From Burning Ashes (Collector Series #4) (29 page)

“I never go into a situation without knowing
my outcome. I always win, Ms. Daniels.” He didn’t move, but I
suddenly felt like I was being suffocated. I tried to draw in more
air without success. Ryker dropped to his knees next to me,
reaching for his throat.

Ryker!
My cry stuck in my throat as I
tried to move to him. My muscles ignored my commands, keeping me
locked in a frozen prison.

Ryker clawed at his throat, trying to
breathe, driving terror deep into my body.

Lars was doing this with his mind. I had
heard of the Unseelie King’s tremendous powers. Now I was getting a
firsthand account of them. He wanted us to get a taste of what he
could do.

A subtle threat.

Lars stared at me, examining me, his
chartreuse eyes boring into my soul, digging around. Then the grip
he had on my neck loosened, giving permission for my words to leave
my tongue.

“Stop!” I choked out. Liquid leaked out the
corners of my eyes as I struggled. Ryker slumped over his hands,
gasping like a fish for air. “Please, stop.”

It lasted only a few more seconds, but to me
it seemed like an eternity watching Ryker suffer.

Then in an instant, the pressure vanished.
Air zoomed into my lungs; movement came back into my muscles. I
heard Ryker suck in, coughing. He quickly looked over at me, his
eyes blazing. My fingers massaged the invisible handprints on my
throat, and my eyes narrowed on Lars.

“I get what I want. Always.” Lars took a step
toward me. “However, I also can be fair. Most simple leaders
command by fear. I like to invoke respect, as well. But never doubt
what I am capable of, Ms. Daniels.”

Ryker climbed to his feet, holding himself
even taller than before. He remained pissed but was far too smart
to do anything but stand there obediently. It wasn’t something a
Wanderer did well, but even he understood the Unseelie King was top
dog.

“I’m willing to offer you my help, in
exchange for the Lia Fáil.”

“Your help?” Ryker’s voice came out low and
gravelly.

“Yes.” Lars’s eyes darted to the Viking. “I
am well aware that my attention on my city has slipped. More
pressing matters have taken precedence in the past few months, but
I can no longer overlook what is going on. A few have taken my lack
of attentiveness as an invitation to take possession of my city in
hopes to dethrone me.”

“Vadik.” Ryker pressed his lips together.

An eerie smile turned up Lars’s mouth.

“Yes, my dear old friend
Valefor
.” He
crunched down on the name like a beetle between his teeth. Lars
took deliberate steps toward Ryker. “And here stands Valefor’s
long-lost son. The formidable Wanderer.”

Ryker flinched at the word
son
.

“I see the demon in you. But you are your
mother’s son too.”

“You knew my mother?” Ryker tried to keep his
voice even, but I could hear a crack of emotion in it.

“Yes.” Lars nodded. “She was an amazing
woman. Strong, smart, beautiful. Everything your father didn’t
earn. He tricked her into marrying him. She didn’t know he was the
demon Valefor until it was too late. She was carrying his child.
She deserved much better than him.”

Ryker’s face held no reaction, but I knew how
much this meant to him to hear about her from someone who knew her.
Liked her.

“Vadik needs to be reined in.” Lars placed
both of his hands in his pockets and began walking around us again.
“To be reminded of
his
place.”

“Or we could just kill him.” Ryker folded his
arms over his chest.

“No love lost between you two, I gather.” One
eyebrow curved up. “There was a time I should have killed him, but
chose not to. I have come to regret my choice. However, there are
things
far
worse than death.”

“Yes, there are. I have seen too much of it
in the last few months,” Ryker replied.

“Is this an acceptable deal then?” Lars’s
glance bounced between Ryker and me. I knew it really wasn’t up for
us to decide, but once again, I had to open my mouth.

“No.” Every head swung my way, all probably
thinking:
How dare you say no to the Unseelie King?
Fair
enough. It was pretty stupid.

