by Eva Brandt
“Well, he did have a tentative plan of bursting into the Palasion and killing everyone in sight until he got to you and Lucienne, but I vetoed that,” Declan explained. “I thought that maybe you might have a problem with it, and Lucienne has yet to reach a point where she’d deem that kind of behavior warranted.”
A knock sounded at the door of the office, interrupting our conversation. Declan tensed. “Follow my lead and don’t do anything that will give us away.”
“I do wish you trusted my acting abilities a little more, Declan. I’ll be fine.”
Setting the book I’d been fiddling with aside, I cleared my throat, summoned my memories of all the conversations I’d had with Mathias and called out, “Yes? What is it?”
The door opened, and an unfamiliar man walked into my—or better said—Mathias’s office. “Your Lordship, the shipment of prisoners from Denver has just arrived,” he reported. “We’ve safely stored them in the cells and are waiting for further instructions.”
I was familiar with this type of process. The prisoners captured by the scavengers were undoubtedly very different from the ones The Pure Kingdom of Alaria took, but still, it was an exchange I’d had plenty of times with my subordinates.
I modulated my tone to mimic my recollections of Mathias and asked, “Did you run into any difficulties? Any guardians?”
The man briefly glimpsed at Declan, but he didn’t hesitate when he replied, “No, Your Lordship. There were no Alarian units at all. Everyone managed to feed efficiently, although one of our younger members did go into a bit of a rampage.”
A rampage? I didn’t like the sound of that. I still remembered the mess the scavengers had left behind in the warehouse in New York, and I suspected that kind of behavior was pretty common for my new subordinates. I almost didn’t want to know how they actually defined a rampage.
Declan saved me from asking and maybe breaking my cover in the process. “You had specific instructions to avoid such things,” he said sharply. “His Lordship has already pointed out that it is unwise to stir the pot at this time. Can’t you do anything right?”
As he spoke, he took a threatening step forward. The aura around him thickened with malice and something very similar to dark magic. Yes, Declan was different, and I didn’t know what to make of the change.
Mathias’s subordinate didn’t react well to Declan’s approach. Most scavengers didn’t show any fear when faced with a guardian and I’d seen them laugh in the face of inquisitors when they were being tortured. Even so, Declan was apparently on a whole new level of terrifying, because this particular plague went pasty white and started to back away. He opened and closed his mouth, but was unable to say a word.
Two seconds later, Declan pounced on him and pinned him to the door. The scavenger’s head hit the wood with a painful thud, but that was the least of his problems. Declan buried his claws in the man’s shoulder and twisted them in the wound, clearly with the intention of causing as much pain as possible.
“Well?” Declan growled. “I asked you a question. Can’t you do anything right?”
“No, Sir,” the scavenger said. “I mean, yes, Sir. I’m sorry, Sir. Please have mercy.”
This was my cue to step in. I appreciated Declan covering for me, but I couldn’t just cower behind him. Besides, I’d been an emotionless psychopath for the better part of my life. It wasn’t too difficult to use that experience to my benefit.
“Mercy?” I repeated with a laugh. “Where do you think you are? With the humans? Or the Banished, perhaps?”
I casually walked up to them, eyeing the scavenger from head to toe. “How many casualties?” I asked.
“F-Fifty-two mortals, plus three of our own people, while we were trying to subdue the young plague.”
I tasted bile in my mouth at the report but hid my disgust behind a veneer of slight displeasure. “I’m not sure if those pathetic mortal lives were worth the loss to our forces, but that is beside the point. You’ve proven to be a terrible disappointment today. I wonder what I should do with you.”
Declan instantly perked up at my comment. “Your Lordship, if it pleases you, I could—”
“I didn’t ask you for your opinion, Declan,” I cut him off. I pressed my hand to the scavenger’s flesh, right over the wound Declan had made with his claws. When I summoned my magic, it didn’t respond like it usually did. Instead, electricity crackled between us, even more intense than the fire I wielded on a regular basis.
