Bound to Blackwood (43 page)

"For the love of all that is Fae," Kaden breathed as he kicked a batch of parchment off his foot.

"Here, let me help," Skylar said.

Kaden stopped him. "Just go and help Mercury, and get the hell out of my way."

Skylar nodded and handed the few leaves of parchment he still had in his hand to Kaden. Kaden plonked down on one of the upturned crates. Maybe Skylar was right. Maybe it
was
hopeless. He let the parchment Skylar had given him fall to the floor. The pages fluttered to the ground like autumn leaves in the breeze.
 

He held his head in his hands. This was a fucking disaster. The only lead they had came from Marin, the last Vampire on earth Kaden wanted to trust. "Fuck!" Kaden shouted at no one in particular.

A pair of retro high-tops appeared in front of him. "You want a beer?" Phoenix asked.

"Got anything stronger?"

Phoenix squatted in front of him and handed him a bottle. "It's lager or lager, I'm afraid."

Kaden looked up at the medic and feigned a smile. "Lager will do."

Phoenix just nodded, stood up and left Kaden to his thoughts. Kaden took a long glug of the ice-cold beer and stared at the scattered parchment. The longer he stared, the more he thought he was seeing things.
Skylar, you're a frigging genius!
Through a distinctive high-top tread-print, Kaden saw the two words they were all searching for: House Clayden.
 

Kaden started to laugh. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mercury clambering out from his pile of papers and documents. The guy did not look happy. "I'm glad you think this is funny, Boss."

"Hey, Mercury. Get over here," Kaden said with a chuckle.

"This better be fuckin' good," the Guardian mumbled as he made his way over. "I'm here. What's so funny?"

Kaden pointed at the floor. "Is that what I think it is?"

Mercury scooped up the piece of paper and his eyes widened. "Well, bugger me. I don't believe it." The Guardian took the parchment over to Kaden's battered desk. The desk, like the rest of the
room was covered in miscellaneous charts, files, books and a whole lot of other crap they'd dug out of storage. With one swipe of Mercury's arm, all of it landed on the floor.
 

As Mercury spread the chart across the desk, Kaden weighted down the top corners with his phone and the knife he always kept in his boot. "So, what have we got?" he asked Mercury.

Mercury ran a finger across the names. "Let's see. Oscar Clayden,
Maluth
, blah blah blah. One brother, two sisters — deceased. No children."

"We know all that. Get on with it!"

"Sorry, Boss, Just bein' thorough."

Kaden rolled his eyes.

"Right, 'ere we go; Bannermen," Mercury continued. "London, Bowman, Ashby."

"No great surprises there. What about the Squires?"

"Bran, Ash, Sage, Lucine, Ray… Oh holy Fuck!"

"What? What is it?" Kaden flashed to Mercury's side so he could see what had the guy so tongue-tied.

"Rayne and Greene," Mercury whispered.

Kaden felt sure he'd misheard, but it was there, written in beautiful, hand-scribed calligraphy.

"They can't be the same Rayne and Greene, right?" Mercury asked.

Kaden only knew one Rayne and Greene. He'd never met them. But he knew their daughter. He practically raised her.

"It's gotta be a coincidence," Mercury said.

"I highly doubt it."

"Yeah but..."

"There's no such thing as coincidences."

Thorn stood under the freezing cold spray of his en-suite shower. He'd lost track of how long he'd been there, but he did know that his scalp hurt from the drumming, icy, darts of the water and he could no longer feel his shoulders. If only he could numb his sense of shame.

He screwed his eyes shut, desperate to forget. It didn't work. All he saw was the look on Lena's face, that dark shadow that dulled her eyes.

Fury at his actions wound its way through his body. "Fuck!" Thorn bellowed as he punched the tiled wall.

The ceramic exploded, sending razor-sharp shards into his knuckles. He saw the blood well in the wounds then disappear in the water that still poured over him. The icy liquid stung, but Thorn really didn't care. He laid his head against the cold wall and watched his blood whirlpool down the drain.

According to Vampire Lore, his blood, the King's blood, was the most precious of all. He was probably breaking all sorts of laws by wasting it and not seeking immediate medical attention. Which was completely ridiculous, his hand had already started to heal.

Holy Mother of Fae, what a mess. He knew he only had one chance with Lena and he'd more than blown it. His blood-lust had won the battle over his sense of right and wrong. And he hated himself for it.

"Thorn? You in here?" Kaden's voice penetrated his thoughts. The Keeper was right outside the bathroom door.

He hadn't even heard the guy come in. And he knew full well Kaden was only asking out of politeness. Kaden always knew exactly where everyone was.

Thorn sighed. He really didn't feel like talking to anyone, even his best friend. "What do you want?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Not now."

