Authors: Anise Rae
Vin’s face shuttered. He got the message. “The High Councilor isn’t here. That spell was implanted. Why?”
Edmund ran his fingertips over her coat where the spell had been. “I watched the old bitch every moment she was with Aurora.” He spoke through clenched teeth. “She touched Aurora’s face. Twice.” Once for the pledge. Once to freak her out. “She never touched her back.”
“You must have missed it then. Looked away and she snuck it on.”
He glared. His fury slipped his hold. Edmund felt it rise into his skin, into his eyes. “I didn’t miss it,” he seethed.
“Who the hell else could have done it? The High Councilor doesn’t go around and conduct death chamber
how to
sessions. She’s the only one who’s got the spell. No one’s fucked up enough to steal it.” Vin dared to snap at Edmund’s fierceness. Two things saved him. One, Aurora needed Edmund’s focus. Two, Edmund knew exactly who was fucked up enough to steal a spell from the highest power in the land.
“The apprentice touched the skin on Aurora’s back during an embrace of peace.”
Vin grimaced. “An embrace of peace from which family?” He knew the tradition behind such an offering from one ruling family to another.
“Noble. I witnessed it. But I had no idea death chamber spells could be implanted.”
Gregor nodded. “Implanted death spells are mentioned in at least one of the old stories. Though something usually triggers it. Like a finger pricking a spindle. Not so in this case. It just activated.”
As the wind blew, Aurora drifted across his chest. He looked down. Her feet, now booted, still floated on air.
Gregor began a chant. Edmund shot up, pulling a nearly unconscious Aurora with him. Bull charged to his side.
“He’s undoing the walking on air spell.” Vincent’s words came in a rush. That explained why he barely felt her weight and why she hadn’t collapsed into the snow. “Don’t kill him for casting without asking.” He thumped Gregor on the shoulder for his idiocy. The man raced back toward the farmhouse without a word.
Aurora slid down two inches as the spell slowly disappeared, but she stayed slumped against him. Another round of rage brewed inside him at her weakness.
“Then how about killing someone for stripping her naked and putting her in a burn dress?” His roar took his anger with it. He shoved a hard fist of vibes at his brother.
Vin stumbled back. “She spelled off the mage cuffs, Mun. She’d taken you, with what looked like a mortal wound. I couldn’t sense you anymore! I couldn’t get into your damn shield. I thought you were dead.” His brother yelled back and then changed his tone to matter-of-fact asshole. “Her fingerprints are on the would-be murder weapon.”
Edmund burned inside. “Enchantresses. Can’t. Harm.” He wrenched her tighter against his chest. She couldn’t harm, but someone had tried to harm her. He stroked her hair as she lay against his chest. “How did the bow get close enough to her that she touched it? Was it Wasten’s?” he asked his brother.
“No, it wasn’t.”
He narrowed his eyes at the unexpected answer. Another enemy loomed. “Who then?”
Vin put one hand on his hip and pointed at Bull with his other. “What’s he doing here?”
Edmund looked back at him, squinting. “Currently he’s my boss, and he can’t create fissures, in case you were wondering.” No, Bull read dark thoughts and he was likely getting a brainful at the moment.
“Do you trust him?”
“Not entirely.” He looked over his shoulder at the man. “Shooting me in the heart would have been an effective plan for you.”
“Edmund.” Aurora shifted in his arms in protest, loyal to her friend. Loyal to everyone even when she didn’t expect loyalty in return. Goddess, he wasn’t worthy of her.
The bald man squinted one eye back, as if begrudging thoughts were flitting through his mind. “It would have. Honestly, I thought about it. Not the heart though. I woulda needed you alive enough to make a decision. Join or die. But this wasn’t me, Mr. Monday. And that’s the vibing truth. Besides, Ror never would have forgiven me.”
“Join what?” Vin asked.
Edmund turned back to him. “It’s not our most pressing problem.” Even as he said it, the ache in his gut cranked up. The fissure. “Tell me about the weapon.”
Vin studied him for a long moment then shrugged. “The energy on the crossbow is dark. When Dane read the vibes on it, he said it reminded him of your energy. Since you didn’t pull the trigger, the only explanation is that it belongs to the other destruere.”
“Yeah, I think we’d already guessed that part. Until now, he didn’t seem to have it out for me personally. More Aurora than me.”
