Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Lia
H e waits for my nod, and then his strikes begin properly. He doesn’t spare me. They’re powerful, and each one rocks me forward, making me squeal behind the cloth he’s shoved deep into my mouth. It hurts just as I wanted it to, and my tears flow freely, splashing onto the table that moves with the force of his smacks.
My arse is on fire, but he keeps going. I struggle under his hand, wondering how many he’s going to give me before he decides it’s enough. I’m sobbing now, and I want it to be over. My fingers gripping the sides of the table are numb, and I’m begging him to stop behind the gag.
But I don’t once regret asking for this.
I’m afraid I can’t take any more by the time he finally pauses and strokes a long, gentle caress down my back.
‘Two more,’ he murmurs finally, ‘and then you’ll get on your knees for me.’
The final two are the hardest, and I scream the loudest as his rock-hard palm strikes my raw skin.
And then he stops, and I take a proper, shuddering breath.
‘Now, Lia,’ he growls.
He wanted me on my knees, I remember.
I wipe my eyes so that I can see him and sink quickly to the floor before him, looking up at him as I try to make my sluggish mind understand what he wants.
But he doesn’t make me guess. His hand comes to my jaw and holds me there on my knees in front of him.
‘Did you think we were finished?’ he snarls, but he must see something in my eyes that he doesn’t like because his soften, and he caresses my face gently before he rips the gag out of my mouth, gives me a moment to swallow, and then grabs me by my hair and pulls me forward. He’s unlaced his breeches, I realize, and I come face to face with his cock. It’s thick and ridged and ... oddly beautiful as it bobs in front of my eyes.
My eyes dart to his, and he gives me a questioning look.
‘Are you going to take me in your mouth?’ he asks. ‘Or, if you want this to be finished, tell me now.’
I don’t say anything. Instead, I lick my lips and open for him, and I see relief before the mask slams down again.
‘Good girl,’ he snarls.
He drives himself into me, making me take as much of him as I can all at once. I gag around him as he forces himself down my throat. Tears come to my eyes as I choke on his staff, my fingers digging into his thighs.
I can’t breathe, but as soon as I register that fact, he pulls out, and I suck in a deep breath. He pushes back in, and I feel his boot between my legs, urging them apart.
I wonder what he’s going to do next, thinking he might have me get up and go to the bed, but he doesn’t. He just takes my mouth roughly, using his grip in my hair to move my head to exactly where he wants it.
He freezes and, looking into my eyes, he groans, his body tensing as he spends himself deep down my throat. He keeps me on my knees with his cock in my mouth until he relaxes, but instead of pulling out of me, he releases my hair and caresses my cheek again.
‘Clean it.’
The place between my legs shudders at his order, and I rush to lap at him, swirling my tongue around him, tasting his seed.
‘Enough. Stand up.’
I do as he says on quivering legs, and he steps closer to me.
I let out a squeak as two of his fingers spear me.
‘You’re dripping, my little slave.’
He chuckles as he feels my nethers flutter at his words.
‘Was that from the spanking or having your lips wrapped around me?’
‘Both,’ I whisper, but I wince as he wiggles them inside me, and I feel the soreness that Dane has left.
He ceases immediately and slowly eases them out. ‘Sorry. I didn’t think,’ he breathes. ‘Do you feel better?’
I nod. ‘Lighter.’
‘Good. Do you want the healer to come?’
My face heats. How would I explain to Jak …
‘No,’ I say quickly. ‘What would I sa?—’
‘All right,’ he says, hands rubbing up and down my arms to calm me. ‘I won’t have Dane call for him, but I’m not leaving you in pain.’
He looks away, his jaw tight. ‘Never again,’ he says quietly to himself.
He recovers quickly, though, and smiles at me reassuringly. ‘Go and lay on the bed for me?’
I pad across the room, easing myself down on my blanket on my front because my arse is throbbing.
I feel the mattress dip a moment later, and he begins to rub something cool into my enflamed cheeks.
I crane my neck to see what he’s doing, and he shows me a small pot. ‘It’ll help.’
I lay down again and close my eyes, letting him soothe the hurts he’s caused.
A few moments later, his fingers dip between my legs with more of the cold salve, and I jump with a squeak as he slips them inside me.
My legs move apart almost of their own volition, and I hear his quiet laugh. ‘Good girl.’
I can’t help but let out a moan at those words, wishing he’d thrust his fingers deeper and faster, but he keeps to his slow rhythm, and I startle as his thumb probes my arse shallowly.
‘You’re going to take me here,’ he promises. ‘Not today, my pretty little slave, but soon.’
My hips push back on a whimper as heat coils in my belly. ‘More. Please.’
‘All right,’ he says, and I sigh with relief. ‘But only gently. You’re very sore from what Dane did .’
The inflection of those words, as if he’s actually speaking to Dane, has me turning my head and gasping as I find the mage beside the bed. I didn’t even hear the door.
He’s watching me, or more specifically, Kal’s fingers disappearing slowly into me.
His eyes are almost hungry, and I can’t help but imagine him and Kal together. Their bodies intertwined with mine, their mouths and fingers and cocks driving my body to new heights.
I tense and come with a small cry, collapsing into the bed and hiding my mortification as Kallum calls me a good little slave and promises to release me again later.
I feel something covering me and open my eyes. It’s a blanket that’s warmer and thicker than the threadbare one that’s been on my bed since I was brought back. I glance at Dane.
‘Thank you,’ I whisper, wondering why he’s being kind to me.
He nods, his face still blank, and then he casts a look at Kallum.
‘We need to talk,’ he says.
‘What do you and I have to say to each other?’ Kallum asks, his eyes narrowing.
Dane snorts. ‘I don’t mean just you and I.’
He looks at me, and I sit up carefully, drawing my new, warm blanket around myself. It smells of Dane, I realize, and I burrow deeply into it.
Dane gestures to the chair by the fire where I see a dark blue dress warming.
‘Put on some clothes, Harbinger.’
I nod, glad that someone’s finally brought me something to wear, even if it’s him. Though I’m loathe to leave the comfort of my new bedspread, I do as he urges.
His eyes follow me as I leave the bed sans blanket and pick the dress off the back of the chair.
He looks angry as his eyes fall to my red arse.
‘Why do you hurt her?’ he snarls low at Kallum, his fists clenching at his sides.
Kallum snorts and opens his mouth to reply, but I get there first. ‘Because I ask him to,’ I say, staring into his eyes and daring him to judge me.
But he doesn’t. He just looks thoughtful, as if he’s working out some puzzle.
