Miles shifted beside her and turned to cup her face in his hands. She didn’t pull away and I was thankful for that. “We cannot say how thankful we are to have you back with us after a thousand years. I know Eira has spoken to you about a spell Hannah can try to use to retrieve your memories. I want to caution you. You may not like what you remember. We’re perfectly willing to build a new relationship with you … right now. You don’t have to go backward to move forward with us.”
Miles’ words rang true in my heart. I didn’t want her to remember certain moments, but I knew there was more hiding in the darkness than the ugly assault at Orin. But whatever she chose, like Miles, I would stand by her.
The temperature dropped around us and instantly I could see my breath in a fog. “Diana,” I soothed. “Whatever you choose, we will be there for you. No matter what.”
Her eyes were glassy and tears ran down her cheeks, dropping from her face to the ground in frozen form. Snowflakes whirled through the air around us and I closed my eyes, allowing my heat to radiate outward. Miles did the same and she slowly stopped crying.
The temperature returned to its normal chilly-for-Texas winter, but the wintry mix Diana had conjured was gone. Mother Nature didn’t usually visit Texas with anything like that until well after the New Year.
“I have to know,” she finally said. “I have to know why I dream about a baby crying. It haunts me every time I fall asleep.”
Miles met my gaze. We were thinking the same thing.
Fuck.
CHAPTER THIRTY
XERXES
A crash outside my bedroom door signaled Manda’s return. I chuckled and glanced over at Lily, then snapped the bull whip hitting her directly on the left ass cheek. She moaned, wiggling on the spanking bench where I’d fastened her earlier this morning.
I stood from the bed and snapped my fingers. Iris and Roshanna rose from their prostate positions on the floor and waited for further instructions. I motioned to Roshanna and she scrambled to kneel between my legs. Iris didn’t move, just as I’d taught her.
I shoved my dick into Roshanna’s mouth and buried a hand in her long black hair. She was careful of her teeth and I groaned, loving the feel of her soft, warm lips sucking at my cock. I thrust deep and she gagged, but took all of me.
The doors to my suite burst open and Manda stormed through. “You lying sonofa—” She froze in the center of the room, her mouth hanging open.
Gods, I wished it was her mouth I was fucking instead of Roshanna’s.
I snapped the whip again and Manda disappeared, blinking to the farthest corner of the room.
A wail came from Lily and I rewarded her with another strike to the same ass cheek, leaving a beautiful, red welt.
“Come to join the party?” I directed at Manda.
Manda’s lip curled. “You’re disgusting.”
“And you should knock.” I thrust faster into Roshanna’s mouth, and groaned as I came. She swallowed every bit and licked me clean.
“Good girl,” I said, cupping Roshanna’s chin. “Go get me some clean clothes.”
She nodded and scurried away, returning moments later with a clean pair of linen pants and a loose robe.
I tossed the bull whip onto my bed and walked to a table next to Lily where lots of toys were spread out. The BDSM culture had grown over the centuries and I was quite impressed with their creativity.
“How dare you give orders to my men without my knowledge,” she snapped, walking toward me, her blue-violet eyes flashing with fury.
I loved her passion. It made me want to break her even more.
“Did you get my dagger?” I asked, deepening my voice. Her attitude was starting to wear thin on my nerves. The little bitch didn’t think I knew she was playing both sides. Soon she would be the one on the floor begging for my cock and waiting on me hand and foot. I just needed someone to replace her at the SECR … and I had no one as good as her. Not a single one of her shitty cousins had anywhere close to the strategic mind of Mandana Farrok.
“No, I didn’t get your dagger. My men didn’t follow the orders I laid out and I was nearly taken prisoner!” Her voice grew louder and louder. “I am their commanding officer and they should always answer to m—”
I threw out my arm, grabbing her with my powers before she could blink out. Her passion had cost her today. She’d been careless and slow.
She tried to scream, but I closed her mouth for her and all that came out was a muffled moan. I levitated her from the floor and moved across the room with her toward the spanking bench where Lily was restrained.
I unsnapped Lily’s cuffs as well as the strap around her thighs. She stretched and rose from the bench slowly, leaning against the wall as she adjusted to being right-side up again.
“Go get the brass box from the shelf over there,” I said, pointing to the far wall.
Lily promptly trotted over and retrieved the box, then stood in front of me holding it, waiting for instruction.
“Show Ms. Farrock what’s in the box, Lily. I think she’ll be surprised.”
Manda struggled against my magick, but barely managed to twitch an eyebrow. A beautifully terrible scream rumbled in the back of her throat when Lily opened the lid to the brass box.
I reached into the container and pulled out a glass bowl of golden rings—enchanted golden rings the width of an eighteen gauge needle. I’d had them crafted especially for her. The inscriptions were tiny, but they were there and would do the job the same. It was the same spell I’d used to keep her father under my thumb for so long. Cyrus merely wore cuffs around his wrists.
I’d decided his daughter needed something with more of a personalized touch. Once the piercings were in place and the spell activated, the magick would eliminate Manda’s teleportation abilities, making her much easier to control. Just like her father.
