Disgrace

by Kit Bladegrave

  I frowned, wondering what had changed, then recalled SOMETHING. “Her birthday. Twenty-one. She came of age,” I whispered. “And her powers finally awoke.” Gabby mentioned the love we shared. It appeared she was powerful after all. “Where is my wife?” I asked as I stood too fast and the room spun around me.

  “Easy, sire, take it easy. I’ll find her for you.”

  “No, I want to do it.”

  “The last I heard she was in her workshop making more tonic just in case.”

  I took a few steps, my legs growing steadier with each step. After promising Hattie I would not fall down the stairs and break my neck, she let me go find Gabby. There was much to be happy for, and I needed to hold her in my arms, kiss her for all she’d done. I wanted to see that violet light in her eyes. We would take a few days to make a plan, and then we would track down Tori and end this once and for all. I would not have that witch hovering over Gabby any longer. I smiled and shook hands with those I passed, all pleased to see me still alive. I was glad to see the others alive. Happy barks and playful howling sounded from the kennels as I reached the grounds. I would go there next after I saw Gabby.

  But as I entered her workshop and glanced around the gloom, my excitement vanished and was replaced with dread.

  “What are you doing in here?” I snarled.

  Josef jumped, spinning around to face me.

  It wasn’t merely his presence and Gabby’s absence that made me furious. The mirrors Gabby had spent the last few days destroying had been made whole. From the look of it, Josef had put them back together… with magic dripping from his fingers. Magic he should not have.

  “Where is she?” I demanded.

  Josef glanced around him dramatically and shrugged, a wicked grin growing across his face. “Not here. No not here at all.”

  I took a step closer, my hands curling into fists. “You will tell me now. Where is she?”

  He clicked his tongue and wagged his finger. “You are messing with powers far beyond you, Holden. I would suggest you stay out of my mistress’s way.”

  “Mistress? Tori—she got to you.” I stared intently into Josef’s eyes, searching for any sign he was still in there and I caught a glint of the demon I’d known for ages, until he was covered up by darkness. “Josef, let me help you, please. We can stop Tori together.”

  He burst out laughing harshly. “There is no stopping her, not now that she has what she wants.”

  “And what is that?”

  “Her daughter, beside her where she belongs.”

  “Gabriella does not belong with that woman,” I growled. “I will get her back.”

  “You will die trying. Tori is too powerful now to be stopped by a mere demigod demon,” Josef spat. “If you’ll excuse me now, I must take these mirrors to her and continue my duties.”

  “You are not leaving until you tell me where Gabriella is.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen.”

  He turned his back to me, as if that would truly be the end of it, but I was not letting him leave without getting answers.

  I lunged at him, tackling him to the ground, wrapped an arm around his throat, holding him fast against me, but he was far stronger than I remembered, and nearly broke my arm breaking out of the hold. He landed a kick to my chest.

  I gasped in a breath, managing to stay on my feet and dodge a fist aimed for my face, but I didn’t escape his knee. The plague had weakened me, and though I felt better, I was weaker than I expected. My head spun from another hit and then his fist knocked me into a nearby table. It buckled beneath me, and I crashed to the floor.

  “Stay down.” Josef’s fingers lit up with power.

  I saw the pleading in his eyes as I pushed myself back up, not about to give up just yet.

  “Holden.”

  “No, you will not keep her from me! Not now that I’ve finally found her!”

  I went for him again, taking him down. I slammed my fists into his face over and over again, hoping to knock some sense back into him. If I could get Tori out of his head, then he would be back on my side, could tell me where Gabriella was before that witch tortured her. Or worse, killed her. I bellowed as I kept up the assault. Even when Josef shoved me off and made for the mirrors again, I yanked him away, throwing him across the room.

  “Where is she?” I demanded.

  “I can’t tell you.” He spit blood from his mouth.

  “Yes, you can. Talk to me, don’t let her control you. Please, I have to find her. To save her!”

