Dawning of Light (18 page)

“Poison,” she whispered.

“What?” Tanner asked in alarm, while Finn snatched the glass from her and sniffed at the contents again.

“I’m not sure what,” Olivia said apologetically. “I haven’t gotten that far in my studies. Alexa would know. Or Dane.”

Dane was closer.

* * * *

“Sleeping potion,” he confirmed a short time later. “Renders the recipient unconscious. Otherwise, it’s harmless.”

“How long?” Finn demanded.

“How long what?”

“How long does it render someone unconscious?” he demanded, with barely controlled fury. He was holding on by the tiniest, thinnest thread at the moment. If he didn’t find Cecilia soon, he was afraid he would lose what little control he was still able to maintain.

Dane frowned. “Depends on how much they ingested. It’s hard to tell in this situation, since, according to Olivia, some of the wine was spilled. A few hours at the least. A day or so at the most. I’m sorry. I cannot give you anything more specific than that.”

* * * *

Cecilia’s head felt like it was filled with lead. She could not lift it, so she stopped trying. She simply lay in one place, concentrating on breathing, until her eyes decided to cooperate and open. It took another few moments for the world to come into focus. When it did, she recognized her own bedchamber, in her parents’ cottage.

She had no idea how she’d gotten there.

She heard movement and willed her head to turn to the side. It wouldn’t work.

“Gerard, I think she’s awake.”

“Good. I was beginning to worry that she wouldn’t wake in time for the king to arrive.”

King? Cecilia tried to make her mouth work, but it wasn’t cooperating either. Nothing on her body was being particularly cooperative at the moment. What was wrong with her?

She recognized her parents’ voices, even if she could not turn her head to look at them. Her mother’s face swam into view, looking down at her with a mixture of concern and unease.

“How do you feel, sweetling?”

Cecilia opened and closed her mouth, but she could not formulate words, just a strange, moaning sound. Lacey patted her cheek.

“There, there, dear. Samuel insists the potion will have no long-term effects. He just needed you to cooperate, and you weren’t exactly doing so.”

Potion? Cecilia recalled thinking the wine tasted funny. Did Samuel put a potion into her wine? She would never forgive the imbecile. She determined she would tell him so, just as soon as her mouth and vocal cords would cooperate.

“He’s here.” That was her father’s voice, calling down the hall. She hadn’t even realized he left the chamber. Cecilia recalled Finn telling her once that he hated to lose control. She now understood precisely to what he referred. She had a feeling it would be a very long time before she would be willing to drink from a glass of wine again after this situation.

Her mother’s face floated into view again. Her hands came up and fussed with Cecilia’s hair. She felt the shimmer of magic as her mother did something to Cecilia’s clothing. She wondered what was happening, but she still could not seem to move to even take a look.

“Can you speak yet, sweetling?” her mother asked.

Cecilia opened her mouth, forced out a word. “Ye-e-es.”

Lacey clapped her hands enthusiastically. “Perfect. That is all you will need to say. We’re ready,” she called out.

Cecilia heard sounds indicative of others entering the chamber. She recognized her father’s voice, and Samuel’s. Samuel hurried over and peered down at her, and Cecilia gave him as angry a look as she could manage, given that her facial features were not very cooperative. It must have worked, though, because he looked both surprised and nervous, before he disappeared from view again.

“Lacey, why in the name of the lights have you summoned me to your cottage now, after all these years?” the king of the lightbearers demanded.

Uncle Sander? Cecilia tried to call his name, but the sounds wouldn’t come.

“It’s Cecilia,” she heard her mother say, her voice laced with concern.

“Cecilia?” Uncle Sander repeated her name, his voice suddenly also filled with concern. Her uncle’s worry, she knew, was sincere. She could not say the same for her mother.

“Over here,” Lacey said. A moment later, first her mother, then her uncle’s face came into view. Cecilia opened her mouth, but only a croak came out.

“Dear lights above, what happened to her?”

“We don’t know,” Lacey said. She was playing the role of worried mother to the hilt. Cecilia felt anger bubble out, but she could not acknowledge it. “She woke up like this.”

“Have you called a healer?”

“Yes. The healer said they cannot do anything for her. She—she may be dying.” Lacey choked on a fake sob. Cecilia wished she really would choke. What were they up to?

