CHAPTER 46 SPELL SHOCK
Eric had been on his way to the council room after his meeting with Eli when he’d heard the explosion.
He heard the shrieks, the cries … Then over the din of noise, he’d heard Fin shout, “KAT!”
The prince broke out into a sprint and, once he had reached the open council room doors, saw the entire room engulfed in magical chaos.
He recognized Fin’s shield filling the room, encircling himself and Kat. The room was blistering hot, and several council members were trapped inside on the other side of the shield.
Despite his wife’s back being to him, Eric could tell from the way she moved that she wasn’t in control.
Just what the hell had happened?!
Taking a single step into the room, the prince froze again when he saw Fin’s shield start to turn white.
Eric darted to the shield, ignoring the hollering from guards within for him to stay back and squinted through the lightning and ancient symbols. He watched as Kat put her hand to her father’s neck …
“KAT!” Eric roared.
Her magic shouldn’t be able to still work in Fin’s shield! Why isn’t she feeding off his intention?!
The prince then watched in horror as Kat hoisted her father into the air by his throat.
Eric didn’t care about risking death by running through Fin’s shield. He lunged in an attempt to break through, but it held tight. At least it didn’t repel him with as much force as it had been capable of doing in the past.
“KAT, WAKE UP! WAKE UP, KAT!” Eric was screaming by then as he watched Fin’s face turn purple, his magical white eyes fluttering …
And then his shield disappeared, and … Kat lowered her father back onto his feet, though he immediately crumpled to all fours, grasping for breath.
Kat, on the other hand, swayed.
Eric was already at her side, and so when she collapsed, it was right into his arms.
“Kat? Hey, hey! Kat? Hey! You alright?” Eric lowered Kat to the ground, his eyes roving her motionless sickly gray face. “Hey, you need to answer me!”
Fin spluttered and gasped on the floor, but after a moment, he, too, managed to crawl over to his daughter’s side, though he looked on the brink of passing out.
“She was dosed with powdered Witch’s Brew,” the house witch rasped.
Eric’s gaze snapped up. His eyes sought out Brendan’s. The prince looked murderous with black rage, and Brendan didn’t need to hear a word from him to know what he was demanding.
The king, looking a mite battered himself from being magically thrown back, stepped over to Sir Seth Herra and executed him then and there.
“That’s not enough.” Eric growled in the heavy silence that filled the room.
Brendan nodded, then strode over to where Lord Ball remained pressed against the wall, unable to stand as he trembled.
The man couldn’t even speak after what he had just seen.
And so he had no final words before his shoulders were relieved of his head. Brendan strode past the council members, and without ceremony, without a question, he proceeded to execute Lord Sanchez even though he was only just coming back to consciousness. He left Lord Herra and Lord Edium alive. They were going to give answers no matter what.
The remaining council members cowered in shock. They had never seen something so terrifying in their entire lives.
However, both Fin and Eric weren’t all that attentive to the gruesome executions taking place behind them.
The duke was grabbing his daughter’s wrist to check for a pulse, as her complexion had begun to turn even more ominous.
“PHYSICIAN! GET A PHYSICIAN!” Eric ordered, his grip on Kat’s shoulders tightening.
“I think …” Fin interrupted softly, his eyes fluttering. “I think … she depleted a lot of magic … I couldn’t … Even I couldn’t completely subdue her … She may … need to …” The duke collapsed beside Kat, unable to keep himself awake.
Brendan joined at their sides, staring down at the father and daughter who both looked on the verge of boarding death’s carriage.
It was the first time that Katarina had been wrong about her capabilities.
She had been able to survive so much … Was incredibly strong … But …
Brendan felt cold sweat trickle down his bruised back as Duke Icarus’s words came back to him.
Duke Icarus had known that the Ashowans wouldn’t be able to support them in the coming attack because he knew that this trap would work … He had also said Brendan couldn’t count on the coven …
The king looked to the guards who had brought Sir Herra up from the dungeon and stalked over to them just as the Royal Physician came bolting into the room and over to where Eric sat with his wife and father-in-law.
