Blood and Reign (Cassandra Myles Witch Series) (21 page)

“How is Dominick?”

“Moody, quiet. He just does what he must and then leaves for the woods. The only thing keeping him here is you. Once he knows you’re safe, he’ll be gone.”

“I know his wolf is a part of him, but I can’t stand to think that’s all he’ll be one day.”

“We have time. You always have some kind of danger going on.”

“
Ha ha, I’d be mad if it wasn’t so true.”

“I’m trying to get him to call the British Columbia pack. I thought maybe if he told another pack about what happened
, they would ask him to come and join them. I know the packs are isolated, but they know about each other. They might want to know about an entire pack being slaughtered.”

“It’s worth a try.” I didn’t want Dominick to leave
, period, but if he was going somewhere he could be happy, then I would want that.

When the song ended
, Lucius was gone, but Dominick was there.

“Dom, where’d the big dead guy go?”

His eyes had an amber cast to them. “You’ll be with anyone but me, won’t you, Cass? You even chose to mate with my whiney little brother. What’s wrong with me?” His voice was part human, part growl.

“What are you talking about
, Dominick?” I backed up into Killian and he put a protective arm around me.

“You are fucking Killian, Lucius
. Who knows? Maybe Trehern has even had a turn.”

I slapped his face before I could stop myself. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You’re just a whore. You played with my brother and got him killed. I’d be careful, Killian. You might be next. I guess you didn’t have enough punishment from the old man; you want to see what the son is capable of.”

“Come
on, Dom. I know you’re hurting, but don’t attack Cass.”

“How about you? My only friend in the world and you fuck the woman I love.”

“I didn’t fuck her. We were dancing. Now stop this before Lucius comes over here and you lose your head.”

A
low growl rumbled in Dominick’s chest. His lips peeled back, showing teeth too long for a human mouth. I was about to run, when he lunged at me, his body changing to wolf in midair. The weight of his body ripped me out of Killian’s arms. I landed on the dance floor with him on top of me. His mouth opened and lunged for my neck. I turned my head, trying to escape his massive jaw. Killian pulled Dominick off me. He sent him flying through the air and landed on the other side of the dance floor.

Killian helped me up as Lucius ran over. Dominick
lay on the ground. He was in human form, naked and out cold. Before Lucius could stop me, I ran to his side. Pushing his soft curls out of his face, I needed to see the damage.

“Someone get Eli.” He was breathing. He was a werewolf. I was pretty sure he’d be fine
, but I wanted to make sure.

“Cass,
please, he could wake up and he might attack you again.” I knew it was possible, but I didn’t want to leave him.

I let Lucius pull me away. He was worried and he had a right to be. “I want
him taken care of, though. He’s really hurt.”

“Cass
, he needs to be locked up.”

“No, I know he didn’t mean to. S
omething is going on; I know it. This is how they tried to get me.”

“Cass.”
Lucius’ voice was pleading, but I wasn’t going to budge.

“Okay, just make sure Eli looks at him first.”

Lucius turned to Killian “Take her back to her room. You have my word that I’ll have the healer look at him before we lock him up.”

“Of course.”

“No, I need to be here.”

“Y
ou need to be safe. These people need you to finish what you started. If you’re dead, they can’t do that. Take Lochlan too. Of course, Kael is nowhere to be found.”

“We’l
l escort her ourselves, Lucius.” Trehern squared his shoulders and Maire did the same. Lucius nodded and we walked back to my room. I was so frustrated. I didn’t think this person wanted me dead; they just wanted me to lose my mind.

“Why would he do that
, Killian?”

Trehern answered me.
“It may have been another spell or magical object. There is a stone of jealousy. Drives the holder insane with jealousy.”

I immediately turned to Killian. He knew exactly
what I wanted him to do.

“I’ll head right back and check if you feel okay here without me.”

“Yes, of course.”

Maire smiled. “I w
ant you to know that we will make sure no harm comes to you, Cassandra.”

“I feel very safe with you
, Queen Maire. I feel safe with you too, Trehern.”

“We protected Mab because it was politically prudent to do so
; we protect you because we are fond of you and we respect you.”

What
more could be said about that?

Killian came back into the room. “There was a stone in his pocket
, Cass. He had it on him. Lucius asked those that were there and they confirmed that it was the stone of jealousy.”

“I knew it. Did he wake up?”

“Yes, he’s sore and he isn’t going to be as pretty as he was for a while, but he’s healing. I gave him some of my blood. He gave me enough of his; it’s the least I could do. Maybe if he doesn’t remember, we don’t tell him it was me that threw him across the room.”

“
Did they put him in jail?”

“Lucius insisted until they could
confirm what happened and Dominick wanted it. He didn’t want to hurt you again. He feels awful, Cass.”

“I want to see him.”

“I can take you, but Lucius is likely to kill me if he finds out.”

“I’ll take that chance.”

“Hey!”

Dominick was lying on a small cot in one of the tiny cells they had tucked away in the bowels of the castle. He was the only one down here except for the goblin guard outside the door. I left Trehern and Maire in my suite so they could let Lucius know where I had gone.

He turned to see who was approaching and
, when he saw me, he turned back to the wall. I could tell he was in pain by the way he moved. Killian took my hand and we walked over.

“Dominick
, look at me. I know you didn’t mean to hurt me.” I placed my face up against the bars so I could get as close as possible.

“Did I hurt you?”
He turned; one eye was swollen shut. He slowly sat up, clutching his side.

