Chapter 15
CHAPTER 15
The king’s threat hung heavily in the air, and a crushing sense of defeat filled me. Because even if Jax did manage to keep the kingsfae from questioning me, it wasn’t like I had anywhere to go. Jax would be forced to either leave me in the palace, at his parents’ mercy, or I would be dumped out into the streets.
“It’s all right. I’ll be fine,” I said quietly to the prince. “I’ll go to the courts.”
“No, Elowen, you won’t.” He cast me a glance, and his look held a steely resolve. “You’ve done nothing wrong. You should remain free.”
An aching pit opened in my stomach at the menace that filled his aura. Surges of it barreled into me along our bond, even more so when his attention shifted back to the kingsfae and the magic around Jax tripled.
“Adarian . . .” I said cautiously.
Nostrils flaring, Jax swung to his father, and a cruel smile curved his lips. “You’re a fool, Father, if you think I’ll let them take her. She’s my mate . Don’t you understand what that means?”
His father’s eyes widened just as a huge rush of magic emitted from Jax, and something Jax had said to me, days ago when we’d been in Leafton staying at The Silver Hand, crashed to the front of my mind. “I’ll fucking kill anyone who tries to harm you or take you from me.”
My jaw dropped as the implication of that statement took root.
Jax was a mated fae male.
He wouldn’t allow the kingsfae to apprehend me. It went against every instinct that commanded his soul. He couldn’t let them touch me.
And he had the power to kill everybody in this room.
I yelled his name just as a rush of power barreled out of the prince and crashed through the massive dining hall. It hit every kingsfae in the vicinity at once, slamming them to the floor as the other fae in the room began to scream.
I reached for my mate, trying to rein him back in, but elemental wind whipped through the hall, snuffing out every candle. The dining room plunged into darkness, and the screaming increased.
Fumbling, I staggered toward Jax. Only the barest hint of light penetrated the underside of the doors, allowing me to see faint outlines.
“Adarian!” I called through the torrent of Jax’s air element blasting through the room. “Stop! Don’t do this. They’ll only blame you more!”
“Stay down, Elowen.” His voice was so faint even though he stood only an arm length away, and I realized he’d locked me in a void to protect me.
“My prince!” I called again, but it was no use.
On a rush of wind, Jax levitated into the air, careening through the dimly lit hall as he targeted every authority figure who had sought to take me into custody.
Kingsfae grunted, some screaming in pain, others yelling that they’d been blinded or couldn’t hear. The dining hall became a cacophony of darkness, writhing figures, and unleashed elements. But Jax held his Mistvale magic at bay. He didn’t command anyone. Whether that be because he knew such an act would surely implicate him as the Dark Raider or because he knew it was fruitless given the devices the kingsfae wore in their ears, I didn’t know.
I squinted in the darkness, trying to see more.
A shuffling of feet and shifting of dark shapes pushed away from the wall. Jax’s friends shoved off the kingsfae who’d bound them, trying to get to the prince, but a huge rush of new magic from the front of the dining table abruptly flooded the entire room in a torrent of water.
I screamed when water slammed through Jax’s barrier into my shins and nearly knocked me to the floor.
Darkness.
Water.
Wind.
It was as if we’d been transported to an underground cave with rising flood waters and lashing currents. But in a moment of clarity, it hit me that the king commanded magic from more than one kingdom too, and given that Jax’s mother was from Faewood and undoubtedly had elemental magic as well, it wasn’t a surprise that the land had blessed their son with all four elements.
“Adarian, stop this now!” The king seethed as he wove his magic. Another tidal wave of water rose into the air, barely decipherable in the shadowy room.
The wave crested over the prince, swallowing Jax as he levitated in the air.
Heavy water crashed upon him, and my mate fell back to the floor. But the king didn’t stop. Water cascaded over Jax. Soaking him. Pinning him. Drowning him as well if it didn’t lift soon.
