Page 130 of Disillusioned (A Lay of Ruinous Reign #2)

All she could think about was his fangs teasing the crease of her inner thigh.

Garin sat up, panting through every tender movement as he staggered gingerly to his feet. “You prick,” he rasped, wiping the filth from his lips. “What did you do to me?”

“It’s temporary. And you did it to yourself,” said Myrddin, matter-of-factly. “This is what you get for drinking from an incubus-born warlock. My blood is meant to render any attackers or potential devourers useless.”

Lilac much disliked the way Garin’s hands trembled. “What’s wrong with him? Besides the obvious.”

“His gifts of speed and strength remain encumbered, but for how long varies. He was already weakened. Drinking my blood just made him easier to handle.”

Garin bared his teeth and made to charge Myrddin, but cried out instead, stumbling forward. “ Argh , my leg!”

Lilac broke free of Yanna’s grip just as she released her, and before she knew it, she was striding toward him—she needed to help him if no one else would. Myrddin’s shout preceded a flash of white-violet that blinded her, a blast of heat singing her front.

Ears ringing, her world went dark.

She thought she might’ve fainted. Maybe she had. All was quiet—but as quickly as the silence came, she could hear rushed conversations and shouting around her, felt the slowly returning ache of her joints as she was jostled about.

The faint susurrations grew louder. Her hands lowered instinctively and grasped at the earth at her sides, steadying herself.

“Easy now,” Myrddin said, nearing. “Let her sit, regain her bearings.”

“You were the one who nearly blew her up,” Yanna snarled from above her. “I wouldn’t have let her go if not for that lunatic . I am of the queen’s court, not a vampire’s snack!”

“It was required for him to turn.” Myrddin was hovering over them, slipping an arm under Lilac’s. Together, they helped her to her feet. “We’ll have Minerva get you a bandage and you’ll be back to your courtly duties in no time.”

“What about Gwendal?” Yanna asked, pressing her skirts to the other side of her neck.

“He will awaken. This one was instant because I brought him back to life. My unique contribution in Necromancy—tugging souls back from the precipice of the void, and replacing them with another. I’ve only performed it once before, for one of the Old Kings.

The recently expired soul of a first-degree relation is required to bring the dead back. ”

Lilac blinked the remnants of light away to see a large blackened circle of earth mere feet away .

There was a new voice giving stern orders. “Be still . This is for Lilac’s safety.”

Rupert was awake. Garin’s back was pressed to him, head locked in the new vampire’s grasp.

Rupert’s opposite arm held Garin’s hands behind his back.

He was entirely helpless, swinging his leg back to meet Rupert’s shins.

But he was a fledgling—unimpeded, unlike Garin was.

He was stronger, faster with Myrddin’s blood still in Garin’s veins.

The blows that would’ve otherwise broken Rupert’s kneecaps did hardly anything at all.

“Keep her name out of your mouth, you ungrateful traitor.” Garin’s head whipped this way and that in the tight vice that was the crook of Rupert’s arm, teeth gnashing.

“When I regain my strength, it’s over. I’ll shove a stake through your heart, make a roast of you upon the pyre, and scatter your remains for the wolves to feast upon! ”

“I am grateful,” Rupert muttered quietly, alarm flashing in his eyes. “I owe you my life. But I must protect Her Majesty. She saved me.”

“Let me—go?—”

“Do not,” Myrddin warned. “I highly advise against doing anything he tells you in this state.”

His struggling barely moved Rupert, whose gaze darted down at Garin, then back up at the three watching with bated breath. “Is this going to happen to me?” he said, over his fangs.

“The teeth and ears?” Lilac asked. “Or the momentary weakness?”

“Either.”

“Don’t enthrall anyone,” Myrddin retorted. “And keep your fangs out of my neck. If you can help yourself, that is.”

Just then, Garin buckled at the knees and thrashed, lunging in Lilac’s direction. She stumbled back into Yanna; Garin had broken free for a second before Rupert tackled him to the ground, pinning his arms behind his back again.

