Chapter Ten
River
I wake up slowly, unsure what’s woken me.
Then the bed shakes, and my eyes pop open. I attempt to sit up but my arms and legs seem restrained. A quick glance doesn’t show any restraints, telling me it’s being done with magic. Turning my head, I see Reid and Hayes fighting against the magic restraints, but I don’t see anyone else in the room.
“What the hell is going on?” I demand, drawing the attention of my lovers.
Reid shakes his head. “I woke up as I was being bound.”
“Same.” Hayes frowns. “I can’t use my magic.”
“That’s because it’s been bound just like you,” a voice sounds from the shadows, but I still can’t see anyone.
“Show yourself, coward,” I spit out.
A man steps out of the shadows, but I don’t recognize him. “Who the hell are you?”
“It matters not who I am, but who I work for. Alistair says hello, and he can’t wait to meet you all face to face.”
Before any of us have a chance to respond, he waves his hand, and I sink into the darkness.
This time I awake quickly, sitting up with a gasp. I find Hayes and Reid still passed out beside me.
Glancing down, I realize we’re lying on a bed. Turning to take in the rest of the room, it looks like a bedroom of some kind until my eyes fall on the last wall. It glimmers when I tilt my head, and I realize it’s likely spelled so we can be watched.
Hayes and Reid sit up simultaneously, each of them gasping as I had when I woke.
“Where are we?” Reid asks as the two of them glance around the room.
“I have no idea. That wall is spelled, so we’re probably being watched.”
“That you are,” a voice booms throughout the room. “It’s lovely that Tyson selected a group of lovers who all hold a piece of what I need to make Dragon’s Fire. With all of you here and Cecelia some place safe, it really doesn’t matter that he got away. Though we all know he’ll come looking for you. I’m sure Cecelia will last, at least until then.”
Reid’s lips draw back into a snarl, his mouth full of his kelpie teeth instead of the more human ones he usually has. “Alistair,” he hisses. “I’ll fucking kill you.”
A hissing sound fills the room before clouds of something begin to pour out of pipes I hadn’t noticed along the ceiling.
“That will be hard when you’ll be unable to shift.” Alistair’s voice is smug. “The vapor pouring into the room right now is a suppressant. It suppresses both shifters and those with magic. In mere moments, you’ll be as weak as mortals.”
I suck in a lungful of clean air before holding my breath. A glance at Reid and Hayes shows them doing the same. Hayes won’t be able to hold his breath as long as me and Reid, due to our water natures. But even we won’t be able to hold it indefinitely, not that it’ll stop us from trying.
Minutes pass, and Hayes has no choice but to suck in a lungful of the now-tainted air. I send my magic out, looking for any weakness in the room that I can use to my advantage, but there’s nothing. A glance at Reid tells me he’s reached the same conclusion. Without Alistair being in the room, his song will have no effect on the man.
There aren’t any cracks in the walls that would allow me to send my water through. Sure, I could call a large wave to slam against the walls, but something tells me it won’t work.
I’ve learned to not doubt my intuition, which is why my shoulders slump and I let out the bit of breath still left in my lungs. I probably could’ve gone close to another hour, but why? If there’s nothing I can use my magic for, then there’s no point in putting it off.
The effects of the drug hit me immediately as I drag in a breath. My magic fades within me until I can no longer feel it, leaving me feeling bereft. Even when we were bound to our bed, I could at least feel my magic inside me. Now, it feels like it’s just gone.
Tears fill my eyes even as I fight them. How has Alistair managed this? And how has the man we’ve been tracking for years captured us? He shouldn’t even know we exist.
I have so many questions that I’ll likely never know the answers to.
Hayes wraps his arm around me, pulling me to his chest before doing the same to Reid. I see tears in both their eyes and know they’re feeling precisely as I am. Our magic is such an integral part of our sense of self, to find it suddenly missing is like missing a limb that’s been cut off.
