Bram ignored me and focused instead on the goblin. “I want you to be my eyes where Dulcie is concerned, do you understand?” Bram asked, his pupils narrowed, warning the stupid idiot not to even think of arguing with him. “You will report back to me by phone every hour.”
The goblin took a deep breath as he apparently weighed the subject in his pea-sized brain. It took him a few seconds before he reached the conclusion that it wasn’t a good idea to irritate an already aggravated vampire. “Yessir, Mr…”
“My name is unimportant,” Bram interjected. It seemed he’d interrupted the goblin on purpose, as if he hadn’t wanted the goblin to utter his last name… It was strange, to say the least.
“Yessir, I’ll be yer eyes.” It was at that moment that I realized the goblin knew Bram. He’d known Bram as soon as he’d walked into the prison. I wasn’t sure if the Cyclops also recognized him but I was sure the goblin definitely had. And now, I found myself wondering, why? How would the goblin know him? And, for that matter, did Bram know the goblin? What was Bram holding back from me? What wasn’t he telling me?
“I want her in my cell,” Knight piped up from behind us, apparently close enough that he could hear our conversation. “She won’t be safe unless she’s with me.”
“Yes,” I said immediately, thinking that was the best idea I’d heard all day. Not to mention the fact that I wanted to lose myself in Knight’s arms, to try and ignore the horrible reality around us. I just wanted to touch him, be close to him, tell him how sorry I was for causing him to be in this mess to begin with. I glanced up at Bram and noticed he was scrutinizing Knight and it was pretty obvious he didn’t like the idea one bit.
“We ain’t supposed ta house her with any other creatures,” the goblin said, now playing stickler for the rules.
“Knight isn’t going to attack me, you idiot,” I said gruffly, the pain inside my head throbbing. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, wondering if I was going to pass out again.
“Yeah, but he ain’t got much more time here,” the goblin pointed out in a heated tone.
I felt my stomach drop as my eyes flashed open. “What did you say?” I demanded, feeling the pounding of my headache increasing with the news.
“His execution is set fer two days from now,” the goblin answered like he was talking about the weather, not Knight’s life. “So what ya gonna do once he’s gone, huh?”
I felt bile rising up into my throat and thought I was going to vomit right there. I held my face up to the ceiling, hoping gravity might keep the contents of my stomach in my stomach.
Two days from now?! Two days…
“I am very sorry to hear this news,” Bram said and the tone of his voice also sounded dejected. I glanced up at him to ascertain if he really was sorry and, amazingly enough, he appeared sincere.
“Not as sorry as I am,” Knight said with an attempt at levity but resulting as exhaustion.
“We’re going to find a way out of this, Knight,” I said as I looked up at him, hating the expression of futility in his eyes. “We will find a way.” I choked on the words, feeling tears beginning to flood my eyes.
Calm down, Dulcie, and just think. I told myself. There has got to be a way to delay Knight’s sentence, a way to get him out of this.
“When is my hearing scheduled?” I demanded, thinking I needed to get the facts of my involvement out in the open immediately. That way, maybe I could at least stave off Knight’s execution. I just needed time!
“I ain’t heard nothin’ ‘bout no hearing fer you,” the goblin said with indifference.
“I will inquire with the powers that be,” Bram said and smiled down at me kindly as I wondered what role he played in the Netherworld. There was no use in asking that he admit it now, though, not with the goblin and Knight in attendance. I mean, it was unlikely that he’d confess anything to me.
“Either way, I want her with me for the time being,” Knight interrupted, facing the goblin again, his hands wrapped around the cell bars.
“You ain’t the only one in yer cell,” the goblin said as he shrugged. “Ms. Brandenburg gave me directions ta not put the fairy wif any other creatures an’ I sho as hell ain’t gonna git that woman on ma case.”
“Move him to her cell,” Bram said, in an exasperated tone. He had apparently come to terms with the fact that Knight was right—I would be safest with him. Especially since Bram couldn’t guard me here twenty-four/seven, or could he?
