Prince of Air and Darkness Read online

  “Was I too rough with you?” he asked softly.

  She laughed. No way in hell he thought he’d been too rough. He was fishing for compliments. He deserved them.

  She finally found the energy to open her eyes and smile at him. “You were fantastic,” she told him, reaching out to stroke his cheek. “I’ve never had it so good.” She shivered with remembered pleasure.

  His eyes twinkled with mischief. “I bet you say that to all the guys. You’re far too nice to risk bruising a man’s ego.”

  Her smile faded some, for he’d hit uncomfortably close to the mark.

  “What did I say?” Hunter asked, looking alarmed.

  She shook her head. “It wasn’t what you said. At least, not really.” She pressed herself against him, wrapping an arm around him and squeezing tightly. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d never had it so good.” She slid her hand onto his chest, stroking his sweat-dampened skin with her index finger. “It’s true that I’ve told other men that it was good when it wasn’t particularly. I just . . . I didn’t realize it could be better.”

  He turned onto his side and gathered her into his arms. “I’m glad I managed to do something right.”

  Kiera snuggled deeper into his arms, savoring the feel of his warmth against her. He’d done something right, all right. And he’d done it so right she wondered if she’d ever be satisfied with another man again. She suppressed a sigh. She would have to be satisfied, somehow. As everyone had reminded her, though not always with the same purpose, there was no future for the two of them. It was only a matter of time before Hunter got dragged back into the Unseelie Court, and even if he survived whatever punishment he was given, she would never see him again.

  “You’ve tensed up,” Hunter said, pushing her gently away so he could look into her face. “What’s the matter?”

  Kiera gave him a sad smile. “Do you really have to ask?”

  Hunter took her hand in his and raised it to his lips. “Sometimes all you can do is live in the moment. And this moment is pretty nice.”

  She had to admit, lying naked in her bed with Hunter beside her did make a very nice moment.

  “I just don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Is there anything I can do to help?”

  He brushed another kiss over her knuckles. “You are helping.”

  “I’m helping delay the inevitable, but that’s not really much help.”

  “There’s nothing else you can do. There’s nothing else I can do. Not unless you want to have a baby with me and hand it over to the Queen.” He flopped onto his back with a grunt of frustration. “I suspect I was doomed from the beginning. Even if I’d succeeded and you’d had a child, I doubt that in the end I’d have been able to hand it over. I told myself I could, and that I would watch over it and keep it safe, an impossible task in the Court. But neither my mother nor the entire Court has been able to kill my conscience entirely. They’ve taken it to the brink of death, but it’s still breathing.”

  Kiera couldn’t think what to say to that, so instead she snuggled up beside Hunter with her head on his chest, offering him what comfort she could.

  “I tried to become a good Unseelie warrior,” Hunter continued. “I tried to be what my mother wanted me to be, what I was born to be. My life would have been so much easier that way. To be born Unseelie but with a human conscience is a very cruel fate.”

  She frowned and propped herself on her elbow so she could look at him more closely. “What is it, exactly, that makes you consider yourself Unseelie? I thought the Unseelie Court was just goblins and monsters. You’re not either one. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I would swear you’re just a regular human being.”

  He shrugged. “I was sired by a human man and borne by a humanoid woman, so you’re right, I don’t look like a member of the Unseelie Court. But I’m Unseelie all the same.”

  “But why?”

  He blinked as though the question were unheard of. “Because my mother is the Queen of Air and Darkness.”

  “So? That’s your mother. What makes you Unseelie, when you aren’t a member of any of the Unseelie races? Isn’t there something inherent in being a goblin that makes them Unseelie? Something that you don’t have?”

  He shifted uncomfortably, his eyes looking troubled. “I’ve spent all my life in the Unseelie Court, Kiera. It’s the only life I know. Maybe it isn’t inherent in me, but I’ve been raised to it.”

  She shook her head, warming to the subject as pieces began to fit together in her mind. “If you were a goblin—a true Unseelie creature—would you have spared me?”

