Chapter 23
Astrid
I stretched and arched my back, the way Odin did when waking from a deep sleep. My body was draped over Beckett and warmed by the touch of his skin. My hair lay over his torso, and his fingers drifted through the strands, relaxing me in a way I didn’t think was possible. I felt boneless, like some hidden tension I’d always carried in the pit of my stomach was gone, and in its place was complete… wholeness. Like I found a piece of myself that I didn’t know was missing.
“Do you think it’s like this for everyone?”
Beckett chuckled. “No, not even close.”
I sighed and ran my fingers over his side. His muscles flexed and moved to my touch, and I found myself mesmerized by this buzzing connection I felt with him. “I pity them… to never know this.”
With my ear pressed to his chest, I heard his heart speed up before it calmed down. “I meant what I said before, and it wasn’t just because it was intense. I really do love you, Astrid. When I almost lost you…”
His words hitched, and I squeezed closer to him. “I know.”
A sharp rap of knuckles came from the door, and I jumped up. “Is it midnight already?”
Again, those sharp knocks came, and I leapt from the bed. “Coming.”
“We already did that,” he whispered as he lay there, looking over my naked body from head to toe.
“Shh. Come on.” I didn’t know what I was doing, running to the closet, but we had to get dressed and go. My heart raced as I dashed around the room.
“Astrid.” He held his arms out to his sides, and my mind went completely blank. One second I was thinking, and the next—nothing. I just stared at him, hypnotized by every inch of his tan skin and tense muscles. He said something to me, but I couldn’t make out what.
He cleared his throat, and I shook my head, getting ahold of myself. “Hmm, what—what’d you say?”
“Magic.” He arched his eyebrow.
“Shit, right.” I lifted my hands and shot my golden smoke at him, then at myself. I wasn’t sure what I was thinking or doing, but when my smoke dissipated, I was in a black leather vest that stopped just below my belly button, and a pair of leather pants—not the fashionable kind, but the kind that the warrior elves wore. They were the buttery kind that were easy to move in and thick enough to protect my skin. I finished it off with combat boots meant for climbing and running because I had no idea what we were getting into.
Beckett was dressed much the same, with a black leather jacket that cut off at his hips, black warrior leather pants, boots, and a black crew T-shirt. He held out his arms. “Nice.”
We both turned for the door at the same time, and my heart hammered in my chest. Beckett reached forward and placed his hand on the door. “Wait.”
“What? We have to go.” I glanced behind me. “Did we forget something?”
“Yeah.” He wrapped his hand in the front of my vest and dragged me to him. His lips covered mine in a punishing kiss that I melted for. Before I could throw my arms around his neck and pull him in for more, he took a step back from me and held the door wide open.
I was sure my eyes were still wide, my mouth was swollen, and my hands looked about ready to grab him. Ashryn and Nova stood in the hallway, waiting, both of them eyeing me. I straightened my stance and walked out to join them. Beckett winked at me then gave me a little smirk.
Cocky, he was being cocky. I rolled my eyes and sucked in a breath. “What’s the plan?”
Nova glanced from Beckett to me and back again. She chuckled yet said nothing. It was really difficult to hide things when you had a death witch nearby who could read souls as easily as she could kill one. Ashryn motioned for us to move in closer to each other. We huddled together and she lowered her voice.
“We’ll need to get down to the dungeon, without being detected, and get our tracker.”
“Can you portal down there?” Nova turned to Beckett.
He shook his head. “I couldn’t portal into Windelos, I certainly can’t portal all around it.”
“He’s right. Elven magic is different than the magic of witches or warlocks. I don’t have time to explain it, but I have an idea.” Ashryn glanced to the side where some of the river flowed next to the silvery walkway. “Surf’s up?”
Beckett’s eyebrows rose, and his eyes widened. “You want to surf the water down to the dungeon? How would that even work?”
“We’ve got to make our way back to the throne room, then jump on the biggest duct and let it carry us toward the dungeon… in theory.”
Okay, we were going to do this. “And if we get caught?”
