by Rebecca Main
“Magic,” I whisper and pull away. The itch under my nose persists even as I draw away. I scowl and fight the urge to scratch at it.
Jakob looks to me. His face is staunch, with cheeks hollowed and piercing mercurial eyes trained upon me. If his heart still beat, at this moment ours would beat as one. Jakob stems the flow of his unrest through the bond, but it does little in the way of comfort.
“You’re positive?” Staring into the hard set of my eyes, he finds his answer. The muscles about his jaw tense and release. “I doubt this to be the work of a rogue sorcerer,” he says, assessing Sebastian’s wounds.
“Why?”
Jakob meets my troubled gaze again and, with a nearly imperceptible movement of his head, indicates the slew of salves on the coffee table. Nova’s medicine finds its way into my hold and quickly onto Sebastian’s wounds—they are alarmingly warm to the touch.
“This is advanced magic. Anyone with this measure of power would be exclusively contracted or aligned with a household.”
I open my mouth to speak but shut it with a snap, already knowing the answers to my question. Who, besides our household, has such a powerful sorcerer in their pocket? The Royal Households, the Habsburgs, and the Mubarks.
“Pok.”
In shock, we stare at Sebastian. His head turns fitfully from side to side, a pant running insistently out his mouth.
“At.”
I dare not turn my eyes away from Sebastian’s active form. His nonsensical uttering is quelled by my own harsh breath. I lean in once more and pass my knuckles over his cheek.
“Sebastian?”
His eyelashes flutter wildly. “Speak again, Sebastian,” Jakob says with stern insistence. Sebastian’s chest heaves as I resume my task.
“Pok,” he wheezes, stretching his fingers and curling them on the edge of the couch. “At.”
“His pocket,” Jakob snaps.
The sticky medicine is returned to the table. My hand fumbles into one pant pocket and then the next. The metal of the mystery item grazes my fingertips and then finds purchase in my palm. As I fish it out, I cannot deny the short evaluation of the object in my hold. Small and round, with a bulbous protrusion to one end and a hollow center.
A ring.
I stop. But only for the briefest of seconds, as I regain my senses.
“What is it?”
Licking my lips, I present the item to Jakob. My heart swelling, I watch with bated breath as Jakob takes in the ring. His eyes dilate, then narrow, a vicious and victorious gleam to his gaze as he takes the ring from my palm. Without a word, he unseats me to kneel before his childe.
Jakob slides the ring onto Sebastian’s middle finger.
“Sor—sorry,” Sebastian chokes out weakly. His eyes fall shut, chest still rising and falling in humanlike fatigue. I stand and shuffle back. The inky black veins make progress despite the slather of medicine. They branch and stretch further and further out.
“You’ve done well.” Jakob grasps Sebastian’s hand in both of his. “Tell me who did this. How did you find the ring?”
A coarse gurgle winds its way up Sebastian’s throat—the only answer he is capable of. The whole of Jakob’s form trembles with the intensity of his sudden stillness. I inch back another step, heartbeat ascending.
“Save your strength,” Jakob orders instead. Sebastian’s hand falls limply to his side as it is released, the price of the success staring bleakly at us from his middle finger. Jakob rises, the corded muscles of his body flexing at the action. He turns his regard to me with a hunter’s intent. “You know something.”
“No, I—”
“Do not lie to me, Irina,” he says, with a voice devoid of all emotion. Deep within the bond, the gale of his turmoil and fury raged. For no matter how neatly he siphons off the current of his emotions, their roots still reach me. “Tell me what you know.”
I shiver at the command, at once at war with myself. Holding such a clamp on our bond weakens the command, and it is easy enough to fight off. Yet, my guilt makes a strong case against my disobedience.
“Irina.” Jakob flashes toward me. Inches separate us. “Tell me.”
“I….”
“We need to find the sorcerer who did this to him to reverse the effects of the poison.”
Sebastian rasps a cough. My eyes avert to the useless medicine scattered across the table's top. “He discovered the ring a few nights after the masquerade,” I say.
