Chapter 39
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
SYRENA
I stand outside the door staring at the handle willing it to turn and open. “Tabitha, I need your help.”
The witch has magically spelled her door so that I can’t come in.Clearly, I didn’t think through enough scenarios when I brought her supplies to help her connect to her magical side again without the dread and ugliness of Grey forcing her hand.
Tabitha is our best source of information right now and she’s the only person who might be able to help us to find Brianna before we lose her and Declan forever. While she has valuable information right now, it’s not the only reason why I want her to help. Maybe if she helps the right side, maybe she’ll be able to start forgiving herself for her actions under that fucking vampire’s thrall. I can’t wait for him to die. I just hope it’s satisfying enough.
Tabitha’s muffled voice comes through the door. “I can’t help anyone. Take it to some other witch. Better yet, figure it out on your own.”
Part of me wonders if my spells keeping her here are strong enough, but the truth is, I don’t think she wants to leave. I don’t think she wants to go back to Grey, or even to her own clan. I know Tristian would welcome her back with open arms. He’s one of the few Opals around who aren’t hiding or dead. Tristian knows better than most what Grey has done. He controlled Tristian for a while. We thought Tristian had betrayed us all when he came into the Tourmaline kingdom with the Opal guardians and wiped out as many dragons and heartstones as they could. Ash was ready to get his vengeance on Tristian and kill him with his own hands for all that he’d done. But instead, Ash revealed that Tristian had been a victim too. He’d been under Grey’s control. I’m not sure Ash would’ve had as much sympathy as he did, if he hadn’t witnessed it happen to his own mate too. Tristian and Tabitha were pulled into Grey’s web at the same time, but Tabitha was in it for so much longer, and from everything she’s said, she was kept very close to Grey and all of his monstrous plans.
“You know what he’s planning. You know better than anyone how he operates. And I know that you don’t want to spend the rest of your life hiding in this room and letting people die when you can help. Plus, think of all the fashion you’ll miss.”
The door swings open and I feel her spell fall away from it. Tabitha is standing on the other side with tear stained, red and blotchy cheeks, red puffy eyes, and a seething glare pointed right at me.
“You think I give a shit about fashion anymore?”
I can’t help but smile a little. “Of course, I don’t. But I needed you to stop feeling sorry for yourself and open the damn door.” I shrug and move into her room without permission. “Plus, I didn’t want to have to embarrass you by breaking through your spell.”
“Like you could. You had to resort to taunting tactics to get me to open the door for you. Honestly, Syrena, I thought you were a better witch.” She flips her hair over her shoulder in a cocky move that doesn’t quite match the sorrowful glaze in her eyes.
“You do the amount of magic I’ve been doing lately without much sleep or decent meals, and you tell me how strong your magic is feeling,” I say with a bit of bitterness I don’t mean to let slip out.
Tabitha’s opal and teal eyes meet mine for the first time since we released her from Grey’s grip. She’s scanning me, taking in my appearance and probably my magical aura. “Syrena, how are you even standing?” she asks in a small voice.
“Pure will at this point. I’m going to need a snack and a nap when all of this is over…on a beach, with a dedicated staff to get me my every need on Ash’s bill.”
Tabitha smirks a little. “It’s the least he can do.”
I chuckle and sit down on her bed. “Please, Tabitha. Please help me.”
She shakes her head and sits down. “I won’t cast any more spells, Syrena. Not to help you, not to help Grey. I was betrayed by my clan.”
“Betrayed by your clan. Tristian is just as much a victim as you are,” I argue.
Tabitha shakes her head. “Not Tristian. King Callum and Queen Paula.”
I frown. “They’re dead.”
“Yes, they are. Grey killed them once he had me and Tristian. But Grey was welcomed into our kingdom, into our feast hall, and into our guest chambers. He was their guest. They wanted a piece of the power pie when Grey was done with his big plans. Grey gushed about how much power they would hold and how many human slaves they could have. They gave him everything they asked for including me, their son, and their daughter.”
“Grey has Rachelle?”
