Deadly Declaration (Shadow Veil Academy Book 2)

by Heather Renee

  I held my breath until the next words left her mouth.

  “Nobody attacked, but a messenger did show up. He claimed to be there on Malina’s behalf, stating she wasn’t happy that you’d disappeared and if you didn’t come home within a month to give yourself over, then she’d be decimating Shadow Veil, along with everyone within its walls.”

  My teeth ground together. “How long ago was this exactly?”

  “Sixteen days ago,” Jules answered.

  I tried hard to block out the “what ifs” that plagued me, but it was hard. If we had waited any longer to come back, I would have been responsible for close to five hundred deaths if Malina followed through on her threat.

  Considering it sounded like she was gathering an army of supernaturals who preferred the darker things in life, I had no doubt she intended to do exactly as she promised.

  “Where is she now?” I asked.

  “About a hundred miles west of us,” Gemma answered, since Jules had taken a bite of her dinner.

  “I need to go see the headmaster. We need to act before she has the chance to come closer or move up her timeline. If she can somehow tell I’m back, then she may do just that. I don’t know how we were connected before, and even though she’s not in my head anymore, Malina might still have other ways to get to me.”

  There was no time for dinners and catching up with friends. School was going to have to go out the door, too. The weight of the supernatural world was literally on my shoulders, and I was eating stupid fettuccini on my bed like a teenager.

  I was still technically a teen at eighteen. Wait, it was February. I had missed my birthday, and I was nineteen, but that was beside the point. After the last year, well technically year-and-a-half, I felt like I’d aged well beyond my teens. The world was much bigger than my high school self had known, and I couldn’t afford to sit around like I was. I needed to act before it was too late and I had nothing left to fight for.

  Setting my plate on the nightstand, I moved toward my dresser for jeans and a sweatshirt instead of the yoga pants and tee I had originally put on. It was freezing outside this time of year, and I had no idea where I was going to find the headmaster at, but I needed to search for him sooner rather than later.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Gemma asked with a huff.

  “To find Headmaster Stone.”

  “Uh, we weren’t really done here. You still have some explaining to do, too.” Gemma did her best to glare at me, but after almost being eaten by a dragon, she didn’t really scare me anymore.

  My pants were already on and my arms halfway through the sweatshirt before I started rapid-firing information I’d not-so-accidentally left out of my replies back to their messages while I’d been gone.

  “Marek is my dad. Enzo and I are back together. Marek can’t leave Drakken or some world-ending prophecy may come true and destroy the dragon realm. I’m going to strip my elven side and possibly my witch one as soon as Headmaster Stone can do it. I was almost eaten by a dragon a few days ago and couldn’t move my legs as they were covered in a healing fire, which was why you didn’t hear from me. Oh, and some dragon seer lady told me riddles about my future, and now I need to go see if I understood any of it correctly by trying to kill Malina.”

  My hand was already on the doorknob as I rambled out the last bit and blew each of them a kiss. Gemma was the first to respond, but she was too late. I had already slipped out the door and was racing down the hallway as her curse words faded into the background.

  I knew she was going to make me pay for dropping all those bombshells on her, but I didn’t have a moment to waste. I’d spent too much time gone—not that I thought our trip to Drakken was a complete waste of time, but it had been too long.

  I checked the headmaster’s office, but there was no sign of them there. Then, I remembered that Jules said JayLeigh would be staying outside the dorms, so I headed for the nearest exit. My legs reminded me I wasn’t completely healed, so I had to slow down, but I still moved as swiftly as I could without causing strain.

  When I arrived outside, the sun was just setting and cast a purple glow across the sky. While I was enjoying the view instead of watching where I was going, I bumped into a hard chest.

  Before I could apologize, a deep voice snarled at me, “What do you think you’re doing?”

  Backing up, I took in his appearance and ignored his attitude: vibrant blue eyes, blond cropped hair, wide frame packed with muscles, and taller than any other guy at Shadow Veil that I knew of. It could only mean one thing. He was a dragon, and a sexy one at that. Enzo was lucky I had already forgiven him or he’d have an even harder time convincing me with eye candy like that hanging around.

