From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4)

by Stacey Marie Brown

  Unfortunately when I got scared, I got defensive and combative. My anger took over my nerves, my hands stopped shaking and my lids narrowed. “What do you want with us?”

  One of the King’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows curved up.

  “Zoey.” Ryker shook his head next to me.

  “What?” I turned back to Ryker. “It’s a perfectly reasonable question to ask a man who just kidnapped us.”

  Ryker tilted his head, then looked back at the King, like “fair enough.”

  The King stayed quiet for a moment, adding tension to the air. “Be careful, Zoey.” He said my name with warning. The fact he knew my name didn’t shock me for more than a second. There was a reason he became King. He would know everything about everyone, especially if they drew his attention. And to get a personal call from the Unseelie King, we had to be high on his interest list. “My patience is thin. I’ve had my fill of lippy, tenacious young ladies lately. Do not disrespect me.”

  “O-kay. What do you want with us, Your Highness?” I asked evenly.

  Slowly a smirk hinted at his lips and eyes, and he shook his head, almost as if he was amused. I still understood it was a perilous line to walk, and I wasn’t stupid enough to push it.

  He rubbed his hands together, his eyes never breaking from mine. “I want the stone.”

  “Get in line,” I spouted off before I could stop myself. I sucked back my bottom lip with a hiss. “Sir.”

  Ryker let out a soft groan next to me.

  “Yes. You two have created a long list of enemies.” A shadow of amusement filtered over the King’s beautiful features, then it was gone. “Do not make me one.” I didn’t dare respond, and Lars did not seem to be looking for one. He shoved a hand in his pocket and started to stroll around us. “The difference is, in the end, you will hand it over to me.”

  I gulped as he walked close. He turned and faced me. I wondered if he could sense the stone in my shoe. It had been quiet for the last day, but a man as powerful as he must be able to sense the magic pulsing off it. Of all people, wouldn’t the stone want to be taken by one of the most powerful men in the Otherworld? If he could feel it, why didn’t he get one of his men to tug off my shoe and take it? He could easily do it, and Ryker and I couldn’t fight.

  “I never go into a situation without knowing my outcome. I always win, Ms. Daniels.” He didn’t move, but I suddenly felt like I was being suffocated. I tried to draw in more air without success. Ryker dropped to his knees next to me, reaching for his throat.

  Ryker! My cry stuck in my throat as I tried to move to him. My muscles ignored my commands, keeping me locked in a frozen prison.

  Ryker clawed at his throat, trying to breathe, driving terror deep into my body.

  Lars was doing this with his mind. I had heard of the Unseelie King’s tremendous powers. Now I was getting a firsthand account of them. He wanted us to get a taste of what he could do.

  A subtle threat.

  Lars stared at me, examining me, his chartreuse eyes boring into my soul, digging around. Then the grip he had on my neck loosened, giving permission for my words to leave my tongue.

  “Stop!” I choked out. Liquid leaked out the corners of my eyes as I struggled. Ryker slumped over his hands, gasping like a fish for air. “Please, stop.”

  It lasted only a few more seconds, but to me it seemed like an eternity watching Ryker suffer.

  Then in an instant, the pressure vanished. Air zoomed into my lungs; movement came back into my muscles. I heard Ryker suck in, coughing. He quickly looked over at me, his eyes blazing. My fingers massaged the invisible handprints on my throat, and my eyes narrowed on Lars.

  “I get what I want. Always.” Lars took a step toward me. “However, I also can be fair. Most simple leaders command by fear. I like to invoke respect, as well. But never doubt what I am capable of, Ms. Daniels.”

  Ryker climbed to his feet, holding himself even taller than before. He remained pissed but was far too smart to do anything but stand there obediently. It wasn’t something a Wanderer did well, but even he understood the Unseelie King was top dog.

  “I’m willing to offer you my help, in exchange for the Lia Fáil.”

  “Your help?” Ryker’s voice came out low and gravelly.

