The Glass Man Read online

  He urged me with his eyes to do something. “Just think at me, and I’ll hear you,” he said.

  “But—”

  “We don’t have time for questions! Now shut up and listen. And stop looking at me.” Liam broke off when Rourke circled me. I twisted my body to keep both the creepy ones in my sight.

  Parthalan made that difficult, moving closer, walking an opposite arc to Rourke. The wolves fled back to stand in a line at the side of the pavement.

  Cowards.

  “If you’ve got something to say, Liam, hurry up and say it, already!”

  “What’s the matter?” Parthalan asked in his singsong voice, his eyes wandering up and down my underwear-clad body. He licked his lips. “You’re looking a little unsettled. Come to me, princess. Let me sooth your aches.”

  “Fuck you.”

  Rourke sniggered. Parthalan didn’t. His lips pursed together.

  “Why the drama, boys?” My voice came out strained and not as steady as I would have liked.

  “Even a kitten without her claws may have … concealed weapons hidden in her delicious fur,” Parthalan said. “Other skills we haven’t yet seen.”

  Sweet. I’d go with that. I flashed a wry grin.

  “Don’t fight them,” Liam whispered in my head. “Go with them, and I’ll come and get you. Tone it down, or what Rourke did to you in the cellar will seem like a little slap and tickle.”

  “Are you out of your damn mind? Why would I do anything you say?”

  “Clancy,” Parthalan called. Something in his voice made everything in my body tense. When I tore my eyes from Rourke—edging ever closer—I found the Glass Man’s glare cast toward Liam. It was not a happy look, but a suspicious, considering one. Had he figured out we could talk?

  Clancy, with his round, pudgy face, emerged from the shadows, lumbering the way a much larger man would. His lip swelled and bled. Maybe someone had kicked the crap out of him more recently than I had. That’d be a shame.

  “If it isn’t good doggie number two,” I said. Everyone cracked up, except Clancy and Liam.

  “What are you doing?” Liam snapped. “Do not antagonize them, or this is going to get a whole lot worse.”

  “How could this possibly get worse?” I paused. “Wait, don’t answer that.”

  “I’ll show you how doggies do it, bitch!” Clancy cupped his crotch and withdrew a silver handgun from beneath the lapel of his black suit. “Not so fucking tough without your little Force of Will, now are you?”

  “Not her, you idiot.” Parthalan spoke to Clancy as though he had trouble hearing or his I.Q. equaled that of a sack of hammers. “Stay here. Question Liam about what he’s hiding and how he was communicating with my little princess, here. Each time he doesn’t answer, shoot him.”

  “No!” I lurched forward a step. “I didn’t know we—”

  “Don’t say it!” Liam warned through our mental link.

  In the moment Liam distracted me, Rourke wrapped his sinewy arms around me from behind and lifted me off the ground. I grunted and kicked at him, but all I could reach was his ankles. He walked backwards past Liam’s overturned car. I wondered why he’d do that, but of course, Parthalan would want an audience. Stupid me.

  “So, you are just a harmless kitten after all.” Rourke licked the side of my face.

  “God, you are such a freak, Rourke,” I blurted between grunts. “Did your mother drop you on your head once too often, because you are one grade ‘A’ psycho.”

  After a brief, crooked smile of satisfaction, Parthalan turned back to Clancy. “If that doesn’t work, start cutting things off.” He walked up to Liam, who clutched at his ribs with one arm while trying to scramble away, and hoofed him between the legs. “Starting with that.”

  Screaming, Liam writhed on the ground, clutching his crotch. A painful echo hit me a moment later. I resisted the urge to cover the same spot.

  “Stop it!” I shouted, but Rourke took that moment to squeeze the rest of my air out. I coughed and sputtered before his arms eased back.

  “I’ll be fine,” Liam’s breathy voice whispered through my head again.

  “Look, I might be pissed at you, but I will not leave you here to die like this. Please! Just tell them.”

  “We’d all die where we stand. There are things I can’t explain to you right now, but I give you my word I’ll be fine. Stall the ceremony until I can get there.”

  “Your word doesn’t mean shit to me.”

