Chapter 15
Xavier
A low, guttural snarl echoed through the room. The walls trembled, and my magic erupted outwards as my fury exploded. Portraits and books crashed to the floor, but I didn't care. How was this even possible? One second I was here, the next... it defied everything I knew.
I was back in my study, sitting at my desk just like I had been when that damn vision hit me.
This connection between us was stronger than I ever imagined.
Stronger than anything I thought possible.
Its power was unique, raw, and new. I did not know what it was capable of, and that terrified me more than anything.
I had spent the better part of yesterday recovering from her memory that breached the fucking barrier I built between us, slamming through it as if it didn't exist.
My thoughts drifted back to that memory… to that fucking cliff. It was as if I were her, seeing out of her eyes, hearing her thoughts. I remember that day, searching the woods for hours, trying to catch whoever had dared to spy on me. And now I knew why I hadn't.
A growl ripped past my lips as I shook the memory away.
But tonight wasn't just a memory. Somehow I knew that, and I saw what was happening so vividly in my mind.
That pathetic excuse of a male touching what was mine.
Seeing her with him ignited a fury I never knew I possessed.
I could still see it now, as if it were seared into my brain—his hands on her, his lips against hers.
The rage I was still feeling bordered on torment.
I watched every agonizing second, and the urge to reach her, to get to her, had been overwhelming. My body had felt heavy, weighed down as if by chains. Then, in an instant, I was there, in that room, staring at her on the bed with him.
She was mine.
I stood, unable to contain my rage a second longer. Grasping my chair, I flung it across the room, its worn wood splintering against the bookshelf lining the wall as more books fell to the stone floor. The chair was now nothing more than kindling.
What we had just done... what did that even fucking mean?
My cock twitched, still hard at the memory of her coming so completely undone in my arms. At my touch. The memory had me squeezing my eyes shut, but all I saw were her parting lips, her breathy moans. The way she said my name, begging me to continue.
Something metallic on my tongue drew my attention, and I touched my mouth. I had bitten her. Tasted her blood on my tongue and reveled in it, in marking her. Biting her. I hadn’t realized what I was doing when it happened, but I didn’t regret it.
Grabbing a cloth from a drawer, I wiped at the blood until the cloth was stained red. I stared down at it, my breath ragged.
Everything is so fucked.
*
Exhausted from yet another restless night, I shadowed onto the castle grounds. I tossed and turned the entire night, the memory of Zara consuming my every thought. I took a deep, grounding breath, my lungs filling with the sweet scent of florals wafting down from the terrace garden.
Turning, my boots sank into the soft stone at my feet, crunching as I headed toward my uncle's cabin. Gunnar was supposed to join me, but he still hadn’t woken up from his collapse the other day.
Julian assured me he was recovering, but we couldn’t waste any more time.
Flynn had been isolated since that meeting with Morgana, and despite my anger, my kingdom took priority.
He might have information I needed, and we also needed to test this loophole theory, especially now that I had some of Zara’s blood.
The cabin had smoke billowing from its chimney, and I sighed as I walked the short distance to his door.
Grabbing onto the brass handle, I squared my shoulders.
The door swung wide, and I had to duck as metal sang through the air toward me.
A dagger flew over my head, embedding itself into the dirt outside.
Flynn was standing in the middle of the room, his chest rising and falling in quick, rapid breaths.
He wasn't wearing any shoes, and his black shirt hung open, displaying his sculpted, hairy chest. His pendant necklace hung low over his heart, and his hands were clenched into fists at his sides as he looked at me wildly, like a caged animal.
I took a measured step into the cabin, closing the door behind me and saying coolly, “Uncle.”
“Uncle?” Flynn said sharply on a fast breath. “Un… ha!... UNCLE!?” he roared, his tone manic with rage.
I simply raised my brow at him, emotion drained from my features. He seemed to only grow angrier at that, and I leaned my back against the door, propping one foot up while folding my arms across my chest.
“Do you have any idea what it was like?” he bellowed.
“To be locked away like some prisoner? Gagged like an animal? To be treated by my own blood this way? To not even be given the chance to explain?” Flynn raised a clenched fist, a finger pointing at me threateningly.
“I raised you, boy. I was owed more respect than that,” he snarled, his voice vicious and raw.
