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City of the Sleeping Gods

Page 19

by Olivia Ash


  She put her hand up in defense. “I can explain.”

  He lifted the paper. “I heard back from the Duke of Oxford.”

  Oh crap. She lowered her hand. That she hadn’t expected.

  “As it so happens, he doesn’t have a niece named Sophia and wondered what in hell I was talking about when I asked about you and what you liked to eat for supper.” His voice was low and gruff. She wondered if this was the voice he used on his soldiers to get them in line or to discipline them.

  Sophia sighed. “I’m sorry. If you will let me, and if you will listen, I can explain everything.” She looked at Ezekiel for guidance.

  He nodded. “I’ll give you two some time alone.” He picked up the food tray and then left the room.

  Edric gave her a look that said “Go ahead.”

  She didn’t know what to do with her hands, so she played with the ties on her dress as she paced in front of him. “I’m not Sophia Oxford, obviously. I’m not a noble woman. I don’t live in Nighthelm. I live in a cottage in Witch Woods with a man named Grindel.”

  “Professor Matthew Grindel? Who teaches at the academy?” he asked.

  “Yes. He trains me in the woods and sometimes in a hall under the castle,” she said.

  “Train you for what?” His frown deepened.

  “To be a warrior, to heal myself.” She stopped pacing and really looked at him. “I’m broken, Edric. My soul is broken.”

  His eyes narrowed, and she saw the second he realized what she was telling him. “You’re an anima contritum.”

  She nodded, wary of what he was going to do. But she wouldn’t back down. Not from him, not from anyone. Not anymore. She was tired of hiding.

  “I lost my family when I was young, my parents and my sister. They were murdered in front of me, and I witnessed it. Someone forced me to watch it.” She shook her head. “Someone did this to me on purpose. But I don’t know why.”

  His eyes softened a little as he searched her face. She didn’t know what he was looking for. Maybe trying to decide if she was telling him the truth or not.

  After some thorough scrutiny that made her nerves fizzle, he asked, “And the contest?”

  “A way to find the piece of my soul I need to heal. The oracles told me that it lies in someone in Nighthelm, and that night at the ball I felt it in that room, near the three of you.” She sighed. “I’m sorry for deceiving you. Can you forgive me?”

  He looked her up and down, and she had the smallest thought that he was going to push her away in disgust, and she could feel the tears building, but he didn’t. His anger dissolved right before her eyes. “You’re forgiven.”

  She started to smile, but he wasn’t having it. Not yet. Obviously, he wasn’t done with her. He backed her up against the wall and leaned into her. She could feel his breath on her face, see the small specks of gold and green in his eyes. Her heart slammed against her chest.

  “But never lie to me again.” He set a hand at her waist, drawing closer. Possessing her.

  “I won’t.” She swallowed.

  His gaze went to her mouth. He licked his lips and she nearly let out a small groan. Kiss me, she wanted to moan, please Gods kiss me.

  The moment was shattered as Andreas, followed by Ezekiel, bounded into the room. “Ah, good we’re all here, I see,” Andreas said as he pulled out a chair and sat at the table.

  Edric pushed away from the wall releasing Sophia. She walked to the table and gestured for Edric and Ezekiel to sit. “Now that you are all here, and you all know what I am, I need to discuss this contest with you.”

  After they all sat, she slid into the empty chair and looked at her men, who once had been enemies but now acted like brothers. She didn’t know when it happened, the bond they produced, but it filled her with joy to see it.

  “On my eighteenth birthday I went in front of the oracles, they told me I could heal my soul by finding the missing piece of it. That it hadn’t been destroyed. When I met the three of you that night at the ball, I knew it was inside one of you. I could feel it. I started the contest to help me find the piece by spending time with all of you. Hoping that somehow the piece would stand out above the others and aid my choice.” She looked at Edric, then Andreas and, finally, Ezekiel. “But the thing is, I can’t choose between you. I choose you all. When I’m with you three, like now, I feel so much stronger, like my soul is already healed and whole.”

