Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2)

by Sonya Bateman

  I didn’t understand any of that. But apparently, Taeral did. “Well, Seelie, you’ve wasted your time,” he said, and most of the disgust had gone out of his tone. Now he sounded almost pained. “My father does not remember your wife.”

  A flash of anger contorted his features. “Surely, Lord Daoin can recall—”

  “You do not understand,” Taeral said sharply. “Restore Grygg. Then, you’ll come and see for yourself.”

  Reun settled down to a glare. “Very well.”

  I really wanted to ask Taeral why he’d even think about letting a wife-killing Seelie noble talk to his crazy, defenseless father, but the look on his face kept the question at bay. Besides, I was probably about to find out.

  And something told me I really wasn’t going to enjoy the answer.

  CHAPTER 5

  Grygg was less than thrilled to hear that he wasn’t allowed to rip Reun’s limbs off, but at least he backed down and let the Seelie pass.

  Taeral led the way to the parlor. When we entered, Sadie and Daoin were still at the table, both of them watching us. Daoin’s color had improved a little, but the wariness remained in his face.

  Sadie’s gaze narrowed on Reun and her hand went to the canvas pouch on her belt, where she kept her luna-ball. In case she needed to go wolf.

  She caught Taeral’s eye, and he shook his head slightly. “Father,” he said, moving to Daoin’s chair. “This is Reun. He’s come to see you, just as you said. He’d like to speak with you. He is a…friend.” He glared a challenge at Reun with the word friend, daring him to say otherwise.

  Daoin looked at him for a minute, and then stood slowly and came around the table.

  If Reun hadn’t noticed the state Daoin was in before, he did now. The Seelie’s eyes widened, his mouth parted in shock, and he actually seemed to wither. “Lord Daoin,” he gasped. “What’s happened to you?”

  “Lord?” Daoin’s brow furrowed, then he broke into a sunny smile. “Well, I do have a castle. We live here now. Do you like my castle?”

  “I…your castle?”

  “Yes. I found it, when…I was…” He trailed off, and his silver eyes locked on nothing for a moment. Then he shook himself and smiled again. “I’m sorry. What’s your name? Sometimes I forget things.”

  “Reun,” he stammered. “My name is Reun.”

  “Reun…you’re bleeding,” he said with a slight tremor in his voice. He moved forward, raising a hand slowly to press his palm against the gash in the Seelie’s stomach. A shiver went through him as blue light traced the outline of his hand.

  When he drew back, the wound was healed.

  “There. Now—” Daoin glanced over at me, and then frowned. “I know you. Gideon,” he said. “You’re bleeding, too.”

  “Er. Yeah, but I’m fine,” I said. I didn’t want to upset him any more than he already was. Once in a while he had fragments of flash memories about his captivity, and sometimes they shut him down for hours. The sight of blood seemed to be pushing him down that path again.

  “You’re bleeding,” he repeated, moving toward me. He reached out and touched my face with trembling fingers. More blue light, and the lingering ache in my head eased, then vanished. “I washed the blood away,” Daoin said in a cracked whisper. “Every day I washed the blood, but you were still…you were…”

  Then Taeral was there, gently steering him back toward Reun. “Come, Father,” he said, his voice breaking as he glanced at me. “Your friend has an important question for you.”

  I let out a shuddering breath. At some point, Daoin had known that he had another son—me. But Milus Dei captured him before I was born, and they’d convinced him I was dead. In the most horrific way possible.

  I’d wanted to tell him the truth. But even if he understood, he’d just forget ten minutes later. One more reason to hate those bastards…they’d taken my real father before I ever got to meet him.

  Daoin had pulled himself together a little, now that he wasn’t looking at me. “My son says you want to ask me something,” he said to Reun. At least he remembered that he was Taeral’s father, most of the time.

  “Yes. Well, perhaps I should not trouble you…”

  “Ask him,” Taeral said coldly. “That is what you came for.”

  Reun swallowed, and his jaw twitched once. “Lord Daoin, I’d like to ask you about…a lady you knew.”