“Who had access to Sir Herra?” Brendan demanded of the two men who were still pale as they gathered their wits.
“N-No one! We guarded him day and night! There was no way anyone could have given him anything. The guards were handpicked by you and Mr. Levin— Oh.”
Brendan felt his heart drop to his stomach. News of his assistant’s betrayal had spread throughout the castle, but Mr. Levin had been a part of nearly every important decision and had contributed to almost every deal Brendan had executed … for years.
He needed to get his hands on the man and kill him himself … But with how little time there was before the rebellion arrived at the castle doors, he knew he may not get the chance. First and foremost, he needed to find Mr. Kraft and tell him everything that had transpired with Finlay and Katarina, then warn Faucher—
The king was distracted by movement out of the corner of his eyes from the doors to the council room.
He looked and found himself watching Kraken and Pina darting over to their witches.
Things definitely weren’t good.
With the physician attending to both Katarina and her father, he sent one of the knights who came after the commotion had been settled, having been tardy to the original meeting, to go fetch more physicians from Vessa to attend to the injured council members.
Brendan left the room, stopped five knights that were rushing to the scene, and ordered them to keep anyone that was not a physician out unless he ordered otherwise and to detain Lords Edium and Herra.
The king then stormed back up the corridor to where people were starting to gather in concern—many of them being wives or children of the men inside.
Brendan vaguely noted Elyse Ball standing outside the council room doors, wringing her hands. He would tell her about her husband’s treachery and death later.
As the king moved, he wasn’t surprised to see Faucher come barreling down the corridor with Sir Cas on his heels.
“Sire! What happened?” Faucher demanded as shrieks began to ring out around them.
Someone must have seen the corpses.
“Not here. We need to see the queen.”
Faucher looked as though he wanted to argue the fact as even more knights bolted by but he had never seen the king look so … disheveled.
So he obeyed without question.
The three men made their way up to the queen’s chamber, the journey becoming easier as the occupants of the castle rushed to the commotion and left the halls empty.
Brendan didn’t even bother knocking on the door when they reached their destination; he just burst in without slowing his pace.
Alina jolted in her bed in alarm, while Lady Annika Ashowan had already been on her feet—most likely sensing something wasn’t right in the castle.
“Your Majesty?” Alina breathed, her hand flying to her belly. Ladies Sarah and Wynonna rose hastily from their seats at the queen’s bedside and curtsied.
Brendan swallowed and turned to the duchess. “Your Grace, I regrettably need to inform you that both your husband and daughter are unconscious in the council room. There was a trap set, and Lady Katarina was dosed with Witch’s Brew. She had a magical outburst that the duke managed to subdue by … well, I’m not sure if he declared Troivack as part of his home or not. However, he was able to contain Lady Katarina to a degree though it taxed him, and as I said, the two are now unresponsive but are receiving treatment from the Royal Physician.”
Faucher hadn’t heard Brendan ramble since he was a boy, and he had never seen the king so shaken.
All color drained from Annika’s face as she proceeded to curtsy to the king and then queen.
“Pardon me, Your Majesties, but I would like to please attend to my family.”
“They will be transported to their chambers in the near future; I recommend you wait for them there.”
Annika lowered her chin briefly, her dark eyes glittering and hard as she swept out of the room.
“Gods, are they going to be okay?” Alina asked, tears filling her eyes.
“Your Majesty, who did such a thing?!” Lady Sarah spluttered, forgetting her manners in light of the shocking news that she was not to speak first.
“How did this happen?!” Lady Wynonna wondered fearfully, her hands clutching her dress while glancing back to Alina.
Brendan didn’t answer.
He didn’t know what to say.
“I am going to go speak with Mr. Kraft and Mage Sebastian to see if they might offer some insight on what has happened. Alina, I am leaving Sir Cas here to guard you.”
Alina opened her mouth to ask another question or say something more but didn’t get the chance, as the king charged out of the room before she could.
