The Glass Man (12 page)

The watchful amber eyes made my hackles stand on end, but I kept trudging forward, jogged to catch up with Rourke, who sped along and muttered to himself.

Something moved near one of the buildings, so I stopped. Staring at the dark siding didn’t bring me any closer to knowing what it was made from—not a material I’d ever seen before. It expanded and contracted as though it breathed. Two windows above the black hole of a door flickered with candlelight.
Did it just … blink?

I pressed my hands against the cool surface without knowing how I’d arrived next to it. “It’s alive,” I said. “It’s smooth, like snake scales.”

Rourke appeared beside me, stared at the building, then at me as if he’d never seen me before. His eyes grew to crystal platters. “What the …” He grabbed my wrist and yanked me back to the middle of the street. “We have to go. Now. And don’t touch anything else.”

“But how does a building breathe? And it blinked, or winked at me, or … something.”

“Shut up and walk!”

I stumbled along in his grasp. Thankfully Rourke’s touch didn’t affect me the same way Liam’s did.

The whole city had a heartbeat of its own pulsing beneath my feet. More and more buildings shifted, the walls of their breasts rising and falling, their window eyes tracking me, blinking once in a while. They recognized me. They lived for me. I didn’t know how I knew, but I did.

We climbed a gradual hill and came to a stop before a wide set of stairs. They led to the base of a stone castle stretching far into the sky.

Liam had told me to stall. The instant I thought of him, I caught another glimpse of those white feathers sailing across the sherbet sky.
What am I seeing, Liam?
Would he still come for me?
Oh, hell.
Acting didn’t make my skills list, and I’d never counted on anyone before. Why, after one steamy night in the sack, did I suddenly care for him? I needed to forget it. I had more pressing issues.

Rourke mounted the steps, and I followed after him. The stone sang beneath my feet as if tickled by my touch. Half way up the stairs, Rourke ducked and screamed. I pasted myself to the stone, my eyes scanning the area around us, but I found nothing but Rourke writhing around a few steps above me. He batted at the air as if something clawed at him.

“Run!” A low, distant voice shouted at me. “Now, before the illusion wears off.”

After a moment of searching, I found Garret standing with a bearded man. They were in a turret in the beast of a castle looming above me. “Run, for Goddess sake. Now!”

I’d like to say he didn’t have to tell me twice, but apparently he did. I hiked up my dress and ran. Down the steps I went, stumbling twice before I made it back to the cobblestone and sprinted in the direction we’d come from. If I could make it back to that chamber, maybe I could find a way out.

Wolves flooded the street in a patch-work quilt of greys, whites and blacks.
Fuck.
The mass boiled and snarled, a stew of teeth and fur. Adrenaline picked up my feet and propelled them in the other direction, past the steps and into a part of the city devoid of light except for a purple glow from the spirit pool overhead.

I squealed when smoke rockets darted from above and piled into the street in front of me. More of the creepy Sluagh guys.
Double fuck.
I darted between two of the scaly buildings but found two wolves and more winged, hooded creatures closing that route. As I backed out, the cloaked beasts on the street formed a half circle around me. I ended up against the wall of a large house, stroking my hands over it in a soothing motion.

One of the shorter Sluagh made a strange guttural sound, followed by low hissing. I thought maybe they were talking in whatever language they used.

Another stepped forward—tall, with aqua eyes, the color of Caribbean seawater over a white sand beach. He answered the short one with a series of short, hollow sounds. They carried on, back and forth until my patience came to an end.

“Who are you?” I flattened myself against the wall and searched the ground for a weapon or something useful.
Nothing. Figures.

“I am Rodan.” The tall one shuffled closer. “Captain of the guard, and this—” He nodded to the short one. “—is Tobias, lieutenant.” Rodan cocked his head. “Is this true? Do you carry the sweet, sweet blood of Queen Arianne?”

“My blood is none of your business, Rodan. Now what do you want?” Why did he call it sweet? How did he know my mother’s name? Doubt spread into my core with the speed of fire through dry tinder. Was it true, what Liam had said? My mother, a queen of the faeries? That would make me …
Mother-loving hell!

“See,” the short one hissed. “She is trouble. Kill her now, bury her in the bone yard. Take her for your own, and use her to reclaim the Black City. Take back what is rightfully Sluagh.”

No way. Over my dead body.
That was the point, I supposed.

Think, Lila, think!
If they hated the Unseelie … it had possibilities. “I want the king dead as much as you do,” I blurted.

