Hels's Gauntlet [Forbidden Legacy 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (3 page)

Tilting her head to the side, the Danae’s rainbow gaze rolled over him. Her mind pressed forward, and the sheer weight of her personality dragged on his soul. “I hate you sometimes.” She huffed the words and spun on her heel to pace the length of her throne room. Agitation rolled off her in ripples, shimmering the air with suppressed violence.

“We need Cassandra, my lord. You understood that in the beginning. You understood just how vital she was to our plans. We are so close to success. Why are you so determined to end our chance before it even truly begins?”

Hands clasped behind his back, Helcyon tipped his head down. He considered all the responses he might give and settled for the simplest one.

“I love her.”

“So?” The Queen whirled to stare at him. “You think I do not care for her? She is the child of my child’s child. She is in every way a true daughter to me. I gave up everything so that she might be born.”

“Did you, Your Majesty? You sent a Wizard to seduce her mother. I have no doubt that you sent a Fae to seduce her grandmother. You have played this game with the breaches in Underhill for more than a century, and you had executed all who might reveal that weakness. You dressed it up in pretty words and tied it off with oath-bound honor…but your purpose for Cassandra has ever been the guardianship of her womb. You love the possibility she presents. The power. Not her.”

“And you don’t? If you father a true Fae, if you can bring back to us the gift of fertility, the Court will fall on bended knee at your feet. Already they whisper of assassination and those like Echyo stand against me, taking action without my consent.” The last words tripped over the catch of a sob in the Queen’s voice.

“My cousin was no traitor to you, Your Majesty. Let us not play that game when this is just between you and I.”

The hint of sadness trickled away in another huff of air. “Why should he not be a traitor? Kyrian, your brother, turned against me. You now act in your own interests and not mine. Why not your cousin?”

“Kyrian fled a death sentence because he wanted to see his son again. Because he, like so many of us, loved our children and hated being bound away from them.” His patience grew thin. The Queen was too old and too well versed in politics to play the coquettish little girl. “He wanted to see his son, but the knowledge that breaches existed would have ruined your hold over your people, and more would have slipped through your grasp.”

“I am hardly the villain, my lord. I merely want to see my great-great-granddaughter. I want to introduce her to our world. To give her a greater taste of the destiny that belongs to her. To help her achieve the power she needs to free us completely from the Wizards’ curse.” She sounded so sincere, so very genuine. But power was her aphrodisiac and control her mistress. It left little room for genuine affection. Cassandra was merely a means to an end.

A means to create her power base in the world beyond and hold firm control over her people as they merged with human society. From there, she could begin to exert her control over the world beyond, too.

The Danae paced another three steps away and returned. Her expression hardened. “You have little time remaining, my lord. Little time before I will issue the order and bring Cassie under my protection fully. She spends too much time with the Wizards. She must—” She chewed off the end of her rant. Her wildly colored eyes flickered over him. “The full moon blossoms in seven days. You will present my pregnant-with-your-child Cassie to me at that time, or you will forfeit your life and the life of every member of your family.”

Emotion flickered through him, a thimbleful of trepidation for the Queen’s cold-blooded pronouncement. He held it all in check, reined in behind a cold mask perfected over centuries of service to a fickle court where weakness could be devoured. “As you wish.”

“Hmm.” The Danae vanished between beats of his heart, evaporating as though she never existed.

Not that he seemed to garner that much luck. The empty throne room echoed with silence, and Helcyon pivoted, stepping sideways through the Underhill to the Brownie mounds. He would make his way back to the human world via safer passages, forcing any would-be pursuers to scramble to find him. The Danae’s many spies were good.

He was better.

The sunshine created a splash of bright color against the slowly greening fields. For the first time in three decades, the grass sprouted a bright green rather than a dim and sickly yellow. As more channels opened between the human world and Underhill, more nutrients flowed through. Even the magic tasted cleaner.

He considered paying his respects to Leitha, but a long, lean figure detaching itself from the tree overlooking her garden sent a trill of warning skating over his nerves. With the barest push of thought, his sword coalesced into his fingers, slipping out of the seam of “other” he carried close to him.