  “Ah, you must be one of Marek’s dragons. I’m Raegan, and you would be who?”

  “I’m Talon, and I know who you are, but what I don’t know is why you’re out here instead of inside. You’re supposed to be with Gemma.” He narrowed his eyes, confusing me.

  Then, it clicked; this must be the blond hottie she mentioned. I could tell by how pissed he was that she meant something to him and was disappointed I hadn’t been able to hang around long enough with my bestie to get the details.

  “Uh, I’m a big girl and do what I want. I was with Gemma, but then I needed—never mind. I’m not explaining myself to you.”

  He was hot, and I could see why Gemma was attracted to him, but he was annoying me and preventing me from my current task.

  He continued to eye me like I was some alien, so I pushed past him, deciding to deal with whatever just happened later. I didn’t have time for his games, especially because there was a decent chance he could secretly hate me and I didn’t have time for fighting dragons.

  Talon called my name, causing me to pause, but I didn’t turn around. “They’re just past the tranquility garden if you’re looking for JayLeigh and the others. I just left them to check on Ge—the students.”

  A smirk appeared on my face. Yep, I had totally guessed right. Dragon dude had a thing for my bestie. No wonder he was irritated I wasn’t with her. He was either butthurt to be missing time with her or because I’d left her alone. Either way, she had some explaining to do when I was done.

  I called out my thanks and moved toward the gardens. I still needed to try entering that place again, but I didn’t have time right then. We had sat around too long wondering what Malina was going to do, and we needed to switch to offense. No more waiting. Even if I didn’t have my full dragon capabilities, I was ready to act.

  Malina had to be destroyed, and I was going to be the one to do it or die trying.

  Chapter 17

  When I came around the back side of the garden, Enzo was already headed my way, which gave me some relief, because my legs were beginning to really scream at me. As I leaned against the garden wall, Enzo’s eyes narrowed and he grabbed my arms to steady me.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Well, everything. But nothing right now, except Malina is still breathing the same air as us,” I responded.

  “You shouldn’t be out here running around. Why aren’t you with Gemma and Jules?” he asked more calmly.

  “They began catching me up on everything that’s happened since we left, and none of it was okay with me. There’s no good enough reason for why we haven’t moved in on Malina yet. If the council locked her away two decades ago, then we should be able to do the same now. We still have the council. Plus, more help. Why are we sitting around waiting for her to act?”

  His hands cupped my face as he brought his lips to mine in a demanding kiss. Passion instantly flared within me. I tried to retain my thoughts, but my need for a fight was quickly replaced with a need for Enzo.

  “That’s better,” he murmured as he pulled back.

  “What was that for?”

  “You were losing it. I know you want to act now, but we have to be smart about how we approach the situation. I won’t lose you, or anyone else here, just to finish this soone
r. Alistair wants to meet with us tomorrow morning, including Talon and Sylas.”

  “Sylas must be the other dragon? I saw Talon on the way to find you. I’m pretty sure he and Gemma have something going on.”

  He shook his head. “That’s of no interest to me. As long as neither of them are interested in you, I don’t care.”

  A smirk appeared on my face. “You jealous?”

  He pulled me flush against his body. “Do I have a reason to be?”

  “Kiss me like before again and you should be safe.”

  He lifted me up and began walking back toward the academy. “I can do more than that.”

  I wanted to argue that I didn’t need to be carried, but truth be told, he had my insides quivering and it was probably better that I let him take charge. I was running on adrenaline and passion, but exhaustion from the portal trip was just beneath the surface, waiting to take over. Though, I had just enough left in me to find out what Enzo had to offer.

  Before the sun even rose the next day, I snuck out of Enzo’s bed. He wasn’t going to be happy about it, but I had left Gemma and Jules in my room to get something accomplished and then hadn’t really done that.

