by A. K. Koonce
I suppose I didn’t blind our queen.
And she didn’t blind me. For now.
But something else is pulling at my confused attention. The taming device is locked in place over Sin’s dark hair. He sits at my side while Chaos vacantly strokes my hair.
Sinister sits here talking to me while the other two shifters pace slowly back and forth at the front of my cell.
“She couldn’t tame you?” I skim my fingers along the metal halo around the demon’s head.
Long fingers wrap around my wrist, and he kisses my hand, pressing his lips softly to my skin.
“Fuck no, she couldn’t tame me. I’m a demon, not a pet.”
I feel his smile along my flesh and shove against the floor and wrap myself in his arms. He holds me to his chest, letting me breathe in the warm cinnamon scent of him that I had completely forgotten until now. Everything that’s been pent up inside me crashes out on a tumbling breath.
He never lets me go. Even as I tremble in his arms, he takes it. He takes every sobbing breath and every quiet tear that slips down my cheeks.
“You’re all right, love. We’re here.” He pauses and looks at the shell of a shifter at his side. “Sort of.”
I cry harder at that, and he holds me more firmly to his chest, stroking over my hair until I finally quiet, catching my breath but still melding myself to his hard body.
He’s strong. He’s the physical symbol of strength. I need that. I need them here to make me feel stronger than I really am.
“She’s going to take Minden. She’s going to destroy anything in her path until she gets what she thinks she’s owed. And she’s going to use us to get it.”
His palms press lower down my back, and I skim my hands higher, caressing the hard muscle of his chest, biceps, and shoulders.
“No one’s ever going to use you. These three might not have a logical thought in their head—I’m going to pretend like I haven’t been thinking that for a long time—but even their beasts care for you, Arrie.”
I narrow my eyes on him and his sneaky comment, and it only makes him smile more. His smile, his dimples, they make me weak. They make me forget all the terrible things in our lives right now.
Big arms slip around me, gripping firmly under my thighs and back before tearing me away from the demon. Chaos pulls me right back to him, cradling me to his broad chest. He stands, glancing down at Sinister for just a moment before walking me across the little room to the farthest spot in the corner, and there he lowers himself, shifting me in place until I’m held affectionately to his body.
I hover my hands over his shoulders, barely touching him because I remember the way Rime’s dragon reacted to me at first.
Chaos’ sweet beast is the opposite. He just wanted to mark his territory, it seems, rub his prize in Sinister’s face, and all but hike his leg and piss on me with pride.
It’s both ridiculous and adorable all at the same time.
The light around his head illuminates his beautiful two-tone eyes. One blue and one brown. Both as beautiful as the man staring down on me. They hold warm affection in them, and he studies me curiously for several seconds.
Then he tips his head back on the bars and closes his eyes, pressing me to his chest even while he eventually slips off to sleep.
A deep ache blooms through me. I lower my head and rest against his strong body, watching Rime and Kain prowl around the room.
This is our lives now?
What if…what if we’re like this for literally the rest of our lives?
A breath shakes through me. I-I could handle that. I could figure it out. We could make it work.
“Rime?”
He halts the moment I say his name. It’s progress. Really slow, really painful progress.
“Come here. Rest.” I nod toward where Chaos and I are seated.
Chaos tips his head up, and the two of them stare at each other for several moments.
It surprises me that Chaos is the tamest right now. He feels our bond in a different way, I think. It’s as if there’s no doubt in his dragon’s mind that he and I fit better when we’re together.
Rime, on the other hand, he took time.
And Kain, Kain once told me his dragon liked its life more than Kain liked his. What if his dragon is too different? What if it doesn’t recognize me at all?
Rime takes a single step. He’s slow to come to me. He’s slow to trust. But he does trust me. He loves me. I know his dragon feels that.
It only confirms it when he walks right to me. He lowers and sits at Chaos’ side. His longer fingers skim up my calf, and for a second, I think he might feel his way all the way up.
He doesn’t, though. His palm covers my knee, brushing his thumb back and forth along my smooth skin. The seriousness of his pale eyes drift to where he’s touching me, and there’s a sadness in his eyes I haven’t seen since we got here.
With him seeing Chaos so controlled, I think it makes him understand his own imprisonment a little more. Realization of what you’ve ignored can be a painful thing.
It’s even more painful to watch someone you love experience that pain.
I slip my fingers over his, and his eyes close, his head tilting back like he, too, just wants to shut the world out for a little while.
“Kain?”
When I look up at him, I find the shifter halted in his tracks, watching the three of us with confusion in his eyes.
“Sit with me, Kain.” I curl my index finger and motion him over with a gentle tone.
His wide shoulders are stiff, and he looks at me with a hard gaze.
He…doesn’t recognize me. The others felt our bond. The others have felt me inside and out. The others know every part of me.
Kain doesn’t.
That’s why it stuns me when he strides right to me. The dark brick meets his jeans, and he kneels in front of me. A possessive palm slides over my stomach, and my muscles there jump beneath his touch. I tip my chin up to him the moment he’s close enough. He kisses me so hard it steals the breath in my lungs.
