Sira shot power out at her and Malita screamed. I found myself secretly rooting for Sira to rip Malita in two. I tried to see where Malita was, but Pallo pulled harder on my hair and then brought his head down hard and fast. His fangs sank deep into my body. He sucked on me hard and there was no pleasure involved in it. It was pure pain. He jerked back from me and ran his tongue out and over his b.l.o.o.d.y chin. His face came closer to mine and my breaths came in short bursts. He ran his tongue over my cheek and down my chin. His teeth sank into me again.
"Pallo, no!" I cried out, pushing to no avail against him.
Pallo came away from my neck and his face was now covered in my blood. His black eyes watched me with the look of a hunter. I looked at him as my magik began to regain some of its strength. It wouldn"t be enough to stop all of them, only one, maybe. I brought my hand up and touched Pallo"s face. He bit my wrist. I screamed and fell to the ground. My face hit first and my cheekbone throbbed from the impact.
I felt my skirt being lifted high up my legs. Pallo"s weight dropped onto to my back. I lifted my head up and saw Giovanni still pinned to the wall in front of me. I tried to crawl to him, but Pallo was too heavy for me to move. His hand reached into my hair and he pulled hard on my head. His lips came down next to my ear and he pressed his mouth against it.
"Do you still think fondly of him?" Pallo"s voice was raspy and deep. "Tell me that you want him, tell me that you desire him and this shall all end." He pierced my earlobe with his fangs.
Malita"s feet appeared before me. I grabbed her ankle and dug my fingernails into it. Her other foot came out and caught my cheek. "Tell him, b.i.t.c.h. Tell him how you still want Giovanni. I can taste your love for him in the air. Tell him how you love Giovanni more than him!"
Pallo flipped me over and grabbed my chin. His fingernails had grown longer than normal. They were now razor sharp. He took his right hand and put his finger on my breast bone. He dragged it down slowly, pressing hard enough to leave a welt but not hard enough to hurt me, yet.
"Gwen?" Caleb asked softly.
I couldn"t see him, but I was betting that he was just stirring awake. I heard him make another small noise and then he yelled, "Gwen!"
"Shut-up, Caleb!" Sira shouted, sounding annoyed.
"Aunt Sira, what are you doing? What the h.e.l.l is going on? Pallo?"
Pallo pushed his finger down on me harder now and my skin ripped open. I tried not to hurt him, but my hand flew up and caught his face. I"d hit him hard enough to turn his head, but not to knock him off of me. I tried again and he caught my hand with his, crushing my wrist under the weight of his grip.
Malita"s blonde hair appeared above me. She smiled down at me. "Smells like you have something growing inside you, Gwen." She leaned down and licked my wounded neck. "I will enjoy watching him kill you slowly. He"s earned this and having you pregnant only sweetens the deal for him. Tell me, is the baby his again or is it Caleb"s this time?"
Caleb yelled again and I heard a loud thud. I could feel Sira"s magik all around us. She laughed wickedly. "Malita, you are mistaken. I sense a vampire"s energy within her. The cool undertone of a vampire"s existence beats within her womb."
Malita looked down at me and then at Pallo. She lashed out and struck my face hard. "I smell the faerie. It can"t be!"
Sira"s power blew past me and struck Malita. "She is Fae, moron. Of course you would sense it upon her and in her unborn child. Do you think me not powerful enough to know that I sense something that is of a vampire within her?"
Malita cleared her throat. "No, mistress. I"m sorry. I was not thinking clearly. I"d never question your power."
"I would," a deep voice said from the door.
Sira gasped and I sensed her trying to pull her power back into herself. "Conlan, what... how... this is not.... how?"
I felt energy that was so familiar to my own that for a brief moment I thought it was mine move over me and to Giovanni. Pallo stared down at me and his eyes changed quickly back to brown. He saw himself holding my crushed wrist and his gaze came to my face. I had a hard time seeing him. My right eye was covered in my own blood. I could see enough to know that he had no idea what had taken place.
