Wrath: The Niteclif Evolutions, Book 2 (14 page)

I turned into his lips. “Sure.” To anyone but the vampire at our sides we appeared to be nothing more than lovers.

As we waited, time took on a surreal quality. It was punctuated not by seconds or minutes but rather by snippets of overheard conversation, the fluid movement of people in and out of the circle and the laughter of flirtatious maneuvering, both sexual and political. I felt the dynamic shift in the group just before the heat crawled over my skin. Hellion stayed next to me but freed his hands and made sure we both had room to maneuver. He bent and pulled a small dirk from his boot and handed it to me. I took it without comment. Eventually I was going to have to get my own damn knife or, preferably, a gun.

“Dragon,” he said, confirming my worst fears.

Aiden and his mother, Adelle, walked into the circle. They were followed by about twenty dragons of various colors. Overhead movement caught my eye, and I saw three forms lazily circling in the air. The dragons on the ground, both males and females of several weyr, glanced over at me. A disproportionate number of them wore openly hostile expressions. I opened my mouth to say something, but Darius grabbed my hand and squeezed just as Hellion bent to kiss me.

“Sorry,” he whispered against my cold lips. “I need you to be very quiet.”

I nodded. I definitely needed someone to walk me through this maze of strategy and politics.

Sarenia stood and moved to greet the dragons. They exchanged warm words with her before they turned as a group to face Hellion and me. “Patience, my friends,” Sarenia cautioned.

Never one to take advice from the other team, I called out, “Aiden, good to see you again.” I stepped in front of Hellion slightly, and I felt him move directly up to my shoulder and drape his arm casually around me. “How was your afternoon after you left Hellion’s place?”

Aiden looked pained as his mother hissed something at him that was too low for us to hear. Darius stepped up behind me and said very quietly, “I don’t believe the boy’s mother knows what he’s been up to today.”

“Good to know,” Hellion murmured.

Sarenia’s voice cut across the clearing, effectively hushing the social chatter. “Vampires, who is your nomination for your Council seat vacancy?”

Darius stepped away from us and met her gaze. “Darius, Voyya of London.”

“Very well. Are there any challengers?” No one stepped forward, and she left the answer hanging long enough that people began to shift and whisper. “The nomination shall stand unchallenged.” Her breathing changed. Looking back, that’s what I would remember—that her breathing changed, her chest rising and falling faster than normal, one hand fisting at her stomach while the other settled over her breastbone. Sarenia looked across the clearing at me and met my gaze, blinked slowly then raised her voice over the murmur of the crowd. “Representatives of the shapeshifters’ faction, who is your nomination for your Council seat?”

“There is no vacancy,” came the reply from just outside the circle.

I swear my heart stopped for the briefest moment before beginning to pound. Blood thundered in my ears as Hellion’s arm tightened on my shoulders.

Bahlin.

I felt light-headed and thought for certain I was going to be sick. “Hellion,” I choked out.

He urged me to sit, squatting next to me to easier reach my forehead and manage the swell of nausea. It passed, and I could feel the tremors running through him. He hadn’t known Bahlin was alive either.

I scrambled to my feet, ready to run to Bahlin, but the fury in his look stopped me. I actually tipped forward and took an involuntary step toward him, so intent had I been on rushing into his arms.

“Nothing to say to me, Hellion? Not even after trying to kill me?” Bahlin stepped into the circle. His right leg was in a brace, and he leaned heavily on a walking stick, but otherwise he looked fine. “And what of you, Maddy? Nothing to say to your former
trekkór
? Not even a kiss for old time’s sake?” He kept talking as he approached us slowly. “You know, the last I saw of you, Hellion, you were racing after me to confirm my death. But to protect Maddy, I cloaked us. Convenient the sun set as you arrived. No need to have her caught up in a mundane investigation if I couldn’t pull out of the dive in time. Then she leapt after you. I was sure it was a mistake—right until you two disappeared into thin air. Together. I had the sense to shift before hitting the ground, thus saving my knee which, by the way, I owe you for nearly destroying.” He stopped five paces in front of us. “I made it to my den. Aiden called, frantic. He’d been in touch with Sarenia and had heard about the incident from one of her Seers. We discussed it and decided it was best if another member of the Council was aware I’d survived so I called her back. She agreed to meet you when the call came in.”

