A Demon's Dark Embrace: An Elite Guards Novel (16 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

He hated feeling out of his comfort zone. Danu was notorious for making him feel uncomfortable and trying to make him lose control. The Demon in him wanted to throw things and kill shit, but the Fae in him just wanted to fuck. He decided that neither of those choices would help his current situation. He secured Olivia in his quarters at Ryder’s Spokane Mansion, the safest place he could think of as a fix until Lucian could reach him, and returned to Faery.

The corridor outside the nursery was empty, except for Savlian who looked to be asleep in one of the chairs that were positioned on each side of the door, but Ristan knew his brother better than most.

“What gives?” he asked, nodding to the chair, and the wicked blade which looked like something only Zahruk could have made.

“I’m guarding the babes, but fuck me if I don’t want to wander in and get all daddy day care on them. Meriel kicked me out a little while ago for diaper changes because she said they needed the contact…Still don’t know why she’d want to do something as crazy as actually change a fucking diaper,” Savlian said with a cross look on his face.

“They need to be held and touched; their body heat is helped by it.”

“And you know that why?” Savlian asked his eyes wide in mock horror.

“I stole Synthia’s book,” Ristan said sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his neck. “What to expect when something or other, but someone had to be ready in case something happened.”

“True that, but damn, you read it?” Savlian said as he leaned his dark head against the wall behind him. “At least someone considered what could happen if their momma didn’t pull through. I think the rest of us were just assuming since you had that vision, that she’d be safe from harm or anything like that, brother.”

“I always consider every outcome, and try to be ten steps ahead, just as our King is.”

“No one is in there right now,” Savlian said as he eyed the open doorway. “Go on in, I’m sure the little angel is awaiting her uncle’s return. She seems better after you’ve held her,” he said, his eyes keen with the knowledge that he was aware of Ristan’s feeding the little minx a bit of his power at every visit.

“She won’t make it if I don’t,” he said softly, his heart clenching in a vice as he considered the outcome.

“Hey, what you do in there, we trust you. Got it? You’re family, always will be. Ryder told us that you finally learned of your mother’s plotting; mine did the same shit.”

“I’m sure that would have gone down beautifully with Sevrin, seeing you’re both so close in age. Most people confuse you two for twins anyway,” Ristan said as he considered how much shit those two did together, and the competition between them. They were good natured in most of it, but each one tried to outdo the other continuously since they’d been children.

“Hey, you know what I’m getting at. Don’t let it bother you or get to you. You are wanted and welcome here among your family, brother.”

Ristan smiled and nodded, his eyes meeting Savlian’s with a nod of thanks before he entered the nursery. He scanned the soothing pastel hues that covered the walls. The sounds of soft gurgles and breathing eased his soul as he moved to the tiny female.

Her soul was fading, but those golden eyes stared up at him with a fighting smile. She’d be a handful when she became a woman, and he knew she would. She’d grow into adulthood, because he refused to consider any other option.

“Sweet girl,” he cooed softly as he carefully slipped his hands beneath her and lifted her to snuggle against his chest. “You are your mother’s child, all fire shining from within.”

Ristan had helped Synthia out more than once, and hell, he’d even almost died for her. Well, what the Mages had done wouldn’t have killed him, there were only a few ways to kill something like him, but it had hurt like hell.

He sat in the rocking chair with the babe, his magic creating a glow around her as he poured a little into her small body. She cooed and gurgled, her eyes aglow with a smile that created twin dimples in her cheeks. “Shit, some lad is going to get himself killed for you one day, sweet Kahleena. Go easy on the lads, for your father will think you’re his world.”

He pulled back on his magic as he heard the door to the nursery open. His eyes rose to meet Adam’s as he stepped into the nursery. 

“What are you doing here, Adam?” Ristan asked cautiously.

“How is she this morning?” he asked ignoring Ristan’s question as his eyes lowered to the babe. “Her color looks better today than it did yesterday.”

“She’s a fighter like her mother and father.”

“There’s been no progress with the Tree of Life from our side,” Adam said softly as he sat beside Ristan in the rocking chair, his hand briefly lifting to touch the curls on Kahleena’s head. He hesitated and his fingers moved away as if he was afraid to touch the fragile child.