  “Yes.” Lars’s eyes darted to the Viking. “I am well aware that my attention on my city has slipped. More pressing matters have taken precedence in the past few months, but I can no longer overlook what is going on. A few have taken my lack of attentiveness as an invitation to take possession of my city in hopes to dethrone me.”

  “Vadik.” Ryker pressed his lips together.

  An eerie smile turned up Lars’s mouth.

  “Yes, my dear old friend Valefor.” He crunched down on the name like a beetle between his teeth. Lars took deliberate steps toward Ryker. “And here stands Valefor’s long-lost son. The formidable Wanderer.”

  Ryker flinched at the word son.

  “I see the demon in you. But you are your mother’s son too.”

  “You knew my mother?” Ryker tried to keep his voice even, but I could hear a crack of emotion in it.

  “Yes.” Lars nodded. “She was an amazing woman. Strong, smart, beautiful. Everything your father didn’t earn. He tricked her into marrying him. She didn’t know he was the demon Valefor until it was too late. She was carrying his child. She deserved much better than him.”

  Ryker’s face held no reaction, but I knew how much this meant to him to hear about her from someone who knew her. Liked her.

  “Vadik needs to be reined in.” Lars placed both of his hands in his pockets and began walking around us again. “To be reminded of his place.”

  “Or we could just kill him.” Ryker folded his arms over his chest.

  “No love lost between you two, I gather.” One eyebrow curved up. “There was a time I should have killed him, but chose not to. I have come to regret my choice. However, there are things far worse than death.”

  “Yes, there are. I have seen too much of it in the last few months,” Ryker replied.

  “Is this an acceptable deal then?” Lars’s glance bounced between Ryker and me. I knew it really wasn’t up for us to decide, but once again, I had to open my mouth.

  “No.” Every head swung my way, all probably thinking: How dare you say no to the Unseelie King? Fair enough. It was pretty stupid.

  “No?” Lars replied coolly.

  I nodded. “The stone is one of the most powerful weapons in the Otherworld. Vadik is a third-rate demon. He’s not worth the stone.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryker’s mouth dip open, but he quickly slammed it shut, a twitch of a grin on his lips.

  Lars’s gaze burned into me. His face looked chiseled and cold as ice. If he felt any emotions, they were hidden. I shifted on my feet, my tongue curling up, ready to apologize for my insolence.

  Then the most bone-chilling thing happened.

  Lars laughed. A deep, husky chuckle detonated out of his chest and bounced off the bare walls. He moved to me, less than a foot away from my face.

  “In spite of myself, I am intrigued, Ms. Daniels. What would you feel is a fair deal?”

  He appeared to be the kind of man who would smile as he cut off your head. A part of me understood it because in much humbler terms, it was the game I played with my opponents. It kept them out of step, off kilter. You smile and laugh and people instantly feel safer, like someone joking couldn’t possibly hurt you. Right. They were the ones to watch out for.

  “You help us with Vadik and DMG.” I inhaled, pushing out my chest to appear bigger than I was. “Help take them down, and the stone is yours.” I waited for Ryker to refute my offer to the King, but he held up his head higher and stared at Lars expectantly.

  “You have completely surprised me, Ms. Daniels.” Lars’s piercing eyes analyzed me. “I did not expect you to be smart and suave in our dealings.”

  “I’m used to being underestimated.”

  “I will
certainly keep that in mind.” Lars smiled. “I should know better than to misjudge a young girl with intelligence and gumption.”

  I kept my mouth shut. He hadn’t killed me yet, and I wanted to keep it that way.

  “I would hold on to this one,” Lars said to Ryker. “She is cleverer than you.”

  “I plan on it.” Ryker said every syllable without the slightest hesitation. “And women usually are, sir. Over all of us men.”

  Another short chuckle came from Lars. “Don’t I know it.”

  He drifted away from us, his fingers steepled beneath his chin. “Very wise, Ms. Daniels. I cannot deny bringing down DMG would benefit me as well. They need to be dealt with. Terminated. I haven’t had the advantage of someone who’s been one of them and knows how to get in. It’s time I take my city back.” He let his arms drop, turning to me. “What do you have in mind, Ms. Daniels?”