“That was over a week ago,” Jakob responds. The cold precision of his words dare me to look him in the eye and deny his calculation. “How is it you became privy to this information? I find it difficult to believe he would come to you with such news.”
My mouth dries. “He wanted to investigate the source further before coming to you,” I answer cautiously.
“And who was the source?”
“Briar Roux.”
The silence that follows lasts an eternity as I search Jakob's expression in vain, but nothing is revealed to me.
“The Roux Household has always been highly suspect. That does not explain why he withheld the information.” Jakob’s hand comes to rest upon my hip, delving around the slim corner to the small of my back. Sebastian’s secret claws at the back of my throat and pitches to the bottom of my stomach all at once. “I can hear your rabbit heart, Irina. There’s no more time for secrets. What is it you’re hiding?”
Bitterness sweeps over me. I cannot hold back my retort. “And yet this family is so good at keeping them.”
I’m yanked forward without preamble and slammed into the cold wall of Jakob’s chest. “You will tell me,” he whispers, his phantom breath ghosting over my ear and rattling my nerves. “There is nowhere for you to run, dear heart. Jax’s wards have been reset, and we both know you wish not the blood of Sebastian to rest on your hands.”
I sink my teeth firmly into my bottom lip.
“Tell me.”
“Because…,” I hedge after releasing my lip, “he didn’t believe Briar had any knowledge of the ring’s origin.”
Jakob straightens and studies me through hooded eyes. “Why?”
My hands have found their way to Jakob’s abdomen. They act as the only defense to further advances, lying flat and callous against the lithe muscle beneath. Now they curl into tight balls, the secret edging closer and closer to the tip of my tongue. Helplessly, I turn my eyes to Sebastian’s beaten form.
“He loves her.”
There is nothing, and then… everything. A burst of anger and heartache so equal in force they tear through our bond as every muscle and fiber of Jakob tightens. Everything ceases to exist at this moment as he consumes this act of betrayal.
“How long?”
I swallow. “I don’t know. As long as we’ve been here, at least.”
Jakob releases me and stands over Sebastian once more—here and then there before comprehension can even dawn. I swallow again, feeling the ripple of my dress wrap loosely around my ankles in his wake.
“How long have you known about them?”
“Not long.”
“How long?”
I corral my galloping heart into a canter and exhale through my nose. “The night of the masquerade.”
“I see.” He goes to a knee gracefully, stroking the Vrana amethyst ring with a single finger and keeping his rigid frame so still, it hurts to watch. “It seems I have fallen short in the education of my progeny. Family first. Al—”
“You taught him just fine,” I warble. Jakob merely cocks an ear in response. “He got the ring, didn’t he?” There is another minute flexing of muscles around his shoulders and down the length of his back. “He nearly got himself killed for it. For you.”
Jakob sends a sharp glare my way. “Sebastian knew the risks his dalliance would create.”
“How can you be so cruel?” I cannot fathom a plausible answer, and presume neither can Jakob for he forgoes responding.
; “If what you say is true, I have little doubt the sorcerer who targeted Sebastian is under the Rouxs’ thumb.” Jakob stands and rolls down his sleeve. “Tend to Sebastian. If Ruby returns, tell her to find me.”
“Where are you going?” I ask, rushing after him.
“This matter cannot be left unattended,” he says, his voice clipped like shards of metal. But before he can reach the door, and before I can place myself in front of it, Ruby enters. “Jax?”
A curt shake of Ruby’s head tosses her hair in front of her face. “I know who might have reason to hurt him.”
“We’ve already deduced the culprit,” Jakob cuts in. “Briar Roux.”
Ruby frowns and closes the door behind her with careful patience. “Briar wouldn’t hurt Sebastian,” she says, turning doelike eyes Sebastian’s way. Her throat bobs and her voice softens. “They’re… involved.”
“I’m aware,” Jakob says. He bristles with restrained anger. “Tell me, are Nova and Jax aware of their relationship as well? Am I the only one left in the dark?” Ruby shakes her head. “Very well,” he says tersely. “And what reason do you have to believe that it is not Briar who orchestrated the attack on Sebastian? Her ring, or should I say our ring, was unclothed in his pocket not five minutes ago.”