Uncle Sander made the appropriate noises of concern, expressed his determination to try to find a cure.

“She did say one thing,” Lacey interrupted him, when he began to talk about taking Cecilia up to the beach house.

“What is it?”

“She said she wished to be mated. She seemed to understand that she may be dying,” Lacey explained. “And she did not want to feel as if she was dying alone.”

“Mated? Cecilia? Why, she’s never said a single thing about taking a mate. Genevieve has been pushing her, too. In fact, Olivia told Genevieve just the other day to stop pestering her about it, because Cecilia did not want to be mated.”

When Lacey spoke again, her voice sounded agitated. “Yes, well, she has obviously changed her mind. Imminent death will do that to a person, I imagine.”

“So she wants me to pick out a mate? Because she’s dying?” He sounded dubious.

“Actually, no,” Lacey said. “She specifically named a mate, as it happens.”

“Cecilia? Who?”

“Samuel. One of your guards.” Cecilia saw a fluttering movement and determined it was her mother’s hand, waving Samuel into the room.

“Hello, Your Majesty.”

“Samuel,” the king said brusquely. “Do you have any idea what happened to my niece?”

Cecilia heard a sound, like a cat hacking up a fur ball, and then Samuel weakly said, “No, sire.”

The fae were unable to lie, although it was well known they were masters at trickery and deception. Unfortunately, the inability to lie was not a trait carried over into the lightbearer species when they evolved from the fae a thousand years ago. Which was damned unfortunate.

This was a setup. The entire charade. Her parents meant for her to mate with Samuel, but they knew she would not do it of her own accord. So they’d arranged for this scheme, so that she would be rendered nearly incapacitated. If the king bought their story, he would declare her and Samuel as mates, and Cecilia would be stuck forever. She tried to move, tried to pull the king’s attention, but the most she could do was slightly bend two of her fingers.

Lights above, she really wanted to scream.

Lacey goaded the king some more, smoothly convinced him that Cecilia’s last dying wish was to mate with Samuel. “You sure you want this, Samuel?” the king asked, sounding dubious.

Samuel’s face appeared within her line of vision again. He looked nervous, worried. Cecilia opened her mouth. “Samuel,” she croaked.
Tell them no!

“Did you hear that?” Lacey’s voice was triumphant. “She said his name. Sander, you must do this for your niece. It is her final wish.”

Lacey had referred to her brother as “the king” or “your majesty” for Cecilia’s entire life. Cecilia knew Uncle Sander was a goner just as soon as his sister referred to him by name.

“Okay,” he said in a resigned voice.

Mobility was returning, slowly. Cecilia was now able to turn her head to and fro. She saw her father, standing near the doorway of the bedchamber, arms crossed over his chest, a determined look on his face. Her mother hovered near the king, who stood next to the bed, preparing himself to declare Cecilia mated. Samuel stood on the other side of the bed, fidgeting and looking highly uncomfortable.

You did this to me
, she wanted to roar, but of course, all that came out was a croak.

“Hurry,” Lacey encouraged. “She does not have much time.”

They wanted it done before she regained the power of speech. They knew she would say no. But if the king declared her mated before she could stop him, she would be stuck, forever.

I’ll never be able to kiss Finn again
. That lone thought was heartbreaking. “Finn,” she managed.

“What did she say?” the king asked.

“Finn.”

“Finish it,” Lacey snapped. “She is telling you to finish it. Do it already.”

“No,” Cecilia said. “No.”

The king looked down at Cecilia. She looked up at him with pleading eyes. He backed away from the bed. “Lacey, I think we should wait. She appears to be getting better. I would rather not mate them until Cecilia can tell us her wishes.”

“I am her mother,” Lacey ground out. “I know her wishes.”

“I would beg to differ,” the king said coolly. “Considering that Genevieve and I raised the child because she was
too difficult
for you to handle.”

Cecilia would have cheered her uncle’s newly discovered backbone, if she could. Instead, she resorted to smiling at him. He turned away from her and shook his head.

“We wait,” he said firmly. “I will summon Alexa to examine her again.” He left the chamber.

The room fell silent for several moments, until Lacey whispered, “What do we do now?” She looked fearful as she turned toward her mate.

Gerard’s face was stern. “We take her to the Chosen One.”

“No. Gerard, no. My daughter.”

