by Marian Tee
Granite suddenly dove low, and if not for the man behind her keeping her on the horse’s back, she would have fallen off. “Seatbelts,” George muttered to herself. “Why the fuck don’t these have seatbelts?”
She looked over her shoulder, wanting to know what Granite seemed to be doing his best to fly away from. “Bats?” she squeaked out.
Mihail did not turn around. “Do not blame them. They are being forced by their masters to hunt us down.”
Granite made another dive, but this time George was able to hang on tight to the reins. Behind her, she felt Silviu’s friend gasp, and when she turned around his face was white with pain, blood seeping out from his shirt as he pulled out an arrow.
“Where the fuck did that come from?”
“Archer…demon. They follow where the bats lead them and strike.”
The air was tainted by the metallic scent of his blood, so strong that even she could easily smell it. Somehow, the scent seemed to drive the bats behind them insane.
His face whitened even more. “No.” He looked at the bats. “NO, DAMMIT!”
The bats were diving to the ground, and George could only stare in horror as they all hit the ground, killing themselves in an instant.
“Why?” she whispered. Granite had slowed down, his flying taking on a steadier rhythm as they made their way closer to the Woods.
“They smelled my blood and knew…I was kin. They did not want to let another arrow hurt me, and so instead they killed themselves.”
He closed his eyes.
She took his hand, knowing that there were no words to say, her tears falling silently.
“Do not cry,” Mihail gritted.
She shook her head. “I’m not crying!” But her voice wavered in the end.
“You really are…as stubborn and as dishonest…as they say you are.” Mihail’s voice was tired, his body not healing as quickly as it should because of the hell-forged arrow.
George squeezed his hand, saying fiercely, “I don’t know what powers I will get when I become immortal but if I can do anything to help you, I promise you that we’ll go Sicilian Mafia on them and take revenge.”
“Silviu…did say…you were once a gangster and…I think the word ‘ghetto’ was used.”
Damn Silviu and his big mouth, George thought. Coughing, she said, “Umm, yeah, something like that.” She couldn’t make herself admit that her gangster days were just a disguise. Surrounded by these powerful half-demons, it was only natural she’d have massive insecurity issues about being human.
In moments, they arrived at the edge of the Woods next to a ravine. Silviu and the two other men that made up the Galeré were waiting for them. Silviu quickly pulled her off Granite’s back while the two others helped their comrade.
I am sorry for their deaths, Mihail. We heard and saw what happened from here.
According to your heartkeeper, Your Grace, she will do her best to avenge their deaths and promise me that we will “go Sicilian Mafia” on them.
There was a moment of silence, with Silviu, Adrijan, and Ilie stunned to hear the usually sober Mihail crack a joke.
Adrijan recovered first. So it will be, my friend. I will join you. Will there be costumes?
Perhaps. We shall ask the future duchess when that time comes.
Safely cocooned in his arms, George felt Silviu’s chest suddenly rumble against her cheek. “What is it?”
“It is nothing. I thank you for taking care of Mihail while he was wounded.”
“Granite took care of us, not me, and then later…” Her voice trailed off.
“We will avenge them as you promised,” Silviu said.
She reddened. “You told them about my high school days,” she accused.
“I was proud of your creativity, milady,” he answered innocently.
“Yeah right!”
He pressed a kiss to her hair. “As I am even prouder of you now.”
Only her family had used to tell her that, and she did her best to blink back tears. Fucking hell. What was it about Chalys that had turned her into such a big crybaby?
“Once you gain Lady Beyotch’s blessing, does it mean that this endless chase from those demon imps will stop?”
“I would hope so. As long as you are not yet immortal, they can still hurt me through you. If they hurt you, I will feel it too. And if they take your life, I will be made mortal.”
“I wish I can tell you that it will be easy to make her agree to you marrying me, but…maybe Ilie can marry me first as the marquis? We can divorce after a while and then I can marry you. Could that work?”
“Even if it does, I won’t fucking let you take another man’s name.”
She scowled. “But do you think it will work?”
“I have a plan, milady, and it will work. There will never be a need for you to take another man’s name.” His eyes suddenly bored through her. “Unless you have changed your mind? You would like to be a marchioness now instead of just my wife?”
Just the thought was enough to have his jealousy flaming into life.
Before George could sputter angrily at the way he had just accused her of being a gold digger in a roundabout way, his wings suddenly sprung out, his arms tightening around her as he started to fly down.
“What the fucking hell,” she gasped, her heart threatening to jump out of her chest as they flew with lightning speed to the very edge of the ravine.
They stopped inches before hitting the ground, his beating wings creating gusts of wind that sent the waves crashing against the opposite walls.
Silviu flew them upright and slowly lowered her to the ground.
She wobbled on her feet. When her short spell of vertigo lifted, she lifted her chin to snarl at him, but instead she was pulled towards a hard chest, her mouth taken over by Silviu’s.
“You are my heartkeeper and no one else’s,” he growled as he allowed her to breathe.
