Haven (14 page)

THE NEXT MORNING LILIANA AWOKE,
stretching, savoring the delicious feeling traveling through her body. Leo woke
her up late into the night, frantic to have her and her body was still humming
from their lovemaking. She smiled. She didn’t want to leave the bed. Her smile
turned into a snarl as she remembered she didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Palace servants would be in the conference room, Mistress Yoru’s severe face
pinched in disapproval, waiting to shove more etiquette down her throat.

“Ugh” she said aloud. The woman was so
snotty.

She briefly wondered if she herself had
been that way before Adro had hardened her. Had she been the prissy noble,
concerned only with rules and the who’s who of society? Gods, she hoped not.
Now that the mating ceremony had been moved up, they were double timing the
lessons. Information overload. Still groggy, she shook her head, squealing when
a noise sounded in her room.

Kedric sat in a chair across from her bed.
She gasped and scrambled into a sitting position up against the headboard.

"What are you doing here?" Oh
gods, didn’t Leo say he was leaving security at their door? Where were they?
Her eyes darted to the door.

"Don't worry about the guards they’re
currently being entertained by my own."

 Pissed Liliana pulled her blankets up her
chin. How dare they? Allowing a male into their rooms when her mate was gone
was a severe breach of propriety. If it got out that she’d entertained someone
other than Leo in her bedroom, gossip would bury her and her family. Gods,
didn’t she just yesterday promise herself she’d stay out of scandals?

Fear reared its ugly head as Kedric smiled
at her, flexing his fingers. Disgusted with herself, she growled. He wouldn’t
dare touch her now. Leo would kill him. Manifesting sweatpants and a t-shirt
like the ones she’d normally wore on Adro, she threw the covers to the side.
Standing from the bed, she glared at the prince.

"I'm not having a conversation with
you in my mate's bedroom." She walked into the sitting room on rubbery
legs.

He walked in behind her, a stupid smirk on
his face. "When have you ever cared for propriety?"

"What do you want, Kedric?"

"No title, Liliana? Surely you're not
so bold as to disrespect me." He closed the distance between them.

Liliana sat on the sofa and pretended
nonchalance. "If you'll remember, I’ll be a princess in a few days’ time.
I'll use your title when you use mine." She raised an eyebrow and dared
him to challenge it.

"Mating to a bastard does not make
one a princess, but it's of no consequence to me either way."

"Why are you here, Kedric?"

He stared at her for long moments, his
eyes roving her body. "You came back without Kita."

Fear choked her. “I searched for her for
years." Damn it, why was she explaining herself?

"And you found nothing?"

She shook her head.

"Well, then, it’s not to be. Leave it
alone, Liliana and move on with your life."

Her eyes narrowed. Was he serious?
"What?"

"That's what I came to tell you. There’s
no need to further look for your sister."

A sick feeling circled her gut. Why would
he give up the search for her sister so easily? "Excuse me?"

"Don't be naïve, Liliana. We both
know Kita is dead by now. Now that you’re mated, we no longer have to go
through the mockery of a courtship. I wish you nothing but the best, but I for
one am glad to have the noose from my neck."

Liliana struggled to digest his words.
"What are you saying? You don’t know that Kita’s dead." She refused
to believe it.

His eyes narrowed, a calculating look
entering them. He sat back in his chair. “Do you think your sister would run
away and never come back? She would’ve eventually become queen. Does that sound
like something your sister would do?”

He had a point. But the leap from
believing Kita ran away and didn’t want to be found, to believing her sister
was dead was a huge one. One she wouldn’t take without proof first.

“Face it. Your sister is dead, and you
looking for her won’t bring her back.”

She reeled at his callousness. Her chest
tightened, and she thought she would pass out from the pain "You thought
my sister was dead, yet you sent me to Adro anyway?" She swallowed the
scream burning the back of her throat. She'd lost four years with her family.
Not to mention the shame her friends and family endured because she left. Her
life had been turned upside down as she roamed Adro, running from both the
Amanda and the queen.

"You couldn't very well stay in
Legba." He shrugged his shoulder. "Once our mating failed, it
would’ve come out that I had already bonded with your sister. And if I couldn’t
mate with you, then my mother would’ve lost the dowry to which your father had
already so generously given us half. I would've been disowned.  You know how my
mother is."

"You selfish bastard." Her
throat hurt, raw from the tears of anger she kept back by sheer stubbornness.
He would not see her cry.

"Let's be realistic, Lily. I couldn't
let the circumstances of my mating get out. You know my family was in need of
the money. My mother would have flayed me."

“All for money.” She whispered.

“My father smartly turned that money into
riches for the kingdom. Would you have really wanted to let the whole kingdom
down, Lily?”

“Don’t call me that.”

He scoffed. “You’re being dramatic. It’s
for the best, the gossip would’ve been excruciating. Do you want people talking
about you like that?”

“They’re probably already talking about
me. If you haven’t heard, I was nearly blown up in the middle of market square.
Between that, and me running away from our mating, what’s one more thing for
them to gossip about?”

He waved away her words. “
I
took
the brunt of that gossip. One sister runs away to avoid mating, then fine. But
two sisters? Everyone scrutinized my every move. Had it not been for me being
the prince, I would’ve been shunned from society.”

Liliana blew out an indignant breath. His
nerve! “Then maybe I should tell them why I left. I can explain in explicit
detail how you had your security drag me to the condo you keep in the business
district where you whipped me for hours. Hours. And when I no longer had the
energy to heal myself, you dumped me at an illegal portal and threatened my life.
I think their prince’s predilection to violence would be a suitable
distraction, don’t you?" She spat.

His nails dug into her skin as he grabbed
her arm, snatching her from the couch. "No one would believe you."