  Damn sexy elf.

  I headed toward my room with plans of ordering breakfast and taking it to Gemma. I knew Jules wouldn’t have cared as much about my abrupt departure, but Gemma would need some coaxing to prevent her from being pissy with me for the foreseeable future.

  As I opened my door, a smile formed on my face while I recalled my night with Enzo. Being with him and knowing our bond was growing stronger each time we made love was interesting, to say the least. I still wasn’t sure how I felt about being tied together like that, but I was sure about Enzo.

  Regardless of the past, I loved him. Even though I hadn’t really comprehended the reasons for his actions when he told me the first time, I had listened, and his words stayed with me until I was ready to accept them. The stubborn side of me just hadn’t wanted to admit Enzo really hadn’t had a choice unless he wanted to die.

  My thoughts were cut short, and my smile faded fast as I turned on my light. A rumble began in my chest as I took in the sight of a bloodied and gagged Gemma tied to a chair with some dude I’d never seen before holding a knife to her throat.

  “It’s about time you showed up. If you hadn’t been out all night whoring around, your friend wouldn’t have a scratch on her, but let’s not make things worse. You’re coming with me, or she dies.”

  He was of similar height to Talon, but with dark hair instead of light, and with his steely eyes slit like dragons, it wasn’t hard to guess who he was.

  “Sylas, you don’t know what you’re doing. You need to let her go and walk away. Marek will kill you if you do any more damage,” I snarled, pissed Marek had considered this guy trustworthy when he was nothing of the sort.

  My eyes tried to stay on Sylas, but they kept moving to Gemma’s face, which was cut in several places and battered all over, along with a bruise-colored handprint around her neck. Her eyes held only fury, though. She had fought hard and still wasn’t giving up.

  Sylas wouldn’t get away with this.

  “Marek is as pathetic as they come. He won’t set foot on Earth, and I won’t be going back to Drakken until Onyx is done with him, so he’s of no concern to me. I have nothing to lose or worry about in this situation. You do, though, so don’t test me or your friend will die.”

  “What do you want with me?” I asked, because he really did have a point. I wouldn’t let Gemma get hurt further, and there wasn’t anything I could expect Marek to do if he refused to come to Earth.

  “Malina said you were smart. Guess she was right, which is disappointing. I had hoped you’d put up a fight like your friend here.”

  My teeth ground together. Of course, Malina was involved in this. The silver lining was that we didn’t have another enemy to worry about.

  “She’s ready for you and doesn’t want to wait until her deadline. It’s time to do what you were created for,” Sylas said.

  And this was why I wanted to act first. Now, Malina had me right where she wanted me, and there wasn’t shit I could do about it.

  “Fine, but step away from her. I won’t go with you until I know she’s safe,” I said, trying to keep my emotions in check. I could already feel scales trying to push through the surface of my skin, but I didn’t want to show all my cards in case this idiot knew little about me.

  He nodded before stepping around Gemma and heading toward me with the knife still out and ready for action. “We have a stop to make before we go to Malina. Move quickly and do as I say, or Gemma won’t be safe for long. I’m not the only person here she needs to be afraid of.”

  Damn. Was Talon a traitor, too? She was going to lose her shit if that was the case. I made a mental note to help her with whatever revenge she deemed necessary when I got out of the situation I was headed into.

  Sylas might have thought he had the upper hand, but going to Malina had been what I wanted last night, and even though Enzo had convinced me that being patient was better, I still had a plan up my sleeve that could easily be modified for my current predicament.

  Sylas pushed back toward the door. “Walk. And if we see anyone, you better keep your mouth shut.”

  It wasn’t even six in the morning; the likelihood of us seeing someone was slim to none, which was okay with me. I didn’t need anyone else getting hurt on my conscience.

  As I opened the door, Gemma screamed at me, but I couldn’t understand anything she was saying with the gag in her mouth.

  “I’m sorry, Gemma. Tell them I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  Sylas snickered. “Good luck with that.”

