“He knows I’ve left, and that he need only call on me,” Ristan said as he huffed out an aggravated sigh. “I pissed off Synthia’s mother today, and I needed to get out of there before I did something I’d later regret.”
“Shit,” Vlad said as he sat on one of the larger, leather chairs. “I don’t know if I’m impressed or worried, shit, maybe both?” he said as he rubbed his chin before shaking his dark head.
“Don’t be impressed, unless I live past this week,” Ristan said, and Vlad smiled, showing off two elongated fangs.
“Lucian has a few places you might take her; no questions would be asked. I have to warn ya, though, they got some heavy kinky shit going on over at his clubs. I know you would thrive at any one of them, not sure about her,” Vlad said wickedly. “My club isn’t the safest place right now. Shadowlands and pretty much all Fae clubs are only open to the High Fae because of the shit going on in this world. The High Fae can hold their own, but I don’t want needless blood spilled in the clubs, not unless I’m drinking it. The Guilds are calling for Otherworld blood, so I have been very selective of those I have been allowing into Nightshade lately, but it’s not safe for you to go there. Not yet, anyway. Not with that one in tow.”
“Lucian will want a favor in return,” Ristan mused, and weighed the option of taking her to his home outside of Seattle with his mother or taking her to a sex club that catered to the rich and famous of the supernatural world. One thing was sure. There wouldn’t be any chance of the Guild or Mages finding her in that place since it was hidden by magic and Lucian seemed to be off of the Guild’s radar. As it was, very little was known about him and his men, other than the rumors that circulated every few centuries.
“You want me to summon him?” Vlad asked with a wicked grin on his lips.
“Summon the King of Hell’s right-hand man? No, I don’t, but I need you to,” he said as Olivia began to stir.
Chapter Twenty-Two
He hated feeling out of his comfort zone. Danu was notorious for making him feel uncomfortable and trying to make him lose control. The Demon in him wanted to throw things and kill shit, but the Fae in him just wanted to fuck. He decided that neither of those choices would help his current situation. He secured Olivia in his quarters at Ryder’s Spokane Mansion, the safest place he could think of as a fix until Lucian could reach him, and returned to Faery.
The corridor outside the nursery was empty, except for Savlian who looked to be asleep in one of the chairs that were positioned on each side of the door, but Ristan knew his brother better than most.
“What gives?” he asked, nodding to the chair, and the wicked blade which looked like something only Zahruk could have made.
“I’m guarding the babes, but fuck me if I don’t want to wander in and get all daddy day care on them. Meriel kicked me out a little while ago for diaper changes because she said they needed the contact…Still don’t know why she’d want to do something as crazy as actually change a fucking diaper,” Savlian said with a cross look on his face.
“They need to be held and touched; their body heat is helped by it.”
“And you know that why?” Savlian asked his eyes wide in mock horror.
“I stole Synthia’s book,” Ristan said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “What to expect when something or other, but someone had to be ready in case something happened.”
“True that, but damn, you read it?” Savlian said as he leaned his dark head against the wall behind him. “At least someone considered what could happen if their momma didn’t pull through. I think the rest of us were just assuming since you had that vision, that she’d be safe from harm or anything like that, brother.”
“I always consider every outcome, and try to be ten steps ahead, just as our King is.”
“No one is in there right now,” Savlian said as he eyed the open doorway. “Go on in, I’m sure the little angel is awaiting her uncle’s return. She seems better after you’ve held her,” he said, his eyes keen with the knowledge that he was aware of Ristan’s feeding the little minx a bit of his power at every visit.
“She won’t make it if I don’t,” he said softly, his heart clenching in a vice as he considered the outcome.
“Hey, what you do in there, we trust you. Got it? You’re family, always will be. Ryder told us that you finally learned of your mother’s plotting; mine did the same shit.”
“I’m sure that would have gone down beautifully with Sevrin, seeing you’re both so close in age. Most people confuse you two for twins anyway,” Ristan said as he considered how much shit those two did together, and the competition between them. They were good natured in most of it, but each one tried to outdo the other continuously since they’d been children.
“Hey, you know what I’m getting at. Don’t let it bother you or get to you. You are wanted and welcome here among your family, brother.”
Ristan smiled and nodded, his eyes meeting Savlian’s with a nod of thanks before he entered the nursery. He scanned the soothing pastel hues that covered the walls. The sounds of soft gurgles and breathing eased his soul as he moved to the tiny female.
Her soul was fading, but those golden eyes stared up at him with a fighting smile. She’d be a handful when she became a woman, and he knew she would. She’d grow into adulthood, because he refused to consider any other option.
“Sweet girl,” he cooed softly as he carefully slipped his hands beneath her and lifted her to snuggle against his chest. “You are your mother’s child, all fire shining from within.”
Ristan had helped Synthia out more than once, and hell, he’d even almost died for her. Well, what the Mages had done wouldn’t have killed him, there were only a few ways to kill something like him, but it had hurt like hell.
