by C. I. Black
“I—”
The room went still. A paper fluttered to the ground and the sound of rushing air stopped. The fire in the shelves sputtered and went out. The air was gone.
They were out of time.
Morgan pressed her hand against the cage. “You have to get out.”
“No.”
“You’ll suffocate.”
“And you’ll be crushed,” Gage said.
“Trina said I had ten minutes, which means I’ve got more time than you. Get out. Then get the hell back here.”
“The door can only be opened from the outside and my magic can’t break through Bearnas’s spell. Turn the cage and the charm to stone, then open that damned door,” he gasped, his face pale.
Fire roared around her eyes. “Stop using your air.”
She had to focus. God, she’d just managed to figure out how to hold it back, and even that was still a struggle. She pushed up her sunglasses and locked her gaze on the charm at her feet.
Focus. Don’t let it go wild. The last time it had, she’d almost killed Gage.
The light cage flickered and contracted, crunching her down and pressing her face closer to the charm. Fire burned across her forehead, over her cheeks, and down her neck, but didn’t break free.
Come on. Come on. Through the eyes. Pinpoints. Hell, she’d take a wide beam.
The light cage squeezed against her. Tighter. Smaller. She couldn’t draw a full breath, couldn’t move. She was going to die. Gage was going to die. All because she couldn’t let go of what she hadn’t been able to hold in seven days ago.
She was stronger than this.
Gage slid to his knees. “Morgan.”
Oh, God! “Stop talking.”
His head sagged against the light cage, making it flicker and contract. It was so tight. The pressure was unbearable.
She forced her eyes wide. Focus. Power. Fire. Anything. Please just turn the goddamned thing to stone.
The cage flickered again. Her heart skipped a beat and fire burst from her eyes. It pounded into the cage and the charm. But they didn’t turn to stone. Light flashed and sparked around her.
Turn. To. Stone.
The cage flickered and squeezed tighter. Something cracked and white lightning shot through her shoulder, neck, and chest. The power pouring from her eyes snapped off and raced into her heart, lava through her veins like the inferno she’d experienced when she’d broken Eoin’s charm.
Gage toppled over, his face ashen.
The cage forced her down, pressing her forehead over the charm. Light flickered around her. The fire around her heart roared. Please, no.
CHAPTER 8
The cage contracted again. With a snap, agony exploded through Morgan’s foot. Everything went dark. The power searing her heart and veins, her whole body, had nowhere to go. She wasn’t strong enough to contain it, but it wasn’t focused around her eyes like it should be. It was at the very center of her being as if this was a new and terrible power that had been awakened.
It burst from her, from every pore, from eyes and mouth and nose. It raced over her hands, licking down her arms.
The light cage exploded with blinding brilliance. Its crushing weight vanished. Darkness flooded behind it, devouring her sight. Air whooshed around her and someone screamed. The fire of her powers returned to her face and eyes, as intense as before, threatening to destroy whatever she looked at.
She sagged forward, squeezing her eyes shut. She had to control it, not release it.
In. Out. Focus on her breath. Control it.
The fire cooled. Thank God.
Strong hands clasped her shoulders. Pain roared through her and she gasped, struggling to catch her breath and focus, but her powers didn’t flare up.
“What the hell happened?” That sounded like Lachlin. He was close, by her ear.
She forced her head to move the fraction to glance at the hand on her shoulder. Long, delicate fingers. They had to belong to Lachlin. More pain swept up her neck, stealing her breath. She dropped her head again and met Gage’s dark eyes.
He held her captive and she was drowning in pain and fear and determination… and questions. He didn’t know what had happened, how she’d broken the cage. Well, she’d done what he’d asked. Turned the damned thing to stone. It just hadn’t felt like anything she’d experienced before.
Light caught on the token by her knee, but not the diamond in sunlight glimmer of magic. It was now a normal rabbit charm and still silver. She hadn’t turned it to stone. Not even the floor around it was stone. This had to be a new manifestation of her gorgon powers, but that didn’t make any sense either.
