“This isn’t my home.” Cian looked around the cottage. He sounded the slightest bit panicked. “Where am I?” He looked so lost. He caught her hand and held it tightly. “I don’t know where I am.”
If Beck had been standing in front of her, she would have clocked him with the iron skillet. Cian needed him, and he’d left. She understood that they needed money, but it could have waited a day or two. She held Cian’s hand in both of hers. “You’re safe. I promise you.”
“Is he having a rough day?” a voice asked from the window in the kitchen.
Meg turned, slightly startled to see a lovely blonde woman standing at the window. “I wouldn’t know what a normal day is like.”
“Sometimes he remembers, but that’s only when his brother is around,” the blonde explained with a tight smile. “With Beck being gone again, he’ll probably deteriorate. It’s terrible that he had to leave again so soon. He just got back yesterday, and now he’s off to the Vampire plane.”
Meg felt her heart drop to her toes. “How did you know he was gone?”
As far as Meg knew, Beck hadn’t been into the village. No one had visited them yesterday.
There was no small amount of sympathy in the other woman’s eyes. Meg got the feeling the blonde was trying to tell her something. “He told me last night. He asked if I would come up and see if you needed anything. Cian can be difficult.”
Cian was looking at the blonde. He came around and put his hands on Meg’s shoulders. He seemed to be concentrating very intently. Every muscle in his body seemed bunched and tight as though he was ready for a fight. “You shouldn’t be here. Go away.”
“You see. He’s difficult. I hope he doesn’t get violent with you. I don’t know what Beck was thinking, leaving you with him. He can be so insensitive some times. You know men.” There was now a slight sheen of tears in the woman’s eyes. She made a scene of trying to hide them.
The blonde before her was tall and delicately feminine. She had a perfect face with light blue eyes and cheekbones any model would have killed for. Meg didn’t buy the tears, though. They seemed fake. “What can I do for you, Miss?”
“I am Liadan.” The introduction came with a slight sniffle. “I live in the house on the other side of the fields. I have known the brothers for several years now.”
“Beck likes her, but I don’t,” Cian said stubbornly.
Meg didn’t like her either. There was something very cold about the blonde though she was obviously trying to be friendly. “All right, Liadan, what can I do for you?”
She seemed put off by Meg’s forwardness. “Like I said, last night when His Highness visited me, he asked me to check in on you. He wanted me to see if there was anything you needed. He was concerned about his brother, you see. He told me he brought you in to save Cian. The king loves his brother very much. He is willing to sacrifice his own happiness for his brother.”
“His happiness with you?” Meg asked boldly because she was done playing around with the woman who had obviously come to size up the competition.
Liadan gasped. Her cornflower blue eyes narrowed. “Well, if we’re going to be plain, then, yes, he’s sacrificing the happiness he’s found with me. We’ve been together for almost a year now.”
“I haven’t been with her.” Cian seemed very intent on making Meg understand he had nothing to do with his brother’s mistress.
“Like I would have you.” There was a sneer on Liadan’s face as she looked at Cian. It didn’t go away when she turned back to Meg. She didn’t seem so pretty now. “Look, I’ve heard you’re human, so you don’t know how this works. Beck is mine. He has been for a while now. He chose me. He’s just stuck with you. He hopes you can keep Cian alive, and he’s willing to endure this marriage because of it.”
Cian was getting upset. His hands twitched. Meg could feel his anger rising. It made it easier to ignore her own emotions. She put her hands over his and rubbed. It seemed to help. “You’re upsetting him. I’m not going to do some hair-pulling, name-calling thing with you. If you want Beck, feel free to have him, sister. I don’t consider myself married to him, anyway. I am well aware of the place I have in his life. If you can make him happy, more power to you.”
Now her husband’s honey looked seriously confused. “You don’t care that he will continue to come to my bed?”
“I have no intentions of sleeping with him, so go for it,” Meg said as simply as she could. Meeting Liadan helped a lot. It explained why Beck would be as hesitant as he was. He was in love with someone else. Meg just wished he had been up front and honest with her. She would have helped Cian regardless, and she wouldn’t have had her heart broken.
The blonde nodded. “As long as we understand each other.” She turned to go, but then came back. “He’s going to kill me for this, but I can’t just let you do it. You should think twice before you bond with Cian.”
“I want to bond with her.” Cian’s hands tightened possessively. “She is our wife.”
Liadan sighed and rolled her eyes impatiently at Cian. She focused on Meg. “He’s too far gone. If you bond with him, he’ll pull you into his madness. You’ll end up just like him. Beck didn’t mention that, did he?”
Meg shook her head. He hadn’t mentioned that possibility.
“Of course he didn’t,” the other woman said. “You would be safer walking away. There is the slight possibility that Beck would die, but he’s the stronger half. He would most likely live if Cian faded. It would be hard, but he could be stronger for it.”
“I won’t fade,” Cian swore. He seemed to be talking to himself now.
The blonde shrugged. “I just thought you should know. You should give it a lot of thought before you risk your life trying to save a stranger’s.”
Liadan walked away, and Meg got Cian calm again. She sat down and pulled out the computer Dante had left her. She pulled up the articles she’d found and reread them. She then went deeper. She found more information on Fae psychic bonding than she could have hoped for. Vampires were very interested in it as it mirrored their own bonds with consorts. Sure enough, there was a possibility that bonding with someone as far gone as Cian could hurt her. It wasn’t a big possibility, but it also wasn’t recommended.
And despite what Liadan had said, if Cian died, Beck would more than likely go insane.
She looked at Cian as he sat by the fire. He was watching her, waiting for her to do something or go somewhere so he could follow her. He reminded her of a puppy, eager to please.
If she had half a brain, she would take her husband’s mistress’s advice and just flee the scene. She should take a day or two to decide if she really wanted to risk this for one man who had dumped her after two days of marriage, and another she barely knew at all.
“You’re a very pretty lady.” Cian’s voice was all smooth tones. There was a deliciously decadent look on his face. “Can I buy you a drink? My name is Cian Finn, by the way.”
Meg set the computer down. She had never been one to slowly peel a Band-Aid off. It was better to just rip it off and get the pain over with. “Oh, we’re so doing this now.”
Cian stood up, a seductive smile crossing his face. “I was hoping you would say that, gorgeous.”
Chapter Eleven
Meg sat on the bed across from Cian. He was sitting with his long legs crossed over each other. His big gray eyes were watching her intently. He looked so much like Beck that her heart hurt. She wanted to lean over and kiss him. She wanted to promise him everything would be okay, but she held her ground. She didn’t need to fall in love with a second version of him. One was all the heartbreak she could take.