Fields of Blood (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 2) (4 page)

Taeral shoved him. He staggered and almost fell. “You’ll not ask the questions here, traitor. You’ll answer them, and you’ll do it now.”

“A traitor, am I?” Reun’s smile was bloody and uncertain. “Come now, Taeral. You know as well as any that a
gealdht
is unbreakable. Even now, you suffer under the burden of your own.”

“One more word that is not an explanation, and I’ll open your throat.”

He sighed. “Very well. Then I tell you that I promised Foley to lead him to the Hive, ensure that he and his men could gain access, and shield him from harm during the relocation of their headquarters.”

“The dead guy already gave me that impression,” I said, too pissed off to keep quiet any more. “Why the hell did you promise that? You had to know what those monsters were doing down there. You
helped
them do it to Sadie.”

“Yes, I did. I’d also planned to set them all free, once the move was completed and my promise fulfilled. I knew they’d not kill the prisoners…save one.” He looked at Taeral with sorrow in his eyes. “My promise was given in exchange for Foley’s word that he would not allow Daoin to be destroyed.”

Something in Taeral’s face changed. “You lie,” he said roughly. “A Seelie noble, swearing to protect the life of an Unseelie? You must think me a greater fool than you, if you expect me to believe that.”

“It’s true. I need Daoin alive…I must surrender to him.” Reun shivered slightly and clutched his bleeding gut a little tighter. “Though I’d not known that Milus Dei had identified the DeathSpeaker, until I’d already sworn to serve them.”

“Yeah, well, humans are tricky bastards like that,” I said. “And that’s not all Foley lied to you about. They were going to kill Daoin anyway. They left him back in their vault to bleed out while the building blew up around him.”

Fury lit Reun’s features. “Yes. And that’s why I’ve slain the rest of their soldiers, now that you’ve released me from the
gealdht.
”

I was about to tell him that he might’ve missed a few thousand soldiers, but Taeral shot me a warning look. “Why would you surrender to my father?” he said. “The Unseelie do not recognize your ridiculous notions of nobility. If this is a matter of the Courts—”

“It is personal.” Reun closed his eyes briefly. “Daoin is the only chance I have to reclaim what is left of my Aeshara.”

I frowned. “What’s an Aeshara?”

“She was my wife,” he whispered.

Damn. Well, at least that explained Murdoch’s nightmare form back at the substation. The indescribably beautiful green-haired woman the bogeyman turned into, the one that scared Reun into a non-responsive statue, must’ve been his wife.

But that didn’t explain what any of this had to do with Daoin.

“Aeshara is dead,” Reun said without any prompting. “I killed her. Now I’ve no memory of her, save the rage and humiliation that led to her death…but Daoin does. I’ll gladly surrender to him in exchange for those memories.”

I didn’t understand any of that. But apparently, Taeral did. “Well, Seelie, you’ve wasted your time,” he said, and most of the disgust had gone out of his tone. Now he sounded almost pained. “My father does not remember your wife.”

A flash of anger contorted his features. “Surely, Lord Daoin can recall—”

“You do not understand,” Taeral said sharply. “Restore Grygg. Then, you’ll come and see for yourself.”

Reun settled down to a glare. “Very well.”

I really wanted to ask Taeral why he’d even think about letting a wife-killing Seelie noble talk to his crazy, defenseless father, but the look on his face kept the question at bay. Besides, I was probably about to find out.

And something told me I really wasn’t going to enjoy the answer.

C
HAPTER 5

G
rygg was less than thrilled to hear that he wasn’t allowed to rip Reun’s limbs off, but at least he backed down and let the Seelie pass.

Taeral led the way to the parlor. When we entered, Sadie and Daoin were still at the table, both of them watching us. Daoin’s color had improved a little, but the wariness remained in his face.

Sadie’s gaze narrowed on Reun and her hand went to the canvas pouch on her belt, where she kept her luna-ball. In case she needed to go wolf.

She caught Taeral’s eye, and he shook his head slightly. “Father,” he said, moving to Daoin’s chair. “This is Reun. He’s come to see you, just as you said. He’d like to speak with you. He is a…friend.” He glared a challenge at Reun with the word
friend
, daring him to say otherwise.

Daoin looked at him for a minute, and then stood slowly and came around the table.

If Reun hadn’t noticed the state Daoin was in before, he did now. The Seelie’s eyes widened, his mouth parted in shock, and he actually seemed to wither. “Lord Daoin,” he gasped. “What’s happened to you?”

“Lord?” Daoin’s brow furrowed, then he broke into a sunny smile. “Well, I do have a castle. We live here now. Do you like my castle?”

“I…your castle?”

“Yes. I found it, when…I was…” He trailed off, and his silver eyes locked on nothing for a moment. Then he shook himself and smiled again. “I’m sorry. What’s your name? Sometimes I forget things.”

“Reun,” he stammered. “My name is Reun.”

“Reun…you’re bleeding,” he said with a slight tremor in his voice. He moved forward, raising a hand slowly to press his palm against the gash in the Seelie’s stomach. A shiver went through him as blue light traced the outline of his hand.

When he drew back, the wound was healed.

“There. Now—” Daoin glanced over at me, and then frowned. “I know you. Gideon,” he said. “You’re bleeding, too.”

“Er. Yeah, but I’m fine,” I said. I didn’t want to upset him any more than he already was. Once in a while he had fragments of flash memories about his captivity, and sometimes they shut him down for hours. The sight of blood seemed to be pushing him down that path again.

“You’re bleeding,” he repeated, moving toward me. He reached out and touched my face with trembling fingers. More blue light, and the lingering ache in my head eased, then vanished. “I washed the blood away,” Daoin said in a cracked whisper. “Every day I washed the blood, but you were still…you were…”

Then Taeral was there, gently steering him back toward Reun. “Come, Father,” he said, his voice breaking as he glanced at me. “Your friend has an important question for you.”