“Morgan?” Lachlin squeezed her shoulders. Pain rocketed through her.
“Please. Don’t,” she gasped. “Broken collarbone.”
Lachlin jerked his hand away.
She eased off her knees to her butt, her thighs burning with the movement and her right foot in fiery agony. Broken foot, too.
“What the hell happened?” Lachlin asked.
“I had to use a blast of elemental magic to break the door down.” Bearnas knelt beside Gage.
“Trina.” Gage coughed and sucked in another long breath. “She activated the fire suppression spell. She murdered Scarlet.”
“That’s what I came here to tell you. The spell on the trapped box was Bearnas’s,” Lachlin said.
“But it was a phantom guardian spell. You put a valuable in the box. When you touch it, the guardian appears and you give it the password to open the box.” Bearnas rubbed a small circle on Gage’s back. “I always have a few in the safe. We get a lot of orders for them from the Thirteen Houses.”
“Trina manipulated the spell after Bearnas had already anchored it to the box. Which is why the anchor is Bearnas’s and the spell signature is hers but not quite hers,” Lachlin said.
“I didn’t think Trina was a strong enough spellweaver for that.” Gage straightened but didn’t shrug off Bearnas’s hand.
Morgan dragged her attention away from Gage and Bearnas, but she didn’t know where to look and her gaze dropped back to the charm at her knee.
“Trina’s always kept her spellweaving abilities to herself. I didn’t think she was stronger than me or that she had any control of elemental magic, though,” Bearnas said.
“And now she has Eoin.” Morgan picked up the charm. There’d been six charms on the bracelet. One for the light cage. One to charm Eoin. That left four.
“Lachlin, can you sense him?” Gage drew another deep breath. He pushed up to his feet and offered Morgan his hand.
She reached for it. Pain shot through her shoulder. She offered him an apologetic smile and climbed to her feet on her own.
Lachlin closed his eyes. “He’s in the building. Up in his suite with another Fae. But something isn’t right. His emotions aren’t right.”
“What do you mean, not right?” Gage asked.
“It’s like he’s been charmed. But that’s impossible. Trina’s ability to charm isn’t strong enough to affect another Fae.”
“She slipped something from her bracelet into his pocket. It had a spell on it,” Morgan said. The pain in her shoulder and foot stole her breath and she fought not to show it.
Gage retrieved his gun by the door. “She also used elemental magic to start the fire. She’s willing to risk anything for this.”
“She wants to be the wife of the heir of the House of Fairy,” Morgan said. And that almost got Morgan and Gage killed.
“Except Eoin is no longer heir.” Bearnas’s glamour wavered, and for a heartbeat, she looked too thin, too young, and too wide-eyed to be heir to anything.
Lachlin’s eyes flew open and he stared at Bearnas. “He what?”
“The Sibyl on the Council foresaw the need for change.” Bearnas shifted but didn’t look away from Lachlin. “I’m the stronger spellweaver and I have the sibyl’s gift.”
“But you’re half human. Not that—you know—” Lachlin swore under his breath.
“You know what I mean.”
“No half-breed has ever ruled one of the Thirteen Houses. That has always been quite clear,” Bearnas said, a hint of bitterness sliding into her tone. “I didn’t ask for this.”
“Does Eoin know?”
“Of course he does. He championed the change.”
“He what?” Lachlin’s jaw fell open. If Morgan wasn’t in such pain, she’d find his expression hilarious.
Gage cleared his throat. “This is all great, but right now we’ve got a crazy Fae who’s charmed the ex-heir of the House of Fairy. She’s murdered one Kin and tried to murder two more.” He turned his dark gaze to Morgan. “Stay here and keep Bearnas safe.”
“I don’t think so. She took out both of us without drawing much of a sweat. You’re going to need all the help you can get.” Morgan might not be able to run very far, but her magical gaze didn’t require moving, just concentration… if she could get the damned thing to work. God, she couldn’t believe she was contemplating that. She could kill someone. But the thought of Gage and Lachlin going up against Trina alone terrified her more.
