Page 22 of Sidhe
The pressure increased, making Nathan’s breaths come short and gasping as he grew less and less able to struggle. “What are you talking about? Jim…he’s the one with the powers. He’s the changeling.”
“Ah, yes, the chosen changeling to bring down the Veil,” Malak said mockingly, chuckling to herself. “I couldn’t be certain whenthe right children would be born, you see, I only knew that one of them would be a changeling. Why do you think we takeeverychangeling into the Veil, Nathan? I had to be certain when I found my prize. But the key to knowing Jim was the one…wasyou. When I found you, when you made that deal to bring your brother home, you stood out like a beacon and I knew it was finally time.”
A shock jolted through Nathan’s body, but it didn’t make sense. Why did he matter? There was nothing special about him.
“There you go again, Nathan, counting yourself so unworthy,” Malak said like a reprimand, as she allowed her straying hand to touch the bare skin on Nathan’s belly where his shirt had hitched up. “It was always going to be you, Nathan. I was waiting for you. It had to be a worthy match, a worthy pair, for everything to fall into place. How fitting for it to be brothers. I couldn’t have planned it more perfectly.”
Nathan didn’t want to hear this, all this preordained, you did everything just like we wanted bullshit. He was in control of his own life. That’s why he left. “But why? What is it about me that is so damn important? Jim—”
“Jim has the powers,” Malak sighed, “yes. As an Awakened changeling, he can control sidhe and humans alike and is immune to most ways either side might try to kill him. The perfectGeneralto be at our right hand. But not a king. To have true power…you have to choose it for yourself.”
“And my eyes…?” Nathan said, remembering every vision and dream and brief hallucination he had ever had of his eyes being slit, or black, or…like Malak’s.
“Just a little part of me, Nathan, not yet complete, but so much more than being a mere Shadow Immortal.” She smoothed a palm up Nathan’s bare chest beneath his shirt. “Because you chose me and allowed me to stake the first part of my claim on you.”
“I chose Jim,” Nathan countered, flinching as Malak’s surprisingly cool hand glided up past his ribs. He wanted this to stop, wanted Malak to stop touching him and pinning him so intimately. He should be struggling harder to get away, but the pressure made it impossible to move. “In the Veil, I chose Jim, not you.”
“Nathan,” Malak said with something near sympathy but still mocking, “how could you think there was any difference?”
Malak pushed Nathan’s T-shirt up past his ribs. She looked on appraisingly, pleased when she saw the mark still carved over Nathan’s heart, and traced her fingers lightly over it.
“You don’t need to fight me, Nathan. Not anymore. I only want what you want. For you to finally have peace. No fear, no regrets. With Jim and your dear incubus by your side forever.”
Nathan huffed. “And how can you give me that? How do I fit into your plan? What makes meKing?” The pressure was so great now that Nathan couldn’t even flinch when Malak’s hand slid slowly back down to his hips.
“All you had to do was choose me, Nathan,” Malak said in a whisper, leaning in closer so that her cool cheek brushed Nathan’s, smooth and chilling at the touch, “but there are rules. You have to choose me three times to be truly mine. It would be three already but, damn the details, your bounty can’t count. An act of self-sacrifice. I really hate that one. But on my terms…oh, it was a challenge, but I still got you. I always knew Jim and that beautiful incubus of yours were the key. You chose me in the Veil, Nathan. You chose me again when you decided to leave your dear troupe behind and never look back.”
Nathan wanted to scream, to push Malak away with every fiber in him, but the pressure on his chest kept increasing. He couldn’t move his arms or legs at all; he couldn’t even twist his hips away when Malak’s hands began to undo his jeans.
“Now I just need one more submission and it’s complete. Choose me, Nathan,” Malak echoed what Nathan had heard from Jim for twelve long months. “Choose me and you will be the one with the power. It was never meant to be Jim. That black desolate world I showed you, it never has to be that way.Ourworld will be glorious.”
Those long cool fingers slid Nathan’s zipper down then paused. There were so many emotions Nathan should be feeling, and he was surprised because it wasn’t that he didn’t feel anything, but he didn’t feel what he expected. He wasn’t afraid or even nauseated to feel Malak’s hand on him, promising a more intimate touch if she continued. Malak daring to touch him the way only one person was ever allowed to had Nathan filling with fire.
“You need me…” Nathan moved his right hand, finding it no longer paralyzed, and grabbed Malak’s wrist before she could reach for his boxers. “You don’t have any power here. Dark fae might slip through, but the king can’t fully cross over from the Veil unless it falls—everyone knows that; the war between Light and Dark made sure of it. You’re just an impressive illusion.”
Malak’s eyes shimmered, the yellow irises looking even more vibrant against the black. “My power is what you give me. It’s amazing how little of it I need to be effective.” She tugged against Nathan’s hold pointedly but didn’t break free.
The fire was growing in the pit of Nathan’s stomach. He squeezed her wrist tighter. “You were able to use your power against me before because of the bounty, I get that. But you only can now because I’m allowing you toinfectme. If it hadn’t been for Jim and Sasha interfering with our deal the night we met you, you wouldn’t have been able to touch them either.”
“I already proved to you that Jim’s power comes from me.”
“But he’s in control. He still gets to make the choice of who and what he is, what side he’s on. You can’t sway him like you can me with those damn dreams.”
Malak grinned in the face of Nathan’s defiance. “With the power we could have together, those rules would be different. I’ll admit, if that’s what you’re after, yes…I need you, Nathan. If you accept my offer then all the power I have in the Veil, we would have here too.We. Jim would follow you, Nathan. They all would. Sidhe. Humans. Seals. But it could be a world of your making. The Hell on Earth I showed you would never have to happen. You could make sure of it. All you have to do…” Malak took her free hand and grasped Nathan’s wrist that had grasped hers.
Nathan felt a shock through his arm that forced his hand to release.
“Choose me. Choose me once more and everything I am is yours.”
“You know…you really suck at the David Bowie impression.”
“Nathan,” Malak laughed, “still trying to piss me off? You have no idea how much it pleases me that you’re the one. So much like myself really. The fae war…” Her eyes flashed as she trailed. Then she shook herself alert again and yanked Nathan’s jeans down his hips in a single movement. “Family really should be on the same side. Jim’s already tainted, Nathan. Sasha’s half dark by birth. Let me in and you can be brothers in arms forever.”
“You want to possess me,” Nathan said, finally understanding the punch line. The spriggan had been the clue, twice, but at the time Nathan hadn’t understood.
A host to bring Malak physically through the Veil before it falls, but Nathan had to be willing. Malak needed him to say yes, needed him to choose, or the thinning of the Veil would all be for naught—Malak would still be stuck on the other side.
“This would be so much more than possession, Nathan. I’m talking full immersion, you and me, equal.” She teased her fingertips along the waistband of Nathan’s boxers, challenging Nathan to try and stop her. “You wouldn’t lose yourself, I promise you. Everything you love, I will love, and hold sacred and protect.”