Light suddenly filled the room again, each candlewick bursting with flame. The queen’s hands lifted, magic emitting from her palms, and the flames grew higher. Behind her, Guardian Alleron cowered, his eyes wide with panic.
The strength of the royal family’s magic hit me at once. They had so much power .
Jax struggled against the water, and I shoved through the tide swirling around my calves, his void gone. I reached for him beneath the current holding him under. Magic rattled inside me as the prince fought against the water holding him down, but I tried to contain my instinctual reactions, knowing that diffusing this situation was the only way to salvage any peaceful resolution.
But I couldn’t let them hurt my mate. “Release him!” I yelled at the king.
Disoriented kingsfae staggered to their feet, still blinded given their fumbling movements as they moved toward the prince, arms out.
More magic billowed inside me. The instinct to destroy anyone who harmed my mate rose in me so swiftly that shadows unfurled from my limbs of their own accord.
I rounded on the king, magic crackling all around me. “I said release him .” Sheer power vibrated through my words, and I knew my eyes were shining like emeralds as my shadows grew.
The king staggered back, disbelief etching into his face as he beheld me.
But before I could act, a rush of stone exploded from the floor, shooting through the water holding the prince down and aiming straight for the king.
Jax’s elemental magic shredded through the king’s water, and King Stagthorn ducked at the last moment. If he hadn’t, a jagged boulder would have taken his head off.
The queen shrieked, ducking to the side as well, just as a soaking-wet prince rose above the king’s water element. Air instantly billowed around him, drying him completely, and he did the same for me, drying my dress entirely.
“Trying to drown me now, Father? Is that it?” Jax cast an anxious glance toward me, but when he saw me standing, shadows curling around me, he smiled darkly before facing his father once more. “Your abuse truly has no bounds.”
“You are a disgrace to our name, Adarian,” the king shouted.
“I’m a mated male , Father . . . what did you think would happen?”
The two royals squared off, each seething at the other while the blinded kingsfae remained entirely useless.
More screams sounded through the room as some nobles finally reached the exits and sprinted as fast as they could from the mayhem. Water soaked their gowns and pants, but the weighted-down fabric did little to slow their rapid pace.
Dozens of doors burst open in their haste to leave, and more light poured in from the hallways. The candles’ fires flickered impossibly high, rising and rising until the flames nearly licked the ceiling.
The queen gasped, and she wove her hands through the air again, but the fire didn’t relent.
A manic gleam filled the prince’s expression, and he soared into the air, levitating once more. “You know my fire is stronger than yours, Mother.”
He rose above his parents, and the walls trembled, the rock holding this palace together threatening to crumble.
Heat from the candles laved the walls as if bonfires sprouted from each wick.
“I’ll pulverize this palace to the ground and then burn it into oblivion if they dare to take my mate.” The prince’s tone turned beastly. Antlers abruptly sprouted from his forehead, and the look on his face entirely transformed.
Gone was the playful male who had been with me in his chamber. Gone was the tender love I’d seen on his face when he rutted with me in his wardrobe.
The male who hovered above all of us was filled with potent rage, and the full strength of the prince’s magic threatened to bring this city to its knees.
The king backed up, his eyes widening.
“Prince Adarian!” a kingsfae shouted. “Stop this at once before anyone gets hurt!”
“No one is touching my mate!” His words came out through clenched teeth, his voice barely fae.
Jax’s friends all moved away from the wall, running through the remaining puddles to stand beneath their prince while forming a protective circle around me.
But I didn’t need their protection. I was stronger than anyone here, save my mate whose horrific display of magic rivaled a god’s.
Still, I held my magic at bay, not daring to unleash it given the consequences that would inevitably take hold.
“Adarian.” I peered upward at the male who would decimate a city to protect me. “Not like this. They’ll never let you go if you continue. Please, stop. For me . Stop.”
The second my plea reached his ears, a crack formed in Jax’s expression. Some of the visceral fury coating his features lessened. Eyes blazing like sapphire gems turned on me, and the briefest moment of awareness filled them.
