Magic Captive: A Supernatural Academy Romance (The Velkin Royal Academy Series Book 2)

by Emmeline Winter

  “What, you thought I was just going to let you face him alone? That I was just going to let our worlds fall because you’d hurt my feelings?”

  “I suppose I didn’t…It was too much for me to hope that you still felt anything for me. Especially after the way that I treated you.”

  The hardened parts of my heart slowly began to crumble. This was an impossible situation, the one that we found ourselves in. He’d done what he’d thought was best, just like I’d done what I’d thought was best my coming back here. This was never going to work unless we fought together. Unless we combined our forces and tried again.

  I couldn’t let him send me back to Earth.

  “We are supposed to stop him together. That’s what your mother said. And I usually trust someone who can read the future, you know?”

  His eyes flashed again, this time with a green flare that reminded me of the torches lining the castle. It was a kind of wild flash, one that reminded me just how dangerous he could be. Suddenly, I didn’t worry so much about needing protection. I was more worried about him. “But I need you to stay safe—”

  “And I need you not to be completely taken over by whatever kind of dark magic is currently eating away at you. So, let’s just agree to stick together and see this thing through.”

  He was silent for a moment.

  “I could send you back to Earth. You could be safe there. I could hide you away and—”

  “And what? I would be safe only as long as he decides to stay away from Earth. You know if I leave here now, he’s not going to rest until he finds me again.”

  I knew that much to be true. The look in his eyes still haunted me, still sent shivers down my back despite the warm rain shower currently pouring over me. King Adric was not just going to let me go. The future said that I was a threat to his rule over this kingdom. He would never stop hunting me if I ran away now.

  “I would never let that happen,” Anatole promised, finally stepping forward to close the gap between us. Beneath he spray of the shower, he reached for my hands and took them, holding me like he was afraid I would disappear if he let go. “I will never let him touch you. I swear it.”

  My stomach fluttered at the flattery. But there was still danger lurking in the air. That dark green magic still hung in Anatole’s eyes and filled me with a kind of terror I couldn’t quite describe.

  I’d only loved a few people in my life. Kyra. Queen Freia. Anatole. And now, I was losing them all. Kyra was in chains here in the castle, just like I was, and I had no idea when I would ever see her again. Queen Freia was God knew where doing God knew what. And now, Anatole was here, with me, practically holding me in his arms, but I felt as if he was slipping away anyway, as if he was going to dissolve the moment I touched him.

  There was something trying to tear him away from me, something dark and dangerous that swirled in his eyes and threatened a horror that was bigger than his promise. My hands were shaking now, and it didn’t have anything to do with the heat of the water or the cold I’d experienced in the dungeons. This was something deeper, something altogether more frightening.

  “You know? I don’t think that’s something that you can promise. He’s already gotten to you, hasn’t he? He’s already got his magic inside of your heart.”

  Anatole brought his hands to either of my cheeks, immediately flooding me with the urge to kiss his desperate, trembling lower lip. “I swear it to you, Carolyn—”

  “Your highness?”

  My heart stopped at the sound of an unfamiliar voice. Despite the fact that the intruder clearly couldn’t see us behind the walls of stone, I stepped away from Anatole out of habit. Anatole cleared his throat before he could answer.

  “Yes,” Anatole said, adopting that sharp, jagged tone that had become rote here in the Castle under his brother’s rule. “What is it?”

  “The Great Supper will be served shortly,” the strong, stern voice of a porter replied. He clearly wasn’t shaken by Anatole’s tone. Not nearly as shaken as I was. “Should I inform the king that you are otherwise occupied?”

  “No. We will be down shortly.”

  My eyes widened at the reply, but I didn’t say anything until I was sure that the stranger was gone from our presence and from Anatole’s room. My heart thundered, slamming against my ribcage.

  “We?” I practically hissed.

  Anatole led me from the shower as he spoke, mostly, I thought, to avoid having to look me in the eye.

