She almost missed the note, recognizing the familiar handwriting immediately.
When you’re done napping, we should finish this. R.
Rutger was here? Was there any place the rebellion leader couldn’t get to?
He’d set her up without a damn word of warning, and with one note he acted like it didn’t matter.
Fuck that. They needed to have a serious chat about a lot of things, not the least of which was him knowing she was Vaughn’s mate when he signed off on her abduction. If there had been any lingering doubts Vaughn hadn’t been honest about that, the note proved Rutger was very much in the loop.
Elena closed her hand around the note, lifting her head to find Leah frowning. “Looks like I’m going to the party as well.”
“You are?” Her father and Emma said at the same time.
“I can’t keep this forever,” she gestured to her brand. “And if Titania is busy with her guests, then I guess I need to go to her.” And find Rutger at the same time.
She did need to be rid of the brand to fully access her magic, and her grandmother might be one of the few people who could undo the glyph’s power.
As far as explanations for attending the party went, it made sense.
Her father pointed to her face. “What about your tracings?”
Okay. It almost made sense.
She moved to the right and glanced at her reflection in the dressing table mirror, no longer quite so startled by the curls of blue ivy that covered most of her skin. “I’m good.”
Her father visibly paled, in turn making Emma roll her eyes enough for the two of them. “What about Vaughn?” she asked.
“I’ll keep your Shadow company,” Nessa volunteered before Elena could respond. “You do what you have to. But,” she paused, her tone demanding nothing less than a blood oath. “If shit goes sideways, I want in.”
“What shit would be going sideways?” Her father looked torn between annoyance and sheer disbelief. “And what do you mean you love him?”
Leah jumped in. “I think that conversation will need to wait until later. Elena needs to get changed.”
He looked at them like they’d both lost their minds. She knew that look. He wasn’t going to let it go.
She glanced at her twin, feeling only marginally guilty as she mouthed an apology in advance. “Or,” she began, “we could talk about Emma being pregnant.”
All heads swiveled in Emma’s direction.
Emma’s eyes went wide. “How did you…”
“Now that’s the pic that should go on your Instagram,” Nessa boasted, but Elena was already slipping out of the room with the box—
And running smack into Piper’s kidnapper.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Come on, Ivy.
Vaughn leaned against the bars in his cell, second-guessing his decision to let them lock him up.
Twice in one day he’d been caged, and the wolf was going a little stir crazy. It wasn’t helping that he continued to replay Elena’s collapse in his head, hunting for what he’d missed that his mate clearly hadn’t.
Whatever it was, she was playing a dangerous game, but then she might be even better at those than he was. Unfortunately that didn’t make him feel a damn bit better about his current situation.
His mate was the Shadow’s Angel.
He’d had nothing but time to try and wrap his head around that on the way to Titania’s castle, and it still hadn’t fully sunk in yet, never mind that the Fae castle was the last place he’d expected to find himself. Surprisingly, the surrounding Fae magic didn’t bug the wolf nearly as much as the separation from Elena.
He watched the dark corridor, waiting for her to appear. She wouldn’t leave him here. Not with Piper still out there.
Right?
He pushed away from the bars. Fuck. Had he made a mistake trusting his mate when she pretended to lose control? Could it have all been a ploy to get her hands on the crown?
The wolf snarled at the thought, but the man needed to be more logical. She knew he wasn’t on board with her trying to harness the crown’s magic. She hadn’t really been asleep when her father had forced Vaughn from her room. She could have said something, given him some kind of sign she was coming for him.
She hadn’t.
Maybe she wanted him locked away, wanted to get even.
No. Doubting her and their bond had caused him more problems than anything else. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
She wouldn’t leave him here for payback when Piper needed help. Elena had made a name for herself saving people and completing missions others failed or couldn’t do.
She’d probably managed to fly under his radar as a Shadow for so long in part because she worked alone. Excelled at it.
His stomach jack-knifed.
Shit. She wasn’t coming for him. She was going leave him here while she did what the Shadow’s Angel always did. Got the job done. Alone.
Returning to the bars, he scanned the immediate area. He needed to find a way out, needed—
Movement in the darkest corner of his cell made him tense.
He turned his head as a shadow separated from the darkness, revealing a petite woman that reminded him instantly of Elena’s mother.
Queen Titania.
The realization rocked him as he took in the delicate braids of blond hair roped around her head. Ice-blue eyes regarded him without emotion and her porcelain skin carried an ethereal glow that made him want to flinch as he gazed at her.
As if reading his mind, the glow dimmed. “Hello Vaughn.”
He got the impression she was waiting for him to bow or something. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the bars.
The twitch at the corner of her mouth might have been a smile.
“So,” she began, “You wanted to trade my granddaughter for your sister’s life.”
“That was the plan.”
“Was?” The way she tipped her head seemed more gargoyle than Fae. “Forgetting your orders so soon?”
How much had Elena told her? Clearly everything if the queen of the Fae knew trading Elena had been a sanctioned mission. Had Titania been one of the few aware of Elena’s secret identity? “Does it really matter?”
