Magic Unleashed (Hall of Blood and Mercy Book 3)

by K. M. Shea

The study was stuffed with gorgeous wooden bookshelves, almost to the point of feeling overcrowded, but it was such a unique blend of old magic and human tech toys that it was always fun to visit.

  A statue of a unicorn carved out of a crystal was settled on a shelf with a sleek video gaming system.

  His desk—made out of a living tree—held stacks of books older than America, and what looked like one of the first iPod models.

  Vials filled with curious liquids were lined up neatly on spice racks, and beneath them was an empty carton of Chinese takeout.

  As always, the most noticeable thing about the study was the enormous velvet pet bed. It had changed locations from a bookshelf to the open mouth of a dragon head statue that was about the size of a pony. Lounging on that bed was a gloriously hairless sphinx cat.

  Today she was rolled up like a giant, pink egg, her head tucked almost invisibly under her body.

  “Hello, Aphrodite,” I said.

  She unearthed her head, revealing ears so big they were bat-like. She gave me a friendly “Mmert”, and stretched, jiggling the tiny gold bell on her collar—which appeared to be embroidered with real gold.

  “Aphrodite!” The Paragon scratched her chin and cooed over her. “Help me pick out a tea for my guests!” He scooped up the hairless cat and carried her across the study to a locked cabinet.

  Killian hovered so close to my shoulder I could feel that perpetual air of coolness that followed him. “What are you intending to feed us?” he asked.

  “I’m making you a loose-leaf tea.” The Paragon tapped the lock of the wooden cabinet. The lock clicked open and the doors swung open, revealing rows and rows of canisters covered with gauzy blue silk. “You should be honored! Tea is a fae specialty we learned centuries ago from the elves themselves! We don’t often make it for outsiders—I certainly never have!”

  The Paragon set Aphrodite down inside the cabinet. “There you go my angel, find the best one for them,” he said.

  Aphrodite glanced back at us. “Mert?”

  “Yes,” the Paragon said. “For the both of them.”

  The cat twitched her long, bony tail, then started sniffing tea canisters.

  What is going on?

  Before I could ask, the Paragon beamed at us. “Not only am I bestowing this treasured drink upon you, but Aphrodite herself is picking out the flavor and mix! Such an honor is not often bestowed!”

  Killian looked pained. “Your cat is picking out the tea?”

  “Indeed!” the Paragon cackled. “She has superior taste, and it is always such fun to drink and discover what she has selected for the day.”

  I’d been watching the cat brush her pink nose on a few canisters as she prowled the shelf. “You mean you don’t know what she chooses?”

  “Goodness, no! That would ruin all the fun!” The Paragon swiped a canister of tea off the shelf and shook it at us for emphasis. “You see I have the brew time and water temperature labeled on the outside, but the tea flavor is only recorded on the bottom of the lid. I purposely bought the same containers so I can’t tell them apart, and as long as I refrain from looking at the lid it’s a pleasant surprise from Aphrodite to me!”

  I had never before seen Killian’s forehead look so wrinkled. “You have the mental capacity of a donut,” he said.

  “I don’t know.” I kept watching Aphrodite—she’d abandoned the shelf the Paragon had put her on and jumped down to a lower one where she was carefully sorting through tea canisters. “I think it’s kind of cute. Look how hard she’s working for us!”

  “She’s a cat,” Killian said. “She doesn’t care what we drink.”

  “You’re such a doubter—and a downer!” the Paragon scolded.

  Aphrodite sat down and curled her skinny tail around her feet. “Mmert.”

  The Paragon whirled back around to face his pet. “You’ve decided on one?”

  Aphrodite pawed at a canister hiding behind the front row.

  The Paragon extracted it and held it out for her inspection. “This one?”

  “Mmert.”

  “She has chosen!” The Paragon briefly held the tea over his head in a dramatic show, then shuffled off to a nearby machine that looked like a weird version of a coffee brewer.

  He hummed under his breath as he scooped several tablespoons of the tea leaves out, dropping them in a metal basket.

  “What did the cat choose?” Killian asked.