“We will figure it out, we have to,” Ristan offered, trying to reassure Adam. He waited for him to retort. 

“Demon, shit like that you get very far in life?” he asked jokingly.

“I’ve not hurt her, Adam,” he disclosed abruptly, speaking of Olivia as his eyes moved to the Dark Prince. “That should give you some comfort, which we all know you and Synthia can use right now.” He’d been able to sense the tension from the first moment the prince had made eye contact and knew what was bothering him. “You should also know I have no plans of giving her up, either.”

“I’ll always be a part of the Guild, so yeah, I was wondering if she was okay and all. Life is fucked up enough right now. Trying to fit back in and not fuck shit up as I go. Returning hasn’t been easy, it’s been a crash course from hell and sometimes I wish I could go back to what life was like before I knew who and what I really am. I grew up there, so I know Olivia was probably just doing what she thought was right, like we all used to do. I know she fucked over Alden in the process, and none of us would have done that intentionally. So what you do with her is your business, fuck her, beat, and eat her, that’s on you in the end. Just remember that we all would have followed an Elder’s orders, and from what I saw, she seemed pretty remorseful about her part in it.”

“Maybe, maybe she’s a good actress,” he mused.

“Are you starting to doubt her guilt, or what her motivations were for helping Cyrus?” he asked with narrowed eyes that reminded Ristan of Synthia. One eyebrow lifted higher than the other, and those soul-grabbing green eyes smiled. It must have been one of the side-effects of being bound to her for so many years as her familiar.

“I don’t know,” Ristan replied as he cradled the now-sleeping babe in his arms. “Maybe you can help me out. There’s a room in the catacombs, it has a door with a single music symbol on it.”

“Yes, I know of a room marked like that. There are more symbols on the other side of it, and an ancient harp in that particular room,” Adam answered as he stood and moved to pick up Zander, who had just woken up and had a solemn look on his face.

“Do you know why it would haunt her? I have been using dream medallions with her, and every time she sleeps, she goes to that door, and the grief she feels is overwhelming. It’s almost like there’s something hidden in that room which she’s feels guilt over.”

“Not something,” Ryder said from the doorway as he leaned against it. “That’s the room we found a large group of children hiding in after you had been taken out. Synthia heard the sound of their heartbeats and we were able to get them out. Someone went through a lot of trouble to keep them hidden; they were dehydrated, and some were hurt. We figure whoever hid them there is either among the dead, or left to get help and couldn’t get back to them. The children haven’t been questioned yet since most needed time to heal and rehydrate, and some are pretty frightened of the Fae. From what Synthia tells me of their training at this age, this is their worst nightmare…falling into enemy hands.”

“How many kids, and what age?” Ristan asked as his throat tightened with his brother’s words.

“I heard there was a lot,” Adam added. “Some were very young, just beginning their training at the Guild’s school,” he supplied. He placed Zander back into his crib and turned around to face the other men. 

Ristan stood swiftly and walked to the crib, but Ryder held out his hands for his wee darling. Quickly changing direction, Ristan placed her in her father’s hands. His mind was moving faster than it could process as different pieces of the puzzle slid into place inside his mind.

“Something wrong, brother?” Ryder asked tensely, his golden eyes keen with interest as Ristan ran through what he suspected had happened.

“Yeah, I’m an asshole,” he growled as he shook his head. “I think I made a miscalculation and I need to fix it. I’ll be back if you need me.”

Ristan sifted out of the nursery, leaving the men to stare at each other over the heads of the sleeping children.

*~*~*

The room was sumptuous and displayed furnishings and wall hangings she’d only read about in books. The bed was huge, but then again, she suspected that any bed Ristan chose for himself would need to be, to accommodate his height. This room was decorated in black and silver, which reminded her of his beautiful eyes.

She rubbed her temples and wondered if she’d been drugged or if he’d done some sort of spell that had made her black out. The last thing she remembered was being in the bath, then his heated words as he’d pulled her from the sudsy water, and then nothing. She couldn’t remember anything after that. She had a massive headache, and the rattle of a chain told her that said she’d once again been securely tethered to a wall.

