Chapter Fourteen
Legend
The scent hits me before the sight does. Not her blood, thank the gods, but the sharp tang of another male too close. Too interested. My vision rims in black as the bond snaps taut, burning like a brand in the center of my chest.
And then I see her.
My little menace. Straddling that wide-eyed pretty boy like he’s a throne she means to desecrate. His hands on her hips, my hips, his mouth close to hers. Her pulse stutters with want. Zeke.
He must have a death wish, or a need for revenge. I mean, we did murder his mother when she dared cross our king.
Yet another example why Argents shouldn’t be mistaken for pure and good. Light magic is as dark as our magic, only where ours turns you to rot, theirs fucking blinds you.
Purely fucking pathetic.
A sound rips from my throat—half snarl, half laugh. “Had fun?”
The boy jolts like prey hearing the predator’s pawstep, but Haide doesn’t even flinch. She turns her head, slow as death, those wild island eyes locking on mine. Defiant. Like she doesn’t know the bond is screaming in both our veins. Like she doesn’t feel it.
It makes me want to set the entire cavern on fire just to remind her who she belongs to.
The pretty one swallows hard. “I…Legend?”
I bare my teeth. “King Legend,” I correct him. “You’re lucky you still breathe, now run along, little Argent,” I purr. “Before I send you to meet your mother.”
The little fuck, Zeke, dares to glare at me. But I can’t focus on him right now, as much as I want to rip him to shreds on principle alone.
With a flick of my hand I send him flying, my attention now on her face.
My mate’s hand presses to her temple, just as a thin line of blood spills from her nose, bright red against the pearl sheen of her skin. My body moves before my brain can think, crossing the distance, hauling her into me like she’ll vanish if I don’t.
“What the fuck is that?” she mutters, swiping at the blood, but I feel it. Gods, I feel it. The bond convulsing, spinning and shredding, tearing at the edges like reality itself is unraveling.
Like she is unraveling.
The sight of her blood makes my teeth ache. My chest claws inward, heat searing straight through the tether. She thinks it’s just magic, some side effect of her power, as latent as it is at the moment. Maybe even the Argent.
But I know what I’m feeling, and she must be too.
Starvation.
Our bond is starving. She doesn’t understand the pull between us so she mistakes it for nothing at all. She mistakes need for weakness.
And now it makes her bleed, just like it’s been eating away at my energy.
I mean, what else could it be?
My lips curl. “Careful, little monster. You keep fighting the bond, it’ll rip you apart.”
Her laugh is brittle, defiant. “I’d have to feel it for that to happen. Which I don’t.”
“You feel me.”
“I feel…nothing for you.”
The thought makes me unhinged.
I drag my thumb across her jaw, smearing the blood. “Keep saying that. But your body knows. Your bones know. And when you break—because you will—I’ll be right there to bear witness. And when you reach for me, begging me to put you out of your misery, I will do it without hesitation,” I promise.
There’s a flicker of something in her gaze but it fades far too quickly, and then she jerks back. “Fuck off.”
And I grin, wide, feral, manic. “Oh, I plan to. All over you.”
Her pulse thrashes against me, furious. She claws at my chest, shoving hard, but it only makes me laugh. “Go ahead. Fight me. Bite me. Wonder how I’d feel if you bit someone else…”
Her nostrils flare, her teeth flashing like she might do it.
My cocky grin sharpens into something darker. “Pull some shit again, and I’ll show you exactly what it means to be mine.”
Behind me, the cavern begins to groan—sirens scattering as runes flare bright along the bones overhead, warning wards screaming of breach.
My head snaps over my shoulder, seeking out the threat, but I spot nothing, and when I face forward again, Haide is gone.
That same smell from before burns my nostrils.
Rot, hot and fuming.
“Damn that little brat.”
Every one of my senses sharpen instantly, and I whip around, prepared to tear through every single person in this crowd to get to her.
Then I hear the screams.
