Chapter 48
Veylor
Oryx's spine arched backward until his torso formed a right angle with his legs, muscles straining beneath his formal attire.
His jaw unhinged like a serpent's, revealing rows of gleaming fangs as a thunderous roar erupted from deep within his chest, vibrating through the marble floor and rattling the crystal chandeliers overhead.
The grand ball—meant to unite fae, goblins, and vampires in their search for fated mates and educate the uninitiated in such mystical fated mates dissolved into chaos before our eyes.
They really couldn’t accept a triad? Could they not accept Oryx?
The hypocrisy staggered me. These same people who indulged in every carnal pleasure behind closed doors—threesomes, foursomes, shadowdamned orgies that would make even demons blush—now stood outraged at the mere suggestion that the gods might bless a triad with the sacred bond of fated mates?
Oryx roared again, the sound reverberating through my bones. I summoned my shadows, ready to contain the panicked crowd, when his massive form collided with mine. The impact sent me sprawling across the polished marble, my power dissipating into wisps of darkness around me.
Heat scorches my left cheek, forcing my head to jerk sideways.
The sound of shattering glass filled my ears as tables crashed to the floor.
Even our supporters, those who knew of our union, the ones I had given new vessels…
all held torches. Their faces were twisted with rage as they set the ballroom on fire.
Magik. Someone was using powerful magik to twist the minds of these people. That was the only way this was happening.
Even Pyrrah and Josephine weren’t acting themselves but were pulling on curtains, causing the fabric to fall to the floor.
Oryx roared again. “Let go of her!”
I regained my footing and leapt upward.
Flames devoured the velvet drapery, transforming the gilded windows into gateways to hell.
When I turned to grab Oryx by his arm, a burning curtain sailed through the air toward him. Oryx's mighty roar dissolved into something I'd never heard from him before—a high, primal shriek of pure terror.
The curtain landed on his face and on the right side of his body. I took my shadows and pulled it away from him. His natural animalist instinct took over. He snapped his jaws, the smoke of the fire invaded the room and he charged forward toward whoever tried to burn him.
Instead of going after him, I stood my ground.
Where the fuck was Vesper?
My shadows sliced through the haze, revealing a silhouette cradling a limp form—Vesper's gown cascading from one arm while her head lolled back, exposing the vulnerable curve of her throat against his armored forearm.
My eyes bulged out of my head as I stepped forward, seeing the tall figure come closer and my body stiffened when I saw who the person was as the smoke cleared.
Sylvaine.
His flaming red hair floated as he held Vesper to his chest. He moved her head so she was placed more reverently on his chest. She groaned, her brows pinched together.
Power surged through my hands as tendrils of shadow and sparks of lightning intertwined between my fingers. Behind me, Oryx's thunderous roar sent the remaining guests fleeing toward the exits.
My voice emerged as a low, dangerous purr. "Put. Her. Down. Now." Lightning crackled between my fingers as I took a measured step forward. "Whatever happens next, Sylvaine... that's entirely your choice."
Sylvaine's fingers swept across Vesper's forehead, brushing away stray locks with unsettling tenderness.
"Your precious mate will remain unharmed," he said, his mouth twisting around the word 'mate' as though tasting something rancid.
"Under my protection, she'll want for nothing.
Consider this mercy, Veylor—walk away with Oryx and live out your days in peace, or I swear I'll return and imprison you both. This generosity is only for her sake."
I ground my teeth and formed a lightening ball in my hand. “She is ours and you have no right. What are you trying to do? I’ve trusted you.”
Sylvaine chuckled. “As you should have. She will be in the best of care—”
"She belongs with us, not you!" I roared as storm clouds materialized overhead, sending jagged forks of lightning crackling across the ballroom. "The unnamed gods themselves want our souls together for a reason!"
Sylvaine's eyes narrowed, his voice dropping to a low, menacing growl. "The gods have nothing to do with this, Veylor. I am simply protecting what should have been mine to…” He shook his head. “Heed my warning. Live out your days, you have one mate. That is enough to be thankful for.”
"You think we'll just let you take her? You underestimate us, Sylvaine."
He smirked, his red hair seeming to glow in the fiery chaos of the ballroom.
"And you overestimate yourselves. Look around, Veylor.
