Beauty

Chapter Twelve

Shim stepped off the final step and into the small store, his eyes on his sister.

Gillian looked so different than he remembered her. Thinner. Older. Wearing practical clothes where once she’d preferred gloriously feminine garb. Gillian McIver was a few years older than he and Lach, but she’d always seemed much more mature. After their mother had died, Gilly had run the household. She’d taken care of everything, including certain political situations. The Unseelie plane had lost a valuable royal when Gillian had been caught here. His sister stood looking over maps, her eyes serious as she spoke.

“We will need to move out after dark. The guards are dead, but at least five got away. There’s no telling where they ran to or who they will tell. I can only promise that someone will talk and reinforcements will be sent.” Gillian straightened up.

Simon Roan stood in the small store. The floor had been cleared out, a large table brought in. Maps and vampire technology covered the table. And yet Simon Roan seemed to have eyes for only one person in the room. The vampire’s whole being was focused on Gillian McIver.

Fuck. He should have thought about it, but he’d been utterly overwhelmed by being close to his bondmate.

“The vampire wants our sister,” Lachlan whispered. “I didn’t remember how bright her glow was.”

Gillian glowed. He could see it because of his vampire blood. It told the royal vampire which beings contained blood that would elongate their lives. It called to the royal.

Shim’s protective instincts flared.

“Don’t. Not yet. Give Gillian a chance to deal with him. She’s done an amazing job here. She’s not a delicate flower. She’s survived and kept our Bron alive. She deserves our respect.” Lach stepped forward. “Sister.”

Gillian’s smile grew vibrant. She opened her arms. “Lachlan!”

Shim watched Simon Roan as his sister embraced his other half. The vampire watched her like a hungry predator, his eyes following every move she made. And Shim would swear the vampire’s fangs were out.

Gillian embraced Shim, hugging him to her. “Brother, I thought I might never see you again.”

“Yes, I thought the same,” Roan said, every word a silky threat. “Imagine my surprise when I went to wake you so we could leave Aoibhneas. You were gone, Lach.”

Lach let his sister go. He didn’t back down an inch from Roan. “I believe I mentioned that we should leave earlier. It was a good thing or our bondmate would be dead.”

Gillian straightened her shoulders. “His Highness, the Prince of the Unseelie Fae, is correct. Her Royal Highness, the Princess Bronwyn, would be dead if her mates had not saved her. You were late, mercenary.”

“I was attempting to keep the princes alive. Torin has guards on the roads. He has spies everywhere. I don’t doubt that the events of the day will reach his ears soon. His Royal Highness has created a huge cluster fuck for my men.” Roan leaned across the table. “There is a reason your father put me in charge.”

Gillian laughed, a short, sharp sound that made Shim wonder what the vampire had done to set his sister off. “Is my father paying you? He shouldn’t.”

The air practically crackled around them. Roan’s eyes got dark and big. The damn vampire wasn’t even trying to control himself. “Your father and I made a deal. I don’t get paid, princess. I get a boon. Your father intends to make sure I get what I want.”

“I’m sure someone of your stature will want gold. That’s what you poor vampires want.”

“If you think that is what a vampire cherishes, you haven’t spent enough time on our plane. Understand this, princess, I mean to get what I want,” Roan growled back. He shook his head and seemed to calm a bit. “Prince Lachlan, would you like to explain why you and your brother chose to run away from the guard your father sent?”

“I think they were just horny.” Dante Dellacourt had a smirk on his face as he leaned against a wall.

“Well, you would know.” Lach seemed to be in a ridiculously good mood. Shim had never seen his brother so relaxed.

Dellacourt stood up straight. “Is my cos all right? Goddess, I can’t believe Bron’s alive. Can I see her?”

“Bronwyn is fine. She’s perfect. And she’s tired. She’ll be down in a little while,” Shim replied, though he wasn’t completely sure she was fine. She’d seemed very disconcerted. They needed to talk, but he would prefer to do so while they held her, bonding with her, skin to skin. It was necessary. They had been close to her mind for so long that she didn’t trust the physical presence. “Though she’s sure she’s lost her mind.”

Lach put a hand on his shoulder. “She was just confused by the potion.”

“Potion?” Dellacourt asked.

