Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Since sleep definitely wasn’t happening in the next few hours, I spent my time pacing in my chambers, feeling practically sick at the thought of what was to come.
Even worse, I kept worrying a dillemsill would suddenly appear to demand that I venture to my uncle’s estate for another one of his assignments, which would only mean he was awake and expecting me.
If that happened, Kole and I would never be able to sneak up on him, and we would have to refigure our plans.
But even though a dillemsill never came, my pacing didn’t relent.
It was only as the clock neared midnight that the flash of something by my wardrobe caught my attention. Light gleamed off a mirror, and with a start, I realized my father had made good on his promise to deliver his looking glass.
I picked it up. The small handheld mirror appeared entirely harmless, yet when its magic was activated, it not only created a link between two fae from across vast distances—if the recipient also held a looking glass—but it could also be used to record events that one wanted to remember.
Looking glasses were expensive, so not all fae owned them, but those that did often used them to not only communicate with others, but to record special family gatherings or bear witness to something they wanted to prove. Such devices were also used in hearings at the Supernatural Courts.
My grip tightened around the looking glass’s smooth handle. Bear witness to something one wanted to prove.
My thoughts turned, and I slipped the looking glass into my pocket, just in case it was needed. With that, I eyed the clock, and in a blast of mistphasing magic, I left to join Kole.
The warrior was already waiting at the clock tower in the Baefim District.
Not many fae were about, only a few walking along the intersecting streets since the hour was so late.
I didn’t spot any kingsfae either, which was probably for the best. Kole’s aura was pounding with malevolent energy, and I had a feeling that would have garnered unwanted attention from his fellow law enforcers.
“You look positively excited about what’s to come,” I commented as Kole’s aura strummed higher. My attention swept over his attire. Battle gear covered him.
My eyebrows rose. “Armor? I’ve never seen you in that before.”
He shrugged. “I don’t often wear it, but since it’ll just be me, and I won’t have my fellow warrior brothers beside me, I took the extra precautions.
” He grinned, and despite being used to his facial expressions now, the beauty of that gesture still made my chest tighten.
“It’s not every day that a male gets to avenge his fated love.
I’ve been looking forward to this all evening. ”
A shrill laugh escaped me, and even though I now possessed vampire strength and speed, Kole was not someone I would ever want to face on the battlefield. The power streaming off him was practically brimming with malice.
The warrior stepped closer to me, and in the moonlight blazing across the galaxy from the three moons, his lips curved. At his back, his huge sword rose behind him. Several daggers were also strapped to his waist.
Unlike the warrior’s armor, I wore pants and a top that were easy to move in, my attire similar to what I’d worn when I’d been hunting the Wishing Stone.
Not that I would be much help in a fight compared to what Kole was capable of, but I’d slipped blades into my boot and along my thigh, just in case my uncle had other fae in his employment who we weren’t aware of and if things took a turn for the worse.
“I suppose we should get going.” I eyed the sky. Stars sparkled everywhere.
Kole held out his hand, which I readily accepted. We’d already discussed that we would mistphase into the Wood just outside of my uncle’s estate, and since Kole had never been to Arnel’s estate before, I would be the one mistphasing us.
I called upon Matron Olsander’s instructions and untangled my magic, then my power rose up inside me, and the realm dropped out from beneath our feet.
We traveled through the kingdom in a blast of mist and shadows, air and wind.
Only seconds later, we materialized among the trees.
Kole and I immediately lowered ourselves.
Leaves brushed against my cheeks, and through the foliage, my uncle’s estate was visible.
So was the stone temple he’d erected within this forest.
I might not have been in Arnel’s castle long, but I’d seen enough of the second floor to know where he slept. And since no lights illuminated the library, his favorite area of study, I had a feeling he was already retired for the night.
I prayed with everything I had that we would be able to sneak in quickly and stealthily to encounter his sleeping form, and one slice from Kole’s blade would put any future nightmarish control from my uncle behind me.
“His boundary line is just ahead. Follow me.” I crept along the soil, Kole at my back. The moonlight barely pierced the canopy, but with my enhanced eyesight, I was able to see clearly.
When we reached the border, I stopped just shy of it. It was now or never. If Kole couldn’t get through the wards, we would have to come up with a different plan.
