Maybe losing wouldn’t be so bad after all.
He used my distraction against me and managed to grab my waist, lift me up, and nearly throw me out of the ring. I got away just in time, then launched a series of sharp kicks and blows against him. When he came at me again, I back up right to the edge and used a move Jasin had taught me, dropping down and sweeping my leg under Varek. He toppled over, knocking me down with him, but only he was over the line. We both saw it at the same time, and a huge grin spread across my face.
I stood and offered him my hand. “I win.”
He stared at my hand for a second, before taking it and letting me help him to his feet. Then he yanked me toward him and captured my mouth in a rough kiss. His other hand gripped my behind and pulled me hard against him, while my heart raced. My fingers gripped his muscular upper arms, squeezing them, while he ravished my mouth. I wondered if he would do the same to my body when the time came.
“I let you win.” He took my chin in his hand. "But one day you’re still going to suck my cock and call me your king.”
I stared back at him defiantly, even as my body arched toward his touch. “Not likely.”
“We both know you want it as much as I do.” He released me and called out, “Wrill!”
She stepped into the room and glowered at me. “Yes, brother?”
He wiped sweat off his brow and stalked toward the door. “I’m moving into the palace tonight.”
“You…what?” She blinked at him.
“The princess needs my services.” He rested a hand on her shoulder. “Though it pains me to leave the Quickblades, I’m placing you in charge of them.”
“Brother, this is madness. You built this organization. You can’t leave it now for some…woman.”
“The Death Goddess chose me, and I have to accept my role as Sora’s mate. I’ll make sure no one questions your command, and I have faith that you will lead the Quickblades well.”
She stammered, but then nodded with a grim set to her features. “I’ll do my best.”
Varek turned back to me. “I need to take care of a few things here tonight, but I’ll have my things brought to the palace in the morning. Does that suit you, princess?”
“That’s fine.” I was shocked he was actually fulfilling his part of the deal, and going beyond it at that. I’d asked him to move into the palace, but hadn’t said anything about giving up the Quickblades. Maybe he was finally starting to realize he had a higher purpose as one of my Dragons.
Chapter Sixteen
Varek moved all his things into the palace the next morning. Ever since we discovered I had a fifth mate the staff had been busy getting a room ready for him, even adding a new door so it connected to our main living space. They weren’t sure how to decorate it—how did one represent the Death Goddess, with skulls and black curtains?—but I’d told them to leave it fairly plain so Varek could put his own touches on it.
Parin watched Varek move in with a tight-lipped expression, his arms crossed. I wasn’t sure if any of my mates would ever be able to accept Varek, even after he gave up his criminal lifestyle. I wasn’t sure I could accept him either. My body responded to him, but if we were going to be bound together for the rest of our lives, I needed more than that.
Varek didn't even have time to unpack his belongings before Carth and Zain returned. We had a balcony outside our communal area that was large enough for two dragons to land on at once, and we met them out there under the midday sun.
I rushed toward them and lovingly touched both their dragon snouts, relieved to see them unharmed. “Did you find anything? Where’s Erroh?”
"We found the site of the ambush in the Air Realm,” Zain said. “The elementals were smart and left scorch marks along the ground, leading to what we think is the Unseen’s current hideout. It's an old barn on a farm that's long abandoned. Erroh stayed behind to watch them in case they move again.”
"How far away?" Parin asked.
"Too far to walk,” Carth said. “Are your parents back?”
I shook my head. "Unfortunately not."
“We’ll have to do this on our own,” Varek said.
Both dragons swung their heads toward him, their fangs flashing. “What are you doing here?” Zain asked.
Varek gave him an icy look. “I live here now.”
“Varek’s given up his position in the Quickblades and has moved into the palace,” I said.
“About time you conceded defeat,” Carth said, then snorted.
“I did no such thing,” Varek snapped.
I pressed my palm to my forehead. “Enough. Carth and Zain, you should grab some food quickly to recover your strength, while the rest of us prepare to leave. We’ll go as soon as we can to rescue those elementals.”
We arrived at the location about an hour later, with me and Parin riding Zain, and Varek riding Carth. No one was pleased about the seating arrangements, but we had bigger things to worry about.
Since showing up as dragons would be a little too obvious, we stopped a short distance away and my mates reverted to their human forms. From there, we crept through the woods until we found the tree Erroh was hiding in, which had a good view of the barn. He did a doubletake when he saw Varek with us.
“Has anything changed?” Carth asked.
“No,” Erroh said. “No one has gone in or out.”
“Are we certain the elementals are inside?” Parin asked.
“No, but it’s the only lead we have,” Zain said.
I surveyed the barn. It was obviously abandoned and much of it had already collapsed, except for a large section on one side that appeared intact. That’s where the Unseen had to be holding the elementals. “An ambush seems like the best option. Quick and fast.”
“I have another idea,” Varek said. “I can summon a group of shades and send them in to distract the people inside, and possibly cause them to run out in fear.”
