Chapter 19

The spade pierced the damp earth, the sound of it sliding along rocks and mud almost like a song under the night sky. "Nighttime is the best time. It's the right time for trouble. That's what the lads said when we'd go on our secret missions, wasn't it?"

I gave an emphatic nod, answering my own question.

"Darkness to hide all manner of sins. No witnesses but the stars, or the lady on the moon, and she's not exactly talking, is she?" I chuckled, my endless stream of chatter much more preferable than the haunting whispers crowding my head.

"You'll never find it."

"You're wasting your time."

"You'll die here."

And then a new voice joined the chorus, one I recognized from my encounter the other night at The Hag's Tooth.

"You may as well crawl in there and lie down. This hole will be your grave at this rate."

Raising my voice, I spoke louder to drown out the mental intruders. "But you stars. You're tricky little bastards, aren't you? You tell all the secrets because you just can't help it. Shh! Shh! Don't tell on me. I'll fill in all the holes. I promise."

After a few more tosses of dirt, I leaned against the wooden handle of my tool, sighing in defeat. "It isn't here either. Bloody hell, if I get my hands on that sniveling poltergeist, he's done for. Leading me on a merry chase. He better not have been lying."

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my makeshift map and the pen I'd been using to track my progress. Hands full, I used my teeth to pull off the cap, then spit the bit of plastic in the dirt. I'd find it later.

"Not here. Not there. Not anywhere. What a mystery."

I marked an X across the quadrant I'd created on my brilliant map before narrowing my eyes and looking from the illustration to the actual patch of the grounds I'd been searching. Holes littered the garden from every unsuccessful digging session.

"Usually X is supposed to mark the right spot," I muttered with a frown. "Drat. Have I been doing it wrong again?"

Tick

Tick

Tick

Panic flashed through me, a white-hot warning of approaching danger.

"Faster. Faster. Dig deeper, Caspian."

"The better to bury you in."

"Ah! No. You're not welcome here. Leave me!" I shouted, swatting at the air by my ear as if I could force the voice to leave.

I stepped backward, trying to put some distance between myself and the nonexistent creature hissing in my ear. My foot landed in a hole some inconsiderate prick had dug, and I toppled arse over tea kettle onto the ground, landing with a thud.

"Just give up."

"Stay here forever."

"Death is the inevitable end."

"Yes, that is what I've been trying to tell you. Creator above, why does no one ever listen?"

Huffing, I got to my feet and brushed the mud off my backside before glancing frantically around.

Tick

Tick

Tick

The crocodile was getting louder. He was closing in on me. I couldn't let him catch me.

Deciding the holes were some other sod's problem, I turned back toward the castle and made a run for it. There wasn't time to follow the clearly paved path. The quickest way to get from one point to another was a straight line, hedges be damned. I leaped over the manicured row of shrubbery and bounded through the rose garden, thorns catching on my clothing.

"No, not that way!" the interloper groaned. "You're going the wrong way, pirate. You're supposed to be fleeing from Blackwood, not running headlong toward it."

The certainty in the words made me falter.

"Leave Dahlia. Leave Blackwood. It's the only way."

Just the thought made my heart ache with agony.

"She's your mate."

"The only true path."

"Dahlia is the cure."

For once, the whispers' commentary was welcome. Whether they spoke true or not, well, it was the only truth I wanted. Without my compass, Dahlia was my north star, always leading me back to myself. Leading me home.

Dahlia was my home.

I'd already given up one. I would not willingly give up another. No matter the cost.

Tick

Tick

Tick

Letting out a startled cry, I took off again, singing to myself beneath my breath to offset the persistent cacophony in my head. If I didn't listen to their words, were they even really talking?

I burst through the door and tore up the staircase, not bothering with so much as a hello to the vampire and demon necking in the alcove. That terrible ticking was still hot on my heels, but perhaps the crocodile would go for Sorcha instead of me. I wondered vaguely if she'd be willing to dispatch him for me?