The six Sluagh before me froze beneath their black cloaks. Had they heard me? The wolves sauntered up and sniffed at them.

All of Sluagh’s heads snapped to the side, stared down the street as if a single brain controlled them all.

My head cramped under the magnetic push. The Glass Man drew near. His fury carried on the wind like a stinging, choking fog.

“Get me out of here, and I’ll help you. I swear it,” I said to Rodan.

“No!” Tobias screeched. “Bury her. Claim her before it’s too late.”

Rodan’s aqua marbles settled on me. Although I couldn’t see the rest of his face, the crinkling at the corners of his eyes betrayed his smile. It forced a new energy into my body.

I gulped as the pressure on my mind increased. The wolves whined and paced.

What could I do? I had no power to fight them, no weapon, and no place to run.
Where are you Liam?
That flash of feathers appeared again with a glimpse of color.

“Take her to the bone yard and kill her.” Rodan pointed a gnarled, sparsely feathered finger at me.

Fuck.

15

A sea of hooded Sluagh rushed at me. I fell backwards through the spongy wall of the house I leaned on.

“What the hell?” I regained my footing on the slippery black tile.
Did the house just … eat me?

When I put my hand against the red surface, it had solidified again, as smooth as the outer scales. Ridges ran the length of the space, ribs in the belly of a beast. I turned in search of the flickering light source in the room. A black wrought iron chandelier holding dozens of white candles hung in the center. Wax dripped and dried around the base like melting skin.

An oversized black leather sofa sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by two white wing chairs and a rocking chair by the fireplace. Wispy black curtains hung over the windows.

“Lila!” Parthalan roared beyond the walls.

While my mind spun escape scenarios, thundering wings and baying wolves sent vibrations through the house.

I darted around the room with my fingers tangled into my hair so it would stay out of my face. “What now?”

As if the house heard me, a staircase grew out of the floor beside me and stretched up to the second floor.
Nifty.
I understood how Alice felt, but instead of Wonderland, I’d stepped into Hades on acid.

I scrambled up the steps.

At the top of the stairs, the window eyes along the blue walls closed, blotting out the purple sky beyond. “Okay, smart guy, now what?”
Great, now I’m talking to a house.

The racket outside grew louder.

Similar to the lower floor, sparse furnishings populated the large open space: a bed with white satin coverings, a black area rug, and another white wing chair similar to the one from the living room. No pictures graced the walls, and nothing else indicated that someone lived there.

An explosion rocked the building. Debris clattered across the floor downstairs. I jumped, stumbled and fell onto the bed. The house shuddered and groaned.

“How dare you defy your King!” Parthalan’s shoes tapped out a devil’s tune on the floor below. “Return her to me, or I will burn you to the ground.”

My eyes stretched open wide as I searched for an escape. “Open your window again, and I’ll go out.” The window to my left blinked open.

One of the Sluagh hovered outside, the hood thrown back to reveal a jagged black beak protruding from an elongated face. Large red eyes bulged above it, and black feathers partially covered ashen skin.

“Okay, bad idea. Close it up again.”

Choose the devil, or his minions?
I didn’t like either choice, but option ‘c’ hadn’t presented itself yet. My thoughts returned to Liam, that he would somehow keep his promise to come for me.
Ridiculous.
I gave myself a mental slap.
No time for fairytales.

Parthalan’s shoes clicked up the stairs.

“Can’t you close them up or something?” The vibrations beneath my feet changed. It took me a moment to realize they were trembles of fear. I went to the wall and stroked my hand over the smooth surface. The window to my right fluttered, and clear liquid trickled out of the corner. “Oh, don’t cry,” I whispered. “Please don’t cry. I’m sorry.”

“How touching.” Parthalan flowed over the top of the stairs like an angry wind. “In the city for ten minutes and already made a friend.” The glower on his face didn’t match his words. The look said he’d hurt me, and he’d enjoy it.

I didn’t move, didn’t say anything. I stared at him and kept my hands against the wall because it seemed to comfort me as much as the house.

“You resist your King at every turn, defy me, insult me, humiliate me, and now you somehow awaken these creatures after centuries of dormancy only to entice them to turn against me.”

I turned my face toward the wall when he approached.
Awakened after centuries? What did that mean?

He stood so close his sickly sweet breath washed over my hair and down the back of my neck. I shivered—and not entirely from fear.

