14. Callum
CALLUM
“You’re not going to like this,” Axel’s voice sounded as he stepped up beside me.
“I haven’t been liking most of what you’ve had to say for the better half of this century,” I retorted as I rested my head against the wall, leaning further into the shadows as we studied the guards posted throughout the throne room at the Solis Court.
Tugging a smaller throwing blade from my waistband, I rolled the metal between my fingers as my second began to speak again.
“The male from the Marking Day ceremony is on the move.”
“You’re positive?” I questioned. “I thought our contact with the Remnant didn’t have us meeting for another two hours?”
“Our contact didn’t, but the tracker I snuck on him earlier tonight is going off,” Axel replied as his eyes narrowed in on a side door. “But that’s not all.”
“Of course not,” I bit out as I pinched the bridge of my nose, praying to Aeternus for patience I most certainly didn’t have tonight. With a look toward him, I asked, “What else?”
“My cameras picked up movement in the far wing of the court. Two angels with a third unconscious between them, and . . . well . . .” He rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck.
“Just spit it out,” I stated, agitation rising in me as I performed another sweep of the area, my eyes catching on every drone flying surveillance throughout the space, the cameras flashing as the citizens of Solis milled about.
“You’re . . . well . . .” He gestured uncomfortably toward my wrist. My eyes narrowed slightly in brief confusion. “Stars-be-damned, my cameras also picked her up, tailing behind the group of angels in the back hallways.”
“For the love of Aeternus,” I ground out as my heart beat faster, my pulse throbbing as my gaze narrowed in on the far corridors. “Where is she now?”
“Still following them—up to the third floor now. But the two guards don’t appear to be stopping yet.”
“And the Remnant male from Marking Day?” I questioned as I cut a glance toward my second, already feeling a headache forming from this night.
“He went down two floors and appears to be in a basement of sorts.”
My teeth clenched tightly, jaw ticking as my training battled the pulse of a demand stemming from the mark on my wrist. I could feel the starbound mark prickling against my skin, an ever-present reminder of my tie to the stars-damned female who appeared in my dreams.
“What do you want me to do?” Axel asked as he briefly scanned his phone, the various camera recordings flickered across his screen in rapid succession. His movements stopped on a particular screen, and I could only watch as Raelyna’s green dress disappeared from view.
I rubbed my jaw as everything in me demanded that I go after her, to ensure her safety.
The stars-damned starbound mark was going to be the death of me if Raelyna didn’t realize we were marked sooner rather than later.
I wouldn’t force a conversation with her regarding a mark she couldn’t even see. But this stars-damned bond . . .
But she wasn’t fully mine, yet. And even if she were, I had a duty to obey. A mission that needed to be completed. One that I couldn’t afford to get distracted from—a line I was already dangerously toeing, seeing as I’d foolishly chosen to dance with her tonight.
My thoughts briefly flickered to the low-cut emerald-green dress she’d worn tonight, to the feel of her in my arms. The way her brow furrowed in frustration, the slight scrunch of her freckled nose as she argued with me, the—
I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“I’ll go down to the basement,” I stated after the silence stretched on for too long.
Axel’s eyes widened just a fraction, the answer that fell from my tongue surprising us both.
“But you go after . . .” I gestured to the screen, where it currently displayed Raelyna tailing the two guards up to the fourth floor of Solis Court.
“Make sure she’s not harmed. We’ll meet after I get the information needed. ”
Axel nodded, a grave look on his face as he studied me. “You sure about this, Blackwood? I can only imagine the mark is demanding you go after her.”
I cut him a sharp look, only nodding once more, knowing this was the only option I had, before I pushed off the wall, heading toward the stairwell that would guide me to the answers we desperately needed.
I was fucked. There was no other explanation.
I overestimated my ability to focus on this mission. I should have pulled back the moment that stars-damned mark appeared on my wrist.
Three small triangles that bound us together.
And now, every fiber in my being thrummed with the need to ensure my starbound was safe . . . unharmed, especially after the bruises I’d caught a glimpse of across her wrist.
Red flooded my vision even now as I thought about her delicate skin, speckled with fingerprints from where that bastard king had gripped her too tightly.