I turned to look at Sarenia, the hatred contained in my gaze open for all to see. “You knew he was alive. You met with me, left me with that lingering doubt when you could have put an end to my misery by telling me the truth?” My lips trembled so violently that I had a hard time forming my words. “You hurt him on purpose, you
bitch
.”

Hellion put a warning hand to my throat and I objected, pushing at his hand at the same time I stepped clear of his reach.

Sarenia looked at me without remorse. “He had a right to know what was going on, Niteclif.”

“Going on?” I was incredulous. “There was nothing going on. Tell me, though. Did you decide he had a right to this presumed information before or after you declared Hellion and I a good match?” I demanded.

She blanched and Bahlin turned to look at her. “Sarenia? Did you say this to her?”

“I did,” she said, “and I’m sorry for it, Bahlin.”

“It’s irrelevant.” He turned back to me and Hellion, venom lacing his next words. “Simple locator spells helped me track you two down. You were in Ireland. Together. Aiden went to check on you and reported you two were already handfast. Awfully quick, don’t you think, Maddy? Hardly two weeks after I die, and you’ve moved on so thoroughly as to be lady of the manor? Impressive.” He tucked his walking stick up under his arm and clapped his hands slowly, derisively. “Unwilling to take even my own brother’s word for it, I went to Hellion’s home tonight and saw you retrieving your jacket out of the bedroom.”

“That was you at the window,” I surmised, feeling sick all over again. I waived Hellion back and stepped farther forward. “Why did you leave?”

“I saw all I needed to see.”

“Then you missed me coming to the window,” I said slowly.

His face registered a pain so raw my heart bled for him. But then he ruined it. “Interested in a threesome, love? Because I’m sure I could be enticed to share that deliciously fine ass of yours.” His tone vibrated with unfiltered rage even as he schooled his face to reflect nothing but disdain. Not even his eyes changed color.

Hellion took a step forward, and I threw out an arm to stop him before he got any closer to the other man.

“Why are you doing this? You’re responsible for this as much as he is, Bahlin.” I felt the whole of the circle’s inhabitants wait with baited breath. “I told you there would be no retaliation, and I told you that day to leave it alone. But you couldn’t, you
wouldn’t
, and you started the fight. It was your pride you fought to defend, not my honor. You’re just mad because you lost. You lost the fight and, if you don’t cool it, you’re going to lose the girl.”

He glared at me, and I took a step back at the sheer look of frigid animosity on his face. “She’s already lost to me.”

I heard an internal crack, like a wrong step on thin ice, and wondered at it before I realized what it was. My heart was breaking. “Then you’ve betrayed more than one promise to me, Bahlin. But the biggest, the biggest by far, was your promise that you’d love me forever. Looks like it was all just to get me on my back and gain yourself the Council’s leadership. Congratulations. I hope it’s warm company on cold nights.” My chest ached. I stepped back to Hellion’s side and took his large, warm hand in mine. “Can we vote on Darius’s seat? I want to go home.”

Hellion never corrected me or questioned where home was to me. He just rolled with the punches. “We’re waiting on the fae.”

“We’re here,” came Kelten’s voice. The King of Faerie held his wife Gaitha’s hand as they stepped into the circle. “We hesitated to interrupt the fascinating proceedings.”

I stiffened, and Hellion pulled me close as the fae approached. I looked around and saw they had brought only one woman with them besides the queen; the rest of their escorts were male and of the warrior variety. Queen Gaitha looked horrible—unwashed and generally unkempt. Her long, blonde hair was knotted, her clothes dirty, her fingernails ragged and dirt-filled. There were scratches on her arms and bruises on her neck. Her eyes were wild as they landed on me and she keened, scaring the shit out of me.