“You can summon shades?” I asked, horrified. Shades were minions of the Death Goddess who hungered for life. Like elementals, they could only be harmed by earth, air, fire, and water—weapons did nothing to them. They could also turn both invisible and intangible, making them especially deadly to humans. My parents had made it one of their missions to make sure there were none left in the four Realms. “Why didn’t you mention that before?”
“I can do many things.” Varek leveled an intense stare at me. “I knew this one would offend your delicate sensibilities.”
“I don’t like it,” Parin said. “Shades are…unnatural.”
“And creepy,” Erroh added.
“Do you have an alternative plan?” Varek asked.
“We could shift into dragons, fly in, and tear the place apart,” Carth said.
I debated it, but then shook my head. “Too dangerous. The elementals might get hurt. Better if the cultists don’t know we’re here at first.”
Varek raised his chin. “Then we go with my plan.”
I sighed. Sending in shades to do this felt wrong, but we needed whatever advantage we could get in this fight. “Yes, fine, summon your shades.”
Varek stepped into the woods a short distance away from us and spread his arms, his eyes closed. As we watched, ten shades rose up out of the earth, floating into existence in front of us. They appeared to be made of shadow and were only vaguely human-like, with glowing yellow eyes and sharp claws.
A shiver ran down my spine. Varek may have been one of my mates, but that didn't make the shades any less unsettling. I wondered what Mom would think of me agreeing to such a horrible thing. Would she consider it worth it to save these elementals and prevent more humans from stealing magic?
Varek whispered something to the shades, and they headed for the barn. From our hiding spot behind some trees and bushes, we watched the shades float to the side of the barn and then glide through it, as if the walls weren’t even there.
The screams started only moments later. Gods, what had we done?
We used the di
straction to surround the barn’s entrance. The door flew open and people began to run outside to escape the shades. As they did, Parin used an earthquake to knock them off their feet, while Erroh had the same effect with a huge blast of air. When Carth saw someone throwing fire, he blasted them with water. The next person that came out of the barn sent jets of water toward us, which Zain quickly extinguished.
I used the distraction to step inside the barn, which looked a lot better on the inside than the outside—it was clear they’d cleaned up in here when they’d made it one of their hideouts. The shades were attacking the cultists, but the humans were fighting back with magic. Everywhere I looked I saw flashes of fire and water, and many of the shades were already vanquished. Even worse, I spotted a dozen cages set up around the room, like the one at the demonstration the other night. They were all empty.
We were too late.
I didn’t have time to mourn, because a piece of the fallen roof launched itself toward me, no doubt thrown by one of the cultists. I used air magic to redirect it, then turned to face the person who’d attacked me. The woman in the black mask. Before I could react, she launched a fireball at me, along with a shard of ice. I quickly used fire and water to stop the attack without hesitation, but then gaped at the cultist standing before me. Had she really used both fire and water?
“How?” I asked.
A harsh feminine laugh came from behind the black mask as she threw a blast of air at me. “Yes, I do have all four elements…and more.”
After I dodged the air blast, a bolt of darkness snaked out from her hand toward me. It looked like the same shadowy mass that the shades were made out of, the same thing she’d used to steal magic from the elementals. I blasted it with fire, though I was still new to using the element, and my control was weak. I ended up spraying wide, setting the floor on fire beside her. The flames quickly jumped high, and I lost her in them.
Carth appeared beside me and quickly put out the flames with a spray of water. There was no sign of the woman in the black mask. We ran outside, where most of the fighting had moved. I expected my mates to be in dragon form taking people down, but none of them were. Most of the cultists had either fled, or were dead or captured. The shades were gone.
“Fly above and search for the leader!” I told them. “She can’t have gotten far.”
“We can’t,” Erroh said, as he held a few cultists in a hurricane-like whirlwind.
“Can’t?” I asked.
“None of us can shift,” Zain said.
I glanced between all of them to confirm. “How?”
No one had an answer. My mates continued to subdue the remaining cultists that fought us, and I stared as Varek reached out with that same shadowy power to grab three people in front of him and suck the life from their bodies.
I gazed out at the forest, cursing myself for letting the leader get away. She was damn good with her magic and she had more elemental powers than I did, since she also had earth. But she had something else too. Something I didn’t have—but Varek did.
When the fighting ended, we began to investigate the barn and the area around it. Now that it was empty I spotted a lot more things I hadn’t noticed before, like four strange pillars at each outside corner of the barn, covered in inky black ooze, with the four elemental symbols carved on the side and a skull on top.
“This is what is stopping our shifting,” Erroh said with a shudder. “It feels horrible just being near it.”
“The Death Goddess is involved somehow,” I said. “That’s her magic on these pillars, and I’m pretty sure the leader has it too.”
All eyes turned to Varek, who shrugged. “I don’t know anything more than you do.”
“Is this some kind of trick?” Erroh asked.
“Yeah, are you double-crossing us?” Carth added.
Varek huffed. “I’ve done nothing but help you and fight by your side, and you still don’t trust me. Enough. Figure this one out on your own.”
