25. Hailz
Can’t a girl get a honeymoon? I’m not gone a month and that Elf shows up on my doorstep with Mags all bloodied and beaten. I should have killed the f*cker when I had a chance to in the Wildwood.
Damn you Mags. You never see the evil in people until it’s too late. See where being good and trusting gets you. I swear, if you survive this, I’m going to kill you.
“Bring her in,” I ordered. I led Luca and his men through the palace to Fiona’s and my chamber. Fiona was horrified by the state Mags was in.
“Who did this?” she demanded of the Elves.
Luca’s head hung low as he answered her. “My father and his men, but I’m responsible.”
I attacked him. Of course he was responsible. If he hadn’t been such a daddy’s boy and been more like his delinquent brother, Mags wouldn’t be in such a state.
The Elf was a good fighter. We’ve fought before. When he can see me coming, he’s adaptable to my shape shifting. Unfortunately that meant we’d have to play this game all day if I was going to kill him. I wasn’t sure if Mags had that kind of time.
After a few minutes and well placed jabs I stopped my assault, mid-transformation. All girl except the fangs, which were precariously close to his throat. His sword was pinching me in the stomach, but since this is my story, I win.
“Get out of here,” I demanded. “I will kill you after I’ve looked her over.”
Luca backed away towards the door and his face contorted into one of the weirdest looks. It was like sorrow, shame, and remorse, all mixed into one. Ah shit. He went soft on me.
“I’ll fall on my own sword if need be,” he offered, his voice raspy. I thought he was going to start crying. I’d definitely kill him if he was going to act like a girl about it.
Let me stop you right there. I do NOT have a soft spot in my heart or anything for Mags. Actually, I’m not even sure if I do have a heart. The simple fact is that my master tasked me to protect her. If I fail, Hade’s won’t be too much fun for me anymore. I don’t need any incompetent a*sholes trying to f*ck it up anymore for me.
The elves left the room, leaving Fiona and I to see about Mags. We undressed her to assess the damage.
“F*ck,” I swore.
Normally, Fiona’s after me about my language, but this time she mirrored my sentiments exactly.
My Fiona has a heart of gold. She’s constantly picking up stray humans. They get lost and injured, stumbling around near the Mistfall. Fiona would nurse them back to health like Florence Nightingale. Of course she’d have to wipe their memories, but she sent them home better than they were before they stumbled in.
Right now, the love of my life was shaking all over, her mind trying to fathom why someone would to this to another being. The sad thing is that, whatever she thought, the reality was probably ten times worse.
Oh, b-t-dubs, I will sever your f*cking heads and make a totem pole out of them if any, and I repeat, ANY of you humans repeat a single word of the previous two paragraphs. If you think I’m kidding ask Mags. Well, that is, you can if she comes back or survives this. She’s seen my handiwork.
“Pull it together Fi, I need you on this,” I told her.
“Okay,” she whispered. Fiona took a few deep breaths and bolstered her resolve. She went into nurse mode and became all business after that.
I looked down at Mags. Bad idea. Even my stomach was turning a little at the carnage that lay before me.
Disclaimer: Yeah, I wouldn’t read the next couple of paragraphs if you’re squeamish or a wuss. Just warning you, it’s not pretty.
There isn’t an inch of Mags that isn’t black, blue, or purple and that’s not even the worst of it. Lacerations covered her body, some infected and some still bleeding freely.
“Fi, turn around. I don’t want you seeing this,” I warned her before I examined Mags any further.
The Fae don’t concern themselves with matters outside of their own little world. They know how corrupt The Powers were. Their thought was that the rest of us needed to learn our lessons on our own. Every so often I understand why they do what they do. This was one of those times. If Fiona saw what I was about to, she would have personally led a Fae crusade against all the Otherworld.
I had to vomit. Me. Iron stomach and master of the gruesome, even I was sickened by the trauma from the multiple sexual assaults. She was torn through and it looked like it had been done repeatedly.
Iblis, my master, is one of the nine Kings of Hades. He is cruel and demented, a trait I admire, but the one thing he isn’t is a monster. Monsters did this to Mags.
I covered Mags’s lower half up. Wherever her head was, she still deserved a little dignity here.
“Fi, you can turn around now,” I rasped, shocked by the inhumane handiwork before me.
“How bad is it?” she asked, worry lines etched across her face.
“You don’t want to know. Let’s leave it at that,” I suggested, shaking my head.
Fiona and I did our best on the physical injuries, working through most of the day. We mended the bones, infections, and lacerations. The damage was so bad that we were exhausted from the effort. It was unimaginable that a Fae and Ifrit jinn could be depleted on something as simple as healing. Whatever you’re currently picturing, it was worse than that.
Fiona wanted to get Mags cleaned up and tucked away for the night. I, on the other hand, wanted that f*cking piece of shit Elf to see the damage he caused. I tore off a few swaths of the already ruined bed linen and covered her across the chest and hips before I let Luca back in.
I opened the door and pointed to Mags. “Look at what you’ve done, a*shole,” I demanded.
Luca turned his head when he saw how extensive the damage was. Fiona had the foresight to bring him a pail when I told him about the injuries he hadn’t seen.
After he was done emptying the contents of his stomach, he kneeled by Mags’s side and told her how sorry he was and begged for her forgiveness. Pacing around the room, I tried very hard to fight the urge to disembowel and hang Luca by his own intestines (I planned to tie part of his intestines in pretty little bows too).