She tested the chain and then rose to take care of personal needs. She took her time in the bathroom and noticed that the chain had extra length now. Maybe she was gaining his trust? She chanted a charm to make the water dance with her magic; nope, it still didn’t work. Perhaps he was testing her? She doubted it, more like he wasn’t going to be back very soon, so she had time to stew.

Stew? She smirked; her body was filled with small aches from what he’d done, but there wasn’t any real pain left behind from his play, only residual pleasure that made her itch for more. His touch wasn’t even painful per se, and if she was honest with herself, she’d liked her time with him.

But even that couldn’t stop the guilt of what she’d done at the Guild from percolating in her mind. She stared at her pale reflection in the giant mirror and realized the bathroom was almost an exact replica of the one she’d bathed in before she’d blacked out.

Her face was pale, which made her eyes appear larger, brighter. She didn’t look unhealthy, because, for all his fluff and stuff, the guy wasn’t exactly starving her to death. Come to think of it, he’d woken something inside her that had been absent before. She’d felt alive on that cross, and no matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn’t.

A door opened in the other room, and she remained still, unable to confront him because of where her mind had just had gone off to. She turned on the tap and splashed cold water on her face, her eyes lowering to the collar of her jammies, and the lack of red flesh that should have been there from the collar chafing.

She felt him watching her before she turned and found him staring at her, his eyes swirling in an intricate pattern as he slowly looked down her body at the fluffy Hello Kitty pajamas with a soft smirk.

“Hello,” he said, and nodded in her direction. “Hungry?”

“That depends, are you going to feed me, or can I feed myself?” she asked, taking in his leather pants hanging low on his hips and Doc Marten boots. He wore a T-shirt that said ‘Try Me’ on it, and yeah, her body responded as if he had placed some magical spell on her girly bits and pieces that gave him ownership of them.

“You can feed yourself this time,” he said softly and turned to leave her standing alone in the bathroom.

In the bedroom, she found a table, small, but big enough to hold quite a spread of food on it. It had various breads, cheeses, fruit, and pastry dishes that made her mouth water with their heady aromas. She wasted no time; she wasn’t about to give him a chance to change his mind.

She popped a chunk of bread, followed by a slice of fruit, in her mouth, not caring that she was totally stuffing her face and making an ass out of herself. She would rather have him watch her stuff food in her own mouth than having him doing it for her.

“Slow down, little librarian, I have no intention of doing anything to you, or taking food away,” he chuckled as he sat on the bed and with a small gesture, his clothing changed to a simple pair of black silken pants, and nothing else.

She coughed, almost choking on the food that had gone dry in her mouth. He awarded her with a knowing grin, and didn’t offer aid, but did nod towards a goblet of wine he’d left on the small table next to the food.

She drank deeply, her eyes holding his over the rim of the metal cup. She pulled the cup away from her lips. The wine lightly coated them as she placed it back on the table. Her eyes were wary, but it that didn’t seem to bother him at all.

She was on full alert, his intent still not clear as he watched her eat as if it was her last meal. She slowly set down the bread she’d just picked up, and really looked at him as a thought crossed her mind.

“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” she whispered, as tears welled in her eyes and one slowly slid down her cheek. She straightened her spine and squared her shoulders as dread and uncertainty warred inside of her.

“Tell me about the children behind the door of the music room.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Olivia felt a mask slide firmly into place, sealing her emotions behind it. That subtle reminder was enough to bring it all back and her chest hurt with the memories of it all. Her eyes only saw the fighting, the chaos, and the complete destruction of the Guild, her home. Her spine snapped straight and she looked at him with fire in her eyes.

“There are no children in the Guild,” she whispered, unable to make it come out as anything else.

Ristan blew out a deep sigh. “That’s interesting. My brother was just filling me in about a group of children that were recently relocated to Faery. A lot of children; and those kids had been hidden by someone who thought of others. Someone who wasn’t evil, or only thinking of themselves,” he finished.

He was lying, he had to be, and she wasn’t buying it. She’d seen the inferno that had blazed through the already-devastated Guild. This was just a new strategy, it had to be.

“Go to hell,” she cried, her emotions overwhelming her as images of the small faces swam behind her eyes. Her legs threatened to give out, but before they could, he was there, pulling her against him.

