At the word assignment, I scowled. I hated when they spoke of me like this, as if I were some kind of exotic animal whose cage they’d been tasked with guarding.
“Excuse me,” I said, giving each of them a pointed look in turn. “Don’t I get a say in this?”
The men fell silent. With a deep breath, I slowly stood, bracing my hands on the oak table. My heart shuddered within my chest, so hard that I could barely find the words I needed to say.
I wanted my sword. I needed it. Desperately. If I wanted to save magic from the hunters trying to eradicate it from every corner of the world, I needed it back in my hands so I could harness my powers.
But I couldn’t get it like this, by sacrificing Marcus from my life.
“My answer is...” I slammed a fist against the table and shook my head. “I hate the Blood Coven.”
Chapter 8
“Hello, love. Something told me you’d be awake.”
I glanced up from where I sat curled up on the window seat overlooking the sea. Midnight had come and gone, but sleep still eluded me. If Marcus and I were truly going to go, we would need to leave soon. In the quiet cover of darkness, at a time when the hunters would hopefully be asleep. Dread and excitement battled within me. On one hand, I could venture out into the world to take hold of my sword once and for all. But the adventure was tinged in worry, sadness, and fear. What would happen here while I was gone? And what would happen once Marcus returned to the coven? Would I ever see him again?
“There’s no way in hell I can sleep.” And not just because of the note from the coven. My recent nightmare still clawed at my thoughts.
He eased onto the window seat, his silver-flecked violet eyes dancing with amusement. “You seem terribly reluctant to say goodbye to me.”
I wrinkled my nose at him. “Don’t get all cocky on me. I’ve just grown accustomed to having you around is all.”
His lips curled into a smirk, and he leaned forward, bringing with him the intoxicating scent of stone and mist. “Keep telling yourself that, love.”
Heat rushed into my cheeks and I gave him a mock punch in the arm. “Stop calling me love.”
“I’ll stop calling you love when it stops making you blush.”
At that, an involuntary smile spread across my lips. “You’re the worst.”
“But also the best, I think you’ll agree.” He tapped my knee, and my eyes zeroed in on where his hand connected with my body. “Which is why you should trust me when I say that I will happily return to the Blood Coven if it means you can get your sword back.”
My smile vanished, and that strange twisting sensation claimed my stomach again. With a heavy sigh, I focused on the sea outside the window. Nighttime still raged on in the late hour, but I could clearly see each crest of the waves below, thanks to my newly-gifted vision in the dark. But those waves held no answers for me. Only more questions.
“Why do they want you back so badly?” I finally asked.
“That’s where I’m supposed to be,” he replied. “I vowed to protect them. To be their guardian. And then I left and never went back. They won’t be happy about that, and they need a guardian on their battlements.”
I flicked my gaze back to Marcus’s golden face. “So, I took you from them. And now they’re angry.”
“You didn’t take me, love.” His lips quirked, and he winked. “Though I wouldn’t have complained if you had.”
Another punch on his arm. “You’re the worst.”
“Truth is, I told myself I’d return when I knew you and the other witches were safe.” He rubbed his jaw and sighed. “Well, you’re safe now. As much as I’d love to stay, it’s time for me to move on.”
That fist dug its fingers into my heart as I tried to read the expression on his face. Tight smile, downturned eyes. He didn’t truly want to go back.
“Marcus, be honest with me.” I caught his eyes in mine. “What is it that you really want?”
His gaze dropped to my lips. “Sometimes we don’t get what we want.”
My body went rigid, and my lungs squeezed tight. And then he lifted his eyes to mine and winked. I wanted to both punch him and hug him at the same time. Ask him to stay and ask him to go back. Leave the city and stay in the city. Both or none at all.
But Marcus was right. We couldn’t have everything we wanted. And it was time to make a choice.
“And you’re one-hundred percent certain you’re happy to go back?” I asked him, desperate for confirmation that this was the right decision to make.
“It doesn’t matter if I’m happy or not, Rowena. It’s what I have to do.”
