Immortals After Dark 09 - Pleasure of a Dark Prince

though seeing a ghost. Lachlain didn’t resist, even when the door clanged shut behind him.
    Since the last time Garreth had seen Lachlain, his brother’s appearance had been altered—his build was rangier, his countenance more haggard. But it
was
Lachlain before him. Running a hand over his face, Garreth muttered, “My eyes doona betray me?”
    “No, it’s me.”
    Garreth rushed to him, grin in place, and whaled slaps on his back. Now everything would come together. Lachlain would explain what really happened to the vampire, and they’d figure out how to heal her. Lucia would see that the Lykae weren’t that bad.
Aye, all will be better with Lachlain’s return.
“Well, brother, what have you gotten us into now?”
    He raised his brows. “It’s good to see you as well.”
    “I thought you were…” Garreth trailed off.
Gods almighty, my brother is just here before me
. Shaking himself, he said, “When they said you’d taken Emma, I thought they were mad. Until I saw her, saw you’d marked her.” He frowned. “Marked her hard, no?” He shook his head. “Ach, anyway, it’s good to have you back. Under any circumstances. I’ve so many questions.”
    Where have you been that I could no’ find you? Why did you leave against our warnings?
    Are the rumors of Demestriu’s tortures… true?
    Yet Lachlain looked so tormented with worry over his mate, Garreth said, “But that can wait. You need news about her?”
    At his nod, Garreth said, “She’s injured, Lachlain. She has gashes down her side, and she could no’ drink though she was… she was about to die in just the first couple of hours.”
    Now the scent of blood arose. Garreth glanced down, saw Lachlain’s claws stabbing into his palms. His voice a rasp, he said, “What saved her?”
    “An IV.”
    When Lachlain’s brows knit in confusion, as if he’d never heard the term, a jolt of dread ran through Garreth. Where had his brother been? Lucia had said,
He could’ve been trapped somewhere, tortured.
    Garreth explained, “They gave her blood through a tube that fed it straight to her veins. They think she’s stabilized, but the gashes will no’ heal. I suspect whatever got her had poisoned claws. Maybe a ghoul, but I doona know.”
    “I do.” Lachlain ran his hand through his hair. “Demestriu did this to her. I saw it all.”
    Demestriu. Garreth gnashed his teeth. For millennia that evil fiend had been a scourge on their family. What else had he done—what else
could
he do?
This time
I
will find him, destroy him—
    Lucia entered then. His plans for revenge immediately shifted to concern for his mate. He could see that she’d been crying, and even after all she’d done to him, and to Lachlain, Garreth’s chest ached at the sight.
    ♦ ♦ ♦
    As Lucia descended the stairs, Garreth shot to his feet beside his brother, both standing so tall and proud. She was struck by how similar they were in looks, with the same rich brown hair, the same intense golden eyes.
    Absently, she wondered if Lachlain had told Garreth about the Valkyrie’s incursion yesterday at Kinevane— specifically Lucia’s own actions. And she might have felt a twinge of guilt that the brothers’ reunion had to be as prisoners in her basement.
    “Lucia?” Garreth said, a question in his gaze.
    Not wanting the Lykae to see she’d been crying, she tilted her head so her hair covered her face.
    “She’s no’ better?” he asked.
    Lucia shook her head.
“Aunt Luce, am I dying?” Keep it together, Lucia!
    Lachlain clenched the bars, looking to be in agony over Emma. “She heals whenever she drinks from me.”
    Garreth appeared stunned. “
You
let her… ?” When Lachlain nodded, Garreth said to Lucia, “Then Lachlain must go to her.”
    “Annika forbids it. He’s not to go near her. Emma sees things that aren’t there, mumbles nonsense as though she’s gone mad. Annika puts the blame squarely on his shoulders.”
    Garreth asked, “What does she see?”
    “Emma says that Demestriu was her father, and he put her in the fire, so she killed him.”
    Lachlain answered, “She—did.”
    Both of them swung their heads toward him.
    “She did. She killed Demestriu.”
    Lucia shook her head. “Sweet Emma? Kill the most powerful and deadly vampire ever to live?”
    “Aye. He hurt her. Do none of you believe her?”
    Garreth gave him an incredulous expression. “Demestriu’s finally dead? Because of that wee thing? I’ve seen her—she’s as fragile