  “Would you get over yourself!” He groaned. “You don’t have a choice. Do what I say for once.”

  Parthalan, strutting like a pretty peacock, nodded to Rourke, who dropped me to the pavement and walked toward the biggest car I’d ever seen. I stumbled rather ungracefully, arms flailing to keep myself upright. When I looked closer at the vehicle, I rolled my eyes. A stretch Suburban. Compensating for something, maybe?

  Chuckling to himself, Parthalan wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me along with him, his lips pressed into the top of my head. “We will change the face of the fae tonight, my darling,” he whispered into my hair. “And once our cumhachts have been granted and our Lights combined, we will be unstoppable. We will destroy Dun Bray, reunite our people under my rule, and then rid the Goddess of her plague.”

  My body went rigid, and my throat constricted, blocking all intake of air. He couldn’t mean … people. Could he?

  “Oh yes, princess. The time for mankind is ending. We shall push the final grains of sand through the hourglass in a bloody hurrah.”

  13

  Rourke climbed into the shining black behemoth first, and Parthalan shoved me in after him. I scrambled for the far door, but Rourke knocked his arm against my back and sent me down onto the expensive grey carpet. It still had that fresh-from-the-factory scent. I hadn’t smelled it since my mother bought a new car when I was seven. If she’d been hiding me and wanted to blend in, that might explain why she’d bought it. I hadn’t realized until that moment we never drove the car, it just sat in the driveway. Maybe my mother had a problem with metal objects, too.

  The door clanged shut as the engine roared to life. On the initial lurch, Rourke rolled over and slammed against the back seat, laughing. His hair fell over his face in dark strings, adding the perfect touch to his creepiness.

  I leapt up and scrambled over him to the back seat. After a brief glance at Garret, who cowered near the window beside me, I searched the moonlight out the back window for Liam. Clancy had him by the throat with one hand, and the gun pressed to his forehead with the other. The wolves stood at the side of the road.

  “Come now, my darling,” Parthalan said. “Sit by your King.”

  My fingers dug into the leather upholstery, but I clenched my teeth so I wouldn’t utter the words burning in my throat. How could the Glass Man do that to one of his own people? Why did my heart hurt as if it had been crushed?

  When I could no longer see Liam, my chest seized up and a sob pooled in my throat. I will not cry, not for him, and not now. A flash, followed by another in quick succession, lit up the sky. The distant echo of gunfire met my ears. A frustrated growl burned deep in my chest as I turned around. Was he dead? Would I know if he was? Yeah, I’d know—I think. He’ll be okay. He has to be.

  Rourke knelt in front of me, wearing a smirk. I came close to smacking it off him. “Your King has requested your presence,” he said. “Learn obedience now, or I’ll be forced to teach you later … the hard way.”

  I noticed he didn’t call me his pet in front of his King. Coward.

  “King.” I spat the word at Parthalan. “I have no king, and you’re not fit to rule a herd of goats.” Liam had told me not to antagonize them, but I couldn’t help it.

  A dark shadow flashed across Parthalan’s crystal eyes, and his black hair stirred, the light in the ceiling glinting off the subtle hints of purple. The grin spreading across his lips held no humor, only malevolence. He patted the seat on either side of his legs. “Come to me.” He watch
ed me with his dangerously beautiful eyes. “Greet your King properly.”

  Oh, hell no. My empty stomach clenched, and I folded my arms. “Go back to whatever hell you crawled out of.”

  His gaze slid over to Rourke, who’d climbed onto the seat beside Garret. A blue spark flared a moment before Rourke jammed his hands against the young man’s chest. Spine bowing and eyes rolling up, Garret screamed the way dying men do—a high keening sound I’d heard hundreds of times.

  I scrambled across the floor and sat on the seat beside Parthalan, every muscle corded and taught beneath my skin.

  “No.” He shook his head, patted the seat again. “Sit across me, one leg on either side, facing me.”

  The screaming stopped when Rourke paused and looked at Parthalan.

  Garret sobbed, his trembling hands pressed against the window. The thought of straddling Parthalan, especially wearing nothing but panties and a bra, made my spine itch. Something always happened when he touched me that way, but … did I have a choice? Could I suck it up, swallow my pride to save the kid? When I hesitated, Rourke hit Garret again.