He sat in the rocking chair with the babe, his magic creating a glow around her as he poured a little into her small body. She cooed and gurgled, her eyes aglow with a smile that created twin dimples in her cheeks. “Shit, some lad is going to get himself killed for you one day, sweet Kahleena. Go easy on the lads, for your father will think you’re his world.”
He pulled back on his magic as he heard the door to the nursery open. His eyes rose to meet Adam’s as he stepped into the nursery.
“What are you doing here, Adam?” Ristan asked cautiously.
“How is she this morning?” he asked ignoring Ristan’s question as his eyes lowered to the babe. “Her color looks better today than it did yesterday.”
“She’s a fighter like her mother and father.”
“There’s been no progress with the Tree of Life from our side,” Adam said softly as he sat beside Ristan in the rocking chair, his hand briefly lifting to touch the curls on Kahleena’s head. He hesitated and his fingers moved away as if he was afraid to touch the fragile child.
“We will figure it out, we have to,” Ristan offered, trying to reassure Adam. He waited for him to retort.
“Demon, shit like that you get very far in life?” he asked jokingly.
“I’ve not hurt her, Adam,” he disclosed abruptly, speaking of Olivia as his eyes moved to the Dark Prince. “That should give you some comfort, which we all know you and Synthia can use right now.” He’d been able to sense the tension from the first moment the prince had made eye contact and knew what was bothering him. “You should also know I have no plans of giving her up, either.”
“I’ll always be a part of the Guild, so yeah, I was wondering if she was okay and all. Life is fucked up enough right now. Trying to fit back in and not fuck shit up as I go. Returning hasn’t been easy, it’s been a crash course from hell and sometimes I wish I could go back to what life was like before I knew who and what I really am. I grew up there, so I know Olivia was probably just doing what she thought was right, like we all used to do. I know she fucked over Alden in the process, and none of us woul
d have done that intentionally. So what you do with her is your business, fuck her, beat, and eat her, that’s on you in the end. Just remember that we all would have followed an Elder’s orders, and from what I saw, she seemed pretty remorseful about her part in it.”
“Maybe, maybe she’s a good actress,” he mused.
“Are you starting to doubt her guilt, or what her motivations were for helping Cyrus?” he asked with narrowed eyes that reminded Ristan of Synthia. One eyebrow lifted higher than the other, and those soul-grabbing green eyes smiled. It must have been one of the side-effects of being bound to her for so many years as her familiar.
“I don’t know,” Ristan replied as he cradled the now-sleeping babe in his arms. “Maybe you can help me out. There’s a room in the catacombs, it has a door with a single music symbol on it.”
“Yes, I know of a room marked like that. There are more symbols on the other side of it, and an ancient harp in that particular room,” Adam answered as he stood and moved to pick up Zander, who had just woken up and had a solemn look on his face.
“Do you know why it would haunt her? I have been using dream medallions with her, and every time she sleeps, she goes to that door, and the grief she feels is overwhelming. It’s almost like there’s something hidden in that room which she’s feels guilt over.”
“Not something,” Ryder said from the doorway as he leaned against it. “That’s the room we found a large group of children hiding in after you had been taken out. Synthia heard the sound of their heartbeats and we were able to get them out. Someone went through a lot of trouble to keep them hidden; they were dehydrated, and some were hurt. We figure whoever hid them there is either among the dead, or left to get help and couldn’t get back to them. The children haven’t been questioned yet since most needed time to heal and rehydrate, and some are pretty frightened of the Fae. From what Synthia tells me of their training at this age, this is their worst nightmare…falling into enemy hands.”
“How many kids, and what age?” Ristan asked as his throat tightened with his brother’s words.
“I heard there was a lot,” Adam added. “Some were very young, just beginning their training at the Guild’s school,” he supplied. He placed Zander back into his crib and turned around to face the other men.
Ristan stood swiftly and walked to the crib, but Ryder held out his hands for his wee darling. Quickly changing direction, Ristan placed her in her father’s hands. His mind was moving faster than it could process as different pieces of the puzzle slid into place inside his mind.
“Something wrong, brother?” Ryder asked tensely, his golden eyes keen with interest as Ristan ran through what he suspected had happened.
“Yeah, I’m an asshole,” he growled as he shook his head. “I think I made a miscalculation and I need to fix it. I’ll be back if you need me.”
Ristan sifted out of the nursery, leaving the men to stare at each other over the heads of the sleeping children.
*~*~*
The room was sumptuous and displayed furnishings and wall hangings she’d only read about in books. The bed was huge, but then again, she suspected that any bed Ristan chose for himself would need to be, to accommodate his height. This room was decorated in black and silver, which reminded her of his beautiful eyes.
She rubbed her temples and wondered if she’d been drugged or if he’d done some sort of spell that had made her black out. The last thing she remembered was being in the bath, then his heated words as he’d pulled her from the sudsy water, and then nothing. She couldn’t remember anything after that. She had a massive headache, and the rattle of a chain told her that said she’d once again been securely tethered to a wall.
