The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse (30 page)

“
I am going to make you my toy, Seth,”
Uindraely promised as her magic lashed out, wrapping him in
tendrils of darkness. He s truggled against the magic as the spell
attempted to immobilize him.

“
Where did you send the boy?” Donrey
demanded again in a louder voice filled with fury.

Hemlock moved in quickly as one of the
tendrils pulled his arm back and Seth felt the bite of a dagger in
his side as the Ass assin took advantage of his current situation.
Flicking his wrist quickly, Seth managed to bury a dagger in the
man’s leg before he could dodge.

“
Like a little puppet,” Uindraely chirped
behind him as the tendrils wrapped around his wrists and ankles
with bone breaking strength.

Seth knew magic, but the sort that Uindraely
worked was the most complicated to counter. It was dark magic that
had been forbidden by every culture aside from Merro. Hemlock
started to move in again, but Donrey raised a hand to stop him.

“
I want the child dead. You don’t allow
weeds to grow. Keep him alive until we find the child,” Donrey
snapped.

“
Going to be rough to do,” Seth informed
him with a savage grin as he glanced down at his side. “That dagger
was poisoned. I can already feel it coursing through me. The
tendrils holding me in place are draining me as well. I just sat in
silence while you killed the woman I loved and you think you can
break my will in the amount of time I have left to live?” Seth spat
at his feet and nodded firmly. “Come try, Donrey,” he urged as he
summoned his own magic. This was the exact delay he needed.
Uindraely’s magic was complicated to counter, but not
impossible.

“
I’m going to make you a broken one, Seth.
You won’t even remember Dashara,” Uindraely purred in his ear. The
woman had actually moved directly behind him. Seth had to fight
back the smile as he continued his spell in silence letting them
all believe he was simply avoiding answering them. With as much
magic as Uindraely had summoned there was no way they could sense
his own spell, and not even Donrey knew how adept he was with
magic, despite the years he had served House Avanti.

“
Can’t you make him answer with magic?”
Donrey demanded.

“
I can, but it will cost you,” Uindraely
replied in an overly sweet voice.

“
Name your price,” Donrey growled in
response, his hatred for Seth showing clearly on his face as he
glared at them both.

“
The little girl. Such a sweet thing and I
don’t have any children of my own. I need someone to train in my
arts. I think Seth’s little girl will excel in it,” Uindraely
murmured as she walked slowly around him to stare into his face.
She smiled up at Seth and patted his cheek lightly. “Don’t worry,
Seth, I will take such good care of her,” she promised.

Seth stared down at her coldly as the last
words of his spell rang through his mind. The room shook as his
magic exploded against the tendrils and his hand was around
Uindraely’s neck before she could stumble away. He didn’t spare
time for words; he had never been the gloating sort. His other hand
flashed driving his dagger into her eye to the hilt. She convulsed
in his grasp, but he didn’t spare time to ensur e she was truly
dead. He was already moving for Donrey with another dagger ready in
his hand. The High Lord stumbled back with shock clearly written on
his handsome face as he quickly summoned his own magic. Seth’s
blade was a breath from Donrey’s throat as magic seized him, once
more freezing him in place. Panic flared as he recognized the
spell, it was time magic, and there was no counter for it.

Hemlock moved slowly forward and smirked at
Seth before turning to look at Donrey. “There will, of course, be
an additional charge for saving your life and remaining silent on
how you squeaked like a little girl when he turned on you,” he
informed the High Lord quietly. “As for the boy, I’ll find him for
an additional price, but this one needs to be killed. He isn’t
going to tell you what you want to know, regardless of what you do
to him.”

“
Fine. I’ll pay whatever you want. Just
end this. I want that bastard dead,” Donrey snarled as he took a
quick step farther from Seth.

Hemlock nodded and turned back to Seth,
slowly pulling his hood down as he did. His expression was neutral
as he studied Seth’s frozen form with deep blue eyes. “It’s not
often I’m impressed,” he informed him quietly. “Pity you let
yourself become shackled with love. You quite possibly could have
been the most formidable person on Sanctuary. Instead you die a
stupid death to save a child.” Hemlock shook his head in
disgust.