Doubt clouds over Ruby. “She wouldn’t hurt him,” she insists weakly. “They’re in love.”
Jakob scoffs.
“She wouldn’t,” Ruby says again, stronger this time around. “But I know who might.”
“Who?”
“Iris.”
The room catches its breath at the brisk assertion. The two vampyrés stare each other down. Unblinking. Unmoving. The leather shifts and sighs with a restless movement from Sebastian and breaks their spell.
“Gather your knives,” Jakob instructs. Ruby’s eyes brighten and begin to seep red. She rushes toward her room to do as she is told.
“What are you going to do? Where are you going to go?” I ask.
“I’ve already told you. The matter cannot be left unattended. Ruby and I will confront Briar and her sister.”
Ruby returns. Nervous energy rambles about her as she sends a particularly twisted smile to Jakob. I step back from the sudden darkness that seems to encapsulate them. Ruby’s eyes, feathered red around the edges and somehow impossibly dark, stare back at me unhinged.
“I’m very good with knives,” she reminds me with eerie softness.
“I’ll go with you,” I say.
“You’ll stay here,” Jakob rebuts. “Make sure Sebastian is comfortable, and pray to whatever God there is that Nova finds Jax quickly.”
“You can’t—”
“This is not a discussion, dear heart,” he tells me, his voice like winter’s first frost, shocking in the depths of its icy reach. I suck in a sharp breath and force my ire through the bond. Jakob frowns back at me and tightens the clamp from his end further. “We shall return.”
++
It takes an hour and thirty-seven minutes for Nova to return with Jax, the latter huffing and pinching his side. The black tendrils of magical malice now cover over half of Sebastian’s chest. He has long since stopped his fidgeting, though every now and then he emits a pained noise.
“Is he…?” Nova rushes over and settles herself at Sebastian’s feet.
“He’s not dead yet,” I respond. “Where have you been?”
Jax gestures me aside, inspecting Sebastian’s wound with pinched lips and reddened cheeks. “Since my plans for asserting my dominance among the second-class were quickly dashed by Nova here. Instead, I used my charm and Nova’s muscle to discern the perpetrator of this disgraceful act. Be a dear, fetch the amber flask from the medicine cabinet in my room along with my staff.”
Nova darts off before I can take a step. “We already know who did it,” I say, voice monotone. “The Roux Household’s sorcerer—”
Jax pins me with a look dark enough to make a lesser person shrink back. “They’re after the wrong sorcerer,” he tells me.
“You’re certain?”
Jax produces a crude, pointed stick from his jacket pocket. “I’m certain. In fact, after a pleasant inquiry with Valdora, we were able to deduce quite quickly who the real culprit was. Now, stand back.”
Jax begins to speak in a hushed malevolent tone, in a language unbeknownst to me. With a flourish, he waves the piece of wood over Sebastian’s body. A rain of sparks emits from it after he slashes a large X in the air. Sebastian seizes. Jax’s arm trembles as he slashes through the air again.
It feels as if the air is pulled from the room with each lash of his arm. Yet, the flames of the fire burn brighter and taller with his fevered attention. He stops abruptly when Sebastian’s starts sputtering up black sludge.
“Nova!”
She flashes back into the great room, her arms filled with five amber bottles and the staff. “You do realize you have like a thousand ‘amber flasks’ shoved into your cabinet, right?” she huffs. Jax shakes his head at the selection.
“It’s on the top shelf,” he says briskly. “Hurry. We don’t have much time now.”
“What did you do?” I ask, gasping in a deep breath now that the oxygen seems to have returned to the room.
“This is the wand of the sorcerer who hexed Sebastian,” he says, forehead glistening with sweat. “My potions and elixirs can only do so much without the sorcerer’s tool to rescind at least the core of the hex.”
Nova returns, a flask in each hand thrust out toward Jax. He takes the one in her left hand and uncorks it.
“Hold him down.”