  “Things have changed since you left Velkin. The humans who were here have been kept as kind of…well, as pets, I suppose. But it’s to keep them safe. I tried to—”

  “I see,” I choked. “So, you’re going to parade me around in chains. In front of everyone.”

  I could see in his expression, in the set of his shoulders, that it wasn’t what he wanted. That didn’t stop the sting of betrayal that shook through me.

  “I’m afraid it’s what Adric will expect.”

  “Well, then…” I said, after a moment of consideration. Wrapping myself up in a towel, I tried to dry off as best I could. The way I saw it, there were only two plays here. To curl up in a ball and die or to fight this thing. This evil that had taken over Velkin. And I’d never been one to give up a good fight. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner we do, the sooner I’ll be able to kill him with these chains.”

  Chapter Six

  Anatole

  I’d always admired The Grand Hall. Even as an elfling, when I’d accompanied my parents on their annual trips to the Velkin Royal Academy for the commencement address, I’d always stared in awe at the enchanted ceilings, the magicked tables, the vast array of creatures who spent their time learning within the castle walls.

  But now, since my brother’s invasion and his quick work of redecorating the place, I hadn’t been able to stomach going into the Grand Hall unless it was absolutely necessary. Generally, I took my meals in my chambers or convinced my brother to dine privately with me so we might discuss strategy or host a fresh dark magic lesson. Anything to keep out of this place.

  But tonight, the visit to the Grand Hall was as unavoidable as it was sickening. Tonight, the entire High Court would see that Carolyn had returned, and there would be no hiding it. I would have to face all of the elves and humans I’d tried to protect as a what I was. A failure. A prince who couldn’t even protect the one woman I loved above all others in this or any other realm.

  Of course, I couldn’t let any of this conflict play across my face or, even, in my heart. If I did, Adric would surely sense it and try to exploit it. No, tonight I would have the be the stone-hearted prince Adric expected me to be. Playing such complicated, dark games would be the only way to win the day.

  With that in mind, I joined the procession of humans and Velkin currently parading through the door to the Grand Hall. As the highest ranking member, I took my place in the back of the line, just behind Tormin. He refused to look at me as he held his pixie, Kyra, but the type of length chains by which I led Carolyn.

  The whole display would have been enough to turn anyone’s stomach. Nobles of Velkin parading humans around like they were property. I hated myself for having come up with the idea in the first place, though it had been the only thing I could devise at the time that would have deterred my brother from his “slaughter the humans and send their bodies back to their families on Earth,” plan.

  In the deepest, darkest depths of my heart, I swore in that moment that I would spend the rest of my life—whether that was a short one or an eternity—and my reign, if it ever came to that again, making right all of the wrongs Adric and I had committed.

  No, not just Adric and I. Every wrong that my forefathers and my ancestors had done, too. I would be a king for justice. For making things right.

  From the corner of my eye, I glanced at Carolyn, who was doing her best to put on a brave, impenetrable face. I wanted nothing more than to reach out, take her in my arms, and whisk her away from this place, but I knew…

/>   I knew she would never forgive me if I protected her at the expense of saving everyone else. We had a duty, she and I. A duty to the salvation of the rest of our worlds.

  If she could be brave in this moment, if she could stare death in the face and keep her nerve, then surely I could do the same.

  In that moment, the trumpets sounded and the doors slammed open, signaling the beginning of the so-called Great Feast Adric had called in honor of Tormin’s return. The truth of the matter was that it paled in comparison to the many, many feasts my parents had thrown during their reign. “King” Adric had become a suspicious, brooding wretch of a man, one who didn’t trust anyone who came anywhere near him. Despite the fact that the Court had been full when he’d first taken the throne, his fits of anger and his magical temper tantrums had sent people into exile, leaving only the last few terrified courtiers behind.

