by K Loraine
“Pregnancy. No one is getting me pregnant, Brenna. I just want to make that crystal clear.”
“Exactly.”
My cheeks warmed. “I feel like I should be mad that you gave me birth control without asking me first.”
“Why?”
I laughed. This was so ridiculous. I was living in a house full of vampires under the guise of being protected. Being given birth control without my knowledge was the least of my worries.
“Can you tell me about Eliana?” I didn’t know why I was asking. I shouldn’t have cared.
“No. That’s not for me to discuss. Just know…Cashel will not let that be your fate if he can help it.”
Oh, God. If he can help it. What did that mean? “He killed her.”
“If that is what he told you…I won’t speak about it.”
“Brenna, please. I need to know. I want to trust him, after…” I trailed off, thinking of how he’s treated me. His protection, his frustration, the desire behind his eyes. But there was anguish there too. It was like touching me both aroused and pained him.
“If you trust anyone in this house, trust him. That is all I will say.”
She stood without another word and brushed her hands over her crisp pants. Conversation over. These vampires were nothing if not stubborn.
“Fine,” I muttered.
“Come along. You need to dress for dinner. Tonight you’re eating privately with the King.” There was an edge to her voice, and it struck a chord of fear in my heart. The last time I was presented to the King, he took my blood in front of his court. Even then, with Cashel at my side, I’d been helpless.
“I don’t want to.”
“You have no choice, Olivia. If you don’t go, he will take you and punish you.”
Together we walked to my room, my stomach twisting into knots as she closed the door behind us and made her way to the wardrobe. Cashel and Brenna were the only vampires I really wanted to be alone with. I had a false sense of security with them, Brenna more than Cashel, but that was only because of the feelings the man stirred in me. I couldn’t trust myself around him.
“I want Cashel to come with me,” I said, as she zipped the back of the blood red gown she’d chosen for me. I felt like the color was a bad choice. Like something used to taunt a bull.
“He can’t, I’m afraid.” The King stood in my open door, the sight of him leaving a pit in the bottom of my stomach. I hadn’t even heard the door open.
“What did you do with him?” I asked.
“I’m teaching him a lesson.” The dark gleam in his eyes was so reminiscent of his son’s, but there was nothing arousing about seeing it in this man. All I felt were the cold fingers of fear creeping up my throat and causing anxiety to flood my body. “The rest of them stay away, as they should, but Cashel is special. He’s proving himself time and time again. He’ll be my heir. You are his ultimate test.”
I didn’t like that. I was not a pawn in their stupid game. I was a living, breathing, human being. But then again, I wasn’t with humans. I was a toy to them. A pet with something special.
My hands trembled ever so slightly as Elias placed his fingers on my shoulder.
“Now, now, there is no need to be afraid. It’s not like you have been up to something you shouldn’t.”
His voice was ice breathed across my skin and I fought a shudder as it threatened to roll over me. “I haven’t done anything you didn’t give me permission to do.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. He said I didn't have to stay. He said I wasn’t captive. But all of us knew the truth.
“You smell like sunshine. Have you been outside recently?”
Training my thoughts, I visualized the garden. “Only the garden.”
A low growl rolled through him. “And you were injured?”
My heart threatened to begin racing, but I took a slow breath and held on to the little control I had. How had he known?
“Yes, I fell.” I didn’t know what story Cashel had told him, and I didn’t want to ruin the cover we had.
“It would appear you are fully healed.”
“Cash saw to my injuries.”
Dark eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Cash?”
Dread curled in my stomach.
I coughed. A weak attempt to cover my blunder. “He hates the nickname.” I shrugged. “I have to get in every dig I can.”
Elias’s shoulders relaxed. “It seems you’re making more of a home of Blackthorne Manor than expected.” His grip on my shoulder didn’t lessen as we walked down the hall. “However, I would much rather you spend your time resting during the day. It ensures you’ll spend your evenings where you belong.”
