Chapter 23
Seth looked at Petra sharply. “Do what? What are you going to do?”
“Something Judy taught me.” Petra stepped forward to the edge of the protective circle, her heart hammering. “A spell to wake the castle’s defenses.”
“You’ve known magic for two days,” Seth said. “Is it safe?”
“Probably not.” Petra gave him a shaky smile. “But staying here while they break through definitely isn’t safe either.”
She could feel the mating bond thrumming with Seth’s concern, his protective instincts screaming at him to pull her back, but he didn’t stop her. He trusted her. That meant the world to her shaky confidence.
Petra closed her eyes and reached down, down through the floor beneath her feet, through the ancient stones of the castle, into the bedrock where the ley lines converged.
She could feel them now. There were eight rivers of power all flowing together, corrupted and tainted but still there, waiting for her.
Beneath the corruption, there was something else. Something older and cleaner and infinitely patient.
It was the castle itself. The land it stood on. And the accumulated magic of generations of her distant ancestors who had lived and loved and protected this place.
Petra took a deep breath and spoke the words Judy had taught her, letting her voice ring out clear and strong in the Latin that seemed to resonate with the very stones.
“Domus antiqua, surge et defende! Sanguine heredis, terra et caelum, expelle hostes qui domum meam profanant! Lux contra tenebras. Surge et defende!”
For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then the floor beneath their feet began to glow.
Not the sickly red of Salazar’s ring or the harsh blue-white of Judy’s defensive wards.
This was pure, clear light that shone like sunlight through crystal, or starlight on water.
It started at the corners of the great hall and spread inward, racing along the lines of mortar between ancient stones, climbing the walls, spreading across the ceiling.
The ley lines beneath the castle roared to life and Salazar’s eyes widened. “What is this?”
Eight pillars of brilliant white light erupted from the floor, one for each ley line, converging on the three mages.
The light was so bright Petra had to shield her eyes, but she could still see a little bit in the spaces between her fingers.
She saw Salazar raising his ring, trying to counter the assault with the accumulated power of centuries, but it wasn’t enough.
The light punched through his defenses like they were made of paper.
Salazar screamed, a sound of pure rage and disbelief, as the white pillars consumed him.
The blood-red ruby on his finger blazed with desperate intensity, fighting back, but the castle’s magic was older, deeper, tied to the living earth itself rather than stolen from the dead.
“Master!” Kenzo threw himself forward, trying to reach Salazar, but a second pillar of light caught him mid-stride. He had time for one choked gasp before the brilliance swallowed him whole.
Nira didn’t run or scream. She stood perfectly still as the third pillar rose around her, and for just a moment, through the blazing light, Petra thought she saw the veiled woman’s shoulders slump in what might have been relief.
Then there was only light. The pillars burned for what felt like hours but was probably only seconds. When they finally faded, the great hall fell into sudden, shocking silence.
The three mages were gone. They weren’t destroyed in any conventional sense.
They were simply gone. Erased. Dissolved back into the raw magical energy they’d tried to command.
Only scorch marks on the ancient stone floor remained where they’d stood, and even those were fading, as if the castle was reclaiming its own.
The blood-red ruby ring lay in the center of Salazar’s scorch mark, its light extinguished, the dark power within it broken and scattered. As Petra watched, hairline cracks appeared across its surface. Then it crumbled to dust, centuries of accumulated corruption finally undone.
Judy collapsed to her knees, gasping. “Holy shit. That was incredible.”
Seth pulled Petra back against his chest, his arms wrapping around her as relief flooded through the mating bond. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” Petra was shaking, she realized. Trembling like a leaf in a storm. “Did that actually work? Are they really gone?”
“They’re gone,” Judy confirmed, pushing herself upright with visible effort.
“The ley lines took them. Pulled them apart and scattered them back to the energy from which they came. There’s nothing left to reconstitute.
Salazar was one of the most powerful dark mages in existence, and you just unmade him with a single spell. ”
“The castle did it,” Petra said. “I just asked.”
“You did more than ask. You claimed your heritage and accepted your role as guardian of this nexus.” Judy’s grin was fierce despite her exhaustion. “Granny Tucker is going to be so smug when I tell her this worked.”
