Chapter 43

Stone

It'sdusk by the time we reach the outskirts of Los Magicos and, despite spending the last few hours going over and over our plan, analyzing all the things that could go wrong and searching for potential solutions, I feel no better about it.

This is fucking stupid, and no one will convince me otherwise.

Several months back, before I met Rhianna, I would have walked away from a stupid scheme like this. Thrown my hands up and refused to take part.

But things are different now. I'm irreversibly linked to this girl – to all of them. And so I'll do it – fuck I'll give it my best damn shot – even if I think we're doomed to fail.

An unease sits in my belly and I can't help glancing at Rhi. If anything happens to her … It's my worst nightmare. What I feared the most. Losing a fated mate. Ending up like my mom. The pain so extreme I'd be driven to insanity by it.

But isn't that why we're here doing this? To save Rhi from that fate? Spencer Moreau can't die. We can't let that happen. Spencer Moreau has to live.

Like I said, we're all in this together now, our lives woven with each other's, bound to protect one another until our very last breath, burdened by destiny. Rhi and all of them. All of us.

I take her hand in mine as Winnie weaves us through the empty streets of the city. It's past curfew and no one is out, the usual busy bustling streets devoid of people. It makes the unease worse and I squeeze her hand.

"Okay?" she whispers to me and I nod my head.

The first part of this plan is all down to me and my ability to fool Christopher Kennedy – to appear as ruthless and fucked up as he is himself. Can I do it? Or will he look into my eyes and see the truth – how much this girl means to me? Will I be able to hide it?

Azlan has Winnie driving through the back streets away from any patrols and then we're parking up.

"This is as far as we can take you," he says, spinning around in his seat to face Rhi, Renzo and me in the back seat. Then he's unbuckling his belt and climbing out of the car. Rhi leans forward in her seat, hugging her best friend and handing her the pig. He squeals and squirms in her arms, refusing to be handed over.

"Pip," she says firmly, "You can't come with me!"

But I have a feeling the pig is as unhappy with the plan as I am.

Eventually, Winnie wrestles him out of her arms, making us all promise to be careful, and then we follow Azlan out into the dusk.

"We'll be waiting for you back at the mansion," he says. "You know the plan. Make sure you stick to it," he adds to Barone who simply stares blankly back at him. The unease doubles in my stomach. We're trusting our safety – our damn lives – to a mad man. I think that somehow makes us the crazy ones. Azlan pulls Rhi towards him, hugging her close to his body.

"Stay safe, sweetheart, and make sure you come back to me," he whispers, his voice faltering.

She hugs him back. "I will."

Then he climbs back into the car, watching us all through the window with a pain I feel in my gut as the car pulls away.

Once they've disappeared into the coming night, Rhi steps forward, placing her hands behind her back, and with a deep inhale, I secure them together with magical cuffs. Just like that first day we met. Only these she'll be able to break apart when the need arises.

Barone looks at her.

"She looks too healthy," Barone says.

"What?" I say. I mean, she does. Unlike the last time I cuffed her hands together, she's no longer a malnourished, skinny thing. Her cheeks have rounded and so has her ass.

"If I was bringing in a person – to Lowsky or whoever – I'd have some fun first. You know, rough them up." He licks his lips. "Make them hurt."

I step towards him, pointing a finger right in his face.

"You're not laying a finger on her."

The assassin rolls his eyes. "You're so fucking funny, Prof." Then he waves his hands and when I peer over my shoulder at Rhi, her hair's all messed up, there's a bruise on her cheek and another around her throat.

"Fuck, she looks good," Barone says with wonderment and I have to suppress every goddamn instinct in my body not to thump him in the face.

"Let's go," I say. The sooner this is over, the better.

I take Rhi by the upper arm and we set off, twice shrinking into the shadows to avoid the patrolling security forces. It takes us over an hour, but soon we're in the suburbs of the city where the great houses lie and the great families reside; the side of town I've never belonged in. Some of the houses aren't looking as grand as they did. Their gates toppled, their windows smashed and their doors kicked in. Others look just the same as they always have, as if nothing has changed at all.

The security focus becomes more plentiful the closer we approach the Kennedy residence and finally, with no other possible way through, we have no option but to present ourselves at a barrier.

As we step into the searchlights trained on the street, the line of guards sees us and they raise their hands, magic sizzling in the air threateningly. The lead officer commands us to stop.

"Who are you and what do you want?" he calls out. "There's a curfew. It's against the authorities' rules to be out on the streets."

"I am Professor Stone from the Arrow Hart Academy," I tell him, raising my hands in surrender and hissing at Barone to do the same. He looks at me like I'm dumb but raises them halfheartedly to hover by his ears. "We have one of the magicals on the Lord Protector's wanted list. We've come to hand them in."

"Who?" the officer says.

I smirk at him. "I think that's something we'd like to disclose to the Lord Protector himself."

