Chapter Twenty-Two

 

Lani saw small hands slink up Luther’s massive shoulders before burying themselves in his hair. His head was pulled down. She heard hungry, panting moans as Wikolia kissed the demon who’d just moments before tormented her daughter.

Luther pulled back, breathing heavily. “Milady, you shouldn’t be down here,” he protested, taking her hands from around his neck.

“Where is Lani?”

“In there.”

“You bad boy, you!” Wikolia giggled. “Can she hear us?” She sounded positively thrilled at the thought of her daughter listening to her mother seducing her captor.

Lani attempted to wrinkle her nose, but pain stopped her. Gods, her face felt like it had met with a Mack truck.

“She’s unconscious right now,” Luther admitted slowly, sounding as though he wasn’t sure what to think of Wikolia’s curiosity.

“Mm and I bet these big hands had a lot to do with that,” she purred. “You’ve been avoiding me, and no male avoids me, or these, for long.”

Luther’s face was twisted in lust. Yeah, her mom had quite the rack on her, if she recalled correctly.

“Now, there’s one thing I’ve always wanted to know about a demon of your, um size,” Wikolia was saying, her voice husky.

“What do you want to know, milady?” There was a rustling sound. “Gods!”

“My, oh my, Luther. I knew you’d be impressive, but this is…spectacular.”

Lani’s mouth curled as she heard clothing drop to the floor, then hungry suckling. Luther’s head flew back, hitting the door, but that didn’t stop him from groaning and enjoying her mother’s well-known favors.

Bile rose in her throat. It was a scene she’d become used to during her childhood. Her mother devouring every male in sight. Usually her father was never far behind as he enjoyed sharing his wife with others.

As if on cue, she heard his smooth voice. “Lia, my love. You started without me.” More clothing rustled, and then she heard the slap of flesh against flesh.

Her skin crawled as the groans and grunts escalated. She closed her eyes again. This was Hell, she decided. But what were her parents doing here?

She wasn’t sure how long their impromptu orgy lasted, only that it was suddenly silent. Opening her eyes again, she saw Luther was no longer standing on the other side of the door.

“Mm, my love, that was excellent,” Wikolia purred. “This demon tastes like wine.”

“You were magnificent, Lia,” Thomas panted.

Luther was strangely silent. Lani wondered if he was shocked. She almost giggled at the image of Luther being ravished by her parents. Her humor faded as she listened to them talking.

“Luther, darling, is what your master said true? Will he give us a position of power in his ranks if we convince Lani to kill that troublesome Halfling?” Her voice was sultry, but cold.

“We shouldn’t discuss that here,” Luther grumbled, then gasped.

“This is the best place for…discussion,” Wikolia said with a girlish giggle. “Look at him grow, Thomas!”

“That is impressive,” Thomas said thickly. “I wonder if our daughter enjoyed his attentions as much as we have.”

“Doubtful,” Wikolia answered over Luther’s gasps. “She was always a strange child. No passion at all in her.”

“A prude.”

“Yes, she wouldn’t know what to do with something like this.”

Thomas gasped. “And you do, my sweet?”

Wikolia laughed wickedly.

Luther groaned.

She gasped.

Thomas moaned.

They were at it again, this time banging against the door.

Afterwards, Wikolia giggled, saying, “I think we wore Luther out.”

“It appears so, Lia,” Thomas replied with his own chuckle. “Poor sot. Do you think we did the right thing?”

Lani held her breath. Were they talking about handing her over to the Eturi, or their current plan? She strained to listen to them.

“Of course we did. Leofric would have banned us from Court if he had married her. He was so infatuated with her. If she had become queen, we would’ve been cast out by our own daughter,” she answered coldly. “No, giving her to Luther was for the best.”

Pain lanced her heart. They hadn’t sold her; they’d given her away just so she wouldn’t marry Leofric. Tears squeezed out the corners of her eyes. Some part of her had wanted to believe they needed the money and that’s why they sold her. To find out after all this time that they’d just wanted her out of their way was even worse.

“If we can get the Eturian to sponsor us, we might be able to overthrow Leofric,” Thomas said so softly, Lani could barely hear him.

They wanted the Skado throne now? Wasn’t anything enough for them? she thought wildly. She had to get out of here. Malachi and his Halflings weren’t the only ones who would suffer if she remained. She might not have been back to Skado in nearly two centuries, but they weren’t bad people.

“What if Lani doesn’t agree?” Thomas asked thoughtfully.

“We’ll make sure she does. She’s been nothing but a problem for us since she was born. I had to listen to my father wax poetic about her for years, only to be followed up by Leofric,” Wikolia responded sharply. “I will not let her ruin a good thing for us.”

“Yes, my love, of course,” Thomas soothed. “She should fall into line if we had some leverage over her.”

“Hm, you’re right.”