She tested the chain and then rose to take care of personal needs. She took her time in the bathroom and noticed that the chain had extra length now. Maybe she was gaining his trust? She chanted a charm to make the water dance with her magic; nope, it still didn’t work. Perhaps he was testing her? She doubted it, more like he wasn’t going to be back very soon, so she had time to stew.
Stew? She smirked; her body was filled with small aches from what he’d done, but there wasn’t any real pain left behind from his play, only residual pleasure that made her itch for more. His touch wasn’t even painful per se, and if she was honest with herself, she’d liked her time with him.
But even that couldn’t stop the guilt of what she’d done at the Guild from percolating in her mind. She stared at her pale reflection in the giant mirror and realized the bathroom was almost an exact replica of the one she’d bathed in before she’d blacked out.
Her face was pale, which made her eyes appear larger, brighter. She didn’t look unhealthy, because, for all his fluff and stuff, the guy wasn’t exactly starving her to death. Come to think of it, he’d woken something inside her that had been absent before. She’d felt alive on that cross, and no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn’t.
A door opened in the other room, and she remained still, unable to confront him because of where her mind had just had gone off to. She turned on the tap and splashed cold water on her face, her eyes lowering to the collar of her jammies, and the lack of red flesh that should have been there from the collar chafing.
She felt him watching her before she turned and found him staring at her, his eyes swirling in an intricate pattern as he slowly looked down her body at the fluffy Hello Kitty pajamas with a soft smirk.
“Hello,” he said, and nodded in her direction. “Hungry?”
“That depends, are you going to feed me, or can I feed myself?” she asked, taking in his leather pants hanging low on his hips and Doc Marten boots. He wore a T-shirt that said ‘Try Me’ on it, and yeah, her body responded as if he had placed some magical spell on her girly bits and pieces that gave him ownership of them.
“You can feed yourself this time,” he said softly and turned to leave her standing alone in the bathroom.
In the bedroom, she found a table, small, but big enough to hold quite a spread of food on it. It had various breads, cheeses, fruit, and pastry dishes that made her mouth water with their heady aromas. She wasted no time; she wasn’t about to give him a chance to change his mind.
She popped a chunk of bread, followed by a slice of fruit, in her mouth, not caring that she was totally stuffing her face and making an ass out of herself. She would rather have him watch her stuff food in her own mouth than having him doing it for her.
“Slow down, little librarian, I have no intention of doing anything to you, or taking food away,” he chuckled as he sat on the bed and with a small gesture, his clothing changed to a simple pair of black silken pants, and nothing else.
She coughed, almost choking on the food that had gone dry in her mouth. He awarded her with a knowing grin, and didn’t offer aid, but did nod towards a goblet of wine he’d left on the small table next to the food.
She drank deeply, her eyes holding his over the rim of the metal cup. She pulled the cup away from her lips. The wine lightly coated them as she placed it back on the table. Her eyes were wary, but it that didn’t seem to bother him at all.
She was on full alert, his intent still not clear as he watched her eat as if it was her last meal. She slowly set down the bread she’d just picked up, and really looked at him as a thought crossed her mind.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” she whispered, as tears welled in her eyes and one slowly slid down her cheek. She straightened her spine and squared her shoulders as dread and uncertainty warred inside of her.
“Tell me about the children behind the door of the music room.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Olivia felt a mask slide firmly into place, sealing her emotions behind it. That subtle reminder was enough to bring it all back and her chest hurt with the memories of it all. Her eyes only saw the fighting, the chaos, and the com
plete destruction of the Guild, her home. Her spine snapped straight and she looked at him with fire in her eyes.
“There are no children in the Guild,” she whispered, unable to make it come out as anything else.
Ristan blew out a deep sigh. “That’s interesting. My brother was just filling me in about a group of children that were recently relocated to Faery. A lot of children; and those kids had been hidden by someone who thought of others. Someone who wasn’t evil, or only thinking of themselves,” he finished.
He was lying, he had to be, and she wasn’t buying it. She’d seen the inferno that had blazed through the already-devastated Guild. This was just a new strategy, it had to be.
“Go to hell,” she cried, her emotions overwhelming her as images of the small faces swam behind her eyes. Her legs threatened to give out, but before they could, he was there, pulling her against him.
“I’m an asshole, but I need to know if it was you,” he urged softly, his hands slowly rubbing her back as he walked them both back to the bed.
“I don’t believe you,” she sobbed, her chest heaved as tears ran freely down her face.
He kissed them away and pushed her hair from her face as he sat on the bed and drew her across his lap. His touch was soothing, and it only made her cry more. Where most men would have run away without a clue of what to do for comforting a hysterical woman, he continued stroking her hair and placing soft kisses on her face.
“Stop it,” she cried harder, “I don’t deserve this from you! I thought I was doing the right thing, but I messed up. I hid as many of the children as I could, but your people killed them when they burned down the Guild,” she expelled a shuddering breath. “I know the children are dead,” she whispered.
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