Part II
A Court of Chaos
Chapter 9
The dark clouds blotted out the moon, and every light in the City of Wings had been doused in preparation of our departure. We all stood on the southern cliffs where the city lay mostly in ruins. It was the opposite direction that we’d seen the hunters arrive, so we hoped we’d be able to stay out of sight.
“I really don’t like this,” Jasper said with a growl in his voice. “You two shouldn’t be going alone.”
“It’s the Blood Coven. Not the den of the magic hunters,” Marcus said, his voice and smile as smooth as ever. “My family and I guarded them for decades. Rowena will be fine with me by her side.”
Jasper’s scowl merely deepened.
Queen Selene stepped forward from the shadows, her hand clutching at an invisible necklace. The one I’d never returned. The one that was at the bottom of the Thames. “We were thinking of leaving the city soon, but we will postpone our departure until you’ve returned with the sword.”
I arched an eyebrow. “You actually want to wait until I get back? Why?”
She sniffed. “Not for any sentimental reason if that’s what you’re thinking. No, I have an inclination that the hunters will attack once again. And soon. If you manage to retrieve your sword, then we do not want to flee and hide. We will fight by your side and defeat their order once and for all.”
“Well, thanks, I guess.” I was almost at a loss of what to say. It was very much unlike the Queen to say anything quite so positive, especially toward me. After our little moment in the dungeons, she’d treated me with just as much disdain as she always had, particularly when she’d discovered I lost her necklace.
“Yes, though it’s a shame you were so reckless with my necklace or you’d be much better prepared for this mission.”
Ah, there it was.
A crash of thunder sounded in the distance, and Kipling dropped back his head to stare at the cloud-studded sky. “A storm is brewing. You two should head off. If there are any problems, one of my ravens will be following you. And when you’re ready to come back, send a note. Silas or Eli will come to collect you.”
I almost had to laugh at that. Here, out in the middle of the sea, there was no such thing as cell phone service. Kipling had a flock of trained ravens he used to keep in contact with the covens around the world, as well as the few werewolf packs that were still alive. If we needed to contact the city, we would have to send the bird.
Kipling strode forward and pulled me into a bear hug, squeezing his arms tight around my back, the scent of leather and candy swirling around us in the winter breeze. For a moment, I stood shocked and still, caught off guard by this blatant display of affection. The only person who had ever hugged me like this was Tess, and even then, it had been few and far between.
But eventually, I relaxed and hugged him back. My heart panged. Kipling and the gargoyles had begun to feel like home, and even though my trip was short and temporary, I wasn’t a robot. I would miss the strange, kind steward of the City of Wings.
Hell, I would miss all of them. Except for Sebastian.
When Kipling finally pulled back, he gave Marcus a pat on the shoulder. “Be careful, Marcus. I know you trust that coven, but Magister Thorne can be deceptive if he really wants something.”
“Understood.” Marcus gave a nod.
My gaze drifted to the shifters. Jasper, Eli, and Silas all stood with their lips downturned and their arms crossed tight over their chests. Sebastian was nowhere to be found, but that wasn’t particularly surprising or upsetting. He didn’t give a rat’s ass that I was leaving, and I would certainly not waste a spare thought on missing him while I was gone.
“Guys?” I said. “I really don’t want to leave without saying goodbye.”
Silas’s pained face transformed into a ghost of a smile as his long dark hair fluttered in the wind. “This isn’t goodbye. I’ll see you soon, Rowena.”
I sucked in a breath, my eyes blurring with unshed tears.
“Silas is right,” Eli said, though his hollow green eyes didn’t reflect the lighthearted tone of his voice. “You’ll be back within a day or two. No need to say goodbye. Just…good luck. And be careful.”
Jasper’s jaw clenched tight. “If she even comes back. She’s been planning on a way to get out of here ever since we got back from London.”
My heart flickered in my chest. “That was only to get the sword. Now, I’ll have it. There will be no reason to leave.”
