Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
KAGE
Iwoke with a gasp, my heart hammering against my ribs like a bird desperate for freedom.
The ceiling swam into focus above me, unfamiliar and wrong.
The castle ceilings had cracks in them, little imperfections I’d memorized over centuries.
This ceiling was pristine, and for a disorienting moment, I thought I’d been caught.
Then the events of the previous night came flooding back. The dungeon. Nico. Running. The inn.
And the sleeping.
I had fallen asleep. Me. In a bed that wasn’t mine, in a room that wasn’t the castle, with another person beside me.
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d slept. House mages didn’t need sleep the way other beings did—we replenished our energy through cleaning. When there was nothing to clean, we withered. When there was everything to clean, we thrived.
I hadn’t cleaned anything for days. The castle had been in chaos, and then I’d been running through forests and crawling through secret passages. It was no wonder I’d slept; my magic was depleted.
Nico was snoring softly, and I rolled my head slowly toward him.
My breath caught in my throat.
We were close. Really close. His back was nearly pressed against me, and if I moved even an inch forward, I would touch him. It sent panic spiking through my veins, but I held myself still.
He was safe. He was here. He was protecting me, even in sleep.
I had never had anyone protect me before.
For a long moment, I lay there, battling the urge to bolt. My anxiety insisted I disappear, to slip away before he woke and saw me, before I had to form words I would inevitably stumble and stutter over. But the stubborn side of me held me in place.
I would not get better by running. I knew this. If I didn’t push myself a little, I would stay frozen forever, trapped in the shadows where I’d always lived.
But as much as I wanted to test myself, the desire to clean was becoming unbearable. My magic screamed for some mess to rectify. The room we were in was clean, and my skin crawled with the absence of purpose. I needed to find dirt. I needed to find dust.
Careful not to disturb Nico, I inched toward the edge of the bed. I held my breath as my feet touched the floor, waiting for him to wake and question me.
He didn’t stir.
My invisibility washed over me, becoming nothing more than a whisper of movement. This was who I was. This was what I knew.
The hallway was dark as I slipped through the door, my feet silent. I made my way down the stairs, my rag trailing along the railing, collecting any dirt and grime that might be there. The reception area was empty.
There was a sitting area off to the side, with several chairs and a low table covered in dust. My eyes nearly watered with relief. Dust.
I’d just stepped into the sitting area, rag poised to get to work, when the door burst open.
I froze, my heart stopping mid-beat. Three figures stumbled through the entrance, laughing and clutching at each other in a way that made my face heat.
There was a man in the middle, dark-haired and sharp-featured, with a woman on each arm.
One of the women had horns curving from her forehead and skin that shimmered with an almost luminous quality.
She was a succubus, and the other two were vampires.
My legs wouldn’t move. I was rooted to the spot, caught between the instinct to flee and the need to stay hidden.
The succubus laughed, and the vampire man lifted her effortlessly, setting her on the front counter as their mouths crashed together.
The other woman slid her hand up the succubus’s thigh.
I should go. I should run upstairs and wake Nico.
The vampire woman who worked at the front desk appeared in the doorway behind them. “I suggest you take that to your room. Now is not the time to give other guests a show.”
The succubus pulled away from the man, her lips swollen and her eyes bright. “You’re no fun, Cassandra.”
Cassandra waved a dismissive hand. “I’ll join you later.”
The threesome disentangled themselves, making their way up the stairs in a tangle of limbs. Cassandra walked behind the desk, smoothing her hair and muttering something about the “squirrel stench.”
I forced myself to move toward the table. My hands shook as I began dusting. The cleaning helped. It always helped.
The front door opened again.
I froze, cloth in hand, as four guards entered. They weren’t wearing the royal uniforms, but they carried themselves with the same brutal confidence—they moved like hunters who had caught prey before and would catch it again.
Cassandra’s smile curled into something menacing. “Room three.”
Room three. Our room.
One guard laughed. “Time to collect our prize.”
