Wicked Wish (The Royals: Warlock Court Book 2)

by Megan Montero

  “Just send me wherever it is you are supposed to send me. Because I’m not doing it.”

  He towered over me, a supernatural more powerful than I was, crazier than I was, and here I stood defying him. He marched over to one of the lock boxes and pressed his finger to it. The lock opened and the box popped out. “It’s fine. I didn’t need all of it.”

  He pulled the metal shoebox looking thing out and unclasped the front of it. When he popped the lid open, there was a single shining object inside. He reached in and pulled it out so quickly I didn’t get a look at it. He shoved it into his pocket. “All I wanted was this.”

  “So are you gonna let me go?”

  “Yeah, yeah, mission accomplished. You passed.” He waved me away. “Be gone with you.”

  “Wait, wha—” Blaring alarms filled the silence and echoed off the metal walls around me.

  “Damn.”

  “Hermes! Get me out of here.” My pulse raced as the lights went out and I fell into darkness. “Hermes?”

  Nothing. “This isn’t funny.”

  The alarm cut off and the temperature in the room went from feeling like I was standing in an air-conditioned cell to a hot, sultry jungle. The lights slowly rose like a dimmer switch being turned up. I took a step back and heard the distinct click of something under my boot.

  “I suggest you don’t move. Unless you want that leg to blow off.”

  I froze on the spot and sighed. “Oh shit.”

  Chapter 50

  Astrid

  I stood in the middle of an open field with a giant of a man before me. Muscle on top of muscle on top of muscle. He had to be nearly seven feet tall, with a dark military haircut, his jaw hard and angular. A permanent five o’clock shadow covered his face and his eyes were a deep death-like onyx. The world rattled around us as bombs went off, yet he stood unmoving above me. His chest was bare all but for the golden chain lying across his chest holding a crimson cape in place. The sun overhead blared down on us and drops of sweat rolled down his torso. Army fatigue pants hung from his hips. Instead of the standard green camo his was a combination of black, white, and red. He had a helmet tucked under one arm and a sword strapped around his waist.

  He glared down at me. “Land mine, hazard of the job.”

  He turned on his heels and his cape billowed out behind him. He march across the battlefield toward an army who shared his flair for attire. Except they all had their helmets on and circular shields up. They banged their swords against the shields in a rhythmic drumming, boom, boom, boom. As he approached he lifted his arm and they all broke out into deafening war cries. On the opposite end of the field a line of robotic . . . butlers? Stood still as statues.

  “Um, excuse me.” I waved my arms, afraid to move to set off the bomb beneath my feet. “Get me off this thing.”

  The caped man marched through the throng of warriors up toward a stack of boulders at the back of his battalion. With three big steps he was on top of the boulder to watch over the fight. Her threw his arms out to his sides and tilted his head back, screaming at the top of his lungs. “I . . . am . . . Ares!”

  His battalion erupted into screams and the opposing army stood still and silent. A shadow passed over my head. My eyes widened when a golden chariot being pulled by six-winged metal Pegasus flew overhead. Another man, the same size as Ares but burlier than built. He had a thick red beard and longer shaggy hair that matched. He tilted the chariot to the side and pointed an axe down toward his opponent. “Brother! This will be the last time!”

  Brother? The metal robot butlers, the mechanical Pegasus, everything was clicking into place. Hephaestus. He spun the axe in his hand and more of those robotic butlers walked out onto the field to join his ranks. Click, clank, clack, metal ground against metal so much so that the sound flooded my ears. I bent down and pressed my hands to my ears, trying to block it out. But I was trapped here. If I moved, I blew up. If I stayed put, these arms would clash right over my head.

  “I never touched her!” Ares chuckled. “This time.”

  Hephaestus threw his head back, screaming, “Charge!”

  “For all the glory, leave it on the battlefield! You either win or die!” Ares held his sword up. “Forward!”