“Only if you’re in love with her.” She took a seat on the over-sized boulder someone had deemed suitable for a place to sleep. “I suppose that answer surprises you. I’m not known for having a compassionate heart.”
Not known for having any emotions, actually. “If you were compassionate, you wouldn’t have cut her out of your life when she was only a child. If you—” He cut himself off before he found himself trapped in her dungeon for an eternity.
The Fae queen merely waited. “You have nothing to lose by continuing, I assure you.”
“Right now I’m still alive.”
She offered a brittle smile.
Okay then. Why not? “It’s a bit of a stretch that you came to express your outrage over her kidnapping when you barely even know her. You could have known her. Could have spent the last two hundred years knowing her.”
He’d lost his parents, maybe even his sister, and here Elena had people who were still alive but had turned their backs on her. His mate deserved better than that.
“You don’t approve.”
“I approve of the strong, amazing woman she’s become without your influence. She’s courageous and fierce and has a good heart. She did that all on her own. She didn’t need your approval and neither do I.”
A smile burst across the Queen’s face that felt familiar somehow. “You sound so much like your father.”
Vaughn stilled. How could Titania have known his father? Outside of his family, the rebellion had been his father’s entire life.
“Do you know how much you look like him? Same eyes, same stubborn jaw.” She paused, almost sounding sad. “Same unyielding loyalty. He’d be proud of you. Both your parents would be.”
What kind of game was the Fae playing?
She stood and approached him. “There are many who believe the Fae race should remain neutral, that we should only worry about our own concerns and leave Camelot and the rest of Avalon to its fate, whatever that may be.”
“But you…disagree,” Vaughn ventured, wondering where the hell this was going.
“I have for a long time, but openly opposing my people’s view would be…problematic. But operating on the down-low as it were, makes my life a little easier.”
A buzz started in the back of Vaughn’s head as the pieces started to fall in to place—insanely twisted pieces he barely dared to consider. “You support the rebellion.”
Another smile that tugged at him. “My people. My fight.”
He’d heard those words before. So many times… If he hadn’t been leaning against the bars, he might have fallen over. “Rutger?”
A blur materialized between him and the Fae queen, and when the fog cleared he found himself face to face with the leader of the rebellion.
What the fuck?
Vaughn opened his mouth, but not a single sound emerged. There were too many questions trying to form all at once.
“You need tea.”
Tea. Rutger’s solution to everything that ailed you. Tea with something much stronger if the occasion called for it.
It sure as fuck called for it now.
“You should sit down.” A wave of Rutger’s hand made a chair appear.
He slid sideways into it, far too dumbstruck to trust his own coordination.
“Why?” Was the first question to make it out of the gate.
Rutger’s form faded, and Vaughn faced the queen once more. Though her waif-like frame couldn’t have been further from Rutger’s solid build, they had the same smile, the same soft intelligence radiating from their eyes.
For centuries he’d worked side by side with the queen of the Fae and never knew.
No. He couldn’t have missed something that huge. She should have kicked him to curb and told him he wasn’t cut out to be a Shadow.
All this time? Really? There must have been signs. She couldn’t have kept it that well hidden for so long.
Or could she? Did being Queen of the Fae come with the kind of power to pull off living a double life for so long?
Apparently that skill ran in Elena’s family too.
“You’re going to exhaust that pour hamster,” she finally said, gesturing to his head.
Something Rutger would have said.
He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes.
“Should I start at the beginning? Well we should save our beginning for another time as my granddaughter may need your help. But we should start with Piper.”
“Do you know where she is?”
“You have no need to fear for your sister. I’ve made sure nothing will happen to her.”
“That’s not good enough,” he growled.
“Your sister’s unfortunate fate was my fault, and I’ve taken steps to correct that.”
“Steps? What st—Erec? Was that why I smelled her all over the bastard?”
“You may want to get past your wraith issues.”
Apparently it didn’t matter whether she was Rutger or herself. She still talked in riddles. “Why is Piper with Erec and why was her fate your fault?”
“You can ask your sister about Erec later.”
“She’s safe? You’re sure?”
The ice in her eyes cracked and Rutger’s warmth came pouring out. “I’m sure.”
“No games?
The warmth reached her mouth. “No games.”
Some of the tension embedded in his bones eased for the first time in months. He didn’t embrace his relief entirely, wouldn’t until his saw with his own eyes that his sister was fine. He’d come close to getting her back once before only to have it fall apart.
“I still don’t understand how her abduction was your fault.”
Titania bit her lip, reminding him instantly of Elena. “You weren’t the first person I sent to get the crown.”
“Piper?” Was that what Dare had wanted to tell him before he’d gone to stone back at the library? Had he known that too?
Titania nodded. “She was—”
“—part of the rebellion,” he answered calmly, because it was the only thing that made sense. “Who the hell isn’t these days?” he threw his arms out.
Seeing as he was nearing his limit on processing so much in such a short time, he shoved everyone with rebellion secrets to the side. He could sort that shit out later, along with worrying how he’d made it this long as a Shadow.
