by Linsey Hall
I was his Mograh.
And he didn’t want me.
Well, I didn’t want him.
Green eyes glinted as he sized me up.
I swallowed hard, straightening my spine.
“You.” His voice was low and rough.
“Of course, me.”
“You broke out.”
“Didn’t you think I’d try to escape?”
“I had a feeling you might.” He shrugged. “But that was quick.”
He’d known I would? I hated playing into his hands like that. But then, I hated sitting around in his dungeon more. “Why did you put me there?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Because I’m your fated mate. Because I thought there was something between us.
I pinched my lips together, unable to speak the words. Whatever closeness there had been was gone. He didn’t trust me, and I didn’t trust him. Maybe he’d freaked out when he’d learned what I was, but he’d had time to come to me since then.
He hadn’t.
It was made worse by the fact that I was lying to him. My mother’s magical signature had been all over the crystal obelisk that had destroyed his brother and cost the lives of hundreds of his people. I hadn’t told him.
Not to protect her. I hated it, but she was obviously evil. I hadn’t known how to tell him. And now that I needed his help to save Magic’s Bend, I couldn’t tell him. If he hated me because he thought I’d had something to do with his brother’s death, he’d never help me.
And Magic’s Bend would be destroyed.
Anyway, whatever we had between us—naturally or ordained by fate—it was dead.
Except my heart didn’t believe that. It raced, making my head grow almost faint. I moved my gaze to a spot over his right shoulder.
There was no denying the chemistry that flared between us. I could all but feel his desire for me. The fated mate bond made it clear—he wanted me. He didn’t want to want me.
But he did.
“Why are you here?” he asked, his tone rough.
Because I want to see you.
My stomach turned at the thought. I hated that it was true. Despite everything, I’d wanted to see him.
I was an idiot. I hated the lack of control I felt over myself around him. This Fated Mate bond thing sucked. I couldn’t control my new magic and that was terrifying. I couldn’t control my hormones.
Now I had to beg this jerk for help.
This was so not my day.
“I need your help.” I approached slowly, then stopped a few feet in front of him. “Something terrible has happened in Magic’s Bend, and you’re the only one with the right kind of magic to fix it.”
I made no mention of the albatross between us, but it hung heavy in the air. Despite it, I felt like an invisible force was pushing me toward him.
After a moment, he arched a perfect black brow. “Details?”
He seemed to have no idea what I was talking about, so if he had been watching me from the roof earlier tonight, he’d left before the demon had arrived.
I drew in a shuddery breath and explained what had gone wrong in Magic’s Bend, leaving out any mention of my role in the issue. He didn’t need to know that my Unseelie magic had gone haywire and partially caused it. He hated me because of that very magic. No way I’d mention it now.
“And lives are at risk?” he asked.
“The whole town.” Bile rose in my throat at the thought of the damage I’d caused.
I have to fix it.
Even if it killed me.
Which I really hoped it wouldn’t.
He frowned. “Why should I help you?”
“I helped you save your realm.”
“That’s done with, though.”
My jaw nearly dropped. “So you wouldn’t pay me back by helping me when I need it?”
“It was your job.”
“All the same, you benefited.”
He shrugged. “Like I said, over and done with.”
“I’ll never help you again, then.”
“Should I ever need it—which I won’t—the Council of Demon Slayers will just send someone else.”
He was being a bastard just for the sake of it. The animosity sparked between us like a live wire. But at the edges of it, desire flamed. It was a tangible thing between us, impossible to ignore. Whether it was natural or our fated mate bond, I had no idea. But it lit the air up like a wildfire.
The fighting just made it hotter.
I was so pissed at him, but so turned on at the same time.
“What do you want?” I bit out the words, my heart thundering. “I’ll do anything.”
“Anything?” The heat in his voice made me shiver, and I almost hoped he asked for something that involved touching. A lot of touching. And maybe no clothes.
I’d do it.
I’d be pissed at myself when it was over, but I’d happily jump him and do whatever he wanted me to.
“Anything.” My voice was husky.
His eyes turned dark, desire flickering in their depths.
But then he stepped back, shaking his head. The desire faded from his eyes. “Not that.”
I shrugged, as if I didn’t care.
But I did.
And it stung.
“A favor,” he said. “Tell me why the Unseelie tried to invade my realm with their dark magic and evil influences.”
“I don’t know. I told you that already. I didn’t even know I was Unseelie.”
Skepticism shone in his eyes, and he clearly wasn’t ready to believe me. “Then help me figure out why they did it.”
“Done.” But how the hell was I going to help him with that? I might be part Unseelie, but I didn’t even know where their Court was. I knew almost nothing about them, besides the fact that they had wings and their magic was screwing up my own.
That was a problem for future Mari, though.
Right now, I’d do anything it took to close the chasm in Magic’s Bend before it destroyed the town.
If I didn’t stop that, I’d be as evil as Tarron thought I was.
3
We didn’t speak as we made our way out of the Fae realm and toward the west end of Magic’s Bend. When we reached Kilmartin Glen in the human realm, I looked at him.
