Midnight's Temptation

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Aisley drew in a ragged, painful breath and looked at the thick forest of trees around her. One of her ribs was broken and pushing against her lungs. Every finger was pulled out of joint and the bones smashed into pieces. Her shirt was stuck to her back by the blood that dripped from the dozens of cuts.

But none of the hundreds of injuries inflicted upon her by Jason was visible. He’d seen to that.

“How are you faring, cousin?” he asked with a malicious smile. “You are no’ in any pain, are you?”

“Sod off, you ugly shit.”

“Finally found that spine of yours, eh? You do know you’re going to die today.”

She knew. She knew all too well. And she also knew who would be the one to end her life.

Phelan.

She couldn’t wait to see him again. Aisley missed looking into his blue-gray eyes and hearing his seductive voice that always gave her chills. He could read the dictionary and he would still sound sexy as hell.

“You can save yourself,” Jason said. “Tell me what I need to know about the Warriors.”

Aisley looked to the man Jason had captured. She recognized him as Quinn’s son. Aiden was on his knees, his head hanging forward, and his arms held by two of Jason’s new droughs.

“You didna share that Warrior’s bed and come away with nothing!” Jason shouted. “Tell me what I need to know.”

Aisley bit back a cry of pain as she turned her head to look at him. “You’re the all-powerful one. Find out for yourself.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aiden’s head lift to look at her. She wanted to reassure him that there was nothing Jason could do to get her to tell him anything about Phelan or any of the Warriors. But she couldn’t show any kind of response to Aiden for fear of what Jason would do to him.

“After all I’ve made you endure.” Jason’s voice was low, calm as he walked around her. “Even after I’ve ensured that I’m the only one who can heal your wounds. I thought you’d have broken by now. I guess I was wrong.”

Aisley remained silent. Let Jason say whatever he wanted, let him continue to torture her. She wouldn’t be swayed.

“Mummy?”

The child’s voice went through Aisley like a knife. She looked down to find a little girl of about two who had long black hair with a pink ribbon tied around her head and fawn-colored eyes.

Aisley couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move as she stared down at the image she’d always pictured of her daughter.

“Mummy, up,” the child said as she lifted her arms to Aisley.

Jason walked behind her and whispered, “What kind of mum would ignore her child, cousin?”

Aisley’s vision swam as tears poured unheeded down her face. Her heart rejoiced at the same time her mind cautioned her. But the last image of Gillian in her arms was easy to let go of when she stood before Aisley now.

Nothing, not a single broken bone, cut, or ache could stop Aisley from kneeling before the adorable child. She opened her arms, and Gillian ran into them, her chubby arms wrapping tightly around Aisley’s neck.

Aisley sobbed as she held her daughter. Her little body seemed so frail and sturdy all at the same time. And she smelled of innocence and wildflowers.

“I can give her back to you,” Jason said.

Aisley leaned back and tried to touch Gillian’s cheeks. Her fingers wouldn’t bend, so she was only able to lightly run her palm along the cherubic cheeks as her daughter smiled up at her.

“I could make it so that you forgot she died hours after her birth. I’ll give you memories of the first time she sat up, the first time she crawled, the first time she ate baby food, and her first steps. Think about all the firsts, Aisley. Her first birthday, her first Christmas.”

Aisley kissed Gillian’s forehead. Her eyes clashed with Aiden’s as he watched her with blood dripping from a cut at the corner of his mouth.

She couldn’t forget how Quinn had fought so hard to save his son from Jason in Edinburgh. Aiden was someone’s son. If she told Jason anything, Aiden would die after his usefulness was over.

Aisley held Gillian against her and closed her eyes. Ferness was near, and the Warriors would know Jason already had Aiden. The battle Jason craved would happen soon.

“Want ta go home, Mummy,” Gillian said as she wiggled against her.

All Aisley had to do was tell Jason she would take his offer. She would have Gillian again. But at what cost? How could she think to raise a child when her soul was going to Hell?

She didn’t want Gillian around black magic. Then there was Jason. She knew he had ulterior motives. He would use Gillian for his own and possibly turn her against Aisley.

“All your wounds can be healed in your next breath,” Jason said. “You can take Gillian back to the mansion and await me there.”

Aisley got to her feet and swallowed past the lump of emotion in her throat when Gillian tucked her small hand into hers.

Jason smiled at Gillian as he ran his hand down her head. “She’s such a beautiful lass. But I need your answer. Will you let your daughter die a second time?”