“I’m an asshole, but I need to know if it was you,” he urged softly, his hands slowly rubbing her back as he walked them both back to the bed.

“I don’t believe you,” she sobbed, her chest heaved as tears ran freely down her face.

He kissed them away and pushed her hair from her face as he sat on the bed and drew her across his lap. His touch was soothing, and it only made her cry more. Where most men would have run away without a clue of what to do for comforting a hysterical woman, he continued stroking her hair and placing soft kisses on her face.

“Stop it,” she cried harder, “I don’t deserve this from you! I thought I was doing the right thing, but I messed up. I hid as many of the children as I could, but your people killed them when they burned down the Guild,” she expelled a shuddering breath. “I know the children are dead,” she whispered.

“No, they’re alive. Every child you hid in that room is alive. I wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

“It’s not possible!”

“Yes, it is. The catacombs are still there. My brothers didn’t destroy them; they only sealed them to protect them from falling into the wrong hands. According to my brother, Synthia caught the faint sound of heartbeats, and they got the kids out before they sealed the entrance and razed the upper levels.”

“I need to see them,” she whispered.

“You can’t,” he replied softly, his eyes turning to steel. “Not yet. Your saving those children doesn’t excuse what you did to Alden and me, nor am I fully convinced you are totally innocent. Maybe not by deed, Olivia, but by naiveté you have helped Cyrus to help the Mages, and I need to know what he was after.”

“I won’t help you hurt the Guild,” she warned softly.

“And I don’t want to hurt the Guild, either. I need for you to at least trust me on that point.” At her skeptical look, he sighed, knowing that he would have to confide in her if he wanted to gain her trust. “I am half Fae, my mother was once a proud Demon Princess and I am the third son of Alazander, the previous Horde King. I am brother to the current one,” Ristan said carefully, watching as the color drained from her face. “We are at war, and whether the Guild wants it or not, they are siding with Mages who have slipped into the Guild’s ranks and are corrupting it from within. I am not asking you to hurt the Guild; if anything, I am asking you to help the Guild. The true Guild. The members who still believe in what it was originally created to do. Already the Mages are inciting the Humans and the other Guilds for the blood of all Fae in retaliation for the fall of the Spokane Guild.”

“But…but the Fae didn’t do it,” she whispered. “Wait, back up. You’re one of the Horde Princes? So I was in the Horde Kingdom?” she squeaked.

“Yes,” he said, as her face seemed to become paler.

“So I got a son of the Horde King tortured by monsters, and now I’m your prisoner,” she whispered, and her face looked a little green. “Wait, why would a son of the Horde King be in the Guild, unless you were, in fact, spying?” she questioned.

“Keeping a promise to a Witch that nothing bad would happen to her uncle while she helped my brother, the newly-crowned Horde King, try and save both worlds,” he explained.

“You were there protecting Alden from the Mages, or the Guild? Was it because he was guilty of betraying the Guild?” She fired off questions until Ristan held up his hands and sat back.

“You need to listen to me. I was there because Synthia had responsibilities in Faery. I told her I’d keep her uncle safe and that nothing would happen to him because of their relationship. Not to mention, he was helping us. We knew the Mages posed a very real threat to Alden and we wanted to be able to get him out if it ever went sour. They’ve been inside the Guild for a very long time, Olivia. We knew they were working their way into all aspects of the Guild, but until recently, we didn’t know how far they had burrowed into the inner workings of the Guilds. The Spokane Guild is not the only one having issues. The New Orleans Guild is running with backup Enforcers because theirs are disappearing and the Fae are, of course, being blamed. A few of the Elders have vanished or been killed. That’s why that particular Guild was chosen to be the Guild ‘Justin’ came from. Believe it or not, the Horde agrees that the Fae should remain in Faery. We can’t protect your people from ours in your world, so it’s much easier for them and our people if ours just stayed in Faery. Unfortunately, our people have a natural curiosity and an affinity for Humans that makes it next to impossible to keep them in Faery. So, believe it or not, there are rules in place as we attempt to control the worst of them. Either way, the men responsible for the slaughter inside the Guild, those were Mages for the most part and one crazy fucked up God hell-bent on revenge. Was I digging through Guild shit? Fuck yeah, I was. We need the relics of the Fae because they belong to us. They can’t even be used properly in your world. We need them to prevent our world from dying, and yours from becoming overwhelmed with the number of beings that will be flooding into it when that happens. That is why I was there. I wasn’t there to fuck the Guild; I was there to help it.”