‘Why do you ?’ Kallum asks, and I’m gratified by Dane’s slight wince.
I inspect the dress Dane has brought. The cloth is thick and soft. The sleeves are long. It’s made for winter. It’s also of good quality. My nose wrinkles as a thought crosses my mind, unwelcome for a myriad of reasons.
‘This isn’t Fiana’s, is it?’
Dane’s jaw ticks. ‘As if your body and hers are comparable,’ he sneers.
I don’t let myself feel insulted by his words or his tone. I’m just glad that he’s not trying to give me something of that cunt’s. It’d probably burn off my flesh or something.
I put it on. It fits like a glove as if it was made for me, and at my questioning look, Dane rolls his eyes.
‘I purchased it from a fae female whose shape is similar to yours.’
He’s lying. There are no fae females here who look like me. They’re all taller and much lither. But I pretend I believe him as I wonder where he got it from.
‘Thank you,’ I say. ‘It’s very … warm.’
I draw my hands down the soft velvet bodice, and then I lace it up the front, ignoring both sets of eyes that follow my movements.
I sit at the table.
‘You want to speak about something?’ I ask Dane, and he lets out a breath.
‘I brought you one last thing,’ he says, drawing out a stoppered bottle. ‘It’s the tea I gave you after Kallum sold you to that demon.’ He looks pointedly at Kal, who ignores him.
I hold out my hand, but I give him a questioning look. ‘But Varrik …’
‘I’ve told him I seeded you.’ His eyes darken, and his jaw tightens. ‘And he’s ordered me to ensure I do at least twice a day until you’re with child or the time he’s allotted runs out.’
I look away. I’d naively thought it would be done once, and then they’d wait and see, but I should have known it wouldn’t be so easy.
‘I’m sorry,’ I say, and his brow furrows.
‘What for?’
‘Because it’s me. Because … Fiana.’
He lets out a long breath. ‘Orders are orders. Fiana will understand.’
Kallum scoffs and tries to cover it with a cough, earning him a scowl from Dane.
‘I will bring you the tea in the mornings. You will drink it.’
I nod, agreeing wholeheartedly but also a bit confused. ‘I thought you’d do what he told you,’ I say quietly. ‘Orders are orders?’
‘Yes, well. It turns out I draw the line at breeding an unwilling female and having my get used as a fae lord’s weapon.’
‘Glad you’ve found one you won’t cross,’ I say dryly, drinking the bitter tea down in one and then handing him the bottle.
I see the ghost of a smile as he takes it, his fingers grazing mine and making me very aware that he’ll be doing what he did earlier to me again later today.
‘What happens to me when I don’t get bred by you within the allotted time, though, and Varrik has me staked in the hall for all the males to use?’
Kallum sits at the table hard. ‘What?’ he growls.
‘To increase the chances of success. Are you surprised that there wouldn’t be a sting in the tail of his edict?’ I regard Kal with a sad smile. ‘If I’m not with child by the next moon, he’s already said that that’s what he’ll do. A punishment for me for not being bred in a timely fashion, and, at the same time, he’s likely to get what he wants after I’ve been mounted a few dozen times.’
I look away, anger rising in me at the injustice. At my vulnerability. I promised myself that I’d never allow him to make me feel this way again, but like all my vows, it’s been broken and stamped into dust underfoot.
‘Why does he want this?’ Kallum asks. ‘You’re his ultimate weapon. How much use will you be growing round with child? You won’t be able to keep going through the Breach.’
At my and Dane’s blank looks, he rolls his eyes. ‘Didn’t you read all of Healer’s Reyn’s little book in Rondorai? Pregnant humans usually lose the babe if they travel the rings more than once during pregnancy.’
‘He doesn’t want me to kill,’ I say, ‘At least, not on the same scale as he used to. He says I’m too intractable.’ I feel my body tensing in fury. ‘He’s been … unable to make more of me his way, so this is his next experiment. He thinks a child borne of me will have the power I do.’ I stare at the table. ‘If it does, he’ll use me as a broodmare to sire as many as he can to add to his army.’
Dane shakes his head. ‘What nonsense,’ he laughs, and my eyes narrow.
I’d forgotten he can’t hear a bad word spoken about his idol. Not even now. I idly wonder what it would take to break the spell. Varrik slitting Fiana’s throat, perhaps.
Fingers crossed.
‘This plan would take years. He’ll be too old to enjoy the fruits of his labor.’
I frown at him and then at Kal. They both look like they’re in agreement with each other as if this makes sense. Could it be possible that neither of them knows the other truth about Varrik? Surely not. It’s the worst-kept secret in the keep!
‘How old do you think Varrik is?’ I ask, watching them closely.
They glance at each other. ‘He looks between forty and fifty years,’ Dane guesses, and Kal nods.
I shake my head. ‘He’s older than that,’ I mutter, wondering how they haven’t heard.
But I suppose until recently, they’d only seen Varrik from afar. They’d never really spent time in the keep. They hadn’t been inside Varrik’s inner circle. They might have heard the odd rumor, but not the stories that were considered common knowledge within these walls.
‘Older?’ Dane asks, pouring himself a drink of water. ‘How much older? What do you mean?’
I regard him unblinkingly, wondering if he’ll take what I say at face value, or call me a liar again.
‘Varrik’s experiments. He doesn’t just do the procedure on the fae he brings here to give skills to. He uses what he learns to make himself more powerful, to prolong his life.’ I frown at Kal. ‘I suppose that could be considered another skill he has.’
‘How do you know this?’
Dane takes a drink and I think it’s so that he can stop himself from interrupting before I can finish speaking.
‘I heard him and Grith speaking in the library once. They thought I was asleep. But the truth is, most who live in the keep know. It’s just that no one really speaks of it.’
‘How old do you think he is?’ Kallum asks.
‘I’m not sure exactly,’ I say, ‘but at least thirty years older than you think, and he doesn’t look as if he’s aged since we left.’
Dane chokes and sprays his water all over the floor. ‘But that would make him eighty or ninety.’
‘Yes.’
‘But,’ Kal looks at a loss for words for once. ‘His face ...’
‘He’s looked the same since I was brought to the keep as a child,’ I say simply. ‘You rarely saw him then, but I did almost every day. I’m not wrong. If his plan is a long one, it’s because he thinks he has the time.’
‘How?’ Dane rasps with a cough.
I shrug. ‘He’s Varrik. He’s secretive. He doesn’t even perform his experiments here in the fold. How should I know how he did it?’
Dane and Kallum stare at me for a moment. With Dane present, I probably shouldn’t reveal anything else. His loyalty isn’t to me, after all.
