Richard: Blood Brotherhood – Erotic Paranormal Dark Fantasy Romance by Kathi S. Barton Read Free Book Online Page B

like to say that I only upset you to get your attention. You can focus more on me now that you’re over your snit.” She looked around. “Do you suppose we could go somewhere that I can land? Flying like this is exhausting. And I shan’t land on you again, because you can be most cruel when you’re upset.”
    He found himself in his room with her. Rick thought of all the things that had been going on lately. The things with Benton. The horde of malefactors and figuring them out. There was magic everywhere now. But sitting in his room with a faerie flying around looking at his books and pictures was the freakiest of it all.
    “My name is Hunter. I hunt, so that’s what I was called. My sister is Rose because she takes care of the roses. There are thousands of us, and we all have specific jobs.” He leaned back in the chair to try and wrap his mind around the things that had happened in the last hour. “You should know that Ryiah had nothing to do with your family. She was in a prison cell.”
    “Who is Ryiah?” He thought he knew, but she confirmed it. “So Ryiah is the sister to Lucia, who I thought was my mate. If you don’t mind me saying so, this is really fucked up.”
    “Aye, it is. And Lucia believes you to be her mate as well. It is what we all wanted her to believe. So that she’d send Ryiah here to get you someday. The rest of us have failed to bring you to her, you see. It was on purpose, but she did as we thought and now she’s safe. If you don’t toss her away again.” He asked her why as she sat down on the edge of his bed in front of him. “So that she would be happy and with you. It’s a good thing that we hurried things along a little more. Lucia wishes her sister dead, and if she had put her in the cell again, Ryiah would have taken her own life and there would have been little we could have done about it. She would have just let her body shut down until she was no longer.”
    “She said that she didn’t care for closed in places. This cell she was in, how small was it?” An image appeared in front of him and he could see Ryiah there, curled into a tight ball in the corner. The cell, dark and damp, was smaller than his bed, which was only a full. There were no windows, no lights at all. The only place where there might have been light was blocked off. He wondered how she would even get anything to eat. “For what reason would she do this to her own flesh and blood?”
    “She cannot kill her. Nor can she directly harm her. And in answer to your thoughts, she did not feed her at all. I took her what I could, but it was barely enough to keep her going. She might have died if not for me. There is a man, one that beats her regularly, but he is paid to beat all the people within the house and gets a bonus should he hurt Ryiah.” Hunter moved around his room again. “You have many books here. Do you read them all?”
    “I do. This mate thing, so you arranged it so that she’d be my mate? I mean, she’s not really that, just the appearance of it, so that she could escape her sister?” She stopped flying and came back to sit on his knee. “It’s all right if you did. I’ve buried my mate. I have no need to do so for another. And I understand that you wanted her to be safe. So do I, now that she’s here.”
    “She is your true mate, my lord. Lucia believes what she does because all her attempts to kill you have been thwarted. It is because you have been protected.” He asked her by who. “The queen. She marked you a very long time ago and now you belong to her. I think you do remember that, do you not?”
    “The woman that came to where my sister-in-law was murdered. By Lucia.” She nodded. “And you’re saying that her sister had nothing to do with this? She had no part in any of my family being killed?”
    “Nay. As I have said, she was held as a prisoner.” He asked her what she’d done. “Refused to kill your family.”

 
    Chapter 3
     
    Ryiah lay as still as she