by Alice Wade
Deandra watched him while he admired her new body and smiled, “Of course. After that little scene downstairs, did you really think I would go back on my word?” She was annoyed that Kaen would think such a thing.
“I needed to check, since he is your brother by blood.” Kaen remained next to her on the bed. Her eyes kept drifting lower and lower, which he allowed. She’d worn herself out just now. He continued to admire her, but she fought sleep by snapping her eyes open to stay awake.
Deandra yawned and rolled slightly in his direction, “You should not have concerns about me having second thoughts, dearest. I want my brother dead as much as you.” Another yawn split her face as she looked upon the man whom she had married less than twenty-four hours earlier. “I’m curious as to how you think that having your coven involved will make this task any easier. He is king after all.”
Kaen shrugged as he caressed her cheek. “I have informants who have identified the location of his weakness and the only obstacle to our plans.” He smirked, “Having my coven here offers me many more eyes and ears to keep watch on that brother of yours. We’ve been waiting for him to make a mistake and he finally has. My coven has found his beloved Marigail and her brood.”
This information shocked the princess awake. She tried to sit up but only achieved being able to lean up on her elbow to stare right in Kaen’s eyes.
“Say that again?” She had searched for Marigail for years unsuccessfully, so how the hell did Kaen do it?
He read her reaction for what it was and laughed. “We have her now. She will no longer be our weakness. He can’t stop us, Deandra.” Kaen kissed her forehead while pushing her to lie back down. “Rest.”
“You…you, have Marigail…and her children?” She continued to watch Kaen with awe, “Mother and children? There are two children that I know of.”
“Yes, all three are in my custody.” Kaen caressed her cheek as she eyed him, watching as her next question cause a sense of dread to narrow her eyes slightly.
“Are…um, are they alive?”
“Define ‘alive’ Deandra.” He asked casually, clearly amused by her reaction.
The princess wasn’t amused though. These children stood between her and the throne, so this was no laughing matter.
“You’ve converted them. Even the children?” Her eyes pinned him in place and the look she read answered her question.
“Yes. I have them well-hidden until we are crowned and Ondre is gone. In time, people will forget they even existed.” Kaen watched her closely. “I’ve ordered their memories altered. They will awaken not knowing who their father is, dear. There is no threat.” He read the caution flashing in her eyes, and smirked. “No threat at all.”
“You’re sure? You just made the bane of my existence eternal.” She growled, a sound that started in her chest and rumbled deep in the back of her throat. “If you are wrong, I’ll personally gut you myself, husband or not.”
The threat amused Kaen. He couldn’t resist the laugh that erupted from his mouth. “You are a funny woman. You, gut me? I dare you to try, my love. Try.” He laughed again.
She was still cautious. This change in plans disturbed her, but try as she might, she couldn’t fight the sleep which pulled at her mind now that she lay flat on the bed. She worried that these children would one day rise up and challenge their claim as the rightful heir to the throne. However, she was too tired to worry now.
Kaen stroked her cheek. “Please sleep. I’m keeping you awake,” he whispered tenderly, more so than he knew he had the ability to be.
“If you misjudged this, there could be trouble,” she said between yawns.
As he watched her fall under the pull of sleep, he felt an anxious presence in the front room. Reaching out with his mind, Kaen felt immediately it was Warwick. Being sensitive to Warwick’s obsession with Deandra at the moment, Kaen decided to meet him in the other room and let his exhausted wife sleep.
“I feel you here, Warwick. Calm yourself. I’ll be there in a moment.”
Kaen felt his mind touched, “Don’t leave me waiting too long. I have information.”
“Oh?” That piqued Kaen’s attention and he pulled away from his sleeping bride.
Kaen felt Warwick’s mental sigh, “Just meet me. I don’t have all day.”
Peeling himself away from the warm body at his side, Kaen dressed in a loose fitted shirt and breeches before he exited the room. When he entered, he slowly approached and stood before his ash-haired friend with a curious expression on his face. Warwick seemed off, and Kaen tried to determine what had set him this way. “What was so important that you would disturb me now?” The leader of the Dûr Falas turned and walked into the study adjacent to the parlor. When Warwick didn’t follow, he half-turned. “Are you coming? I’m curious as to what you felt was so bloody important.” With that he disappeared into the darkened room as a servant followed him in and lit the torches.
Warwick waited until the servant had left before he turned and faced the tattooed vampire. “I’ve found her.” No more needed to be said.
Kaen froze, not sure he’d heard him correctly. “Say that again?”
“I’ve found your Lainey. After I left you all late last night, I went to check on our ‘guests’ and passed through a section of the quarter I normally avoid. There was an inn that caught my attention, so I investigated.”
A silent rage simmered as Kaen stared at Warwick. When he spoke, his tone was controlled, slowly building in anger with each word he spoke, “So, you’ve known about her for, what, four hours, and you are just now bringing this news to me?”
“Hold on before you get belligerent. Yes, I’ve known for hours. There is a reason I waited to tell you, so hear me out. Talon has placed wards all around the parameter. We can’t get her out even if we knew this hours ago. I needed to figure out a way through the elven wards before I decided what to do. The next bit of information is also critical to me finding an immediate solution—Talon is not in the city.”