I didn’t answer him, unwilling to agree to something I did not want to do. We continued down the hall, up a winding staircase, through to a darkened corridor door. By the time he reached the door at the end of the hall, I was turned around, confused about my surroundings, and more than a little concerned.
“Where are you taking me? This isn’t the dining room.”
He chuckled, that voice of his deadly and dangerous. “These, my pet, are the King’s private chambers.” He pricked his finger on the tip of one razor-sharp fang, then pressed the droplet of blood to the center of the ornate carving of a Celtic tree in the door. The blood spread across the branches, down the roots, defying physics before my eyes. A lock clicked and the door swung open. “Only the blood of the King can open this door…from the inside as well as the outside.”
Desperate fear ballooned white-hot in my chest. I did not want to go inside that room. “Why are we going in here?” I worked to keep the fear from my voice, but I knew I failed. “I want to dine with everyone else.”
He looked down at me from his considerable height. “We can’t always get what we want, pet.”
Then, with strength I could not possibly fight, he tugged me into the room and locked the door behind us.
Cashel
My wrists burned from the silver shackles around them, ankles too. I’d gone to great pains to hide what happened between Olivia and me, but clearly, my father was smarter than I gave him credit for. Days and nights had passed since I brought her back to Blackthorne Manor, and I had been chained in here since before the end of that night.
Lucas had found me, secured the cuffs around my wrists with gloved hands, and muttered, “I don’t know what you did, brother, but Father is very angry.”
I haven’t seen my father since he chained me. All I could do was hope he hadn’t realized she escaped, and I brought her back. It’s likely he smelled her blood on me. That would have been nearly impossible to hide. But I’d thought I could have passed it off as residue from him offering me a drop from her first donation.
I pulled against the chains, my flesh sizzling and burning, but it was no use. I wouldn’t get out of here until my father decided to release me himself. I lay there, staring at the ceiling, listening. I could hear her heartbeat, strong, fast, and terrified. But she wasn’t in her room, she was too far to the east. Unease curled in my gut, sending apprehension racing through my system. This wasn’t somewhere she should be. No one was allowed in the east wing. Not me, not my siblings, not Brenna. If my little bird was in the east wing, there was only one reason. My father had taken her.
The rapid pace of her heartbeat grew slower as I listened and I hoped it was a sign that she was calming, that there was nothing for her to fear, but slow turned to dangerously infrequent, and my instincts screamed that she was dying. I writhed on the bed pulling until blood dripped onto the sheets from my wounds, but I didn’t care. I had to get to her. Everything in me insisted on that.
“Brenna! Lucas! Sorcha! Callie!” I screamed their names not caring if my father heard. I screamed for them over and over, but no one came.
I couldn’t hear her pulse anymore, that siren song she couldn’t tame and my need for her turned frantic. It was my fault we were losing her. I’d done this by not being there to protect her from us.
The jangling
of keys clicking together outside my door had hope building in my chest. Brenna’s stricken face was the first thing I saw as the door opened.
“Where is she?” The words left my mouth before I could even register I’d said them.
“Your father took her, he wanted a private audience.” The sorrow in her tone told me everything I needed to know. Brenna had delivered her.
“She wasn’t to be alone with anyone but me and you.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t deny the King. I can’t go back to the dungeon again.”
Guilt washed over me. Brenna had done more than her fair share for me over the years. She’d served punishments for everything she did to help me with Eliana. “Get me out of these shackles. I have to go to her.”
She nodded and brandishing the large ring of keys, she moved the heavy iron keys until she found one that meant my freedom. Brenna made fast work of unchaining me. My wounds ached, but I would heal. Olivia might not see her next moonrise.