Maybe if fang and claw weren't enough, she'd disagree with his belly. Poison him from the inside out. So what did I care the manner of the fiend"s demise, so long as he left me alone?

Blissful silence. That's all I wanted.

No one appreciated silence until they were robbed of their sanity.

I'd read once of a town somewhere in the UK where the residents heard a persistent humming. One by one, the townsfolk went insane because after they heard it, the sound couldn't be ignored.

Was this the same?

No. Dahlia could make it go away. She would. I'd crawl into her bed, and she would mute the noise until all I heard was her sweet voice.

Better still, her moans.

Dahlia was the cure; wasn't that what the whisper had said?

Time for Hook to take his medicine.

Reaching her door, I threw it open and then slammed it closed behind me, not caring who I woke. For one suspended moment, I pressed my ear to the door, listening hard to see if I was still being followed.

Tha-thump

Tha-thump

Bless the gods above and below, it was only my heartbeat chasing me. Rolling my body so that my back was pressed to the door, I stood there and sucked in lungfuls of air, closing my eyes and working hard to calm my racing heart.

A blissful silence washed over me as my pulse evened out and Dahlia's sweet scent filled my nose. Everything was better when she was near me, and it was abundantly clear my madness had become a danger. I didn't think that was ever really a question, but before, at least it was manageable. The madness came in fits and bursts, but now it was constant. As soon as I slipped away from my mate, the whispers would return as if they never stopped.

A conversation told in pieces.

Part of me had hoped that the tattoo would be some sort of bandage. But no. Whatever other power I'd obtained, that was not among them. Perhaps I was suffering from a much stronger curse. It certainly felt like my madness was a curse.

Or a death sentence.

Was this what Tor had felt like moldering away in his cell?

Dahlia had set him free. Helped him find a path back. Why, too, could she not do the same for me? Surely that blasted compass couldn't be the only remedy.

Her soft moan filled the room, pulling me out of my reverie and into the moment. The curtains were open, allowing moonlight to spill across the bed. Goddess, she was startlingly beautiful. She sighed and rolled onto her back, her hand resting between her breasts, wrist displaying my bracelet as though she knew I was there.

If solace was what I sought, then what better way to find it than buried between her thighs? Heart racing for a different reason now, I stalked across the room, tugging off my soiled clothing.

My sweet darling was wearing nothing more than a camisole that covered her full breasts but still offered me a perfect view of her hard nipples beneath the fabric. I hoped when I pulled down the sheets, I'd find her in a thin pair of knickers I could easily remove without waking her. Or perhaps nothing at all. Would I be so lucky?

Quiet as a church mouse, I grasped the corner of the blanket she was snuggled beneath between my thumb and forefinger, carefully lifting it and pulling it off her slumbering form. Dahlia let out a sleepy little groan, but otherwise didn't move.

"White cotton? Well, well, look at my Wendy-bird, all innocent and sweet. Just waiting for her captain to come ruin her." My voice was nothing more than a rough whisper as I ran my fingertip over the gusset just over her pussy. I wanted this fabric translucent from how wet I could make her even while she slept.

But I couldn't risk waking her with foreplay, not when her darkest desire was to be taken fully while she slept. When she opened her eyes, it would be to the realization that my dick was deep inside her.

Still, I didn't want to hurt her. Reaching for the drawer beside her bed, I took out the bottle of lube she kept there and liberally coated my cock. I couldn't help but take a second to appreciate how it glistened in the moonlight.

That handled, I climbed up onto the bed beside her, my movements slow and measured as I carefully took her by the ankle and pulled her leg to the side. I kept waiting for her to wake up, to catch me before I could complete my mission, but the gods must have been on my side because she didn't so much as twitch an eyelash as I got myself into place.

My whole body hummed in anticipation as I pulled her knickers to the side and bared that plump, perfect cunt. If I had more time, if I knew she wouldn't wake, I'd dive in face first and make her come in her sleep before sliding inside her. But the way her eyelids fluttered and the little furrow between her brows deepened indicated she wasn't far from consciousness even now.

