Chapter Thirteen
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Theo
“ O h, what’s this?” Val rushes into the room I’ve already had swept by security. “A magical chemistry set?”
She doesn’t wait for an answer, and I don’t try to keep up. My mate has hurried from one attraction to the next since we reached Shadowvale’s resort floors. Her excitement bubbles so much that I can almost taste it. The woman has more energy than a cracked-out kelpie. Even with the healing boosts, I’m struggling to race behind her rapid-fire change in subjects, boundless enthusiasm, and seeming disregard for any notion of her personal safety.
Like now when she grabs a colorful bottle to hold it up to the light and watch the rays refract in the prism of the crystal. Ora, the dwarf who runs this showcase, puts out her palm in a gimme motion for my mate to hand over the mystery potion.
I nod my thanks to her. On top of being able to keep my mate from setting off whatever might be in that elixir, the dwarf’s a top-tier alchemist. She fled here for sanctuary when her horrible husband took her experiments and tried to replicate them by casting rogue spells in an attempt to turn the alchemist herself into gold. A messed-up Midas version of a piss poor match that I didn’t make but did my best to correct.
“Welcome to my potion perfumery,” Ora says, tipping her head back to look up at my mate. The dwarf might be short, but she’s sturdy and could bench press a car. “Would you like to craft a personalized fragrance based upon your natural charm?” The alchemist glances my way. “Or perhaps one to evoke a specific mood, eh?” Her innuendo leaves no question as to her meaning.
Val shakes her head, not an easy feat with Montejanus racing along her shoulders, around her neck, and under her ponytail. “We’re not?—”
“No?” Ora asks, raising a bushy gray brow almost into her beaded braids. “The prince doesn’t escort just anyone personally, and he certainly wouldn’t allow a soul guardian near his people if you were not …as you say.”
I keep my human glamour tightly in place since wings knocking over a bottle or two might cause mass destruction given the alchemist’s love of explosive chemicals in her potions. “Ora, meet Val Bonetti, my fated mate. We’re still working out the details, but she hasn’t tried to kill me yet today so we’re making progress.”
“It’s not like that,” Val insists. “He kidnapped me.”
“To bring her to safety,” I add.
“And tricked my friends into signing matching contracts before shipping them off to god knows what dimension.”
“To their fated mates.” I couldn’t have sent them to better places in the universe.
“Not Ava,” she argues.
“She’s with him now.” Seriously, the kraken found his way to Ava within moments of her leaving the house.
“No thanks to you.” Val crosses her arms, and I swear if Ora wasn’t standing here, she would have Shadowvale magic her a blade to break our truce.
Montejanus rises on his front paws from Val’s shoulder and hisses at me, tiny fangs flashing.
The dwarf simply chuckles, a rough, unpracticed noise that sounds remarkably like the beginnings of a rockslide. “It’s good to keep our prince guessing,” she tells Val. “Now sit before I get a stiff neck from staring up at you.”
With Montejanus moving to her lap, my mate sits at the round table hand-carved by the dwarf from a solid piece of stone. Its smooth surface reflects the warm glow of the flickering chandeliers. At its heart, Ora chiseled a large cutout, creating a perfect space for her cauldrons, mineral powders, astral remnants, and the rest of her magical mess. Even I don’t trespass on the dwarf’s workspace.
Ora selects a copper pot from her collection. “Let me guess. You haven’t been introduced to anyone except those who work here?”
Val nods.
The dwarf pulls her lips back in a grimace that might be a grin, but it’s hard to tell between the giant nose and the beard she’s rocking. “As if Theodopolis would let you meet anyone else.”
“Theo dopolis ?” Val drags out the last few syllables. “That’s your real name?”
“Valentina,” I drawl.
“That’s not?—”
Ora waves for my mate’s attention. “As I was saying, the prince has kept the paying guests far from you.”
“Why?” Val asks me. “Are you embarrassed to be seen with a powerless human?”
“Who called you that?” She wouldn’t have come up with such a specific and negative description for herself. Not my mate who didn’t know the supernatural existed until I met her.
She lifts her chin, refusing to answer.
I lean so close that my nose brushes against her hair, her scent taunting me, and whisper into her ear, “If it’s one of my people, I’ll have their tongue.”
Her flinch tells me I guessed right. Someone in my realm has called her that. “No one,” she lies. “But you’re obviously ashamed of me if you want to control who sees you with me.”
“Or I refuse to let anyone who isn’t bound to me by oath near you. It’s for your safety, no other reason.”
She snorts an incredulous sound. “As if someone would attack me in your dad’s magical castle.”
Ora bangs the pot. “You going to tell her who owns the castle or shall I?"