  The ground rumbled beneath my feet. I watched as they both ran toward each other and I stood in the middle of it all. I’m gonna die. The first to go were headed right for me and I couldn’t move. That dark tide rose up in me and I let my magic flow. As the first two men dove to meet over my head, I fired my magic off and it exploded like a bomb. A mushroom cloud of power threw them both back toward their own sides. The man plowed through Ares’ side like a bowling bowl. Strike. The metallic butler smacked into the line, knocking several of them over. They clanked and fell one after another.

  The rest of the armies paused for a single second, watching my power, then they charged at each other once more. Crap, crap, crap. My heart thundered in my chest and then they slowed, running in slow motion toward each other. “What the hell?”

  A woman strolled across the field between the two encroaching armies. Her flowing blond hair blew in the wind. A band of gold leaves sat across her forehead. She wore a cottony toga that was draped over one arm and in the other she held a horn filled with gold coins. Pink pixie wings fluttered on her back with each step she took. When she came to a stop in front of me, she dropped the horn of gold at my feet. “Whoa, that was one hell of a walk and that thing is heavy.”

  “Umm, hi.” This day had been way too long and way too strange for me to lose my cool now. Especially with a ticking time bomb under my feet.

  She hunched over and sucked in a deep breath. “Nice day, though.”

  “Yeah, for a walk in a . . . battlefield.”

  The soldiers continued to move toward each other inch by inch.

  “Yeah, it’s so weird for you to end up here. Unless someone, say me, brought you here instead of where my sister wanted you.” She looked over her shoulder at the warriors. “But also, like why would Matteaus leave you here?”

  “Wait, your sister? And Matteaus, does that mean . . . ?”

  “You’re back on track, yup. My sister, she likes to mess with things that shouldn’t be messed with.” She extended her hand out toward me. “I’m Fortuna.”

  I took her hand and shook it. “And Nemesis is your sister?”

  “Yep. Kind of annoying, isn’t she?”

  “I mean, I guess you could say that.” I looked down at my feet and back at the war. Coming off as ungrateful was not something I wanted to do at this point, especially because she was the only one who might actually help me.

  “You don’t have to sugarcoat things with me. She messed things up. I’m here to fix it. Like two sides of karma.” She grabbed up a single coin from her horn. “She took something from you.”

  Hope sprang in my chest, but I didn’t want to show her or anyone else. If there was even a chance for me to get Beckett back, I wanted it . . . and I wanted it bad. I held down my excitement. “She did.”

  “Right, okay.” She tossed the coin high up into the air and let it flip end over end. It burst like a mini firecracker and rained down toward the ground. Little sparks gathered on the ground at my feet and swirled upward, revealing first his black combat boots, then his dark blue jeans and narrow hips. Flat stomach visible through his white T-shirt, tan skin, and then his beautiful face. He gave a wide bright smile and jumped toward me.

  I held my hands up, stopping him. “Wait.”

  He froze. “What?”

  “Oh, she’s got a little problem there.” Fortuna pointed toward my feet. “She’d go boom.”

  “No, Astrid.” He dropped to his knees and wound his arm around my leg. Shock waves went through my body having him this close, with his fingers pressing into my thigh.

  Fortuna squealed. “Aw, you guys are the cutest. I really must be off now, though.” She motioned to the oncoming war. “You all got this, right?”

  Beckett gazed up my b
ody. “Yeah, we got this.”

  “Excellent.” She grabbed up another handful of coins and tossed them over her head. As they fell to the ground she disappeared among them. Life flew back to real time and the armies screamed as they charged toward each other.

  Beckett held his hand over my foot. Blue smoke filtered from his palm underneath it. “Okay, I think I got the bomb down.”

  “You think?” The warriors were only yards apart.

  “I know.” He rose to his feet and wrapped his arm around my waist. He twisted his body to the side and dragged me with him as one of the metallic robots dove over my head and landed on one of Ares’ soldiers, ripping at her face and arms.

  Beckett drew his blade from the holder on his lower back and held it at the ready. He pulled me forward, and we ducked under two men sword fighting. I jumped over another man diving for my leg.