Kallum stands and begins to pace. ‘But why? Why do all this? What are the experiments for? Power? Over whom?’
Dane regards him. ‘Varrik seeks the betterment of the fae. That’s what the camp was about. That’s why he saved us.’
Kallum puts his head in his hands and lets out a longsuffering sigh, casting a look at me. ‘And what about Lia? You’ve seen what he’s done to her, what he lets others do. How does that weigh in with your beliefs about Varrik’s goodness?’
Dane’s lips purse. ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.’
Kallum growls a low curse. ‘So, what? You’re going to come in here every day. Pretend to fuck the Harbinger, and when she doesn’t get with child, you’re going to let Varrik enact the next part of his plan with her?’
Dane looks at me, his face giving nothing away. ‘I won’t be pretending. Varrik will know if I don’t seed her. He’ll have his most trusted healer make sure it’s being done properly. He won’t trust my word. He won’t trust anyone’s as she’s … a human.’
He takes another long drink of water while Kallum paces.
‘What are we going to do? She can’t still be here by the next moon!’
‘Orchestrate her escape,’ Dane whispers so quietly that I’m sure I’ve misheard him.
‘What?’
Dane doesn’t say the words again, but he looks determined. ‘We’ll find a way before the time runs out. You won’t be staked out in the hall to be used, Harbinger. I promise you that.’
Kallum looks confused. ‘But you’ll still help Varrik.’
‘For now. There are so few of us. He’s trying to save us, Kallum. But there are ways he can do that without the Harbinger.’ He looks at me. ‘The Harbinger isn’t needed.’
The words he doesn’t say have my gut twisting. You aren’t needed.
I don’t show anything outwardly, but I can’t help but think that Dane means that he doesn’t need me either.
Why does that pain me?
‘I … have to go,’ Kallum suddenly says. ‘You’ll … keep her safe?’
Dane nods.
Kal comes to me and kisses me deeply. My eyes widen in surprise and then close as his lips move against mine, soothing me in the oddest way. He pulls away, and my body chases his for a moment, wanting more.
I hear his low laugh, and my eyes flutter open. ‘I’ll come back later.’
He presses one of the yellow flowers into my hand and watches as I lick my lips.
He lets out a low groan.
‘You’ll be the death of me,’ he murmurs. ‘And what a death it would be.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘Unfortunately, I have work to do for Varrik. Dane isn’t the only one who’s an elite now, my little slave.’
He gives me a final, more chaste kiss and disappears.
I sigh and then look at Dane, who’s staring at me.
‘The healer will be coming soon,’ he says.
I search his eyes warily. ‘So, you need to…’
Dane stands. ‘Yes. Varrik said twice a day, so twice a day it will be.’
I tilt my head up as he looms over the table. ‘Now?’
‘Yes.’
I try to keep my reluctance to do this again with him so soon hidden inside, but I see the way his eyes harden.
‘Go to the bed.’
My body feeling leaden, I make my way slowly across the room. I turn to look at him. He hasn’t moved.
‘Lay on it.’
I do as he says, kneeling on the mattress and lowering myself.
‘No.’
I look up in question.
‘On your back, Lia.’ He sounds amused.
I turn quickly and look up at the ceiling, my heart pounding in my chest. I don’t know why I’m scared. He’s already done this. I already know what to expect, don’t I?
I jump as he slides onto the bed next to me.
He watches me for a while, and I wonder what he’s thinking.
‘I’m sorry,’ he finally says.
I look at him and shrug.
‘I told you I wouldn’t hurt you, but then Kallum appeared, and I … I’m sorry.’
I give him a commiserating look. This isn’t ideal for either of us, and I understand why he wanted it to be over.
‘I’m … sore. From earlier,’ I whisper, hoping he won’t flip me over and do what he did before.
His countenance darkens. ‘Close your eyes.’
I take a deep, hitching breath and do it.
I feel his hand sliding under my dress and I tense, but he stops at my knee, drawing small circles on my skin.
‘Tell me why you let Kallum hurt you, why you ask for him to do it. That’s what happened before when we found those marks on you in Rondorai, isn’t it?’
I nod. ‘I don’t want to tell you,’ I say honestly. ‘And it’s hard to explain anyway.’
He doesn’t say anything, but his hand creeps up to my thigh, and he draws more circles before moving a little higher.
I shift next to him. ‘What are you doing?’ I ask.
‘I’m making sure you’re ready for me this time,’ he says. ‘I want you to be very wet for me.’
I open my eyes to look at him, confused. ‘Why do you care?’
‘Because believe it or not, I don’t want to hurt you again, so this time, we’re going to go slowly.’
His finger moves up, stopping just short of my core, and I swallow hard, realizing that I want him to touch me there.
I shift again, hoping he understands, but his hand stays right where it is, and he continues with his maddening circles that are causing goosebumps to break out all along my legs.
I shimmy down the bed a little, but his hand moves with me, so it’s no closer to where I want it. I frown, and I think I hear him stifle a laugh, but when I look at him, his face is as serious as it usually is.
‘Dane?’
‘Yes?’
‘Could you get on with it, please?’
‘Are you begging me to touch you, Lia?’
I frown, not saying anything. Is that what he wants? Will he laugh at me later if I do? I stare at him. He has that same odd expression on his face as if he’s trying to work something out about me but can’t quite manage it.
And then his fingers are on me, swiping up my slit, and my hips jerk upwards as I moan. He waits a moment before he does it again, watching my face and appearing pleased with the sounds he elicits from me.
‘Open your legs for me,’ he cajoles, his tone not harsh, but not gentle either.
I do it, my eyes not leaving his, and I feel his fingers part my folds.
‘Where are you sore?’ he asks.
My cheeks heat, but I don’t look away. ‘In-inside,’ I stutter.
‘And what about here?’ he pinches my arse gently and I squeal.
‘And there!’
He rumbles a laugh, and my eyes widen. He never struck me as being playful like Kal, so it throws me a little.
Then his fingers go back to their ministrations, moving up and down lightly. I bite my lip, not wanting him to know how much I enjoy his touch when he’s not being rough, but when he uses two fingers to part me, and the third one to swirl a circle around the tight bud in between that makes me want more, I can’t help the cry that erupts from me.
‘Please,’ I whimper, my body clenching around nothing and wishing I didn’t feel so empty.
He sits up a little and unlaces my dress with his other hand, the one between my legs still drawing circles between my legs. He pulls it down so he can see the tops of my breasts.
‘Take them out,’ he murmurs.