  The Hall was still great. But with only ten Velkin and their humans in attendance, it was resoundingly, achingly empty. As if every time Anatole heard one of his own footsteps echoing against the barren floor, he could hear and see the years upon years of laughter and camaraderie that was now gone.

  From the dais, Adric rose to his feet and smiled that curling, wicked smile of his. His eyes, as usual, were empty of all emotion, but calculating and gleaming all the same.

  “Anatole,” he said, nodding back towards me first. Then, he deigned to look at our youngest sibling. His eyes traveled between him and the pixie, his lips flattening into a frown. “Tormin.”

  “I hate it here,” Tormin said, through a grit-toothed smile.

  My heart pounded at the treasonous whisper. If Adric heard it, he would be struck dead on the spot. Tormin was right. It was a place worthy of our hate. A monument to everything that could go wrong if evil was allowed to take root. But we weren’t going to survive with that attitude. None of us would do any good if we were dead.

  “I know,” I muttered, trying to conform my own words to something that would sound the least treasonous. “Keep your voice down and your smile in place and you and Miss Kyra should live to see another day, alright?”

  “Alright,” Tormin muttered, though I could tell that he didn’t mean it. At least, his heart wasn’t in it. Still, I knew that he would never do anything to harm Krya, even if their love story was impossible.

  “Prince Anatole! Prince Tormin!” Adric said, as he enjoyed our deep bows of respect at the foot of his dais. He practically crowed, his voice loud and booming against the walls of the empty hall. “The Royal Family of Velkin is complete at last!”

  It’s not the complete Royal Family of Velkin if mother and father aren’t here, I wanted to interject, but one look from Carolyn beside me silenced my tongue. I couldn’t say or do anything to put her at risk. She needed my protection.

  “Yes, brother,” Tormin said, a pained, strained smile managing to struggle across his lips. “It is good to be together again.”

  Soon, Adric invited all of his guests to take their places at their tables. It was a strange affair, as these dinners always were now. Adric was dead-set about indulging in all of the finery and pageantry that came with being king—that meant every remaining Velkin seating according to their place in court, which meant that there were thousands of place settings laid out, ready for guests, but only a handful of courtiers and their human companions to actually fill those seats.

  It would have been funny if we weren’t all fighting for our very lives.

  Once we were seated and Adric poured the first glass of wine—a tradition that started every Velkin meal—the tittering of conversation behind us signaled that it was time for the King to make his opening move. I tried to keep my actions fluid and smooth, confident and unshakable. Totally above suspicion. But I found myself second-guessing every action, every breath, and every glance in Carolyn’s direction.

  The humans were allowed at the tables, but only in chains and only as decoration. That was Adric’s decision. My eyes kept wandering to the human at my side, wishing I could hear her thoughts and understand her better. What did she think about this brother of mine, play-acting at being a king when really all he wanted was power, recognition, and respect? The three things he wouldn’t ever receive from most people in Velkin.

  No, Adric ruled by fear. The desire to know what my fearless human thought of him was strong, but not as strong as my desire to keep her—and everyone else we cared about—safe.

  Once the first glasses of wine had been poured and my brother signaled for the meal service to start, he turned almost immediately onto our youngest, wayward sibling.

  “How do you find our new kingdom, Tormin?”

  Anyone who didn’t know Adric the way that I did wouldn’t have recognized the sharp, jagged edge to his seemingly friendly question. But things being how they were, I knew that the situation was only going to deteriorate from here. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on-end as I tried to focus on my meal.

  “It is home and I am always glad to be home, where I belong,” Tormin replied, but not in the booming, grandiose way he might have when he was younger, before all of this had happened.

  “And are you prepared to lead our armies against the human menace?”

  “What? Right now? I’m afraid I’ve had a bit too much wine for that.”

  Ah, yes. There it was. Tormin was a legendary warrior for many reasons, but one of his greatest strengths on the battlefield was his ability to feint and dodge, to weave out of the way of arrow fire and sword attacks with ease. As it turned out, he could do that just as easily with words as he could do with his body.

