Chapter 46
ERDIKOA
Rory fell to the ground, gasping for air as her body burned with an icy rage that wasn’t her own. Her vision tunneled, and instead of seeing her surroundings, she saw Caius in a mirror, completely covered in black veins.
Soulless black eyes stared back at her, and it took everything she had to keep from screaming.
She watched those pits of nothingness roll back in his head as he fell, leaving her panting on the gravel driveway as Sera shook her with shock on her face.
“Rory!” she exclaimed, grabbing her by both shoulders.
A sob tore from Rory’s chest as she tried to figure out what had happened. “I saw Caius.” Her brain nagged at her, telling her she knew exactly what it meant.
When the fog cleared from her mind, she struggled to her feet, and her fear merged with panic. “He’s dying,” she croaked and pulled out her phone, fumbling it.
Sera gasped. “Who? Caius?”
“I need to call Sam. He has to get to him.” Her hands shook so hard that she could barely press the buttons.
“I’ll call him,” Sera said, grabbing the phone from her. “You can’t even talk. What’s your code?”
Rory’s hands tingled, and she tried to steady her breathing. “I don’t have one. It swipes open.”
Sera frowned at her. “That’s not safe.” Her fingers worked quickly, but the phone sparked, making her yelp and drop it.
“What the hell?” She scooped the device off the ground, and Rory grew distraught.
She didn’t know Sam’s or Lauren’s number by heart, and Sera’s next words confirmed her fear. “It’s not working.”
Rory fisted her hair. “I have to find them. Call Dume. Maybe he can get me into The Capital. Lauren and Sam switched shifts tonight. Sam left early, but maybe I can catch Lauren at the bunker when she arrives.”
Sera perked up. “I can get you in. I work there, remember?”
“We need to leave now,” Rory insisted, too frantic to thank her friend.
Sera nodded and ran to her car with Rory on her heels. “Don’t worry,” she soothed her. “We’ll find them. I’m sure Caius is fine.”
She sounded as unsure as Rory felt.
As they pulled onto the main road, it occurred to Rory that she could have woken up her father to see if he had Sam’s number, but it was too late now. Her best bet was to catch one of the Angels and beg them to save her husband.
It felt like hours before they neared The Capital, and once Sera parked in the far corner of the staff parking lot, Rory hopped out. What if she couldn’t find Sam or Lauren? She’d have to go to Adila. The Royal couldn’t send her to Vincula, but Adila could go to check on him.
Rory turned toward the gates, but Sera grabbed her arm. “This way,” she whispered and looked around to ensure no one was in the lot. “There’s another entrance no one knows about. Only select staff members are allowed to use it.” She held up a lanyard with a badge.
“What the hell do you do here that you get to use a secret entrance?” Rory whispered.
“There’s no time for that.” Sera slipped through the dense foliage surrounding the lot, beckoning Rory to follow her, and they crept around the outside wall.
“Are we going to the back?” Rory asked. They’d been walking for a while.
Sera abruptly stopped and turned to her. “We’re here. When we go in, stay behind me, and don’t talk to anyone. The less attention you draw to yourself, the better.”
Rory nodded and watched as Sera touched the door, making it spark.
She didn’t even use her badge.
Rory stepped back, remembering how her phone sparked when Sera held it.
Her eyes were trained on Sera as the door opened, and she failed to notice the two guards who stepped through. When they reached for her, it was too late to run.
Her training kicked in, and she fought, fending them off the best she could, but two-on-one was difficult. Sera stood with her arms crossed and a bored look on her face. Her betrayal ran deep.
How could she do this? She fooled them all.
Rory kicked one guard in the chin, and his head snapped back. She didn’t have time to watch him fall to the ground as she fought the other. Her nose was bleeding, and one of her ribs was broken, but she fought through the pain. Hers and Caius’ lives depended on her getting away.
She didn’t notice the other guard get up; she thought she’d knocked him out, but her assumption was a fatal mistake.
He grabbed her arms from behind, pulling them behind her hard enough to rip something in her shoulder. She screamed, and the other guard punched her, hard. The pain shooting through her shoulder made it near impossible to break free.