“
I won’t rest until you are dead.” Seth
forced the words through lips that refused to move. Every syllable
was mangled, but both men obviously understood. Donrey took another
step back.

Hemlock sighed and shook his head. “You
shouldn’t be able to speak at all, let alone threaten me,” he said
softly as he rammed his dagger roughly into Seth’s gut and began to
draw it painfully up toward his neck. “Evisceration is such a messy
death, but it’s always a guaranteed one. If you don’t die from the
poison and the shock you will most definitely die from everything
spilling onto the floor,” Hemlock murmured as he glanced back at
Donrey once more. “I’ll stay until he is dead and then find the
boy.”

Seth braced himself against the waves of
agony and summoned a thread of magic. The mental link he formed
with Rose was so fragile that any magic used to detect it would
shatter the spell. “Take care of him, Rose, and hide him well. They
will be looking for him.”

“
Where are you Seth? I can help you.”
Rose’s voice was frantic in his mind and he had to fight back a
chuckle. The idea of the small healer saving him was ridiculous.
Rose didn’t know a single thing about battle. Her life revolved
around repairing the damage people like him created.

“
There are some things you don’t want to
live through, Rose. Worry about Dominic, not me.” Seth felt his
strength fading and the spell flickered. It was the only answer he
could think to give to keep her at bay. The last thing he wanted
was his son’s guardian appearing in Avanti. Even though she
couldn’t fight, she would try, Rose was simply that kind of friend.
She would do anything to help those she cared for.

“
What about Dashara and Davahni?” Rose
demanded, her voice rising in panic. She could feel the delicate
connection between them fading as clearly as he could.

“
Gone,” Seth answered softly as his magic
faded completely. Spots had begun to dance before his eyes as
Hemlock’s poison tore at him.

Hemlock moved closer to him, his dark blue
eyes locking on Seth’s. “I won’t find him,” he whispered, the words
barely audible despite how close he stood. “Honor among rogues and
all. I told you the boy would live, and he will.”

“
How fucking noble,” Seth growled as
Hemlock released him from the magic that held him in place. His
legs buckled beneath him and he dropped to his knees staring down
at his entrails. His own blood was pooling thick on the floor,
making a slow trail toward Dashara. His gaze trailed slowly up the
chair once more past her ruined body to her face. Her dark eyes
were fixed firmly on him. A strangled gasp broke from his lips as
he realized she still lived, he had thought her dead.

“
Suffer,” she hissed, her voice harsh from
her torn throat. He knew her mind had fractured from the torture,
yet the word still tore into him with more pain than any physical
wound.

“
Let go, Dashara,” Seth whispered, hoping
she would listen. His agony was nothing compared to what she must
be feeling right now.

“
Please, just let go,” he added in a
choked voice.

“
By the Divine, is that bitch still
alive?” Hemlock gasped as he turned to face Dashara. “Don’t ever
take up the life of an Assassin, Donrey, you fail at killing,” he
added as his dagger slashed across Dashara’s throat. Turning back
to Seth, Hemlock smiled coldly. “I promise she has let go now and
it’s time for you to do the same.” His dagger was already moving as
he spoke
.

Seth rubbed his face as the vision cleared
and slumped back against the wall. The room made each memory
painfully real, as if he was living it again. He had avoided
remembering Dashara for so long, despite all the little reminders
Death had forced him to endure. Now it was all back like an old
wound torn open. The fact that he hadn’t been able to kill Donrey
himself simply made it worse. Hands pressed over his face, he slid
slowly down the wall and tried not to think of her, or of anything
for that matter.

He couldn’t handle another vision and the
door to the room wouldn’t reopen for several more minutes. Death
had intentionally designed the room that way. It was difficult to
avoid thinking about something once you had just re-lived it, and
if he wasn’t careful, he would be caught in a loop of torment. It
was one of the reasons he avoided this room as often as he could,
and he was sure it was the reason Death had created it this way. It
ensured that he did everything she asked of him quickly, and
without question, no matter how much he hated the task. Over the
years, he had whored himself to the Divine, killed innocents,
stolen souls, and countless other sins, simply to avoid facing his
past.

