Chapter Eleven

 

“What happened to you?” he asked in a rough whisper.

He sat at her bedside while Dinah finished the last of the healing rites. The witch had done a wonderful job as far as he could see. Lani’s shoulder was almost completely healed while the brands on her back were already scabbing over.

Once Dinah had finished healing her, he questioned her about the brands.

“They’re fresh,” the witch said in a disgusted tone. Her brown eyes filled with fire. “They’re no more than five hours old and whoever did it used iron and saltwater to make them scar.”

Malachi cast his gaze over the faint lash marks on her back. Iron was the only thing that could scar Fey, but adding saltwater ensured the scarring went deeper. Fury built in his chest.

“The ∆ indicates slavery, but the double mark means she’s a slave in this lifetime and in the After,” the witch continued, meeting his eyes steadily. “The After is where Fey believe they go when they die. She also has shackle burns on her neck and wrists. She’s been tortured frequently in her life.”

“Who-” he began, unable to get the words passed the choking feeling in his throat.

Dinah shook her head. “I have no idea. The torture could’ve happened in her youth, or a week ago. Fairies don’t heal like the rest of us.” She tilted her head thoughtfully. “These…look similar to markings I’ve seen on some of the captured Eturian soldiers I’ve treated over the years.”

Malachi said nothing, just stared down at the tiny figure in the bed. Now he remembered the Greek Halflings he’d seen years ago had been while he was in the Eturian army. He’d seen ugly, horrible things in those days; the markings were merely another reminder of what he was responsible for. For Lani to have them though, he frowned. Had she been captured by the Eturians at some point? Could that be where all of her scars came from? Thoughts turned over in his head, but he was jerked out of them when Dinah spoke again.

“Whatever happened to her, she has a lot of pain buried deep. The wounds will heal,” Dinah quickly assured him when his eyes widened. “She’ll heal physically, Malachi, but her emotional and mental wounds are much deeper.”

The pain in his chest intensified. Now that he knew about the marks she kept hidden from him with her bands of leather, he no longer found them sexy. There was nothing attractive about mental and emotional anguish in the physical form. So he sat at her bedside, gently stroking her hair and hand, wishing he could remove all her hurts.

She studied him carefully. “You know, I wasn’t going to help her when I found out you were the one requesting me. I’m glad I did though.”

“Why?”

She smiled softly. “Because I finally realized what it Piper and Connor see in you. You are an honorable male,” Dinah said with a little bow. “I hope you find the redemption you’re searching for, Malachi Cromwell. Blessed be.”

He grunted at her, earning a laugh as she walked out.

Looking back at Lani, he couldn’t deny this fairy had some kind of strange hold on him. If he were a betting kind of Halfling, he’d almost believe she was his mate, but since his life was too fucked up right now to deal with a relationship, he pushed the thought away.

She began to twitch, her eyes moving rapidly behind her lids as she dreamed. Malachi continued holding her hand as she fought invisible demons, her hoarse cries unintelligible to him as she spoke in a language he couldn’t understand. He didn’t need to know the words because the torment in her face spoke clearly.

He waited with bated breath, hoping she’d wake up from the dreams, but she didn’t. Instead, her body went strangely still and cold no matter how many blankets he piled on her. He’d even crawled in the bed with her to loan her his body heat. Nothing worked.

Scared for reasons he didn’t care to contemplate, he shouted for Dinah, who ran back into the room and checked Lani over. Physically, nothing was wrong with her, the witch told him with a shrug. Dinah left again to finish looking over his injured guards, leaving Malachi staring at Lani with a strange pain in his chest.

Malachi knew he didn’t have time to help this Guardian with her problems. His deal with the Council was good only so long as he produced, otherwise he’d be shipped off to the nearest maximum security prison. Then everything he’d done over the last six years would be for nothing. His followers would be disbanded and imprisoned, and their cause would die.

Letting go of Lani’s hand was hard, but he forced himself to. He leaned back in his chair, pressing his fingers to his closed eyes. So much was riding on his success. Lucian had done what he could to smooth the way, but the rest was up to Malachi.

The question now was who had given her the brands and how? He’d reviewed every monitor, looking for the moment she’d left the house, but she never had. Despite his worry for her, something niggled at the back of his mind, urging him to view her wounds in a new light.