I don’t dare push him away. I want him to remember me. I want him to feel the connection that’s so faint inside me that I feel like I’m grasping at something I never even had.
He pushes me back until I’m pinned between his chest and Chaos’ while Rime’s hand finally does drift slowly higher. It feels wrong and right all at the same time. Even as his tongue spears my lips and he takes control of the kiss like every part of me belongs to him.
And then I feel it. Something inside me coils to life, blooming through my soul, my core; even my mind flutters with this feeling.
It’s our bond. It’s a consuming feeling that only becomes more dominant the longer he kisses me, biting my lip until I whimper against his mouth.
I tighten my fingers into his shirt. The moment I pull him harder against me, he jerks back. Green, hooded eyes study me intently, his fingers trailing along the shape of my face for several seconds. He looks at me differently but the same. His palms wrap around my thighs, and when he yanks me away from the other two shifters, I gasp. He carries me across the room, his gaze sweeping suspiciously toward Sinister who sits with a cocked brow, watching us vividly like he’s at a lovely day at the theater.
“I’m not a threat. Just a fly on the wall. Don’t hurt your toy, though. She’s…fragile. Fragile,” Sinister repeats with emphasis in case Kain didn’t understand the first time.
Kain doesn’t look at the demon again, but he lays me down with a new gentleness. His big body weights over me, pressing into me just slightly before he pulls me firmly onto his chest. The shifter doesn’t do anything aggressive. If anything, it feels like a show of claim from the alpha male to the others.
Silence settles in, and his breathing becomes an even sound that fills my ears while I rest my head against his chest. An hour goes on like that, but I can’t sleep.
“You think they’ll really do all the things Ellise instructs them to?” Sinister’s question i
s a low hum of words that skim the darkness.
“I don’t know,” I whisper back.
I consider all the people Ellise is willing to hurt to get the things she feels she’s deserved. But it won’t just be her who irreversibly harms others.
It’ll be my mates.
It’ll be me.
Nine
Fire Face
The following morning is stranger by far.
Sinister stands vacantly with the other three men, and he…mimics them. I try to focus on the droning voice of Ellise, but my attention keeps drifting toward the demon with the halo device on his head. He doesn’t meet my gaze; he stands with his hands held behind his back, his attention emptily staring off like the wall on the far side of the room is the most fascinating thing he’s ever seen.
“Arlow, this is important.” Ellise exhales a heavy sigh, her fingers picking at an imaginary piece of lint on her flawless blue gown. “You wanted your mates, and I brought them for you. Try to seem appreciative and try to act like you’re the mage I’ve sacrificed everything for just to get you into the power I always knew you were capable of.” Her cutting gaze narrows on me, lips set in a line so thin they’re nearly nonexistent.
It’s hard for me not to laugh in her face at every word she just said. As if my mates being here isn’t going to benefit her. As if everything she put me through, isn’t for her. She’s a bigger liar than I am.
But I do manage not to laugh.
I even have the control to appear chastised.
“I am incredibly appreciative. Thank you, my queen.”
Maybe it’s a tie on who is the better liar.
Or maybe Sin beats us both. Because for the past hour, he’s been in total mind-control mode. I chance another peek over at the demon. He passes me a look and at the last minute he winks at me before letting the vacant gaze fall back in place over is beautiful crimson eyes.
“I want to send our men into Minden.” That statement demands all of my attention.
“You want to send my men into Minden?”
I feel her picking apart my every move while she lets a beat of silence drift dramatically through the room before replying.
“Just a couple of them. No need to show all of our cards at once.”
I clench my jaw painfully and force a serene, intrigued tone into my voice. “What will they do there?”
“Attack, of course. We need to send a message. Barron told me he would put our pasts aside. He said we could be two rulers of two kingdoms who will never have to think of the other ever again.” The smile that slices over her face tells me that is not the plan at all. “He hasn’t thought of me for decades. I think it’s time he starts thinking of me. I think it’s time he understands that there may be two kingdoms but there is only one true ruler.”
She’s so fucking crazy that she’s surpassing crazy ex-girlfriend status. She’s entering crazy murdering ex-wife territory.
“Don’t you want to really catch him by surprise, though?” Like after I’ve gotten a message to Aggie maybe? “If you do something today, it’ll ruin our plans for tomorrow.”
She seems to consider this advice. For three seconds. “No, I think I want him afraid. I want him to live his final days in slow, torturous fear.”
Yep, definitely murdering wife territory.
“What if they capture my—our men?”
“I know you’re worried about them, but there’s nothing to worry about. The beasts will never touch down. There are a lot of forgotten oil paintings of a very beautiful queen in the attic of the Minden castle.” Wow, the modesty on this woman is inspiring. “All Kain has to do is light a quick fire there in the dead of night while the staff and His Highness sleeps, and the whole place will come blazing down in a matter of an hour. No magic needed.”
My mother’s in Minden.
What if the fire spreads? What about Linden? What about that sweet maid in the castle? What about all the innocent people who Ellise is just throwing away without a thought?
“I thought you said you needed two of them?”
“The demon will go in case anything happens. The king has demons; we need our own as well. I could send one of my own that I’ve collected but I thought your dragons might take better to someone they trust.”