  I threw my leg over Parthalan. He hooked his hands behind my knees and pulled me against him. He was obviously happy to have me there. My lip curled up in disgust.

  “That’s my good girl.”

  My power surged behind the shield Liam had contained it in. “Don’t patronize me.” I couldn’t bring myself to look into the cold abyss contained within his eyes, so I stared out the window. “I’m here, so tell your guard dog to back off. Bring Garret over here where I can see him.”

  “Mmm, so demanding.” Parthalan brushed lips across my jaw and slid his hand along the other side of my throat. I fought the urge to gag. “I suppose it wouldn’t harm to indulge my queen.”

  Garret climbed onto the seat beside me, his ice blue eyes as large as the moon and just as bright. He mouthed, “I’m sorry,” wiped away the tears streaming from those sad, frightened eyes.

  I didn’t say anything back, but I hoped my look told him that I didn’t blame him.

  When I noticed Parthalan’s skin touched mine and I didn’t want to rip his clothes off and roll around on him the way I usually did, I sipped in a breath. My hackles stood out as I thought it through. If I could feel Liam’s pain and hear him in my head … what else would happen to me?

  “Come now, my darling, you’re spoiling the mood.” Parthalan grasped my face and forced me to him. Those arctic eyes pierced me all the way down to my core. “Why so tense? Your muscles have turned to stone when they should be molded around my body by now. And you haven’t tasted me yet.” The pout in his voice made me want to strangle him.

  “Hmm, let me see. You’ve been chasing me across two countries for seven years. You killed my family while I listened. You’ve sicced your mutt over there on me, left one of your people to be shot and mutilated, ordered the electrocution of a boy, and now you’re carrying on like a love-sick sociopath. Why am I tense? I’m at a loss here, Parthalan.”

  He sighed. “Sarcasm is unbecoming a lady of the Court.”

  “Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m not a lady of the Court.”

  “Oh, but you are, my darling. You are the queen of the Seelie Sidhe and their pathetic Court—soon to be dissolved. You will be my right hand as I rule them all.”

  “But my lord!” Rourke knelt on the seat beside us, his shocked face so close I leaned away. “I am your faithful servant. Am I not—”

  “Hush, my friend.” Parthalan released me and placed his hand on Rourke’s cheek. “You are not being replaced, only augmented. The three of us will sit upon the thrones of the new fae Court, and all will bow down before us. Do not read more into what I say.”

  Sighing, Rourke wrapped a hand around the pale one on his cheek, closed his eyes and melted into the touch.

  “Well, this is very touching,” I said. “I’ll just leave the two of you alone.”

  I pushed against Parthalan to climb off, but he wrapped his arms around me. His hand slid up my back to my neck and pressed my cheek to his, facing the slimy weasel beside us. “Once the queen has been officially … broken in.” The two of them snickered while I rolled my eyes. “Perhaps we can share an evening together, just the three of us.”

  What? A threesome with a Thor wannabe and a psycho who cared more about his hair than human life? Over my dead body.

  “Oh, yes,” Rourke smiled as though he’d been offered a hit of heroine. “Until then, permit me to oversee her training?”

  Parthalan pressed his lips against my temple. They curved into what I assumed was a grin. “I could think of no one better, old friend.”

  While they carried on with their little interlude, my mind wandered off to Liam, a note of desperation slipping into my thoughts. Where are you? Something opened in me. A doorway filled with light. A flash blinded me, but I kept my startle reaction inside. Scents of the forest swirled around me, the pine, the dampness in the evening air.

  “Liam?” I thought to him. Another flash of light—longer and brighter. Ethereal light. Moonlight. The sound of large wings beating against the wind overwhelmed my ears. I almost raised my hands to them—an instinct to block out the jarring drum-like sound—but kept them pressed against Parthalan’s chest to keep a little distance from him. I caught a glimpse of white feathers with dashes of black. A moment later, the foreign sights and sounds disappeared, turned off as if a switch had been thrown. Was I seeing through the eyes of … the trees? No! I would not add insanity to my list of issues.