I do as he says, pulling out my tits and letting his eyes take them in.
‘Play with them,’ he instructs.
My brow knits together, but I knead them lightly, and he reaches up to take one of my nipples between his fingers. He rolls it gently, and my hips buck into his hand.
He looks surprised and does it again, smiling a little when the same thing happens.
‘What do you want?’
I look at him with uncertainty. What does he want me to say? Does he want me to want him, or will that disgust him?
He rolls my nipple again and pinches it hard just as his fingers do the same to the bud he’s playing with.
I buck under him. ‘You!’ I cry. ‘Please!’
‘Good girl,’ he coos, and I sigh.
‘Do you like it when I praise you?’
I nod a little hesitantly.
‘And when the others do it?’
‘I think so.’
His fingers move to my entrance, and he probes shallowly with just one. He cocks a brow, looking equal parts proud and surprised when he finds the evidence of my arousal. For him.
‘Very good,’ he murmurs with a small smirk.
I hold his gaze as he slides it into me slowly, and his face searches mine … for evidence of pain, perhaps.
He pumps one finger in and out of me as his thumb finds the bud again and circles it gently.
‘How does that feel?’
‘Nice,’ I murmur, and I make an inarticulate sound as he adds another.
His movements are slow, and his gaze doesn’t leave me. Unlike last time, I feel safe, almost cared for, even though I know the latter isn’t true. He’s doing this for himself, for his conscience. Not for me.
I look away, almost feeling like crying, my heart aching for something I can’t put words to because I don’t understand.
I’m pitiful. Rikoth’s words come back to haunt me, and I wish Dane would get this over with and stop trying to pretend it’s something it isn’t.
He frowns, noticing the change in my demeanor, and his movements slow.
‘What is it?’
I shake my head, not enjoying this anymore. It’s too intimate. Too pretend.
‘I’m ready,’ I whisper. ‘Please, could you … do it?’
His lips thin, but he nods.
‘Do you want me to … turn over?’
So you can try to pretend I’m Fiana and not the pathetic human you’ve been ordered to fuck?
The thought makes a mortifying, hiccupping sob come out of me that makes Dane look even more thunderous.
‘No,’ he snarls, bending my knees and pushing them upwards. He moves my dress out of the way with impatient movements and lines himself up.
But then his eyes narrow on me and he pauses. Instead of spearing me, he spreads my knees as wide as they’ll go and looks down. His fingers pull my nether lips open, and he gives me a thorough inspection before taking my bud between his fingers and conjuring something because I can taste the tang of his magick. My body pulses with heat, and his fingers move in frenzied motions, making me squeal in pleasure. He forces me to feel it, his eyes alternating between boring into my face and into my cunt to watch what his power is doing to me.
I feel a pulsing from his hand, like tiny bolts of lightning shooting from his fingertips directly into me. My body flutters and I feel him finally enter me. He slides in firmly but still carefully, letting me adjust to him the way he didn’t last time. It hurts a little, but I find that along with the conjure, a little pain is just what I need.
His taking of me isn’t gentle, but neither is it harsh. His strokes are hard but smooth and fluid. His hips snap on each thrust and hit a spot inside me over and over that makes my body feel like it’s melting into a puddle.
I realize my hips are meeting his movements, and I’m uttering little screams that I can tell he likes because when I miss one, his next thrust is harder to force another one out of me.
‘You like it, little slave?’ he murmurs, and my eyes widen at what he’s already learned from Kallum that I like to hear.
Even though I know I won’t be able to look him in the eye later, at this moment, it sends me over the precipice, and I’m dimly aware that he’s coming with me.
‘Dane!’ I sob as the pleasure keeps going and going, being drawn out by the conjure he’s used. His head is thrown back, and I can feel him releasing his seed deep inside me. I want it. I need it. In that one second, I hope it takes root and I grow round with his babe.
When I finally come down, he’s still inside me. He’s leaning over me with something in his eyes that I’ve never seen before, a vulnerability he tries to cover as soon as he sees that I’m back with him.
‘There, Harbinger.’ He smirks. ‘Was that good enough for you?’
And the spell is broken.
What am I doing?
I scramble under him, and he curses as my foot accidentally collides with his manhood while I try to extricate myself from him as quickly as possible. He cups himself and glares at me, but I don’t care if he’s angry.
I need him gone before I begin to cry, and he realizes that this is more than Varrik’s orders for me.
Him knowing I want him is one thing, but I won’t be able to bear it if he finds out my pathetic human heart is his as well. I can just imagine him and Fiana laughing at me when she returns.
‘Please go,’ I say, not looking at him, feeling sick at the awful images my mind is unhelpfully supplying.
I can practically feel his gaze hardening on me, and I shiver.
‘Fine,’ he bites out, putting himself away quickly.
‘The healer will come later. It won’t be the one you know. You will let him examine you however he sees fit. In the morning, I will come to you. If you want it to be quick, I suggest you already be wet for me, so I don’t have to expend my time readying you for my cock.’
He opens the door and I catch a glimpse of a guard peering in, obviously trying to get a look at me. Dane pushes him back hard and I hear him slam into the adjacent wall.
‘Stay out of my way, Dreg,’ he yells as he slams my door.
Alone, I immediately give way to tears.
How could I have let this happen? How could I have let myself care for them? How did I not feel it creeping up on me?
I sit on the floor on the far side of the bed and cry quietly, hoping the healer doesn’t come in and find me like this.
I make an effort to calm down. I think about cleaning myself up because I can feel Dane’s spend between my legs.
But the healer will want to see it. I grimace at the thought.
I feel a pull inside me, and a thought appears in my mind. One that isn’t my own.
Need to escape. Soon.
The Harbinger. This time, my sob is of relief. It’s not gone. I’m not alone.
Grey
I don’t know where the others are, but I assume they’re in the keep. I huff out a breath, anger and frustration at war inside me. The beast feels the same. They’re probably with our mate right now, and we’re stuck outside in this fucking house that doesn’t smell right.
‘I need your help.’
I let out a high-pitched squeal and decide I’m going to choke Kallum to death if he ever breathes a word about the sound I just made, that was so unbecoming of a shifter, ever passing my lips.
‘What the fuck, Kallum?’ I snarl. ‘You can’t just sneak up on me like that and speak to me while invisible!’
He appears in front of me, looking contrite for once. ‘Sorry. I forgot you couldn’t see me. I need your help.’
I sigh. ‘So you said. What with?’
‘In Alcana, you used to organize the books in the library sometimes, didn’t you?’
