Free Richard: Blood Brotherhood – Erotic Paranormal Dark Fantasy Romance by Kathi S. Barton

away and had her curling into a ball to try to stem the hurt of it. She looked around for the source of it—someone was going to die for doing this to her—but she found herself alone. Not even a guard nearby to blame it on.
    Her mind wasn’t working well enough for her to think what had brought her to her knees, but she knew that whatever it had been, there would be hell to pay for it. And the fact that no one had come to see to her really pissed her off. When she could sit up she called for a guard, and when he was there, she killed him with her magic.
    When the next one came in, she just stared at him from across the room. He was looking not at her but at the body of one of his cohorts, or whatever they called one another when they were alone. When she screamed, he looked up at her like he had no idea what he was doing there.
    “If you don’t get your ass over here and help me up, so help me I will hunt down every member of your family and kill them all slowly.” That got him moving, but he didn’t hold her so much as caused her more pain. But she was afraid to kill him just yet. If she did, he would surely drop her and she’d hurt more.
    When she was in her bed, he asked her if she needed juice. A standard question, she supposed, but it still pissed her off. As she lifted her hands up to end him, he spoke quickly.
    “Ryiah has made contact with the one you seek.” She asked how he knew this. “I was with her when she encountered them. You sent me to make sure that she did her job. She has. I have no idea where she might be now. One of the women there picked her up from the arms of a man and flew away with her.”
    “What do you mean, flew away with her? Was she a faerie?” He said he did not think so. “Then how is it that she was able to fly? Only faeries can fly, and I did not allow any of them to be with her.”
    “But Hunter.” She asked him what a hunter had to do with this. “The faerie that was with her. She is forever with her. I think you know her, my lady.”
    She did. That fucking little bitch that dared to turn her down when she told her she would come and be with her forever. Or until she tired of her, whichever came first. But to this man she was going to pretend that she meant little to her, and that she didn’t know her.
    “And why does she have a hunter with her?” He asked her what hunter. Lucia was beginning to think she was in a play, where everyone knew their lines but her. “Never mind. Find Ryiah and have her brought here. With the man she was to bring back to me. And while you’re at it, find this Hunter. I want her to tell me why she thinks to leave this house without my permission. Does she not know that she belongs to me?”
    “I know not what is in her mind, my lady.” She wanted to snap his neck. When he started for the door, he paused and looked back at her. “My lady, you should be aware that there has been a great disturbance in the magic around this house. That was what caused my delay in coming to see you. The house is no longer protected by magic. And the people here, they are no longer yours to rule.”
    Long after he was gone, Lucia lay on the bed. Her mind was working on why the magic was no longer around the house and who she might have to kill to make sure that they left her magic alone. But in the back of her mind something kept tugging at her so that her sister was forefront several times in her thoughts. Lucia started to rise to check the books when she saw a faerie sitting at the foot of her bed.
    “You wished to see me?” Lucia didn’t care for her tone and snapped her fingers. Usually that would have them running, but this one just sat there. “My name is Hunter, in the event you’d ever bothered to know it. But we both know that you are aware of who I am, and also who I belong to.”
    “How dare you speak to me this way.” She stood up and the faerie moved as well. She was just far enough away from her that Lucia couldn’t grab her. “Where is