Chapter 24
Tenebrys didn't find any trace of Felix in the chateau, so he headed out into the woods. Had something happened in the day he had left them on their own?
Guilt clawed at him. If the fae had come through the gateways in greater numbers and overwhelmed the guardians, he would know, wouldn't he? They would have stormed into the chateau by now.
Tenebrys followed his usual scouting trail through the woods. Felix had been on it in the past few hours.
A cry of pain echoed through the trees, making Tenebrys duck low into some nearby underbrush.
The Mistwood was a strange place, and a wisp would occasionally try to lure you into a marshy bit of bog so they could feed off their victims' fear.
There hadn't been many strangers in the woods for them to feed on recently. Humans had gotten smart enough to stay away. Maybe the wisps were getting impatient enough to try and start luring them too.
The scream sounded again, and Tenebrys prowled toward it.
"Speak, miscreant!" a deep voice commanded.
"Eiran?" Tenebrys emerged from the camouflage of the shadows. "What are you doing here?"
The stag shifter turned his head toward him, his silver antlers shining. He was covered in white fur, with cream colored bone plating on his back and chest. The arcane sigils were silver and contrasted with the pale blue tattoos on his shoulders and arms.
As a normal stag or human shape, Eiran had looked otherworldly.
In his cursed form with his silvery gray eyes and savagely handsome face, he looked like a god.
His platinum white hair was neatly braided down his back, and despite the state of the fae he was holding by its throat, he didn't have a speck of blood on him.
"I managed to keep one alive for you, Kesari," he said, smiling at Tenebrys. "Felix has trotted off to get some iron manacles."
Only Eiran freely used Tenebrys's first name, and it still gave him an awkward jolt to hear it after so long.
"How many got through?" Tenebrys asked, eyeing up the battered raider.
"None got through. I killed some. Two ran back into Farie when I stomped on this bug." There was a purple-covered hoof mark on the fae's back to prove it. "I dragged him here from gateway four, and he has been quite uncooperative about it."
"I don't suppose it has said anything useful?" Tenebrys asked.
Eiran dropped the miserable creature. "It keeps babbling about some witch girl."
"She will restore all of us! You will grovel before our lord before he destroys you," the fae snarled, spitting out black blood.
Tenebrys folded his arms. "You aren't going to get anywhere near her. If you tell me what I want to know, I might be merciful and send you back through the gateways when they open again."
"She is ours!"
"The fuck she is." Tenebrys needed information, so he tried to dig deep for some patience. "Why does your lord want her so badly?"
"Token. Promise. Life," the wretched creature muttered under his breath.
Felix appeared like a ghost through the trees, carrying rusted chains with him.
"Look who decided to join the party?" he said cheerily. "How's the queen?"
"Queen?" Eiran demanded.
Felix waved him off. "I'll tell you later."
"She is not your queen! She is ours! Her fire is ours!" The fae climbed to its feet and pointed a finger at Tenebrys. "If your filthy animal hands have touched her, Lord Kaelis will—"
Too late, the fae realized his mistake. His face turned red, then purple, before his skin split open like ripe fruit.
"Get back!" Tenebrys shouted and dived for the trees. Eiran grabbed Felix by the scruff of his neck and held him out in front of him a second before the fae exploded into a shower of bone, blood, and gore.
"Fucking fae lords," Eiran muttered and dropped a stunned Felix back to his feet.
"The fuck! You used me as a shield, you asshole!" Felix shouted at Eiran. He was covered in shades of red, black, and purple.
Eiran smiled at him. "And you did an excellent job, pup. I don't have a drop on me," he said indulgently, like a parent praising a child.
Felix's eyes glowed, and his ears went back. Tenebrys stepped in before the fight could start.
"Enough. He beats your ass every time, Felix, and a bath won't hurt you." He looked at the pulpy remains of the fae. "The Lord of Plagues really doesn't like anyone using his name. Fuck. I had hoped the bastard was dead after all this time."
"Apparently not. Who is this witch girl? Is it your queen that you have rudely not mentioned to me ever?" Eiran demanded.
"It's a long story."
"And one that you can tell him when we head back to the chateau. I found something else you need to see," Felix said. He gestured at the chains. "You can carry those, Frosty. I don't want to get blood on them."
Felix trotted off through the trees, his ears and tail still back.
"Couldn't help pissing him off, could you?" Tenebrys sighed.
"It was a reflex move, I swear." Eiran picked up the chains. "Tell me about the girl, Kesari."
They talked as they walked. Tenebrys explained the dream magic he had been doing and how he had gotten Luna to track Delphi and Narcisse. Eiran was silent the entire time as Tenebrys explained what he could about Delphi and how he'd discovered she was his mate.
"Somewhere in the afterlife, your mother is howling with laughter," Eiran said once Tenebrys was finished. "Your enemy's daughter? I thought Fate had had enough of that nonsense with your parents."
"Apparently not. And Mother wouldn't be laughing. She would be demanding that I make cubs straight away," Tenebrys replied with a chuckle.
Eiran grinned. "That would be your father. He would want you to breed yet another Tenebrys, which would confuse everyone even more."
"You've never called me Tenebrys anyway. Or Ten for that matter."
