’t stop hoping for Eric to keep his promise. He needed to put his faith in someone and, right now, that had to be Eric and his people.

  “I sure hope so. I hate being here. I feel like I’ve spent my entire life locked up here,” Silla said.

  Nadal reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “You probably have. I’ve been here twenty years and you were here before me.”

  Silla sighed. “I have a tendency to forget. So many have come and gone, yet I remain. You’d think they’d be sick of me by now, but, no. For some sick and twisted reason, they keep me here.”

  “Hopefully, we won’t be here much longer. None of us want to be here. I, for one, hope they free us and kill every single person involved in holding us against our will,” Jory admitted. He wasn’t willing to admit that he prayed Henry got away safely, though. The man would never purposely hurt Jory and more often than not treated him like a real person. Jory thought for sure Henry had to be lonely and stuck in a life he really didn’t want. Henry had once told him that he wished he could free Jory, but his life would be over if anyone found out his father sat at the top of a very big organization.

  For a human, Henry was kind of nice. Jory hadn’t had much to do with humans in his short life. Aside from his ste
pfather, Carlton and Henry, the only other humans he knew worked here. And he hated them all. Jory came back to the here and now as the talk around him changed.

  “Who do you think they’ll take today? I prayed all night long that it isn’t me,” Dimi whispered.

  Soon enough, the guards would show up and take one of them to the bathing room. They had to be clean before being moved to their assigned room. If they behaved and went without a fuss, there might be a small treat waiting for them. More often than not, the guards would laugh and eat the snack in front of them. Jory always longed for the day the food would been tainted and it gave the assholes gut ache, but so far that had never happened.

  He held his grin in place as the door opened and Rico stepped into the room. A sadistic smile marred his face as he pointed at Jory with his truncheon and chuckled. Jory stood and crossed the room, all the while praying he was around when someone took Rico down. The bastard deserved a death sentence for his part in all this. He really liked to watch them hurt.

  Jory wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing his fear.

  Chapter Four

  Eric sensed everyone staring at him as if they knew his private thoughts. Even worse, that they knew his relationship to Tagh and could see he was struggling with the fact. Worse yet, they could all see Tagh deteriorating and Eric not doing what a good mate should.

  He felt like shit.

  But how could he change a lifetime of hiding? And yet again he’d had another damn dream featuring the mystery blond man asking for his help. This time, there’d been shadowy figures behind him, but they’d never settled enough for Eric to see who or what they were. If he didn’t figure this shit out, it would end up driving him insane.

  “You know no one’s judging you,” Daven said as he entered the kitchen, the one place Eric thought he’d have to himself. Lately, it seemed as though everyone took great pains to avoid him, as if scared they might say the wrong thing.

  Eric sighed. “It’s complicated.”

  “No, it isn’t. You need to be true to yourself and fuck what everyone else thinks. In days of old, same-sex matings were frowned upon, but these days, nobody cares. I don’t care if you love another man, Eric. The only problem I would have with it was if the person treated you like shit, or turned out to be evil through and through.”

  When Daven pulled him into a hug, Eric melted into his friend, needing the support being offered. Daven went on when Eric couldn’t bring himself to speak. “Are you frightened by the warrior side of Tagh? Is that the reason you can’t commit fully?”

  “I don’t know.” Eric pushed away from Daven. “I’ve always hidden who I am. How would you like it if all your friends stared at you because you had suddenly gone from straight to gay?”

  “But you haven’t, have you? You’ve always been gay. Now you just have to decide whether or not you can be open about it.” Daven set about making himself a cup of warmed blood as if nothing had changed between them. “I plan on openly loving my mate no matter what form they come in. Male. Female. It doesn’t matter, because they’ll be mine.”

  “Does that mean you’re saying that if your mate is male, you’ll suddenly declare yourself gay?” Eric asked incredulously, only realizing they had garnered an audience when he looked around and saw everyone there listening in.

  “Fate is never wrong.” Daven leaned back against the counter and shrugged. “I’m not saying I’ll be out tomorrow searching for my mate. Fate will place them in my life when the time is right. And I’ll love them accordingly.”

  “Aww, isn’t that sweet?” Princess Telarah declared.

  Holy shit, when did everyone decide to join us? Seeing a stoic Murtagh standing at the back of the group, Eric had to decide if he was ready to trust in fate, or keep letting his own thoughts run him ragged. Remembering his promise to Jory, he said to the princess, “I need to talk to you before you go. I need to tell you about my dreams.”

  She looked at him curiously and nodded.

  Eric took a deep breath and walked over to where Tagh stood. Leaning up on his toes, he placed a quick kiss against the corner of Tagh’s mouth before pressing his face into his mate’s neck.

  He wasn’t hiding.

  He wasn’t.

  Still, he felt grateful when everyone else decided the show had ended and left them alone. “I’m sorry you witnessed my meltdown,” Eric said as he finally let go of Tagh.

