Siren's Song: The Gray Court, Book 5 (18 page)

“Wait! I have something I need to tell you.” Demetria yanked her arm out of Jaden’s hold, wincing and rubbing at it as she dashed toward Cassie. “It wasn’t Titannia who poisoned Oberon.”

“What?” Cassie turned, stunned. “What did you just say?”

“Got your attention finally?” Demetria flipped her hair back. “Will you listen now?”

“Sit down and tell me everything.”

Demetria’s gaze flickered toward the door. “I don’t have much time. But I can tell you it was an agent of Gloriana who poisoned the king, not Titannia.”

Cassie’s gaze darted toward Jaden. “We were attacked by agents of the Black Court on the road not far from here.”

“I’m certain they just took advantage of the situation.” Demetria sniffed. “Things were supposed to go differently.”

“Were they?” The menace in Jaden’s tone was startling.

The implications of what Demetria was saying finally filtered in. “Mom and Dad did this.”

“As if they would dirty their hands with such a plot.” Demetria drew herself up with a smirk. “No, they were aware of it. They just chose not to act on it.”

“Why? Why would Gloriana do this?” Jaden took a menacing step toward Demetria.

“The Black Court needs to be obliterated. They are a stain on the fae world, filled with evil creatures that prey on mortals and lesser fae alike.” Demetria’s disgusted look as she glared at Jaden was telling. “Creatures like you, spawn of the dark one.”

“Gloriana wants to start a war.” Cassie shuddered. “Is she insane? It took the gods to stop the last one. The world couldn’t survive another fae war.”

“And mortals would learn of our presence. There would be massive hunts for us, experiments done on us…” Jaden shivered. “Vampire hunters would come out of the woodwork.”

“We need to warn Oberon.”

Jaden nodded, but before he could do anything more a startled, pained expression came over his face. When his hands went to his chest, she began to worry.

“Jaden?” She took a step toward the vampire, scared as the disruption in his song flared across her senses.

The vampire fell to the ground, a stake driven into his back by—

“Good night, Cassie.”

And the world went black.

Chapter Seventeen

Duncan Malmayne ran into his study with a pale face and shaking hands. “Jaden’s injured.”

Oberon was out of his chair so quickly it toppled. “Where?”

“The sitting room off your bedroom.” Duncan ran to keep up with Oberon. “He was guarding Cassie tonight.”

Oberon’s fists clenched. If Jaden was injured, it could mean only one thing. “Where’s Cassie?”

“I don’t know. Princess Demetria Nerice was demanding she be allowed in to speak with her sister. I was on my way to deal with her when Jaden asked me to inform you that Cassie was kicking Demetria out of the castle. Next thing I knew, his pain…” The Sidhe ground his teeth. “The last time I felt this much pain coming from him, he’d been stabbed with a stake.”

The Atlanteans. Oberon’s wrath grew as he thought of the King and Queen of Atlantis and their smug, horrid daughters. He would obliterate their court, scrap their entire city and demolish anything and everything that belonged to them. Their future was assured now: they had none. “I want her found.”

“Yes, sire.” Duncan frowned, but still ran with him toward Oberon’s private quarters. “Moira is contacting Robin.”

Oberon slammed into his private quarters, howling in fury as he saw the down vampire, the overturned chair Cassie had chosen as her own. His mate was nowhere in sight.

“Jaden!” Duncan dashed past him, kneeling at the side of his bondmate. “
Amoureaux.
” Duncan’s Seeming dropped, the Sidhe lord glittering like spun gold. “He’s alive, barely.”

Robin swirled into being, a very sleepy-looking Michaela held in his arms. “Sire?”

“Oh.” Michaela dashed toward Jaden, kneeling next to him and tugging the stake free of his back. “Hold on, Jaden.” Her hands glowed as she began the long process of healing the vampire.

“Cassie is gone.” Oberon could barely focus on anything else. As fond as he was of the young Blade, Cassie was
gone
.

Robin nodded once and disappeared.

“Sire?” Harold stepped into the room, looking horrified. “What happened?”

“The Atlanteans have Queen Cassandra.” Oberon could feel his heart, so newly healed, ice over. If anything happened to Cassie, the world could burn for all he cared. “Bring them to me.”

Harold nodded and ran from the room as if his ass were on fire.

Oberon closed his eyes, listening for the sound of his mate’s song in his heart.

There. So far away she might as well have been…

Oh. Oh, how stupid they were. They should have known he would come after them, would find them so easily if they returned there.

“Oberon.” He opened his eyes to find Raven staring at him, his own eyes swirling green and blue. “Wherever she is, you can’t go in guns blazing.”

“Why not?” Oberon stared at the son of the Hob, daring him to contradict him. Child of his blood-brother or not, Oberon would go through Raven if need be.

Raven refused to back down. “Because it’s a trap.” Raven kept his gaze on Oberon’s, not lowering his gaze even when Oberon snarled. In another place and time Oberon might have been impressed. “They’re using your bondmate to lure you to a place of their choosing.”