I raced to the east wing, desperate to find my little bird, no matter what my father had done. But when I reached the door to the King’s rooms, I stopped. Hand pressed to the carved tree of life, a macabre reminder of our family’s history. I reached with my senses, and attempted to home in on her, and found nothing. My father wasn’t there, I could just catch her scent, and if he’d let her die there would be an undeniable indicator of what had occurred. Her blood would be on his lips, filling his body. I banged on the door, even though I knew they were not there.
“Master,” Brenna’s voice was weak, nervous. She stared down the hall. There, at the mouth of the spiral staircase which led to the turret, stood my father. His lips were stained crimson and, just as I’d feared, I smelled Olivia all over him. He smacked his lips, wiping the remnants of her blood from his mouth before turning them up in a wicked grin.
“What did you do?” I asked. It took everything in me not to rage at him.
“I only sampled her blood as you did.”
A chill ran over me. He knew. “I was healing her wounds.” The words came out harsh, but he needed to understand.
“I must commend you for maintaining such control. It seems mine has dwindled since the last time I tasted her, I’m afraid.”
“Father,” I said, warning mixed with horror in my tone. There was something very wrong with the man I used to revere. His eyes were glassy, dark and cold, lazy and sluggish. He wasn’t the clear, sharp-witted ruler I’d always known him to be. “Where is she?”
“Lucas is tending her.” He staggered, his long limbs wavering as he held himself up against the wall. “I…I may have taken too much.”
White-hot anger lanced my chest. Lucas had less control than all of us. Lucas. The half-breed brother none of us could understand. He gave her to him instead of me. Why? “You may have just condemned us all in one selfish moment, Father.”
He shook his head. “She’s alive. There’s nothing to fear.”
“Lucas will kill her if he loses control.”
My father let out a low growl and before I could block him, he had me against a wall, his hand wrapped around my throat. “You may be my heir, but I am still ruler here. Never forget that, Cashel.”
I held strong, not letting him see the pain in my throat from his grip. I stared into his clouded eyes until he finally freed me, stepping back and dragging a hand through his hair. Without another word, he walked down the hall and opened the door to his rooms.
I raced to Olivia’s room. I had to see her. Had to make sure she was all right. Our entire future depended on her. I told myself that was the only reason. But something inside me said that was a lie.
14
Olivia
My head throbbed in time with my pulse; long, slow pains that seemed to reach through my brain and down into my arms. I didn’t want to open my eyes because I was terrified of what I’d see. Cool fingers brushed my hair off my forehead, out of my face, before trailing across my cheek.
No. No. No. Elias couldn’t touch me again. I wouldn’t survive it. I jerked away and curled into a ball. “Stop. Don’t touch me. Don’t hurt me anymore,” I whimpered, not caring if I sounded weak.
“Hush, little bird. You’re safe.” Cashel’s voice was soft and low, far more welcome than the one I’d expected to hear.
I blinked a few times, trying to clear the fog from my brain. “Cashel?” His palm rested on my shoulder, so gentle, tender even. Was he toying with me?
“You need to sit up, drink something. You’ve been unconscious for three full days. I’ll send for Brenna. She can see to your bath and some food.”
Nausea clutched at my stomach when he mentioned food. “No. Nothing to eat. I can’t.”
“Little bird, look at me.”
I didn’t want to. If I looked at him, I’d cry. I’d give up my little bit of strength. My shoulders trembled as my breaths came in harsh pants. “No.” I managed to eek out that one syllable, but my pulse pounded in my ears, teeth chattered, and my chest felt like something was sitting on it, crushing me. I balled my hands into fists and closed my eyes, but then I saw Elias in my memory. I felt his sharp fangs on my wrist. His icy touch on my skin. The pain of his bite. The unwanted pleasure as he violated me by taking my blood.
The panic overtook me, clenching my belly, removing all senses around me and zeroing in on the only thing I didn’t want to remember.
The bed dipped and I sucked in a sharp gasp as Cashel’s strong body molded to mine, his arms wrapping around me and pulling me close. “What did he do to you?”