A dim glow began to emanate from the door and
Seth scrambled to his feet. He was waiting the moment the door
cracked open, and hastily pushed his way into the hall. With a sigh
he leaned back against the wall as the room sealed behind him,
locking away his entire life within.

“Penance. That’s an unusual past time for
you,” Yasny murmured from the shadows near his door. She was
watching him with a look of cool amusement on her perfect face. As
a dragon, Yasny was terrifying with dark red scales and spines that
covered her skull and shoulders. In her human form, however, she
preferred seduction as a weapon and it was well honed. Her long
dark hair flowed over her shoulders like silk, while her full lips
held just enough of a smile to tease. It was an expression that
worked well on most men. It had never worked on him, though. He
knew Yasny too well. She was cruel and ruthless and had most
definitely earned her place in the Darklands.

He didn’t want to kill her, though. Making
friends had never been easy for Seth in life, and in the Darklands
it was impossible. The best he could hope for was finding the few
individuals that he could hold a conversation with that didn’t end
in him attempting to devour their soul. Yasny was one of the few
that he had found that fit that criterion. Tonight, however, she
was testing his limits. He had too much to do before Zoelyn woke to
waste effort on Yasny and her petty games.

“Not even a response? Just a glare?” Yasny
sighed with an obvious pout.

“I don’t have time for this, Yasny,” Seth
replied bluntly, hoping the admission of truth would satisfy the
dragon. “You want to know what is in the room. You want to know
what I’m doing with the girl. You want to know so much and you know
I’m not going to tell you anything, so please, can we just cut the
crap for tonight and I will go on my way. If we must play, then we
can play this game tomorrow night, but right now I honestly do not
have time,” he added the moment he noticed her back stiffen and her
expression growing stormy. Yasny could be difficult when irritated
and he didn’t like the thought of leaving Zoelyn alone while she
was feeling petulant.

“I want to know why you can be so charming
when dealing with others, but I always have to deal with the bitchy
Seth,” Yasny grumbled, though her posture had relaxed.

“Because I want something from them, so I’m
charming. That should reassure you, Yasny. It means I’m not trying
to use you,” Seth muttered as he moved past her in the hall and
started down the stairs.

“It would be nice once in a while, Seth,”
Yasny snapped from behind him. “Can’t you be charming without
wanting something from someone?” she added in a louder voice as he
crossed the landing toward the slender window.

Seth paused and looked back up at her with a
smile on his face. It was the smile he had always reserved for
women when he wanted something. The smile that seemed to make their
thoughts slow and their knees weaken. Yasny had been about to
speak, but the words died in her throat the moment he looked up at
her. She stared at him with a shocked expression on her face
clearly at a loss for words.
Nice to know it works on dragons
too
, he mused.

“Yasny, I have never tried to use my charm on
you simply because I believed you were too intelligent for that
approach. I didn’t want to insult you with the same droll behavior
I use on the lesser women. You are my equal, not a pawn to be
played. If I treat you poorly, I apologize. I simply need someone
that understands, to vent to.” Seth’s voice had dropped to the low
tones. It was a habit that came with the special smile. Women
always responded well to the calm quiet voice. Even the Undrae
seemed to be affected by it.

Yasny frowned and blinked then smiled faintly
before rubbing her face. Shaking her head quickly she smiled once
more in a more genuine expression. “Do what you have to do, Seth. I
will be around when you get back and I will make sure Fiona doesn’t
come into the tower. The Undrae will remain undisturbed until you
return,” Yasny promised, and let out a quick sigh. “If only you
would have explained it sooner, Seth. I wouldn’t have been nearly
so grumpy with you over the years,” she added as she waved a hand
at him to go.

It was difficult not to laugh at her
reaction, but Seth fought back even the faintest hint of amusement.
He had thought she was resisting his magic when she had frowned,
but it had clearly worked on her. He had developed a knack for
detecting lies and Yasny was not lying. She was truly going to play
guard dog for him until he returned. It was almost too much for
him. Part of him had actually believed she was superior to the
rest, but she had just proven that she was just another stupid
bitch. Nodding his head gratefully, Seth gave her another special
smile before shifting to his crow form. Bloody hell, he hadn’t
expected her to actually believe the words he had spewed, but then
she had been the one that asked for charm.