Chapter Twenty-Three

 

Malachi met with Saga, Izzy, and Rosetta to learn what they found out while Lucian tried to contact someone with ties in Shadowland. The wheels were turning, albeit very slowly to his mind. He just couldn’t stop imagining what could be happening to Lani while he was stuck trying to clean up a mess he’d made centuries ago.

“The scenes were clean,” Saga was saying, her face serious. “We didn’t find anything new that way, but we did learn that the assassin used glamour to keep their identity a secret.”

“I know who the assassin is,” Malachi interrupted. He didn’t want to go over old information.

Izzy’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “You do? Then why the hell didn’t you call us back?”

He felt his face heating up under their intense stares. How could he explain that their assassin had been living with him for a week? Best to rip it off like a band-aid. “Um, remember the fairy you smelled at my home?”

Saga nodded slowly, her gaze never leaving his face.

“That was the assassin.”

“She was living in your house!”

“Holy cow, she’s got some mad skills, can I meet her?”

“What does she wear?” Rosetta piped up, her voice carrying over the others.

They all turned to glare at the drag queen, who shrugged without a trace of embarrassment. “Malachi’s daughter was rigged out in the best Michael Kors get-up. You should’ve seen her! It was this beautiful-″

“Quiet,” Saga ordered, her eyes narrowed on Malachi. “The fairy was sent to kill you.”

He nodded, fighting not to flinch under her glacial stare.

“And when did you find this out?” she asked quietly.

He thought. “Three days ago.”

“And you didn’t bother calling us back when you found out?”

He ran a hand through his hair, sitting forward in the hopes they would realize how impatient and sincere he was. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you back about it. I…sort of went crazy when I found out, okay? I told her to leave, she left – or so I thought – and came back after sending Lucian a confession complete with a list of names.”

“Where is she now?” Izzy asked her usually cheerful face stony.

“Ah, I don’t know exactly. She left my, um, home sometime last night or this morning,” he hedged.

“You slept with her,” Rosetta said in a singsong voice.

Malachi frowned darkly. “No, I didn’t-″

“Hon, even though you’re pissed right now, you look much more relaxed than usual. You, sir, are a man well sated.” Rosetta pronounced, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Fine! I slept with her-″

“After you found out she was sent to kill you,” Saga broke in, a twinkle entering her eyes.

“Yes! Okay, I didn’t plan-″

“You’re in love,” Izzy stated boldly, her face reverting to its usual impish expression. “You fell in love with your assassin!”

The three of them started laughing uproariously, clutching their sides. Sighing deeply, Malachi sat back in his chair to stare up at the ceiling. Why had he thought he could work with these impossible females, he wondered as his ears were abused with their imitations of his protestations. Lani was in danger, he knew that in his heart, and these Amazons were making fun of him!

Saga wiped tears from her eyes as she finally calmed down. She giggled. “Sorry, Malachi, but you have to admit it’s funny.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “How is this funny? I’m in love with a female who was sent to kill me, and now I don’t know where she is, or if she’s in danger!”

“Okay, first off she didn’t kill you, obviously. She had a change of heart somewhere along the way. That’s a good thing. Good.” She held up a second finger. “Secondly, she’s a bloody assassin. It isn’t like she’s a creampuff who’ll get herself killed the first second she’s out of your sight. And thirdly, you’ve been so friggin’ nauseating with your plans for “redeeming” yourself,” she said scathingly. She used air quotes. Air quotes! Malachi stifled a shocked laugh. “That we figured we were going to be asked to leave you alone so we didn’t ruin your image.”

 His humor faded abruptly. “You thought I’d ignore your friendship?” he asked, deeply offended even while he acknowledged in his mind that he had thought about it once or twice.

Izzy cocked her head to the side. “We’re not insulted or anything, you know. It isn’t like we don’t know we’re abrasive. We just don’t care what people think about us. Neither should you.”

She was so young he looked at her pityingly then realized they were giving him the same look.