I blinked, remaining unmoved.
“You lied to me my entire life,” I whispered, the words cold and barely more than a breath. My gaze met his chestnut brown eyes—the same color as Zara’s hair—and Flynn went to reply, but I cut him off.
“You knew.” My words sliced through the air, and Flynn flinched. “You knew my mother was Morgana. For four centuries.”
“I did what your father asked of me,” Flynn barked, “as he died in my arms. I kept a promise to my brother.”
“You lied to an entire kingdom. To me.”
“And I have lived with that every day.”
Flynn squared his shoulders, his face set in unapologetic rage. My voice was rising now, the controlled fury bleeding into every syllable. I pushed off the door and stepped forward, closing the space between us.
“But that’s not the only thing you lied about, is it, Uncle?”
Flynn lifted his chin higher as I stood leering down at him, my rage rising. “No, but if you had come to me sooner, I would have—”
“Would have what? You let me think I was insane for centuries, Flynn. How can I trust anything that comes out of your mouth now?”
“Xavier.”
“No,” I snarled. “You don’t get to have any excuses. You had every opportunity to tell me, to confide in me.” Shaking my head, I sneered at him. “You are just as bad as her.”
Flynn recoiled as if I had slapped him, but his brown eyes turned steely and his hand wrapped around the pendant around his neck. “This is much bigger than any of us, Xavier.”
“That sounds like an excuse,” I hissed, turning away from him and running my hands down my face.
Taking a deep, shaky breath, I tried to calm down.
I had only come here for his blood. I didn’t need to listen to this, to him.
I would get what I came here for and leave. I had better things to do anyway.
Grunting, I swung back around to face my uncle, but froze as I saw his pendant outstretched before him, dangling in the air between us.
Tilting my head at him, I opened my mouth and then closed it in confusion. The commands I was about to bark at him vanished as I stared at the swinging black stone in his grasp.
“You must understand I did what was asked of me.”
Flynn threw the pendant at me, and I caught it on instinct. It was warm and practically vibrated in my hand, feeling ancient and powerful. My eyes widened as a wave of its power washed over me, like an icy tide swirling deep within its soft black stone.
My gaze cut to my uncle. “What is this?”
Flynn didn’t answer, and my throat bobbed as I looked back down at it. The pendant seemed to warm further, and something sharp twisted in my gut. In less than a breath, the ground fell out from under me, and I started to fall into nothing.
*
My feet landed on hard stone, and I blinked.
What the fuck did my uncle just do? My eyes refocused, and my boots came into view.
Below them, swirling marble appeared, and I blinked a few more times to clear my vision.
Where had my uncle just sent me? That pendant was no longer in my hand, and I cursed at having lost it. That better not have been my way back.
I followed the smooth marble, an angry growl rumbling in my chest, and then I gasped. The blood drained from my face, my eyes widening as I took in my surroundings.
Glittering galaxies stretched all around me, stars and planets shimmering everywhere. An endless sky arched above and around, leaving me alone at its center, suspended in the air. The marble slab stretched out, nearly fifty feet in diameter, and I stood on it, suspended in its vast expanse.
The sky was a riot of color, too many shades to take in at once. Every hue I could imagine swirled together, beautiful and overwhelming. Yet beneath it all lay a dark, endless emptiness, a void so deep it made my throat tighten.
I turned in every direction, searching for something, anything.
Taking another shaky breath, I stepped forward, but as I did the stone only seemed to stretch farther in that direction. There was nowhere to go, no edge, no path, no door. Just me and the vast expanse of glittering stars around me.
My heart thundered, and as I turned again, I froze.
Three colossal stone thrones materialized in the sky, mountain-high and crudely carved.
They lacked any grandeur or embellishments, but were still striking, ancient.
The simple gray stone floated unattached, unmoving.
Before I could take another breath, or even form a thought, there was a massive blue flash, and a man appeared on the middle throne.
The hair on my arms and the back of my neck stood up as violent energy pulsed through the air, caking my skin in a suffocating electric film. I staggered backward, tripping over my own feet. Catching myself from sprawling onto my back, I gaped up at the male—Fate staring down at me.
It couldn’t be… No, this made no sense. How was he? What was he?