Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
Donovan squirmed behind me again. I lay back in his arms and smiled. “Are you not comfortable?”
“I am, Chosen. Here, with you, in silence and solitude, I have never been more at peace.” He paused. “But… this mud on my face. It is drying out, and it feels strange. Tight. It tingles.”
“It’s supposed to do that.” I giggled. “It’s good for your skin.”
We were both lying in my thermal spring bathtub in my fairytale bathroom, Donovan stretched out behind me, I lay back on his delicious firm body. The water was scalding hot, just the way I liked it, and I felt myself relax slowly.
Donovan let me put a conditioning treatment in his hair and mud mask on his face without protesting at all. Cecil, back in his duocorn form, brought us pizza and beer. He was now stretched out on the bathroom floor, kicking his feet, while doing a sudoku puzzle.
He promised to leave if we decided to get freaky. I caught the words that he muttered under his breath though. I’ll just listen at the door.
I didn’t make a fuss. He was as sassy as ever but determined not to let me out of his sight. I got the feeling that our magical bond had hurt him when I was arrested and separated from him before. The thought made me uncomfortable.
Now wasn’t the time for uncomfortable things, though; I was determined to relax.
Violet had somehow managed to entice thousands of glowworms to settle in on the roof of my woodland fairytale bathroom.
Lying back, staring at them twinkling on the ceiling, it was easy to put off worrying about unpleasant things.
I sighed. “This is the most relaxed I’ve felt in a long time. Why can’t I shake the feeling that it will be a while before I can do this again?”
Donovan let out a manly grunt, stroking my arms with his huge hands. “Because your instincts are honed to a razor-sharp edge, I assume. You are right. We have a long fight ahead of us.”
“Mmm.”
“But we have won a great victory today, Chosen. My brother has lost one of his most valuable assassins. And the rogue vampires we killed are no longer able to serve him.”
“Yeah, we did good.” I sighed. “One stone down.”
I still hadn’t closed the high fae stone yet.
Fionn still had possession of it. While I’d gotten over my fear of being gifted more magic that I wouldn’t be able to handle, it was safe.
I had time to recover my strength before closing it.
Nate had layered some cloaking spells on Fionn, hiding him and the stone from detection.
Right now, Fionn was busy helping Cress move into Bronwyn’s apartment.
I voiced my thoughts out loud. “We all need to have a discussion about your stone.”
“We do.”
“I’ve been thinking.”
His arms tightened around me. “Yes?”
“Just rolling some ideas around in my head. This battle with Connor…” I hesitated, and grimaced.
“It’s been so frustrating. We’ve been playing a defensive game so far.
It feels like Connor has always been one step ahead.
He sinks to new depths that we never imagine he could.
As much as we try to head him off, he will just change direction and go for a new target. ”
Donovan understood where my train of thought was going. “You’re thinking of using the fae stone as bait.”
“Not necessarily. It’s probably too dangerous.” I relaxed against him. “But talking to the vampire stone gave me a few ideas. I still don’t know the full potential of my powers, and I’d like to take the time to experiment a little. It’s giving me hope.”
Donovan gently combed his fingers through my hair; it felt so delicious. I preened against him like a cat.
“You are still uneasy,” he said.
“I am. I don’t have much time to experiment.
I’m too exhausted right now, and I need time to recharge.
Also, I’ve got my first mediation with the Andresanos tomorrow.
” I scowled. “I don’t want to have to see them.
I was hoping that Martina would get the court order for mediation rescinded because of the federal investigation, but apparently, their lawyer argued against it.
They want to go to mediation. Which, I think, means they’ve got something to say to me. ”
“Your reasoning is sound.”
“I just can’t guess what it is.” I looked back at him. “The other night at the restaurant when you followed them, you didn’t sense anything about them, did you?”
He’d already told me all this, but it wouldn’t hurt to revisit it.
“No. Nothing at all. I stopped them at the restaurant entrance and engaged them in conversation, but they were curt to the point of rudeness and left in their car almost immediately. However, I did get close enough to make sure that they were not cloaking their powers, and they were not. There was no trace of fae magic on them at all. They have no knowledge of anything other than the mundane. They might look more fae than human, but they are human.” His arms tensed around me.
“I curse my suspicions, for they lingered, and I followed them on foot for several minutes. If I had not left you, the wolf would not have gotten his paws on you.” His voice thrummed with menace.
“His life is forfeit for the pain he caused you.”
“Easy, soldier,” I said, keeping my tone light. “Striker has already been suspended pending an investigation. Martina did a great job throwing all the evidence of corruption at the investigator, and according to her, a bunch of other terrible stuff has come out, so he’ll probably be fired.”
Donovan let out a soft grunt; it was his version of throwing his head back and bellowing with laughter.
