Bound: A Vampire Romance (Marked by Night Book 2)

by Sara Thorn

I reached out to hug him, but he backed away quickly as if he were afraid my touch would hurt him.

  “Quinn?” I said nervously. “Are you okay?”

  He looked at me through shaking pupils, and his body looked as though it was struggling to stand. He held his wrists in a position of being bound together, even though there were no cuffs on him. I tried again to reach slowly toward him to show him that everything was okay and that he was okay now and coming with us. But he backed away so abruptly that he tripped and fell on the sprawling puddle of melted iron. He screamed in agony as the liquid iron burned against his skin.

  “Quinn!” I cried as I lunged forward to help him up. But instead of taking my hand, he pushed away farther, making the liquid iron wrap around him more and causing him even more pain.

  “Stop,” Bree said as she saw what was happening and ran forward. “Mara, you need to back away.”

  “What; why?”

  Bree reached down and helped to pull Quinn back up to his feet. She tore the shirt from his back that was drenched in the melted silver metal and used it to wipe off the iron from him anyplace else that it had touched. She reached up to touch his face and look in his eyes. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re going to be fine now.”

  Quinn immediately calmed as he looked into her eyes and let her wrap her hand around his gently so that she could lead him out of the tunnels with us.

  “How did you do that?” I asked as my voice began to sound hysterical. “You don’t even know him. What’s happened to him? Why is he afraid of me?”

  “He can’t see who you are right now,” Bree said. “The shadow magic has distorted him. I can see it in his eyes. He doesn’t even know who he is right now. The only thing he can recognize is that I am a fae and that I will help him. He’ll be okay, I think. He’s obviously very powerful. But you have to trust me that the best thing for him right now is just to be near his people.”

  I nodded as Cassius returned to my side to see what had happened. Tears began to fill my eyes as I watched Bree take Quinn over to the crowd of the newly emancipated fae. They all huddled around him and walked out of the tunnels together.

  I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand as Cassius put one arm around me and dragged Athan beside us with the other.

  Chapter Twelve

  “I would have just killed him,” I said as I held hands with Cassius and walked down the castle stairwell toward the dungeons. “You should have killed him for everything that he has done to us and to so many others.”

  “I know,” Cassius replied. “Trust me when I say that I wanted to.”

  “Then, why didn’t you?”

  “Mara,” he said as he stopped on the steps and turned to face me. “Ever since the day in that room when Athan touched you, I have thought about how I would slowly and agonizingly take him apart to make him pay for what he has done. But I cannot turn into my father; I won’t. My father acted with violence and impulse, and I feel his blood run through me sometimes, too. When I look at Athan, I want to rip his neck apart with my bare teeth, but that is not the kind of man I want to be—not for you. I want to be better than that for you.”

  “You are better than that already,” I said as I touched his face with my fingertips.

  “I will offer Athan one chance at redemption. I will offer him one final kindness that he does not deserve if he will bow down to my rule and swear fealty to my reign. He must agree to abandon his obsession with ridding the world of half-breed vampires and embrace a new way of life. If he does not accept this, then I will leave him in this dungeon to rot slowly and not waste another moment of my mind or soul being taunted by his corruption.”

  I understood what he was doing. I knew why he resisted killing his half-brother now by his own hand. But I wished that it wasn’t for me. I would have preferred to see Athan’s head rolling down the staircase like a stray ball.

  “I do not wish to see him again,” I said. “I’ll wait outside the door.”

  Cassius nodded, and when we had reached the bottom of the stairs and the cell Athan was held in, he kissed my cheek and then went inside to meet with his half-brother.

  I paced the corridor, wishing that just this once Cassius resorted to his carnal impulses and tore Athan limb from limb. I did not pace for long because, in just a few short moments, Cassius stepped out of the room. I looked up at him in anticipation, still hoping that he would tell me how he lost his temper and pummeled Athan’s head into a bloody pulp against the wall.

