Page 34 of Against the Veil (Endangered Fae #3)

He let go a painful breath, swallowing against the lump in his throat.

“Yeah. I’m pissed as hell. If he’d really listened to me instead of pretending to, he wouldn’t be missing now.

” Eithne laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and he fought against the sting in his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m mad. But I’m damn worried, too.

How is it that he hasn’t gotten away? What’s he going through that he can’t just pop right back to us? ”

“Zack…” Her soft hands guided his head to her shoulder and the urge to sob almost took him out at the knees. “I am sorry I raised such a stubborn child. Though he has enough honor to know he wronged you. I am sure he regrets it now.”

“Yeah, well, fat lot of good it does us if we can’t find him.”

Lugh opened aching eyes and stifled a moan. Still here. Great Mother help me…

Wherever here was, of course. His knowledge of the world had narrowed to a windowless, cinder-block room and the agony circling his throat and wrists.

Even padded with cotton, the iron burned, keeping him from reaching for his magic and leaving him weak and nauseous.

Hours might have passed, or years, he couldn’t say—his existence reduced to mind-numbing misery.

When he had woken the first time, he had tried to pull the chains from the wall.

Without the iron, he would have managed easily. Now he could barely lift his head.

The pain and weakness was still better by far than the nightmare of losing control over his body, unable to move as he wished, hearing his voice spout someone else’s words, watching helplessly as if he were separated from his own body by a heavy glass shield.

He had nearly fought free at the podium, swimming up through the spell to grasp a shred of control, but Diego had been right there in his ear again and he had been sucked back under in a dizzying rush.

Just a few words, whispered in that Voice, the one that drove the compulsion spell.

Diego had learned it from the boy who had changed his nature, but he had perfected it, the ease and control he exhibited terrifying.

Zachary had been right. Beloved Zack, who, once again, would believe that his prince had betrayed him.

Lugh squeezed his eyes shut, fighting for a whole breath.

The thought caused him more agony than the iron.

He should have listened, should have stayed to let Zack make whatever arrangements he felt best instead of rushing off to soothe his own injured pride and feed his overinflated sense of honor.

What good was either, now that he was trapped and caged, used by the very man he sought to stand against? Have I always been such a fool?

A metallic snick echoed through the room. A thin bar of light bisected the floor, growing wider. Door. Yes, there would be a door.

“Go rest, Theo.” Diego’s voice drifted in from the hallway.

“I’m all right, jefe ,” the younger voice answering was soft and respectful. “I’d rather stay.”

I know that voice…ah. Diego’s vampire.

“Thank you for worrying, mijo , but the prince is an old friend. I’m in no danger. Take a hint and relax for a bit. At least go grab…a bite.”

Theo chuckled and, with a soft “ Sí, jefe ,” apparently moved off, though Lugh heard no footsteps, just felt his decreasing presence . The bar of light widened and Diego stepped in, holding a lit hurricane lamp. He closed the door behind him and leaned back against it with a sigh.

“I am sorry about all this,” he said as he stared at the ceiling. “Once you showed up in an official capacity, though, I had no choice.”

“Diego?” Lugh winced at the thready, quavering sound of his own voice. “You know this will kill me.”

“Oh, yes.” The man who had been his dear friend sat cross-legged on the cement floor and placed the lamp and the bundle he carried beside him.

“Eventually. But this is temporary. I don’t intend to keep you here for months.

Just until those idiots in Washington can get their heads out of their asses.

I may need to trot you out again in the next couple of days if they ask for you, but I can’t see this going on more than a week. ”

A week of endless torment sounded like an eternity. “And then?”

Diego shrugged and leaned back against the wall.

“Then I hope my husband and my friends will begin to understand. When I am named head of the new Department of Magical Security, when you all see that the new legislation will help thousands of people…” He stopped and rubbed his hands over his face.

“If you go peacefully, I’ll let you go home. ”

“Zachary will be looking for me.”

“No doubt. Of course he will. You’re screwing him now, aren’t you?”

From Diego, such bluntness was shocking and scattered Lugh’s thoughts. “Yes. We have been lovers.”

“Good…good.” Diego nodded absently, finally turning his head to face Lugh. “I always knew you belonged together. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” The bland, normal tone of the conversation bordered on the surreal, but Lugh desperately wanted to keep him talking to learn what he could and to distract himself from the pain.

“He’s a good man. The best. Wish I had him here with me for security.”

“Instead you have a vampire you plucked from an alley.”

“Theo?” Diego’s forehead crinkled, as if puzzling through a thought. “Theo’s a good boy. He’s just not terribly experienced with security.”

“He is, from what I understand, a murderer.”

Diego’s smile held an autumn chill. “Justifiable homicide. Don’t judge, my dear prince, until you know all the facts.

He grew up in a bad neighborhood, but he was a good student, devoted to his family.

The vampire mutation in his kelan seems to have occurred shortly after we reopened the door between the worlds.

Some powerful magical echo or residual effect…

I’m not sure how it works yet. It warped his kelan pattern.

Apparently used to happen to a certain percentage of humans before the Veil was closed.

But his family didn’t understand. Even though they tossed him out, he still watched over them.

When he found the pack of scum gang-raping his sister, he killed them. ”

“He told you this story?”

“I have verified enough independently to know it’s true, leaving out some of the exaggerations of a wounded young man’s personal filter on events.

But if Theo had been able to find help when he changed, if there had been some official agency he could have gone to, he might not have turned vigilante.

These are the people I’m trying to help, my friend, the ones who are lost and alone.

The ones who risk persecution because no one speaks for them. ”

“But to insist that they all must be registered? Controlled?”

“Humans are infants when it comes to magic. They don’t know how to deal with it anymore and I can’t help them if I can’t find them.”

“As you did with Theo.”

“Yes. Exactly.” Diego beamed at him as if he had passed some test.

You set them up for the same persecution you claim you wish to prevent. Lugh kept this to himself, though, knowing that in his current state, Diego was incapable of listening. “You look tired.”

“A bit. So much to do and Theo can’t guard me all the time.”

“You’ve no one else to trust?”

The smile slipped, distraction clouding Diego’s dark eyes for a moment. “The others are…new. They’ve all sworn allegiance to me, but one needs to be cautious.”

“Others?”

“Oh, yes. I’ve had quite a harvest. Twelve young people with twisted, dark kelan of various sorts.”

Perhaps they were all self-appointed knight-errants like Theo, but he wouldn’t lay odds. Lugh shivered, envisioning them turning on Diego and ripping him to pieces.

Diego shook his head. “You’re cold. Of course you are with the iron so close. I brought you some things.” He shook out the bundle to reveal heavy blankets and a pillow. “I have to keep you subdued for now, but no need to be barbaric about it.”

He spread the blankets over Lugh’s aching body and tucked the pillow under his head.

“ Bien . That’s better. It won’t be forever, I promise, then you can go home to have Zack fuss over you.

There’s a nice thought, eh?” He stood and retrieved his lamp.

“I have things to do, but I’ll have the young folks check in on you. ”

“Diego?”

Dark eyes that once would have held such compassion turned back to him, reptile cold. “Hmm?”

“You court disaster. Now and in the future. You cannot keep control of this.”

Diego snorted. “Says the sidhe prince from his iron prison. I’ll do whatever I have to do. Remember that.”

With that, he walked out and closed the door, taking the light with him. Lugh lay shivering in the dark, trying once again to force his exhausted mind past the barrier of cold iron to call out to Zack. “ I’m here, my love. I’m alive and I’m so very sorry.”