Anna (Book 2, The Redemption Series) (2 page)

“
You know I will do anything you ask of me, Anna.”

“
I need you and Millie to watch over Lucas for me while I'm gone. I won't worry about him as much if I know the two of you are taking care of him.”

“
I'll protect him with my life!” Vala promises fiercely, making me smile in spite of the situation we find ourselves in.

“
I know you will,” I tell her, rubbing my nose against her little wet one before placing her back on the bed. She promptly pads over to the pillow beside Lucas and sits down again, taking up her position as his protector.

“
Lucas kept calling you his mother,” Millie says, looking perplexed by the fact. “Why is that?”

“
Since he's Malcolm's son, I
will
officially become his mother once we’re married.”

Millie smiles.
“So, you did make that stubborn old fool finally admit he's your soul mate.”

“
I'm not sure what changed his mind actually,” I say, just now realizing I truly didn't know what happened to make Malcolm accept how he felt about me.

T
he only thing I did was let him go. Yet, he came back to me with his heart completely open and ready to declare his love. I felt as though there was a piece to the puzzle that I was missing, but there just wasn't enough time to find out what that piece was. In the grand scheme of things, it really didn't matter. Malcolm loved me. That was all I needed to know.

And right now,
I had more important things to figure out.

“
I have to go back to the surface,” I tell Millie. “Levi wants me to do something for him before he'll give Malcolm and the rest of you back to me.”

“
He has Master Malcolm too?” Millie asks, obviously hearing this bit of news for the first time.

I nod.
“Yes, and I have to find Jered. You wouldn't happen to know where some people named Rory and Lora live in the down-world, would you?”

“
No,” Millie says, looking concerned that she can't help me, “should I know them?”

“
They were people Malcolm seemed to trust because he planned to have them look after Lucas while we dealt with the princes.”

Millie shrugs her shoulders.
“I'm sorry, my sweet. I have no idea who they are.”

“
It's ok, Millie,” I tell her. “I know someone who will.”

I look back to Lucas and walk over to the bed. I bend down and kiss him
lightly on the cheek because I don't want to wake him up. I feel sure he would ask about his father, and I don't have any answers for him. It's better to just let him sleep. The sooner I get to work on doing what Levi wants, the sooner we can all be together again. As far as I'm concerned, Operation Family is still in effect, and I will do whatever I have to do to make us whole. I wish I could just phase him somewhere safe, but with Levi so close, it would never work. He would simply follow my phase trail to wherever I went. There isn’t anywhere I can hide Lucas safely, not yet at least.

“
We'll be back together soon,” I promise him. “And don't worry about your dad. I'll take good care of him.”

I let my gaze linger on Lucas
' sweet, angelic face for a few more seconds before I steel myself for my next visit.

I look over at Millie.
“I'll come back for all of you when I can.”

Millie nods.
“I know, my sweet. We'll be here waiting.”

I phase back to the living room where I find Levi speaking with Eliza in hushed tones.

Levi sees me and smiles tight lipped. “Nice visit?”

“
Take me to Malcolm,” I say brusquely.

Eliza turns to look at me and raises a
questioning eyebrow. “You should show more respect to the person you’re talking to.”

I look at Eliza and realize the person standing in front of me isn't the same young woman who ha
s served as one of my ladies in waiting for the past five years.

“
What are you?” I ask, knowing Eliza's soul isn't present anymore. “Are you like Levi?”

“
No,” Levi answers for her. “This is a changeling. And I've given her orders to snap your precious little Lucas' neck if you try to come back here and rescue him.”

I d
on't feel surprised by this. In fact, I expected Levi to place someone near the people I care about to hold their safety over my head. It was his
modus operandi,
and I was becoming used to it by now.

I look back at Levi.

“Take me to Malcolm,” I say more stridently.

Levi rolls his eyes at me.
“Oh, very well. As you wish, my little dove.”

He
grabs me roughly by the arm and phases me into the small confines of a prison cell.

The white walls of the cell are all too familiar
to me. I can remember staring at them for hours on end when I was accused of being a traitor to the crown, a crime my father confessed to in order to spare my life. But, these four walls aren't completely white anymore. Patterns of splattered blood cover them in an abstract fashion. To anyone who might not know better, it would almost look like some sort of perverse form of art. Unfortunately, I wasn't naive to the evils of the world. I knew exactly who the blood had come from.

Malcolm hangs
suspended in mid-air in the center of the room by an invisible force field, just as I was earlier. His eyes are closed, and his head hangs so low his chin is resting against his bare chest, but I can see his face clearly enough. His silky black hair is a ragged mess of uneven lengths thanks to Levi's rather childishly given haircut. I stare at Malcolm looking for any evidence of where all the blood on the walls could have come from. I can't see any signs of torture on the front of him, and I know that can only mean one thing.

I walk around Malcolm
, steeling myself for what I might find, but nothing could have prepared me for what I see.

Levi used his
lightning whip like a master flogger, punishing Malcolm for some phantom crime. Yet, the only crime Malcolm committed was kissing me, loving me, giving himself entirely to me.

I
refuse to give into the tears that threaten to reveal the pain I feel as I look at Malcolm. I know Levi is watching me closely, and I won't give him an inch of satisfaction by showing my grief openly. I feel sure he would gain pleasure in my torment and such an emotion is something I will never willing give him. As I study what his lightning whip has done to Malcolm's back, I know for a fact Malcolm can't die, or at least not by Levi's hands.