She gasped as he tightened his grip on her
arm and used the other hand to pull her hair. "I can’t imagine I’m the
only person you like to hurt. I’m sure you’ve left a trail of palace servants
who’ve suffered your beatings. I’ll tell everyone who will listen how their
next king likes to beat on women."

He loosened her hair and grabbed her
throat. "If you value your life, and your mother's position in this
society, you will keep that bit of gossip to yourself." He flung her
against the wall.

Air whooshed from her lungs on impact. She
slid to the floor with a whimper. She coughed, fighting to get air to her
starved lungs. "If you touch me again, I'll shout it from market
square."

He pulled her up by her hair. "By the
gods, you’ve never known when to shut up. Your whipping was twice as long as it
should’ve been because you wouldn’t shut the fuck up. Maybe I'll stay for a
while. What do you think Death’s Messenger will do if he comes back to this
room to find the guards chatting amiably in the hallway and the two of us in
his bed?"

Her heart lurched. Leo would kill them
both. Nausea rolled, bile clogged her throat.

Kedric smiled. "Yeah, that's what I
thought. It's over Liliana. Consider this your first and final warning."

"Fuck you." She spit in his
face.

His slap snapped her head back. She
thought vaguely of screaming for the guards, but he squeezed her throat,
cutting off her air. Black dots danced before her eyes. She clawed his arm,
fighting to free her neck. Noise in the hallway was louder as the door crashed
opened. Liliana closed her eyes in relief when Kedric was pulled off of her.
She slid to the floor gagging, heaving in gulps of air.

The light dimmed and Fallon's figure swam
before her. She watched with a sense of detachment as he slammed Kedric against
the wall. The plaster cracked behind the prince’s head from the force.

"Touch my sister again and your life
is forfeit. Do we understand each other?" At Kedric's nod Fallon tossed
him to the front door.

One of the guards lifted the prince, the
others headed towards Fallon. One growl from him stop them in their tracks.
Walking backwards, they carried Kedric from the room.

Fallon kneeled next to her. His hands were
gentle as they roamed her body for injuries. Finding none, he sighed. 
"Trouble."

She coughed. "I didn't mean to…"

He lifted her gingerly. "Yeah, I was
told these things just happen to you." He placed her on the sofa, and
disappeared, coming back a moment later to sit across from her. He passed her a
dishtowel wrapped around ice.

Liliana hissed as she brought it up to her
cheek. "Yeah, well, I may have helped it along this time with my smart
mouth." She grabbed the glass water he offered gratefully.  She winced as
she swallowed. "What are you doing here?"

“Occasionally I get visions. After what
happened yesterday, Xavier and I thought it prudent to be closer to you and
Leo.”

She set the cup on the table and lowered
her head. “Leo will be furious.”

“Furious? We’ll be lucky if my brother
doesn’t burn this kingdom to the ground.” Fallon stood and rubbed a hand over
his face. “Shit, Trouble.”

Lily rubbed her neck, closing her eyes
tight. He was right, Leo would kill the prince.

He sighed. “Stay here, I’ll replace the
guards at your door.”

He left the room, and Liliana let the
tears she’d been holding stream down her face. Gods damn it she was tired of
crying. She got up and washed her face in the bathroom sink. She was done
crying. The next person to hurt her would regret it.

***

Leo
left the surveillance room, no closer to finding out anything than when he went
in this morning. It was frustrating as hell. He looked down at his watch
realizing how many hours had passed. He cursed. Lily was probably beside
herself with boredom. He made a beeline to the conference room to rescue her
from the wedding planners. Finding the conference room empty, he frowned. He
stopped a passing servant.

“Has
there been anyone in this conference room today?”

The
servant shook his head. “Earlier the archivist was here, but she left once
informed Lady Marcolev would be unavailable today.”

“Unavailable?”
He asked sharply.

The
servant shrugged. Dismissing the man, Leo rushed for their room. What could
possibly have Liliana unavailable? The guards at her door were different,
giving him the first clue that something had happened. Opening the door a
little harder than he planned, he called her name, pausing in the doorway as he
spotted Fallon sitting in an armchair. His brother’s face was lined with worry.
His heart sped its rhythm as he scanned the room for Liliana. She came out of
the back wearing sweats. A blooming bruise colored her face along with
fingermarks staining the skin of her neck. He rushed to her side.

Fury
exploded through him as he got a full look at her. Fangs burst from his gums,
his claws grew, and cut into his hands. His vision went straight infrared, the
beast tearing from his body. He leapt back from her to avoid hurting her, but
his voice was a dangerous growl.

"Who
touched you?"

Eyes
wide, Liliana backed up a step. "Leo?"

He
turned to his brother. "Who put their hands on my mate?"

"Calm
down, Leo, it was handled." Fallon kept his tone low, placating.

"I
didn't ask if it was handled. I want to know who. Put. Their. Fucking. Hands.
On my mate!"

Liliana
looked up at him and stepped closer. "I'm okay, Leo."

But
his beast was far from appeased. He scooped her into his arms, careful of his
claws.

“Put
her down, Leo and calm yourself.” Fallon knew better than to step any closer to
brother in his Cagyn form.

“I
want the guards I left on her in the commander’s office, now!” The deep growl
of his voice showed how close he was to losing control.

Fallon
looked like he wanted to argue but Leo's look silenced him. Leo fought for
control as he walked Liliana back into their bedroom. He lay her on the bed,
his hands clumsy as he searched her for other bruises. He backed himself into
the corner of the room as he fought to control his baser instincts. His beast
was urging him to mark their mate, to mark her so every male near her knew to
whom she belonged. The threats to her were numerous and the beast had had enough.