“Ready?” Kole reached forward to brush his knuckles against the ward.
I nodded, too anxious to comment.
But when Kole’s hand felt along the barrier, nothing fizzled in warning. Just as fast, his hand slipped through it. He smirked. “I was right. He never reworked his wards.”
Hope burst inside me, but I didn’t waste any time. I grabbed ahold of Kole and called upon my mistphasing magic.
We careened through the realm, only to reappear a second later at the top of my uncle’s stairwell.
Darkness and quiet greeted us. Kole and I both moved in blurred speed, his warrior affinity allowing him to move even faster than my vampire pace.
In less than a second, we were standing outside of my uncle’s bedroom chambers. The door was closed, yet within, I detected one heartbeat.
Wide-eyed, I mouthed to Kole, He’s inside and alone.
Kole dipped his head once and turned the door handle silently. We crept into the dark room, neither of us making a sound. Together we padded toward the bed, Kole’s hand reaching for his sword as he moved, and our footsteps nonexistence in the plush rug.
But as the bed neared, something struck me. The heartbeat I’d detected wasn’t coming from beneath the sheets. It was coming from behind us, near the fireplace.
I whirled around, realizing a split second too late that my uncle wasn’t asleep, before the lights turned on.
In the same beat, a blast of telekinetic magic whipped out, and a long rope whirled around Kole faster than I could blink.
Kole’s breath sucked in just as my uncle’s thick rope knotted tightly around him, securing the warrior’s limbs from head to toe, just as he’d done to me on the day he’d changed me.
“No!” I lurched toward Kole, but my uncle abruptly yelled, “Stop, Primelle. You’re not allowed to untie your mate or help him tonight.”
My body froze as his command zinged through me. I stood entirely still. Deathly so. And then his words registered. Your mate. Mouth dropping, I swung toward my uncle, and that vile urge inside me rose and demanded that I please him and not Kole.
Kole flexed his limbs again under the thick restraints, but they didn’t budge. The warrior’s expression descended into his telltale mask, and even though no emotion flitted across his face, his voice held deadly promise when he said, “I’m ending you tonight, Arnel.”
My uncle scoffed. “I doubt that. You’re already restrained, and I have to say, you Imperial Warriors are quite lacking. Royden was also easy to capture.” Arnel stood from his chair near the fire, and strolled casually toward me, but an angry expression twisted his features into something ugly.
Before I could comprehend that my uncle was awake and had somehow been expecting us, he reached me and slapped me violently across the cheek. My head whipped to the side, and Kole’s rage flooded to me along our bond.
But I didn’t fight back. Didn’t hit him in return. My stupid vampiric body wouldn’t allow it.
“That’s for plotting against me,” my uncle seethed. “Now, where were we. Oh, yes.” He shifted his attention to the chambers’ open door.
From the hallway’s darkness, dozens of vamfeers appeared and dutifully marched into my uncle’s chambers, their looks vacant and their fangs glistening, but as soon as they crossed the threshold, they all lined up and stopped, standing frozen.
“Good gods,” I whispered, backing up. Along our bond, Kole’s energy stilled.
There were so many of them. My uncle’s vamfeers hadn’t been depleted at all.
Magic rose around Kole, but he didn’t move. Didn’t even flinch.
“Did you know that I had a very interesting conversation with my brother this afternoon, Primelle?” my uncle said languidly.
“He told me that you were wondering if I was home right now, which I thought was interesting, especially when he let me in on a little family secret.” His lip curled in Kole’s direction.
“He told me that you met your fated mate, and despite my brother feeling apprehensive about that at first, he’d come to realize that no other male would protect you better than your warrior would.
And that got me thinking that if you met your mate, and you were somehow able to communicate to him what I’d done to you, that his first instinct would be to kill me.
” He laughed softly. “And once again, it appears I was right, but I’ve thwarted your attack before it even began. ”
He stepped closer to me, and inadvertently, I flinched.
“If you hit her again, I’ll make your death a thousand times more painful.” Kole’s voice was low and filled with deadly promise.
“Oh, you will, will you?” My uncle returned his attention to me and stopped just shy of my space. I gazed up at him, and even though he pulled at something deep inside me, fear cascaded through me too.