Gillian took her eyes off Roan and frowned Dellacourt’s way. “Your sweet cos was nearly executed today for being a witch. It was only my brothers who saved her.”

“As was right. We’re her husbands,” Shim pointed out. “And we knew she was in danger. We’re bonded. We can feel her. Dellacourt, tell me you can’t feel your consort.”

Dellacourt frowned. “Most of the time, though she’s good at shielding. It pisses me off. She tends to do it when she wants a spanking. But I understand what you’re saying. I can feel my Kaj.” He smiled a bit, his eyes losing focus. “She’s happy right now. She’s also curious about the village around her.”

Shim turned on the vampire mercenary. He didn’t understand them. He couldn’t. “See? You don’t have a consort. You don’t have the bond. You can’t understand.”

Roan laughed, a disdainful huff. “No, Your Highness, I don’t have a consort. I haven’t had the cash or the connections to keep one. But that will change.” His eyes went right back to Gillian.

She hugged Shim. “Stop baiting the mercenary, brother. I will try to do so as well. He’s only here to try to help. And I’m grateful since otherwise we have nothing but you and Lach to protect our precious Bron.” She smiled, her face vibrant. “She’s wonderful, isn’t she? When I first came to negotiate your marriage, I worried she was far too young and spoiled, but she’s been magnificent through all of this. You should know I have come to love the girl dearly, and I will kick both of your asses if you cause my Bron a moment’s pain.”

Shim liked that his sister was so protective of their wife. “We love her, Gilly. We’ve been lost without her.”

“But we have some work to do with her. I’m worried she’s angry at you,” Lach said, his eyes going back to the stairs.

Gillian sighed. “I am sure she will be. I thought it best to simply be her guardian. We’ve met so many nobles here who would have used her as a rallying point.”

Dellacourt’s foot tapped as he thought. “Not just a rallying point, I would suspect. Bron is the last Finn on the plane. And she’s female. If I were a betting man, I would lay a lot of gold on the fact that noble families here would see her as a way to take the crown. Oh, wait, I’m actually quite a good gambler. I also bet that’s what you were doing here in the first place.”

“I was attempting to negotiate a proper, advantageous marriage for my brothers,” Gillian replied. “When the coup occurred, I protected the princess. She died. Do you understand that, vampire? She was dead, but my magic brought her back to life. I was the one who used magic to cover up the fact that she was alive. She’s here today because of me.”

Gillian was wrong about her magic. It had been he and Lach who had brought her back, but Shim kept his mouth closed. Gillian needed all the help she could get with the vampires.

“And you intend to use her to unite the crowns.” Dellacourt’s voice was without a touch of emotion. Bland, even. But there was a shrewd ruthlessness in the vampire’s eyes that let Shim know he had an angle to play. “It might work except for one small fact you’ve overlooked.”

“Really? I don’t think I overlooked a thing. When Torin falls, and I will see that bastard fall if it is the last thing I do, Bronwyn will assume the crown and my brothers will be kings. My father will step down and the triumvirate will rule both planes.” Gillian made her announcement with a brutal practicality.

“That will be interesting to see.” Roan crossed his arms over his chest and smirked, his fangs peeking out.

Dante sighed a bit before making his point. “I believe Their Majesties, Beckett, Cian, and Megan Finn will have something to say about that when they reclaim their throne. Or were you planning on Bronwyn going to war with her brothers? I assure you I love my cousin, but I will not allow her to claim her brothers’ rightful throne. Certainly not when she would be an Unseelie puppet. But then your brothers would be puppets, too. You want to be the power behind the throne.”

Shim stared at his sister, Dellacourt’s words sinking in. “Gillian, Lach and I have no intentions of fighting with the Seelies.”

“We’re taking Bronwyn home. We’re going to make sure she’s safe,” Lach said. “Her brothers can have this plane.”

Gillian rounded on them both, her eyes alive with fire and anger. “Where is your bloody ambition, brothers? I don’t care that the Finns bonded or that they think they can waltz in after thirteen long years and reclaim their throne as if they never ran.”

“They had to run,” Dellacourt argued. “And don’t think they haven’t tried to fight.”