Kaen’s eyes flashed a dangerous shade of yellow. “And you know this how?”
“Kailani. I felt her. She is severely distressed, and she only would feel that way if Talon were gone. We have to strike now,” Warwick said urgently.
“What about the wards?” Kaen strolled over to the beverage table and poured a brandy. He kept his back to his friend, working to quiet the raging anger.
“Elven magic trumps elven magic,” Warwick replied then laughed. “I keep forgetting we have an elf. I have spent the last two hours ‘convincing’ our captive that he needed to create a token to get me past the wards. He was reluctant but finally saw the error of his ways and produced this.”
In his hand, he held a palm-sized bronze disc. On one side it was engraved with the elegant elven script and on the reverse side was an image of a dragon—the house symbol for Talon. Warwick flipped it casually in his hand, playing with it as if it were a useless trinket. “It will allow me to cross the wards and enter the building as long as it’s in my possession. This is my way in.”
“Your way in,” he snorted. “You are outrageously stupid if you think I’ll let you enter that building.”
“Wait…”
Kaen charged him and snatched the disc. “You’re a fool. You will not enter that building. I’ll send another less important coven member in case this all goes horribly wrong. You are too important to my plans to risk, and all for what, you stealing Kailani?” Kaen read the intent clearly in Warwick’s eyes. “You can’t have her. She is off-limits. Lainey is the only target and a lower ranking vampire can collect her.”
“Kaen…” Warwick felt his hope dashed and fought to retain his chance to reclaim the woman he loved for the past 150 years.
“No!” Kaen roared furiously. “Get out. You are not doing this. No discussion.” He hefted the disc in Warwick’s f
ace. “You aren’t going anywhere now, so leave.”
Warwick stared at him for a moment longer, thought about arguing his point further then decided against it. “Shall I choose the man to complete this then?” he snapped.
“Excellent idea. I expect her here within three hours. Make it happen.” Kaen’s attention was focused on the disc in his hand and not on his man in the room. If it were, Kaen would have seen the dangerous look that crossed Warwick’s face. Instead he focused on the token which would return his treasure to him. Within hours, Lainey would belong to him alone.
As the door shut on his back, Warwick allowed himself one small smile. He had a feeling Kaen would react that way. His hand patted the second disc tucked into the inside pocket of his leather jerkin. Kaen would not win in this. Kailani was currently available for his taking, and taking he would do so. He’d choose the man to get Lainey, but he would be with him as he did. Someone needed to ensure it was completed correctly, right? In actuality, he needed to be there to carry the incapacitated dark-haired vampire who haunted his sleep out of the building and safely away before Talon returned.
As Warwick exited the parlor, vivid images of his one time with Kailani invaded his mind as if shoved there by someone else. He saw every detail, felt her soft skin, and smelled her intoxicating scent. The memory was so intense, he stumbled and grabbed the wall for support before he fell to the floor as the sensations claimed him. A cold sweat broke out on his neck, dripping slowly down the center of his back while he trembled out of control.
Kaen’s sinister voice suddenly boomed through his skull, shattering the vivid memory, “This is all you have of Kailani, Warwick. Don’t try anything stupid with that second disc,” he threatened. “You raped her. It wasn’t consensual. Don’t delude yourself it would be now, even after all this time.”
Warwick growled and pounded his fist against the wall in frustration. He should have foreseen this. Just then the door opened and Kaen walked through, one hand out stretched, palm up. “Hand it over.” He demanded.
“You bastard,” Warwick’s ash-colored head came up with an expression of absolute hatred and anger. “You bloody bastard.”
“Yes, this has all been covered by many others before you. I know my title well. Now, hand it over.” When Warwick reluctantly reached inside his jerkin to remove the disc in order to place it on his outstretched palm, Kaen added, “I’m not trying to be cruel, Warwick. If Talon were to return while you were inside, there is very little chance you’d survive. I need you alive at my side, not dead.” He closed his fingers around the disc and pulled his arm back, “Get over it.”
“It could have worked,” the vampire growled deeply. “If you’d just let me prove it to you.”
Kaen’s response was to stare mutely, denying Warwick the satisfaction of a reply.
“Fine.” Warwick whirled around and stormed down the hall. If he was going to be denied his opportunity, he would guarantee that he’d at least be there when it happened. Before he reached the door, he stopped, slowly turning back around to Kaen. “I want Kailani.”
The bald vampire threw up his hands giving in. “As long as you are not the one collecting her, I care not. I’ve already had my fill of her body. Enough to last me another century, actually.” At the look of confusion creasing Warwick’s face, Kaen leaned forward and sneered, “I had her here not too long ago, didn’t I tell you that?”
Warwick’s face turned a shade of red, shaking with rage and he restrained himself from attacking. He writhed in anger that Kaen would have laid one finger on her and dropped his fangs in predatory fashion, hissing an open threat. He knew this was suicide to fight Kaen, but his possessive nature demanded retribution. Nevertheless, he growled instead and when he spoke, his voice vibrated with pent up anger. “That wasn’t a fact disclosed upon my arrival, no.”