  His jaws clamped stubbornly. “I’m not a goblin, so I wouldn’t know.”

  “Oh come on, Hunter. I may not have believed my mother’s stories growing up, but I did listen to them. Goblins and bogles and redcaps . . . they’re all evil creatures. All. There’s no such thing as a goblin with a heart of gold. I don’t think they’re capable of being good. That’s what makes them Unseelie, Hunter, not the fact that they grew up in the Unseelie Court. But you’re different.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” he declared, but she’d seen a hint of thoughtfulness in his eyes before he’d guarded his expression. “Whether I’m Unseelie or not, I’m still my mother’s son. I am part of her Court, and there is no escaping it.”

  Kiera had no choice but to back down, at least for the moment. Her questions had raised all of Hunter’s barriers, and the more she banged on them, the more he’d shore them up. Maybe if she gave him time to think everything over, those barriers would start to crack. Maybe then he’d decide to fight for himself. Until then, perhaps she should remind him just what he’d be fighting for.

  “Let’s forget about all that for now,” she said with what she hoped was a sultry smile. Her fingers began idly tracing designs on his bare chest. “Living in the moment doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.” Her hand started traveling downward, and she felt his pulse speed up under her fingertips.

  Hunter gave her one of his lopsided grins. “Remember, your friend only gave you one condom.”

  She had indeed entirely forgotten that and she shook her head at herself. “I’ll scold him for his lack of foresight later. After I finish skinning him alive.”

  “But before you boil him in oil?”

  That surprised a laugh out of her. “I see you’ve been taking notes.” Of course, considering she’d just had the best sex of her life thanks to Jackson’s meddling, she might have to rethink her plans for him.

  Hunter was more than ready to go again, judging by the impressive tent his erection was making in the sheets. So was she, for that matter. But that was just too bad.

  She sighed dramatically. “I suppose an encore is out of the question.”

  “There’s a drug store right around the corner. I wouldn’t want to leave you unsatisfied.”

  “Unsatisfied is not the word I’d use to describe myself right now.”

  Hunter slipped out of the bed and began pulling on his clothing. “How about ‘greedy?’ Is that a better word?”

  Kiera grabbed a pillow and swatted his butt with it. He howled in mock pain and clutched his luscious cheeks as though mortally wounded. But she suspected he was feeling a little greedy himself, based on the haste with which he put on his clothes.

  He finished buttoning his shirt and leaned over to kiss her forehead. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Kiera turned over on her side, watching Hunter’s back until he disappeared from sight, her body already beginning to react to the promise of his return.

  ****

  Hunter’s thoughts rushed willy-nilly across his mind, flitting from one impossible subject to another. He tried to keep pushing his thoughts back to the incredible gift Kiera had given him—and planned to give him again when he returned. That he didn’t deserve it went without saying. But he wanted it with such a deep-seated intensity that he couldn’t imagine turning her down.

  Enticing as the thought of losing himself in her body was, the glow o
f pleasant anticipation was interrupted frequently with a single, innocent question that had rocked the very foundation of his world. What makes you Unseelie? It was something he had never thought to question before, something that he had taken for a given. But, though he had balked at the thought when Kiera mentioned it, he began to wonder if there was any chance she was right.

  He couldn’t deny that the full-blooded creatures of the Unseelie Court were unfailingly evil. He’d never heard of one that had a conscience of any sort. And hadn’t he always felt that gap between himself and the rest of the Court, hadn’t he always noted that he didn’t enjoy cruelty the way they did? He’d tended to think of that as a character flaw, an unbecoming weakness he’d inherited from his human father. But maybe it was more than that.

  A spark of hope lit somewhere in his chest. The Unseelie creatures were born evil, and he honestly believed they were incapable of being otherwise. But he obviously was capable of being a good man, even if he hadn’t always exercised that option. Perhaps he was not as tainted as he’d thought.

  His mind was so occupied by these thoughts that he walked to the drugstore and bought the condoms in something of a daze, hardly noticing his surroundings. His hopes of redemption were tempered by the knowledge that whether he was genuinely Unseelie or not mattered little to his ultimate fate. He was still his mother’s to command.