It wasn’t until they were in the corridor and had made their way a good distance from the king and queen’s chamber that Faucher stopped Brendan by clasping a hand on his shoulder.
“What else happened?” he asked quietly.
The king stared ahead blindly then turned his chin in Faucher’s general direction after a moment of deliberation.
He repeated the events, including his discussion with Duke Icarus.
It was Faucher’s turn to go temporarily catatonic.
“Then the plan was one way or another to get Katarina and her father out of the picture … So the new information we received from the blacksmith about the first witch needing Katarina’s blood was incorrect?”
“I don’t know.” Brendan gave his head a slight shake. “There is too much confusion. When I speak with Mr. Kraft, I want to ask how successful he was in convincing the half fey we cannot see to send a message to the devil. At the very least, I’d like to discern if the devil is lying or not.”
Faucher didn’t bother pointing out that while Brendan was an intelligent and shrewd man, if the devil felt like lying, there was a strong chance that he would be exceptionally good at it.
The king probably knew, but … they were running out of time and options.
“I’ve organized the men. I’m sending two units to the north of the castle to intercept the mercenaries that were reported being spotted. I have a unit guarding each of the other directions on the outskirts of the city, and one unit remaining here in the castle. The men in charge of the warning bells have been informed to remain on high alert.
“What of the Coven of Aguas?”
“The witches refuse to fight for Troivack. We have another unit guarding them in the tunnels, but aside from them … we are out of men unless we send and wait for soldiers from Norum, Rozek, Biern, or Taliez.”
“Taliez would get here the fastest,” Brendan reasoned, his heart gradually calming as he turned over the familiar strategies he’d memorized since childhood.
“They would, and they could come behind the mercenaries and Duke Icarus’s men to cut them off if they run.”
Brendan nodded. “I don’t have a lot of supporters in Taliez since I banned slavery, but there should be at least three viscounts and a marquess willing to spare me their knights.”
Faucher raised an eyebrow as he, too, silently reviewed a list of their allies who wouldn’t drag their heels under the king’s orders.
“Get the messages sent out quickly, but quietly, and make sure the knights don’t share the news with anyone in Vessa. I don’t want to cause undue alarm in the city just yet.” Brendan took another three steps, intending for them to move back into action, however, Faucher stayed behind.
“Your Majesty isn’t prone to being taken aback,” the military leader observed carefully.
Brendan paused, his right hand gently closing, then relaxing again as he took a slow, steadying breath.
“I’ve never seen magical power like that in my life. When Finlay Ashowan blasted me into the sea last year, I thought he was an exception. That he would be the most powerful witch I’d ever meet, but Lady Katarina would’ve bested him today if given the time. It … It’s made me realize how utterly pointless fighting against witches in a life-or-death battle would be. If it weren’t for the fact that the Ashowan family is decent, they’d be an abhorrently large threat.”
“Perhaps that is why the Gods bestowed them with such abilities. Because they are good people.”
Brendan’s mouth twitched and looked at Faucher over his shoulder. “Whatever the reason, I don’t think we can count on them for what is to come anymore, and given that there may be more powerful individuals out there and we do not have any witches offering aid, this war is starting with us at a significant disadvantage.”
Faucher’s brows crashed down.
He was struggling to imagine Katarina, his star pupil, being in any type of poor condition that would stop her from fighting … and found he suddenly was feeling every bit as rattled as Brendan had first appeared.
“I’d like to go see Asho— Damn. Reyes. I’d like to go see Lady Katarina Reyes, Your Majesty, before I give the orders.”
Sympathy and appreciation flashed across Brendan’s face.
Faucher really had grown to care for the mischievous redhead.
“Yes, but quickly.”
The military leader bowed briskly, then turned and retreated down the corridor, once again leaving Brendan alone.
The king let out a final breath before setting himself back into motion.
He pressed his concerns for Alina’s best friend to the back of his mind, along with his worry over the physical pains the queen had been experiencing all that morning, and instead focused every ounce of mental energy on how he could potentially win a war that included ancient magical beasts capable of flattening a keep without any assistance from the house witch or his daughter.