“Well, well, well. Isn’t this adorable?” Alistair’s tone says he finds us anything but adorable.
“What do you want from us?” Reid demands, not moving from Hayes’s hold.
The Alistair that stands before us is different from the one we’ve seen pictures of. It seems photos can’t capture the craziness swirling in his eyes—something I have no problem seeing as he glances between the three of us like we’re the best kind of present.
He smirks as he considers Reid’s question. “There are many things I want from you. First and foremost, I want Tyson. With the three of you here, it’ll only be a matter of time until he delivers himself. Individually, I want your song, Reid. Hayes, I want your bark. And darling River, I want your scales. Those are the three main ingredients in Dragon’s Fire, besides the obvious.
“A kelpie’s song, a dryad’s bark, and a water nymph’s scales when mixed with a dragon’s fire. It’s as simple as that, but yet, not. The order of combining them must be precise or it doesn’t work. How does it feel to know it’s because of your people that I’m now the most powerful mage in the world?”
“But are you really?” I can’t help asking, even as it draws his attention to me.
“I could show you if you’d like proof, little girl.”
Tossing my long blonde hair over my shoulder, I open my mouth to tell him just what he can do with his proof but snap it shut when Hayes’s hand tightens on me. From the corner of my eye, I can see him give a sharp shake of his head. I slump back into his chest, annoyed but knowing he’s right. Snapping at the crazy man holding us hostage probably isn’t the best idea.
“If you need parts of us that you’ve somehow just blocked, how do you plan to get them?” Hayes asks, a sneer in his voice.
I dig my elbow into his side. He just stopped me from snarking at Alistair, and then he does it instead? I know it’s his way of attempting to protect me, but I am not okay with it.
“I’m glad you asked, Hayes.” Alistair laughs, the sound setting my nerves on edge. He sounds completely unhinged. “I think we’ll begin with Reid.”
He lifts his hand in the air and Reid jerks off the bed. Without a thought, I reach for him, only to find I’m unable to move.
“No, the two of you will remain where you are while I take what I need from Reid.” Alistair’s eyes flash red as he moves his hands through the air, words spilling from his mouth in a language I don’t recognize.
Reid lets out a tortured scream as magic surrounds him before falling silent—only his mouth is still open, as Alistair’s magic seems to force its way into his mouth. All I can do is watch in horror as it comes back out, pulling magic with it.
It takes me a moment to realize what he’s doing. He’s pulling Reid’s song from him. That shouldn’t be possible.
“How?” I gasp, but Alistair just laughs.
I’m unable to move or turn my head away, having no choice but to watch as my love’s magic is stolen from him. Something that should be impossible, but I know from Tyson that Alistair was able to steal his dragon’s fire, which is something else that should’ve been impossible.
Alistair has to be stopped.
It’s what we’ve been working on almost from the day the three of us met Tyson. We knew from the first moment that he was meant to be a part of us—a piece we hadn’t known was missing—and his vengeance became ours. We’ve followed him around from city to city as we worked on devising a plan to take him down and get Tyson’s sister back. Not to mention putting an end to Dragon’s Fire. We just haven’t been able to figure out a way to get to him.
Only Alistair has managed to grow even stronger over that time. Three of us are here before him, completely powerless, and ending him has never seemed more impossible.
I know Tyson will come for us, but I don’t know if he’s powerful enough to stop Alistair.
What if he comes to rescue us and gets captured himself? It’s what Alistair is counting on.
I wish there was a way to tell him not to come—to tell him to leave us to our fates—but even as the thought crosses my mind, I know he would never listen.
What if this is the end for us? I hate to think this is our fate, but as Reid’s unconscious body drops onto the bed and Hayes is jerked away from me, it’s hard to think anything but dreary thoughts. Tears stream down my cheeks as I watch Alistair’s magic surround my other love.
How can we ever escape a man who might just be the most powerful mage in the world?