* * * *
The thick forest of red trees beyond Lycaon Castle broke open to a long field of rolling grasses. The sun shone bright in the soft purple sky, as the shifted Larus, Ilar, and Fallon sprinted toward Fenris. On the way to Malak’s home was Cupid’s cave. Ilar and Larus would be stopping to pay the little troll a visit. Ilar had been to the troll’s home once before when his wife was enchanted. Fallon would go on to Fenris to request Malak’s presence at Lycaon.
Malak guarded the portal and would know when, and how, to send the humans back through--or how to find someone who could. Larus trusted Malak with his life, and would trust him to see Mina and Sophia safely back. The very idea of sending Mina home tore at him, but Larus had seen well the look of mistrust and hate in her eyes the last time they spoke. She’d actually flinched when he’d tried to touch her cheek--as if he could possibly hurt her. He would lay his life down if she so demanded it. After her rejection, he knew the only hope he had of breaking free of her spell over him was to send her as far away as possible, back to her world where she belonged.
A few hours passed as they ran and the field gradually thinned. They neared a rocky path wide enough for all three lycans to run side by side. A green dragon flew overhead. They ignored the fierce creature and the fire it spouted out across the sky. The rolling field turned into small hills. The small hills grew into larger foothills. And, as the morning turned into afternoon, the foothills finally rose in the distance to show a range of glorious mountains.
It was evening by the time they reached Cupid’s cave. The lycans saw easily through the darkness, as if it were daylight. Their eyes flashed with golden slivers. The moon was half full, shining the most exquisite silver over the land.
Fallon nodded as Larus sent him orders with the mind link and continued on to Fenris. Larus and Ilar stayed shifted, leaping up the rocks toward Cupid’s cave. The flowers along the pathway were tattered and torn, as if they’d been kicked repeatedly. Bundles of dried bouquets and baskets full of discarded darts were strewn down the mountain.
Larus stopped as they reached Cupid’s home, glancing at Ilar. The troll’s cave home was just that--a cave. There was no door, no welcoming indication that anything lived in the little hole carved inside the mountain. Due to the unbearable smell wafting out of the darkness, it became necessary to shift back to human form so that it didn’t permeate so strongly into their sensitive nostrils.
Standing naked, the two men looked at each other and then to the hole. Ilar frowned, saying through the mind link, ‘I have no wish to go in.’
‘It smells as if something has died,’ Larus returned, wrinkling his nose in disgust. ‘Too bad we don’t have water. We could flood the varmint out.’
‘Yes, or at least bathe him before you went in after him,’ Ilar smirked.
‘Why me?’ Larus frowned.
‘Because, you do this for your heart,’ Ilar smiled, knowingly. ‘You do this so Mina will have comfort and peace, so she won’t be frightened. You do it to protect her. You do it because you must.’
‘It is so very obvious?’ Larus let loose a heavy sigh.
‘Only to one who knows you,’ Ilar smiled. ‘You do love her, don’t you?’
‘Yes.’ Larus nodded, the word an echoed whispered in his head, sad, drawn, and heartbroken. ‘Since the first moment I laid eyes on her.’
‘You would face hell for her?’
‘Yes, I would,’ Larus answered, without stopping to think.
Ilar grinned and motioned toward the cave hole. ‘There’s as close to hell as we’ll likely ever be, my king.’
Larus shot his old friend a bemused glance, fearing that he may be right. He stepped forward toward the opening, displeased with this grim task as he tried not to breathe in the foul stench. A stern look upon his face, he called down, “Cupid, show yourself.”
Silence radiated from within.
“Cupid,” Larus barked. “Come out.”
Again silence.
“I don’t think he’s here,” Larus said, standing and moving away from the cave. “But it’s too hard to be sure. The whole place reeks of him.”
“Should we wait?” Ilar asked. “He’ll be back. He won’t be able to resist staying away from his home. Trolls are known to always return to the same spot.”
“Yes,” Larus said, upset that he’d have to wait to confront Cupid. “You wish to hunt our supper or guard this hole?”
