The Fallen King: The Bellum Sisters 4 (paranormal erotic romance) (26 page)

“Did you really think we’d just
let you leave so easily?”

Alrik took a step back and Aidan
let his blade fall. Maybe it was her ego talking but she figured he did it for
her. He wouldn’t hurt her. She just knew it deep down in her gut just like she
knew Alrik would never either.

“Aidan, what do you want from me
really? Do you seriously think you can keep me here if I don’t want to be kept?
We’re not at your castle now. We’re in the open, and I’m not trapped. It won’t
be easy to hold me now.”

Anger flashed over Aidan’s face.
Abby flinched at the violent look and struggled until Alrik set her down. He
pushed her behind him and she went happily since for the first time she felt
real fear of the vampire.

“What do I want? What do
we
want? How about justice? You took me from my home. I don’t even know who I am!”
Aidan screamed. His fangs flashed, gaze turned violent, and cheeks flushed.

Abby’s jaw dropped. Even as she
tried to step away from them both, Alrik tagged her hand and held tight. He
wouldn’t let her go. What on earth were they talking about? How did he not know
who he was, but knew he was taken from his home? Actually, better yet, why
would Alrik do this?

Her mind spun with unanswered
questions.

Aidan caught Abby’s expression
and nodded. “See, this is what he is,” he said. “A monster. How did a vampire
come to be here in the rift? Ask. Him.”

Alrik didn’t say anything
seemingly content to keep his mouth shut. Well, Abby couldn’t deal with it. She
had to know. She needed to know not for Aidan but for herself because, though
it pained her to admit it, she cared for him.

But did she care for a monster?
Panic and pain threatened to erupt inside her, debilitating her. She stomped it
all down because what she didn’t need to do right now was freak out. She needed
answers.

“Believe it or not, but I don’t
know all matters of your life except that you ended up a prisoner in front of
the court where I meted out fair justice,” Alrik said coolly.

Aidan visibly shook with rage,
the silver of his blade distorting the reflection of the fire from camp into
oblong, menacing shapes. “Fair justice? You call being stolen from my family
fair justice?”

“I know nothing of that.”

She could hear the edge of
frustration creeping into Alrik’s voice. A part of her was relieved to know
that at least he hadn’t done something
that
awful.

“I know nothing of who I am, and
when everyone shunned me, when nobody helped me to explain why I was different
or why I needed blood, you and yours left me to fend for myself. And when I
did, you sent me to the dungeons to become a work slave.

You are nothing. You are a worthless
pile of shit that doesn’t belong on the bottom of this slave’s boot. You were
never a king, and never worthy to wear a crown. It was a farce and we all know
it. Telal should have been king. He had a good heart. He was meant to rule.”

Apprehension made her twitchy.
She didn’t like where this was going.

A steady tremble came from her
hand. With a start, she looked down only to realize it wasn’t her trembling, it
was Alrik. His entire body was starting to tremble from some untamable emotion
he was trying to keep hidden. Yet, he didn’t open his mouth, didn’t defend any
of his actions. She wanted to shake him, yell at him, get in his face and make
him defend his actions.

Slowly, as if it took all of his
control to keep his words clear, Alrik spoke. “Telal made his decision. He
betrayed us to Tobius en Kulev. If not for Telal, my father would still be
here. I had nothing to do with how you came to be here, vampire.”

Aidan smiled. The look sent a foul
shudder down the back of her neck. “I was a young one when I was ripped from my
home and taken to your kingdom. Yes, I remember you then. It’s been a long
time, hasn’t it?”

Alrik’s head jerked as if dodging
some painful thought.

“Do you even remember yourself
then? Your skin was still golden much as your brothers, your mothers...your
fathers. Such a lie it was. At least one good thing has come about over these
long, merciless years. You’re ugliness has finally grown to show the world your
true nature.”

Alrik froze. He didn’t flinch or
jerk. He didn’t curse or make a move in violence. No, he only froze in a way
that scared her more than if he’d done all of those things.

Abby couldn’t stand it. Her
patience fled and her temper popped like a balloon filled with too much air.

Abby charged forward, as far as
Alrik’s grip let her, and got in Aidan’s pale face. “You don’t even know what
the hell you’re talking about. His mother cursed him. It filled him with some
kind of rage that turned him into this. She’s been controlling him this entire
time.”

Something flickered in Aidan’s
eyes—disbelief.

“Yeah, that’s right. Why do you think
he’s here and not in his kingdom? Why do you think I’m here—a human witch?” She
clenched her jaw and glared, ready to do it all night until she drove her point
home.

“Tell me what happened.” He
directed his words to Abby but kept his eyes on Alrik. The anger slowly drained
from his face.

Abby looked up at Alrik to find a
strange, uncertain look in his eyes. He looked as if he didn’t know what to do
or say, almost childlike. She squeezed his hand and stepped into him.

“All I know is that he stole me
from my home,” she said.

Immediately, Aidan tensed. Before
he could do something crazy like attack Alrik or offer to be her hero, she held
up her hand.

“He brought me here and told me
that a seer said the only way to defeat the queen is by me. A witch.”

“What has happened with the
queen?” Aidan tensed, and she could see the dark glint in his eyes. He hated
the queen maybe even more than Alrik did. She had to look away. Seeing so much
anger and hate was unsettling.

She jabbed Alrik’s side. When he
didn’t answer, she prodded him again, much harder. Finally, he shook his head.
“I banished her after I discovered her black magic. Not only was she casting on
me, one can only guess how often, but she fed me potions. I was completely in
her grasp without realizing it.” His eyes got a faraway look in them. “I should
have. I was stupid and trusting. I should have known what was happening to me
under my own roof.”

“If you banished her then why are
you still,” Aidan looked Alrik up and down, “different. Why don’t you look how
you used to?”