We lay there together, his firm hold keeping me from breaking into irreparable pieces. It was only after my heart stopped racing that I was able to truly process what was happening. He was holding me. Comforting me. How was it he could go from angry, accusing me of leading him into temptation, to holding me while I fell apart?
“He’s not here. He can’t hurt you while I’m with you. I won’t let him.”
I relaxed a fraction, letting his scent wash over me and ease my tension. “You left.” I managed to push the words out through a throat so tight I thought I should struggle to draw breath. “You left and he took me. You said you’d keep me safe.”
He tensed around me, but then murmured, “Yes. I’m sorry.”
Those words hit me like a punch to the gut. He was apologizing? “I don’t understand. Why are you being nice to me?”
“Olivia, I keep trying to distance myself and then I almost lose everything because of it.”
“He got into my head. He made me…watch while he bit me. I couldn’t move. I was frozen.” I slid out of his arms, needing distance because my feelings were so conflicted. I needed him to want me, to save me from his family, but if I wasn’t careful, I’d fall into his web just as he fell into mine.
My arm was a burning throb as soon as I stood, the jagged wound from Elias’s rough treatment barely healed and making my vision blur from pain. I stared down at my wrist and swallowed back bile at the sight. It was raw, trying to heal, but every movement seemed to reopen it.
“Why didn’t you fix this?” I asked.
He’d gotten off the bed along with me, but kept himself at a distance. “I tried. I can’t give you too much of my blood without bonding you to me. It’s taking longer than normal for you to heal and I don’t know why.”
Turning his back to me, he walked toward the door, and I had a moment of sheer terror at the thought of being left in here alone. Left where Elias could come find me. But, Cashel didn’t go to the door. He went to the cart in the corner and returned with a first aid kit. “Sit on the bed, little bird. I need to dress your wound again.”
“Why wasn’t it dressed in the first place?” I was being contrary, but I sat anyway.
He knelt at my feet and took my arm with gentle hands. “I’ve been giving you a drop of my blood every three hours. You woke just as I was about to serve you again.”
A shot of electricity raced through me at his words. “You’ve been with me all this time?�
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He didn’t meet my eyes but nodded. “Close your eyes. I’m going to apply a drop and I doubt you’ll want to see my fangs.”
“No, I need to face this.” My heart hammered as I watched him bring his thumb to his lips and a flash of fang peeked through as he pierced his flesh. Somehow I wasn’t terrified of him in the same way I was of his father. He let the droplet fall onto my wrist and then carefully applied a bandage, covering my injury.
“You are stronger than most expect you to be.”
“I grew up needing to be. Always on the run. Never settling down. We had to live life ready for whatever might come our way.”
“You understand you can’t leave this room until you’re healed?”
I nodded. “And during the day?”
“I am here.”
I frowned. “How? You haven’t fed on me too, have you?”
He looked truly offended. “I’d never feed from you without your permission. I am not my father.”
I wanted to cry bullshit, to remind him that he’d tasted me twice without my consent, but then I remember the feel of his tongue on my skin versus the invasion of Elias’s teeth.
“I’d never pierce your flesh with my teeth unless you asked me to, little bird. But if I have to taste you to heal you, I will.”
Unsure how I felt about that, I stared out the window instead of giving in to my desire to look at him. “Will you stay?”
His shoulders stiffened and he stood. “Yes. No one is going to touch you.”
* * *
Hours passed and save Brenna coming to bring me food and drink, no one bothered us. Cashel stayed quiet, sitting in the chair by the door while I read. My eyelids grew heavy as I turned the page and continued reading. Maybe just a short nap would help me heal. I drifted off, that strange weightless feeling taking hold as I fell under the blanket of sleep, only to be jerked awake with my heart in my throat.
“Olivia,” Cashel’s harsh voice filled my ears. “It’s all right. I’m here.”
When my eyes fluttered open, I saw him, handsome features colored with concern, brow furrowed, panic in his dark irises. “What are you talking about?”