Torque snorted. He wasn’t surprised the sprites would be fleeing from the overly-pretty prince. He was no doubt a terrible leader.
“If his people were leaving he should have devoted more attention to his tribe and less time trying to seduce females.”
“Not leaving, vanishing,” she corrected with a frown. “As in, they were there one minute and gone the next.”
Torque studied her in confusion. Okay, that was strange.
“Magic?”
She shrugged. “That’s the assumption.”
“Why contact your mother?”
“She has the ability to reach out with her shadow and locate people.”
Ah. A powerful gift. Is that why Synge had taken the Shinto as a lover? Did he think she could use her shadow to track down whoever had stolen his treasure?
Or was it simply the hope for a glimpse of the future?
“Did she find them?” he demanded.
“I don’t know.” Her eyes darkened, her fear for her mother scenting the air with a sharp tang. “She disappeared over a week ago.”
Torque sucked in a sharp breath at her confession, instantly furious.
“And you came here knowing that fey were being mysteriously kidnapped?”
Easily sensing his fierce reaction, she tilted her chin to an aggressive angle.
“I have to find out what happened.”
“By deliberately putting yourself in danger?”
She met his gaze squarely, refusing to be intimidated.
“What would you do if it was your mother?”
“Nothing,” he admitted with blunt honesty. “I have no contact with my mother.”
Her eyes widened. “None?”
“None.” He shrugged. “I’m not even sure what sort of demon she was, although I have some magic, so she must have been fey.”
“Your father never talked about her?”
Torque shook his head. “All I know is that she bartered some sort of deal with my father. I assume she wanted money. Or maybe Pyre took care of one of her enemies.” He kept his tone indifferent, as if he hadn’t spent endless nights wondering about the female who’d given birth to him. “Once she produced a male child, she’d paid her debt. She left only hours after I was born.”
Her delicate features softened, emphasizing her exotic beauty.
“I’m sorry.”
Torque took a step forward. He’d seen Rya demure and compliant in the presence of her father. He’d seen her gloriously infuriated when he’d entered the cavern. And now he was offered a fascinating glimpse of her as a tenderhearted consort.
“Why?” he asked.
“Every child should have a mother.”
“My father’s servants made sure I was adequately cared for.”
She shook her head. “Adequate care is not the same as love.”
Love.
Torque flinched. Her soft words touched a vulnerable place deep inside him. A place he’d buried when he was just a young hatchling.
Only fools allowed themselves to be blinded by their emotions.
He believed in honor. In loyalty. And strength.
And lust.
He was a big believer in lust. At least when it came to this female.
“We were discussing your reckless disregard for your own safety, not my mother,” he said, a grim edge in his voice.
She hesitated, as if considering whether or not to press him. Then she gave a shake of her head, as if annoyed by his refusal to mourn what he’d never had.
“What does my safety matter to you?”
Torque scowled. “That’s a ridiculous question.”
“It’s not ridiculous,” she countered. Abruptly turning, she paced across the icy floor, the fairy light gleaming off the ebony darkness of her hair. “If I disappear, you no longer have to worry about our mating.”
Torque was instantly outraged. What the hell was she talking about?
“Don’t say that.”
“Why not? It’s true.”
“Don’t presume to know what I want,” he ground out, not bothering to add that he didn’t know what the hell he wanted.
Instead he moved forward so he could grab her shoulders and turn her back to face him. Only that wasn’t enough. He needed…more.
With a muttered curse, he yanked her tight against him.
Her eyes widened as their bodies melded together, a gasp wrenched from her throat.
“Torque.”
He glared down at her perfectly formed face. “Why didn’t you contact me?”
She blinked. “Contact you?”
“I’m your betrothed,” he growled. “If your mother was in danger you should have asked for my help.”
***
Rya tilted back her head to stare into the stunning eyes that smoldered with sapphire fire.
This male had pretended that she didn’t exist from the day she was born. Even after their formal betrothal. Now he was glaring at her as if he was genuinely irritated that she hadn’t rushed to him for help.
And even more disturbing, he had her intimately pressed against his rock-hard body.
How was she supposed to think when his heat was searing through her clothing and his intoxicating scent was clouding her poor brain?
Giving a shake of her head, she tried to remember all the reasons this male was a jackass.
Starting with the fact that he was pretending to be interested in her life fifty years too late.
“Is that a joke?” she demanded.
His lips flattened. “I don’t joke.”
She rolled her eyes. Yeah. No crap. This male was a stoic warrior. All duty and loyalty and blah, blah, blah.
So why did she find him so sexy?
Sucking in a sharp breath, she hastily squashed the renegade thought. Along with the treacherous image of his slender fingers sliding over her body with desire instead of annoyance.
“Obviously I didn’t think you would be interested in helping to rescue my mother,” she said.
A tendril of smoke curled from his flared nostrils. “If it’s important to you, then it’s important to me.”
She made a sound of disbelief. “Since when?”
“We’re soon to be mated.”
“And?”