“Shadowvale is mine, actually,” I admit. “As much as a sentient creature can belong to anyone.” I hadn’t wanted to make today’s tour about me.
Not after I woke this morning with her body wrapped around mine, her curves plastered against me, and even her drool on my bare chest. It’d been hard not to offer her anything short of my future kingdom to get her to agree to completing the mating bond. I hadn’t even minded Montejanus remaining curled on her pillow since she used me as hers.
“You own a castle with a casino?” Val asks. She doesn’t give me time to remind her Shadowvale owns herself. “Does everyone who lives here work in the castle?” she asks Ora.
“No, some of us are still too messed up.” The dwarf doesn’t look up from her potion crafting. “We get the help we need—therapy, education, reminding we deserve respect and love. Then most of us find a way to earn our keep. Running a magical castle isn’t cheap. Right, boss?”
“Worth it,” I tell her, remembering a much less healthy and sane Ora who arrived at Shadowvale. Talking about this makes me uncomfortable. I offer sanctuary but that doesn’t make me some kind of hero. I’m still the monster Val sees when she looks at me, regardless of my human glamour.
Val must sense the tension there since she waves a hand to the sign on a shelf behind the bottles of Ora’s shop. “A potion perfumery sounds wonderful. What gave you the inspiration to add magic?”
“Everything in Shadowvale has magic,” Ora says with wisdom worthy of an actor playing the greatest sage. “And everyone.”
“What’s your special power?” Val asks me. “Other than teleporting.”
I trail a finger along her arm, savoring the touch, but I can’t help myself when she’s so easy to taunt. “Manifesting the most troublesome mate.”
Val frowns and shoves lightly at me, a far cry from jabbing pointy weapons my way. “No, really.”
“He can create brimstone fire,” Ora answers.
My mate stares at me as if seeing an entirely new side of me, and I hope it’s not a reminder of my fuck up when Montejanus first appeared. I’ve never lost control of my temper like that. And with my mate? Guilt piles on me just thinking about it.
It’ll never happen again.
Val tips her head. “It would probably not be smart to ask for a demonstration.”
“Definitely not,” I say. “Its gas can be poisonous to humans.”
“Of course it can be,” she mutters. “Do your sisters also have magic that’s dangerous to humans?”
I consider hiding their powers and decide against it, figuring my mate will know eventually. Maybe telling her will score me bonus points toward completing the mating bond. “Gilly…well, she can intimidate with a look, and she excels at mind games, but magically, she can’t do anything but teleport.”
“Which is pretty awesome.”
“Still,” I say, “I wouldn’t mention it to her. Gilly’s sensitive about it. Our baby sister Nic has a demon version of earth magic. She can grow thorns, poisonous plants…” Nic chooses that moment to walk in and wave me over. “And it appears she needs me. Have fun making perfume. Ora, try not to blow the place up.”
I join Nic at the bar, taking a seat on a stool where I can still watch my mate. Sure, I have bodyguards stationed outside to keep out anyone but family and those who live here, but I’m not missing the chance to see Val laugh and enjoy herself in my home.
Nic slides onto the stool next to me. “The resident fan club members appreciated the meet and greet earlier.”
“Val enjoyed the company and your plans to host a masking party, whatever that is. Besides, it gave me a break from leading her around the casino floor and stopping to explain each game and its magic.”
“Admit it,” she says. “You just want to impress her. You didn’t have to go into such detail about the enchanted cards or demonic dice. The dealers could’ve done it. But you loved having Val hang on your every word.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” I lie.
“Oh yeah, then why stay beside her talking about stupid charity auction stuff while she played the slots? You could’ve walked off or handed over to staff. We all know you’d already rigged the machines so she’d get the prize she’d been gushing over earlier.”
“She really wanted a spelled unicorn toy.” I’m not spending more time dwelling on why I wanted to make sure she got exactly that. Watching Val stroke the tiny horse’s mane had been worth whatever income we’d lost during her private tour. “And she had questions about the artifact auction. She has a sharp business mind and proposed a few new items to bid on from our elixir beauty bar.”
“Right,” Nic drawls. “You sticking to her side had nothing to do with how the troll and orc managers stare at her as if she’s the most gorgeous celebrity to ever grace us with her presence.” My youngest sister is far too astute. “I thought the blue-haired sea nymph was going to jump out of the water ballet atrium to give Val her number. Your mate collects admirers wherever she goes.”
“They can look all they like. She’s mine to protect, not to possess.”
Not yet anyway.
Before my next breath saws painfully in between my still healing ribs, an explosion flashes from Ora’s perfumery. Cursing my wards against teleportation on this and every other resort level of Shadowvale, I move with the sole mission of saving Val.