Page 101 of Disillusioned
Rolling his eyes, Casmir adjusted his hold on Garin; the more he struggled, the tighter the vines grew, pulling so tautly it looked as if they’d cut into his skin. Lilac fought down the urge to break free from Bastion, knowing it was probably for the better that Garin was restrained after the events of the night. Still, her body strained against his brother, as if defending Garin were ingrained into her reflexes. Maybe it was.
Casmir pulled a long piece of wood from his cloak and tossed it at Myrddin; the stake flew into the warlock’s hands. He adjusted the stake in his palm while the foreign vampire held Garin steady.
Wasting no time, Myrddin rammed the stake into Garin’s lower back.
Lilac gripped Bastion’s shirt and turned her face into his shoulder as he awkwardly petted her head. She would faint. Shewishedto be unconscious as they watched Garin struggle for a moment, the bright hysteria in his eyes fading as he slumped forward into Casmir’s arms. His head rolled to the side as Casmir adjusted him. Garin’s tired gaze flitted up to the flames making their way onto the balcony, then locked onto Lilac.
“Save them. Save the brothel.” His face twisted in agony. “My mother worked here. Lilac, don’t leave…”
His voice trailed off, his eyes crossing. Then, they fluttered shut.
An all-consuming mixture of fear and rage struck her as she watched him go limp. Lilac suddenly understood what drove kings to do cruel and mad things.
“If he is dead,” she heard herself bark, her jaw trembling, “allof you are ordered to the gallows with a bounty so high on your heads, no one in all of Brittany would be able to resist searching every nook and cranny for you.”
“Relax. He’s not dead,” answered Casmir. “But we had to sedate him, just in case.”
Myrddin was shaking. “I did it. I?—”
“You stabbed him in the kidney.” Bastion gave a disbelieving laugh.
“He told me I’d have to do it as far as possible from his heart!” Myrddin jutted a finger at Casmir. “Where else should I have staked your brother, in his buttock?”
Knees trembling from the adrenaline, Lilac unslung herself from around Bastion’s shoulder as Casmir unremorsefully dragged Garin over to them. Bastion readied to receive him, but Lilac shoved him aside, her arms out.
Casmir glanced at her skeptically, then Bastion. “You’re sure?”
“Give him to me.” Her voice shook, but she’d never put more conviction behind a single sentence. “Give Garin to me, now.”
Everyone watched as Casmir gently deposited Garin’s limp form into her arms. She easily adjusted him onto her shoulder, careful not to touch the stake sticking halfway out of his back. She hugged him close, listening,paying attention to his chest, the slow beat of his heart and shushing Bastion when he opened his mouth in alarm.
Bastion marveled at her as she supported his brother without a breath of struggle beneath his dead weight.
Casmir was also eyeing her, brows risen.
“Don’t look so surprised,” she snapped. “You knew this would happen.” Lilac’s glare shifted to Myrddin, who watched them expectantly.
“Is this what you were arguing about in the room at the inn?” asked Bastion. “Your strength?”
“Partially. That is none of your business.”
“I think most of the inn heard bits of your fight,” he retorted. “Particularly when you were slamming each other around.”
“After he’d healed me, I didn’t feel any different. But during our conversation we discovered I could not only strain against him, butmovehim. It faded by the time I got to the castle, almost as soon as we’d left him,” she admitted. “And just now, after he’d drank from me, and I from him, I was able to shove him off me.”
Bastion said nothing, but his hand went right to his mouth. Casmir and Myrddin stared at her, but they didn’t seem too surprised.
She failed to suppress a shudder at the memories, everything blending together into the pinnacle that was their blood exchange. The one she was awake for—the oneshe’dinitiated. “I was able to stop him from feeding on me.” There was nothing more frightening than the uncertainty of his control in the moment. “That was why I did it.”
“This is nothing short of intriguing,” said Casmir, exchanging a look with Myrddin, as if her strength had been a topic of brief discussion before. “It appears you have maybe siphoned some of his strength and speed, if it occurred with both blood exchanges.”
“Maybe. Is it temporary?” she asked.
Casmir rubbed the shadow of stubble on his chin. “The bond or your gifts?”
The question caught her off guard. She had no answer.
“As for your strength and improved reflexes, I am not sure. It could fade again, the moment you two are separated. It could exist as long as he is your regnant.”