Kaen, just for amusement, shoved more images into Warwick’s head—this time of his moments with Kailani. His smile widened watching Warwick’s amber eyes darken to a deeper color as the images generated the intense anger he was hoping for. Not wanting to push the man too far, only teach him a lesson, Kaen held one hand up to halt an attack, “Calm yourself.”
“I could kill you, ” he threatened.
Cohesions clouded his mind as Kaen easily controlled the very lethal vampire from attacking. That would have been catastrophic with Deandra just in the other room, for she would have woken and attacked. She undeniably would have been killed with one slash of Warwick’s talons. He was trained, she was not.
Seeing the condition Warwick was in, he realized that maybe he shouldn’t have taunted him. However, Kaen loved the utter torment Kailani brought to Warwick. He knew she was the reason he left Talon in the first place. He drove that painful nail home whenever he got a chance. It was his only leash to control the vampire and used it freely.
“Why did you do this? Why did you touch her?” Warwick growled in a low guttural tone.
“To leave a little gift for Talon in payment for all the harassing he’s given me over the years. I knew he’d get her out, so left behind a spell which punched him every time she experienced her sexual release,” Kaen said with smug satisfaction.
“What gift?” The anger was barely contained and still brewed just under the surface. Warwick had to work at not killing Kaen this very moment. He still shook, the only visible sign of his mood.
“Those images you just saw and hundreds more. I had her for a week, so had some fun. Poor Talon.” He laughed a loud. “Poor you,” he added.
Warwick turned away to regain his control. The thought of that happening to Kailani elicited such rage he could barely control it. He was so lost in his own rage that he almost missed Kaen’s voice and it took the ash-haired vampire a moment to register the words.
“We have something in common now. We’ve both taken Kailani and have so far lived to see another day.” Kaen laughed again.
“You really are a bastard.”
“Having second thoughts about throwing in your lot with me?” Kaen knew he didn’t, for this was by far the most loyal man in the coven, even over Faelwen. That was precisely why he could not let Warwick enter that building
“You know the answer to that, but you should not have harmed Kailani. She is not to be touched again.”
That statement sent a frown to form on Kaen’s face. “Is she a liability to you?” He approached to stand face to face with a still shaking Warwick. “If you faced her in the coming confrontation, are you going to be able to kill her?”
Conflicting emotions crossed Warwick’s face. He honestly didn’t know how he would react if he saw her again, especially if she were before him fiercely holding a weapon in defense. He was careful to avoid situations over the years where he would see either vampire. He didn’t trust himself to find out how he would react if she fought him.
“I don’t know. You know my loyalty is to you, but you also know how deeply I crave that woman—almost beyond rational thought.” He paused, still thinking through the posed situation weighing all his options. A look of decision and calmness smoothed out his features. “I’d kill her.”
That announcement surprised Kaen, but he was curious, “Why?”
“Because you’re right. She’d never come to my bed willingly. Not to mention, she’d be useless after one of us kills Talon. I don’t want to be saddled with a blubbering insane vampire. No, she dies.”
“That’s very good to hear.” He clasped Warwick’s upper arm in an authoritative act. “Now, go manage that my precious pet is fetched. I want her back immediately.” Kaen’s eyes were a dangerous mixture of dark and yellow. The malice that wafted off of him caused Warwick to step back.
“Immediately,” Warwick replied with a slight nod of his head.
“Get me Lainey. Kill Kailani. Destroy Talon.” Kaen said callously and then laughed, “What closure that will be.
Kill the one causing you guilt and be done with it.”
Warwick unconsciously touched his cheek where Talon marked him a few days past. Talon had warned that Lainey was under his protection, like Kailani. He knew the punishment for ignoring his threat would be death.
“Go. Just get it done.” Kaen turned slowly and said over his shoulder, “Don’t disturb me again until you have Lainey in your custody.” He disappeared through the door, slamming it behind him.
Warwick couldn’t move. The adrenaline still coursed through his veins, preventing him from walking. A portion of him wanted nothing more than to find a way into that building and get Kailani, regardless of his earlier words to Kaen. He would never stop wanting her. Yet, either option meant his death.
The trembling passed, replaced by a cold calm of decisive commitment. He would honor Kaen by doing everything he could do to recover Lainey. He felt the truth to his words and accepted that when he stared into the molten silver eyes, he’d kill Kailani. The liberation of this decision freed him from his pose, allowing him to calmly walk from the room.
* * * *
“Well, that was cruel,” Deandra commented as Kaen undressed to join her on the bed, sliding close as his body pressed tight against her warm skin. “I heard everything you said and did.”
“He deserved it,” he whispered while he kissed the nape of her neck. “He’s been pining for Kailani for too long. He needed this push to move past it. He’s the best I’ve got, but I can’t have her be a liability to his ability to do his job. We are approaching of the single most important confrontation with Talon and if he falters, it will all fall out of my grasp.”
“I see,” she replied, starting to get lost in his caresses, but not in a mood to take it any further at the moment.
Kaen pulled her warm body against his, grinding his erect cock into her firm behind. “Now, can we change the subject?”