It was hard to run when you knew you would be caught. I could think of several of her cousins who would like the opportunity to exert superiority over the woman who had taken the Djinn throne and ruled like she was a man, like she was better than any of them.
She was, but that didn’t matter to me.
All that mattered was obedience.
This would be my world, one country at a time, one government at a time, and I didn’t need any cocky bitch to start thinking she could take it from me.
I picked up a heavy clamp and turned to face Manda’s wide eyes.
“Should we do your pussy first? Or your nipples?” I asked, grinning wide at the muffled outraged scream.
“Shhhh, none of that Mandana. I assure you, I’m quite good at it.” I turned her to the three women prostrate on the floor a few feet away. “Girls, show her yours.”
All three girls rose on their knees and arched their backs. Their silver nipple rings glistened in the lamplight.
“Now show her your pussies.”
They arched backward and pulled open their labia, showing off a brilliant line of silver rings that pierced up and down both sides of their inner labia, a testament to my expertise.
Another moan rolled from Manda’s chest and I turned back just in time to catch her terrified gaze. That was the kind of fear I wanted in her.
“I own you Manda Farrock. And if I ever hear of you helping the Mason pack again, I’ll chain you to my bed by these.” I shook the bowl of metal rings in her face. “And that’s where you’ll stay for the rest of your miserable life.” I grabbed her chin roughly. “Do you understand?”
Tears poured from her eyes as she tried to nod her head.
“Say it.”
“Y-you o-own … m-me.”
“Good, girl.” I set the box on a small table. “I think I want to start with your breasts. I’ve just been dying to get a better look at them. Now I have the perfect excuse.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
DIANA
Miles pushed close the huge front door of the Castle and Eli set the bar into the hooks. I couldn’t imagine anyone but them being able t
o lift something so large. Really, I marveled that they could. I knew I was strong, but my human size didn’t lend itself to feats like that.
Eira was waiting against a wall across the foyer. She eyed Eli warily before approaching. The tension between the two of them was apparent, but that was too bad. She was my friend and they would both just have to get over it.
“Are you all right, D?”
“Yes,” I said, nodding.
“I’m leaving today.”
“No! Why?” I put my hands on her shoulders and tried to hold back more tears. I was crying over everything and it was driving me crazy.
“This is my home now, Eira. It can be yours as well. I’m sure Rose would—”
Eira shook her head. “I have people to take care of and this place has enough guards already. They don’t need another cranky old vampire taking up space here.” She nodded toward Miles and Eli. “They will take good care of you, D. I can see it in their eyes. And if they don’t,” she winked at them over my shoulder, “I’ll come kick their twin asses.”
They chuckled.
I could envision the eye rolling without turning around.
A small woman with blonde hair passed through the foyer leading two little girls. One had black ringlets and the other had bright red hair, the color of the sunset starting to paint the sky outside. The little girl with red hair paused at Eira’s side and stared at her. Then she turned and caught my gaze.
“She will come back,” the little redheaded child said, then walked away with the other child and their adult companion.
Eira raised an eyebrow. “That was strange.”
“The Sisters are usually a little strange,” Eli responded.
“Of course I’ll come back and visit, D. Nothing could keep me away,” Eira added and then pulled my hands from her shoulders. I let them sag to my sides and stepped away from the door I blocked.
“I don’t suppose you guys would open up that door for me?”
Miles nodded, turning and lifting the enormous bar from its hooks once more. Eli leaned against it, and pushed until it opened just enough to let her slip out.
“Take care of yourself, D,” she said, and slipped away into the failing light.
I took a deep ragged breath, willing myself not to fall apart. She was all I knew. My only friend … well besides the two men who called me wife. But it was different to have a woman to talk to. The ones who lived in this compound appeared as if they would take some coaxing to get any conversation out of them.
Eli pulled the door closed and Miles let the bar drop back into place. The finality of the boom shook me to my core. I was here. Now. In this world and I needed to know why. Why had I been locked up for a thousand years? Or had I? I couldn’t remember. Not really.
“Is the witch you spoke of … Hannah. Is she still here?”
“Diana, you should rest. We can talk to Hannah and Meredith in the morning.
I shook my head and nearly stamped my foot like an angry child. Good gods, what had come over me? “Now, please. If I’ve learned anything in the few short weeks since I’ve been in this world, it’s that we only have the present. Anything could happen. It almost did today.”
Both men sighed. Eli pointed to the stairwell to my right. “Very well. I think they’re in the library with their father.”
He came up beside me and I felt heat rush through my body. He put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me. Then he cupped my face in his hands, claiming my mouth with a kiss that could’ve stopped time. His lips crushed mine and his tongue swept through my mouth, tangling with my tongue in a battle for dominance—one that I did not back down from until he relented and allowed my tongue into his mouth. A moan slipped from my chest and I felt myself being sandwiched between their warm bodies.
Miles’ hands slipped beneath Eli’s and he turned me to face him instead, his brother releasing his grip so that I could enjoy his brother’s kiss as well. Miles’ kiss was harder than Eli’s, like he thought it might be our last.