  Josef stared at me blankly.

  My hands were hands fisted in his shirt, and for that brief second, I thought I’d gotten through to him.

  Then he grinned, blood covering his teeth. “You will not win this fight, Prince Holden. You will die.”

  I roared, ready to headbutt him and knock him out to keep him here, but those glowing hands of his grabbed hold of my shoulders and I was thrust backward.

  I went through the stone wall and landed out on the grounds. I covered my head as debris fell around me, hearing my guards yelling for me. I directed them to the workshop instead.

  “Get Josef. Stop him!”

  The guards took off, but before they even reached the door, an explosion rocked the workshop, and it burst into flames, collapsing in on itself while I sat there on the grass, watching.

  “Sire!” Hattie had reached me and helped me to my feet. “You’re wounded! What happened?”

  “Josef has been turned by Tori.” I held my bleeding head.

  “But, was Gabriella in there?”

  “No. Tori has stolen her from me,” I snarled, glaring at the flames devouring the workshop. “And I’m going to get her back if it’s the last thing I do.”

  “Your wounds, let me tend to them first.”

  “I don’t have time.”

  “You will make time, or you will bleed to death before you even get to her,” she said sternly. “We all want her back, Prince Holden, but running off with no plan and injured is not the way to go about it.”

  The guards near me nodded in agreement. “We will start a search for her here, sire, until you are prepared to leave,” said Maclin, a guard who served with Tolen and one I trusted just as much as Tolen.

  “I doubt Tori would have kept her in the Underworld, but it’s a start. Thank you.”

  Maclin bowed and ordered the guards to get the hounds. Rush would lead the hunt, and if she was down here, he would find her. Hattie escorted me back to the castle and sat me down in the hall, so she could clean up my wounds from the fight.

  “The mirrors,” I muttered, “Tori’s doing something with mirrors.”

  “I never knew any witches; I’m sorry to say I’m of no help in that area.”

  “Nor am I. Damn it!” I slammed my fist down on the table, cracking the wood.

  If Hattie was upset at my outburst, she said nothing.

  “I have to get her back.”

  “She would not have gone willingly.”

  “No, no she would not have which means Tori has done something to her, hurt her.”

  My heart twisted, picturing all those scars covering Gabby’s back. If Tori harmed her in any way, I would see she suffered the same pain, ten times over again. I would tear her limb from limb and strip her of her magic, slowly and painfully. I growled as Hattie kept working on my wounds, willing Gabby to stay strong.

  I’m coming for you, love, and I’m bringing all the Underworld with me, if I have to.

  15

  Gabriella

  I spun around, I could have sworn I heard Holden call my name. Was he here?

  “Are you listening to me, daughter?” Tori snapped, stopping in the middle of a drawn-out speech I’d stopped paying attention to a long time ago. I’d been focused instead on breaking the hold she placed on my body. “You won’t free yourself. You might as well give in and save us both the time and effort. Not to mention saving yourself from pain.”

  Pain was right. I winced as the
magic-laced bindings tightened again.

  “Understand? If you would let yourself see the truth, this would run much smoother.”

  “No,” I managed to utter, until her magic forced my mouth shut again. I stood there in a strange daze. The fog I’d experienced on the coast came back, blocking everything from my sight except Tori.

  “Now then, you are integral to my plan moving forward. Do you understand?”

  My head nodded, all on its own.

  “Good. You and I will prove the coven wrong.” A terrifying look of malice filled her eyes. “We will get our revenge, and then we will show them all what real power is.” She cupped my cheek, the cheek she’d slapped several hours ago. “Once our revenge is completed, the truth will be easier for you to accept.”

  I wanted to rant and scream at her to leave me alone, but I was trapped within her power. I willed mine to work, to no avail. There was utter silence in my mind, except for Tori’s magic maintaining a constant hum reverberating deep in my bones.