“No
, I’m fine. Well, maybe my ass is a little sore. That marble floor is hard.”

“Tell me about it.”
He winced as he tried to straighten up.

“Sorry, Dom. I just reacted. I didn’t mean to throw you so hard.”

“Don’t apologize. You saved her life. At the time, I hated you so much, Cass. I wanted you dead. It was a real feeling. I hate that it was inside of me, but it was.”

“It was a magical stone. You had it in your pocket. It wasn’t your fault.”

“It wouldn’t matter if it was or not if I had killed you. You still would be dead and I would be the cause.”

I put my arms inside the bars
, motioning for him to come over. He didn’t move. “I want to feel your arms around me, Cass. I want to feel that you’re okay, but I don’t trust myself.”

“Dom, the stone is with L
ucius. I’ll make sure he lets you out as soon as I see him.”

“No
. I want to stay here, Cass. I feel like I belong in a cage. I can’t hurt you when I’m here.”

“I’ll have more blankets brought down here and some food.”

“Aren’t you just the sweetest little human? Taking such great care of your pet wolf.”

Oona was sta
nding behind us, smiling sweetly. Beside her stood Kael, anger radiating from his giant form.

“Kael, where did you find her?”

Oona started to laugh. “Kael didn’t find me. I was never missing. Well, maybe I was hiding, but I’m queen of this realm. I can go where I wish.”

“Kael
, what’s going on?”

“Kael can’t help y
ou and, when he could, he didn’t want to. He only wanted to help himself.”

“I don’t understand?”

“Aww, the little human is confused. I’m not surprised.” She walked closer to me and I reached out to grab her. “Ah ah ah. I saw what you did to Mab. You keep your hands off me. Your wolf can stay; I think he suffers more alive than dead. You and the dead one are coming with me. Kael.”

Kael grabbed me in his strong grip. I struggled
, but it was useless. Oona subdued Killian. Then I passed out.

I woke
up, feeling cold. Most of my skin was open to the air. I kept my eyes closed, trying to buy some time so I could figure out what was going on. My arms were tied above my head so that my feet barely touched the floor. I was wearing the thin slip that went under my dress and nothing else.

I slowly opened my eyes. The room was dimly lit and
Killian was the first thing I saw. He lay motionless on the ground. A large gash quickly healing on the side of his head. Oona walked in front of me. Now that I was strung up, we were almost the same height. She caressed my cheek.

“Well
, it’s about time you woke up. I’ve had to wait all this time to have fun. I even threw a whole bucket of water on you.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“Why? Because you took my throne. You made my people love you. You even got Trehern to like you. What other reasons could I possibly need?”

“I saved you from Mab
.”

“You saved yourself and I happened to benefit from that.” She caressed my cheek
again and then slapped it hard. My teeth clacked together. It hurt and I tasted copper in my mouth. “Even Kael started to grow fond of you. A human. A human who not only had the utter gall to rule my people, but brought not one, but two vampires to live in my home. I just don’t understand it, but you won’t be a problem for me much longer.”

“
So you kill me and then what? Your own people won’t allow you to reign again.”

“Allow…ALLOW. I am their queen. I don’t need their permission. Besides
, they will love me again once I kill every last dark fae.” Her cherubic face lit up at the thought.

“You’ll neve
r get away with it. The goblins will kill you.”

“That’s why I have Kael. He will use his people to make sure the only fae left are the true children of the
Goddess.”

“You’
re mad.”

“I’
m not mad.”

“No
, you’re perfectly sane. People who want to commit mass murder are always sane.”

She slapped me again. This time
, I felt her nails rake across my cheek.

“Fuck
, that hurt.” I wanted to punch her in her stupid fae face. Fuck, I wanted to kill her.

“
Good, but soon you’ll be remembering that slap fondly because what I have in store for you…well, I want it to be a surprise.”

I looked to Kael
. “Why did you do this? You could have ignored my plea. Mab would have killed me or her son and then I would never have ruled.”

“He is being his stoic slaugh self
, so let me explain it.” She walked behind me and my heart sped up. I couldn’t see what she was doing. Then her tiny fist connected with my lower back. All the air rushed out of my lungs as I felt my organs bumping into each other. I struggled in my ropes, thrashing around, trying to breathe again.

“
So sorry about that; I had forgotten how fragile humans are. Now where was I? Ohh yes. See, the slaugh don’t do the bidding of the queen from the goodness of their cold white hearts; they do it because we have this ring.” She walked in front of me and flashed a large diamond on a gold band. “It was a gift from the Goddess. I’m her direct representative here on earth. We need to be protected. So we’re given the ring to control the most powerful creature in the fae world, the King of the Slaugh.”

Kael glared at her
, baring his teeth. He might have been controlled by her, but it was clear that only the ring kept him from killing her. Oona pulled a knife from a sheath on her waist. She placed it under my chin, the tip biting into my skin. A thin trickle of blood dripped down the blade. I closed my eyes against the pain.

The
n she removed it and walked over to Kael, placing her delicate hand on his white chest. He raised his head and gritted his teeth. “When Mab took over, my ring didn’t work. I had no power to summon Kael. I hadn’t been able to use the ring in a very long time. Mab had me put in the prison where your wolf is. She kept me there while she took over.

“I don’t know how long I stayed there. Sometimes another fae would join me and I’d hear what she was doing. She ransacked the whole castle, looking for all my objects of power and she would rage when she couldn’t make them work.
The very thing that had allowed her to take over my realm so easily was the very thing that prevented her from being the true queen.”