Chapter 42
Alexander
Edinburgh itself was quiet; the disaster making my TB buzz endlessly was inside my castle walls, inside them, while Ezra and I were not.
After so many threats from the outside, my house had fallen from the rot within. Betrayed, again, by someone I’d let close enough to breathe my air. The knowledge wasn’t a cut; it was a blade twisted in my gut, slow and deliberate.
Growing my family was hard work, or it had been those first few years when we had nothing.
The people who joined me wanted a better life and toiled at my side to achieve it.
I never doubted their commitment. Seven years later, my castle was a comfortable home.
We secured trade deals that ensured food supplies.
We were known for blending BT technology and magic, which gave us a steady income.
It wasn’t just the hopeful coming into my walls anymore.
I’d been a fool. Blind to the shift from loyal ally to opportunistic parasite. I tossed my reins to Rowan, who almost dropped them in surprise.
“Ride,” I simply commanded, and the enforcer took control of my horse, leaving me free to work.
I loosened two straps on my saddle, designed just for this, and tied myself down before gripping my pommel.
Secured, I linked into my TBs. Every message flowed directly into my mind and arranged themselves on top of a map of my castle.
The world vanished. Even the rhythm of the horse beneath me faded to nothing.
So far, my Mile was safe. Every guard, even the new ones after Cayden’s exit, checked in clear. I sent orders directly into their minds, telling them to hold their positions. No one in or out.
Next, I organized my officers’ reports. Erick, with a swarm of men with green hair, had struck The Great Hall first. The center of my power. The measly two patrols, one outside and one in, had been easily overrun.
Power rippled from The Great Hall, creating a shield of pure force my men couldn’t get through.
Chaotic fighting spilled into the streets.
My people defended themselves and the buildings they happened to be near.
One of Ezra’s Five had the library locked down, along with the two buildings on either side of it.
Abernathy had made a defensive line of officers and trainees holding the gates to ensure my new territory stayed out of the fighting.
What was Erick trying to do?
I let the map float to my subconscious and projected my waking mind toward The Great Hall.
The shield was holding against physical bodies, but Erick didn’t have a mentalist, and I easily slipped through and sped toward the Alun.
Three men sat amongst the swirling colors.
Erick, Emil, and a man I didn’t know. The bald unknown had a large scar down the side of his face.
He kneeled with Emil, drawing a large circle of runes on the floor with charcoal and salt.
These men were taking my home. I wasn’t rifling through the minds of the possibly innocent. I was facing down enemies actively working against me. My code had been met. I slipped into Emil’s mind.
Line, two triangles, circle. My part. It had only taken a few hours to draw the first portal, but it had been small and short-ranged.
The design of this was like nothing I’d ever attempted.
Like nothing anyone in my family had ever tried—a base for our new home.
I looked up to see Ashkar also looking at me.
We took our bearings, making sure our marks weren’t off.
I hadn’t been enough for the Prophet. Our Sun God never blessed me, and my years of rigorous training left me on a lowly transport team when I could be so much more.
Cayden had seen. He left. The first of us to ever do so.
I followed, only I saw so much more. We didn’t need to limit ourselves.
An entire world lay broken. Our God was ready to save it and bring a new order.
Once the Prophet saw our work, he’d bless us, find us worthy. I’d bring my first into our family.
The man’s imagination showed me an altar of blood-red silk, and I pulled out.
Not wanting to know more. My skin crawled.
The urge to reach out and crush the man’s mind before he could finish the portal almost consumed me, but I held back.
We didn’t have enough information… and the last time I misused my abilities still haunted me.
Thirty-seven, dead with just a snap of my mental powers. It wasn’t right. A shiver ran down my back. Whether that was fear or something darker, I didn’t know.
“No one in or out,” a voice said.
I drifted back to my body, though my vision was slow to return.
“You can make an exception,” Rowan called back.
“No exceptions.” The two guards drew their weapons.
Rowan dropped the reins of my horse to place his hand on his sword hilt.
My heart raced. I was strapped to this beast, unable to jump off or control it. It didn’t matter how well-trained it was. If it bolted or was injured, I went with it. Ezra never would have dropped my reins. He was my shield, my sword arm, my eyes, and my ears while I used my mental magic.
Rowan gestured to me. “We’re an exception.”
Dressed as a trainee and strapped to my horse, I did not look like the powerful Architect. Furthermore, Ezra wasn’t at my side, and it was his command that got me through his men.
My horse pranced, jolting me, and my pulse spiked. I wasn’t dying today because of a frightened mount. My vision snapped into focus. My ability to speak and control my body returned. I sat up straight and forced myself not to check in on my lover. Quinn needed him, and I was needed here.