  The Paragon harumphed in irritation. “Did you not listen to a word I said? It is meant to be a surprise!” He pointedly picked up the container, waited until Killian was watching, then shoved it back into the cabinet of identical containers and shuffled them around.

  “Idiot,” Killian muttered.

  “Child!” the Paragon shot back.

  “Mmert,” Aphrodite said. She hopped onto the Paragon’s shoulder, clearing the cabinet so he could relock it and shuffle back to the machine where he loaded the metal basket into a glass pot of water placed on an electric boiler.

  “What is that thing?” I asked.

  “It’s a tea maker!” The Paragon beamed at me. “You select the temperature and brew time, and the machine will make the tea to these specifications, see?” He pointed to a tiny screen where he changed the time and temperature, then pressed a button.

  “The Dominant—that is the top werewolf in America—gave it to me last Christmas at our secret Santa gift exchange. Best gift I ever got!” The Paragon smiled.

  The machine buzzed, and within a few seconds the water started to heat.

  “How can you claim this is special?” Killian scoffed. “You don’t even brew the tea—you use a machine!”

  The Paragon brandished the tablespoon at Killian. “Silence, doubter! You will realize how foolish you sound once you taste the heaven Aphrodite selected and I personally brewed for you.”

  Killian looked thoughtful. “A donut is too good for you,” he finally said. “You’re as mentally stable as a computer in need of updates.”

  The Paragon scoffed as he retrieved two mint green teacups and saucers that had beautiful gold edging and delicate gold flowers painted on the sides. “Ingrate. Aphrodite, don’t mind him.”

  I also frowned when I watched the Paragon place the two cups down by the machine—which whirled as it lowered the metal basket containing the tea leaves into the hot water. “Why are you only getting out two teacups?”

  “Because I’m not drinking this, naturally,” the Paragon said.

  “What?” Killian growled.

  “Aphrodite chose this tea for you two specifically,” the Paragon said. “I can’t go trampling her careful choice and imbibing it myself. Now please, sit down.”

  I thought for a moment, then sat down at the tiny but ornate tea table the Paragon pointed to. I gratefully claimed the smallest chair, which didn’t swallow me up, but looked up when I felt Killian’s eyes on me. “What?”

  “You’re falling in line with a meekness I find surprising.”

  I shrugged. “I live in a magic House. The idea of a cat picking out my tea is hardly anything to get my sword belt twisted over.”

  “See? Hazel has a grace and maturity you lack,” the Paragon said.

  Killian turned around to face his friend. “You laced it with something, didn’t you?”

  “Nonsense!”

  “Hazel, don’t drink it,” Killian said. “Who knows what he put in it?”

  “You overly suspicious vampire.” The Paragon rolled his eyes. “This is why it’s so hard for you to make friends! Oh—it’s done!”

  The machine beeped and raised the basket out of the water.

  The Paragon gave the pot a good swish, then poured the tea—which was a distinctive pink color—into the teacups. He set them on the table and stared at Killian until he sat down in the chair next to mine.

  “Very good.” He peeled Aphrodite off his shoulder and set her on her pet bed.

  Killian raised an eyebrow. “Are you just going to sit there and watch us drin
k?”

  “Goodness, no. I made a mobile Starbucks order which should be ready any moment.” The Paragon pulled a smartphone out of the sleeves of his robe and peered down at the screen. “Don’t touch anything valuable, I’ll be back in a jiffy. I have a door rigged into my favorite Starbucks cafe—I can’t wake up without my caffeine. Toodles!” The Paragon pulled a unicorn pen from the same sleeve and popped off the cap, disappearing with a puff of fog.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hazel

  I selected my teacup and saucer, sliding them in front of me. “He’s a good friend for you.”

  “He is not my friend.” Killian picked up the tea cup and gave it a whiff.

  “Can you tell what flavor it is?” I gave the steam rising from my cup an experimental sniff. It had a sweet, almost fruity scent.

  “Given that I have not devoted myself to sniffing tea leaves as a daily activity, I can’t say I know what I’m smelling. There’s a hint of chocolate and strawberries, but those are the only scents I can be certain about.” Killian suspiciously eyed his drink.