Sera walked toward her with a satisfied smirk, and Rory glared at her with as much hatred as she could muster. “How could you?” her voice was weak from exhaustion and filled with hurt. “We trusted you! I saved your fucking life, and this is how you repay me?”
Sera threw her head back with a loud laugh, and Rory’s stomach turned as Sera’s body shifted into a spitting image of Caius. Gedeon.
The brothers were mirror images of each other, but there was no mistaking who he was. The way the Lux King carried himself and the pure malice in his eyes screamed evil.
She was stunned into silence, staring at the one she’d hated for the last eleven years, the one who put her mate away for a crime he didn’t commit, and the one who tricked her like the fool she was.
She gasped, recalling her mother’s prophecy. “Don’t let him fool you.”
“What’s the matter?” Gedeon pouted. “Are you not happy to see me? We were to be brother and sister, were we not?”
He grabbed her chin, and she tried to yank it away, but his grip was firm enough to bruise.
“Twice over. Wouldn’t that be something?
Brothers marrying sisters.” His face inched closer to hers, tracing her features with his golden eyes.
“It seems I got the pretty twin. Too bad she couldn’t stick around. ”
Rory thrashed against the guard’s hold again, ignoring the pain, and Gedeon stepped back as he laughed.
“I will fucking rip your head from your body,” she vowed.
His head cocked to the side mechanically. “No, you won’t.”
There was one small solace in seeing him before her. Sera hadn’t betrayed them. Sera. “Where is Sera?” she demanded.
Grinning widely, he sauntered toward her again. “That girl is feistier than you are.”
Numbness spread through Rory’s body, and she could barely speak past the implication of his words. “Did you kill her?”
Gedeon sighed dramatically and waved her off. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t. I cannot shift into someone unless they’re still alive.” When he saw Rory’s face contort into shock, he winked. “As I’m sure you know by now, Royals take on a twisted version of their Aeternum’s abilities.”
Caius sensed black souls without touching them.
“As it turns out, the Seraphim blessed me with being able to shift into people instead of one animal.” His body transformed into Rory’s own, and she jerked back, horrified. Gedeon examined himself. “Unsettling, isn’t it?”
It was her voice she heard, and another fear struck her. What if he went to Vincula disguised as her and hurt Caius? “No,” she whispered before screaming, “No!”
He spun around slowly with his arms out, and when he faced her, he bowed. “Yes.”
The smirk on his face was replaced with something akin to curiosity when he shifted back and moved closer to her. He ran a finger over her face, and she pulled away. “Don’t fucking touch me.”
“It’s impossible,” he murmured as he moved to the side and flipped over her right hand.
She had immortal healing now.
Rory realized her shoulder no longer hurt, nor did her ribs. She’d been so caught up in Gedeon’s display that she never noticed her pain fading. The split skin on her face must have healed, too.
“You married him?” Gedeon’s eyes blazed with anger, and his body sparked as bolts of light covered his skin. She tried to push away from him, but the guard held her steady.
The light faded as he calmed down, and a sinister smile slid into place. “This might be better. Do you know the things I can do to you that would kill a lesser mystic? But not you. You’ll heal.”
He clapped his hands together, pleased with his discovery. “Enough talking. Let’s go inside, shall we?”
Sam perched his small bird body on a chandelier above the main door to Gedeon’s office, waiting. In their past searches, he and Lauren had yet to come across anything useful, and it felt pointless to come at night anymore. The king was always either asleep or fucking someone.
Sam had come early tonight, but there was still no sign of Gedeon. The only place he could not access was Gedeon’s office, and he had hoped to catch the Lux King leaving, but as dusk turned into night and no one left, he chuffed, frustrated with their lack of intel.
As he lifted his wings to leave, a familiar maid wheeled her cart toward the king’s office and spoke with a guard, who smiled and let her into Gedeon’s office.
Sam glared at the too-friendly man opening the door for her. The non-Aatxe guards, no matter how nice they seemed, could not be trusted, and he didn’t like the way this one looked at Anastasia.
He knew he couldn’t speak with her in Gedeon’s office, where the guards could hear and would wait until she left. Sam wouldn’t chance her getting hurt.
