I hold out my fist and he knuckle-bumps it. Yeah, these are totally my people.
23
“Why did Adam abduct you?” Santanos asks Darcy as we’re lounging in the parlor of a mansion that I think might belong to Fox.
The butler called him Master Fox when we arrived and told him that the chef would be providing food in the tea room in an hour, but until then the parlor had some refreshments and snacks. I don’t know if that means Fox owns this place or not, but it’s nice here. The atmosphere feels more relaxing than other places I’ve been, and it’s a mansion, so you’d expect the opposite, you know?
The parlor is red, by the way, with lots of Victorian brocade, a fainting couch, and crystal decanters on top of shiny tables that smell like lemon oil. Not that I’m putting my nose on the furniture; it just all looks like it smells like old timey furniture polish. I like the theme; it feels apropos somehow.
Darcy presses his lips into a thin line and takes my hand.
My heart. This man connecting with me to share his emotional burdens is everything. I’m so proud of him, but my dumb little heart loves the shit out of it too.
He takes a sip from his cocktail and replies, “Lilith’s hierarchy of heirs put Adam at the bottom after Loggi. Hethought that if he killed all Lilith’s sons he would inherit her title and all her property. He wasn’t wrong.”
Does he mean…?
“Did you know about that when we talked about it before?” I ask, because I probably would have insisted he let me cut the tattoo and brand off before if he’d mentioned it. His body, his choice, but I wouldn’t have let it wait if I’d known.
Darcy shakes his head, going a little pale. Poor guy, I bet that was a terrifying thing to find out when you thought you were free from the person who enslaved you.
I look around the room at all the men in here who willingly and happily kill people, and I reach for the knife that Darcy keeps on his hip, tapping it politely to make sure Darcy knows I’m about to take it out.
Darcy glances at me, but gives me a nod, returning his attention to Santanos, who’s asking, “What does that have to do with you?”
I hold up the knife since I know this is going to be hard for Darcy to say. He scoots closer, until we’re plastered to each other, so I wrap an arm around his shoulders, asking without words if he needs me to explain. He nods, so I answer Santanos’s question. “Lilith branded Darcy, and he broke the bond that brand created between them, but I’m guessing when Adam inherited from Lilith, he also inherited Darcy and a new bond formed?”
Santanos draws in a sharp breath. “That explains why I can feel you like I feel Edovard.”
Darcy sneers in disgust. “Blood bonds are my specialty, but the one keeping me enslaved isn’t one I can do more than temporarily break, it seems. I can break the bond between us, but it takes weeks, but when you die, your heir will inherit the magic, and I will have to break the bond again.”
“You should do that,” Edovard says, worry in his voice. “Santanos doesn’t want that for you.”
Santanos smiles, patting Edovard’s chest. He’s sitting in his lap, so it’s not much of a reach. “I don’t want Darcy enslaved to me,” he says, lying with his full chest.
“That is the most untrue thing you’ve ever said to my face,” Darcy responds, but I stand up and offer Santanos the knife.
“You might want him, but I think we all know Edovard wouldn’t let you do that. The universal force of Evil won’t let you enslave the Avatar of Neutrality, either.” I’m pretty sure that the universal forces just want balance, and enslaving Darcy isn’t going to get that done.
Santanos takes the knife with a nod. “I’m aware that the right thing to do is free Darcy from enslavement to my family.”
When I turn, Darcy has already taken his pants off, and he goes commando, so his dick is swinging free. Every person in the room is looking at it, except Santanos, who is focused on the tattoo and brand on the back of Darcy’s leg.
I kneel, and Darcy puts his leg up on my knee, putting me face to dick with him. “After this I should give you a blowie,” I tell him, staring at his trouser snake for a moment before I push Darcy’s leg off again. “You need to turn around and put your foot up backwards.”
Darcy grins. “You can blow me anytime, Peach,” he declares, putting his leg up the right way this time.
Santanos stares at the brand and tattoo for longer than necessary. He’s got the same hesitation that Darcy had when he put the knife to his own skin. I don’t know if it’s magical or not, but it feels like it might be, so I point to Edovard, who blinks at me. “I think your partner might need a little help, Pupper.”
Edovard turns his eyes on Santanos, then on Darcy, and he grimaces. “There’s a problem, but I don’t want to watch him cutoff some of Darcy’s skin,” he admits as he reaches for Santanos’ wrist.
“It’s ok, sweetie, you don’t have to look, but I’m having trouble getting myself to lift the knife to his calf. If you could just put it in the right place, you can shut your eyes and I’ll do the rest.”
Edovard helps Santanos lift the knife, and he places it under the tattoo on the back of Darcy’s leg, then the adorable bodybuilder squeezes his eyes shut. Santanos takes a deep breath and slices through the skin under Darcy’s brand, shaving off the tattoos and brand. He gets half of it with one swipe, and he gets the other half with a second swipe.
Darcy, silent as a dormouse while being skinned, bleeds all over us both, but with a few chanted words sung under his breath, his skin begins to repair. It’s angry and pink, like brand new baby skin, but it’s also free from tattoos and branding, so that’s a win.
As soon as the skin finishes regrowing, I help Darcy put his leg back on the ground, and then I pull him straight into my lap, because even though he’s used to the pain of the knife in his skin because of how often he cuts himself, it’s got to have hurt to have a whole chunk of it cut off.