The question seemed to stump him. “And it’s my duty to ensure that my consort is content,” he at last muttered.
“Content?” she repeated as a stab of disappointment sliced through her. Stupid, of course. Did she expect him to say that he actually cared about her?
“Yes.”
“Then let me make this easy for you.” Taking an abrupt step backward, she broke free of his grasp, sending him a warning glare. “It would make me content if you would return to Baine and let me concentrate on locating my mother.”
His hands clenched at his sides. She suspected it was the only way he kept himself from grabbing her and physically hauling her out of the cavern.
“I’m not leaving without you,” he said between clenched teeth.
“Well, I’m not going.”
They were glaring at each other, neither willing to back down, when a shrill scream echoed through the air.
Rya sucked in a startled gasp. “What was that?”
Torque scowled. “That stupid gargoyle.”
“They must be in trouble,” she muttered, a surge of fear clenching her heart as she ran out of the cavern.
“Rya, wait. Dammit.”
Rya ignored the angry male voice. Instead she hurried through the narrow tunnel that angled upward.
She’d been so distracted by the arrival of Torque she’d forgotten the danger that stalked this isolated location. Now she skidded onto the icy glacier and searched for some sign of Finn and the tiny gargoyle.
Darkness had fully claimed the bleak landscape, but she could see as easily at night as she could during the day. Which meant that she had no trouble realizing that there was no one around for miles.
“They’re gone,” she breathed as
Torque stopped next to her, his face tight with frustration.
“Don’t move,” he commanded. “I’ll do a sweep of the area.”
She clicked her tongue in annoyance. “I’m not helpless.”
A dark brow flicked upward. “Have you trained to be a warrior?”
“Has anyone ever told you you’re an annoying ass?”
“Yes.” He pointed a finger toward her feet. “Don’t. Move.”
She remained in place as he melted into the darkness. Not because he’d ordered her stay. Nope. Since leaving the harem she’d decided she enjoyed making her own decisions.
But on this occasion, Torque was right.
His training meant he could do a far better job of ensuring there were no enemies hiding in the area. And since it was obvious that his dragon lurked closer to the surface than most half-breeds, he possessed a physical strength she couldn’t hope to match.
Within a few minutes he returned. There weren’t many places to hide on the frozen wasteland.
“Well?” she demanded.
He grimaced. “Nothing.”
Rya’s fear intensified. “Exactly like all the others,” she muttered, moving forward, hoping to catch some lingering sense of Finn.
Torque walked at her side, his brow furrowed. “Explain to me exactly how the people have been disappearing.”
“I truly don’t know, but I suspect it’s through portals.”
Together they leaped across a sharp crevasse in the ice.
Torque pointed out the obvious. “We should be able to detect where a portal was opened.”
“I’ve tried, but they must have the magical ability to hide their spell.”
Rya moved toward the flat area in the center of the glacier. It’s where Finn often stood to enjoy the panoramic sweep of the night sky. He said the stars looked close enough to reach up and pluck them from the heavens. Rya thought they looked cold. Like everything else in this goddess-forsaken land.
Unable to pick up any trace of the frost sprite, she was about to turn and head toward the distant shoreline when she caught the unmistakable tingle of magic crawling over her skin.
“Here,” she said, abruptly dropping to her knees as she lightly touched the ice.
With a liquid speed Torque was at her side, studying the small scorch mark that marred the ice. “What is it?”
“The gargoyle.”
Leaning forward, he touched the blackened ice. “Yes, I can sense that he released a spell.” He frowned in confusion. “Can you tell what he was trying to do?”
Rya closed her eyes, concentrating on the unfamiliar threads of magic. It felt like a sticky web. Briefly confused, she tried to imagine what sort of spell would leave that precise residue.
Then she snapped her eyes open. “He blocked the portal,” she said, genuinely impressed with the tiny demon’s quick thinking.
Without warning Torque reached out to grasp her arm, urging her away from the point where Levet had presumably disappeared along with Finn.
“Stand back,” he growled.
“What are you doing?”
“I traveled with the creature for the past three days.” Torque shuddered, continuing to pull her away.
She dug in her heels, studying him with a startled glance. The thought of Torque being forced to travel with the gargoyle for more than a few minutes was…inconceivable.
“Why three days?” she demanded.
Torque wrinkled his nose. “The stupid creature had to find a witch who could use your betrothal ring to cast a spell that would allow me to open a portal.”
Ah. She’d assumed that Levet must have some special magic. Instead, it’d been a witch’s spell. Her gaze briefly darted down, covertly ensuring the ring she’d made for Torque had been returned to his hand.
She felt an odd pang of relief at the sight of the delicate band circling his finger. As if she would have been disturbed if it was missing.
Idiotic.
“So that’s how you found me,” she forced herself to mutter.
“None of it would have been necessary if you’d just contacted me.”
Rya rolled her eyes. “Or you could have remained with Baine and allowed me to look for my mother without interference.”
Fire flared in his eyes. “No way in hell.”