"Trust me, you're gonna wanna hear this," Kaden replied.

"I doubt it."

"I'm serious."

"Yeah? So am I. Go away." Thorn's self-control was disintegrating by the second. And whether he liked it or not, he knew Kaden could hear it in his voice.

Sure enough, Kaden's tone changed, the joviality left the Keeper's voice. "What's going on?"

"Nothing."

"Look, I'm not talking to you through a door."

"Good, 'cause I ain't talking."

Thorn heard Kaden sigh. "This is important. Either you come out, or I'm coming in."

"For fuck's sake, can't a man get any peace?" Thorn breathed as he turned off the shower. He stomped over to the door and damned near wrenched the thing off its hinges as he pulled it open. "What?"

Kaden's brilliant blue eyes widened before he screwed them shut and held out a hand. "Fucking hell, Thorn! You could have put some bloody clothes on!"

Thorn looked down. Shit, he completely forgot about that. He reached into the bathroom, grabbed a towel from the hook and wrapped it around his waist. He took advantage of Kaden's distraction to lock down his emotions. The Keeper of the Watch didn't miss a trick and Thorn just couldn't face an inquisition. "Happy now?"

Kaden half opened one eye to check Thorn wasn't pulling his leg. To his relief, the King had covered the crown jewels with a fluffy, white towel. Okay, so it was a hand towel and barely covered everything, but at least Kaden no longer felt the need to bleach his eyeballs.

Kaden finally took a proper look at Thorn. He had heard the anger in the guy's voice, but his emotions were firmly under lock and key. He hadn't seen the King this composed in a long time. Kaden felt relieved; there'd been far too much drama going on around this place. House Blackwood could star in its very own soap-opera.

"So," Thorn said as he barged past him and headed for the wing-backed armchair by the huge, stone fireplace. "What was so damned important you had to drag me out of the shower?"

"We found the paperwork for House Clayden."

"Tell me you found something interesting."

"Oh yeah. We found something interesting alright."

Lena splashed cold water on her face. Though a heart-breaking sadness still sat in her chest she had, for the moment at least, stopped crying. She washed away her blood-red tears and willed the icy water to make the puffiness around her eyes disappear. She wasn't a crier. At least she never used to be. What the hell had happened to her?

She splashed more water on her face. It didn't help. Thoughts of Thorn kept creeping into her mind unbidden. And every time her eyes welled with yet more tears.

Once her initial relief waned, she felt only pain. It confused her.

The feel of those immense fangs scraping down her flesh replayed over and over in her mind. Something bothered her. Her own memory of that moment mixed with a view from another pair of eyes.

Before her fear had descended, she remembered something else. It was just a tiny glimpse, all that she had allowed in before the fear and eventual resignation took over. She already knew about Thorn's need, but for the briefest of moments she felt something much more significant and unexpected.

Love.

Lena gasped as the realisation hit her. Thorn had been millimetres away from tapping into her life force, from taking her very soul, yet rather than the dark feelings she expected, Thorn's strongest emotion was love.

Chapter 29

"It's right there in black and white!" Kaden pointed to the list of House Clayden squires.

"I had to see it for myself," Thorn replied, running a hand through his hair.

"I know what you mean. I've looked at this chart a dozen times just to be sure."

"Well, we can't very well question Rayne and Greene. Please tell me at least one of the other Squires is still alive."

Kaden nodded. "Mercury and Ryver are on the case. There's a Lucine now squired to House Meadows."

Thorn's dark eyebrows shot skyward. "House Meadows? Isn't that..."

"Yeah, it's where Lena spent her formative years," Kaden finished for him.

Thorn sank into Kaden's chair behind the beaten up desk. "Holy shit."

"Yeah, that's pretty much what I said."

Thorn stared at the chart. Like Kaden, he didn't believe in coincidences. He breathed out a heavy sigh. The
Onærelen
started off a near impossible task to fulfil. Now, it seemed all their hopes were pinned on one Squire, who may or may not actually know anything.

Then there was that bastard, Vance. He
Fell
just after Eden disappeared. He and the rest of House London were Bannermen to House Clayden, and they knew Oscar Clayden had been instrumental in getting the young Eden to safety. Thorn would bet his fangs that Vance was involved in all of this.

He just couldn't work out where in Faerie Rayne and Greene fit in. Or Lena… "Oh Gods!"

"What?" Kaden asked.

"Lena. Has anyone told her?"

Kaden dropped his eyes and shook his head. "I went up there — after I saw you but I couldn't bring myself to knock on the door."

“Yeah, I know the feeling." Thorn's heart ached as he thought of Lena. Shame followed quickly on pain's heels and it took all his strength to swallow it back down again.