The Heartwood Box: A Fairy Tale (29 page)

“This is no game,” she yelled savagely.

“You are right, it isn’t.”  He attached the chains and pulled them tight
.
“You will stay here until you give me your solemn promise never to leave this house without proper permission and without one of us to guard you
.
I will give you some time to think on your choice.” 

And with that, he left the room
.
She heard the click of the lock, and a second later the sobs started
.

Damian leaned against the wall outside the door to their room, confounded by what had just happened
.
How on earth had he botched that so thoroughly
?
Her defiance had triggered some primitive instinct in him, and all he could think was that he would bring her to heel
.

Declan had warned him of this
—
and strongly counseled against giving ultimatums
.
What would he do if she refused him
?
He’d left himself no way of backing down without looking weak or admitting that he’d been acting like a bully.

Not that he had any compromise to offer her
—
not on this
.
He should have just told her
about
the Reavers, but he’d wanted her to acknowledge his authority over her
.
It was for her to obey him, whether or not he chose to give a reason for his command!  She may have
had this freedom at her parent
s
’
home, but she had married into the Black family
.
If he chose to restrict her to the house or lock her in their room, he expected her to submit gracefully! 

And he knew even if the Reavers were not a threat, he would never have allowed her to come and go as she pleased
.
Neither he nor Derek could live with the anxiety of worrying about her
.
But this went beyond worry too
.
He wasn’t worried about her safety in the garden or the sitting room, but he’d still locked Genevieve inside
their
room
.
Just the thought of it made him shoot impossibly hard
.

And not only him: he recalled the way her eyes glazed when he told her he’d consider letting her out in a day or so
.
He didn’t want her to feel like a prisoner, like she had no freedom
—
this truly wasn’t about crushing her will or leaving her cowed
.
He adored the outraged glint she got when she demanded he let her go
.
But it was her temper to be excited when he exercise
d mastery, and when she yielded
despite herself, he thought he would go mad with lust
.

That was his mistake: he’d made it a question of brute force, when he should have talked to her openly
.
Her protests were legitimate and completely understandable
.
While it was his right as husband to make decisions like this, it was only fair that they be discussed
.

That’s what they’d done so far, he realized
.
They talked and negotiated, made sure at every point that both of their views were taken into account
.
Though he’d dominated her, until now he’d not acted as if her will was unimportant
.
And unquestionably, Genevieve had known incredible pleasure surrendering to him.

His heart ached when he thought of her expression when he showed her
the sitting
room, when she
said how perfect it was
.
Genevieve belonged here
.
T
he last thing the house should ever feel like was a prison
.
She needed a haven
—
a home
.
Truly, he had botched this
.
The worst was he had no idea how to repair the damage
.
Unfortunately for
Damian
, the fates would not give
him the
chance that day
.

“Damian!”
a
voice roared from the bottom of the stairs
.
It was Donal, and Damian knew immediately that disaster had struck
.
His brother appeared
a moment later out of breath
.
“They
ambushed us—lightning strikes from the north and the west
,
right over that bloody cliff
.
Our men fought brilliantly, but they couldn’t hold the lines
.” 

“Where is Derek?”  His first thought was for Genevieve’s protection
.

“He’s bringing Nightshade
—
he’s right behind me
—
I’m to take you to the rallying point.” 

At least Derek was close
.
Damian had no idea how to face Genevieve, so he played for time by entering Derek’s little room and began
putting
on one of his uniforms
—
all three of them were the same size, thank Titania
.

As he pulled on the pants, his mind struggled frantically for some way to repair this quarrel in the time he had
.
What would she think of him for leaving so abruptly
?
Would she feel betrayed
—
or worse, abandoned
?
It was too horrible to contemplate
.

“Donal I need five minutes
—
I need to speak to Genevieve!” he said desperately
.

“Damian…
.”
Donal was pale
.
“The gate was breached.”

Damian’s stomach sank
.
“How many?”

“Possibly twenty demons
.
Declan ordered Derek to take Genevieve into the hills
.
T
hat’s why he’s bringing Nightshade.”

“Damnation!” he hissed, grabbing down weapons from Derek’s rack
.
The protections of the house would hold back the Reavers, but no
F
ae
ward could keep out a demon
.
“Donal
,
you need to stay with her.” 

