Shadow's Seduction

by Kresley Cole

  Everyone was here. Mirceo's uncles Viktor, Stelian, and Trehan. Even Balery. Was Elizabeth's expression pensive? Lothaire's red gaze seemed even eerier than usual.

  Mirceo yelled at Lothaire, "What the fuck have you done?"

  Lothaire laughed, a full-throated sound that carried through the court, wrapping around each of them like chains. "Whatever I please, boy. One of the perks of being a king."

  And all the world went red. . . .

  THIRTY-TWO

  Take a job or go crazy. Take a job or go crazy.

  For a male who despised being hemmed in, Cas's entire life had come down to two options. So he'd taken a job.

  After ten days of work and a successful bounty, he returned to the Red Flag to select his next mission. Inside, the usual crowd drank. Leyak hummed while he wiped down the bar.

  Cas crossed to the completed board to pin up his cashed-in bounty, unable to stop himself from glancing around the tavern with a tiny spark of hope.

  No Mirceo. The vampire was doubtless back to form, enjoying the shadow life, nailing everything that moved.

  He'd expected this separation to send his demonic instincts raging out of control, but far more than instinct was at work here. It seemed Cas's tenderness toward Mirceo influenced everything. Rage and aggression had morphed into raw grief.

  Cas could try to move on. Find a demoness and start siring pups. But he only wanted the vampire. When Mirceo had fled that morning, he'd taken Cas's heart with him.

  Cas had traced from the palace directly to the beach bungalow, then remained there for almost two days, praying to all the gods that the vampire would realize his mistake.

  Over that time, he'd imagined Mirceo begging for forgiveness and vowing that he could handle an eternal commitment--oh, and that he wouldn't vomit at the thought of fucking only Cas for the rest of his life.

  Then he'd realized Mirceo wasn't coming for him. And luckily he couldn't find the vampire; else Cas would've stalked after him like a lovelorn fool.

  He exhaled a defeated breath. Take a job or go crazy.

  Leyak called, "Caspion, a word."

  "Yeah." He traced to the bar, hoping the old hunter wouldn't grill him again about Mirceo. The last time, Cas had said only, "The vampire played with my head." But his anger over Mirceo's machinations and scheming had swiftly faded. If the two of them hadn't been mates, maybe his resentment would've lasted. Yet they were mates. Everything had led them together. . . .

  Leyak poured him a mug of brew. "How're you hanging in there?"

  "Been better." Cas would own his part in his and Mirceo's rift. If he had derived any wisdom--or discipline--from all the years he'd lived, he would've disappeared from the vampire's life for ten decades.

  But Cas had been too weak to leave. Instead, he'd laid all of the choice, all of the burden, on such a young male. Then Cas had been shocked when Mirceo bolted in a panic?

  That morning, the vampire's claw marks had studded his own chest. To judge by its beat, Mirceo's heart must've been on the verge of exploding. Cas understood that panic--he'd experienced the same when he'd rashly fled Dacia all those years ago, risking his own execution. But at that age, rash had felt right.

  So it would with Mirceo.

  Trying not to sound desperate, Cas asked, "I don't suppose he stopped by?"

  "As a matter of fact, he came in a few times asking after you, wanting your location. Searched for you too."

  Damn this surge of hope! "And?"

  "He was here a couple of days ago, looking haunted-eyed and miserable."

  Cas had pictured Mirceo, smirk in place, fucking and biting partners with abandon. Instead, the prince had been miserable? That shouldn't make Cas happy. But it did. A smile crossed his face. "Did he say if he was coming back?"

  "Dunno. He saw something on the bounty wall and he . . . reacted."

  "What do you mean?"

  Leyak scratched one of his scuffed horns. "I mean, he dropped to his knees, roared in pain, and vomited blood. Which I will never get out of the floor."

  Cas's claws dug into the bar. "What did he see?"

  "I didn't catch the specific poster, but he didn't take it down or anything. Just teleported from here like a bat out of hell."

  Cas traced to the board, scanning the bounties. His breath left him when a familiar portrait snared his attention. He'd once viewed that same likeness while sitting atop the tower of a mortal bridge.

  Mina. My sister-by-fate . . .

  REWARD:

  Missing!

