Cruel Enchantment (27 page)

GIDEON
woke to white.

White ceiling, white walls, white floor, white upholstered chairs. White everything, broken only by shiny, metallic medical equipment. Blessed Labrai Hospital. The one on the Phaendir campus in Protection City, Carolina, that catered to the unique physiological makeup of the druids.

His world was soft, hazy. He felt like he was floating. Drugs. They must have him on something. He reached over and touched the IV that was attached to his arm.

“Don’t move around too much,” said a nurse, leaning over him. She patted his arm and smiled into his face. “You’ve been out for several days. I’m glad to see you came back to us. We thought we might have lost you there, Brother Gideon.”

She shuffled away and he closed his eyes. Labrai help him, he felt like he’d missed death by a breath for real.

He hadn’t known what to expect when he’d ordered it, but that was
not
what he’d been going for. Someone was going to be in trouble for this one.

“They told me you were awake,” said Brother Maddoc, entering the room dressed in an expensive blue suit. “I came right over.”

Gideon moved his head with a difficulty he didn’t have to fake to look up at Maddoc standing at his bedside. “What happened?” he croaked. “The last thing I remember is drinking my tea.” He fought through the drug-induced haze that gripped him. This conversation was important.

Maddoc’s usually open face clouded. “Yes, your tea was accidentally poisoned, it seems.”

He blinked and tried to sit up, only to fall back weakly against the pillows. “Accidentally? How does tea become
accidentally
poisoned?”

“When the kitchen help making the tea mistakes the cubed rat poison for sugar. The worker has claimed responsibility for the mix-up and has been punished.”

“Rat poison in the kitchen? Near the sugar?
Cubed rat poison?
” Gideon succeeded in pushing into a sitting position, wincing at the soreness of his body. “How is that possible?”

“It was a freak accident, a series of unfortunate and highly improbable events.”

“I’m aware of the meaning of the term
freak accident
, Maddoc,” Gideon snarled.

“You should be.”

“Yes, I should be.” Gideon stared up at him meaningfully, infusing his voice with just enough suspicion. “There have been quite a few freak accidents lately, haven’t there?”

Maddoc’s jaw tightened. “There have. One might almost think they weren’t accidents.” There was a hard note of suspicion in his voice.

“Are you accusing me of something? Right now? While I lie here in the hospital having narrowly escaped death?”

“You have been the one to benefit the most from this string of unfortunate mishaps. I need not point out your use of the words
narrowly escaped
. Miraculously, you’re the only brother to have survived his respective . . .
accident
.”

Gideon sputtered. “Are you suggesting that I somehow poisoned
myself
?”

“Or arranged for the poisoning, all the better to make you look innocent of clearing your passage through the hierarchy through
murder
, Brother Gideon. Here you lie, an innocent victim just like all the rest. Thank Labrai you made it through.” The note of sarcasm in Maddoc’s voice wasn’t lost on Gideon.

“How dare you.”

Brother Maddoc’s face went red, then purple. “How dare you, Gideon!” he bellowed. “I should have executed you last year instead of showing mercy.”

No doubt.

“Hey!” said the nurse, rushing into the room. “No, Brother Maddoc. Stop that,” she scolded, waving a finger in his face. “As much as you are respected around here, I cannot have you upsetting my patients!” She touched Gideon’s arm and while the nurse’s face was turned toward Maddoc, Gideon cracked a smile that made Maddoc go even redder. “This man has just woken up from a coma. Now, please, go. The doctor is coming in to examine Brother Gideon shortly, anyway.”

Maddoc stared down at Gideon for a heartbeat, smoke practically wafting from his ears like in some cartoon. “Fine, I’ll leave.” Maddoc pointed at him. “But you haven’t heard the last of this, Brother Gideon.” Threat delivered, he turned and walked out of the room.

Gideon stared hard at his retreating form. Brother Maddoc hadn’t heard the last of this, either, and he wasn’t going to like the next part. Not at all.

“How are you feeling?” the nurse asked with a friendly smile.

Gideon wiped all traces of murderous rage off his face and smiled back. “Happy to be alive.”

She laughed. “I can imagine.”

He scooted down into his pillows and did his best to look pitiful. “Could you do me a favor”—he glanced at her name tag—“Nurse Teresa?”

“Of course.”

“I really need my cell phone. Can you get it for me? It’s probably still in the top drawer of my desk in my office over in HQ. The recharging cord should be there with it. I’ll need that, too.”

She nodded and winked. “I’d be happy to do that for you. Sit tight and I’ll be back with it. The doctor will be here in a few minutes.”

Gideon relaxed and closed his eyes. Everything was going exactly to plan. He just had to make a couple of phone calls to make sure they
kept
going that way. He smiled.

 

 

EMMALINE
blinked and a strange, opulently furnished room came into view. Noticing right away that she wasn’t cuffed, she pushed into a sitting position. Her head pounded and her stomach burned. Someone had bandaged her wounds and dressed her in a very feminine light nightgown that reached her toes.

She blinked and glanced around, seeing nothing familiar. Where the hell was she?

Didn’t matter. She hopped from the bed and limped toward the door on bare feet. If she had a chance to escape, she was damn well going to take it.

A strong hand captured her upper arm. “Where do you—
gugh
!”

She’d brought her elbow back hard into the man’s unprotected abdomen. She whirled, arms at the ready to do more damage, and saw immediately that it was Aeric.

“Oh, Danu.” She touched his shoulder. He was bent over, holding his gut. “I’m sorry.”

“No problem.” He straightened, wincing. “My fault for sneaking up on you.” He pointed at the bed. “Back to bed.”

There was something very nice about Aeric ordering her to bed. Still . . . “I feel okay, Aeric, really.”

