3
L ust was still burning in Cillian’s veins. It was like hellfire and it burned white hot. Unlike others in his realm, he really didn’t go looking to slake his desires elsewhere. Sure, he had the odd dalliance, but not for some time. Since he met Cali, no one else compared, but there was that deal, she had to come to him freely or everything would be lost. He had to regain control on his lust for her.
Everything had to be controlled. She had to beg for him before he took her. However, it didn’t mean he couldn’t pleasure her in other ways. Gootch only thought of him taking her virginity, which was so tempting, but he would wait until she gave it to him. And that was powerful magic.
There was a game to be played and he was going to win it. If he didn’t, all would be lost. A fiery passion brewed under her surface. She may be a virgin in this reincarnation, but the memories of their times together were still very much imprinted on her soul.
Damn Gootch for imposing all these strict rules on the bet.
He would have to go for a swim later in some cold, cold water. Maybe he’d leave and go to his sister’s realm and take a dunk in that lake. He’d seen the unattached bushmen do that from time to time.
As he entered the throne room, the orb glowed a golden fiery color as it spun around, floating in the air. Something was happening. He had a lot of plans to bring the veils crashing down and it all centered around his brother-in-law’s family and them finding their mates. Every time a nonmagical and a magical being came together, it weakened the tight grip on the worlds. Soon everything would be melded.
Just like it was supposed to be.
Cillian waved his hand over the orb and a human female’s face lit up in the sphere. She had red hair, a smattering of freckles, and as Cillian studied her more closely, she had a completely wiped mind.
“Interesting,” he murmured.
Spinning the orb with another wave of his hand, he saw she was imprisoned in Tiene’s dungeon. She had been for years and he couldn’t help wonder why Tiene was holding a human hostage in the elven realm. It was no secret that Tiene despised humans, but when he did take them, it was for not for good purposes. As the orb continued to show him more and more, it eventually showed him the face of Caleb the sasquatch.
His brother-in-law’s brother. Third born.
So, this was the missing female who had a hold on Caleb’s heart.
Cillian had always had a soft spot for Caleb because he understood the pain of losing someone you loved. Although, he couldn’t really commiserate with the Canadian yeti, because Caleb would be annoyed Cillian knew the truth of the painful secret Caleb had been hiding. As the orb finished showing Cillian what he was seeking, he saw the young woman caring for a small child. One that had features of Caleb and her. Sasquatch and human.
So, there was a child?
No wonder Tiene had stolen Caleb’s mate.
This was all interesting information.
“Who is that?”
Cillian spun around, and the orb went dark. Cali stood in the doorway, with Honk nervous behind her, wringing their hooked fingers and their button black eyes wide with fear.
“Why is she here?” he snarled at Honk.
“Sire, you said she had freedom,” Honk squeaked.
Cillian growled and kicked Honk, making the little goblin squeal in pain. “Be gone with you!”
Cali frowned. “That was mean.”
“So?” Cillian snapped. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Well, then you should’ve told Honk that. They were just doing what I asked them to do.”
Cillian grunted and crossed his arms. “Why are you here? Why did you come find me?”
“I was looking for you. You’ve been gone some time.” She looked over his shoulder at the now dark orb. “So, are you like some kind of peeping Tom or something? Do you have women locked away in a dungeon, because if you do…”
“I am not a peeping Tom,” Cillian snapped, impatiently. “Nor do I lock up women in my dungeon. I was checking in on the woman for someone else.”
“Who?”
“That’s none of your concern.” He really didn’t want to get into the explanation of the northern realm or King Tiene or any of that. All he wanted to do was win the bet, break down the veils, oust his mother and grandfather, and bind Cali to him for all eternity. Was that too much to ask?
Frustrated, he wandered to the darkened orb and put it away. He hoped Cali would leave, but she didn’t. She lingered.
“Was there anything else?” he asked, barely glancing over his shoulder.
“Well, I had dinner. I guess I’m trying to figure what else I do until nightfall. You said I had my freedom until night and then I belonged to you.”
It was the belonging to him that ignited the fire in his veins again.
Patience.
“I could summon Honk and they can take you exploring.”
“I’d rather you showed me your realm. No offense to Honk, but they’re a bit skittish, though now I understand why. You’re kind of a jerk.”
Cillian was confused. “You want me to show you around? I’m not a tour guide.”
“No, apparently you’re very busy, watching people,” she replied back sardonically.
He sighed. “Very well. Let’s go then. Perhaps I’ll leave you stranded in my labyrinth for the rest of the day and then you won’t continue to pester me.”
