by HP Mallory
“No, you don’t,” Damek said as he shook his head. “I did what any person should have done.”
“If not for you… convincing your…friends,” Dayna started, but lost her voice to a coughing fit. It took her a few seconds to find the strength to continue. In that time, she swallowed about a third of the bottled water I’d given her. “I would have died.”
Sinjin spared Damek the chance to respond. “We are all very happy to assist you in your time of need, my dear,” he put in, eying her with suspicion. “However, I am afraid I must bypass these polite trivialities to probe at the more important questions.”
“Sinjin,” I started.
“Okay,” replied Dayna, smiling at me.
“First of all,” I said. “This is Sinjin Sinclair.”
“I know,” she replied.
Sinjin’s eyes narrowed on her even further. “And how is that so?” Then he answered his own question. “You were able to hear our conversations whilst you were imprisoned upon the rack?”
“Yes,” Dayna answered simply.
Sinjin nodded and rubbed his chin as if he were deep in thought. “And is it possible that you were also able to overhear the conversations of Luce and his soldiers whilst you were tied to the rack, as well?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe we shouldn’t stress her too much?” Damek asked and shifted his anxious expression from Sinjin to me.
“I’m okay,” Dayna said as she smiled weakly at Damek before turning back to Sinjin. “Luce and his… own kept no secrets from me.”
“Did you learn anything of interest?” Sinjin asked.
“Yes,” she responded. “I heard… many things.”
“Such as?” Dureau took a few steps closer to her.
She sighed, and the weight of the air in her lungs spoke volumes. When she looked up again, she focused on me. But she remained silent.
“Tell us, Dayna,” Damek pleaded.
“We need to know what we’re facing,” I added.
“This is more… than bad news,” she said. “This is… devastation.”
“Go on,” Sinjin said.
Dayna took a deep breath, then sighed loudly. “Luce intends… to be King of the Underword,” she announced. “He plans… to take over.”
I couldn’t say I was surprised. Luce had always had grand plans, and his narcissism knew no bounds.
“And Jolie?” I asked.
Dayna nodded but fell silent again.
“Will Luce try to kill her?” Damek interjected.
Looking over at him, Dayna shook her head. “He doesn’t want… to… kill Queen Jolie.”
“Then?” Dureau prodded.
“She would become… his… unwilling Queen.”
I nodded, because it made sense. “Luce would never waste someone so powerful,” I said.
“What else?” Sinjin demanded.
“The males… of your people,” continued Dayna, “would be killed. All of them, with no questions asked.”
“Why?” Damek asked, his mouth dropping open.
“Luce doesn’t… want your men ‘breeding’ with your women.”
“He wants to save the women for his own soldiers. To create more hybrids,” I nearly interrupted.
Dayna nodded. “Luce… wants the world’s strongest possible army.”
I inhaled deeply. “Why am I not surprised?”
She shook her head, looking straight at me. “You… Luce hates… you more than anyone else.”
“I’m aware.”
“He will not ever touch her,” Sinjin announced, as if he were stating the weather was cold.
“I hope not,” Dayna said, her eyes resting on me. “Luce knows about the Flame…” she continued. “He wants it.”
I swallowed hard.
“He can continue to want the Flame, but he will never get it,” Sinjin countered and crossed his arms against his chest, staring at me with a fierce confidence in his eyes I’d never seen before.
“You have quite the protector, Lady,” Dureau said, frowning.
“I would sacrifice myself to ensure her life,” Sinjin stated flatly as the two of them glared at one another.
“Are you trying to hint that I wouldn’t do the same?” Dureau responded.
“Will the two of you stop?” I asked, shaking my head because I wasn’t in the mood to deal with this constant feuding of theirs.
“You must… keep her away…from him,” Dayna continued, speaking directly to Sinjin.
“Why?” Dureau asked. “What does Luce want with the Flame?”
“He wants… to rip that gene out… of you, Bryn.”
