Dark Heir by Faye Pierce
Chapter Two
Leo
Contrary to popular belief, chloroform does in fact have a smell.
The reports tend to vary from person to person, ranging from a sickly sweet, almost bourbon smell, to citrus cleaning products on steroids. I wonder which one little Midnight smelled.
I don’t imagine she will be in much of a mood to answer my questions whenever she wakes up. I doubt that she’s going to want anything from me at all.
If I could have taken somebody else, I would have. The sins of her brother weren’t something that Midnight should have to answer for. I never wanted to hurt her, but she is the only one that will work. For some time, I thought that his wife might be motivation enough. I thought that perhaps his son would be motivation enough.
I have to hit Caspian where it hurts. He could always remarry; he could always have another child. Midnight, she’s irreplaceable. I have waited for too long, I have worked too hard to get to this point, and I will not give up now. I won’t.
Sleeping like this, she looks so peaceful. My weight indents the side of the thin mattress on the small bed that she’s strapped to. Her eyes roll softly under the closed lids. She will be awake soon. I’m going to watch her whole world shatter, everything that she’s come to know over the time of her brother’s new life. It pains me to know how badly this is going to hurt her. My sweet, lovely, Midnight.
She’s never known how beautiful she is. I can’t lie and say that it was her kindness that first caught my eye. Her long chestnut hair falls in pretty waves over the pillow. Her bright, brilliant blue eyes are hidden from my view in her chemically induced sleep. Her arms pulled above her head like this, trussed to the bedframe, isn’t helping me focus any. I have often fantasized what she might feel like with her arms, and other parts, around me.
Caspian always said that she was a great dancer before the accident. Her frame hasn’t suffered any for its loss. Perhaps she can’t perform the moves anymore, but she still has the body: lightly muscled in her legs, lean dexterity in her thighs. Even with her limp, she moves with more grace than half my men ever have.
Her dress is slid up over her knees, and I can finally allow myself to look at her with intention. It’s always been so important to keep my distance from her. I couldn’t allow my attraction to her to get in the way of what I needed to do.
Don’t get distracted. Over the years, it has become a mantra that I repeat inside of my head over and over again.
It was hardest on the days that I thought she might be looking at me too.
Midnight stirs on the bed, and my time with her is almost over. The illusion of who she thought I was is about to shatter. These last few moments of the drug shaking from her system are sweet. I drink in the way her brow furrows, her sweet groggy sounds of a body rousing as she twists. Is she dreaming? Her back arches her toward me as if she is shaking off the vestiges of a memory she doesn’t want to leave.
Midnight’s pretty blue eyes start to flutter open, registering my face so near her own with a sleepy half smile. Is she dreaming about me? If I could allow her to stay in the dream I would. Her full lips part, and the lipstick smeared over the edges makes her even more attractive. I have to admit this isn’t the reaction I presumed she would have to my being in bed with her, but I’m not protesting either.
She tries to lift her arms. The metal chain of the restraints click against the headboard and realization dawns on her. Midnight looks up to her bound wrists and starts to struggle. Confusion crosses her expression first, and then panic as she pulls as if it would free her.
“They’re quite secure, I assure you.”
“Leo?” Midnight stares at me accusingly, surprised that I’m really there, her chest heaving. Fuck if that isn’t a pretty picture. “What the hell are you doing?”
I don’t answer right away. “I know that you’re going to have a lot of questions. This is going to be a very difficult time for you, Midnight.”
“What? What the hell are you talking about? Let me go right this instant.”
I shake my head, my hand lifting to the side of her face and running my knuckles down her soft skin. “Sorry, I can’t do that.”
“Uh, yes you can!” Midnight pulls on the restraints again as if she can just get me to come to my senses. I wonder if she’s ever been tied down before? In my fantasies I must have done it a dozen times. My knuckles run down the curve of her neck, my gaze following the invisible trail that I take down her skin. So fucking beautiful. My knuckle runs down the plunging neckline of her ballgown. The fitted bodice curves around her breast so prettily.
“You look….so stunning tonight. I’m sorry to have to ruin your dress.” I haven’t yet, but I certainly want to. My finger crooks inside of the neckline, running the line of the fabric. “I never intended to harm you, if you have any headache, rest assured it will be resolved soon.”
“I-I don’t understand, what are you-” her breath hitches as my hand slides inside of the bodice of the gown to fit the breast into my hand. It almost feels as if she arches up into the touch, even if she pulls away the next moment.
“Be still now,” I warn, and she thrashes again, the skirt of her dress riding up her thighs as she does. “If you’re a very, very good girl, then no harm will come to you.”
Midnight’s eyes are a blue fire as they turn back to me, even with the pink flush tinting her cheeks. “I don’t know what game you’re playing at, but Caspian is going to kill you for this.” Her teeth bare as she speaks.