Sometime later, she exited the office, said goodbye to the guards, and pushed her cart down a different hallway. Sam took flight, following her until they were far enough away from prying eyes. There were no guards in this section of the hallway, and he flew in front of her, shifting mid-air.
She startled, and Sam clamped his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream. Her body trembled, and her skin looked sickly as she stared at him with wide eyes. Once she realized who he was, she relaxed and closed her eyes, still panting.
“Is there an empty room where we can talk?” he whispered.
Pushing his hand away, she nodded and looked behind her before leading him down another hallway and into a deserted banquet room.
Closing the door softly, she spun around and took measured steps toward him as though he would strike if she moved too fast. “What can I help you with, Commander?”
“Call me Sam,” he replied as he prowled toward her. “You need to terminate your employment.”
She stared at him with a blank expression that morphed into disbelief. “You’re serious? I can’t quit my job.”
“Why would I say something if I was not serious?” he asked, perplexed. “It is not safe for you to work here.”
She laughed in his face, and he curled his hands into fists. Did she not understand the gravity of the situation? “You are not listening,” he barked, wincing at the tone he took with her.
Her laughter abruptly stopped, and he didn’t think it was possible for her to pale further, but she did. “You’re not kidding.”
“I have already told you I was serious.”
“Forgive me if I don’t quit my job because a random Angel drops in periodically and tells me to,” she whispered hotly.
He needed her to understand the severity of the situation, and with Rory now married to Caius, their time was running out. It was only a matter of time before everything came to a head.
The thought of Anastasia being hurt lit something within him. He couldn’t explain it, but thinking about it threatened his control. If he had to carry her out of The Capital kicking and screaming, he would.
“Take a seat,” he said, pointing to a chair. “I will tell you a story, and if, after I am done, you decide to continue working here, I will leave.” And come back when her shift was over to remove her from this place.
She looked scared, like a mouse, and he didn’t like that either. Once she lowered herself into a chair, he took a deep breath and told her everything from the beginning, starting with how Rory watched Gedeon murder Cora and ending with Rory’s marriage to Caius.
It was a long story, and she listened patiently, calmer than he expected. The silence between them stretched on forever until she finally asked, “Her sister’s soul is in a jar?”
Of everything he told her, that was her question? “Yes. It is presumed Gedeon still has Cora’s soul somewhere.”
“I think I know where it is.” A look of determination crossed her face, and Sam’s body tightened. “One night, I was late doing my chores, and he was in his office when I walked in. He was holding a jar that glowed a bright pink.”
Only Fey could see souls with skin-to-skin contact or when they left dead bodies, but if a soul was trapped inside a jar by a Merrow, they’re visible to everyone. There was no mistaking what Anastasia saw, but he couldn’t let her try to retrieve it.
“Where in his office?” he asked her. The longer they talked, the more he felt the need to get her out of The Capital.
Her knee bounced as she thought. “In a cabinet. When you walk into his door, it’s on this side,” she said, waving her arm to the right.
Sam nodded. “Either my first in command or I will find it and free her.”
She lifted her chin proudly. “I can do it.”
“No,” Sam snapped, making her flinch. “You are to leave the palace when your shift ends and never return.”
She looked nervous, and he wanted to put her at ease, but he’d never done well at making people comfortable. “I won’t remember why I quit when I leave,” she murmured to herself.
He couldn’t imagine what losing one’s memory was like, and he didn’t want her agonizing over why she decided to leave her job.
“Give me your phone number. I will be unreachable for a few days, but when I return, I will call you, and we can talk.” She wouldn’t remember him either, but at least he could put her mind at ease.
Anastasia took a deep breath. “Okay. I will inform the head night maid and return my badge to the gate guards.”
Sam couldn’t explain the elation he felt at hearing her words. The knowledge that she was safe cleared his mind.
“Thank you,” he said sincerely, handing her his phone to program her number in. When she handed it back, he stuck it in his back pocket. “It is almost morning, and I must leave. I will call you when I return.”
Standing, she stuck out her hand, and he clasped it in his. “Until next time,” she said with a sweet smile.
He gave a curt nod, shifted into a bird, and slipped out when she opened the door. One less thing he had to worry about.