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

Forbidden Legacy 3

Hels’s Gauntlet

After facing down the Wizarding Council and defeating their enemies, Helcyon, Cassandra, and Jacob have begun to find a balance in their triad. Cassie stunned her partners with news of her pregnancy, and the stakes are raised as the men must consider what potential her child will have. Government pressure increases, bombings disrupt Wizard and Fae business around the world, and splinter groups among the Fae make themselves known.

With the Danae on the hunt to bring Cassandra back to her side, Helcyon must block her every maneuver to shield his mate and best friend from a promise that dates back a thousand years. The shifting of oaths leads to the awakening of ancient powers, but history is unforgiving, and the arrival of Hels’s brother adds a new complication that could destroy their futures before they even begin. When a dangerous gambit forces Jacob and Helcyon to make hard choices, Cassie must trust that her lovers will survive the gauntlet.

Genre:
Fantasy, Ménage a Trois/Quatre

Length:
59,638 words
 

Forbidden Legacy 3

Heather Long

MENAGE AMOUR

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

HELS’S GAUNTLET

E-book ISBN:
978-1-62241-344-7

First E-book Publication: September 2012

Cover design by Harris Channing

All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

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All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

PUBLISHER

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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Hels’s Gauntlet
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HELS’S GAUNTLET

Forbidden Legacy 3

HEATHER LONG

Copyright © 2012

“Ice cream is not a healthy breakfast.” Jude eyed the mountain of chocolate ice cream crowned by whipped cream and nuts in the bowl in Cassie’s hands with a grimace of skepticism and just a hint of disgust.

“
You
live on a diet of hot dogs and Doritos.” She waved off his disapproval with a swirl of her spoon. “This isn’t breakfast. I was on conference calls with Dubai for most of the night, and I have a tea appointment with the Queen in two hours. So this is dessert and a snack and a sugary cascade to power up my blood.” Exhaustion nibbled at the edge of every word, but she focused on each bite of false energy to pump up her body. Twelve weeks of pregnancy drained the life out of her, but she couldn’t stop working.

“I’m not carrying a baby.” Jude straddled a chair, tossing a ball back and forth from one hand to the other in between crunching chips. The pre-dawn, gray light outside barely illuminated the kitchen, and she ate by the light of the open refrigerator. The house slumbered, well, would slumber if not for the absence of both her men. Jacob left to meet with the Wizard council—her gaze flicked to the wall clock—nearly twenty-four hours ago. Some crisis erupted and all the men thought they kept it from her, but she was perfectly well aware of the tension swimming through the building.

Helcyon was Underhill. He’d been summoned within fifteen minutes of Jacob leaving, and instead of taking her with him, as she’d expected, he’d handed her off to Paul and Jude. Spooning another mouthful of ice cream between her lips, she fiddled with the utensil. Odd as it seemed, Helcyon’s choice pleased her. It was the first time in months her men weren’t hovering over her until she couldn’t move. Every time she turned around it seemed she bumped into one of them.

“You and Paul can handle the gate to England for tea, right?” Cassie considered the open fridge. The ice cream needed something more than whipped cream and nuts. But did it need bananas? Or raspberries? Or maybe strawberries?

“You could add all three.” Paul strolled into the kitchen, breaking his habit of silent sentinel.

“You’re not supposed to do that,” she chided him, but considering she broadcasted everything in her head since the pregnancy started, she couldn’t really fault any of the Wizards living under their roof for picking up on it.

“Then stop yelling.” He took out the fruit and set it out to chop on the counter. “Jude is right, by the way, you need to eat more than ice cream for breakfast.”

“It’s dairy. The nuts are protein. The fruit is nutritious. It’s got three of the five food groups.” She tightened her grasp on the bowl, on the off chance either Wizard was foolish enough to try and remove it from her.