  “I’m getting really tired of this.”

  One of Ares’ men spear tackled Beckett around his waist, knocking him sideways. I tripped over another body and fell into a puddle of mud. “Ugh, you’ve got to be kidding me.”

  It was caked in my hair, across my face, and down the left side of my body. I lurched to my feet, shaking off clumps off my fingers. A robot knocked into my shoulder and another into my side. I was thrown about like a rag doll. “That’s it!”

  I threw my hands up and magic spilled out of me. Both armies flew off the ground and hovered in the air. Wind tore through the battle field. The sky darkened, clouds rolled in, and I held them all there like my playthings. Beckett jumped to his feet and threw both of his arms out. Two streams of magic shot across the battlefield. He looped Ares with one stream and Hephaestus with the other. Then yanked them both to the center of the battlefield.

  Ares tossed his cape back over his shoulder and yanked his helmet off. “What is the idea of this?”

  I dropped their battalions to the ground and held them there. “I have no idea why Matteaus wants us here, but he sent us for a reason. And I’m thinking it’s to stop this little battle you have going on.”

  Hephaestus vibrated with anger. “How dare you!”

  Beckett sighed. “Oh, we dare.”

  There we were, two warlocks and two of the most powerful beings to ever walk the earth. I’d just gotten my powers and Beckett was only one warlock. I moved to stand beside him, not knowing what to do or say. Ares pulled his sword and pointed it at Hephaestus. “If I can’t smite your army, I will take you down myself.”

  Hephaestus grumbled, “You can try.”

  “What is this about?” I stood between all of them, a tiny person among giants.

  Hephaestus pointed his axe at Ares’ chest. “He knows what he did.”

  “For the last time she came for me.” He snickered. “Literally.”

  “Bastard.” Hephaestus swung out with his axe, aiming right for Ares’ head. Ares held his sword up, blocking the blow.

  The air sizzled and I staggered between the two of them. I held my arms out to my sides, stilling them with my power. “You over there.”

  I pointed five feet farther back on my right. I lifted Ares with my magic and plopped him down. “And you over there.”

  I used my power to force Hephaestus back to my left. The two of them narrowed their eyes at me. “Oh no, you don’t.”

  They froze, each fighting against my hold. Their bodies quaked with the effort. It took just as much effort to hold them in place. “If I let you go, you promise not to attack each other?”

  “For a time.” Ares lowered his sword.

  “Perhaps for ten minutes.” Hephaestus dropped his axe to the ground where it stood straight up and was the same size as me. Yeah, that’s not intimidating at all.

  “What the hell is going on with you two? You’re brothers!”

  “My wife is not to be trifled with! Not now, not ever!” Hephaestus shoved his hand in his hair and pulled at it. “Yet he will not desist.”

  Ares shrugged. “Like I said, I can’t help it if she comes for me and tells you about it.”

  “Hold up. This is about Aphrodite?” I crossed my arms over my chest and they both looked at me like of course it was.

  “My brother has a temper.” Ares said so smoothly and for a moment I could see why Aphrodite would go after him. He was the original bad boy, with a body of sin to match.

  “Right, says the dude who’s known for loving war.” I rolled my eyes. “This is ridiculous. This fight has been going on for what, hundreds of years?”

  They both nodded and I threw my hands up. “Really, did either of you stop and think that she’s doing it to you on purpose? I mean, the woman is known as the ultimate lover of everyone.”

  “Did you just call my wife a whore?” Hephaestus puffed up like a peacock and his face turned a bright red that nearly matched his ginger beard.

  “Buddy, if the shoe fits. This is crazy. You all are fighting just to fight. You need to stop and think about what you’re doing, and what is going on around you. I bet you didn’t even consider that this might be someone’s property.”

  I turned toward Beckett. “Am I right?”

  “Yup.” He nodded and gave me a weird look.

  “So impulsive. You two need to learn to controlllllllll . . . oooohhhhhhhhh crap.” I let my words fall off and muttered, “Not to be so impulsive.”