“She’s got control of Eoin. He’ll charm you and then we’ll be fighting three Kin,” Lachlin said.
Bearnas propped her hands on her hips. “I don’t need a babysitter. If Trina’s using elemental magic, you’ll need a spellweaver to contain it.”
“We are not risking all potential heirs to the House of Fairy,” Gage said.
“Then Lachlin can stay behind.” Bearnas flashed a wicked smile.
“I’m not staying behind. This is my job.”
“Well, I’m heir now. You have to do what I say.”
Lachlin raised a sculpted eyebrow. “When did I ever listen to anyone from our family?”
“Lachlin, stop arguing with your sister. Morgan, stay here with Bearnas.” Gage checked the clip in his gun and chambered a bullet. “That’s an order.”
“Fine.” Yeah, she knew she was going to be a liability in this fight, with her injuries and her weakness against Eoin’s charm, but the order still didn’t sit well. “You didn’t happen to bring my sidearm with you?”
“No and if I have my way, you’re not getting it back.”
“Oh, I’m getting it back. It’s still a safer bet than my gaze.”
A softness slid over Gage’s expression. “For now, but give it a little practice and you won’t want your gun back.”
“So you say.”
“I do say.” Gage’s expression turned wicked, a hint of the promise of his darkness and doing sensual things in that darkness gleaming in his eyes. “Come on, Lachlin. Let’s go rescue your brother.”
“Do we have to?” But Lachlin headed to the door.
Damn, she hated being left behind, even if it was practical. “Trina has four charms left on her bracelet.”
Gage glanced back at her. “Good to know.”
They marched out. The door swung closed and the catch clicked into place.
“You’re going to piss off so many women in Kin society,” Bearnas said.
“Excuse me?” Morgan picked up her sunglasses, her body screaming at the movement. They were broken.
“Gage and Lachlin. There are a lot of Kin women who have their eye on those two.”
“I’m not the only girl working on the team.” She shoved her sunglasses into her coat pocket.
Bearnas raised an eyebrow, accentuating the family resemblance between her and Lachlin. “Oh, but you’re the only one who’s powerful enough to be their equal. Even if you are a half-breed.”
“Riiiight.” Morgan had no idea what to say to that. A part of her thrilled at the idea that Gage might be interested in her. Another part wondered what Bearnas meant, suggesting Lachlin would be interested as well. Eoin had been, but in a conquest kind of way. Was Lachlin the same?
A shiver at the memory of Eoin’s charm raced over her and she shoved it back. A relationship with either man was a terrible idea. “So why are all the girls hot for Gage?”
“You’re kidding, right? Just look at him. If he was Fae, he’d be mine.”
“But he’s not, so he can’t be?” Morgan wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Relieved? Confused? At least she could rule out Gage being Fae, but it still didn’t tell her what kind of Kin he was. And really, she should be helping both of them face Trina right now.
Bearnas blew out a sigh. “I’m already half human. I can’t dilute the House of Fairy any more than it already is. It’s bad enough Father was forced to make me heir instead of Eoin.”
“Why is that? Why aren’t you with your human family?” The urge to move, take action, do anything, twitched within Morgan. But this was her assignment right now, even if she didn’t like it.
“You do know it’s rude to ask.”
“Sorry. Seems my education is still lacking.” And to fix that, she’d need to spend more time with Gage, who was facing God-only-knew what right now. “I’ve only been aware of Kin for a week now.”
“I suppose learning about more important things, like staying alive, should be dealt with before etiquette.”
“Is that why everyone is so cagey about their past? It’s rude to talk about it?” Come on, Gage. Call, say Trina had been taken down.
Bearnas picked a piece of paper from the floor. “That, among other things.”
“Among other things?”
Bearnas picked up another piece of paper. “It’s not my place to say. Everyone’s on Gage’s team for a reason. Yes, Kin don’t like sharing too many personal details with anyone, but sometimes those details shouldn’t be shared.”
“Like whatever happened between Lachlin and Eoin.”
