Chapter 22
RUNE
“How did things turn out for you three last night?” Sebastian looks up from his desk to where I’m lounging in a chair opposite him. His question sounds casual enough, but having known the man since my transition, I hear the current of subtext beneath the surface.
“Physically? Fucking amazing.”
“And beyond the physical?”
I shrug. “There’s something seriously paranoid and miserable taking root in Finn. I’ll give him a wide berth for now, but if he doesn’t snap out of it soon, there will be a throwdown.”
Sebastian grunts. “You two haven’t gone at each other in close to a century.”
“Maybe we’re due.”
“Perhaps you are.”
I finish reading the daily street reports from our captains within the quarter and look up to find Sebastian staring at me.
I brush my shirt and check myself in the mirror, but no, I’m sexy as hell. “What? What’s up?”
“Can I tell you something and have it stay between us? And I mean it, Viking. You and me. In the vault.”
I answer in an instant, sitting straight in my chair. “Of course. On my honor. What is it?”
He considers for another moment and then looks at me. “Last night, when I left the three of you, I came up here and had a drink in the dark. Everything was quiet, and I was thinking about the three of you and our bond.”
“What about it?”
“Nothing exactly, but the lust you shared affected me. I had a moment.”
“A moment?” I meet his expectant gaze and it hits me. “Oh! A moment. That’s…amazing. Congrats, man.”
Only he doesn’t seem like he’s celebrating.
“What?”
“I’m torn. A Dumont witch ruined me and has destroyed the man I was. It’s taken decades to rid myself of the ache of that bond. I don’t want to go through that again. I can’t.”
“But what if Josie can mend what was broken?”
He goes rigidly stiff. “And what if I feed off her and accept the bond and then Egan kills her?”
I growl, my beast surging forward even at the mention of such an atrocity. “No one will harm Josie. She’s powerful, Bas—like, really fucking powerful. I’ve been training her to fight and with her magic awakening more every day, she’s going to be a phenom.”
He doesn’t look sure.
“Think about it.” I stand, tossing the day’s reports onto his desk. “Let’s see how the potion trials goes tonight and what comes of the Moon Witches’ search for the sunstone dagger. We can revisit this in a few days.”
“I gave her the Dumont grimoire.”
“That was good of you, Bas. A classy show of support. It meant a lot to her.”
“How do you think she’ll do?”
“We’ll find out in a few hours.”
Sebastian stands behind his desk. “Is she ready? Does she have a plan?”
“I’m headed over to the apothecary shop as soon as we’re done here. Fintan took her first thing this morning. I’ll relieve him for a few hours of sleep before the big event tonight.”
I mentioned the ‘as soon as we’re done here’ part to prompt him to get to the point. It’s rare that Sebastian is awake this late in the day, and nothing is out of the ordinary in the Quarter, so why did he call me up here?
It must be important.
Was it to tell me he might’ve gotten some blood flowing to his nethers? Likely not.
I need to move this along.
“Do you have an update on Egan’s pack and what they’ve been up to since the fight at the mausoleum?” he asks.
“Nothing worth reporting. Algiers has been quiet for the past couple of weeks and the wolves have stuck to their side of the river.”
Sebastian frowns and arches a brow. “Finn told me there have been a string of reported animal attacks and missing young men over the past week, so maybe not so quiet.”
I blink. What the actual fuck? Why didn’t he mention that to me? Is he trying to make me look incompetent in front of Sebastian?
Fucker.
I shrug and play it off. “At least they’ve been sticking to their side of the river. What Egan does on his territory is his business.”
Sebastian pegs me with some serious stink-eye. “I understand the allure of a unity bond. But don’t let it affect your position here. Get with your street rats and find out what Egan is up to.”
“I will. I promise.”
Sebastian remains quiet for a long while. When I check my watch, he pegs me with a look. “Am I keeping you?”
“Sorry. It’s just…” After him just chewing me out about losing focus, it’s a bad idea to admit I’m jonesing to get out of my duties so I can sit on my ass for the rest of the day, watching Josie ready for the trials.
But I want to fill her with all the confidence she needs to kill it tonight against the other witches.
I can’t say that.
“I’m anxious to speak with Aiden and find out what’s going on in the streets. If the wolves are up to something, he’ll have an idea.”
“You’ve got a human kid watching Egan? Isn’t that your job?”
“He’s just keeping tabs. He’s smart enough not to get too close.”
“You should be doing that.”
“I’ve been working on tracking down the sunstone dagger.”
Sebastian grunts at me and lifts his chin. “Actually, I’m thinking it’s a waste of resources to have you searching for the dagger when I have it in hand.”