  Name: Princess Kosmina

  Species: Vampire

  Last seen: New Orleans riverfront, setting of the hunter's moon

  Hair: Long, light blond

  Eyes: Blue

  Height: 5'5"

  Reward: Fathomless

  Offered by King Lothaire, the Enemy of Old

  My sister! Cas yanked the poster down, rereading the details. The hunter's moonset? That'd been right when--

  Dear gods, Mirceo had sensed his beloved sister was in danger!

  Cas traced back to the bar. Holding up the poster, he demanded, "How did this get here?"

  Leyak shook his head. "Came in through the usual channels."

  I've got to get to Dacia. To Mirceo. His eyes narrowed. For a male who revered choice, Cas had only one option.

  THIRTY-THREE

  The Dacianos--Viktor, Stelian, Trehan, and Mirceo--were back in the court, awaiting the king and queen, and a lead that might help them find Mina. Days had passed without a sign of her. Even Balery couldn't get a read on her.

  "You need to drink, nephew." Viktor sat on the edge of the throne dais, using a blade to clean his claws. "Or you'll never heal."

  Mirceo limped as he paced back and forth across the court. He hadn't had a drop of blood since learning of Mina's disappearance. No intake meant Mirceo was slow to regenerate from Lothaire's beating the other day.

  After Mirceo had demanded to know what the king had done, Lothaire had steepled his fingers, his black claws glinting. His deep voice had resonated as he'd said, "I sent Kosmina out into the world." He'd shrugged. "And damn if I haven't misplaced her."

  Consumed with wrath, Mirceo had attacked the ancient vampire. Half-feral Lothaire had relished the opportunity to thrash someone, laughing as he'd broken Mirceo's bones.

  It'd taken all of the Dacianos to pry Lothaire off of him. Mirceo's jaw had been so mangled he hadn't been able to tell anyone about his skirmish with the Forbearers, instead having to write out his suspicion: Forbearers took her. Exchange for Kristoff.

  Lothaire had led the Dacianos in an incursion on that order's castle. Yet there'd been no sign of Mina. Fortunately Lothaire had an asset, a prisoner they could torture for information. Today they were supposed to learn the findings. . . .

  Stelian swigged from his flask. "What is taking the red-eyed bastard so long?"

  Though Mirceo wanted to murder Lothaire for sending Mina out, he berated himself just as much for not being here for her. He'd planned to talked to the king about keeping Mina close, but Mirceo had gotten so caught up in his own life that he'd let her down.

  He'd lost the only things in his life that mattered, and in both instances, he'd deserved to.

  Trehan checked his watch. "I'm due in Abaddon to meet Bettina. I must leave anon." He frowned at Mirceo's mottled face. "None of this need ever have happened."

  Mirceo had been forced to come clean about the priceless crystal's end, and since he'd been viciously beaten, brain-bruised, and unable to lie, he'd unintentionally implicated Caspion.

  "I could kill that demon for destroying the crystal," Trehan said, his piercing green eyes flickering black. "If not for him, Mina would be safe at home right now."

  Mirceo didn't hate Caspion over the crystal, because he blamed himself for that as well. He'd pursued his mate so aggressively that the demon had snapped.

  And for what?

  Mirceo wished he could tell Caspion that his morning-after panic had had nothing to do wit
h their relationship and everything to do with Mina. He was convinced his arm pained him because she had been likewise injured.

  When he'd explained his confounding reaction to his uncles, Trehan had said, "The night my Bride was attacked by Vrekeners, I woke from a dead sleep, feeling as if I'd left something undone." Mirceo had felt like a secret danced just out of reach. "That sense was maddening, because I'd always done what was expected of me. Always. Soon it grew into abject dread. I later realized that we Dacians have vaster abilities than even we know. . . ."

  Damn it, how much longer would Lothaire be?

  Reaching into his pocket, Mirceo ran his fingertips over Mina's last letter to him, one that'd gone unnoticed on his desk until after he'd discovered her missing.

  He'd long since memorized the words, the parchment stained from his blood tears:

  My dear Mirceo,

  I have such exciting news! I'm being sent out into the world, as an official observer for King Lothaire. I know you expressed concerns, but I dare not disobey an order from our regent!

