They’d scoured the castle. Three times already. To no avail.
The key, wherever it was, wasn’t in the castle. She knew that with the same amount of certainty that she knew the sun would rise in the morning.
They settled down against each other, and she sought his warmth, watching the images of children sleeping. Nothing left to do but wait for the demons to attack.
Alador
Opening his eyes on the morning of their last day there, Alador knew something was horribly wrong with him.
A pain in his chest flared like a sunburst deep inside him. Wincing, he grabbed at his chest, trying to be silent so as not to wake Luminesa, who’d passed out beside him on the mound of hay and fur-lined skins.
A few breaths later, he found that the pain began to ebb slowly away, and a horrible, insidious feeling bloomed in his gut, hooking like claws deep inside so that he couldn’t shake them loose.
For the past several days, the pain had haunted him, growing worse and more severe with each morning.
Not wanting to worry her, he’d said nothing other than to whisper to her that all was well. That they still had time. That they’d find that key.
But Alador didn’t believe that, and he knew she didn’t either, though she let him lie to her and would smile and nod. When she wasn’t aware he was looking, though, dread would scrawl across her brows and fill her beautiful blue eyes with worry.
Last night, the ice demons had fought like hell, nearly breaching their perimeter, coming at them with such rage and fury that it had felt almost symbolic.
There was no stopping any of it. The fighting at night. The constant trepidation and unease during the day. What few hours were theirs, they treasured with the desperation of a man drowning.
Drinking his fill of her with his eyes, Alador feathered his knuckles across her pale, pale cheeks, by then so washed out that he could make out the little blue veins resting just beneath her flesh.
Luminesa wasn’t getting near enough sleep.
Her lashes fluttered open, and when she looked up at him with those sleepy bedroom eyes full of love, he felt stripped bare and soul-crushed.
How could he leave her?
He didn’t think a thousand years with her would even begin to be enough to sate his thirst.
“Horse.” Her frost-tipped lashes fluttered as she sleepily blinked up at him.
“Sleep, my love. You’re in desperate need of it. The children and I will search the grounds.”
She shook her head. “It’s not here, Alador. You know that as well as I do. And the children are as exhausted as I am. Not even they could sleep through the attack last night. Let them sleep. And come to me.” She held her arms open for him.
He wanted to tell her no, tell her that they weren’t giving up. Not then. Not when there was no more time left.
But maybe it was that lack of time that finally decided him. With a burdened sigh, he lay back down beside her, dragging her slight form into his warmth.
She cuddled into him, a happy smile curving her lips. “I’m not giving up, Alador, though I know that’s what you’re thinking,” she whispered after a moment.
He rubbed his chest, his heart beginning to pick up speed again, as that hot flare of pain returned with a vengeance. Grunting, he cocked his head, breathing slowly through his lips, trying in vain to not let on the amount of pain he was in.
But his skin had grown clammy, and she jerked up, suddenly wide awake and splaying her hands against his. “What’s the matter?”
Fear punched him in the gut. Her fear for him.
It was on the tip of his tongue to deny what he was feeling, but it was far too late to pretend that one away.
His heart heavy, he whispered, “I have something to tell you. I haven’t wanted to say anything because I wasn’t certain until now, but—”
The screen displaying the sleeping children suddenly came to life. Kai had his eyes closed and was sleeping peacefully, but Gerda was moaning and groaning in her sleep.
Luminesa frowned, making to stand, but Alador settled a restraining hand against her shoulder. He felt it, too, the shudder of evil that’d begun to rove the halls.
“I’ll check on her,” he grunted, holding a hand to his chest as the pain continued to blossom wider and wider, overtaking all of his abdomen and even going down his arms.
“Alador, you’re hurt. Stop. Do not go. I’ll go.” The whites of her eyes had nearly overtaken her irises. Her fear was a tangible taste on his tongue.
Something foul was coming. A darkness that spread like heated tar all around them, threatening to drown them.
“Stay!” he said, dizzy with pain. But he had to protect her. At all costs, he had to protect her.
Her eyes widened at the command in his tone, and he knew it was the pain making him so.
Swallowing a jagged breath, he forced himself to a calm he did not at all feel. “Please stay, Luminesa. If something were to happen to you…I do not, I don’t think I could survive it. Please, I’ll only be a few moments.”
Nodding, she rubbed her hands along her arms when he got up and walked out.
Luminesa
He was a fool if he honestly thought she would stay put. She loved him too much to let him walk into whatever was happening. And she knew something awful was about to happen. She felt it through every inch of her body.
Luminesa turned back to the screen, watching the girl moaning and groaning, kicking the sheets down with her feet. And then…
Narrowing her eyes, Luminesa leaned forward, her pulse rocketing out of control as she spotted a twinkle of silver floating above the child’s head. And then another, and another, and another. More and more silver, whirling like a miniature tornado above her bed, gathering momentum and speed as it curled into a tight spiral.
Foreboding washed over her, a writhing in her stomach of unease like thousands of worms crawling up from the ground.
Cocking her head, she sprang to her feet, her heart banging in her chest, demanding she fly out of there and find Alador. She ran to the door and tugged on the handle, but it wouldn’t give.