  Still puzzling over the implications, Hunter walked back toward the apartment with his head down and his shoulders hunched against the persistent cold. He was distracted enough that he didn’t immediately notice that someone had fallen into step beside him. Then the familiar, dreaded odor reached his nostrils and snapped him out of his reverie.

  “Penny for your thoughts, Prince?” Bane said, throwing an arm around his shoulders and neatly plucking the plastic bag out of his hands.

  Hunter’s eyes watered from the miasma that rose from Bane’s body, and he shrugged the arm off violently. Bane clearly enjoyed his revulsion. Hunter hoped the brief contact hadn’t imbued his leather coat with the stench of goblin.

  “Whatcha got in the bag?” Bane asked, not waiting for an answer. “Oh-ho!” he crowed, pulling out the three boxes of condoms. “Progress at last, I take it.”

  Several passers-by cast a curious glance in their direction. Hunter tried to grab the condoms out of the goblin’s hand, but he jerked them out of reach like a schoolyard bully.

  “Will you stop making such a goddamned spectacle,” Hunter growled.

  Bane laughed, but put the condoms back in the bag. “Extra-large, eh? Mighty proud of yourself, aren’t you Boyo?”

  “You know, she’s up there waiting for me and you’re delaying my mission.”

  Bane tucked the bag of condoms into a coat pocket. “You don’t need these for your mission.”

  Hunter pulled back the reins on his temper and was glad he was able to do so with relative ease. “This is the twenty-first century. She’s not going to let me bed her without protection. I’ll poke some holes in them. There, are you satisfied?”

  Hunter didn’t like the sly intelligence of Bane’s glance. “There’s a slim chance she might notice the holes. It would be more effective to spell them. I’m sure the Queen could manage a very clever spell that would cause them to tear at a convenient moment—like, for instance, when she’s fertile.”

  “That’s a wonderful idea,” Hunter agreed, and he was pretty sure he did a good job of keeping his revulsion out of his face and voice. “But she’s in bed waiting for me right now, and I need that bag. I’ll try my way for the moment, and you can bring me some spelled ones later. Now hurry up and hand them over. If you delay me any longer, I’m going to have a hard time explaining why I’ve been gone so long, and we risk making her suspicious.”

  Bane shrugged and pulled the bag out of his pocket once more. “All right, Boyo. Go do your worst. But don’t bother poking holes. If she notices, you’ve blown it completely. I’ll bring you some special ones tomorrow. Go ahead and fu—”

  Hunter’s hand darted out and seized the collar of Bane’s coat, twisting the fabric there and choking off the words. “Don’t say it,” he said calmly as he retrieved the bag of condoms with his other hand.

  The goblin’s eyes burned into his with chilling malevolence. “You’re not starting to get sentimental about this, are you Prince?”

  “Of course not!” Hunter snapped, hoping his face showed nothing but irritation. “But I am getting sick to death of you and your interference.”

  Bane reached for the hand that clutched his collar, prying at the fingers. Hunter realized he could end up with broken fingers if he didn’t let go, so he released Bane and took a step back.

  “Are we through here,” he asked, “or are you going to delay me even more?”

  Bane snarled at him, an animalistic sound that made a couple of the mortal passersby jump and stare. Hunter turned his back on the goblin and headed back toward Kiera’s apartment. The relief that flooded him when Bane didn’t follow was almost embarrassing in its intensity.

  Chapter 13

  Hunter was living on borrowed time, and he knew it. The fact that he could now truthfully answer yes if Bane asked him point blank if he’d gotten Kiera into bed bought him considerably more time than he’d had any right to hope for, but that time was not infinite. If Kiera didn’t turn up pregnant in a month or two, both Bane and the Queen would begin to wonder why. He would be expected to tamper with Kiera’s birth control pills and use the spelled condoms Bane had given him. If he did as he was supposed to do, she would be pregnant in no time.