“No?” Lars replied coolly.

I nodded. “The stone is one of the most
powerful weapons in the Otherworld. Vadik is a third-rate demon.
He’s not worth the stone.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryker’s
mouth dip open, but he quickly slammed it shut, a twitch of a grin
on his lips.

Lars’s gaze burned into me. His face looked
chiseled and cold as ice. If he felt any emotions, they were
hidden. I shifted on my feet, my tongue curling up, ready to
apologize for my insolence.

Then the most bone-chilling thing
happened.

Lars laughed. A deep, husky chuckle detonated
out of his chest and bounced off the bare walls. He moved to me,
less than a foot away from my face.

“In spite of myself, I am intrigued, Ms.
Daniels. What would you feel is a fair deal?”

He appeared to be the kind of man who would
smile as he cut off your head. A part of me understood it because
in much humbler terms, it was the game I played with my opponents.
It kept them out of step, off kilter. You smile and laugh and
people instantly feel safer, like someone joking couldn’t possibly
hurt you. Right. They were the ones to watch out for.

“You help us with Vadik
and
DMG.” I
inhaled, pushing out my chest to appear bigger than I was. “Help
take them down, and the stone is yours.” I waited for Ryker to
refute my offer to the King, but he held up his head higher and
stared at Lars expectantly.

“You have completely surprised me, Ms.
Daniels.” Lars’s piercing eyes analyzed me. “I did not expect you
to be smart and suave in our dealings.”

“I’m used to being underestimated.”

“I will certainly keep that in mind.” Lars
smiled. “I should know better than to misjudge a young girl with
intelligence and gumption.”

I kept my mouth shut. He hadn’t killed me
yet, and I wanted to keep it that way.

“I would hold on to this one,” Lars said to
Ryker. “She is cleverer than you.”

“I plan on it.” Ryker said every syllable
without the slightest hesitation. “And women usually are, sir. Over
all of us men.”

Another short chuckle came from Lars. “Don’t
I know it.”

He drifted away from us, his fingers steepled
beneath his chin. “Very wise, Ms. Daniels. I cannot deny bringing
down DMG would benefit me as well. They need to be dealt with.
Terminated. I haven’t had the advantage of someone who’s been one
of them and knows how to get in. It’s time I take my city back.” He
let his arms drop, turning to me. “What do you have in mind, Ms.
Daniels?”

Damn. I hadn’t really thought that far. I
figured I’d be a corpse on the ground by now. “Uh,” I
stuttered.

“We need weapons, men, a distraction to get
into DMG. Her sister and our friend are being held there. We’d like
to get them out safely.” Ryker picked up my scattered thoughts.

“That can be arranged. When were you planning
this attack?”

“Soon,” I responded. “My sister is dying. I
need to get her out immediately.”

“I do these two things for you and the stone
is mine.”

I inhaled hard.

“Yes.” Ryker nodded.

“I need to hear it from you as well.” Lars
faced me.

“Yes.”

A pressure so heavy pushed down my throat,
bending my knees. I curled over and placed my hands on my legs. It
wasn’t exactly painful but unbelievably uncomfortable. It felt
similar to when you were close to crying and got a huge knot in
your throat, making it difficult to swallow. This was similar, but
ten times worse, like someone cinched my throat with a zip tie,
trapping particular words.

“You bound us,” Ryker hissed through gritted
teeth.

The Unseelie King made a low sound, almost
like a purr. “Like I said earlier, I’m always sure there is no
question I get what I want.”

####

The van door slid shut and the wheels tore
over the wet pavement away from us, leaving Ryker and me in the
exact spot where they’d grabbed us. The rain pattered on my hood,
breaking the silence. We both stood there in utter shock until
Ryker swore under his breath.

“Did that just happen?” A bubbled laugh
caught in my throat. Did we really just spend an hour planning a
raid with the Unseelie King? It was beyond my brain’s capacity.
“Did the freaking Unseelie King, the most powerful man in the
Otherworld, just make a deal with us? Is he really helping?”

