Chapter 3 Puck
Suggested Listening: Mr. Brightside by The Killers
Iclench the fork in my hand and watch as my twin and the demon grin like idiots while an unknown man paws at my mate.
I know Darius already feels a kinship with these people.
He’s seen them so often they’re familiar to him.
He knows them in a way I simply cannot because Darius might live in the now, but he exists across multiple instances of time in his mind.
There are blind spots in his abilities. If events are too tightly woven around him, he can’t see them. Which means if one of these men were to harm my brother, we’d never see it coming. That’s not how his sight works.
Darius is too soft. Too unaccustomed to the ways of the world. While our family treated him terribly, they coddled him in a way, too. He’s never really had to navigate things on his own. This is happening far too fast, and I’m unwilling to risk Gracie’s safety or her heart with men I don’t know.
When it comes to Ezra, I can admit I was in the wrong.
He’s still a threat, but perhaps not one we need to be worried about.
I’m willing to make amends. But the demon and this warlock?
I don’t know them. I can’t trust their stories.
For all we know, they’re here under the direction of the coven with orders to bring Gracie to heel.
A part of me knows that’s some selfish fantasy. I’m not ready to accept them yet, so I’ll hold on to my flimsy excuses.
Gracie leans against the table with Luciu pressed up against her. His hands rove over her back like he can’t touch enough of her. It’s a feeling I know well.
The first time I got my hands on her, I thought I might die. To feel her, smell her skin, and finally appease my curiosity of how well we fit together—it was almost too much for my mind to process. And she had no idea what a monumental moment it was. Because I never told her.
A blueberry lands in the middle of my stack of pancakes. I scowl and glance at Darius. His face is turned toward Gracie, but Isa is looking at me, which means Darius is watching me, too. I don’t need to mind-link with him to know that he wants me to cheer up and get on board.
I can’t do that.
Gracie is my reason for living. If I hadn’t had the knowledge that she would eventually come into my life, I don’t think I’d have lasted this long.
I’d have become a tool crafted by cruelty and honed to a deadly edge.
If I’d chosen to keep living at all. There have been times when death seemed the better option.
I have no illusions. Even with the bargain I’ve struck with our parents, I know they’ll try to extract another bargain out of me.
Before then, I must convince Gracie to bond with us.
That will offer all of us a measure of protection.
Both literally and theoretically speaking.
Mate bonds are for life in our culture. My parents or other fae might not like it, but they wouldn’t interfere.
I would also have legal rights as a mate or husband in both our worlds.
Not to mention her coven elders would back way the fuck off were we attached.
They might not know the extent of my powers, but they are aware that they are considerable, deadly, and could possibly have rallied the remnants of the Unseelie Court behind my family.
That’s a level of power they’re smart enough to not fuck with.
Vyslan claps his hands together. “Not to put a damper on things, mate, but why don’t we all sit down and chat about our next steps?”
“Oh. Right. Sorry.” Luciu takes a step back, his tanned face flushing.
Gracie chuckles, takes a step toward him, and pats his chest.
I dislike seeing her touch the others. They don’t know her like I do. They haven’t put in the time to get to know every detail about her life, history, likes, dislikes.
My magic reaches out, brushing over her, and taking stock of her current mood.
She’s exhausted, having worked herself to the bone all night trying to come up with a spell to help.
I’ve done what I can, delivering tinctures and teas to her that will both sustain her through this ordeal and help combat the migraines and constant pain she lives with.
I’ve known men subjected to less as a means of torture that eventually broke them. And this is her everyday existence.
Gracie circles back around to her seat, running her fingers through Isa’s fur as she goes. The familiar arches its back and preens while Darius grins with unfettered glee.
They’re both so precious to me. I know Darius believes that Vyslan, Ezra, and Luciu are destined to be family, but that hasn’t been a safe word for us. And I’ll be damned if I allow anything to happen to Gracie.
I never truly believed I could love someone until I met her.