When I shifted to the right, he pinned me against the wall with his body.

He pressed his cheek against my ear. “Have you nothing to say to me? I expect you on your knees, begging my forgiveness.”

“I think you would have been terribly disappointed if I’d come quietly.”

Silence. I held my breath and waited for the pain to come, but nothing happened. He burst out laughing. My muscles contracted.
Why is he laughing?

“You do know me well, my darling. The challenge has kept me entertained all these years.”

I concentrated on keeping my body still so I wouldn’t give away my fear.
So … did that mean he wasn’t going to melt my guts?

“But for your naughtiness, I have promised Rourke a few hours with you tomorrow, after we’ve enjoyed our wedding night.”

I jumped when Parthalan clamped a shackle around my wrist, the kind that closed with a lock.
Goddamn it!
I cried out when he wrenched my other arm back and fastened both of them behind me.

“These will slow you down if you somehow manage to escape me again.” He yanked me by the upper arm toward the stairs and turned to the wall. “I’ll deal with you later.”

The iron sapped energy through my skin. “Leave it alone, it’s just a house.”

“Nothing is just what it seems here. Besides, any that stand against me must fall.” He spit out a dark laugh as he guided me down the steps. “Except for you, of course. For now.”

For now?
I licked my dry lips. “Why did you choose me? And what happens now?”

“The ancestors told me one would be born among the Seelie who would equal my power. I felt it the first time you used that delicious Light of yours. You were thirteen, merely a budding beauty. The spirits told me if I brought you here, they would grant me a mating before the Goddess, that when she sees our potential as a pair, she would bless us with gifts from both Courts.” He threw me down the last few steps. I landed on my knees. “But I decided to wait until I could kill the queen first. Then you would be mine alone to command instead of both of us serving as her puppets.”

The house continued to shake, causing the chandelier to swing back and forth. Wax spilled opaque globs onto the black tile. I jumped to my feet and turned to face him. “Both Courts? So the Seelie have different gifts than you do?”

“We are granted gifts from the wild, from the Goddess herself. The ability to shift, to have an animal to command, control of an element, and even to regenerate after death itself. There are too many to name, really.”

I backed up until I bumped into the wall. Parthalan’s eyes devoured my legs as he strutted toward me. “And the Seelie?” I squeaked.

He snickered. “Afraid, and still you question me. Bold. Wonderful.” He sighed and brushed a few strands of hair away from my face. “You and I have a similar
cumhacht
. Most Seelie powers have to do with seeing past or future, healing, flight, psycho kinesis, and other pointless trifles. Force of Will is a unique
cumhacht
among the Seelie, hence my interest in your father.”

I scowled, looked away and clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t unload a torrent of curses at him.

The walls groaned. I surveyed the gaping wound Parthalan had made in the side of the house. What should have been splintered wood and drywall looked more like bone and flesh. A hole had been blasted from floor to ceiling. Black liquid oozed out and pooled below.

“How did you do that?”

“Distractions won’t save you from my questions forever, my darling.” He followed my gaze. “That’s the work of Rodan, captain of my guard. His talents have come in handy over the centuries, and now he does
my
bidding instead of that infernal queen’s. Good riddance.” He said the last as though he’d tasted something bitter. I considered telling him his loyal captain had betrayed him by ordering me killed but decided to save that tidbit for later.

“What’s that dark liquid running out of the walls? It can’t be … blood.”

“I’d say it’s dying but not quickly enough for me.”

Ice climbed my spine. “You can’t just let it die!”

A crease formed in his brow. “Why would I save a traitor to the Unseelie Court?”

Because it tried to save me? Because it’s alive and deserves to stay that way even if I don’t know what exactly it is?
Those answers would have earned me a scoff and some rolled eyes, so I shrugged.

Parthalan studied my face from so close I could only see his mesmerizing eyes. It took some effort, but I held his gaze. He smirked as though he’d found what he’d been looking for. “You truly are soft beneath that hard shell you wear.” He sniffed along my skin, moaning. “Maybe we could strike a bargain?”

I struggled to breathe in his icy shadow. “What do you want?”
What am I willing to give up to save something I don’t understand?

“Just a trifle, really. A kiss, perhaps, the kind only Seelie Sidhe lips can give. To hear you speak the words I’ve been aching to hear from your lips.”

Could I swallow my pride to get it done? The price wasn’t as high as I’d feared, and it would save a life. “And you won’t let this … house die if I do this?”

