I wasn’t so sure. If the curse was broken, would all my memories of shame-fucking demons go away? Somehow I doubted it.
I sidestepped a little closer. And a little closer still.
“Sir.” I cleared my throat. “Sir, might I have a word?”
“No. Leave.”
His blast of power stung my eyes, but a command hadn’t ridden his words. He clearly didn’t want to be alone. Fuck. I wasn’t sure I was ready for this. I should’ve had another drink.
I inched a bit closer.
“Yes, sir. Only, I was tasked by…” I pursed my lips because I didn’t know how to do this without saying her name and setting him off. “I was tasked by…the woman who is sacrificing herself for us—”
The blast of power made me yelp this time. I looked back at Leala, haunting the doorway with a worried expression. She gave me a thumbs-up, like that might help.
I took a deep breath, like that might help.
“She was very clear, sir,” I said, inching ever closer. Trying to will myself enough courage to stand in front of him. I didn’t really want his full focus, but Finley would expect results, and I didn’t want to let her down. I’d already let her down by not finding a way to go with her. “You need to pull the animals out of suppression. Only you can do it. There isn’t anyone else strong enough. Not with her gone and your court cleared out.”
“They’re hurting her,” he said, his voice gruff and filled with enough misery to prick my eyes with tears. “She must’ve arrived there recently because the type of pain has changed. It has increased tenfold. She’s hanging on to my power with everything she has just to stay afloat. The pain is drowning her. I can feel it. I shouldn’t have let her go.”
My stomach twisted, and my heart ached for what she must be going through. But she’d known it was going to suck. She’d chosen this path, and regardless of what she was going through now, I knew she’d choose it again if given the chance. She was not a woman who took the easy way out, not when people were counting on her. He couldn’t have kept her from going.
He wouldn’t want to hear any of that, though. He was a man of action, and right now he probably felt as helpless as I did. He needed a way to support her.
“Okay, then…” I inched closer, level with him now and working my way in front of him. “So what can you do to help her? Obviously you can’t go to her, not with the curse’s magic forcing you to stay within the kingdom’s borders. You can’t fight her battles. So what can you do with the resources you have to make things easier for her?”
He dropped his hands, hunched over, and shook his head, at a loss.
I glanced back at Leala and lifted my eyebrows. Need a little help here, I thought.
“Do you know what is very confusing for people?” Leala said, walking into the room like she was as comfortable as could be. How the fuck did she manage it? “My kink.”
My mouth dropped open.
“Love, it’s not really the time,” I said through my teeth.
“I like pain,” she continued, coming to stand right beside me. She wrung her hands, her knuckles white. “I get off on it. Most people do not understand that. It makes them incredibly uncomfortable.”
A blast of power had Leala and I both hunching for a moment. Alphas at full power were no joke.
“She is not you,” he said.
“No, but she could be.” She held out a hand, indicating the master for some reason. “Right now she is feeling your misery, right? It is making her pain worse, I should think. All due respect, sir, but it is probably acting like a weight on her ankle, pulling her down deeper. It’s not helping. Instead…maybe put aside how much it pains you to feel what she’s going through and feed her uplifting emotions. Feed her your love and support—”
“I’m doing that. I’m trying to ease her suffering as best I can.”
“Okay then…” Leala stalled for a moment, shooting me an anxious look.
“Pleasure,” I blurted. “Not just love and support, but downright pleasure. Right, Leala? Isn’t that where you were going with that?”
“Yes.” Leala smiled. “Yes! Feed her pleasure. Make her pain mix with pleasure, and it won’t be as gruesome for her.”
I squinted as I nodded. “It’ll probably be a mind-fuck for her at first, but if she can feel it’s you—whom she trusts more than anyone in the world—yeah, I can see that working, sir. It’s worth a shot at any rate, right? It’ll dull the pain somewhat. And it’ll help her think about you, which is to think about home…”