“Can you transport?” I asked.
“Yes. I can follow your signature and end up near you. But it’ll be too dangerous if I’m headed toward a giant pit in the ground.”
That was a good point.
And there was only one solution. It made me shiver just to think of it.
I held out my hand. “I’ll take us. I know where it’s safe.”
He looked at my hand, but I couldn’t read whatever was in his eyes. When his hard palm met my own, however, I shivered at the heat that raced up my arm. My whole body tingled, and I swore I saw a bit of heat in his eyes.
Memories of our pasts kisses flashed in my mind—him pressed hard against me, his mouth on mine.
I dragged my gaze away and called upon my magic. The ether sucked us in and spun us through space, then spit us out near the west end of Magic’s Bend. I’d put us two blocks away from the catastrophe to be safe, but the reek of dark magic stank all the way over here.
Tarron dropped my hand, and I could hear the frown in his voice. “This is bad.”
“Wait until you see it.” I strode down the street, heading toward the road where the chasm started.
When I reached it, I stifled a gasp. The sun was starting to rise, and it shined on a chasm that was even longer than it had been. People milled around, both locals with horrified expressions and Order members, the government employees who would no doubt try to fix this.
Were any of them looking at me? Did they realize I’d done this?
No, the Council of Demon Slayers was covering for me. Here and there I spotted members of the Council, come to clean up the mess of one of their own.
Fates. This was the worst.
Embarrassment heated me, but it was
quickly driven out by worry and regret.
I looked at Tarron. “Can you fix it?”
He frowned, his brow furrowed. “You didn’t tell me that you caused this.”
I swallowed hard. “You can tell?”
“Your signature is all over this.” His green gaze snapped to mine, and his posture shifted, turning warrior-like. “Was it on purpose?”
“No! Of course not. I’d never do this on purpose.”
He inspected me, then nodded, almost reluctantly. “I believe that. But what exactly happened?”
I explained about the demon, and how my magic had joined with his and gone haywire. “Probably because of the new Unseelie magic inside of me. I can’t control it.”
His expression turned skeptical.
“I know you think I’ve always known that I’m part Unseelie, but I really haven’t.” I tried to force the truth to shine in my words. “It came as a surprise to me as much as it did to you.”
He didn’t even nod.
“If I’d known I was Unseelie, I’d have better control over that magic, don’t you think?” I asked.
He stared hard at me, clearly trying to decide if he believed me. And hell, we didn’t have time for this.
“Will you help me or not?” I demanded, abandoning the attempt to convince him that I hadn’t betrayed him and helped the Unseelie invade his realm with their dark magic.
“I’ll help you, but now I’m not sure there is much I can do. If it were a normal chasm—not created by dark Unseelie magic—I could knit the earth back together. But there’s more to this…”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re going to have to help fix it. You’re the only one who can undo the magic you’ve done here. It’s like a magnet holding the earth apart. Only once you’ve removed it can I piece the earth back together.”
“Shit. I have no idea how to do that.” I shook my head and gestured to the chasm. “I don’t even know how I did this.”
“You’re going to have to get control of your magic, then. It’s the only way.”
“How?”
“Go to the Unseelie Court. Learn where you came from. Only by going to the source of your magic can you learn to control it. There are Fae rituals for these sorts of things.”
“I can only learn my magic in the Unseelie realm? I’d really prefer if there were an old book or something.”
“That’s not really how the Fae do things.”
I frowned at him. “You just want to go there to figure out why they invaded your realm.”
“I won’t lie. That has its appeal.”
“Then just go there,” I snapped, knowing it was a bit stupid but unable to help myself. Something about him just got my blood pressure up. “You don’t need me to go with you on a journey of self-discovery.”
“In fact I do. No one knows where the entrance to the Unseelie Court is.”
“You can’t go through the King’s Grove in your realm? The place where the crystal obelisk appeared?” It had linked his realm to the Unseelie one so their magic could flow through.
“No, that’s entirely blocked off, ever since we destroyed the obelisk. I don’t know how to find the Unseelie.”
Shit. I called upon my weak seeker power, knowing it wouldn’t work but trying anyway. “I don’t how to find them either.”
He frowned at me. “Really?”
“Really.”
His expression was still skeptical, but I thought that maybe he was finally starting to believe me. “Then we need to find it so that you can fix what you’ve broken.”
My mind raced. He was right. “I think I know someone we can ask.”
“Another Unseelie Fae?”
“I don’t know any others. I’m talking about three really powerful seekers. Far more powerful than I.” Actually, my friends weren’t seekers. They were FireSouls—a rare type of supernatural who shared the soul of a dragon. They could find almost anything of value. But since FireSouls were as hunted as Dragon Bloods, they pretended to be seekers.
And I prayed they’d be able to help me, because the only other option was one I really didn’t like.
Going to Grimrealm to ask my aunt.
Tarron nodded sharply. “We’ll go to them now.”
