Chapter 18 #2
Nodding, he dug a piece from his pocket.
“It’s common in Nocta.” Vander turned the stone in his hand, letting the sunlight play over the sparkling surface.
“You can find pockets of it in Ghedda if you know where to look. It’s nothing special on its own, but it amplifies and anchors magic.
Powerful witches won’t be caught dead using feygeld to enhance their wards.
It’s a shameful practice among the covens.
” Vander looked up, a playful smile on his lips. “Fortunately, I’m shameless.”
My stomach fluttered. Muted sunlight shone on his face, highlighting the sprinkle of golden freckles I’d first noticed in the Wendlewood.
His lashes were tipped with the same color, making them appear to sparkle as brightly as the feygeld.
I’d never noticed before. Then again, the other times I’d stood toe to toe with Vander, shadow had cloaked us.
Like when I landed on top of him after the first werewolf attack. Or when we kissed in his study.
Or when he thrust his hand under my gown last night and ordered me to soak him to the wrist.
I took a swift step backward and swung my gaze over the ruins.
“So, um, you want me to find magic?” My heart raced, warmth spreading through me.
I had to speak to Vander alone. To clear the air between us.
At the very least, I needed to learn the nature of his relationship with Lorcan.
Otherwise, things between the three of us would quickly become intolerable.
“A scavenger hunt,” Lorcan said, stalking over the grass like a shadow. He stopped, his tone as frosty as the stare he leveled at Vander. “Is there a prize at the end?”
All right, so they were already intolerable.
Vander’s smile vanished. “Do you think you could stop being an arrogant ass for five minutes?”
“You’re confusing arrogance for competence.” Lorcan glanced at me. “We already know she can see magic. She might as well shout it from the top of the Drakhold she’s so obvious about it.”
Anger flared in my chest. “I didn’t know I was supposed to keep it a secret.”
Lorcan ignored me, instead pinning Vander with a hard stare. “You’re wasting time we don’t have. The stakes couldn’t be any higher.”
Vander’s eyes flashed. “I’m aware of the stakes, thank you.”
“Are you?” Lorcan challenged. “Because I’m not sure anymore.
Our task is already impossible.” He stepped closer, cold fury rolling off him in waves.
“You seem to have forgotten, so allow me to state it plainly: Rasimir wants her witch magic unlocked so she can duel for power and pass it on to him permanently. If she can drink creatures to death and steal their gifts without going mad, even better. Either way, he’ll use her.
If she doesn’t learn, he’ll force her to produce heirs capable of doing what she can’t. And if that fails, he’ll kill her.”
My throat tightened, and not from my failures with the vor scapa .
Vander scowled at Lorcan. “You’re frightening her unnecessarily.”
“By stating the truth?” Lorcan pointed to the rock we’d left behind in the grass. “We need to continue as we began, not hunt for feygeld.”
“Is that what you think I’m doing?” Vander demanded, his voice rising.
Lorcan’s eyes glittered. “Among other things.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means.”
Vander stepped into Lorcan, their chests brushing. “I don’t, actually. Enlighten me, Your Highness.”
Lorcan snapped his fangs, making Vander flinch and then hiss. “You risked everything , Vander. Everything! Because you let your dick get in the way of your good sense.”
My gasp was loud, but the men didn’t seem to hear it.
Vander loomed over Lorcan with bared fangs. “Like you didn’t?” Vander sneered. “Let me tell you, it was pretty difficult to believe in the infamous Drachvi restraint when you had your tongue halfway down her throat in front of the whole fucking court!”
“Both of you, stop,” I said. Again, the men ignored me.
“I kissed my betrothed,” Lorcan growled.
“Yeah, well, that wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Neither was helping yourself to Corinthe’s pussy!”
Lorcan’s shout echoed off the marble around us. I stood rooted to the path, heat scalding my cheeks. For a brief, blurry moment, I envied Lorcan the glomarid’s wings. If I’d possessed them, I could have flown from the Everless and left my mortification behind.
The men glared at each other. Awareness seemed to hit them at the same time as they slowly turned toward me.
Vander swallowed. “Um…” He shoved a hand through his auburn waves. “We…”
“What are you to each other?” I blurted, Lorcan’s shout still ringing in my ears.
“An interesting question,” a masculine voice said behind me.
The world blurred, and I was suddenly staring at Vander’s back. When I leaned around him, Lorcan faced off with a man on the steps of the nearest temple.