Ilar automatically shifted back into wolf form. His gaze filled with a liquid gold, slivering until the color completely overtook his eyes. His face elongated slightly, growing with fine dark brown fur, as his mouth parted to show dangerously long, sharp teeth. He growled rhythmically in the back of his throat, a sound that sounded oddly like laughter. ‘You stay. I’ll hunt.’
* * * *
Cupid hid high on the mountain, watching the two lycans camping before his home in wait for him. They were in wolf form, making them all the more dangerous. He frowned, pacing back and forth behind a boulder, scratching thoughtfully inside his ear for wax. He was nearly out of cloaking magic and really needed to get inside his cave.
Unfortunately, the lycans would hear him coming and he had no desire to be caught by them. If not for his need to meet with the other trolls at the campfire to brag about what he’d done and hopefully redeem some of his reputation, he’d have been inside the cave and already within their grasps.
What was Larus doing outside his home? Without the human women in tow? It made no sense. He shouldn’t have been able to lose the women, not unless...
Cupid grinned. The only way Larus could be free of the blonde human was if he’d tied her up, or even better, if he killed her. He bit his long lips to squash his laughter. The dark one would be angry for sure at that. She might even try to kill Larus for killing her sister.
Oh, aye. This was a grand turn!
If Ilar was here with Larus, it only meant the dark sister was at Lycaon Castle. Cupid’s squat legs moved, climbing the hard way over the mountain so he could use his magic to slip undetected over to Lycaon to see for himself what was happening there. With Larus here at his cave waiting, the troll should be perfectly safe going to the lycan’s keep.
Chapter Twelve
“Lady Rhian,” a guard said, bowing down before her as the three women sat outside on a bench talking. He had a dark complexion with matching dark hair and eyes, and was smaller of build than some of his brethren. His gaze turned to Mina, “My que... ah, Lady Mina.”
Mina looked at him, choosing not to understand what he’d been about to say. For all she knew, she had it wrong anyway. But, how did he know her name? Well, it would seem in the field of gossiping tongues, their races were the same.
The man turned his handsome dark eyes toward Sophia, his voice becoming a low growl, as he said, “Lady Sophia.”
Sophia flinched and said nothing. She turned her eyes away toward the wall. The man didn’t look disheartened by her slight. In fact, he looked even more enamored by her.
“Tal,” Rhiannon acknowledged, not bothering to hide her humor at his stare toward Sophia.
“We would like to tournament to be Lady Sophia’s lover,” Tal stated.
Sophia gagged. Mina instantly put a protective hand on her sister’s shoulder. Rhiannon’s smile faded.
“No,” Sophia croaked, instantly standing.
“But...?” Tal looked confused. “She said she wished to judge for the position. It has been decided. Only those with good teeth will compete.”
“Come Sophia, let’s go,” Mina said.
“Did she not say she wished to pick one out?” Tal asked, staying with Rhiannon. Mina didn’t hear what Rhiannon answered, as she pulled her sister away.
Weakly, Mina said, “It is, ah, flattering they wish to tournament for you.”
“To be their whore,” Sophia said, her voice hoarse. She walked toward the stairs leading toward their shared room. Mina moved to follow her. Sophia stopped, holding up her hand. “No, Mina, let me be alone for a m
oment.”
* * * *
What had happened?
Cupid seethed, frustrated, as he stormed along the battlements of Lycaon Castle. Damn Devlin for his interference! Things had been going fine until that vampire kidnapped the blonde mortal away.
Cupid had been so sure the women would have done something--anything--to King Larus. But, no! They sat in his home, not fighting, not screaming, not dead, not anything. They didn’t even go after the lycan king as they should. And what had happened to his enchantment? How did the disgusting blonde mortal break his magic? Larus wasn’t mated. The blonde human wasn’t dead. He saw no other way for the enchantment to end.
But, aye, it was gone.
This he wouldn’t stand for. Cupid’s foul body shook with outrage. No one broke a troll’s enchantment before it was to end. No one!