“He thinks the Flame is a gene?” I asked, less concerned with the fact that Luce thought he could separate it from me. I had to wonder if he was right—maybe the Flame was a gene? But even if it were, how in the world did he think he could rip it out of me? It wasn’t like an appendage he could just cut off. It was embedded in me, a part of me.
Dayna nodded. “He wants to… harness the Flame and… disperse it… into his own people.”
Damek looked like someone had just killed his puppy. Dureau appeared a little calmer, but still seemed upset. I couldn’t read Sinjin: his face revealed nothing.
Do you truly believe we can trust her? Dureau’s voice sounded in my head through our telepathic connection.
Haven’t we been through this? I responded. I was beyond tired and really not in the mood to try to convince Dureau of something he would continue to question anyway. Dureau wasn’t exactly trusting. In fact, he and Sinjin ranked right at the top of the list of people I knew who were the most stubborn and difficult to persuade.
When I glanced over at Dureau, his eyes were hard as he stared right back at me. Dureau was handsome. There was no denying that. He was also intense, and there was something about that intensity that warmed me within the pit of my stomach. It was a strange response and it threw me slightly.
What if she was intentionally left on the rack for you to find? he continued. Luce knows you’d have an affinity for her since… the thing that happened to both of you…
His voice trailed off awkwardly. This subject wasn’t one we’d really discussed between the two of us, and it showed. He was extremely uncomfortable with it. And that was just as well, because it wasn’t a topic I enjoyed in the least.
She has no reason to lie to us. Especially after she just laid out Luce’s plans.
Perhaps that was part of the plan, he suggested. To get us to believe her. To make us think she’s on our side.
I read her mind, Dureau, I argued. I could feel the truth in what she was telling me. It would have been impossible for her to lie.
Damek spoke up, interrupting our internal argument. “So, what next? How do we defend the Underworld now?”
I admired Damek. I admired how his first inclination after hearing bad news was to find a way to deal with it. It was pragmatic, and I was always in favor of getting things done.
“Well, my young pupil,” Sinjin started, “we have but one choice. We return to Kinlock Kirk. We must alert Queen Jolie at once.”
I had to admit, I also admired Sinjin. For as much as he drove me nuts sometimes and the majority of my most heated arguments involved him, I admired his dedication to the Underworld and to my sister. He was her Lord Protector, and he’d done an excellent job keeping her safe over the years.
“Why are you smiling?” Sinjin whispered, turning to me with a smile of his own.
“Nothing,” I said and waved him away. But the truth was, I’d been thinking about the time I’d tried to kill Sinjin when I’d first come to Kinloch Kirk, the manor house my sister owned in Scotland.
“Your expression clearly says you are pleased about something.”
I swallowed. “I’m thinking about the time I tried to kill you.”
“You tried to kill Sinjin?” Damek interjected.
“It’s a shame she didn’t succeed,” grumbled Dureau.
“Come, now,” Sinjin said
as he faced the Frenchman. “Have I not enriched your life, monsieur?”
“’Enriched’ isn’t the word I would use,” Dureau responded.
Sinjin faced me. “And why, pray tell, are you reliving the moment you failed to murder me?”
“Probably because she’s contemplating it again,” Dureau put in.
“Actually, no,” I explained. “I was just thinking about how much has changed and how I used to… respect Luce.”
“Those days are long gone,” Sinjin said, because it was fairly obvious he could read the guilt that was spreading across my face. “Now you are a loyal member of the Underworld.”
I nodded. He was right. And he was right about our next steps. We’d found what we’d come to find, and now it was time to alert Jolie and create a plan of action. I personally couldn’t wait to get back to the green, rolling hills of my adopted home.
“Back to Sinjin’s plan,” Damek started.
“I agree with it,” I answered immediately.
“Will wonders never cease,” Sinjin said on a sigh.
“We should leave immediately, then?” Dureau asked.
Damek motioned to Dayna. “Are we taking her back with us?”
