Chapter 3
KANE
Ihear a door slam shut as I groggily open my eyes and the room blurs.
What the fuck happened? My blood feels like it’s on fire; maybe it is quite literally burning me inside out.
Memories rush back to me in a storm, of that creature in my blood, in my soul, draining me.
Of a spell gone wrong and Juniper… Oh god, Juniper.
She was sucked into some kind of portal, and I can’t feel her nearby.
I’ve always been able to feel her near me.
Painfully, I pull myself up to sit against the wall with a grunt and look around.
It’s a student’s room I’ve never seen, and Vale is currently barricading the door.
Roars echo from outside and they are a distinctive enough sound for me to know exactly what army is waiting—Mindless.
The Umbral Authority sent the Mindless to attack the academy and shifters.
Fuck. My dragon rattles in my head, still groggy, but he is mad.
Juniper isn’t near…and something has changed. I can feel it.
“Vale!” I shout at him once, but he doesn’t listen. He continues to shove everything against the door, from cabinets to wardrobes. We both know it is pointless. One spell, and our enemies will be in here. “Vale, where is she? Where is Juniper?”
At the sound of her name, his eyes snap to mine.
His thick, damp silver hair falls into his black eyes, and his chest heaves as he pauses.
Blood is splattered all over his white shirt and cloak.
He looks sweaty and generally a mess of injuries, but his leg looks more fucked than anything else.
It looks broken. He steps towards me, limping harshly, and I can’t see what he has done to it, but it is dripping blood even now. His voice is hoarse. “I don’t know.”
Panic swarms in my chest, and my dragon snarls.
“How do you not know where Juniper is?” I demand.
I could ask a dozen questions about our current situation, but I only care that she is okay.
It’s the sole question that matters. I don’t give a shit if I’m nearly dying; Vale is a mess and we are both clearly too weak to fight off the Mindless.
I don’t give a shit if anybody is okay other than her.
I swapped places with that thing that was draining her of blood and power.
It latched onto me like a virus, sinking deep into my bloodstream and fucking me up with fake visions of a world where Juniper is the villain.
I won’t let that happen to her. Ever. I’m pretty sure I felt my heart stop at one point. How am I alive?
Something in Vale’s eyes makes me question whether my heart did stop.
He grunts in pain as he limps over to me.
Mindless continue to roar, loud, echoing like drums. There must be thousands of them outside.
Vale walks over, sits down next to me, and drops his head back, slamming it against the brick wall behind us.
“She went through a portal somewhere, and I’m certain she’s not in this world anymore.
Not dead…just somewhere else. The spell must have been hijacked, because it was flawless and our bonded witch does not make mistakes.
That’s all I know. Black can’t sense her at all, but she’s alive.
I think you and I would both know if she was dead.
” Vale’s words are clipped as he pushes through the pain.
I would know if Juniper died, because I’d stop fighting and go into death to find her.
I’d burn the afterlife to the ground to make sure we were together again.
She is mine. “Well, fuck, brother…” I grunt.
“That thing drained me of my magic. I can’t shift and something feels wrong…
” I see nothing but guilt on his face. “What did you do?”
“I was cursed when I was younger, just like you were. Just like all of us were apparently.” All the anger in my blood settles at the admission.
Vale is cursed? Like Black, Maz and I? I knew something had happened to him when we were kids, but he would never open up.
He just sunk into himself and shut the world out.
I was tempted to do the same several times, but in the end, I knew it wasn’t best.
“You should have shared this knowledge sooner, Vale. You know all of our curses and how fucked they are. We wouldn’t ever judge you.” I touch his shoulder. “Vale, how bad is your curse and why are you telling me it now?”
“I didn’t want to tell anyone,” he murmurs, staring at the floor. The muscles clench as he links his fingers together. “Mine is so much fucking worse.”
“What’s your curse?” I demand.
“If anyone falls in love with me, they die. I’m cursed to kill my mate.
” His words are like a calm storm. Juniper.
I knew there was something between them, underneath all the hate.
She walked into a room full of death magic to save his life, and I knew she didn’t do that for any other reason than the thing between them.
It can’t be love, or she would be dead. “So I pushed her away. I made her fucking hate me. Even when I desperately craved her from the second we met, and now, she’s gone.
Maybe it is for the best I die here, and then she is never at risk. ”
“Fuck. You should’ve said something.” I rub my face. “And you’re not dying here.”
“I made a spell to bind her life to mine, if she did fall for me. A failsafe. I always remembered the spell, even when they wiped our memories year after year. I remembered out of pure desperation never to see her die.” I squeeze his shoulder.
He loves her and I don’t blame him. I’ve always loved her too, and I kept a distance for as long as I could.
“You used the spell.” I fill in what he isn’t saying.
“Yes, but not on Juniper.” He looks at me now, his eyes broken.
“You were dying and no spell would have stopped that creature from killing you. You were literally fucking dying, and I couldn’t let you die, so I used the spell on you.
I intended to bind your life to me. But instead, the spell took both our lives and bound them to the castle, or maybe the island.
I think the creature messed with the magic; I felt it woven into the spell. It didn’t want us to leave.”
“I felt it in my soul, Vale. I’ve never felt anything as evil as that thing.” I shake my head. It’s still here, at the bottom of Bloodstone Academy.