* * * *
“Mina, you must choose your own path,” Lady Rhiannon said. Sadness touched her eyes and Mina understood that the woman had formed a friendship with them, and liked the bit of the human world of which they reminded her. Rhiannon didn’t want to lose that. “And Sophia must choose hers. Just because she wishes to leave, doesn’t mean you have to. I have a sister left behind, who knows nothing of this world. I miss her, but admittedly, we weren’t as close as you two are.”
Mina sighed. She really did like Rhiannon. In a few short days, she was more friend than any other woman, aside from her sister. “Sophia is my only family. She’s my responsibility. We’re all we have.”
“Lady Rhian.” A passing guard nodded in greeting as he walked by. Then, turning to Mina, he said, “My queen.”
“All right.” Mina frowned when he left, uncomfortable with the title. “Why do they keep calling me that?”
“It happens sometimes. They don’t really use our language and, occasionally, they mess up some of the words so try not to take offense,” Rhiannon said. “I nearly brained a man who insisted on calling me Ilar’s possession, until I realized the sod meant the word mate. Believe me, if they’re angry or trying to mock you, you’ll see it well enough in their faces. They don’t hide such things well when you learn to read them.”
“I’m not offended, just curious as to why they keep referring to me as royalty,” Mina said quietly. “I’m not... married.”
“Perhaps they mistook the word to be a title of respect for your position as Larus’s woman.” Rhiannon smiled as more guards walked past. They bowed their head in acknowledgment of the women but, beyond politeness, didn’t spare another look.
“I wish they wouldn’t,” Mina admitted, her heart squeezing in her chest with uncertainty. Would Larus think kindly of a human being called such? “It’s embarrassing enough to have them know I sinned without having them speak a reminder of it.”
“But I had the impression you liked Larus,” Rhiannon inserted, keeping her voice low. “These people are kind and honest.”
“I’m not questioning their kindness,” Mina said. “Or their honesty.”
Well, she had questioned Larus’s honesty, but she understood why he didn’t tell her who he was. It was only a title after all and men should be judged on merit, not title. Mina had just spent so long hating royalty, blaming them, venting her frustrations out at them that she hadn’t stopped to really think about it.
Rhiannon frowned. “Is it because they’re different that you don’t wish to stay? Is it because Larus is a lycan? I know it can be strange, especially for us being raised as we were in the mortal world, but I swear they have more honor than that of our bravest knights. They live by a chivalrous code we could never hope to find elsewhere. The shifting, it’s strange to be sure, but can you not see past it? There are advantages to a man who can protect you as they can.”
“That’s the thing. To survive in this world, we must be under a man’s protection.” Mina thought of Sophia. Her sister wanted less to do with men than she did before they came. Sophia would never take a man for protection and Mina couldn’t blame her.
“Is that so bad, to be protected by a man?” Rhiannon asked. “If we were to marry back home, we’d be more like property. Here we are equals. We can’t do some of the things that they do such as fighting, but we have our minds. They respect their women, listen to what they have to say, even go so far as to follow a woman’s advice if it’s sound. If a lycan pledges himself to you, he’ll never stray, never cheat or lie. If you bind yourself to one, he’ll lay down his very life for your happiness. His life becomes your own--his thoughts, feelings, everything given to you freely. And, in return, he’ll know how you feel, accept everything about you--each quirk, each flaw, each doubt. Don’t let prejudice stand in the way of what you feel inside.”
“I think them a grand race,” Mina said softly. “And Larus’s shifting has never really bothered me.”
Rhiannon arched a brow in question at that statement.
“Oh, all right,” Mina said, making a guilty face. “I did think him the devil--for a short time, mind you. How could I not? The priests speak of such creatures as being instruments of hell. But, if what Larus has told me is true, then perhaps that belief comes from the old wars. Larus never acted the devil--well, not in a way I minded.”
“Larus won’t let anything happen to you,” Rhiannon affirmed. “He’ll protect you both, until you find mates. He has claimed you as his wards. You’ve seen how the men look at Sophia. She’ll have her pick of any of them--each of them fine, brave men.”
“And if she doesn’t find one she likes?” Mina asked. “What then?”
“There are other races.” Rhiannon smiled, hopeful. “Elves are said to be very compatible to humankind. I haven’t really met any, but surely someone will strike her. The vampires are compatible in the physical sense, but they are a little daunting in my opinion. I mean, I know the lycans have a strange taste for blood, but at least the lycans eat food and can go about in sunlight.”