“Stop. Please. For me .” I stepped closer to him, gazing upward. “If you don’t, they’ll hunt you down and kill you for what you’re doing. This is the beginning of the end for us if you don’t stop.”
My heartfelt words poured from my mouth. But even though they made me sick with worry, I also knew this was the only way, even if my guardian’s damning accusations could result in the same outcome.
At least we had a chance if we went in for questioning. But if Jax continued as he was, he was as good as dead. The authorities couldn’t allow someone with as much power as Jax to remain free if he did acts such as this. It would only be a matter of time before the kingsfae caught up to him. And he and I deserved a life better than being on the run.
“ Please .” I sent a huge rush of love along our bond, bathing Jax’s senses. My request finally seemed to penetrate the rage pounding through my mate’s aura, and a look of anger, then defeat, then sad acceptance filtered over him.
In a rush of wind, he lowered himself to the floor. The second Jax’s feet touched the ground, he sucked his magic back inside him. At once, the fiery candles, trembling rock, and lashing wind calmed. Just as fast, the kingsfae blinked, and their outstretched arms dropped as their sight returned.
The king huffed in relief or irritation, I couldn’t tell, but the remaining water winked out of existence.
In a single breath, the dining hall returned to normal, even if platters of upended food littered the floor.
A rush of relieved sighs came from the kingsfae. All of the males and females who’d come to arrest their prince gazed around in wonder, still blinking, as though to assure themselves they could fully see again.
With the spectacle over, a kingsfae rushed forward and grabbed my arm, but his grip was looser, and he didn’t pull me, merely guided me away.
A low growl escaped Jax, but before he could react, several kingsfae rushed toward him and slapped glowing blue bands around his wrists.
Magic crackled around the restraints, and my heart sank. Jax’s magic had just been doused. They’d subdued the prince’s power with those bands, effectively locking his magic within him. I had a feeling that if they ever confronted the prince again, that would be the first thing they did after Jax’s unhinged display of power today.
“Be careful with her,” Jax called darkly to the kingsfae leading me away. “If you don’t, you’ll be dealing with me.”
The kingsfae tugging me from the room glanced uneasily over his shoulder at the prince, but his grip loosened even more, and he gave the slightest bow toward his sovereign.
“I apologize for my son’s behavior,” the queen called from the front of the room. Panting breaths lifted her chest, but she straightened and smoothed her gown before glaring down her nose at me. “But we all know what mated males can be like. I do expect you to take that into consideration with how you’re treating my son.”
“So she finally admits that they’re mated,” Trivan muttered under his breath as Jax’s friends were also led away.
The king, however, didn’t utter a sound. Steely blue eyes shot daggers at his son, then me, as all of us were forced from the room.
Within minutes, me, Jax, his friends and guards, and Guardian Alleron were being marched down the hall.
Every servant we passed dropped their gazes. But the second we swept by, their whispers began.
It was entirely humiliating, and when we passed the double doors to Jax’s tower, my throat constricted.
I hoped it wasn’t the last time I would ever see those doors, because as much as I prayed that we could clear this matter up, the reality of what we were facing began to sink in more and more.
The kingsfae knew when each and every raid had occurred by the Dark Raider over the seasons.
Court records would show that Jax wasn’t present in Jaggedston when each of those raids occurred. It was a big enough coincidence that they’d look into it more.
And Guardian Alleron’s internal knowledge of all he’d seen and heard would be so damning.
He knew that Lordling Neeble had been killed. He could lead the kingsfae to the exact spot where Neeble’s death had occurred in the Ustilly Mountains. They could even dig up his bones.
And the guards who had been employed by my guardian, that Jax had left alive because he refused to kill innocents, could all attest to the Dark Raider’s abduction of me and Guardian Alleron.
Which would prove that my guardian wasn’t lying.
There were so many things working against us, and with a heavy heart, I knew that even Jax’s skill at wearing his secretive masks might not be enough to save us.