Chapter 26
I t proved harder to find a blood witch to help us reach out to the Winter princess than I thought it would. Apparently blood witches had been banned from all four of the Ethereum kingdoms for decades, their magic having been considered too dark. The ones that remained were either in hiding, or lived in the Midlands.
It took the combined effort of all four Ethereum lords’ spies to finally track one down who had been living in a remote village on the southern border of the Eastern Kingdom. After a couple of days we received word that they were bringing her back. But the message also told us that when they approached her about returning to Easteria with them, she tried to flee, fearful Stryker would put her in his dungeon.
Four men had been seriously injured before they could subdue her, telling me she was powerful.
I didn’t know much about blood witches. They were relegated to myths and fairytales back in Faerie. The only thing I knew for sure, because Stryker confirmed it for me, was that they were seelie fae who used blood to enhance their magic. In our stories they were always portrayed as soulless creatures, power hungry enough to taint their natural abilities with dark magic to gain power.
I didn’t know how much of what I knew about them from Faerie was true, but it was clear that the fae in Ethereum were wary, if borderline scared, of them. And that said something. When I heard about how difficult it was to bring one in, I understood why.
When we got word that the men had returned with the blood witch, we all congregated in Stryker’s library and waited for her to arrive. I fidgeted, wringing my hands, and chewed on my bottom lip. I startled when Stryker reached up and lightly brushed his thumb over my bottom lip and then tugged it free.
“That lip is too pretty to abuse,” he said, his gaze both soft yet filled with desire, and I felt myself blush.
I looked into Stryker’s gray-blue eyes and then glanced at his mouth, remembering how it tasted and felt brushing against my own. My face heated even more and a low growl rumbled in Stryker’s chest as he read the look in my eyes.
I almost forgot we were in a room with all three of his brothers until someone cleared their throat. I peered up and saw Zane smirking at us from across the table.
“Do you need the rest of us to give you two some time alone?” he asked, his smile growing.
Stryker glared at his brother and Zane broke out in a full-on laugh.
“What’s going on?” Adrien asked, walking over to our table from his spot across the room. Thank the stars that Elisana wasn’t with him. I got the impression we had hurt her feelings by not including her very much and now she was keeping her distance.
Zane opened his mouth to say something, but with a flick of Stryker’s wrist a shadow shot from his palm and slapped over Zane’s mouth, muffling him. Zane clawed at the shadow to no avail before finally lifting his hand in front of his face. A bolt of black lightning shot from his palm and zapped the shadow, which disintegrated into thin air.
Adrien doubled over in laughter and even Dawn and Zander looked amused from their place by one of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
Zane frowned at Stryker. “Not funny.”
The corner of Stryker’s mouth twitched, which for him was almost equivalent to a full smile. “He seems to think so,” Stryker said, pointing at Adrien.
“You know I’m going to get you back for that … eventually,” Zane promised.
Stryker leaned back, slinging his arm over my shoulders. “You can try.”
Zane, whom I considered the most lighthearted of the brothers, couldn’t keep his sour face for long and finally smirked. “It’s on.”
My heart warmed seeing Stryker so relaxed and happy around his brothers. He was still the surly and dark lord I fell in love with, but over the last several days I’d seen more sides of him appear. He was wise and strong with his people, soft and gentle with me, and lighthearted and even a touch mischievous with his brothers. I treasured each new facet of him as much as any of the others.
I would have taken Stryker just as he was and loved him for the rest of my life, but it was obvious to me he was starting to heal. When I looked at my new husband I no longer saw a fractured man, broken and scarred. Even in the midst of turmoil and uncertainty, he was finally beginning to learn what it was like to accept love and be happy. The pieces of himself he thought he’d lost forever were coming back, re-forming him into something beautiful.
Our worlds were quite literally falling apart; even after exhaustive research we still couldn’t figure out what we were supposed to do with the Shadow Heart, and at any moment the curse might strike out in a new way causing even more devastation. But even with all of that I still felt like the luckiest fae in the world to have him by my side through it all.
The brothers had started in on another ribbing session, good-naturedly calling each other out on their childhood antics when the thick library doors swung open. The conversation stopped as we all came to our feet.
In walked four heavily armed men surrounding one petite woman. The woman had flowing lavender hair down to her waist that shimmered in the torchlight, and matching large purple eyes. She was beautiful, but in an unconventional, otherworldly way.
Her small nose, rounded cheeks, and pointed chin made her appear elf-like and innocent. She looked about in her early forties, but then I remembered Stryker telling me that the blood witches were rumored to use blood sacrifices to keep themselves looking young, and my stomach soured.
Is that what this one had done, or did her features represent her true age?
Part of me didn’t want to know because intuition said I wouldn’t like the answer.
One of the men stepped forward and even with a scarf covering part of his face, I recognized him as Samuel, Zander’s spy. “My lord,” he said, dipping his head in reverence to Zander. “The blood witch you asked us to track down and bring back for you.” He gestured toward the woman who had crossed her arms and was glaring back at him.
“Thank you, Samuel,” Zander said as he stepped forward. “You and the others may leave her here with us.”
