by Danica Avet
Sounds in the hall caught her attention. She looked at the door apathetically. She really didn’t give a shit who walked in her cell. If it was Lucian she’d tear his heart out, she thought with an unexpected ferocity, even while she knew she’d be so glad to see him she’d probably launch herself at him instead.
It wasn’t Lucian. It was Bianca. Not wanting the Oculum to see her beaten, Ruby rose and approached the throne, adopting a lazy pose and bored expression. She knew she didn’t fool the other woman because Bianca smirked knowingly before closing the door behind her. Ruby caught a glimpse of the hallway, which was filled with guards.
Well, so much for overpowering her and breaking out of here, she thought derisively. She cocked an eyebrow at Bianca who just looked smug.
“So, how do you like your new home?” the Oculum said, her voice sweet as she sashayed into the chamber. “It’s quite luxurious, isn’t it? Did you know the third Oculum kept a concubine here? She ended up getting him killed, but it was quite romantic.” She sighed in what was probably meant to be a dreamy fashion, but instead reminded Ruby of a cackling hag. “He had it built to keep her from his army.”
Tired of listening to her talk, Ruby snarled, “What do you want?”
Even though she wasn’t sure how much time had passed, she hadn’t been completely idle. She knew damn well there was no way out other than the door. She’d walked every inch of the room, feeling for loose stones on the floor or secret doors behind the walls, finding nothing. The lack of freedom was eating at her, making her twitch as though her body crawled with ants. It was worse now than when she’d been held in juvie as a kid. She’d deserved her imprisonment then. Ruby hadn’t done anything to deserve being locked away other than inheriting power she never asked for.
The forced isolation was maddening. No one visited her other than the guards who brought her food, but they never spoke. They would just smile and bring a tray or take it away. Any attempt at conversation was ignored. It embarrassed her how many times she’d shouted at the door hoping to have conversation with a guard or someone, but no matter how loud she was, no one answered.
Sometimes, she heard conversations going on in the room with her and, once in a while, she’d see flashes of people walking around. The visions and sounds were similar to the flashbacks she’d experienced since her transition, so she figured these were just stronger echoes of them. Maybe being isolated allowed the visions a better backdrop to play against.
Whatever the case, she was living in an imaginary world where accusations rang like bells. One persistent voice uttered, You’ll tear down the Veil and destroy us all! over and over again, the man’s voice familiar and Ruby suspected the female voice she kept hearing was none other than the woman standing in front of her, though she allowed none of her thoughts to show. If she was correct, Bianca wasn’t only a first-class bitch, she was also a traitor to the Veil and her Council vows.
“You act like you’re unhappy to see me, Chieftain,” Bianca answered Ruby’s rude question with a lilt. Ruby watched her pout. “I thought you’d be glad for the company, especially considering I have such wonderful news!” The woman practically danced in place, her eyes lit with a malicious gleam.
Eyebrow arching in question, Ruby crossed her arms and leaned against her throne. She hated the damn chair. It was gaudy and way too uncomfortable to sit in for long.
Bianca let out an aggrieved sigh. “No curiosity, Chieftain? But this concerns Lucian,” she chirped, her eyes sharpening on Ruby’s slightly hopeful face. “Yes! My dear Lucian is finally coming home...to help plan our wedding,” she finished triumphantly.
Though she tried to keep her face from dropping, Ruby’s heart fell to the floor and Bianca saw it. Her beautiful face was hard and almost ethereal in her spite.
“Yes, Lucian and his parents will be arriving soon to complete the betrothal contract,” Bianca continued, her watchful eyes on Ruby. “Unfortunately, my parents passed many years ago, but Liv—she’s Lucian’s mother—has always looked at me as her daughter, and she’s already begun planning the guest list. Don’t you just love weddings?”
Fighting the pit of anger and pain churning in her gut, Ruby held her head high and tried for a droll tone. “Oh, I hate weddings. There’s nothing worse than watching a woman fake being virtuous and a groom pretend he didn’t spend the night before laying everything he could find.”