“Malachi, you’ve been living your entire life trying to be what everyone expects you to be, trying to live up to some image you have in your head. When are you gonna realize that the only people who really matter are the ones who like you for who you are?” Saga asked him softly.

He gaped at the three of them, all of them looking at him with sympathy. He wanted to protest their assumptions, but he couldn’t. It was all bloody well true. He’d made some great friends in the last few years, when he’d looked past his own bitterness to see that there were good people out there. To be counted as a friend by them, relied on to watch their children, or help them when they needed it, was a heady feeling. He didn’t need to keep working at being someone of worth, he already was. No more sucking up to people who didn’t give a damn about him. No more tiptoeing around the Veilerian elite. He didn’t need to hide who he was from these people; they accepted him, Halfling blood notwithstanding.

Shade deserved the same acceptance. She believed herself to be less worthy than he did, and he suspected she didn’t have anyone to lean on. Except him. She could lean on him if he found her in time. She could be his mate, his partner.

Saga snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Earth to Malachi…Good, you’re back with us.” She sat down again, looking smug. “Now, we’re looking for a fairy, right? What does she look like? What kind of fairy is she?”

Izzy sat forward. “Yeah, give us deets!”

The next half hour was spent extolling Lani’s virtues, telling his friends what little he knew about her except how she tasted, felt, and sounded in bed. Those were secrets she’d passed to him, and he doubted the Amazons would want to hear it anyway.

“A friggin’ shadow fairy!” Izzy exclaimed when he was finished. She socked Rosetta on the arm. “That’s some fuckin’ kick ass shit!”

Malachi looked at the Amazon, surprised. “You know about them?”

Saga rolled her eyes. “She’s just been obsessed about them forever.” She leaned forward, saying in a loud stage whisper, “You should see her tent. She has Shadowland posters all over the place.”

Izzy huffed. “So what? The shadow fairies are the most interesting of the fairy races,” she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“How so?” Malachi asked intent.

“Oh. Well, the Shadow Knights were able to hide in shadows.”

“So?” Rosetta asked from the sofa where she was filing her nails. “Amazons can do that too.”

“No, you don’t get it. When I say they hide in shadows, they-″ she flapped her hands, “become the shadows. They dissolve into a mist-like substance and move from shadow to shadow. It’s what made them one of the most dangerous races in the fey kingdom.”

“How do you know this?” Malachi demanded. If this information had been out in the open, then how had he and the rest of The Veil remained ignorant of it?

She shrugged. “I traveled a lot before I joined the Blood Maidens. One of the tribes I stayed with had a mated male who was a Shadow Knight.” She sat forward. “They were the premier assassins before The Great Fey Treaty of 1754,” she whispered. “They could hide in the smallest shadow, and some of the strongest ones were able to teleport through the shadows.”

Impressed, Malachi sat back with a thoughtful frown. Was Lani one of these Shadow Knights? “What happened to the Knights? I mean, they didn’t just disappear, right?”

“Oh, well he said that when the Treaty was signed, the Knights were all killed. Their children were monitored for those abilities, but luckily none of them had them. Why, do you think your fairy slipped through the cracks?”

“What do they look like?” he asked hoarsely.

Izzy shrugged again. “Most of the time fairies use glamour, but I was lucky enough to see this one without it. Their skin is grayish silver, and they have black wings. The others tend to have grey wings.”

Gods, Lani was a descendent of a Shadow Knight! Wonder, mixed with fear, seeped through his body. “Then that’s what she is. She’s a Shadow Knight, or a descendent.”

“Oh my gods!” Izzy squealed. “I have to meet her. When are we going to find her?” She was jumping up and down in her excitement.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, feeling like a fool. “Lucian is trying to contact one of his spies to see if there have been any rumblings in Skado about her.”

Saga nodded her gaze thoughtful. “Have you taken blood from her?”

Malachi’s face burned with heat. It was a personal question, especially since he was a Halfling and had no need of sustenance from blood. “Yes.”

“You should be able to find her that way,” she mused, tapping her chin. “Have you tried?”

He nodded shortly. “I’m only a half-blood vampire. The link only lasts for a short period of time, which has passed.”

