Chapter 11 Alexander #2
Cayden jerked his attention to me. I explained the situation, and the blood drained out of the rune mage’s face.
“Do you want to join us?” I asked.
Cayden crossed his arms over his chest. “Why isn’t getting Quinn’s collar off the priority?”
He was deflecting. He needed time.
I looked at my men. “Take ten.”
Four of the five filed out. Morgen lingered long enough to study Quinn and her dragon before scowling and hurrying through the door. Rowan leaned against my table, daring me to order him to follow.
I didn’t. Instead, I turned back to Cayden. “You made your own attempts as well. Neither magic, a tool, nor brute strength worked.”
A small part of the metal from the collar peeked out from Quinn’s hoodie. If I didn’t know better, I would think it was just a necklace.
“It doesn’t hurt,” Quinn said. “I can use my magic. And I haven’t seen Alex since I woke up, mostly.” An edge of fear made her voice waver. “It’s not a big deal, Cayden. Your family comes first.”
My blood chilled. Alex. I knew that name too well.
I cupped Quinn's cheek and forced her to meet my gaze. “Who’s Alex?”
Quinn frowned. “I think he made my collar.”
Fear shot down my body, the entire room frosting with it. I took a calming breath. “Let me see. Think of him now.”
Quinn nodded and closed her eyes.
Images of me mixed with an old man with long, white-speckled, cerulean-blue dreadlocks and matching eyes.
Bushy facial hair hid most of his face. A song from her time played in the background.
Suddenly, the face sharpened in detail and grinned, exposing a patchwork of teeth clinging to receding spotted gums.
Alex winked at me.
“Alex made my collar, I think,” Quinn said a second time, completely unaware of Alex’s presence.
“I didn’t really understand what was going on.
I was trapped in a loop by Alex, I think, but he didn’t hurt me.
He couldn’t touch me or anything. I think he’s lonely.
It still scared me, but I also feel bad for the guy. ”
Alex made a pouting face and nodded.
I forced myself to take another calming breath and exited her mind. My hands shook, and fear froze my soul. Ezra wanted me to act sooner, but I hadn’t had enough information. Now I knew far, far too much. Alex, who’d barely held onto his sanity a decade ago, had unrestricted access to Quinn.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever experienced true terror before.
“Xan? What’s wrong?” Quinn stepped to my side. “You look like someone died.”
Alex had unrestricted access to her mind. The words echoed louder and louder until they drowned everything else.
‘Xan?’ Ezra’s voice in my head snapped me back to the present.
I put my hand on the table to steady myself.
I could protect her, but I would have to somehow know when Alex was acting or constantly be inside her thoughts. It would disable me. A second idea came to mind that made me want to vomit.
Ezra slid to my side and wrapped an arm around my waist. ‘You’re turning green, love. What’s wrong?’
Quinn blinked her wide eyes, and concern wrinkled her forehead.
‘Alex, the mentalist who taught me how to make a slave collar, is in Quinn’s mind right now,’ I said to Ezra. ‘You were right to be so concerned. I don’t want to scare Quinn, or worse, provoke Alex, when he could shred her thoughts at a whim.’
Ezra didn’t respond.
I smiled, or at least I tried to. "Quinn, I need a map from my apartment. Can you go with Ezra to get it, please?”
Quinn pursed her lips. “You’re trying to get rid of me.”
I inclined my head. “Maybe, but Cayden needs time and knowledge to make his decision.”
She couldn’t say no to that. Cayden would always be her weakness.
Quinn bit her lips together but nodded. As she turned to leave, Rowan dropped back to join her.
“No. I need you here, both you and Cayden,” I said.
Quinn paused and looked between the three of us. My lover put his hand on her lower back and got her moving again.
I waited until I knew Quinn was out of earshot before turning to the two other men tethered to her. “Cayden, do you know any runes that repel magic of the mind?”
Cayden narrowed his eyes. “I do not. You’re the first person I’ve encountered with it, so my experience is limited. What’s this about?”
I leaned heavily on the table to hide my trembling.
“What I can do with my mind is limited based on proximity. The collar on Quinn’s neck has removed that limitation.
” Although the words came out logically, inside, I screamed.
“‘Alex’”—I put air quotes around the name—“has taken up residence inside her skull.”
The blood drained out of Cayden’s face, and Rowan swore.
“Has he hurt her?” Cayden asked.
“I don’t know without investigating, which Alex will fight against,” I said. “But I don’t think so. The man she’s connected to is not sane, but he’s not violent either, though his morals are unscrupulous.”
“You know him?” Cayden hissed.
I stiffened and prepared myself for more judgment. “Mentalists are rare; when we meet, we remember.”