"To me, Tenebrys was your father and always will be," Eiran replied with a shrug of his tattooed shoulders.
They found Felix scrubbing himself viciously in the small lake inside the old ward barrier. He dunked himself in once more.
"You missed a spot," Eiran called and elegantly dodged the large rock Felix hurled at him.
"Can you two stop messing about and show me whatever you were so excited about? I have other things to do today than break up your bullshit," Tenebrys said, putting his hands on his hips.
"Oh, please, you can handle being apart from Delphi for a while longer. Poor girl is probably still recovering from last night." Felix ran his hands over his wet fur. "This way. It's in the gardens. You said Delphi ran through them the night of the full moon?"
"Yes. She scratched herself up on some brambles, and I was able to follow her blood trail. Why?"
"You'll see." Felix led them through the old stable yard and the rotting garden gates. The place was a mess, and Tenebrys hoped that whatever changes were slowly starting to happen in the chateau would begin outside of it.
"Look at this," Felix said, crouching down in front of a statue.
"Blue flowers. Fascinating," Eiran replied, rolling his eyes.
"Delphinium," Tenebrys corrected. There was a trail of them winding along the old stone path and ending in the thick bramble patch. "You don't think..."
"I followed her trail back here after finding the glade with both your scents all over it. The next morning, I came back for a better look, and the flowers were already sprouting," Felix replied and shook his head. "It's the eeriest thing I've ever seen."
"Surely Delphi would know if her blood did this?" Tenebrys asked, picking one of the blooms. "She has scars from humans hurting her. There is no way she could have hidden it from them."
"It could be the Mistwood's power reacting to her magic," Eiran suggested, holding out a hand for the flower.
"They are poisonous, so don't eat them," Felix warned. "Actually, I changed my mind. Eat the whole patch. Let's see what happens."
Eiran ignored him. "When mates come together, their power always amplifies. It could be why her magic is starting to act like a beacon to the fae as well. This ability she has... It's around transmutation?"
"Witch fire," Tenebrys confirmed. Eiran was the oldest of all of them, and if anyone living still knew about it, he would.
"Kesari, witch fire hasn't been seen in hundreds of years," he said, his silvery eyes darkening. "Those abilities only came with the first generation of crossbreeds. She would need to be a half fae at least to manifest it."
Tenebrys nodded. "I know that, but Narcisse is her father, and yet the power is there. The fae coming after her said it themselves."
"Could it be a throwback talent from something earlier in the bloodline?" Felix scratched at his ear. "Cassia had some transmutation abilities. It was why she was so important to Narcisse. She could naturally do what he had trained his whole life to do."
"Delphi is far more powerful than Cassia was.
It's no wonder that Narcisse kept his manipulative little claws in her.
" Tenebrys growled and ran his hand over his face.
"He stopped her from learning too much about magic on purpose.
If she can do this now just by bleeding, maybe she really can undo some of the curse. "
Eiran stared at the flowers. "I don't want to give myself that kind of hope. How could she be capable of any of this if she has no learning?"
Tenebrys laughed softly. "What she lacks in learning, she makes up for with stubbornness and determination.
She got into my mother's library, Eiran.
It let her in. The chateau's magic is returning for her.
It might take time for Delphi to learn how to use this power, but I think if anyone can help with this curse, she can. "
Eiran dropped the flower. "And that is not just your starry eyes talking? Mates are blind to each other's faults."
"Ten is telling the truth. Delphi's magic is humming off her. She is nothing like her parents," Felix replied. He elbowed Tenebrys. "I don't suppose we should summon the others to come and meet her."
A low growl of warning rumbled through Tenebrys's chest. Felix and Eiran both stared at him.
"He hasn't claimed her yet," Eiran said, seeing straight through him.
Felix groaned. "Ten, you can't be serious. I told you to get it done…"
"You can't force a bond unwillingly, or it won't work.
You should know that by now, pup." Eiran placed a hand on Tenebrys's shoulder.
"We will keep guard on the gateways, but the fae won't stop coming for her, especially if it is the Lord of Plagues sending them.
We need to send word to the packs in Runefjell.
We can't rely on help from men anymore. Those alliances are dead.
The pack's memories are longer, and if the fae return, they won't stop with killing only us. "
"The packs won't come if they think the old sickness is still around. Delphi had some ideas to test for it," Tenebrys replied. He closed his eyes for a long moment. "Fuck. I can't handle another war."
"We might not have a choice," Eiran said, squeezing his shoulder. "Go to your Delphi. Get her to do her tests for the plague remnants so we can send word to the packs. Felix and I will look in on the others and let them know what's happening."
"Thank you," Tenebrys said, opening his eyes once more. "Watch your backs. Plagues will only send so many raiders before he starts sending nasty surprises with them."
Tenebrys knelt and picked a small bouquet of the blue flowers to take to Delphi. He smiled viciously at the little blooms. They smelled so sweet for something so deadly, just like his mate.
He might not be able to handle the idea of another war, but if it were to protect Delphi from the Lord of Plagues? He wouldn't stop until he had torn that ancient bastard limb from limb.
Tenebrys never thought he would be able to get revenge for the fae lord sending the sickness that killed his people, but if he dared to show his face in Tenebrys's realm again, he would get the chance to destroy the fucker once and for all.