  A shred of relief filtered through the worry. Somehow I knew Liam still lived—not that I believed he’d be able to help me again. Why did it even matter? He betrayed me! Stop thinking about him!

  Parthalan grasped me by the face again and aligned it with his. I flinched. His pearlescent skin glowed. He looked so deeply into me it took every ounce of strength not to squirm. “Now kiss me before Sebastian takes us home. His method of travel can be somewhat disorienting for someone who has never experienced it.”

  “What do you mean?” I said, proud my voice remained strong, even though my insides were in chaos.

  “You’ll see. Now kiss me, or I’ll give the boy to Rourke for the rest of the night.”

  I glanced at Garret beside us and found him huddled into a quivering ball. A halo of sunlight hair hovered around his head as if still charged with electricity. His trembling hands covered his ears, his head shook back and forth, and he whispered, “No, no, no,” over and over again. A single tear spilled from his lashes and raced down his rosy cheek.

  The sight gripped me by the heart and tore it from my chest. I turned back to Parthalan. Defeat must have shown in my eyes because his smile spread, eating up the bottom of his face.

  “All the power in the world, and you’re still weak.” Rourke grinned.

  I leaned away from Parthalan so I could get a better look at the psychotic weasel beside him. Parthalan allowed my movement, but raised one brow.

  Fury filled my limbs with a potential for destruction. My fingers curled into a fist, aching to be set free to pound something. “You know nothing of me, freak show.” My knuckles cracked Rourke across his smug face, catching him square in the nose. I tipped over with the force of the punch, but Parthalan grabbed me by the hips and brought me back to him. I ignored the pain in my knuckles.

  Parthalan tilted his head back and belted out a laugh. Rourke jerked his body toward me, but his king waved him away with a few flicks of his fingers.

  Scowling, Rourke scuttled from the seat. Low grumbles fell from his lips.

  “Although that was entirely entertaining, no more stalling.” Parthalan sighed. “Now press those pouty Seelie lips against mine. I have missed you so.”

  I swallowed the runaway train of black words and leaned in, my breath jagged, my pulse leaping in my throat. My lips hovered above his. The scent of night clung to him—dew, the crisp freshness of the air, and the organic aroma of green, if green had a smell. It would have been easi
er if he smelled evil to go along with the rest of him, but part of me wanted to wrap myself up in that scent, to close that last inch of distance. No. The revolted part of me reared its head and gave me a mental kick in the ass. That was new. Normally I had little control with him. Did that have something to do with what the Goddess had done to Liam and me? A tiny shred of hope permeated my reeling mind.

  I swallowed hard, licked my lips. He writhed beneath me.

  The car lurched to a stop and slammed me into Parthalan. We both came away with bloody lips.

  “Can you do nothing right!” He pounded against the window dividing us from the driver’s seat.

  Sebastian’s voice came over the intercom. “I thought you might like to witness the fruits of your labor, my King.”

  A terrible grin slid across Parthalan’s face. He spun me around on my knees, shoved Garret from the seat with his foot, and pressed my face against the window. He wrapped his arms around me from behind. “Watch,” he whispered against my ear. “See what I have started and we will finish together.”

  I didn’t want to look, couldn’t imagine what he meant, but curiosity forced my gaze to the window. A few moments later, something caught my eye. Fire, but it moved in small clusters. Oh, no. Torches. I scanned the moonlight and made out six dark forms, four of them holding the flaming torches. They stalked up to a small bungalow not far off the road. Smoke trickled out of the brick chimney. The windows were all dark.

  Two of the dark forms smashed the front door. The rest disappeared around the back of the house. Screams ripped open the silence and sliced through my ears. Orange flame ate the curtains in the bay window. People burst out of the splintered front door.

  “Let me go!” I struggled against Parthalan’s iron grip. I had to help them. “They’ll kill that family for a few cans of food!”

  He gripped my wrist with one hand and pressed the button on the intercom system with the other. “Kill them all except the youngest boy and the older girl.” He snickered. “And then make him watch.” He released the button.

  It took a moment before I could find enough air to speak. My guts twisted. “I counted at least six people in that house. Why would you kill them?” I struggled to break free of his grasp, but he pulled me back into the circle of his arms.