Dureau raised an eyebrow, then turned to me. It seems risky to bring her back with us, he said across our mental connection.
“Whatever you have to say, you can say it out loud,” Sinjin said grumpily. “I must admit, I am egregiously irritated by your secret conversations. We are a team, are we not?”
“Yes, we are,” I confirmed.
“I allow you your private conversations with the princess,” Dureau spat back at him.
“Are they… always like this?” Dayna asked Damek quietly.
He nodded. “Pretty much.”
“What is it that was being discussed?” Sinjin demanded of me.
“I told the princess that I believe Dayna could be a liability,” Dureau said, tight-lipped.
“A liability?” Damek repeated, frowning.
“We don’t know enough about Dayna to bring her back with us, especially through a magical portal. We could be leading the enemy directly into our stronghold,” Dureau continued. I noticed he refused to look at Dayna.
“I am… not your enemy,” Dayna informed him.
“She’s coming with us,” I announced. “Kinloch Kirk always has room for another brave woman.” Dureau looked like he was about to raise another objection, so I preemptively cut him off. I didn’t have time to deal with his hesitation. “She comes with us. End of story.”
“We have our orders,” said Sinjin with a quick nod. I wasn’t sure where he stood on the subject, but I also didn’t care. I knew where I stood and that was enough.
“I, for one, am more than ready to return,” Sinjin continued. “I have looked forward to nothing more than becoming vampire once again.”
“I’d nearly forgotten about that,” I said, offering him an apologetic smile.
“I don’t know how,” Dureau grumbled. “The Lord Protector has done nothing but complain about his unfortunate human circumstances since he acquired them.”
After we’d decided to go on this scouting mission to track down Luce, we’d realized we’d have to travel through a Fae-owned gate portal to arrive in America. The Fae guardians had demanded a sacrifice, so Sinjin had agreed to give up his vampirism so we could make the long journey. We were told his vampirism would be returned to him once we traveled through the gate once more on the return trip. I hoped this was true: magical contracts could be tricky, to say the least.
Damek looked at Dayna and then at me, sending me a meaningful expression. I shifted my gaze to Dayna, hoping to see what he was trying to tell me. She looked emaciated and weak. Damek’s gist was that she needed a day to rest before she could take the magically laborious journey, I figured.
“You know,” I said, “it might be nice to wait a night before going back.”
Sinjin and Dureau must have noticed Dayna’s poor condition, as well, because for once, they didn’t argue.
Chapter Four
Bryn
A few hours later, we’d built a fire and were relaxing around it. Dureau and Damek had gone into the forest on a mission to find something to eat. The forest seemed particularly beautiful and I noticed how Dayna seemed content to simply gaze at the twinkling stars in the sky.
“There were… moments when I thought… I’d never see this view again,” she said softly.
Neither Sinjin nor I responded. Instead, we glanced at each other and smiled. I could tell that Sinjin was fairly uncomfortable with the fact that he’d been left to watch over us. But owing to his human state, Dureau and I didn’t think it was safe for him to be off traipsing through the magicked woods.
When they returned, Durea was holding two dead rabbits and Damek had filled his shirt with berries. Dureau skinned the rabbits and staked them quickly and, before long, he was rotating them over the fire as our stomachs grumbled.
“I wonder if,” Damek started, his gazed fixed on Dayna as he reached into his pack, producing a bottle of whiskey. “Do you think this might help speed her healing or do you think it was created just for me?” he asked me.
The whiskey had come from Monsieur D, the same man who’d trained me to use the Flame – and also the man who’d had Damek sign a contract that had almost killed him. In the contract, Monsieur D agreed to prevent Damek from aging. What we hadn’t taken into account at the time was that it’s impossible to heal if your body doesn’t age. Consequently, Damek had almost died from his wounds in a recent battle. Luckily, the Unseelie women we’d freed in said battle had negotiated with Monsieur D – and the bottle of enchanted whiskey had been the resolution. It had saved Damek’s life by providing him with the ability to heal.