“That is why I sought out the
oldest of all seers. Since I banished her, I got worse. I couldn’t sleep,
didn’t want to eat. The seer says she made the curse two-ways. A backup curse
she placed on me, essentially, in case I ever did learn of it and try to kill
her. It grips me now more than ever.”

Aidan nodded towards Abby. “What
does this have to do with her? Why a human? Why a witch?”

“The seer told me that I cannot
kill her because the curse will not let me hurt her. He said the only one
powerful enough to kill her is a human. A specific human. Abbigail Krenshaw.”
He squeezed her hand and she sent him a small reassuring smile.

“Supposedly, I’m really powerful
or something,” Abby said, trying to lighten the dark mood.

Aidan smiled wryly. “Seeing as
you froze me and my men in place and escaped from us without too much trouble,
I’d have to agree.”

“Yeah, well, about that whole
escape thing. You can’t keep us here, Aidan.” His pointed look gave her pause.
“Okay, well I’m sure you
could
keep us here but what for? Just let us
go. We have a queen to kill.” Wow, she was talking about it as if she was actually
going to go through with something so insane.

“What do you get out of this?” he
asked her.

Abby put on a smile as she struggled
to find an answer. Alrik looked down at her and something strange swirled in
his eyes. It was a haunted look. A look that flashed at some hidden thought
because instantly guilt and shame filled his gaze. The look sent the hairs on
the back of her neck standing up. She did not like this. She didn’t like this
at all.

He was hiding something.

Something that had to do with
her. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. Then she remembered. At first, she did
think he’d kill her. There was no way he’d let her kill her mother and just
walk away plain as day. Maybe he really did plan to kill her.

Intense, stomach-churning pain
exploded inside her. Tears welled in her eyes. Her body suddenly felt so cold,
except for where his hand still clutched hers. Maybe it was just her mind
playing tricks on her but she swore he held her hand so much tighter than
before as if he was clinging to her.

He saw the look on her face and
knew. He knew that she knew.

Looking down, she stared at her
lighter colored hand in his dark, cursed one. His touch had comforted her
before. Now she felt only disgust. She sniffled, her nose starting to run.

Oh, God, why did it have to hurt
so badly? Her heart felt like it’d exploded in her chest cavity like something
hard was lodged inside her was trying to break her apart. She wanted to just
run away and bury herself away crying until she turned numb. Just numb.

Stupid, Abbigail.

She understood now why she was
reacting this way to that betraying look in his eyes. Those few moments where
raw honestly had flashed in his eyes and told her something she wished she’d
never found out.

She loved him.

It took effort, but she swallowed
hard and pushed back the tears, delicately cleared her throat so the heavy emotion
couldn’t be heard and then tugged her hand—hard—until he let her go. Another
lance of pain cut through her. Oh, she hated this, both wanting him to touch
her and not touch her.

She managed to lift her heavy
head to Aidan who watched her with an intense look. “What is it?” he asked.

“What do I get out of this?” she
repeated. Damn but her voice was hoarse. It couldn’t be more obvious that she
was near the breaking point. “Apparently, I don’t get anything out of this.”
Her lips twitched with a bittersweet smile. Alrik was hiding something from
her. Something big judging by the guilt in his eyes. She didn’t need to have
witch’s instincts to know whatever it was didn’t bode well for her at all.

I trusted him!
her mind wailed.

“Come with me and you will.”
Aidan’s final plea didn’t move her in any way except to make her feel worse.
She didn’t want to hurt him, but that’s what she had to do. She could use his
help but he wouldn’t help her. He just wanted her for his own purposes too, and
then what would happen when the other demon’s got jealous of him having a
woman? There’d be bloodshed and somehow she’d get hurt in the process.

“No, I’m not going with you
either.”

Disappointment flashed in Aidan’s
eyes, pulling her heartstrings.

Alrik tensed, his big shoulders
bulging. “What do you mean ‘either’?”

She tried to hold his gaze, but
couldn’t.

Aidan saved her from the pressing
intensity radiating from Alrik. “You will let her make her own choice. If she
doesn’t want to help you any more then she doesn’t have to. She can come with
us.”

No, no I can’t,
she wanted to say.

The atmosphere shifted, becoming
tense like a string pulled taut. “I’m not leaving here without her, and I think
it’s time you took your leave Aidan,” growled Alrik.

That icy energy was starting to
pour out of Alrik. In her witch’s eye, the one she’d managed to shut off for so
many years, she could see it like a fog forming around him.

Some instinct inside her had her
taking one step back then another as the two big men faced each other. It all
felt so wrong. She didn’t want them to fight. She didn’t want to be the cause
of any of it.

But that look in his eyes...

God, how could he?

What did he have planned?

How could she have been so
blinded by him?

Well, she wasn’t now. She’d woken
from her stupid, romantic dreams. He was up to something and if it wasn’t to
kill her like her gut told her, then it was something else but it was just as
bad. Maybe he meant to kill her and her mother? To leave no possible witnesses?
Another horrible idea hit her. The thought nearly sent her to her knees. Maybe
he’d already killed her mom.

Oh, God
...

It was hard to breathe. She kept
sucking in air but it wasn’t enough, it didn’t fill her lungs full like it
should. Her mind whirled as if she was riding a carousel spinning out of
control moving faster and faster. Blood pumped fast and hard in her head and
throughout her body. She was too warm; too much was happening.

Alrik and Aidan were in each
other’s faces. Their lips moved but she couldn’t make out what they were
saying. So much anger. So much negativity. They shook with the rage. That icy
cloud around Alrik grew and grew. She didn’t want anything to do with this. She
just wanted out. She just wanted to go back home to her rented little house
with the cheap furniture.