The goblin nodded and pulled at the O-ring on his belt, finding the key to Knight’s cell before opening the door. He grabbed Knight’s hand and threatened him with an expression that said: no funny stuff. Knight frowned and shook off the goblin’s hold, leading himself into my cell. The goblin came up behind him and locked the cell door behind all three of us.
He glanced at Bram and cleared his throat. “Just lemme know when ya want out.”
Bram nodded and faced me again while Knight motioned for Bram to release me. “I can take her from here,” he said.
But Bram didn’t release me. Instead, he glanced down and seemed to study me. “She is injured.”
“Dulcie?” Knight asked softly, looking at me with worried concern in his beautiful blue eyes. “Your forehead…”
Yep, I must have had a pretty bad bruise or maybe the skin was broken where the Cyclops had forced me to get up close and personal with the prison bars. “I think it’s a concussion,” I said, seeing the stars start to spin around me again.
“That fucking bastard,” Knight spat out but before he could complete his sentence, Bram interrupted.
“She must drink from me.”
What?” I demanded, the idea of drinking Bram’s blood right up there with cutting off my own leg.
I didn’t hear anything from Knight and looked up at him with inquiring eyes. He merely nodded at the idea, studying me in a detached sort of way, as if analyzing how badly I was hurt.
“You need your strength, Dulce,” he said finally. “He’s right.”
“Can’t you heal me?” I asked him, remembering the time when I’d nearly died after fighting the Kragengen shifter and Knight healed me. And the best part about Knight healing me was it didn’t involve swallowing any blood.
“Not here,” he said resolutely. And by “here,” I had to imagine he meant in the Netherworld. So, in the same way that my magic wouldn’t work in this godforsaken place, apparently neither did his Loki abilities, or, at least, that particular one.
“Trust me, Dulcie,” Bram whispered. “You will not need to swallow much.”
Before I could respond, he simply bent down, opened his mouth to reveal his now extended fangs, pushed his wrist into his mouth and bit. When he pulled away, there was blood trailing down his wrist and mouth, the color and consistency of Welch’s grape juice.
For the second or third time this evening, I felt like I wanted to be sick. I chanced a quick glance at Knight and noticed his jaw was tight and his eyes were piercing. He didn’t like this one bit.
Bram forced his wrist into my face and I closed my eyes, realizing I’d have to do this quickly because his wound was going to heal within a matter of seconds. I opened my mouth and felt Bram lift his wrist and push it to my lips. I started to suck, feeling the warm, metallic taste of blood filling my mouth. My throat seemed to clench tightly shut and before I knew it, I was gagging.
“Swallow,” Bram commanded in a voice that warned me not to disappoint him. I’m sure he wasn’t exactly thrilled to be sharing his blood and even less thrilled by the fact that I was so grossed out by it. My body was basically staging a mutiny.
But I finally managed to go to my happy place and forced my throat to relax. I swallowed a good two mouthfuls of Bram’s blood. He pulled his wrist away and I opened my eyes, watching the redness of his torn skin began to knit back to tan again as his body healed itself. I brushed my arm against my mouth, wiping away any residual reminders of what I’d just done.
“I don’t feel any different,” I sa
id, suddenly wondering if that episode had just been a huge waste of time. What if Bram’s blood didn’t act like it did on Earth? Maybe it was just as impotent as Knight’s abilities and my magic? If that were the case, then I was nothing but pissed off. My head was still aching, I was stuck in the most miserable prison I’d ever seen and the one man who had stolen my heart had been sentenced to die…
“Give it a moment,” Bram said, smiling down at me. “Your bruise is already fading, sweet.”
I felt surprise fluttering about inside of me and was about to comment on as much when I suddenly felt like my stomach was turning in on itself. I lurched over, grabbing my middle as pangs of agony doubled me over. It was like being stabbed in the gut with a pitchfork repeatedly. My insides were suddenly caught in a whirlwind, smashing against one another.
“Dulcie?” It was Knight but I couldn’t look at him or even respond. “Bram, what the hell did you do to her?”