Bianca’s nostrils flared and her eyes screamed a warning just before she hissed, “Fri!” and Ruby’s entire body froze in place. Unable to move anything but her eyes, Ruby watched the smaller woman approach, trying not to show any emotion. But at least she finally had an answer as to exactly what Bianca was: a witch, not just in personality but also in profession.
“You’re disgusting,” Bianca hissed, her hard blue eyes blazing with hate. “Did you really think he’d lower himself to have a relationship with you? He used your body to get you here and just like the little tramp you are, you followed with your tail between your legs,” she spat at Ruby. “You were never more than a mercy fuck, Ruby.”
With that said, Bianca whirled around and sauntered to the door. “Don’t worry, Chieftain. Once your usefulness has ended, you’ll be free to leave. In a nice pine box. So many accidents happen to newly transitioned Veilerians. It’s such a shame,” she threw over her shoulder as she left the room.
The paralysis finally wore off and Ruby gingerly moved her limbs, not thinking about Bianca’s hateful words. However, they struck so close to home and her constant fears of being undesirable that they echoed in her brain. Because it was true.
She’d allowed herself to be seduced into Council’s hands. If Lucian had really wanted her and bonded with her as he said he had, then he would’ve been here when she was first imprisoned. But he hadn’t been here. After their argument, he’d disappeared.
Resolutely, Ruby pushed those thoughts away, concentrating instead on the last part of Bianca’s dialogue. She didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out Bianca would return to kill her. The Instinct, always prevalent when Bianca was near, was clamoring for her to run, but she had nowhere to run to. She was locked away like some dumb ass princess in a fairy tale tower and she’d let it happen.
Hours later, Ruby sat on her throne glaring at the door and trying to think up a plan for escape when a loud thump sounded from somewhere behind the walls. Startled, she tried to place the direction the sound came from, but it echoed, making the origin impossible to pinpoint.
She stood and braced herself. Maybe Bianca had decided a slow death would ruin her revenge and enlisted something to kill Ruby in some horrible manner. “Shut up.” Since the morning she found Julius, the imagination she’d thought nonexistent had become quite formidable. And she was talking to herself.
Thump, thump, thud! She walked the edge of the room, trying to locate the sound.
Scrape.
Whispered curses.
Clang!
Ruby jumped away from the wall next to the bathroom. The sounds were coming from right behind the bathtub and they were growing closer.
While she watched, several of the tiles began to tremble, the grout falling from their creases and crumbling to the bathtub. They rattled softly as another loud thud sounded and then they jumped off the wall.
Ruby covered her head reflexively and listened to the thumping grow louder. She lowered her arms to see a sledgehammer come out of the wall, loosening more tiles and sending dust flying all over the room.
“Dammit, you guys are useless at this!”
“Give me the damned sledgehammer, you crazy bitch,” a very deep voice said from somewhere on the other side of the wall.
“Over my dead body! You don’t have the upper body strength I do,” a third voice snarled as the sledgehammer wrecked through the tiles again.
“You’re making so much noise, the whole damn mansion is gonna know we’re here,” the deep voice said again.
“Will you two shut up? We’re almost there.” The fir
st voice hissed, though the sledgehammer continued pounding.
“I swear, if you don’t get your hand off my ass and stop pushing me, I’m gonna split your wig!”
“Girls, if you don’t stop, I’m gonna split both your wigs!” the third voice said again with quiet dignity.
Ruby gurgled with laughter. There were three women pounding at her bathroom wall. One of the voices sounded vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place it. She just watched in stunned disbelief as the sledgehammer completely broke through the stone, creating a hole.
The sledgehammer was withdrawn, and a face peeked out at her. The young woman had large brown eyes, a snub nose, and wide lips that stretched into a broad smile. “Hiya, cuz, we’re here to get you out.”
“Isola, if you don’t get out of my way, I’m going to snatch your head bald!” Ruby recognized the third voice now, watching as Bretina popped up in Isola’s place.
“Ruby,” she breathed, her brown eyes glancing over the entire room. “Are you alone?”
Ruby laughed loudly. “Bretina, I never thought I’d be so glad to see someone in all my life!”