“Except that you aren’t satisfied by this place. You want out. Don’t tell me you don’t, Ro, because it’s written all over your face.”
My voice fell to a whisper. “Jasper, please don’t do this. Not right now.” I can’t help the way I feel. I can’t help that I’ve been trapped my entire life and that I can no longer stand the thought of being trapped for even a moment longer. It isn’t you or this place. It’s me.
But I didn’t voice those thoughts aloud. Instead, I merely said, “I’m coming back.”
Another round of thunder crashed through the sky. Kipling rubbed his hands against his jaw and motioned at the sea behind us. “You need to go now, or you will not be able to enter the skies until this storm has passed. And then it will be too late.”
Marcus gave a nod and wrapped his arms around my waist. And before I could brace myself, we were hurtling through the windy sky. The air was ice cold, even with the warmth from Marcus’s body.
The first time he’d taken me flying, Marcus had chuckled nearly the entire time, but he wasn’t laughing now. And that mere fact made my blood run cold. I didn’t know if it was because of our quest, because of the hunters who might be watching the skies, or because of the storm that whistled around us.
Marcus flapped his ebony wings, his eyes focused hard on the churning sea below. We dipped and spun, the world blurring all around me as nausea threatened to claw up my throat. Out of all the flights I’d taken with the gargoyles, this was by far the worst.
As we flew closer and closer to London, the bright lights sparkling on the horizon, the storm grew fiercer. Wind batted against my cheeks, freezing my fingers and toes. Marcus’s grip tightened around me as we continued straight on into the storm. He was silent, calm, and more than a little unnerving. Marcus wasn’t the silent type. The fact he wasn’t joking now…meant this flight was very much not a joke.
“I don’t know how much further we can go,” he finally murmured into my ear, his voice as icy as the wind. “My wings are strong, but these winds are stronger.”
“How much further to the castle?” I asked, glancing down at the coast when we finally reached the British Islands. In an effort to flee the fierce winds, Marcus had flown us higher and higher, and the buildings below were mere dots on a canopy of black.
“All the way to Scotland, I’m afraid,” he said.
My face drained of all feeling. “Won’t that take another hour?”
“A few hours,” he said, voice grim. “It might not be storming that far north, but it doesn’t look good from here.”
And he was right. Up ahead, all I could see was dark clouds and even darker clouds, shot through with thunderous quakes and flickers of lightning, though those were still far into the distance. If we weren’t careful…
“I’ll try to go around it,” Marcus said just as I was about to suggest we turn back. He knew as well as I did what was at stake. If we didn’t arrive at the castle by noon, the hunters would get my sword.
So, we carried on, circling further to the west. But it was no use. The lightning grew closer; the thunder grew louder. And, halfway to the castle, Marcus dropped to the ground, landing heavily as rain poured down our soaked faces.
My teeth chattered as I looked up into his violet eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Rowena,” he said as he wrapped his wings around my trembling body. “We can’t fly in this. We’ll have to take cover until the storm passes. Or, at least until the lightning is gone. Unfortunately, we’ll have to hope it passes soon. It took us four hours to get this far, which means it’s already eight. We only have four more hours to reach the castle.”
Chapter 10
Four more hours. Of course fate would deliver a terrible storm right when I most needed the skies to remain clear. Lightning crackled overhead, and I swore it crashed only inches from where we hunkered down in the middle of a cluster of trees.
Frowning, I glanced around us. We were, as it turned out, in the middle of nowhere. Behind us lay a sprawling forest full of tall trees that shuddered in the wind, their leafless branches rattling like a witch’s fingernails. Through the trees, I could see long stretches of rolling farmland. There were no homes, no roads. Nothing but blankets of muddy fields.
“Where the hell are we?” I muttered, leaning closer to Marcus. The cold sunk deep into my bones, but somehow, his body still radiated warmth.
“Somewhere in the Midlands,” he said before pointing at an old abandoned outbuilding that hunkered in the middle of the closest field. “Let’s take cover in there.”
