Chapter 32
Chapter
Thirty-Two
Hate pulsed from Caelan. I felt it slither over my skin and settle into the spot over my heart where the bond lay. His golden gaze flicked over me, disgust etched onto his face before his attention slid to Rowan who stood beside me, his hand a comforting weight against the small of my back.
Ethan’s eyebrows rose when he saw us standing together. A moment later, his nostrils flared, and his attention snapped to Caelan, his eyes wary.
Ben stared at me, a thoughtful look on his face. He didn’t seem scared or wary or anything. More contemplative than anything.
Soren wore a smirk of amusement. “My, my, my,” he drawled. “I’m usually excellent at chess, but even I never saw this checkmate coming.” He slid a sly look Caelan’s way. “Incomplete, Lord. Maybe you still have a chance.”
Ben sighed. “Soren. Can you shut the fuck up for once in your life?”
Soren winked at me. “Never, Healer. My witty verbal repartee is the only thing keeping me alive.”
Dario, who had not yet been appointed as Lord to my knowledge, sat at the table watching the exchange like a tennis match.
When our eyes met, fury made his nostrils flare.
The wannabe Lord had hazel eyes, like Rowan, but his held more green in the iris, along with chips of amber color swimming in the depths.
Like all the Lords, he was pretty, but there was a shallowness to his character I didn’t like.
It didn’t help that he looked like he walked off the set of a local television vampire drama series.
Dario was fuming that I’d ripped the territory away from him, not caring that it wasn’t his to start with.
“Please,” Thorvin said, rising from the long table. “Have a seat.” He pointed to two chairs facing the Lords’ table.
It was then I noticed the table the Lords were sitting at had no room for Rowan. They’d made him an outsider. And I knew at that moment, this was all my fault.
Rowan’s gaze took in the chairs and the table. A wicked chuckle rumbled his chest. “So it has come to this.”
Thorvin sighed. I liked the Lord, and though I found his slightly harried and harassed countenance amusing, I knew, just like the others, he was not someone to take at face value. He’d proven himself deadly enough when Moira, Garrett, and I had trespassed on his land.
“Rowan, you’ve expanded far beyond the boundaries of your agreed-to territory.” Thorvin sat back down and rubbed his temples.
“So?” he asked.
Caelan snorted. “You think just because Evie is an ally now that you can take our land from us?”
“Your land was taken by might,” I interjected. “Won by skill and taken by power, the land is mine to do with as I see fit.”
“And you believe Rowan is fit?” Caelan said, his eyes burning molten gold.
Fury burned in my chest, and I reveled in my rage. “More than others,” I said, knowing how much the words would infuriate him.
Soren chuckled. “Evie, darling, you do know how to keep a bonfire burning long after it has turned to embers, don’t you?”
Claws slid from Caelan’s fingers, his jaw tightening. “Be careful who you speak to,” he warned.
“You should take the same advice,” I snapped. “All of you. Dario is not a Lord and not entitled to the territory. Even if you did make him a Lord, I’ve already proven I can strip the land from one if I need to.”
“Are you threatening us?” Ethan asked. His tone wasn’t angry for once. He watched me with a healthy new respect, a look I was not used to seeing from him.
“I’m telling you to let sleeping dogs lie. I shared the land with Rowan because he is a good and decent Lord, and our powers complement each other. He has no designs on encroaching on anyone else’s territory.”
Rowan slid a look my way, one that heated my blood.
“Which is another reason we are here,” he said.
“A darkness creeps among our lands, driven by what we think are the gods. It begins as a dark poison, killing everything it touches, until it affects the Lord who walks the land. We are here to ask you to allow Evie to come onto your lands and purge the poison. She will need to temporarily claim the borders until the magic is completely purged.”
Caelan burst out laughing. “She’s already tried that once. Absolutely not. Evie is not here on a goodwill mission. Donovan’s lands have already fallen to her. She seeks to claim more until the Lords are no more.”
“I could have left that darkness rotting inside your body,” I snapped. “Instead, it continues poisoning your lands until it will eventually claim you, your land, and your people.”
Rowan tugged me into the seat next to him and wove our fingers together.
Caelan’s lips curled with disgust when he noticed.
His touch brought me back to reality, sending the anger deep inside.
“Have any of you started feeling poorly over the last few weeks? Fatigue, weakness, dizziness, or emotional outbursts?”