He turned on his heel and stomped away, into the forest. I had no idea if he’d head back to the palace, or if we’d just lost any ground I’d previously gained with him.
I sighed. “The Death Goddess is obviously helping the cultists, but that doesn’t mean Varek is too.”
“We know that, but we need to be careful too.” Parin gestured at the pillars. “Especially with things like this in play.”
“Let’s destroy it,” Zain said.
He unleashed magic at the pillar, but it seemed to absorb it. Magic wouldn’t work against it. Just like it prevented anyone nearby from shifting into dragon form.
“I’ll send the Silver Guard to see what they can do,” Erroh said. “For now, let’s get out of here.”
We moved back into the forest, until my mates claimed to not feel the effects of the pillars anymore. Then I sagged against the nearest tree. “The elementals are all dead. The Unseen’s leader has all four elements. We failed.”
Erroh leaned beside me. “We did the best we could, and we’ll be better prepared next time.”
“If it weren’t for those pillars, we would have stopped them,” Carth said.
I knew they were trying to make me feel better, but they were wrong. We’d never stood a chance today—and now we’d lost Varek too.
Chapter Seventeen
When we returned to the palace, Varek was nowhere to be found. His things were still there, his bags half unpacked, but there was no sign of him.
We’d gathered up the few prisoners at the barn, but there were more dead than captured. The rest had fled. The cultists the Silver Guard imprisoned would be questioned, but we already knew from previous attempts that they wouldn’t talk. They were too devoted to their cause.
My parents returned that afternoon from Divine Isle, and I was forced to explain everything that had happened while they were gone. Getting the words out was difficult. I felt like the biggest failure ever. How was I supposed to take over for my Mom when I couldn’t even protect a few elementals?
When I’d finished, Mom surprised me with a tight hug. “You’ve done the best you could in a difficult situation,” she said. “I’m proud of you.”
“There’s nothing to be proud of,” I said, bowing my head.
“Of course there is,” Slade said, resting a hand on my back. “You handled everything that happened just as we would have done.”
I wasn’t sure I believed that, but it didn’t matter, because they were back now. It was such a relief to know they’d returned and could help with this problem. And to think only weeks ago I’d been eager to be the Ascendant, and believed I was more than ready to take on any challenge. Now I realized how foolish I’d been.
I wasn’t ready. Not even close.
We were in my parents’ living room, where I’d spent many days and nights with them before. Mom sat beside me on a sofa, with Slade standing beside us. Reven leaned against the nearest wall, while Auric sat in a nearby chair and Jasin paced restlessly.
“I’ll have my spies try to uncover more information about the Unseen,” Reven said.
Auric rubbed his chin. “We can’t let those cultists murder any more elementals. Tensions are already high with the elementals at the moment.”
“I’ll set up extra guards around the city,” Jasin said.
Kira nodded. “I’ll speak with the elemental ambassadors and advise them to be especially cautious due to a radical human group.”
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked. “Or my mates?”
Mom offered me a warm smile. “Thank you for the offer, but I think it’s best if you continue your training and focus on growing closer with your mates. How are things going with them?”
“Things are good with Erroh, Carth, and Zain. I bonded with them at their temples and feel confident about them as my mates.” I hesitated. “The other two…are more complicated.”
“That’s why it’s especially important to spend some time with them now.” She kissed my cheek. “Go and be with them. We�
�ll take care of everything else.”
“Thank you, Mom.”
When I returned to my quarters, it was time for supper, but I found my three dragons passed out in exhaustion. They’d been doing a lot of flying and fighting, so I guess I couldn’t blame them. I hoped to spend some time with Parin instead, but a member of the staff informed me he’d gone to visit his sister and her baby. I took supper alone in my room and went over some of the books we had about the Death Goddess, looking for any information that might help us.
A knock on my door made me jump, and I realized I’d fallen asleep with my face in a book. I quickly tamped down my unruly curls and went to open the door. “Yes?”
To my surprise, Varek stood on the other side. His long black hair was wet, as was his clothing, due to the soft rain outside. “May I come in?”
His unexpected politeness left me speechless, but I nodded and stood back. He swept into my room, his large masculine presence filling it completely.
“I wasn’t sure if you were going to return,” I said softly, surprised at how relieved I felt to have him here again.
“We made a deal, and despite what you think, I am a man of my word.”
“I’m pleased to hear it.”
He gave me a short nod. “I’ve been out searching for answers. I know your mates—and you, probably—don’t trust me, but I have nothing to do with the Unseen.”
I stepped closer to him, unable to stop myself. “I believe you. Do you know how their leader is using death magic?”
“I have my suspicions, but I’m not ready to share them yet. Not until I’m sure.”
I bit my lip and considered pressing the issue, but then decided not to push him. We were already in an awkward place with each other, and I didn’t want to make things worse. I needed him to become part of the team.
“All right,” I said. “In the morning, we’re going to begin training together. If we can't fight as a group, we're not going to be able to defeat the Unseen, and that includes you too. We can't always rely on the shades to give us an edge."
Embrace The Dark (Her Elemental Dragons Book 5) Page 10