I blink at him, replaying his words in my head. “You know where the sunstone dagger is? Tell me. I’ll pick up Finn and will put together a team to retrieve it.”
Will Josie be upset about us missing the potion making trial if we recover her mother’s dagger? It’s important. She’ll understand…I think.
“You won’t need a team.”
“Why? You don’t think it’s being guarded? Does the person who has it not know of its worth?”
“He knows better than anyone.” Sebastian lifts his foot to prop it on his desk chair. “There’s just no need to continue with the ruse of looking for it.”
My mind stalls, still not understanding. Not even when he raises the leg of his pants. If my brain was working, I would make a joke about getting a free show, but seeing a cloth-wrapped blade strapped to his calf kills my comment.
He removes the bundle and sets it on his desk. As he peels the beige cloth away, he reveals a golden hilt and a stunning yellow stone buried in the pommel.
The sunstone dagger.
“You’ve had it this whole time?”
“I have.”
What the fuck is going on?
“Then why have we spent the past two weeks using all our resources to try to find it?”
“Because the Moon Witches asked us to help them find it. If we didn’t make an effort, Lilian Beauchamp would wonder why.”
“So, why not just tell her when we were at the Moon Witches’ hideout? You’ve wanted nothing more than to end the bonds since the ritual. If we have both pieces of the puzzle, why didn’t you hand the dagger over to Lilian and be done with this whole thing then and there?”
“Because there is no going back. I haven’t figured out if Lilian is playing us or if she’s that na?ve, but when a Dumont, a Beauchamp, and a Caron perform a ritual so strong that not one, but two witchstones are created, their goddess has spoken. There’s no going back.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I asked Sloane. If anyone outside the three families involved would know, it’s her. She said there’s no chance and I believe in her instincts.”
Sadness and anger taint his response but there’s also a finality to it. “You don’t even want to try?”
“No.”
“The witches won’t like that.”
“Let them be angry.”
I raise a brow. “Angry? They’re going to be raid-the-castle and burn the vamps kind of pissed off. These amulets—the witchstones—are their most powerful magical artifacts. They’re imbued with the essence of the Unity Ritual. They want their dagger back.”
“The dagger belonged to Celine Dumont. She was my Sun Witch. Therefore, the dagger belongs to me or, if I decide to part with it, Josephine.”
“But Josie gave them her word. She said she would try to undo what her mother did.”
Sebastian pegs me with a seething glare. “The spell went wrong for three elder witches from the most powerful bloodlines, one of them a high priestess. Now Lilian wants a fledgling witch to attempt the same thing? What if it goes wrong again? What if things end up worse than they are now? What if Josephine doesn’t survive the ritual?”
That’s a lot to unpack. I drop back into my seat and scrub my fingers over my beard. “Since when do you care about what happens to Josie?”
His gaze narrows. “Like it or not, we’re bound to the woman. That which affects her also affects us. I don’t trust Lilian Beauchamp to consider that. And if word gets out the dagger is found, the wolves might well make their play.”
“You think Lilian’s in bed with Egan? Bas, the man tortures and abuses her witches.”
He shrugs. “Adelaide was with the wolves. It didn’t seem to bother her.”
“True, but when Lilian spoke of wanting to free the Algiers witches from Egan’s hold, she seemed genuine.”
“Determination and delusion aren’t so different. If she’s so desperate to end the unity bond, Egan could persuade her to exchange the witchstones for the Moon Witches’ freedom.”
“That’s never going to happen.”
“No, but desperation might cloud the woman’s judgment.”
“But for there to be a deal, Egan would have to know Lilian Beauchamp is alive.”
Sebastian scoffs. “The woman’s been living in wolf territory for two and a half decades and hasn’t been discovered or bothered? I don’t fucking believe it. Of course he knows.”
Yeah, witches coming and going…all it would take is one perimeter scout to catch a scent, and they’d track her to that cabin. “So, when Josie arrived, he had a Dumont witch in play and figured she might know where the witchstones were.”
“Exactly. All the pieces within his grasp.”
“But what are the chances of two elder witches teaming up with Egan? They despise the fucker.”
“True, but as much as werewolves hate the unity bonds, Moon Witches hate them more. It’s common ground.”
“So, you think Egan wants the witchstones for the power and he’s convinced Lilian to give them to him in a last-ditch hope that the ritual can be reversed.”
“I do.”
“But things have changed in the past twenty-five years. If a war started now, it wouldn’t be vampires versus werewolves. It would be district against district, horde against horde, and pack against pack. Everyone would be vying for a spot at the top of the food chain.”
“And the one with the strongest arsenal would win, wouldn’t they?”