“As much as I love a happy ending, we need to get our asses in gear, ladies,” the deep voice said, and Ruby peered through the hole to see a very large woman behind the other two women. “Hey, sweetie. We’ll just pull you through.”
Ruby didn’t even hesitate. The Instinct wasn’t giving her any warnings, and the love she saw reflected in Bretina’s face was enough to have her crawling through the hole. It was a tight fit and all four of them grunted trying to get Ruby through the opening.
“Got some hips on her, she does,” the woman with the deep voice said, straining mightily.
Ruby flew through the hole and pitched headfirst into Deep Voice, and it was then that Ruby realized the third woman was a man. The squish of false breasts against hers and the stubble on the chin catching her hair all pointed to the fact. But since the man was with her grandmother, Ruby barely gave it any thought, though she was extremely careful getting to her feet.
She helped the man-woman to her feet and looked around. They were in some kind of hidden passage filled with dust, cobwebs, and squeaking rats. Ruby couldn’t have been happier.
Once she was on her feet, Bretina crushed Ruby to her chest in a rough hug. “I knew I’d have to rescue you,” she said, her voice slightly strained. Ruby suspected the former queen was fighting tears, but when they pulled apart, there was no trace of them on her face.
“This is fabu, really, but we need to get out of here now,” the man-woman said chidingly.
“Oh, shut it, Rosetta,” Isola snapped, wiping at a tear in the corner of her eye. “Can’t you see they’re reunited and it feels so good?”
Rosetta reached out and slapped the back of Isola’s head. Isola responded by snatching Rosetta’s wig off and throwing it down the corridor. Rosetta screeched, launching herself at Isola. The two of them tumbled around the hallway while Ruby and Bretina walked towards freedom.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Three nights after Ruby was taken to the safe house, Lucian paused in the act of infiltrating a window on Malachi’s estate. It’d taken him nearly the entire time to locate the Eturian leader’s hideout, and now that the hour was at hand, Lucian was concerned. The entire exercise had been far too easy, he thought, his senses searching out for some sign that he’d been detected. Everything was still, though he felt as though there was a presence waiting somewhere in the massive house.
This last assignment was making him jumpy, he decided, as he silently dropped to the floor of the study. Bianca had assured him this would be the last job he’d do for a long time. Knowing he was removing a threat from his mate made Lucian feel exonerated. In five months, Bianca’s term would be up and he’d take over. He would be Oculum, and he’d have his luscious Chieftain mate at his side. Life was looking up. If he could convince her he did care about her.
“You’re late,” Malachi’s voice growled at Lucian from the darkness.
Lucian tensed and prepared himself for a fight. His sharp eyes took in the shadowed room, noting it wasn’t as lavishly decorated as he thought Malachi’s home would be. It was, in fact, very similar to his childhood home, he realized with a start. Lucian’s father had a very similar desk and the seating arrangement was almost the exact same.
When Malachi didn’t appear, Lucian kept quiet, hoping the Eturian leader would give away the name of his spy. Bianca may have sent him to kill Malachi, but the other Councilors wanted to know who the mole was in their camp. No one had shared their suspicions with Lucian, but he thought it might be one of the Elite guards.
“Well, are you coming in or not? Dammit, I don’t have time for this!” Malachi sounded agitated, a state Lucian hadn’t seen him in since they were kids. He finally saw the shape of Malachi as he paced back and forth in front of the empty fireplace. “You promised me that this would end when Julius was dead. He’s dead now, and I want the girl.”
Lucian nearly growled at the thought of his Ruby in the hands of Malachi. Someone had promised her to Malachi for the previous Chieftain’s death. Lucian was going to destroy them.
At Lucian’s continued silence, Malachi growled and stopped pacing to grab the mantle. His shoulders slumped. “I can’t keep doing this, aya. I can’t keep hurting my neighbors. I want to live in peace, dammit. Nearly two hundred years of pretending to hate them, of fighting against my brother!”