  “How many oracles spoke to you?” Edric asked.

  “All of them,” she said.

  All their faces lit up at her words. Some with surprise, but Andreas was nodding like he somehow knew it all along. He had been pressing her about the fact that Haris had bonded with her, and forest spirits only bonded with special people. She hadn’t wanted to discuss it, but maybe it was almost time to.

  Edric also nodded, as if confirming something to himself. “I’ve learned I could never live without you, so if I have to share with these men,” he looked at Andreas and Ezekiel, “who I have come to see as brothers, then I am fine with your decision.”

  “I accept your decision as well,” Andreas said. “I couldn’t imagine my life without you in it. And Edric and Zeke have always been part of my life anyway.”

  Ezekiel screwed up his face like he was going to refuse, but he smiled. “Well, I’m not going to be the odd one out. I’m in. You make me feel like I’m finally home, in a safe place, Sophia. And, these guys, they’re all right. I’d definitely go drinking with them again, oh and we’re all pretty good in a fight together.”

  Edric joined in the camaraderie. “I won’t go drinking with you again, Zeke, but I do agree about being good in a fight.”

  Laughing, Sophia got to her feet. She leaned down to Edric and kissed him. Then she moved in front of Andreas and kissed him. Finally, she leaned down to Ezekiel and kissed him as well. Her men. Her beautiful, strong, passionate men. She’d fight to keep them all. And she had a feeling that was going to become the case. She was so thankful that they had bonded. It would make everything so much easier.

  For the first time since she was young, she had a family. She had a sense of unconditional love that she’d always craved, and she would do everything in her power to protect it. But her victory wasn’t here yet. She still had to talk to the oracles and convince them that all three of her men were important to her healing, to her being whole. She just hoped that they agreed and didn’t kill any one of them.

  She also had to stop Headmistress Mittle, as Sophia was convinced the woman was going to be the death of her. Intentionally.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Sophia

  In the dead of night, knowing her three men were asleep in their own quarters, Sophia decided to seek out the oracles alone. Andreas had returned to his house in the Shade; Edric retired to his room in the castle instead of in the barracks, and Ezekiel had allowed her to sleep in one of his rooms in the castle, as she had no intention of returning to the cabin. When she was certain they all had gone to sleep and weren’t going to bust back into her room with the excuse of just making sure she was comfortable, she climbed out the window and shimmied down the wall to the ground. She snuck through the city, as she always had, silent as the dead, to declare her decision to the oracles and hope they accepted it. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do if they didn’t.

  When she neared the park, she noticed how quiet the area was. Not even the chirps of cicadas filled the air. It was the witching hour, so the shops and taverns were long closed but where were the guards? Two of them usually took up positions by the main gate, but they weren’t there now. Had she arrived during a shift change? She waited a few more moments in the shadows then crept across the courtyard to the fence, too eager to talk to the oracles to allow over caution to impede on what she came here to do.

  As she neared the fence surrounding the sacred park and started to climb over the iron spokes, something snapped like fire between her shoulder blades. She fell to the ground in agony, trained not to scream in pa
in, but hurting nonetheless. On hands and knees, she sucked in air through her nose and blew it out as she’d been trained to do.

  Recovered from the unexpected blow, Sophia climbed to her feet and stepped back to find Headmistress Mittle and Grindel standing in the dark, empty street. In the headmistress’s hand was a hilt charged with a magical whip on the end of it, and Sophia figured that’s what she’d been burned with. She looked at Grindel, the man she once thought of as a father, and tried her best to swallow her rage and sense of betrayal. He stared at her stonily, ever emotionless.

  “What’s going on?” Sophia asked. “Why are you doing this, Grindel?”

  His face didn’t change, but she did see his fingers twist a little harder on his staff. Did that mean something? She couldn’t be sure. Maybe he was just getting ready to attack her because if he had ever really truly cared for her, he would stop whatever this was before it escalated, which Sophia knew was inevitable. First blood had been spilled. She rolled her shoulders as the pain of the strike still rippled over her flesh.