Cecilia’s father lifted his gaze and looked at her, but he could not hold eye contact long. “He may not kill her. We have been devout followers, Lacey. I do not think he wants her to die. If you will recall, it was his idea to mate her to Samuel, to bring her into the fold.”

But Lacey shook her head. “No. No. Not yet. We’ll figure something else out. I will not sacrifice my daughter.”

“What do you propose?”

Lacey turned and looked at Cecilia. Unlike her mate, she held eye contact. “I will alter her memory.”

“What about the king?”

“I can handle my brother. I will alter his memory as well.” Lacey glanced at Samuel. “When I’m done, take her to your cottage until the effects of the potion wear off. I advise you to work hard at convincing her to mate with you.” Lacey’s voice had turned cold.

The last thought Cecilia had before her mother pressed a hand her to hair and began speaking an incantation was,
Never
.

Tanner naturally had to be the voice of reason. It wasn’t
his
mate that had been drugged and kidnapped. Of course, Cecilia wasn’t Finn’s mate, either. He didn’t want a mate. Didn’t want the complications of falling in love, of caring for another person more than one cared about himself, his family, his pack.

And he sure as hell didn’t want a lightbearer mate. Cecilia? That was the biggest joke of all. They were constantly at odds. How could they ever make a go at a relationship?

Not gonna happen.

He sure as hell stormed into Samuel’s cottage as if the man had stolen his mate, though.

“Calm down,” Tanner admonished, as he grabbed Finn by the shirt collar to keep him from taking a flying leap across the room when he saw Samuel standing there, holding what appeared to be a cup of coffee in his hands.

Samuel promptly dropped the mug. It shattered against the wooden floor, splattering hot coffee up his pant leg. He danced in place for a moment before turning and bolting down the hall toward the bedchambers.

Finn was right behind him. When he saw Cecilia, lying in the middle of the bed, curled up under the bedcovers, sound asleep, his heart began beating erratically. He broke out into a cold sweat. His hands started shaking. His knees felt weak.

She’s alive.
He could tell that much. Unharmed was a different matter.

Finn reached out, grabbed Samuel by the throat, and shoved him back against the nearest wall. The plaster crumbled under the impact, as magic flared around Finn’s hand. “What did you do to her?”

“N-nothing,” Samuel stuttered, eyes wide and fearful.

He should fear me
.
I could rip his throat out right now and have no regrets
.

Finn wasn’t normally such a violent person, but he had killed before to save Cecilia. This would be no different.

“You drugged her,” Finn growled.

“N-no.”

“We have proof,” Tanner said coolly from behind Finn. “Finn, relax your hold. You’re going to strangle him.”

Finn didn’t really think that was such a bad thing, but it was his pack master’s command, so he loosened his grip.

Samuel gasped for breath and stuttered over his words as he tried to deny any wrongdoing. “S-she just wanted to take a nap,” he insisted.

“Never mind. Go ahead and strangle him,” Tanner said almost nonchalantly.

As Finn squeezed, Samuel cried out, “Okay, okay, I did. I did it.”

Tanner clamped his hand onto Finn’s arm to keep him from squeezing again.

Samuel’s eyes were wide as he said, “I just—I just—I just—”

“Spit it out already,” Finn snapped.

“I just wanted to mate with her,” Samuel blubbered. “And I thought if I got her alone, away from you, I could convince her to do it.” He actually glared at Finn, as if that shifter was at fault in this situation.

“So you drugged her?” His voice was incredulous.

Samuel affected a guilty look. “I—I couldn’t think of any other way to convince her to be alone with me.”

Finn’s hand tightened again. Samuel’s face turned purple. “What did you do to her?” He bit off each word as he said it.

“Finn,” Tanner warned, and Finn reluctantly relaxed his hold again. He had to wait for Samuel to gasp and sputter for breath before he could speak again.

“Nothing. I swear. She has been asleep this entire time. I’ve been waiting for her to wake up so I could talk to her.”

Finn abruptly released his hold, and Samuel collapsed to the floor. He strode to the bed and jerked away the bedcovers. Cecilia lay curled underneath, fully clothed and looking completely unharmed. He ran his hands over her body, checking for injuries. As soon as he touched her, magic flared, bright, hot, and potent. She stirred, blinking her eyes open and smiling demurely up at him.