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“Like it, bitch. Love it. Beg me. Come on, beg me.”
The sound of his voice echoed in my memory. Lannan…forcing me to his feet, forcing me to say and do things I never would have done…all through the control of his voice.
“Please, Leo, please…fuck me.” The words sounded forced, and I knew—we all knew—they were. Rhiannon choked as the manacles around her wrist opened and she was forced down on her knees. I knew what was going on, it was obvious. After a few seconds, I closed my eyes, my stomach churning. The thought of what he was doing to her was horrifying, but the fact that we couldn’t see him but could hear his grunts made it worse, somehow.
After a few moments, she choked and spit out a long string of fluid. The next moment, she went flying across the room, where she landed with a hard thud on the pillows. Her wrists went back, over her head, as an invisible force pinned her down and another shoved her knees apart.
“You’ll never forget me.” Leo’s voice was ragged, and Rhiannon stiffened. She began to whimper again, but I could tell he was forcing her to enjoy it, controlling her will, and she let out a shriek. I winced, not wanting to see Chatter’s face. I knew from experience that she couldn’t help it. He had control of her body, though I knew she was fighting against him.
And then, finally, it was over. I held my breath as she was manhandled to face the camera. We could hear whispering, and then Rhiannon, beyond tears, stammered out a message.
“Cicely…Leo…he says that if you don’t turn yourself over to Geoffrey, they’ll turn me.”
And then Leo’s arrogant voice broke in. “My little whore here, my little Fae-fucker, is right. Cicely, you mistress of demons, get your ass to the town square by tonight or I’ll unleash a foe worse than you’ve ever dreamed. You think Myst is bad? I know how to drive this little beauty of mine insane. I know how to break her, and then after I break her, I’ll drink her down and turn her. And you will have been responsible for creating a monster. Now aren’t you sorry you poked your fucking nose into our business?”
Rhia let out a cry. “No, don’t do it. Don’t do what he—” She stopped as the crack of a blow echoed through the room.
“Tonight. Eight P.M. If you aren’t there by midnight, your cousin will have vanished forever and a new queen of fire will rampage across the land. And won’t that be a delight with two demented Queens on the loose. We know Myst still lives. Oh, and Chatter? She’s mine, so suck my dick.”
And then the DVD ended.
As the screen went blank, the house grew deadly silent. My breath came in shallow pants and I was doing my best not to go stark fucking mad. Not trusting myself to speak, I slowly stood up and turned off the TV.
Peyton roused herself out of her gloom. She stood, straightened the hem of her sweater, and was the first to break the silence. “Whatever you need me to do, I’m here.”
Joining her, Luna pointed to the sofa. “Please, move this and bring in a small table. I’ll get ready to cast the spell and we’ll find out where they are.”
I turned to Grieve and Chatter. Grieve looked somber; Chatter looked ready to kill. He had changed in the past ten minutes. We all had. Without a word, he and Grieve grabbed the ends of the sofa and shoved it out of the way. Then they went out to talk to the guards. I moved off to the side while Peyton helped Luna get things ready and put in a call to Ysandra Petros.
When she answered the phone, I told her what had happened.
“I’ll be right over,” she said. She was not a woman for small talk.
“You may not like what you see us doing.”
“I’m not worried about that. The Council needed to do more, and they didn’t. They aren’t even getting around to casting the spell of protection till later this week. I’m tired of the bureaucracy.” And with that, she hung up.
“Ysandra’s coming over. I think she’s going to help us.” I wanted to run to Lainule, to tell her what was going on, but she wasn’t here anymore. And Regina and Lannan were asleep for the day. But that meant that so were Geoffrey and Leo. If we could pinpoint where they were before dark, we could take them out more easily, even though I didn’t want it to be easy on them. I wanted them to suffer. I wanted them to realize their lives were ending and know that I was responsible. I wanted to torture them like they were torturing Rhiannon.
As Luna set a black candle and a crystal ball on the small circular table now in the center of the room, I stared at the DVD player. I couldn’t bear to think that my last vision of my cousin might be…
“Cicely?”
I turned. Luna was standing behind me, her hand on my arm. “What do you want to do with that DVD?”
“What I want…is to destroy it. But I think…first Regina needs to see it. And the Consortium. Then, perhaps, they’ll realize just what we’re up against. I keep thinking they don’t realize how ruthless Geoffrey and Leo are.” I stared into her eyes. “But maybe I’m fooling myself? Maybe they realize and just don’t care? Or maybe they care, but not nearly as much as I want them to.”
I wasn’t sure what to do. Luna decided for me, reaching around to pop the DVD out of the player and put it back in the case. She paused, then slid it into her purse. I started to protest, putting my hand on her purse, but she caught hold of my wrist and shook her head.
“No. Leave it. I don’t want you staring at this. I don’t want you haunting yourself with it. I’ll keep it until we show it to the Consortium and Regina. After that, we can destroy it.” She slowly untangled my fingers from the strap of her purse and ran her hand over my cheek. “I wish I could help more. I hate seeing you worry. I hate seeing everybody upset. Come, we’ll get ready and I’ll cast that spell and do what I can to find where they’re keeping her.”
There was a sound in the kitchen and I whirled around, but it was just Grieve and Chatter returning, with Ysandra behind them. She was wearing a fur-trimmed trench coat and she slipped it off, revealing a white starched shirt with a ruffled front over a long quilted skirt. Her hair was, as usual, in its chignon, and her rectangular wire-frame glasses gave her a studious look, but she really was a beautiful woman when you looked beyond the stern exterior.
I gazed into her eyes, and my resolve gave way. The older woman opened her arms and I fell into them, sobbing against her shoulder as she patted my back.
“We will take care of this, Cicely. We’ll find her and go after her.” After a moment, she pushed me back by the shoulders, and the prim magical adept was back. “Dry your tears. Crying has to wait. We don’t have time for tears.”
I struggled to catch my breath and, as Luna pressed a couple of tissues into my hand, dried my eyes and blew my nose.
