The Forgotten Ones

were parted as they kissed his arms and stroked his thighs.
    The girl who had been glamoured as me ran her tongue from his navel to his clavicle and turned her head to smirk at me.
    My knees went weak, and I held onto the wall to keep my balance. If he slept with one of them—I shuddered at the thought—he’d end up addicted to her, the way my mother was addicted to my father. He could end up schizophrenic, too, or worse. The room grew hotter as I struggled to breathe.
    “As you can see, Ethan is a bit preoccupied. I’m sure while we wait, you and I can come to an arrangement of some sort.”
    “Ethan!” I shouted, my chest starting to heave in panic. “Ethan, look at me!”
    Breanh laughed, slowly clapping his hands. Ethan didn’t open his eyes but rolled his head back as the women continued nipping and tasting his skin.
    Unable to watch anymore, I ran toward the bed. “Ethan, listen to me!”
    Before I made it halfway, Breanh grabbed me. He chuckled in my ear as he gripped my neck. “You actually think Ethan would prefer you?” He laughed. “I can be very patient, Allison. And you have no idea how much I will enjoy getting you to cooperate.”
    The sound of footsteps behind us surprised Breanh. He turned around, taking me with him.
    “Just what do you have in mind, Breanh?” The woman standing there had her eyebrow arched up over one of her bright azure eyes as she waited for a response. Her black hair was loose and cascaded over the shoulders of her deep navy gown. At the base of her throat was a silver amulet on a delicate silver chain.
    Breanh’s hold on me loosened, and I sucked in a deep breath.
    “Aoife. You’re here at last,” he crooned to her.
    “Answer the question,” she said, not moving.
    “I would do anything to get you back where you belong, of course.”
    “I see,” she said coldly. “Then let her go.”
    Breanh’s arms fell to his sides. Without pausing to consider what was happening, I ran to Ethan. He lay alone on the bed now—the females had apparently scattered when Aoife arrived. His head was on a pillow, and his eyes were closed. Fingers trembling, I pulled the sheet up to cover his body before turning back to Breanh and Aoife.
    “Aoife,” Breanh began, glancing over to where I sat.
    “Don’t,” Aoife cut him off. “How could you bring her here?” She flung her hand toward me.
    Breanh’s eyes widened as he struggled to answer her. “I-I told you I would have done anything...”
    “The last thing I want is for Liam to know about her,” she said.
    “But…” The glare she shot him silenced him.
    I secretly enjoyed watching as Breanh transformed from a ruthless brute to a whimpering coward as Aoife paced in a slow circle around him.
    “Every time the responsibility to take charge falls on you, you create more problems than you started with. First with Liam and the human, then with the imbeciles in Canada.” She shook her head and came to a stop directly behind him.
    Breanh swallowed hard and waited for her to continue. Aoife moved in closer to him, standing flush against his back, and trailed one finger up his arm. His eyes fluttered as he inhaled a shaky breath.
    “If Liam finds out he has a daughter, do you know what that means?”
    “But, I didn’t—”
    She tapped his chest with her finger. “Answer the question.”
    Breanh inhaled as she trailed her hand from his pectoral muscles down to his abdomen.
    “It means I lose everything,” she whispered. “Again.”
    Breanh let out a grunt and swayed on his feet for a moment before collapsing into a heap on the floor. Sticking out of his back was the jeweled hilt of a dagger.
    I squeezed my eyes shut, once again grasping in my mind for a way out of my current predicament. I was within an arm’s length of Ethan, although he was still in some eerie lust-filled oblivion, and Aodhan was trapped in a forest of vines and thorns.
    Aoife sidestepped Breanh and walked over to the bed where I sat beside Ethan’s still form. She tapped her lip thoughtfully and narrowed her eyes.
    “You will be easy enough to get rid of. Provided we have no more problems.”
    I didn’t think she was actually speaking to me, but rather thinking out loud. I stood, hoping that I looked braver than I felt. I clasped my hands behind my back to hide the trembling.
    “How did you get out of the fey globe?” I asked, struggling to keep my composure.
    Her eyebrow arched again. “It seems my mother doesn’t subscribe to the whole