Donal stared at him like he’d gone mad
.
“Damian, Declan told me to…
.
”

“Donal!” he growled
.
“We just quarreled, ten minutes ago
—
in a fit of insanity I tied her to the bed
.
I need you… Derek can’t… I need you to make this right,” he said desperately, thinking of Declan’s request to Donal at their wedding
.

“Damian,
we
must get to the gate.”  If the
demon
gate fell, truly all would be lost
.
Demons would pour into their world
, raping
any
wom
a
n
of childbearing age
and slaughtering everyone else
.

“
Just f
ive minutes
, Donal
!
” 

“You were followed!”  Derek roared, coming up the stairs
.
“I took out four, but the rest ran into the brush.” 

There was no time for anything else
.
Damian and Donal sped off down the stairs.

Genevieve lay on the bed, swinging wildly between misery and rage
.
The fluctuations were making her head ache
.
H
ow had such a perfect moment gone so sour
?
She’d been so happy, but was it all an illusion
?
Was she now married to a bully who would use force on her anytime she disagreed with him
?
She had no idea what to think
.

She was startled by the door flying open
.
It took her two seconds to realize that it wasn’t Damian but Derek!  In her room!  While she was chained to the bed!  Thank Titania she was dressed
.

Derek showed no surprise at her state but walked up to her
,
unsnapped the chains from the cuffs, and pulled her up
.
“Get your
boots
!” he ordered
.
He was dressed for battle, with a sword strapped to his back, an axe at his waist, and braces on his
arms, which
held a dozen small knives.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded
.

“No questions!  Get your
boots
!” he snapped out as he threw open the
dressing room
door and returned with som
e of her dresses and a cloak.

Genevieve was furious
.
“A
re you mad!  Where is Damian?”

Derek grabbed her arm, twisted her around, and slapped her buttocks twice
.
He gripped her chin
and said icily, “No questions
—
get your
boots
.”

Genevieve shuddered under his granite-hard gaze
—
what was it with these Black men!  All defiance evaporated, she sat on the edge of the bed as he tossed her stockings at her
.
Mechanically she pulled them on
and slipped on her boots, letting out a slightly hysterical laugh when she wondered if she should tell Derek that per Damian’s orders she wasn’t w
earing drawers or a petticoat.

When her boots were on,
Derek took her hand and pulled her towards the door
.
“No!  Where are you taking me?”

She couldn’t fathom why Damian would send Derek for her unless he’d been so outraged by their quarrel, he’d decided to expel her from the house
.
No matter how angry Damian had made her, she didn’t want to leave him
.
Couldn’t they at least discuss their differences
?
How could Damian get that angry
with
her?

She co
uldn’t control the rising panic
and started screaming and thrashing wildly
.
When she ignored his orders to stop, Derek shoved her against the wall
,
clipped the cuffs together
behind her back
,
and tied a cloth over her mouth
.
H
e heaved her over his shoulder
and carried her down the stairs
into
the
dining room, where it turned out
the dish-hutch
concealed
a door
.
They moved so quickly she caught only glimpses of the deserted kitchen before they were outside
.

A huge black horse stood
saddled and
waiting
—
Nightshade
.
Derek
laid
her over the front of the saddle
as if she were a sack of grain
and then mounted up behind her
.
Something tightened around her waist
—
he’d tied her down
—
and just like that, they were galloping away at a heart-stopping pace.

Genevieve was stupefied: she could make nothing of her predicament except that she’d been kidnapped by her new brother, who was carrying her away from her husband on this otherworldly animal
.
With her face pressed against Nightshade’s flank, she could see almost nothing of the terrain, but it was clear they were climbing
.

Every part of her ached from being bound in this unnatural position
.
But to her utter humiliation, as she fought for the thousandth time against the cuffs and the rope that tied her down, she felt a warm tremor between her thighs
.

No!  That was impossible
.
I
t was merely an effect of the constant jar of Nightshade’s movements, but she couldn’t help rubbing her thighs together and squeezing the muscles of her sex trying to get some relief
.
One of her legs flailed out, accidentally kicking some of the bushes that lined the road, which produced a sharp slap on her buttocks
.