“And Tristian’s human mate.”
“Yeah, we’ve been trying to find her. We didn’t know about Rachelle. Tristian didn’t know about Rachelle. He assumed she was dead with the rest of his family.”
Tabitha shakes her head. “I don’t know where she is now, but she was being held in an ice palace in Russia. I don’t know for sure if he’s managed to enthrall them or if they’re just happy to watch the human world burn, but Grey has a lot of fae working for him.”
“Yeah, we’ve started to notice that. It’s never been a secret that the fae hate the human world and would love to see it destroyed. They blame humans for the staggering drop in their powers.”
“I want to hear all of this, Tabitha. But right now, I need you to tell me everything you can possibly think of regarding Grey’s plans for a pregnant dragon mate.”
She meets my gaze again. “You want to face down your own demise, I’ll give you the knowledge I have, but I’m not joining the Wystan fight. I’m not helping with anything other than knowledge. Maybe it would be best if everything burned to the ground and we started over without all this bullshit.”
“Yourself included?”
“If that’s what it takes.” She wrings her hands together. “You want to believe the dragons, the tourmaline clan, think of you as family. As someone to be cherished. But we’re abominations. We weren’t supposed to exist. And if you had the magical strength to see through the spells, to see through the veils placed on history’s eyes, you’d realize just how much damage witches do. How much damage we’ve both done, just by existing.”
I frown. We’ve always had the ability to see beyond the veil. It’s no secret the ancient spells that exist to keep humans from knowing we all exist, though that ship has sailed too. But why does she think we’re damaging so much, when we’ve helped so much?
I can’t believe anything she’s saying. Clans have always had witches. We’re revered. Or at least we’re supposed to be. We help guide the dragons to their heartstones and keep them safe. We’re able to do things dragons can’t, even though we are still dragons, we just have more magic instead of a dragon of our own.
I can only imagine the shitstorm that led Tabitha to where she is now, but I want to believe she can come back from it. I want to believe that she’ll see the truth, before it’s too late.
“Even if that were true, don’t you want to try to undo some of the damage? Try to help at least one woman, someone who isn’t dragon born, someone who wasn’t ever expecting for this to be her life? You can’t actually want Grey to have control over a baby. Least of all a baby dragon.”
Tabitha let’s out a long, frustrated sigh. “If he already has her, if he’s had her for days, how can you believe she’s still even alive? If she’s had that baby, she’s nothing more than food or just a carcass.”
“And if she hasn’t?”
Tabitha turns her head away from and looks out the window, down to the beach below. “She’s probably wishing she’s dead. That potion is a nasty one, and without me there to administer it, I doubt he cares enough to pace the dosage correctly.”
“Where would he take her?” I don’t want to think about the magic he forced her to do, the magic that’s still in his arsenal, waiting to be unleashed. Witches can feel their spells working, even over great distances. With as much magic as Grey constantly burns through, she must be feeling it constantly.
It’s bad enough we’ve seen women who can breathe fire hot enough to scorch a dragon’s scales. No fire has damaged a dragon in the history of time until Grey’s dragon breath catastrophe. I don’t want to know what else he’s got planned for everyone who defies his plans.
“He’s got houses, storage, warehouses, underground facilities, and sleeper agents all over the world. He used to talk about finding keys, pieces of a puzzle that could never come together again.” She turns away from the window and looks back at me. “But if I had to guess, he wouldn’t want to take his prize around the world. He’d want her close enough for your precious royal Wystans to feel the pain of what he’s doing. Just close enough to drive a dragon mad, but far enough that he won’t be able to get to her before it’s too late. The Montreal house would probably suit those needs.”
I hold my breath, trying to hold myself back from lunging at her for more answers. Slowly, I say, “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to give me an address?”
“And make it easy on you?” She gives me a malicious smile, and for the first time since we brought her back, she looks like Grey’s Tabitha. “If you’re really as powerful as you claim to be, and your clan is as skilled as you believe, that should be more than enough to find her.”