My eyes narrow. ‘Yes,’ I say slowly, wondering why he’s asking.
‘Well, I need you to help me find those map books in Varrik’s library.’ He looks embarrassed. ‘I can’t work out the system he’s used, I can’t find anything.’
I snort. ‘You and Dane have been gone for days, and now that you need help, you’re going to come here, and I’m just meant to drop everything? I’m a fucking shifter in hiding, you cunt. I was about to go for a run.’
Kal runs a hand through his blond hair. ‘I didn’t mean to be gone for so long. Lia?—’
I knew it!
‘You’ve been with her!’ I take in the deep whiff I’ve been trying not to, and I smell my female all over him.
I have him backed against the wall, my hand at his throat before I can fathom what I’m doing.
‘Your eyes, Grey,’ Kal warns.
‘Fuck my eyes and fuck you. Where’s my mate?’
‘She’s in the keep. She’s safe. I promise you she’s safe. For now.’
‘What does that mean?’ I roar at him.
‘Gods, would you get yourself together?’ he snarls back. ‘We don’t have time for this. Varrik isn’t in the fold. You need to come with me now while we have the chance.’
‘To see Lia.’
‘No, to the library. To Varrik’s library. Are you listening to me, Grey?’
‘Yes, I’m listening,’ I snarl, trying very hard to get control of the beast so that Kal will tell me what’s going on. ‘I’m listening,’ I say more calmly. ‘Is Lia all right?’
His eyes flicker with doubt, and I know his next words will be lies.
‘Yes.’
The beast takes over, and Kallum yelps as my claws bite into him and he rips away from me. He curses and disappears.
‘Kallum!’ I bellow.
‘I’m still here,’ he says from across the room. He’s in a chair, visible again, but when he sees me about to lunge at him, he disappears once more.
‘We don’t have time for this,’ he mutters. 'You need to get the beast under control.'
'I'm trying,' I snarl, 'but you've been with her.'
'Yes, of course I have,' he growls back, and then gritting his teeth and looking away. ‘She … she came here.’
‘Here?!’ I take a long sniff of the air around me and don’t smell her. I shake my head, trying to understand what he’s going on about. ‘I’d have scented her.’
‘Dane got rid of it.’
I stare at him, betrayal warring with fury. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean …’ Kal runs a hand through his hair. ‘None of it was how we thought. I mean, I didn't think... we didn't realize ... even Dane was shocked once we both saw the truth of how she ... I was wrong. We were wrong.’ He looks up at me, his eyes almost pleading with me to listen to him. ‘We need to get her away from here. Dane is going to help us.’
My eyes bore into him, trying to make sense of his words while half of me wants to rip out his spine as well as Dane’s for keeping my mate from me.
‘Us?’
He blinks. ‘You and I. We’ll escape with her like we said. We just need to do it sooner than we thought.’
I huff a breath. ‘How? Both Gates are locked down with Varrik’s wards. They might as well be dead except when Varrik lifts them. No one else can. There’s no other way out unless we’re on a mission for him, and he’s hardly going to let Lia come with us.’
‘Rikoth,’ Kal mutters. ‘He has some trinket. I’ve seen him open the Breach without a Gate. If we can get it, perhaps it’ll work to get us out of here.’
‘I saw him use it as well.’ I sit down heavily, thinking it through. ‘Varrik will send his strongest after us. Probably even Dane. Where will we go that they won’t find us? We’ll need to travel quickly to stay ahead of them, and it’ll need to be close, or she’ll get Gate Sick again.’
‘Can you think of such a place? Perhaps we can catch the Breach when it’s strongest. It’ll take us further in one trip like last time.’
I rub my weary eyes, glad at least that the beast is listening instead of trying to kill our friend.
‘But I don’t know it’s cycles,’ he continues when I don’t say anything. ‘We need up-to-date charts and predictions.’
‘And how do we get those when we can’t leave?’ I hiss.
‘We don’t need to leave. They’ll be in his library, won’t they? We just need to find them. Get the beast under control. We’re going into the keep.’
I roll my eyes. 'The beast is fine, but I can't go into the keep, remember?' I snarl in frustration. ‘You know that the wards will keep me out.’
'Maybe, but if I’ve noticed anything since I’ve been up there every day, it’s that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing.’ Kal shrugs. ‘Grith was the mind behind the keep’s everyday activities, and now that he’s dead, there’s a void that’s yet to be filled. Have you tried to get back in since you went on your mission?’
I open my mouth to argue but hesitate. Surely, it wouldn’t be so simple as that ...
'No,' I say finally. ‘I haven’t.’
'Well, perhaps luck will be on our side, and no one’s remembered to change the wards.’
'Fine,' I mutter, 'but I want to see Lia while we’re there. How will you get me in unseen?'
Kallum shrugs. 'I can get you past the guards. I think if I focus, I can make you disappear with me so long as you're touching me.'
'How do you know this?'
He makes a noncommittal noise. 'My clothes go invisible when I do. Who's to say you won't as well?'
‘Bit of a fucking problem if we get to the moat and you’re wrong,’ I mutter.
‘Try it.’ He gestures to himself, and I put my hand on his shoulder with a long-suffering sigh.
'Go on, then.'
He takes a breath and disappears.
I look down at myself.
'It didn’t work. I can still see my body,’ I practically whine.
‘That’s how it works,’ he explains. ‘I can still see myself as well, but no one else can see me. I can’t see you.'
He shuffles around so I can look in the mirror on the wall, and as he predicted, neither of us can see our reflections.
‘I'm getting more powerful again.' He sounds a bit confused by that, but I don't tell him that I've been feeling the same. The beast is much stronger than it was when we first came back.
'Let's go,’ I say instead. ‘We don't have any time to waste.'
We walk through the village as ourselves in full view of everyone. One or two greet me, but most ignore us completely. After we returned, I wasn’t overly surprised to learn that we weren't really missed over the seven years that we were gone. Kal and I were friends with each other, but we were just some Dregs with little power. No one bothered with us much, not even the others of our ages and skill levels. Dane was the one who was with Fiana and spent time with the elites back then. Kal and I, not so much.
When we get close to the keep, Kal’s gait slows. ‘Put your hand on my shoulder.’
I do as he says. 'What now?'
'We go inside.’
‘What happens if we're seen?’ I ask a bit nervously.
My loyalty to Varrik might be waning, but I’d be a fool if he didn’t still scare me. His elites are his ears, and his conjures around the keep are his eyes.
‘I'm sure we’ll find a way out of it,’ Kal says flippantly, and I roll my eyes in his direction even though he can’t see me.