  “He did not agree,” he said coldly. “And so he will sit chained to that floor, and he will rot until he dies.”

  He took my hand in his as we ascended the stairs again. When we reached the top, Cassius spoke to the guard there. “No one is to take my half-brother anything. He is sentenced to wither and rot in that cell alone. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, Cassius,” the man nodded. “I’ll inform all of the others.”

  “I still wish you would have just killed him,” I said as we walked away.

  “So do I,” he answered.

  “I think you’re more human than you care to admit to sometimes.” I smirked at him.

  “How so?”

  “You’re overly complicated.”

  Cassius threw his head back and laughed. It was so good to hear that sound from his mouth and to know that the dread we had been living under for so long was finally over.

  “So,” I said once we had walked out into the courtyard and saw the mass of humans, vampires, and fae all standing there in a confused yet peaceful mess. “What do we do now?”

  Cassius looked out at everyone, and hundreds of sets of eyes looked back at him. “We build a new and better world.”

  He couldn’t possibly have seemed more noble, more commanding, and more regally humble if he had tried. He talked to each and every one of them in turn as he made his way around the atrium, listening to see if he thought they sounded genuine or if they seemed like they would try to stir chaos. He listened to their concerns and heard their fears, and he spoke to them about what a new kind of world would look like here—one in which vampire, human, and fae could all live in peace as equals. Everyone seemed at least partially vested in the idea, even the vamps. Some of them were more resistant to change than others, but by listening to them, it sounded like most of the vampires had no particular allegiance to Athan or his pure-blooded cause. They were simply just living in fear right along with the fae. There would definitely be some tensions to get over and some mistakes to forgive, and there would need to be a whole lot of trust and cooperation, but it could work. And if anyone could preside over such a new beginning and make it successful, it was Cassius.

  As I looked on, I noticed Bree come into the courtyard with Quinn. I hadn’t seen either one of them since we had returned to the castle. I walked up to them timidly, not knowing what to expect and not wanting to do anything to cause Quinn further suffering. But I was delighted when he wrapped his arms around me to hug me. I wrapped arms right back around him, too, and clasped my hands together behind his back.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said quietly beside my ear.

  I squeezed him tighter. “I’ve missed you, too,” I said. I felt myself getting ready to cry again.

  When he let me go, I looked at him, and although he still had some healing scars around his neck, he looked better. His hands were gloved, though, so I couldn’t see if the purple discoloration was still there. I touched his gloved fingers.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

  I reached to pull up his sleeve a little to see if the purple was still there, but he put his hand over mine to stop me.

  “Is it still there?” I asked with a furrowed brow. “The damage from the shadow magic?”

  Quinn nodded but tried to smile. “It’s better not to look at it,” he said.

  I hated that something was still wrong with him. I wanted to find a way to fix it.

  Bree left us to talk alone and went to joi
n the others, while Quinn and I sat down on the courtyard steps together.

  “You were the raven, weren’t you?” I asked. “I could see you in my dreams.”

  “Yes,” he answered. “Athan made me shapeshift and sent me to scour the land to find the two of you.”

  “And did you?” I asked.

  He grinned. “Yeah, almost as soon as you had left his dwelling. I knew that you were inside the hollowed alcove of that ancient tree.”

  “But you never told him that you found us?”

  “Of course not.” Quinn looked sadly down at his covered hands for a moment before he continued, “Mara, you may not feel the same way about me, or maybe you do but just not as strongly as you feel for Cassius, but I will always protect you.”

  His words felt like daggers shoved into my heart. He had endured his pain and suffering alone, and I had abandoned him to it while all the while, he still continued to watch over and protect me.

  “In my dream, there was something wrong,” I said. “I can’t put my finger on what it was, but the feeling still haunts me. Something happened to you, and it was dreadful. What kinds of things did Athan have you use your shadow magic for?”