Sira cleared her throat. "This is just a misunderstanding. I found Malita and Pallo in here trying to kill these three and I knew they needed my help, really, Conlan. You don"t think I had anything to do with this."
Caleb"s eyes were wide and he was trying to speak, but nothing was coming out. She"d silenced her own nephew. She was a ruthless b.i.t.c.h.
Conlan moved in and stared at me. "Dear, G.o.ddess, what have they done to you and what is this about expecting a child?"
Pallo stood slowly and lifted me. He was careful not to touch any of my injured spots but that didn"t leave him a whole lot to work with. Someone moved in behind me and put their arms around me. I turned and found Giovanni standing behind me. Pallo was less than thrilled but backed away all the same.
Conlan put his hand out and stopped just before my stomach. He looked at me with his vibrant purple eyes and smiled. "May I?"
Giovanni"s arms slid around me tighter and he lifted my shirt slowly. Conlan placed his hand on my stomach and his energy swept in. It moved into my abdomen and radiated up my torso to my neck, face and out my arms. My numbed broken wrist stopped throbbing. I wiggled my fingers slightly and then brought them to my neck. It was smooth again-no more bite marks, no more broken bones.
Conlan leaned over and kissed my forehead softly. "Congratulations, the baby is healthy and fine."
"What?" I asked, feeling faint. "Baby? This is a joke, right? I can"t be pregnant. I haven"t had s.e.x with either of the men who are supposed to be able to give me a child." Fl.u.s.tered, my cheeks heated. "I mean, I have had s.e.x with them just not in over six months. No offense, Mr. Powerful Fae Guy, but I"ve kind of had my monthly cycles show up since them, like clockwork and I think I"d know if I was six months pregnant. Don"t you?"
Conlan laughed slightly. "Call me Conlan. It"s much easier to get out than Mr. Powerful Fae Guy."
I exhaled, holding tight to Giovanni"s hand. "Conlan, you don"t understand. I can"t be with child. I"ve only been with Giovanni and he isn"t my mate."
Conlan"s brow furrowed. "According to who?"
Giovanni and I both responded with a, "Huh?"
Smiling, Conlan kept his hand on my lower stomach. "The baby is healthy and strong. She"s young yet but strong. Like her mother and," he looked past me at Giovanni, "her father."
Stunned, I stared at him. "But I don"t respond to him." I blinked. "I mean, I do respond to him but my eyes don"t shift colors like they do with ...."
Putting a hand up, Conlan silenced me. "Gwen, you have lived two lives, both of which were shrouded in lies and magik. I fear my brother"s desire to see you mated to a Fae has twisted things to the point it"s hard to see the truth of the matter."
"Which is?" Giovanni asked, holding me closer to him.
Conlan locked gazes with him. "That you were and have always been Gwyneth"s soul-mate."
I drew in a sharp breath.
Conlan continued, "Kerrigan sensed as much and had no choice but to send you to watch over Gwyneth when she was just a child. He came to me, asking for my a.s.sistance in a spell to keep either of you from sensing the truth until you were of age, Gwyneth. I agreed." He sighed. "I found out later that Kerrigan had other plans. He wasn"t completely truthful with me in gaining my a.s.sistance. By the time I learned he had no intention of allowing a vampire to claim you, it was too late. You were already dead."
Giovanni"s long fingers caressed my lower stomach gently. "Non, I do not believe what you tell me. I would have known. I would have ..."
"I think you did know, Giovanni," Conlan said matter-of-factly. "You swept into her life the moment she began to get serious with Caleb. You whisked her away and I believe you would have produced a child had we not tampered with fate. By helping my brother block what was natural for the two of you, I unknowingly gave him access to one of my specialties."
Caleb gasped. "You"re a life giver. You can repair and create most anything- especially anything to do with fertility." He let out a long, drawn out breath. "s.h.i.t. Kerrigan harnessed your ability and twisted it, a.s.suring Giovanni and Gwen couldn"t reproduce." He shook his head. "But what about Pallo?"
