Blood and Redemption (Cassandra Myles Witch Series) (19 page)

“I want you again
, my beautiful belle.” Killian stood at attention and I was happy he was ready to go again too.

I wiggled my butt to show him I was game. He entered me again
, but I pulled away and put him at the opening of my other hole. “This will hurt you.”

“No
, it will feel amazing.”

He went slowly and it felt dirty
, but so good. The orgasms and positions melted into one another. It went on for hours. Sex dripped from the air and passion surrounded us.

At one point
, I passed out and woke up to arguing. It angered me. I wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. I was so tired.

“I’m not that old. I will have to sleep for a while even if I’m away from the sun. I have to give her my blood and take off the glamour. It would wear off eventually, but this isn’t fair
, Dominick. Mab is long gone.”

All I heard was a low growl. I was wrapped up in the maker
’s arms. “I know. I just wanted to hold her.”

“She will want more and that isn’t fair to her
, wolf, and you know that.” Killian’s voice was panicked.

“Do it.” The warm body that had been so glorious to sleep next to slowly pulled away and it left me cold and lonely.

“Cass, baby, wake up; it’s time for me to give you some blood.”

“No
, I’m tired.”

“Just a little.”

He put his wrist to my mouth. I sucked lazily and then he whispered something in my ear. Then he was gone. Dominick was licking my neck with slow, small strokes. I lay there playing possum. I wanted time to think. I remembered the whole night and it made me blush and feel hot and a little ashamed all at once.

I wasn’t committed to anyone. I loved Lucius, but he was lost to me and he might never be the same again. Even if he was
, we had a lot to deal with before we could ever be together, Quintus being one of the biggest obstacles. I wasn’t going to beat myself up about it. It had to be done; it was a matter of survival. If I was to be totally honest, the night had been amazing. It may have been the glamour, but I enjoyed every second.

I had to harden myself to get the job done. Mab had to be contained or killed. Preferably the latter and all the
fae had to heal. No more prisons. We had to come up with another way.

“Cassandra
, please don’t hate us.” Dominick pulled me tighter to his chest.

“I don’t hate you or Killian
, Dominick. Do you hate me?”

“No, of course not
. Last night was not your fault.”

“It was.”

“Don’t do that to yourself. I mean it. You…we did what we had to. If you had refused, the whole web of lies we have spun would have unraveled. It would have been death or something far worse.”

“I need a shower. I don’t suppose they have those here?”

“Bath?”

“That will do. This room smells like a whorehouse.”

“I …we…”

I laughed. Then I couldn’t stop and he was looking at me like I had lost my mind. “Yeah, we certainly did. Many times.”

Then he laughed. “Can I join you in your bath? It’s quite large.”

“I don’t know if that is such a good idea.”

“I couldn’t try anything if I wanted to. I’m so dehydrated I’m surprise
d it hasn’t shriveled up.”

I had my bath with Dominick and it was weirdly not sexual at all. We ate what was brought to us and then I fell asleep in his arms.

Chapter Seventeen

“Cassandra, wake up. Mab is coming with Lochlan. Wait, did you two have fun without me?”

“Killian
, I’m exhausted. The thought of having sex right now with anyone is insane.”

“Well
, at least look like you want to. Mab is lending us one of her favorite toys. She’ll want to know you’ll put him to good use.”

“Fine
.” I pulled myself up out of bed, wrapping a blanket around my naked form. “Holy mother of God. I feel like someone pounded the crap out of me last night.”

“Oh, sorry that was me.” He winked at me.

“Ha ha. I may never walk again.”

“I may be ruined for other wom
en forever.”

“I have all confidence you’ll recover.
I don’t know if I will, though.”

“Oh, no, you are not going to feel guilty for last night. You had no choice. You can blame me
. I glamoured you.”

“Only so I could go through with it and I let you
.”

Killian walked over and took me in his arms. “I’m so sorry
, Cass. This is all my fault and my life is forfeit anyway. Quintus will kill me. I just hope its quick, but if Lucius or Quintus find out about last night, they will kill Dominick. I may deserve it, but the wolf doesn’t. After they killed him, you’d never be able to be anything to either of them. You could never forgive that.”

“I don’t want him to kill either of you.”

“Well, he will if he finds out. I can’t stress that enough. The best I can hope for is a quick death, but he will want to torture me and I’ll deserve it, Cass. I took what was his. I took what he loved most.”

“I can’t think about this now. I need to concentrate on getting us out of here.” He was right. I couldn’t be selfish enough to tell Quintus if it meant that Killian and Dominick would die. Killian did a very bad thing and was responsible for my present predicament, but it might have been the best way to defeat Mab. I just needed to get through tonight.

“When Mab gets here, maybe we should look post coitus. Waiting for a new partner.”

“Sure
.”

He started to undress. “Whoa
, hold up.”

“So we had sex with our clothes on?”

“Fine.” I knew he was right; I just didn’t like him enjoying it so much.

Dominick stood up in all his glory and there was a lot to be proud of. “He’s right
, Cass, as much as I hate to admit it.” He stretched the kinks out and it was a thing of beauty.

“She’s coming and it sounds like she has an entourage.” The men stood in front of me to give me a little modesty. I dropped my blanket to the ground. The door flew open.

“Well, you truly are insatiable, Cassandra. At it again already? I’d thought a human would need rest.”