Instead of attacking, the figure held up both hands and walked forward in carefully controlled and measured paces. The sunlight struck his hair, pure white to Helcyon’s black, and rebounded off the painfully blue eyes. “Hello, brother…”

Heart squeezing, Helcyon allowed the sword to lower but a fraction. “Kyrian.”

Joints aching, crackling, and popping like a man three times his age, Jacob released the Glashtyn to roam the property. Even the goblin seemed tired today. The beast who spent most of his time in the form of a black SUV enjoyed the freedom of their Sierra Nevada retreat. Being near Cassie again was just a perk. The goblin stomped his thick hooves against the snowy ground and snorted. He could travel in and out of the shield easily, but the passage of seasons offered the greatest allure to the beast.

“I’m sure she’ll want to see you soon, so don’t wander too far.” Jacob reminded the goblin. Breath steaming in the colder air, Domoir bobbed his head in a facsimile of a nod. Domoir’s devotion to Cassie, easily reciprocated by the woman’s love for him, offered Jacob varying amounts of comfort and consternation.

Inside the barrier, it was a warm spring day, right down to the flowers—and the gods be damned fairies. A cloud of the nuisances swarmed up as the barrier allowed him entrance. He didn’t swat at them, putting up with their buzzing in his ears and irritating caresses as they rushed to welcome him. A fraction of his soul enjoyed the attention, and unlike when they were forced to work for the Wizarding Council, they didn’t try to sift through his mind. Cassie freed them from their long servitude, and they followed her like a herd of willful puppies, desperate to be around her.

Considering his own need to follow her around, Jacob could understand that. At the steps, ascending to the porch, the fairies tactfully withdrew and returned to doing whatever the hell it was fairies did. Exhaustion weighed on him. Hours of meeting turned to days, and they still had no resolutions for their issues. He missed Cassie every moment he was gone, but bringing her into the Council while she was pregnant wasn’t safe.

Hell, nowhere was really safe. But the longer they kept it quiet, the better.

At least until he and Helcyon could figure out what it meant, what the ramifications were, and exactly how to keep their mate safe.

“Hey, boss.” Jude sprawled on the sofa, one leg dangling off the end and his head tipped back reading a novel. The heavy silence weighed on the air in the house. “Cassie’s upstairs sleeping. Paul’s checking the wards. DuPois and Miller should be heading back sometime later today unless another night club goes boom. Although, DuPois mentioned something about St. Petersburg.”

“And you’re doing what exactly?” He eyed the younger Wizard. Dressed in khaki cargo shorts and some death metal T-shirt, Jude looked like some punk-rock reject kicked to the curb at the beach. He refrained from commenting on the blue hair. The wide array of hair colors and styles seemed to be a phase he fell into after the death of Dalton. A fist squeezed in Jacob’s chest. Dalton had been a good friend.

A great friend.

He died saving all their asses and because he protected Cassie. No way could Jacob repay that debt.

“I’m reading. Cassie’s lonely for some quality girl time. At first I thought she was longing for girl on girl, but she doesn’t swing that way.” Jude sat up, spiky hair pointing at the ceiling. “But she doesn’t have her mom to eat brunch with or girlfriends to shop with, and she can’t even chat it up with the secretaries at work because she sold the business.”

“And reading—” Jacob canted his head to the side, curiosity stretched the tension behind his eyes. Good lord, could
Bite Me Tender
actually be a book title? “—that, whatever that is, helps her how?”

“She’s got a thing for cliterature, vampire and werewolves seem to be favorites, but she’s started ordering all these ménage books, too. She enjoys reading them, and she used to love chatting about them, but since she’s got no one to talk to and she was thinking about how funny this one was yesterday, I figured I’d give it a shot.”

Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose. Yeah, he wasn’t reading romances, if Jude wanted the job. “You shouldn’t be poking around in her head.” The words were automatic and lacked any heat of threat.

