Blood and Redemption (Cassandra Myles Witch Series) (17 page)

“I knew your background. In a way
, I admired how he took care of you, but then I thought ‘fuck him.’ He never cared how I felt. It never occurred to him how all that violence might affect me. I looked up to him; why couldn’t he see it was tearing me apart? I should have just left, but by then I hated him so much it consumed me. Anyway, in some warped way, I knew he could be caring, just not with me. That’s fucked up, right? I wanted to hate you too.

“You were too sweet and sexy. Even that slab of meat Lucius liked you, although he would never have admitted it at the time. The boss would have revoked his licen
se to live. Maybe not; I don’t know. I knew taking on Quintus was suicide. He could think about killing me and I would probably die. One night, he asked me to take care of a vampire. It needed to be done. She had killed two humans and of course, she couldn’t be allowed to continue. We had been lovers for a while; she could be kind and sweet and I cared for her. He should have asked someone else; he should have known how hard it would be to do that.

“I was broken. I had this sick daddy thing where I wanted to please him and this weird human thing where what he asked made me hate myself. I came into her apartment. She was looking beautiful as usual and asked if I wanted to come in. I followed her down the long hallway. Lillian turned to me at the last second and saw it coming. The look of hurt and betrayal before she turned to ash is etched in my mind.

“I was beside myself, with grief, hate, fear; it was all swirling around inside until I felt choked by it. I needed revenge. I thought that would be the cure to all my problems. It took me a while to find the compound. When I did, I approached her with my idea. I mean, the woman is a lunatic. She could cause a lot of damage, though. She could kill a lot of people and she has killed a lot of fae. She asked me to bring you to her. I fought with myself for a long time, Cassandra. I swear I did. Then in that meeting when Quintus kissed you. I knew you had been together. I knew he was happier than he had a right to be. I just snapped. I took the one thing I knew would hurt him.”

I turned to face him. His eyes were running with red tears. “I always thought being a vampire somehow made you smarter.”

He laughed. “You got that one dead wrong. It is like expecting the lottery to make you happy. It only magnifies all those things, makes them bigger. I lost my dad young and then my sire young. Quintus took me under his wing. I guess my daddy complex got out of hand.”

“I don’t forgive you for taking me here. I know you feel bad and you know you screwed up, but this is my life. You hating Quintus might even be justified, but hurting me was wrong,
and here is the thing. We have to work together to get out of here. I will do whatever I have to so Quintus will let you live. If it means I have to wear you around like a hat, I will, but we’re both going to survive this if we work together, I know it.”

He nuzzled into my neck. “Turn around. I want to sleep, but I also want to hold you. I’m feeling a little alone tonight.”

He did and that was how I fell asleep. Holding my kidnapper, I wondered if there really was something to Stockholm Syndrome. Of course, I could have stayed with Mab for a lifetime and I don’t think it would’ve worked.

Chapter Fifteen

I woke up in Dominick’s arms. I savored the feel of his strong arms around me. It felt safe. Declan and Dominick were similar only in appearance. Declan would`ve never left last night. He would have fought Killian and likely lost. It would have been a disaster. Lying here with him felt too good. I knew I should move away.

“Did he hurt you last night?” His voice had a combination of concern and menace. “I should have stayed.”

“No, he didn’t. I can take care of myself, Dominick. I`m pretty tough, you know. Staying would have caused way more problems.” I didn’t turn to face him. I was afraid of what might happen.

“I know. I`m quite impressed with how you handle yourself
; I wouldn`t mess with you.”

I laughed. “Do you have any idea how terrified I was when Declan brought me here? Your father hated me. Declan’s ex tried to kill me.”

“It wasn’t fair that my brother brought you here and it wasn’t fair that they asked you to open the fae door. I’m sorry for how I acted when we first met. Losing my pack was…” The rest was choked off. He was crying.

“I understand
, Dominick. I can’t even imagine what it was like to be in your shoes.”

“When I walked on that hill, my eyes couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing, but my wolf knew. He knew the smell of our brother and sisters. He knew the smell of death. I
… I don’t remember anything that happened between walking on the hill and being brought in front of Mab. It took days just to process what had happened. Your name kept coming up over and over. I used you to focus my hate on. I used you to gain my sanity again.”

I turned to him then. How could I not
? I pulled him into my arms. Hot tears splashed against my cheeks. They weren’t just Dominick’s. They were mine too and we held each other for a long time. I felt drained, but better.

“I wonder if I would have liked you if I had been
here?”

“Probably not
; I only had one fan and that was Declan.”

“I like you now. You’re everything Declan said you were in that letter.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me; it means a lot just to know you. Quintus offered to have a service for Declan, but I couldn’t mourn him with two men he hated. It just didn’t seem right.”

“If we get out of this
, Cass, we will put my brother to rest together. I promise you that. All my pack needs to be honored.”

I just pulled him tighter to me. I didn’t know what to say.

“I hate to leave this bed, but we need to get to the castle. I don’t want to be dragged there by one of those creatures.”

“Why, is Quintus here?”

He growled a little. I laughed. “What’s so funny?”

“Your brother growled at that name too.”

“I’m sure he did. He isn’t here. Or at least they aren’t saying he is. I think Mab just wants a little more control over her playthings.”

“I would want to be dead before Mab chained me to her bed.”

“If that happens, I would do whatever it took to free you, or die trying.”

“Ditto
.” It felt like such a serious pact for two people who just met, but we needed to stay together. We needed each other.

“We should go. We were supposed to be there by now. You just looked so peaceful and I hadn’t lain with a pack member for a long time.”