The scavenger cried out, his body arching as fragments of my borrowed power erupted through him. Interestingly, Declan didn’t even flinch, nor did he let go, even if his hold on his victim meant that the magic should have affected him as well. It looked like he was immune.
I thanked the High King for that mercy because otherwise, I might have done real damage to my best ally. I’d never been particularly attuned to air, so it was difficult for me to rein in Mathias’s power. But I had absorbed and channeled his magic before, during our battle. I could do this too.
I didn’t pull away from Mathias’s subordinate. Instead, I reached into myself, into him, into the air, growing accustomed to the feel of the elemental energies Mathias usually commanded. It took me longer than anticipated, and by the time I managed to leash my magic, the scavenger was practically incoherent with pain and terror. The scent of urine and blood filled the air, and I grimaced in distaste at the display.
“Tell me, what should I do with you?” I asked when I stepped back. “Should I give you to my handsome pet to play with? Should I kill you myself? Decisions, decisions.”
I hoped I wasn’t making Mathias look like more of a maniac than I knew him to be. So far, it seemed I’d been convincing, but I wouldn’t know for sure until I asked Declan, and I couldn’t do that until later, after the scavenger was gone.
On the bright side, Declan seemed to be enjoying himself. I suspected the savage impulses he had suppressed during his time as a guardian were finally coming out, and he was taking full advantage of the fact that Mathias had given him free rein to do whatever he pleased. He grinned and pressed the claws of his free hand to the scavenger’s throat. “His Lordship asked you a question. You would be wise to answer him.”
“I am...” Declan’s claws nicked the man’s flesh when he spoke, but he continued after only a brief pause. “I am yours to command. My life and my death are yours.”
His voice sounded shaky and raw due to his earlier screams, but he had quickly recovered his composure. It appeared he was used to regular torture sessions. Unsurprising, considering the master he served.
I could have killed him since he’d already done plenty of damage to the humans I’d sworn to protect. His report had mentioned everyone ‘feeding efficiently’, which could only mean many others would have died, even beyond those fifty-two people the rogue had killed. But killing plagues wouldn’t help me, not now. I was no longer Darius Alarisson, prince of The Pure Kingdom of Alaria. As long as I inhabited this body, I needed to act the part. It would be a difficult task, but I had no other choice.
Since I had yet to make a decision on the fate of the scavenger in front of me, I decided to focus on the second issue. “Tell me, what happened to the troublesome young plague?”
“He was killed, Your Lordship. We couldn’t allow him to get away with breaking your rules.”
That was one thing I didn’t have to deal with, at least, although I could’ve used having someone around to punish. “Very well. For the moment, you will be allowed to live. But if you make such mistakes again, you won’t be asking for mercy. You will be asking for death.”
I nodded at Declan and he wordlessly stepped away from the scavenger, flicking his claws. Blood splattered on Mathias’s immaculate floors. A worm of an idea niggled at the back of my mind and I shot the wounded plague a disapproving look. “Oh, dear. You made a mess. How unfortunate. Are you already disrespecting me again?”
The scavenger had been supporting himself against the door, trying to fully
shake off the effect of the blood loss and electricity attack. When he heard my words, he went rigid once more. “No, Your Lordship. I would never dare.”
I believed him. It was obvious that Vandale had his people completely terrified of him, and that was something I could exploit.
Declan leisurely licked the blood off his still clawed fingers. Werewolves didn’t much care for that kind of diet—they were carnivores, not hemovores—but the sight still held something enthralling. “Of course you wouldn’t,” he told the plague with a slow, lazy smile. “We wouldn’t want something unfortunate to happen to you, now, would we?”
“N-No, of course not,” the scavenger stammered.
“Because you’re useful and loyal to me,” I continued.
“Yes, naturally.”
“Very well, then.” I was growing tired of this conversation. “You can go now. I trust you won’t make the same mistakes again.”
