Puppet/Master (The Vale Chronicles Book 1)

by Joel Abernathy

  Leo

  Leo opened his eyes to the sight of his least favorite family member. Then again, Lavien had plenty of competition. His mother had tried to drown Leo at birth, seeing him as yet another obstacle to her beloved son’s rise to the Emperor’s throne, and Lavien’s brother, well…

  There was a reason it was forbidden to bear arms at holiday gatherings. Nothing put a damper on Rumspolt like a knife in the Achilles’ tendon.

  Lavien was sitting across from Leo on a tufted stool in front of a vanity. The room was large but comfortable. There was even a fireplace and to his dismay, Leo found himself propped up against the headboard of a bed rather than locked away in some dusty chamber.

  Given who was his captor, he decided he’d rather be in a cell.

  “I thought I smelled a whiff of entitlement and squandered potential,” he said, trying to ignore the blinding pain in his head.

  If looks could kill, the one Lavien was giving him would have been the fatal blow. “Bold words for a man in chains.”

  “Wouldn’t be the first time. Dusk is pretty kinky.”

  The other elf’s face contorted in disgust. Leo knew the taunting wasn’t helping his case, but it was hard to resist. He also knew that Lavien had nursed far more than an innocent crush on him for years before he’d made it absolutely clear he had no intention of pursuing a romantic relationship with him. Even though there was no actual blood relation between them, the thought turned his stomach. The fact that he’d taken a fae as his mate was just adding insult to injury, in the other man’s eyes.

  “Imagine my surprise when Eric’s Puppet turns up stinking of your bonding scent,” he said through gritted teeth. “And the prince of the fae, no less.”

  “Don’t pretend like you bring all your indulgences to the family table,” Leo snorted. Dusk was far more than that, but the less Lavien thought he cared for him, and Arden, for that matter, the safer they would be.

  “I suppose not,” Lavien said in a dangerous tone. “But then, that doesn’t explain why he bears your mark, does it?”

  Terror and fury filled Leo’s chest. He had marked Dusk ages ago, but the brand wasn’t anywhere obvious. Even the other members of the Brotherhood didn’t know about it, which meant they had probably tortured his mate.

  And they would pay for it.

  “You never were good at hiding your true feelings,” Lavien mused. “That’s why you’re never going to be Emperor.”

  “I never wanted to be,” Leo shot back. “The power trip bullshit is all you.”

  “Is that so?” Lavien raised a blue brow. “You’re not sweeping floors in the Vale, now, are you?”

  “I have a cause. What do you have? A daddy complex and a narcissistic Master Vampire to do your bidding?”

  Lavien’s eyes narrowed. “You’re a traitor to your own kind. Your own family. I’m not surprised you’ve found a way to justify it, but it’s just you and me now, Leo.” He sat down on the edge of the bed and swept his hand down the other man’s face. “I know you better than anyone. I wonder… does your altruistic lover know what you did in the war?”

  Leo’s blood boiled, but he should have expected Lavien to bring up his past. Like the rest of their family, he was intent on using it as a prison. For decades, it had been, but Leo refused to be bound by the iron bars of his own grief—and guilt.

  “What are you going to do? Out me as a fairy fucker?” he sneered. “That would hurt your campaign for the throne, wouldn’t it? Family shame and all that.”

  “At the moment, I’m more interested in the chimera,” said Lavien. Something in his unnaturally gentle voice put Leo even more on edge. “You’ve taken him as your own.”

  “You jealous?”

  The elf’s face didn’t change, but his eyes hardened. Bluer than his hair, colder than ice. “Luckily for you, the fact that Arden is bound to you both is reason for Eric to keep you alive, and he’s nothing if not devoted to his projects,” he said bitterly. “Of course, it’s not a permanent bond, is it? He’s not marked, and you haven’t gone all the way, have you?”

  Leo was silent. Either Lavien knew the answer and was just taunting him, or he’d be giving him information he didn’t need.

  Lavien smiled sweetly. “No matter. You’re more useful to me alive, anyway.”