  I am beside myself with anticipation, and can't wait to behold the otherlanders' world--the splendor of its natural beauty and the nobility of its peoples.

  Brother, my heart soars.

  Please don't worry about me as I set off on my mission. Such a request should prove next to impossible for my protective big brother, but try.

  Your little sister is actually quite capable.

  I have you to thank for that, for everything. Whatever would I do without my Mirceo?

  I love you more than diamond-filtered sun,

  Mina D

  Her words had rained down more blows onto Mirceo's already battered conscience. He should have taken time out of his busy schedule--being a fucking degenerate princeling--to escort her out into the world and teach her about it.

  The degree of her innocence would likely get her killed. If other immortals or the plague didn't annihilate her, then the mortals would.

  This letter might be the last communication he ever had from her. She could already be . . . dead--

  Lothaire and Elizabeth finally arrived, teleporting into their thrones.

  Moments later, two burly guards appeared with a shackled and gagged Kristoff. Blood and bruises covered the Forbearer king's face and bared chest. The guards had to hold him upright.

  He looks even worse than I do.

  "This one hasn't surrendered to torture," Lothaire told the court. "Understandable, since he shares my blood."

  Kristoff's clear eyes flooded black with rage, promising revenge.

  Lothaire turned to Mirceo. "You will drink my brother and harvest his memories to discover where they are hiding Kosmina."

  "Drink him?" The thought of piercing that male's flesh made Mirceo nauseated again.

  Whenever he'd passed out for a few moments, he'd continued to experience Caspion's memories of hunts and adventures. With each one, Mirceo had fallen more and more in love with the bold, stalwart demon.

  How could he pollute those memories with this strange male's?

  Plus Mirceo had given his word to Caspion that he'd keep his dick in his pants and his fangs in his mouth. Biting Kristoff meant putting Caspion out of reach forever.

  But to save Mina . . . Tormented, Mirceo traced beside the prisoner, all but pleading to Kristoff, "If I drink you, I will harvest all of your memories--so just tell me what we want to know and save us the trouble."

  The gagged Forbearer king thrashed against the guards, a killing look in his eyes. He'd never cooperate.

  Mirceo steeled himself. For Mina. Fangs bared, he leaned in. . . .

  THIRTY-FOUR

  Cas traced to Bettina's chambers, finding her biting her nails and staring off into space.

  Her eyes went wide at his appearance. "Cas! What happened between you and Mirceo?"

  "It's difficult to explain. Where is Trehan? I need to speak with him immediately."

  "I expect him any moment. But I don't think it's a good idea for you to be here when he shows."

  Cas held up the poster. "Kosmina's truly missing?"

  Bettina nodded. "Lothaire sent her from the kingdom--without Mirceo knowing."

  Cas's claws elongated. "She's my sister-by-fate!"

  Gaze glinting, she said, "I know, Cas. I'm so sorry."

  He folded the parchment, returning it to his coat. "Mirceo must be going insane." Cas's mate had needed him that morning, and every moment since. He would never forget the pain in those gray eyes, Mirceo's plea: Help me. Because I think . . . I think I'm losing my mind.

  Yet Cas's own insecurities had colored how he'd interpreted the vampire's reaction. Mirceo's words from another time echoed in his head: Perhaps you don't lack faith in me. Perhaps you lack faith in you.

  Cas had assumed Mirceo wanted away from him, never considering another explanation for the young male's bewilderment.

  Bettina said, "He's not doing well."

  "You have no idea how protective he is of Mina. He raised her from when she was just a little girl. He even sensed she was in danger."

  "Trehan sensed my attack as it happened. I think Dacians possess a tiny bit of precognition."

  How could I have been so bloody stupid? The idea of Mirceo in pain, vulnerable . . . "Damn it, Tina, where is your husband? I must reach the Realm of Blood and Mist."

  She tentatively touched his arm. "Cas, Trehan probably won't take you. He blames Mina's continued plight on you."

  "Me?" Cas stared at her. Oh. "Because I destroyed the scry crystal."

  She nodded. "He pressured Mirceo to explain what happened to it. And since vampires can't lie, the truth came out."

  Cas paced her chambers. "We don't need the crystal. I will find her. The Forbearers likely took her." After they'd failed with Mirceo . . .

