Calan waited for the sounds of Harley’s footsteps to fade before sagging in his bonds. He wanted to demand she return to him but knew doing so would guarantee she wouldn’t. He’d pushed her too far, too fast. He hadn’t been able to help it. His needs, both physical and practical, demanded payment. The glimpse into her soul had shown just how precarious her situation had grown in the years they’d been apart. She was a breath away from becoming Unseelie.
One act of violence, and she’d topple into the madness that would consume her.
He’d lose her. Worse than that, he’d have to condemn her to an eternity of punishment. Knowing what the Unseelie Court was capable of, she wouldn’t be able to walk freely among the humans. He didn’t want that. He wanted to love her, save her and protect her, exactly as he’d promised.
He wanted her as his mate—the keeper of his body and soul.
Was he crazy for the compulsion demanding he complete the ultimate union?
His brother Rhys, the only one of his siblings who knew about her, had thought so nine years ago. Would he today, knowing how Harley had fought to maintain her goodness? The need to find out gripped Calan. His siblings’ opinions meant the world to him, but Rhys’s thoughts mattered most. Not only was he second in command of the Hunt, he was also Calan’s twin.
Calan conjured Rhys’s face. His dark brown hair and silver eyes made him both striking and frightening. Calan recalled the battles they’d won, the nights of drunken revelry and the affection he’d always felt but rarely showed. The pull to his brother flared, and Rhys’s personal hell became Calan’s too.
Thick smoke filled his lungs, burned his eyes and wrapped around him in a suffocating blanket he couldn’t escape. Calan released his breath in a slow hiss and embraced the pain. It didn’t ease the suffering Rhys experienced, but the compulsion to protect him couldn’t be denied.
Hot air washed over Calan, bubbling his skin and searing his throat. He locked his muscles and waited for the first flick of the never-ending fire. A crackle and whoosh heralded the arrival of hungry flames. The living inferno crawled up his legs, down his arms and wound around him until every inch of his body ignited. He fought the urge to cry out, even though he knew it was the only way to make the blaze retreat.
The flames ate away at his skin, his manhood, his sanity. A scream built in his chest. He clamped his jaw. Too much, too much. He thrashed against his bonds, twisting and turning to escape. There was none. The pressure in his lungs intensified. His lips parted against his will. Laughter echoed around him, and the fire raced into his mouth.
He burst into flames.
The scent of his burning flesh surrounded him along with his continuous roar. On and on the torment continued until his heart took its final beat. The flames retreated, their task complete for the time being. The sacrifice had been made, and his suffering fueled the magic.
The barrier separating the human realm from Hell would hold for yet another hour.
Minutes passed. He wondered if death had finally found him, but the consequence of being a child of Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, reared its head. Flesh regrew. Bones reformed. The clothing he’d worn the day he’d been imprisoned wove itself over his body.
He dragged in a shuddering breath.
“Why do you insist on sharing our suffering when you do not need to?”
Rhys asked the same question every time they spoke. Calan gave his usual answer. “Because it is my punishment, my hell and my sin for condemning you. I would bear it all if I could.” Instead, he was damned with the knowledge that he was responsible for his siblings’ agony. He’d led them into a trap, then left them to suffer their fate alone. His gaze drifted to the dagger on display. He was also the only one who could end it.
Rhys sighed. “You did not know what would happen any more than I did. I would have done the same.”
True. Rhys probably would have. Actually, any of the Huntsmen would’ve made the same choice. The knowledge didn’t alleviate Calan’s guilt. While he’d tried to save a damned human and her child, his beloved siblings were inflicted with the same punishment their father, Arawn, had delivered to the Unseelie Court. The act of deceit that resulted in the Huntsmen being imprisoned forced them to pay the curse’s price…
Willingly. They had to voluntarily suffer and die.