  “You mean Sadie? I know her.” Daoin smiled and looked back at the table. “She’s right there. She lives in my castle.”

  “No. I do not mean her,” Reun said in stiff tones. “This lady. Her name was Aeshara. Do you remember her?”

  “Aeshara.” Daoin closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them, his expression was blank. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Sometimes I forget things.”

  Reun bowed his head. “Yes, I can see that,” he whispered.

  “But I remember your name now. It’s Reun. And this is my son, Taeral…have you met my son?” He turned to Taeral with a faltering smile. “I think I’m tired now,” he said. “I’d like to go to sleep. Is that okay?”

  “Of course, Father. You can sleep.”

  “All right. Goodbye, then.”

  He left the room at a slow shuffle, casting a single uneasy glance at Reun before he moved through the door and vanished somewhere into the hotel.

  “Are you satisfied?” Taeral spat. He spun on a heel, stalked to the table and grabbed the open bottle, draining a third of it in one swallow. “As I mentioned, you’ve wasted your time. And ours. Now get out, before I decide to turn you over to the Duchenes after all.”

  But Reun didn’t leave. He staggered to the wall, leaned against it and slid down, a look of horror stamped on his face. “What have they done to him?”

  “Do you really mean to tell me you don’t know?” Teeth bared in a snarl, Taeral whipped the bottle across the room. It shattered against the far wall, spraying broken glass and foaming amber liquid everywhere. He moved toward Reun with fury in his eyes. “Twenty-six years they held him, in a room with cold iron walls. They tortured him, broke him down to nothing. Programmed him to—” He stopped, his fists clenched and shaking. “Get out of my father’s castle, Seelie. You are not welcome here.”

  “Cold iron walls,” he repeated numbly, struggling to his feet. Then he held a hand out. “Taeral, son of Daoin. I offer you a boon—”

  “I do not accept it!” Taeral screamed, batting his arm away.

  After a long pause, he said carefully, “You’ve not heard my offer.”

  “I do not care what you offer.” Taeral grabbed his shirt and smashed him against the wall, hard enough to crack the plaster. “Leave this house. Now.” He let go with a rough shove, turned away and strode from the room.

  Silence settled in thickly. After a minute, Reun straightened and fussed with his shirt, his gaze glued to the floor. Eventually he looked up with a quick frown and started toward me, hand extended. “Gideon, son of Daoin. I offer—”

  “Oh, no.” I put my arms up and backed away fast, like he was holding a gun. He might as well be. Brother or not, Taeral would kill me if I agreed to whatever he’d refused. “Leave me out of this,” I said. “I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m not sure I want to.”

  Sadie came over to stand next to me and glare at Reun. “Look, you’d better go,” she said tightly. “Because if Taeral doesn’t kill you, I will. You think I don’t remember what you did to me?”

  “I am truly sorry. I’d not meant…I never intended for things to go as they did. I’d have saved you all, once they…” He broke off with a heavy sigh. “But I must make this right. I must serve Daoin.”

  “What the hell’s your obsession with him, anyway?” I said. “And what’s he got to do with you killing your wife?”

  “He killed his wife?” Sadie’s eyes narrowed. “Okay. Now I really hate you.”

  “Please. Allow me to explain,” he said, his voice shaking. “It was not my intention to kill her. I’d only meant to stop her from ca
sting the curse.”

  I folded my arms. “Good for you. But what does this have to do with Daoin?”

  “She loved him,” Reun said in strangled tones. “She was having an affair with him. With an Unseelie lord, the captain of the Queen’s Guard. It is unspeakable, a Seelie noble on intimate terms with—” He broke off hard. “It is not done.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said. “When did this happen?”

  “Not so long ago. Perhaps four decades.”

  I stared at him. “Forty years is not so long?”

  “Of course not.” He gave me a strange look. “Are you not Fae?”

  “Well, sort of. I’m half.”

  Reun blinked. “You are a halfling?”

  “I guess. That’s what Taeral says.”

  “Hey. Seelie,” Sadie cut in. “You’d better finish explaining yourself fast, because I’m not convinced I shouldn’t kill you.”

