“Easy, love,” Marcus said with a laugh when I reached for the mostly-empty wine bottle sitting by my plate. I’d had two glasses of it so far. No, wait. Maybe it was three. Or four? I hadn’t been keeping track. “I think it might be time to ease off the wine. Though, I have to say the happiness looks good on you.”
I stuck out my tongue at him, and he laughed. “You’re a party pooper.”
“Not a party pooper.” He poured me a glass of water instead. “But I’ve experienced hangovers enough to know that you don’t want one. Got to keep you in fighting shape, don’t we?” He winked.
“Why do you do that?” I said, slightly slurring my words as I leaned toward him.
“Do what?” His smile didn’t falter, but something in his violet eyes flickered.
“Act like everything is a joke. Like my training is a joke. And like getting me out of that castle was a joke. Because it wasn’t, you know.” I stabbed a finger at his chest. “Wasn’t a joke.”
“I never said it was a joke, Rowena.” He pressed the glass of water into my hands, his fingers grazing mine.
“You laughed and winked the whole damn time.”
“Sometimes, it’s better to put on a brave face than let the world see how badly you’re twisted up inside,” he said quietly, flicking his eyes at the others, almost as if he were checking to make sure they weren’t hearing his words.
A wave of nausea passed through me, and I frowned. “I don’t think I feel so great, Marcus.”
“Alright, let’s get you some fresh air.” Marcus led me out into the hallway. I clung onto his arm, feeling dizzy now that I was standing up and moving around. The others glanced at us as we left the room, eyebrows raised.
“Rowena’s having her first experience of drunkenness.” Marcus’s ever-present amused tone had returned. “I’m going to get her some fresh air. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Instead of taking me in the direction of my room, he led me around the side of the hall toward the top of the cliffs that jutted out over the sea. It took us several moments to reach our destination. The ground was jagged and rocky, and I…well, the world was just a tad blurrier than usual.
Once I reached the cliffs, I sucked in a deep breath and stared at the rippling sea under the pale moonlight. Marcus watched me, his easy-go-lucky expression no longer on his face.
“Feeling better?” he asked.
“A little,” I had to admit. “The sea air clears my head in a way the air in the castle never did.”
“That’s because they never let you out of your damn room.” He shook his head. “It must have been stifling.”
“Understatement of the year.” Frowning, I suddenly realized just how parched I was. I’d been drinking wine all night, but no water. And now my tongue felt like sandpaper. “I should have brought that water glass with me.”
“I’ll go back and get it,” he said, taking a step back toward the direction of the hall, no hesitation.
“Oh, Marcus, you don’t need to do that. It took us like twenty minutes to get all the way out here,” I said. Even though I really, really wanted that water.
“I have wings.” He cracked his trademark grin. “Enjoy your fresh air. Clear your head. I’ll be back in no time.”
And then he was off, his powerful wings beating against the crisp night air.
With a deep breath, I turned back toward the sea. We were celebrating now, but for how long? Soon, we would need to make a move. Soon, we would need to go into battle. Part of the reason why I’d gone after the sword in the first place was so that we could go from hiding to fighting. From defensive to offensive. But I didn’t know how I would convince the shifters I was ready for more.
The whoosh of wings overhead broke through my thoughts. I turned, smiling, surprised Marcus had been so fast. But it wasn’t Marcus I saw in the distance, coming in fast on a pair of dark ebony wings. My heart jolted, skipping a beat.
It was Sebastian.
He had come back for me.
Mind spinning, I whirled on my feet. I wasn’t sure if he’d seen me yet, but the longer I stood out here on the cliff, the more likely he’d spot me and swoop in to grab me before the alarms even sounded.
The hall was too far to go. He’d be here before I got halfway there.
I needed to hide.
Just to my right, there was a gap between the rocks. I scrabbled across them and eased myself into the crevice, clinging on with trembling fingers. I barely fit, and the top of my silver hair poked out just enough so that if he scanned his gaze this way, he would spot me.
I just had to hope he wouldn’t look too closely.
Seconds later, I heard the heavy boom of his boots landing on the cliff. No alarms sounded. Maybe the noise only shot through the hall. Maybe Kipling still heard it anyway. Regardless, there was nothing else I could do but stay still.
Because he had someone else with him. A magic hunter who held a sawed-off shot gun.
I swallowed hard. If that bullet hit my chest and at such close range…I closed my eyes. I couldn’t bear to think of the carnage.
And of what it could do to a pair of powerful gargoyle wings.
Would my shifters see the intruders before it was too late? Would they be able to fight against a weapon as terrible as this? And was there anything I could do to warn them?
I wished I had my sword. That would change everything. I could use it to harness my magic and shoot flames at their murderous heads, even if I was more than a little drunk.
“They’re usually in bed by now,” Sebastian said in that throaty voice of his. “Rowena Mortensen’s room is in that building over there. Unless they’ve changed things, she’ll be sleeping alone. Once you get the shot off, we’ll have to haul ass to get out of here. They’ll hear it and be on us like white on rice.”
“You better be right about this,” the hunter replied. “Because if you fail a second time, we’ll have to consider taking our contract to someone else.”
