Page 8 of Denied

“I know.” Her lips twisted. “I think it was my brother.”

Being reminded of her Dark Fae kin made Jannon stand. “I will summon Wallace. He may have a spell that can repair the damage.” He looked down as she clutched at his fingers. “I am no longer your creature, changeling.”

“I don’t want you to be.” She peered up at him, and all the guile left her expression. “I’m sorry for what I did to you. The clan cast this spell over me when I was a baby, after my father cut me out of my mother’s belly. I didn’t even know about it until yesterday.”

Jannon wanted to believe her, which more than anything about her disgusted him. He pulled his hand away from hers. “I am done with you and this game you play.”

Before he reached the door Tara said, “They’re going to kill me. They just have to convince Kayla it’s the only solution. They’re right, too. As long as I’m alive Dirk Blackstone will never stop trying to find me.” She paused before she added, “When it’s time, I want you to do it.”

He turned around. “What did you say?”

“If I’m to be put down, I want you as my executioner. It’s the only way…I can make up for…for…”

She closed her eyes, and slid onto her side.

Jannon swore as he hurried over to her, pulling her upright and resting her forehead on his shoulder as he examined the wound. Claw marks scored her scalp down to the bone.

“Fuck me,” he muttered.

He took out his dagger and sliced his forearm. He held her head as he fed his blood to her, watching the deep wounds as they stopped bleeding and began to close.

The door to the cottage opened, and Wallace and Ryan stopped just inside the threshold as they saw him.

“She is badly injured,” he told them, keeping his gash pressed against her mouth. “Bruises down one side of her body, and claw marks on her head. It happened in the portal.”

Wallace approached cautiously. But after examining Tara he nodded his agreement to Ryan. The master of Forever Faire joined them, and lifted the blood-soaked towel from the chair.

“Gavan came to us,” he said. “He showed signs of being under her sway until Wallace scoured her blood from his flesh. Even in chains, she is still able to enslave Fae to her through blood bond.”

Ryan looked pointedly at the bright red smears on Jannon’s fingers, where she had touched him.

“I know,” Jannon said. As her wounds closed over and disappeared, Jannon took his arm from her. “You will have to do the same to me.”

Wallace eyed him. “I believe not, brother. There is no spell trace on you. What you did here, you chose by free will.”

“Aye,” Jannon said, and looked down at the unconscious teenager’s thin face. “But do not trust me, brothers. The grip she has on me has naught to do with magick.”

CHAPTER 5

I N THE MANAGER’S office at the strip club, Dirk Blackstone watched his cousin examining the last of the wounded men.

“You mean to tell me two mortal whores did this? And escaped on my dragon?”

“They were not mortal whores,” Beck said as he yanked a hair pin from the Dark Fae’s pierced eye. He dragged a shivering stripper over to the man. “Take her from behind, and her pain will aid to speed the healing.” He wiped his hands on a rag before he regarded Dirk. “The halfling did this. Kayla Rowe was with her. Your sister must have sent them through to us.”

Blood pounded in Dirk’s head. “Tara told you this?”

“I thought she told you.” His cousin scowled. “Must we school this bitch again?” He ducked Dirk’s fist. “Why do you wish to strike me? It is she who fucks us blind.” He retreated a safe distance. “You think her your dog, but this stinks of trickery. She may now claim she kept your bargain, and yet we still do not have the spellsinger.”

“Get out,” Dirk yelled.

When Beck tried to speak again Dirk grabbed him by the back of the neck, hauled him to the door, and threw him out of the office.

It took destroying every stick of furniture in the dismal room to dispel enough of Dirk’s fury for him to work a seeking spell. He never had to search long for his half-sister’s mind, for a dreamshare spell had connected them since her birth. When he found her, however, a dull gray barrier prevented him from entering her thoughts. Only one thing could create such an obstacle—Tara had been imprisoned in spellbound iron—and the thought of her exposed and at the mercy of the Fae made him howl.

You came to visit. Tara appeared on the other side of the barrier, and smiled at him. How sweet. Did you bake a file in a cake for me?

Dirk glared at her, and then saw the blood painting her long neck.