  She prattled on again, and even though my head nodded, I was busy trying to see through the fog. We were at the old cabin, or what was left of it. She’d been furious when we first arrived, and I’d managed a smirk before that had been slapped off my face, too.

  My fingers pressed into my thigh and I let out a tiny mental cheer as they moved more and more. If I could get a hand free, I might be able to attack her. She hadn’t checked me for weapons, and there was a dagger tucked at my lower back. All I had to do was grab it…

  “Ah, there he is,” Tori suddenly said.

  I lost all concentration, my hand slapping back against my thigh.

  She glanced at me sideways but didn’t do anything else. “Did you bring them all?”

  “Yes, mistress, as requested.”

  Josef? What was he doing here? My gaze darted to the right, and there was the demon himself, unveiling the mirrors I’d smashed in my workshop. Except now they were whole. How long had it been since she had taken control of his mind?

  “Did you have any trouble?” Tori asked, delicately running her hands along the gilded, black frames.

  “Prince Holden tried to stop me but failed.”

  He’d attacked Holden? My heart thundered beneath my ribs. I wanted to ask if he was alright, but Tori did it for me. “Does he live?”

  “I do not know. I seriously wounded him in the fight. I had no time to remain behind. The guards were coming, and I needed to bring these mirrors to you, mistress.”

  Holden was wounded, possibly dead. No. It wasn’t possible! My hand twitched harder, and I regained a little more control over my faculties.

  Tori’s back to me, I inched my fingers closer and closer to the dagger at my back. Just a bit further… nearly there… I had to get out of here and reach Holden. Had to know if he lived. My fingers closed around the hilt, and I forced my face to remain perfectly blank as I drew it from its sheath and waited.

  “You have done well, Josef. Normally I would not work with demons, but you have proven your worth. I suggest you continue to do so. I have much more work that needs accomplishing.”

  “Yes, mistress,” he replied.

  “And if this prince of yours makes an appearance, you are to kill him.”

  Fury at the fear of Holden’s death broke the final bit of Tori’s hold on me. I threw myself at her, dagger aiming for her back. I was ready to plunge it into her when she spun around and with a burst of magic, thrust me backward.I didn’t fall, remaining suspended, trapped in mid-air.

  “Josef, you have to fight her,” I begged of him. “You can’t kill Holden!”

  Josef’s eyes seemed to glaze over, and he said nothing.

  “He can’t help you.” Tori sounded tired of my attempts to break free. “But I see now that there is a better solution to ridding us of your troublesome demi.”

  “I won’t do it, whatever it is you ask of me.”

  “And yet again, my sweet daughter, you will not have a choice. I have a task for you to complete and this watching over you is growing tiresome. You are making me do this to you, remember that.”

  “What are you doing?” I asked, failing to hide my fear as she drew closer.

  “It appears I did not rip enough memories from you of your beloved. I shall have to try again and make sure I get them all out. Or better yet, turn them against you,” she whispered, her hands hovering over my temples. “Remember, this could have been so much easier.”

  Right before she touched her palms to my temples, I forced any thought of Holden from my mind. If I could hide him away, keep my true memories of him safe inside my mind, then whatever she did to me would not work. At least, that’s what I told myself. I pictured taking all those moments we shared together and tucking them away in a box. I locked it in my mind, surrounded it with the violet hue of magic—

  And then I was screaming.

  Her hands burned against my skin while I flailed, desperate to get free of her hold.

  “You brought this on yourself,” Tori yelled, drowning out my screams. “All of this was your fault.”

  I wanted to argue, to strike back, but the pain immobilized me. I sensed her tearing through my mind again, destroying all the good I’d found in my life and replacing it with falsities and darkness. Twisting what I knew to be true, until I no longer recognized what happened to me.

  Suddenly, I found myself hating the gods and the demigods, all of them, but none more than the one who helped bring me into this life. He and one other would pay for their crimes, pay for what they did to me.

  When Tori removed her hands, I sheathed the dagger at my back and looked around.