His blithe nature is going to get us killed one of these days.
‘Besides, they won’t even notice us once we’re past the wards, even if we’re seen. There are too many of them since the Harbinger was brought back. They don’t question anyone walking the halls.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because the wards are meant to keep the lower Skilled out unless they have reason to be here ... and because the elites are cunts who are just as likely to punish a guard who waylaid them as they are to ignore one. No Dreg wants to be on an elite’s bad side.’
We cross the bridge over the moat, and I tense as we approach the raised portcullis.
‘Be quiet and tread lightly,' Kal mutters. 'They'll be able to hear your footsteps and your breathing if it’s too loud. Be stealthy.'
‘Yes,' I say quietly through clenched teeth, wondering how we're going to explain this away if we’re found out.
As we get to the main entrance, I can feel the wards slowing my movements, and I grimace, my hands tightening on Kal. As we go through, I can feel them pulling at me slightly as if they know I'm not supposed to be coming through them, but Kal was right. They haven't been changed.
A smile splits my face. Soon, I'll see my female. My mate. The beast inside me, having decided I've done something right, rumbles his approval for once. Kal leads me through the hallways quickly, clearly knowing exactly where he is and where he’s going. He has been busy.
We go up a wide staircase to the next floor.
'Where's the Harbinger's room?' I ask, glancing around to try to get my bearings.
'Not far from here.' Is all he says, and my eyes narrow at where I know him to be at the end of my arm.
We get to a wide corridor, not really seeing anyone on the way.
'I thought there would be more guards,' I say aloud to Kal.
He replies in a low voice. ‘They mostly stay down where the Harbinger is. We’re here.’
He opens a nondescript door so slowly that the movement could be explained away as simply a draft blowing through the corridor, and we walk into a largeish and deserted room with wall-to-wall shelves and an archway at one end that leads into another room of books. We both reappear in the middle of the carpet in the center, and I glance around. It’s an impressive collection, but after the splendors of the multi-room and multi-level library in Arcana, to say I’m underwhelmed is an under statement.
I give Kal a look. ‘Where would he keep his charts and map books?’
‘I have no fucking idea,’ Kal murmurs. ‘Start looking. There’s no organization that I can discern, but you spent more time in Alcana’s library than I did, so perhaps you can see one.’
I look around, taking some tomes off the shelves and flicking through them. I see at once what he means. The books have no visible titles. There must be a system, but it’s not one that I’ve ever seen used in a library before.
I shake my head at first, looking at the rows of books along the largest wall. At first, I don't see a real pattern, but then I notice light symbols drawn on the right-hand corner of each spine.
‘Look,' I say.
Kal comes to stand next to me.
'Do you see these?' I point to the symbols. 'I believe they denote subjects.’
‘So the upwards arrow is ...'
I take a book off the shelf and open it. 'History, it looks like.’
I flip through the pages and see nothing overly interesting, so I keep looking, running my hands along the shelves, seeing if anything jumps out.
Finding nothing with maps, nor Breach charts after a few minutes, I let out a frustrated growl. ‘There’s nothing here besides old books.’
‘How odd for a library,’ Kallum says sardonically from the next shelf along.
I give him a look which he ignores. ‘I mean, recent Breach predictions won’t be in a dusty old tome, nor maps of the circles as they’re always changing.’
‘Well, then perhaps we should use our time in here to find out what Varrik is up to, what those boxes are, what his plans could be, his motivations.'
I snort. ‘Why do we care?’
Kallum winces, and my eyes narrow as my heart sinks. ‘What haven’t you told me?’
He turns to me with a sigh. ‘No matter what, Varrik’s days are numbered. The Dark Realm itself wants him dead for creating the Skilled. It searches for him even now, and when it finds him, everyone around him will die as surely as he will. Lia ... wants to save everyone in the fold.’
Why am I shocked that he’s kept these revelations to himself? I shake my head.
‘How do you know these things?’
‘The Harbinger,’ he replies. ‘Lia can speak to it since we arrived. It just ... knows.’
‘Of course it does,’ I mutter. ‘How are we meant to save over three hundred fae before some sentience of the Dark Realm itself finds its way here? This is madness! Even with just us three, it would be nigh on impossible, but everyone?! No. We should snatch Lia at the first opportunity that arises, get her through the Breach, and deal with her anger afterward. At least we’d be alive!’
‘No,’ he hisses. ‘I won’t betray her trust. I told her we would find a way, and we will! Now, look for something useful. We need all the information we can get, and maybe then an opportunity will arise that we can actually use.’
I turn away and rub my eyes with another shake of my head. But there’s nothing for it. If Lia wants to save everyone, and Kallum has promised it, he won’t go back on his vow, which means that not only has he committed himself to this endeavor, he’s bound me to it as well.
I keep looking at the books, hoping for some luck. I find another symbol, a large ‘X’, and I open that to find a manual on magick. Like the other books, I give it a cursory inspection, and I wonder errantly if Dane has read these as he's the conjurer. I put it back and continue along the shelves and into the next room.
When Kal and I finally reach the end of our respective section rows, we have found nothing even remotely interesting or important.
Kal curses. 'I hoped he would have kept something here.'
I consider as I survey the room. 'His study?' I ask.
He nods. 'Yes, it’s just that it’s rarely deserted, so searching it will be more difficult. It’s off the Gate room, and there may be a second smaller one near his bed chamber as well.' He perks up. 'Yes, I’m right. Lia showed me it.'
‘Lia showed you?' I ask, puzzled.
He waves a hand. 'We will talk about it when we see her. For now,’ he glances at the door. ‘I believe we might be out of time.'
I return my hand to his shoulder as we hear footsteps outside in the corridor. I assume he’s made us invisible again as we leave the library, and it’s confirmed when a servant carrying a large tray walks past us, none the wiser.
He takes me back down to the main hallway, and I see that he’s right. There are guards everywhere down here. Between twenty and thirty patrol the halls slowly in groups of six.
'This is for the Harbinger?' I murmur.
‘Yes,' he says, his tone hard.
He stops abruptly, and I slam into him.
'What is it?' I whisper.
'That guard there with the black-handled dagger.' His voice is low and angry.
‘I see him. What is it?’
‘I've seen him before.’ He pauses as if trying to remember why he’s significant. ‘He hurt Lia.’
I can feel him tense, and my grip on him hardens even as I stare at the guard myself until I know I can identify him again easily.
'Not here,' I mutter, glancing around at all the other sentinels who are milling around. Do none of them have anything better to do?
'Not here ,' I say again more forcefully when Kallum doesn’t move.