  “I’d rather not talk about it,” he said. “No good can come of sharing the awful things he forced me to endure.”

  “But is there anything that is going to plague you as a result of it? Besides purple fingertips?” I asked.

  Quinn tried to change the subject, but I wasn’t ready to let go of my question yet.

  “I’ve taken Bree under my wing,” he said, avoiding having to address my concern entirely. “She reminds me a lot of Sen. She has a good heart, and she’s got some crazy-good talents. I’m going to mentor and tutor her in some of the types of magic.”

  “Please tell me that doesn’t mean shadow magic,” I said.

  “No,” Quinn chuckled. “She definitely couldn’t handle that. But she seems very open to many types of magic and things that some of the other fae shun. I think I can help appease her curiosity and grow her abilities. With the proper guidance, she could become quite a force to be reckoned with. Plus, she also seems a bit beguiled by me, so there’s that.”

  I laughed. “You deserve to have someone wonderful,” I said.

  “I want you,” Quinn said bluntly as he looked up at me and wrapped his glove hand around my fingers in my lap.

  “Quinn, I—”

  “Quinn! Glad to see that you are feeling better,” Cassius said as he walked toward our spot on the steps.

  I pulled my hand out from under Quinn’s glove and stood up. “He’s decided to guide Bree in her magical practice,” I said with a congenial smile.

  “Excellent, I can’t think of a better man to do it. Perhaps the two of you can lead the new arrangement on the fae side of things,” Cassius said. “I thought maybe we could gather a couple of emissaries from each of the distinct groups to form a sort of council where we can discuss matters important to our people.”

  “That sounds like a great idea,” Quinn said. “I would gladly be a part of that.”

  “Excellent. For now, please know that you are all welcome to stay in the castle for as long as you’d like.”

  Cassius was being extremely hospitable to Quinn, and I wasn’t sure if he was just trying to keep Quinn close to watch over him, or if he had forgotten about the fact that Quinn had attempted to seduce me while we were back in Boston. Either way, I was glad to see Cassius seemed fulfilled and at ease.

  Everyone was planning to stay at the castle for a few days before heading back to their various homelands. The fae would go back into the forest that they had missed so desperately during their imprisonment under Athan, the humans would stay in the castle until they developed a plan for where they would like to settle on Mystreuce, and the vampires would be going back to the underground caverns, using the help of the fae to keep the sunlight at bay while they traveled.

  Cassius wanted to bring the people together, so he had spoken with the vampires about expanding the underground tunnels between his old dwelling and Athan’s to make one larger commune beneath the surface. Then, he said he would help them to finish the structures above ground that would also let them come and go on the surface as they pleased.

  Bree and Quinn would stay at the castle for longer than the rest, to talk about how things should best be handled as the power over Mystreuce transferred peacefully to Cassius.

  “The land of Mystreuce has its own energy, much like its own spirit,” Quinn said one evening as the four of us were sitting around the table, talking together and drinking crisp glasses of sweet, white wine. “When Athan ruled, Mystreuce was unbalanced. The entirety of the natural world felt it. Now that you have taken rulership, the land will bow to you. And will, assumedly, be happier about it than it was under Athan.

  “You talk about the land as if it is a person,” I said.

  “Not a person per se, but definitely a soul,” Quinn responded. “When a rightful ruler presides over Mystreuce, the power in the supernatural world strengthens. Everything of magical and supernatural origin will become stronger. Even the humans here will notice it, even though they are not of this world. They will notice that their gardens are fuller, the air they breathe is crisper, the sound of the falling rains more melodic; even their own human intuitions will be heightened.”

  “It sounds lovely,” I smiled as I took another sip of wine.

  “Lovely, yes. But also very powerful.”

  “Is that a bad thing?” I asked.

  Quinn had a sterner face than I had seen before. Perhaps it was the lighting or the wine, but the shadows that fell across his face seemed darker than usual, and the gloved hand that held the stem of his wineglass seemed for a moment, intimidating.