  He didn’t have a month or two, Hunter realized. He had to break it off with Kiera before Bane and his mother started asking questions he couldn’t answer truthfully. By accepting Kiera’s invitation into her bed, Hunter had made things just that much more difficult for both of them.

  The knowledge of how little time he had and how deep he was digging the hole should have been just the motivation Hunter needed to keep his distance from Kiera, emotionally and physically. And yet every time he saw her, it seemed that her gravitational pull held him more strongly, drew him closer . . . trapped him.

  They went out in public, going for romantic dinners or out to the theater or just walking hand-in-hand through the square on the prettiest of winter days, all for the benefit of whatever spies the Queen might have set on him. But it was the nights they spent together that gave him increasing evidence of how very lost he was.

  She touched him in ways that no woman before her had, broke down barriers he’d erected to protect himself. And with her innocent questions about the nature of the Unseelie Court, she gave him hope for the first time that redemption was possible. Hope that he knew better than to allow himself, but that persisted nonetheless.

  The downside to his very public courtship of Kiera was that it wasn’t only his mother’s spies who could see the two of them together. Hunter felt sure he caught sight of Conan shadowing them one night as they walked home from dinner. Kiera was quite sensibly keeping her mother in the dark about their relationship, but if that really had been Conan watching them, then the secret was most definitely out.

  The day after Hunter thought he saw Conan, his doorbell rang in the middle of the afternoon. At first, he assumed it was Bane, showing up for yet another status report. When he checked through the peephole and saw Cathy Malone standing in the hallway, he wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. He fought down an undignified urge to pretend he wasn’t home and braced himself for an unpleasant conversation as he unlocked and opened his door.

  He was momentarily struck speechless when he saw the small silver gun pointed at his chest. Of course, she’d had that gun the night she’d forced him to spill his secrets to Kiera, so he shouldn’t have been surprised. It had been abundantly clear she had no love for the fey in general, or him in particular.

  “Back away slowly, and keep your hands where I can see them,” Cathy said with an almost feline growl in her voice.

  Hunter admire
d her spirit and courage, if not her wisdom. “Please come in,” he said. “You don’t need to hold me at gunpoint.” He backed away as she’d demanded, though he didn’t do it particularly slowly, nor did he make any particular effort to keep his hands in sight. “I’m not unfamiliar with mortal weapons, and I’m afraid a .22 doesn’t have much stopping power against someone like me. It might as well be a BB gun.”

  Cathy stalked into his apartment, letting the door slam behind her. The gun was still trained on his chest. “They aren’t ordinary bullets. They have a high concentration of iron in them.”

  Hunter shrugged. “I’m sure it would hurt. It just wouldn’t stop me.” The iron would be highly caustic, and the bullet would burn an excruciating hole in him on its way out, but after a lifetime in the Unseelie Court, he was more than adept at functioning through pain.

  Cathy’s eyes were granite-hard, not a hint of give in them. Her brow glimmered with sweat, betraying her nerves, but her hands were steady and her face determined.

  She was going to shoot him, he realized. Conan had seen him with Kiera, and Cathy was here to save her daughter from what she thought was a fate worse than death. She was not a killer, but she would do whatever it took, and if he gave her enough time, she’d find the nerve to pull the trigger.

  The bullet might not kill him, and he might be able to function through the pain, but that didn’t mean he was eager to get shot. As Cathy was still gathering up her courage, Hunter lunged at her.

  Her finger squeezed on the trigger, but she hadn’t been prepared for his speed. By the time the gun fired, Hunter’s hand was locked around her wrist, pushing her arm up so the bullet lodged harmlessly in the ceiling. One firm shake was enough to send the gun flying free.

  He was pretty pissed off that she’d just tried to shoot him, but he understood the impulse too well to blame her. He could have crushed her wrist with the strength of his hand, or he could have struck back at her. Instead, he merely let go and glared. Many a goblin had cowered before that glare, but not Cathy Malone. Instead of retreating, as any sensible person would do, she stood her ground and met his glare with one of her own.