I shrugged. “It’s worth a shot, I guess.”
“Dayna, how do you feel about whiskey?” Damek asked.
Dayna smiled at him weakly. “If it will help me… heal faster, I’m all…for it.”
Damek gave her a sip of the magical whiskey, and within minutes of swallowing the one or two mouthfuls, Dayna was fast asleep. The rest of us remained gathered around the campfire, eagerly enjoying the food Dureau and Damek had procured.
“Do you think we should wake her to eat?” Damek asked.
Dureau shook his head. “Sleep is what she needs most. It will also aid the whiskey in doing its job.”
No one said anything more.
After finishing my share, I stretched my arms above my head and yawned. “I think we should get as much sleep as we can,” I said. “We have a long journey back, and I think we should leave first thing in the morning.”
“Agreed.” Sinjin gave a clipped nod.
“Night, everyone!” said Damek happily and he crawled over to where Dayna was asleep under the pine tree. He curled up next to her, draping his arm over her as if he hoped he could help keep her warm. Werewolves naturally run incredibly hot, but he’d figure that out shortly. It was sweet and cute that he’d apparently taken Dayna under his wing.
“Good night,” followed Dureau.
“Thank you for dinner,” I said, to which they both nodded.
I walked to a nearby tree which was far enough away from the group to be out of earshot and settled underneath its massive branches, struggling to find a reasonably comfortable spot.
Still, it was good to finally be alone; I’d been with these men constantly for the last few days and, much as I respected them, I needed some me time. I wasn’t used to this sort of persistent kinsmanship and although I loved it, there was a part of me that was exhausted by all the bickering.
Sleep eluded me for a long time. Instead, my thoughts kept returning to the two men fighting for my affection: Dureau and Sinjin, both so different and yet so attractive, each in his own way. It wasn’t a new concern of mine. It had been plaguing me for quite a while now, and the frustrating part was that I never seemed any closer to making a decision. Half the time, I managed to convince myself tha
t I wanted nothing to do with relationships in general. I enjoyed being a warrior and soldier because it was what I knew—what I’d always known. This emotional stuff was new, and it stressed me out.
An image of Dureau dropped into my mind and I had to take a deep breath. I felt warmth spreading throughout my entire body when I thought of him.
We’d only recently met in the flesh, when he arrived from France to help my sister deal with Luce and the threat he represented. In truth, Dureau and I had met much earlier. He’d appeared in my dreams throughout the entirety of my childhood—a childhood spent in one of Luce’s camps, where I’d been groomed to become his best soldier. It was a bleak and miserable time, and Dureau had been my only joy; he’d gotten me through so much and taken me on so many adventures. The undeniable fact was that he was my only happy childhood memory.
But I couldn’t help thinking about how good-looking he was. There was a heat between us, something more than just a lifelong friendship. Our relationship had evolved into something more mature, something more adult. And, try as I might, I couldn’t seem to get those feelings to simmer down.
And then there was Sinjin. I hadn’t always liked him. Even now, there were days when his stubborn will or his candor got on my nerves. But I’d never been able to deny how gorgeous he was. His shoulders, his height, those devilish blue eyes—he was a perfect specimen of a male. I never thought I’d be so physically attracted to a man, especially given my asexual tribe upbringing and the recent trauma I’d been through at the hands of Luce’s soldiers. Being violated so many times had made me believe I’d never want to be touched by a man again.
“Are you in repose?” Sinjin asked from somewhere behind me.
“Am I in repose?” I repeated, shaking my head at the fact that Sinjin seemed to have the perfect timing. Think about him and there he is! “Who says that?”
“I suppose I do?”
“Sometimes I wonder how you live in the same modern world I do—you’d never realize it.”
“I do not follow, my pet.”
“Why haven’t you adapted to the times just like the… times have adapted to themselves?” I demanded with a laugh.
“That sounds quite like a riddle.”