  Damn. I hadn’t really thought that far. I figured I’d be a corpse on the ground by now. “Uh,” I stuttered.

  “We need weapons, men, a distraction to get into DMG. Her sister and our friend are being held there. We’d like to get them out safely.” Ryker picked up my scattered thoughts.

  “That can be arranged. When were you planning this attack?”

  “Soon,” I responded. “My sister is dying. I need to get her out immediately.”

  “I do these two things for you and the stone is mine.”

  I inhaled hard.

  “Yes.” Ryker nodded.

  “I need to hear it from you as well.” Lars faced me.

  “Yes.”

  A pressure so heavy pushed down my throat, bending my knees. I curled over and placed my hands on my legs. It wasn’t exactly painful but unbelievably uncomfortable. It felt similar to when you were close to crying and got a huge knot in your throat, making it difficult to swallow. This was similar, but ten times worse, like someone cinched my throat with a zip tie, trapping particular words.

  “You bound us,” Ryker hissed through gritted teeth.

  The Unseelie King made a low sound, almost like a purr. “Like I said earlier, I’m always sure there is no question I get what I want.”

  ####

  The van door slid shut and the wheels tore over the wet pavement away from us, leaving Ryker and me in the exact spot where they’d grabbed us. The rain pattered on my hood, breaking the silence. We both stood there in utter shock until Ryker swore under his breath.

  “Did that just happen?” A bubbled laugh caught in my throat. Did we really just spend an hour planning a raid with the Unseelie King? It was beyond my brain’s capacity. “Did the freaking Unseelie King, the most powerful man in the Otherworld, just make a deal with us? Is he really helping?”

  “I swear, if I hadn’t been standing right next to you, I would say no.” Ryker still stared into the night, the brake lights long gone from view. “But we did just promise to give him the stone. We are bound to give the most powerful man one of the most powerful weapons.”

  “Not that we had much choice, but we just did the stupidest thing ever, huh?”

  “Oh yeah. Without a doubt.” He turned me. “But like you said, we didn’t really have much of an option on the matter.”

  “Damn. He’s sexy and so freaking scary.”

  I thought Ryker would laugh, but his muscles twitched around his neck.

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” I turned toward where we needed to head.

  He grabbed my arm, swinging me back around to face him. “If you ever do something so stupid again… What were you thinking talking back to the King like that? How could you be so foolish?” His shoulders coiled high around his ears. “Don’t ever scare me like that again. He could have killed you with a snap of his fingers, without a thought, simply for you getting sassy.”

  “I know.” I cringed. “It’s just a reflex. Fear makes me angry. I’m sorry.”

  Ryker’s expression flashed with pain, and I saw his true fear. “I’m not losing you,” he barked. He took a long breath. “I can’t…got it?”

  My hand stroked his face, feeling his thick stubble under my hand. I drew him to me. “Got it.”

  His forehead knocked into mine, and he blew out air, his neck relaxing a bit. “I swear, human, fae don’t have heart attacks, but I am convinced you could give me one.”

  I rose on tiptoes, closing my mouth over his, trying to reassure him. He quickly grabbed the back of my head, pressing his lips hungrily against mine. In his kiss I felt words he did not say out loud. Tremors ran down my spine, into every nerve, stimulating my body. It ended far too quickly for me.

  “We can’t tell Amara anything that happened tonight,” he said quietly, pulling away to see me. “I mean, literally we can’t. I know you’ve never had a bind on you before. I have. You try to tell someone and the words get painfully stuck in your throat.”

  “So that wasn’t just a warning to keep his visit secret?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “You and I can talk about it with each other, but if anyone else walked up right now, our mouths would shut. Nothing would come out.”

  “Wow, that’s creepy.” The whole scene felt surreal, except that the pressure of the King’s fingers still throbbed around my throat.

  “We need to get out of here.” He kissed me again softly and stepped away.

  I nodded and followed him into the dark, damp night.