“Well, as I’ve been alone and protecting their sister, you’ll have to forgive me for saying that they didn’t try hard enough.” Gillian’s fists were clenched at her sides. “I have fought and protected her. I will not allow them to come in and claim that which I have sacrificed for. I will speak to father. He will see reason. If my brothers don’t want the bloody crown, I’ll take it myself. I’ll take it by right of blood. I’ll bring an Unseelie army back. Father will support me.”

“Your father wants you safe,” Roan said, his eyes hooded.

“My father trusts me, vampire. And you have nothing to do with it.” She dismissed him utterly.

“Your father promised me a boon if I carried this off. Would you like to know what that boon is, princess? Your father has spent too much of his time mourning. He needs someone to come in and train his forces in modern warfare. He would feel so much safer if the general of his army was also his son-in-law.”

“Bloody hell, Roan. Did you have to tell her that now?” Dellacourt asked, cool green eyes rolling.

Shim knew he should be shocked, but he wasn’t. Gillian was a royal. She wouldn’t be marrying the stableboy. She’d planned to offer herself as bondmate to the Seelie twins. She couldn’t be shocked that their father offered her up to the man who would save her.

Except she was. “No. My father wouldn’t do that.”

Roan didn’t move, but there was a certain satisfaction in his stance. “Your father wants you safe, consort. I have done the king and your cousin, Julian, much service and will continue in the future. And you will be my reward.”

Gillian turned to Lach. “Brother?”

Lach reached for her. “Gilly, I’ll talk to father, but you have to see that this plan can’t work. It would mean all-out war between the tribes. I don’t want to war with my wife’s family. Honestly, much of the hatred between us seems very silly now that I’ve walked the plane. They are Fae. We are Fae. We can coexist.”

“This isn’t our war, sister,” Shim said. “We thank you for protecting our mate, but it is our turn to protect her and you. We will go back to our plane, and if the Seelies win the day, we will open relations with them.”

“And you would call yourselves kings.” Gillian shook her head and turned to Roan. “You will never touch me.”

“We’ll see about that, consort.” Roan didn’t move as Gillian strode out of the house.

Lach stared at the vampire. “Find another consort.”

“Your father was explicit, Your Highness.” Roan’s eyes were on the door that Gillian had slammed with vigor. “If I see you all safely back and lead the Seelies to their glory, my lieutenant and I will claim the princess and take over your father’s armies. King Fergus doesn’t want to unite the tribes under one crown. He merely wants good relations with them. He knows what it would cost. It would cost blood and death and pain unimaginable. Your father is a good king. And your sister is far too ambitious. I worry she’s going to cost you your relationship with your bondmate.”

“She’s pissing me off, that’s for sure,” Dellacourt said. “You can’t believe for a second that Bron will turn on her brothers.”

“I don’t want her to.” Shim ran a hand through his hair. He hated politics. Politics always seemed to get in the way of doing what was right and just. “Give Gilly a little time, but know this, I care not what my father promised you, if Gilly doesn’t want you, I’ll fight to make sure she’s happy.”

“I’ll make her want me,” Roan said with perfect arrogance. “I’m not a stupid man. I can handle your sister.”

“I don’t know about that. A smart man wouldn’t have laid out his plan,” Dellacourt said.

“This gives her time to get used to the idea. If I sprang it on her before the wedding, she just might pull my fangs out. I rather like my fangs.” He sighed and turned to Shim. “Though I would keep my mouth closed about your plans around your bondmate. After everything I heard, I doubt she will be happy fleeing the plane. She cares about these Fae. She was in jail because she tried to defend a brownie. The villagers truly care about her.”

She hadn’t seemed happy about the idea. And they hadn’t even told her about her brothers. Guilt ate at him. He’d been far too busy fucking her to see to her welfare.

“We should have talked to her.” Lach seemed to easily pick up on his thoughts.

Though the full, deep bond hadn’t been performed yet, Shim was finding it so much easier to know what his brother was thinking now that Bronwyn was near.

“We will. Let’s feed her and let her clean up and then we’ll talk to her about our plans. And no dictating. Your ‘I’m the dominant one and you will obey me’ bit is going to get both of us in trouble. Let me handle her.”

Lach frowned. “It should be easier than this.”

“Women are never easy.” Dellacourt smiled. “They have all these feelings and shit. Of course they also have boobs. Gods, I love boobs. Kaj has the most sensitive breasts. Really, I can get her to orgasm just by tweaking her nipples the right way. Where did my consort go? Damn it, she’s shielding again.”