“Is this your recommendation for your Council seat?” Hellion gestured toward the other woman—a petite creature with a pixie-like face, tiny hands and perfect, white teeth. Her blonde hair hung to a waist small enough to have been fashionable when boned corsets were all the rage.

Gaitha protested with a smaller noise, but Kelten answered, “She is. This is our niece, Praen.” The king turned to face us as he spoke, and I noticed the oozing scratch marks on his face and hands. Before I could comment, Bahlin spoke.

“Then let us vote.”

“Any tie-breakers go to the Niteclif,” Hellion said, “as per the Law of Olde.”

I started, but Hellion held me steady. Everyone agreed.

The vote was fast, and both candidates were appointed without discussion. Apparently one of the biggest requirements was a willingness to serve. Good enough. I wanted out of there. I turned to Hellion to ask him to take us home, but Bahlin’s cold voice stopped me yet again.

“There’s also the matter of leadership of the Council. I am the prophesied leader, and I will be claiming my right at our first official meeting.”

So that’s it. You’re so naive, Niteclif. This has been all about power and nothing about love.
I hadn’t thought I could get any colder inside, but I was wrong. “We’ll discuss it at the next meeting, Bahlin. Tonight is neither the right venue nor the time for it, and you know it.”

“Fair enough, for now. But know that I
will
be claiming what is mine by rights, Niteclif.” Bahlin stared at me hard, eyes flashing to icy blue.

My skin seemed to crawl all over my body and I shivered. Hellion laid his large hand at the small of my back, and his touch steadied me.

Bahlin stepped closer and I watched him warily. “Before this meeting adjourns, I have a charge to bring to the Niteclif’s attention.”

I realized I couldn’t ask for his help any longer, and I had a moment of sheer terror. I had nothing to work from, and I was scared I’d make some critical error. Of course, that’s what he was counting on. He was discounting the fact he was still my familiar, and that Tyr and Hellion were still available to me.

“On the day of my attempted murder,” he began and I protested.

“On the day you picked a fight with Hellion, which you legitimately lost,” I corrected.

“Semantics, Madeleine. On that day, the same day a mundane was murdered by near decapitation, I saw Hellion in the Niteclif’s room with a knife wound to his bandaged hand and fresh blood around his fingernails. I allege he has intimate knowledge of the crimes. Further, he is manipulating the Niteclif to gain her affections and to unduly influence her investigations.”

“What?” Hellion and I exploded at the same time, and chatter started among the witnesses.

“What answer you, Niteclif?” he demanded.

“Besides that you’re a prat?” I asked.

“So you concede—”

“Nothing. I concede
nothing
. You should have asked me about this. I would have answered you. But now all I’ll say is that your complaint is lodged, and I’ll give the accused a chance to answer.”

Hellion began speaking almost before I finished. “I hereby swear on my life that I did not commit the crime as alleged.”

“I can affirm his statement because I was there when he cut himself. He sliced open his hand when he healed my wounds. He did not attack those girls.”

Bahlin shifted his stance on his walking stick and sneered. “And the girl outside the hotel?”

“He couldn’t have done it, Bahlin. Leave it alone. I’m warning you.”

He stumped closer to me and let loose a wicked sexy smile that had made my heart falter in my chest since the first night I’d seen him in my dreams. “Defending your lover as always, Madeleine. Good to know.” His eyes were cruel and his mouth twisted into a hard frown. It was heartbreaking, as if I’d never known this man at all. “Now I want to know his innocence or guilt regarding the last murder.”

“He couldn’t have killed her because he was with me, all night.”

“You never slept?” Bahlin asked, confused.

This was going to sound bad. “No, we never slept.” The crowd snickered, and I cast a wide-reaching glare. “It was the night I believed you had been killed and I couldn’t sleep, so Hellion stayed awake with me all night and offered me compassion, not intimacy. He’s innocent of that allegation.” I had a moment of inspiration. “Can you tell me what hand was cut?”

“His right,” Bahlin answered quickly.