It seemed too coincidental that she came to harm immediately before the compound was infiltrated. Suspicion wormed its way through his more tender emotions. Could she have been sent in to spy on him and tell her leaders how to attack?

Opening his eyes, he studied her still form. He tapped his finger on his bottom lip as he thought. She’d shown up right after Lucian put in his request, she was a skilled killer who held the markings of a slave. What did it all mean? He was going to find out. He just needed the perfect bait.

Malachi stood over the bed, his mind and heart at war. His heart told him Lani was a victim who needed his protection, while his head warned him not to do anything to jeopardize his future.

He left the room deep in thought. Tia was standing in her doorway looking at him. He wanted to keep going until he reached his suite of rooms, but the way she stood told him she was excited about something.

“Tia? Is something the matter?” he asked once he was in range.

“No, Abba. I just wished to let you know I’ve picked what I want.”

Malachi stared at her blankly until he remembered his promise from the night before. “Right!” he said with forced heartiness. “Where are your catalogs? I’ll have Hatot or Kahal order whatever you marked down.”

Her head tilted to the side as she studied him. “You are not happy, Abba. Why are you lying to me?”

“Lying?” Malachi’s mind went blank.

“I know you are troubled, yet you are smiling. Why are you lying with your face?” she asked curiously.

His face cleared as he caught what she was saying. “It isn’t a lie, Tia. I’m pretending. I’m glad you found things you want; I just have a lot on my mind.”

She nodded. “Yes, the fairy. She’s pretty. Will you keep her?”

Blood rushed to his cheeks. “Um. You’d know that better than me,” he said jokingly. She knew the future and if she didn’t know if Lani was going to stay with him, he sure as hell didn’t.

“I already looked, but it’s dark. I can’t see anything about her.”

“That’s strange, isn’t it? You’ve always been able to see someone if you focus.” He frowned deeply. He didn’t like that Lani might not have a future.

“There are too many things left open to see, Abba. There are a lot of decisions that haven’t been made yet.” Her blue eyes flickered as she peered into the future. “Your brother is about to call.”

The phone rang.

“Yeah,” Malachi growled into the phone with a stern look at Tia before he turned away.

“We just heard what happened. Is everyone okay?”

Scowling down the hallway towards Lani’s door, Malachi thought about what to tell Lucian. He didn’t want to voice his suspicions about her just yet. Lucian would attempt to ride to the rescue and he wasn’t ready to get rid of Lani.

“Yeah, everyone’s fine. We lost a few men, but their families are being taken care of,” he muttered, hauling ass to his private rooms.

“Good, good.” Lucian sounded distracted and thoughtful.

Malachi pondered the importance of his brother’s mood as he entered his suite. He’d had the entire top floor remodeled, making the rooms bigger. The walls between two bedrooms had been knocked down to make his sitting room large enough to hold the massive rows of monitors where he watched the house.

Bypassing the comfortable chairs, he headed straight for the bar. He poured a good measure of Scotch which he downed hurriedly.

He braced himself. “You’re not usually so quiet when you call. What’s going on?”

Lucian took a deep breath as though gathering his thoughts. Knowing he wasn’t going to like what was coming, Malachi poured another drink, this time taking it to the beat-up leather recliner he kept solely for relaxing.

“I know you have a lot going on right now. I wouldn’t have called if I thought you wouldn’t want to know right away,” his brother began, his voice strangely hesitant.

“Cut the crap, what happened?” Malachi asked harshly.

“We found out where Pascal is.”

A thrill of anticipation traveled up and down his spine. His heart pounded with the need to hunt, but he kept his voice calm. “That’s good. Where?”

“Not yet, Malachi,” Lucian said warningly. “I want your promise you won’t go alone.”

Not bothering to hold back his curse, Malachi took another gulp of his drink, feeling the burn as it eased down his throat. He should’ve known Lucian would put conditions on the information.

His hand tightened around the crystal of his snifter. “Fine. I won’t go alone.”

“You’ll take the Guardian with you?”

Remembering the wounds his little Guardian was sporting, Malachi cursed out loud. “She’s hurt.” He didn’t explain further, not wanting to tell Lucian about the brands on her back.

“Then wait until she’s healed before looking for Pascal,” his brother said easily.