They walked toward the stairs, and I followed without thinking, trailing behind them like a ghost. I needed to warn Nico or fight them off.
They kicked the door to room three open with a splintering crash.
I moved through the wall just as Nico sat up in bed, his eyes wide and wild, his body already tensing to shift. But before he could, the guards threw a net over him.
It glowed, the threads shimmering with obvious magic. Nico snarled as he tried to remove the netting, but the more he struggled, the tighter it seemed to pull.
He stumbled to his feet, and one guard kicked his feet out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor. The men laughed.
One of them kicked Nico in the stomach. “Try to fight all you want, rodent. You’re going nowhere.”
I grabbed the pouch of nuts off the nightstand and followed them as they dragged him down the stairs.
What the hell was I going to do?
The guards dragged Nico through the village like a prized kill, and I followed behind them, my heart hammering so hard I was certain they’d hear it. My palms were sweating, and I kept checking on the nut pouch like it might come untied.
We arrived at a large estate with “Sangre” written in an arch above the gates.
Nico had stopped thrashing in the net, but he was still awake because his eyes narrowed at the name.
It wouldn’t surprise me if Val had something to do with this, but he was captured too. Unless that was part of the plan.
The gates closed, and I stood outside them, trying to drum up the courage to step foot inside. I was invisible. I had the nut paste on. The vampires would think nothing of me.
Still, they had a net, and although I might be invisible, I wasn’t a phantom, and I could be captured.
My brain screamed at me to turn around and do literally anything other than walk into a vampire estate alone. But the image of Nico being captured and the sound of the guards’ boots connecting with nearly every inch of him as they dragged him was burned into my vision.
I couldn’t leave him. I couldn’t disappear like I always did.
I had to be brave.
I was when I hit the lion shifter with the statue. I was when I left the castle. I was when I followed Nico into the dungeon.
Taking a deep breath, I walked in the direction the guards had gone.
Most vampire estates had stables in the back and dungeon cells underneath.
It was a little-known secret of vampires, at least the rich ones, to keep dungeons beneath their stables.
Demons talked, even when they shouldn’t, and I’d heard things over the centuries.
Constantly cleaning meant listening, and that meant knowing things you’d rather not.
I waited outside the stables until the guards exited and then waited a little while longer to make sure no one else was going to come out.
The stables were quiet besides the sounds of the animals. A few turned their heads in my direction as I passed by, sensing my presence. A mare nickered softly, and I pressed myself against the wall, waiting to see if anyone would come investigate.
No one did.
I searched the ground for a trapdoor, but the straw was thick. I wanted to clean this place. It was filthy, with hay scattered everywhere, mud tracked in from outside, and dust accumulating on the support beams. My magic ached with the need to do something.
But Nico needed me more than my cleaning did.
I finally spotted the door behind some hay bales. There was a metal ring barely visible beneath the straw. My stomach clenched, and I had to talk myself out of running.
I could do this. I had to do this. For Nico. For Sammy. For anyone who had ever needed me to be more than a ghost.
Before I had time to convince myself that it was a horrible idea, I walked down the steps, noting that there hadn’t been a lock on the door. That meant they were careless or planning on moving someone soon. My guess was the latter.
The stairs were stone, cold and slick, and I had to grab the wall to keep from slipping. The air grew colder with each step, and the stench of blood and decay reached me before the room did.
The room I walked into had three cells. One held Nico, passed out, his body curled against the stone wall. Two others were occupied by men who sat there, staring off into space. One looked barely alive, his chest rising and falling in shallow gasps, and the other was more alert.
Were they strong enough to sense my presence? Would they alert the guards?
Nico stirred in his cell and groaned. He lay there another minute, his face contorting in pain, before he suddenly popped up and rushed to the cell door, trying to open it. The bars didn’t budge, and he slammed his fist against them in frustration.
“It’s no use, son.” The alert man’s voice was hoarse but steady. “Magically infused cells. You can’t shift your way out of them either.”