Gods, witches can be so obnoxious. Myself included, if I’m being honest. But I’m almost sure this is left over from Grey’s demands. If it’s pure vampire thrall, it takes more to get rid of than just a bath with a potion and some salt. Or maybe Tabitha doesn’t trust anyone anymore and she’s trying to make us prove ourselves.
Either way, if Tabitha wants to treat this as a game, as something to prove that maybe we really are on the side of right, then I am going to do everything in my power to prove to her I can be trusted. That I have the strength to stand up to Grey.
That we have the strength to win.
She dismissively waves at me, and I want to reach out and…
And I don’t know what. Embrace her. Squeeze her until all this anger, all this rage she’s holding onto dissipates. Throw a burst of powerful, white-hot, healing magic at her with everything I’ve got.
Anything to shake her out of this attitude that I know isn’t really her.
Frustrated, I make my way down the hall to my room, where I can reach out to Ash. Maybe he’s had better luck.
Maybe Declan or Malcolm has some idea on where to look.
And if not, at least I might be able to text Kashton or Athena to see if they can search real estate records or do anything else to find where Grey might have property in Canada.
Before I even make it to my desk, my phone rings.
“Ash, I was just about to call you.”
“Tell me you’ve got something from Tabitha. Anything.” He sounds a bit frantic, and I’m worried we’re dealing with even worse things now.
“She said Grey has a house in Montreal. Didn’t give me a lot of information to go on, but she thought it was the best bet for where he’d take Brianna. I was going to ask Athena to do some internet sleuthing while I try to find a magical path to her.”
“He’s already on it. Malcolm got in touch with Levi, who called Kashton and gave him all the details Brianna could provide.”
“Brianna?” I exclaim.
“She somehow was able to reach Malcolm telepathically. We’re not sure how. Declan is losing it and if he’s too far gone, he may not have heard her, but Malcolm picked up the signal instead, thank the gods and goddesses.”
“She’s alive,” I say with a small bit of relief.
He sighs. “She’s alive, but it sounds like she’s scared. She could have the baby any day. How the fuck does that happen?”
“Dark potions. Ones that I wouldn’t even consider dabbling in, but that clearly didn’t stop Grey. He’s accelerated everything, and it sounds like if we don’t get to her, if we don’t save her first, he’ll kill her, and Declan won’t stand a chance.”
“He might not stand a chance as it is. Malcolm can barely get him to think clearly. Brianna's the only thing he’s holding on to, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last if he can’t touch her.”
“We haven’t lost a dragon to the craze in a long time and we’re not going to start now. He has a mate. She’s having his baby. We’re going to find her and fix this fucking disaster.”
Ash sounds defeated when he says, “I hope so, Sy. We need a win. I’m failing my clan, the dragons who are willing to change and grow, and my own fucking brother.”
“You’re not failing him. This wasn’t something any of us could plan for. Why would he want a baby dragon shifter? What could that possibly get him?”
He doesn’t answer, because we don’t know. But whatever it is, it can’t be good.
“I’ll catch a flight to Montreal. Can you meet me? Or is Malcolm going to be my backup in this?” I pull up my laptop, starting to look for flights. “Tell Kashton to send me any information he finds.”
“Is there anything I could get you for you to portal there? Do we have enough time for you to fly before he sets off her labor?”
I cringe and rub my temple trying to keep the growing headache at bay. “I really don’t know, but if Grey does happen to be there, I don’t want to waste any of my reserves on a portal when a flight will get me there in just a few more hours.”
I don’t mention that I’m already feeling drained, that I haven’t felt up to full strength in months. It’s not worth the breath it would take, especially since we’re all stressed out, tired, and overworked.
Ash more than most.
“See if you can do a spell or anything before you go, to find out what condition she’s in or a location. Declan needs her.”
“I know, Ash. We’ll get her back, and we’ll save them both.”
I don’t have any idea how we’re going to do either of those things. If Declan is really as close to the craze as it sounds, I don’t know if there’s any force in the world strong enough to bring him back. Not even Brianna.