When Darius told me about our future together, I’d latched onto it for his benefit.
Back then, our bond was forged in guilt.
If our parents hadn’t tried to make me powerful, he never would have existed.
I felt that I owed him. How could I love anyone?
After all, our parents ensured that I was the stronger one.
That there was no weakness in me. And surely this thing called love had to be just that. A weakness.
When I met Gracie, I watched her and learned her habits so that I could ascertain whether being with her would make a good life for Darius. My emotions didn’t factor into it, because why would they? Certainly, my capability to love had been culled and given to my twin. That was logic.
She’d been a child still. Just a girl trying to figure out her magic and life, all under difficult circumstances.
I’d imposed rules. I wasn’t allowed to approach her or even look at her.
But I was aware. I slowly infiltrated the nooks and crannies of her life, watching her grow into a confident woman with a brilliant mind and a generous heart.
I can’t fathom why her mother left her with her human guardian.
It’s one of those mysteries I can’t untangle.
But I also can’t deny that he did an excellent job.
She is a better witch than those old bags of bones running her coven could ever be.
I turn toward her slightly, assessing her current pain levels. Because of my gift, I am able to anticipate her needs better. I can tell when she’s in pain or just aching, when it’s going to be bad, and I can often help mitigate some of the worst of it. Or I could if she allowed it.
She doesn’t look at me when she sits. In fact, it’s almost like I’m not even here.
I know I’ve hurt her. It wasn’t intentional.
I had no way of knowing the bargain would take six months to complete or that Darius would be so weak.
While they drained me, he worked on building stamina and strength.
Neither of us are in peak condition right now, and I worry about what that means for this rescue operation.
If I could convince her that the vampire wasn’t worth this effort, I would. But I also know that my single-minded devotion to her makes me blind to her other needs.
“Luc?” Vyslan rips a pancake in half and begins tearing off smaller bites. “How close is this vampire stronghold you worked on?”
“It’s about forty-five minutes outside of the city.
Treznor doesn’t want to be in the city, but he does need to be close enough for the convenience of it.
His thralls bring him his, uh, meals and whatnot.
He rarely ventures into the city himself.
You always know when he does because the news talks about the, um, bodies he leaves behind. ”
“Does he turn those meals?” Gracie asks.
“Maybe?” Luciu squints across the table. “To be honest, I tried to have as little to do with him as possible, so I’m not the most informed about his habits.”
“Tell us about this job you did for him,” I say.
Vyslan nods in encouragement.
Luciu ducks his head and blows out a breath.
He seems to shake off some of the nerves now that we’re on to the topic of work.
“Treznor’s assistant, this liche lady, contacted me about the job.
I didn’t know who it was for at the time, but I figured it was someone powerful.
Liches don’t exactly get along with many people.
So, I knew whoever her employer was, they had to be undead or super powerful.
Unfortunately, Treznor is both. He’s Middle Ages, European stock.
If the rumors are true, he came over around the time of the American Revolution and used the fighting to hide his blood sucking.
He’s old. Anyway, the liche lady was the one that directed the work.
Never offered a name, which isn’t unusual for my clients.
She made it sound like this was a routine beefing up of the security, but there were a lot of specifics they asked for that went above and beyond even higher level security spells.
See, my specialty is combining tech and magic.
My gift is all about adapting power sources.
Magic is just another source of energy, after all.
I upgraded them to cameras, sensors, the whole thing. ”
Darius sighs and props his chin on his fist. “That’s fascinating.”
“Seriously,” Gracie mutters in agreement.
I haven’t heard of many who can do such a thing. I don’t want to like the warlock, but if what he says is true, then he is owed some respect.
Luciu scratches the back of his neck and grins sheepishly down at his plate. It’s like he knows full well how talented he is and is still embarrassed by his success. He needs a dose of confidence.
My gaze slides back to Gracie. I can see her holding onto Darius’ hand under the table, and that small gesture gives me a drop of hope and wonder.