Teeth gritted, Lilac marched forward, ignoring the warnings of Myrddin and Yanna. Rupert watched warily as she approached, securing his hold on Garin. He was breathing heavily, staring past her at the house and avoiding her gaze.

Jarring as it was to see him spiraling out of control under the claw of his hunger, it was almost worse seeing Garin defeated .

She knelt, placing her hand upon his cheek. “If you want me,” she whispered, “in all the ways you crave, then you will let us help you.”

He didn’t move, didn’t snap his teeth at her, just inches from her wrist. Heart pounding, Lilac nodded at Rupert, and allowed him to hoist Garin up.

“Careful.” Myrddin put his hands out in warning, beckoning her and Yanna closer. “Easy. Easy, now. Gather in.”

“Get us to the castle. Bring us to my infirmary.”

Yanna made a noise of protest. “But what about Gwendal?”

“You are not bringing them to the castle,” Garin panted, nearly incoherent. Drool dripped from his mouth. “You—” But he stopped speaking and snapped his head up at the house.

Two figures approached from the rear of the smoking pile, dressed in a variety of hats, light armor, and tattered gauntlets.

Lilac immediately recognized them from the vestibule at the Sanguine mine.

“Garin.” The woman shaded her eyes from the moonlight as thy neared, as if the dark allowed her to see better. They widened when they fell upon Rupert’s hold on him. And Garin’s face, nearly inhuman. “What in the seven hells did they do to you?”

Garin’s voice cut through the night. “Stand down, Isolde. Walter. You remain in the presence of the queen.”

They took one look at Lilac and lowered themselves to their knees. Shock crossed their faces when she responded with a deep bow.

“Your Majesty. My Lord—we smelled smoke and wanted to investigate,” said Walter. “Further down the path we thought we’d heard your voice. We came right away.”

Myrddin glanced down the knoll, toward Paimpont. Chimneys smoked, windows and torches flickered, pinpricks downwind. He turned toward the farmhouse and waved a hand.

A gust of wind rattled the grass and haybales, just as it had when the Guài had broken their ward around the scene of the carriage accident.

Rising to his feet, Walter removed his cap. “Sir.”

“There was another skirmish out east,” Garin managed, wiping his dripping mouth on his shoulder. “Bastion’s told you about them, hasn’t he?”

“No,” said Isolde, “but we’d heard about it through the korikaned. Blitzrik’s kept us informed. I’ve kept several patrollers close to your inn, for good measure. They’re safe. We’re all safe, My Lord.”

Garin dipped head into a grateful bow, falling silent.

“This is Yanna.” Lilac motioned to her right. “She’s one of my Ladies-in-Waiting.”

Isolde’s nostrils flared in their direction. “Is she a fledgling?”

“ No .”

“No, but he is.” Lilac looked over her shoulder at Rupert. “And so is he.” She pointed at Gwendal’s body.

Walter glanced at Garin. “One of her guards?”

“He was the only survivor in Francois’s most recent attack. Garin brought him here.”

“Take him to the mine. Ensure his first feed, keep it ethical,” said Garin.

“Oversee it, and provide the volunteering donor extra rations. When this is all over, we’re going to discuss freeing them—but not a moment before,” he warned.

“They’ve given years of their lives to the coven under Bastion’s order.

Under mine, we will protect them, cater to them as our own. ”

The vampires exchanged glances.

“He belongs with her,” Lilac said with a softened glance at Yanna, who’d begun to tear up again. “Take care of him.”

Isolde went to Gwendal without another word, scooping him up and propping him carefully over her shoulder. “You will see him again,” she told Yanna with a small, fanged smile. “I promise.”

“And the house?” Walter asked, eyeing the wreckage.

Garin blinked blearily up at it. “It is a house. Nothing more.”

Isolde and Walter moved toward the trees with no more than a parting glance at Garin and Rupert. Lilac took Yanna by the wrist and tugged her toward Myrddin, Rupert, and Garin.

For once, the world was somber and still as the trees and smoldering house began to spin, and the ground dropped from beneath their feet.