“I can’t help it if she’s been broadcasting like a damn beacon since you three killed the bunny.” Jude held up his hands and gave Jacob the full visual on the dark-haired vamp licking his blonde heroine’s bulging breasts.

Yeah. So not going there.

“I know. But try to block her out and give her some privacy.”

“Nothing I’d like more, particularly when one of you is home. And now that you are, I’m retreating to the other wing in case you start getting your fuck on.”

Though a little crude, it was the first part of the statement that bothered Jacob. “One of us…where is Helcyon?”

The Elf should have been there. He’d been there when Jacob left for Council.

“No clue. The Bitch Queen summoned him, and he asked Paul and me to keep an eye on Cassie in case it took longer than expected. Since we’re going on day three, I’m guessing it’s definitely longer than expected. Kind of cool that he asks, now. He doesn’t order.”

Jacob allowed a brief nod. “Any word from him?”

“Nope. Cassie was supposed to meet with Britain’s queen, but Paul talked her out of it because with just the two of us, we’d have had a harder time minimizing collateral damage.” What the younger Wizard didn’t say was that Cassie wasn’t supposed to travel without him or Helcyon with her. If they could lock her down in the house altogether and keep her shielded behind flying buttresses, they would. But their woman was far too stubborn for her own good.

“Good. Next time Helcyon takes off when I’m out, send me word.”

“We tried. The Council was in seclusion.” Jude held his place in the book with his thumb as he stood. “Everything okay on that angle?”

“Yeah. We voted to examine the Wizard lines for potential in the females. Wizards will have to revisit family lines to see if their female offspring produced potential similar to Cassie’s. That includes yours, as well.”

Jude snorted. “Nothing to see here. I’ve had no offspring.”

“That you know of.” Jacob glanced at the stairs. Cassie may be sleeping, but the need to find her and just hold her took him over.

“No, I’d know. I grew up in a time of birth control, free love, condoms, and a medical understanding that pulling out doesn’t prevent pregnancy, it’s just a cheap orgasm.” Jude grinned. “Not that I’m commenting on the fact that the three of you could use a few lessons.”

He didn’t cuff the younger Wizard, despite the temptation. “Thanks for looking after her.”

“Anytime, boss. Anytime.”

Alone, Jacob checked the locks and sent a text to Paul, relieving the other Wizard of watchdog duties. Upstairs, Jacob paused in his room long enough to strip out of his weapons and three-day-old clothes. A cursory shower later, he slipped into Cassie’s shadowed room and grinned.

She was sprawled across the middle of her bed, one hand laying protectively over the faint baby bump swelling her abdomen and the other flung up over her head. The faint sun peeking around the window slats cast copper highlights in her hair. Beautiful, as always, despite the weariness reflected in the dark smudges beneath her eyes. Her face seemed rounder, fuller, and Jacob’s gaze roamed hungrily down the sheet-draped curves to the swell of her tummy. Pregnancy suited Cassie.

Quietly he slipped across the room to slide onto the bed, satisfying the need to just stare at her. Jude said nothing of her tiredness or the worry pinching her brow even as she slept. She slept alone, and based on what Jude told him, she had for three days. Worry nibbled at the back of his mind. The Elf wouldn’t leave her willingly, which meant the Danae must be sniffing after Cassie hard.

The Queen’s interest in Cassie continued to mount rather than diminish. The bitch and her people were back out in the world, worrying those in power and courting new alliances every day. It should be enough, but of course it wasn’t. Brushing his finger down the satiny softness of her cheek, Jacob let out a deeper breath than he realized he’d been holding. The tension leaked out of the coiled muscles throbbing along his shoulders. The ramrod stiffness of his spine relaxed.

“Why are you scowling?” Her gold eyes opened in a slow, sensuous blink. Lashes kissing her cheeks shouldn’t harden him to stone between one heartbeat and the next. Not even the stretch of her arms and the sheet dipping down to reveal the swell of her breasts kindled his blood as much as her sleepy, sloe-eyed gaze lifting to meet his.