“We’ll end up shackled ourselves.” Ashryn shrugged. “We just don’t get caught.”
If we got caught and locked up, then Logan was screwed. We had less than three days to get to him. Spending that time in a dungeon wouldn’t do. “Fine, then let’s do this.”
Ashryn pulled the sword from the holster at her hip and held it low at her side. Gone were the fancy clothes; in their place she wore her flared ripped jeans, brown boots, and graphic T-shirt. Her brown leather jacket still felt elven to me, like it was made for her and the battles to come. Braids hung down past her ears, exposing the tiny points.
Ashryn moved to the front of our group, guiding the way through the castle. Those glowing diamond blue lanterns seemed to be dimming in the night, casting all the silver metal in shadows and giving the plants around us a whole new appearance. We went from elven wonderland to haunted forest in a matter of hours. Our footsteps were soundless as we moved down the hall.
Colette swung into our view, holding up her sword. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Let us pass,” Ashryn hissed under her breath. Colette sucked in a deep breath like she was about to scream. “Stop her before she sets up the alert.”
I threw out my hand, and gold smoke knocked her right in the face. She staggered back, shaking her head dizzily. She dropped her sword. A second before it clattered to the ground, Beckett’s blue smoke surrounded the sword and caught it before it hit the floor. He drew it back toward himself, about to catch it, when Ashryn’s hand shot out and grabbed the sword. Colette staggered to the wall and slid down to the ground. Her head lolled to the side, and her eyes slid shut.
Ashryn hurried to her side. “What’d you do to her?”
“Magical sleeping cocktail.” I shrugged. “She’ll be out for a couple hours. Then she’ll be fine.”
She laid the sword next to Colette. Beckett stood over her, eyeing the sword closely. “Don’t you think it’s a bad idea to let the killer elf have her sword?”
“It would be a dishonor for her to have lost it.” Ashryn rose to her feet and began moving down the hall once more.
I followed quietly behind her. I understood where she was coming from. These people did nothing to us, and by nature they were wary of warlocks. We were here to steal the tracker and get out quickly. This was going to leave a bad impression—which is why warlocks had a bad reputation—and we weren’t doing anything to help that now. My heart hammered in my chest and I kept my magic at the ready.
Beckett’s blue magic blended in with the light coming from the lanterns. Even Nova’s purple sparks kind of blended or were close to the same hue. But my golden power couldn’t be mistaken as it reflected off the silver walls. Ashryn walked down a sloping path then back up a winding one. There were no stairs in the elven castle, only twisting silver platforms. Shouldn’t there be railings for this roller coaster ride? Yet there were none.
We moved down one hall to the next, and for long moment I wondered if she even knew where we were going. Because I was lost for sure. There was no way I was going to make it back to our rooms without a GPS. Just as I thought we’d never get there, the throne room came into view. There the two thrones sat, on top of the small rise in the floor like on a stage. The water from the falls surrounding Windelos drifted all through and around this castle. Ashryn stopped just beside a wider trench that see
med to be moving faster than all the rest.
“I think this one will do it.”
I eyed the rushing water. Sure, this one was wider, but there was only just enough room for us to go one at a time. “You want us to ride that like a Slip ’N Slide down to the dungeon?”
“I don’t know what a Slip ’N Slide is, but this path should lead to the dungeon.”
I arched my eyebrow at her. “Should?”
“Or over to the edge of the falls.” She shrugged. “Fifty-fifty shot.”
“Fifty-fifty shot?” I turned to Beckett. “Surf’s up.”
This was unnerving. I knew I had the power to manifest things, but how big could it be? Could I stop a waterfall if I was going down it? I had no freaking clue. Beckett held his hand out in front of him and shot a small blue platform into the water. It looked like a very slippery, very flat, very narrow surfboard. And somehow, I was supposed to ride it? I was from New York City, not California.
Nova ran past all of us and jumped onto the board. She held up both hands and did that surfer thing with her fingers and stuck out her tongue. “See you at the bottom, bitches!”