“No, of course not.”
I dismissed him with a casual wave, and he scampered off in such haste he tripped over his own feet. I watched him go with a mix of satisfaction and distaste. Once the door closed behind him, I turned toward Declan. “I feel like I shouldn’t have found that as enjoyable as I did. I have to ask, though. What was up with him being so terrified of you?”
Declan shrugged. “It’s mostly Mathias’s fault. I just played along with some of his schemes and it worked out. They’re all convinced that I’m going to tear out their organs and eat them while they slowly die. I’d probably do it too, but I’m not into cannibalism.”
“Aren’t you?” I arched a brow. “I couldn’t help but notice you’re a little more intense than usual.”
“I told you, Darius. I just finally remembered who I am.” He shot me a bemused smile. “I’m not going to lose my mind if that’s what you’re afraid of. You always worry so much about others. When are you going to start worrying about yourself?”
His words held a degree of warmth and familiarity I had not expected from Declan. It was just another thing on the list of dilemmas that now surrounded the former guardian. “I worry about myself plenty. I just have other priorities.” I’d also expected him to hate my guts after the way our prior exchanges had gone, but apparently, he’d changed his mind regarding that, as well. “I can’t help but find it strange that you know longer hate me because of what I did to Lucienne.”
We hadn’t actually gotten the chance to discuss the topic, but Malachai had mentioned it before I’d fallen into a coma. I hadn’t deemed it a problem then, but our circumstances had drastically changed and I had to consider every variable.
“I was very angry with you, that’s true,” Declan answered, “but I understand now that you weren’t yourself. There’s no point in blaming you for acting with the information you had at the time, in a way you believed would help her. I would’ve done the same, had I been in your shoes.”
Yes, probably, but he was also a werewolf and werewolves were rarely reasonable about their soulmates. “So you’ll just let it go? No hard feelings?”
“Darius, in the big picture, that episode is nothing compared to all the bullshit we have on our plate. I’m still not crazy about it, I admit, but I don’t blame you. We’ll do better once we all stop fighting.”
The ‘all’ undoubtedly included Mathias too, which didn’t bode well for the future of Declan’s project. “I can’t see Bjorn getting along with Mathias anytime soon, but let’s hope I’m just being pessimistic. Come on. Let’s go back to looking for the files. I seriously should learn the names of Mathias’s underlings.”
“Yes, that would be a good idea. You don’t need to know them to terrify them, but you might have to actually lead an operation yourself in the future.”
The idea didn’t appeal to me in the slightest, but I had to play along. Mathias had at least had the foresight to tell the plagues to keep a low profile, so hopefully, I wouldn’t be forced into committing any massacres. I still needed to be as prepared as I could possibly be, to learn every detail I could about Mathias’s plans and the people he used to fulfill them.
When Declan returned to work, I joined him. I probably got in his way more than I helped, but even so, by the time we found what we were looking for, we had reached a silent agreement.
We truly were in this together, and we would do whatever it took for the sake of our future.
* * *
Lucienne
After Mathias gave us his assessment on Darius’s situation, we stared at one another, struggling to come up with a way to fix things. I was drawing a blank, so in the end, I decided on the option that seemed to be working best for me so far. Communication.
“So assuming you’re right, and you can’t return Darius, what do we do next? Are you just going to stick around in Darius’s body? Surely you have a plan that will allow us to go back to normal.”
“That would depend heavily on how you define the word normal,” Mathias answered. “And I do have a tentative plan, although you might not be crazy about it.”
I did not like the sound of that. “I suppose I won’t know until you tell us. What did you have in mind?”
“We have one basic priority, to stay alive. Now that Darius and Declan are safe, we’re more or less on the right path. But here’s where it gets complicated. The fact that you’re not actually affected by the Accursed Syndrome doesn’t mean you’re not at risk.”
Fuck. I wanted to tell him to shut up, but Malachai stepped in before I could do so. “At risk? What do you mean?”