“It’s also loaded with sugar, too much sugar. Yes, we can handle porting you to England for the tea, but I think you should cancel it.” He pulled a knife out of the drawer and washed the fruit before chopping it neatly. Cassie watched as he created mini mountains of the sweet fruit. She sidled over to scoop some into her bowl and sighed at the first mouthful.

“You’re not supposed to tell a woman she is getting fat,” Jude supplied helpfully.

She glared at him, but the younger Wizard simply grinned.

“He’s young. That’s why we don’t simply drown him when he makes stupid remarks.” Paul washed his hands and cleaned up, but he set the fruit so she could make a second bowl and her stomach growled appreciatively.

“I can’t cancel the meeting, and the Queen is not fond of Skyping.”

“That’s ’cause she’s old and set in her ways…” Jude began but let the words trail off as Paul fixed him with a look. “And I need to run the perimeter, so I’ll be back. Don’t eat all the Doritos.”

Cassie wrinkled her nose. The last thing she wanted was a spicy, cheesy chip with her ice cream.

“With Jacob and Helcyon both gone, it’s just Jude and I, Cassie. We can get you there, but I think it would be worth considering a reschedule.” Paul didn’t say that he wasn’t comfortable without the other Wizards flanking her on the trip. Rising crime rates around the globe, hate crimes against the Fae and against the Wizards, made some journeys more dangerous than others.

“Miller and DuPois are still in Paris?” The older Wizards had intended to go to the meeting with Jacob, but a series of explosions on the Rue d’Sade changed their minds. Five nightclubs all owned and operated by Wizards suffered massive damage from firebombs. Fortunately, no casualties, but that was only because the Wizards themselves had been able to shield their patrons.

“Yes. Vanagan and Jacob are at the Council. I do not believe anything will happen, but it is foolish to not consider the possibility. Jude and I would be limited in who we could protect in the event of a disaster.”

Limited in that they would protect me.
Collateral damage would be a nightmare. Particularly if any of the royal family were injured. He didn’t say it, but the warning was clear.

“All right, I’ll make some calls.” It frustrated her that they were being spread so thin. Her gaze flicked back to the clock. Helcyon was still gone. No word, no call, no summon. It wasn’t like him.

“Good. Then you can afford to stop power sugaring your blood and get some sleep.” Paul plucked the bowl from her hand and ignored her glare.

“You know, in some parts of the world, a man risks his life when he comes between a woman and chocolate.” The words lacked heat, and Paul’s bland expression failed to even twitch.

“You have been awake for more than twenty-four hours. You’re exhausted. You’re eating sugar nonstop, and you’re only going to increase their worry, not help them. Take a walk down to the garden, visit Dalton for an hour, I’ll make you a real breakfast, then you can eat and sleep for a few hours. I’ll have Jude charm your royal family contact and reschedule the tea.”

“You’re bossy.” Cassie slid off her heels and relaxed her bare feet against the tile. It was a concession because the Blahniks were her shield. They were her armor, and taking them off ended the battle before the argument even began. “And you’re right.”

“I know.” Paul nodded gravely. “Now take a walk, talk to Dalton, and come back for breakfast within the hour.”

“Sir, yes, sir.” She walked over and pressed a kiss to his cool cheek. “Thank you, Paul.”

“I see your plan. But threatening me with bodily dismemberment will not change the fact that you need to eat and sleep.”

“Hmm. Be careful, Paul.” Cassie padded toward the door, shoulders sagging with relief. “That was almost a sense of humor.”

“Duly noted.”

* * * *

The sunrise gilded the mountaintops and the grass was damp against her feet. She pulled the band out of her hair and shook out the mass. Since she got pregnant, her hair had grown out of control. It spilled down to the middle of her back. Wet soaked between her toes, and the cooler autumn air chilled her legs. Snow lay three and four feet deep all around the mountain lodge. The walls of the property held back the wintry months beyond the compound. The snow fell in fat, fluttering flakes and evaporated against the shimmering blue that just barely glowed at the edge of her perception.