The board surged forward, and Nova rode it like an expert. She flowed into a tunnel and disappeared from sight. Becket shot another board into the water and motioned for Ash to take it. “You had better catch her before we lose her.”
Ashryn stepped onto the board as if she was standing on a perfectly stable surface. There was a grace to the elves that I would never be able to mimic, and I was kind of happy she wouldn’t be behind me to watch it. She drifted off behind Nova.
Beckett made another board. “You’re next.”
“Shiiiiitttt.” I moved to the edge of the river. “You know I’m not a beach bum, right? Like, the only tides I’ve ever had to fight were the holiday shoppers.”
He chuckled and offered me his hand. I took it, and he helped me to stand on the board. “I’ll be right behind you.”
I didn’t want to let go of his hand or let him out of my sight, yet I knew this was the only way. His lips parted in that breathtaking smile that I loved, and strands of his blond hair fell into his face as he nodded to me. Slowly, I opened my death grip on his fingers and let go. My heart hammered in my chest as the board surged forward. Water rose up over the edges, coating it with more slipperiness than I really needed. The front of the board dipped, and I dropped into the tunnel. If it wasn’t for the glowing board under my feet, I would have been completely blind. The walls closed in closer around me, and I felt like I was in a drainpipe or a really bad water slide. It curved to the side, and my board tilted up on the wall. My stomach twisted and dropped.
My legs shook, and I held out my arms the way people did on TV. Every muscle in my body was tight, even my jaw. I rocked from one side to the other; icy water splashed up into my face. The ends of my hair were soaked and wrapped around my shoulders. The floor dropped out from under me, and for a moment, my feet left the board and I was airborne.
I dropped back down, and the board rocked from side to side, scraping the walls. “Shit, shit, shit.”
Water sloshed over my feet, and the front of the board tipped up and the back dipped under. My arms spun, trying to find my balance. Golden smoke exploded from my hands, and I somehow found my balance. That’s it; screw this. I fired my magic at the board, and it evened out. I didn’t know how the hell I was going to manage this, and I wondered if I should just dive in and let the current take me.
The pipe tilted downward, and I started gaining speed. My hair whipped back from my face, and water sprayed everywhere. The sound of water falling hit my ears and adrenaline flooded my body. “No, no, no!”
Light streamed in through the end of the pipe, and my eyes widened. That could only mean one thing. The board gathered more momentum and shot out of the pipe like a rocket dropping toward a whirlpool. The water whirled so fast I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The board left my feet, and then I was plunging, headlong. A second before I went in, I stopped in midair, hovering there. I glanced behind me as Beckett sailed in from the pipe, his board still glued to his feet. He smiled as he landed in the whirlpool. With the wave of his hand, I glided down and landed on the board behind him. He turned the board, and we cruised with the current. Up ahead, a soaking wet Nova rode on the back of Ashryn’s board. Looks like I wasn’t the only one who went down. It made me feel slightly better. Beckett guided us away from the whirlpool toward the offshoot that Ashryn and Nova had taken. The water slowed, and so did my racing heart.
It became quiet and calm. The area opened up to a line of cells, one after another. The bars didn’t match the rest of the gleaming castle. They were thick and jagged, like if you touched one with even a finger, you’d be cut. There was an eerie stillness about this place, as if there were a million eyes watching me, but not a voice to be heard. A chill went over my skin, and I wanted off this wild ride—now.
Up ahead, Nova stepped off the board onto a small walkway on the side that ran the length of the building and held all the cells. Ashryn got off right behind her, and Beckett sucked his power back in. He guided the board off to the side.
“Astrid?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t move.
“You can let go now.” He glanced at me over his shoulder with those hypnotic ocean eyes.
“Oh.” My fingers were dug into his shoulders, and one by one, I lifted them. I stepped up onto the walkway. It was official. I hated surfing in a pipe. “Next time I want a float like in the lazy river. That was crazy.”
I walked over next to Ashryn and Nova. Beckett was the last to join us. Ashryn shrugged. “We got here.”