The great hall doors burst open and Wilhelm appeared, followed by Klaus and several others. “We felt the magic surge. What happened?” He stopped, taking in the scorch marks, the settled dust, the absence of any enemies. “Did you win?”
“The mages are gone. Destroyed by the castle’s defenses. What about the rest of our people?” Seth asked.
“Those of us who were conscious left the safe room as soon as we felt the magic surge. Last I saw, they were still sleeping,” Klaus reported.
“I’ll check on them.” Judy pushed to her feet, swaying slightly. Klaus moved immediately to support her. “The spell Salazar used was designed to incapacitate, not kill. They should be waking up any time now.”
“I’ll go with you,” Klaus said, already guiding her toward the door.
As they left, Anna appeared with her ever-present planner, looking only slightly ruffled. “Should I mark the attack as ‘resolved’ in the security log?”
Despite everything, Petra laughed. It came out a bit hysterical, but it was genuine. “Yes, Anna. You can mark it as resolved.”
“Excellent. I’ll update the incident report.” Anna made a note. “Also, André wanted me to inform you that breakfast will be delayed due to the disruption. He apologizes for the inconvenience.”
Seth made a choking sound that might have been a laugh. “Tell André we understand completely.”
Anna nodded seriously and bustled off, already pulling out what looked like a revised schedule.
Petra turned in Seth’s arms to look up at him. “Is it really over? Just like that?”
“The immediate threat is over,” Seth said carefully. “Salazar was the leader of this particular cell, and his apprentices are gone with him. But the Venifucus is bigger than just him. There will be others.”
“Let them come.” Petra surprised herself with the steel in her voice. “This is my castle, and my land. I’m not giving it up to anyone who wants to corrupt it.”
Seth’s smile was proud and fierce. “That’s my mate.”
Through the windows, Petra could see dawn breaking over the gardens. The battle had been terrifying, but they’d survived. More than survived. They’d won.
And as the first rays of sunlight touched the ancient stones of her castle, Petra felt the ley lines settle beneath her feet, their corruption finally beginning to ease.
It would take time, she knew. Judy would need to work for days or weeks to fully cleanse them.
But the worst of the darkness was gone, destroyed along with the man who’d spent decades building it.
The castle was hers now. Really and truly hers. And she was going to make sure its power was used for good.
The next hours passed in a blur of activity.
Pax and Ari stumbled into the great hall looking groggy and sporting spectacular bruises, but otherwise intact.
They reported that the rest of the perimeter team was in similar condition.
They were all battered, and furious at having been taken down so easily, but most importantly, they were all alive.
“That bastard hit us with something that felt like being struck by lightning and punched by a grizzly bear at the same time,” Pax said, accepting coffee from one of the maids with a grateful nod. “One second we were securing the gate, the next we were all on the ground.”
“Area-effect spell,” Judy explained, examining a still-fading bruise on Ari’s arm.
“Designed to incapacitate multiple targets simultaneously. Salazar liked to make dramatic entrances, apparently. He probably wanted you all just conscious enough to see him waltz in unopposed. He seemed cocky like that.”
“Well, the joke’s on him,” Ari said with grim satisfaction. “He’s the one who got dissolved into dust from all reports.”
Wilhelm appeared with a detailed damage report that was mercifully short.
“Minor damage to the entrance hall doors, which can be repaired. Scorch marks on the great hall floor, which are already fading. No structural damage to the castle itself.” He paused.
“The wards Judy placed around the perimeter are still intact and actually seem stronger than before.”
“The ley lines are waking up,” Judy said.
“They’re shaking off centuries of corruption.
It’s going to make all defensive magic in this area more potent as it rises and cleanses itself.
” She looked at Petra. “You’re going to need to learn to manage that.
A nexus point this powerful can be a little overwhelming. ”
“Add it to the list of things I need to learn,” Petra said, feeling suddenly exhausted. The adrenaline that had carried her through the confrontation was fading, leaving her shaky and weak.
Seth must have sensed it through their bond because he was immediately at her side, one arm supporting her. “You need to rest. You just channeled enough power to destroy three powerful mages. That takes a toll.”
“I’m fine,” Petra protested, but even she could hear how unconvincing it sounded.