“I swear, if I hadn’t been standing right
next to you, I would say no.” Ryker still stared into the night,
the brake lights long gone from view. “But we did just promise to
give him the stone. We are bound to give the most powerful man one
of the most powerful weapons.”

“Not that we had much choice, but we just did
the stupidest thing ever, huh?”

“Oh yeah. Without a doubt.” He turned me.
“But like you said, we didn’t really have much of an option on the
matter.”

“Damn. He’s sexy and
so
freaking
scary.”

I thought Ryker would laugh, but his muscles
twitched around his neck.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here.” I turned
toward where we needed to head.

He grabbed my arm, swinging me back around to
face him. “If you
ever
do something so stupid again… What
were you thinking talking back to the King like that? How could you
be so foolish?” His shoulders coiled high around his ears. “Don’t
ever scare me like that again. He could have killed you with a snap
of his fingers, without a thought, simply for you getting
sassy.”

“I know.” I cringed. “It’s just a reflex.
Fear makes me angry. I’m sorry.”

Ryker’s expression flashed with pain, and I
saw his true fear. “I’m not losing you,” he barked. He took a long
breath. “I can’t…got it?”

My hand stroked his face, feeling his thick
stubble under my hand. I drew him to me. “Got it.”

His forehead knocked into mine, and he blew
out air, his neck relaxing a bit. “I swear, human, fae don’t have
heart attacks, but I am convinced you could give me one.”

I rose on tiptoes, closing my mouth over his,
trying to reassure him. He quickly grabbed the back of my head,
pressing his lips hungrily against mine. In his kiss I felt words
he did not say out loud. Tremors ran down my spine, into every
nerve, stimulating my body. It ended far too quickly for me.

“We can’t tell Amara anything that happened
tonight,” he said quietly, pulling away to see me. “I mean,
literally we can’t. I know you’ve never had a bind on you before. I
have. You try to tell someone and the words get painfully stuck in
your throat.”

“So that wasn’t just a warning to keep his
visit secret?”

“No.” He shook his head. “You and I can talk
about it with each other, but if anyone else walked up right now,
our mouths would shut. Nothing would come out.”

“Wow, that’s creepy.” The whole scene felt
surreal, except that the pressure of the King’s fingers still
throbbed around my throat.

“We need to get out of here.” He kissed me
again softly and stepped away.

I nodded and followed him into the dark, damp
night.

“
Bhean!
” Sprig ran for me as we
entered the room. I bent over and took him in my arms. “Don’t ever
leave me alone with
her
again.”

“I could say the same, chimp.” Amara lay on
the bed watching TV, a bottle of scotch next to her on the
nightstand.

“I’m not a chimp!”

Amara smirked, taking a swig straight from
the bottle. “So how was your
meeting
?”

“Uh.” How do you even answer that?

“We’re going after Vadik tomorrow night.”
Ryker entered the room behind me.

“What?” Amara pushed up against the
headboard. Her lids narrowed, and her gaze shifted between Ryker
and me. “Who did you meet with? Why is this suddenly a plan?”

I would never have confessed anything to
Amara, but the moment I even thought to say something, I could feel
the words turn into water, falling off my tongue and back down my
throat. The more I tried to force the words, the more painful it
became. My throat constricted and closed, choking around the
invisible gag muzzling me. I began to retch, and coughs tore my
throat. Fae bonds, oaths, and promises all could suck my ass.

“You can stay or come; it’s up to you,” said
Ryker, patting my back as my gagging eased.

She huffed as irritation blanketed her
features. “I’ll go.”

“
Bhean? Bhean?
” Sprig tugged at my
arm. “Besides Medusa not feeding me, she ate all my nuts, the
honey-sugar ones.”

“Oh, were those yours?” Amara’s lips lifted
in a smirk.