“Of course you have a labyrinth. Do you happen to have a bog of eternal stench too?”
He could tell she was half joking, but he got the gist of it. He’d seen that movie and he knew what she was referring to.
Cillian crossed his arms. “I’m not a goblin king. I’m a wraith.”
“What’s the difference? Honk is a goblin and calls you sire…so technically you’re a goblin king.”
He glared at her, and a small devious smile curled at the corner of her luscious lips. She had a point, but he really didn’t see the humor in it.
Not at all.
Cillian quickened his pace along the stone corridors, but she kept up. Honk and all his other little minions had disappeared, which was good. He was in a foul mood and honestly, if he saw one of them, he might do some harm to them, but then again, most likely not. For all his whinging on being cruel and coldhearted, he cared for Honk. That’s why Honk resided in the castle and had a name.
Still, he was annoyed that Honk had brought Cali to him. He didn’t have time for this.
Why couldn’t she just stay in her room and let me get on with my work?
And it was a foolish thought to cross his mind, because when had she ever listened to him?
She crumbled against him, her breathing ragged.
“Devil!” her father shouted, brandishing a musket. “You made me kill my daughter.”
“You shot her?” Cillian growled.
“Aye, she was to marry a duke and you ruined her. You evil, foulmouthed demon.”
Cillian growled and moved swiftly, crushing her father’s mortal neck and tossing him away.
“Cillian,” Cali whispered.
“I’m here.” He held her in his arms, holding her head up, watching the light slip from her eyes. “Why did you not listen to me? I said to stay at your home and not to seek me out.”
“I did not want to marry…that…” she tried to speak. “Only want my devil.”
“Hush,” he whispered.
“Will we see each other again?” She gasped.
“We will.” He stroked her face. Then he heard the banshee wail. His mother, who didn’t know he was her son as this wasn’t his timeline. The only one who knew was his grandsire.
Death.
Cillian glanced up to see the dark form appear. Death raised his scythe, his eyes glowing under his dark hood.
“Please,” Cillian begged. “You take her every time.”
Death chuckled. “You are not in the right time. Go back whence you came. Do not meddle in my affairs.”
“You’re a fiend,” Cillian cursed.
Death took Cali’s soul and she slipped from him. All that was left was the cold and lifeless shell in his arms.
Cillian clenched his fists and tried to calm the erratic beat of his heart, because he didn’t much like thinking about those horrible memories, when she was snatched from him. All the times he’d begged Death to bring her back, to not take her, and it fell on deaf ears. Which was the point of all of this. All his plans. He’d show Death a thing or two.
He’d make Death beg for mercy.
They walked outside of his castle and he stopped, allowing her to catch up.
“You move quickly,” Cali exclaimed, panting.
“My apologies,” he replied. “When I’m angry…I’m not used to having a companion.”
“Companion?” she asked. “I thought I was your mate?”
“And what’s the difference?”
“Well, a mate to me feels forced, and a companion is an equal. Am I your equal?”
“You are indeed.” Against his better judgment, because he didn’t much like showing tenderness, he held out his arm, as a polite gesture. He couldn’t win her over if he was mean to her.
“Thank you,” she said, sounding surprised. She slipped her arm through his and he walked down the drawbridge toward the garden area slowly. Not that it was a garden in a real sense. Nothing grew here.
“Though I wouldn’t really call you an equal, but you’re right about one thing,” Cillian said.
“What’s that?”
“I won’t force you. Ever. You said a mate is forced. I won’t do that.”
She nodded quickly. “I appreciate that.”
“It doesn’t mean that I’m not going to tempt you though.” And that was a promise she could count on. He couldn’t and wouldn’t force himself on her, but seduce her, yes, he had plans for that. He just had to take his time.
He was in such a rush to complete his plan, but he had to remind himself that he had a year. Certain things had to align, and then his plan would come to fruition. There would be no need for him to lose Cali again.
There would be no separate realms.
Everything would be melded together and he’d be the ultimate ruler. And she would be his queen.
When Cillian said something about tempting her, part of her want to quip back, I’d like to see you try, but she resisted that, because she kind of wanted him to. There was a pull toward him she couldn’t quite understand, but then again, there were a lot of things that had happened she was still trying to piece together.
Cali was still reeling. Goblins, finding out she was adopted, that her birth mother still was out there but thought Cali was dead, selling her soul to a demon, being a mate to a wraith. Maybe this was a delusion?
The thing was, some things felt very familiar to her.
Deep down.
Just like all those dreams she’d had her whole life.