  Beckett chuckled and I bumped him with my shoulder. “Shut up.”

  Then it hit me. The whole point of me being in this battle was not to learn how to fight because I was already a fighter. But to learn when to not, to control my own impulses. I shook my head and took a small step back to look at the devastation around me. All because these two couldn’t get their shit together. They’d done it in a field and I’d done it in the middle of New York. “Ugh, impulse control.”

  A wide smile spread across Ares’ face and he shoved his sword into the sheath. “Well done, little warlock.”

  He reached behind his back and pulled out a small box. He tossed it toward me then turned toward his brother. “Still want to have a go?”

  Hephaestus pulled a tiny piece of metal off the end of his axe and handed it to me. “Tell Matteaus this makes us even for that little time I tried to keep some of his students. So we’re good now.”

  I wrapped my hand around it and looked up at him. “What?”

  “Nothing.” His voice was gruff with finality. “Solved now, that’s all you need to know.”

  He faced Ares. “I win, you stay away from my wife.”

  “For a time.” Ares turned and marched back toward his troops. That cape billowed out behind him and I stood waiting for him to come back, but a moment later Hephaestus spun on his heels as well and marched back toward his side.

  “Wait.” I turned in a circle. “Where are they going?”

  Beckett grabbed my elbow and tugged me toward the other side of the field. “Their mission is accomplished, but they’re not going to stop now.”

  “But wait. Shouldn’t we stop them?”

  “Do you think they’ll stop?” He pulled me a little bit faster.

  “No, you’re right. They taught me the lesson Matteaus assigned them. I don’t think they’ll stop just because of us.” Behind me Ares shouted orders to his group.

  “Add those pieces to the crown and let’s see where it takes us next.”

  “Says the guy who hasn’t been thrown all over the place in the past few hours.” I opened up my hand to look down at the tokens. The one Hephaestus handed me was a tiny hammer, not the kind you used on nails but the kind a blacksmith used. I reached up and placed it in the crown. The vines wound around it, sucking it up and making it a part of the crown Persephone gave me. The crown that’d stayed tangled in my hair. Then I flicked the little wooden box open that Ares gave me. There among the black velvet cushion was a tiny golden spear. So small I had to pinch it between my thumb and forefinger. The vines on the crown stretched down for it, reaching. Within seconds it wrapped around the spear and yanked it up into the cr
own. The moment it connected a wave of dizziness overcame me and I knew we were being transported. It was worse than Beckett’s freaking portals and I hated every minute of it. Don’t puke. Don’t puke.

  Chapter 51

  Astrid

  My body twisted and turned through the air. Beckett’s portals held that blue color like diving into a swimming pool and drowning in magic. But this was pink and like walking through the perfume section of a department store. Floral fragrances assailed me from all directions. I swung around trying to find my footing or which way was up. But there was no up only around. My stomach pressed outward and nausea rolled up my throat.

  I dropped and landed in something fluffy and full of blankets. I lay there with my arms over my head, sucking in a breath to try and stop myself from puking on the floor. The bed dipped and Beckett dropped in beside me. I lay there breathless, staring at myself in the mirrored ceiling. Velvet blankets curled underneath me and a pillow cushioned the back of my head. My hair fanned out around me and the crown tangled in my hair even more.

  The heart-shaped bed sat across from a whirlpool bathtub that stood on its own. Wall to wall pink carpet covered the room and I never felt so out of place. “Where are we?”

  “No idea. Where do you think we are?” Beckett sat up and I noticed for the first time that he was dressed only in his blue jeans . . . and nothing else. Heat bloomed in my chest and I just wanted to feel his skin against mine.

  I glanced down at myself and nearly all my clothing was gone too. I lay there in my bra and leggings. I wasn’t embarrassed, he’d seem me in a lot less than this, but why? Why was I here in this? “What the hell?”

  “Maybe Matteaus decided we need a break.” He ran the back of his fingers over my cheek. A light smile played on his lips and the depths of his ocean eyes drew me in. “I’m good with it.”