Nova takes Sebastian’s bottom half, while I press down on his shoulders. When the glittering liquid hits Sebastian’s skin, it smells like sulfur. He buckles and shrieks, his eyes whipping open to stare in horror at the ceiling. Tears well in my eyes.
“Nearly finished,” Jax pants, setting aside the flask in favor of one of the many cloths on the coffee table. He smooths the viscous liquid over each wound thoroughly, ignoring Sebastian’s withering and sobbing.
“Is he going to live?” Nova asks when we are allowed to release him.
Jax frowns but nods nonetheless. “He’ll survive. I'll undo what other harm he has been dealt with my staff.”
“Jax, if the Rouxs’ sorcerer didn’t do this, then who did?”
“Someone equally invested in the demise of our family,” he says. I rack my brain for the culprit, thinking to all who have threatened—
“Omar,” I say breathlessly. “It was the Mubarks’ sorcerer, wasn’t it?”
Jax’s smile is anything but pleasant. “Excellent guess. Of course, with Nova’s assistance, we were able to divulge more from Erik than just his wand. Weren’t we?” I turn to Nova.
She sits at Sebastian’s feet, a fierce scowl upon her brow with her arms wrapped over her chest. She doesn’t so much as pass us a glance as she answers.
“He said he knew what we were looking for, and if we spared him, he would reveal the location of the rings.”
I look to Jax for confirmation, my heart lodged in my throat. He inclines his head slowly, a dangerous spark in his eye.
“Of course, we were forced to kill him anyway. We couldn’t have him running back to his master,” Jax says.
I lick my lips. “Where are they?”
“The signet box is somewhere hidden in the original Pit,” Nova responds, standing and squaring her shoulders. “Just as Omar said weeks before. I’ll go look for it now. I'm betting it won’t take long for Omar to realize his man is missing.”
“I’ll go with you!”
Nova frowns, but it is Jax who responds to my eager reply. “Have you forgotten about the ward?”
I step into Jax’s space, jabbing a finger into his chest. “Have you forgotten you’re the one who can take it down.”
Jax’s lip twitches, a fact which neither of us can ignore. With a sigh, he takes a large step back to clear my way. “Touché.”<
br />
“What? No! You can’t go with me,” Nova says as I stride forward. "She can't go with me," she says to Jax instead.
“Watch me.”
She lets out a frustrated noise, sprinting forward to block my path. “You”— she levels a pointed and disgruntled look at Jax—“do not drop the wards. And you”—Nova's glare shoots to me—“aren’t going anywhere. You’re supposed to stay here for a reason. Or have you forgotten that Iris is out for your blood? If the Roux family really does have the rings or are working with the Mubarks, they’ll be out for all of our blood. This could be a trap, Irina. Ruby and Jakob can handle this. Not to mention that Jakob will end me if he finds out you've tagged along with me... and you,” she adds. “I can find the signet box myself.”
“You just said they’re out for all of our blood, which means you fall into the same category.”
“Yes, but if we want to get technical, you rank highest on their kill list,” she counters.
I stifle a curse and count back from ten. “I haven't died yet, have I? Besides, they’ve been gone nearly two hours now. Clearly, they aren’t handling the situation as well as you think. Which means—”
“Can you feel it? Is Jakob hurt or in trouble? Wouldn’t he have used the soulmark to tell you?”
“He’s cut me off,” I tell her tartly, chin thrusting up. “And do you really believe he would signal such to me otherwise? Just listen.” I press as she opens her mouth to retort. “We’re wasting time, Nova. We’re at the end of whatever this is—this hunt. Let Ruby and Jakob deal with the Mubarks and the Rouxs, and we’ll fetch the rings. Besides, I’m a lycan. My sense of smell is far superior to yours. I’m sure I can sniff out their placement far faster than you could ever hope to.”
“She’s right, Nova,” Jax adds. He waves his hands in the air like some painter, and the magic that keeps the wards up fades.
“Fuck!” she hollers, squeezing her eyes shut. “Fine! All right? Fine. You can come, but if we don’t find it within an hour, we come back. We can’t afford to linger there.”