“Ye—” Bearnas groaned and crumpled the paper in her hand.
“Bearnas?”
“I, ah…” She dropped the papers and pressed her palms to her eyes.
Morgan staggered to her side, pain screaming through her body. “What’s wrong?”
“I—” Her eyes squeezed tight and her mouth grew pinched. She whimpered. “We—”
Heat rippled across Morgan’s eyes. Not. Now. She blinked it back and reached for Bearnas, but stopped before making contact. She had no idea what to do.
Bearnas dropped to her knees and rocked and groaned. She stopped breathing and her lips grew pale. It looked like a strange sort of seizure. If that was the case, there was nothing Morgan could do until it was over. She knelt beside Bearnas, ready to catch her if she passed out, but didn’t want to hold her in case the seizure turned violent.
“Come on, Bearnas. Just relax. Just relax.”
“Just… relax?” Bearnas gasped. “We have to—”
“Have to what?”
Bearnas trembled. Her eyes rolled back and her teeth chattered.
Fire licked across Morgan’s cheeks. It had to be the stress of being caged and now not knowing how to deal with Bearnas. Morgan was the one who needed to relax, stay calm, and control her powers.
She forced in a steadying breath.
Bearnas wheezed with her.
The fire eased from Morgan’s face, radiating down, and dispersing across her chest.
She drew another breath. Bearnas matched that one as well.
A trembling hand clasped Morgan’s. Bearnas stared at her, her too-large eyes filled with questions.
She blinked and her expression hardened. “The boys are in trouble. We need to help them.”
“We what?” But as soon as Morgan asked, she knew what Bearnas meant. The legal papers said she had the sibyl’s gift, the ability to see the future.
“I’ve seen it. They need help.” Bearnas stood, urging Morgan up with her. “We have to go now.”
CHAPTER 9
The door to the elevator slid open, revealing a marble, glass, and brass foyer. Straight ahead, a heavy door stood ajar. Beyond lay a sleek hall opening into a living area, with floor-to-ceiling windows exposing a patio overlooking the city’s skyline.
It was quiet. Too quiet for a fight. Perhaps Gage and Lachlin h
ad already apprehended Trina and Bearnas’s vision had been wrong.
And perhaps the chill raising the hair on the back of Morgan’s neck was nothing, too.
She shivered and Bearnas glanced at her. “Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?” But as soon as Morgan asked, the chill slid over her again. “What is that?”
“Raw elemental magic. It looks like there’s more gorgon than human in you.”
“Lovely.” The idea of completely losing her humanity churned her stomach.
The chill swept over her again.
“Trina’s losing control. We have to hurry.” Bearnas ran out of the elevator.
“Wait.” They needed a plan. But Bearnas didn’t stop.
Morgan staggered out of the elevator, her foot and shoulder ablaze with pain. She ground her teeth against the agony and rushed across the hall into the apartment. She had to catch Bearnas before she ran headlong into trouble. But Bearnas raced around the corner at the end of the hall.
Someone screamed. High pitched.
Morgan fought the urge to hurry after her. Another shiver drew goose bumps. She inched closer to the opening and glanced around the corner.
Bearnas was down on one knee, her hands raised against a brilliant white light pounding at her. Trina stood by the windows, the light—raw elemental magic—pouring from her palms.
The room was trashed, with black scars across the floor, ceiling, and walls—probably from Gage’s fire whip. Gage struggled against a glowing web of light, the strands clinging to him, tangling around his arms and legs the more he struggled. Lachlin groaned nearby and staggered to his feet, clutching his head.
Eoin lengthened his stance and brought his fists up. “I’m stronger than you. I’ve always been stronger. And I should be the heir.”
“You are the heir.” Trina wrenched at the magic pouring from her hands, captured Bearnas, and threw her against the wall near Gage. Bearnas’s head snapped back and she crumpled into a heap.
“And you’re crazy,” Lachlin said.
“I’m… I’m crazy?” Trina squeezed her eyes shut. “Get out of my head.”
“Stop it.” Eoin growled and rushed at Lachlin.
