by Hazel Hunter
Hailey felt her stomach churn at the suffering that Piers must have seen. She was prepared to find him as a crying child or a shattered man. She was not prepared for what came next.
The area that they were traveling through was misty. It was hard to see more than twenty feet in any one direction. The cairns rose up out of the mists like hulking beasts, making Hailey and Kieran walk a little closer together without thinking about it. They had stopped talking almost entirely.
The first thing she heard was a skitter of stone and the rush of feet. She heard voices, hushed and urgent, speaking, and then more running. She tugged on Kieran’s arm to get him to wait. As she predicted, the people came right for them.
It was a man and a woman, and they skidded to a stop as soon as they saw Hailey and Kieran. Hailey stared. These people were completely recognizable as duplicates of Kieran and Hailey themselves, but they were so changed. The strange Kieran wore an eye patch, and his bare chest was latticed with scars. The strange Hailey was stick thin. Half of her head had been shaved. She stared around like a wild horse, the white completely visible around her eye.
“What new trickery is this?” the strange Kieran snarled. He didn’t have a sword. Instead he shifted into a fighting stance, putting his body between his Hailey and the newcomers.
“We’re not your enemies,” Hailey said softly, showing the pair her empty hands. “I…I think we’re you. Or you’re us. But either way, I promise I won’t bring you any harm. Please, stop and talk to us for a moment. We don’t know what’s going on.”
The strange Kieran snorted.
“That sounds like a pretty pack of lies to me,” he said.
“Are you phantasms that he conjured?” asked the other Hailey.
It hurt Hailey to look at her doppelgänger. There was something achingly young and vulnerable about the way that she held herself that made Hailey herself ill. She wondered if she had ever looked like that back in her hungry teen years, if she had been that wild-eyed, that frail. It was strange to be simultaneously repulsed by your double and to want to feed her a good meal.
“Who do you think sent us?” Hailey asked gently. “We swear, we are just travelers in this land looking for Piers Dayton.”
At the mention of the name, the other Hailey whimpered, covering her head with her hands and shrinking away. The other Kieran snarled, and he would have strode forward to do battle if her own Kieran hadn’t unlimbered his shield, pushing him back.
“Calm down,” Kieran snapped. “There’s nothing we’re going to do that will hurt you. Tell us what happened to you.”
The other Kieran’s laugh was slightly mad.
“You have the answer to your own question. Piers Dayton happened to us. We’ve escaped and we’re not going back. We’re leaving now. If you continue on your way, you’ll find him, sure enough. If I had anything left to me, I would warn you away. Right now, though, all I can say is better you than us.”
He tugged the other Hailey forward, pulling her along behind him as he strode off.
Hailey shuddered. She had seen her doppelgänger’s back and legs through shredded clothing. The other woman’s skin was striped with welts, some old and some very new.
“What’s going on here?” Kieran wondered.
Hailey was afraid she knew.
“Piers’s always been someone in charge. He feels his responsibilities and his powers very clearly, but I suppose that when you have that much control, there is a dark side to it. At the very least, perhaps you fear there is a dark side to it.”
She turned to Kieran, making him look at her.
“Do you trust me?”
“With my life,” he responded instantly.
“Do you trust Piers?”
Kieran hesitated.
“I trust him less than I trust you, but I do, yes.”
Hailey bit her lip, and then she nodded.
“It’ll have to be enough. I don’t know what we’re going to find. I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I have is a guess. I know Piers; in some ways, I know Piers better than I know you simply because Piers and I have spent more time together. I think I know what he fears, and I think I know how it needs to play out.”
“What are you saying, Hailey?”
“I know Piers well enough to know that he will never really harm me. I know Piers well enough to know that he will never really harm you. Believe me. Trust me. If I tell you not to fight him, don’t, okay?”
Kieran looked torn.
“If he harms you? If he tries to harm me? Hailey, did you not see the two who just went by? They were ripped to ribbons.”
Hailey nodded.
“I did. But Kieran, everything we see here except for ourselves and for Ferret here are illusions or demons in disguise. Those two are imaginings from our minds or from Piers’s. This place is meant to prey on the weakest parts of us. The worst parts, the parts that we don’t want to look at.”
“How do we defeat something like that?”
Hailey’s smile was as brave as she could make it.
“With as much love as we can give. With enough faith and hope that it will drown all the rest out.”
She leaned up to give him a soft kiss on the mouth.
“It’ll be fine, I promise.”
He opened his mouth, but whether he was going to agree with her or to fight with her, she never found out. A thunder of hoof beats came towards them, rapid as a rising storm. They were surrounded by men on horseback. For a moment, Hailey thought that they were all headless, like the demon that had cursed them, but then she realized that they were only suits of armor mounted on terrifying red eyed horses that clamped and champed at their bits.
The suits of armor wheeled around Kieran and Hailey. Though Kieran tried to keep them back, they were too many and too strong. As two kept Kieran occupied, a third scooped Hailey up around her waist. She reached for her power, but then reminded herself that this was the way things were meant to go. If she didn’t fight, she might come to Piers sooner rather than later.