Shim sent out his own little plea, a pulse of comfort for Bron. There was a little flare of panic from her, and then it was like a wall came between them.

“What was that?” Lach asked.

“I think our wife just learned how to put up shields of her own.”

Roan started folding up his maps and locking down his tablet. “Well, deal with her. We’re going to have to take another route back to Aoibhneas. We ran into some of Torin’s men. They were tipped off to some odd behavior in the forest. Two men and a phooka.”

Shim wasn’t going to be made to feel guilty about that. It had saved Bron. “Tell us when and we’ll be ready to go. Just know that Bron is our main responsibility.”

“And your sister is mine.”

There was an odd comfort to the fact that the vampire would protect his sister. Shim was just worried about who would protect Roan from Gillian.

Shim hurried his preparations. He and Lach found some cheese and soft bread and fruit. The owner of the house was more than happy to provide for them. She spoke about how kind Isolde had been to her and all the villagers. And how they would all follow her now that her true identity was revealed.

Shim was grateful, but the woman’s words also frightened him. He didn’t want Bronwyn caught up in the fight. He wanted her safe.

“The sooner we get her out of here, the better,” Lach said under his breath as they mounted the stairs.

“Her brothers can handle this fight.” It was their crown, Shim assured himself. Bron’s crown waited on another plane.

Duffy’s eyes were barely open when they reached the door. Lach laughed a little and poked at their adopted brother.

“I weren’t sleeping. I was just resting.” Duffy’s eyes came open. “I need me rest. I think I might have a vampire to kill.”

Shim sighed. Fuck all. Duffy couldn’t be pleased about the engagement. “Brother, you knew you couldn’t marry her.”

He shrugged and closed his eyes once more. “Always knew. Don’t mean I won’t protect her.”

“Well, rest up. We move out tonight.” Shim opened the door and realized that Bron hadn’t waited.

Bron was gone.

* * * *

Bronwyn promised herself that when she made it to her tower, she would change into good old peasant clothes. Her second-best dress was hardly making it easy to run through the fields. It seemed to catch on everything as though invisible hands were trying to reach out and grasp her and pull her back.

She felt the tug of Lach and Shim. By now they had to know she was gone. The phooka had stayed behind to create a little chaos, but before he’d left her, he’d taught her how to throw up some mental shields. According to the phooka, she was wide open to the men she’d dreamed about most of her life.

She pulled her skirt free of a branch. It tore. Just like everything else in her life right now.

And she hadn’t even known it was real. They had spent their whole lives understanding that she was a real, actual living creature, but Bronwyn Finn had walked around thinking she was insane. And everyone else had thought she was crazy, too. And now they thought they could just walk in and take her virginity and her blood and cart her off to goddess only knew where.

And that damn dog wouldn’t stop following her.

“I don’t have anything to feed you.” She stared back at the animal. It was a pretty thing. She. For some reason Bron was pretty sure the dog was female. There was something delicate about its features. The dog, who might also be a wolf, sat back on her haunches as Bron found herself snarled in a bramble bush. “You don’t want to go where I’m going. So shoo. Shoo, dog.”

The dog snorted, her muzzle lifting in a fashion that made Bron think she was laughing. And it didn’t move until Bron did, then the dog simply trotted along behind her.

“Fine, but you’ll see. I’m going on a long journey.” She rounded the final curve and her tower was close. It was tall and dominated the countryside. It had been her home for almost four years.

It had been her prison.

“She didn’t care about me. Not really. I think that’s what hurts worst of all.” Bron watched for a moment trying to figure out if anyone was in the tower. She thought not. The phooka had claimed the others were all still in the village waiting for the best time to flee back to the Unseelie plane.

The wolf sat beside her and gently nuzzled her hand as though asking her to continue.

“You’re a weird wolf or dog or whatever you are.” She stood up and started to move. She only needed one thing really, but she would change her clothes, too. She needed the knife. She couldn’t leave without it.

The wolf barked, an impatient sound. Well, maybe the phooka wasn’t the only strange creature she would meet today.

“I’ve spent almost half my life with Gillian, and I just found out she never cared about me at all. Not the real me. She just saved me because she wanted me to marry her brothers. She told them to impregnate me so their claim would be indisputable.”

