Hels's Gauntlet [Forbidden Legacy 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Free Page A

to either side of him slipped away until Helcyon stood alone with the Danae and two of her guard.
    “Go.” The Danae demanded of the warriors standing to her right and left.
    They hesitated long enough that the Queen gave an impatient stamp of her foot, and their reluctance to leave the Danae alone in his presence dragged in every step they made.
    “They are unhappy to leave you with one they no longer trust, Your Majesty.” Helcyon took care with his tone, reflexively reverting to true neutral. Her guard was right to be circumspect where he was concerned. His loyalties were not the Danae’s to command any longer, not even with the blood promise hanging over his head.
    Unless that baby is yours…
    He pushed the thought back into the quiet vault of his mind, silencing the doubt. He would show the Queen no fear and offer her no weapon to wield against his family.
    “You vex me, my lord. You vex me greatly.” So the Danae was done with dainty politics.
    He lifted his gaze, emboldened by her choice of battlegrounds, and met her rainbow colored eyes unflinchingly. “I would apologize, Your Majesty. But I am afraid that would be an insult to us both.”
    “Helcyon, you could have been my lover, you could have shared my throne, you may yet take it if your seed quickens in my Cassandra’s womb. You could lead them all, so why do you risk my ire by openly defying me in my court?”
    “Would you prefer the truth or a salve for your ego?” The dare was a gamble. A dangerous game of chance when played against the Queen’s mercurial moods. Moods that grew darker with each new whisper of rebellion on the wind.
    Tilting her head to the side, the Danae’s rainbow gaze rolled over him. Her mind pressed forward, and the sheer weight of her personality dragged on his soul. “I hate you sometimes.” She huffed the words and spun on her heel to pace the length of her throne room. Agitation rolled off her in ripples, shimmering the air with suppressed violence.
    “We need Cassandra, my lord. You understood that in the beginning. You understood just how vital she was to our plans. We are so close to success. Why are you so determined to end our chance before it even truly begins?”
    Hands clasped behind his back, Helcyon tipped his head down. He considered all the responses he might give and settled for the simplest one.
    “I love her.”
    “So?” The Queen whirled to stare at him. “You think I do not care for her? She is the child of my child’s child. She is in every way a true daughter to me. I gave up everything so that she might be born.”
    “Did you, Your Majesty? You sent a Wizard to seduce her mother. I have no doubt that you sent a Fae to seduce her grandmother. You have played this game with the breaches in Underhill for more than a century, and you had executed all who might reveal that weakness. You dressed it up in pretty words and tied it off with oath-bound honor…but your purpose for Cassandra has ever been the guardianship of her womb. You love the possibility she presents. The power. Not her.”
    “And you don’t? If you father a true Fae, if you can bring back to us the gift of fertility, the Court will fall on bended knee at your feet. Already they whisper of assassination and those like Echyo stand against me, taking action without my consent.” The last words tripped over the catch of a sob in the Queen’s voice.
    “My cousin was no traitor to you, Your Majesty. Let us not play that game when this is just between you and I.”
    The hint of sadness trickled away in another huff of air. “Why should he not be a traitor? Kyrian, your brother, turned against me. You now act in your own interests and not mine. Why not your cousin?”
    “Kyrian fled a death sentence because he wanted to see his son again. Because he, like so many of us, loved our children and hated being bound away from them.” His patience grew thin. The Queen was too old and too well versed in politics to play the coquettish