Nico turned, as if just realizing there were two other men in the cells. His eyes narrowed slightly, and he subtly sniffed the air before some of the tension left his shoulders.
He knew I was here.
“I’m Winston.” The man shifted on the ground, and I caught the glint of silver chains around his wrists. “The other fellow, I’m not sure what his name is. He was here when they brought me. He’ll die soon.”
Nico’s face went pale. “You’re the missing council member.”
“That would be me.” Winston’s lips twisted into a grimace. “You stumbled into quite a mess.”
I looked around the room for the keys but knew I wouldn’t find them.
Vampires weren’t going to keep them close to the cells.
They were most likely with the guard who had horns.
Demons with horns were beasts, and the thought of trying to steal them without him crushing me into a pulp made me want to vomit.
“Kage, do you think you can get us out of here?” Nico’s voice didn’t hold much hope—it held something worse. It held resignation, as if he’d already accepted that I would fail.
And I probably would.
I wanted to believe I could sneak past vampires and demons and whatever else lurked in the halls. But every instinct I had was screaming at me to run and hide. I was a house mage who cleaned floors and hid in shadows. I didn’t belong here.
Winston looked between Nico and the space where he stared at me. But he didn’t comment. It was possible that he thought Nico was hallucinating.
The weaker man reached out a hand toward me. I wanted to help him, but I didn’t know how. Maybe it would be easier for me to sneak food. That would help.
Nico sat down, his shoulders slumping. “You have to. There’s no other option. Do it for Sammy.”
Sammy. The name echoed in my mind, and something shifted in my chest. She deserved to have people fight for her.
I could do this. I had to do this. Not because I was brave, but because she needed me.
Winston cleared his throat. “The princess? She’s returned?”
Nico nodded, and Winston started laughing, which quickly turned into a cough. “This keeps getting more and more interesting.”
I was about to ask why it was so funny when the door above opened and a pair of glossy shoes came into view. Winston and the other prisoners tensed, their bodies pressing back against the far walls of their cells.
My blood ran cold as he descended.
Valentino, Val’s father. The one who had orchestrated wars, who had commanded armies, who had made house mages disappear forever.
There was no warmth in his eyes like Val had. There was only cold calculation.
I didn’t move. I didn’t breathe. I was invisible. I had the nut paste on. He couldn’t see me.
But as his dark gaze swept across the room, I had the terrible feeling that he knew exactly where I was standing. All it would take was confirmation from Winston, and I’d be a goner.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” His voice was as smooth as the leather of his shoes. His gaze paused on Winston before moving to Nico. “I heard we caught a squirrel.”
He inhaled deeply as he stepped farther into the room. I examined him carefully for any sign that he had the keys on him. Would he be stupid enough to come into the dungeon with them but without his guards? Probably not.
“Your blood smells divine. I think it will pair nicely with my meal later with my son.”
His son? Valentino had only one son.
The realization that Val had deceived Sammy stole the breath from my lungs.
Val was here. In this house. Did that mean Sammy was here too?
I thought of the way Val had looked at Sammy with raw tenderness in his eyes. That was love, wasn’t it? That couldn’t be faked, could it?
Nico’s nostrils flared in anger as he balled his fists at his side. “I will never give you bloodsuckers my blood.”
“Squirrel, don’t,” Winston muttered.
“You speak as though you have a choice in the matter.” Valentino’s fingers traced the bars separating him from Nico, his nails making a grating sound against the metal. “How charming.”
Nico lunged forward, trying to grab Valentino, but he wasn’t fast enough. “Where’s Val?”
Valentino’s laugh was jovial. “My son is recuperating from his... misadventures.”
“And the princess?” Nico was shaking with rage, and if he hadn’t been magically restricted, he would have shifted.
Valentino’s head cocked slightly. “Dead.”
I didn’t wait to see Nico’s response. I heard his wail of grief as I fled up the stairs.
I had to find the keys.