Page 95 of Beauty

“Bastard,” Gillian mutters under her breath. “We’ll see whohas the upper hand when we return to my kingdom.” She turns. “I wish you wouldforgive me, but I know you won’t. Please don’t take it out on my brothers.They’ve waited all their lives for you. They don’t know anything else.”

Gillian shuffles back, seeming determined to take her time,and Roan seems equally determined to be patient. The vampire follows her whenshe walks past him, giving his lieutenant a nod. The lieutenant nods back andthen his eyes are on someone different—me.

“He won’t leave.”

I’m startled by the voice, but then notice what I didn’tbefore. The gnome sits a few feet away, his back against a huge tree, his barefeet in the water. Duffy. His name is Duffy and I was told he’s Lach and Shim’sbrother. Not by blood, but by their mother’s kindness. It was easy to see bothmen loved the gnome during our long walk. Lach, in particular, took care to seethat the gnome remained close to him, picking him up when he fell behind.

“He’ll stay there and make sure you don’t run,” the gnomecontinues. “I heard them talking about it earlier. Their main job in life rightnow is making sure you and Gilly make it back to the Dark Palace. You becauseyou’re the future queen and Gillian because she’s their prize.”

I think about saying good-bye and trying to find somesolitude, but with Harry’s eyes on me, I doubt I’ll be left alone. I step overto Duffy and sink to the ground beside him. The water gives off a definitechill. “Aren’t you cold?”

“No. Ain’t that funny? All me life I’ve complained about thecold and now I can’t feel it. I know I should be cold, but I just can’t feelit. Must be the spell.” The gnome speaks in a monotone, shaking his head a bit.

“Are you all right?” That spell was filled with dark magic.I can’t imagine what it felt like. Duffy’s screams still ring in my ears.

“I’m not good. I know that. I just gotta find a way to beall right again. I think I have some things to do before I can be right.” Hesighs, a long breath that seems to hold a world of regret.

“It was brave what you did.” That bolt of power was meantfor Lach and the gnome took it full blast.

“No, it weren’t. It was me duty. I know Lach’s not mebrother. There’s not a drop of blood between us, but it’s me job to protecthim. He’s going to be the king, and he’ll be a good one if you would take thetime to teach him.”

“I hardly doubt he needs to learn anything from me. He wasraised to be king.”

“Yes and no,” Duffy explains. “The king was raising them,teaching them, and then one day along about the time they were seventeen,something happened. I wasn’t there, but I know that Shim’s power flared for thefirst time. Shim was in the stables, getting ready for a riding lesson. I waswith Lach. Lach suddenly got pale as a wraith and he fell to his knees, holdinghis chest. He got up and started running and I ran after him. I could see thatthe barn was on fire from a long ways away. Flames were shooting out of it likesomeone was firing a cannon, but it didn’t stop Lach. He ran inside and when hecame out, he was on fire, too. It had shot up his face and all around his body.He was engulfed.”

“How did he survive?” The thought makes my heart clench, butI understand why Lach risked everything. It wasn’t simply his brother he saved.It was half of his soul. If Shim died and Lach managed to survive, he wouldn’thave been able to ever access his intellectual and romantic sides. He would bethe warrior and nothing more. Lach values what Shim represents.

“No idea, but Shim didn’t have a mark on him. We didn’t knowit then, but fire can’t touch him. He can walk through it and it don’t burnhim. It sure burned Lach. He was a mess. It took five healers to save him andeven then, they weren’t able to fix the scars on his face or hands or chest.Anywhere Shim actually touched him. I remember him saying he’d lost hishandsomeness and there was a part of him that was relieved you were gone sinceyou wouldn’t accept him like that.”

“That’s not true.” There’s nothing wrong with Lach’s face.Shim’s is more traditionally beautiful, but Lach’s has character. He’sdevastatingly handsome. “But I don’t see what this has to do with making him aking. Did his father value looks so much?”

Duffy laughs. “Nah, in the Dark Palace, those scars wereactually a good thing. It made him look tough. Battle is supposed to harden aman. No. The scars didn’t bother his father, but Shim being in a coma did.”

I gasp at the thought. “Goddess, did the healers not dotheir job?”

“The healers tried everything on both him and Lach. Lach’sbody was healed, but he was weak, so weak. He just sat at his brother’s sidefor almost a year. Eventually he regained his strength. The healers kept Shimfed, but finally he awoke. We thought he would recover like Lach had, but hedidn’t. Not until today. Not until first blood.”

“I don’t understand the whole blood thing,” I admit. “By thetime someone would have explained it to me, I no longer had any contact with myvampire relatives.”

Duffy’s eyes are flat stones in the moonlight. “Your blood,consort blood, has something inside it that makes a royal stronger and fasterand healthier than a normal vampire. They tried to force consort blood on bothLach and Shim but they refused.”

Because they belong to me. “So their father thought theywere weak.”

“Didn’t think,” Duffy corrects. “They were weak for a longtime. The king wouldn’t let them train or teach them anything. He was simplyobsessed with keeping them alive.”

I understand how that kind of attention might affectsomeone. “Rather like Lach and Shim with me.”

“But Lach and Shim didn’t have the power you have.”

“I don’t have any power at all,” I counter.

“Yes, you do,” Duffy insists. “The bond, the true bond, willshow your husbands who you are deep down inside. Lach couldn’t show his fatherwhat he wanted, needed. He could only tell him. He couldn’t make him feel itthe way you can. I know my brothers. They want to please you. When they realizehow important this is, they will back off. They’ll stay with you on this plane,and they will fight for your people.”

It would be a gamble. I could get caught in that web, too,but I don’t like my other options. And it’s such a temptation. To meld withthem, mixing our souls, never to be alone again. It’s everything I want.

Can I be brave? Can I afford not to?

Duffy seems to know he swayed me. “Do it, Your Highness. Goback to bed and bond with your husbands. The answers you want are right there.And it could answer a few of their questions, too. If it doesn’t work, you’llknow to run.”