Jacob's Trial [Forbidden Legacy 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (10 page)

Los Angeles vanished behind them and the freeway lanes freed up as trailing congestion gave way to construction and then burst free to open road once more. Domoir remained stoically silent during the exchange.

“I’ll deal with it, Paul.” Drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, Jacob considered his options. Turning Cassie over to the council was out of the question, turning her over to the Brotherhood was laughable, and relying on the Fae would be igniting another war.

“You want to discuss it with the Elf. I understand that. You both have a vested interest in her safety. But this isn’t about her being their mouthpiece. Consider for a moment that the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross has been all but silent for a hundred years. They withdrew during the First World War and have remained divorced from humanity since.”

“About the same time I met Vanagan.” He’d described the encounter to Paul and Miller once over ale in the middle of a long winter night. He’d never understood the ancient Wizard’s interest in him.

“Correct. They handpicked a number of Wizards at that time. Those Wizards vanished into seclusion with them and were never heard from again. One of the Wizards they approached was your
Domovoi.
”

“Elijah never mentioned that.” Of course, Elijah didn’t discuss anything unless he found merit in it. Secret societies, fractious Wizards, and internal dissension hardly interested a man who could trace his lineage back to the days when the ancestors crossed the Bering Strait’s land bridge to the so-called New World. He said little unless it had merit. He could go years saying absolutely nothing.

In Jacob’s first years studying, he’d found the habit irritating as hell. After two hundred years, he could appreciate the silence.

“What’s that got to do with now, Paul? You and Miller are already onto something here. So purge. What do you think is going on?”

“The same thing that happens when the world as you know it destabilizes. Wizards have not always been unified. Talk to Miller about it sometime. He was there during the first round of Wizarding wars in the fourth century. England’s Wizards nearly destroyed it after the Romans left. They slaughtered the Picts and broke forever with the Druids.”

“Is he seriously that old?” Jacob had never asked. Miller had never told.

“Absolutely. He likes younger Wizards, working with them, so he can stay current with the times, but he went into seclusion in the hundred years leading to the Malleus Maleficarum because he saw the second war coming.”

The second war. The war no Wizard liked to speak of because of the Unmentionables. The Wizards who took the side of the Fae, who’d defended their fathers and those bloodlines. The Council formed for the first time during that campaign, further dividing the Wizarding world.

His
Domovoi
insisted that Jacob study the events, the political maneuvers, and the blacked-out passages in the great books where Wizard names had been redacted once and for all.

“Wizards like to think we know everything and that we’re fighting the good fight. We like to believe we think of the big picture and that we are humanity’s last defense against Fae incursion, but that’s a pile of political bullshit fed to those who weren’t there. The rest of us know the score, and we know who underwrote the party line.”

“The Council.” The Council that Jacob’s
Domovoi
was a part of. The Council that wanted Cassie presented to them for examination. The Council that likely helped Michael escape incarceration.

“Yep. See, shit storm.” Paul tipped his head back and closed his eyes. “They aren’t following us. Vanagan is probably putting his men back together. But we’ll see him again. Likely right around the last moment we want, too.”

“That’s not comforting.”

“You’re in bed with the Fae, Jacob. You’re never going to be comfortable again.”

The thought echoed in the back of his mind all the way home, haunting him even after they arrived at the house.

Domoir disappeared into the woods to stretch his legs, graze, and patrol the property. He loved their mountain getaway and the chance to actively participate in Cassie’s security. The goblin’s affection for the woman who turned Jacob’s world upside down was win-win in his book.

Paul disappeared to the opposite wing of the house, bullying the still-sleepy Jude off to a bed.

“Problem?” Helcyon waited for him on the porch, his expression remote and filled with foreboding. The Elf managed to compact several questions into one word.

“Ever heard of the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross?” Jacob paused on the steps, granting Helcyon the high ground he already possessed.

“Yes. A splinter faction begun by Guy du Gise during the first Wizarding wars, driving the Fae from England and France to Ireland. The faction further splintered with the English. They went underground for a few centuries, isolating themselves from Fae and Wizard alike.”

Jacob nodded slowly. “Vanagan Marcus?”

“A bastard Roman distantly related to the Borgia, Medici, and Farnese lines. His mother was a kind woman who deserved a better child.” The Elf’s posture stiffened, and his expression was implacable. “Why?”

“Where’s Cassie?” He’d half expected her to march out and yell at him for leaving and was mildly disappointed that she hadn’t.

“She’s taking a bath. Sorting her thoughts and her emotions about the possibility of being pregnant.”

Jacob rolled his head from side to side, cracking the vertebrae.
That
was another issue just waiting to ambush them.

“Why are you asking about Marcus? And why do you smell like petrol and smoke?”

“Because he and three other Brotherhood members tried to ambush me on the way back. They blew up a few cars to make a point.” Done with being on the bottom step, Jacob walked onto the porch and inside. “He wants Cassie for some reason.”

“He can’t have her.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Jacob exhaled. “First the inquisitor general, now the Brotherhood of the Rose Cross, and there’s still the problem of Michael.”

“Then the polarization of the Wizards has already begun.” The vague note of pleasure in Helcyon’s voice jerked Jacob around.

“You knew.”

“Yes.” The Elf didn’t deny it, and he didn’t look upset about it either. “Jacob, for all that Wizards wish to elevate themselves above humanity, you’re all still somewhat human. You are prone to the same desires and needs. It is that tragic flaw that makes you unique and dangerous.”

“We don’t see it as a tragedy to have a moral compass.” Hostility flooded through Jacob’s system. His fingers curled into the palms of his hands, and only force of will kept him from clenching them into fists.

