Chapter 24
Jumping through minds was like shifting her fingers through water. Everything around her bent to her will. Pureblood minds. Mal’s own mental shields. None of them stood a chance. Mal insisted it was her own reserve, but Maeve knew better.
Magic was merely the will of the mind to do the impossible.
He glowed with Magic the longer they resided in The Dread Lands. A halo of energy surrounded him. And he wasn’t the only one.
Abraxas was sharper than ever. His ability to retain and extrapolate information was unbelievable. Alphard and Roswyn were unmatched in training. They packed on muscle at an alarming rate. Astrea’s fingers healed with ease.
And Maeve. Maeve slipped through their minds as though she were their own shadow. She summoned lightning at will.
The unexplained and rare Magic she possessed perplexed them all. Bellator that had not been present for Mal’s coronation didn’t believe she could produce lightning. That is, until it screamed from her fingers and shattered a chunk of the Throne Room ceiling.
Finding Orator Moon would be different, though. He was in a different realm. And failure to find him was not an option for Maeve.
Failure was no longer an option. She’d forgotten how addicting Mal’s praises of satisfaction were. The way his eyes swam with wicked thoughts when their Magic collided. She endured his brutal training and test without a single yield.
It was worth it for every smile of approval he looked down at her with.
Abraxas’ spies on Earth reported Moon made little public appearances since Maeve’s disappearance. They lied about the number of Magicals fleeing to Castle Morana in secret, and certainly didn’t admit to the public that a large portion of their Bellator and Magical Militia had deserted the Double O and taken new oaths with Dread Marks branded in Magic across their chests.
The Magical Times printed her vanishing as a kidnapping. That the evil and desperate Malachite Peur had stolen her away in the night.
Pale green light cascaded through the tall windows. It was the most light she’d seen in months.
Abraxas paced up and down the hall. Maeve opened her eyes with a sigh.
“That’s not helping, Brax.”
He huffed and turned towards Mal. “This is a bad idea.”
Mal’s entire force of Magicals stood at the ready in and outside of Castle Morana. They were prepared for anything that could possibly come their way as Maeve attempted to locate. Orator Moon.
“They cannot Portal here at will, Abraxas,” said Mal calmly.
“The room full of Bellator argues otherwise,” he pressed.
“They are here to observe,” lied Mal smoothly.
Abraxas looked between them in exasperation. “I’m being left out of some bit of information,” he said, “and that absolutely infuriates me.”
Maeve smiled softly and looked to Mal.
He was right, of course.
Abraxas huffed again, but placed himself on Mal’s throne dramatically and didn’t argue further.
Mal crossed to where Maeve sat cross-legged on the Throne Room floor. He crouched before her in a predatorial way. Her stomach lurched at the trapped way his gaze held her captive.
His fingers gripped her chin gently. “You stop before your body gives out,” he commanded.
She nodded. Mal’s fingers pinched her harder as his brows raised. She fought a grin.
“Yes, my Prince.”
Mal’s solemn expressions slipped into a smirk. He released her chin and crossed the Throne Room back towards Abraxas.
Her cousin’s worried eyes remained on her.
“Barlow,” called Mal.
The woman stepped forward at once, slamming her fist into her chest. She was in her fifties, and a decorated soldier for the Double O. Her salute fell and her eyes landed on Maeve. With a single nod, Maeve prepared to enter her mind.
Finding Moon’s location could take four jumps. Or forty.
He wasn’t in hiding just for fear of Mal’s retribution for the Double O’s slanderous lies. No. Maeve was certain Moon was hiding from her.
And there was only one reason she could think that her father’s friend would fear his daughter.
Finding him was a matter of patience and endurance. Getting him to Castle Morana would be a test of just how far her Magic could go.
She slipped into Barlow’s mind as darkness consumed her. The memories flowed by at will. She jumped to another Magical Militia, one who remained on Earth. Doggbind stepped into view in the training exercise memory. He drilled them relentlessly, with the force of a dictator with something to prove. No man with an earned title barked like him.
One traitor at a time, she reminded herself.
She ignored Doggbind, and slipped into another’s mind. Many of them had never had a personal conversation with Moon, and finding a strong enough connection to slip into Moon’s own mind was the challenge.
She’d never jumped this many times. She’d never soared through so many muddled minds. Dead end after dead end had her stomach turning to acid. She looked upon their faces.
All of them liars and cowards who remained content licking the boots of a corrupt and overstepping regime. Rage welled inside her at their thoughts. Power hungry and misogynistic and ruthless in all the wrong ways.
So she shattered them all without a care before jumping to the next. There were no innocent among them.
Her pulse slowed after the first few.
“Maeve,” Mal’s voice rang clear across the hall.
She didn’t stop at his warning. She pressed farther and farther, slicing and destroying everyone in her path.
Blood poured from her nose, slipping across her lips.
Abraxas pushed to the edge of the throne. His jaw tight.
“Maeve, stop.” It was Abraxas who spoke this time. “That’s enough,” he said, panic slipping into his voice.
But Maeve didn’t stop. Training with Mal paid off. She was moving through mind after mind, her Magic jumping without hesitation.
“Maeve,” said Abraxas once more, pushing from the throne and jetting across the hall to his cousin. He gripped her shoulders and shook her gently.
She persisted despite his and her body’s cries for rest.
Her body ached. Her Magic begged for release as it shriveled into nothing.
But she was so close.
She could feel him in her blood.
Traitor , it hissed as Moon’s Magic barreled towards her.
At last, she saw him in real time.
But her ace was still up her sleeve, and locating him was not her only objective.
Her arm shot forward and a small spiraling Portal, just big enough for her hand, sparked into existence. Moon jumped as his eyes shook with fear. Her fingers latched around his throat on the other side of the Portal as she sent paralyzing and electric Magic through the tips of her fingers.
He couldn’t even scream against her onslaught.
The Portal grew larger and larger, her grip never faltering as the swirling mass of Magic revealed Orator Moon on his knees before her. The Portal dissipated and Maeve’s grip loosened as her Magic flickered out.
Mal strode down the stairs towards them.
The Orator’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut, the muscles throughout his face twitched and squirmed. His body thrashed beneath her power.
Maeve’s hand fell limply into her lap. Her white eyes faded and closed as she collapsed backwards into Abraxas’ arms.