“We can’t leave here. That was the price for your life,” Vale cautions.
“We are trapped here with it, with the Umbral Authority on the way and the Mindless outside. This island is our home now. I’m not sure how far exactly the spell stretches, but I’m going to take a wild guess that we won’t be able to fly our dragons off this island without dying. ”
“Well, that’s fucking great when she’s not here.” I stare at the ceiling. “She needs us.”
“I’m glad she’s not here, aren’t you? She would be as fucked as we are, and I can’t do that spell again… There is no other failsafe. She needs to stay far away from me.” He clenches his hands into fists.
That is a problem for a future where we have a chance of surviving. “Where are Black and Maz?”
“They took the shifters, all of them, off the island. I told them to go. The Umbral Authority are going to get here soon, and at least I can die knowing they are out there and going to find Juniper. She will have them at least.” He has given up.
Vale, the most stubborn fucker I’ve ever known, has given up.
“I hope she doesn’t come back. I hate to say it, but…
Bloodstone Academy’s been taken and we’re fucked.
Completely. But you can survive what is coming. ”
He puts his arm underneath my shoulders, and he helps me stand up. Everything in my body screams as he lifts me to my feet and starts moving me towards the bathroom. He sits me down on the floor in front of the cabinet, heaving as blood pours from his leg. “You need a healer.”
“We both do,” he says, straightening. “I’m going to use the last of my magic to weave spells in this room and make sure that no one gets here. They won’t see you or sense you.”
“You’re not—” I barely get my words out before he says a spell, chains appearing and binding me to the wall by my ankles.
“You’re in no fit state to fight, and I can feel that you’re not.
Whatever that creature drained you of nearly killed you, Kane.
She’s going to need you if she does come back, but the Umbral Authority are going to want to find someone here to focus on in the meantime.
That someone will be me.” He looks at me one more time.
“Vale, has anyone ever told you that you’re shit at being the hero?
Don’t go out there and do this. We can fight together,” I plead with him.
I can’t watch him die and do nothing, trapped in here, even if he is right.
Someone needs to be here for when Juniper returns, because she will.
There is nowhere, no world, that would stop her from coming back.
Vale laughs. “See you in the afterlife, brother.” He shuts the door behind him with a click as I shout his name and slam my head back against the cabinet.
For a while, I listen to him weaving spells as I try to get up.
Vale is right; I can barely stand, I have no magic, and with the chain on my ankle, I can’t go anywhere.
Vale definitely has a nasty temper and a wickedness for spells that shouldn’t be allowed, so when the Umbral Authority get here, there will be a fight on their hands.
Vale won’t go down easily, but he shouldn’t be fighting alone.
Using the wall, I pull myself to my feet, my legs nearly giving in, but I refuse to collapse.
I straighten up and blink at my reflection in the mirror.
My skin is so pale I’m nearly blue, and blood coats my clothes and face and hair.
I look like Vale dragged me out of hell itself to come back here.
Maybe he did. I owe the asshole my life, and I can’t just sit here.
I look down and see a small creature scurrying across the counter.
It almost looks like a mouse, but its fur is silver.
It blinks up at me with bright blue eyes before scurrying away, leaving a broken watch on the counter.
A watch that’s very familiar. It’s Juniper’s.
I lift it to hold in my hand, running my finger over the glass, and wince as it cuts my fingertip.
My blood drips into it, and it begins to glow.
I barely have time to focus on my strength suddenly returning as I hear a roar.
I grip the watch tight in my hand and pull the door open, eyes widening as Mindless flood into the room.
Vale is like a machine. Stabbing. Killing.
Ripping heads off until there’s nothing but body parts and magic floating around in the air.
I step forward to help him when the chain clinks, stopping me inches from the doorframe.
Mindless run past me, not seeing me at all.
Vale doesn’t get far, not when the Mindless are not alone.
What is left of the Umbral Authority walk in, and the three fuckers are stronger than Vale.
Gritting my teeth, I grab the chain and tug at it, never taking my eyes off Vale as he collapses to his knees. Bael steps forward, the new leader, I assume, now that Fasrah is dead.
“Where the fuck is your little bitch, dragon?” he snarls into Vale’s face. “We found Fasrah’s body, and I know one of you killed her. You burnt her son, and we will be lucky if he survives.”
“I really fucking hope the prick doesn’t,” Vale says with a laugh, and Bael punches him again.
“I’m going to ask you one more time. Where is she?” he demands of Vale.
“Gone.” Vale, the fearless bastard, protecting the woman he claimed as his enemy until his last breath. “And if she does come back, you’re fucked. She will kill you all.”
Bael pulls out a dagger quicker than I can blink and stabs him straight in the stomach.
I shout, yanking on the chain as Vale groans, clutching his wound.
Red blood pours out past his fingers, and he falls to the side, his eyes locked onto me.
The chains fade with Vale’s strength, and I finally step up to try to make a spell, only to stop.
Vale shakes his head, just once. He did this to make sure I wasn’t captured, and if I go out there now, it was all pointless.
“Check the rest of the castle and make sure there’s no one else here,” Bael commands, kicking Vale. “Take him to my room, and I’ll get the information we need. They all speak in the end, and I will see how long it takes to break a dragon.”