The wolf growled low in her throat.

Bron stopped and looked around for the threat. The courtyard was completely empty. Then she realized why the wolf had growled.

“You didn’t like the sound of that. Did you? They used me. Gillian pretended to care about me and protected me from men only because she wanted me to be a virgin for when her brothers took me.”

There it was again. The deep growl.

Bron got to one knee. She wasn’t sure how, but this wolf understood what she was saying and seemed to deeply empathize. She was pretty sure no one else would. Everyone else would say that was what royals did. They traded their daughters and sons in exchange for treaties and alliances and land. Her own brothers’ engagement had been made in an attempt to bring Maris’s family’s great wealth of resources into the Finn family line.

“I know I should have understood that any marriage I make will not be one of love, but I’ve lived as a peasant for far too long. I’ve watched the way they live and how many choose mates based on love and affection.” She reached out and stroked the wolf. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to have a companion, even one who couldn’t talk back. “The real problem is that I’ve loved those men all my life, and I didn’t even know they were real. I loved them. Never wanted anyone else. And all they want from me is an alliance.”

The wolf seemed to shake her head, but then she growled and got to all fours, the hair along her spine standing straight up.

Bronwyn stood to face whatever was coming her way.

Niall. He walked out of the tower, placing something in his pack. The guard had changed into what looked like travelling clothes, divesting himself of his armor and cape. He wore suede pants and a tunic, with boots covering his feet.

He was quite the master of disguise. He looked like a peasant now and not a particularly dangerous one. He could likely make his way on the roads and survive by smiling and looking helpful and proclaiming, “long live King Torin.”

Her memories of the day were vague and fragmented, but she remembered him. He’d saved her, and then he’d dumped her.

He walked down the lane as though he hadn’t just stolen into her home and taken her things. The bastard had taken her knife. She sought her memory. In those last moments when she could still speak, he’d asked about the knife and she’d told him.

“Calm down, wolf.” Bron put a hand on her new pet. “We should get answers out of him before you eat him.”

The wolf stopped and stared at her for a moment and then began to bounce up and down in apparent glee. Well, at least her new pet was on the same page. The wolf’s tail thumped against the hard dirt, and she watched her prey with anticipatory joy.

Bron wished she had a weapon of some kind. Anything really but her brand-new husbands hadn’t seen fit to arm her. They had preferred her without her clothes.

The feeling of their skin wrapped around hers assaulted her, and for a moment she could feel them. Their panic. It flared to life in her and she couldn’t breathe before she slammed the connection closed. She couldn’t afford it. No matter how nice it had been, she wasn’t going to allow herself to be used to gift the Unseelie royals with her brothers’ throne. Until she saw their dead bodies for herself, she wasn’t going to give up. She’d made up her mind to stand up and be the princess her people needed her to be.

And that started by having a little chat with Niall.

He began to walk toward the road. Bron took a step out, showing herself. At the very least she had the wolf by her side. It might make him think twice. She was going to have to come up with a suitable name for her pet since it seemed like the wolf was the only creature on the plane she could trust.

Niall started and then stopped, staring at her. “Princess Bronwyn.”

“Incredible jackass Niall.”

The wolf seemed to snort.

Niall’s face flushed. “Your Highness, there was nothing I could do. I was surrounded by Micha’s men. They would have killed me. I didn’t have an army.”

She thought about what had happened in the square. It had seemed to be a nightmare at the time, but now she could start to process what she’d seen and heard. “Neither did the man who saved me. He didn’t have an army. He just had his brother.”

Niall looked around as if expecting someone to show up. “Where is he? Who is he? It doesn’t matter, princess. We need to leave here. It was incredibly smart of you to get away and come looking for me. Your father is going to be very proud of you.”

He’d had an incredible story concerning her father. “Why should I believe you about my father?”

“Because it’s true.” He gave her a warm smile and walked far too close to her. “Princess Bronwyn, everything I have told you is true. Your father trained me to find you. He gave me explicit instructions. I’ve been searching since I became old enough to be a guard.”

“If my father is truly a sluagh, then why didn’t he search for me himself?” It was impossible to think of her rigidly polite father as an eater of the dead. The sluagh were unshriven dead, dead who refused to move on to the after.

