by K Loraine
16
Olivia
Things had settled down since Anne had been taken into the council’s custody. Aside from finding time to be with Cashel away from prying eyes, I’d taken to roaming the manor without fear. Something new for me. I’d never been here in a capacity like that. Someone was always lurking, ready to feed from me and drain me dry.
I wandered the halls, stopping when I reached a room I’d never been inside before. The door was ajar, and with the sun shining brightly in the sky, I knew there’d be no one here. I could have left at any time. No one was trying to keep me asleep during the day, or hold me captive anymore. I stayed because I wanted to be here. This was my home now. My choice.
Inside the room, I found a beautiful atrium filled with exotic plants of all kinds. Orchids lined one wall, their petals hues of deep purple, white, and even black. The room was humid, as though careful temperature control was implemented at all times. It made sense. It was a greenhouse inside this enormous estate. A Garden of Eden in what had been hell.
“Do you like them?” Cashel’s voice had me nearly jumping out of my skin. I spun around. My fingers, which had been caressing a dark orchid blossom, hit the stalk of the plant next to it. In horror, I watched the delicate flower fall, but Cashel was there, catching the potted plant before it shattered everywhere. “Careful, little bird. They’re hard to save after they’ve been traumatized.”
“What are you doing out here in the light?” I asked, my tone frantic.
He grinned. “No need to worry. I’m safely protected by a taste of one of your donations.”
“You’ve been drinking my blood?”
He tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear. “I feel closer to you when I can taste you.”
A shiver of dark desire ran down my spine. “I miss being able to do that for you.”
“You must be exhausted if you’ve been awake during the daylight hours. I’ve had to watch you spend your nights with Lucas. Keeping vampire hours and human ones will kill you or drive you insane.”
“I nap.” I walked away from him, trailing my fingers over the long tables that housed blossoms and herbs. “I can’t give up the day. I love the sun.”
I stared out the window and held out a hand so a golden beam of light splashed across my open palm. “It’s warm and bright and wonderful.”
“Like you.” He was behind me, not touching me, but I could feel his presence there, tugging on my heart. “Maybe Lucas was right. I don’t love you enough if I can’t let you go.”
I turned on him, catching his eyes with mine. “If I wanted to go, I’d be gone. You took me, but I chose to stay.”
“But will you stay once you know everything?”
Frustration danced across my mind. “What now? What else could you be hiding from me?”
He took my hand and tugged me out of the room, the cold air of the rest of the home a shocking change to the greenhouse. “Not now. I’m not ready to lose you.”
His grip on my hand was tight enough my bones ached from the pressure. “Cashel, you’re hurting me.”
He loosened his hold and brought my knuckles to his lips, but didn’t say anything. When we started up the stairs to the King’s rooms, my heart began to flutter erratically. I needed him. I always did.
“What happens when we get caught?” I asked as he scooped me into his arms and took us inside the chambers.
“I steal you away, damn the consequences.”
“And who will take the throne? You’ll leave it open for anyone to steal it.”
He kissed me hard, pushing me against the wall, the way I needed. “There’s no place for logic in this conversation, little bird. I want us to be dreamers right now.”
Then he spun me around and pressed my chest against to the wall, his hands roaming my hips, running along my waist and down my thighs. He trailed kisses along my neck and inhaled sharply before groaning a low “fuck” in my ear. Tingles raced from where his breath ghosted my ear to between my thighs.
“I need you,” I begged.
“You’ll have me. I’ll make sure you never need another.”
“Promise?”
He nipped my shoulder and cupped my breasts as he said, “I swear to you, little bird. As long as my heart beats, you are mine.”
So I pushed aside the worry and the fear of what other secrets he might have. I didn’t want to know right at that moment. I wanted a little more of this. Of us together with no consequences. For now, I would be a dreamer, too.
Cashel
“We have to feed him.” Logan hissed the words at me, anger burning in his eyes from the jailer’s cell where he’d been holed up in the dungeon. “He won’t get us what we want if he’s dead.”
“And what is it you think we want?” I almost laughed at the earnestness in his voice.
“He knows where the cure is. He knows how we can stop the disease without Olivia’s blood.”
“Then what was the point of him sending you for her? If there’s a cure somewhere else, why would he want her?”
Logan sighed. “He wanted her to be his weapon. If sun sickness was a way to weaken you all, Olivia was going to be the silver bullet.”
I shook my head. “She is not a weapon.”
“But she is your weakness. Mine too.”
That made my skin crawl with jealousy. “She’s not yours. Not anymore, Logan. You lost that claim when you nearly killed her.”
His jaw set and a flash of guilt shone in his eyes. Then he glanced down the hall of cells and jutted his chin toward the back of the dungeon. “He can’t be compelled for longer than a few seconds. How are we going to get the truth from him?”
“The same way we get information from anyone. Torture him until he talks.”
I left with Logan’s gaze weighing heavy on my shoulders, but I refused to turn back. Hector wasn’t worth my time unless he gave us what we needed.