“He’s right.” Duncan looked up, his expression haggard. “They’re going to want to bring you to them.”

“Their plan won’t work if you don’t play along.” Raven refused to back up even when Oberon dropped his Seeming, even when Oberon’s hands crackled with lightning. “You need to let the Blades do their job.”

“Your majesty, King Alrik and Queen Andromeda of the Atlantean Court.”

Oberon smiled, and Raven shuddered. “Bring them in, Harold.”

“Yes, sire.”

The monarchs were led into the room by his majordomo, who was pale and shaking. “Sire?”

“Dismissed, Harold.”

Harold’s chin rose. “If it’s all the same, I would like to stay. Queen Cassandra deserves no less.”

Oberon nodded his agreement before turning toward the parents of his bondmate. “Where is my truebond?”

King Alrik and Queen Andromeda exchanged confused glances before their expressions became blankly polite. “I’m sorry, your majesty. Why would we know where your bondmate is?”

Lightning crackled from his fingertips, narrowly missing Queen Andromeda’s toes. “Do not lie to me. She lies under the sea, by your hand.”

“If you know where she is, why do you question us?” Queen Andromeda took a step back at the look on his face. She must have realized that the next bolt would strike her down. “I mean, what makes you believe we have anything to do with her disappearance?”

Oberon narrowed his eyes. “Did I say she’d disappeared?”

“You didn’t have to.” King Alrik maneuvered himself until he stood in front of his queen, protecting her from Oberon’s wrath. “Just the fact that you question us has us believing she must have.” He smiled in a conciliatory manner that had Oberon growling under his breath. “It is possible she chose to leave of her own free will.”

For a second Oberon entertained the idea that his bondmate had taken herself away, but quickly dismissed it. “Then explain why her guard was attacked from behind.”

“Indeed.” Duncan came and stood by Oberon, his own, more subtle power crackling around him in electric sparks. “Tell me, King Alrik, when did you decide to betray the High King?”

The silky tones of Duncan Malmayne’s voice betrayed the Sidhe lord’s anger, but the way his gaze bored into King Alrik told Oberon far more than his tone did. The Sidhe was rolling the king’s mind, looking for a way to get the man to open up and tell the truth. The Sidhe ability to cloud minds was strong with Duncan. He could appear to be anywhere, anytime, fooling his victims into believing whatever he wished. He could even appear in their minds as a completely different person, pulling from their memories and desires and causing them to open up to him in a way not even the most persuasive of Robin’s interrogation techniques could.

Whatever Duncan showed the man worked, because King Alrik bowed. “My queen, you know we are most loyal to you.” He continued, ignoring Duncan’s rapidly indrawn breath. Apparently Alrik was seeing Duncan as one of the queens, more than likely Gloriana. “We have done everything you’ve asked of us.”

“Indeed.” Duncan’s gaze darted toward Alrik’s queen and she curtsied deeply. “But the poison you provided failed to bring the High King to me.”

“Queen Gloriana, we didn’t anticipate interference from our outcast daughter.” Queen Andromeda wrung her hands. “We are being brought to the Gray Palace. We can contact our agent there and attempt the poison once more.”

“Once he loses his memory we’ll be in a position to bring him directly to you.” King Alrik bowed. “With the High King safely secured, your war with the Black Queen can commence immediately.”

“Our troops are ready to move on your word, majesty.” Queen Andromeda bit her lip.

“Who is your agent in the Gray Palace? He must be rewarded well.” Duncan was smiling, but the rage in him was visible in the way his power swirled around him. The sparks of the Sidhe were agitated, filled with the green light of his leprechaun lover and the gray mist of the vampire who just now sat up, quietly thanking Michaela.

“No one special, your majesty. Just a kitchen worker who has access to the high king’s bar in his private quarters.”

“Tell me the name, Alrik.”

“Alicia Hale.”

Raven nodded once and disappeared in a swirl of black feathers.

“How did you deliver the poison? We’ll need to come up with a different method this time.” Duncan kept his gaze firmly on Alrik and Andromeda, smiling slightly when Jaden stood with Michaela’s help.

“It was coated on the inside of the tumblers, your majesty. Our agent made sure they were washed immediately upon Oberon’s disappearance to insure no one else was harmed.”

“Good.” Duncan rubbed his forehead wearily.

“Is there anything else you need to know before Duncan releases them?” Jaden’s voice was scratchy. The vampire had lost a lot of blood and was probably starving, but he opened his arms to his bondmate Moira, who came racing into the room, frantically checking him over. She must have felt the same things Duncan had, but being on the other side of the palace, it had taken longer for the leprechaun to arrive.

“Where is Cassie?”

Duncan stopped rubbing his forehead and focused on the pair before him. “Where is your daughter now?”

“Demetria has taken Cassandra to the palace. Her bonding of Oberon was a mistake, one we plan to rectify.” Andromeda looked far too pleased with herself for Oberon’s liking.

“How?” Duncan’s voice sharpened.

“We will appeal to Poseidon to break the bond.”