“I believe his essence is tied to his brother’s and he cannot be free until his brother is dead.” Niall sighed. “I do not expect that you will understand any of this, princess. Just know that your father trusts me. Ask me something only he would know. He spoke of you so often. He made me memorize everything about you.”

“What did he call me as a child?” It was a secret between the two of them. Or at least her father had told her so.

“He called you his little pixie because your hair was so big he thought it looked like pixie wings when your nanny didn’t braid it. He thought your hair was half your body weight when you were a child.”

Tears pricked her eyes. Little pixie. It was a sweet memory. “All right, let’s say I believe you. What does he want me to do?”

He smiled, a self-satisfied look. “He wants you to follow me. He wants you to trust me. I’m going to take care of you. We’ll go to Sir Giles’s manse. He’s been looking for a person to rally behind ever since your cousin died. He’s tried several times to get ambassadors off the plane to talk to friendly vampire families. He will give us a safe place and he has a long history with the military.” Niall was silent for a moment and then seemed to come to a decision. “And he will see us properly wed.”

The wolf put her head down and Bron groaned. “I am not marrying you.”

“’Tis the only way, princess. We shall marry and I will take care of the political part of this. You will need only to be your sweet self and let the people see you. It is all that is required of you.”

Her wolf growled and Bron understood the sentiment. “I want my knife back.”

Niall stared. “There is no need, princess. I will handle everything.”

“I don’t want you to handle everything. I want you to give me my knife back. And I don’t need another husband.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” His face flushed, his shoulders squaring.

Bron would have sworn her wolf rolled her eyes. “It means that I find myself wed to the princes of the Unseelie. I doubt they would be happy to share their wife. But I find myself in a small disagreement.”

“You can’t be married.”

“Oh, yes, I can. I’m bonded to them. Trust me. I feel the connection. I think they both want to murder me right about now.” She’d felt their panic, and now even though she had her shields up, she could still feel the fine edge of fear and irritation. She wondered if they could feel her willpower.

Niall huffed a little. “No one on this plane will recognize the marriage, Your Highness. They are Unseelie and obviously up to no good. We will wed, and our people will accept it.”

“Niall, I am not marrying you. And I might not know my husbands very well in this reality, but I know they will take you apart limb from limb, or rather Shim will burn you to a crisp and then Lachlan will play with your corpse.”

Not know them? How could she even think the words? She could be as mad as she liked, but she knew how they kissed and how they loved it when she wrapped her arms around them. She knew that Lach tended to take the lead, but Shim was the soft touch. Lach had always been more closed off, but once he opened up, he threw himself into everything with an almost wild abandon. The games they had played through their shared dreams when they were children had proven that. Lach would start by watching and standing to the side while Shim held her hand, but by morning Lach would run and play and scream with them. Shim liked stories. Even as they aged. As their dreams turned more physical, Shim still wanted to hear stories from her life and made-up tales.

But that was in her dreams. Dreams, not reality. Reality was Torin killing half the plane. Reality was she was the last of her line still living on the plane, and she couldn’t chase after her dreams.

Niall took a long breath. “It doesn’t matter. We need to get you to Sir Giles’s province. I sent word that I was bringing you.”

“Did you? And how were you going to explain my absence?” As far as Niall had known, she was a heap of ashes in the town square.

He flushed a little. “That’s why I needed the knife.”

“You were going to find someone to take my place. I’m not sure my father would approve.” Of course she also knew how deeply ruthless her father could be. She doubted that becoming a corpse-eating ghost had softened him much. “I suppose it wouldn’t be too difficult to find someone with the Finn coloring. And if father taught you, then you could perhaps teach her how to do a halfway decent impression of me. After all, no one has seen me since I was a child.”

He reached out for her hand. “I was doing what it took to secure the throne and get rid of Torin so your father has a chance to be free and your brothers a shot at coming home.”

She avoided his touch. It wasn’t a horrible plan.

“Well now you don’t need to. You have me.” Her course was set. Her heart ached at the thought of leaving them. She’d just discovered her Dark Ones, but the only thought that hurt worse than leaving was the idea of staying and discovering all the ways they planned to use her.

Niall settled his pack on his shoulder. “You need to change. We’ll have to pose as husband and wife travelling to market or looking for work, but people will ask about that dress. It’s too nice to travel in, and it looks as though it got singed. Come on. Let’s go inside and get you ready. You can pack up some small items. It should be two days’ walk to Sir Giles’s.”