I follow, shoving past the crowd. Haide stands in the center of the hall, over a body crumpled on the ground, head twisted, eyes glassy.
“It was her!” someone spits, finger stabbing at Haide like a blade.
“She hated her!” another voice snarls.
“Look what you did!”
“What?” Haide throws her hands up, half laughing, half snapping. “You think I, what, strangled her in the middle of a crowd? That’s so boring.”
The boy nearest her surges forward, jaw tight with fury. “It was you.”
I step in before he can touch her, my presence slamming like a wall between them. “Don’t.” My voice cuts, sharper than steel.
The students recoil. Haide glances back at me, throat working, but I don’t let anyone close. Not one step.
This is fucking bad. A murderer right under our noses, on university grounds.
I close my eyes for a moment, linking with my brothers through our royal bloodline.
Another body.
The air warps a heartbeat later. Knight’s shadow. Vicente’s power. London’s scowl as the portal snaps open behind me with Creed the last to charge through.
He examines me before turning his attention to the body, studying the scene before taking in the chaos around us.
“A student,” Vicente rasps, kneeling by the body. His hand gently brushed the girl’s jaw. “Name?”
“Elena something,” someone whispers. “Fae. Argent born.”
Vicente is already pulling through threads of record. His magic cold and efficient. “Elena Darrow.” His gaze cuts to me. “And her roommate…” His jaw tenses.
My head jerks to Haide. “Really?”
Haide tips her head with a smirk, voice cutting through the tension.
“Oh, what’s the verdict? You think I snapped her neck clean in front of all of you?
Please. If I wanted her gone, you wouldn’t find a body.
” She twirls her hand toward the crumpled girl like she’s presenting a piece of bad theater.
“There would be ash. Or teeth. Something to make it interesting.”
Gasps ripple through the students. A professor pushes forward. “Do you hear yourself? That is a life at your feet—”
Haide interrupts, laughter bright and edged. “Yes, Professor, I’m very observant. Thank you for the lesson.”
He takes a step closer. My body reacts before my mind does—A low hiss escapes me, dangerous, primal. My power flares and the professor freezes where he stands. “Think very carefully before your next move,” I warn.
His throat bobs, and wisely, he holds.
Vicente doesn’t so much as glance up at the commotion as he continues his examination of the body. His tone is a rasp, rough with certainty. “Cervical fracture. Snapped clean. Not magic or poison. Force.”
I look at Creed waiting for his verdict, but he only glares at Haide, a look I can’t decipher on his face. He’s probably digging around in her head for answers.
I kind of want to deck him for it. I don’t want anyone touching her, and that includes her mind. But he had a hard time reading London’s mind before she and Knight bonded, and it was due to her powers. I’ve got a feeling it’s the same with Haide.
Haide spreads her arms, mock-offended. “Oh, come on. If I were going to start murdering roommates, do you think I’d pick now? Middle of the hall, mid-panic, no theatrics at all? Where’s the fun?”
“London,” Vicente calls gently and then a barrier is thrown up around us, even Haide is stuck on the outside.
They can see us, but they can’t hear.
“What is it, Vicente?” Creed pushes, keeping an eye on those around us.
Vicente finally rises, his gaze locking on me, then sliding to Knight.
His words scrape the cavern like bone dragged across stone.
“Darrow’s mother had a partner before she found her fated mate.
Once she did, it was game over for the partner and so he tried to kill her.
The fated stepped in, saved her life, and the jaded Fae was dealt with. ”
Heat curls sharp in my chest. “What are you saying?”
Vicente’s stare hardens. “You know what.”
The crowd screams again, the sound breaking through our private conversation, and London lets the barrier drop.
The crowd parts and we slip through, finding yet another message. This time in a smear across the floor, blood undercut with the scent of gasoline.
My patience is running out.
“Shit,” Creed hisses.
“What is it?” The words fly from me with urgency, because I know that fucking face.
He knows something.
And it’s bad.