“You
can
lie,” she whispered. “You said your name was Justin.” She paused with her teeth worrying her bottom lip. Her cheeks turned pink and she hissed. “Justin Timberland? You asshole! I can’t believe it didn’t click before!” she chided and slapped his arm.

“So I did, but it was for a very good cause,” he said as he smirked playfully and continued. “I promise you that those kids are fine. Synthia’s children, on the other hand…They need us to find those relics and save both worlds.”

“Synthia has children?” Olivia asked with a perfect O on her lips that he personally wanted to test with his cock.

“Three; she gave us the first set of triplets in Fae history.” He watched as she added the time since Synthia had left the Guild, and came up short. It was no mystery that time moved differently in the worlds, but most couldn’t grasp the differences. “Time, of course, moves differently between our worlds. Sometimes slower, while other times faster. Right now the rule of thumb is about a quarter day in Faery to each day in your world. Fae pregnancies are also shorter than Human ones. Her heart still belongs to the Guild, and she has enough to worry about because of the Mages, and her babes being sick,” he said softly as he fought the urge to taste her lips.

He watched her eyes narrow, and her teeth worry her bottom lip as she considered his words. If she kept biting that lip, it would end up raw, but fuck if it wasn’t hot.

It was a new ballgame and new rules. He knew she could help him, more than that, he wanted her. He knew he could force her into playing his naughty games, but he wanted her to be willing. He didn’t have to pretend he didn’t want her and build excuses as to why he shouldn’t want her. 

“So what do you want from me?” Olivia asked with a guarded look as her hands fisted at her sides anxiously.

“Alden told me you have an eidetic or a photographic memory, and I need you to help me find items that once belonged to the Fae. You already helped me find one. You didn’t know about it at the time and I can promise you that they will only be used to protect your world from mine. Because if we can’t fix this one, both will die; I know, I’ve seen that future, little Witch, and it wasn’t pretty.” 

“You can’t see the future? No one can,” she argued.

“No one should be able to, and trust me, it’s not fun. I was given sight by Danu, to be able to set our people on the right path to protect our world. Tell me something: If this world dies, where would the monsters as you call us, go?” he asked, his eyes drifting from her eyes to that sexy lip she was nibbling on.

“My world,” she whispered after a few silent moments had passed.

“Correct,” he said and reached over to detach the chain from the collar. His fingers slid along the collar, changing it from the heavy collar to a delicate golden torque from which the small medallion hung. He watched her eyes widen, and her hand came up to rest on his chest, which sent heat to his belly, unfurling a need that he was doing his best to ignore. “Come with me,” he said without waiting for her reply.

He opened a portal and sifted them to Faery, to a gigantic tree. The trunk was swathed in a thick layer of ice and the entire tree looked weak beneath the deep freeze that surrounded it. The portal closed up behind them with a wave of his hand. “This is the Tree of Life; it feeds Faery power, and helps to keep the newly born Fae alive as the world welcomes them. For some time now, it’s been unable to accept most of the infants.”

“Babies are dying?” she asked, and her lips formed a frown, her eyes deep with unease.

“An entire world is dying because of a grudge. It is dying over a misunderstanding of our ways that festered and got out of control. It has created evil beings that don’t try to fight us directly; they prey on the innocent of our kind first,” he said and turned to look at the tiny glowing lights. They weren’t just lights, they were tiny beings that worked to thaw the tree, but nothing they did was working. “They are trying to kill us in your world, and they are trying to kill us here as well. We aren’t speaking of policing and protecting, as the Guild was created to do. We are talking about evil trying to eradicate not just the High Fae, but all of what you would refer to as those from the Otherworld; Vampires, Shifters, Demons, Fauns, all of us.”

