CHAPTER 18 #3
The flowers had been a problem. Normally, those were brought in from the fae kingdom, but apparently, the faerie didn’t take too kindly to having their people held prisoner.
Lara had instead enlisted a fleet of designers who’d come up with some sort of winter motif involving dead branches draped with beads and tulle.
He thought the entire effect was gaudy, but no one dared cross Lara, so the ballroom was festooned in it.
“I’m sorry, Your Highness. Just a little bit left to do.”
Alex felt sorry for this girl, who probably desperately needed the commission with food prices being what they were. She kept her eyes downcast as she finished dotting powder at his forehead.
“Thank you, Katarina.”
She blinked, as if surprised he’d bothered to remember her name.
The expression quickly turned to sympathy as her gaze fell to his cuffed hands.
The staff was under no illusions about what was going on.
None of them liked Lara. And yet, they were as powerless to do anything about the catastrophe that was currently unfolding as he was.
Katarina removed his smock. The guard assigned to him pulled him up and together, they walked down the hall to his father’s study.
“Don’t we need to get out there?” Alex began, then stopped short when he saw the other person standing in the room. Finneas Hawthorne turned when they entered, expression bored.
“What are you doing here?”
Lara smirked. “You didn’t really think I would let you remove the cuffs for the ceremony, did you? Like I don’t know you’d try to bolt and humiliate me in front of all our guests on my wedding day.”
“Is this really necessary?” Alex murmured. “Haven’t I done everything you’ve asked of me?”
“That little aberrant witch did a number on you and you’re still not right in the head. If you were, you would be as excited about this day as I am. But it’s not your fault. She did this to you. After she’s found and destroyed, her curse on you will be lifted and things will go back to normal.”
“So why is Finneas here?” Alex hoped she wouldn’t have the guards hit him since he’d already been through makeup. Lara’s rants as of late had grown especially… unhinged.
“He’s going to glamour you. Make the cuffs invisible.” She turned to Finneas. “And I also need it to look like he’s smiling worshipfully at me. Like this is the happiest day of his life and he can’t wait to make me his wife.”
“Anything else?” the fae king asked sarcastically. When Lara glared, he shrugged. “We both know I’m here to see that my prisoners are released. This sick bit of theatre you’re putting on is something else, to say the least.”
Lara’s expression soured. “Just get on with it.”
“We agreed. You release my prisoners, then I perform the glamour.”
“Sorry, but that doesn’t work for me. You could just remove the spell as soon as you have what you came for. The prisoners stay where they are until I’m made queen.”
“That wasn’t what we agreed on.”
“Take it or leave it,” Lara snapped. “We’re running out of time.”
Sighing, Finneas stepped forward. “Sorry, Alex. But I’m sure you understand. These are my people.”
“I understand,” Alex said hoarsely.
He wanted to beg Finneas not to do this, to grab him and take him out of this place, but of course with the cuffs trapping him in place, that was impossible.
He felt the tingle of magic shimmering around him.
He looked down at his hands, which now appeared unbound.
He didn’t understand how the fae illusion worked, how he could still faintly feel the cuffs restraining him, could definitely feel their power draining the energy from his blood, and yet was free to move his arms again for the first time in a month.
Finneas was looking at him intently, almost as if he were trying to silently tell him something. Alex frowned. The fae king stepped back just as a guard burst into the room.
“Your Highness, we’ve had a security incident.”
Lara whirled. “I thought I told you to handle all security issues today. I have more pressing matters to focus on.”
“Yes, Your Highness, but I thought you would want to know… Daniela Girard and Serafina Visconti were just captured trying to bypass the castle wards.”
Lara sucked in a sharp breath. Alex looked to Finneas, whose expression betrayed nothing.
A tense moment passed as Lara seemed to debate what to do.
He knew she’d thought of nothing else for weeks but confronting Dani.
The chance to finally break their mate bond in time for their wedding to go forward would be too tempting to refuse, even if it did mean delaying the ceremony.
“Bring them to me. And get him out of here.” She gestured to Finneas. “He can wait outside.”
“That isn’t how glamour works,” Finneas said mildly. “In order to maintain a glamour, I have to stay physically close to the person or object I’m masking.” He shrugged. “You can put me somewhere else, but Alex’s illusion may not hold.”
