Chapter 35
Chapter
Thirty-Five
F ury mottles Sydney’s cheeks. “Don’t change the bloody subject.”
“It’s Saturday?” I demand of Duke.
“Indeed.”
The bottom falls out of my stomach. My heart plummets to my toes as I curse a blue streak. “The latest edition of Out Of this Realm posted this morning.”
Duke now looks equally horrified. “Did your article release?”
“Probably,” she snaps back. “So? I’m not saying another word until you explain your twin.”
Despite his high-class upbringing, Duke repeats the curse, embellishing it with several creative accompaniments.
Wiping a hand across my tired face, I sigh. What else could go bloody wrong? I’ve already transitioned into magic I don’t want. Sydney has seen my clone and knows damn well she wasn’t hallucinating. I’m exhausted and want to sleep for a week. Instead, I have to deal with the fact the public—including Mathias—can now read about the Doomsday Diary.
“What did the article say?” I demand.
She glares back. “Why were there two of you?”
“Damn it, woman!” Duke thunders. “Answer him. This is life or death.”
Something about Duke’s expression penetrates Sydney’s anger. “I wrote that it’s red and reputed to be the creation of Morgana Le Fay. That it has the ability to grant people’s…wishes.”
A more than adequate description for Mathias to identify the diary. I toss out a new collection of F-bombs. Duke follows suit.
“I merely wrote the truth,” Sydney spits.
She did, and Bram will be furious. She’s in danger. Things are going to hell fast. And I’ve no doubt matters will only get worse.
I have to fix this, or I’ll likely get eternal rest because either Bram or Mathias will put me six feet under. And the latter will make certain Sydney joins me.
“Where is the book now?”
She narrows her eyes. “Why?”
I look at Duke, and I know exactly what the other man is thinking: How the bloody hell should we answer that?
“There’s a madman who will do anything to obtain that book, even kill you.”
Sydney regards me with a considering frown. “How do you know? From Scotland Yard, are you?”
I risk another glance at Duke, who nods almost imperceptibly. “We’ve had some experience with these affairs.”
“Madmen in general or the ones after my book? The average person isn’t going to believe the article, you know. They’ll either think I’m creative or mad. And why should I believe a word you say when you’ve yet to explain my unexpected houseguest?”
“Dear god, spare me such a woman,” Duke mutters.
Sydney and I both shoot him a glare. Then I take her by the shoulders. “I know you’re angry and off-kilter, but have I ever put your life in danger?”
“No.”
“Now isn’t the time to explain. Grab your book. We need to find Aquarius. She knows where it came from and how it came to be unprotected.”
“Why would a book need protecting?”
“Do you think it’s a normal book?” I shoot back.
Sydney flushes. So she knows it isn’t. Has she written in it about me? She’d said no when I had asked before, but now I wonder…
“Get it,” Duke barks. “We’re wasting time. Even now, we’re in jeopardy.”
Duke is right. Mathias could be breathing down our necks. I bring Sydney closer, terrified at the thought of the evil wizard after her. How much good would a pampered duke and an exhausted, newly transitioned wizard do in fighting off an Anarki army? Highly unlikely that I’d be able to conjure a duplicate on purpose. And damn it, I don’t want to use magic to fight. I’d rather utilize the training I received in the Marines.
Sydney breaks my hold. “Until you explain everything, I am not budging an inch.”
“Pick her up and throw her over your shoulder, or by God, I will,” Duke orders.
As much as it pains me to force Sydney, it’s for her own good. With a curse, I bend at the knees and hoist her onto my shoulder in a fireman’s carry, careful to keep her dressing gown over her pert little ass.
“Put me down, you bloody bastard! I’m going to string you up by your stones, then take a rusty knife to you.”
Wincing, I turn to Duke. “The book is on her night table. Grab it and put it in her hands.”
With a sharp nod, Duke turns and disappears. A moment later, he reappears, holding the Doomsday Diary, then shoves it into Sydney’s grasp.
We make our way toward her front door, me pinning Sydney’s struggling form to my shoulder, Duke following in solidarity. Sydney more than breaks the silence with a string of wretched curses. I hate it, but I’d rather her angry than dead.
Three feet from the door, someone on the other side bangs. Adrenaline bursts through my blood stream. I pause, clutching Sydney. Duke draws his wand.
“Caden, are you bloody in there? If you’re not dead, I’ll kill you myself.”
Bram. Shit!
Heaving a sigh, Duke swerves around me and wrests open the door. Sure enough, the Doomsday Brethren’s leader stands on the other side, fist clenched.
“Someone tell me what the devil is going on here.” His gaze bounces between me and Duke.
“Who the blazes are you?” Sydney lifts her head and looks at Bram.
“Bram Rion. I’d say it’s a pleasure, but you’ve been nothing but a thorn in my side since you started writing about those bodies in the tunnel.” He tears his attention away from Sydney to glare at me. “One small mission. Keep her quiet. And you failed miserably.”
“He’s just transitioned,” Duke cuts in.
“Transitioned?” Sydney asks.
No one answers her. Bram hesitates, casts another glance at me, then turns to Duke. “Why did you stay?”
“I daresay, the past two days have been frightfully tedious. I’m still in need of Marrok’s training?—”
“Exactly.”
“No doubt other crises have erupted, and it’s been bloody difficult to hold my impatience while nature took its course. But if she’d been unable to complete the task…”
Bram nods in resignation.
“What are you blathering about?” Sydney wriggles and screams until I let her down in the middle of us three. But she doesn’t back down. Not my Sydney.
For a foolish moment, I’m proud of my firecracker. Even in the face of three large wizards and an incredibly bizarre situation, she doesn’t cower or stop asking questions.
“I’ll explain later,” I vow. “We have to get out of here.”
Sydney shakes her head. “You’ve promised answers. I’ve yet to receive them. I refuse to leave until I do. And the next one who tries to lift me over their shoulder will lose an arm.”
“We’ve no time for this.” Bram curses. “You’re inexorably in the thick of things, so I’ll give you the condensed version and trust that you want to save your own backside enough to keep quiet. There is a magickind. The three of us are wizards. Every bloody one of those stories you’ve written has put us—and all of magickind—in danger.”
“You’re saying all this magical stuff is real?”
“Yes, and?—”
“Genuinely real?”
“I’m explaining that it is—if you’ll stop interrupting me. And we don’t need exposure to humans; they’ll unleash a witch hunt. Nor do you want Mathias after you. But that’s precisely what will happen since you were stupid enough to write about the diary. As if that isn’t enough, you shared a byline in a different story with Mathias’s second in command.” At her incredulous gasp, he goes on. “Zain is loyal to the very villain you’ve reviled. Didn’t tell you that, did he?”
“Zain Denzell?” I whirl on Sydney. “ He’s my replacement?”