AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He took his time and relayed the battle point by point. Both Stone and Rosamunde listened intently, each expression growing more serious by the second.
Rosamunde’s brows were pulled tight together. “Time-lethargy sounds like a dangerous condition.”
“It is. It was. If another Invictus had attacked, we both would have died. Stone saw the state I was in and, hell, Holly fell asleep sitting up.”
Rosamunde glanced at Stone. “Is that true?”
“Sound asleep.” He then lowered his head and shook it back and forth a couple of times. He looked like a bull ready to paw the earth. “I thought we were done with this. Dammit, we finished Margetta off out at Tannisford Plains. My Guardsmen have scoured Tannisford. I thought we’d captured what was left of Margetta’s army. But five Invictus pairs. Only they weren’t really Invictus since there were no wraiths.”
Rez stared at him for a hard moment. “Exactly. So, what are we looking at, because even while I was battling, I could see that the wraith-like mates all had yellowed eyes and dark lips. They’d cry out as well, not exactly a wraith-shriek, but similar.”
Rosamunde looked from one to the other. “I don’t understand. I thought Invictus pairs had to include a wraith each time.”
Stone shook his head again. “Looks like we’re dealing with something new here.”
A quiet disturbance in the air had them all turning toward the foyer. But even before he saw the arrivals, he knew Holly and Vojalie had joined them.
As his gaze landed on Holly, his hand went to his stomach. He experienced two powerful, overwhelming reactions simultaneously. First, he became acutely aware once more that her blood had taken away all his pain, decades of agony. Second, she looked beautiful beyond words in a violet top, snug dark blue jeans and black shoes.
Just like that, he wanted her all over again.
The sensation was profound and sudden. What he couldn’t wrap his head around was how on earth he would ever
be able to turn her over to another mastyr vampire.
~ ~ ~
Holly couldn’t do anything except stare at Rez. All she was as a newly-formed blood rose craved him. Yet, she still had strong reservations about the man. It didn’t seem fair to want him this much, when her rational mind wasn’t willing to follow.
Vojalie’s words rang in her ears once more, that she was too harsh, too judgmental and put everything in her life into neat, tidy boxes.
But she’d never seen it that way.
A woman should have her standards and Rez had dropped out of the Guard when his family was killed. Maybe Scott would still be alive if Rez had done his duty.
She’d heard he had a connection to the black market, the one run by forest gremlins and other outlaw realm-folk. Her conscience tugged with her next thought. She, too, made liberal use of the black market which made her a terrible hypocrite.
Stone stepped forward and greeted Vojalie with a kiss on her cheek. Rosamunde did the same.
Despite Holly’s concerns, she drew close to Rez. Not only did it seem appropriate since they’d just fought a major battle together, but she couldn’t have stopped her feet from moving in his direction if she’d tried.
When he took her hand, she didn’t pull away. If anything, the warmth of his skin against hers calmed her down.
“Rez and I were talking,” Stone said. “It seems there weren’t any wraiths present among the five pairs you and Rez battled.”
“That’s right.”
Vojalie shook her head. “But what does it mean? I don’t understand.”
Stone huffed a sigh. “That’s what we were trying to figure out.”
Rez said, “The pairs you’re referring to behaved as though mated.” He then described how one of each pair had yellow eyes and dark lips, both of which were wraith-like qualities when Invictus bonded.
“They did,” Holly added.
Everyone fell silent, each no doubt trying to puzzle it out.
Vojalie finally said, “Margetta wasn’t the only fae who could forge the Invictus bond. She’d taught many of her underlings how to go about the business. But as far as I know, a wraith was always part of the bonding process. That doesn’t mean other dark fae haven’t experimented and found another way around the problem. Wraiths, on some level, however, would have to be involved. Their genetics or their blood is critical to achieving the bond.”