I spared the chasm one last glance, hoping that the Order members and the Council could keep the thing under control until I figured out how to get rid of it for good. Then I reached for Tarron’s hand.
He gripped mine, and I suppressed a shiver, then let the ether sweep me up and take me home.
We arrived in Darklane as the early morning sun sparkled on the many glass windows of the buildings of Factory row. The three-story factories had all been built in the eighteenth century. After a period of disrepair, they’d been fixed up into one of the trendiest parts of town. Potions & Pastilles was located here, along with Ancient Magic, the shop where the FireSouls ran their business.
“This way.” I led us across the street, toward the wide glass window decorated in gold letters that said Ancient Magic.
I pushed my way through the door, stepping into an amazing shop filled with magical signatures of every variety. Replica artifacts from ancient historical sites sat on the shelves, each imbued with a powerful magical spell. The three FireSouls—Cass, Nix, and Del—were total bad asses who’d turned their very handy skills at finding treasure into an awesome job.
“This place is impressive,” Tarron murmured.
“Right? They’re essentially tomb raiders, but ethical about it. Which I didn’t even realize was a thing when I’d first met them.”
“What do you mean?”
I stepped farther into the shop as I talked. “They work with the permission of the government, hunting down valuable artifacts that were once enchanted by ancient supernaturals. Because magic decays and becomes unstable, they find them before they can explode.”
“Ah. They save the whole archaeological site that way, don’t they?”
“And sometimes the cities on top of the sites, too.”
“Then they sell the artifacts here.” He admired a dagger on the shelf to his right.
“Not quite. The artifacts shouldn’t be sold to individuals. They’re important historical items. Normally they go to a museum, or back to the archaeological site if it hasn’t been studied yet. But before that, Nix removes the magic from the artifact and puts it into an exact replica. That’s what they sell.”
“And the artifact can no longer damage the site once it’s returned.”
“Precisely. Pretty neat system.”
“It is.”
But there was no one in the shop that I could see. “Hello? Cass?”
“Hang on!” Her voice echoed from the back room, and a moment later she hurried in. Her red hair swung around her pretty face and she was dressed in her usual uniform of trim leather jacket and jeans. She looked exhausted and a bit dirty.
“Mordaca. What’s up?”
“Hey, Cass.” I gestured to Tarron and introduced him.
“Nice to meet you.” He leaned in and shook her hand.
She lingered on his face for a moment longer than normal, clearly assessing him. “That’s some serious magic you’ve got on lockdown, Tarron.”
He lifted a shoulder slightly.
Cass was one of the most powerful supernaturals I’d ever met, but right now, she looked wrung out.
“You look like you could use a break,” I said.
She leaned against the counter. “Could I ever. But the west end of the city is about to fall into a pit. I’ve been over there trying to help, but I just came back to check on the shop.”
“Yeah, about the crevasse over there…” I met her gaze. “My fault.”
“Ohhhh.” She made a face. “That’s rough.”
“Tell me about it. But you didn’t realize I’m the cause?”
“No.”
The Council of Demon Slayers really was covering my butt.
She frowned. “So what are you doing
here if the crevasse is over there?”
“I’ve just learned I’m an Unseelie Fae and the magic has recently gone haywire inside me. The result is semi-Armageddon.”
She squeezed my arm. “It happens to the best of us.”
A surprised laugh escaped me.
“How can I help? I’m guessing you need help finding something?”
“Right in one try. I think that I need to find the Unseelie Court in order to master my new magic so that I can fix this.”
Her brows rose. “That’s a tall order.”
“I know.”
“Let me see, then.” She gestured for my hand, and I gave it to her, gripping tight. “Imagine how much you want to find it. How much you value it.”
Cass could find things because dragons freaking loved treasure. They were geniuses at finding it. If you valued something enough, anything could become treasure.
Even the entrance to the Unseelie Court.
I closed my eyes as her magic welled on the air, imagining how much I wanted to find the court.
I waited, tension gripping me tight. Next to me, Tarron sat stiffly, his gaze intense.
It took her a few moments, but finally, she opened her eyes. “Can you tell me anything about it? Approximate location? What it looks like?”
Shit. Sometimes this happened. I didn’t actually value the Unseelie realm—the opposite, in fact. In situations like this, a FireSoul really needed a bit of a clue to go on to help hone their talent.
“It’s definitely in Scotland, though we don’t know where.”
“Hmm.” Cass frowned. “That’s it?”
“I’m afraid so.” I squeezed her hand. “Maybe it’ll work?”
“I’ll try again.”
I waited, breath held.
She opened her eyes. “I need a little more to go on. If you could find a name or a slightly more specific location, I can give you better details.”
Double shit. This was what I’d been afraid of.
I withdrew my hand from hers. “We’ll work on that.” Dread swelled in my chest, knowing what I had to do next. The only place I could get information about my homeland was from family. And the only family who might know was Aunt, my mother’s sister. “But can you do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
Gratitude forced out some of the dread. Cass was solid.