He knew the moment Olivia figured out what was lighting the tree in the darkness. Her breathing grew shallow; her eyes grew round and then lit up. It was still one of the most beautiful places in Faery, even if it was frozen.

He glamoured a heavy parka on her, as well as other clothing that was more suited for the cold, on both of them before he took her hand and moved them closer to the endless activity of the Fairies. Her pants were leather, which looked a little out of place on her, but he enjoyed the way it hugged her ass, along with the boots that were more fashionable than most winter wear usually was. She giggled softly as the coat curved her tiny frame, and for the first time in what felt like forever, Ristan grinned.

“Those are fairies,” she whispered and held out her hand as one flew in close to look at her. It landed innocently in her upturned palm and sat there cross-legged as they studied each other. Ristan grimaced when he realized it was Karenna, a fairy he had the pleasure of knowing intimately. Her breed of Fairy could go from the size of a firefly to a much more compatible size if she chose to. They were also infamous for their love of biting and nipping. 

“They are,” he said as he gave Karenna a warning with his eyes. She took flight, leaving a trail of glittering dust in her wake which caused Olivia to sputter, then sneeze. Karenna let out an impish giggle as she continued her way back to the others, who kept working.

“This is what the Mages did,” he said, pulling his mind back to why he’d brought her here. “This tree feeds magic into Faery, and without it, the world grows weaker with each passing day. More infants will die before we can save it, but I was given visions that were supported by the prophets, that the relics are a large piece of the puzzle to not just stop Faery from dying, but reversing the damage done to this world as well.”

“And you think I can help you? Even if I wanted to, those relics would be heavily guarded, probably by Enforcers who have no idea what’s really going on. I’ve done enough damage to the Guild, and even if those children are alive as you say they are, that doesn’t excuse what I did,” she said softly, her eyes never meeting his as she watched the fairies work on the tree.

Ristan grabbed her hand, knowing he might be pushing her limits on sifting, which bothered him to a certain degree; however the need to show her his world overrode his concern. But those eyes? The way they lit up with the beauty of the Tree, and the tiny Fae? She was in awe, and he had so much more to show her.

He took her to his favorite place in either world. He wondered why he had done something so impulsive, since he’d never brought anyone with him when he came here. Yet it had been the first place that had popped into his mind.

The sky was lit up with deep green and aquamarine colors which mixed with the Fae version of the Northern Lights. A large pool of the bluest water he’d ever found on Earth or Faery covered the ground in a circular pattern, which was fed by a cascading waterfall that enhanced the beauty and serenity of this particular place. Vivid emerald trees stood in the far distance, with the sweet fragrance of newly bloomed flowers scenting the night air.

There was no freezing chill here, so with a flick of his fingers, he removed the heavy coat and decided to replace her outfit with a soft, powder blue baby doll dress, which made her eyes seem darker. He could see her nipples had hardened with the quick change of outfits, and he hoped it was from her wanting to be covered by him, rather than the dress.

She took in the beautiful setting carefully before he saw a small smile tug at the corners of her mouth. There was no way she was immune to the beauty of the land, because even though he’d been here a thousand times, he wasn’t.

“Where is this?” she asked as she adjusted the dress for modesty.

“I don’t think it’s ever been named,” Ristan replied, his eyes sweeping over a lush green bush that was covered in pale blue flowers that glowed just enough to illuminate the darkness.  He waved his hand and the sky turned to sunset.

“How did you do that? No Fae can control the weather or the world around them,” she whispered her eyes on his with wonder.

“I can create illusions, very realistic ones at that. But this isn’t me; this place is different,” he said, and wondered if he should control more of it for her benefit, but then again, all he’d done was think of it turning to sunset and it had. He’d never understood it, nor did he care to.

He stepped closer to her and smiled. “This is my place. I have never seen it on any maps,” he whispered. “It’s full of wondrous things, deadly ones too, but it holds so much to explore and marvel at. I’d die protecting my world,” he mused out loud, his body so close to hers that he could smell her unique scent, which seemed to drive him bug fuck crazy.

He reached for her and pulled her against his body. Their clothes disintegrated with a mere thought, and he smiled as she hissed from the sensation it created. He picked her up and the moment her lips touched his out of her own will, he growled.