Vincent shook his head. “Not he. She. The vibes are female. Dane is certain based on the vibes on the crossbow.”
“What?” It shouldn’t have been possible. Powers rarely crossed gender lines. He looked down at her, pale and weak. He wished she’d tell him
told you so.
“It rules out Wasten as the would-be killer and he’s not a destruere mage. My men found him during the P.U.R.E. rally. He was next to his wife’s grave. He’s been in the basement for three days. This newest fissure appeared after we’d arrested him. Wasten couldn’t have done it.
“The destruere is a female.” Stunned, Edmund started flipping through his mind for new suspects…people he’d gotten to know over the last week.
“This time she’s done a hell of a lot of damage. Not all of my men are bearing up well. And the senator…” Vin shook his head. “He’s not well.”
Fuck. “My repairwoman has just had the life sucked out of her, so we’re all going to have to buck up for awhile,” Edmund snapped. He ached, too, worse than ever, but he was still standing under his own strength. Aurora wasn’t.
“I can do it,” she said, but she didn’t move. Her head rested against his heart. It beat for her. He would have to do a lot of talking to make people understand.
He gave a last glare at his brother. “Next time I see you, plan to get knocked the hell down for stripping my woman, putting her in a burn dress, and anything else you’ve done to her.”
His brother stiffened, and Edmund’s gut sank. What else had he done to her?
“Don’t even tell me you put her in the damn basement!” Edmund spoke over Aurora’s head.
“Whitman was certain of her innocence.” He put his hand over his heart as if it hurt. “You should know, though, she resisted arrest. We had to shut her down.” He paused. “She was out for three days.”
Three days.
Anger detonated from every vein in his body. While he’d been healing with Aurora’s heart, she’d been weak and helpless
.
Because of Vin. Red rage doused his sight, his blood pounding with fire. The taste of it drenched his mouth, bitter and sharp.
“Edmund.” Aurora’s word was so soft he didn’t think his ears had registered it. His mage sense had heard it for him, a beast ready to be freed.
She put her cold hand against his cheek. “Will you hold my hand?”
Protect her
.
The need trumped his soul’s urge to exact vengeance. He laced his fingers through hers and held them to his chest. He forced his blood to cool, one of the first spells he’d been taught when he’d come into his power. “My schedule will be more open as soon as I catch the bitch who’s draining the territory. I’ll kill you then.”
“Fine. Though I wouldn’t be so certain of the outcome if I were you.” Vincent deadpanned. “A fight to celebrate your survival.”
Bull stepped forward, lips pursed, thoughtful. A fight was in the air. Naturally, the man was interested. “If you think you’ll win, Monday, I’ll make sure a reporter is there. It would be excellent press if the junkyard Second beat up the leader of the army.”
Silent tension racketed up among the soldiers surrounding them. Edmund ignored it. “Drive us home, Bull.” He swung Aurora into his arms, her weakness worrying a hole in his gut.
“Yes, sir, Mr. Monday.” The words lacked the sarcastic ring Edmund expected.
“Wait.” Vin strode forward. “Are you going to fix the fissure?”
“What the hell else do you think I’m going to do?”
Gregor ran back out of the farmhouse, white paper bag in hand. He shoved it at Vin who didn’t miss a beat. He merely held it out to Edmund. “I’m coming with you. Here. Wilen’s muffins. Guaranteed to re-energize the most exhausted soldier. Potion-free and spell-free. But there’s something in them for sure. I just don’t know what. She needs them.”
Edmund took it with a glare.
Bull whistled a happy tune as he led the way to Aurora’s car and opened the passenger door for him. Edmund sat down with her in his lap.
Vin and his soldiers were already moving toward their vehicles.
Bull shut the door and sped back to the junkyard as fast as Edmund had arrived, a bigger fleet of army vehicles behind them than before. He coaxed a few bites of muffin into Aurora as they went.
“I didn’t tell them,” she whispered. “They don’t know.”
He cupped his hands around her cheeks and leaned down, nose to nose. His heart filled with her compassion, her kindness and love. It pressed against him, anchoring him to a bright joy, a love of life he’d never had. He would have told her, that he knew he carried her love, but the words would have sounded arrogant. This wasn’t another battle for supremacy, as she’d once accused him as they’d walked through the field. Yet saying
I love you
was insufficient. It wasn’t worthy enough. He didn’t have anything to offer that was.