  “It’s understandable,” Tagh answered, yet he searched Eric’s face and Eric had to wonder what he sought.

  “I hate that my stupid hang-ups are causing you harm.” He’d never wanted to hurt Tagh. Hell, if the truth be told, he’d been attracted to the man from the moment they’d first laid eyes on each other. His feelings had grown stronger with every passing day, even when he’d been attempting to deny them. “I’m going to try harder.”

  When Tagh gently cupped his face and brought their mouths together in an uninhibited kiss, Eric let himself just feel and not worry about the rest of the world. All he needed was to focus on the here and now with Tagh.

  After the kiss ended, Eric gazed nervously at Tagh. “I guess you still need to claim me, or whatever a warrior does, then I want you with me when I talk to the princess.”

  “Okay, but just so you know, we’ll have to have a wedding. There are sacred vows that must be said. Afterward, we’ll be bound together and closer than any other mated couple.” Tagh took him by the hand and led him to his bedroom.

  The room’s decorations were beautifully done in varying shades of grey. It could have looked bland but touches of other color like the deep blue bedspread leaped out to grab the observer’s attention. Eric gazed around the room, taking everything in as Murtagh continued to speak.

  “There are still things we need to talk about before you fully agree to this. I don’t want to bond with you if you might cry foul at some later date because you didn’t have all the facts beforehand.”

  Hurt washed over Eric when he realized Tagh didn’t completely trust him to keep his word. Although, having all the information would probably help him make the right decision. “So, what is it I don’t know?”

  “I’m a Draconian Warrior,” Tagh stated.

  “I know.”

  Tagh frowned. “Eric, please let me finish. With my status in life, any mate I had would eventually take on some of my traits.”

  “Like what?” How bad can it be?

  Tagh touched his face, pointing at his markings. “Once the binding is completed, you will start to grow your own heritage. And, unlike me, you won’t be able to hide them. It takes many years of practice before you can perform the ritual needed for that. People will know what you are, or at least what you are mated to. Your life will become as dangerous as mine.”

  “Do you mean people will try to kill me?” Eric asked, wanting to be sure he understood exactly what Tagh had told him.

  Tagh nodded. “Some may. Our kind is not always very well-received in polite society, or any society. We are considered a sub-species.”

  “What else don’t I know?”

  “You will lose your ability to lie. Draconian Warriors cannot lie. The truth will always stop the lie from leaving our lips.” Murtagh smiled. “Which isn’t a bad thing, except when Lara asks if she looks good in something and the outfit is absolutely hideous.”

  “I take it that has happened to you?” Eric asked.

  “More times than I care to remember. I swear sometimes she purposely dresses that way to hear me say it out loud.”

  By the fondness in his mate’s voice, Eric could tell Tagh and Lara were close. “It sounds like something she would do. I bet she only inundates Dav with gifts because she knows how much it irks him.”

  At the mention of Daven, Eric inhaled sharply. “How will our relationship impact on me being Dav’s day warden? He and I have been together for just over five hundred years.”

  “Everything will be taken into consideration. I honestly don’t know. I don’t think a day warden
has ever married before. Well, except for Kyle Chaney, but everything turned out all right there,” Tagh said.

  Kyle Chaney had married a mortal woman and sired his own family. Even though his descendants had carried his bloodline, they had all been born completely human, but it never stopped him for caring for each and every person born into his family.

  “You said I’m becoming a Draconian Warrior like you. Are we even allowed to be day wardens?” He couldn’t believe fate would mess with his life this way. How would Dav survive without him? The guy was basically useless when it came to looking after himself.

  Again, Murtagh frowned at him. “I’m sure we’ll figure it out, and if worst comes to the worst, we’ll find him the best replacement ever. He won’t be left unguarded.”

  “Unguarded? I’m not worried about him being unguarded. I’m worried the idiot will starve to death and run out of clean clothes. Domestically talented Dav is not.”

  A great big belly laugh left Murtagh. “Then maybe it’s about time he learnt how to fend for himself. Maybe it will do him some good.”

  “Please…the guy doesn’t even know how to turn on the washing machine. The one time I left him to his own devices for more than a few days, I came home to Dav in his underwear sitting on the couch eating ice cream out of the container because he didn’t know how to cook. I’ve seen him burn water. I don’t know how many pots and pans I’ve had to replace over the centuries because he gets it into his head to try again.”

  Eric wasn’t really ragging on his friend. More like stating true facts.

  “Have you ever thought about teaching him to cook?” Murtagh asked.

  “Numerous times, but he gets distracted then things go kablooey and the next thing you know, I have to buy a new set of pots.”

  When Murtagh began laughing again, a wave of happiness flowed through Eric. He didn’t think he’d ever seen Tagh in a playful mood. The guy always seemed so serious. Probably because he’d been constantly hiding his heritage from the rest of the world.