Aisley looked once more into Aiden’s dark green gaze. How could she let Gillian go a second time? She’d barely survived the first time. She wouldn’t survive a second.

But how could she side with evil once more?

Jason wasn’t her only choice. She could always pray to the Devil as he had told her she would. If she did, however, she would lose Gillian.

It all came down to her daughter.

“I’ll not fail Gillian again,” she whispered.

Aiden’s chin fell back to his chest.

Jason smiled widely and clapped his hands together. “I knew the child would get you. You always let it rule you. A word of advice, cousin. Doona ever allow yourself to have such a weakness.”

“You said you would heal me.”

“In a moment,” Jason said and looked around him. “We’re going to have visitors soon. I wonder how angry Quinn is that I took his son. He’ll be the first to attack. And the first to die.”

Aiden let out a bellow and tried to get to his feet, but the two female droughs held him down with their magic.

“Tell me what those at the castle have been working on,” Jason demanded of Aisley.

She licked her lips. She had no idea, and she wasn’t sure if Jason did either. He could use magic to make her tell the truth. Or torture her more. She wanted neither. If she was going to play this, she had to do it right. “I don’t know.”

“Liar!” Jason took a deep breath and forced a smile. “You were with Phelan for days. I know you got him to talk. Tell me everything.”

There was no way Aisley would tell Jason anything about Phelan. The Fairy Pool and Phelan’s royal heritage were meant only for Phelan.

Aisley looked down at Gillian as her heart broke for Phelan and their time together. She hesitated a bit too long in answering, because in the next second, she felt more blood pour down her back.

“Doona think to play me,” Jason said through clenched teeth. “I broke you once. I’ll break you again.”

“All right,” Aisley said quickly, and then in a softer voice, “all right. They’re working on a way to use their blood against you.”

“Interesting.”

She let out the breath she’d been holding. As soon as Jason accepted her lie, she knew she had a chance of keeping Gillian.

“What else?” Jason asked.

Aisley shrugged and ignored the hate-filled glare from Aiden. “They’re looking for a way to contain the selmyr as they once were.”

“Those beasts that killed me? And?”

“That’s it.”

Jason snorted. “How far have they come to killing the selmyr?”

“The last I knew, not very. They were looking for a certain bloodline that would know what to do.”

“And that’s all you know?”

“That’s all I know,” she said.

Jason rubbed his hands together. “My enemies are close. Do your part, and I’ll keep my promise to you.”

“My part?”

He spared her an irritated look. “Kill Phelan.”

Aisley could no more kill him than she could Gillian. She loved Phelan, the kind of love a person could only dream about. She didn’t know why love had come to her, only that it had.

Her past choices kept her and Phelan apart, but it didn’t stop her love. Nothing, not even her death, would end her love for him.

Fortunately, Jason walked away to talk to a young lad. Aisley had a tough choice before her. She could kill Phelan and keep her beloved daughter by her side and face whatever consequences came from that.

Or she could turn against Jason and try to kill him. She’d lose Gillian and most certainly her own life. But Phelan would be saved.

It came down to Gillian or Phelan.

How could she make a choice?

Gillian wanted her while Phelan despised her. If given the chance, Phelan would kill her.

Fresh tears fell as Aisley inwardly screamed at the unfairness of it all. Either choice ended with her losing someone she loved. It was a no-win situation, and Jason knew it. The Jason that had come back from the dead had a hard edge to him, a ruthlessness he’d previously lacked.

It was clear he would do anything—and stop at nothing—to have what he wanted.

As if sensing Aisley was wavering, Jason turned to her. “Gillian, come stand beside me, lass. I’ll keep you safe.”

Aisley didn’t have the hand strength to keep ahold of her daughter. A look from Jason silenced any argument Aisley was about to make.

Gillian ran to Jason’s side, her laughter filling the forest. The battle about to begin was going to be a deadly one. And her precious, beautiful daughter was standing next to the man who had instigated it all.

Why couldn’t Jason have stayed dead?

Why couldn’t the Devil stop playing games and end Jason now?

Why couldn’t Phelan have killed her as she asked?

Aisley sniffled through her tears. Somehow she was going to have to keep both Gillian and Phelan alive. It didn’t matter what happened to her so long as she didn’t have to watch one of the two people she loved die.

The choice Corann had warned her about was here. She just prayed she had the magic to get through it.