“And you’ll work with my healer after?”
I gave a sharp nod of agreement. I hated that the prince had won this round, but I needed to fix Cody.
The prince grinned at me triumphantly and held out his arm. “I’ll have my men settle Cody in somewhere while we go find some humans to practice on.”
I held off on taking his arm until I could get some promises out of him. “He will be safe from further harm? And Airmed will heal him?”
The prince shook his head. “He will be safe, as long as you cooperate. But healing? That’s going to be up to you, my dear. I need to keep you motivated.”
“I would like to keep him here, then,” I told him firmly.
The prince raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure your father would approve.”
“I’m sure he wouldn’t object if the request came from you,” I told him sweetly. “I want to make sure he’s close by, so I can spend all of my free time learning to heal him.” I was slowly learning to play his game.
The corner of his mouth lifted a little. “Very well.”
I sat down on the couch and smoothed Cody’s hair back. “Hey, Cody?” He opened his eyes and a smile slowly slid over his face.
“Anna…” he murmured, still looking a little dazed.
“I have some errands to do, but I’ll be back to take care of you soon.” I told him softly. “My friend, Caylee, is going to be here with you.”
He mumbled something and closed his eyes again.
I looked up to meet Caylee’s worried eyes from across the room. “I’ll take care of him, my lady,” she said quietly.
“Thanks,” I told her with a small smile.
I stood and reached for the arm the prince had offered me earlier, giving Cody one last look. I wanted to just curl up with him, but I couldn’t leave him in the confused haze that the fae had put him in.
The prince led me out of my rooms and his guards settled in formation around us as we walked down the hall.
“You know, darling, if I didn’t know you better, I would think that you and Cody were an item.” The prince was obviously trying to pry some information out of me.
“If I didn’t know you better, I would think that you were jealous.” I looked up at him as he laughed out loud.
“You little minx,” the prince said with a grin. “I heard that you were the only female in your pack, but I didn’t suspect that they were your own personal harem.”
I rolled my eyes. “They’re not.”
“I have to admit that I find the idea of a harem to be quite tempting.” The prince smirked at me. “Of course, I’d have to find a wife that wouldn’t object.”
“Why marry at all if that’s the way you feel?” I asked curiously. Surely, a prince could do whatever he wanted.
He shrugged. “I’m expected to marry and conduct myself appropriately as prince of the realm.”
We were both quiet for as long as it took us to get to our practice space. The distaste was clear on my face when he brought in a human man in chains for us to ‘practice’ on.
The prince rolled his eyes. “Due to your delicate sensibilities, I’ve had the guards bring us a prisoner. He was caught after raping several young girls.”
I narrowed my eyes at the prisoner. He was filthy, with matted hair and torn clothes but his eyes were burning with rage. “Would you like me to show you how we know he’s guilty?” the prince asked slyly.
I tore my eyes away from the prisoner to focus on the prince. He was watching me with a mischievous sparkle in his green eyes that made me want to proceed cautiously.
“How do you plan to do that?”
The prince held out a hand for me. “Come, take my hand and I’ll show you.”
I let the prince pull me closer to the prisoner and closed my eyes as he directed. This time, he connected with the prisoner and brought me along for the ride. I saw flashes of memories and emotions that showed me what a sick man this prisoner was. Not only had he done the crimes, but he had enjoyed every moment of it.
I yanked my hand away from the prince, breaking the connection. I tried to hold down the vomit that was rising up and struggled to take deep breaths to clear my head.
“What do you think we should do with him, Anna?” the prince asked with a grin. “What punishment should we dole out?”
I shivered. “We should make sure he never hurts another girl ever again.”
“My thoughts exactly.” The prince smirked.
This time I walked willingly back to the prince and took his hand again. I remembered my father’s warnings about how dangerous connecting like this could be, but I doubted that the prince would risk forming a permanent connection with me. He had to know what he was doing, plus I needed to free Cody from his compulsion. I needed to learn this as quickly as possible.
The prince guided my magic, twisting and weaving tiny strands of it, forcing his intent into his work. I watched carefully in dismay. I could feel everything he was doing, but there was no way I could replicate this. The magic I could do was clumsy and bulky, this was completely on another level.
When finished, the prince looked at me. I’m sure he saw the complete devastation on my face, because he laughed. “I’ll let you try something easier,” he told me. “Why don’t you try to undo it?”
I took a deep breath and focused. I had watched him insert every tiny little weave of magic into this man and I could feel each strand emitting small amounts of magic from where they were now. I tugged on one of the small strands gently, trying to remove it without harming the prisoner. It came free and dissipated into the air when I released it.
One down, only a hundred left to go. I worked quietly with sweat beading on my face as I concentrated. It took me ten times as long to remove all the magic than it had taken the prince to put it there in the first place.
The prince stood back and admired my work. “Good job. I’m surprised you were able to do that without harming him. Maybe you do have some affinity for healing.”