“Scoot off,” she whispered to Ferret. “The last thing I want is for you to get stuck in a collapsing house again.”
Ferret didn’t respond, but he flung himself from her shoulder. She prayed the little animal wasn’t trampled or hurt. A shout told her that they had subdued Kieran. As one, the suits of armor turned back the way they came, riding for a destination that she knew must involve Piers.
• • • • •
The suits took them to a place that first made Hailey’s heart leap with joy. It was the Castle, the manse that contained Piers’s coven. Tucked far up in the Wyoming mountains, it was nearly impregnable. It was the first place that she had ever felt safe. She felt some of the joy that she had experienced there wash over her, but then that joy was quickly washed away.
It would never be the Castle because the thing that made it essentially the Castle was missing. There were no people anywhere. There was no one to be found. The suits of armor marched her and Kieran through the echoing halls, bringing them to a wing that she was fairly sure didn’t exist in the real version of the building.
The doors swung open to reveal a dark chamber that was lit only with torch light. At the far end there was a desk, and at the desk sat a man.
Hailey barely recognized Piers at first. Dressed in severe black clothes and with his hair pulled back from his face, he looked as strict and unyielding as a senior member of the Magus Corps. There was nothing of the laughing man she knew and loved in his face.
When she and Kieran were shoved in front of the desk, the suits stood back. Their iron presence behind Hailey made her nervous. When they went still, there was nothing at all that said that they could rise again, that they could suddenly grasp, grab and harm.
“Aren’t you two tired of running yet?” Piers asked, his voice as cold as ice.
Hailey found her voice to speak.
“Piers, we wouldn’t run from you–”
“Then you’re very foolish,”
he said.
There was something dead about the way he spoke, as if he wasn’t all there. It raised Hailey’s fear, bringing a tremor to her voice that she strove to quell.
“Why would you say that, Piers?”
“Because I hurt you, Hailey,” he said patiently, as if he was explaining to a little child. “You and Kieran both. You ran away, you were foolish enough to get caught. Now you’re here again.”
“I’m here with the two men I love. I fail to see a problem.”
Piers stalked around his desk until he was facing her. Though he was not as tall or broad as Kieran, he was still an imposing man. Hailey had to crane her neck slightly to look up at him. The expression on his face was stern enough to make her tremble.
“You don’t see a problem? Truly? Have you lost what little sense you have left?”
“That’s not a very kind thing to say to me,” she said, standing her ground.
She could feel Kieran tense, ready to come to her aid, but thankfully, he held steady. She was fairly sure that if it came down to a fight between the two of them that Kieran would win, but in a place that was ruled by Piers’s fears, it would be a hard contest.
“I’m not a very kind man,” Piers said. He tilted her chin up so that she had to look at him. “I thought you would have known that by now.
“I know nothing of the sort,” Hailey said levelly. “I have known you for a little while now, and I hope to know you for years to come. All I have seen of you is that you are one of the kindest men I know, one of the most compassionate and most understanding.”
“You really don’t remember,” Piers said, a bit of wonder in his voice. “You don’t remember what I did to you.”
“I remember very well,” Hailey countered. “But I think I know what you are afraid you might do to us.”
Hailey thought of those frightened and injured doppelgängers. She shivered a little when she thought of their scars and of the way that they cringed. They were desperate to get away from a Piers that had hurt them terribly.
It struck her in that moment that Piers was very different from Kieran. Kieran had been most ashamed and most afraid of the things that he had done. Piers was most afraid of what he could become.
“They weren’t real though, Piers. They were projections of your mind, your deepest fears. There are so many things that we can have between us, so many things that I and Kieran both want. You don’t scare me.”
For a split second, there was a moment of doubt on Piers’s face. She wondered if she had broken through the mask of cold cruelty that he believed he bore, but then it was back.
“I wonder. You sound so sure of yourself.”
“I am. More than I am sure of myself, I am sure of you.”
“And you?” Piers turned to Kieran, who had a wary look on his face. Hailey could see that he was still tensed to spring, but he nodded.
“I have not known you as long as Hailey has, but I saw Hailey before she met you and I see her now. She trusts you, so I trust you.”
Hailey wondered if there had been such a change in her as that. She supposed it was true. She couldn’t imagine doing half of what she had accomplished back when she was living on the charitable graces of the covens who had been forced to take her.
“It’s almost as if you believe me incapable of cruelty.”
To Hailey’s surprise, Kieran’s grin was as sharp as a knife.
“Not that. Never that. I think that no one who leads men the way that you do is incapable of it. At the very least, I would bet good money that your tongue is capable of stripping the hide off of a rhino. But cruelty is a tool, and you are a man who uses tools wisely.”
Piers laughed a little, a dark thing.
“Are you willing to bet on it? Not one or the other of you taking me on yourself, but both of you?”
Hailey hesitated, and then she nodded. She prayed that she was right, because now she was betting Kieran’s safety and sanity on it as well as her own.
“I will,” she said, her voice thin. She turned pleading eyes to Kieran, who looked more cautious.