From where he’d held her against her will as he forced her to dance with him.
For what reason, I didn’t know, but I intended to find out.
And once I did . . . nothing would stop my fury from unleashing.
I hadn’t been lying on the dance floor when I told her that I could feel her pain. It was a typical result of a starbound bond, of the connection Aeternus had given us, whether she was aware of it or not. And I had felt her pain.
Every inch of it . . . the pain . . . terror . . . and fear.
All because of him.
It’s the weakest form of control—to use force on those weaker than yourself to get what you want.
To let anger and malice control your actions.
It’s a sign of nothing more than a weak male doing whatever he can to keep the narrative on himself .
. . and I wouldn’t stand for it. Not toward any female, but especially not aimed at my starbound.
Once I found out what Lucanus was doing in his Quarter, nothing, save for Aeternus himself, would stop me from destroying everything he holds close.
I heard a low clatter as I rounded the last step leading to the second floor of the basement, and my senses rose to high alert. I battled an internal war as I fought to keep my thoughts centered on the task at hand—on my mission.
My duty.
Rather than Raelyna and the intoxicating scent that surrounded her. The soft freckles that lined her nose and high cheekbones, the—
A disgruntled sound came from up ahead, and I shook my head once more, cursing my stars-damned mind as I sank into the shadows, moving through the halls like the elite Shade I was.
There was a reason we’d gotten the name of the Shade throughout the centuries, thanks to our ability to move through the shadows without as much as a trace.
I could spot the male in the distance, bent over a security screen that appeared to be the entry key to one of the lower rooms in the corridor.
Pushing out my own vitas affinity, I felt across the space, confirming that it was just the male in the basement . . . alone—exactly how I needed this meeting to be.
I moved through the shadows like a wraith, waiting until I heard the familiar click of the electronic lock before I sprang forward with grace and ease, slipping through the door behind the male.
I heard the door lock against my back, and I took in the room just as a raspy, low voice spoke. “I was wondering when you would show yourself.”
My eyes narrowed in on the male across from me, currently leaning against a metal table, arms crossed against his chest. The male before me appeared to be centuries older, perhaps rivaling Elion in age, though it was always difficult to tell since angels aged far more slowly.
He wore protective gear, which had my eyes narrowing as I recognized the familiar patchwork design of the tactical vest he was wearing—the same issue as the Guild’s.
He hadn’t drawn a weapon, but I quickly noted the three on display on the table behind him as his lip curled up ever so slightly.
“Thought I didn’t know about you, did you?” he mused, and I pulled on the strands of my vitas affinity only to find the power rendered useless in this space. I tugged once more, this time trying to call my fire to the surface.
I growled in frustration as my mind flashed back to the only other time I’d been unable to call on my vitas affinity.
“I can’t feel it.” My words were a frustrated cry as I turned to glare at Elion.
“You need to be more than just your affinities.” His reply was calm, level, as he stared at me.
“Why? I have the rarest affinity in all of Aurelia. Why do I need to be more than that?”
Elion let out a dark laugh. “Everyone has an affinity. And while yours is more powerful than most. It comes with its limits.”
“Yes, yes,” I grumbled as I tried, without fail, to use my vitas affinity. “I know it can only be used under Aeternus’s instruction, but it’s still powerful.”
“And you still need to be more. So run the drill again . . . without your affinities.”
“It won’t work here,” the male continued, and my gaze snapped to his icy blue eyes. “This room, much like many others down in these basements, barricades one’s affinities from surfacing.”
“That’s not possible,” I stated, finally speaking to the male we’d been tracking for the past few days.
“Isn’t it?” he retorted. “I would have thought the Aurelian Guild would have taught you better, boy. Yet you, the infamous Shade of the Aurelian Guild, Elion’s protégé, stand before me like a deer in the headlights, shocked at my statement.”
The muscles in my body tensed at his mention of the Guild, my fingers twitching as they hovered over the handle of my pistol, preparing for a fight.
“I’m not here to fight you. Rather, I was hoping you would come, ever since I sensed the Guild’s presence lingering around the temple grounds. I have information Elion will need before the next phase of his mission—the mission I presume you’re here scouting for.”