“King Torin,” Chalen said with a deferential bow of his head.
Torin Finn was a man in his prime. He looked somewhat like his nephews. The coloring was the same, but there was a thinness to his frame that made him seem less than the twins. “Chalen. I called to get an update on your progress.”
“Make him tell us, My Liege,” a nasty voice said. Torin’s hags. Chalen’s stomach turned. He’d only seen their true forms once, but it was enough. There were two, and they stood behind the king. They looked lovely in this form, but Chalen couldn’t help but see their true faces. Just a glimpse was all it had taken.
“Down, woman,” Torin said with a snarl. He turned back to Chalen. “Do you have the twins?”
The hags retreated, but only slightly. They were always present, a prop to hold up Torin. Chalen had heard rumors that the hags had been very good in putting down the rebellions that had popped up.
“Not yet, Sire, but I have a plan to ensnare them.” Chalen tried to take a page from Roan’s book. He carefully schooled himself to look as confident as he could. “I’m going to use their bondmate to bring them out.”
Torin’s green eyes narrowed. “Yes, I heard they bonded. I rather thought I had ensured they could not. Damn Planeswalker demons.”
Torin hadn’t been able to make a deal with the demons. He didn’t have anything to offer them, and he wouldn’t until he could open the borders again, Chalen knew. He wouldn’t do that as long as his nephews were out there just waiting to get back in. Chalen wondered just how bad it was getting to be on the Seelie plane. If this particular mission hadn’t been about revenge, he would have looked to make a profit.
“They will come for their mate. I’ll have their cousin as well.”
Torin nodded. “Young Mister Dellacourt. His family is giving me hell with the Vampire government. I think they would have formally recognized me if it hadn’t been for Alexander Dellacourt. He’s kept me out for years. I won’t accept it any longer.”
“When his son is dead, he’ll turn his attentions elsewhere.” Chalen intended for Alexander Dellacourt to turn his attentions back on Torin. No one could ever know that Chalen had a hand in Dante Dellacourt’s death.
The hags behind Torin stared through the tablet screen, their dark eyes glittering as though they could see through him. Torin turned to the one on the left. He lifted a brow.
“He will do as he says. He believes this will satisfy that dark place in his soul. It thirsts for blood. He believes the twins took something from him,” the hag said.
Chalen hadn’t mentioned why he was willing to help Torin to the hags. He wished Torin hadn’t told them. He didn’t like them knowing something so personal about him. “They killed my brother.”
The hag on the right giggled. It was a terrible sound. “Yes, you’re a smart one to have figured that out. So smart.”
Chalen had the distinct impression he was being taunted. “What do you know, hag?”
Torin reached around and slapped the hag. Her head snapped back with a vicious crack. A thin line of blood ran down her chin, but there was a smile on her face. Her sister got to her knees and rubbed her head on the king’s lap. Chalen was nauseated at the sight.
“Don’t mind them. They’re useful, but they enjoy causing chaos. We have very firm intelligence that it was the warrior half of the twins who slaughtered your brother. Your brother was a threat to them somehow. I had a spy there. They killed her as well.”
The hag with blood on her mouth leaned in. “Our sister.”
The other smiled a vicious little grin that showed shiny teeth. She looked vaguely reptilian. “The twins will pay, and so will their bitch. They think we don’t see. We see everything.”
“Then you saw how my brother died.” He had to know.
“Oh, yes, dear,” the hag on the left said with her hollow laugh. “We saw the whole thing. Such a messy thing when a vampire dies.”
His fists clenched, and he vowed to kill Beckett Finn slowly. If Kinsey had exploded, then the bastard had caught his heart. It was the only time a vampire exploded. It was said to be a horrific, barbaric death. Yes, the twins would pay, and their bitch and their bastard cousin. “I’ll get you their heads.”
“And I’ll reward you,” Torin said in a soothing voice. “All of the Seelie Fae will bless your name. Trade will flow through our people. You’ll be a hero, Chalen Palgrave. Now, is there any way I can help? Did the ogre do its job?”
The ogre had been a gift from the king. Apparently Torin had made deals with certain factions in the Unseelie plane. “Currently the renegades are on the Refugee plane in the forests. Those forests are vast, Your Highness. If you could, perhaps, spare a search party? My mercenaries will have trouble tracking them.”
“I have a few friends who might be willing to help. They aren’t really friends, of course. They’re stinking Unseelie, but they’ll do anything for gold. Tell your mercenaries to expect a group of goblins. They can be quite devious. And, Chalen…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t expect to see my friends again. Do you understand?”
He would have to tell Roan to kill the goblins when the mission was done. Of course, perhaps the goblins could kill Roan. He would have to think on it. Treachery was a difficult business. “Absolutely, Your Highness.”
When the tablet blinked off, Chalen lay back down in his bed, his dreams filled with blood.
“Dante, get off the poor girl.” Meg stood over Kaja, her eyes rolling as she looked at Dante. Kaja smiled up at her.
“I do not mind.” Kaja liked how Dante laid his head in her lap. She let her hand drift down to rub his scalp. The clothing she was wearing felt odd, but Dante had assured her she needed it. He’d given her some of his clothing. Like magic it had become a skirt and shirt for her to wear, and Dante’s own clothing had grown, manufacturing more so he lost nothing by giving to her.
His eyes drifted closed. “That’s nice, Kaj. As for you, Meg, don’t you have something to do?”
“Well, I thought the point of this exercise was to flee and attempt to survive. You’re the one who’s turning it into a honeymoon.”
Kaja was mightily confused. “Why does the moon need to be sweetened?”
Meg gave up and sat down beside her. Meg laughed. “I don’t guess the translators are completely up on Earth speak. You see, on the plane I was born on, when a couple gets married, they take a little trip together. It’s time just for the couple.”
Dante yawned, his arms stretching and then wrapping around Kaja’s hips. “We call it bonding time. It’s a special and sacred time between a vampire and his consort. It shouldn’t be interrupted by a harpy.”
Meg’s eyes narrowed. “Harpy? Have you forgotten that we were taken prisoner just yesterday? Torin is making his move.”
Kaja had learned a bit listening to Meg and Dante argue all morning. Meg was a queen. It was something like being the First among women. Her husbands were the kings of their plane. There were many planes and many doorways. She had been taken through one of those doorways by a creature called a demon. Dante was going to take her to his plane to meet his pack—family. She was going to meet Dante’s family.
Her heart sped up at the thought. What if they did not like her?
“Well, Torin could have picked a better time,” Dante complained. They were stopped by a lovely brook. The sun was warm on Kaja’s face, and she let her worries drift away. Her skin was still singing from the morning session with Dante. He’d proven true to his word, waking her up by rolling his body on top of hers. He’d kissed her and played with her breasts. By the time he’d thrust his cock deep inside her body, she was begging him to take her.
They’d stopped twice since they had left camp this morning. Each time he’d pulled her off into the woods and had what he called his “wicked way” with her. Once, he’d fed from her.