“Fine! Tell me where.” His voice was harsh with anger and desperation. He was so close to finding the rest of the generals.

Lucian was quiet for several minutes. “Pascal is now Satricarion of a pack of Satyrs in Arizona. They relocated there sometime earlier this year. He’s been keeping a low profile which is why it took Ruby’s family so long to track him down. Unfortunately for him, he came across a group of Amazons one night, insulted them, and they took him for tithing. He was released about a week ago.”

“Good.” Malachi’s mind was already busy calculating Pascal’s strength after giving his tithe to the Amazons who’d captured him. Tithes were paid by males to Amazon tribes they insulted which could be anything from manual labor to servicing whichever Amazons took a liking to them. “Do we know what his tithe was?”

Lucian’s voice was rich with amusement. “Ah, it seems Pascal came to the attention of Vandal the Violent and spent two weeks in her tent.”

Harsh laughter burst out of Malachi before he could stop it. Vandal was a terror according to what his sister-in-law’s family told him. She was nearly seven feet of pure muscle and bad attitude. “Did he walk out of there or was he carried?”

“He walked. Very slowly.”

They both laughed. Amusement eased some of the anger in Malachi’s chest, making him sigh. “Damn, Luc. You ruined my bad mood.”

“That’s what little brothers are for,” Lucian quipped, his voice light with relief and laughter. “I’ll e-mail you the information we have on Pascal’s hangouts. I’d suggest giving him a few more days to get used to being away from Vandal before going after him.”

“You think he’s worried she liked him so much she’ll come back for seconds?”

A huff of laughter carried over the line. “Word is Vandal was so impressed by his, um, charm, she mentioned keeping him.”

Malachi finished his drink, plunking the crystal on the polished table next to him. “That’s too bad. After I’m finished with him, I doubt he’ll be of any use to her.”

Lucian was quiet for a moment. “Have a care, brother. You don’t want to fall back into old habits. Get your information from him, and send him to Council for punishment.”

He heard the warning in his brother’s tone, but ignored it. Pascal would give him what information he needed, or he would die.

*****

Shade lay in bed, her face pressed against the coolness of the pillow. Her body was a maze of pain, but she could think through it. She had to.

Luther’s brands meant one thing: he was going to plead with his master for her after her usefulness had ended. She knew without even looking at the marks that they were the brands of slave. He’d once threatened her with the punishment, but hadn’t wanted to leave identifying marks upon her body. Well, more than he already had.

Now that he’d made punishment reality, she had to move fast. There would be no escaping him, not with his abilities to portal her directly to him, but she could do what she’d set out to do in the first place.

She ignored the pain as she pushed herself into a kneeling position on the bed. She was weak, but a night of moonbathing should help her heal quicker.

Black spots swam in her vision as she eased onto the floor. Her legs wobbled. Grasping the post nearest to her, she clung to it until she was steadier on her feet. Her every breath seemed to pull at the burns on her back, a taunting pain.

Shade wasn’t sure how long she stood there, but it was enough to make her shiver in the cool night air. She needed to get outside without being seen.

Slow, halting steps brought her to the window. She peered out. The grounds were quiet, peaceful after the violence they had seen. She wasn’t sure what day it was or how long she had been out. Not that it mattered. She needed to heal and find out more about her target. If there was the slightest chance he wasn’t working against The Veil, she would aid him until Luther called her.

The sight of the moonlight bathing the garden below in silvery light made her ache to be outside. With a careful study of the gardens, she saw no guards about. Good.

She opened the window, hoping the target hadn’t installed an electronic alarm system. When it swung open without a sound, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Shade closed her eyes, letting her body dissipate into shadow. The coolness and familiarity of her other form gave her a small thrill of satisfaction. No matter what, Luther had never been able to harm her shadow self. Instead, he’d kept her bathed in light, dispelling any lingering darkness so she had no place to hide.

Forcing herself to forget about those dark days, Shade slipped through the window and coasted in the sheltering gloom of the house. She wafted along until she was deep in the garden below her window.

Once she was far enough away from the house where no one could see her from the windows, she slipped out of the shadows. Carefully stripping her panties from her body, she unfurled her wings.

Spying a bench in the center of the circle of roses and jasmine, she sat down. Head tilted back and wings spread wide, she reclined in the moonlight feeling its healing rays soak into her skin.