  “Be a good girl, Sophia, and come with us,” the headmistress said.

  “Not bloody likely.” Sophia took a step back with her left foot preparing for what she knew was coming. The headmistress had come here for a fight, and that’s what she was going to get.

  Headmistress Mittle raised her arm to strike again with the burning whip, but Sophia jumped out of the way as she shot a beam of magic at the woman. Grindel stepped in front of the attack, creating a magical shield, something he’d taught Sophia to do, to deflect the beam. It impacted the cobblestone nearby, scorching one of the rocks.

  Obviously, her teacher had chosen a side, and was now the enemy.

  Twisting her hands around each other, Sophia built a fiery ball of magic between them, and then threw it as hard as she could at the headmistress. It sailed toward her, but the headmistress was quicker than she looked, and whipped the fireball in half with her weapon, scattering the magic. Some of it hit a nearby wooden bench, searing a hole right through the plank.

  Grindel hurled a beam of magic toward Sophia. Despite his age, he was still quick. She created a shield before the beam knocked her on her ass. The headmistress’s whip came at her from the side. Sophia lowered the shield to roll out of the way of the sizzling tip, and then was back on her feet. She fired magic back at the headmistress. Grindel blocked that again, but barely. It zipped close to Headmistress Mittle’s head. The stench of burnt hair filled the crisp night air.

  Aware of how painfully close to the most powerful artifacts in the kingdom they were battling, Sophia moved a few paces before firing off another jolt of magic. Grindel met her magic with his own, and the two beams collided midair and fizzled out. Bright sparks lit up the street a moment before disappearing.

  Where were the guards? Surely, they should’ve been aware by now that there was a battle of some sort on the street near the sacred park. It was obvious that the headmistress had paid them off. But how? The city guards were under the purview of the ruling government, not by the academy. She must’ve possessed more power and influence than Sophia ever imagined.

  “You’re not going to win, my dear,” the headmistress called out.

  “Neither are you.” Sophia sent another fireball of magic toward the headmistress. If she’d had her sword with her, the fight would’ve been over by now. But her sword was back at the cabin. She should’ve pilfered one from Edric before venturing out into the night.

  Grindel blocked it again, and then retaliated. Sophia easily stopped it and wondered whether he’d tempered his power. She was sure he could overpower her if he truly wished to. His magic was stronger and controlled. Either way, the fight was going nowhere. They were evenly matched.

  Headmistress Mittle smiled as she lowered her weapon. “Regardless, this was a mere distraction, my dear.”

  A shiver rushed over Sophia’s back. Gasping, she turned, sensing someone behind her, but it was too late. Winston brought the hilt of his dagger down on her head. Darkness swallowed her whole.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Sophia

  Sophia didn’t know how long she’d been unconscious, but when she woke, she was groggy and disoriented and inside the glass box, her arms, legs and chest strapped tightly to the chair, and hooked up to the strange machine. Instinctively, she struggled against the binds, but stopped when she spotted Edric, Andreas, and Ezekiel locked in chains, attached to the wall across from her. They must’ve been taken in the middle of the night as they were all in varying degrees of undress. They were all shirtless; Ezekiel was in a pair of cotton underclothes as it was likely what he usually slept in, both Edric and Andreas wore proper trousers as they were both accustomed to being pulled from their beds at a moment’s notice for the call of duty. It must’ve been some powerful magic to have taken them from their beds, as Sophia knew all three of them wouldn’t have gone without a fight.

  Her blood went cold at the sight of them, vulnerable and bound, and she bit down on her bottom lip to stop from shouting in outrage. All three of her men pulled at their chains when they noticed she was awake. It was pointless, as they were all bound securely to the wall, and she knew none of them could break steal with their bare hands.

  Nearby on the platform, Headmistress Mittle stood with Grindel, Winston, and a strange figure in a shapeless, long, dark blue robe and veil that obscured all facial features. She couldn’t distinguish much, not even if the figure was male or female.

