The stubborn arse never let up. Caden had given up his prosperous job and a perfectly comfortable life in Dallas to care for him after Anka’s abduction. No matter how many times he told Caden it was all right to take Sydney and return to that life, his younger brother insisted that his future was here, entwined with the Doomsday Brethren.
With a heavy sigh, he whispered to Caden, “It went badly. She lacks even the most basic skills.”
“You had none when Marrok started training you.”
Lucan couldn’t deny that. “It’s not the same. I’m in the fight to protect, not to have revenge.”
Caden shrugged. “Ice wants revenge for his sister’s murder. How is that different?”
He tried to wrap his head around a hundred possible answers. That she was female, and therefore to be treasured and coddled, sat on the tip of his tongue. If Sydney heard that, she’d beat him silly. And it wasn’t exactly the truth. Anka was smart, capable of learning, had the drive to excel, but he couldn’t bear the thought of her in harm’s way. Or being hurt.
After this morning, he knew she wanted the pain. That bothered him most of all.
“Something isn’t right with her, brother. She’s unhinged or unbalanced. She’s…” Changed.
The decanter of blessed water made its way back to the priestess, who smiled beneath her long crimson hood. “Very many blessings here, for one cut down in his prime. He will be well cared for in the nextlife. To this wizard, we give the element of blessed water.”
The gnarled old woman poured the contents of the vial over Tynan’s beaten body. His deathly pallor sparkled for a moment in the weak sunlight. Lucan watched Sabelle huddle deeper into Ice’s arms as Kari looked away, whispering to Tabitha, whose hair glinted fire-red in the sun. Something stabbed the backs of Lucan’s eyes. Tears. Fucking useless. He’d shed too many of them in the last three months. He knew too well that crying changed nothing. He could still feel every bit as hollow inside after the storm, and he always felt weaker for it.
But as the priestess held her hands over Tynan’s chest, Asher raised up a bejeweled box, complete with the O’Shea crest, and lifted the decorative lid. The wizard looked as if his jaw was going to break, he clenched it so hard. The priestess closed her eyes, and seemed to find some place within herself, focusing her magic. Tynan’s heart pushed up from his chest, lifted from his ribcage by the powerful woman’s spell, then filled the box in Asher’s hands. But that was all for show. Tynan had buried his heart with Auropha four months ago.
Asher slammed the lid on the box and set it at the head of the slab. The gathering turned with the priestess to a lonely patch of soil with a freshly-dug hole in the center. She said a few more blessings over the box, then slid it into the consecrated soil on their lands, the center of their family energy. “For this wizard, we provide the blessed element of earth.”
Bram, Asher, Ronan, and Ice all stepped forward on cue to light a ceremonial torch. This part would take the longest and horrify the human mates, Kari and Sydney. But this part of the service was sacred and required.
Lucan stared through aching eyes as the torch bearers lit Tynan on fire as the priestess intoned, “Of this wizard, we create the blessed element of fire.”
The sacred water had been spelled to act as accelerant, and Tynan quickly started to char, burn, melt. Kari gasped and turned away, grief all over her face. Sydney grabbed the woman’s hand, closing her eyes.
He forced himself to watch, wondering if Tynan wasn’t better off. He’d never again have to think about this magical war. He’d never again have to imagine his love at the hands of Mathias. And he’d absolutely never again have to endure living with the crushing guilt of not saving her and wondering what the fuck he was going to do with the remaining centuries of his life now that the one woman who completed him was lost to him forever.
Lucan sighed. Granted, Anka wasn’t dead, but for him, she might as well be. The woman who had inhabited her body was sure as hell gone.
The crackling of the flames roared over the pall of silence. Caden chose that moment to break it. “What do you mean Anka is unhinged?”
He didn’t want to answer. He’d fucking rather forget what he’d seen, what she’d told him, and live in a state of wretched ignorance. But he couldn’t undo this morning. Caden had been one of the few bright spots in Lucan’s last three months. Having Caden and Sydney live with him had kept the worst of the loneliness at bay. His brother’s mate was particularly insightful about his moods, and always seemed to know when he needed cheering up. But a video game or a good joke wasn’t going to solve this. Nor was a cupcake or a spot of tea. But maybe logic would. Caden could often offer objective advice. Maybe Anka’s behavior would make sense to him.
“She’s bruised—wrists, ankles, shoulders, neck.” He closed his eyes, remembering his rage as he’d torn off Anka’s clothes and revealed contusions in nearly every color of the rainbow. “Hips, thighs, arse.”
“Like he beat her? That sadistic fucker!” Caden snarled in his ear. “Why doesn’t she leave and come home—”
“I asked her the same thing. She told me that she asked Shock to bind her down and use her this way. She says she needs it.” Lucan turned pained eyes to his brother. “Anka is the gentlest soul, and she begs him to hurt her. Why?”
Caden paused, pressed his lips together grimly. “He restrains her, you say?”
“Yes.” Admitting that was a stab to the chest. “By her own choice.”
“Does he spank, flog, or whip her?”
Lucan glared hard at his brother. “Fuck, Caden! It’s not like I handed her a goddamn quiz. Does it bloody matter?”
“Not really.” Caden shifted his weight, looking reluctant to open his mouth, as if it would be as dangerous as opening Pandora’s box. “Did Anka try very hard during your mating to please you?”
A thousand soft, sweet memories tugged at him, bringing as much pain now as they once had pleasure. “Yes. Her thoughtfulness, her desire to make others happy, was one of her sweetest qualities.”
“Listen carefully,” Caden instructed, voice low. “That woman is still inside her. She’s simply started expressing her submissive nature sexually, and Shock is acting as her Dom.”
“What?” The words were so foreign, Lucan couldn’t process them. “No! She always liked to be touched tenderly, stroked, petted, coddled. Bound and beaten? Never.”
Raiden leaned in with a bit of a wince. “I think Caden is right. For what it’s worth, so does Ronan.”
Lucan’s gaze snapped up to the rest of the crowd. The twins were watching with matching expressions of compassion that labeled him a poor sap. Bram smiled tightly. Ice sent him a firm nod. He didn’t dare look at any of the women. Mortification and fury plowed through him, and Caden dragged him away from most of the crowd, toward the back of the gathering.