  EIGHTEEN

  “Bhean!” Sprig ran for me as we entered the room. I bent over and took him in my arms. “Don’t ever leave me alone with her again.”

  “I could say the same, chimp.” Amara lay on the bed watching TV, a bottle of scotch next to her on the nightstand.

  “I’m not a chimp!”

  Amara smirked, taking a swig straight from the bottle. “So how was your meeting?”

  “Uh.” How do you even answer that?

  “We’re going after Vadik tomorrow night.” Ryker entered the room behind me.

  “What?” Amara pushed up against the headboard. Her lids narrowed, and her gaze shifted between Ryker and me. “Who did you meet with? Why is this suddenly a plan?”

  I would never have confessed anything to Amara, but the moment I even thought to say something, I could feel the words turn into water, falling off my tongue and back down my throat. The more I tried to force the words, the more painful it became. My throat constricted and closed, choking around the invisible gag muzzling me. I began to retch, and coughs tore my throat. Fae bonds, oaths, and promises all could suck my ass.

  “You can stay or come; it’s up to you,” said Ryker, patting my back as my gagging eased.

  She huffed as irritation blanketed her features. “I’ll go.”

  “Bhean? Bhean?” Sprig tugged at my arm. “Besides Medusa not feeding me, she ate all my nuts, the honey-sugar ones.”

  “Oh, were those yours?” Amara’s lips lifted in a smirk.

  “It’s malicious…almost teetering on abuse. No, forget that. It was cruelty. But I stayed strong—”

  “Sprig,” I cut him off.

  “Your tit-carriers don’t happen to be full of honey, do they?”

  “Sprig.”

  “I’m just saying it would be nice right now. Do you hear it?” He pointed at his stomach. “It’s getting angry.”

  “So am I,” I growled.

  “Stuff it, furball.” Ryker rubbed his head, collapsed on the bed, and lay back.

  Sprig leaped from my arms to Ryker’s chest. “These crimes should be punishable by death!” He grabbed Ryker’s jacket lapels. “Do you hear me, Viking? She starved me. On purpose! You know what happens when I get hungry? I jabber…I talk.” He shoved his face into Ryker’s.

  Ryker rolled his eyes back, then sat up. “Fine.” He rose to his feet with Sprig on his shoulder and moved to the door.

  “Where are you going?” I lifted my arms.

  “Out,” Ryker grumbled. “Before this little guy pops like a tick.”

  Sprig pointed at Amara then flipped her
off with the other hand before the door closed.

  “That was weird.” I stared at the door and shook my head.

  “You find that weird? Of all the things it does? He is dating a stuffed goat.” Amara took a huge gulp of alcohol. “Which, sadly, is still more action than I’m getting.”

  “I know this has to be hard for you—”

  “Just stop right there.” Amara dropped the bottle on the table, whipping her feet to the floor. “I don’t want to hear any false sympathies or have some heartfelt moment with you.”

  Well, that made two of us.

  “Enjoy your time with him. The sex is seriously unbelievable. I know.” Amara stood. She only wore a long T-shirt, which barely made it to her upper thighs. “But he will come back to me. It’s inevitable. We belong together.” She stumbled for the door, clearly drunk. “Now, I’m going to go skinny-dipping in that tragic thing they call a pool, in case Ryker is wondering where I am. I’m sure it will cause him to think of Prague.” She winked then slammed the door behind her.

  My temper had handled enough bullshit tonight. I reached for the door handle. “You are such a narcissistic bitch.” I flung the door open and froze.

  A gun barrel was pointed at my head.

  “Yes, you are.” The man pressed the revolver into my forehead, pushing me back into the room.

  “Arlo,” I whispered.

  “You remember. I feel so honored.” His lopsided mouth grinned, a horrific picture.

  I could never forget that cruel face. A scar, which Ryker had given him, cut through his face like a ragged mountain range and ran into his scalp. Arlo’s black hair had grown long and hung in greasy clumps. A beard sprouted in splotchy patches around his uneven jaw. His back curved slightly, more animal than human. His dirty, worn clothes hung off his boney frame. He looked awful and smelled even worse.