  A pang of dread hit Sophia as she realized this must be the Nameless Master, who the headmistress was getting orders from. Was this also who had been hovering in the doorway the other day during her magic training? She couldn’t be sure as she’d caught a shapeless form out of her periphery. It had been there and gone like a shadow.

  “Good, she’s awake. We can get started,” the headmistress said, as she turned to the unknown figure. “We’re going to try something different, Previous attempts were unsuccessful, so this time, we’re going to break her further. Doing so will make her obedient.”

  Sophia rocked in the chair, trying to loosen her restraints. “I will never be obedient to you!”

  Ignoring her outburst, Headmistress Mittle continued to talk to the nameless one. “Thanks to our good friend Winston here,” she gestured to Winston, who had the gall to grin, “we’ve discovered that one of these men has a piece of Sophia’s soul.”

  Edric, Andreas, and Ezekiel yanked on the chains around their wrists and ankles again, the rattling echoed throughout the great hall. Sophia saw Ezekiel was trying to get his hands together so he could summon his magic, but they’d positioned his arms a little wider and a little higher, so it would’ve been impossible for him to do so. They took no chances with such a powerful sorcerer.

  “You are all going to die for this,” Edric said, his voice low and dark, his eyes like a storm.

  Sophia wanted to hug him for his fierceness. He was defiant as ever and she loved that about him. Down the line, she spotted Andreas wincing, and she wondered what they had done to him. They’d probably taken precautions with him so he couldn’t shift into his wraith form. Looking him over, she spied a few drops of blood on his arm, but she couldn’t tell where it came from, or how they had injured him. Fury surged through her. They were going to pay for that, and more.

  The headmistress rolled her eyes at Edric’s bravado and continued speaking. “Killing them in the proper magical ritual will seal the piece of soul in an artifact, making Sophia utterly obedient, with no free will at all. She will be the perfect assassin.”

  The perfect assassin. So, was this what it had always been about? Making her into a trained killer? Why? For what purpose?

  She looked over at Grindel again. He stood stoic, his gaze not on anything particular. He wasn’t looking at her, but he wasn’t looking at the headmistress or the Nameless Master either. The expression on his face was unreadable. She couldn’t believe he’d been okay with all of this from the beginning. Despite his betrayal
now, Sophia knew he’d felt something for her. Maybe not friendship, but definitely something akin to paternal concern. He’d been there for her through so many things.

  He held her through her worst nightmares when she first went to live with him in the woods. He taught her how to wield a sword and bow, and even healed her after her first wound, telling her next time she’d do better, be better. When she got her first blood at thirteen, he even helped her through it, awkwardly, but he made sure she understood the biology of it all, and gave her a book on the best ways to deal with it.

  Grindel wasn’t indifferent to her, she knew he had feelings for her. But obviously they weren’t enough to stop what was happening now. Like a coward, he stood by and let this woman and some unknown entity torture her, and the men she’d fallen in love with. For what? Power, and nothing more.

  “Will they all die?” The Nameless Master asked in a terrifying, grating voice that reminded Sophia of the grimms beyond the walls. A crawling sensation rippled over her skin, as if one thousand baby spiders had burst from an egg burrowed inside her flesh.

  “Yes, of course,” The headmistress said.

  The nameless one nodded. “Good.”

  Sophia wanted to scream, wanted to beg them to stop, to do anything at all to make this end and save the men she loved. But she knew better than that. She knew Headmistress Mittle. She knew Grindel would do nothing to save her or her men. She knew Winston’s petty need for revenge. And based on what had happened to her over the years, Sophia knew the Nameless Master would want to cause her as much pain as possible.

  ANDREAS

  Andreas winced again as liquid fire rushed through his body. He’d never experienced this kind of pain before. When it had first surged through him shortly after waking up shackled to the wall, he’d been surprised and unsure of the source of the pain. But, after he’d inspected his body, and saw the blood spots and a tiny, needle pinprick in the crook of his arm, he knew they had injected him with hemlock. It was the only way they could stop him from shifting into his wraith form and killing them all.

 

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