  “And how is that?” he asked, even though he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.

  “News of your betrayal will just wreck the family, and the empire is already in such a precarious position, what with Aeon and its terroristic antics,” Lavien said, standing to pour himself a glass of wine across the room. “The revelation must be handled carefully. I’m sure Arden filled you in on the terrible fate that will befall our uncle.”

  “You mean the fact that you’re trying to kill him?” Leo clarified.

  “Me?” Lavien seemed dismayed. “I’m not the one who’s working for the enemy.”

  “Last I checked, Aeon was an international organization devoted to peacekeeping.”

  “Right. Because all your assassinations and covert operations are just so peaceful,” he scoffed.

  He had a point. Leo had shed a lot of blood in the name of ending the war, but it had worked. The true fight was far from over, but while he regretted plenty of decisions in his life, joining the Brotherhood wasn’t one of them. “So what, you plan on framing me for our uncle’s death?”

  “That is one option on the table,” Lavien said, taking a small sip of wine. Leo realized once the liquid stirred and perfumed the air that it was infused with blood. He used it to fuel his magic like any other elf, but the idea of drinking it for sport had always sickened him.

  “You say that like there’s another.”

  “There is. You have the means to make an assassination quick and painless—for everyone except him, of course,” he sneered.

  “You always did like making other people do your dirty work,” Leo snorted.

  “Make no mistake, dear cousin,” Lavien said, his voice lowering dangerously. “I may not like to stain my hands with blood, but never assume that I’m incapable of it.”

  “No,” Leo sighed. “I know you aren’t. But I’m not going to take the fall for you.”

  “You don’t really have a choice. All the evidence is already there. I was inside Arden’s mind, and gathering it won’t be a challenge,” he remarked. “You’ll be blamed for his death, one way or another. You might as well be the one who pulls the trigger.”

  Leo clenched his jaw. “I’ll say one thing, you’ve come a long way from being the whiny little brat who cried to get his way. Now you’re just strong-arming and manipulating to get it.”

  Lavien smiled. “Runs in the family, don’t you think?”

  “And in return for taking the fall for you? What do I get out of the arrangement?”

  “Your life, for one thing,” he answered, folding his arms. “It won’t be long before Eric finds a way to undo the bond and when he does, you and your lover will be meeting the Chrysalus face to face very soon.”

  “You expect me to believe you’d let us both go?” Even if that were true, Leo knew Dusk wasn’t leaving without Arden any sooner than he was. Arden himself might not have realized just what he’d signed up for, but the moment he’d offered himself to the couple, they had become responsible for his well being. Being a chimera’s master wasn’t just about drawing power and submission from a willing vessel. It was a sacred oath unbroken by anything other than death.

  “I’ll even sweeten the deal,” Lavien purred. “You can take the sex bomb with you.”

  Leo frowned. “Arden?” Now he knew Lavien was joking. He had to be. “No one would let that kind of power go willingly.” He hesitated, reading the tension in Lavien’s silence. “Unless… you want Eric to yourself even more than you want the Chrysalus.”

  He knew he’d hit the mark when he saw the irritation in Lavien’s gaze. “Does it matter? Either way, you get what you want.”

  “You’re willing to give up Arden for him?”
he asked in disbelief.

  Lavien walked over and unfastened the restraints behind Leopold’s back. To his amazement, the elf put a small, circular disk in his hand with a glowing orb in the very center.

  Leo didn’t have to ask to know exactly what it was. A tracer, likely to whatever implants had been embedded in Dusk and Arden once they were captured.

  “Once my informants inside the palace can confirm the kill, I’ll have my men transfer them to the border. You can pick them up from there.”

  “How do I know you’ll come through?”

  “You don’t. But you can test the tracer for yourself.”

  Leo looked down at the glowing device and pressed his fingertip to the orb’s surface. A holographic screen popped up with what seemed to be a map of the entire estate. There were two flashing green dots reasonably far apart. Leo touched the one, filled with relief when the display shifted to show an image of Dusk, still bound to a chair and sleeping but seemingly unharmed. When he touched the other, he saw Arden... and he was with Eric.