It didn’t look particularly inviting with its crumbling walls and spray-painted windows. But it was dry, so I wasn’t about to complain. Marcus took his hand in mine, still keeping his wings tucked tight around my body as we sprinted from the forest path, across the muddy field, and to the rickety wooden door that was hanging partially off rusted hinges.
We ducked under the rotted wooden beam, and Marcus’s wings disappeared out of sight, quicker than a heartbeat. His wool jacket remained untouched, as if the wings had never even been there.
“How does that work anyway?” I puffed on my hands as Marcus slammed the door shut against a new blast of wintry wind. “Your wings? Why don’t they tear your shirt when you shift?”
His lips quirked, the smirking, annoying, charismatic Marcus fully on display now that we were safe within these round stone walls. “Were you hoping it would leave me topless, Rowena?”
Warmth flooded my cheeks. The first warmth I’d felt since we’d left the city behind. “I’m surprised you can fit inside this tiny building with that massive ego of yours.”
“And it’s not the only thing that’s massive.” He winked.
“You’re the worst.” I rolled my eyes, but the flames flared even hotter in my cheeks. Because now I was imagining him with his shirt off. And, it wasn’t a terrible image.
Marcus found a stool hidden underneath a tarp, dusted it off, and motioned for me to sit. It was the only seat in the entire tiny space, and for a moment, I wanted to argue. I wasn’t the damsel, just like I’d told Jasper the other night. But my bones ached, and my muscles begged for a moment of peace. So, I sat, the wood creaking underneath me.
“As far as your question is concerned...well, it’s magic, isn’t it?” Marcus shrugged. “If I were to shift into my full stone form, then my clothing would be destroyed. But if I merely shift my back into wings, everything else remains the same. Odd, but I wouldn’t say that’s the strangest thing about our world.”
“True.” And, at the mere mention of our world, my thoughts turned dark and heavy. “What are we going to do, Marcus? How are we going to make it to the castle on time?”
With a sigh, he settled onto the floor in front of me and leaned back against the stone wall. In the small space, we were only inches apart. The edges of our feet touched. Mine in a pair of blac
k lace-up boots that hit mid-calf over my black jeans, and his in a pair of black sneakers. Next to him, my feet looked like ants.
“As I see it, we have two options,” he began. “We either wait it out here until the storm subsides enough for us to take flight again or we make our move now.”
“Now?” My heart flickered with a bit of hope and dread. “You mean fly through the storm, even though it’s this bad?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s too dangerous. That’s why we landed in the first place. No, we can wait a little while. Maybe half an hour for the lightning to move on, and then we fly low through the trees and close to the ground, combined with walking here and there when we need to. Unfortunately, there’s a big downside of that option.”
“We’d be at risk of being seen,” I said with a nod. Flying high in the clouds, far above the earth, there was very little risk that any humans would catch sight of us. But if we were swooping over rooftops, that risk would rise exponentially. Truth was, I’d be shocked if someone didn’t spot us.
Marcus leaned forward. With a dimpled smile, he gazed up at me, resting his elbows on my knees. The silver flecks in his eyes seemed to dance in the darkness of the abandoned building, and something hot flickered in my gut. Marcus irritated the hell out of me sometimes, but there was no denying that he was exceptionally nice to look at. Only problem was, he knew it.
“What?” I asked when he said nothing in response.
“Just you,” he said, eyes sparkling. “I knew there was something different about you when I met you that day at the Dreadford Castle. You were weak and thin, but your eyes were full of strength. Sure, your silver hair made you stand out, but it was you that made me desperate to learn who you really were.”
I eyed him warily. “What are you after? Something tells me you’re not handing out compliments for the sake of it.”
“I’m not after a damn thing,” he said. “I was just thinking how this might be one of our last moments together for a long while. It might not be goodbye for the other shifters, but it’s goodbye for us.”
Carved in Stone_Protectors of Magic_Book 2 Page 4