“For the better part of Lucienne’s life, the power lying inside her was forcibly suppressed,” Mathias answered him. “First, it must’ve been her father. Then, it was her twice-blessed friends, once he could no longer handle it from the distance. But now she no longer has that, and it’s coming out. If things keep going the way they are, it’ll drive her insane.” He threw another concerned look my way. “I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it really needed to be said.”
“It’s all right. To tell you the truth, it’s not a big surprise.”
The Alarian healers had made similar comments and I had felt myself losing control. Half an hour before, I’d almost attacked Queen Sarai in front of the whole Alarian court. I’d come very close to endangering our future because of my mental instability. When I’d sensed Darius’s life fade, it had been even worse. Malachai and Bjorn had proven to be somewhat immune to my power, but they could have easily not been, in which case I could have seriously hurt them, just like I had the guards.
“Do you have any suggestions on how we can handle this?” I assumed that he must since that was why he’d brought it up, to begin with.
“There’s no real shortcut when it comes to learning how to control the amount of power you have. However, we can anchor you, buy you time.” He hesitated. “I think we should go through with what the Alarians suggested and get married.”
I couldn’t help it. I burst into laughter. That was the most hilarious thing I’d heard in ages. “I didn’t know you were a comedian in your free time, Mr. Vandale. That’s a good joke.”
Mathias just arched a brow at me. The sight struck me as weird since he was using Darius’s face for all his expressions. I might have actually pointed that out if not for a very simple fact. “That wasn’t a joke, was it?” I asked with a sense of imminent dread. “You really want to marry me. You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack. No, wait, more serious than that. As the Accursed Syndrome.”
I stumbled away from him, his proximity suddenly feeling oppressive. “Why would you possibly want to marry me? You’re...”
He was what? My enemy? That wasn’t accurate any longer. Evil? That was a distinct possibility, but I could hardly blame him for his actions when I was using him for my benefit. A scavenger? So were Bjorn and Malachai.
The ideal argument came to me at last. “Already married,” I finished triumphantly.
“My wife is dead,” he explained. “She died a long time ago. I
t is, in part, in her name that I fight, and I know she would not blame me for marrying you.”
Ouch. All right, so I should have seen that coming. Way to go, Lucienne. This was the perfect time to open old wounds.
Except the wound wasn’t really old, was it? Mathias’s dead wife was anything but forgotten. “You said you wanted her back, that she’s your reason for helping us.”
“That’s true, but our marriage doesn’t have to be permanent. Lucienne, you have to understand that if you lose your mind because of your powers, none of us will have what we want. All this—everything we’ve done—will be for nothing.”
He wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean any of us, and particularly my soulmates, were ready to listen to reason. Malachai snarled at him, his eyes flashing with bloodlust. When he bared his teeth at Mathias, I half-expected he would just lunge at our new ally and rip his throat out with his fangs. If he didn’t, it was probably because Bjorn placed a hand on his shoulder, but the explosion of temper that followed was not pretty. “I can’t believe this. I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you. This was what you wanted all along. To steal Lucienne.”
“Well, I can’t deny that Lucienne is very charming,” Mathias said slowly, “but I have no desire to steal her. I doubt I’ll find much satisfaction in taking what isn’t freely given.”
It was nice to know that even genocidal maniacs had some morals, but my soulmates weren’t so easily persuaded by his words. “And yet, that’s exactly what you’re doing by forcing this marriage,” Bjorn pointed out. “Why does it have to be you? Why can’t she marry someone else?”
“And what other options do we have? Can you anchor her, Bjorn? You’re barely holding on to your own sanity. I know. I saw into your mind. And I bet your vampire friend is no different. Otherwise, the pendant would have never come to him. You can’t help her. You absorbed her power for a handful of days and it almost drove you crazy.”
That was news to me. Bjorn hadn’t told me that he was having such trouble controlling my power. “Bjorn, is this true?”