She jumped at the lash of anger in his voice, but she knew it was because he was worried about her. She limped back the way she’d come, thankful she could lie down again. Weakness from standing had entered her limbs and her head and stomach ached.

“Where am I?”

“You’re in the Black Tower. The queen has issued an edict. Any Unseelie who attacks you does it on pain of death. You should be safe here.”

“Kolbjorn?”

“Restrained. The Shadow Queen wasn’t pleased about the damage he did to Goblin Town. That’s all stuff the Black Tower will have to pay for. He’s being punished.”

She nodded. “Okay, I trust the Shadow Queen.” Oddly, she did. Seemed like she shouldn’t trust any fae royal after what she’d been through, but she understood Aislinn’s history. Aislinn was a good woman, for all that she was the leader of monsters. “But I feel okay, Aeric, really.”

His expression went rigid. “You haven’t asked how long you’ve been here.”

“Oh, hell. How long?”

“You’ve been mostly in and out of it for the last week, Emmaline. We kept you drugged while you healed up the damage done to you. You were broken when the Summer Queen gave you back to me.” He watched her tuck herself in. “So, you might feel okay now, but that doesn’t mean the way they brought you to me isn’t still fresh in my mind.” His eyes seemed to go dark and his body tensed. “They fucked you up bad, before I was able to get you out.”

She averted her gaze, staring straight ahead. “I don’t remember much. She showed me my crossbow—
Danu
, it was like new,” she breathed. “Then . . . Lars. After that, I don’t remember.”

“Lars?” His voice was sharp. “Was he the one who hurt you?”

She gave a rough laugh. “The queen calls it
gentling
. There’s nothing gentle about it.”

“Lars is going to die.” His voice was the coldest and most determined she’d ever heard it. It was a simple statement and he meant it. Lars’s death was on his To Do list. It was on hers, too.

“I like that idea.”

“You were conscious when they handed you over. You really don’t remember anything?”

She shivered. “No. My mind used to shut down. It was a survival thing. Maybe I did it again.”

He studied her, saying nothing.

She settled back into the pillows and closed her eyes. Her body was far weaker than she’d first presumed and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what the Summer Queen had ordered Lars to do to her. All she knew was that her stomach hurt badly. “Before you go off on a hunt for Lars, which, by the way, is a
fantastic
idea, have you finished the key?”

“Soon. It’s almost done. You just concentrate on healing and don’t worry about the key.”

She opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile. “Thank you for getting me out.”

“You won’t thank me when you find out what I traded for you.”

Danu, she hadn’t even been thinking about that. She sat up. “You didn’t. Please, Aeric, tell me you didn’t.”

He stared stonily at her.

She pushed the blankets away and bounded from the bed. Her shin gave only the slightest protest. It was mostly healed, apparently. Her head pounded out a staccato rhythm and her stomach burned, but it was no match for her anger. “The piece wasn’t yours to bargain with!”

Her knees folded and he caught her. She pushed at him, cursing a blue streak, but he only held her close to his body. “I understand why you didn’t want me to give the piece to her. Aislinn explained.” He spoke close to her ear. “I just couldn’t leave you in the Rose for the time it would’ve taken to devise an alternate way to get you out. Not now. Not now that I know about your past.”

She sagged against him, feeling defeated. But what was done, was done. “Don’t you understand yet what a danger the Seelie Queen could be to the freedom of the fae?”

He sat her on the bed and then sank down beside her. “One bridge at a time.” He cupped her cheek. “All I care about right now is that you’re out of there.”

Was Aeric really cupping her cheek, gazing into her eyes and professing that he cared about her well-being? She blinked. Nope, not dreaming. This was even better than the sexual interludes they’d had. There was emotion here. Emotion of the nonviolent kind, even. Amazing.

He lowered his mouth and pressed his lips to hers, his mouth slanting across hers. His tongue eased inside her mouth with long, slow sweeps. His arms came around her, warm and strong, bracketing her in an embrace she never wanted to leave. With a deep groan, he pulled her flush up against him, so close she was sure he could feel the stupidly crazy beat of her heart.

He dragged his lips across hers once in a while, nibbling at her lower lip before sliding his tongue back within. His kiss was like the finest wine or the most potent drug. It made her forget her pains and aches, almost made her forget how to think. She just wanted—needed—more. Her body was aware of his kiss in the most sensitive way—her nipples hard, her sex warm.

Carefully he lowered her backward into the pillows, still kissing her. When he finally pulled back, his eyes were dark and his body taut. His expression could only be described as hungry. He wasn’t the only one.

“Rest now,” he rasped at her, pulling away.

“Rest? Are you crazy? You kiss me like that and then tell me to rest? It’s like taunting a starving lion with a steak and then telling it to go to sleep.”

“You’re injured and if we continue this I’ll push too far.”

“Would that be so bad?”

“Yes.” He turned away. “I’ll send up some food. I’m setting guards I can trust at the door, too. Insurance against any fae who wants to break the queen’s edict.”

“You’re leaving?”

“I have to.” His voice was low and rough. “At least for a little while. I’ll be back.”

He walked toward the door and her gaze caught on an object she’d hoped she’d never see again. “My crossbow,” she breathed.

He stopped and turned to her. “Wow, you really don’t remember, do you?”

“Remember what?”

“The Summer Queen tried to send your crossbow with you. I told her to shove it up her royal ass, but you stopped me and asked me to take it. Have you changed your mind? Hell, I’ll burn it for you if you want.”

She stared at the polished wood for a long time before answering. “No. There’s a reason I asked you to take it. It’s time I faced my past. I need to stop letting it scare and control me. Leave it.”

“Whatever you need, Emmaline.”