“I am not surprised that you consider being fired from his job the ultimate punishment for what he did to you. But I am afraid, Chosen, that on this, I have no capacity for mercy.” His tone became grim.
“He is unleashed now with nothing to lose, so he will be more dangerous. I will find him,” he said softly. “And I will crush his body and spirit.”
The passion in his voice sent tingles right into the pit of my belly. Murder is not sexy, Susan, I reminded myself.
I wouldn’t protest if Donovan kept his promise, though.
Striker was Connor’s agent, and he was dangerous—probably even more so now that he’d been suspended.
Nevertheless, we were taking no chances.
Donovan had already sent Nate and Eryk out to look for him, but he was wisely keeping a low profile.
“What are the chances that he’s gone to join Connor’s army in Faerie? ”
“Slim to none. Remember, it is extremely difficult to move between Worlds unless you have had a lifetime of training. Only certain creatures devote themselves to learning the secrets of inter-World travel. The Lower World creatures who come to this realm do it because humans are their food source. Like the banwyn and the sediure.”
I nodded sadly. “Until they lose their magic for good and finally starve to death.”
“The sediure are already fading. At least the banwyn are able to feed because Connor points them towards scared, panicked people. He needs them here, so he makes sure they are fed.”
“He’s got no use for the sediure?”
“No. He only had a use for the power that their stone gave him—the power to seduce. They do not fight, or swarm, or inspire fear, so they are of no use to him. Connor does not care if they die out soon.”
It was so heartbreaking. An entire species wiped out, because one man found no use for them. “We need to do something,” I whispered.
“We are,” Cecil called out from his spot on the floor, still kicking his hooves and doing his sudoku puzzle by the light of the glowworms.
“We are?”
Donovan’s lips tickled my ear. “I had Eryk and Nate round up all the sediure they could find—and it was difficult, Chosen, because they are very shy—and they took the sediure to something called an O-week party at Berkley.”
“They may have lost their powers of seduction,” Cecil added. “But they don’t need their magic at a foam party full of booze-soaked coeds.”
“According to my bondsman, the sexual desire was dripping off the walls,” Donovan murmured in my ear, sending shivers down my spine. “I have arranged passage for the sediure to sneak into such places whenever they require sustenance.”
“We’ve set up worm-doors for them that lead into the horniest places we can think of,” Cecil added. “Wrestling gyms, any city botanical garden after dark… there’s even one leading to your friend Juliette’s sex dungeon, Chosen.”
“They will survive.” Donovan stroked my arm.
And I thought I couldn’t love this man any harder. “Good,” I said, letting myself bask in relief for a minute. My brain kept ticking. “Are there any other creatures who can travel easily between Worlds?”
“Not as a species, but a vast amount of berserkers do,” Donovan said, “because they often sell themselves as mercenaries in almost every realm in every World. They relish the challenge. But they are unusual in this. Vampires and shifters are more devoted to their home world, so I suspect Striker will be with Connor’s Middle World army.
If it is true that they are hiding somewhere in the Woods, then he will be there. ”
“Oh, right, of course.” My brain, having been softened by the hot water, the humid cave, pizza, beer, and Donovan’s arms wrapped around me, started buzzing.
Plans bloomed in my head. I picked them apart, discarding them to let other ideas bloom in their place.
“Your army in Faerie won’t be able to come here. ”
“It’s Connor’s army now,” he said softly.
“But no. Since my mother had no interest in any other World lower than ours, she did not waste her resources training the army to enter any other World. There are many other fae who enjoy the travel and do it often, provided the stars align and they have a blood key, but the vast majority of our forces cannot. Connor will not waste time on it. I suspect he has taken the Kingdom’s men to conquer the neighboring realms to solidify his power base.
The trees have whispered as much to us. They have whispered words of death and destruction, and lament that the light has vanished from the Crystal Castle. The obsidian throne has gone dark.”
Obsidian was pitch-black anyway, so I wasn’t sure how it could possibly get any darker. I wasn’t going to say that out loud, though, so instead, I rested my head back on his hard chest, and sighed. “I’m sorry, Donovan. Your kingdom is in turmoil. I wish you could go back and save them.”
“Connor has made sure I cannot.” He exhaled roughly.
“I mourn the Queen and the demise of my Kingdom, but I confess that being here, with you…” His arms stroked my skin gently.
“The melancholy does not linger. I have hope in my heart that we will triumph in the end. Even with this sweet-smelling oil in my hair and the mud tightening on my face uncomfortably, I am at peace, Chosen.”
“Mmm. Me, too.”
“Can I wash this mud off now? I wish to kiss every inch of your skin, and that requires more facial movement.”
“Oh. Yes, let’s do that. Cecil,” I called out.
“I heard you. Time to get freaky.” He grumbled under his breath as he got back up on his hooves. “I’m taking his pizza with me.”