“You sent Piper for the crown and something obviously went wrong.”
Titania nodded. “I underestimated the steps the Iron Brotherhood had already taken to acquire it.”
“So when that blew up in your face, you sent me.” Now he understood where the Fae ring that made it possible to unveil the vault in the Wolf’s Den had come from.
“What about Elena?” That thought sunk a little deeper, pushing the wolf toward the surface. “You told me to take Elena. You knew. “He pushed to his feet. “You knew she was my mate—your own granddaughter—and you still wanted me take her.”
Titania said nothing.
“Does she know about the real you?” He didn’t even give her a chance to respond before an even darker thought occurred to him. “Did you know what would happen to Elena when she got near the crown?”
The queen smoothed her dress, looking uncomfortable for the first time. “I had my suspicions.”
“And you let me lock away her magic knowing how vulnerable she’d be to it?” Fury pooled into his gut. “That magic got into her damn head.”
Even now there was a chance it was influencing her, corrupting her, and he was sitting in a damn cell.
“There are things you don’t understand. My sister was—”
“Your sister?” He snarled. “That’s who’s playing mind games with my mate?” He spun away from her, then pivoted back, something tugging at his memory.
He stalked right up to her, all but pinning her to the wall. He didn’t care that any second she could destroy him.
“You want Elena to put on that crown, don’t you?” He searched the Fae’s eyes, praying he was getting it all wrong and sick at the thought that he wasn’t. “The night you came to my home and found me on the floor, you said we’d get them both back.” He hadn’t understood at the time but it made perfect sense now. “You were talking about Piper and your sister, weren’t you? You’re going to use Elena to bring her back somehow, aren’t you?”
“You have no idea what I want,” Titania answered, but she didn’t deny his claim.
He took a step back. He needed to get the hell out of here. Now.
He turned to demand Titania release him, and found himself alone in his cell.
***
“Elena?”
“Oren,” she said, pushing way more warmth into her voice than she wanted to offer.
The bastard deserved to be nailed by a thousand fireballs, and that would just be the warm-up.
The night Vaughn had broken into her house and she saw his scar for the first time, she knew she’d seen the crescent-shaped marks somewhere before.
She’d seem the same symbols again tonight, on the hilt of the dagger in Alrick’s dungeon. A dagger strapped to Oren’s waist.
She couldn’t recall seeing the blade before, but there was no denying the symbols matched Vaughn’s scar. The one given to him by the Iron Brotherhood.
“I came to see for myself if you were all right. I guess now I have my answer,” Oren said, quirking a brow.
The gesture she’d once thought arrogantly charming now made her want to claw his face.
Gods, the wolf was rubbing off on her.
She smiled at the thought. Too bad Oren ruined it by assuming the smile had been meant for him. “I’m glad you’re out and about. You gave everyone a scare back in that prick’s dungeon.”
He called Alrick a prick
for wanting revenge for his daughter’s death while he and the rest of the Iron brotherhood not only snatched Piper, but used her as bait to coerce Vaughn into kidnapping Elena.
I could make you strong enough to obliterate anyone.
Now was so not a good time for the Iron Queen’s bullshit. She needed to find out if Piper was being held close by.
She held onto her smile. Barely. “I’m feeling much bet—”
“Enough!”
A gust of wind blew Elena’s hair back in her face. She brushed it out of the way, finding herself back on the edge of the same cliff the Iron Queen had kicked her off of once before.
Instead of a dark night sky, the horizon glimmered with a dusky pink, the blue waves darkening with the sunset.
“You are weak,” the Iron Queen said. “There is no need for any of this.”
Elena might have responded if she knew what the dead immortal meant. “This needs to stop.”
“Agreed.”
“I don’t even know what you want from me.”
“To accept what I offer.”
“Corruption and death?”
The Iron Queen laughed. “It’s time I made you understand.” The other woman whipped her hand out from beneath her cloak so fast it was only a blur. Black-tipped nails gripped her arm.
The cliff vanished, and Elena stumbled back, landing on her ass in the middle of a dew-covered meadow.
Leafy pink flowers with bright yellow centers grew all around her, bending in the breeze she could see but not feel.
The sound of wood striking wood reached her and she turned to find two girls—ten or eleven years old maybe—one dark-haired, the other so blond her hair was nearly white.
Their wooden swords clashed again, a pulse of energy detonating another wave of magic that knocked dozens of pink petals into the air.
“You are not paying attention,” the dark-haired one chided.
The blonde retaliated with a wave of her hand, a charge of magic crackling on the air.
The dark-haired one avoided the blow and swung around, lightning fast, slapping her sword across the back of the blonde’s legs. “Magic doesn’t make a hero, Tanya.”
The words sent a shockwave through Elena.
The blonde laughed and pivoted, meeting her sister’s moves blow by blow as they moved from one end of the meadow to the other, oblivious to Elena’s presence.
Primal Bounty_Pendragon Gargoyles Page 29