Oberon cursed. The god could, indeed, remove the bond, but Oberon would have to consent first. Forcing the truebond to break would kill Cassandra and break Oberon. “That’s enough, Duncan.”

Duncan released his hold on the Atlanteans. “Your plan, your majesty?”

Oberon flicked his hand, obliterating the king and queen of Atlantis. Not even ash floated down to the floor. “Inform the Atlanteans that the royal house of Nerice no longer exists due to high treason.”

“Yes, sire.” Duncan bowed, swaying slightly on his feet.

“Never mind, Duncan.” He clapped the Sidhe on the shoulder. “I’ll have Robin make that announcement.”

“Good.” Duncan grinned viciously. “I just wish I could be a fly on the wall when that happens.” His grin faded. “What will you do about Gloriana?”

“After I regain my bondmate, I will remind her of why I am High King.” Oberon stalked from the room, leaving Michaela to assist Duncan to Jaden and the hovering Moira. The three would be fine with some rest, and Michaela, despite Robin’s fears, was more than capable of taking care of herself. Oberon left them to it.

After all, he had a castle to storm.

“This is possibly the stupidest thing you’ve ever done in your entire life, Demi.” Cassie watched her sister pace in front of her. Demetria’s expression was worried as she stared out the window.

They were back in her parent’s palace, a place Cassie had hoped never to see again. Sculpted within an underground mountain, the palace was a wonder of swirled stone and curved archways, built to allow those who swam rather than walked to be comfortable within its environs. It flowed organically from one room to another, with the king and queen’s chambers toward the top of the mountain and the servant’s areas below the seabed. Coral lights were embedded into sculpted stone columns or into walls, enchanted with the same magic that gave the merfolk their glow. There were nooks and crannies set in the walls as well, places for merfolk to rest and chat that would seem odd to those who sat at tables or on sofas but made perfect sense to those who floated through water with fins instead of feet.

Cassie was bound, held in place between two stone warriors, carved out of the mountain as the entire room had been. She was chained with her arms pulled up above her head behind her back, forcing her forward in a bowed position. This was a room Cassie had never been in before, one she never wished to visit again.

Her parents’ private quarters.

Demetria had ordered her most loyal guards to bind Cassie to the statues. When informed she was Oberon’s truebond, they’d hesitated, but Demetria had forced them to obey. They’d been as gentle as they could, and for that Cassie would ask that they be spared from her truebond’s wrath. They were following the orders of their princess, and had to obey.

But the one who’d tried to kill Jaden, that one would die. He was the most vicious, and loyal, of Demi’s guards, and like her he’d barely been civil to Cassie and Dayton. Any pretense that he was dealing with a princess of Atlantis had gone by the wayside the moment she ran away from home.

It was him who’d forced her head down when the guards tied her arms, him who would feel Oberon’s lash of fury. If he were smart, he would run. Oberon was coming for her, and Cassie waited patiently for him to arrive. This was not going to end well for her family, but that was their choice, not hers.

“They should have been here by now.” Demetria bit her lip. “And do
not
call me Demi, Cassandra. It’s beneath you.”

Cassie blew a raspberry.

“Why couldn’t you do as you were bid and marry that boy?” Demetria’s fin swirled with agitated light. “None of this would have been necessary had you not interfered.”

“Why is Gloriana doing this?” She refused to give the White Queen the courtesy of a title, not after all this.

Demetria sighed. “You’ve never shared our ideals, Cassandra. You wouldn’t understand.”

She lifted her head as far as she could, ignoring the strain it put on her neck. “Then make me.”

Demetria flitted from the window. “You know what evil the Black Court is capable of, Cassandra. You’ve seen it first-hand. Did you not save Robin Goodfellow’s pet seer from the poison of a Black Court monster?”

“Yes, but—”

“But nothing! You of all people should be on our side. You’ve seen what they can do to the innocent.” Demetria sniffed. “Of course, this means obliterating the Dark Court fae, but the majority of them don’t deserve even a modicum of mercy.”

“Not all Black Court fae are evil, Demetria.” The Pacifica court had proven that.

“They chose their fate when they sided with the Black Queen.” Demetria had no mercy for any who did not believe as she did. “With Oberon safely in the hands of Gloriana, we can finally rid the world of the evil that is the Dark Queen.” Demetria swam in front of Cassie, her face full of a fanatical light that terrified Cassie. “And no one will stand in our way. Not you, not the High King, not even the Hob.”

“Did I hear my name mentioned?”

Demetria froze, that fanatical light dimming as terror replaced zeal. She slowly turned to face the Hob. “Lord Goodfellow.”

Cassie almost laughed at the sight of the Hob. Robin had to be different. Instead of the typical ocean colors most merfolk sported, Robin Goodfellow’s scales and fin were fiery red, encompassing all the colors that danced in his hair. His eyes sparkled with green light, obliterating the blue. Even his skin had a distinct reddish hue as he floated nonchalantly behind Demetria.

“My queen.” Robin bowed. “How are you?”