“I understand. It was nice to wake up like that.” It felt good to grieve with someone who knew Declan. I felt drained, but stronger. My resolve to rid the world of the Queen of Darkness was now set in stone.

We packed a few things. I didn’t have much. Then we headed to the castle
. We were flies being pulled closer and closer to the spider’s web. Being kept in the fae world made escape seem a lot less likely. Dominick and I walked in silence.

A fae wearing a crushed velvet jacket and white shirt with ruffles met us as we entered the castle. He had the ageless appearance of his race, but seemed older. His hair was dark blue and his eyes matched. This was the first dark fae I had met besides Mab and Conal. At least I was pretty sure he was a dark fae
. A million questions formed in my head.

“Her royal majesty has given you and your partner a very spacious suite. She is sure you will be very comfortable.”

We entered a sitting room and off to the side was a huge bedroom with a four-post bed. I turned back to the gentleman who showed us in. “May I be so rude as to ask if you are a dark fae?”

“I am
. My name is Lord Donnan.”

“Why were you imprisoned? You seem like a nice man.”

“Looks can be deceiving. I’m not a blameless man, but I didn’t do anything that would warrant being kept in prison.” He shook his head and sighed. “At first, it was just those that had done very grievous things. No one batted an eye. I look back and wonder if any of those fae were guilty of anything. Then more and more of our kind were disappearing.” He lowered his voice. “We complained to her Royal Highness, but she thought it ludicrous that the Queen of Light was having us disappear one by one. It did seem a little farfetched, except it was true.”

“By the time we figured things out
, we were too outnumbered. Our prison was the goblin realm. It’s dark, very little sunlight, no grass, no trees, and what little vegetation there was seemed so foreign to us that, well… it was appalling.”

“That’s horrible
.”

“We stopped having children when we got into the prison. Prince Conal was the last child born. When the door to the goblin realm opened
, we thought maybe it was a trick. The world we remembered was dead. The people weak and almost as depleted as ours. Mab had the goblins on her side and took over very quickly.”

“Thank
you, Lord Donnan. Can you tell me where Dominick will be staying?”

“He has to stay next to the Queen. She has a small room off her bed chamber.”

“Wait. Dominick is my lover too. He has claimed me under pack law. Surely the Queen, with her appetite, can understand my need for two men.”

“Her Majesty will not like this
; changes that aren’t hers never go over very well. I’ll inform her of your wishes.”

“Please.”

He bowed and left the room. Dominick looked panicked. “I’m sure she’ll agree. Don’t worry.”

“What about Killian?”

“He will agree to it. He won’t like it, but he wouldn’t like me telling the Queen she can have him.”

“That was quick thinking. I heard
‘staying next to the Queen’ and my mind went blank.”

“I try.” I walked over to him and whispered in his ear. “I have to get out of here
, Dominick. This place is killing me.”

“I know
.”

Just then
, a scream came from deeper in the castle. We rushed out to see what was wrong. Following the sound, we made our way to a room that had to be Mab’s. It would have shocked the Marquis de Sade.

Mab had Queen Oona stripped naked. Her arms
were in chains, hanging from the ceiling as Mab whipped her back raw. The welts were dripping blood. Mab turned when she heard us enter.

“Oh
, Cassandra, I’m sorry. Here I am, carrying on and forgetting I had guests. I’m sorry if the noise disturbed you.”

“Did she do something wrong?” Dominick gripped my shoulders.

“Yes, she was quite impertinent. Now leave us, little witchling, unless you want to join her?”

I was about to run at her when my feet left the ground. Dominick had me in his arms and we were running back to our room. I only half-heartedly fought him. I knew he was right to get me out of there. I was about to do something stupid that likely would have got
ten me killed. I was still mad, though. I was still struggling when he tried to put me down.

“Cassandra
, please, I’m trying to put you down. Stop kicking me.”

I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit something. This woman had to die. The Queen of Light wasn’t an innocent, but no one deserved that. He put me down
, but held me close. I was still struggling and now I didn’t even know why. He pinned me to the closed door. He took my face so I had to look at him. His eyes were amber, but he didn’t scare me. He looked gentle.

“Shhh, it’s okay. You can’t get mad at her
, Cass. Please. I need you.”

“She was whipping her. She was cutting into her skin. It’s just so horrible. How can … how can someone be like that?”

“We will do something, I promise, but not now. Cassandra, now we have to see who is on our side. We have to be smart, little sister. Do you think we’re the only ones who hate her?”

“I’m sorry. I lost it. I thought werewolves were hotheads.”

He smiled down at me. “Everyone loses it every once in a while. I may have lost my temper a time or two.”

I was calm now and he still had me pinned. I could feel his arousal pressing into me. His face was close to mine.

“I’m okay now.”

“I know.” His voice was husky
. He leaned in closer.

“We can’t do this
, Dominick.”

“Why? We’re here in this terrible place. Who could blame us for needing comfort?”

Quintus and Lucius, for sure. “Quintus has told me he wants me as his girlfriend or paramour or whatever vampires call it and Lucius has told me he loves me and I think I love him too. I do love him, I mean, but he’s been so crazy since those goblin bites. He and Quintus have been fighting. Quintus is scary powerful and he can break glass with his mind. Did you know vampires can do that? He is mad at me because I don’t return his feelings, or at least I think he is. On top of all that, I feel guilty because Declan hasn’t been gone that long and even though he was my mate, I had mixed emotions at the end. I mean he lied to me the whole time we knew each other. I still loved him, though.”