“I give my word I will not destroy it.” A victorious smile arched his lips.

“That’s not good enough. I know you better than that. You can’t destroy it, nobody else can destroy it, and you also have to heal it.”

That earned me an eye roll. “Sometimes I wish you wouldn’t be so thorough.” He nodded. “Fine, fine, what you said.”

“Say it. You won’t destroy it or have it destroyed, and you’ll have someone heal it if you can’t do it yourself.”

After an exasperated exhale, he repeated me.

He sauntered over to a black sofa and flopped down. Smiling that dark way men do when they’re admiring the view, he spread his arms across the back and drummed his fingers along the leather. “Come now, my darling. Let us share the moment we were robbed of in the car.”

I hesitated, unable to peel myself from the comfort of the wall. How could I touch him without getting carried away? He probably wanted to prove he still had some physiological effect on me, but I had to keep myself under control.

Thinking of drowning puppies and wrinkled old men, I went to him. Stopped. “Stand up. I’m not sitting on you again.”

He rolled his eyes. “You agreed.”

“I agreed to a kiss, not the delivery. Stand up, and I’ll make good on my promise.”

After a few huffs and a dirty look, he pushed himself off the sofa and stood in front of me. We were the same height, increasing the intimacy, but at least my girly bits weren’t pressed against him.

Sighing, he stroked my cheek while he stared at me. His touch still made me goose bumpy, but nothing compared to how it used to be. Nothing compared to Liam’s touch.
Think of him. Just this once.
I relaxed a little, more in control than I’d ever been with Parthalan.

“Now kiss me and mean it.”

“Uncuff me so I can do it right.”

He pondered that for a moment, shrugged. “I suppose it doesn’t matter.” He dug a key from a pocket inside his suit jacket and unlocked my cuffs. I flexed and relaxed my fingers until they worked properly again.

A moan escaped him when I slid my fingers along his sharp jaw. I didn’t do it for intimacy, but because I wanted to control him. It took everything I had not to retch as I leaned in and found his lips with mine. Energy arced between us, but it didn’t tear me open and eat me up like it normally did. I kissed him softly. When I went to step away, he wrapped one hand around my waist, pressed us together and grabbed a handful of my hair. He kissed me hard, invading me with his tongue.

I squealed into his mouth when he pushed me against the wall. His skin shimmered, and mine answered with a faint rainbow of morphing colors. When he started pushing the hem of my dress up farther, I turned my head.

“Stop! You said just a kiss.”

His breath blew across my ear in ragged puffs. “You are such a tease. The touch of Seelie flesh is like no other, so warm and soft, your scent so sweet. And your power—” He moaned and lapped at my skin. “Don’t pretend you don’t want this, that you don’t feel what we will be once we are mated before the Goddess.”

Can a fae be mated twice?
I was starting to see why Liam didn’t want to tell him.

Fire spread through my flesh; my pulse raced. Not as bad as I’d feared, but I needed to get away. “We should wait,” I blurted. “Save all this energy for later, at the ceremony. Don’t you think?”

At first he kept pulling at my clothes but gave up and slumped his head down on mine. “I suppose you’re right. We’ll give them a sight none have witnessed before and never will again.” He released me and went through his little preening routine: suit, tie, hair—the usual.

What did he mean by ‘they’?
Knowing Parthalan, sex would be involved, even though Liam said it wasn’t necessary. The thought twisted my stomach, sending acid into my throat. Some sort of ritual must precede the consummation of the ceremony. I rubbed my arms, desperate for some soap and water to wash away the scent of him. I had an unbearable urge to scratch my skin off.

“Now,” he said when he’d finished his primping, “kneel before me.”

“What? Oh, hell no. I am not doing that.”

He tilted his head back and howled a laugh. “I do so love your dirty mind. This is the second part of our bargain, just words, unless the mood strikes you to do more.” He raised an eyebrow. When I did nothing but glare back, he went on. “Now kneel before me. You have given your word. To break your oath can have dire consequences.”

Now he tells me.
Not that I had any intention of backing out, but still. Scowling, I knelt in front of him, tucked my skirt under my knees. His gaze slid down the top of my dress, so I cinched it tighter across my chest.

“Now, repeat after me. I am yours, my King.”

My brain cramped. Every time I tried to spit the words out, they turned into barbed hooks in my throat. My arms trembled, and my fingers curled into fists as I stared into his thighs.
Lousy, pompous shit.