I let out a shuddering breath. At some point, Daoin had known that he had another son—me. But Milus Dei captured him before I was born, and they’d convinced him I was dead. In the most horrific way possible.

I’d wanted to tell him the truth. But even if he understood, he’d just forget ten minutes later. One more reason to hate those bastards…they’d taken my real father before I ever got to meet him.

Daoin had pulled himself together a little, now that he wasn’t looking at me. “My son says you want to ask me something,” he said to Reun. At least he remembered that he was Taeral’s father, most of the time.

“Yes. Well, perhaps I should not trouble you…”

“Ask him,” Taeral said coldly. “That is what you came for.”

Reun swallowed, and his jaw twitched once. “Lord Daoin, I’d like to ask you about…a lady you knew.”

“You mean Sadie? I know her.” Daoin smiled and looked back at the table. “She’s right there. She lives in my castle.”

“No. I do not mean her,” Reun said in stiff tones. “This lady. Her name was Aeshara. Do you remember her?”

“Aeshara.” Daoin closed his eyes for a long moment. When he opened them, his expression was blank. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Sometimes I forget things.”

Reun bowed his head. “Yes, I can see that,” he whispered.

“But I remember your name now. It’s Reun. And this is my son, Taeral…have you met my son?” He turned to Taeral with a faltering smile. “I think I’m tired now,” he said. “I’d like to go to sleep. Is that okay?”

“Of course, Father. You can sleep.”

“All right. Goodbye, then.”

He left the room at a slow shuffle, casting a single uneasy glance at Reun before he moved through the door and vanished somewhere into the hotel.

“Are you satisfied?” Taeral spat. He spun on a heel, stalked to the table and grabbed the open bottle, draining a third of it in one swallow. “As I mentioned, you’ve wasted your time. And ours. Now get out, before I decide to turn you over to the Duchenes after all.”

But Reun didn’t leave. He staggered to the wall, leaned against it and slid down, a look of horror stamped on his face. “What have they done to him?”

“Do you really mean to tell me you don’t know?” Teeth bared in a snarl, Taeral whipped the bottle across the room. It shattered against the far wall, spraying broken glass and foaming amber liquid everywhere. He moved toward Reun with fury in his eyes. “Twenty-six years they held him, in a room with cold iron walls. They tortured him, broke him down to nothing. Programmed him to—” He stopped, his fists clenched and shaking. “Get out of my father’s
castle
, Seelie. You are not welcome here.”

“Cold iron walls,” he repeated numbly, struggling to his feet. Then he held a hand out. “Taeral, son of Daoin. I offer you a boon—”

“I do not accept it!” Taeral screamed, batting his arm away.

After a long pause, he said carefully, “You’ve not heard my offer.”

“I do not
care
what you offer.” Taeral grabbed his shirt and smashed him against the wall, hard enough to crack the plaster. “Leave this house. Now
.
” He let go with a rough shove, turned away and strode from the room.

Silence settled in thickly. After a minute, Reun straightened and fussed with his shirt, his gaze glued to the floor. Eventually he looked up with a quick frown and started toward me, hand extended. “Gideon, son of Daoin. I offer—”

“Oh, no.” I put my arms up and backed away fast, like he was holding a gun. He might as well be. Brother or not, Taeral would kill me if I agreed to whatever he’d refused. “Leave me out of this,” I said. “I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m not sure I want to.”

Sadie came over to stand next to me and glare at Reun. “Look, you’d better go,” she said tightly. “Because if Taeral doesn’t kill you, I will. You think I don’t remember what you did to me?”

“I am truly sorry. I’d not meant…I never intended for things to go as they did. I’d have saved you all, once they…” He broke off with a heavy sigh. “But I must make this right. I must serve Daoin.”

“What the hell’s your obsession with him, anyway?” I said. “And what’s he got to do with you killing your wife?”

“He killed his wife?” Sadie’s eyes narrowed. “Okay. Now I
really
hate you.”

“Please. Allow me to explain,” he said, his voice shaking. “It was not my intention to kill her. I’d only meant to stop her from casting the curse.”

I folded my arms. “Good for you. But what does this have to do with Daoin?”

“She loved him,” Reun said in strangled tones. “She was having an affair with him. With an Unseelie lord, the captain of the Queen’s Guard. It is unspeakable, a Seelie noble on intimate terms with—” He broke off hard. “It is not done.”

“Wait a minute,” I said. “When did this happen?”

“Not so long ago. Perhaps four decades.”

I stared at him. “Forty years is not so long?”

“Of course not.” He gave me a strange look. “Are you not Fae?”

“Well, sort of. I’m half.”

Reun blinked. “You are a halfling?”

“I guess. That’s what Taeral says.”

“Hey. Seelie,” Sadie cut in. “You’d better finish explaining yourself fast, because I’m not convinced I shouldn’t kill you.”

“Yes, I suppose I should,” he said, and drew a slow breath. “When Aeshara confronted me about her affair, I was furious, heartbroken. Completely humiliated. We argued. She told me she did not love me, and she wished me to never think of her again. She began to cast a memory curse to erase herself from my mind.” His eyes closed. “In turning the spell back, I caused it to strike her heart. She died.”

“Hold on,” I said. “You killed her, but you’re still cursed?”

“The curse had largely taken effect before her heart stopped,” he said. “Now, the only memory I have of her is that night, that hatred and shame. Without Daoin’s memories, she is truly lost to me.” He let out a sigh. “In fact, I’ve lost nearly all of my life since we’d married. Most of my time was spent with her.”