Master of Desire (Merlin's Legacy #6) - Angela Knight Page 0,56

If we do, Ansgar will tear us apart. He realized then he’d do anything to protect Branwyn, Aislyn and Iona. Anything at all. And he had.

Memory spun through his mind. Shame and loathing as he smiled into Siobhan’s face, watching her relish her power over him. Wanting him and loathing him for it.

The chain tightened on his throat as the troll pulled hard, choking him, stretching him, as Siobhan’s whip tore chunks from his back even as he ate her pussy…

The bitch deserved to die. Deserve it for his sisters, for Iona, for himself. The need to mete out the justice she so richly deserved burned in him, a compulsion as strong as his craving for the furious blaze of her life.

Lugh/Conal could have turned away from the power, the temptation of all that seething life force. But he couldn’t turn away from the memories, from the countless cruelties she’d inflicted, the beatings he’d taken to turn her rage from the girls. Most of all, he thought of the way Siobhan had given Helena to that fucking troll. What Olwydd would have done to the woman he loved. “You deserve death,” he told her now as the hot power built in him. “You deserve it as much as any Dark One ever did.”

* * *

Helena stared in horror as Conal’s face went as cold and expressionless as glacial ice. The humanity in him was winking out. Oh, God, Conal, what have I done to you? The acrid reek of his hunger and black, boiling rage stung her nose like a trash fire. I’ve got to snap him out of it. Not just for Conal’s sake, much as she loved him. For Liam, her smartass, slightly creepy partner. She was going to lose them both.

There was one hope. The last time she’d taken a gamble this big, she’d turned the man she loved into a fucking death god. But if she could fix that, it was worth whatever happened to her. Reaching for her power, Helena shifted. Human again, dressed in her ragged red party dress, barefoot and grimy, she started forward.

Essus slammed into her shoulder so hard she almost fell on her face. His talons punched into her human skin with no mercy whatsoever, drawing blood. “No. If you touch him now, he’ll kill you. I can still feel him in our link, just a little. There is very little of him left, and if he kills you, it will destroy whatever’s left. He’ll kill until Maeve can raise a force big enough to bring him down.”

“Es, I’ve got to do something!”

“Not that.” He lifted his voice and sent a spell shivering through the air. “Maeve!”

“She can’t do anything! The fucking geas is still working,” Helena reminded him. “We’ve got to try it my way. Distract him. Buy me some time.”

“What do you mean to do?”

“Trust me.” She licked dry lips. “I know I fucked up. But trust me.”

The bird stared at her with round yellow eyes, and for once he looked terrified. “All right.” He threw himself in the air and shot toward Conal, fire leaping around him like a torch.

Did I just get him killed too?

Shut it down. This would never work if she didn’t get it together. Helena slammed her eyes shut and fought to ignore the fear, her anguish for Essus and Liam. Most of all, for Conal.

She worked to remember the last time they’d made love. The warm purr of his voice. His hands, tender and arousing, as he caressed her nipples, her breasts, the curve of her hip. Teasing fingers in her pussy. Burning Moon pheromones surrounding her until she could almost see them. Distilled, aching need.

For the first time, Helena sought out the screaming animalistic need that had so shamed her. Simultaneously, she reached for the Mageverse and fed its power to her need. Let it boil as she remembered every touch, every one of Conal’s kisses, every velvet stroke of hands, deep, driving thrust of his cock.

Drinking the Mageverse, she let her blood burn. Refused to think how close Conal was to the edge, or the risk she ran. None of that was important. Conal was important. Because I love him.

When she opened her eyes again, her entire body burned.

He stood over Siobhan as Essus darted around him like a burning hummingbird, screeching in protest. “You can’t! You know you can’t.”

“Who are you to tell me what I can’t do?” Conal’s voice was too deep, shaking the air. His handsome face looked