Silence, broken only by Luther’s incoherent mumbles, echoed around the dungeon. Lani held her breath. Gods, if only it was dark enough to lose herself in the shadows! She could get out of the cell, find out what they were planning, and be gone. But Luther knew about her shadow form, and had always planned accordingly.

“I have it,” Wikolia said triumphantly.

Lani strained to hear what they were saying, but for once, they were practicing discretion and whispering. Damn them, she thought angrily.

“…shouldn’t bother her, murderer that she is.”

“It won’t matter anyway, once it’s done, they’ll want her head,” Thomas whispered back to Wikolia.

She frowned at the bright lights of her cell. They were going to trap her into killing someone? What the hells was going on?

“Oh look, he’s waking up,” Wikolia whispered. “We should invite him to our bed tonight. There are several positions I want to try out with a brute this size.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem, my love. I doubt he gets any satisfaction from our daughter,” her father replied. “Is she in there?”

Clothing rustled again as they dressed.

“What? Oh yes, he said she was unconscious. Pity that. It would’ve been more entertaining if the little bitch heard everything,” Wikolia answered in a pouting voice.

Thomas murmured something, his voice coming closer to the door.

Lani heard soft applause. “That’s brilliant! Thomas, you’re downright wicked!”

Staring at the window of her cell door, Lani flinched when she saw Thomas peering in. He was tall enough to see into the cell, and the cruel lust on his face made her cringe.

“Well, well, our little shadow is awake,” he murmured. “Lani, love. How horrible you look.”

His cold green eyes surveyed her naked form. Lani wanted to cover herself, but her body still wasn’t working. Instead, she glared at Thomas, wanting to hate him for what he’d done to her, except the little girl she’d once been still ached for his love and approval.

“Let me see her!” Wikolia demanded with a laugh.

Thomas moved back, making his wife giggle as he lifted her high enough to see into the window. Wikolia was still as beautiful as she’d been when Lani was a girl. Her heart-shaped face boasted a pair of amethyst eyes that contrasted sharply with the same silver hair she’d passed on to her daughter.

“Noelani, you do look awful!” she laughed, her eyes glinting cruelly.

Lani remained silent. Humiliation spread throughout her body, the stain seeping into her soul.

“Nothing to say to your parents, Lani?” Thomas asked sternly, though his eyes twinkled. “Such a terrible daughter we’ve been saddled with, Lia.”

“Indeed, Thomas,” Wikolia answered primly. “We’ll have to think of a suitable punishment for her.”

Lani wet her lips. “Go. To. Hell.” Her voice was raspy from disuse and pain.

“Now, is that anyway to treat your parents? Shikoba never speaks to us this way, does she, Thomas?” her mother said reprovingly.

Lani frowned at them as much as she was able. Who the hell was Shikoba?

“Of course not. Our daughter is all that’s sweet and kind. Tsk, Lani. If only your sister could…”

His voice was drowned out by the blood rushing through her ears. Gods, she had a sister? They’d had another child? Her mind frantically tried to grasp the implications. A sister, she had a sister she’d never known about.

“What are you doing?” Luther’s voice suddenly boomed, startling them all. “Get away from there! Go, back upstairs. I’ll be up in a minute and we’ll talk about this.”

Luther’s anger was evident. He must need her parents’ cooperation for something, her agreement to complete the assignment, more than likely. Her parents moved away from the door, murmuring to Luther.

His face darkened with lust, he looked through the window at Lani. “Agreed. Now go.”

Once they left, he entered the cell again, his slacks unbuttoned. He moved languidly, no doubt tired from her parents’ attentions. Hopefully he would leave her alone as well, but as she looked into his eyes, she knew he wouldn’t.

He crouched next to her, smoothing one hand over her cheek. “Shade, Shade, Shade,” he said chidingly. “Your mother is a fine fuck, but she isn’t you. Don’t worry, I won’t forget about giving you what I promised.” His voice was soft and cold.

Trying not to show her trepidation, Lani squinted up at him through her swollen eyelids. “Bastard.”
Huffing out a laugh, he casually slapped her. Her head spun from the blow.

He sighed. “I can’t have as much fun with you as I want right now. You have a short reprieve today. Your parents would like to show you something,” Luther said with a monstrous grin. “Afterwards though,” he leaned over her, placing a gentle kiss to her forehead, “it’ll be just you and me.”

Standing again, he tweaked her nipple, twisting it painfully. When she didn’t cry out, he laughed. Then with a mocking bow he left the cell.

Lani relaxed on the pallet again, her mind whirling with escape plans she rejected one after the other. She couldn’t go anywhere as long as she was too wounded to walk, and she couldn’t even dissipate into the shadows with the flood lamps Luther had lined her cell in. It felt impossible to imagine getting out of here before she found out what they wanted of her.