Seeing his face. The kiss they shared.
She didn’t know Cillian, but part of her felt like she knew him intimately. And that part of her yearned for him. When he’d kissed her before Honk interrupted them, she could have easily given everything up to him, right then. There was an ache buried there.
Half the reason she was able to sell her soul so quickly was because of her virginity. And even though she really knew nothing about magic or whatever, she intuitively knew virgin blood was potent. Why else did fiction writers have vampires crave virgin blood so much?
“You’re right. Virgin blood is powerful,” Cillian said, not looking at her as they meandered slowly past some horrifying topiaries.
“Don’t read my mind,” she snapped. “It’s intrusive.”
“I find it quite entertaining.” He stopped and spun her around, holding her by her upper arms. His fingers dug into her flesh as he stared down at her. Those dark eyes bored into her soul. She should be terrified, but instead she was entranced and she trembled. “You are so very beautiful. And yet, you don’t think you are. You think you’re worthless.”
His voice had softened then. Almost like a lover, and she melted.
No one had really told her she was beautiful before. Except Simon, but she learned all of that had been a lie. He was using her.
Don’t give in, a little voice whispered, but she wanted to give in to him.
“I thought…I thought we were going on a walk?” she asked, trying to change the subject so she didn’t have to think about how she found him so attractive. So tempting. How it could be just so easy to just ask him to her bed.
Damn him.
“Then do it. Ask me.”
Hearing his voice in her head snapped her out of that hedonistic spell she seemed to be under. She pushed him away. “So, you can communicate telepathically too, eh?”
Cillian chuckled and let go of her, but tucked her arm under his and continued the stroll. “Telepathy comes in handy.”
As they passed by some more freakishly horrifying brown and dead topiaries of monsters getting tortured, she snorted. “Why can’t you have a normal garden?”
“What? My goblins trim these bushes. I give them free range.”
“Then they’re deranged,” she muttered. “Can’t you have something nicer?”
He snorted. “Like what? Unicorns? I know unicorns, they’re pompous.”
She stopped. “What do you mean you know unicorns?”
“Why are you so shocked by this? I’m a wraith, you sold your soul, you see little goblins and other little squelches of existence scampering around here. You can’t stretch your mind to other beings like unicorns?”
“I suppose not. I never really thought of it. What other beings are out there?”
“Well, I suppose I should start with the family. My sister is a banshee, or harbinger. Her mother was a witch. My mother is a banshee as well, her father is Death. And my banshee sister is married to a sasquatch.”
She froze in her tracks. “For real?”
“Yes,” he replied with disdain. “She likes them hairy, I suppose. Although, and don’t tell them this, they’re quite intelligent. Then you have elves and fairies and mermaids, krakens…so many species and they exist in a realm that is veiled from the rest of the world.”
“You mean they coexist in our world?”
Cillian snorted. “Our world? You mortals see things so black and white and never really think about what’s beyond.”
“I don’t mean to be rude.”
He gave her the side-eye. “It’s true though.”
Cali rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Okay, well then educate me. Help me see beyond.”
Cillian sighed. “Very well. Some mortals see ghosts, but they don’t really see ghosts either. The veil is precarious and thin. How do you suppose you were able to sell your soul so easily?”
She shrugged. “I suppose that makes sense.”
“There are far more beasties lurking around. One time, we all coexisted quite nicely.”
“When was that? I studied history and I don’t recall that. I mean, there are myths.”
“Ah, but you studied the history that the church and state have controlled for a long time. Think, Cali. Where do you suppose your medieval ancestors, your cave-dwelling cousins, came up with the lore of creatures that go bump in the night? There are tapestries woven of great beasts and unicorns, dragons all through the dark ages. Even old books, written by monks, have ornate pictures of anthropomorphic animals. It’s because before the advent of church and state, the veil wasn’t there. As man sank deep into fear, persecuted and burned their own kind at the stake, shed blood of countless magical and nonmagic beings, my kind disappeared behind a veil of forgotten lore and myth.”
A shiver ran down her spine, because everything he was saying was true. Well, what he was saying about tapestries and folk lore. There were legends scattered through every civilization. Similar legends. Anyone who believed in something beyond what the church controlled was persecuted as a witch. A lot of them were burned at the stake.
The moment that thought crossed her mind, she felt warm. Hot. Her skin felt like it was burning and a strange sensation coursed through her. Everything went dark and suddenly she heard Cillian screaming her name, but it seemed far away and the flames rose higher and higher around her, with shouts of people screaming.
“Burn her.”
Then her knees buckled, and all went black.