She started to speak, but he was kissing her again, harder, more possessively this time. He was also lifting her skirts, his hands gripping her bare thighs, and then he was tearing her drawers off.
George cried out against his mouth as his fingers found her essence, dipping into her silken warmth, thrusting in and out.
Dimly she heard more rustling, Silviu freeing his cock, and the sound made her moan, the thought that he was about to take her again enough to make her feel lightheaded.
He lifted her up, her legs automatically wrapping around his waist, his cock poised at her entrance. She tried to wriggle down but he wouldn’t let her.
“Say it, Georgina!”
“I’m your fucking heartkeeper! I’m always fucking yours! So fuck---”
He swallowed her scream into his mouth as he pulled her down hard, his cock spearing her to the hilt. Her head fell back as she bounced on his cock, his sure hands gripping her ass firmly as he urged her to move faster and wilder.
“Silviu,” she whispered.
“Ma threa,” he rasped and he pumped his hips more furiously into her.
His wings broke out, and she gasped at the sight of it, incredibly turned on by the way they stood so proudly in the air as Silviu’s cock pumped in and out of her.
She reached for it, stroking its inner flesh, and Silviu shuddered. “Georgina!”
His voice, underlined with such need, made her shiver and her muscles contract even more tightly around his cock.
“I’m so close,” she sobbed.
“Should I make you come now?”
“Yes.” She choked the word out.
“As you command, milady.” His wings whipped forward and then folded close, giving them privacy. He twisted her around, her pussy releasing his cock for a moment only to be filled once more as he held her by the waist, her entire body hanging in the air as she gripped his arm, her head spinning at his strength. This was an impossible position to fuck, but he made it happen. He fucking made it happen.
His cock tore back into her folds and she bit back her scream.
His other hand played with her clit, their new position allowing him more freedom to become creative with the way he stroked the tiny nub into life.
Silviu. She screamed his name in her mind as she came, her silk-covered breasts jiggling in the air as his cock pumped into her again and again.
He gripped her ass hard, and in seconds he was coming too, the hot gush of his semen making her whimper as he filled her to the brim, his come dripping down her inner thigh.
When it was over, Silviu flipped her around and kissed George sweetly, softly. “Always remember,” he said quietly. “You are mine and I will never give you to anyone else, not even if I have to throw away everything in my life.”
****
As the sun started to rise, Silviu whispered for the wraiths to look after his heartkeeper before making his way to where his Galeré waited.
Only Adrijan was at the clearing. The other two were nowhere in sight.
“Good morning, Your Grace. Ilie and Mihail left to prepare for our arrival.”
He nodded.
“Last night was quite a show.”
Silviu’s lips compressed.
“Was it not cruel, to prove to…others…that she is your heartkeeper in such a way?”
Silviu was not surprised that Adrijan knew of Ilie’s feelings for Georgina. He said levelly, “It is perhaps as cruel as a heartkeeper knowing who she really belongs to but is ignored and shunned by that man.”
Adrijan stiffened.
Silviu had never broached the subject with the youngest of his brothers, but he knew now was the right time to do so.
“She is too young.”
“I know it may seem that way, but I cannot help but fear that it is not your only reason.”
“As it seems that a heartkeeper may belong to more than one demon---”
Silviu snarled.
“---then it may be possible that she could still find someone else.”
“You will regret it when that day comes, Adrijan.”
“Perhaps – but we all have our own choices to make, Your Grace.”
An hour later, Adrijan’s thoughts remained with him as he sat inside the hackney, Georgina curled in his lap.
“Are you worried about what will happen when we get there?” she ventured when the silence had become too heavy.
He shook his head. “No, milady. I am thinking of Adrijan and something he said.”
She nodded, not knowing what to say since she had not spent any time with that last member of the Galeré.
“What’s your plan when we get there?”
“It is better that you do not know.”
She scowled.
“You talk too much.”
She growled.
Silviu smiled. “It is the truth, milady.”
“Jerk,” she threw at him and flounced to the other side of the carriage.
He laughed. “Come back here.”
“No.” She deliberately ignored him, turning away and staring resolutely at scenery outside. They had just passed the gates of Asphodel, and she could feel herself calming down at the familiar sights.
It was a busy morning outside, the cobbled sidewalks crowded with people. There were hackneys parked and waiting for new passengers, while on the other side of the road, private and elaborately decorated carriages were lined up, their coachmen swapping stories as they waited for their mistresses and masters to finish their business.
She loved taking photos of these, making George sigh a little. Since she had left her camera in the carriage, which was now God knew where, she would have to start saving once again before she could get her hands on another nice set of lens.
As they made their way further into the city, the number of pretty Victorian boutiques bordering the roads grew. There were the low-roofed ones of dressmakers, the elegant tea shops, and the quaintly charming bookstores from where the smell of newly printed pages would tease readers every time its doors opened.
In Asphodel, every few feet there would be an ornately designed black steel lamp post, its lights never dimming as if it was needed to shun the darkness. Once, George had thought it queer. Now, she was thankful for it.
Chalys, no matter how pretty, had its share of monsters, too.