She paused, thinking. She had a sister! Shikoba Fayard…a younger sibling she’d known nothing about. Lani wondered how old she was, what she was like, if her parents had done half the things in front of her that they’d done in front of Lani. She shook her head slightly. If she got out of here alive, she’d find Shikoba, learn what kind of fairy she was before coming forward. Did Shikoba even know about her?

There was so much to think about. Malachi was still in danger, and if she understood her parents’ whispering, she was still on the job. If they could convince her to go along with it. She laughed softly, moaning as her ribs protested. There was nothing they could do to her to make her kill the male she loved. They just didn’t know it yet.

*****

It was hours before she saw or heard anyone again. Without the glowing rays of moonlight to heal her, she was stiff and bruised, though nowhere near as injured as she had been. Once her body began to respond to her commands again, she’d stumbled around the cell to work the stiffness from her joints and muscles. Soon, she was moving a little faster, and a little easier. The bruises wouldn’t fade for several more hours, the cuts would take at least another day, but she was moving and that was all that mattered.

She’d paced around the cell so many times, she knew it was exactly thirteen bricks wide, and eighteen bricks long. The flood lamps numbered in the teens with one covering every angle possible and not a single shadow to be found. Her growling stomach reminded her she hadn’t eaten for at least two days. No time to think about it though, she thought with a wince. She had only so much time before Luther came to get her for whatever her parents had planned tonight.

Distant clanging told her someone was coming into the dungeon. She nearly flew to the pallet, arranging herself in what she hoped looked like a pained sprawl. Her ribs protested the quick movements, so when Luther opened the door, she really was in pain.

“Ah, Shade. Wonderful!” He entered the cell while two of his imps shuffled in behind him.

Lani glared up at the demon lord as he clapped her in manacles and leg shackles. The imps carried bright lights, so she knew Luther was moving her somewhere.

“We have a delightful evening planned,” he was saying as he pulled her to her feet. He snapped a collar with a lead around her neck.

“Come along, little fairy. We have games to play.”

Shuffling as fast as she could to avoid tripping, Lani tried to keep up with Luther’s distance eating strides. The imps followed, keeping the lights on her at all times.

The strange procession went up the dungeon stairs, into the house itself. Luther didn’t head to the social rooms like she thought he would, instead leading her upstairs to the private rooms. Her stomach began churning. She had a bad, bad feeling about this.

Her feelings were recognized when Luther opened the doorway at the very end of the hall. It was his bedroom. She recognized it from the day before. What she hadn’t expected, was her parents to be lounging on his massive bed. They got to their feet when Luther and Lani walked in, their faces effused in malicious smiles.

“This is going to be so much fun” Wikolia gushed, floating forward to push Lani’s hair away from her face. “You would have been so pretty if it hadn’t been for that skin, my dear.”

“Yes,” Thomas agreed, sauntering up to peer at Lani’s naked body. “A shame she was born defective.”
Wikolia’s face twisted with anger. “I-″

“I know, my love. You can’t help that your grandfather was a Shadow Knight,” he soothed, patting her hand. “It’s just unfortunate Lani had to pick up his skin color. That was all I planned to say.”

Her mother simpered, turning her face up for Thomas to kiss. Shade watched them swap spit for several seconds, while Luther stared at her. She could feel him watching, judging her reaction. Luckily, her face felt frozen in a grimace.

When her parents finally broke apart, their eyes blazed with lust. They turned back to her, walking around her still form as though looking to see what changes time had wrought.

“Oh, my! Look at these brands, Thomas!” Wikolia tittered, her hand brushing the marks on Lani’s back. “Luther, you naughty boy, I didn’t know you were such a master of pain.”

Luther’s chest puffed out. “Shade has been my most dedicated pupil since the time she came to us. I’ve tried various techniques on her, but she’s never broken.” He almost sounded proud, Lani thought with hate.

“Really,” Thomas drawled. “That’s such a surprise. The pampered little princess grew up fast and strong, it seems.”

Wikolia, never one to allow the attention to be anywhere but on her for very long, clapped her hands. “Put her in place!”

Chuckling at her enthusiasm, Luther tugged Lani to the center of the room facing the bed.

“We have a special entertainment planned tonight,” he whispered against her face. Excitement burned in his black eyes. “I wanted to make sure you didn’t miss a single second of it.”

Luther nodded to the imps. They came forward to place the lamps on either side of her. They disappeared for a moment then came back, rolling something into the room. Lani wanted to turn to see what it was, but wouldn’t give Luther or her parents the satisfaction of knowing she was scared.

  The noise stopped, and she was jerked back to a flat board. She squirmed, but with the restraints, didn’t have much of a chance to get away. Before she could muster up a real defense, she was strapped to the board, her head tied down so she could only look straight. She clenched her hands into fists, wanting to kill every single one of them.

One of Luther’s hands came up to stroke her face. She snapped her teeth at him. There was no doubt in her mind that what they planned to do to her was going to seriously piss her off.