Conlan glanced in Pallo"s direction. "I believe Gwyneth"s power was so strong that she would have repaired the broken connection with Giovanni, in time, had Sira not interfered at the end. If I had to guess, and I do, Gwyneth"s power latched onto a man she found similarities to Giovanni in-Pallo."
I swallowed hard. "This isn"t happening. It"s a trick ... like when the enchantress used me as a vessel."
Caleb shook his head. "Gwen, it"s no trick. If Conlan says you"re pregnant and Giovanni is the father, then you are. I just don"t understand why we react to one another in this lifetime if you"re still his mate and not either of ours." He motioned to Pallo.
Conlan stopped touching my stomach and faced Caleb. "Think hard, Caleb. Who would want to a.s.sure you"re mated to her?"
"My mother," he said.
I shook my head. "My father."
Conlan glanced at me and smiled. "You"re right. While I don"t doubt Sorcha would very much like to see her son mated to the King"s daughter, even she would not tamper with soul-mates. Even Sorcha has her limitations. Kerrigan, however, does not."
I let the information soak in and stared at Caleb. "All this time it"s been my father controlling us. He was responsible for that l.u.s.t spell and for what happened when we first met again."
Caleb seemed to think upon what I was saying. "It"s his magik I feel pressing down on me when I"m near Gwen, making me forget anything but her. It"s his power controlling our actions and making us receptive to mating."
"I"m going to kill him," I said, my voice low.
Conlan shook his head. "Gwyneth, he loves you dearly and is misguided. He has it in his mind that in order for you to be safe, you must be married to a full-blooded Fae."
"Don"t defend him," I snapped, making Conlan take a step back. "The man has used us as p.a.w.ns from day one. He"s twisted our lives and ...."
"Shhh," Giovanni whispered, kissing my neck. "I do not want this moment marred with hate."
"This moment?" I asked, looking over my shoulder at him.
He locked gazes with me. "Yes, Gwyneth. The moment when my heart finally felt full for the first time in all my centuries of life." He glanced down the length of my body. "The moment I learned miracles do happen ... that I was wrong ... I can give you a family and the life you deserve."
Emotions welled in me as the reality of it all set in. "OhmyG.o.d, I"m pregnant. We"re pregnant!" Turning, I tossed my arms around his neck.
Laughing, Giovanni lifted me off my feet and kissed me pa.s.sionately. As he set me down, he bent, continuing our kiss. "Bella, I have a request."
"Anything," I said, my lips tingling from our kiss.
"I would like it very much if you would not see any other men," he glanced at Caleb, "not even your faerie. I want you to myself for all eternity. I know I told you I would be open and willing to share you if it meant keeping you but ..."
Pressing my finger to his lips, I shook my head. "Stop. I"m yours, Giovanni. Yours and yours alone from now until eternity. I don"t care what my father wants for me. Caleb doesn"t want to be married to me anymore than I do to him."
"What of your Pallo?"
My chest tightened. "I honestly don"t know, but I can tell you that you feel right. Like you"re the only man I"m supposed to love."
He smiled. "Good to know."
I glanced at Conlan and was mesmerized by his violet eyes. The harder I stared at them, the more I thought about the painting Pallo had of the two of us hanging in his home. It depicted me with the same colored eyes in my past life. It was of him and me by a riverbank. Holding each other and looking into each other"s eyes. The thing that had stuck most with me was that my eyes had been violet, the same color purple as Conlan"s. I thought of my dream with my mother in it. She had confessed to loving more than one man. Had she loved the brothers?
Conlan smiled at me and took my hand in his. "I sense none of myself in you now. Only that which an uncle and a niece would share, but at one time, I sensed so much more of me in you and Kerrigan, as well. Somehow, Lydia had been impregnated by us both. When you came Kerrigan could not acknowledge you and he refused to accept it when I told him I believed that I, too, was your father. He sent me off to lead the wars against the ogres. I was forbidden from seeing you."