She huffed. “Whatever.”
Alex cracked his wrists, flexing against the cuffs. He frowned, feeling something hard digging into the heel of his hand, almost as if he had a dagger sheath strapped to his arm.
Which… should have been impossible.
Careful to appear disinterested, he flexed his shoulders and stretched his arms as if relieved to be allowed a measure of freedom for the first time in a month. While Lara typed something into her phone, he let his right hand skim over his left wrist.
His pulse picked up speed as he felt the outline of a small dagger, one that Finneas must have left for him to find.
Obviously, this was the plan, for him to fit the dagger into the lock, release the cuffs when Lara wasn’t looking.
Then he could dematerialize out of there.
He just needed a few seconds where Lara was distracted.
Carefully he eased the dagger free from the sheath. Dropping it now would be a disaster.
Sweat beaded on his forehead. He glanced down to his hands, but they remained glamoured, appearing to stay clasped in front of him.
Forget his sister, if they managed to get him out of this hellhole, he would kiss the fae king himself.
Working by feel and hours spent staring at the damned cuffs, he managed to fit the tip of the dagger into the keyhole.
This was it.
His heart hammered in his chest. He just needed to mutter the Elvish words to the spell and he would be free.
Lara put her phone down, frowning at him.
“What’s wrong with you?” She crossed the room, dress swishing.
Quickly, Alex shoved the dagger into his sleeve. “What do you mean?”
“Your heartrate is going wild.” Her eyes flared with sudden understanding, and Alex nearly dropped the dagger when she slapped him across the face. “After everything I’ve done for us, you just can’t stop obsessing over that bitch and move on. She’s poisoned your mind, Alex.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes. “If it’s the last thing I do, I will release her hold over you so we can finally be together.”
“Lara, don’t—” he began just as the door burst open.
Two guards entered, dragging Dani and Sera. They were kicking and fighting like wild alley cats for all they were worth despite their restraints. His father and Luciano Cavalieri followed, looking triumphant. In the commotion, Finneas shot him a quick look, eyebrows raised.
Alex quickly shook his head, then slid the dagger from his sleeve. He had to get the cuffs off.
“Alex!” Dani cried, and in the instant their eyes met, he felt something inside him shatter, weeks of desperation and longing nearly causing his knees to give out in relief. She was alive. Whole. Fully vampire.
“How dare you speak my mate’s name, you cheap blood whore.” Lara slapped Dani. A bright red mark bloomed on her cheek. “Bow before me, like the trash that you are.”
The guard that had dragged her in forced her to her knees. Alex’s hands shook as he worked to fit the tip of the dagger into the cuff’s lock. He had to stop this. But how?
“All along, you’ve blamed Dani for spoiling your plans,” he said softly. “And I think that’s true, just not in the way you want us to believe.”
The room went still. Lara turned to face him, eyes wild with barely contained rage.
“You don’t know what you’re saying. She’s twisted your mind. There’s no convincing you of the truth at this point.”
“It’s taken me weeks and several interesting conversations with my sister to recognize that this has been a longer con than any of us realized.” He nodded across the room to where Judas stood. “And it all started shortly after our mother died when he suddenly fell ill.”
“Not this again.” The king shook his head. “This is what comes of allowing a boy with his head in a cloud to pursue a law degree. You always were one for crazy theories and wild conspiracies.”
“Oh, I have no doubt you believe you’re really ill. But I also find it highly suspect that the timing coincided with the Cavalieri’s push for a marriage alliance just after Sera and Finneas’s contract fell apart.”
“Our family is the wealthiest in the sector.” Luciano Cavalieri puffed out his chest. “You’re frankly not good enough for my daughter, not with the way you’ve treated her like an afterthought this entire courtship.
You made her wait years to be courted properly, with no proposal in sight.
Then you had to have your arm twisted by your father to get a proposal agreement, which I know perfectly well you were flatly against. Only to have you go chasing after that human whore. ”
Alex’s eyes flicked to Dani, who knelt at the guard’s feet, strangely calm. Her arms were still cuffed behind her back, and yet she didn’t appear worried. He had to trust she and Sera wouldn’t have come in here if they didn’t have a plan for how to get out.