  “Power is never a bad thing,” he said as he looked intently at me.

  “We will have a crowning ceremony in a few days,” Cassius said as he interrupted the strange exchange of glances between Quinn and me. “And then let the power saturate us all.”

  The small incidences started almost unnoticeably so. A brush up against each other that seemed too close while passing in the hallway, a stare that lingered too long and made me feel uncomfortable, but when the small occurrences became bigger, Cassius started to notice, too.

  “I don’t like how he looks at you,” Cassius said as I lay against his shoulder in bed.

  “Who?” I asked, knowing perfectly well who he meant already.

  “Quinn. He’s changed now, bolder than he used to be. And he looks at you with longing in his eyes.”

  “It doesn’t matter how he looks at me,” I said. “I don’t ever return the sentiment.”

  “It matters to me,” he said as he rested his chin against my head.

  I tilted my head up toward him to press my lips against his. “You know that I love you,” I said softly.

  “I know,” Cassius replied before climbing over me and slowly pushing his tongue into my mouth.

  ***

  The next morning, I couldn’t shake what Cassius had said. After a sensual night making love together, I should not have woken in the morning to a lingering heaviness about Quinn. Maybe it did matter to me the way he was acting, and maybe the unknown reason of why it mattered made me nervous.

  Cassius was busy talking with David and some of the other humans about where they might want to settle. Bree was with them as well to offer the help of the fae in getting them started off. When I saw Quinn down one of the hallways, I walked straight over to him. It was time to figure out what was really going on.

  “Hey,” I said as I strolled up to him.

  The exterior hallway he was standing in had long windows that opened to the outside. Quinn was just standing there, looking out the window at the hillside surrounding the castle.

  “Hey,” he said as he turned around to smile at me. “I was just admiring the view. This castle Cassius has here is pretty nice.”

  “Yeah,” I said as I skipped right ahead to what I wan
ted to talk to him about. “Quinn, why are you acting differently?”

  “How so?”

  “You know what I’m talking about. Cassius can see it, too. You’re much more…forward than before. And I thought that I made it pretty clear how I felt. I care about you a lot. But my heart belongs with Cassius.”

  “Does it, though?” he asked.

  “What?”

  “Does your heart really belong with Cassius?”

  I was too flustered to repeat my answer to that question.

  “I think you care for me more than you’ll let yourself feel,” Quinn said as he stepped closer to me.

  “That’s not true,” I said nervously as I took a step backward.

  “Okay, then let’s test it.”

  “No, I don’t need to prove anything to you.” I was starting to get mad at him for acting so obstinate about this.

  “That’s true; you don’t. But I think you need to prove something to yourself. You stand still, right where you are right now, without moving, and I’m going to stand closer to you,” he said.

  “What in the world is that supposed to prove?” I asked, bewildered.

  “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” He got ready to step toward me again.

  “This is ridiculous,” I said as my heart started to race faster. “I don’t need to do this.”

  “I’ll make you a deal,” he said. “You stand there without moving for the count of three, barely even a few seconds long, and when you’re finished, I’ll let you take off my gloves.”

  “What?”

  “I know it’s been bothering you. You want to see how my hands look, don’t you?”

  He was right; I did. I nodded.

  “Okay then, three seconds and you can take off the gloves when we’re through.”

  I rolled my eyes at how childish this was. But I really did want to see what had happened to his hands, so I agreed. “Fine,” I said. “Three seconds.”

  “I’ll count,” he said.

  I planted my feet firmly against the ground and pressed my left hand up against the side of the wall to be sure that I didn’t accidentally move and have to restart this absurd game. Quinn stepped forward until his body was pressed against mine. I felt his chest against my breasts and the bulge between his legs pushed gently against my pelvis. His face was so close to me that I felt his lips move against the top of mine as he counted and his breathe swept gently across my face and into my slightly parted lips.