  “Bottoms up?” I held up my teacup.

  Killian stared at me.

  I shook my head and clinked my teacup against his. “You need to get out more.” I took a sip of the hot tea, taking a few moments to try to pin down the flavor.

  Killian was right. It had the tangy taste of tart strawberries that hadn’t quite ripened, the smooth richness of chocolate, and an underlying floral taste.

  It also made my tongue tingle. Which I was pretty sure wasn’t normal. Did fae swirl magic into their tea mixes?

  I took another sip, then curled my tongue. “It’s good,” I confirmed. “But there’s something about it…”

  Killian narrowed his eyes. “This is why one always has to be careful when they accept hospitality from fae. They can’t lie, but they’re deviant and frequently homicidal.” He took a cautious sip—which actually was a pretty big indicator of how much he trusted the Paragon. I’d only seen him eat human food on extremely rare occasions. Usually he was all about blood packs.

  I sipped my tea and leaned back in my chair, relaxing. “You know, I like it better the more and more I drink it.”

  “It is surprisingly good,” Killian said.

  “I didn’t know you liked tea.”

  “I don’t.” His forehead wrinkled slightly as he stared at his cup. “Which is what makes this tea even more dubious.”

  I laughed, and then struggled to hold my teacup still so I didn’t spill any on my practice clothes.

  Killian smiled, looking the most relaxed I’d seen him since we started our training session. “I missed your laugh, you know. When you were gone.”

  The sudden change in our discussion surprised me a little, but I set my teacup down on its saucer with a quiet clack. “There were a lot of things I missed—about you, the other Drakes, and Drake Hall in general.”

  “It’s not going to happen again.”

  I peeled my gaze from my teacup. “What’s not going to happen?”

  “I’m not going to let go of you again,” Killian said. “So why do we keep dancing around whatever we are?”

  I stared at Killian, a little shocked, but my reply dropped from my mouth seemingly without my consent. “All right. But what are you picturing we’re going to end up as?”

  Killian’s smile turned cunning. “I’ll take it all.”

  I blinked. “…what?”

  In the span of a heartbeat, Killian was out of his seat, and had his hands planted on the arm rests of my chair as he leaned into me. “I want everything,” he said. “Whatever you’ll give me. If that means friendship, we can stay there. But it seems to me you’re willing for more…”

  “I’m not your one,” I said, more as a test than a coherent statement.

  The term the one had been thrown around a few times regarding Killian and me. It was basically the vampire equivalent of soul mates, the one they would love the rest of their days. It was super romantic, but I wasn’t that far gone to believe Killian thought of me like that.

  Killian shrugged. “I doubt such a thing truly exists these days, and I’m not particularly inclined to care about it.”

  Yep, that was just about what I expected.

  “How romantic.”

  “Just because I don’t think you’re my destined soul mate—a sappier, more unlikely thing I’ve never heard of—doesn’t mean I don’t deeply care for you.” Killian leaned closer and closer and rested his forehead on mine while he scooped me from my relaxed position so I sat on the edge of my seat. “I’ve never particularly hidden how I feel about you. And I’m fairly certain you feel something for me as well.”

  I wanted to think straight, but my brain wasn’t cooperating. It was doing mental hiccups, which was super irritating, because I was trying to string together a cohesive thought while it was busy noticing how Killian was drop dead handsome.

  FOCUS!

  “Yeah, okay, but there’s a lot to unpack there.” I pinched my thigh to try to clear my mind, but it didn’t work. “We can’t just jump into anything. You’re a vampire, and I’m a wizard. It might be—no—it is considered taboo for us to be together. There will be lots of political…stuff, as a result. Of us. If that were to happen.”

  I was babbling, why was I babbling? My tongue still tingled a little from the tea—was that the problem?

  A dark chuckle escaped from Killian. “Do you really think I care what others will say about us?”

  “No,” I agreed. “You’re too selfish.” I slapped a hand over my mouth. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud,” I confessed with my hand still over my mouth.