He turned and walked back up to the tower. Bron followed. She knew she was placing a lot of faith in a man she barely knew, but her father sent him, and she would fare better with a pretend husband than on her own.

“I’ll be quick.” Bron rushed up the stairs, already pulling at the ties of her dress. The wolf shuffled up behind her, utterly ignoring Bron’s command to stay. She opened the door to her small room and let the wolf in. “You only listen when you want to.”

Bron quickly crossed to her dresser and pulled out travelling clothes. Suede pants and a big blousy shirt. Comfortable clothes.

“I suppose you won’t let me eat him now. No one ever does.” A feminine voice had Bron shrieking.

She turned and there was a naked female on her bed. She was slight, petite, and graceful with huge brown eyes and a mass of wavy, sun-kissed brown hair. And the wolf was nowhere in sight. A shape-shifter? A hag could shift.

“Don’t be afraid. I’m not a hag. Everyone always assumes I’m a hag. Meg says I’m a werewolf which is much better than what Dante calls me. Shanimal. Silly name and a silly man.”

Dante? “Dante Dellacourt? My cousin?”

The woman smiled, a bright thing that lit up the room. “Your cousin, my husband. I think that makes us family, Bronwyn. Or should I call you princess? Your brothers are very informal.”

Tears welled. Where there had been terror only a moment ago, a reluctant hope swelled inside. “My brothers?” She was talking to a naked wolf woman who claimed to be her cousin by law. It was all too much. “I find it very convenient that you suddenly know my brothers.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “I do not suddenly know Beck and Cian. I have known them for awhile now. At first I think Beck feared that he would have to slay me. It’s a good thing he did not try. I would have taken a chunk out of his hide. And Megan would have been very distressed. She likes me. She’s my cousin, too. It is good to have family. Although my family is very odd. I like you. You’re different. You seem to understand the necessity to be a bit brutal with your enemies. Which brings me back to my original point. I think you should allow me to eat that man. He is going to get you in trouble.”

Bron ignored the fact that the slender woman seemed deeply preoccupied with eating creatures. “Who is Megan?”

“Megan is the Queen.”

“My brothers bonded?” Torin had done everything he could to ensure his brothers couldn’t find a proper bondmate. She’d heard rumors that great battles were being fought in the arena when a bondmate could be found. The rumors had it that vampires and refugee Fae would fight to the death in an attempt to possess one.

The woman nodded, a small smile on her face. “A true bond. Your brothers have ascended into their powers. Beckett Finn is a Storm Lord and Cian a Green Man. Though he is not actually green. He is normal looking. I am told the title should not be taken literally.”

Beck and Cian had formed a true triumvirate. It was beyond imagining. “I can’t believe it.”

“They came into their powers a few months ago when they found Megan. As the Unseelie twins ascended into theirs when they bound to their perfect mate.”

“Me.” She wasn’t sure how it had happened, but she knew it was true. It was right there, that invisible thread that she’d always thought of as an inward sign of her own insanity. She’d never seen it for what it truly was—the bond between mates. And not just any mates. Symbiotic twins. She bridged them, giving them access to the other half of their soul. And apparently giving them powers. “Shim is a Fire Lord.”

“I think I heard the word pyromancer used. And necromancer for Lachlan.”

Lord of the Dead. Heat and Cold. Two halves of a whole and she’d felt both powers skimming through her system. “Why are you here? Where is Dante? Where are my brothers for that matter?”

Her family. She needed her family. They would help her sort everything out. They would talk to her and make things right. Oh, she longed to see her brothers once more.

“Dante is back in the village. I followed you because I thought you might need some time to think about everything that has happened. I was told you were given the fire drug. I know how it feels. It is terrible and yet there was something wonderful about that first night with my Dante.”

Terrible and wonderful. That was a good way to put it. She’d already forgotten the pain, but not the rolling need that had threatened to boil over. She could still remember how it felt to be one with them. To have Lach deep inside her pussy and Shim’s mind binding to hers as he fed. In those moments, she hadn’t been alone. She’d been loved and whole, and it had all been a lie.

“What’s your name?” If she was telling the truth, then Bron had been terribly rude.