Before I could comprehend what was happening, the prince had pulled out a knife and slit the prisoner’s throat. I stared in horror as blood sprayed out of the wound and the prisoner clutched his throat. I stepped forward to try to help, but the prince held me back.
“It’s for the best, Anna,” the prince murmured in my ear. “The magic would have lasted a short time, but he would have gone right back to his old ways once it faded completely.”
The man slumped to the floor with a glazed and empty look in his eyes and blood pooled around his body. I pushed the prince away from me and he didn’t object. “You just killed him!” I couldn’t believe the prince had acted so callously.
The prince shrugged. “I didn’t feel like re-doing it after you unraveled all of my work. The guards will have someone clean up the mess.” He held out his arm for me to take but I pushed past him and headed for the door.
His laughter followed me. “We’re done for today, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Caylee was surprised when I came back to the room after such a short time, our lessons usually lasted for hours. I knelt next to Cody and smoothed his hair back. It was time to apply what I had learned.
I turned to Caylee. “Would you mind finding something for him to eat? He’s going to be hungry once he snaps out of this.”
Caylee gave me a nod and scampered out of the room. I hoped Cody was going to be ready to eat when he woke up out of this haze. If he turned down food, I would know that something was seriously wrong with him.
I took a deep breath and started to work on him. I ignored everything around me and just focused on the small bits of magic glowing inside of him. I could do this.
It felt like hours later when I finally sat back down on my heels and Cody blinked in confusion. “Anna?”
“Yeah. Looks like you made a trip to hell to find me.” I said with a tired smile.
“Totally worth it,” he told me honestly, running his hand over the injuries on his face. His brow furrowed in
concern. “Are you alright?”
I gave him a small smile. “Yeah, just tired. I’m more worried about you.”
He sat up slowly and rubbed his head. “I don’t remember coming here, I just remember having some weird dreams. Where are we?” He winced as he stretched out his body, obviously still in pain from all his injuries.
Caylee came back into the room, followed by a guard carrying a huge tray of food. I was relieved when I saw Cody perk up at the scent of food. “I’ll explain while we eat.”
Cody’s jaw dropped multiple times as I told him about everything that had happened since I had been here. “You’ve been here for over a week?” Cody asked incredulously.
I nodded, and he frowned in confusion. “You went missing and I met with Robbie the next day. A bunch of guys jumped me. But a week?”
“Oh, no one told you?” Caylee piped up.
Our heads both turned to her in surprise. “Time moves a little differently here. A week here is like a day or two back home.”
I think Cody and I were equally shocked. “That does make me feel a little better,” I told them. “At least the pack hasn’t been looking for me that long.”
Cody reached for my hand. “Just a minute without you is too long.”
I blushed and Caylee giggled. “This is your love?”
I turned even more red and Cody grinned at me. “Your love, huh?”
“Um, Caylee. Thanks for the food. Would you mind giving Cody and I some time to catch up?”
She winked at me. “Of course, my lady.” She gave me a curtsy with a huge grin on her face and slipped out the door.
Cody picked up another turkey leg and looked at me thoughtfully. “All of this seems so…unreal. Fae? Another world? Magic?” He shook his head and took a bite.
“Yeah,” I mumbled. “Almost as crazy as people who can turn into wolves.”
He almost choked on his bite of turkey. “That’s believable. But this?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle before turning serious again. “I know this is the last place you want to be right now. But Cody? I’m glad to have someone with me.” I had to swallow hard at the end.
Cody sat down his turkey leg and reached for my hand. “Anna, I’m glad I’m with you. I was going out of my mind thinking about all the horrible shit you might be going through.”
I gave him a small smile. “I can’t complain. They haven’t locked me in a prison or anything. I feel terrible about making you guys worry about me, though.”
He gave my hand a squeeze. “I’m just glad you’re okay, my lady,” he teased me.
Once I gave him a genuine smile he released my hand and went back to eating. The man could really pack away some food.
“Froston promised to send word to the pack that I’m okay. I’ll ask him to let them know about you too.”
Cody swallowed his last bite and frowned. “The dude that kidnapped you? Is he really your father?”
I shrugged. “Maury hasn’t announced the DNA test results yet, but it seems like it.”
He laughed at the talk show reference, but I turned my tone serious again. “I don’t know why I’m really here, though. What they’ve told me doesn’t make sense.”
Cody nodded. “I get you, but that’s the kind of thing we need Aus for. He would be able to figure it out.”
I sighed. “I’ve just been trying to learn as much as I can about magic until I can figure out a way to get back home.”
“That’s probably the only thing you can do right now. I mean, even if you did run, they would just pull you back through one of those portal things,” Cody told me with a shrug.
“That’s not what I wanted to hear.” I told him. “I’m frustrated just sitting here and cooperating like a good little captive. I want to do something.”
Cody smiled at me. “I like it when you get feisty. But you have to be smart and pick your battles. We need to prepare to fight and choose a battle that we have a chance at winning.”