  “Yes, I suppose I should,” he said, and drew a slow breath. “When Aeshara confronted me about her affair, I was furious, heartbroken. Completely humiliated. We argued. She told me she did not love me, and she wished me to never think of her again. She began to cast a memory curse to erase herself from my mind.” His eyes closed. “In turning the spell back, I caused it to strike her heart. She died.”

  “Hold on,” I said. “You killed her, but you’re still cursed?”

  “The curse had largely taken effect before her heart stopped,” he said. “Now, the only memory I have of her is that night, that hatred and shame. Without Daoin’s memories, she is truly lost to me.” He let out a sigh. “In fact, I’ve lost nearly all of my life since we’d married. Most of my time was spent with her.”

  I almost felt bad for him. But it didn’t come close to excusing him working for Milus Dei. “So you let Foley track us all down, capture everyone, and burn the Hive to the ground—all so you could get some memories of your wife, who cheated on you with Daoin,” I said. “Taeral’s right. You are unbelievably arrogant.”

  “Yes. I was,” he whispered. “And in my arrogance, I bound myself to a promise I should never have made, and could not escape. Truly, I had not believed humans capable of such…creative destruction.” He shuddered visibly. “I must atone for my actions. I’ll not leave until Taeral agrees to accept my favor and allow me to serve his father’s house.”

  “You’re not staying in here,” Sadie growled.

  Reun gave a sad smile. “I’d not intended to, since I am not welcome. I shall wait outside until I am accepted. Or destroyed.” He bowed slightly, then turned and walked out.

  When he was gone, I looked at Sadie and shook my head. “This isn’t going to end well.”

  “Tell me about it,” she said. “Think we should get Taeral?”

  “Nah. I’m sure he’ll notice that we have a new lawn ornament, sooner or later. If Denei doesn’t first.” I sighed and scrubbed a hand down my face. “Don’t know about you, but I feel like breaking something. Wanna go up to three and demolish some walls?” Most of the work we’d done to the hotel was on the first and second floors, so the third was still untouched.

  She grinned. “You’re on.”

  We headed for the stairs. Hopefully, bashing things with a sledgehammer would help me forget that there were still thousands of bad guys out there who wanted to turn me into a weapon of mass destruction.

  At least Reun was no longer an immediate problem—but I still hated the son of a bitch.

  CHAPTER 6

  With a main room, a separate bedroom and a bathroom, the suite I’d claimed on the second floor of the Castle was officially the biggest place I’d ever lived.

  The Boscos, the foster parents who’d taken me in for a few years, had a big house. But I’d never really considered the place home. They were nice enough people, if a little distracted by the sheer volume of broken kids they took in and tried to help. I just hadn’t belonged there. After that it was a dorm room at community college, and then my van.

  Before that, it was sixteen years of hell on the road with the Valentines—hunters, poachers, and all-around twisted, ruthless bastards. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about being half Fae, but I’d been damned glad to learn I wasn’t actually one of them.

  If only my ex-family knew that, I wouldn’t have to worry that they might find me someday. And try to take me back.

  Sadie and I had spent a few hours smashing things upstairs, and we were both covered in dust and splinters. She was in my bathroom right now. Her shower quit working a few days ago, and she’d been using Taeral’s. But neither of us wanted to go in his room and find out if his mood had improved since Reun happened to it.

  Taeral and Sadie had a history I didn’t know much about, and I wasn’t going to ask. Especially since there was a chance it wasn’t completely history. She did spend a lot of time in his room.

  While she was in the bathroom, I planned to change and brush off. I’d grab a shower after I ate something, and then maybe take a quick nap. Getting up early when Abe called had really screwed with my sleep schedule.

  I’d just tugged my dusty shirt off and headed to the closet for a fresh one when the bathroom door opened behind me, and Sadie said, “Hey, Gideon, do you have an…extra, uh…” She trailed off to a strangled halt.

