Page 114 of Heartsong
He didn’t know if he could believe the claim, nor if he’d have any will to go on should he lose Anna. The curse was welcome to whatever was left of him if that happened. But he couldn’t think like that, had to focus on getting his mate and fighting their way out.
“The collar is merely insurance—just as Miss Anna is. It’s only needed until we trust each other, of course.” Glendower dared another step forward, holding out the collar. “Come with me. I have a large property up in the hills—you’ll be able to live freely. You and your heartsong will be cared for. And with the collar, there will be no more stone sleep.”
His heart lurched in his chest, and a reluctant curiosity itched at his mind. “You can break the curse?”
Glendower’s smile stiffened. “The collar is a workaround. It prevents you from attacking me, yes, but it’s also imbued with enough magick to prevent the stone sleep.” Again he presented Frey with the simple leather strap. “Help me free your kin and reclaim what our ancestors lost. We can do so much together.”
Temptation sank its hooks into Frey, and he looked long at the collar. His warrior’s soul cried out against putting on such a humiliating shackle, and he knew Glendower wasn’t to be trusted. There would never be a time when the collar came off, for the druid would never want to give up whatever power the collar gave him over Frey.
But to have the day…to be with Anna always…
His gaze cut to hers, and he knew she saw everything, all of his thoughts and conflicts warring inside him. He saw the same longing in her own eyes, the idea of finally being able to truly begin something together.
The yearning was sharper than any knife and pierced him through the heart.
But his Anna was stronger. She shook her head in one curt move. “Don’t,” she said. “There’s no reason to believe him.”
Glendower frowned icily over his shoulder at her. “Miss Anna, that isn’t helpful.”
“Your mistake for thinking I would be. You snatch me off the street, point a gun at me, threaten us—why should we believe you?”
The man’s lips thinned the more Anna spoke, and Frey growled a warning. Guns clicked and cocked, but his growl only gained in volume.
When Glendower turned back to Frey, his gaze had thawed into a considering stare. “Very well,” he said, “I see we’ll need proof.” Pulling a handheld device from one of his pockets, Glendower said into it, “Please come up to the apartment, it’s time for the reunion.”
Frey’s skin prickled with foreboding as he watched all the guards adjust their stances. There was only time to exchange a concerned look with Anna before something heavy and dark landed upon the fire escape.
In disbelief, Frey watched as another guardian stepped through the window.
“Dragan—” he choked on the name.
His clanmate looked back at him impassively, his gaze shuttered.
He was a large male, even for guardians. Dragan’s line had been hewn from obsidian, and the black of his skin seemed to absorb the light of the room, broken only by faint gray striations. Conical spikes made a crown of horns from his brow back past his temples, and eyes so violet they were nearly black stared through Frey.
They had grown up together, though Dragan had been a few years his senior. They fought alongside each other when the clan went to battle with the Pritani. He’d shared a round of mead with the male and many other of their comrades at the Gorsedd, the very night the fae attacked.
“How—?” Had Dragan too found his heartsong?
Face still eerily devoid of expression, Dragan raised one hand and tapped at his neck. A leather collar had been strapped around his throat.
Frey hissed at the sight. “No.”
“It’s true,brawd.I have seen the sunlight.”
“No heartsong required,” chimed Glendower. “As you can see, a workaround until we figure out how to break the curse in full.”
Frey looked upon his clanmate again and felt nothing but horror. The collar around Dragan’s thick throat nearly sparked with the amount of magick coursing through it. The deadened eyes, how Glendower had so casually called and summoned him—Dragan was the druid’s beast, no longer a guardian.
Seeing the disgust in Frey’s face, Dragan said, “Andrew is kind to me. He’ll take care of us, Frey.”
“I don’t believe you and your forced words.” To Glendower he said, “I can never trust a man who steals and threatens my mate.”
Glendower’s mouth twisted, but before he could reply, static buzzed through the apartment, and a male voice on the handheld device confirmed that the new car that’d been sent for had arrived.
“Good, we’ll be down shortly.” Replacing the device in his pocket, Glendower again offered the collar. “It’s time to go. Put this on and let’s be done with it. There’s no reason for things to get uglier.”
“I will never submit to a man who kidnaps women and shackles guardians. You are an insult to the druids who came before you.”