“Those of you who possess them wouldn’t.” Helcyon’s pose didn’t change, but the arrogance coloring his words challenged Jacob’s control.

“You knew this would happen. You were
counting
on the Wizards splintering.” How the hell had he missed this? The Elf didn’t deny the charge, merely shrugged his shoulders.

“With the Wizards in disarray, our ability to step from the shadows and back into the light would be eased. Once we are back in the world, we will not be so easily pressed away by superstition and hatred. The church the Wizards used as a tool no longer holds dominance.”

“And if a few Wizards die in the meanwhile?”

“They will fall to their brethren, to the
cause
espoused by those brethren. We do not want a war, Wizard. But the Fae have suffered for centuries bound and bridled to Underhill. We are
dying
. We chose this path. We chose to save ourselves.”

“To hell with anyone else? To hell with the humans caught in the crossfire? To the Wizards dragged from their seclusion back into the light? To putting Cassie’s head on the chopping block with factions lining up to swing the axe?” Cool fury fired in his belly. His fists clenched until the nails dug into his palms. Three spells formed in his mind.

The first, a concussion to knock the Elf off balance.

The second, a blast to burn the land from beneath his feet.

The third, a piercing whisper to drive the wound through his black heart.

“Perhaps you did not weigh all the considerations before you swore your
oath,
Wizard. If you are regretting your participation, then you should excuse yourself and abandon this cause before it gets too hard for you.”

The last words thudded against Jacob’s conscience, and he let his fist fly, plowing his knuckles into Helcyon’s jaw. The second fist never landed as Helcyon blocked it, and then they were down the steps, hammering away.

“What the hell are you doing?” Wet legs filled Jacob’s bloodied vision, and he rolled away from the Elf with a grunt. His gaze traveled upward to a soaking-wet Cassie, the pale, blue silk robe hugging every luscious, damp curve.

His anger recoiled as he released the spells he’d damn near given voice to before letting his frustration pound through his fists. Sucking in a deep breath of control, he latched onto the damp hair curling around Cassie’s face and the ruddy-pink flush from the warm water she’d been bathing in.

“What happened?” Cassie repeated when neither he nor the Elf responded.

“We were settling a disagreement, Cassandra.”

“With fists?” And just like that, her heated gaze abandoned him to give Helcyon a dark look of disapproval.

“Violence allows us to resolve underlying as well as current issues. The Wizard needed to release some tension. He feels better now, and we are both clear on where we stand.”

Cassie’s brows drew together, her gaze splitting between the two of them, and Jacob shrugged. He would have felt better about it if he’d managed to break the Elf’s nose, but as it was, the hard knot of fury beading his shoulders was gone.

The strife of indecision and worry stripped away to leave only one pressing need. One goal.

Keeping her safe.

The rest of them really could blow themselves to hell.

“As I said, considering the value in the oath relieves a great deal of the uncertainty.”

God. He’d have to thank the Elf for his help later.

Much later.

Maybe in a century or two.

Grumbling, Jacob rose to his feet and walked back to the steps, scooping a squealing Cassie up in his arms as he went. “We’ll finish the rest of the discussion later.”

“As you wish, Wizard. See to your back if you plan to sleep in her bed. You’ll stain the sheets.”

“What happened to your back?” Cassie found her voice and pinched him as she wiggled in his arms to get a look at the damage.

The strain tautening Jacob’s jaw relaxed as he strode up the stairs and into her room. He continued past the white carpet to the bathroom door, nudging it open with one foot. The cool, dry air of the house gave way to the warm, moist steam drifting up the steps from the sunken bathing room.

The hedonistic escape had rapidly become one of Cassie’s favorite places. The dressing room with sink and vanity descended three steps to a water closet and then another three to a paned, frosted-glass chamber around a blue-tiled, double-wide shower and then another three steps to the spa-sized bathing pool decorated by a hot tub in one corner.

“Jacob.” She wanted to ask him about his back. The bloodstained suit jacket lay in tattered shreds against him.

“Shh. Just let me hold you for a few minutes.” He barely paused at the water’s edge, lowering her to stand and stripping away the damp blue silk she’d thrown on when the burgeoning storm of emotion swept through the house to collide with her senses. She’d been floating one minute and racing up the stairs the next.

The spa bathroom’s overheads were turned low, and the warm gold light refracted through stained glass. The sandstone-tile mosaics reminded her of the beaches, while the warm water beckoned like the Pacific on a sunny day.

Jacob glided his hands down her arms, the warm roughness of his fingers sending shivers of awareness racing over her skin. His haunted eyes gentled, heating to warm whiskey as the flecks of gold decorating his irises shimmered.

“What happened to your wrists?” The low, even question rode a hoarse whisper of concern. A chill rippled through her despite the hot, steamy air caressing her bare skin.

“Helcyon was teaching me.” She wasn’t sure exactly how much Jacob wanted to hear about her time in Helcyon’s bed.

“And what did he teach you?” His dark brows rose inquiringly, and a half smile flirted at the corners of his mouth.

Tugging her hands from his, Cassie stepped into the heat of his body, flattening her palms against his chest. The tingling sensation in her fingers increased. A thousand pins and needles of pleasure spread from her fingertips to her elbows and then up her arms to collide together in a bubble over her heart. Her pussy clenched.

If Helcyon was a warm summer rain, fresh with possibilities, Jacob was the torrent of spring, washing the world clean, or the autumn storm, supercharged with electricity. The first time she’d pulled power from him, it seemed to spill through her, tumbling over every defense, filling up every hidden part of her with the sense of him.