“My lord,” Samuel said in surprise. “I don’t think that’s wise. She is very powerful and—”
Just then Stryker produced a shadow beast like the one I’d seen before. It was just as vicious and intimidating as I remembered, yet this time I wasn’t scared of it as I had been before. Perhaps because I was no longer scared of the lord himself.
Zander’s mouth twitched. “I appreciate your concern for us, Samuel, but I believe the point my elder brother is trying to make is that the most powerful beings in all of Ethereum are in this room.” He made a point of grabbing Dawn’s hand and drawing her closer, letting her know he wasn’t just talking about him and his brothers. “We can take it from here.”
“Of course, my lord,” Samuel said, and with another quick bow he and the other men left the room, closing the door behind them.
The purple-haired blood witch crossed her arms over her chest and lifted her chin to look down at the rest of us. Her suspicious gaze traveled over the group, and I’d be lying if I said that a chill hadn’t run through me when it landed on me before moving to the next.
I usually tried to reserve my judgment of people, but I was starting to understand why the citizens of Ethereum were cautious of blood witches. There was just something about her that seemed off. Wrong. Perhaps evil was too strong of a word, but the vibe was unnerving to say the least.
“Thank you for coming,” Stryker started, but the blood witch scoffed.
“You say that as if I had a choice in the matter.”
I frowned. This already wasn’t going well.
“What’s your name?” Stryker asked, ignoring her last comment.
Her chin lifted even higher and she paused, as if answering to an Ethereum lord was beneath her. “Rowena,” she finally said.
Stryker nodded in acknowledgment and then quickly introduced the rest of us. I could tell she was wholly unimpressed to be in the presence of all four Ethereum lords, and didn’t seem very concerned with me either, but a spark of interest showed in her eyes when she looked at Dawn.
Her gaze dropped to Dawn’s belly and I read alarm in my friend’s eyes. Zander quickly sidestepped to shield his wife from Rowena’s view. His hand twitched and I swear I saw a black shard begin to protrude from his palm before disappearing into nothing.
A sly smile lifted the corners of Rowena’s mouth that caused a queasy knot to form in my gut. I knew we needed her, but I now wished we’d looked harder for another way to reach Isolde.
“You have me here, my lord ,” she said, making Stryker’s title sound like a sneer. “Since you went to so much trouble, I’d love to know why.”
“Do you know of the land called Faerie?” he asked.
She raised one eyebrow. “I do.”
He nodded. “We need to reach someone in Faerie,” Stryker said. “We require you to project our consciousnesses to her.”
Her eyebrows shot up. Whatever she assumed we would ask of her, this wasn’t it.
“I usually only communicate with the dead,” she said.
“Can you do it or not?” Stryker asked.
“How many of you?” she peered around the room at our large group.
“All of us,” Stryker said.
She tilted her head in consideration, but I didn’t miss the gleam of calculation in her eyes. “I can but it will cost you.”
Stryker nodded. We’d all already discussed this and assumed she’d demand a steep price for her help. “As payment I’ll send you on your way with as many jewels and gold as you can carry on your person.” Stryker crossed his arms over his chest. “ And you’ll have my word you won’t be imprisoned in my dungeon.”
I didn’t miss the threat in that statement and from the narrowing of her gaze I could tell she didn’t either.
“Gold and jewels are nice, but I require more than riches,” she said with a grin.
“What is it you want?” Stryker asked, and I could practically hear his molars grinding against each other.
Her lips curled in a sly smile. “Oh, I believe you are well aware of what I want.”
“No,” Stryker said with a definitive shake of his head.
I noticed the muscles in his shoulders tighten as well and then I felt something nudging me. I looked down to see some of Stryker’s shadows trying to push me behind him.
Part of me appreciated the gesture, I knew he was just trying to protect me. But I wasn’t pregnant like Dawn with an innocent life inside of me to shield. I would stand right where I belonged, next to my mate, not behind him.
I stepped forward, coming in line with Stryker rather than dipping behind him like he wanted. A muscle jumped in his jaw, but when he glanced down at me his gaze was a mixture of pride and frustration. I smiled up at him and took his hand and he just shook his head and refocused on our lavender-haired visitor.
“No one here will be giving you a blood payment,” Stryker said and I had to stifle a gasp.
Blood payment?
That’s what she wanted? I didn’t like the sound of that one bit, and from Dawn and the other lords’ grim looks, neither did they.
“Well then,” Rowena said with a flip of her hair. “I’ll bid you farewell and let you get on with your day.” She turned and started toward the door, but before she could get there a rush of shadows slammed into it, barring her exit.
The look on Stryker’s face was nothing short of murderous, but Rowena turned back and faced him down without a hint of fear.
“It wasn’t a request you are free to deny,” he ground out.
“Yet here we are,” she said haughtily. “And if you think that a blood witch can send your consciousness to Faerie without a drop of each of your blood, you are stupider than I thought.”
A drop of each of our blood?
Stryker took a menacing step toward her. “Fine, a single drop for the spell. But none for the blood payment.”