“It will work,” he said. “I got all those witchies rounded up from all around the world and deposited them right back into Dreadford Castle, didn’t I?”
My blood ran cold.
“Yes, and thank you for that. They’re currently rotting away in their own dungeons until we decide the best way of terminating them.”
Terminating them. Blood roared in my ears as my fingers tightened my clutch on the rock face. The hunters had found the other shadow witches. And they were planning on killing them all. Like they were nothing more than pigs before a slaughter. I closed my eyes and choked down the sob that threatened to break through the quiet night and reveal exactly where I was.
I needed to do something to stop this.
I needed to stop hiding.
I needed to become the person I was meant to be—a real protector of magic and not some…not some drunk coward who hid behind rocks.
But I couldn’t force my wine-laden body to move. The fear had frozen me solid. They had a shotgun. And I had nothing. Nothing but the magic I still hadn’t fully mastered.
So, I waited until they’d crept around the side of the hall, heading straight toward the Scriptorium, before I crawled out of my hole and sprinted toward my guardians, my friends. I just hoped it wasn’t too late.
Chapter 24
I was only a few steps away from the hall when an explosion of gunfire shook through the night. My heart lurched into my throat. Gritting my teeth, I whirled around the corner and into the hall that was empty but for the buffet of food.
No one was here, which meant they must have been tipped off about Sebastian’s arrival. The alarm must have sounded. A flicker of relief warmed my heart, but it was soon drowned out by the sounds of screams.
I rushed back outside. The screams were coming from up above. Sebastian flew over the top of the city, holding tight to a wriggling, kicking, screaming…Queen. He had the Queen.
Another shot rang out in the distance. The shifters. If they weren’t chasing after the Queen,
and the hunter wasn’t with Sebastian, then…another shot. And then another.
My heart was full of so much terror that I thought it might explode into flames.
I raced down the cobblestone streets toward the direction of the gunfire, which also happened to be the direction of the Queen’s quarters. When I finally reached it, I slowed to a stop at the sight of the horror. There was blood…everywhere. So much blood, painting the streets that terrible, terrible dark red.
Nausea bubbled up when a body fell in front of me, the bones crunching when it hit the stone ground. But it was not any of my shifters. It was the hunter. And his open eyes stared vacantly at the stars above.
When my gaze slid to the open door of the shadow witches’ townhouse, Silas landed just in front of me. He lifted his arm, blocking my way. “You don’t want to go in there, Rowena. There is nothing to be gained from it.”
My entire body ached at his words. “The shadow witches. Were they in there?”
He closed his eyes. He didn’t answer the question, but he didn’t need to. His agony-filled expression said it all.
“We didn’t make it in time,” Eli said from behind me, as he landed quietly on the street. “I believe they were going after you. When they didn’t find you in your room, Sebastian must have suggested finding the shadow witches instead. He took the Queen, but the hunter started firing shot after shot. They didn’t have time to cast their magic. And we weren’t…” His voice cracked. “We weren’t fast enough to save them.”
I could barely hear his words over the roar in my ears. “Tess. Please tell me that Tess—”
“She’s safe, along with Kipling,” Jasper said.
“And Marcus?” I asked, heart beating hard as I glanced around, trying my best to avoid the blood that painted every crevice of this street.
“He was horrified that he left you on the cliff by yourself,” Jasper said with a low growl. “As well he should be. He’s gone in search of you.”
“Don’t blame Marcus,” I said, voice cracking. “This is my fault. All of it. If it weren’t for me the witches wouldn’t be dead. The only reason Sebastian was here was because of me. And now…”
Tears fell down my face. Big hot splashes that soaked into my cold skin. I’d been a coward. Too afraid to crawl out of the shadows and face the hunters as I should. And now, six other souls were gone from this world because of it.
“Ro, you can’t blame yourself,” Eli said, resting a strong hand on my shoulder. “You’ve done nothing to cause this. You didn’t ask for the hunters to target you or the witches.”
“These people want to snuff out magic any way they can,” Jasper said. “Why do you think Sebastian took the Queen? He saw her and knew it meant a payday.”
“Rowena?!” Marcus swooped down before me and scooped me into his arms. He pulled me close, pressing me hard against his muscular chest. Through his thin shirt, I swore I could feel the rapid thrum of his heart. “Thank the goddess you’re alive. I was scared out of my mind. Where did you go?”
“I hid in the rocks,” I whispered against his ear, breathing in the stone and mist scent of him. “And then I ran.”
My heart hammered harder as I remembered Sebastian’s words on the cliff. “I overheard them talking when they first got here. When I was hiding in the stupid rocks.” I swallowed hard as more tears fell down my face. “They’ve rounded up all the shadow witches, and they’re keeping them as prisoners in the Dreadford Castle dungeons. They plan to kill them all.”
All four of the shifters wore the same grim expression. One that matched mine. The magic hunters were out for blood. And if we didn’t stop them, no one would.
The food had been replaced with a map. One drawn by Silas based on my own vague descriptions of Dreadford Castle. It was difficult describing it in great detail when I’d seen only a portion of it myself. And mostly through my bedroom window.