  "That was the working theory," Bettina said. "But when the Dacianos launched an offensive on the Forbearer castle, they didn't find her. And their seer can't even scry Mina's general vicinity."

  Cas frowned. "That bone roller would've been able to see Mina if the Forbearers had taken her." Then who--? Cas stopped short. There was an entity that eluded seers . . . one that might have interest in a female vampire.

  The Gaolers.

  They didn't just harvest criminals. They collected any threat to the Lore, including sick vampires. If Mina had been gone this long, she had to have left her mist, growing corporeal. Which meant she'd been vulnerable to otherland dangers.

  Like the plague.

  Cas had brought those collectors down upon New Orleans, the same place Mina had last been seen!

  Trehan materialized into the room. All cool arrogance, he leveled his green eyes at Cas. "Precisely the demon I wanted to see."

  Cas's muscles tensed, his chest bowing.

  "I'd considered you a misguided whelp but not inherently flawed--until you committed such an idiotic act. If not for your reckless stupidity with the crystal, my niece would be safe in her home right now, instead of lost in a world she is woefully ignorant about."

  At best. And Cas had had the nerve to bust Mirceo's ass for rashness? "You're going to take me to Dacia."

  "You have no right to go there."

  Horns straightening with fury, Cas said, "My mate's there. I have every right!"

  "Yet you've been separated from him during the most painful trial he's ever known?"

  Cas's gut clenched. "Are we going to do this again, leech? I'm much stronger than I was last time." For centuries, the need for revenge against this male had shaped Cas. Finally they would finish what had been started so long ago!

  Bettina hastily said, "Trey, he'll go demonic to reach his mate--and he's five hundred years older than he was before."

  Trehan wasn't concerned whatsoever. "Presumably with hundreds more deaths under his belt? Then the whelp might present a modicum of challenge this time."

  Cas bared his fangs. "Thousands of deaths. And I'll add yours to the list if you don't take me to Mirceo."

  "Please, you
two!" Bettina cried. "I'm asking you not to do this."

  Now that he and Trehan were more evenly matched, a battle could last for hours. Days even. Cas burned to make him pay for that beating--but he burned even more hotly to protect his mate and his sister-by-fate.

  Cas had paid dearly for his years of wisdom and discipline. Though he'd used neither when dealing with Mirceo before, he would endeavor to do so now.

  Bile rose in his throat. "Damn it, we don't have time for this." Only one move left to me. Cas bit out: "I am asking for your . . . help. Please, vampire. Trace me to my mate."

  Bettina gaped at him, and even Trehan looked taken aback. Both would know how difficult saying that had been for Cas.

  Two weeks ago, those words would have been impossible.

  He gritted his teeth, prepared for Trehan to heap on more humiliation. Though Cas hadn't begged for anything since he'd been a pup, he would to reach Mirceo. His damaged pride, his searing disgrace, his need for vengeance--none of that mattered in the face of his family's wellbeing.

  "My gods," Trehan said with a look of wonder, "you must love the hell out of my nephew."

  Cas gave a curt nod.

  Bettina nibbled her bottom lip. "Please, Trey."

  As Trehan gazed at his wife, emotion made his eyes flicker black. "You know I can deny you nothing, draga mea." He turned to Cas. "Very well."

  Huh? "Just like that?"

  "The past is done. Besides, without the scry crystal, we are in sore need of a skilled tracker."

  Bettina ran to her husband's side. In a breathless voice, she said, "Thank you, Trey!"

  The vampire grasped her hands. "I will take Caspion now, but I ask that you remain here. Things are volatile in the Dacian court."

  She hesitated. "Okay. This time."

  "I shall return soon." He pressed a gentle kiss to her palm that made her face flush. "Await me?" he asked, somehow imbuing those two words with layers of carnality.

  She breathlessly nodded.

  Releasing her with reluctance, he grasped Cas's elbow. "I must warn you. Mirceo's appearance is much changed." He teleported them into Dacia's court, off to one side of the immense and echoing room.

  Cas caught sight of Mirceo, and his chest constricted. His mate's skin held a deathly pallor, bruises marked his face, and his clothes billowed on his wasted frame. He looked as if he would crumble under the weight of gravity at any second.