  The sight of the chimera locked in an intimate and seemingly consensual embrace with the vampire made Leo’s blood boil. There wasn’t anything sensual about the contact, but the fact that Arden was even capable of forgiving Eric after everything he’d done to him was both infuriating and disheartening.

  Not that he had expected anything different. Leo closed the screen and told himself that he would deal with Eric once Vaeyr was out of the way. He’d never had any love for his cruel uncle, but he’d never imagined he would be the one to kill him, either.

  Another decision that would haunt him for the rest of his life, he was sure, but if it kept them safe, it wasn’t one he could ever regret.

  Chapter 32

  Arden

  Eric left Arden with his guards to deal with some business further down in the estate. Arden heard a whisper of the word “escape” and his heart surged hopefully, but he knew it was impossible for more than one of them to have gotten away. Given the fact that neither Leo nor Dusk would ever willingly leave each other’s side, it had to be Elan.

  Whether the vampire would return for any of them remained to be seen. Not that Arden was in a position to question anyone’s loyalty.

  It wasn’t until hours later that Eric finally returned. At first, he said nothing as he moved around the room, taking off his cloak and his cufflinks. Once he had settled in, he came over to join Arden on the edge of the bed, watching him thoughtfully for a long moment before he actually spoke.

  “It would seem the elf abandoned you as well as the Prince of the fae.”

  Arden’s heart was pounding. “Leopold?” he asked before he could help it. He couldn’t hide his disbelief.

  Leo wasn’t the type to abandon his team, let alone his mate. Arden’s heart seemed to have already shattered and ground itself into dust, but another piece somehow managed to break at the revelation.

  He had done more than offer his body to Leopold. He had offered everything, and in some ways, this abandonment felt like the one that would finally do him in. The drop in a bucket of water that was already so close to overflowing.

  Dusk hated him. Leo had left them both. Harding was dead because of him and Vox…

  Arden’s heart ached the most when he thought of the ghoul. His brother in creation. They’d both been sired by Eric and now, thanks to Arden, Vox was back under the Master Vampire’s control.

  At one point, Arden had never imagined that the love he felt for his master could ever be outweighed by another, but the rage that overtook him at the thought of Vox losing his freedom, or worse, was more than an adequate rival.

  “It seems you put your faith in the wrong masters, my dear,” Eric said softly, his voice full of gentle censure. Arden had expected him to rage, but somehow, this was worse.

  It took him a moment to restrain his emotions. He’d barely had them at one time, and now it seemed they ruled him. Eric was right. He really had fallen a great distance.

  “When are you going to put me back?” Arden finally asked.

  For the first time, Eric seemed unsure of what he meant. “Pardon?”

  “In the coffin,” Arden answered. He was surprised he hadn’t already been forcibly turned and sealed away for safekeeping. Perhaps Eric had more immediate plans for his punishment.

  Realization softened the vampire’s gaze. “I’m not going to.”

  Arden looked up in surprise, but he didn’t dare question it. He was sure Eric was just toying with him. “You’re not going to turn me back?”

  “I had considered it,” Eric admitted. “But I have come to the decision that we’ve gone too far now to go back to the way things were.”

  Arden swallowed hard. He knew what was coming next. Of course Eric wanted nothing to do with him, either. Death probably wasn’t something he would have balked at, if it weren’t for the far more painful reality that he would never see any of them again.

  Vox. Dusk. Leo. Even Elan.

  He’d failed them all. Maybe he’d get one last meeting with Harding in the afterlife. Then again, he hoped the noble warrior’s fate was a good deal more pleasant than whatever was waiting for him on the other side.

  “That brings me to what I need to ask you,” Eric said, watching him intently.

  Arden froze. Ask him? Eric had never asked him anything. His opinion didn’t matter and it never would. He was a vessel, a one-man army to be commanded, but not a person. Not in the vampire’s eyes.

  “What is it that you hope for, Arden?”