Finally, he nodded as well. “I think that you understand that Hailey is your soul. Kill her and you will kill it.”
“I see.”
Kieran cried out in surprise as the suit behind him closed its hands over his forearms. Hailey watched, wide-eyed, as he struggled. Even as large and strong as he was, the suit held him as immobile as a kitten.
“Hailey, stay right where you are. If you move from where you are, I’ll make Kieran pay for it.”
Hailey nodded, unable to process the rush of emotions that were pouring through her. She knew she should have been terrified. When Liona had told her her story, she hadn’t used the term Wiccan. Instead she had used people of power, and that term suited Piers right then. He was a powerful man with two toys to play with.
Instead of terror, all she felt was a fluttery anticipation deep in her belly and a growing arousal. There was perhaps a little bit of fear there, but it only gave a savor to the warmth that was pooling between her legs and the tightness of her nipples.
Her mouth was dry as she watched Piers eye Kieran up and down. Kieran obviously was not used to this close scrutiny, and he tried to turn his face away.
Piers made a displeased sound, grabbing Kieran’s jaw and forcing him to meet his eyes.
“I don’t bed with men very often, but when I do, I like men like you.”
“Bigger than you?”
Kieran’s voice was slightly taunting, and it won a brief smile from Piers.
“Exactly so. There’s something…pleasurable about seeing a man as big as you brought to his knees and begging.”
Kieran started to say something, but then Piers squeezed him between the legs through his trousers. Kieran gasped, his hips bucking a little.
“You were already hard,” Piers commented. “I don’t think it would take that much before I got you to beg.”
Kieran swore helplessly at Piers, who only laughed. Hailey felt a hot blush on her cheeks as Piers deftly unfastened Kieran’s trouser, drawing his erection out fully. He pumped the other man’s cock almost lazily, in absolutely no hurry at all.
When Piers stepped back, Kieran was fully hard and panting slightly. To Hailey’s shock, Piers slapped the other man’s hard flesh lightly, making Kieran groan.
“That’s good for you right now. I have some other things I want to do.”
Hailey realized that Piers was looking straight at her. She stood her ground as he walked over to her. The idea of being held and aroused helplessly made her want to whimper, but instead he only looked her over.
“Strip for me,” he said finally. “Down to the skin. I’ve never thought that you should wear clothes.”
Hailey gulped and nodded. Her boots and outer garments went quickly enough, but when she got down to her underthings, she paused. The hall was cold, and not only were Piers’s avid eyes on her, but so were Kieran’s. The suits of armor she knew were insensible, but they were a presence as well.
Taking a deep breath, she stripped the last of her clothing off to stand naked in front of Piers. She resisted the instinctive urge to cover herself. He had seen her naked before, but never in this cool and calculated way.
Piers examined her much as he had examined Kieran. When he reached for her, she expected a gentle caress or even a passionate one, but instead his hands ran down her shoulders and her arms, along her flanks and down her thighs. When he swept his fingers through the length of her red hair, she shivered at how close he was to her and everything that she could feel.
She felt like an object he was examining, perhaps deciding if he wished to purchase her or use her. When he tweaked first one nipple and then the other, she squeaked a little, making him smile.
“You’re perfect for me,” he said casually. “I’ve always thought so, but I love you like this.”
She started to ask what he meant, but instead, she gasped when he lifted her in his arms as if she was as ligh
t as a feather. She clung to him for a moment, but they weren’t going far. He was only depositing her on his desk, heedless of the papers that lay on it. She tried to close her legs, but he held them open, letting them dangle over the edge of the desk. She blinked when she realized that she was able to look straight at Kieran, who was still held by the suit.
He looked absolutely starved. His eyes were wide and glassy, and his gaze flickered between her naked body and the way Piers stood to one side, watching her closely.
Almost casually, much as he had done with Kieran, his hand closed over the space between her legs. She held her breath as he cupped that tender flesh before running his fingertip along her slit. Her lower lips were full and warm, but when he traced his finger along the seam between, she grew wet.
“Do you like being displayed, Hailey? Do you like me showing Kieran how wet you get for me? Would you like me to show you to an army of men, just like this?”
Hailey shook her head to clear it. She had to try twice before she could find her voice.
“I like being displayed,” she said softly. “But I just want you and Kieran to see me. I…trust your eyes, I love you both.”
She wondered if Piers would be displeased, but he only chuckled.
“My perfect, beautiful, little pet.”
As if to reward her for speaking, he ghosted a fingertip over her clit, smearing some of the wetness from below over it. She purred, turning her face to rest it against his side, but he didn’t do that for very long.
“Let’s see how you like this.”
She focused on a chain between his hands. She realized there were small clamps on either end, making her gasp.
“Do you know where these are going to go?”
Hailey gulped.
“I have an idea.”
“Good. Let’s see if that idea is right.”
His hands were as calm and steady as a doctor’s. She watched with a kind of fascinated dread as he plumped one small breast, making sure that the nipple stood up prominently. When it did, he opened one clamp to its full extension, showing her the rubber-padded tips.