She has always had such blind faith in her brother. I click my tongue against the roof of my mouth and shake my head. “Cas cannot save you now, and your brother deserves everything that’s coming to him.”
“Caspian saved you! We saved you! I don’t know...what,” her words die as my fingers pinch her nipple between them firmly.
“You don’t know Caspian as well as you think you do, Midnight.” She yelps in surprise as I release her nipple, and pinch the peak between my fingers, rolling firmly. “As you’re at my complete mercy...I think you should consider your words.”
Her eyes lift to mine, and I don’t miss the way her bare thighs clamp together. Did she like that? Releasing her trapped skin, my fingers spread across her breast, kneading the flesh into my palm possessively. “I know that learning the true nature of who he is will hurt you. I’m truly sorry for that. Caspian will be made to pay for the things he’s done.”
More than once, since I came to live with the Knight family, I have been tempted to abandon my cause. Seeing the way that they act with one another, it is clear Caspian values his little family in the way that I always loved my family. We had the commonality that we would both do anything to protect the ones that we loved and to better our stations in life. Neither of us had been born into privilege. In a lot of ways, Caspian had been born worse off than myself.
It doesn’t excuse the actions that he took, the things that he had done.
It wasn’t easy to win Caspian’s trust. It was a long, slow road to gain the position at his side that I stand: Caspian’s right-hand man, his best friend and trusted companion. He has invited me into his very home; we have broken bread together.
He thought that I was nothing more than a street rat that needed a second chance at life. I played my part well. I did everything that he ever asked of me.
I hate that Midnight was the only thing that I can use against him. If I could have used Valeria I would have. But Midnight is the key to everything. She is the one that will topple him, the one he can’t live without.
Though, I can’t exactly say that I am sorry to have Midnight here, bound in the basement of my private mansion. “Keep in mind, Midnight, we are at a secured location that Caspian has no knowledge of; he’s not even going to know where to look. So,” I pause, my eyes lingering on her lips as she frowns at me. “You can yell and scream to your heart's content if that’s what pleases you. Or, you can save yourself the trouble and do as I say. I’m going to give you the night to think about it. I want you to think long and hard about your choice. I can leave you bound here, alone in the dank of my basement...”
I pause, letting the truth of my words settle in. Never in my life would I have thought that we would be here, with her in such a position. Every time we have been alone until now the conversations were brief. Like the charged tension between us was too much for her to handle. She has hardly ever been able to look at me without blushing. I would recognize that tell-tale flush in her cheeks anywhere. Still, I have to press the issue a little further.
“I have a large staff, and I cannot keep an eye on all of them, you see. I cannot control if they wander in here while you’re all alone.” Fear pinpricks her pupils. I can see her pulse racing in the pulsating of a vein in her pretty neck, but her thighs slide over one another for friction. I bet she thinks I don’t see that. “I would much rather put you in one of my many bedrooms; wouldn’t that be nice?”
She deliberates, but says nothing. “I’ll tell you what, if you behave, follow my very simple rules, I promise to answer all of your questions in time.”
I study her face; even when she’s biting her tongue to keep from verbally lashing out at me, I want to taste her. She’s always so sweet, so generous and kind, even this slight view of her temper has me itching to know what else is in there, what else has she hidden from me.
“Unlike your dear brother, I always keep my word.” Would she fight me if I kissed her? If I took her lower lip between my teeth?
Midnight’s eyes move to the ceiling, as if somehow, she can see where she is or acquire super powers and see the house. She regards me slowly, and she knows I’m not teasing any longer. My fingers close on her nipple again, pulling softly. “Answer me, Midnight.”
“Caspian will come for me. He will find me, and he is going to eat you alive,” she hisses, not even attempting to pull away from my touch.
“I dearly hope so.” My eyes alight with fire. Where had this temper been these last few years I’ve spent sleeping in the same home as her? If this is a taste of what was to come, I can only guess how interesting our time together is going to be.
Midnight has no reason to doubt her brother, no reason to assume anything other than him moving heaven and earth for her. “He’s certainly going to try.”
Midnight understands the situation now. She stares at me, as if she’s never seen me before, as if I am some sort of monster, something foul under her shoe that she would never want to see again. But her breath is coming in steady puffs, and her cheeks are flushed. Her hands pull at the binding around her wrists again.
“Who are you?”
I smile softly, keeping careful control of my own breathing. “Not who you think.” I pull my hand from her dress and move across the room to the door. I wink in her direction as she fumes, her thighs still rubbing together as she attempts to lift her body to look at me. I catch the sheen on the skin near her most intimate places before I flick the light off, shutting and locking the door to the sounds of her frustration.