I can practically hear him grinding his teeth, but he begins to walk once more.
We get to a door just down the hall, and, forgetting what Kallum can do, I wonder for a moment how we're going to get in because it looks to be locked, but then he pulls me through the wall itself. It’s an odd feeling as we pass through the solid mass. I can feel the coldness of the stone running through me, making me shiver.
In the Harbinger's room, there's no one except for her. She's sitting on one of the upholstered chairs by the fire, curled up under a blanket. The fire itself is giving off a bit of heat, but it’s low and there are no logs to put on it.
'I have something else I need to do. I'll come back in a bit,’ Kal says.
'Where are you going?' I ask.
'To find Dane. I need to make sure that Varrik won't know we were in his library.’
'Are you sure that's wise? There’s nowhere for me to hide if anyone comes in.’
'I'll be quick,’ he says, ‘and then we can talk about everything properly.’
I see the Harbinger look up and do a doubletake with a gasp. She must be able to see me now. She leaves the chair and moves across the room quickly, her bare feet padding across the cold floor. When she reaches me, she hesitates as her eyes meet mine, but I grab her, lifting her up and holding her tightly.
'I'm so sorry,' I whisper. 'I didn't know. That night in the cave. I had no idea Varrik was com?—'
She puts a finger to my lips.
'I know you didn't,' she says. ‘But I’m sorry. I should never have asked you to …’ She hides her face.
'I don't regret it, though,' she says from behind her hands, her shoulders hunching a bit at her admission. ‘Especially now.’
I wonder what she means by that last bit. I cross the room with her and sit with her in my lap on one of the chairs at the table, holding her as close to me as I can. The beast finally calms properly for perhaps the first time in weeks.
‘I don’t regret it either,’ I say quietly to her.
‘I’ve been wanting to tell you I was sorry about something else too,’ she says. ‘The things I said to you about your mother on the street before Rondorai. I didn’t mean them.’
I hold her tighter, remembering how I lost my temper and tried to choke the life out of her for her words. What a fool I was.
‘There was truth in your words,’ I whisper. ‘There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. You were our prisoner, and I treated you …’ I shudder in revulsion. ‘If anyone should be apologizing, it’s me for the things I said and did. You didn’t deserve them, and I should have realized. I’m sorry, Lia.’
She sighs, not saying anything else, but her fingers tighten on my tunic.
I take in her fine dress, and I scrutinize her face, thinking about what Kal said earlier about us not being right about things. I have a feeling she won't tell me anything, so I don't ask. Instead, I calm myself and the beast further by breathing in her scent and running my hands up and down her arms lightly. A part of me is questioning if this is real. I’ve been parted from her for so long.
The beast feels the same. It's pacing through my thoughts, wanting to claim her as our own here and now so everyone will know she’s ours. I don’t want to scare her, but I can't help it as my cock grows beneath her.
I know when she feels it because she freezes and glances up at me. But she doesn't stop me as I move her dress out of her way, impatient to be inside her. As I open my breeches, I fist my cock, letting out a groan. She shifts over me, straddling me so we're face to face and her legs are wide.
‘Please,’ she whispers.
I slip my staff through her folds, feeling the wetness. She's already more than ready for me. She lets out a small cry against my chest as I push up into her, her eyes fluttering closed. She begins to move on me, but I grip her hips to stop her.
'No,' I growl. 'Just let me feel you.'
With my arms around her, we sit in the chair, neither of us moving. I feel her hot cunt around me, and for the first time, perhaps in my life, I feel like I'm home. I’m complete. It’s as if everything I’ve ever done has been leading up to this moment. For once, the beast is completely content and silent. It’s the calmest I’ve felt since it manifested all those weeks ago.
She looks and feels thinner, I realize, and neither I nor the beast like that at all. I open the small pack I thought to bring with me and take out the food I brought. I unwrap the meat and offer her a morsel from my fingers. She looks confused, but she takes it, her lips curling delicately around it.
I watch her chew and swallow, and then I feed her the rest of it slowly with my cock still hard and resting within her. The beast practically prances with joy that we’re providing for our female, and I’m not far behind. Though, as I look around at the sparse room and the waning fire and add that to the new leanness of Lia’s body, I’m beginning to see what Kal spoke of before. She isn’t being treated here as we thought she’d be.
Before long, Kal returns. He smirks when he sees her sitting on my knee, and I scowl at him.
'She's lost weight,' I state, my tone cold.
He looks at Lia, who won’t meet his eyes. ‘He should be told everything.’
Lia seems to ignore him, instead rolling her hips as if to remind me that my cock is inside her and, distracted by her for a moment, I grin. As if I’d forget. But I grasp her thighs before she can do any more.
'No,' I say quietly.
She gives me a questioning look, and I kiss her lips gently.
'Not this time,' I say, glad when the beast agrees.
We will fuck our mate but not today.
I cup her cheek. ‘What does Kallum mean? What else don’t I know?’
Her lips curve downwards slightly, and she rises off me, swallowing hard. She gives me a frustrated look, and I know what she wants, but again, I shake my head even though I’d love nothing more than for her to return to her position. I put my straining cock away as she sits on the chair across from me, promising myself that I’ll relieve the pressure later.
'Did you find Dane?' I ask Kal, deciding to change the subject until Lia’s ready to tell me what’s going on.
'Yes, I found him. He's made sure no one will know that we were there.’
‘Where did you go?' Lia asks.
'To Varrik's library.'
Her eyes narrow a little. 'What were you looking for?'
We glance at each other, and Kallum shrugs. ‘If we trust each other, we should be open,’ he mutters.
I nod slowly. ‘I agree.’
‘A few things.’ Kallum sits down. 'We were looking for charts on the Breach so that we can plan our escape,’ he glances at me, ‘and the clearing of the fold. We were looking for places to take you that are safe. And we were looking for information.’
‘About what?’ she asks.
‘Boxes.’
'Boxes?'
'Yes. Since we’ve come back, we've been sent on missions to find them. They look like Gate boxes, but they're made of iron.'
Her brow furrows. 'Why would a Gate box be made of a metal that none of the fae and most of the other creatures of the Dark Realms wouldn't be able to touch?’
‘Exactly,’ Kal says, idly ripping a piece of the bread off the loaf I brought and tearing it slowly into crumbs. ‘I don't think they're Gate boxes at all. There’s something inside them that Varrik wants. We've been sent to get two of them so far. I spoke with Vern the other night in the pub. Once he was deep enough in his cups, he mentioned there have been others, and that Varrik has been single-minded about finding them for years. He’s had them located, he’s stolen them, he’s bought them.'