Your precious union has brought nothing but destruction.
The fae, the goblins, the vampires—they'll never accept a triad.
They'll never accept Oryx. You're fighting a losing battle. "
Oryx barreled through the fiery chaos, clearing a path with his massive form. His tail lashed violently behind him as he launched himself skyward with a thunderous roar. His claws extended toward Sylvaine—but they closed on empty air. Both Sylvaine and Vesper had vanished without a trace.
“Fuck!” Lightening lit up the room, the few people that remained, which were the ones that I had created vessels for, stopped their scrambling, their cries. It was like they were waking up from a dream as they stood and saw the fire engulfing the room.
The clouds that had formed above us began to rain, and slowly, the fire would be put out by that alone.
I snarled and looked to Oryx who was sniffing at the place that Sylvaine had just vanished from, whimpering.
How could I have possibly missed this? How could I have not seen this was coming?
In my own blindness by figuring out how to bind all of our souls together by my predicament I was unable to see the true intentions that Sylvaine just wanted Vesper for himself.
But why?
She was not his mate, or was she? Did she feel a pull at all to him?
"No," Oryx rose onto his hind legs, his massive form towering over me.
His tail lashed the air like a whip. "I would know if he belonged to us.
The soul-threads that bind us to Vesper—that bind me to you—they don't reach him.
I've felt our connection since the beginning.
If Sylvaine were meant to be ours, my instincts would have recognized him. "
I nodded in thanks and rubbed my chin. That was true.
“How did she pass out, did he hit her?” I stood where Sylvaine once stood and kneeled, rubbing my hand where a little bit of his magik once resided.
Oryx came beside me, his tail wrapped around my leg. “Said she had a headache while you were speaking. I got worried, but then noticed the crowd and had an uneasy feeling.”
I hummed in acknowledgement. I had felt it too. “Magik. He put something over the room.”
Josephine and Pyrrah stumbled toward us, tears streaking down their flushed cheeks. They collapsed to their knees before me, trembling hands clasped in supplication.
"My Lord, forgive us," Josephine whispered, her voice cracking.
"Something seized control…we were puppets in our own skin." Pyrrah pressed her forehead to the floor, her elaborate updo coming undone. "We've only ever wanted your happiness with Lady Vesper and Lord Oryx," she choked out between ragged breaths.
I huffed in annoyance and cupped their cheeks, signaling for them to rise. “Not to worry, it was a powerful spell. Everyone in the room was under it.”
“Are you going to get her back?” Josephine held her handkerchief to her face. Soot dusted over her cheek. “We must get her back.”
Oryx snarled and pulled me closer to him. “Of course we will, she is ours!” He snapped his jaws at her. “Where is Benedict? We need to set out orders for those on the estate…”
Josephine bit her lip. “About that… he’s passed out and tied to a chair.” She poked at her lip. “Before the announcement we saw him with his luggage, that didn’t sit right with me.”
Pyrrah shook her head. “No, not one bit. So we hit him over the head with a frying pan and tied him up. He’s in the pantry.” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder.
A bone-rattling rumble emanated from Oryx's chest, stopping the servants mid-sweep as their wide eyes fixed on his massive form.
“Then let’s go interrogate the suspicious, shall we?”
Oryx
Fucking fire.
I hate fire. Especially when it was being thrown on me. Now everything smells like smoke, we will have to keep the windows open for months to air everything out.
Which won’t do. That will be a safety issue. When Vesper returns this house will become a fortress.
No one in, no one out.
She will be my precious pet that no one will ever get to see again.
I’m ready to kill something, someone, anyone.
The pantry doors splintered beneath my claws, revealing Benedict huddled in the corner—trembling like prey, a dark stain spreading across his trousers as his bladder betrayed him, yet again.
If I had lips, I would smile, instead I felt myself grow taller, my muscles bulged and the blood in my veins flowed faster.
I was going to kill him.
I licked my maw with my long tongue, my saliva dripped on the floor as I approached him.
Josephine and Pyrrah had done their work well. Benedict sat bound to a wooden chair, his wrists raw against the tight ropes, a makeshift gag of twisted kitchen towels muffling what might have been pleas or curses.
We will keep the females around for now, but they should have come to us, interrupted the announcement to tell us about this fool.