Izzy wrinkled her nose. “That sucks. Okay,” she slapped her hands on the arms of her chair. “There has to be another way to track her.”

“You could contact a tracker Demon,” Rosetta inserted, her eyes bent to her fingernails.

Everyone looked at her in astonishment.

“What? You think I can’t come up with ideas?” she asked huffily.

Emboldened by the idea, Malachi launched himself across the room, grabbing Rosetta by the shoulders, and planting a loud kiss on her cheek. “You’re a star!”

He was gone before Rosetta had a chance to reply, leaving the three Amazons in bemused shock. The drag queen wilted back into her chair, fanning herself. “Oh my. That man is beautiful,” she whispered, one hand pressed to her cheek.

Saga grinned at her friend. “Too bad he’s taken,” she said in agreement.

*****

Lani glared ahead stonily, ignoring the woman sitting in front of her. The men had left the room an hour before, leaving Lani to her mother’s not-so-tender mercies. Wikolia had spent most of that time slapping Lani or pulling her hair. She hated to say it, but her mother fought like a girl.

Wikolia twirled a strand of hair around her finger, her expression pensive, yet satisfied.

“I hated you from the moment you were born,” she said conversationally. She sat on the edge of the bed, her legs crossed.

“I would’ve never guessed,” Lani gritted, ignoring the sting her mother’s words caused her.

It wasn’t unexpected. Even as a child, she’d known Wikolia didn’t care for her. It was in the way she brushed aside all of Lani’s attempts to please her, the stinging slaps on her face when she “bothered” Wikolia. Only her grandfather had shown her affection, but he’d died far too soon to protect her.

“I would’ve aborted, but my father wouldn’t allow it. And of course, Thomas wanted a son.” She sighed, rolling her eyes as if to say, ‘men’. “He thought it was so exciting to have a Shadow Knight child. He didn’t know what you could do to us, how you could ruin us all because of the color of your skin and wings. But he knows now.

“And then my father,” she continued with hate burning in her eyes. “The man who adored me my whole life, forgot about me the minute he saw you. You reminded him of his father.” She snorted. “You were the Shadow Knight my father could never be and he worshipped the ground you walked on.”

Lani felt her eyes widen. Was that what her mother’s hatred was all about? Jealousy?

Wikolia’s lavender eyes were narrow slits of hatred. “Did you think I wouldn’t get back at you? You ruined my life. Thomas and I had it so good before you came along. We had fun, no responsibilities, no Shadow Knight to taint our standing at court.”

“How is any of this my fault?” Lani finally shouted. “You could’ve left me for someone else to raise.”

Her mother slapped her face almost absently. “My father forbade it, you stupid little bitch.” Her face twisted. “He was the one who contacted Leofric about a possible union between the two of you. The King! The one fairy who could bring an end to our lifestyle, married to my daughter? I don’t think so.”

Lani would have shaken her head but the strap stopped her. The torment she’d lived with for nearly two hundred years was all because her mother was a selfish bitch? It amazed and repulsed her.

“And Thomas?” Lani asked, unwilling to call him father. “What did he think?” She shouldn’t have asked, but she needed to know at least one of her parents cared for her.

Wikolia waved one petite hand in dismissal. “Thomas didn’t care one way or the other. You weren’t the boy he wanted and as soon as he realized you would just draw more attention to us, he lost interest.”

Her body flinched involuntarily, earning a laugh from Wikolia. Any hope of reprieve from someone in her family died. Her mother hated her and her father was indifferent. Tears burned her eyes. Stupid, pitiful tears that fell down her cheeks as Wikolia watched with satisfied malice.

Luther and Thomas reentered the bedroom, their faces dark with lust. The minute Luther saw the tears on her face, his eyes dilated and his mouth parted as though he were watching a striptease. He was excited by her emotion, something she’d fought so hard to keep a secret from him.

He approached her, his hand extended to catch her tears, but Lani snapped at his fingers.

“Tell me what the fuck you want so I can get away from you,” Lani snarled. Luther’s hands had paused in their descent.