  I sighed, grabbed a clean shirt and pulled it on fast. She’d seen me shirtless before, when she insisted that I strip to prove I wasn’t marked by Milus Dei, but she’d only seen the front. My back was worse. I was definitely marked, but my tattoos were a poor attempt to cover the scars.

  The Valentines really hadn’t liked me.

  “Were you going to say towel?” I asked without turning, reaching for my gym bag at the bottom of the closet. “Think I’ve got one in here.” I dug around until I found a faded blue bath towel in the depths of the bag and turned, preparing to toss it to her.

  She was right behind me.

  I flinched. “Jesus Christ,” I said, handing her the towel. “Are you always this quiet?”

  “Yeah, I am. Part wolf, remember?” She stared at me for so long, I thought I’d sprouted horns or something. Finally she said, “Are you ever going to tell me what happened to you?”

  “Probably not,” I said automatically, cringing at how cold I sounded. I didn’t mean to come off that way. But the few times the subject had come up, I’d learned that if I didn’t dismiss it with authority, people would keep pushing. And things would get ugly.

  She made the hurt in her eyes disappear. “Okay, then,” she said. “Thanks for the towel.”

  As she walked away without another word, I mentally kicked myself. That probably hadn’t been the best way to handle it.

  Sometimes I really sucked at being a person.

  I crossed the room and plopped down on the bare mattress on the floor, ignoring the puffs of dust that swirled up around me. The rest of the bed that’d been left in this room wasn’t worth salvaging and had been hauled to the burn pile in the basement. I closed my eyes, thinking maybe the nap should come first. I’d be up all night regardless of whether I got more sleep.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I groaned aloud. So much for sleeping.

  It was Abe. I’d talked to him briefly earlier, just to reassure him that the murders were done. Hadn’t told him the killer was currently hanging around my front yard, though. Reun might be strangely eager to turn himself over to Daoin, but I suspected he wouldn’t be so compliant if the cops tried to arrest him, now that he wasn’t comatose. “Hey, Captain,” I said as I picked up the call. “Shouldn’t you be off duty by now?”

  “Yeah, I should. Except the new chief has some concerns about the three bodies we just found, who all happen to have matching tattoos and matching crap carved into their chests, just like the Central Park vic.” He paused, and I could practically hear him scowling. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Gideon, but didn’t somebody who sounds a lot like you tell me this guy was done?”

  I frowned. “You’re not wrong,” I said. “Where’d you find them?�
��

  “In a goddamned church. Place is a bloodbath.”

  “Great.” Well, at least it sounded like Reun’s work. Maybe he’d killed them before he took down the guy in Central Park, and the bodies hadn’t been found until now. The good news was I could just go outside and ask the son of a bitch. “Listen, I might have a lead,” I said. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll call you back. Am I picking these guys up?”

  “Apparently they’re already en route to the ME. On account of this being a priority,” Abe said. “This new chief, Petrocco, he moves a lot faster than Foley did. You know I would’ve had you called in, though.”

  “Yeah, I know. Don’t worry about it.” It was only a little disappointing. I wasn’t concerned about the income, even though the NYPD was pretty much my only source for body moving gigs now. But I had wanted to talk to the dead guys. “Out of curiosity, where’s the church?” I said.

  “It’s…huh. I didn’t even think about that,” he said, and paused. “It’s the place I found that body you were asking about last month. The Church of Light, at Cemetery of the Pines.”

  My breath caught sharply, and for a second I thought I wouldn’t be able to breathe. That body was my mother—my actual, human mother, who’d died giving birth to me. In Central Park.

  Taeral and I had dug up the grave last month because he insisted that I had to contact a parent to reconnect with my heritage, or whatever, to cure me from being a changeling. At the time we hadn’t known Daoin was still alive. I didn’t even realize the small stone building at the end of the cemetery was a church.

  I’d spoken to her. Heard her voice, even though I’d never be able to meet her. It still hurt to know that I was twenty-six years too late.

  But what the hell were those Milus Dei guys doing where she was buried?

  “Gideon?” Abe’s voice broke up my thoughts like a splash of cold water. “Something wrong, kid? You never did tell me why you wanted to find that body.”