“Oh
, we had that and lots of water. But it’s hard to resist these two.” I walked between the two of them and put an arm around each of them. I was starting to get used to being naked. I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Well
, I keep my promises. Here is your Prince Lochlan. You have him for one night. The vampire can bring him back before he goes to ground.”

The
prince was being led around on a chain and leather collar. He was a very handsome man. His only flaws were the scars on his chest. His eyes were defiant. He clearly didn’t like the thought of being given to us. I didn’t blame him. I was happy to see his anger. The queen looked dead behind her eyes. I didn’t think she would ever recover.

Along with the prince
, she had a goblin and two dark fae with her. The goblin was licking his lips and his eyes were blinking constantly. The viscous second lid made a click sound as it closed over its eyes. Oh God, please tell me she didn’t sleep with him. A ripple of revulsion rolled up my spine and made me shiver.

“I hope our payment pleased you.”

“Oh, I was quite pleased. You put on quite the show. When I got back to my room, I made good use of the prince and his queen. Your performance was very stimulating.”

Oooooh. Yuck yuck yuck.

“Prince Lochlan may be a little slow tonight. I may have worn him out, but I do hope this satisfies your fantasy
, Cassandra.”

“Will he obey me?”

“Oh yes, I have had a very stern talk with him. He will obey if he knows what’s good for him.”

Handing me his leash, the goblin pushed him towards me. Mab waved theatrically and left the room with her entourage trailing behind her. Lochlan looked at me with hatred. I couldn’t blame him. He thought he was going to be passed around like a piece of meat. I waited for Killian to tell me the coast was clear before we talked.

“She’s gone, Cassandra.”

I pulled a blanket over myself
; the men did the same. I dropped the leash in my hand, feeling bad for even touching it. “Prince Lochlan, we have no wish to do you no harm or have sex with you.”

He looked at us with hope and suspicion.

“She’s telling the truth, fae.”

“We have risked a lot lying to Mab to get you here. We hope we can trust you and please believe me when I say you can trust us. We need information
, Lochlan. We want to help all fae get rid of that unseelie bitch.”

“I can’t believe that.” He sneered at me. “A human is going to save the children of the light when we couldn’t save ourselves?”

I walked over to him and took his hand. The familiar buzz came off him, but it was dull. “Your brother is trying to get enough people to help. He talks every day about coming to rescue you and the Queen. He is gathering forces as we speak to break us out of this prison.”

“Truly?”
He perked up at the mention of his brother.

“Yes, we need your help. Please. We don’t know
much about the seelie and even less about the unseelie. Na’min has given me a lot of information, but by no means do we know everything.”

He sank down on the nearest chair and plunked his head in his hands, his golden hair falling around his face like a curtain. It was a long time before he looked up. When he did
, his green eyes were rimmed with red.

“I survived by having my anger. Hope was never in the equation. I knew my brother had escaped the massacre. Mab often talked in front of me like I was little more than a piece of
furniture. I just never thought after what opening the door did he would be able to convince anyone to help. Now you’re here telling me there is hope. I’m sorry. It’s a little overwhelming.”

“I believe your brother and a small group of vampires are trying their best to find this place. I also believe we can’t rely solely on being rescued. Anything can go wrong. We need information if we’re going to put a plan into place to rescue ourselves. So, first
, is there any in the unseelie who would like to see Mab killed?”

“Yes
, many hate her, but they feel like they owe her an allegiance because she led them from their prison. That is worth a lot of abuse.”

“She had almost nothing to do with that. The draining of the fae magic was responsible.”

“I know that, but most don’t. The Dark Queen is very good at spreading rumors that aren’t true. The goblins follow her because she has the king wrapped around her finger. She pleases him regularly. It gives him great pleasure to have relations with a fae, especially a royal. The goblins have always been treated like garbage by us and she told him that he was her equal. That it was the seelie who would become their playthings. He ate it up.”

“So the goblins are out, the seelie are too weak, so what about the unseelie? Would they go against their queen?”

“Some. It depends. She generally leaves the trolls alone and they keep to themselves. The lesser fae such as the brownies, sprites, and pixies all hate her. They weren’t locked away with the unseelie, but they were not treated well by our people either.”

“Are any of your people in good enough shape to rebel?”

“If they knew they could win. She has paired them all with goblins. That is a fate worse than death.”

I couldn’t disagree with that. “What would you suggest we do?
If we can somehow assassinate her, who would take over and rule the fae?”

“Technically
, her son, but he’s not all there. Maybe her most grievous crime is what she did to him. She wanted him to be her evil successor. She wanted him to be as twisted as she is. She turned him into an innocent. It’s very hard to dislike him; he is so kind to Queen Oona.”

“So who is under him?”

“Too many lords and ladies to count. They would squabble and fight until even more of us were dead.”

“So before we kill her
, we need a successor for her.”

“I’m afraid so. She is doing unspeakable things, but there aren’t many of us left and if we kill her
, things may erupt into a civil war. She keeps the trolls and goblins in line. That is no easy feat.”

“So who do you suggest? Queen Oona?”

“Once, she would have been first on my lips. She is just a shell. Mab will not even keep her much longer. She tires of her. She will marry her off to the highest bidder. The dark fae would never be ruled by her either. They feel she is the one who locked them away.”

“What about a marriage between a
seelie and unseelie?”

“It sickens me, but it makes the most sense.”

“What about you and an unseelie woman?”