Gasping, she shook her head. And then she shivered as a curl of heat drove through the comfortable chill of the room.
She twirled on her heels and pressed her back against the wall. The Goblin stood before her, his hands crossed behind his back, and grinning wickedly.
“Hello, sweetheart. Miss me?”
“You!” she screeched and punched the door with a hammer fist. “Unlock this.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Alador’s shadow cross the floor of Gerda’s bedroom. He was nearly there.
“Oh gods,” she groaned, knowing what that silver was for, the danger her mate was in.
“Well, well, well, I must say”—the Goblin grinned—“things went rather predictably.”
“What have you done?” she snapped, her nails digging into the palms of her hands so tightly she left crescent marks behind.
Whipping out his blade, he proceeded to gently draw the tip of it beneath his claws. “Only what I said I would, my dear. I kept to my word, left you alone until the end. No more tricks.”
Luminesa blasted a sheet of ice at him, but in that place, it was the Goblin and not she who controlled the elements. With a sneer, he flicked his wrist, and the spires of ice turned on her, pressing dangerously against the cage of her ribs, right above the spot of her beating heart.
“Tut-tut, my love. Manners.”
Trembling with fear and terror for Alador, she shook her head. “Leave them alone.”
“Oh, not to worry. I’d planned to return the children once this was all done. Really, I only needed him. The children were nothing more than a distraction.”
Her nostrils flared. “But the deaths. Kai and Gerda…”
Grinning broadly, he revealed a new golden front tooth. “Meant to send you on a wild goose chase, which I must say, succeeded far beyond my wildest expectations. You two were so consumed with saving them
that you never realized they were completely insignificant.”
Alador stepped into the frame, and the moment he did, the funnel of silver that’d swirled around Gerda’s head surrounded him, winking sharpened slivers of deadly silver.
Gerda, awake then, jumped to her knees upon the bed, screaming. “I am sorry, Alador. I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t—”
Her male, her beautiful, brawny, wonderful male stood absolutely still, knowing the danger he was in. There was no protection to be had from the silver.
She shook her head as tears streamed down her cheeks, crystallizing an instant before they hit the floor and shattered into millions of infinitesimal particles.
“Well, let’s end this thing, shall we?” the Goblin asked, as though bored. Then he snapped his fingers, and she found herself suddenly transported to Gerda’s landing.
But not just her. Kai was there also. The four of them who’d started that journey would be forced to finish it together.
The silver still swirled around Alador, who gave her a stiff smile. Even then, he tried to be so brave.
“Welcome, welcome, one and all”—the Under Goblin bowed—“blah, blah, blah. Now let us get down to business, shall we, for I loathe the very sight of the four of you and wish you to leave my presence as soon as can be.”
Kai rubbed sleep from his eyes, slow to awaken, staring at what was going on around them with wide-eyed curiosity. Luminesa reached for the child, dragging him tightly to her, shielding him from the Goblin as best she could. The last thing she wanted was for the children to be forever marred by the sight of what the Goblin had planned.
But her eyes were for Alador alone. And only because she’d studied him as she had did she spot a look in his eyes that chilled her to her very core.
Grim acceptance. What had he been about to tell her downstairs? Oh goddess.
She shook her head in silent denial even as her brain suddenly clicked all the pieces into place. The constant and irritating ache in his chest that would sometimes flare at night and in the morning. The way his heart would sometimes beat out of control inside him. How he’d sometimes mumble in his sleep, sharing visions of death and destruction.
She’d told him nothing. She hadn’t wanted to worry him, and she knew he’d done the same for her.
He closed his eyes, as though knowing that she’d finally figured it all out.
“Oh my gods.” She mouthed the words.
But the Goblin had been paying close enough attention to her that he’d seen it. His cackling laughter echoed down the halls like demon song.
“Please tell me you didn’t do what I think you did,” she pleaded with tears choking her.
“Here’s the thing, my sweetness,” he said, ignoring her question. “I rather enjoyed seeing your struggles this past month. The ice demons that would hammer away at the castle at night, the random deaths and terrible omens…this is a hell worth keeping around. I will let you have your horse—”
The way he spat the name, like a slur instead of the loving way she used it, made her teeth clench.
“How dare you!” she seethed. “You cannot do this.”
“Oh, not I.” He crossed his arms. “Choice is yours. Keep this heaven on Kingdom if you will, have your mate, rut like beasts, raise these sniveling ‘forever’ children…nothing changes in this place. Always, you will be frozen in time. Doomed to live each day over and over and over…but together. Which surely counts for something. Or win your freedom by taking his.”
“What have you done!” Alador thundered that time.
He’d been so still, so unnaturally silent that Luminesa had feared there was none of the fire left in him that she’d come to love. She almost smiled to hear the passion in his voice.
Her male started to move forward, but the Goblin held out his hand. “Uh-uh.” He jerked his chin in Alador’s direction. “One move in my direction and I’ll slam that silver into every square inch of you. Instant death.”