  “Where is he?” I demanded.

  “Who, daughter?”

  “Alric, where is he?”

  “You hate him?” she asked.

  “Hate him? I will kill him for what he did to us, Mother. I will kill him, for you.”

  “Thank you, my loving daughter. And what of the other one in your life?”

  I narrowed my eyes, wondering what she meant, until I cursed, remembering what that bastard had done to me. I’d been forced into a marriage I did not want, to a demigod demon who despised me. Tried to kill me out of spite!

  “If Holden comes here, what will you do to him?” Tori asked again, her voice deeper, more demanding this time.

  “I will kill him,” I said without hesitation.

  “Very good. Now, I must finish the ritual here. You will go and fetch your father for me. Yes?”

  “Of course, mother.”

  She handed me a long length of rope.

  Then, I turned around, ready to head into the village and use the mirror to take me to my father’s home.

  “We need him alive,” she called after me. “But only for a little while.”

  I smiled darkly.

  I reached the village and stepped through the mirror, coming out in Nell’s temple. Luckily, she was not here so I wouldn’t be detained with small talk and such. I exited, my pace brisk as I sought Alric’s home. He would be there, probably drunk, by this time of day.

  A fire burned outside his cabin and I spotted him lounging beside the flames, a bottle of wine in hand. I stood in the shadows, watching him closely. Mother said we needed him alive, but it did not stop me from imagining him dead at my feet after listening to him beg for mercy.

  “Who’s there?” he asked suddenly, turning in my direction. “Gabriella, is that you my sweet girl?”

  I made sure to smile brightly as I stepped into the light of his fire. “It is.”

  “My girl, what are you doing here?” he asked, finding his feet a bit unsteadily. “Come to visit your father whom you care for so much?”

  “I should visit more.” I took his hand and kissed the back of it, though it made me sick to do so. “But so much as happened of late, it’s kept me quite busy.”

  “Ah. Yes. My second daughter’s wedding and I was not invited.”

  “It was a very rushed affair.”

  “Hmm, y
es. Well, I suppose you are so busy with your new husband that your father means nothing to you, is that it?” he snapped, all pretense of being friendliness gone. “You always were the worst out of all my spawn. The one who should have been grateful to have my blood running through her veins. Yet you never called it a gift. Instead you considered it a curse.”

  I chewed on my cheek, my hands itching to smack him and see how he liked it. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Father,” I replied.

  “Yes, you should be. But you are here now. Tell me, how is it, being married to a bastard?”

  I cringed, seeing darkness when I thought of Holden. How he tormented me these past few weeks before Tori saved me from his clutches. If only I’d been able to save her from Alric. I’d been too young then, too weak. No longer.

  “He will get what’s coming to him, as will you.”

  Alric took a half-step back as if seeing me for the first time. “What did you say?”

  I drew the dagger from my back, its blade shining in the firelight. “It’s best if you come with me, and don’t make me tie you up. I would hate to disgrace a god such as you.”

  “You can’t do this.”

  “Oh, you’ll find that I can. There’s someone who wishes to see you.”

  He gulped, the wine bottle slipping from his fingers, spilling into the grass. “Tori.”

  “Yes, mother has returned, and she has plans for you. We both do.”

  When he made to run, I moved quickly, pressing the blade into his throat. “I’m your father! You will release me at once!”

  “I don’t listen to you anymore,” I replied and took the rope Mother sent with me to tie Alric’s hands behind his back. “Keep quiet, or I’ll slit you open here and now. Understand?”

  “This is not you,” he whispered fiercely. “I know we’ve had our differences, but you can’t hand me over to her! She’s mad!”

  “You should have thought of that before you hurt her.”

  “Hurt her? I loved her!”

  “You don’t love anyone,” I snapped, shoving a balled-up piece of cloth in his mouth. “Stay quiet, or I’ll knock you out and drag you to her. Which would you prefer?”