Chapter 16 #3
Luke rolled his eyes at the whiny tone. “Stop shitting your britches, bruh. I just have a few things to ask you.”
Elizar lowered his arm and peeked around the throne. In any other mood that would be comical. “You’re not here to kill me?”
Luke exchanged a bemused stare with Sorcha. “Really wish you wouldn’t hold that against me.”
Sorcha screwed up her face. “Let’s hear what he has to say first. I might change my mind.”
With a lopsided grin, he turned back to the Ankou. “Then I’d start speaking, old man. My first question, who told you to go after Amandine Dufresne?”
Elizar looked to his queen.
“Don’t you dare lay something at my feet that I didn’t do.” She turned her cold gaze to Luke. “Had I done so, I would have told you. Good or bad, I own my actions.”
“I know you do. So the question is, who else has control of your assassin?”
“No one else is supposed to.” Tanith came off her throne with such force that it made her gown sound like small bells tinkling. “Answer him! Who dared to command you in my stead?”
“Prince Elwin.”
Luke thought he was angry, but the fury on her face far surpassed his.
“Absolute Guard!”
Senka inclined her head to Luke to let him know that she was allowing her hounds to release the queen’s elite guardians.
They appeared instantly around the throne and took a knee before their queen. Dressed in blue and green armor, they made an auspicious sight.
“Find Elwin and bring him to me. Now!”
They vanished instantly.
Senka approached the throne. “Why did you seek to take my son?”
Tanith gave her an impudent stare. She gestured at him with her whole hand.
“Look at the beast you birthed. Just because you’re his mother doesn’t mean you don’t know what an exceptional piece of masculinity he is.
Congratulations on that, by the way. I couldn’t believe my luck when he stepped through my portal after all these centuries of my salivating over him.
Why kidnap a human male to father a child when I could combine my DNA with that? ”
Sorcha bit back a laugh at the queen’s tone. The fey had a point. “You kidnap humans?”
“All the time. But don’t worry. Once I get what I need, they’re returned no worse for the wear.”
Gaping, Sorcha didn’t know how to take that as Luke stepped behind her. “What are you doing?” she asked him.
“I’m feeling the need for some protection. She’s actually scaring me.”
Sorcha laughed. “I’m surprised you’re not agreeing to stay.”
“No, thank you,” he said quickly. “It would have been nice to have been asked, though.” He directed his next comments to the queen. “Maybe you should try that in the future instead of drugging someone and chaining them to your bed.”
“How did you get free?” Tanith asked.
“My howl would have caused him to automatically shift into his hellhound form.”
“Which caused the chains to fall off.” He glared at Tanith. “Better be glad I didn’t come to on my own and find them on me. The outcome would have been far different for you, Majesty.” The growl in that deep voice sent a shiver over Sorcha.
Though to be honest, she wasn’t sure he could have done much given the condition she’d found him in. But the queen didn’t need to know that.
Luke gently took her hand and gave a light squeeze before he stepped away.
Puzzled by that, she wanted to ask him why he’d squeezed her hand. But this was far too public for that inquiry.
After a few moments, the fey guard returned with an exceptionally angry fey prince.
He glared at all of them. “What is the meaning of this?”
Luke threw out his hand and a visible fey trap appeared under the prince’s feet.
This time it wasn’t just an unseen forcefield, rather this trap had symbols she couldn’t understand.
Two of those strange shapes rose up from the floor to wrap themselves around the prince’s legs.
They crawled over his body until they encircled his arms and even his neck.
“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Luke approached the prince. “Not being able to move. Being held against your will.”
He towered over the much smaller prince. “So answer this, why did you frame me? Speak carefully. I know a lie when I hear one and I won’t take it in stride.”
With a panicked expression, he looked over at Tanith. “Mother?”
She was merciless with her response. “You knocked on the devil’s door, Elwin. What have I told you about keeping bad company? Answer his questions and afterward, I have my own for you.”
That made the prince turn even paler. With a furious shriek, he tried to break free.
Luke tsked at him. “Not going to happen, pup. Who told you to go after Amandine and frame me?”
Elwin drew a ragged breath. “No one. At least not a person.”
Luke used his powers to bring the prince so close to him that their noses almost touched. “Explain.”
“A falcon brought a letter to me. It said that if I didn’t send out the Ankou to kill Amandine and frame you for it, they would come and tear down my mother’s kingdom and spread our ashes to the winds.”
The expression on Luke’s face said that he wasn’t quite willing to believe the prince’s story. “Where’s this order now?”
“It disintegrated as soon as I read it.”
Luke smirked. “How convenient.”
“It’s the truth! I swear.”
Luke wanted to deny it, but he saw in the prince’s eyes that Elwin was telling the truth. A part of him was dying to snap the prince’s neck just on principle and make a gift of his head to the queen.
If he were in Hell…
But this was a different time and place.
Stepping back, he glanced to Sorcha who watched him with an unsettling intensity. She feared what he was going to do next.
A part of him did, too. But the last thing he wanted was to see disappointment in those beautiful blue eyes.
Right now, she looked at him with respect and comradery. I won’t sacrifice that. Not for this worthless piece of fey excrement.
Reluctantly, he released the prince and shoved him toward Tanith. “No more killing. And no more framing me. One more body or evidence planting and I promise my wrath will make that threat look like a VIP trip to Disneyland.”
He turned his attention to the Ankou.
Elizar shrank back to hide behind the throne again.
“You understand, Elizar?”
“Yes, master.”
“Elwin?”
The fey prince nodded. “But what do we do if they come for us?”
Luke glanced to his mother.