Caleb stepped forward. "It"s true. I know it is. Gwen, you used to be able to sense things, much the same way Conlan does. You ... you knew the second that Pallo had gotten you pregnant that you were with child and once I even watched you touch a dead b.u.t.terfly and bring it back to life. Fairies can heal people, but only a few can heal animals. Kerrigan can"t bring animals back from the dead. His brother can."
Conlan glanced at Pallo and Caleb. "A child is no small undertaking. It cannot be born among fighting and hate. It must be loved and cherished by its uncles. You both must set aside your differences with Giovanni and understand he did not harm her of his own free will. Had he been freed to do as was destined, he would have made her his wife long ago and they would be celebrating hundreds of years together, with many children of their own."
Something he"d said earlier sunk in. "Wait, you called her a she."
Conlan smiled. "I did."
Giovanni held me to him and kissed the top of my head. "A daughter to add to our ..."
He stopped and I stared up at him. "Nicholas? Is he...?"
James stirred. I stared down at him and smiled. "What"d I miss?" he asked. He touched his head. "That b.i.t.c.h packs a wallop."
"Speaking of that b.i.t.c.h," Conlan said. "Where did she go?"
"And where is Malita?"
Pallo cleared his throat. "I will go in search of them."
I locked gazes with him. "Take your time. I"m still disgusted with you. You tore his tongue out, Pallo. That"s sick!"
"You are free of me, Gwyneth." He pointed to Conlan. "If what he says is true then you have no ties to me any longer. It would seem I was sired by mistake." His tone was mocking and harsh.
I glared at him. "You were caught up in the web of lies, same as the rest of us, Pallo. If you"d prefer the alternative--you know--the one where you"re mortal and dead by now, I"m sure I can find someone to kill you."
He huffed and walked away.
Giovanni stepped past me, reaching for him. "Pallo, Nicholas is the child Gwyneth carried long ago."
Pallo stiffened and bent his head, letting out a somber laugh. "You are two hundred years too late with the news, Giovanni. You see, he hates me and has for two centuries."
"That does nothing to change the fact that he is your biological son." Giovanni put his hand on Pallo"s shoulder. "You have always been full of so much rage. Let some of it go long enough to see that his temper is yours. That his ability to hold a grudge is yours, as well."
Pallo looked back at Giovanni. "That may be so but it is you he calls father." He glanced at me. "It would appear you have it all."
Conlan stepped in, pulling Pallo"s attention to him. "Do you honestly believe you were sired by mistake? Do you think the Fates have no plan for you? That they a.s.sured you would be immortal for nothing more than fun?"
The silence on the part of Pallo spoke volumes.
Conlan lifted his hand. In it, a tiny speck of silver seemed to radiate light. "If you truly believe your life and death have no meaning, walk away and never look back. If you believe as I do, that everything happens for a reason, take what I offer."
"And what it is you offer?" Pallo asked.
"Hope," Conlan said flatly.
I wasn"t buying it. There was more to the story for sure.
Pallo apparently wasn"t biting on it either. "You expect me to believe you carry hope in the palm of your hand and all of this ... the events of my life can be spun to find a positive with nothing more than a play of light in your hands?"
"Yes," Conlan answered.
Pallo made another move to go for the door but stopped, turning and reaching for the silver light. The minute he touched it, he tipped his head back and hissed, before looking at Conlan, his eyes reflecting silver.
Conlan nodded. "Now you understand she truly exists."
I almost asked who they were talking about but Giovanni picked up on my curious ways and whispered in my ear, "The one he is meant for, Gwyneth."
Tears came to my eyes and I nodded. "Good. She better d.a.m.n well treat him like he"s a G.o.d because he"s been through so much. If she dares to break his heart, I"ll strangle her."
Laughing, Giovanni kissed my cheek. "I believe he can handle things himself."
Caleb walked to Pallo and embraced him in a rather manly hug. "Good on you, old friend."
Pallo returned the hug, still looking shaken by whatever he"d seen when he touched the silver light.