One act of violence, and she’d topple into the madness that would consume her.
He’d lose her. Worse than that, he’d have to condemn her to an eternity of punishment. Knowing what the Unseelie Court was capable of, she wouldn’t be able to walk freely among the humans. He didn’t want that. He wanted to love her, to save her, and to protect her, exactly as he’d promised.
Calan wanted Harley as his mate—the keeper of his body and soul.
Was he crazy for the compulsion demanding he complete the ultimate union?
His brother Rhys, the only one of his siblings who knew about the connection he’d formed with Dar’s child, had thought Calan nuts nine years ago. Would Ryhs think the same today, knowing how Harley had fought to maintain her goodness? The craving to learn his brother’s view gripped Calan. His siblings’ opinions meant the world to him, but Rhys’s thoughts mattered most. Not only was he second in command of the Hunt, he was also Calan’s twin.
Calan conjured Rhys’s face. His dark brown hair and silver eyes made him both striking and frightening. Calan recalled the battles they’d won, the nights of drunken revelry, and the affection he’d always felt but rarely showed. The pull to his brother flared, and Rhys’s personal hell became Calan’s too.
Thick smoke filled Calan’s lungs, burned his eyes, and wrapped around him in a suffocating blanket he couldn’t escape. Calan released his breath in a slow hiss and embraced the pain. It didn’t ease the suffering Rhys experienced, but the compulsion to protect him couldn’t be denied.
Hot air washed over Calan, bubbling his skin and searing his throat. He locked his muscles and waited for the first flick of the never-ending fire. A crackle and whoosh heralded the arrival of hungry flames. The living inferno crawled up his legs, down his arms, and wound around him until every inch of his body ignited. He fought the urge to cry out, even though he knew it was the only way to make the blaze retreat.
The flames ate away at his skin, his manhood, his sanity. A scream built in his chest. He clamped his jaw. Too much, too much. He thrashed against his bonds, twisting and turning to escape. There was none. The pressure in his lungs intensified. His lips parted against his will. Laughter echoed around him, and the fire raced into his mouth.
He burst into flames.
The scent of his burning flesh surrounded him along with his continuous roar. On and on the torment continued until his heart took its final beat. The flames retreated, their task complete for the time being. The sacrifice had been made, and his suffering fueled the magic.
The barrier separating the human realm from Hell would hold for yet another hour.
Minutes passed. He wondered if death had finally found him, but the consequence of being a child of Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, reared its head. Calan’s flesh regrew. His bones reformed. The clothing he’d worn the day he’d been imprisoned wove itself over his body.
He dragged in a shuddering breath.
“Why do you insist on sharing our suffering when you do not need to?”
Rhys asked the same question every time they spoke. Calan gave his usual answer. “Because it is my punishment, my hell, and my sin for condemning you. I would bear it all if I could.” Instead, he was damned with the knowledge that he was responsible for his siblings’ agony. He’d led them into a trap, then left them to suffer their fate alone. His gaze drifted to the dagger on display. He was also the only one who could end it.
Rhys sighed. “You did not know what would happen any more than I did. I would have done the same.”
True. Rhys probably would have. Actually, any of the Huntsmen would’ve made the same choice. The knowledge didn’t alleviate Calan’s guilt. While he’d tried to save a damned human and her child, his beloved siblings were inflicted with the same punishment their father, Arawn, had delivered to the Unseelie Court. The act of deceit that resulted in the Huntsmen being imprisoned forced them to pay the curse’s price…
Willingly. They had to voluntarily suffer and die.
That was the aspect that angered Calan the most. If his brothers and sisters chose not to offer their pain, the barrier blocking the horrors of Hell from flooding the mortal realm would fall, and the Huntsmen would fail in their duty. Protecting the humans was their sole purpose. Nothing was more important.
“Not even the fairy you wish to mate.”
Rhys’s response proved how intimately they were connected. Calan could’ve blocked Rhys from sharing in his inner thoughts, but he rarely did. They’d always been close.
“Half-fairy.” The defensive tone in Calan’s voice wasn’t one he could stop. “Harley is half-human, do not forget. Half the species we have sworn to protect.”
“Is she?” Rhys paused, letting the moment fill with his doubt. “Then tell me how she was able to escape the notice of the fairies’ creatures for all those years before you connected with her.”
Calan didn’t have an answer. He’d wondered the same thing. He shrugged. “Her mother must’ve known her rapist wasn’t human. It wouldn’t surprise me if Dar told her or showed her his true form.”
“More likely Dar had lied and told her of who he once was, not the abhorrence he became.” A bitter laugh escaped Rhys. “Maybe Dar even lied and said their child would be a princess, or he could’ve tricked Harley’s mother into thinking she was sleeping with a god. It is what he wants to be.”
The