Kain and Sinister are going to invade Minden, and I’m just sitting here with a stupid fucking smile on my face.
“It won’t take long, darling. They’ll be in and out. They’ll be back within a day. It’s not a long flight.” She comforts me with these fucking words for less than a second and then turns her attention to the men near the door. “Sinister, come here.” She takes a small bite of her eggs and a sip of water before facing the demon who came so obediently. “Sinister, lead Kain into Minden, do you understand?” Her fingers rake down his arm, trailing over the inking lines there like he’s her favorite pet that she loves to use. “Take care of him and protect each other. Okay?”
He doesn’t nod or shake his head, and it only makes her eyes narrow on him.
His jaw spasms just briefly, and when her fingers move to trail back up his forearm, I snatch her wrist in one quick movement. Her head jars toward me with a look of shock in her big green eyes.
“Sinister.” I pull his hand until he’s facing only me, and a faint, cocky smile pulls at the corner of his lips, but it vanishes in the blink of an eye. “Go to Minden for me. Bring Kain back safely for me.” I stand, and his fingers tighten around mine like he wants to say a million things, but he forces himself not to make a sound. “Will you do that for me?” Before he can reply, I press my lips to his.
And he reacts.
His tongue parts my lips, his jaw angling to kiss me even deeper right in front of the one woman who was supposed to tame him.
She’ll never be able to tame Sinister, though.
You can’t make him into something he’s not. And Ellise will figure that out soon enough.
I pull back from him, but he chases my kiss, his tongue still caressing mine in a devouring way before he presses his lips sweetly to mine and takes a step back.
And I’m left breathless. What was I saying before?
“Um, so, yes, go to Minden. For me.”
I can’t help but smile up and him, and he nods to me slowly, his gaze slipping down to my lips before meeting my eyes again.
He walks away from me with stiff, proper posture. Ellise watches the man with closer scrutiny now. Sinister opens the large door, letting in a chilling draught. He holds it open for Kain who slips out without a word, my heart hurting with the thought of what I just sent them off to do.
“Wait.” I rush toward Sinister, and he pauses but doesn’t look at me.
In a crushing hug, I wrap my arms around him, holding him to me like I can keep him here despite what I just told him to do. He doesn’t react. The muscles of his arms are so rigid I can feel the tension in every part of his body.
“Keep him safe. Stay safe,” I whisper against his neck. The breath in my lungs hurts because I know he won’t reply to me. He won’t react at all. But I have to tell him one more thing. One more thing that just puts them in more danger but could save us all in the end. “Find my mother, Sin.” I close my eyes and take a steadying breath that calms the anxiety rising inside me. “Find her and tell her I’m here. Tell her to bring friends.”
I release him. I pivot my heels, my head held high as I pretend not to be completely terrified of what I just sent them out to do.
Now I’m lying to myself as well as everyone else.
It’s late in the evening when I rush to the upper floor that I spotted Split Face on. I should stop calling him these weird names. I should give the demon a more affectionate code name. Divot Face…Crater Face…Fire Face...actually, that last one isn’t too bad. Sounds more menacing than anything.
Fire Face it is.
Rime and Chaos flank my shadow every step of the way, and when I happen upon the demon in his smooth pressed uniform alone in the corridor, I nearly dro
p to my knees and thank the goddess right here and now.
I tap his shoulder, a wide smile spread over my face, and he turns to me, and then I reconsider my prayers.
It isn’t Fire Face.
The demon’s eyes are eclipsed with black pupils in a way I’ve only ever seen Sinister’s when he was…very excited.
It makes me uneasy to see another demon with the same devious look in a different setting.
“You need something, little mage?”
He takes one step forward, and I take a mirroring step back, my shoulders hitting Chaos’ chest with a small thud.
“No. Sorry. Thought you were someone else. Not a demon—not that there’s anything wrong with demons. One of my favorite mates is a demon, so there’s absolutely no discrimination here. I just thought you were some other…non-demonish person…” I end that long excuse with a quiet clearing of my throat.
Black eyes narrow on me, his lips cutting into a slow smile that makes me want to back away quickly rather than the slow careless pace I’m currently walking.
“Shouldn’t draw attention to yourself if you don’t want it, mage.”
His tongue slides across his lips, and I usher Chaos backward with another slow step.
“Or maybe you do want attention.” An inky gaze crawls all over every inch of my body.
Rime and Chaos step past me so fast I nearly fall backward down the stairs. But someone else is quicker.
“I think it’s your break time, Raogh.”
Raogh. It even sounds repulsive.
Then I see him. Fire Face strides forward from down the hall, making his way quickly toward his friend.
“We don’t have breaks, Eugene.” Raogh looks at the other demon with complete confusion shadowing his dark eyes.
Eugene. That doesn’t sound menacing at all. It’s a bit of a letdown really. I think I’ll stick with Fire Face for now.
“Then do a perimeter check.” Fire Face Eugene stands with wide shoulders and a narrowed gaze.
“Perimeter checks are for grunts, halfling demons. I’m a superior.”
“I command you to superiorly check the fucking perimeter. Don’t make me tell you again.”