  I ignored Gemma’s continued pleas and Sylas’s snide comment as I walked out my door. When Sylas closed it behind us, he stood behind me with the knife pressing into my sweatshirt I still wore from the night before.

  “One wrong move and I’ll cut your organs out one by one. Do you understand?”

  I nodded. “Where are we going?”

  “To get Desmond. Malina isn’t done with him, either.”

  Holding back my groan, I kept my head up as we continued onto the platform. I had a thousand questions I wanted to ask him but held my tongue. Malina would likely have enough to tell me and, without Marek, taking revenge on Sylas would be something I left to JayLeigh and Gemma.

  Nothing good could come from letting Desmond out, but he was the least of my problems. If Malina wanted him, she could have him.

  When we arrived at the door that led to the dungeon, Sylas yanked hard on my arm. “There will likely be two guards down there. If you say anything, I will kill them both. Keep your mouth shut and I’ll just knock them out. Deal?”

  “Whatever you say,” I snapped, not appreciating the threats.

  “Good mutt.” He patted my head before opening the door and pushing me inside. “Stay behind me and keep up.”

  I did as he said, but that was only going to last for as long as it took to get us outside the academy. As soon as there were no more innocent people for Sylas to dangle over my head, I was going to do everything I could to make taking me to Malina difficult for him.

  Bennett was on duty, and I hadn’t seen him since before summer. His eyes widened in surprise. “Welcome back, Raegan. Alistair said you came in yesterday, but I didn’t expect to see you until our meeting later today.”

  “Shut up, Elf,” Sylas snapped before punching Bennett in the side of the head.

  Bennett hadn’t been expecting the hit, so he dropped like a sack of potatoes. His body lay awkwardly on the ground, but his chest still rose and fell. I had no idea how hard Sylas had hit him or how long he’d stay unconscious, but I kept moving just in case it wasn’t long.

  If we were still around when Bennett woke up, blood would be spilled, and I wasn’t ready to have another’s death on my hands.

  “In a hurry?” Sylas jeered.

  “Yep. Don’t you know it’s eve
ry girl’s dream to be held hostage?” I drawled.

  “You better not be up to anything. I don’t care what Malina needs from you. I have no problem with crushing you if needed.”

  When we got to Desmond’s cage, I glanced around for the second guard Sylas thought might be present, but I didn’t see anyone. When I let out a sigh of relief, I realized just because I didn’t see anyone, didn’t mean they weren’t there.

  Pretending I didn’t sense anything, I turned for Sylas. “So, what now? I don’t have a key.”

  He shoved my shoulder. “It’s a magical lock. Use your elf powers and break through. Malina seemed to think you’d be perfectly capable of it. Now, prove your use and unlock the door, or remember, Gemma will pay the price of your incompetence.”

  As I moved for the door, I shook my head, hoping Professor Phox was paying attention to me and not the idiot behind me. I knew she was there, but Sylas hadn’t seemed to detect her. I hadn’t seen the rift like before, but I recognized the power radiating off her from the first day of class.

  “I don’t need your help, but thanks,” I said sarcastically, but hoped Phox knew I was talking to her and not Sylas.

  “I wasn’t offering, Mutt. Now, quit stalling.”

  My hand pressed to the lock as I syphoned the magic from the door. “Better watch out. I don’t know if this thing will pop or not. I wouldn’t want a chunk of metal to hit you in the face,” I said to Sylas, even though I knew it wouldn’t.

  He grunted but backed up just like I wanted. When he did, Phox’s presence moved in closer.

  “You need to go before Desmond comes out. He won’t be as oblivious as the dragon,” I murmured under my breath, hoping she could hear me.

  A heaviness pressed against my hand, and then the door popped open. Before I pulled on the latch, the weight of Phox’s magic faded away. I hadn’t needed her help, or at least, I didn’t think I did, but I’d have to thank her later.

  “Move it.” Sylas pushed me out of the way as he jerked the door fully open.