If I couldn’t murder him I was sure as hell going to torment his soul. “You know,” I finally broke the silence, “I get it. You led a sheltered life and a lot of the truth was hidden from you, but Mags lived the same kind of life. At least her ignorance didn’t cause this kind of butchery.”
“You’re right Hailz,” he replied, lifting his head from the bed. “This is all my fault. I don’t know what she wants or needs, but I’ll spend the rest of my life doing it. I’ll be her slave.”
I rolled my eyes. “How melodramatic of you.”
Apparently he wasn’t going to argue with me. I could tell that he meant what he said, regardless of the flowery overtones. If Mags does come back and doesn’t kill him, at least she’ll have a loyal bodyguard.
“Will she make it?” he asked though his eyes remained trained on Mags and her thousand yard stare.
“She’s a mess,” I answered honestly. “Fiona and I did everything possible to help her. We’ll have to wait and see over the next day or two. As for her mind, it’s even beyond the magic of the Fae.”
His face turned grey at my last comment. I let him stew in the misery for a minute before I finished the explanation.
“Fiona’s going to try and find the Dreamweavers,” I relented. “They can get inside her head, but there are only two of them left. One died outside a house in the Wildwood from an Aelfadl explosion. So, you better hope they’re fit and in excellent health.”
I kicked him back out while Fiona and I cleaned up Mags. We put her under fresh sheets and tucked her in for the night. Fiona left to hunt down the Dreamweavers and I was left with Luca for company. I spent the next half hour explaining Dreamweavers to Luca. I tried to get rid of him after that, but he wasn’t going to be moved from Mags’s side. They boy was going to try my patience with his presence alone.
I too, was going nowhere. I could guarantee Mags’s safety, unlike the others that she had put her trust in. As I sat there, I wondered if I should kill her in her sleep, out of mercy. Mags was gone for a reason. Maybe she didn’t want to come back. After a lengthy discussion with myself, I put the idea on the back burner for the time being.
Once the Dreamweavers got here we could get inside her head. I’d let her choose her own fate then, if she could. If she couldn’t, well then, I would give her peace.
Mistfall(Book One of the Mistfall Series)
Olivia Martinez's books
- Alone The Girl in the Box
- Cursed Bones
- Gone
- Melting Stones
- Stone Cold Seduction
- The Bone House
- The Executioness
- The Honey Witch
- The Stone Demon
- Satan's Stone
- Persephone
- One Grave at a Time
- The Mongoliad: Book One
- Summoner: Book 1: The Novice
- One Silent Night ( Dark Hunter Series – Book 23)
- Sin Undone
- One Long Embrace (Eternal Bachelors Club #5)
- Desire Unchained
- One Foolish Night (Eternal Bachelors Club #4)
- CITY OF BONES
- Summoned
- Ascendancy of the Last
- Blood of Aenarion
- Broods Of Fenrir
- Burden of the Soul
- Caradoc of the North Wind
- Cause of Death: Unnatural
- City of Ruins
- Dark of the Moon
- Demons of Bourbon Street
- Edge of Dawn
- Eye of the Oracle
- Freak of Nature
- Heart of the Demon
- Lady of Devices
- Lance of Earth and Sky
- Last of the Wilds
- Legacy of Blood
- Legend of Witchtrot Road
- Lord of the Wolfyn
- Of Gods and Elves
- Of Wings and Wolves
- Prince of Spies
- Professor Gargoyle
- Promise of Blood
- Secrets of the Fire Sea
- Shadows of the Redwood
- Sin of Fury
- Sins of the Father
- Smugglers of Gor
- Sword of Caledor
- Sword of Darkness
- Talisman of El
- Threads of Desire (Spellcraft)
- Tricks of the Trade
- Visions of Magic
- Visions of Skyfire
- Well of the Damned
- Wings of Tavea
- Wings of the Wicked
- A Bridge of Years
- Chronicles of Raan
- Dawn of Swords(The Breaking World)
- A Draw of Kings
- Hunt the Darkness (Guardians of Eternity)
- Lord of the Hunt
- Master of War
- The Gates of Byzantium
- The House of Yeel
- The Oath of the Vayuputras: Shiva Trilogy 3
- The Republic of Thieves #1
- The Republic of Thieves #2
- Edge of Dawn
- A Quest of Heroes
- Mistress of the Empire
- Servant of the Empire
- Gates of Rapture
- Reaper (End of Days)
- This Side of the Grave
- Magician's Gambit (Book Three of The Belgariad)
- Skin Game: A Novel of the Dresden Files
- Murder of Crows
- The Queen of the Tearling
- A Tale of Two Castles
- Mark of the Demon
- Sins of the Demon
- Blood of the Demon
- The Other Side of Midnight
- Vengeance of the Demon: Demon Novels, Book Seven (Kara Gillian 7)
- Cold Burn of Magic
- Of Noble Family
- Wrath of a Mad God ( The Darkwar, Book 3)
- King of Foxes
- Daughter of the Empire
- Mistress of the Empire
- Krondor : Tear of the Gods (Riftwar Legacy Book 3)
- Shards of a Broken Crown (Serpentwar Book 4)
- Rise of a Merchant Prince
- End of Days (Penryn and the End of Day #3)
- Servant of the Empire