  The question seemed as absurd as everything that had transpired since Arden had left Eric’s service. It all seemed surreal, as if it might turn out to be a dream. Parts of it could have been a nightmare, if not for the soft, intimate moments that had taught him a side of himself he’d never thought existed. They had shown him a world he’d never dared to imagine.

  “I’m sorry, sir?”

  “You are a chimera,” said Eric. “By now, I’m sure you understand what that means. The potential it holds.”

  “Yes,” Arden said, his throat tightening. The realization that Eric had lied to him about his very existence still stung, but there were so many other betrayals that had him reeling, it hardly seemed like the one to dwell on. “I’m capable of becoming more than just a vampire.”

  “And what is it you wish to be?” Eric made it sound like such a simple question, but Arden knew the reason he’d asked it was anything but. “What is it you wish to become?”

  Arden hesitated, choosing his answer carefully. The truth, now that he’d had reason to think about it, was not one he could tell Eric. That although he’d spent months lamenting the loss of his immortality and strength, his new identity had grown to fit him better than the old one ever had. Like a worn-in pair of gloves that bent and stretched in all the right places.

  “What I want doesn’t matter,” Arden said quietly. It was the only acceptable answer, the only one Eric could really be after.

  “That’s a good boy,” Eric said warmly, touching his cheek. The look in his eyes was almost kind, but Arden knew so much better. There was kindness in this world, contrary to what he’d once believed, but it was never meant for him. The pity, however… that was real. “You are so lost.”

  Arden swallowed. “Yes, sir.” He couldn’t bring himself to call Eric master again. It felt like a betrayal and it had taken his heart too long to detach itself from the need to have Eric fulfill that role.

  If the vampire noticed, he wasn’t interested in splitting hairs Arden once would have been punished gravely for. “And if I gave you the opportunity to regain what you’ve lost?”

  Arden searched the vampire’s face in confusion. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve had plenty of time to do some thinking of my own since you’ve been gone,” said Eric. “I have come to the conclusion that your folly was at least partly my own fault.”

  “How do you mean, sir?”

  “You were an exquisite beast. A better killer than
any vampire could hope to be,” Eric murmured, his thumb sweeping gently across Arden’s lips. The touch made him shiver with desire his body had not yet forgotten. “But you were not a vampire. That was my mistake. Treating you as if you were a machine who could be kept in a locked box and exhumed when necessary.”

  The words were closer to an apology than Arden had ever imagined he would receive, but they meant nothing. Not coming from Eric. He was stunned into silence, which Eric seemed to take as hopefulness.

  “You have needs that were not met,” he continued. “As your master, it was my responsibility to meet your every need, and in that, I have only myself to blame.”

  “What are you saying?” Arden asked, afraid to jump to the conclusion he’d once dreamed of so intently.

  “I’m saying that if you will accept the blood, I will make you more than a Puppet,” Eric answered. “You will be my consort. You will serve me both in blood and in my bed.”

  The words sent a shiver down Arden’s spine. How many years had he longed for Eric to want him the way he longed for the vampire? Yet, this victory felt hollow for reasons he couldn’t quite figure out.

  “But you’ve never wanted me that way,” he protested. He was sure he sounded like a fool, but he couldn’t think of anything else.

  Eric’s mouth quirked in amusement. “Perhaps I didn’t know what I wanted until it was taken from me. Even I am not immune to introspection.”

  Arden’s throat felt dry like sandpaper. “What about Prince Lavien?”

  “What about him?” Eric asked flippantly. “He is a means to an end. He has no reason to expect my exclusivity.”

  Arden took a deep breath. This was really happening. The thing he’d always wanted and never even dared to dream of too vividly. Eric wanted him as more than just a Puppet. He wanted him as a consort, and the realization should have been the happiest moment of his life, but it wasn’t.

  He wasn’t sure what he felt. They didn’t make words fit to describe the dizzying array of conflicting and irrational emotions he had started experiencing ever since he’d lost his mortality. He’d hoped that he’d have more of a handle on them with time, but all it had done was exhaust him.