His skin ha
s been flayed completely away only leaving the remnants of shredded muscles hanging loosely from the completely exposed bones of his spine, ribs and shoulder blades. I literally stand and watch as Malcolm's lungs take in ragged breaths. The small flame of hatred that first ignited the moment Levi phased into Malcolm's workshop now grows to monstrous proportions. It explodes inside my chest like a bomb, all but consuming me.

I phase over to Levi, my hands burst into blue flames
without me even having to think about it. I grab him by the front of the neck with one hand, slinging his body up against the blood stained wall at his back. The look of fear which enters his eyes isn’t enough to soothe my rage. The only thing that will satisfy my anger is his death.

“
I’m going to kill you for what you did to him!”

“
You wouldn’t dare,” Levi manages to strangle out. “If you kill me, you kill Lucas and your father. Can you really live with both of their deaths on your conscience? Do you think Malcolm will still love you after you kill his son?”

“
I’m going to kill you,” I tell him, shoving my face into his to make sure he hears my words clearly. “Then I’m going to end the life of that changeling who killed Eliza before she even has a chance to look in Lucas’s direction, and I’ll find my father on my own.”

“
You’ll never find him,” Levi says with so much certainty I know he’s telling the truth. “And you’ll never get to Lucas before the changeling kills him. As soon as you phase home without me by your side, she'll snap his neck.”

“
I think I can get to her before she even has a chance to look in Lucas' direction,” I say, squeezing his neck tighter. “I’m feeling extremely motivated at the moment.”

“
Anna…don’t…”

Only Malcolm’s voice c
an break through the haze of hatred I feel for Levi in that instant. I want to kill him so badly I can taste his death on my tongue like a sweet confection, tantalizing and addictive.

I squeeze tighter.

“Anna…”

Just one thought and Levi would be dead, gone
forever from this world.

“
Anna…please…”

I tighten my hold on Levi’s throat and pull him away from the wall only to throw him as hard as I c
an against the far wall in the room. The force of the blow is enough to knock him out.

I look up at Malcolm and find him watching me. The pain in his eyes isn’t just from the physical torture he’s had to endure. I know it’s also from the fact that Levi has Lucas
. It makes me face the fact that the changeling probably could end his life before either of us could react.

“
Malcolm,” I say. His name comes out sounding more like a strangled sob because I can’t hold in my sorrow over his pain any longer. I walk to him wanting to bring him comfort. Then, I do something that I’ve never done before. I walk on air.

It’s almost like there
’s an invisible ramp leading from me to Malcolm. He watches me as I float up to him and somehow manages an almost smile.

“
I wondered if you would be able to do that,” he says before taking in a ragged breath that appears more painful than replenishing.

When I reach him, I cup his face between
the palms of my hands and rest my forehead against his, needing the physical contact to prove to myself that he's still alive.

“
Oh, Malcolm,” I say through a heavy sigh, telling of how helpless I feel. “Why didn’t you let me kill him?”

“
Not yet,” Malcolm says, closing his eyes like my touch is easing the burden of his pain even if it's only a little bit. “He has Lucas and Andre. We need him alive. For now…”

I pull my head away
, and Malcolm opens his eyes to look into mine. Mingled with the pain I see in his gaze is his love for me. I want to weep but know that would serve no purpose for either of us. I need to stay strong because I have people whose lives depend on me.

“
He deserves to die for what he’s done to you,” I argue, feeling my hatred for Levi completely burn a small hole in my soul that can never be repaired.

“
And he will when the time is right, but that time isn’t now. You have to do what he wants.”

“
So I should find the other Watchers and just give Levi the princes?” I ask, thinking there has to be a better plan.

“
We don’t have any other choice. I won’t let him kill Lucas.”

“
Neither will I,” I say, resigned to the fact that Malcolm is right. “And I won’t let him kill my father.”

“
Then get the princes and make the deal. We’ll worry about the consequences later. Just save our son.”

The hate inside my heart is tempered slightly
by Malcolm’s declaration. I know for certain with his last two words that he thinks of us as a family now.

“
I’ll protect our son with my life,” I promise him. “And he’s safe for now. He's being kept at my house here in Cirrus. Millie and Vala will look after him for us.”

Malcolm
sighs in relief which causes him to grimace slightly. It makes me wonder why he isn’t screaming out in pain from his injuries.

“
How can I help you?” I ask. “Would a healing wand work on your wounds?”

Malcolm shakes his head.
“No. You can't heal wounds made by his whip with that sort of thing. I’ll just have to heal on my own.”

“
Then…your body is able to regenerate?”

Malcolm nods slightly.
“It’ll take some time, but I’ll heal. Don’t worry about me.”

“
That’s never going to happen,” I tell him, rubbing my thumbs across his cheekbones, feeling completely powerless. “I can't help but worry about someone I love so much.”

Malcolm turns his head slightly and kisses the center of one of my palms.
He leans his cheek back against that hand and says, “I love you too, but you need to stay focused on what you have to do.”

“
I'll get it done,” I promise him. “I'll make the deal and then we'll sort things out from there.”

I lean in and rub the side of my face against his softly.

“I want to kiss you,” I whisper.