Veylor cleared his throat and walked past me and pushed down the rag in Benedict’s mouth. “Got something to say, dear friend?”
Benedict, smelling of piss and possibly of shit opened and closed his mouth.
I crouched until my eyes met his, then unhinged my jaw and unleashed a roar that reverberated off every surface of the cramped pantry.
The shelves rattled violently—jars shattered, cans tumbled, and sacks of flour burst into clouds of white dust. The sheer force of my bellow sent his chair skidding backward until it toppled, leaving him sprawled and whimpering on the floor.
Veylor patted me on the back. “That’s enough, love. We still need him talking.”
I huffed in annoyance and moved to the side to let Veylor take over. The females behind us stepped away and moved to the kitchen.
It’s for the best. It’s about to get bloody.
Veylor leaned over Benedict. He’s crying, like a tiny cat crying for milk. “Please, please don’t hurt me—”
I pulled on his leg and slung him, along with the chair in the middle of the room. He screamed when his head bumped the corner of a shelf.
Veylor tisked. “Oryx, what did I say?”
I grunted and stepped on the chair, bringing Benedict back up to eye level.
Veylor's shadows coiled around Benedict's throat, forcing his chin upward. "I want every detail," he said, voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "Why Vesper collapsed. What Sylvaine's planning. Why your bags were packed. Speak now, or—"
“Things are going to get messy,” I muttered and licked the blood off his forehead.
Benedict had been the estate's eyes and ears long before the courts fell. In Veylor's memories, he appeared to be the perfect servant; in reality, he was a viper who had coiled himself around the heart of this home.
Sylvaine had leverage over Benedict…he knew the identity and location of Benedict's mate. "What choice did I have?" Benedict had whimpered through bloodied lips. "He threatened her. Said he'd make her disappear if I didn't help him."
Benedict was hellbent on finding his other half, even if that meant breaking the triad. The triad that had been so accepting of him, bringing him back, giving him every fucking thing.
We would have helped him…
Instead, he betrayed us all.
The bastard had slipped Vesper a draught that would keep her unconscious for Sylvaine to transport her wherever he decided to take her.
Sylvaine was too cunning to return to his known residence. He'd prepared some secret location to imprison Vesper, revealing nothing of substance to Benedict. Unless he came back with him would he be given the location of his mate.
Benedict wasn’t there… Now was he?
Sylvaine had only made contact with Benedict weeks ago. Under questioning, Benedict revealed everything—how our triad remained unbonded, how Vesper hesitated to finalize our union.
The moment Sylvaine learned this weakness, he mobilized. Benedict admitted that after Veylor's visit to the bookkeeper, he'd sent word to Sylvaine that Vesper seemed ready to commit. That's when Sylvaine packed his belongings and descended upon our estate like a vulture.
What purpose would Sylvaine have with her?
“What else?” Veylor asked as he threw Benedict into one of the cells of the basement. “Anything else I need to be aware of? Like why he wants Vesper?”
Benedict shook his head. His clothes were torn. Scratches littered his body where I took the liberty to rip up the skin that Veylor had gifted him.
I was ready to cut off his dick so he would never be able to bond with his mate, but Veylor said he didn’t want me touching anyone’s dick but his.
He’s sweet like that.
“I swear, I don’t know what he wants with her. He said he won’t hurt her, he just wants her to live with him. No spells on her, no ill intent. Just to be with him!”
Veylor shook his head and clasped his hands around his back.
“This will be painful.” Veylor said as he stared into the cell. His eyes were laser focused as he stared into Benedict’s eyes. It was the same I had done to Veylor when I tried to read his mind.
Benedict screamed.
While it had only been seconds, Veylor let go and took a panting breath. “He’s telling the truth. No idea where they are, and he did it for his own selfish reasons. Sylvaine did elude honesty about keeping Vesper safe.”
I ground my teeth in impatience. “Is it my turn now?” I waved my tail back and forth.
Veylor hummed. “If it will please you.”
"Oh, it will." Each deliberate step of my hooves against stone sent Benedict shrinking further against the wall, his scream rising in pitch as I closed the distance between us.
“Please don’t! I just wanted my mate! To be loved! Please!”
I didn’t answer, instead, I opened my maw and chomped it over his head.