Nova flung her sopping hair over her shoulder. “A little warning about a drop-off would’ve been nice.”
“You survived.” Ashryn gave her a blank look.
I sucked in a deep breath. “Let’s get the tracker and get out of here.”
Ashryn pressed her lips into a hard line. “He is in the last cell at the very end.”
I looked over her shoulder toward the last cell in the back corner. On either side of the river were cells, all of them facing each other. The walls were the same gleaming metal as the rest of the castle. But deep in the corner, the walls were crawling with thick green plants, causing the entire cell to be in shadows. It was dark, and an ominous power rolled from between those jagged bars. I couldn’t see anything beyond them, not a face or even glowing eyes. Why did I want to walk away right now?
“You sure he’s in that one?”
She turned toward the cell. “Oh, I’m sure.”
Power like I’d never felt surged from the cell in waves of discomfort. It wasn’t warlock or witch magic. This was something deeper… ancient, menacing, and dangerous. If the Fallen hadn’t told us we needed him, I would’ve turned around and left. But we had to find Logan, and I would do whatever it took. I stopped just outside the bars. All I could make out was a large figure kneeling on the floor, his arms held in cuffs that were tethered to the walls. His head hung low, and long dark hair covered his face. Muscles rippled deep under his shirt. He stiffened and slowly lifted his face. I sucked in a sharp breath. Two piercing crystal eyes glowed in the darkness. They were so light, with the slightest touch of green.
Ashryn placed her hand on the bars and leaned forward. “Hello, brother dearest.”
Chapter 24
Maze
“Tilly… Til, look at me. Come on, sunflower.” I reached out and ran my finger over her jawline, trying to get her to look at me. If she could just meet my eye, I knew a flash of her would come back to me, to see me. She was the only one who ever saw me to begin with. I placed my hand over the manacles. “If I drop these, you have to promise not to run.”
She didn’t speak, only gave me a single nod. I let my magic run over the cuffs, and they popped open and dropped from our wrists. “No running.”
“Careful letting that loose; she might bite.” Ophelia walked by my open door on the way to the library.
�
��Shut up.” I stomped to the door and kicked it shut. It flew harder than I expected and slammed shut, rattling the wall.
I moved to my dresser beside the door. I yanked open my top drawer and pulled out a bag of m&m’s, my emergency bag. My stock in snacks was plummeting, and I didn’t know what made me more upset—the fact that the crone couldn’t help us, not that I thought she would, or not having enough snacks to see me through this whole mess. I shook the bag in Tilly’s direction, and her head snapped toward me.
“Yeah, you want the candy?” I lowered my voice. “Then you’ll talk to me because I know you can.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed. I pulled one of the m&m’s from the bag and held it up. Her eyes zeroed in on it. I tossed it across the room at her, and she snatched it from the air, shoving the candy into her mouth. I held up another one. “You want it?”
“Yes,” she nodded, and those wild ringlets bounced around her face.
“Can you feel Tilly in there?” I dropped down into the seat across from her, giving her one candy after another. Her movements were so fast, so dancer-like that I felt the distance growing between us. Physically, she looked kind of like my Tilly, but personally, was she gone? Had I lost her for good? Was my soulmate destined to never be, but for me to be trapped in the kind of hell where I physically could see her but never know that light behind her eyes again? Torture, pure torture.
“I am Tilly.” Her voice was so flat, no emotions.
“Do you remember me?” Please say yes; please say yes.
“Yes. Food boy.” Her arm darted out. She snatched the bag from my hand and pulled it close to her chest, clutching it there.
Just as bad as the freaking cat. I glanced down at her wrist where our soulmate mark was still glaring, just as bright as day. Those vines around her pale skin declared her as mine… then why did I feel like I had lost the one thing that was most precious to me? The one thing that made this world of crippling visions and mounting enemies worthwhile was her. Now I went and messed that up as well. I swallowed the ball in my throat. Always the screw up.
Wicked Curse (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 4) Page 14