No one admitted to anything, but Soren’s eyes narrowed. He studied me with intensity, and I can almost see the wheels turning in his mind.
“That’s what the magic does. I do not know its purpose yet.
Moira has a certain talent, and she’s using her powers to help us track down the magic source.
Once we find it, we will know more on how to control it and destroy it for good.
My magic has proven successful against it, as your Lord—” I inclined my head toward Caelan, “will attest to.”
“Provided he’s not being a little bitch,” Rowan said, showing his teeth to the other Lord.
Soren choked on a laugh.
Caelan said nothing, color touching high on his cheeks.
“Caelan?” Ethan asked. “Is she telling the truth?”
For a moment, I thought he would lie, but after a long moment, Caelan gives a begrudging nod. “She trespassed on my territory, told me of this spell, and forced a healing on me.”
Soren’s eyebrows flicked up. “Good gracious, man. You’re so hardheaded you’d turn down a healing from the godsdamned Fae Queen?”
Caelan ignored Soren, but the others stared hard at him, making me wonder what they were thinking. Was this the first sign of a fracture between them?
“Up until a few days ago, she was your fiancée, man,” Thorvin said. “If you cannot trust her, who can you trust?”
“You know what she is,” Caelan said.
Soren chortled. “You’d have to live under a rock not to. The woman hasn’t harmed any of us unless we came after her first. Even Ethan, the hardheaded sonofabastard he is, acknowledged this.”
Ethan sent him an annoyed look. “Yes, I am aware I’ve been a—”
“A right bastard,” Soren cheerfully supplied. “And rightfully deserved getting tossed around like a rag doll.”
Rowan chuckled under his breath.
“We are duty-sworn to kill Chimeras,” Caelan growled.
I jerk back in alarm. Rowan squeezed my hand.
“Then you should have killed her long ago,” he said. “Because you’ve known longer than any of us what she is. So you are just as complicit, aren’t you?”
Caelan doesn’t like being confronted with the truth. “It’s amusing to see how much of an ally you’ve become to our resident Chimera now that your head has been between her legs.”
A shocked gasp escaped me. “Caelan,” I breathed in horror.
To my surprise, Rowan doesn’t outwardly react.
That spot in my chest flared with heat, lending me insight into his internal fury, but instead, Rowan smiled.
“You lash out at others when your judgment is questioned, deflection of the highest order. I told you once before, Lord, insult Evie again at your own peril.”
Ethan stood, holding out his hands. “Please. We are supposed to be above petty fights.”
Rowan slid his furious gaze to the Lord. “Insulting my mate is not petty, Ethan. We both know how you’d react if someone spoke against yours, so don’t question me when I defend mine.”
The word mate sparks heat inside me. I wasn’t his official mate, but there was enough of a bond to spark his territorial instinct. Even before, he would have defended me. Now, I suspect he would die for me.
Soren slid Caelan a disgusted glance. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You’ve lost. Everyone sitting here knows this woman gave you multiple chances to get your head out of your ass, and you managed to fail every single time.
You can’t blame Rowan for picking up the pieces, especially if he knew this entire time what she was to him and still let her decide.
” His head shake is disgusted, but his words made my attention snap to Rowan, a question burning in my eyes.
His thumb stroked the back of my hand. “Later,” he murmured.
“This is not what we should be discussing,” Ethan interjected. After a quelling look at Caelan, he turned to me. “Tell us what you know about this magic.”
At Rowan’s dark look, Ethan cleared his throat. “Please.”
“There isn’t much to tell. Right now, it doesn’t seem to have a specific target. The magic kills what it touches or slowly poisons what it can’t kill right away. Moira and my father are working together to determine its source.”
Soren jerked upright. “Moira is working with Cernunnos?”
“She is.”
“For how long?” He wipes his face of emotion.
“For however long it takes, I suppose.”
Rowan snorted. “The vampire is living in my territory. We can arrange a visit if Moira allows one.”
“She won’t,” Soren grumbled.
Ethan waved a hand. “You claim to be able to purge this magic. How are we to trust you won’t wrest our territories from us?”
“Trust is built on a foundation of faith. I’ve never had a lust for power, nor have I gone after anyone who didn’t come after me first. You will have to take me at my word.”
Caelan’s disgusted snort sounded like a gunshot.