I keeled over and felt myself fall forward. Knight caught me and I bumped against his broad chest, wishing I could feel comforted by his embrace. Instead, the fire inside me continued to burn.
“She will heal,” Bram said matter-of-factly. “Her body is trying to reject my blood but it will last only moments.”
Even as he spoke, I could feel the pain subsiding and something akin to numbness began to set in. I found I could breathe again, shallow at first and then deeper, little by little. When I tried to stand up straight, there was a slight twinge of the previous agony that had been tearing through me but it was mild enough to where I could suffer through it.
“You could have warned me, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered, glaring up at Bram as I took a deep breath and forced myself to stand up straight.
“It is always better not to warn someone of impending suffering,” Bram responded and there was a lilt to his voice, like he thought this whole thing was slightly amusing.
“Are you alright, Dulce?” Knight asked as he rubbed my back and gazed down at me with concerned eyes.
I thought about the question—was I alright? The pain was now entirely absent, replaced by… intense strength, strangely enough. I felt reenergized. The dizziness and stars were like a distant memory. Now I felt as if I could run a twelve kilometer marathon. And that had to mean one thing—Bram was right. “Yeah, it worked.”
“Good because we have more important matters to speak of,” Bram said as he faced me with a smile. He smacked his hands together in a gesture of impatience, like he had places to go and creatures to see.
“Important matters?” I repeated, surprise evident in my voice. It always seemed that Bram was at least one step ahead of me, owing to the fact, no doubt, that he was very good at keeping important details to himself.
Bram nodded. “While I was away,” he started and I figured he’d meant from the time he disappeared in the courtroom until now. “I was able to reach your Mr. Beaurigard.”
“You did what?” I asked, shocked. “You got in touch with Quill?” It really shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise because Quill and Bram sort of hung out in the same circles. That is to say, Quill was an outlaw and Bram dealt with a lot of outlaws, so I was sure at some point, their paths had to have crossed.
“Yes, quite so, sweet,” Bram said. He became quiet again, apparently enjoying the surprise on both of our faces. He definitely liked laboring under the belief that he was as spontaneous as they came. Although I didn’t know what Bram’s real last name was, I was about to dub him Bram Unpredictable.
“Are you going to tell us what happened?” Knight prodded. “Or are we just going to have to stand here and deal with your smug riddles all day?”
Bram frowned at Knight but said nothing. He merely cleared his throat and faced me again. “I felt Mr. Beaurigard needed to be made aware that you and the Loki were in the prison of the High Court and being detained for his transgressions.”
I swallowed hard, amazed that Bram would go to such lengths for me. I figured he’d merely booked passage back to Splendor once it looked like my fate had been sealed. But I was completely wrong. And for that I was thankful.
“And what happened?” Knight prodded.
Bram shrugged. “He told me he would turn himself in, do the honorable thing.”
“What?!” I asked in shock, trying to make sense of what Bram had just said. Quill was coming to the Netherworld? To turn himself in? “You mean Quill is coming here, to the High Court?”
Bram nodded and then cocked his head like maybe it wasn’t quite as simple as that. “Well, that is what he told me, in any case. Whether he sticks to his word, we shall find out.” He was quiet for a few seconds. “I imagine it will be quite a decision for him to make.”
Suddenly, I felt incredibly worried for Quill which really made no sense because on the flipside, Quill’s arrival could mean the release of Knight and me. But what would it mean for Quill? If he came here and turned himself in, he would absolutely be sentenced to die. But would his death sentence release Knight? Would it release me? I wasn’t sure and it wasn’t something I even wanted to think about. Quillan’s life in return for Knight’s and mine wasn’t a trade that I wanted any part of.
“At any rate, that is my news, as of now.” Bram started for the cell door and then turned back to face me. “I will learn what is to be done regarding your hearing, Dulcie sweet.”
I nodded. “Thank you, Bram, for…everything.”