She blinked at his fierce response. It didn’t make sense. She’d been born a century ago, and carried his betrothal mark for nearly fifty years. In all that time, he couldn’t be bothered to remember she was alive, and now he suddenly acted like he was a dog and she was the bone.
Unnerved by his possessive gaze, she gave a shake of her head and returned her attention to more important matters.
“So why did you pull me away from the portal?”
“The one thing I learned when I traveled with Levet is that you don’t want to be around when he releases a spell.”
“Why?”
“Because he blows things up.”
Rya pulled her arm free of his tight grip and returned to the edge of the portal.
“This one is no longer active,” she assured him, reaching out her hand to lightly trace the edge of the portal.
“Then what’s the spell?”
“It’s some sort of web,” she explained. “It’s there to act as a wedge.”
“A magical wedge?”
She shrugged. “The only way to explain it is that he stuck his foot in the door before it could slam shut,” she said in an absent tone as she concentrated on the mesh of power.
Torque took a step closer, his heat wrapping around her to protect her from the chill. “You can open the portal?”
Could she? Rya sucked in a deep breath. “We’re about to find out,” she said, using her magic to grasp the edges of the narrow opening.
It was more difficult than she expected. The gargoyle’s spell was unfamiliar and the strands kept twisting into complex patterns that made it almost impossible to work her way past. Her limbs were shaking and a thin layer of sweat was coating her skin when she at last managed to shove open the doorway far enough to slip through.
Before she could move, however, Torque reached out to lay a restraining hand on her shoulder.
“Rya, stop,” he growled. “We have no idea where this might take us. Or who might be waiting.”
She turned her head to send him a frown. “You can stay here if you want. I’m going to find my mother.”
The sapphire eyes flared with a burning frustration. “Aggravating female.”
His jaw clenched, then without warning, he was bending his head to claim her lips in a kiss that seared through her with a shocking pleasure.
Rya gasped, feeling her inner dragon stir with a sudden burst of flames and fury. It was the first time her beast had ever responded to a male and she trembled at the sheer force of its hunger.
He tasted of heat. And raw male power.
And she wanted more.
Lots more.
Instinctively she opened her mouth, encouraging the thrust of his tongue as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her tight against his torso.
Her hands grabbed his upper arms, savoring the feel of him beneath her palms. His muscles were as hard as granite and perfectly chiseled. Fascinated by his male form, she allowed her fingers to glide up and over his shoulders before exploring the wide expanse of his back.
He made a sound deep in his throat and without warning a glorious fire was dancing over his skin.
She shivered as the flames began to surround her, the sensual warmth as intoxicating as the finest nectar.
“Torque,” she breathed, drowning in the erotic sensations.
Time lost all meaning for Rya as he took fierce command of her mouth, kissing her over and over as his hands swept down her body with a possessive confidence.
He touched her as if he owned her.
Something that should have pissed her off, right? She might wear his marking, but he’d barely acknowledged her existence before she’d disappeared fro
m the harem.
Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—she was too busy melting in pleasure to protest.
Finally, it was a blast of wind that whipped across the glacier that made her push away from his heady touch, her heart thundering with a mixture of excitement and disbelief.
“My mother,” she forced herself to mutter, unable to form a full sentence.
The sapphire eyes glowed with a hectic fire. Lust? Need? Sheer annoyance?
Impossible to say.
Sucking in a deep breath he doused the flames that were swirling around him and turned to face the portal.
“I go in first.”
Rya bit her lower lip, knowing better than to argue.
Torque was on the edge. She knew beyond a doubt that if she pushed him too far he’d toss her over his shoulder and haul her back to her father’s harem.
And there wouldn’t be a damned thing she could do to stop him.
Right now she fully understood the proverb that claimed that silence was golden.
CHAPTER FOUR
Finn was floating in a peaceful darkness. At least it was peaceful until he was rudely slapped across the face.
“Wake up,” an unfamiliar voice commanded. It had an accent. Was it…French? Weird. “Can you hear me, you overgrown fairy?”
Finn kept his eyes tightly shut, hoping this was nothing more than a nightmare that would pass.
“I’m a sprite, not a fairy,” he muttered.
“I do not care if you are an ogre.” There was another sharp slap to his face. “You must wake up.”
Releasing his breath with a furious hiss, Finn lifted his heavy lids, realizing he truly was in a nightmare. What else could explain the ugly gray face hovering just inches from his nose?
Then a faint memory teased at the edges of his foggy brain.
What was it?
Oh yeah. Missing sprites. The beautiful Rya. And an ugly-ass gargoyle in the company of the half-dragon, Torque.
He’d reluctantly given Rya privacy, which meant he’d been stuck with the gargoyle as he’d moved toward his favorite spot on the glacier. He’d actually been searching for a way to get rid of the tiny demon when a portal had opened in front of him and he’d been sucked inside.
After that everything had gone black.
Trying to determine where he was, he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Reaching out, he snapped his hands around his companion’s small wrist and squeezed until the creature gave a loud squawk.
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