Soon, the carriage was slowing down in front the familiar façade of Lady Beyotch’s townhouse. The coachman opened the carriage door. She waited for Silviu to step down first, as was customary, but he did not, his face hardening into a mask.
“I will not go in with you, I’m afraid.”
She blinked.
“When your step-aunt asks you where you have been, just say that you were a human pet of the marquis. She knows about our kind. But that is all. Do not say anything else – or talk about anyone else. Especially me.”
“But…”
Silviu nodded. “She is watching us from the windows. You must go now.”
And suddenly she understood. “This is your fucking plan? Do me for the weekend and then let me go?”
When he still didn’t say anything, George swallowed, fighting off tears of humiliation. Without a word, she climbed out of the carriage.
She kept her hands behind her back, and one particular finger shot out.
Silviu would have smiled at the way George continued to fight back if he did not feel so grim.
Galeré. Her step-aunt is a witch. We must change our plans.
Chapter Nine
Here is a photo of the voodoo doll from the Chalysian Museum of Black Arts.
#heartbreak #yeahimbittersowhat #blackjuju
The Duke of Brimstone and his Galeré convened in an abandoned fire-ravaged watchtower at the edge of Brimstone, situated on top of a hill that allowed them a bird’s eye view of Asphodel and the Woods of the Wraiths.
Once, the watchtower had been used as a beacon for safety. But on the night the nymphs had been massacred, their bloodline wiped out along with the satyrs, it was said that the human watch guards had not sounded the alarm on purpose.
They had been bought, and their betrayal cut to the deep, forever severing the ties between the human race and those of the rest of Chalys.
Now the site was left alone, believed to be cursed, and the Galeré made no move to stop the rumors as it provided them with yet another wall of secrecy to hide behind.
“It is the Red Witch, is it not?” Ilie guessed grimly.
The Red Witch was once known by humans as Delphine LaLaurie, the head of the most powerful coven outside Chalys. Her evil had bordered on insanity, prompting all the dukes into agreeing to exile her from the kingdom,
But it had been a dreadful mistake, with Delphine continuing her practice of the black arts, torturing thousands of slaves in her New Orleans mansion. When her evildoings were discovered, Chalysian authorities had been sent to whisk her out, not wanting to risk having the witch expose the truth about them.
When the townspeople had marched to her home, torches in their hands, ready to burn her to death, Delphine had vanished into the night and she was never seen again – until now.
“She is still arrogant as ever, maybe even more so,” Mihail said grimly. “She carries now the name of McCartney. That is the family name of your heartkeeper, is it not?”
Silviu frowned. “And so?”
“Delphine’s maiden name is Marie Delphine McCarthy. It is as if she is taunting those searching for her with her very existence.”
Adrijan hissed in disgust, and in the distance waves started to rise and crash in reaction to his temper. “I will not be surprised if she has married back into her family.”
“George is not safe there, Silviu,” Ilie gritted.
Mihail’s gaze glinted in warning as he looked at the duke, warning him against overreacting. You cannot fault him for being worried.
He says her name too intimately.
That is your jealousy speaking and you know it.
Silviu’s fists clenched. “We must plan this carefully. Obviously, we cannot bribe her into selling Georgina to us.”
Ilie shot back, “And while we do not have a plan? We will just leave her there in the witch’s care?”
“It is precisely because she is in the care of the Red Witch that we must take every care,” Silviu snapped.
“If she was my heartkeeper---”
Silviu said coldly, “But she is not. She is mine.”
They stared at each other challengingly.
Ilie was the first to back down, knowing he had no right to make a decision because George was indeed heartkeeper to the Duke of Brimstone and not his. “I’m sorry.”
Silviu turned away, needing the time to rein his emotions in. He had been close to drawing his sword against his friend, and that would have been unforgivable. “I am sorry, too.”
“I cannot see how you will get her blessings one way or another, Your Grace.” Mihail spoke flatly.
“It does not matter.” Silviu’s eyes flashed, angelfire and hellfire mixing, creating a combination that was so potent it made every creature in his domain stop whatever it was they were doing.
War is coming.
It was the message that the Duke of Brimstone wanted to impart to his people.
“I only need to lure her out of her cave and into my lair.”
The Galeré looked at each other in understanding.
Silviu was out to kill the Red Witch.
There would be no need to ask for anyone’s blessing after that.
****
Dreadful days turned into weeks, with time passing so slowly that George wished there was a way to speed everything up. She wanted to move on and forget everything that had passed, but somehow every night she would wake up screaming and crying.
She looked up when the door of the drawing room opened and in sauntered Lady Beyotch’s twins, her step-cousins Shumpty and Sdumpty.
Shumpty, tall and thin Sara, not-so-accidentally kicked the bucket of water next to her, spilling dirty water all over the floor. “Oh, how clumsy you are, Georgina!”
Sdumpty came rushing in with a gasp. The short and round-cheeked Sallie called out immediately, “Mother, just look at what cousin Georgina has done to our floor, and just when we are about to have guests!”