“Yes,” Knight added. “I believe I misjudged you.” Bram’s eyebrows reached for the ceiling as Knight continued. “Thank you for acting as guardian for Dulcie. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
Bram frowned and seemed at odds with the words coming from Knight’s lips. It was at that moment that I realized Bram was jealous of Knight, deeply. The vampire said nothing but took a few steps toward the cell door and then paused. He turned around to face me and smiled without humor.
“Dulcie, I believe you owe me a kiss.”
I swallowed hard. “A kiss?” I repeated, suddenly realizing he was referring to our contractual kiss-a-day.
“What the hell?” Knight started.
So Bram wasn’t quite the chivalrous gentleman I made him out to be. He was still looking out for himself. I took a deep breath and thought about the fact that this would not go well, not with Knight acting as sentry. I could see the impending storm already on the horizon.
I faced Knight and shook my head. “It was the only way I could get him here.”
“What was the only way?” Knight demanded, anger coloring his eyes until they flamed a brilliant blue.
“We have a contract,” Bram answered, his smile still in full effect. “In return for my guardianship, Dulcie promised me one kiss per day and she has yet to deliver today’s kiss.”
“Over my fucking dead body,” Knight stormed and started forward. “I knew you were a rat bastard.”
“Rat bastard or not,” Bram started as he began buffing his nails against his lapel. “Your fairy owes me.”
I stepped away from Knight and turned back, putting the flat of my hand on his chest. “It’s a kiss, Knight, it’s not the end of the world.”
But judging by the expression on Knight’s face, a kiss was second in line to the end of the world. I said nothing more but approached Bram and frowned. “Make it quick,” I said.
“I’m watching you,” Knight said to Bram, his eyes still burning.
I stood on my tip-toes, intending to give Bram a chaste peck on his lips but he wrapped his arms around me and forced his mouth on mine. Holding me captive as he kissed me, he sucked on my lower lip before biting it playfully. I tried to pull away and he opened his eyes.
“Our agreement was inclusive of tongue, my dear.”
“That’s enough,” Knight started and before it turned into vampire vs. Loki, I grabbed Bram’s neck and pushed my mouth on his, forcing my tongue deep inside his mouth so I could hold up my end of the bargain.
“Okay, that’s all you get,” I said angrily as I pull
ed away from him, wiping my mouth against my forearm.
Bram smiled and winked at Knight before he nodded to the goblin, who opened the cell door, and allowed him to leave.
#
Hours passed and darkness descended on the prison. With only the few overhead flickering yellow lights, it was basically a dungeon. But dungeon or not, I was happily nestled in Knight’s arms as we lay on the floor and I listened to his heartbeat. I’d actually managed to fall asleep, for how long, I wasn’t sure. It was the first time I’d slept in what felt like days and I sorely needed it.
“Are you awake?” I whispered, pulling away from him to find his eyes on mine. It appeared he’d been awake for a while.
“Yes,” he answered and held me against his chest. “I haven’t been able to sleep.”
I nodded, thinking about his words, about how frightened he must have been that his death sentence was looming so closely. But I had promised myself that I wouldn’t think about the future for the next few hours. Instead, I would just live in the present and enjoy every second we had together.
And suddenly I was reminded of that horrible argument Knight and I had gotten into at my apartment regarding Jack.
“Knight?”
“Yes?”
I swallowed hard. “I’m sorry about that argument we had. You were right. I was afraid of giving into my feelings for you and I acted like a child.”
He chuckled but it was a sad sound. “Dulcie, it’s okay. None of that matters now anyway.”
I turned to face him and felt something break within me. It was the feeling that I might never hold him in my arms again, never feel him breathing down on me, never witness his beautiful smile again. “How did this happen?” I asked as I ran my fingers down his face. His cheeks were stubbly with shadow.
He shook his head and sighed. “Maybe it was fate.”
“No, it isn’t fate.” I said and exhaled all my pent-up frustration, suddenly feeling angry again. It seemed like over the last couple of days I’d gone back and forth between anger and sadness. “If I could just have my hearing, I could prove it wasn’t you, Knight.”