Succubus Unchained - Heather Long Page 0,84

throne. “I can handle it. But how do you know her blood isn’t trapped or bespelled somehow?”

A fair question. He cut a look to Eleanor, but her tear-stained face revealed nothing. “There is nothing on this Earth that can poison me.”

“But the ones who did this aren’t from this Earth, are they?”

Still considering, he nodded once. His kin were not of Earth. Like him, they carried the same sparks of divinity. They’d traveled the same roads after they’d all blazed fiery trails through the skies, burning away their sanctity and leaving only their most base selves behind.

“But poison is not how we kill, Hellion.”

“Very well, but if she kills you, I’m ripping her head off.”

The corners of his mouth twitched, and he contemplated her with a long and steady look. He absolutely believed her. It was not loyalty or obligation that made her speak, but something far more rare in his life.

Passion.

“I will be quick, Hellion.” Then because he needed it as much as she. He pulled her to him for a hard, swift kiss even as he held Eleanor away from them.

“I’ll watch your back,” Fiona promised, and he smiled.

“No doubt.” He surveyed the room. They were alone. The closest heartbeats were in the farthest corners of the keep. Turning back to Eleanor, he pulled up her wrist and bit down. She still couldn’t look away from him, even if she kept trying to push her gaze elsewhere. Disappointment gathered in her eyes, but at the first drop of her blood on his tongue, and the room seemed to spin away as the memory flashed to the forefront.

Synove regarded him, her pose almost languid as she leaned against the wall, arms folded and dressed in what he imagined was casual, modern clothes. The denim leggings were similar to what he’d seen Maddox and Rogue both wear. She cut a lean figure with her stunning fall of midnight hair and piercing topaz eyes.

“Hello, brother. I thought this would be the best way to speak as it is all too rare that we ever wish to be in each other’s company. Your pets came looking for me. I considered sending you the druid back as a warning and keeping the dragon, but I care less about war these days. I suppose I have grown complacent in my years. I have slept for a long time. The world is much changed.”

For a moment, she looked weary. Solitude, as much as they might crave it, was not good for their kind. Not for as long as they embraced it.

“No, I did not kill them. I did not even speak to them, though the boy speaks enough for a thousand men.”

Alfred didn’t chuckle, but he did allow the amusement to fill him. Fin could try even his patience, and there was nothing he loved to do more than poke at people until they cracked.

“The dragon is much changed from our last encounter, more settled than I thought his kind could ever achieve. Though, I suppose he is the last of his kind.” She waved a hand airily, as if dismissing the topic. “This woman is one of your lovers, so I embedded the message in her to go only to you. It can only be retrieved through her blood, as you have discovered. You should know, she offered me the location of your keep if I were to take her into my care and keeping.”

He almost wished he could be surprised by the betrayal.

“She would very much like to murder your latest pet. Consider that knowledge a gift from me to you.”

And that was all it was. Synove could not stand deception. Whether she realized it or not, Eleanor had signed her own death warrant by even making the offer to her.

“Cyril is hunting you.”

That he already knew.

“If you want to avoid a war—which I would very much appreciate, because the less I am forced to deal with our kin, the better—then offer them her head, separated from her body of course. They do not want the change she represents.”

It would never happen.

“They have indulged your peculiarities for far too long, but this one will not stand.” Synove sighed and then turned as though she looked directly at him. All he could see of her location came in to sharp relief. She was in a city of some kind. It was night, and the city beyond her was illuminated by lights.

“Aelfraed,” she intoned his ancient name. “We do not handle change well. They do