Tanith folded her arms over her chest. “The treaty between the Orders will protect us. If we’re attacked, the other Orders will come to our defense.
Hence the point of our treaty. Had you come to me instead of taking matters into your own hands, I would have told you that.
” She met Luke’s gaze. “Now I know why you were so angry when you arrived. But don’t worry.
This ends. I will make sure that my people leave you alone. ”
“Thank you.”
Senka wasn’t so easily sated. “Should I leave a few of my people behind to assure compliance?”
Tanith arched a brow. “Depends. Are any as handsome as your son?”
Luke growled in his throat. “We’re done, Mata. Please don’t leave anyone here. I think it would be a mistake.”
Senka inclined her head to him. “But if I return…it will be at the head of my army. And no treaty will protect you.”
Even though rebellion shined in Tanith’s eyes, she was wise enough to not taunt the hellhound Alpha. “Noted.”
With that, Luke turned toward the three most important women in his life. His imp, his mother and his partner.
Better known as his family. For the first time, he understood that word. Looking at them, it actually meant something, and it caused another wave of warmth to flood through him.
“Shall we?” He gestured toward the door that led back to the fey portal chambers.
His mother smiled grimly. “After you, my son.”
That tone…
She had something planned and he didn’t want to be a witness to it. More to the point, he didn’t want to implicate either Sorcha or Helly. So he quickly led them to the portal and back to Sorcha’s world.
In the dark forest, Sorcha gave him a curious stare. “How do we write up this report? I mean, we solved the crimes, but…”
“Rory can add them to his unsolved list. A black mark on his record. I like it.”
She shook her head at him. “He will continue to suspect you of the killings.”
Luke shrugged. “Yeah, but he already hates me.” Something pricked and itched at his neck.
Grimacing, he rubbed at it, then froze as he saw what it was. Completely stunned, he pulled his hand away and stared in awe at his fingertips.
“What’s wrong?” Sorcha asked.
Unable to believe it, Luke wiped at his forehead. It wasn’t a dream. There was more moisture there.
“I’m sweating.”
Sorcha laughed at him. “People do that when they’re hot.”
“Yeah, but…” He trailed off his words as he realized she was right.
He was hot.
For the first time since he’d been kicked to earth, he felt the heat here. Georgia was hot in the summer. Shrugging his coat off, he handed it to a very confused Helly.
“Dominus?”
“Luke,” he reminded her. Amazed that he wasn’t freezing, he rubbed his ringed hand down his bare forearm.
Sorcha scowled at him. “You’re really not cold?”
“Not even a little.” It was the most incredible thing on earth. He wanted to shout as joy swept over him. Yeah, it was a little thing.
And at the same time, this was major.
“Sorcha?”
Luke cursed at the sound of Rory’s voice through the woods. “He’s always going to be a thorn in my ass, isn’t he?”
“Probably. Let’s go tell him we’re okay.”
“I promise, I’m not the one he’s worried about.” Luke hung back with Helly as Sorcha headed for Rory.
“It’s her, isn’t it?”
He grimaced at Helly’s question. “What?”
“I think she’s restoring your soul.”
He scoffed at the very idea. “That’s not possible.”
She covered her mouth in a way that was almost comical. “You’re not the same, dom…Luke. You’ve changed. And now you are warm. I saw the way you kissed her.”
“It was nothing.”
She arched her brow.
Because he was actually lying and they both knew it.
“That, too, is a new one for you, dominus. What is it you always say about liars?”
She was right. And deep inside, in a place where he never wanted to look, he knew the truth.
He was afraid. All these centuries, he’d known exactly who and what he was. No goals. No ambition. Just hedonistic pleasure.
It’d been a good life. He’d treasured every heartbeat of it.
Until he’d been tossed out.
The anger and rage of it still simmered inside. But in the few days since he’d met Sorcha, that rage had quieted. Not completely gone, but it no longer controlled him.
And he enjoyed that quiet.
He enjoyed spending time with her.
What is wrong with me? I’m a prince of Hell.
And she was…
He still didn’t know. Any more than he knew who had done this to him.
His mother emerged from the portal.
“What took you so long?” he asked.
“Loose ends.”
He winced at her tone. “Is the queen dead?”
“No. She even retains all her body parts. But she will never trespass on you again. I made sure of it.”
For that, he was truly grateful. “Thank you.”
She closed the distance between them and buried her hand in his hair. With a gentle ferocity, she pulled his head until their foreheads touched. “You are mine, Xynzara. No one will harm you without my wrath.”
Even my father? He bit back that question because at the end of the day, he wasn’t sure if she’d choose him or not. And he didn’t want to test her.
“It’s ever my honor to call your mother.”
She smiled, then placed a tender kiss on his forehead. “I will bring you home. Faith, child.”
“I have never doubted you.”
She glanced to Helly. “Guard him, Imp.”
“Always, domina.”
Then she was gone.
Luke stood in the darkness, listening to the whisper of people speaking and the serenade of cicadas. A light breeze brushed against his arms and instead of the freezing kiss he was used to, it warmed him.
I am changing.
And a part of him actually liked it.
“Luke?”
He drew a ragged sigh at the sound of Sorcha’s call. All his life, he’d prided himself on never answering to anyone’s command. Not even his mother’s.
Especially not his father’s.
Yet he headed for Sorcha and into a most uncertain future with a partner who baffled him.
With a light chuckle, he glanced up to the sky and whispered. “You must really be bored. But wherever You lead, I am following.”
His father would die to know he spoke to his grandfather. In Hell, it was forbidden.
And while Luke knew he’d never meet the Great Creator, he was grateful tonight for having been created. Grateful for this uncertain journey that would lead him along paths unknown.