It was as if they were both saying goodbye …
“I’ll be fine,” I said, pushing away from Miles and starting up the stairs again. “I’ve been through too much to be afraid of a little spell.”
Their feet pounded the stairs behind me as I climbed.
Eli spoke first. “It’s a dangerous spell. It could damage your mind instead of restoring it.”
“It is a risk I have to take.” I reached the top of the stairs and glanced back and forth along the hallway. I had no idea which direction the library was. “If you were a woman, you would understand.”
Miles pointed to my left and I started down the dimly lit hallway. “Why is everything so dark in this place?”
“We see better in the dark,” Eli answered.
I hadn’t really noticed, but now that I stopped and considered it. The bright sunlight at the height of the day had bothered my eyes and I truly had no trouble seeing in the shadowy halls of this fortress. It just seemed gloomy and lifeless.
Perhaps because they had been just waiting all this time … just holding out for me to appear. For a thousand years they had waited. Now I chose to risk my life to find the truth about a dream—a nightmare really. They would never forgive me if the spell went badly, but I knew I could never live with myself if I didn’t try.
Miles moved ahead of me and opened two, beautifully carved double doors. The room they opened into was bigger than any I’d seen so far in the Castle. Books lined walls that stretched up two floors. Two staircases on either side of the room led up to the balcony level. The center of the room was arranged with a variety of leather-clad furniture. An older man with graying hair sat in a high-backed chair across from two younger women, both with bright red hair.
They all stood when we entered.
Miles and Eli led me to another chair across from the young ladies and then moved to stand behind me.
“Diana, meet Meredith and Hannah Bateman,” Eli spoke slowly and each girl raised their hand to indicate who was who. “This is their father, Harrison.”
I inclined my head. “Hello.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait a few days until the tension from the attack has died down?” the sister who’d identified herself as Hannah spoke up.
“I can’t wait,” I answered back quickly. “Something could happen and I might never find out what really happened to me. To my child.”
Both women’s eyes widened and then nodded.
“We can do the spell here in the library,” said their father, standing from his chair. “I’ll get the book we need. Boys, you move the furniture out wider so the girls can make the circle.”
I stood from the chair and watched as they all moved about the room, each with their own goal. Miles and Eli moved all the furniture to the edges of the room, and the two redheads pulled several jars and pots down from a shelf near the front of the room. Their father climbed the staircase to our right and returned a few minutes later with an old, battered volume covered in dust.
Meredith spread salt on the floor in the shape of a circle. “You need to lie down in the center,” she said, pointing at the floor.
I nodded and stepped carefully over the line of salt. Then I lay down, arranging the skirt of the white dress I wore so it wasn’t rucked up around my thighs. I didn’t mind showing off skin for Miles and Eli, but it made me uncomfortable to do so around the girls’ father. The neckline of the thing was already much lower than I was used to, but it was all Eira had been able to scrounge up at the last minute. Otherwise, I probably would’ve run out into the street still wrapped in their bed sheet.
Turning my head, I watched them mix different bits of unidentifiable ingredients into one of the pots and grind it up. They poured in small amounts of oil and then poured that mixture into a small, black glass.
Their father began chanting something in a language I did not recognize, but I felt a strange spark of energy run across my skin. I tried to move, but found my limbs too heavy to lif
t. I couldn’t turn my head either and I stared at the ceiling of the room, trying not to panic. Miles and Eli were not in my line of vision, but I was too scared they would stop the spell if I asked for them to come closer. Instead, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.
“I know you can’t move,” Hannah’s voice was soft and near my head.
I opened my eyes to her face. She put her finger into the black cup and then smeared some of the mixture on my forehead, nose, cheeks, and chin. Then she drew something on the top of my bosom with it. The mixture was slimy and cold on my now-sweating skin.
“Just try to relax and take the ride,” she said, before standing and leaving the circle.
Suddenly the coolness of the concoction disappeared and my skin burned where it touched. I grimaced through the pain and closed my eyes again. I could do this. I had to do this.
“Diana?”
I could hear the concern in Eli’s voice.
“I’m fine,” I managed to squeak out.
Pain lanced through my body and I felt myself sink into a familiar darkness. Slowly, the pain disappeared and I saw my dreams—the ones that had haunted me for as long as I could remember. Miles’ and Eli’s faces floated above me. Clearer now, and I could see they were in pain. Blood ran from their brows, down their cheeks, and even more flowed from wounds to their mouths. What was I seeing?
Then it changed. The crying started and my heart clenched. I could hear people arguing. I could feel the pain of labor like it was happening right then and I screamed out for help. The darkness never left. I never could see what happened. When the pain disappeared, I heard a baby cry and a woman’s voice telling someone to hide him.
No. No. No.
I clawed at the darkness and screamed for her to bring me my baby. But no one spoke to me. The darkness never left and soon I floated in cold silence again. I sobbed so hard I couldn’t breathe. My own tears threatened to drown me.
I gasped for air and suddenly I was back in the library. Miles and Eli were next to the salt line, straining to cross the barrier, but something kept them back.
My Dragon Masters Page 17