“Is that why we can’t get the collar off?” Rowan asked.
“Logically, that tracks, but I don’t know.
” I wrapped my arms around my middle and forced myself not to tremble.
Right now, I wasn’t Xan. I was the Architect.
I had to remain strong. “As far as I can tell, Quinn has no awareness of Alex. He could be changing her memories, and she wouldn’t have any idea. ”
“Would he hurt Quinn to get to you?” Rowan asked.
Horax’s actions filled the silence.
I grimaced. “I don’t know.”
Rowan clenched his fist. “How do we fix this?”
Cayden opened his mouth as if to answer, then shut it. Once again, holding back from us. I wanted to throttle the man.
Rowan grunted. “You can’t stay in her mind to defend it, right?” Rowan scratched the back of his head. “You’d be like you were on the horse? Not really present in your body?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“What do we know about Alex?” Cayden asked.
I blinked a few times, hearing my exact trick to get my officers to help me strategize coming out of Cayden’s mouth.
“Alex is not much better than a slave himself,” I answered. “Or at least, he wasn’t when I knew him. He has the mind of a child who fears the unknown. He makes the collars and whatever else the body snatchers need and doesn’t think beyond the completion of his project.”
Cayden focused on the table. “A functional slave collar blocks everything, right? It cut us off until Quinn broke it.” Cayden looked up at me.
I took a measured breath. This is what Cayden was holding back. The same conclusion I’d hated and discarded moments ago. I nodded sharply.
Cayden grimaced. “I hate this.”My stomach twisted. I only grunted.
“What?” Rowan asked.
Cayden and I glared at each other as if the idea was the fault of the other. The rune mage bit his lips together. The bastard wouldn’t say it. I had to look like the bad guy. But that was leadership.
“A second collar would override the broken one, block Alex, and the other three tethers too.”
It took Rowan a second to understand. One muscle at a time, rage contorted his face. He pushed off the table, making it screech against the floor, and sliced his hand through the air. “You want to collar Q-tip. My girl?”
“Our girl,” I corrected. “A temporary one. One that we will take off her any time she asks.”
“Our?” Rowan shook his fist. “I so badly want to support you, sir, but.” Rowan met my gaze. “Have you even talked to her since your Mixer?”
I expected Rowan to protest the collar, not jab into my already churning unease.
Hot anger tightened every muscle in my body.
“When would I do that, Rowan?” I stepped toward him.
He had height and muscle, but I refused to be intimidated.
“When I was ejecting the last of Erick’s coup?
Or assessing the damage to my castle and getting work crews and supplies to keep people fed and buildings from collapsing? Or maybe while I was unconscious?”
Although my points were valid, I was also deflecting. I could have made the time for her. But I hadn’t. I’d prioritized everything else, including what others might think. I realized I wasn’t mad at Rowan but myself. It didn’t stop me from lashing out.
“You told me you wouldn’t leave me.” I bore my gaze into the elemental.
“But I had to give you better communication because you weren’t a mind reader, only a man.
” I pointed at myself. “I’m only a man. You and Cayden were dead on your feet.
You needed Quinn as much as she needed you.
Do you think I enjoyed watching her walk away? ”
Rowan deflated and shook his head once. “She assumed you didn’t care, and her heart bled because of it.”
My heart squeezed. “Thank you for telling me… I’ll fix it.”
Rowan grabbed the table and dragged it back to its original position with another grating screech.
“I get why you’re angry,” I said, forcing more control into my voice. “I’m terrified. Alex could be messing with her right now, and instead of fixing it, I’m standing in a room defending myself.”
Rowan dropped his gaze to the floor. I waited to see if he had anything else for me, but he didn’t. I should have made the time for Quinn. It didn’t matter what anyone else thought. I got out my TB, made a scrawl, and sent it before I could lose my nerve.
“The collar’s going to block us as well,” Cayden said softly.
“Temporarily,” I snapped. “We need to deal with your family and make sure mine’s no longer under threat. Then Alex and the three tethers in Quinn will burn.”
“My family can wait.” Cayden straightened. “Quinn’s more important.”
I looked hard at Cayden. “Can it?”
Cayden pulled back his shoulders and took a breath to speak, but stopped himself.
The Prophet was dead. Most of his brothers shared his fate, either by Cayden’s hand or Erick's failed coup. The remaining Lawsons were lambs who’d never left their mothers’ side.
Cayden’s gaze wavered, and the lost puppy returned to his eyes.
“They’re people, just as brainwashed as you were,” I said softly. “And now they are leaderless and defenseless. If you really want to abandon them, you can. But I won’t. And I don’t think Quinn would either.”
Cayden bowed his head. “What do you need to know?”