That was the aspect that angered Calan the most. If his brothers and sisters chose not to offer their pain, the barrier blocking the horrors of Hell from flooding the mortal realm would fall, and the Huntsmen would fail in their duty. Protecting the humans was their sole purpose. Nothing was more important.
“Not even the fairy you wish to mate.”
Rhys’s response proved how intimately they were connected. Calan could’ve blocked Rhys from sharing in his inner thoughts, but he rarely did. They’d always been close.
“Half-fairy.” The defensive tone in Calan’s voice wasn’t one he could stop. “Harley is half-human, do not forget. Half the species we have sworn to protect.”
“Is she?” Rhys paused, letting the moment fill with his doubt. “Then tell me how she was able to escape the notice of the fairies’ creatures for all those years before you connected with her.”
Calan didn’t have an answer. He’d wondered the same thing. He shrugged. “Her mother must’ve known her rapist wasn’t human. It wouldn’t surprise me if Dar told her or showed her his true form.”
Rhys snorted. “More likely Dar had lied and told her of who he once was, not the abhorrence he became.” A bitter laugh escaped Rhys. “Maybe Dar even lied and said their child would be a princess, or he could’ve tricked Harley’s mother into thinking she was sleeping with a god. It is what he wants to be.”
The Huntsmen were born a century after Dar had corrupted his Court, turning them into monsters exactly as he’d become. Calan had heard stories of why Dar had taken the path he had. Every one suggested a woman was the cause of the Seelie king’s downfall. Calan had never been able to find out more. Whenever he’d asked his father, Arawn had walked away without answering. Calan only knew that after Dar became infected, he’d promised that the humans would call him their dark lord.
Calan pushed away the thoughts before his anger consumed him and focused on Rhys’s suggestion. “No. Harley said her mother was raped. She knew.”
Rhys made a noncommittal sound.
“Harley admitted to enduring for all the years we’ve been separated because of the promise she’d made to me.”
“Which promise did she deem worthy of keeping? As I recall, she made more than one.”
Calan accepted the jab. He too felt the sting of Harley’s broken vow where she’d promised to come to him. No longer did he want to dwell on it, not when she’d finally returned.
Calan raised his chin. “She survived by using the knowledge I shared with her, and she held on to her honor because she promised to retain her goodness until I could finish saving her.”
“Is she still worthy of the sacrifice you seem so eager to make?”
Calan raised his inner guards, blocking Rhys from the knowledge of how close she was to becoming Unseelie.
Rhys’s laughter echoed around them. “The fact that you have to hide your own doubts from me proves the truth.”
“It proves I am protective of my future mate.”
Rhys’s amusement died abruptly. He turned his silver eyes, similar to their father’s, onto Calan. “Do not forget the oath you made to the Triad. Break it, and you damn the world.”
The mention of the triple-faceted deity who ruled over all sent a chill down Calan’s spine. The Huntsmen had stood in the being’s presence once—the day they’d embarked on their final battle. Never did Calan want to see the deity again. He’d felt stripped raw from its all-seeing touch. He hadn’t been able to shake the feeling his fate had been sealed in that moment. Not knowing its appraisal of his worth bothered Calan the most.
He met Rhys’s piercing stare. “I have not, nor will I ever forget the reason I was created or my vow to the Triad that I would protect the humans at all costs.”
“Good.” Rhys dipped his head. “Then trick Harley into releasing you and walk away. You would serve the humans better as a Hunter, not as a demigod mated to a tainted fairy.”
“No. That isn’t an option.” Calan’s voice took on a low growl. “I will mate Harley. I will save her and the world.”
Silence stretched. Finally Rhys sighed. “I hope that is a vow you can keep, my brother.”
With those words, Rhys cut the connection between them. Calan opened his eyes and glanced at the dagger that had taunted him for a thousand years.
“I will, Rhys.” Calan straightened his spine. “I vowed to avenge the wronged, and Harley was damned before she even took her first breath. If anyone deserves to be saved, she does.”
He only hoped he could keep his promise without breaking any other one.