She shrugged. “No deal.”
“Perhaps a night or two in my dungeon will change your mind?” Stryker threatened.
Anger flashed across her face. “If you even try to—”
“I’ll make the blood payment,” Zane said, rolling up one sleeve as he stepped forward.
“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Zander stepped in front of his brother. “You have no idea what these witches are capable of.”
Zane looked down at his brother. “I’m a big boy, I can handle myself and we don’t have two days to torture her in Stryker’s dungeon to get her to agree. We need to warn Isolde now.”
Zander shook his head and moved like he was going to grab Zane, ready to physically restrain his brother if he had to, but Zane shot him a look that stopped him in his tracks. “Isolde could be my mate,” he said, his voice filled with emotion, and for the first time I realized that he must be lonely.
There was a sadness in his eyes I hadn’t seen before. He was willing to risk it all on the chance that Isolde might be his mate. It was extremely romantic, though not smart by the greedy look in Rowena’s eye. Before anyone else had much of a chance to stop him, Zane pulled a dagger from the sheath on his belt and cut across his forearm. Zander stepped back, sighing as he conceded.
“Nice to see one of the lords is levelheaded,” Rowena said smugly. Walking over to Zane’s arm she slowly dragged her finger across the thick black blood that dripped down it, gathering a large amount on her fingertip. She then put it in her mouth and sucked.
She closed her eyes and I gagged as I watched her face in semi-horror. It looked like she was savoring the taste like she might a fine wine. It made me nauseous.
When her eyes popped back open, there was almost a feverish look to them. Like she was drunk or high on poppies. And I was shocked to see that she looked five or ten years younger.
I wanted this blood-licking freak to do her thing and leave. She had officially given me the creeps.
“Let’s get on with it,” Stryker barked, and I knew he wasn’t any happier about Zane having just given her his blood than I was.
Rowena pulled a small box from her cloak and opened it carefully. I couldn’t see the contents from where I was standing, but I saw the long, sharp needle she pulled out.
“What are you doing now?” Stryker asked, his tone accusing.
“This is the one little drop for the spell we spoke about, my lord ,” she said, annoyed.
“I’m not letting you take even a single drop of my wife’s blood,” Zander said, his hand covering Dawn’s belly.
Rowena shrugged. “Fine. Then I can’t project her consciousness. This isn’t a price I require for payment. This is the price the spell requires. Whoever doesn’t want to pay it can’t participate.”
Dawn laid a hand on Zander’s shoulder. “I have to do this. Isolde needs to see me and Aribella.”
His nostrils flared and he flicked his gaze to the witch. “If you put our blood in your mouth, I’ll puncture you with a hundred shards of glass and then have my wife light your body on fire.” He held out his hand and a black pointed shard of glass formed in the center of his palm.
Rowena nodded. “The blood goes on the cloth, my lord.” She held up a square piece of red linen and gave him her most innocent look.
“It’s just a drop, my love,” Dawn said, placing a hand on the side of Zander’s face. “I’ll be fine.”
Pressing his lips together in a hard line, Zander nodded once, but the look he shot Rowena was cold enough to send a chill through the air.
Seemingly unfazed, Rowena positioned us all in a circle around her. One by one she went to each of us and pricked our finger with a needle, pulling out a fresh one for each of us and tossing the dirty ones back in her box. When a bead of blood formed she blotted it with the square of red cloth.
Once we’d all shed our drops, she walked to the center of our circle and Zander snatched the box that held the needles she’d used to poke us with. “I’ll be keeping this thank you very much,” he told her. “And when the spell is over I’ll be taking that cloth too.”
Rowena growled at that but then rolled her eyes. Whatever trick she’d been planning to pull with our blood afterward, Zander wasn’t having it and I was grateful he was looking out for us.
“Who knows this Isolde person best?” Rowena asked.
Dawn raised her hand and Rowena held out her palm. “Take my hand and hold her in your mind, it will guide me.”
Dawn exchanged an intense look with Zander but took the witch’s hand.
Rowena held the red cloth in her other hand and then started to chant under her breath. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was only a few moments before the cloth caught fire and started to burn, though the flames were green.
Stryker grabbed my hand and squeezed, but when I looked over at him, his intense gaze was fixed on Rowena and a phantom wind that started to whip her hair and cloak around her.
Her chanting sped up and now she was practically screaming the unfamiliar words. My heart started to flutter in my chest and I gripped Stryker’s hand tighter, looking for an anchor to help me calm down. I didn’t know what would happen if I fainted in the middle of this spell.
All of a sudden Rowena stopped chanting. Her hair and cloak settled back around her and the fire extinguished, but I gasped when I looked at her face. Her eyes had gone completely black. The creepiest part was the small smile on her face right before she threw her arms out, unleashing her magic on all of us.
Her magic slammed into me and it felt like someone was sucking the soul from my body. I fought against it but it was too powerful and with a final gasp I was separated from myself and tossed into a different realm.
I just hoped Isolde would listen, because the future of both of our kingdoms now rested squarely on her shoulders. The Winter princess’s mind was not known for being easily swayed.