I was desperate to give this to her. She'd done so much for me, more than she even knew. Dahlia wasn't just the balm to my madness. She was the answer to decades-old prayers. It was only fair I repay her in some small way. To my knowledge, I was still the only one of her mates who knew about this specific fantasy. It was time to make it a reality.

Pressing my tip to her entrance, I bit back a groan as I pushed forward and her tight walls gripped me. As slowly as I possibly could, I inched deeper, holding my breath, limbs trembling from the effort not to slam home. Goddess, she felt so good.

It was a tight fit, far tighter than usual, as unprepared as she was, but she didn't stay that way for long. As I slid back out, just as slowly and carefully as I went in, I bent over so that my face hovered just above hers. I wanted to watch the play of her expressions. I didn't want to miss a second of her realizing what was happening.

This time my thrust was smoother as her cunt became slick and welcoming. A soft mewl of pleasure escaped her now parted lips, and even though her eyes were closed, I could see the flush creeping up her face. She was waking up for me. Any moment now, my darling would open her eyes. I was sure of it. Fuck, I was running out of time. I wanted her to wake up with my cum inside her, but even more, I wanted her to come around my dick in her sleep if I could get away with it.

I rocked my hips, sinking deeper into her warm, slick pussy as I chased my release, eyes never leaving her face. When she opened for me, I needed the first thing she registered to be me.

"Fuck, darling. How are you still sleeping?" I bit out, reaching between us and toying with her clit as I continued moving carefully inside her.

By normal standards, I wasn't fucking her particularly hard or fast, but you'd think any motion of the ocean would be enough to wake her up. Not to mention that most excellent curve I was blessed with. Usually she was a moaning mess with each thrust because I knew exactly how to hit the spot.

Another rush of wetness flooded her pussy as her walls fluttered around me, and her breaths became rapid pants. A sweet whimper escaped her, and she squirmed before it happened, the rhythmic pulse of her release.

"Ah, fuck, Dahlia," I grunted, spilling inside her as her warm inner walls milked me dry.

Her eyes were open now, her lips parted in a sleepy smile. "Mmm, that was even better than I imagined."

"Were you awake that whole time?"

"No," she murmured, leaning up to press a kiss against my lips. "Not until the very end. I've gotta say, orgasms are the best alarm clocks."

"How did you stay asleep? I thought for sure you would've woken the moment I touched you."

She flicked her gaze to the bedside table, an empty mug the only thing there.

"Tea?"

"I got a sleeping draught from one of the healers."

Confusion collided with horror. "Oh shit, Dahlia. I'm sorry. You were wearing your bracelet... If I'd known, I wouldn't have?—"

She lifted her finger and pressed it to my lips. "I took it so I could stay asleep once you realized I had the bracelet on, Cas. You didn't do anything wrong."

"But drugging is a hard limit for you. You were very clear about wanting to be fully coherent."

"Yes, Cas. Being drugged is a hard limit. Not me willingly taking something that would help me sleep so we could do this."

I frowned. "So... I can't spike your wine, but you can take whatever you want?"

"Exactly."

"Somehow that's even hotter."

Her smile took a sinful cast. "I know." Her gaze moved over my face, her smile dimming as she took in my dirt-smeared countenance. "Rough night?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," I said, bumping her nose with mine. I'd only just managed to reclaim my equilibrium. I didn't want to invite a return of the madness.

"Sleep, then?"

I pulled out of her, making us both groan before flopping down at her side. "Sleep. And perhaps a round two in the morning."

"Or before then, if I'm lucky."

Chuckling, I wrapped her in my arms and pulled her against my body, needing her near in a way I wasn't sure she'd ever fully comprehend. Before long I was drifting off to sleep, the ticking long since banished, and the whispers a faint but terrifying memory.

No one was going to take my Dahlia from me.

Not even a motherfucking angel.