But he did his best.
There was the yawning drawbridge that spanned the gap between the moat and the grounds. The battlements and the watch towers. The temple, the hall, the living quarters, and the Stone Keep that rose high above it all. It gave us a birds-eye view of the ground—a gargoyles-eye view.
The dungeons were accessible through a stairwell just off a hallway beside the temple. After sending her prayers to the goddess, the Queen would sometimes descend those stairs to intimidate those she had entrapped. She would taunt them, tease them, make them beg for mercy.
Mercy she never gave.
Because once you wronged the Queen, your life was forfeit.
“If they’re using the dungeons to imprison the witches, then there will be plenty of guards,” Eli said, stabbing the homemade map with the end of a pen. “And they’ll have taken precautions to avoid being on the receiving end of one of their spells.”
“They wouldn’t need to do all that,” I said. “The dungeons are warded so that no magic can be cast down there. Otherwise, they could travel out of their cells. Come and go as they please.”
Eli frowned. “Then, your powers will not work down there either, Ro.”
“True, but they’ll work everywhere else in the castle,” I said. No matter what, I wasn’t going to sit this one out. It was my fight. No more running. No more hiding.
“We’ll do some recon first,” Jasper said. “Watch the guard rotation. See how many they have. Where they stand. Where they go. Once we’ve got a good understanding of their movements, we can move in when they’re at their weakest. Take them out. Free the witches.”
But instead of feeling triumphant from his words, I felt…uneasy. Even if all went to plan, and even if we freed every last shadow witch trapped in those dungeons, the hunters would still be out there.
It would not end this.
There was a light knock on my door. I’d come to my bedroom to change into something much more appropriate for fighting. And the cold. Dark leggings. A tight black long-sleeved shirt. And a winter hat to match. My hands were covered in a pair of gloves, but I’d probably discard them when it came time to fight. I didn’t want anything to get in the way of my grip on my sword.
“Come in,” I said quietly as I stared at myself in the mirror. I hardly recognized the girl who stood there. So different than the Rowena who lived in Dreadford Castle. There was a hardened look around my eyes now. But that gaunt face was gone. I’d gained weight. And muscle. I looked better for it.
“Do you think we could have a chat, Ro?” Eli’s forest green eyes met mine in the mirror.
“Sure,” I said, twisting to face him. “What’s up?”
He loosed a heavy sigh. “I just wanted to come by and make sure….are you certain you want to do this? The others and I, we can go and free the witches. You shouldn’t feel as if you need to come. You’re much safer here. Kipling will keep you company. And if Sebastian returns, well, he won’t let him lay a hand on you. I promise you that.”
I shook my head. “You know I’m not going to stay behind, Eli.”
“You need more training.” But all I heard was: you’re not ready. “And if your magic doesn’t work in the dungeons, then…”
“Then, I will stand watch and fight anyone who tries to enter the dungeon to stop you from freeing the witches,” I said. “I’ve been a protected princess for far too long, Eli. Let me take up my sword and be the guard.”
His eyes flashed with something bright. “You are unlike anyone else, Rowena Mortensen.” He reached out, ran his fingers down my long braid. I shivered. “The Queen was an idiot to try to dampen your fierce spirit for so long. Hell, I was an idiot to let her. So, I won’t do it now either, as much as it scares the shit out of me.”
My heart thumped as my gaze caught on his touch, at where his fingers were entwined with my braid. “Thank you.”
“I should go,” he said, but he didn’t take a step back. Instead, he shifted closer, his hands now brushing against my chin. I swallowed hard. My heart was galloping in my chest. And then his lips echoed across my forehead. A
second later, with my blood still roaring through my veins, he was gone.
Chapter 25
The entire castle was ablaze with light. Spotlights were set up all over the grounds. In the courtyards, on the drawbridge, in every tower and every hall. So, the hunters had finally caught on to the witches’ use of shadows as fuel for their magic.
It would be impossible to sneak in undetected.
Eli perched beside me. The four shifters and I were clustered on the thick branches of a few trees in Green Park, which provided us with an excellent vantage point of both Buckingham Palace and Dreadford Castle. Tess was on my other side, frowning quietly at our old home. She’d insisted on joining us while Kipling stayed back in the city to hold down the fort. She was aching to fight, just like I was.
“Those spotlights will be plugged in to a main line somewhere,” Eli murmured softly as he consulted something in a book. “If I cut access to that power, it would give everyone enough of a chance to sneak in under cover of darkness.”
“Won’t they have some backup power?” Tess asked, arching an eyebrow. “Generators?”
“The Palace will,” he replied. “But I doubt they’ve had time to do so for the castle. They’ve just thrown a bunch of spotlights in there. Not wired them into an electrical grid.”
“I’ve been watching the guards,” Jasper added. “Two keep watch in the towers on either side of the drawbridge. They’ve got a couple who walk back and forth on the battlements. And then they have two stationed at the top of the steps leading down into the basement, but there’s a half hour window around midnight when they have a shift change. There doesn’t seem to be any guards actually in the dungeons. They avoid going in there.”
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