  “You’re not wrong.” Killian shrugged his broad shoulders, which unfortunately fascinated my already addled brain. “I can also use my power to stifle most upsets we might face—except for you, of course.” He narrowed his eyes at me.

  “Hey, right back at you, Mr. Paranoia,” I snorted. “I would love for us to work something out, but while we have enough trust for a friendship, I’m not that far gone to believe there’s enough trust between us to establish something as deep as…whatever. No matter how hot you are, if you only trust me about as much as one of your underlings, it wouldn’t work. There’s too much on the line—for both of us”

  Why did I say he’s hot?! What is wrong with me?

  He smiled disarmingly and brushed the spot on my cheek where my wizard mark appeared if I used magic. “You think I’m attractive; that’s a good enough start I suppose.”

  “No touching, no, none.” I tried to wave him off as I gave my brain a kick.

  Killian smirked. “You might be most adorable when you’re flustered, did you know that?”

  I stared at Killian in disbelief. Why was he being so honest all of a sudden?

  Did he catch a cold or inhale something weird? Did we both catch something?

  Something tickled my thoughts, but it escaped before I could grab it.

  Of course, it was then that the Paragon reappeared with a pop of magic.

  I was still seated on my chair, and Killian was still leaning over me. We were frozen—I in horror and Killian in sheer indifference.

  The Paragon, toting what looked like a venti sized Starbucks drink, beamed when he saw us. “Oh, it appears to have worked! What a wonderful choice, Aphrodite! As usual, you know just what tea to pick.”

  “…Huh?” I said.

  “What?” Killian said, murderous.

  “Aphrodite.” The Paragon motioned to his cat—sitting in her pet bed positioned in the dragon statue’s mouth—and plopped down in the empty seat at the table. “She picked out my ‘lovers’ summer’ tea for the two of you.”

  Killian straightened. “I thought you said you didn’t check the label?”

  “For me.” The Paragon took off his spectacles and tossed them on the table. “Of course I was going to read what she picked out for the two of you! I need to know what she thinks you’re lacking.” He took a swig of his drink. “Ahhh,
that’s good stuff. Anyway, in this case, she must believe you need to rekindle your romance.”

  When our gazes swung to the sphinx cat, she yawned, displaying a mouthful of white teeth.

  “You’re joking,” Killian said.

  “Not at all. Aphrodite is very intuitive. She knows just what people need! Just last week she picked out a very appropriate tea for the Day King when he dropped by to complain. I call it ‘calm the heck down’. A few swigs and he was sleeping like a baby!”

  “Wait.” I narrowed my eyes as a few facts came into sharp focus. “Then Killian is right. Your tea is laced—with magic!”

  The Paragon gave me a huge smile.

  “No wonder it tasted flowery! That was fae magic—I thought something was off. Fae mental magics are harder for us wizards to resist, so that would explain it.” I groaned and massaged my head, until my mind caught up with me. “Wait, you laced our drinks!”

  I leaped out of the chair and launched myself at the Paragon, who gave a high-pitched squeal of fright.

  Killian caught me midair. “What was in the tea?” he said between clenched teeth.

  “Barely anything at all.” The Paragon retreated to the far side of his study, cowering by Aphrodite’s dragon statue. “Just a hint of magic—barely enough to make you two relax and speak your minds. But the magic is only there for the first two or three sips. And the effects are very short lived—only a minute or two!”

  Killian set me down, but left an arm resting on my shoulders, and together we stared the Paragon down.

  He rolled his eyes. “It’s such trace amounts it’s not even illegal! Just being around Mr. Studly here is more likely to juice you up given the pheromones vampires ooze. I just wanted to give you two an opportunity to talk.” When he glanced back at us, the light in his eyes was tired and ancient, matching his sham of an appearance. “What you two have is rare. It pained me to see you at odds when friendship between supernaturals is so unheard of.”

  Killian narrowed his eyes. “How easy is it for the fae Courts to find the next Paragon?”

  The Paragon squeaked.

  I exhaled deeply. “Shall we just forget that conversation ever happened?” I asked Killian in a lowered voice.