Mina hummed softly, thinking about it. The idea did have merit.
* * * *
Larus’s head perked up from his paws. They still waited outside Cupid’s home. Turning to Ilar, he asked, ‘Did you hear that?’
‘Lycaon,’ Ilar answered. They both stopped to listen to the faint call.
‘Cupid’s been detected there.’ Larus motioned his head that they should go. Both lycans jumped up. Taking off at a sprint, they hurried their way home.
* * * *
“I want to stay,” Mina said to her sister, coming into their shared room. She’d given her time alone, affording herself the same leisure to think about her own future. Rhiannon was proof that a human could be truly happy in this world and, if he would have her, Mina wanted to be happy with Larus. It was a gamble, he might not even want her in such a permanent way, but she had to try. For her heart, she had to try. “I’ve thought about it and I think we should stay here.”
“Mina,” Sophia said, keeping her mouth open as if she would say more. Slowly, she shook her head.
“There’s nothing left for us in our world,” Mina insisted. “Larus has put us under his protection. It’s more than we could hope for--”
“You don’t mean that,” Sophia said. “How could we possibly stay here? Why?”
“Adventure,” Mina said weakly. She knew her sister still raged on the inside about what had been done to her. She couldn’t help that. But, here, even if Larus didn’t keep her, they would be treated better. They wouldn’t starve, wouldn’t freeze. They wouldn’t be alone. “You wanted to see the world, well here we are. This is more world than you’ll ever find back home. Let’s stay. We have nothing to go back to, no one. We can adjust to the magic, the creatures. They said that humans tried to harness magic in the past, which means we can use magic to get us by. We can learn.”
Sophia trembled slightly before stiffening her back and her resolve. “I have no wish to stay in this place, Mina.”
“You won’t even consider it?” Mina asked, going to her. She rested a hand on her sister’s shoulder. Sophia shrugged it of
f. “For a short time at least? See if it agrees with us once we know more?”
“You can’t know what it’s like to be violated as I have been,” Sophia said, her eyes passionate, sad. “You haven’t been through what I’ve been through. You’ve found something, someone. I’ve got nothing here, but you. That vampire drank from my neck, Mina. He drank my blood and I let him, was happy to let him. He looked into my eyes and I would have let him do anything he wanted to me. He could have said to hold still while he cut off my limbs one by one and I would have let him.”
“Did Lord Devlin hurt you?” Mina asked when her sister paused. “Did he...?”
“No, my maidenhead is intact,” Sophia’s eyes were filled with tears and she swiped at them almost angrily. “But he could have is my point. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want there to be a next time. I had no will, no fight in me. And I loved Devlin. When he looked at me, I loved him more than myself. And when I saw Larus, every breath I took was for him. I felt love Mina, as true as I’m ever likely to find it, truer than I ever want to feel it again. But, it wasn’t real. I don’t love Larus or Devlin, but the feelings I had for them were so real. It’s like my heart has been ripped out, only there was no one to rip it, no one to mourn. I don’t have a name or a face. I don’t have someone to fight for. All I have is the emptiness left behind now that the love is gone. I never want my happiness, my very sanity, to be dependent on another’s feelings for me. I don’t wish to be that helpless.”
Sophia shook. Mina hugged her tightly to her chest, saying, “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise.”
Sophia’s voice dropped into a whisper. “I would rather they’d raped my body instead of my mind. I had no control over myself and I almost killed you because of it. I never want to feel out of control again. I have to leave this world. Don’t you understand, Mina? I can’t stay.”
Mina nodded slowly. She did understand, and it was her duty to protect Sophia. She was the eldest daughter and, beyond that, she loved her sister very much. She couldn’t let her go back alone to face the evils their world had in store for them. If Sophia was to starve, then Mina would starve by her side. “You’re right, Sophia. You can’t. I won’t either. I’m sorry I asked it of you. I can’t let you go back alone. I won’t abandon you. You are my blood.”
Naughty Cupid Trilogy Page 27