‘Let us pass,’ I said directly into the guards’ minds, my baby blues glowing with power. ‘Your loyalties will not go unrewarded.’
The men jumped.
“Architect.” One lowered his head while the second rushed to open the gate.
“My reins,” I said, giving Rowan a hard look. “I am not in control of my body.”
Rowan’s eyes widened, and he maneuvered his horse back to recover my reins. I gave him a curt nod before returning to my map. My horse’s uneven steps tossed my body like a rag doll as we raced up The Mile.
I sent out orders defining our new borders.
With the shield in place, we couldn’t move against The Great Hall.
My arena and Wicked Wich were too large and too close, respectively.
Fighting over our food store, which had our well hidden in its center, and The Happy Rooster was fierce.
I sent anyone free to push the odds in our favor.
If they finished the portal in the Alun, having access to our food supplies would become a moot point. By the time I’d given my last order and returned to myself, my horse pranced outside the main gates. Rowan stood at its head, holding its reins.
“Why am I still mounted?” I ripped at the straps, which kept me in place. “We’ve lost precious time. The moment the horses stop moving, you unstrap me and get us moving.”
Rowan stepped forward and helped me with the final strap. Before I could jump down, he placed his hand on my thigh. A vision of the massive sausage between his legs came unbidden to my mind. He hadn’t left me then either.
“I’m not Ezra.” Rowan tightened his grip; not painful, but making a point. “And I’m no mind reader. This is your first test of strength. This is the first time someone has outright challenged you, us, and everything that is the Architect. I might not do it right, but I won’t leave you.”
He let go of my leg, and the fear I hated admitting I was even capable of feeling covered me in goosebumps. I gripped the leather of my saddle and slid down, more reports already crowding my mind.
“So… do you walk on your own, or does Ezra carry you everywhere?” Rowan asked.
Rowan’s humor eased my fear, and I managed an uncomfortable chuckle.
Ezra and I had been attached at the hip since I was sixteen.
Maybe Rowan’s observation was valid. It took me a moment to realize that the beefy fighter was dead serious.
He already had his hands out, ready to haul me over his shoulder like a sack of grain.
The mental image that followed was… less appropriate than I’d like to admit.
“Thank you.” I reached out and squeezed his shoulder.
Rowan gave me a knowing smile, and his white gaze twinkled.
“I can run.” I stepped toward the sound of fighting. “I’ll explain as we go.”
We squeezed through the gates before my men locked them, keeping the fight inside my walls. My second gate, the medieval portcullis I rarely closed, rose just enough for us to slip by before booming shut once more. We rounded the bend.
A hint of slime brushed my cheek, along with the smell of roses. I cursed. This was not the time for Professor Holiday’s experiments unless this was the perfect time for him, just not for me.
The sounds of battle came from The Happy Rooster. Winston’s monster form howled, though I couldn’t see it. A woman screamed, and dark forest-green magic flashed.
Men were inside my home. Boots pounded my stone floors, shouts ricocheted off the walls, and the tang of magic burned the air. Every sound was a hammer blow to the foundation I’d built with seven years of sweat and scheming.
My walls had never seen blood spilled like this, and I’d never wanted them to.
I hadn’t taken the castle by force. I’d walked in and, without spilling a single drop, convinced the Westwaters currently occupying it that they wanted to leave.
I’d staged a grand display with my monsters, seeded a few false memories to make the story stick, and shut the gates behind them.
It had been a mistake. No one wanted their free will stolen, and that’s exactly what I’d done.
My false memories hadn’t survived the first real questions, and I’d been left with a target on my back, walking on thin ice even among my allies.
I’d wrapped myself in my code as if it were armor, convincing myself that restraint could fix everything.
But it hadn’t. The code had only made me weaker and easier to corner.
I didn’t have time to catalog the mistakes that led here. I could fix all of it… with the snap of my fingers.
Rowan tried to charge into battle, and I pulled him back.
“Sir?” Rowan questioned.
I opened myself up to the magic of the world and called on the mental powers that I liked to pretend I didn’t have. Baby blue dripped out of my eyes as every mind within my walls opened up to me.
I wasn’t going to toy with anyone’s thoughts this time. This wasn’t about control for power’s sake—this was about survival. My people’s survival. Mine. I reached for the invaders’ thoughts like a drowning man reaching for air.
A body charged me. Rowan bellowed, wind and water bloomed in each of his fists. He stepped between me and the attacker. Before our enemy could charge, I took control of him and every mind working to break what I had built.