He swallowed hard and opened his mouth. “I like holding your hand.” It was all he had. She anchored him to joy. He would hold her safe in return.
Her soft, gentle laugh welled up. She put her hands over his. But pain from the fissure flared and he couldn’t stop his flinch.
“Not my heart.” He warded off her worry. He drew down a sound spell around them, blocking Bull’s ears, unwilling to risk the vow clamping down on him. “The fissure. This one is different. I can feel it draining the land. The others didn’t drain the energy. They were just spots of chaos. This one must be enormous.” He looked over at Bull as he drove them back toward the city. The man’s lips moved. Who was that message going to?
“Good thing we’ve had some practice then.” Despite the confident words, uncertainty rang through her voice and pulled at her eyes.
He could feel the questions about their future brimming around her, though she stayed silent, and he didn’t offer any answers. Now wasn’t the time. His miraculous recovery would not go ignored, but if they could fix the fissure first, he’d have more strength to fight that next battle. For now, she needed to rest while she could.
He pulled her against him, but shifting her sent a sharp stab into his thigh. He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the culprit. Her golden hammer, enchanted with power to create her gadgets, spanned the length of his palm.
She wrapped her pretty little fingers around it and stuck it in her coat pocket as if he handed her hammers every day. Leaning her forehead against him, she closed her eyes, long lashes lying against the paleness of her cheek.
“I’d do it again, Edmund.” Her next breath was deep and slow, as if those words had been a heavy confession and with that burden lifted, she could finally rest.
Bull squealed into the junkyard on two wheels, racing past the soldiers stationed there. Edmund barely had time to drop his shield before they crashed against it.
The gang raced toward them as Bull halted near the burn barrel.
“Out,” Bull ordered.
Edmund lifted a brow at the sudden command, but he obeyed, lifting Aurora out first. “I don’t have time for junkyard politics, but I’ll make time as soon—”
Coming around the other side, Bull shoved him against the car, two others pinned his arms so fast they must have planned this. Thorn sauntered over, a metal stick in hand.
Edmund went stiff, every muscle, every joint. He held on to his vibes by a slim thread. “What the hell—”
“Sorry about this.” Bull reached back for the brand. The thin horizontal line at its end glowed with unfathomable heat. Someone jumped on top of the car and wrenched Edmund’s head to the side. He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth but not fighting. This was blasted poor timing, but it had been inevitable. The heir could not be an underling.
Fiery pain stabbed his skin, his skull, his every thought. Sharp, bitter smoke filled his nose. Somewhere in the distance, Aurora yelled. Bull pulled the brand away but it made no difference to the pain. It remained as if his skin flamed.
Slowly, everyone backed away, like a wild animal prowled among them. Smart.
Edmund turned his head, moving through the pain. He glared at Bull, only to see Aurora break free from the men holding her.
She shoved at Bull’s chest. “That’s not how it’s supposed to be done! And you know it! He almost died three days ago and you brand him with another line? That’s wrong, Owen Crombie!”
The red-hot brand dragged across the ground, perilously close to her leg.
“Put the brand away before someone gets hurt,” Edmund ordered, his voice rough.
“Whatever you say, boss.”
He glared at the rest of them, but even that hurt his forehead. Fuck, he’d swear the poker was lodged behind his eye. “The army’s coming in. You better hide anything...and anyone...you don’t want them to see.”
Yes, sirs
rebounded and they raced away.
A tear splashed down Aurora’s cheek. And that just hurt more.
“No crying,” he snapped, regretting the moment he did so, but pain was doing its damnedest to devour his consciousness and his energy, one big gulping bite after the other. He pushed it back with yet another determined thrust. Maybe he needed a muffin, too.
She sniffled. “I can feel your pain. It’s merging with your energy.”
He nodded, an apt description. “Bull.”
“Yes, boss?”
“You ever make my girl cry again, and I’ll take that brand to your dick. Understand?”
“Vibing clear.”
With a shaky, but controlled push of vibes, Edmund pointed at the shield where his brother stood. It collapsed. Next he pointed a finger at Vin and shoved his words to his brother’s ear. “You and Whitman only. The rest stay outside the yard.”