The woman straightened up, her chin coming up in a polite greeting. “Kaja. I am Kaja Dellacourt. I am your cousin, and I would like to be your friend.”

Bron couldn’t help but flush a bit. Kaja’s breasts were thrust out as she made her greeting. “And you are very comfortable being naked.”

The woman laughed, a sweet sound. “Megan thinks it is odd, too, but I cannot wear clothes in my wolf state so I have none on when I change. Now, can we talk about all the reasons you should come back to the village with me?”

And back to Shim and Lachlan and Gillian who wanted her barefoot and pregnant in the Unseelie kingdom? No way. Bron resumed getting dressed, pulling out her most comfortable shoes, a pair of boots Gillian had traded the last of her jewelry for.

Kaja didn’t seem to notice her silence. She continued on. “I do not like that man downstairs. He might not be a bad man, but he seems to have plans he intends to see through with you or without you.”

“That seems to be the order of the day, doesn’t it? Everyone wants a piece of me.” Including Torin.

“But your family wants to protect you. I don’t think that man down there will do much in the way of protecting you. He will protect his plan, perhaps, but his protection for you will only go so far as seeing his plan come to fruition. Of course, you could simply wait until your husbands catch up to you, and then they will kill him.” Her eyes lit up. “And they will let me eat him. Yes. I very much like your husbands.”

“Then why are you here with me and not off telling them where I am.”

“Because Meg has taught me much. There are many rules on the Fae planes, but the one that is the most important is the Girl Power rule. The queen explained it to me. Girls must stick together because men are all idiots who often times think only with their man parts, and man parts are not smart. Girls must show loyalty to one another in the face of man part foolishness. If you are determined to follow this man, who is not your husband or your kin and will likely lead you into something terrible, then I will be forced to follow you because you are my kin, and I cannot leave you to something terrible. And besides, there might be snacks along the way.”

Bron stared at her new cousin, unable to keep the smile off her face. Snacks? Dante, it seemed, kept his bride on a short leash. “I don’t think I can go back. Do you understand that they want me to go back to their plane and pretend like nothing is happening here in my home? What would you do if the place of your birth was being destroyed?”

“I would warm myself by the fire and pray it took several of the wolves of my pack, but if my new family was being harmed, then nothing could keep me away.” She studied Bron for a moment. “And I can understand where a good princess would see her people as her family. You could try talking to Lachlan and Shim.”

“I don’t think they want to talk.”

“I have found that my husband will agree to many things when his man parts are in my mouth. You see, Meg is right because many times Dante should not have agreed to such things, but he did agree so I would continue.”

Bron stared at her cousin. “I don’t think I wanted to know that about Dante.”

Kaja sighed a little. “Megan also told me I must use a thing called tact. I struggle with tact. So we’re going to this Sir Giles’s home?”

“Kaja, you don’t have to come with me.”

Kaja got off the bed and shook out her hair. “I do. I cannot break the sacred code of chicks before dicks. Dante will understand. Or he will not and he will spank me. The good news is we are no longer on his plane, and it was so sad that someone forgot to pack the torture device that makes my poor asshole burn.”

“Goddess, Kaja!”

Kaja’s brown hair shook. “Yes, see. Tact. I do not have it. But I was smart enough to leave that thing behind.”

Bron was just about to explain the meaning of the word discretion to Kaja when she heard an odd cracking sound. She went to the window. She could see a huge, dark cloud approaching the village. It moved swiftly and with great purpose.

“What is that? A storm?” Kaja stood beside her, her eyes on the cloud as it stopped over what Bron would bet her life was the town square.

“It’s not a storm.” A sick feeling hit her gut as the cloud hovered and began to rain down. But it wasn’t rain drops cascading to the ground. It was soldiers. “It’s an eddy wind. Fae who are very skilled at magic can ride them and take others along. It’s a way to get large groups of people somewhere very quickly. We need to get to the village, Kaja.”

She turned, satisfied when Kaja changed from woman to wolf in an easy shift that happened so fast Bron barely noticed it. One moment Kaja was a woman and then next a graceful wolf following behind her. The wolf looked up at her with questioning eyes.

“No, Kaja, we’re not leaving.” She couldn’t leave them now.

Because Torin had found her and she couldn’t run anymore.