The officer steps forward, peering at our faces. "You can hand the prisoner to us. We'll see she's taken to the Lord Protector."

"Errr, no," I say, lowering my hands slightly and letting my own magic crackle in the air sinisterly. "We'll be handing her over ourselves. This prisoner is worth a lot of money."

"We'll see you get your reward," the officer says with obvious disgust.

"But the Lord Protector won't get the additional information we have to disclose about the prisoner," I say.

"You can tell us that too."

Barone laughs.

"And if he has questions?" I say, my smirk solidifying. "Will you be able to answer them?"

The officer hesitates and the thoughts in his mind tell me he's unsure. He doesn't want to face the wrath of the Lord Protector.

"Is that a risk you're prepared to take?" I say quietly.

"Fine," he says, "but my guards will be accompanying you and if you try anything–"

"We just want our money, man," Barone says, bored.

The guards march towards us and I step closer to Rhi's side, gripping her arm, hoping Barone has enough sense in that befuddled brain of his to do the same. I don't want anyone touching her but us.

"We need to search you for weapons before we take you any further," the commander says, stopping right in front of us.

Rhi's eyes flick to me. Renzo has his knife. A knife that once belonged to Rhi. There is no way he'll hand it over and this is where everything could turn messy.

"You realize she's a weapon, right?" I say quietly to him.

The man stares at Rhi and I can tell he doesn't believe that for one minute. He's underestimating her. People always do. We just have to hope Christopher Kennedy will do the same.

"I'm sure she is," the man says flatly, "but we still need you to empty your pockets." A soldier steps towards Renzo and I see him flinch.

Fuck!

I need to convince this man not to search us. I need him to change his mind.

I can read all the suspicious thoughts already spinning in his head. He's read the situation. He knows one of us is armed, maybe both, and he's not going to let us pass unless we hand over our weapons. I see those thoughts glistening in his head, the words clear to read, and then it hits me.

It's not something I've ever tried to do before. Sure, I've been damn tempted, especially when I was younger and more foolhardy. But even then I wasn't stupid enough to do something like that. Something that would have me carted away to the northern labor camps for life.

There's nothing holding me back now, though, and so carefully – oh so carefully – holding my breath – I rearrange the thoughts in his head, reorder the words and letters, manipulate them until they are something altogether different.

The prisoner must be taken to the Lord Protector immediately, without delay.

"We have no weapons," I tell him.

He nods. "Fine, let's go then. We're wasting time here. This prisoner must be taken straight to the Lord Protector."

The soldiers around us glance at their commander, surprised his mind has changed so quickly. Renzo and Rhi look equally shocked. But I don't hang about for anyone to unpick this chain of events. I hold Rhi's arm and walk us forward and soon everyone is falling into step.

We walk the length of the road leading up to the Kennedy residence, through the now heavily guarded set of iron gates and up the steps that lead to the great house's entrance. There are yet more guards at the door and our commander steps forward to speak to them. More questions, more suspicion, and I'm required to do some more altering of thoughts until finally we're let through and made to wait in the main entrance hall surrounded by so many guards I lose count.

Yeah, this was the most stupid plan Azlan and I have ever come up with and there have been some pretty dumb ones over the years.

A messenger is sent off to inform the Lord Protector of our arrival and I can sense Rhi's nerves beside me. I squeeze her arm, try to send her reassuring emotions through the bond, but, truth be told, I'm as nervous as she is.

I never liked Azlan's uncle. He always gave me the creeps. And that feeling has only cemented the older I've become. Maybe once men like him both terrified and amazed me. I'd stand in awe of their power and abilities. Those times have long passed. Now I see them for the jerks they are.

We wait. The house is large and sounds emit from within its depths – voices, machinery, the whirr of magic. It is clear the new Lord Protector has moved the heart of his power base from the ruined council building to this mansion.

"Is he here?" I whisper to Rhi without moving my lips.

She nods her head ever so slightly, keeping her eyes trained ahead, her chin lifted in defiance.

"Can you tell where?"

She tilts her head to the side. I follow the trajectory and spy a door in the wall, a guard standing before it. I search his mind. There's a staircase behind him that leads down to the old cellars of the house. The boy is being kept in there along with one or two other prisoners the Lord Protector deems of particular interest.

I search the guard's mind some more – for information on the security precautions down there in the cellar – for what we might face when we head down there. But the guard is ill-informed. His job is to guard the door and that is all. I skim through other minds searching for answers, finding none.

Do we risk it? There are twenty men at least in this room guarding us and who-knows-what down there in the cellar. Are the three of us strong enough to take that on? We have the element of surprise, we have Renzo's ability to travel through space. We also have his pure craziness and my ability to manipulate minds. In fact, maybe I could use that ability right now to–

But I'm too late, because the Lord Protector is already here, and we're well and truly screwed.