“Taking his?” Luminesa was made of ice, but she’d never felt so cold in her life. Her ears rang, and her heart beat an aching melody in her chest.
“Oh, did you think I meant death?” His eyes, which were outlined with eyeliner, widened, and he patted his fingers to his chest while booming laughter eased from his lips. “Luminesa, the things you say. What you must think of me, woman. I mean, really.”
Moving slowly as she talked, Luminesa finally got her body between the Goblin and the children. The moment she did, Kai tossed himself into the arms of Gerda, who was sobbing, a heartrending, moaning sound.
They might not have been the children’s parents, but for a month’s time, they’d tended to them as if they were. And in that moment, Luminesa suffered a startling epiphany.
For the first time in her life ever, she knew what it was to have a family. A family she would protect at all costs.
“Killing him is just too easy. Truth is, my love—”
“Do not talk to her thus,” Alador snapped, baring his teeth at the Goblin in a crazed, animalistic manner.
But the terrible tension in his words fazed the Goblin not at all. He merely smiled at her centaur, sure in the knowledge that he held the upper hand. Which, she hated to admit, he did.
In there, her powers were limited, and fighting the ice demons every night had drained her further. Luminesa wanted to kick herself for not seeing what he’d done, for not being able to piece it all together sooner.
The Goblin’s plan had been brilliant in its simplicity.
“You found me my mate.” She said it softly, her brain clicking everything together.
The Under Goblin turned, beaming down at her like a proud parent. “Took me years to find him. But Baba Yaga’s price hadn’t been much to pay when it all came down to it. I merely had to wait for the colt to grow into a stallion. But patience I have in spades, sweet Queen. And so I waited, waited until every piece was in play, and then I made my move.”
Turning her eyes upon Alador, she cried, shook her head, and broke as the enormity of what it all meant finally sank in.
“Alador?” His name was a broken whimper on her tongue.
His face crumpled, and yet again when he tried to move to her, the silver swirled tighter about him.
The Under Goblin’s grin grew wider.
“Where is the key to your release from this hell, Luminesa?” he asked with a cackle in his voice.
She swallowed, devastation slamming into her so powerfully that she almost found it hard to breathe.
“Inside of you.” She whispered it to Alador.
His nostrils flared, and then a lone tear trekked down the corner of his eye.
“It’s what you were going to tell me earlier, wasn’t it?”
He nodded.
“When did you figure it out?”
“This morning when I woke, I felt something foreign inside of me.” He tapped his chest, just below the spot of his heart, and winced. “I feel it now.”
For once, the Goblin remained silent, but he needn’t have said anything anyway. His plan had been flawless, perfect.
She’d been so blinded by her love for Alador, and her belief that the Under Goblin couldn’t lie, and so therefore the key had to have been hidden in the castle.
He’d told her it was just beneath her nose. She should have known. Dear gods above, she should have known.
“Goddess, I’m a fool.”
“No.” Alador shook his head. “You are wise beyond your years, my love. Far superior to any centauress anywhere.”
Her breath stuttered, because it felt an awful lot like he was saying goodbye.
“What happens if I take the key from out of him?” She looked at the Goblin.
He was far more serious than he’d been before, staring between them with the oddest look she could fathom.
“Then you all leave. Returned to your world and your peoples.”
That wasn’t everything, and she knew it. Saw it in the thinning of his lips and the way he averted
his eyes.
“That’s not everything. Tell me everything, now.”
He didn’t need to. The Goblin held the entire deck of cards. So it shocked her when he said, “His memory is supplanted. The past month, all of it, gone.”
He snapped his fingers. “He’ll forget the truth of everything.”
Luminesa staggered back, feeling as though someone had just shoved a red-hot poker through her heart. Clutching onto the horribly beating thing, she imagined what that meant. And the fullness of it was a horror too difficult to comprehend.
She would lose her mate.
But maybe she could just woo him back? They were mated, bonded by souls. Surely that meant something, surely that—
“And before you imagine that you can simply turn the charm back on him and make him fall in love with you once more, the memories he will receive of this past month will make him loathe you. For you see, it will be you and not I that tortured the children, you who killed innocent ice maidens, you who tortured them through the night with demons ripped straight from the bowels of hell. All of it. All. Of. It. All you.”
She gasped.
“Don’t believe him, Luminesa!” Alador called, his voice a desperate cry, but she was so cold and numb and heartsick to her core that she hardly heard him at all.
“We are bound by the truest of magic that no darkness can penetrate.” His words were an urgent cry.
The Under Goblin snarled. “There is another way of course”—he pressed on with a dismissive flick of his wrist in Alador’s direction—“you leave the key inside of him, content to live out eternity trapped inside of here. But really, isn’t this preferable than having the male of your heart hate you forever?”
Her tears dripping down her face, Luminesa looked at the children, thinking of their parents, of the pain and desolation they must have felt never knowing what’d happened to their precious little ones. Her mind traveled to the deaths, the pain that they’d endured in that place. Yes, there were moments of happiness, when she lay in his arms, when he told her of his great and undying love for her…all those things, she remembered, but it was not enough to make her forget the rest.
Alphas for the Holidays Page 155