  Adric considered this response, but apparently, he didn’t think it as artful a dodge as I had. His eyes narrowed, weighing. Considering. Judging.

  “What if I wanted you to go right now? To slaughter them all and open the barriers between our worlds so we could begin the expansion of our empire.” A pause that meant nothing to strangers, but everything to the three of us. It was a challenge. A dare. ”Would you deny me?”

  That question hung in the air for longer than I would have liked. But Tormin eventually found the strength to shake his head

  “You are my king, Adric. I would never deny you anything.”

  “Good—”

  In one painfully slow, brutal moment, I realized that Tormin wasn’t finished. He opened his mouth once again to speak, lowering his voice so that only the three of us—and our companions, Carolyn and Kyra, who both watched with calculated, detached disinterest—could hear. He was measured and rational, reasonable and sensible. All of the things one would want in a military leader. Still, I knew that it would be disaster for all of us the moment he spoke the first word aloud.

  “But you’ve always known how I feel about the human threat. Pitiful little creatures who we could bust beneath our heels. They are not even worth the effort of conquering.”

  They are not even worth the effort. It was a statement that Tormin had made countless times before. He’d always believed that the armies of Velkin could wipe out the humans in an instant, but something about the way he said it tonight was a match atop a tall mountain of oiled kindling.

  It happened in an instant. Magic flashed in Adric’s eyes. Something cold and violent gripped my heart. The green lamp lights flickered all around us, casting eery, dangerous glows on all who entered here. Adric, who had been playing the game a moment ago, was now poised to throw away the board entirely.

  “So, you’ve done it. You’ve contradicted your king. You really don’t want to fight the humans.”

  “I will do what I am commanded. But I think it a waste of resources,” Tormin said, still trying to be reasonable even when our brother was beyond reason.

  Beyond hope. I could feel the magic, the evil, rising up and up and up, until finally, in a controlled burst of energy, it shot from Adric’s hands and straight into Tormin’s chest.

  He went flying across the room, a great warrior laid low.

  Everything in the room stopped. All speak
ing. All breathing. Everyone was now watching the drama unfold as Adric marched his way over to Tormin’s limp, bruised body.

  The Adric that I knew and loved all my life—my blood, my brother—was gone. If I’d ever thought that it was possible to save him from the darkness currently eating away at his heart, the moment I saw him standing over Tormin, eyes wild and hands shaking with the desire to do more magical harm, I knew now that the possibility was gone.

  My brother was lost to me. To this world, perhaps.

  “Don’t you ever, ever defy me again.” Adric said, his voice a frightening lightning bolt striking over and over again in the same spot. “Do you understand? Do you?”

  Forcing myself upright, I sprinted over to get between them, to try and once again gain some control over the situation. I loathed leaving Kyra and Carolyn behind, but the thought of letting my one brother murder my other brother—which, given his current state, I would not doubt his ability to do—was enough to force me to action.

  “Adric—”

  The King turned on me, the wildness of a murderous animal in his eyes. The magic around us was volatile, sparking, demanding to be felt and utilized. I felt it surge through my veins too now, rising to defense and action.

  “What?”

  I tried to keep myself under control, but it was impossible with a brother, with a King, who could not keep his own ego and his own magic in check. I could see now that he was beyond management, that we were on a collision course with something more dangerous than I’d ever anticipated.

  “Your Majesty, peace. Peace—”

  “I will not be at peace. Not when this traitor has returned—”

  Adric turned once again on Tormin, ready to smash him with another bolt of the cold magic running through his veins. This time, though, I was there. Close enough that I could step between them.

  This was the first time since Adric’s return that I had ever dared to defy him. Even my small rebellions were recast as ways to help him, as the best thing for him and his reign. But now, with the life of my brother and the life of everyone else in this kingdom on the line, I knew I could no longer silently play at the fringes. I needed to lead.