“In the end. But until then, it would be fucking chaos. The supernatural world would be exposed to the humans in less than forty-eight hours.”
“I’m done caring. The witches didn’t stop a war, they only prolonged it. I assure you, brother, that when the last thread finally snaps, we will be propelled into a bloodbath so thick the clouds will rain scarlet onto the city.”
I stare at Sebastian in stunned silence. “But we’re not going to let that happen, right? We’re going to figure out a way to keep the peace.”
“No. Not this time. I’m done accepting their bullshit. If Egan wants a war, we’ll give him one. I’ve got the sunstone dagger and a Dumont witch. We’ll mount our attack and watch the fur fly.”
He can’t seriously mean that.
But he does. I see the suicidal glint in his eye. Sometimes a vampire gets so old and jaded they want to meet their end—and to die in battle is the way any warrior wants to go.
“You want to die.”
“Don’t you?”
Fuck. I wanted him to deny it. If he’s already given up on living, there will be no saving him.
I can’t—I won’t—lose Sebastian.
I’m on my feet and gripping his shoulders in a blur of movement. “No, brother. I don’t. I love my fucking life. This city. Our horde. You and Fintan. And now with Josie, there are endless possibilities just waiting for us to discover.”
“When did you become so foolish?” Sebastian breaks eye contact, lifting his pant leg to shove the dagger back into place.
“It’s not foolish, Bas. It’s happening. Don’t give up on us. Give me six months to prove it to you. Six months…and I promise you we’ll look back at this and you’ll be glad you stuck it out.”
“I’m sorry we disagree on this one, brother.” Sebastian moves faster than I can track. He pulls my face to his until the only thing I can see is the red overtaking his icy blue gaze as his pupils dilate. “Rune Leifson, submit to me…”
I slam my eyes shut as the warbled effect of Sebastian’s thrall reaches my ears. “Bas. Don’t.”
“I’ll only take what’s necessary,” he promises, his voice heavenly soft.
“You promised you would never do this?—”
The grip on my jaw tightens to the point of pain, cutting off my words. I reach out blindly, trying to push him away, but his command of submission has already taken hold. With my eyes closed, the world sways suddenly, and then my ass sinks into his desk chair.
“Open your eyes, Rune.” Sebastian’s weight settles on top of me, holding me in place.
I fight against the urge to obey him. But I want so badly to obey—to make Sebastian happy.
“Please, don’t, Bas…” I hate the whine in my voice, struggling against the hold my sire has on both my body and my mind. I won’t be able to resist his thrall for much longer.
His breath is so close I feel it in the hairs of my beard. “Be a good child and open your eyes for your sire. Show me that beautiful blend of greens and browns.”
I can’t deny him. Blinking my eyes open, I stop breathing when Sebastian’s gaze takes me prisoner. There’s a flash of the old Sebastian before the mirage shatters when he speaks.
“Forget about my plans of war. Forget I have possession of the blade.”
His voice fills my head, drowning everything else out. Forget about the war. Forget about…
What blade?
“Blade?” The word sounds strange—like when you say a word too many times and it starts to lose its meaning.
I fight to hold onto it.
I don’t know why, but it seems important.
Blade.
The sunstone dagger! I can’t forget—I won’t.
“Forget what I said about Egan and war,” Sebastian coaxes again. “Forget about the dagger.”
Forget about the—about the… the…
I blink, inhaling a deep breath when Sebastian releases his hold and stands up. I bolt upright and immediately double over as my insides turn over. My stomach churns and there’s a good possibility I might hurl on the office floor.
“What the—what the fuck, Bas?”
“I only took what was necessary. I need you to trust me?—”
“Trust you? That’s a fuckin’ joke, right? You’re seriously talking to me about trust right after breaking mine?”
“I’ll let you remember when it’s safe.”
I put distance between the two of us and move toward the door. “If you trusted me, you wouldn’t have stolen my memory in the first place. What did you take?”
“Nothing you’ll miss. I swear.”
“I can’t fucking believe you’d wipe me. Me of all people. I’m your right hand for fuck’s sake.”
He turns to face me, his palms planted on his desk. “Do you think I would have done it if there was any other way? Some things are bigger than your feelings, Viking.”
I want to tackle him to the floor, to pound my hurt and frustration out on him, but it won’t change anything.
My sire is well and truly lost.
“Fuck you, Sebastian.”
I leave as quickly as I can. That seals it. The Sebastian I loved would never violate my trust by stealing my memories. I can’t even hold onto my anger as I realize that I’ve truly lost him.
Sebastian—my brother, my sire, my closest friend—is gone. There’s no denying it…and soon there will be no hiding it from the horde.