Aya. Lucian froze at the term of endearment. There was only one person both he and Malachi knew as aya, and that was Bianca. She’d somehow coerced Malachi into forming the Eturi? Impossible. No doubt Malachi had formed the band and forced Bianca to aid him in some way. But she’d never said anything. Why, Lucian asked himself. Why hadn’t she ever told him their childhood playmate was forcing her to help him? Unless that wasn’t the case. Suddenly, nothing was as clear as he’d believed it to be just five minutes earlier.
“Bianca! Answer me!” Malachi thundered, whirling around and advancing on Lucian’s shadowed hiding place.
Determined to get some answers, Lucian stood, stepping into a shaft of moonlight. Malachi abruptly halted, his face draining of color.
“She finally did it,” Malachi whispered. He let out a loud laugh. “That bitch finally did it. She sent you to finish me off!”
Lucian betrayed no surprise. If Malachi knew he was here to kill him, it meant this was something he’d either been expecting for some time, or something he’d been threatened with. Deciding what was true required Lucian to play his cards very close to his chest.
“I see you had no trouble getting in, Luc,” Malachi said conversationally, crossing his arms over his chest. “Did you damage any of my guards?”
“You’re the only one who attacks innocents, Malachi.”
Malachi let out another bark of laughter. “She’s got you completely fooled, doesn’t she? Sweet little Bianca, so fragile and beautiful no one suspects her of anything nefarious. Poor Luc, if you’re not careful, you’ll be marrying a little witch who makes a twelfth level demon look like a baby.”
Lucian frowned. “You’re operating under a misconception, Malachi. We’re not getting married. I’ve bonded to the Chieftain,” he said with relish.
“No!” Malachi’s shout caught Lucian off guard. “That isn’t possible! You mated my queen!”
“Your queen? I hate to disappoint you, Malachi, but you have to be a king before you can have a queen. Besides, Ruby is mated to me, and once I take my place on Council, we’ll be married.” Even as Lucian enjoyed a certain smug satisfaction at the devastation on Malachi’s face, he couldn’t deny he was worried Ruby might prefer to kick his ass rather than marry him, but Malachi didn’t need to know that.
“I don’t believe this!” Malachi nearly howled, his voice echoing around the room. “First, you take my inheritance, then you take Bianca, and now you’re taking Ruby! Dammit, little brother, can’t you just get something on your own instead of taking it from me first?
”
Lucian’s stoic expression finally melted away and he growled. “You’re no brother of mine and everything I’ve had, I’ve earned.” With the exception of Bianca, he thought idly. Bianca had jumped in his bed not long before Malachi became the Eturi leader.
Malachi laughed long and hard at that. “I’m guessing dear old mom never told you the truth. How like her,” he sneered. He strode forward, unbuttoning his shirt, revealing a portion of his chest. “Is this enough proof for you, little brother?”
There, on Malachi’s right pectoral muscle, was a birthmark in the shape of a bird. Lucian put his hand on the identical mark on his hip. It wasn’t possible, he thought in disbelief. He stared at Malachi, noting that though Malachi wasn’t as tall or broad as Lucian, he greatly resembled Bernard. The same brown eyes, their mother’s eyes, looked back at Lucian with a mixture of anger, hurt, and regret.
“How?” Lucian whispered. Malachi had grown up with him. They were only a year or two apart in age and there had never been even a hint they were brothers.
Malachi crossed the room to pour a tumbler of brandy. With an inquiring glance at Lucian, he offered him a measure before pouring the same generous amount for himself. He carried the drinks back, handing one to Lucian and then seating himself on the edge of the desk.
“My father was a level nine demon who worked for the Ravenswaay’s. I’m guessing mum got bored one day and, voila, six months later, I came along. Your dad wasn’t really bothered by it. He had an arrangement with some dryad two towns over. My dad left before I was born, so I became one of the servant’s kids by the time you came along. Livy never acknowledged me and she probably would’ve sent me to the Guardian Guild before we grew older, but your father thought I’d be a good playmate for you.” Malachi shrugged, his voice completely emotionless.
“When Bianca finally came home from boarding school the last time I was on leave, I asked her to marry me. Livy heard and had a hissy. Bianca was groomed to be your bride even though we’d, uh, had relations quite a few times.” He coughed modestly. Malachi shot Lucian a look that demanded a response.