The cure.
He’d talk eventually.
They always did.
Olivia
The soft creak of a door caught my attention from my place in the library. It was past sunset; the house was awake. A thrill ran through me. Lucas had gone on an assignment for Cashel, and the guards had been posted outside the estate as soon as the light was below the horizon. Cashel was the only one I wanted to see. Our trysts were becoming like a drug for me.
I stood and tiptoed to the hallway, hoping to catch him unaware. But my heart nearly stopped at what I saw. He wasn’t coming from anywhere I’d seen before. A hidden panel in the wall clicked closed behind him. Secrets. This house was full of them.
Ducking back into the library, I settled in my chair again and waited to see if he’d come find me. Minutes passed and nothing happened. My vampire was not coming. When I heard the heavy front door shut and lock, I knew something strange was happening. Cashel never left me without telling me he’d be gone. There was something he didn’t want me to find behind that panel.
Getting to my feet, I armed myself with a letter opener from the small writing desk in the corner. I’d learned far too quickly that things he hid usually required weapons. My hands shook as I approached the panel, mostly out of anxiety that Cashel would return and find me snooping. Holding my breath, I pressed on the almost imperceptible seam in the wood and waited as the wall slid open, revealing a dark staircase, narrow enough that I knew Cashel’s shoulders had to have brushed both walls as he’d descended.
The damp, cold smell of dirt and rot hit me first as I reached the bottom step. A slow drip echoed through the cavernous stone area the stairs had spit me out into. What was this place? Unease created a pit in my stomach.
I kept walking, the dim light of candles lining the walls my only path. And then I saw it, the unmistakable rows of cells. I was in the dungeon. How many people had died down here with no one to hear their screams?
I continued through the hall, passing cell after cell. No one was inside a single one, until I heard soft shuffling in the distance.
<
br /> “So you’ve found me,” a deep male voice said from the darkness.
My heart lurched. “Who is that?”
“Don’t you recognize me?”
I stepped closer, swallowing back my fear. “Hector?”
Hector stood in the corner of his cell, unbound and bloodied, and from the dark circles under his eyes, exhausted. “Hello, Olivia. I’d say it’s nice to see you again, but under the circumstances…”
My belly tightened. “What are you doing here?”
“Cashel didn’t tell you? He’s had me captive, tortured me to within an inch of my life, all because of you.”
“Why? What’s the point?” I stepped closer, putting myself nearly against the bars.
“Because he fears you’ll leave when you know the truth.”
Frustration gripped my heart and threatened to take hold of my judgment. “What truth? I’m so tired of the constant secrets.”
“He’s been keeping you from your only family. Afraid you won’t want him once you understand.”
“My family is dead.”
“Your father isn’t. Neither is your brother.”
The floor seemed to fall out from beneath my feet. “Excuse me?”
“Olivia, I spent every moment trying to find you after your mother ran away with you.”
“You? You’re my father?”
He nodded. “I was going to tell you after you were safe, but Cashel sent the council to attack us rather than see you with your family.”
My knees wobbled, and I had to hold on to the bars for support. “What are you talking about? He did what he could to get me away from the council. He…”
“He couldn’t stand the thought of you being happy without him.”
“No…”
“Yes. Olivia, I would have been able to stop this if you’d stayed. I could have hidden you from them just like I did your brother. He’s safe. The vampires can’t find him.”
“I don’t have a brother.”
Sadness colored his eyes. “You do, beautiful girl. Your brother is only a few minutes younger than you. He was the only one I could get to safety before your mother ran.”
Tears burned the corners of my eyes. “I…I don’t believe you.”
“I can help you find him. The two of you together can cure sun sickness. Get me out of here and we’ll go together to save your vampire.”
Alarm rattled my nerves. “Cashel doesn’t need saving.”
“So, he hasn’t told you. Or perhaps he doesn’t even realize the truth. I wonder what else he’s lying about.”
I turned on my heel and ran as fast as I could, desperate to get away from him and everything he’d just told me. Cashel wouldn’t keep this from me. Not something so important. Would he?
17
Cashel
“Have you told her yet?” Hector asked, a smirk on his face as he ate the apple I’d thrown through the bars.
“About you? No. I don’t intend to. She doesn’t need her world to come crashing down just because of you.”
“You know they’ll all start coming for her now that I’m not in the picture. The shifters want her. Haven’t you heard them howling at night? They’re going to attack, and she’ll be a sitting duck.”
He was right. I had heard them. But I’d sent my guards out to deal with the mutts before they became a problem.
“They’re not an issue. They’ve been…taken care of.”
“Why haven’t you turned her? If you love her as much as you say you do, you’d stop this and make her one of you.”
He was taunting me. I loved her enough not to condemn her to a life of darkness. He knew that.
“Are you afraid she’ll leave after she doesn’t need you anymore?”
“She needs me, just like I need her. Not because I keep her safe, but because of what we are to one another. You couldn’t understand something so strong. You killed the only woman who could have loved you.”
