Virtue - a Fairy Tale by Amanda Hocking Read Free Book Online Page B

his knuckles again and stared off at an empty point on the wall. “I just… I can’t give her to him.” He sighed heavily, unsure of how to explain it. “For one thing, I don’t have her. But even if I did … she’s put some kind of spell on me. I can’t stop thinking about her or worrying, and I can’t let him destroy her.”
    “You know what your problem is?” Gula asked. “You’re too pretty. You’ve always been too pretty, and you get everything you want. You can’t always get it, Lux. You can have nearly everything, but you can’t have the things that belong to our boss.”
    “I’ve been afforded all the same opportunities in this life as you,” Lux shook his head. “And that’s not what this is about. It has nothing to do with our boss.”
    “I don’t understand what’s going on with you. But he will kill you,” Gula said. “I’m telling you this as a friend. You need to bring him the girl before he destroys you. I like you, and I don’t want to learn to deal with some new jerk because you let a pretty girl dazzle you.”
    “I can’t do it.” The pain in his chest and stomach intensified and Lux squirmed uncomfortably. “I don’t care what he does to me. I can’t bring her to him.”
    “You’re putting her needs in front of your own?” Gula asked skeptically.
    “It appears that way,” Lux sighed and rubbed his temple. He’d never put anyone before himself, and it was such a horrible time to start.
    “You’re freaking me out a little bit,” Gula said.
    “It’s freaking me out,” Lux admitted drearily and took another drink of his mead. “So what am I to expect from him? Total and utter destruction?
    “I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” Gula exhaled.
    “Telling me what?” Lux cocked his head at him.
    “He’s going after the girl.” He rested his burly arms on the table and leaned in. “He’s not concerned with you, at least not right now.”
    “What do you mean he’s going after the girl?” Lux moved in his seat, facing Gula more face on. “He’s personally going to find her?”
    “No, not yet, but he’s using everything he has,” Gula said. “He’s sending Ira and the canu after her.”
    “Ira? The canu?” Lux asked incredulously. “Why didn’t you tell me this sooner?”
    Gula was taken back his response. “I didn’t realize it was so important.”
    “I’ve got to go.” Lux finished his drink in one quick swallow, relishing the way it burned bitterly down his throat, and got to his feet. “Thanks for your help.”
    “Where are you going?” Gula looked up at him, getting more shocked and confused.
    “I can’t let them find her. You know what they’ll do to her.” Lux shook his head and backed away to the door. “I have to get her first.”
    Gula stared after him, his eyes wide and confused. As soon as he’d heard Ira’s name, Lux’s stomach had twisted painfully. The canu were bad enough, but he should’ve expected them. Ira, on the other hand, had a temper far worse than Valefor’s. Even if Valefor commanded Ira to bring Lily to him alive, which Lux wasn’t even sure was the case, it would be more likely that she would upset him, and Ira would kill her or hurt her.
    The sun had already started setting, meaning Lux would have to go into the Necrosilvam in the dark to look for Lily. He didn’t care about the creatures in there, since they could do little to hurt him, but she’d be harder to find. Assuming she’d made it alive through the first night.
    As he raced to the forest, he cursed himself for leaving her alone like that. What had he been thinking? The Necrosilvam was no place for a young girl, especially not one who’d had the peccati after her. He should’ve known that Valefor would send them after her. Truthfully, Lux was just lucky he hadn’t summoned all of them yet, and that his attention was focused on Lily so far.
    That made him nervous, too. What was so special about Lily that Valefor wouldn’t even