I sat back in my chair with frustration. “I know how you feel.” Cody told me empathetically. “But think of it this way: you want them to think that you are on their side. That way they’ll relax their guard and make it easier for us to escape when the time comes. You don’t want them seeing you as an enemy and throwing you in a dungeon.” He paused. “I’m assuming this place has a dungeon?”
I shrugged. “I’d rather not find out.”
Cody and I chatted while he finished lunch, but when he went to the bathroom to clean up I reflected on what he said. Yeah, as far as plans went, it sucked. But that’s all we had for now.
Chapter 13
Caleb
I put Eeyore back into the playpen area that the twins had helped me put together for the pups. I tossed the two little dogs some bones to keep them busy while I went back to work. Anytime I let them out of their pen they ran right to Anna’s room to look for her and then downstairs to see if she was there.
I took a sip of my coffee and grimaced at the lukewarm temperature, placing the cup back on my desk in distaste. A new window popped open on my screen, showing that Emerys was requesting a conversation. I had sent him a message earlier asking for help.
The fae were new to me and the rest of the pack. The only thing I knew about the fae were old nursery tales, and who knew how much truth could be found in those? For the most part, I had always thought the fae were just fairy tales. I had never expected to run into one in real life.
But Emerys was an immortal lamia and had connections to other immortals. If anyone could get us information on the fae, it would be him.
When I asked Emerys what he knew about the fae there was a pause.
Why would you want to know about them? Has one been seen in our world?
Yeah. They took our girl.
Shit. Arminius needs to know about this. Hold tight, I’ll get back to you.
He broke our connection before I could get anything else out of him.
I clenched my fists in frustration. I was more than tired of sitting here helplessly while Anna was missing. My technical skills were all but useless in the struggle to get her back. If she had been taken by humans I would be able to search satellite images, security cameras, and traffic footage to track her down. But taken through a magical portal? I had nothing for that.
I was working on re-tasking a satellite so that we could monitor the area of northern Canada, where Austin suspected Anna was born originally. When James had gone up north to investigate Anna’s past, he had discovered more mystery than he had uncovered.
Ingrid had told James that there was ‘something’ in the north that was not spoken of and had hinted that Anna’s mother had been banished for breaking the rules. She had given James an old photo that we suspected was of Anna and her mother due to how similar they looked. Anna now had that photo framed at her bedside.
We didn’t know for sure that Anna had been taken up north, but I was willing to bet on it. I really wanted to see what they were hiding up there.
I worked on that along with a few other projects for hours until Emerys reached out to me again. The window popped up on my screen to show that he was requesting contact, so I brought up our chat screen.
Arminius cleared me to share some intel…
I leaned forward in my chair eagerly. Finally! I was getting some answers.
The lamia and fae made an agreement centuries ago after the last war. They agreed to stay in their world and we agreed to stay here - it was an uneasy truce. The exception to that were a few of the minor fae who were mostly powerless, and only had enough magic to shift forms.
My jaw dropped – their world? It had never occurred to me that there could be other worlds out there. And was he saying that wolves were descended from fae? I had never thought about our origins before, I just assumed we were a race unto ourselves.
Our council is going to be meeting to figure out our next step. I have to warn you though – their main concern is going to be keeping the fae out. They aren’t going
to care about getting your girl back. They might even bargain with the fae and let them keep her.
Rage bubbled up inside of me. Anna was not a bargaining chip, and letting the fae keep her was not an option.
And if the wolves disagree?
Would the wolves be willing to take on the fae and lamia to save one girl?
I already knew the answer to that and I didn’t want to think about it.
You know our females are precious to us, letting them come here and take our females whenever they want is not an option.
Understood. But I think this situation is larger than you and me. You consider yourselves completely separate from the fae, but the older ones among us don’t necessarily see it that way.
I swallowed nervously. This situation had gotten out of control really quickly. Emerys signed off again, and this time I didn’t try to stop him. I needed to report this to Austin as soon as he got back, but I also needed more information.
I went back to working on the satellites. There were tons of satellites out there with low security that I could get into. The problem was finding one that could be useful. Some of them were ‘high res’ and could get me a picture of what someone was eating for breakfast, but those could only get an image about twice a day. That wasn’t really helpful for monitoring an area for a missing girl.
Other satellites were ‘high revisit’ and cover more ground, taking pics up to every twenty minutes. The problem with those was that they were very low res and an image of a car would show up as about one pixel. That also made finding a missing girl difficult. Plus, there were also not very many satellites originally tasked to monitor the northern part of Canada. Why spend money to monitor a mostly empty area?
I needed to hack into a multitude of satellites that could monitor for any unusual activity in the north and then be able to take a detailed snapshot once I located an area of interest. Emerys had said that they were supposed to stay in their own world, but that obviously wasn’t the case. The pack in northern Canada had hinted that there was more up there than anyone knew, so my guess was that there was some kind of a gateway up there.
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