He laughed, the sound too confident for my liking. “Are you sure about that? She’ll choose your brother. Logan sees it already. It’s why he gave up hope that she’d come back to him.”
I bristled at the truth in his words. If we didn’t find that witch soon, the mating bond between Olivia and Lucas would ruin us.
“So, why come see me for another little chat? Hoping I’ll crack?”
I shrugged. “Hoping you’ll explain what you need Olivia for.”
“I’m simply a father who wants his family reunited.”
“Bullshit,” I said, opening the cell door before closing and locking it behind me. I took one step toward him, and he backed away. We repeated this dance until he was pressed back against the wall. “Tell me.”
“Do your worst, Blackthorne. She’ll never forgive you if you kill me. You’ll be lucky if she forgives you for lying.”
Alarm bells rang in my head. “What do you mean?”
“She paid me a little visit two days ago. I may have spilled the beans about a few things. She’s on my side even if she doesn’t realize it yet.”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. “She was here?”
“Yes, and if you want my help with a damn thing, you’ll keep your hands off me from here on out.”
In a flash of rage, I crushed him to the wall, one hand around his throat. “Or, I kill you here and now and be done with you.”
“But…then you’ll never…have…the cure.” He forced the words through my hold on his windpipe.
I released him and he fell to the floor, coughing and gasping. Then I left the cell and locked the door behind me. But he called out to me as I walked away, “Have you told her you’re sick?”
Olivia
I sat next to Lucas in the car, his posture tense, jaw tight. He was stone as he drove us away from Blackthorne Manor. I’d been in Cashel’s bed only a few nights before, and when Lucas surprised me with a night out, I hadn’t known how to respond. So, I showered and dressed, and tried to hide my guilt. But I was so rattled by finding Hector, my father, in the dungeon, I’d kept myself hidden away from all of them until now.
“Where are we going?” I asked, the sound of my own voice too loud in the silent car.
“Does it matter? I thought you’d be thrilled to get away from that place.”
I should have been. It was mostly a prison, filled with memories of pain and torture, but Cashel was there. Even if he made me so angry my stomach hurt, I wanted to be where he was.
“It’s not so bad.”
“Of course. He is back. Why would you want to leave now?”
My skin prickled from the force of his words. Did he know? Could he smell Cashel on me even now? Cashel and I were playing with fire, and soon, we’d go up in flames.
“This is…complicated.”
He laughed. “Yes. That’s an understatement, don’t you think? I know you’re in love with him. I know it, but the bonded male in me doesn’t care. You’re my mate. My wife. And I can’t simply turn that off.”
“What do you want me to do?”
He pulled to the side of the road and parked the car. Then his blazing eyes met mine. “Come away from the manor. Come be with me somewhere that doesn’t include memories of him.”
“He’ll come for me.”
“He might. Unless you leave him with a finality he can’t deny. It’s the only way we can all move on. This is something that will drive us all mad if we don’t break your hold on him.”
Shock rolled through me. “My hold on him?”
“Yes. You own him. You’ve left your mark, and his instinct is to be with you. He’s right when he says the two of you had begun a mating bond. He just didn’t get the chance to finish it. Why do you think it was so easy for me to bond us? He and I share the same bloodline.”
“So you just swooped in and took me out from under him?”
He narrowed his eyes. “No. He was dead. You were at risk. Would you rather be in the hands of that Scot right now?”
I shivered at the memo
ry of what Anne had planned for me. “No.”
“But it seems like you are pulled between us. Our bond is somehow linked to Cashel. It shouldn’t be. You should be mine without question.”
“If we leave, will he get past this? Will he be in pain forever?”
“I want to tell you he’ll move on and heal, but I doubt it. A bond like this lasts for life. He’ll never be whole without you, but I won’t share you, and neither will he.”
Tears burned in my throat, but I swallowed back the pain. “So we’ll all suffer. Forever?”
“I won’t. I’ll have you.”
Anger bloomed in my chest. “You selfish—”
“Don’t I deserve you? I gave up any chance of finding love because of you. I shared my life force with you. Brought you back from the brink of death. Married you to keep you from being sold like a piece of meat. Don’t you think I’ve earned at least some semblance of happiness?”
“I thought you didn’t believe in love. You said it was a sham.”
“I used to believe. Because I thought I had it once. Then I lost it. My heart can’t love again because it doesn’t exist anymore. I gave it away and she ran off with it between her teeth.”
I frowned and stared at him, his focus out the windshield, jaw set and eyes hard. “Who was she?”
“A witch. It was a long time ago.”
“Is she the reason you have that scar?”
He didn’t look at me, but nodded. “It seems I’m forever cursed to be the other man. I fought for her. She didn’t choose me. Instead, she left me with a permanent reminder that she chose him.”
I reached out and pressed a palm to his cheek, sympathy pushing my confusion aside. “I’m sorry, Lucas.”
“I know.”
He pulled back onto the road and turned us around, driving back in the direction of Blackthorne Manor. “What are you doing?”