Lia sits up straighter, an odd look on her face.
‘You know something?’ I ask.
‘I was taken to Varrik’s study the other day. He had me kill an orc. A box was mentioned. The orc had tried to double-cross Varrik. He sold it to someone else and told Varrik he wouldn’t find it, but Varrik said that he already had it and that someone was retrieving it.’ She looks at us. 'What do you think they are?'
I shake my head. 'Clearly something important to him and it sounds as if he’s willing to go to any lengths for them. He was beside himself when we returned with one after that mission.'
Lia’s eyes find mine.
'Was that when you killed Grith?’ she asks, her tone almost playful.
I raise a brow, a little uncomfortable but at the same time oddly thrilled that my female knows what I did. 'I didn't know you knew.’
‘Kallum told me.’
There's a glitter in her eye.
'Thank you,' she says, squeezing my hand hard.
'He deserved it,' I say.
'Yes.’ She nods. ‘He did.’
‘Come,' Kal says. 'We can’t stay here.’
I grit my teeth. I don't want to leave yet. I want to spend time with my Harbinger, with my mate, but Lia nods, looking resigned.
‘A healer is meant to be coming soon,' she says. ‘To check …’
I watch as Kal stiffens and I look between the both of them. ‘Check what?’
Lia swallows hard and gives Kallum a meaningful look. ‘Tell him?’ She glances at me. ‘I don’t want to speak of it.’
‘Everything?’
She inclines her head a tiny bit, looking resolved.
‘Tell me what?’ I growl, my stomach rolling. ‘What more have you kept from me, Kallum?’
'Not here,' Kal says with a shake of his head. 'Come on.'
I put away my frustration to embrace Lia. ‘I’ll come back as soon as I can.’
She gives me a small smile and I put my hand on Kal’s shoulder. Her eyes move away from us and dart around a bit. She can’t see us anymore. I try not to look at her forlorn expression as we leave her alone. She goes back to sit on her chair by the dying fire.
'She needs wood,' I remark to him. 'It's going to be cold tonight.'
‘Dane will sort it,’ Kal sighs.
Dane?
He doesn't speak again until we're outside of the keep and down the lane. When we reappear, he stops and turns to me.
‘I’m going to tell you everything that’s happened since she was brought back. She showed me all of it.’ He taps his head. ‘I want you to know that before we begin. Everything I say, I remember as if I experienced it through her senses.’
I opened my mouth to speak, but he stays my words with a hand. 'Let me talk. I'll tell you it all as quickly as I can, but let me get it out before you ask me anything.’
‘All right,’ I say through clenched teeth.
‘It’s not nice to listen to.’ He warns and heaves a breath. ‘Grith beat her within days of her arrival. Badly. Afterward, Varrik had her thrown in the dungeon. She was down there for days. The Harbinger saved her from some of the pain of the torture. It spoke to her down there. It helped her.’
‘You said it spoke to her before, but ...’
‘Can you not help but interrupt?’ He rolls his eyes. 'As you can speak to your beast,' he says. 'It says ... it learned our words while we were in Alcana.'
‘Go on,' I say.
‘The healer kept her alive. The one that came to you. Jak. He saved her life. So, the next time you see him, try not to kill him.’
'Varrik doesn’t ...' Kal looks at the floor. ‘He didn't want the Harbinger back for it to kill for him.’
'Why then?'
'He's been unable to make another of her power. He wants to breed her. He wants more.’
‘He wants an army of Harbingers?'
Kal shrugs. ‘Gods only know what he wants or why. But he was going to give her to Rikoth, Grey.’
‘Give her? What do you mean?’ But I’m afraid I know what Kal is going to say.
‘What do you think?’ he snarls angrily but recovers quickly. ‘Anyway, she escaped her room and came to the house. She was …’ Kal rubs his face hard. ‘Tortured and beaten. She’d been drugged by Rikoth. I supposed she wouldn’t let him get near enough to compel her to do what he wanted. She was worse than after the dungeons in Alcana. Much worse.’
‘I thought you saw her,’ I say, holding the beast at bay as it scrambles to be set free to hurt Kal for neglecting her.
‘I did. Varrik ordered Rikoth to hide it.’
My hands curl into fists and I only just stop myself from shifting and going off to find Rikoth instead.
‘He’s fucking dead,’ I promise quietly. ‘What about Dane? What does he have to do with all this? He hates the Harbinger. He couldn’t wait to get back and be Varrik’s loyal pet.’
'No. Well, yes. I think Dane is still Varrik's ally, but he doesn't want the Harbinger hurt. He's ... Varrik chose Rikoth to breed Lia first, but when he lost her, Dane was chosen instead.’
'So Dane is ...?'
'Dane is to get the Harbinger with child. He's to seed her twice a day until it takes ... and if he doesn't, she's going to be given to the elites as well as to his highest Skilled to increase the chances.'
Fury envelopes me, but I’m able to reason that if it has to be anyone, I’m glad it’s him and not Rikoth, Vern, or Tristian. He won’t hurt her for sport like the others would. 'But if it's more Harbingers Varrik wants ... why not any of the Skilled no matter their level?' I try to keep my voice even though the beast needs to be let out as soon as possible. Its anger needs to be assuaged.
Kal shrugs. 'I don't know the intricacies of Varrik’s designs. Perhaps the stronger the skill, the more Dark Realm they are and the better chance of a babe with the strength of the Harbinger inside it.’
He looks up at the keep where it looms over the village. ‘Meet me here at midmorning, and we can do some more digging.’
‘Where are you going now?' I ask. 'Back to her?’
My hands clench at the idea that he and Dane can be with her whenever they like, and I’m stuck out here.
'No,' he says quietly. 'I'm going to gather information. I believe Fiana will be back very soon.'
I snarl at the name, but Kal has already disappeared.
I walk back through the village, heading straight for the forest to shift, and out of the corner of my eye, I see the guard who Kallum told me hurt Lia.
I grin darkly. Perfect timing. The beast agrees as we watch him while he walks around the town, oblivious to us.
The beast yearns to explode out of me and rip his throat out here in the street, and I promise it that we will soon. For now, I want to play with him, stalk him, watch him wet himself in fear. I’ll draw it out and torment him as my female has been tormented.
We keep an eye on him until we see him wandering into the forest, and as we get closer, we smell him and realize he’s a shifter as well.
We follow him, anticipation of the hunt clawing at us.
Our revenge for Lia begins tonight, and it ends when the last of those who hurt her are dead at our feet.