“Very well,” Wikolia rasped. “You must fulfill your last assignment, daughter.”

Lani laughed harshly. “Or what?” Her body was still throbbing from her beating, her heart was broken yet again, and Luther looked like he wanted to eat her up. Did they honestly think they could do anything worse to her?

“Did you know she has a sister?” Thomas asked, raising his head to look over her shoulder at Luther.

Forcing herself to look bored and uninterested, Lani arched an eyebrow. Her parents just snickered.

“She’s a fetching little thing,” Thomas continued. “Almost looks like Noelani.”

Over the thundering of her heart, Lani heard Luther’s breathing speed up. Some part of her knew her handler would be entranced with the idea of owning another fairy that looked like her. Dread filled her as she waited for the axe to fall.

“Mm, yes,” Wikolia purred. “Shikoba is such a beautiful, young fairy. Very obedient.” Her eyes drifted to Luther. “You would adore her, Luther. Just think, matching fairies for your pleasure.”

Lani’s heart stuttered to a stop, blood rushing through her ears. She had no idea how old her sister was, or even what she was like, but no one deserved to become Luther’s plaything. Shock held her immobile as she stared into the cold eyes of her parents. They would willingly give another child to this hell?

“Why?” she whispered when she was able to speak.

Wikolia shrugged. “She’s just like you, a burden. Only this time, my father isn’t here to see her. She’s had a little better time than you have, but she still has to go. I don’t allow any rivals in my house.

“And Luther has impressed us with his techniques, which is why Shikoba will come to him if you fail.”

Thomas shifted slightly, drawing Lani’s gaze. The coldness in his eyes reflected his wife’s. “If you succeed, we will attempt to reason with Luther’s master to keep you alive.” He leaned down to nibble the edge of Wikolia’s ear. “We don’t want you to die, Noelani, not unnecessarily.”

Choking on rage and hatred, Lani closed her eyes. Shikoba was an innocent, just as she’d been all those years ago. She couldn’t let her sister fall into Luther’s hands, would kill her parents to prevent it if she had to. The coldness Malachi had managed to thaw threatened to return, but this time she welcomed it.

Bearing her teeth in a fierce snarl, Lani opened her eyes again. Some of her barely restrained anger must’ve shown in her gaze, as Thomas and Wikolia’s eyes widened in surprised fear. Icy fury sat heavy in her stomach, demanding blood to appease it. Not yet, she cautioned it. She needed to plan first.

“Fine,” she said flatly, forcing her emotions aside. Shikoba would need Lani’s considerable skills if they were going to survive.

Luther let out a grunt that could’ve been disappointment or approval. His hands lifted from her body reluctantly. She heard him walking around the table, saw him appear out the corner of her eye. He was grinning hugely, dwarfing Thomas and Wikolia with his massive size.

“You always manage to ruin my fun, sweet Shade,” he crooned, brushing his fingers over her lips.

Unable to stop the impulse, Lani snapped with her teeth, catching the tip of his finger. Blood burst on her tongue in accompaniment to Luther’s laughing shout. He casually slapped her face, busting her lip.

Their blood mingled in her mouth, a hated mixture that seemed to unlock invisible chains. The weight of Luther’s power over her seemed to dissipate, unshackling her soul. Did he notice? she wondered, shooting him a quick glance. His face remained wreathed in false cheer and intense lust.

Wikolia touched his face, turning him to her. “She’s no fun, Luther. Let’s show her what we can do together,” she cooed, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss him deeply.

Thomas’ eyes flared with desire as he watched his wife. The three of them tumbled to the bed, directly in front of her. Disgust warred with disbelief. This was what they’d planned? To have her watch them have sex? Was this supposed to impress her?

Idly wondering if she should send her parents a “Thank You” note for distracting Luther, Shade waited for their antics to cease. Soon the bed stopped shaking, their voices went silent, and she could think again.

She’d given them her word she would fulfill her last assignment and she would, just not the way they intended. First she had to protect her sister, provide for her care then protect Malachi. Then this entire mess would be over.