No, not a man. An elf . His ears were pointed, his features so stunning he didn’t seem real. His jaw was clean shaven, and his skin glowed like he was lit from within. Long, glossy hair the color of honey fell past his elbows.
“Stay put,” Vander muttered to me over his shoulder.
Lorcan’s face was tense in profile, his hands loose at his sides like he might draw a weapon at any moment. “What do you want, Ruvien?”
The elf pressed an elegant hand to his own chest. “I?” Golden-blond brows rose on his unlined forehead. “You ask me that when you stand on elven land?”
Vander stiffened. Then he stepped forward. “I can explain.”
Ruvien turned amethyst-colored eyes to him.
“Oh, I do hope so. Because whatever you and Lorcan Balauri might be to each other, you’re both trespassing right now.
” Ruvien fastened his gaze on me, and a smile transformed his face from stunning to staggeringly beautiful.
“And you’ve brought a lovely dhampira with you.
Come out, child, so I can see you better. ”
My feet moved without my permission, shuffling me out from behind Vander. Somewhere in my brain, I knew my compliance should have bothered me. But my will was gone, the urge to resist melting away as Ruvien studied me.
I couldn’t help studying him back. Tall and golden, he was built more like Lorcan than Vander, with long legs and hints of muscle in his chest and arms. Strands of his bright hair were braided away from his face. Like Rasimir, his face was young, but his purple eyes were ancient and knowing.
He obviously knew Vander and Lorcan. He’d called Lorcan by name. Balauri. The surname landed in my mind with a resonance like a string plucked on a lute, the syllables overlapping. Lorcan was a dark presence at the edge of my vision. I stared at Ruvien.
But I didn’t want to. That thought landed, too, and something popped in my head.
I stumbled forward, my heart racing and my limbs free from whatever spell had held me in place.
Lorcan and Vander both looked at me, twin expressions of anger on their faces.
Instinctively, I knew their displeasure wasn’t for me.
Ruvien’s smile broadened, and his tone turned silky. “Not quite a dhampira though, are you, darling?” Abruptly he started down the stairs. “You’ll be a shining star in the elven court.”
Lorcan blurred, blocking Ruvien’s path. “You won’t touch her.” Beside me, Vander sucked in a breath.
Ruvien’s smile didn’t budge. “Well, I have to take someone , Your Highness. Rules are rules.”
“She’s to be my wife,” Lorcan said. I couldn’t see his face with his back to me, but his tone was as hard as I’d ever heard it. “The betrothal has been spoken. Even you have to respect a contract.”
Silence stretched. My nerves stretched with it, Vander’s story about being a changeling running through my mind. But I wasn’t an infant. What reason could Ruvien have for taking me to the elven court?
Smile still in place, Ruvien narrowed his eyes slightly. Then he shifted his gaze to Vander.
“No,” Lorcan said, the word more growl than speech.
Ruvien bowed, the movement so graceful that I caught my breath. “But of course. Vander has belonged to you for some time now.”
Up to this point, Vander had stood as taut as a bowstring beside me. Now his chest rose and fell in a deep exhale.
Straightening, Ruvien gave Lorcan a contemplative look. Then he nodded. “Very well, dragon lord. But you’ll be in my debt.”
“Done,” Lorcan said. When Ruvien moved around him, Lorcan spun, adding, “And I’ll have your permission to use this place for as long as I need it.”
Pausing, Ruvien swung back. “Bold of you to insist on different terms after we’ve agreed.
But I suppose that’s the prerogative of kings.
” He started toward Vander. When Lorcan blocked his path again, Ruvien sighed.
“Peace, Balauri. If Vander truly felt threatened by my presence, he would have greeted me with claws.”
After another length of silence, Lorcan stepped aside.
I held my breath as Ruvien approached, then smothered my surprise when Vander stepped forward, clasped Ruvien’s palm, and pulled the elf into a brief embrace. When they drew apart, Ruvien’s expression was sober.
“You leave deep footprints in the forest, Vander. Watch your step around the trees.”
Vander paled. “I will.”
Ruvien nodded, then fixed his purple eyes on me. “A pair of claws here, too,” he murmured. Taking my hand, he bent and brushed a kiss over my knuckles. Tingles rushed up my arm to my neck. Ruvien winked as he released me. “But perhaps more cleverly hidden.”
My heart pumped hard. The tingles spun into my cheeks, which pulsed with heat.