Blood Betrayal

Chapter Six

Daxus carefully held a still crying Ghanny. She was half on the floor, her head in his lap. He had tried to drench the wound in his own blood in an attempt to heal it but the gash looked just as awful as it had before. His hands held the wound desperate to stem the bleeding but failing.

"Fae shifters here? How long?" Through his anger and shock, he was barely able to sputter a sentence his eyes wide watching the sticky molasses-slow blood welt up over his fingers.

Brunhild could only shrug. She had been stupid. The buzz of Faerie magic had eluded her. It was a horrible oversight to not check more thoroughly before bringing new humans to Ghanny.

"Help me," he whispered too distraught to speak louder. Brunhild shuffled to hold the softly squealing Queen. She pulled Ghanny up to lean against her breast keeping the wound up. Brunhild's hands replaced the Kings.

She watched as Daxus shifted to his knees. He quickly brought his own wrist to his lips and bit down. Black blood welted up around his lips. He quickly transferred his wrist to Ghanny's lips stifling her squealing. They watched the bleeding wound on the Queen's shoulder holding their breath.

"It is not enough," he whispered. She had actually drunk deeply, it should have been enough to slow the bleeding. Brunhild shook her head. She truly didn't know what to do. Were it any other wound his blood would be more than enough to close it.

The girl drank for only a few moments before she fell back gasping. Her eyes open but vacant. The cut was not as deep but ragged teeth marks still glistened wet with her blood. She was alive but would no longer respond to voice or blood.

"More, she needs more," Brunhild snarled.

"She will not. Get out," Daxus spoke. His tone lacked all emotion.

Despite the order to leave Brunhild stayed by his side. Brunhild considered her options. The girl could not stay in the new world while the Fae were plotting. Daxus had strength on his side, he would not be an easy target but Ghanny? She was far too vulnerable.

Ducking out into the hall she sent word for Marthus before returning to reason with the distraught King.

"My King? Lordship? Daxus? Dax!"

Finally, his eyes flickered up to hers before falling back to the Queen.

"Whatever this is it goes further than two dead Fae shifters. I have reason to think this was well orchestrated. Some of the humans may have been effected by magic."

The boy that had been there that very night, the one that had been so brazen. He had been inconsolable saying he didn't know why he was acting the way he was. They had brushed it off as simple regret of being expelled but in the light of recent events, his words burned in her ears.

I was drugged or bespelled!

The Fae worked subtle enough spells that he could be telling the truth.

"Kill them all." Daxus sounded flat and he had switched to an ancient dead language he found far more comfortable than English.

"You know that would go against all of our rules. All of her rules. We cannot just execute all of our humans," she spoke to him in that old dead tongue. She spoke slowly annunciating carefully.

"My rules. I can change them as I please. Just do as I say and kill them all."

Brunhild sighed. It was going poorly. He was unreasonable with shock and blood loss. "We cannot do that. Don't you see that you need blood? She will need blood. If we kill them all we will not be able to feed her. We will not be able to feed anyone."

With all that logic in front of him, she could see him struggling. His eyes blinked and his fingers twitched. He finally looked up his eyes unfocused. He needed to feed, badly. "What is the answer then!"

"We have to send her away for a wee bit. Just long enough to figure out what be happening." She tried using a voice normally reserved for knife-wielding maniacs and hostage negotiations. He looked at her as if he could not understand her words. She was nearly sure that he couldn't until he answered.

"Insanity, if she is not here we cannot protect her from them."

"If she is not here she will not need protection from them. She is too weak. She is too important to us all," she said carefully.

In that moment Marthus arrived. Daxus stood with a snarl. "What the fuck is he doing here?"

"We need to discuss her safety and he could be of use," Brunhild said motioning to Ghanny. The King was vibrating and swaying with uncoordinated anger but he made no move to strike out.

"There is no one else that can protect her, not him, not you. I will suspend court and stay by her side. I will not leave her side."

"With due respect, if you suspend court they will know their plan has worked and will have reason to attack us all. With yourself indisposed as you are we may stand little chance. No one, not even you could take on all of the Sidhe single-handedly once they kill the rest of us. We have a place to hide her Dax. If we conduct court as usual they will have no reason to even look for her. She will be safe until we can quietly find every spy they sent here. We only need some time to look."

"I don't trust her safety with anyone else. I need her here where I can be sure she is safe." He was beginning to sound more reasonable, less frantic.

"You trust him." Brunhild gestured towards Marthus. He was still standing at attention. Waiting for an order like the good warrior that he was. His dark skin shone and his fists were balled up but he stood his ground. To his credit, he had not flinched at the sight of his King vibrating with fury and wet with blood.

"He has a job to do just as I do. We need him if there are more Fae hiding."

Brunhild nodded. "Yes, but he has blood back in the old world. Blood that she knows, that cares for her, that can be trusted with what she is."

"You cannot be implying his damned fledge take her? No, she cannot go to the human world and I told him myself that if he were to be seen with her again I would finish him."

"No one would suspect him. Even if anyone knew your past they know that you would never send her there of your own accord. It is perfect. He is a good man and quite old enough now to hold his own. Even then he withstood your anger quite well. He is a King now," Brunhild delicately informed him.

"He should have died that night," he nearly shouted back.

"That is not what Ghanny would want. Think on it lordship," Brunhild spat, "it will be your pride or her life. Just do not take too long." With that, she turned and wheeled out the door.

Marthus waited for the inevitable explosion from the King. He did shake for some time but then he piteously fell to his knees at her bedside.